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Where did ....... go?, Members missing in action. |
 Oct 19 2006, 02:55 PM
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#1
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 Lord Of The Uranian Rings  Group: Members Posts: 798 Joined: 18-July 05 From: Plymouth, UK Member No.: 437  |
Does anyone know what's happened to Don Mitchell? His contributions to this forum, especially on the subject of Soviet unmanned exploration, were particularly fascinating.
Was he banned, or did he ask to have his account terminated? Ian. -------------------- |
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Oct 19 2006, 03:57 PM
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#2
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
He asked to have his account closed.
Doug |
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Oct 19 2006, 04:02 PM
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#3
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Lord Of The Uranian Rings Group: Members Posts: 798 Joined: 18-July 05 From: Plymouth, UK Member No.: 437 |
OK, thanks Doug for the clarification. A great pity he decided to leave.
Ian. -------------------- |
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Oct 19 2006, 04:02 PM
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#4
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1281 Joined: 18-December 04 From: San Diego, CA Member No.: 124 |
I'll miss his input - but I still can't fathom why anyone would leave UMSF on their own accord...
-------------------- Lyford Rome
"Zis is not nuts, zis is super-nuts!" Mathematician Richard Courant on viewing an Orion test |
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Oct 19 2006, 04:14 PM
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#5
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
What baffles me ( and the rest of the admin team ) is why he couldn't just leave without requiring his account to be closed. Very odd, but I have to respect his wishes.
Occasionally, you'll get a "CLOSE MY ACCOUNT" type email from someone who's been given a warning and had a few posts culled for breaking the rules..a toys out of pram situation...but that's fine, that's doing us a favour to be honest However with Don it was just straight out of the blue. Very strange, but there it is.  He was a gold mine especially on the Russian side of things - I'll miss him.Doug |
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Oct 19 2006, 04:26 PM
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#6
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 270 Joined: 29-December 04 From: NLA0: Member No.: 133 |
QUOTE (djellison @ Oct 19 2006, 06:14 PM)  What baffles me is why he couldn't just leave without requiring his account to be closed. I guess some people have an addiction and need some support quiting. If you're addicted to a forum, having your account locked would be one way to help you get off it. I'm not saying that DonPMitchell fits into this category, but it's the only thing I can come up with why I would have my account locked on a forum. (Not really ofcourse, as I don't mind being a hardcore UMSF addict  )
-------------------- PDP, VAX and Alpha fanatic ; HP-Compaq is the Satan! ; Let us pray daily while facing Maynard! ; Life starts at 150 km/h ;
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Oct 19 2006, 04:26 PM
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#7
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
QUOTE (djellison @ Oct 19 2006, 05:14 PM) What baffles me ( and the rest of the admin team ) is why Maybe he's being treated for UMSF dependency? Come to think of it maybe I should see a therapist Seriously, I'll miss him too. |
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Oct 19 2006, 04:29 PM
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#8
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 Special Cookie Group: Members Posts: 2168 Joined: 6-April 05 From: Sintra | Portugal Member No.: 228 |
Big loss...
-------------------- "Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied, "If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Alan Poe |
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Oct 19 2006, 04:33 PM
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#9
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 Dublin Correspondent Group: Admin Posts: 1799 Joined: 28-March 05 From: Celbridge, Ireland Member No.: 220 |
Got to agree there - his departure is a very big loss.
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Oct 20 2006, 08:11 AM
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#10
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3652 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
I see paulanderson also shows up as unregistered. Is this a sort of an epidemic?
-------------------- |
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Oct 20 2006, 08:38 AM
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#11
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
Paul was banned about a month ago for continually refusing to stick to the rules (a crime in itself) and ignoring repeated requests from the admin team to do so ( a greater crime in UMSF land ).
So Don going and Paul going are two very different things. If you want epidemic, then I can show you the list of banned spamming accounts and IP addresses that ammounts to up to half a dozen per day, every day. Doug |
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Oct 20 2006, 08:50 AM
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#12
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3652 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
QUOTE (djellison @ Oct 20 2006, 09:38 AM) Paul was banned about a month ago for continually refusing to stick to the rules Oh, I didn't know that. Didn't mean to be nosy, either. QUOTE (djellison @ Oct 20 2006, 09:38 AM) If you want epidemic, then I can show you the list of banned spamming accounts and IP addresses that ammounts to up to half a dozen per day, every day. Is that IP mask blocking method panning out to anything or do the spammers still keep pouring in? -------------------- |
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Oct 20 2006, 08:57 AM
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#13
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
They're still pooring in, but we've changed the registration process now so that an admin has to approve every new registration...it's fairly obvious when the registered email addy is 309hsdg@redhotxxx.info or whatever that it's spam and not a genuine member.
It's like a leaking damn - you block up one hole and another one opens....but you still have to go and block it up. There are patterns emerging however, certain higher level IP ranges that are quite obviously a source of much of the registration - so bringing together the list of banned IP slowly adds to the library from which we can draw the most accurate but broadest 'net' to try and bring the problem down. I've spoken to a few other forum admins and they have the same problem as we do here, and there's nothing that one can do above what is already being done unfortunately. Doug |
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Oct 20 2006, 09:03 AM
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#14
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3652 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
Are those spam bots or just loon users? If the former is the case, I wonder if a registration procedure could be devised that forces you to enter one of those graphically scrambled codes that bots can't cope with. If the spammers are people who don't have anything better to do with their life, that's a tough matter. Maybe complicating the registration procedure so much that they'd lose interest would work...
EDIT: Heck, maybe you already have those codes implemented, it's been a while since I registered 
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Oct 20 2006, 09:18 AM
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#15
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
"graphically scrambled codes that bots can't cope wit"
Already in place, but the bots have a human element that gets through it. There are more spammers than forum software writers, so the spammers will always find a way around whatever scheme is in place. Doug |
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