Outline · Standard · [ Linear+ ] Registration Issues

[untilzero]

So, coming from someone who has been building websites like this for nearly 10 years now, I have some issues with the way you guys are running things around here that I'd like to get off my chest right off the bat.

Mainly, banning Gmail accounts. Absolutely ridiculous. I can't even fathom how many of us out there use them as our primary email accounts, and you guys are banning them simply because you're all too newb'd out to figure out how to stop the spammers with your little out-of-box bulletin board software.

Not to mention the fact that if you're charging $4.00 (which I paid) for registering as a member, you shouldn't ban any domain at all. If a spammer is willing to pay your fee, too bad for you. Maybe a better solution is learning how to install and configure your bulletin board software properly, finding some better software, or building your own instead of punishing well-to-do users with nonsense restrictions and headaches just because you don't know what you're doing.

That said, hopefully you all know a hell of a lot more about Tascam recorders... cause that's why I'm here.

Sorry that had to be my first post.

[trtjazz]

I welcome your criticism though wish it had been a bit more constructive then just a rant. You may be right in regards to us not being near as advanced as you must be in our bulletin board programming, but it's what we have to work with sorry. I trust you will find many users here that are far more advanced and up to your standards in the use of their Tascam gear then we as administrators of the board are.
I truly hope you find more satisfaction with the board as you go along, there are some great and experienced members here willing to share their knowledge with you freely.

jam on,
Terry

[Muziekschuur]

We made some choices.

Hope you like what you find.


Cheers,


Muziekschuur

[untilzero]

"I welcome your criticism though wish it had been a bit more constructive then just a rant."

Agreed. Sorry, I was just a little hot-headed after going through all the registration hassles.

As far as suggestions are concerned, I'd be happy to offer any help I can, but the devil's in the details, and I'm not really privy to exactly what types of issues you're having with spam/bots and how they're manifesting themselves.

I will say this:

Registration fees are effective because the hope is that most spammers / bots won't bother paying it, but some eventually will, so it's not fool-proof. The big drawback is forcing new legitimate users to pay for something that should really be free in the first place.

Domain blacklists are very ineffectual because domains are plentiful and it's nearly impossible to keep even an initially effective list effective for very long (especially when even a quick perusal of the forum itself gives everyone access to the list of blacklisted domains, since it's posted for everyone to see).

Invitation-based systems are a hassle for new users in that they may not have an easy way of communicating with current users.

Captcha's are nearly useless (this has been proven time and time again) save for Google's implementation (which I believe is open-source, so it's freely available to use should you be interested. Most captcha's have been easily broken by spammers and bots, the exception (for the most part) being Google's. There are good implementations out there, but your's is one of the worst. It generates separate images for each character, and only uses integers... giving it an overall entropy of less than 4 bits per character (which is awful). Not to mention the fact that a simple OCR scan could extract the integer from the image, making it a useless hinderance to the users, because it's really not going stop many spam bots at all (if any).

Again, I'm not sure exactly (and to what extent) your problems have been with spam/bots, but I'll gladly lend an ear if you need any advice.

As for the forum itself, I'm very happy to be here. I've been using Tascam recorders for nearly 15 years now, but am brand new to the DAW scene, which is why I'm here. So far you have all been very helpful, and despite my first post (above), the registration hassles have already been worth it just to be able to dig around the forum for advice.

[trtjazz]

I'm glad you are getting settled in and liking it, that's the point.

As far as some of your other points, they are well taken, but I will say the reg fee and blockage of domains has so far ( a couple years now) been very effective. As far as the info "should be free" it depends on how you mean that .....

This forum belongs to a private party and was put in place because of Tascam closing theirs and poor customer support. We also went to a dedicated server a couple of years ago which really jacked up the price of keeping the doors open. So from our perspective, there's is only so much we as users, just like yourself can afford to pay out of our pockets alone without asking for a bit of help from the others who are deriving benefit too. This forum was free for quite awhile and the real purpose was to stop the spammers, which it really has. I will tell you that nobody connected with this forum is getting any even "spending money" or any other gain from it.

If on the other hand you mean Tascam the people who made the profit on the equipment that we all bought should be providing it, then you will find me in total agreement with that. I could go on to say the same thing about so many other pieces of equipment I have bought as well that customer support is left to the users and the companies do nothing.
jam on,
Terry

[caelenguitar]

Hi Terry,
I just joined this forum today, and I've had trouble making a post about getting help with my Tascam dp004.
I looked all over the site for advice on how to do that. I couldn't find the "button" for posting that the directions described.
Sorry, it's such a fundamental question,
appreciate your help,
Caelen
strblnkt@hotmail.com

[trtjazz]

Hi Terry,
I just joined this forum today, and I've had trouble making a post about getting help with my Tascam dp004.
I looked all over the site for advice on how to do that. I couldn't find the "button" for posting that the directions described.
Sorry, it's such a fundamental question,
appreciate your help,
Caelen
strblnkt@hotmail.com

Hi,
Not sure what the problem is. You posted this question ok. Just go to the section for the DP004 and do the same thing you did here, i.e. click on new topic and when the box pops up make your post, or am I missing something you are having trouble with?
jam on,
Terry