forum member cleanup

[bikkuri bahn]

Just was looking at the list of forum members, and just in the "A" section, there are numerous suspect member names (randomly generated, like), with 0 posts.  Perhaps a housecleaning is in order.  Also, any members who have registered prior to 2011, but haven't posted, perhaps its time to tell them to at least introduce themselves, or else have their accounts deleted.

[Densha]

There are always users who don't post but still read and you shouldn't delete those users, they can always suddenly decide to stop lurking which actually regularly occurs.

People who haven't logged in at all in years however is another story, especially if they registered and didn't log in at all after that.

[Martijn Meerts]

I'm planning on doing some general maintenance once I've got some time off from work, which should be in about 2 weeks give or take. Of course, I'm planning on doing an awful lot during those days, so I have to see how much I can get done at that time.

 

Also, feel free to remind me, because I tend to forget things.. a LOT of things ;)

[Densha]

I think it's better to enjoy yourself with some trains than cleaning up the user database though... ;)

Aren't there automatic selection tools or something for it?

Edited November 26, 2013 by Densha

[Martijn Meerts]

There probably are, but they're not smart enough to figure out who's a potential spammer and who's an actual member that signed up but just hasn't posted anything. A lot of users are also imports from the old software, so the current software may not have the required data needed and all that.

[Densha]

That is exactly why I wrote that you should not delete simple 'lurkers' but only the people who only made an account for the sake of making an account and not logging in even once after.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Densha

[Martijn Meerts]

Yeah, but there's no automatic selection tool for that ;)

[cteno4]

Martijn,

 

while its nice to have things neat and tidy, i dont see these causing any issues just sitting there. spammers get dealt with as they spam. enjoy your time off with trains!

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[brill27mcb]

Sounds like bikkuri bahn is itching to be assistant administrator! :)

 

Rich K.

 

[Kabutoni]

SWIPER, NO SWIPING!

 

Don't cleanse the member lists for administration purposes. It won't be of any benefit.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Toni Babelony

[Lawrence]

When I was a mod on ngaugeforum this subject came up for discussion frequently.  Whilst having a purge from time to time does give a more accurate indication of active members, reducing numbers, by having a clean out, can dissuade possible advertisers and reduce income (if that is the way the forum works).  Inactive member details doesn't take up a lot of space on the database to be honest and it can be a real PITA setting up the scripts to do this.  Whilst I can kinda understand bikkuri bahn's  sentiments, it doesn't actually make any difference to the way the forum runs.  The main problem is really keeping the hackers and spammers at bay

[Ochanomizu]

Hello,

 

Please allow me to make some comment regarding the management of user name on forum:

 

1. If you delete member and he return after several years maybe someone else has taken his user name for their own;

 

2. Is better to send a reminder after 3 month inactive to invite member to return and repeat every 3 month.

[JR 500系]

Please allow me to share some of my previous experience as a Lego forum moderator... 

 

Being a moderator, we had to, well, moderate post, especially those containing vulgarities and step in when things get too hot. It's especially true for Lego scene in Singapore as we here seem to get the best pricing in terms of Lego for the region. This sparks ALOT of trouble, as we can see a number of 'self-proclaimed' Lego fans coming in, with only the intention to leech information of sales and value of sets, and buy them all in bulk to keep and sell them off for a good profit later. It deprived the members and true fans of the sets itself, and only benefited from those 'scaplers' who took advantage of the information and grab the sets all off to sell them at profits. It's really irritating and sad to see the ugly side of people.

 

Might seem irrelevant to what we are discussing here, those inactive members might well still be lurking around. However, unlike Lego, there isn't a keen demand and scaplers out there to take advantages of sales, buying them in bulk, depriving the true fans of the items and selling them off at a profit. Hence i would think it'll wouldn't hurt so much to allow them to continue lurking, unless of course the bandwidth of the forum speaks otherwise. 

 

'Housekeeping', which we call it, is quite a tedious process. We sometimes get into heated debates over 'why did you delete my account etc' even if the member is 1 year inactive, and even if we have so expressively stated that no activity or posts within 1 month will be liable to termination, despite multiple warnings given. 

[Martijn Meerts]

We have plenty hard drive space and bandwidth to keep the non-posting/lurking members in the database, that's really not the issue. It just looks a bit bad in the member list to have a lot of people with strange names and 0 posts .. (Of course, there are plenty active members with silly names as well :D )

 

Many will have noticed by now that we're rather lenient and laid back with regards to what's allowed and what's not, and really, all of you seem to have enough common sense not to post controversial topics that much. We don't really want to step in all that much, but rather let people discuss the topics they want to discuss.

 

 

As for the advertisement bit that Lawrence mentioned. We're not getting any advertisement money at all, and we plan to keep it that way. We really don't want annoying adds on the forum that harm performance (or place questionable cookies ;)) .. A good part of the costs of keeping the forum running have been donations and some additional funding by both Don and myself when needed.

[Ochanomizu]

Hello,

 

Please allow me to make further comment regarding this matter.

 

The experience of Mr JR500 demonstrates the need to remember that on the other end of the account is a human.  That person might get upset if their account is deleted.  Sometimes we simply need to feel like we belong somewhere.  Better to send a friendly update email every three months than to threaten the suspension of an account.  Of course, if the email bounces then perhaps the account should be suspended, but not deleted.

[Lawrence]

Martijn, I appreciate that this forum does not receive any funding via advertisers, the way we set up ngaugeforum was that we offered n gauge friendly suppliers/manufacturers the option to have a banner or side bar advert for a small fee, clicking it linked directly to their site.  Everything was managed 'in house' to prevent bad cookies or performance compromisation.  As a new start, setting up a new forum, it allowed us to attract income to be able to develop the site, now the site owner can pick and choose their advertisers.  I decided to stand down after a couple of years when I was confident the forum could stand on its own so to speak.

I should stress that I was not inferring that JNS forum was in the same position of requiring advertising, though it would reduce the stress felt on Dons' and your own wallet :icon_smile: my argument was simply that these, silent members can be used to manipulate the numbers when selling a product to potential advertisers

[JR 500系]

Oh what a place to spam! Reported ~

[miyakoji]

I still think there should be a mass cleanup of users based on inactivity, suspect usernames, etc...

[POMU]

There are good and bad issues here.  Agree we should get rid of spammers, but what about members who only use the forum for info, enjoying the pictures of layouts, info on prototypes, help with problems with their trains, and not posting.  I don't feel posting should be a requirement for deleting members.  As for suspected user ID's - does anyone know what POMU means?  I would hate to be deleted because my ID was suspect by not posting.  My posts are only relevant to me regarding the forum.  This the best forum I've been a member of and would hate to lose members, due to their inactivity regarding posting.  An email to non-active members regarding their interest, status, and whether or not they would like to remain members would be a good tool for thinning the membership if the Admin so desires.  Thanks to those who have given opinions regarding this topic.

Safe, Healthy, and Merry Christmas to All !

POMU

[katoftw]

inactivity is different from not posting.  if they are logging on and not posting, then fine.  if they ain't logging on.  either they ain't coming back or are/were a spammer.

[E6系]

Hello,

 

I think members who have not logged in since the forum was moved over to IPB should be deleted.  Such as: http://www.jnsforum.com/community/user/78-10000fistsintheair/

 

I also think that members who last logged in on the day they joined should be deleted, provided that day was in 2013 or earlier.  Such as: http://www.jnsforum.com/community/user/1732-thamerobin/

[railsquid]

Sounds reasonable, it's more-or-less the approach I use on the (non-railway-related) forum I manage.

 

Whatever policies are in place here, they're pretty effective at keeping spammers to a minimum - kudos.

[Densha]

I vote for a combination of E6 and POMU's ideas: sending message to members who have not logged in since they joined (or something) and if no log in within a certain time limit deleting the account.

 

But the forum is overflowing with spam the last two days and it's not deleted yet. There's more in life than JNS, but ermm where art thou dear moderators?

Edited December 21, 2014 by Densha

[cteno4]

Well it's not overflowing with spam, they come in waves! It's simple for the mods to zap the spam accounts and posts when promptly reported. Trying to clean out these accounts with emails and such is a lot of work for the mods. I really don't see the use of it other than just being OC, as it won't effect spamming. There are forums I go a long time between visiting and it would probably stop me from resigning up if I were dropped for not coming back at a set interval.

 

The mods have their own lives. They will kill them, it's also the holidays, give them a vacation, those few spams won't kill the forum.

 

Jeff

[Guest ___]

Hey, he was recommended two years ago as a moderator !! Didn't seem interested!

 

Sounds like bikkuri bahn is itching to be assistant administrator! :)

 

Rich K.