5 replies to this topic

[Kudzu]

Frank, I am getting a lot of emails and I am thinking about directing people to the forum to ask questions. My question is can they create an account and get instant access or do you manually approve new people? It's been so long I don't remember and you may have changed your methods anyway.

Jeff

[Frank Hagan]

Frank, I am getting a lot of emails and I am thinking about directing people to the forum to ask questions. My question is can they create an account and get instant access or do you manually approve new people? It's been so long I don't remember and you may have changed your methods anyway.

Jeff

I'm going to try allowing instant access after they respond to an email. I was still manually approving new registrations to try and catch spam, but the new software actually checks registrations against a database for "known spammers". All new members are in the "New Members" group and cannot post links, etc. unless they have at least one posted message.

They can also use their Facebook or Twitter log in details for instant access. Initially they have to use their username from those services, but after posting a message they can change their username in their profile.

[Kudzu]

Great and thanks for the answer.

I keep getting the same or similar questions over and over and maybe if direct them to the forum to ask questions I will not have to answer the sames ones. Maybe after a while I will get some followers that can answer the questions for me even.

[Frank Hagan]

Great and thanks for the answer.

I keep getting the same or similar questions over and over and maybe if direct them to the forum to ask questions I will not have to answer the sames ones. Maybe after a while I will get some followers that can answer the questions for me even.

Forums are good for that; people can search the past questions and answers and often get what they need. Otherwise things like Facebook and twitter, or plain old email, are used. I try to keep every message online and accessible, but there are settings that allow forums to prune themselves every X number of days. It keeps the size down, but removes the one advantage forums have over the other social media like Facebook and Twitter.

[Kudzu]

I use Facebook but not much traffic yet. I don't mind answering emails but I can see if this keeps up it could be 2-3 hour a day job. So looking for options now. It may put off people but "I think" if they are serious they will ask on here.

[Frank Hagan]

A lot of people will prefer being able to search a forum, but you'll still have others who want to make sure they can email you directly. I fall into the former camp; if I can search a forum and find an answer I'm happy.

Several registrations have gone through since yesterday, and two have been caught by the spam service during registration so that's a good sign. I'm sure someone will slip through ... it always happens ... but making it easier to join in is my goal.