E-mail rule?

Thanks so much for bringing these concerns up, and we definitely appreciate hearing your points of view and opinions.

All I can say is, if you could see the amount of spammers we've kept out of here.... on our bad days we were DISAPPROVING upwards of 100 ID's a day. A DAY.  That in itself is a pile of work.  We do the best we can, but Dog.com has chosen to make it by Admin/Mod approval, so that's what we have.  And, as I said, if you could see how many (obvious) spammers we keep out on a daily basis, I think you'd agree that it is a necessary precaution.

I totally get it, we are an culture of instant gratification.  I myself am that way! :)  I want everything now!  It's what we do.  But, in all honesty, when joining other sites it's become a very common occurance to wait approval.  Again, I'm sorry it's come to that, but as they say a few people ruin it for everyone.  ((sigh)) Stoopid spammers!

rwbeagles

If a person cannot wait 12 hours to get answers? Maybe they can call their VET...or a TRAINER...or a SHELTER??

Gina, a lot of the people John and I deal with have already spent thousands at a vet *and* emergency vet.  I understand the need for an approval process and have NO problem with it.  This has gotten completely derailed from my original comment.  Typically people don't even email me until they've been waiting 2-3 days or a bit longer.  They're never nasty about the approval process -- just worried about their dogs.  Please don't denigrate what that thread has meant to people and the survival of very ill dogs.

It's only ONE thread.  One of zillions on here.  *No One* is asking policy to be changed or made to suit one thread.  We're just asking that no one make a knee jerk policy change because a few people complain. 

The mods have a very difficult job -- you know that as a former mod (and I was one of the ones who reported that disgusting porn/graphic bloody crap that morning TO YOU).  I moderate another board ... same story.  I know the hours spent.  I get it.

I have absolutely no beef with an approval process -- but I just don't want to see it become *more* difficult for folks to contact us.  That was my original point.  It would be lovely if I wasn't the *only* one to get contacted -- but as it happens that's what this is narrowing down to.  I'm the *only* one of the regulars who post there who has a website. 

I care.  I'll do it. 

rwbeagles

I would suggest that you probably have never been a member of a completely open public forum or group

I'm a member of several dog related groups (two of which are heavily moderated....not counting this one).  YES, there is spam/trolling, etc but it isn't enough to be a huge problem.  They're there and then within a day they get deleted.  Same thing with the groups i belong to that aren't dog related.

Is it the IP that's banned or the account based on email?  Just curious.

rwbeagles

Once a group gets over a certain size it is IMPERATIVE that you control the inflow of members.

Hmmm....there's NO POSSIBLE WAY there's more members now than there use to be.  Whenever I read older posts there's always loads of responses and opinions.  Nowadays are only a fraction.  Maybe i'm wrong and there ARE more members now but it sure doesn't seem this way to me.

Maybe the wait period should only include the posting of links instead of the ability to post.  Most spam is link related i'd think....at least most the ones I see.

calliecritturs

It would be lovely if I wasn't the *only* one to get contacted

calliecritturs

Gina, a lot of the people John and I deal with have already spent thousands at a vet *and* emergency vet. 

If someone needs to contact YOU, specifically, instantly I would assume they know you outside of this place, and this is not your "primary contact information", but if it is? as has been pointed out and even illustrated...the approval procedure has zero to do with people being able to get your email or website information if you wish it.

Johnny&Tessy

Hmmm....there's NO POSSIBLE WAY there's more members now than there use to be.  Whenever I read older posts there's always loads of responses and opinions.  Nowadays are only a fraction.  Maybe i'm wrong and there ARE more members now but it sure doesn't seem this way to me.

That'd be because of facebook, both personal and "splinter groups" there John...and frustration with the software AS A WHOLE...since it's implementation YEARS ago. It doesnt run right with xyz browser...its hard to post pics...the PM boxes are wonky...the search has major issues...ETC ETC ETC. The approval process has been in place for a long, long time. And this is also off topic so my apologies, mods.

Johnny&Tessy

I personally think the wait period is ....let me find the right word....CRAP!  I can only imagine how many people try to join and then say forget about it just cause they have to WAIT to be approved???  People who are in a pinch and need advise, or suggestions, or whatever.  People with emergency situations?  People needing help NOW not TOMORROW. 

SPAM????   WTF  I don't like SPAM but it doesn't bother me either.  I'm capable of clicking a few buttons to delete something....I AM NOT THAT LAZY....I SWEAR I AIN'T!

 Just going to iterate what others have said - the approval process is a must at this time.  We were hit earlier this year with thousands of pharmaceutical spammers and no one would have wanted to NOT have to approve all ID's more than we mods.  Trust me.

despite making some changes that took many of those out of the picture there are still spammers every time I log in to approve ID's 

No one in a state of urgency should be looking to post on a forum for immediate responses - surely it isn't expected that people will respond instantaneously.  An email through say Callie's site would be quicker.

If someone chooses to not be a member because they had to wait a day or two for approval, so be it.  When I get paid as a staff member of dog.com to approve ID's all day long I can assure you the wait would be brief.

And yes I've had a long day and find it amazing that people complain about the approval process for a forum, claiming they would prefer to be spammed.

Now at 8:22pm I am going to go back to the work I do get paid for and that has accumulated today while I was doing other work I get paid for.

miranadobe

I promise you - earlier this year when we were deleting 200 spammers A DAY who wanted to use the site to set up their own mini-websites for selling pharmaceuticals, links to casinos, etc, etc, let me tell you - you would have hated life here. 

There *is* absolutely a need for an approval process -- I've been doing this a *long* time and have moderated my other little board for about 13 years -- and I have been the *only* moderator for years.  The worse the economy has gotten the more spammers are adamant they're going to make money "online" and the more creative they've gotten to do it.  It increases the mod's workload (and remember folks they do NOT get paid, they simply do this to "give" to all of us!)

Corporate is well aware that the numbers are way down -- it simply increases traffic a bit and costs them little.  So it doesn't pay us to be pains in the butt.  This could all "go away" in an infinitesimal heartbeat.

Nor do I want to burden the mods **in ANY way**.  You all work unbelievably hard -- far harder than anyone realizes usually (unless like Gina & Glenda you've "done" it). 

That IMHA thread is extremely unusual in the function it holds -- I'm not even going to go into that here.  But as I said above, there are several of us who have tried to be there for folks who need help and support.  I will discuss with my husband and see what brainstorming we can do in case this winds up creating hardship for folks trying to find help.  The majority of them are scared because they don't even know what an "approval process" is.  Often not your typical internet user at all.

But doesn't anyone but John and I find it interesting that WE haven't been on the receiving end of the "spam" Gina and Lies are complaining of??  I'm just not seeing it.  And Paige & Karen know I"m the first one to hit the "Abuse" button when I see it.

I am active daily on half a dozen various forums and IIRC when I joined those I had to wait for approval. Some of these I have been on upwards of ten years.  I also do a fair amount of web design myself and have used various bulletin board installs on my domains so I completely sympathize with dealing with all the spammers.  Most days I was lucky to have one valid member out of thirty.

Also, someone mentioned using the search function and acknowledging its crappiness.  Don't forget that you can use Google to search a specific domain or subdomain!  I always use Google to search iDog and can sort results by date.  Another sneaky thing is that Google searches its own cache, so you can even pull up threads and responses that have been deleted or edited.  So yeah, the search function here sucks but just use Google.  You just type "search:forum.dog.com" and whatever else you are searching for.

As for the spam I got, some of it was breed-specific.  There are not many members as active as I with three purebred GSDs in their signature.  This was not bot-generated spam but a person genuinely typed out a message however I consider it spam because they weren't actually participating on the forum, just using it to look for members to spam via e-mail.  My bad for not reading the rules carefully enough, I assumed we were only protected as far as forum posts and PMs but now the record has been set straight and I can report e-mails when I get them.