PM System Disabled?

[Graham_and_Karen]

When trying to view a new PM, I got a message saying that the Personal Messaging system was disabled and that a software upgrade was required. I presume it's not just my laptop.

[John R]

When trying to view a new PM, I got a message saying that the Personal Messaging system was disabled and that a software upgrade was required. I presume it's not just my laptop.

Same with me

John R

[harribobs]

me too

[Noopsy]

And another thing...

Board Statistics

Members Online Today: 43

Most members ever online was 70 last accomplished on April 16th, 2009  

Looks like the poor old Board is beginning to show signs of its age. :'(

[Ploppy]

Sorry guys, just got back from ten days with the in-laws and a journey home from hell.

I'll take a look tomorrow.

Cheers,

Paul

[Graham_and_Karen]

Sorry guys, just got back from ten days with the in-laws and a journey home from hell.

I'll take a look tomorrow.

Cheers,

Paul

Hope your break was good. Of course, any of us could have fixed the problem

[Mike G]

And another thing...

Board Statistics

Members Online Today: 43

Most members ever online was 70 last accomplished on April 16th, 2009  

Looks like the poor old Board is beginning to show signs of its age. :'(

That figure of 70 is misleading. On any day there are lots of "validating members" who have logged on. From their "names" many seem to be spammers, Viagra vendors and their ilk. At the time of writing this there have been 16 members on-line today and 11 of the "validating members". On some days there are many more of the latter. A check of the membership list will find over 500 "validating members" whom Paul has not accepted into membership, probably with good reason. I have no idea how he separates out the genuine from the non genuine.

Mike

[Ploppy]

me too

Basically we are being forced to the latest version of the software due to a spam problem and Invision servers being blacklisted.

I could bypass the message you all get and re-enable the PM system but we then face account suspension from Invision.

I am doing a full site backup now and will perform the upgrade later.

However upgrading means we have to install an encrypted version of the software which means I can no longer modify it.
Therefore we will lose things like the article system, arcade, statistics, who was online etc.

To be able to still modify it will require purchasing a licence at $150, I might do this. At a later date we could move the hosting elsewhere to save money.

At the moment we are paying $20 a month to Invision to host our board.

Another option would be to move to other forum software, personally I am quite happy with Invision though there are a number of options out there.

Any thoughts anyone?

Cheers,

Paul

[harribobs]

have a look at my forum, it's simple machines and it's free

then if you are looking at a reasonable host, i could recommend mine

[Ploppy]

That figure of 70 is misleading. On any day there are lots of "validating members" who have logged on. From their "names" many seem to be spammers, Viagra vendors and their ilk. At the time of writing this there have been 16 members on-line today and 11 of the "validating members". On some days there are many more of the latter. A check of the membership list will find over 500 "validating members" whom Paul has not accepted into membership, probably with good reason. I have no idea how he separates out the genuine from the non genuine.

Mike

Yes that is right, there seems to be no way of stopping 'validating' members from logging in.

Every couple of days I go though the list of validating members and either delete or approve them.
I do this manually by looking at the chosen username and e-mail address, it is usually pretty obvious which are genuine. If in doubt I check the IP address against an online list of known spamming addresses.

When we upgrade the problem should be eradicated with the new re-catchpha system (where you type in characters from a picture on screen).

[Ploppy]

have a look at my forum, it's simple machines and it's free

then if you are looking at a reasonable host, i could recommend mine

Thanks for the heads up Chris.

Not come across that one before, looks good.

[Chas]

Putting in my bobs-worth - we use phpBB3 because it's (1) free and (2) well supported by techie writers doing all sorts of wonderful (open source style) things to help customise the basic package.

Have a look at the forum I'm an admin of: http://www.mastihari.net/mastihariforum/

I'm not a full-blown techie but I put in several MODs and tweaks without difficulty - documentation and support is very good..

Re Spammers - we suffered really badly for a while, even with a CAPTCHA package in place .... until I plugged in a "humans only" MOD which beats the spam-bots that bypass CAPTCHA by asking a simple question.  Worked a treat - no more spam registrations (so far).


You can get free hosting with NO noticible restrictions from http://www.forumotion.com/ - a pal of mine has been running a few there for over a year, with minimal problems and a whole raft of "portal-ed" add-ons, like the article system and arcade.

[Graham_and_Karen]

Nothing much to add as I don't work with forums but if there are free options, they seem like a good idea. $20 a month seems expensive given the limitations it is/will impose on the site.

I do enjoy the Plakias forum but am now use facebook for nearly all my social networking. There are two Plakias groups on Facebook that would be fine (if not better) for the messaging and photo posting that's done - or why not start our own group - that way, I presume the administrators would retain some control over it. Another advantage of a Facebook group is that it offers instant messaging. I'm sure some people have been turned off Facebook by privacy worries but the privacy controls are really very good allowing you to limit what you share with others.

Graham

[Ploppy]

Nothing much to add as I don't work with forums but if there are free options, they seem like a good idea. $20 a month seems expensive given the limitations it is/will impose on the site.

I do enjoy the Plakias forum but am now use facebook for nearly all my social networking. There are two Plakias groups on Facebook that would be fine (if not better) for the messaging and photo posting that's done - or why not start our own group - that way, I presume the administrators would retain some control over it. Another advantage of a Facebook group is that it offers instant messaging. I'm sure some people have been turned off Facebook by privacy worries but the privacy controls are really very good allowing you to limit what you share with others.

Graham

Only recently started with the Facebook malarky and I can see its appeal.
We certainly have nothing to lose by giving a group on there a go.
I've created an open one which you can find at Plakias Forum Facebook Group

With regards to the forum hosting and software, i'll await some more comments and discuss with John what he would like to do, as he currently pays the hosting fees (with your appreciated contributions)

I will leave it un-upgraded for now which means we can still use all of the features (except PM)

Thanks,

Paul

[Graham_and_Karen]

Nothing much to add as I don't work with forums but if there are free options, they seem like a good idea. $20 a month seems expensive given the limitations it is/will impose on the site.

I do enjoy the Plakias forum but am now use facebook for nearly all my social networking. There are two Plakias groups on Facebook that would be fine (if not better) for the messaging and photo posting that's done - or why not start our own group - that way, I presume the administrators would retain some control over it. Another advantage of a Facebook group is that it offers instant messaging. I'm sure some people have been turned off Facebook by privacy worries but the privacy controls are really very good allowing you to limit what you share with others.

Graham

Only recently started with the Facebook malarky and I can see its appeal.
We certainly have nothing to lose by giving a group on there a go.
I've created an open one which you can find at Plakias Forum Facebook Group

With regards to the forum hosting and software, i'll await some more comments and discuss with John what he would like to do, as he currently pays the hosting fees (with your appreciated contributions)

I will leave it un-upgraded for now which means we can still use all of the features (except PM)

Thanks,

Paul

 Joined the Facebook group, photos copied and a topic started all in 5 mins. Hope to see more of you there soon.