Messages

1

Site Information / New Member Signup Code

« on: May 17, 2013, 11:25:21 PM »

If you are signing up to be a CR member, the VERIFICATION CODE required on the signup page is intended to stop Spam Robots from logging in. 
 
It is not there to discourage new membership, but to make the forum a more pleasant place for valid users.
 
Please cut and paste the following verification code into the question on the signup page.
 
#canon200-400LX$X

2

Site Information / Re: Membership Approval Now Required

« on: May 11, 2013, 04:14:55 PM »

I think it is a right step forward. My nickname here is pedro. It refers to my affinity for latin america. And it is also linked to me as an enthusiast photo amateur. Once you want me to change it into "Peter Hauri Enthusiast Photo Amateur", just mail me  Oh, as long as I keep my posting credits, though...

The type of weird user ID's the spammers use are like "#nbhiortn[hysqwuiolv]"  Actual ID
 
 
No problem with a ID like Pedro, we have contacted only one member and changed their display name for them, since it was a web site .com name intended perhaps to boost their google ratings?  We do let people link to their web site in their signature.  This is what many spammers try to do, so we watch for that.
 
Email addresses like kuzynnickpppeppxeeppzxp@gmail.com  are a dead giveaway.  Even more obvious emails are from   baituole3@mailondandan.com or zczcvtrzs@mailabconline.com or

xvswvwsfws@shoeonlineblog.com     We can block domains that are big offenders, which is why 98% use gmail.     Users can go to their profile and change their display name without affecting their user id.  This is simple and easy to do.

3

Site Information / Re: Membership Approval Now Required

« on: May 10, 2013, 02:37:44 PM »

We will not approve membership if the account name looks like a advertisement, is a e-mail address, or just sounds phoney,  It is definitely better if a account name has some recognizable link to photography.

This is way too subjective and what may be an advertisement / email / phoney to you may just be perfect for someone else. Compound this by the fact that the username will be rejected after one day I doubt a genuine user who is rejected will bother to try again (I certainly wouldn't, but that's just me).

IMHO a captcha is a better idea as suggested above.

Of course, we use captcha. 

With human assisted spambots, its no barrier, and most robots read it as well.  Those who think captcha is fool proof are out of date, 10 years out.  Captcha is like a screen on the front end, each step filters out a few potential spammers.  We don't reject someone unless their user name is clearly out of line.  Rules are not posted just to help spammers get around them.

We check new signups for duplicate ip's, internet providers, and a warning pops up if they have been banned before.  Its far from fool proof, just another screen to filter out what we can.

4

Site Information / Re: Membership Approval Now Required

« on: May 10, 2013, 10:25:51 AM »

Well, as an already registered user I don't mind this, but why are you not implementing a Q&A process? Ask a specific question during the sign-up and tell the users that the answer is on your help site and not on the register page. Anybody answering that question correctly will have been a human and not a bot. Should weed out quite a bit of the bots. (Got rid of 99.99% of all SPAM accounts on my two forums)

Those who sign up must answer two questions.  Robots unfortunately know this and have a ton of questions and answers programmed in to them.  They are always one step ahead.
 
There are huge halls full of people working for spam companies who do nothing but create accounts.  I mentioned Robots, but its those human assisted robots that are the issue.
 
They concentrate on the larger web sites because that's where the exposure is.
 
We have other measures taken that keep them from posting, but they are loading up the server with almost 1/2 million user accounts, and 90% of the online users were spammers.  That's already down to 10% or less.

5

Site Information / Membership Approval Now Required

« on: May 09, 2013, 10:36:07 PM »

We are now requiring membership approval of each new member.  The reason for this is the 400 new account signups by spam robots each day. 

Approvals usually take as day or less to complete.

We are weeding out the spam accounts, but that will take time.

We will not approve membership if the account name looks like a advertisement, is a e-mail address, or just sounds phoney,  It is definitely better if a account name has some recognizable link to photography.

6

Site Information / Forum Down Briefly for Maintenance

« on: May 01, 2013, 04:54:03 PM »

We apologize for the interruption due to maintenance of the forum.  I'm hoping it won't happen again, but there are more things that need attention.

7

Pricewatch Deals / J Colwell Used Lens Price Database

« on: April 29, 2013, 01:34:09 PM »

J Colwell has a excellent database of used lens prices.  For those who want to know values, check it.

http://www.jcolwell.ca/photography/lens$db/Lens$db-v23.pdf

8

Software & Accessories / Re: What external 'scratch' disk setup do you use/recommend?

« on: April 24, 2013, 02:56:05 PM »

When you say "scratch disk", I think of the setting for scratch disk in photoshop.  It needs to be very fast and if you use a external disk, USB and Firewire are painfully slow.

You might be better off getting a large fast SSD, a 960GB Crucial SSD costs $600.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listmodule/SSD/~983040~~M500~/list.html

9

Lenses / Re: Rubber Seal 24-70 f2.8 L

« on: April 24, 2013, 11:39:45 AM »

1.   Call Canon directly.  They will sell parts to owners.  Its best if you have a part number, but they will try to help.

2.   Call a third party authorized distributor like Midwest Camera, Precision Camera, ...

You can Google for Authorized Canon Camera Repair Depot

10

PowerShot / Re: SX50 outperforming 5DIII +100-400mm

« on: April 18, 2013, 07:54:32 PM »

Funnily enough I was in Best Buy yesterday and saw the SX50, it is tiny!

When compared to which point & Shoot??

Compared to a 5D MkIII and a 1200mm lens! 

Its tiny compared to the pile of cash needed to buy the Canon EF 1200mm lens!

11

Site Information / Re: Minimum CR Forum IQ?

« on: April 11, 2013, 09:22:25 PM »

What happens to the people who don't meet the minimum IQ? Do they have to go post on Nikon sites?

I thought it was obvious, we become admins

12

Site Information / Re: Love or Hate Canon Rumors Forum

« on: April 04, 2013, 05:51:51 PM »

I stopped reading for awhile.  But to be honest, there seems to be a bit of an upswing in the quality of some of the threads.  So I have been reading more often for awhile now.  Ironically, it seems that the fewer "rumors" the better the content of the forums.

+1


Things tend to go south when there are new model announcements, lots of flaming and arguments about how disappointing, and then the name calling. 

I think some members just stay away for a few days when that is going on.

13

Third Party Manufacturers / Re: Ankorwatt goes to angkor wat

« on: April 04, 2013, 01:10:19 PM »

Seeing the images in this thread, shot by a thirty year pro photographer, just makes me realise it has absolutely nothing to do with the gear, just get out there and shoot. Reading your acceptance of Mikael's latest persona on face value makes me realise time spent arguing here is largely wasted.

The mods are aware of the alternate user name, Mikael has a lot of knowledge and experience. 

We are hoping that things go better than in the past.


Lets all post some photos.

14

EOS Bodies / Re: Canon EOS 7D L Announced, Shipping in May

« on: April 01, 2013, 11:00:03 AM »

Although a tad awkard it's possible to use a battery-gripped body lefthanded , flip it so both shutters point up It's a bit tight between the thumb and forehead, but hey 

I'm left handed, but I have so many years of holding a camera in my right, I probably would feel awkward with it.  However, I did hold my TLR in my left hand, so maybe I'd try it.

15

Site Information / Re: Moderators: Accidental ban of whole subnet

« on: March 25, 2013, 11:32:40 AM »

Have you tried implementing a question -> response registration type? (Not sure, been a while since I last registered here)
I had a similar problem on my page a while back and none of the CAPTCHAS worked. So I created a custom field on the registration page where I asked a question stating where the answer can be found. (Must be on a different page, on the top of the Help page should work) It's very easy for real humans to answer the question (open a new tap and voila) but bots will have a very problem going around that one. You can even easily generate a new Q&A every day making sure that the answer is nor being spread around or guessed easily.

On my page the amount of spam accounts went from daily to pretty much zilch. (Haven't had a bot in months)

Yes, there is a response question.  However, the nature of SEO spamming is changing as well.  Now, there are large rooms full of people who work for a few cents a day manually creating accounts and going thru the login procedure.
 
 
There are still lots of robots, but the manual process is more successful.  They even post some text that may or may not be relevant, but its always obvious to readers.
 
 
We get maybe 3-7 spams thru a day, and these are handled pretty quickly.  Thanks to those who report them.  Those who pay SEO companies to do this are usually clueless, or they do get results and don't care.  Even a big Fortune 500 company got caught hiring a shady SEO Spammer a couple of years back.