WT Forums

There's no site suggestion forum so I'm posting this here.

I joined this site about 3 years ago. I sent in the application and then I had to send an email reminder/request when the original application went unanswered. No biggie.

Recently a buddy of mine had to do the same exact thing...sent in an application for registration, then after a few weeks had to send an email (after I told him what I had to do) and now is in.

This is a pretty quiet forum for the most part so I wonder how many people tried to join but didn't send in a secondary email for verification to get in? There's no information about having to send in a secondary email.

As a forum moderator for SimHQ.com (assistant forums manager for nearly 20,000 members) and Military.com (USAF forum) we let just about anybody in and weed them out of they screw up. Many folks may not realize they should have to send in an email reminder that they were overlooked...or screened for common sense because they realized they should send an email to get in.

I realize the A-10 community is pretty small, but it seems it should be a little easier for A-10 folks and enthusiasts to join this site.

What gets me thinking this way is when my base still had F-16s. F-16.net is a huge website with a huge forum with thousands of members. Ask a question there and it will be answered within an hour most of the time. Being a bit smaller aircraft-wise, this site should be able to answer questions or take part in discussions within a few hours...where it can sometimes take a few days currently.

My suggestion would be to make it a bit easier to join this site (mods can weed out the bad apples...I could help if needed...I do it on a few other forums).

Another thing I noticed today...the A-10.org main page...most of the links for other units and things in the other A-10 links (unit pages, etc) are dead links. Doesn't look like they've been updated for years...and most are dead links.

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SoWW #2485
Cave Putorium!

Weasel, didn't know it took two emails to get into the forums? I'm an admin but I don't receive new member requests I-ride-a-pale-horse does. I agree it should be easy to join and I can make those changes but would have to get the OK from the sites owner...let me look into it.

As far as member numbers..yea it's always been a few core members with a few more who come and go as they come to the A-10 or leave it to go to other jobs/aircraft. Maybe it's because we are pretty strict (maybe to strict sometimes) on giving out info on the A-10 we feel the public doesn't need...don't know. I would love to see new members and have the forums grow but, it has just never happen...at least in the 10 or so years I've been coming here.

The main site is outdated but the owner has moved-on to other interests. He has been nice enough to allow the forums to remain without charging us for it's use..which is pretty cool in MHO.

Don't know how to improve membership but, if anyone here have any ideas I'm more than willing to hear them... and try to make them happen.

That's cool Dice. I agree folks don't need to know too much for OPSEC reasons.

I'm just realizing that for the most part, from what I've seen already in my 3.5 months on the road last year to different A-10 bases, the A-10 world is a small community compared to say the F-16 or F-15 world (you pick a plane). In the year since I started on the A-10 I've already bumped into A-10 guys in other places who I've met at their base originally. I already zapped a couple Baltimore A-10s with stickers that stopped at my base because I know the Crew Chiefs of them. BTW, Baltimore guys hate having Indianapolis Colts stickers on their doors.

I have a few A-10 guys from other bases as friends on my Facebook account and that's about the only way we talk now. It just seems like if more people either knew about this forum or could get in a little easier then maybe it would boom a bit. Who knows...heh.

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SoWW #2485
Cave Putorium!

Between my advertising this site on the DCS A-10C forums I visit and when I'm at moody talking about it I don't know what else to do to try to get more folks here.

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I'd recommend a bit of caution over making membership any easier to obtain. One result of that is an increase in spammers. It is not uncommon for new applicants to have to go to a verification site once they've registered, and even on the \"other\" Air Force forum where I am an admin we require new members to wait 24 hours before they can post. Those tactics have greatly reduced the number of spammers we've gotten.

Sure, there's a chance that those requirements may hinder others from joining; but we look at it this way: If someone really wants to participate on the forum, they'll understand and abide by the procedures to register.

Cheers! M2

Good points M2.

M2, yes good points. Spammers suck.

A certification or waiting period is cool and all, but there's no guidance on this site about that. Recently a buddy of mine at work told me he registered for this site and hadn't heard anything back for a few days or a week or so. I had to tell him to send an email to the membership admin because that's what I figured out to do three years ago. He did and is now in, but if he hadn't thought about sending an email then he'd still be sitting on the outside and wondering why he isn't allowed.

I wonder how many other good folks tried registering but didn't get in and didn't think to email the admin asking why...but just gave up and moved on?

I'm not trying to stir anything up or anything, just asking.

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SoWW #2485
Cave Putorium!

WK

I fully understand, I registered on a gun forum over two weeks ago and am still waiting for my account to be activated. It is getting frustrating and it is not unique to me, a buddy of mine did the same and is waiting as well.

As long as the instructions are clearly explained I don't think folks will have a problem with waiting a day or two for their accounts to be activated; but you are absolutely correct in that with no feedback people will most likely forget about it and move on.

It's all a matter of striking a balance...

Cheers! M2

WK, if any of your friends have not received an email have them email me at thewarthogpen.com@live.com and I'll personalty take care of them.

Plus the Poosiers too Dice,

Stealing content off the site then posting it on their site as their own .
I think thats why I got use to not coming around because I started feeling like I was being more of an \"------------\" then a Crew Dawg.
Wait being a Crew Dawg and a A-Hole went together alot of the Time
Then 1 thing after another, but I need to spend more time around here.

But WK, it has always been one of the Best A-10 Boards on the Net.

Goose

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\"Live Free Or Die\"

Agreed.

If I may post my few bits - I was also overlooked and it was after a week or so until I decided to send my \"reminder\" e-mail. It may be possible that due to some settings flaw and/or outdated system (phpBB v2), e-mails from phpBB's registration system are not delivered at all or end up in \"spam\" folder... So I'd check that in the first place.

As for the new members/spamers problem - if you guys were about to \"move forward\" as for the number of members and except \"possibly problematic\" people, I believe it is a good practice to \"levelize\" forum. Meaning - one of the phpBB forum i co-administer is dedicated to historical/strategy games, but also has \"side-topics\". New members are \"by default\" only allowed to write into primary topic and only after they \"prove themselves\", they are allowed to proceed further/get \"write/post\" rights to those side-topics. Works as a charm.

As for the spammers themselves, there is one fairly easy-to-implement mechanism: spambots tend to fill in every field they can. So, you add one field/textBox to the phpBB's registration form, which is hidden from normal visitors/registrars via CSS \"display:none\". So humans don't see it, but spambots do. And then, the only thing you have to do is simply check length of a text in that field: if it isn't zero, registrar's a spambot. This could be done as a simple user-modification of phpBB template - via JavaScript, for example.