I've been reporting spam via the report button on a regular basis but recently after doing so I actually got banned myself due to some sort of software issue on the site so lost all access to the forum. Although I'm back on now thanks to help from Wayne ALL my previous posts have disappeared which hopefully he will be able to restore at some stage. So..... if you want to report any spam DON'T use the report button but instead reply to the thread using @Havit to let Wayne know the problem. Then click on the poster's username and select the ignore option. Hopefully Wayne will be able to get @Rob to do something about this but in the meantime don't risk getting banned accidentally by using the report button as It's a PITA if yiu do!
Fecking tell me about it. Got access via my phone quickly thanks to Wayne but it went tits again next day. Because of cookies? my laptop was a different matter and kept saying there was a problem with the site. In the end I had to delete the site from my bookmarks and start again. All because I was trying to be helpful.......feck knows what would happen if I started being nice to the wife......
Not altogether a bad thing. Just hit the ignore function… when you actually can, seeing how's some of them have figured a way to bypass that. At this point reporting them is more or less pointless. Ignore and move on.
Many people will not see this and use the report button. This isn't a good situation if there's some link between the two and it needs fixing properly, or at least some sort of explanation.
Thanks for heads up, but cant help thinking admin should be taking the lead on temporary solutions or rectification to members.
You're welcome. The problem as I see it is that the site owner has lost interest in the forum to the point where he rarely makes an appearance, leaving the day to day admin role to @Havit who's doing this on a totally voluntary basis giving his time for free so he's only got a very limited amount of time available so it's up to us to limit the disruption of these spammers ourselves, which is a simple and quick thing to do.
I think the problem runs a little deeper that that. Rob only logs in every month or two so he won't have any idea what's going on. That's not good for a service where you're inviting people to pay. He's also practically impossible to get hold of. He doesn't reply to messages. The forum software is woefully out of date and no longer supported. Everything will be ok until one day it isn't. Then we'll find out if Rob is interested enough to fix it, including paying for upgrades. If he's not, all the information posted here over the years, not to mention contacts across the world, will be lost. So far I've seen two people say they are losing interest and two have recently lost all their posts. For some mysterious reason we've also seen post counts reducing. Are old posts being deleted to save space in the database rather than extending it? It would be nice to be able to get some answers. Just be clear, this is not @Havit's problem, nor is he able to resolve or answer some of these issues. He's a moderator of the forum (and much appreciated for his efforts), not a technical administrator.
I'm the other one who's 5500 posts went into the cyber bin, but not by my choice. I too got banned all good fun, and I like others here donate to this forum with no help or solutions from the main owner. If @Havit ever gives up being admin, this forum will go down the pan.
Yikes! What a HUGE bummer that you, @Bikerman, and you, @littleade lost all your posts and threads. And you guys got banned on top of that? What in the world is that all about? This is disturbing. Personally, I've put a lot of time, thought, and energy into threads I've posted over the years (especially travel reports) and would be very sad to lose them. I know there are many others who would feel the same. Then there's that great map that @Octoberon just put together which I imagine took a ton of time and energy. And even worse, as Saul said, would be losing all the forum friends and contacts we've each developed over time. There must be some way to contact Rob? Wayne (@Havit), are you able to communicate with him? Double yikes.....
Your posts are top notch, and to loose your excellent posts would be a great loss indeed. As you say you put a hell of a lot of time and effort to to give us all here a very enjoyable and informative read, only to wake up one morning to find them all gone. Rather makes you wonder why someone would bother to go to great lengths, to produce a great post such as yours @Sandi T only to have it in the back of their mind that they could go walkies without warning.
Thanks for the heads up. The Spam is a pain and seems to be increasing. I hope something can be done. This is the only forum I use, owing to the really good people that contribute…..and of course the great and fair admin.
There may be a way to preserve post from the forum in the event of a disaster, or even having to rehome. Needs some further investigation.
