Forum user purging

Rob Williams · 08-24-2011, 06:24 PM

As our user count on the forums inched closer to 10,000, I had to do something to bring the number back down. No, it's not that I don't want lots of users on our forums; it's just that I wish more than 20% of them were legit users. To help clean things up, I removed all users who signed up but never activated their accounts, and also those who have never posted (or are spammers). Some stats:

Before Purge

Total Members: 9,971
Database Size: 390.6MB
SQL Records: 206,382

After Purge

Total Members: 2,651
Database Size: 375.8MB
SQL Records: 178,833

The users that were deleted consisted of:

Users with 0 Post Count: 5,297
Users Awaiting Confirmation: 2,024

No regular user should have been affected by this, but if you are in some way, let me know.

TheCrimsonStar · 08-24-2011, 06:27 PM

O_O

dude....wow.

Rob Williams · 08-24-2011, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheCrimsonStar

O_O

dude....wow.

I reverted our registration back to questions and answers, so I'll see if that slows down the spam registrations. It never used to, but these questions are a little more difficult, harder for most bots to answer. We'll see where that goes...

eunoia · 08-27-2011, 12:33 PM

Just testing to see if I was purged, whew.

Doomsday · 08-27-2011, 01:28 PM

Burn the Spamming! Kill the Spam!! Purge the Spammers!!

OriginalJoeCool · 08-27-2011, 05:34 PM

Spammers are among the world's worst scum. They deserve to be rounded up and forced to listen to a selection of the world's worst music. Bieber, Britney Spears, the Jonas Brothers. Play it in a loop non-stop, until their brains liquefy.

DarkStarr · 08-27-2011, 09:06 PM

I think you forgot the barney song in there after every other song

OriginalJoeCool · 08-27-2011, 09:38 PM

I knew I was missing something.

RainMotorsports · 08-27-2011, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OriginalJoeCool

I knew I was missing something.

If were going old school don't forget about the song that never ends. Pretty sure that alone after 5 days in solitary could drive even the strong minded insane.

Rob Williams · 01-09-2012, 06:25 PM

I sure don't regret moving to a moderated system for new users. Here's an idea of the spam you don't see:

Click image for larger version

Name: the_spam_you_never_see.png
Views: 57
Size: 147.0 KB
ID: 1365

OriginalJoeCool · 01-09-2012, 06:39 PM

I used to go to the forums on pinkfloyd.net, but it looks pretty much like that picture now.

MacMan · 01-09-2012, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

As our user count on the forums inched closer to 10,000, I had to do something to bring the number back down. No, it's not that I don't want lots of users on our forums; it's just that I wish more than 20% of them were legit users. To help clean things up, I removed all users who signed up but never activated their accounts, and also those who have never posted (or are spammers). Some stats:

Before Purge

Total Members: 9,971
Database Size: 390.6MB
SQL Records: 206,382

After Purge

Total Members: 2,651
Database Size: 375.8MB
SQL Records: 178,833

The users that were deleted consisted of:

Users with 0 Post Count: 5,297
Users Awaiting Confirmation: 2,024

No regular user should have been affected by this, but if you are in some way, let me know.

Wow, I wish they were all legit users! At least you save a lot of space and cut down on the spam.

Rob Williams · 01-09-2012, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacMan

Wow, I wish they were all legit users! At least you save a lot of space and cut down on the spam.

Some forums just let that thing slide, so that it "appears" that their forum has a ton of users. And while 10,000 users looks better than 2,000, this is where I can't make a compromise. I'd rather have a forum with genuine users than one with 80% spam users. Stats wouldn't look so good if there are 50,000 posts and 25,000 spam users

MacMan · 01-09-2012, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

Some forums just let that thing slide, so that it "appears" that their forum has a ton of users. And while 10,000 users looks better than 2,000, this is where I can't make a compromise. I'd rather have a forum with genuine users than one with 80% spam users. Stats wouldn't look so good if there are 50,000 posts and 25,000 spam users

I totally agree, 100%!

Doomsday · 01-10-2012, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

Some forums just let that thing slide, so that it "appears" that their forum has a ton of users. And while 10,000 users looks better than 2,000, this is where I can't make a compromise. I'd rather have a forum with genuine users than one with 80% spam users. Stats wouldn't look so good if there are 50,000 posts and 25,000 spam users

^ Respect!

08-24-2011, 06:24 PM	#1
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	Forum user purging As our user count on the forums inched closer to 10,000, I had to do something to bring the number back down. No, it's not that I don't want lots of users on our forums; it's just that I wish more than 20% of them were legit users. To help clean things up, I removed all users who signed up but never activated their accounts, and also those who have never posted (or are spammers). Some stats: Before Purge Total Members: 9,971 Database Size: 390.6MB SQL Records: 206,382 After Purge Total Members: 2,651 Database Size: 375.8MB SQL Records: 178,833 The users that were deleted consisted of: Users with 0 Post Count: 5,297 Users Awaiting Confirmation: 2,024 No regular user should have been affected by this, but if you are in some way, let me know. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

08-24-2011, 06:27 PM	#2
TheCrimsonStar Tech Monkey Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Strawberry Plains, TN Posts: 816	O_O dude....wow. __________________ Intel Core i5-2500k @ 3.3GHz ASUS Sabertooth P67 Corsair XMS 1600 8GB (2 x 4GB) XFX Radeon HD 6970 Corsair CMPSU-850TX 850W Corsair H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler Windows 7 Professional (x64)

08-27-2011, 12:33 PM	#4
eunoia Partition Master Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Outside Poker Flat Posts: 305	Just testing to see if I was purged, whew. __________________ Cooler Master HAF X - Thermaltake Toughpower W0178RU 850W - Gigabyte G1.Assassin - Intel Core i7 930 - Noctua NH-U12P SE2 - Kingston HyperX Red 1600 3X4GB - XFX 6850 - 2 X SAMSUNG DVD SH-S223L - WD Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB - WD Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB - Acer AL2216W - Tt eSports Challenger - Logitech MX 620 - Win 7 Pro x64

08-27-2011, 01:28 PM	#5
Doomsday Tech Junkie Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: KHI, PAK Posts: 1,539	Burn the Spamming! Kill the Spam!! Purge the Spammers!! __________________ PSU: Corsair AX850 - Case: Cooler Master HAF X - CPU:Core i7-2600k - Cooler: Cooler Master V6 GT - Motherboard: Asus Z68 Maximus IV Extreme Z - Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8 GB-1600Mhz - GPU: AMD MSI R6970 Lightning - HDD: WD Caviar Black 1TB, Seagate 2TB Barracuda Green - SSD: Intel 520 Series 120GB - K/B: Razer Lycosa Mirror - Mouse: Logitech G700 - MouseMat: Steel Series 4HD - LCD: Samsung 2333SW 23" - Speakers: Creative Inspire M4500 4.1 - Headset: Logitech G35 7.1 "Do not look at a man's prayers nor his fasts, rather, measure him by how well he deals with others, the compassion he shows his fellow man, his wisdom and his integrity" - Umar Ibn Al-Khattab

08-27-2011, 05:34 PM	#6
OriginalJoeCool Tech Monkey Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada Posts: 616	Spammers are among the world's worst scum. They deserve to be rounded up and forced to listen to a selection of the world's worst music. Bieber, Britney Spears, the Jonas Brothers. Play it in a loop non-stop, until their brains liquefy. __________________ Last.fm Raptr "Man could hold the universe in his palm, if only he could learn to unclench his fist."

08-27-2011, 09:06 PM	#7
DarkStarr Tech Monkey Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 623	I think you forgot the barney song in there after every other song __________________ Intel Core i7 2700k (4.8 @ 100x48) Watercooled - 16GB Crucial Ballistix @ 1600 Mhz 9.9.9.24 2T 8GB Corsair Vengeance @ 1600 Mhz 9.9.9.24 2T - Asus Sabertooth P67 - Asus Radeon 7970 Ref. (Non Ghz) Heatkiller 79xx Ni-Bl (Soon) @ 1050/1500 - 64Gb Crucial M4 SSD - 3x Hitachi 1Tb - Corsair TX950W Azza Genesis 9000B - 2x Samsung SyncMaster S27A550H - Vizio 32" LCD

08-27-2011, 09:38 PM	#8
OriginalJoeCool Tech Monkey Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada Posts: 616	I knew I was missing something. __________________ Last.fm Raptr "Man could hold the universe in his palm, if only he could learn to unclench his fist."

01-09-2012, 06:25 PM	#10
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	I sure don't regret moving to a moderated system for new users. Here's an idea of the spam you don't see: __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

01-09-2012, 06:39 PM	#11
OriginalJoeCool Tech Monkey Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada Posts: 616	I used to go to the forums on pinkfloyd.net, but it looks pretty much like that picture now. __________________ Last.fm Raptr "Man could hold the universe in his palm, if only he could learn to unclench his fist."

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