Urgent Notice: New Members PLEASE READ!

[mooniac58]

As many of you are aware over the last couple months and escalating today in an epic nature the site has been invaded by spam bots.  It reached a level that was no longer manageable so I have set all new accounts to requiring manual approval.  

IF YOU JUST REGISTERED A NEW ACCOUNT: Please contact me using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the site requesting approval.  Make sure to include your username on the site as I won't know you by your real name and your emails might not match. This might take up to 24 hours so please be patient.

Going forward these are the changes I am proposing:

1. All new accounts will be created as a "basic member" that cannot create content but can browse the forums.
2. All current members will become "verified" members.  No action or fee required to keep using the site as you already are.
3. To become a new "verified member" you will have a couple options.  For instant and easy access you will pay a small fee.  Probably a one time $3.00 fee something like that and your account will be verified for life, no additional payments required.  A free alternative and slower method will be available where the new user can email me a copy of their ID and something like a utility bill to prove they are who they say they are.

As part of this I have upgraded the forum software to include their "commerce" package which will enable the site to automatically take payments for a number of things like membership fees, selling items, etc.  I have been considering this for a while since it will automate the current donation system that requires me to manually upgrade accounts after donations which can take time and is prone to errors (such as PayPal emails not matching user emails and me not being able to find accounts to upgrade).

So in the near future I expect to change the current "donate $10 or more to remove ads and get Supporter level access for a year" to something more like a $25 per year auto-renewal membership that is completely managed within your member area of the site.  While going from $10 to $25 seems drastic, I need to pick a single amount for all users and $25 is actually what the average donation is now from the past 12 months.  Also consider that the minimum donation has been the same $10 minimum since 2008 (hard to believe I have been operating this site for 17 years!) and I have been considering raising it to $15 or $20 for a while now. 

Note that all current Supporter level members will remain as such until it has been 12 months since their last manual donation.

I hope this all makes sense.  Please feel free to post your comments below.  I might not get to reading them all so if you have something really important to tell me please use the in-site messaging system. 

Thank you all for your patience as we dealt with the floods of spam over the past couple months.  It was frustrating for all of us I know.

Craig

[Rick Junkin]

Thanks for all you do Craig! The content and info exchange here is certainly more than worth the minimum $25 a year.

[Schllc]

33 minutes ago, Rick Junkin said:

Thanks for all you do Craig! The content and info exchange here is certainly more than worth the minimum $25 a year.

Agreed

[ta2too]

Thank-You Craig for all you do. It is very much appreciated.

[Hank]

This sounds like a reasonable anti-AI-bot response. 

Is there some way to know when our 12-months is going to expire, or just wait for the ads to appear? At least the new method will allow instant renewal. 

Thank you, @mooniac58!!

[mooniac58]

Not really a way to tell other than check your PayPal history.  If the new system works as I hope it will then you will have all those details in there.

[MooneyMitch]

Thank you Craig for Mooneyspace and your continued efforts.

[Mooney in Oz]

3 hours ago, mooniac58 said:

While going from $10 to $25 seems drastic, I need to pick a single amount for all users and $25 is actually what the average donation is now from the past 12 months.

$25 a year is great value for the informative details I often read and enjoyment I get as being a part of this site for the past 11 years.

Thank you Craig.

[FLYFST]

Thank you for all the efforts Craig and for MooneySpace. The $25 fee is one I’m pleased to pay for all the value delivered.
Hank


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[PT20J]

Thanks Craig. Very well thought out plan and $25 is more than fair. 

[hammdo]

Agree! And the spammers are hitting the site again…

[amillet]

I can’t find the ignore button

[LardLad]

Thank you for fixing the spam flood!

[mooniac58]

3 hours ago, hammdo said:

Agree! And the spammers are hitting the site again…

Yeah apparently they had not yet used some of the accounts they created before I restricted new registrations.  These might still creep in for a few days until we weed out the last remaining accounts.  Please report these to me using the "report" option in the "..." menu at the top right of the post.

Thanks!

[midlifeflyer]

I said this in another thread, but I’ll treat it here.

Here’s what I don’t understand. I have been in online groups since the days of AvSig on Compuserve and rec.aviation.* on Usenet. MooneySpace is one of several forums I participate in now. It is the only one that is continuously being attacked so voraciously.

bad forum software? Ineffective security settings? Luck of the draw?

[hammdo]

Not just mooneyspace. Others are getting hit - then you find on searches how to stop these bots and you see folks ‘selling’ ai anti-spam bots - hum….

-Don

[kortopates]

I said this in another thread, but I’ll treat it here.
Here’s what I don’t understand. I have been in online groups since the days of AvSig on Compuserve and rec.aviation.* on Usenet. MooneySpace is one of several forums I participate in now. It is the only one that is continuously being attacked so voraciously.
bad forum software? Ineffective security settings? Luck of the draw?

I have to believe anonymity plays a large factor in this. I much prefer the Beechtalk method and when people use real names it also helps keep disagreements more respectful and civil.
You may chose to use Pilots of America as a counter example and maybe true from an attack basis but it’s far from ideal.
I think it helps that Mooneyspace got “seeded” if you will with Mooney pilots from the earlier aviation list groups - although very few survived to current times.
But back in the day people went by real names, now we see trouble makers come come back with new handles - although that is not a big issue. In my opinion becoming a Facebook is.


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[NickG]

22 hours ago, Rick Junkin said:

Thanks for all you do Craig! The content and info exchange here is certainly more than worth the minimum $25 a year.

100%

[Will.iam]

Craig, so often people think it’s the hardware that defines a capability but it is in reality the software and its requirements that produces maximum results. I know my mooney hardware would have never reached it maximum potential if it wasn’t for its mooneyspace software (and all of the collective mooniac hive minds that contribute) that has educated and informed me better. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for providing such a service as it truly makes my mooney more enjoyable valuable and easier to service. 
Will.i.am

 

[EricJ]

6 hours ago, midlifeflyer said:

Here’s what I don’t understand. I have been in online groups since the days of AvSig on Compuserve and rec.aviation.* on Usenet. MooneySpace is one of several forums I participate in now. It is the only one that is continuously being attacked so voraciously.

bad forum software? Ineffective security settings? Luck of the draw?

I used to be on a number of usenet user groups and many of them became unusable as much as ten years ago due to the floods of spam.   Italian porn sites seemed to be really good at flooding usenet groups.   Some of the groups I was on were essentially unmoderated, so it pretty much killed them.

This has been a continuous issue for many sites for many years, and apparently it's gotten suddenly harder due to AI bots.   Sites starting with more restrictions or with more active monitors would be less likely to be affected in ways noticable to users.   Since this site isn't heavily admined or monitored it isn't too surprising that it was affected in a way more visible to the users.

[mooniac58]

I think the best solution that has not been invented yet to my knowledge will be AI based countermeasures for the bots.  This is also true in the hacking world - AI can hack systems now with ease and the only thing they can do to stop it is develop AI to stand at the gates to fight the AI hackers.  

I'm sure in the near future we are going to see AI based defense systems for websites to counter non-human registrations as well as hacking.

Don't bring a knife to a gunfight 

[MikeOH]

SKYNET, here we come!

[NickG]

I’m glad you’re making these changes. If the side effect is we get fewer “I’m halfway through my PPL and want to buy a plane to finish it up and get my IR… Is an Acclaim Ultra a good plane for Instrument training” posts, It won’t be too bad.

[hubcap]

Thank you Craig!

[Greg Ellis]

@mooniac58 Seems like the spam is back with a vengeance at least in the general forum.