# NOTICE!! Members with no posts or logins being purged.



## Admin US West (Jun 16, 2013)

We are cleaning out spammer accounts, 99.9% of them are inactive, but occasionally come to life.


Some members who signed up over 45 days ago but never logged in again may get caught up. The account can be recreated, nothing is lost, since nothing was posted and no one logged in. We had robots signing up thousands of new accounts each day, and intend to remove as many as possible.

As long as you log in once a month, or if you have at least one post, you will not be affected.

This will be happening slowly over several weeks.


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## Paramike (Jun 30, 2013)

Hi

Has this been done to any existing members as well? I have been rather quiet lately and appear to have had my login details deleted. My previous username was paramike. Is there any way of reinstating this?

Cheers.


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## OmarSV11 (Jun 30, 2013)

I'm alive! I'm alive!


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## djrocks66 (Jun 30, 2013)

I just re registered my same name so no worries.


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## Admin US West (Jun 30, 2013)

mikef80 said:


> Hi
> 
> Has this been done to any existing members as well? I have been rather quiet lately and appear to have had my login details deleted. My previous username was paramike. Is there any way of reinstating this?
> 
> Cheers.



Try signing up with the same name.

Only those with no posts who had not logged in for 45 days or longer were removed. They can signup again with the same user name. Some who had not logged in for over 6 months were also removed. 

A astounding number of spammers was removed, and I'm very sorry that some valid accounts got removed with them. Almost 300,000 accounts went away, 99.99% spammers being signed up by robots at the rate of hundreds or even thousands a day.

Our current signup scheme makes it difficult but not impossible for robots to signup, since they can be programmed to find our code. For that reason, I keep tabs on new members, and occasionally change the code as well as how its shown.


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## Paramike (Jun 30, 2013)

Ok, thank you. I'll try signing up with my old name again


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## davidchang (Jun 30, 2013)

oh boy!


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## jazz55 (Jun 30, 2013)

Thank you for the explanation. It explains why I had to re-register. I don't normally post...just like to read what I find interesting. Now I have one post !


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## panicboy (Jun 30, 2013)

ping ;-)


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## jdramirez (Jun 30, 2013)

I'm cool with that.


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## Tom W (Jun 30, 2013)

I'm here!!


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## lrivero (Jun 30, 2013)

How do you change the camera type under your username?


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## tcmatthews (Jun 30, 2013)

I had forgotten my password but account is still alive.

Thomas


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## gjeb (Jun 30, 2013)

Don't want to be purged out of the forum. This is my second post since I joined in April 2013. My photography skills are way below your level, guys! I can't post anything worthwhile yet so until then, I will just keep quite and learn from the group.


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## charlestx (Jun 30, 2013)

keep alive post...


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## Ray (Jun 30, 2013)

Still here, just read more than post.


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## mscott (Jun 30, 2013)

I'm still just a noob and learning as I go so I really don't have anything worthy of posting just yet. I visit a lot and find this forum to be a great resource. Helps me a lot. Hopefully I'll be able to contribute more in the near future as I get more familiar with my gear.


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## MARKOE PHOTOE (Jun 30, 2013)

Thanks for the update. I'm alive too!


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## Admin US West (Jun 30, 2013)

A little further explanation. We had spammer robots automatically signing up with a huge number of accounts each day. They never post anything, because they would be quickly reported by the members and removed.

What they did do was attempt to put links to commercial sites in their signature field. We spent weeks removing thousands of these, and found a way to stop the links, but let the robots keep signing up. Finally, there were so many that most of the members online at any time were the spam robots.

We modified the new member signup method to require a code posted in the site information. This means that only human spammers can sign up, and only a few bother.
So, how do we get rid of those 300,000 accounts, most of which are obvious spammers. There are far too many to remove one at a time, or even 25 at a time, so we used a feature in the forum software that lets us remove accounts of those who have not logged in, and have zero posts for the past "X" days.
Then we did just that, removing one days worth at a time starting at 360 days. Even removing one day's worth brings the forum to a halt for 1-3 minutes while 1000-3000 accounts are removed, so I usually did it once a day when there was little posting going on.
At the same time, I used the administrator search facility to find recent spammers by e-mail, IP, etc and removed thousands of the most active ones that way. I worked at it for a hour or more every day.

Finally, the moment came when all those with no posts and no logins in the past 45 days were gone, and I went thru every remaining member one at a time (those no posts) and removed a few hundred more that were obvious SEO spammers.

That reduced their number to what is likely just a handful that I can't detect. I'm not currently purging additional non posters, but might limit them to 6 months at some future date. The main thrust was to remove SEO spammers, not inactive members.

Along the way, I found one member with no posts who was faithfully logging in every day to read the forum. He was one of the very first CR members. I sent him a e-mail, and he sent a nice note back saying that he just preferred to lurk. I changed his post count from zero to 10 just so he would not get caught up in a future sweep.
I now review recent new members to see if any look like spammers (they are usually obvious). Much to my surprise and delight, 9 of 10 new members start posting right away. Keep it up!!


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## Diverman (Jun 30, 2013)

Even though I don't post much, please don't delete me! I already was deleted once I think (about a year ago), because I created an account to ask a question then didn't get on for a while... The thread stayed around and just showed my name forum status as "guest." Any way to look back at the posts before you delete people, as long as they have posted at least once?


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## jdramirez (Jun 30, 2013)

How can I unsubscribe to a thread? Because I kinda don't care about the replies in this topic.


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## Marvin (Jun 30, 2013)

Don't give me the boot!


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## pedro (Jun 30, 2013)

Well, I just made my post then... 8) Only kidding, I like the CR forum too much ;-)


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## shining example (Jun 30, 2013)

CR Backup Admin said:


> I'm not currently purging additional non posters, but might limit them to 6 months at some future date. The main thrust was to remove SEO spammers, not inactive members.



That cleanup operation sounds like fun... :-\

So what should an inveterate lurker like myself do to avoid being purged? I read the forum about once or twice a week, but only log in if I actually want to post, which isn't that often (clearly, as I just had to re-register). 

If you do need or want to have another purge, could you perhaps post a warning somewhere prominently? I completely missed this thread, probably because I usually only go into a handful of sub-fora.


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## docsavage123 (Jun 30, 2013)

still alive


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## ck5dmkiii (Jun 30, 2013)

Here


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## jointdoc (Jun 30, 2013)

Here too.


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## Harv (Jun 30, 2013)

Kill all the spammers and let God sort them out. ;D


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## aalbert (Jul 1, 2013)

Guess I am safe.


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## Kevin B (Jul 1, 2013)

I'm real.


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## MadHungarian (Jul 1, 2013)

The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.


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## Admin US West (Jul 1, 2013)

jdramirez said:


> How can I unsubscribe to a thread? Because I kinda don't care about the replies in this topic.



In the attachments and other options at the bottom of your post, uncheck "Notify me of Replies"

Hopefully that will do it.


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## Admin US West (Jul 1, 2013)

shining example said:


> So what should an inveterate lurker like myself do to avoid being purged? I read the forum about once or twice a week, but only log in if I actually want to post, which isn't that often (clearly, as I just had to re-register).



Only those who have never posted and were not logging in were removed.

Anyone who has even one post should be ok.


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## Nomad (Jul 1, 2013)

Don't delete me! I promise I'll try and do more than just lurk!


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## applecider (Jul 1, 2013)

*Harv*

Harv. Marathon?

Kill them all let god sort em out.

Ah a wasted youth!


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## ZaAudio (Jul 1, 2013)

Lurking to stay alive


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## eos650 (Jul 1, 2013)

Still here...


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## mfumbesi (Jul 1, 2013)

Ahh Ahh Ahh Ahh Staying Alive Staying Alive! X3
Staying Alive........

You wanted to do it, admitt it. ;D
LOL.
I'm human, don't delete.


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## maxpayne (Jul 1, 2013)

Okay, I lurk here regularly, but please don't delete me


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## Rui Brito (Jul 1, 2013)

I dwell in the deepest bottom, but I see you all, dont delete.


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## firebreatherboy (Jul 1, 2013)

human here too


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## Casey (Jul 1, 2013)

It is alive!


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## P_R (Jul 1, 2013)

This is going off topic, but I think it is important as at least a few responses alluded to it.

To any members who don't think they can contribute here and thus are "read only" members, please don't be!

Everyone can contribute when it comes to a large number of topics here. Your skill level (or gear) isn't as important as your enthusiasm. If you are here then you clearly like to take photographs and more than likely have some cracking shots you could show others. What I get most from this forum are the pics taken and then posted. Since each person has a different "eye" for a shot, I find my eye improves when seeing what others have done. And you don't need a 1Dx to post something good.


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## TommyLee (Jul 1, 2013)

WOW
a lot of work..to manage

thanks for this useful forum


now my most used spot


TOM


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## Ant_Pap_Cy (Jul 1, 2013)

Human reporting for duty !!! :


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## Admin US West (Jul 1, 2013)

IF anyone had posts and was deleted, create a account with a either the same name, or a new user name.


Then drop me a private message with your old account name that had the posts. I can credit those posts to you.



Note that only those who had not logged in for 6 months or longer have the issue, and so far, I've been able to relink the orphaned posts..


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## shining example (Jul 3, 2013)

CR Backup Admin said:


> Only those who have never posted and were not logging in were removed.
> 
> Anyone who has even one post should be ok.



Thanks for your response, CR Backup Admin. As you already appear to be aware, that's not quite how it worked out - I had maybe five or so posts, but my account was deleted.

I'd already re-registered with the same username, so there's nothing to be done about it now; no big deal, those posts were hardly earth-shattering pearls of wisdom. Just please don't delete me again next time


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## Admin US West (Jul 9, 2013)

shining example said:


> CR Backup Admin said:
> 
> 
> > Only those who have never posted and were not logging in were removed.
> ...



I've relinked your old posts. You had not logged in for 6 months, which is how your ID got removed.

Hopefully there will never be another cleanup like that one.

I did not think they could be recovered after reading up on how to recover a member, but I gave it a try anyway, and it worked


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## UrbanImages (Jul 9, 2013)

Alive


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## KAS (Jul 9, 2013)

So THIS is where all the wallflowers hang out...


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## arjay (Jul 9, 2013)

Not inactive!


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