switching to "only registered members being able to view attachments"

[g_kandylakis]

The discussion was started in this topic,

https://hpa.aeromodelling.gr/index.php?topic=335.msg3576#msg3576,

where there seemed to be a disproportionate number of guests vs members appearing online. Until recently there was a "normal" number, say 10 gustes and 4 members.

Recent days have seen this ratio explode to the point where there are 1-2 members and 100+ guests present.

A closer examination in the "Users online" list clearly shows these are not real people but more like bots and othe non-human visitors.

I do not yet see a risk involved that could influence the stability of the forum. I guess / hope that all registered members so far are normal aeromodellers / people, regardless of their level of participation. The rather akward registering process has taken care of that, hopefully.

Nonetheless, I am going to proceed with a change that may seem unpleasant at first, but is nothing hard to get used to and has zero impact if one is automatically logged in.

The change will be to limit the attachments visibility to members only. If that changes anything for the bots, I do not know. It can be changed back very easily, if it needs to...

So, please make a note of this, if you suddenly cannot see attachments...

Log in, choose "forever" and you are done. Or, ignore that attachements an stay unlogged.

That is all for now,

George

[g_kandylakis]

There is a second step possible, much more restricting, that allows guests only being able to register or log-in.

This would practically turn the forum into a closed book for outsiders, I do not wish to do that and I hope it will not be necessary...

Just informing about the possibility.

George

[Lastwoodsman]

Hi George.  I see one user and 77 guests.  Cause for alarm obviously  -  I just never noticed til now.

Lastwoodsman
Richard


PS  What does "able to view attachments"  mean?

[g_kandylakis]

Hi Richard,

I would not say "alarm" yet. "Alert" yes, maybe.

Exactly what it says, the attachments do not appear when you are a guest, meaning they cannot be viewed or stored/downloaded, unless you are a registered member of the forum.

George

[Lastwoodsman]

Hi George.    I meant what is an "attachment".  Is it a pic, is it a link to another site,  or is it embedded pics in the text of a reply?   

    What exactly would I not see,  as a member,  who has not logged  in?

    If anyone in the public clicks on our site,  without registering and logging in,  are they then deprived of seeing any pics on our site?  Would they just see text to read?

Lastwoodsman
Richard


I just checked myself.  I did not log in ,  and all of my pics are gone from  public view.  Only my text words remain,  no pics.

[g_kandylakis]

If anyone in the public clicks on our site,  without registering and logging in,  are they then deprived of seeing any pics of our site?  Would they just see text to read?

Yes. Anything you add as an attachment, an image, a pdf file etc is not visible to guests.

Links and normal text in posts, as well as images inserted from external databases, like those in Ramses posts, are not affected.

Really cannot tell for sure if this will decrease the bot presence, but it will certainly prevent the entire forum being copied.

And those who are not yet members, can simply register, then they see everything.

[Lastwoodsman]

HiGeorge.

    Would I now be able to use pics inserted into my text like Ramses -  I don't know how to do that ... ?

Lastwoodsman
Richard

Hi George -  yes all my pics are gone,  only text remains.

  "as well as images inserted from external databases"-  would my Computer Hard drive be considered an 'external database'  that I can insert images into my word text from?

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[g_kandylakis]

see separate topic on that...

[Lastwoodsman]

Sorry George

"Links and normal text in posts, as well as images inserted from external databases, like those in Ramses posts, are not affected"

can I use my C drive on my computer -  I use Jarte for my text -  will that embed my pics in the word text like Ramses?

[g_kandylakis]

https://hpa.aeromodelling.gr/index.php?topic=14.msg4232#msg4232

Ramses has his pictures saved in his own website, so he posts links to them, that is why he can post more than 4 in a message.

If he can, he could write more about it.

[Lastwoodsman]

Hi George

    "The change will be to limit the attachments visibility to members only. If that changes anything for the bots, I do not know. It can be changed back very easily, if it needs to...

So, please make a note of this, if you suddenly cannot see attachments..."

    Well George,  it could change something for the bots,  or not.  So if the bots continue,  I hope to see it 'changed back very easily' to normal,  but how long will it take to see if anything changes,  or not?   

    We had a very similar big problem with bots,  on Bruce Feaver's old  'Hip Pocket Aeronautics website'.  Maybe Bruce Feaver  Sundance12  could chime in on this issue.

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[TheLurker]

Worth asking Bruce F what he did for HPA II? 

I seem to recall some automated, "Is this visitor a human?" check was added which brought the bot count down and didn't disrupt things too much for us meatsacks.

[Squirrelnet]

I think the pics for members only is good thought and agree with George let's see how it goes and if it makes a difference

[PeeTee]

Anything would be better than Users -3  Guests = 162 !!!

Peter

[Spiros]

I would definitely prefer that only registered and logged in users can have access to all information.

I think that that would be a first security measure.

Noticed myself the only registered member online and 192 visitors.

For me this is a red flag