no new members since the film???

[michael c]

hey remember when the chatter around the film was that it was going to bring this huge influx of new people to the fanbase?


have we actually seen evidence of that anywhere? there's been much grousing amongst the OS fanbase and some reluctant converts to the film's offbeat sensibility. many of this board's establishment enjoyed it to be sure...


but there have been no new members added in two years...well before the film even began production. is membership down/disabled for some reason? have there been any requests for new memberships?

and any word on how that cruise is filling up?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Check out:

** Registrations Temporarily Suspended **

for a full and, sadly, continuing explanation.

We tried reopening registration at one point last year (without even mentioning it just to see what would happen), and unfortunately we were still being flooded with spammers so we quickly shut it down again. But then those spamming bots are an epidemic on the Internet - and even things like having registrants fill in random generated letters and/or numbers doesn't seem to stop them! I have no idea how the bots get around it. And though SMF has been promising to try to develop a fool proof way of preventing spamming bots from registering, they haven't come up with the method yet. 

As for requests, we do actually have a list. 

[Gerard]

It's so sad (and aggravating) that spamming requires owners of great websites (like this) have to take constant precautions.  Spammers are almost "professional" in what they do, seeking out any all websites to peddle their junk. Do they really think anyone is going to click onto their sites, pull out their credit cards and give them money when they're constantly annoying decent folk?  Obviously, enough people will do it to make it profitable, otherwise it wouldn't be happening.  Even if only .01 respond to a single spam message sent out 1,000,000 times, that means that 10,000 new "customers" purchased the "product," from "loans" to organ enhancers (and I'm not talking about a Wurlitzer).  That is highly profitable.  Every day, over 183 billion spam messages are sent - every day.  Again, if all those messages gives a return of just .01, that's almost 2 billion ka-chings daily.  The percentage may not be as high as .01, but even lower, much lower, it's still enough to make a profit.   Spammers monitor any group they can find and see what type of activity it has and how many members.  This is a very active group with a solid base of members - a lucrative "market" for spammers to "tap," so it stands to reason (even though spammers are unreasonable) that they will continue to flood it if given the opportunity.  I feel for you, MB, having to deal with that and you are doing it in the best and only possible way.  Whomever invents a way to exterminate spamming will become richer than Bill Gates.

Gerard

[michael c]

a few of the FB DS pages have been repeatedly hit with "shoe spammers"...


these women hawking sneakers and other shoes from their "shops". it's actually become sort of a joke. an annoying one.

[Uncle Roger]

I've been gobsmacked by some idiot trying to push diet pills.

[Josette]

Boy, if the bots have a way of filling in those things, I wish there were a way for them to help me out.  Some aren't too bad, but some distort the characters so much that I'm not sure if I'm typing the right ones or not!  But, since the whole point of that is to keep them out, if that no longer works, it's a shame we have to put up with it.

[retzev]

I recently joined a forum that asks you to write a short essay explaining what you expect to gain from the forum and how you plan to contribute before the administrators will approve your registration. They don't seem to have any problem with spam.

[Lydia]

It sounds like a sensible idea, retzev, but I would not be a member of these boards if I had been required to write an essay in order to join.

[retzev]

I don't recall if they actually used the word "essay", which could be a little off-putting. I wrote two sentences and was in the next day. 

[MagnusTrask]

I was going to say, "essay" is the wrong word.  Such boards will ask you to state something in your own words, and it could be a couple of sentences, though you should try to sound human rather than "functional" I guess...  "I want to post on your board" might get a bad response (and begs the question).

Maybe this board provider doesn't give you a way to make this change on the board.  I do know, though, that there are many boards out there which are managing to keep memberships open.   It doesn't seem to be a debilitating problem elsewhere.  Maybe there's a trick to it, that can be found out about.  Or maybe starting over with a slightly changed name for the board might throw them off.

Some new blood would stimulate everyone in a good way, if it can be accomplished.

[Midnite]

I do know, though, that there are many boards out there which are managing to keep memberships open.   It doesn't seem to be a debilitating problem elsewhere.  Maybe there's a trick to it, that can be found out about.

Many boards simply activate the malicious accounts, which is why one can see the identical IDs of our rejected applicants signed on as members of multiple boards, where [as members] spammers can post advertisements or unsafe links and crawlers have unfettered access to visible member info and personal attachments.  Here, we prefer to comb through every application to find the 1 DS fan in 20 or 30 or more requests in order to both protect our Forum members and keep spam out of topics.  And that's not including the trolls-- not bots but real individuals that wish to create multiple accounts and cause problems.

  Or maybe starting over with a slightly changed name for the board might throw them off.

We're found through links; the Forum address appears on personal websites including some overseas.

Some new blood would stimulate everyone in a good way, if it can be accomplished.

We agree completely, and it's not something we've discounted, but also on our minds is what occurred the last time we reopened registrations.

[MagnusTrask]

I don't know why, but no other board I'm on ever has spam except once in a very great while one gets through, then they take some action and it stops.   They have open registrations.   I know they had to stop not requiring registration to post, but that's all.  There may be a lot of efforts behind the scenes to track it down and stop it, too much to be worthwhile for everyone, but if so it isn't mentioned.

[patrickm]

Wanted to comment on this post from a little different perspective. I was hoping that the new Dark Shadows movie would generate interest in our Central Florida Dark Shadows Fan Club from new people not familiar with either the original series, HODS or NODS or the 91 NBC series. Unfortunately, this hasn't occurred. Even though our club is thriving and doing very well, I made a major effort to bring in new members by handing out tons of club flyers at the movies midnight showing, the premiere night and showing at a nearby drive-in. While we have picked up a couple new members in the last 2 months, they were already fans and loved the original. I'm thinking that while many people who saw the movie and liked it who are unfamiliar with the original, haven't yet made the leap of watching it on dvd. I'm hoping that a cable network will give Dark Shadows a shot and give it the widespread availability when it ran on SciFi. We also might see interest spike when Dark Shadows starts airing on HBO. I'm not giving up yet.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And, sadly, there's also another perspective. This afternoon I came across several links to other DS groups, and while checking some of them out, to rework a quote of Julia's that recently appeared as part of the 2012 DS Film Slideshow, what I saw there with regard to what has been said about the Depp/DS film and especially what has been said to anyone who's said they like anything about it was enough to "make the hairs on your arms stand straight up." And if those are the types of groups that the new fans brought to DS by the film have come across, well, why would they want to join those existing groups where what they might possibly say about the Depp/DS film is likely to be met with ridicule and disdain?

What I also discovered, though, is that it would seem that for the most part fans of the Depp/DS film are starting their own groups. I came across two on Facebook as well as one on YouTube, where they continue to put together fan videos 'shipping the Barnabas/Angelique and Barnabas/Vicki relationships as well as in tribute to the film as a whole. And it's probably anyone's guess as to whether they're creating their own groups because they don't think they would be welcomed by established fandom or they simply want to create a fandom that's strictly their own.

However, all that being said, I do think there is hope for intermixing one day. And the reason I say that is because the intense vitriol that existed in the '90s in some corners of fandom toward the '91 show has ebbed since then. And while there are still separate groups for the '91 show, there are also DS groups where the '91 show isn't treated as valueless and discussion of the show is not just accepted but even encouraged. So, who knows, maybe 20 years from now the same will hold true of the Depp/DS film...

[MagnusTrask]

What kinds of hair-raising things were said?