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[NavyDoc76-80]

Ditto

[Ranch Dog]

…this is one of the first places I check once my eyes are open.

Haah, me too. Oh wait, I have to so it is good to see all of you enjoying the forum and thanks! A couple of comments about the "guest" view that changed on Sunday.

First and foremost, we need to grow. The information we are collecting concerning the Rossi line is the best out there but we need more. The data stored as displayed on these pages isn't from a single source but from those figuring out a fix and posting the results. I felt many of the guests, and there are typically more guest viewing than members, where looking for the fix but not relating their experiences for others that come after them. If the you have been reading the number of new topics we are recording, you realize that the change has worked. We have many new posts relating to a specific issue and a fix. With the auto prune that takes place on members that don't participate (zero posts and haven't logged on in over a year), we weren't moving. Since the change Sunday, on average, we have seen a new member sign up every hour around the clock.

The second reason for the change was security. A guest is a multiple user that has access to the forum. Most of the security breaches of any forum come from a guest because that is where the "door has been held open." Two weeks ago, there was a significant breech but it was containable. As a result, my IP shut down all access to the forum from outside the US to stop the access. The recent change was part of the fix. These breaches are not about stealing a users password or email address (that is not possible), it is just an attempt to interrupt service through any event that will produce it. Just the stupid "evil operator" stuff. In this case, it was a constant search running, and yes, it buggers up the resources of the forum.

The guest view change package contained a "Warning" statement which I changed to a more appropriate question once the modification was up and running. As far as explaining something that changes here on the forum, I weigh that against who the change effects and whether or not it is worth discussing as this is a forum about the Rossi rifle and not the workings of a phpbb3 driven forum. In this case, the change only effected guests, who I don't have a relationship with, so I feel I don't owe them an explanation.

[Archer]

No problem.
I do appreciate the forum and as I mentioned it is one of a very few that I participate on.

Troll and goblin control is an ongoing problem with the net. The closed board I mentioned is composed of members who've seen a single troll kill more than one board over the years and set contributing posters against one another. He's that rare breed who will spend months to a year getting wormed into the fabric of the board and then go multiple login poster / PM sender trying to burn the place down.