Here's a little story.

[vmsbass]

Earlier today I tried to log into my account, which I had not logged into in over a year. Well, I forgot my password. So, I guessed at it, but was getting close to locking out my account with incorrect answers. I decided to try to just reset it. Only, the image verification system being used for resetting a password does not work; I tried over a dozen times to enter the right words, but I was consistently told that I was not entering the correct words; but I most certainly was.This forum is not the only service that requires such security measures. Craigslist for example has a similar system; and every day that I post my ads, I rarely am told that I gave an incorrect answer. So just for this reason alone it would seem that I am not the one in error. The mods needs to look into that (if they care).

So I gave up and decided to just make a new account. To make a new account, you also need to enter the correct words from the verification image. No problem this time; worked first time (so I don't seem to be ******** an unable to read and type in the correct answers ... something wrong with how it is being used when trying to reset passwords). Now, for whatever reason, you need to wait for a moderator to manually accept your account. About 45 minutes later, I get an email that says:

Dear vms,

Unfortunately your registration at Civilization Fanatics' Forums did not meet our membership requirements. Therefore your registration was deleted.

Sorry,
Civilization Fanatics' Forums

No explanation. That's all. Bye

If I didn't have this other account, and were not lucky enough to guess the right password before having it locked out, I would be locked out for no good reason. What would someone who never joined before do after receiving such a reply for trying to just become a forum member? This seems to be very strange way, to say the least, to conduct a forum. Like many of you, I have joined numerous forums over the years; never have I seen anything as poorly managed as this. But it wasn't this way when I joined. What has happened around here?

 

[azzaman333]

They probably thought you were a bot.

Due to recent spamwaves, the moderators are approving all individual accounts.

 

[Thunderfall]

Only, the image verification system being used for resetting a password does not work; I tried over a dozen times to enter the right words, but I was consistently told that I was not entering the correct words; but I most certainly was.This forum is not the only service that requires such security measures. Craigslist for example has a similar system; and every day that I post my ads, I rarely am told that I gave an incorrect answer. So just for this reason alone it would seem that I am not the one in error. The mods needs to look into that (if they care).

I just tested the image verification on the password reset page on a test account and it works fine. Sometimes the words are hard to distinguish and you could regenerate the words.

Considering the same image verification system is used on different pages, it shoudn't work on one page and not on others.

If I didn't have this other account, and were not lucky enough to guess the right password before having it locked out, I would be locked out for no good reason. What would someone who never joined before do after receiving such a reply for trying to just become a forum member? This seems to be very strange way, to say the least, to conduct a forum. Like many of you, I have joined numerous forums over the years; never have I seen anything as poorly managed as this. But it wasn't this way when I joined. What has happened around here?

Sorry about that. I certainly understand your frustration. We recently started doing manual validations of new registrations, to reduce the amount of ad bots and spam registrations. ainwood has sent you a PM about it with more info.

In the future if you ever encounter login/account issue again, please use the Contact Us form at http://www.civfanatics.com/contact and an admin will help you resolve the issue quickly.

 

[Till]

I think the rejection message could use some work. A disclaimer like "If you feel that there has been an error, please contact the admins at _____" would be helpful to prevent the site from losing new members due to false positives.
I still feel that using free spam blocklists, like spamhaus's, might be more effective.

 

[Reno]

I think the rejection message could use some work. A disclaimer like "If you feel that there has been an error, please contact the admins at _____" would be helpful to prevent the site from losing new members due to false positives.

Seconded. As is, the message currently sounds quite vague and will more likely than not, leave potential members confused on the reasoning behind the deleted registeration. Although writing the reasoning individually for each and every deleted registeration would not work either.

 

[Sharwood]

Seconded. As is, the message currently sounds quite vague and will more likely than not, leave potential members confused on the reasoning behind the deleted registeration. Although writing the reasoning individually for each and every deleted registeration would not work either.

Thirded. It's likely to confuse and/or annoy people trying to register in its current form.

Also, I really wish this thread had been about a man named Jed.

 

[LucyDuke]

I think the rejection message could use some work. A disclaimer like "If you feel that there has been an error, please contact the admins at _____" would be helpful to prevent the site from losing new members due to false positives.
I still feel that using free spam blocklists, like spamhaus's, might be more effective.

I had a similar problem a little while ago. I've been nagging my cousin to sign up for Facebook, and she finally said that she tried but her name was rejected. I said I'd set it up for her. Sure enough, Facebook said, effectively "we don't like your name". But then they said "if we're wrong, click here to contact us", with a link to a form where I could try again. I filled out that form, they sent an automated email, I replied to the email, and they validated the account. It took a day or two, but it was much better than "sorry bye".

CFC should be able to implement a similar appeals process.