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Chris G
12-01-2011, 06:44 AM
Has anyone noticed the rather suspect names on some of the new members listed as being on-line? brother12345printer, singulairbuying, and a couple of others. You can't view the profiles if you click on them. Have we been hacked?

I do apologize if these are real people, but it sure doens't look like it to me. Just don't want our site to go down because someone is fooling around, or loading us up with spammers.

delorisdoe
12-01-2011, 06:50 AM
I did notice singulairbuying the other day. In the past I have noticed that I cant see a really new member for a few days but these names do seem like advertisements for sure. Vdub?

Chris G
12-01-2011, 07:17 AM
I pm'd vdub a while ago. he's clearly not home

Chris G
12-01-2011, 07:29 AM
Seems like there are new members joining at an alarming rate the last few days! It defies the odds! I hope there are not that many new weg sufferers!

chrisTIn@
12-01-2011, 08:54 AM
Some new names seem strange indeed!
I hope Andrew or vdub will check the forum soon again.
I also noticed that some of the postings are 'cut in half', I mean, half of the text is gone, so you cannot read the whole message!

ScreaminMeanie
12-01-2011, 09:55 AM
I haven't even been able to get on the site in close to a week.

Psyborg
12-01-2011, 10:09 AM
Those are probably spammer accounts. Basically, they are programs that scour the net for forums to post dumb advertisements to. I'm pretty sure that's why Andrew has it set up that you need admin approval before you can post.

Dryhill
12-01-2011, 11:52 AM
I noticed some names seem a bit odd and that there seems to be quite an increase in people joining. The other thing is it has been quite some time since anyone new said hi, surely they are not all shy?

Trudy
12-01-2011, 02:04 PM
I noticed some names seem a bit odd and that there seems to be quite an increase in people joining. The other thing is it has been quite some time since anyone new said hi, surely they are not all shy?

I just went to the list of who is on and 9 of the 17 names don't have a profile. Definitely seems wrong.

Al
12-01-2011, 02:17 PM
I just went to the list of who is on and 9 of the 17 names don't have a profile. Definitely seems wrong.

Also, I have noticed that those who do not have a profile may be logged in, but don't seem to be actually browsing any specific threads. Come on folks, you can't be that shy. If you are real, please let us know!

Al

maria garcia
12-01-2011, 03:44 PM
Has anyone heard from Andrew? I hope he is ok.

jola57
12-01-2011, 04:47 PM
Yes he is OK just dealing with life. There is a backlog of people wanting to go on and it maybe that they have limited viewing privledge. They can look but can't post so can't edit their profile.

Chris G
12-06-2011, 08:38 AM
ANDREW - I see that you're logged on! It's good to see you!

So many of us have been having trouble logging on lately. Could it be that we have many many new spammers/fake users signing on lately?

Dryhill
12-06-2011, 12:14 PM
A few hours ago there were over 1,400 members, but now there are only 1,134. I assume that means Andrew has decided that a lot of the recent additions were not real weggies. Perhaps that also means those who have been having problems accessing this site will be able to do so more easily now.

Tom
12-06-2011, 12:42 PM
Has anyone noticed the rather suspect names on some of the new members listed as being on-line? brother12345printer, singulairbuying, and a couple of others. You can't view the profiles if you click on them. Have we been hacked?

I do apologize if these are real people, but it sure doens't look like it to me. Just don't want our site to go down because someone is fooling around, or loading us up with spammers.
Hello, my first post on this sight but I am a real person and have been lurking for some time now and wanted to get involved in some of the post I read and really wanted to get my 2 cents on the the post "Your thoughts on dying". The problem was that for what ever reason I tried to register several times and couldnt get on because it kept telling me that my hotmail acct had been identified as a spammer ,or something to that effect. Fourteen times I tried to register on this forum and somehow I finally broke thru. To be honest, I was to the point of wondering if this site was real! Please, no one take offense to things I am sharing here. I signed on to another forum with out a problem and asked a question but was told to go to face book for some recommedations from others to get on this site, They seemed to take offense when I asked why I had to go to face book to get on a forum site. I may have been out of line or mistaken or sounded like a troll but I give it up to miscommunication on both sides where that forum is concerned and just have never went back. Like many if not all of you, I am out here alone with Wegeners and my wife and family are very supportive but its not the same if they dont know what I feel inside but they are great none the less. Having said all of that Im glad Im here if ya all will have me. I will post a formal intro following this reply

vdub
12-06-2011, 01:16 PM
I pm'd vdub a while ago. he's clearly not home.

I'm home! I don't know what to tell you guys. I'm a little embarrassed to have that Asst Admin moniker next to my name, because I am anything but that. Changing the color of my name and putting changing the title is about as far as anything went. We tested a semi-admin password to get into some areas of the site, but that was as far as it went. I basically can't change anything and I really don't have permissions to do much. I have talked to other folks about this when they have PM'ed me, but generally just kept it to myself.

This is what I think has happened.... Andrew, please slap me up the side of my head if I am wrong. The site started as a "this is really cool" thing to do. But, then the site really took off and a lot of people joined, pressure was being put on the ISP and burning up bandwidth and burning up a lot of time for the admin (Andrew). The site is still cool, but, for Andrew, it's also a chore and we shouldn't forget that Andrew has a real job and a real life.

Soooo, what suffers is the forum. What makes matters worse is that the forum is built around a program that, IMHO, is maybe a little old. At any rate, it doesn't have, or, at least, I'm not aware that it has any hacker-prevention sign-up protocols. That is probably what's responsible for the "weird" new users.

About 6 months ago, I registered the url granulomatosis-polyangiitis.com. I did that so no one else would get it. If you go to www.granulomatosis-polyangiitis.com (http://www.granulomatosis-polyangiitis.com) you will see that it does nothing more than bounce to this site. However, I have considered putting up a new site for weggies and have messed around a bit with the possibility. I put up a stub-site at Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis - Index (http://wasem.com/gpa/) You can go to that location and register and mess around, but remember that the site will come down eventually after I'm done messsing around with it.

One of things you'll see on that site when you register is that it has a hacker-prevention check where you have to put in a random code at the time of registration. One of the problems Andrew had was hackers, but the VB software didn't have any hacker-prevention check, so he was manually approving all new members. Imagine the time that would take! That's why he wanted some additional admins, i.e., so they good help with the new registration approval process. I started down that path, but then, for whatever reason ran out of time, so his fallback position was to simply open up the registration. That, then allowed automated logins and hackers.

I have also registered www.wegeners-gpa.com (http://www.wegeners-gpa.com).

I don't know where things are going, but, having been there, I have a pretty good appreciation for what's happening.... Hope you understand.

Al
12-06-2011, 01:39 PM
Hello, my first post on this sight but I am a real person and have been lurking for some time now and wanted to get involved in some of the post I read....Im glad Im here if ya all will have me. I will post a formal intro following this reply

Welcome, Tom! I, too, had trouble registering for a while. But the forum is worth all the trouble! Of course we'll have you, and we are realer than you can possibly imagine. At least, I am--so far. But the Facebook thing is a curiosity. I personally have avoided FB, for the simple reason that I have seen people get totally consumed in and by it. Real relationships seem important, too....

Al

Al
12-06-2011, 01:42 PM
I don't know where things are going, but, having been there, I have a pretty good appreciation for what's happening.... Hope you understand.
Thanks for this explanation, Vdub! I wonder if there isn't a way to improve the situation with a new platform, but without trashing the good stuff we already have....

Al

vdub
12-06-2011, 01:49 PM
but without trashing the good stuff we already have....

Probably not..... But I'll research it....

Dryhill
12-07-2011, 09:17 AM
Hi Tom welcome to the forum, as Al says it is worth all the trouble. I gave up trying even to join the forum using hotmail and used an email address that my supplier gave me and had no problems at all.

Jim

Tippon
12-12-2011, 11:22 AM
This is what I think has happened.... Andrew, please slap me up the side of my head if I am wrong. The site started as a "this is really cool" thing to do. But, then the site really took off and a lot of people joined, pressure was being put on the ISP and burning up bandwidth and burning up a lot of time for the admin (Andrew). The site is still cool, but, for Andrew, it's also a chore and we shouldn't forget that Andrew has a real job and a real life.

I'll second that! I tried setting up my UK based site, just to get some localised info out there, and even that took a lot more time than I was expecting.I'll have to get around to updating that at some point too...

Rini
12-12-2011, 10:12 PM
HI! this place, when it is working is the best...i tried others and they just do not have the same communication & help. I am glad you found it and hope you feel free to tell us your story...I know reading other post just makes it all less crazy and alone for me.