Fusor Forums

I think when someone presents themselves as an engineer with a prominent company (actually Boeing and not Lockheed in this case), responding with matter-of-factness is fair ... but I hear your stance, Frank.

My comments were not directed at any one person. It is a general statement.

In an ideal world, people would read and use their real names and ask cogent questions and present more of their backgrounds. I get that. I really do but it is not the way of internet life these days. We are a unique site in that way and people are not used to it. We need to see if they can comply before being evicted.

As for restricting what new people can do, I implemented that many years ago. All new users are in a group that gives them a very limited set of posting privileges and their registration name lit up in goldenrod glory. There is not algorithm that I know to search a name to see if it is real or not until they appear here and humans decide. I am hesitant to go too crazy on the registration restrictions as we have had some famous names on here, strange names, and people with various impairments (is that still the politically correct word?). These people would have been dumped out by such an algorithm.

I know not what else we can do except give a person a chance on their responses to see what they are made of.

Can the terms and conditions text be bigger and more obvious?

Sure thing. I guess they are a bit small. The two important items are bold so they should stand out but we can give them larger fonts.

Frank, there’s no algorithm. It’s just a matter of checking the newly registered users list on a weekly basis (or more frequent) for compliance. Easy peasy… and by doing so there’s zero risk of the issues you outline.

Mark Rowley

Not so sure it is so easy. Here is a few users from the log. Are they real or not?

1. scottfusare
2. ruoytit"xxxx"e
3. dr"xxxx".

I have omitted the actual name using xxx but you get the idea.

And a bunch more. Where to draw the line? How would we know if these are legit or not. There are very few registrants that do not use their name in the new logs. As previously stated, many will fix them on prompting after their first post. To my knowledge, all three of my example are real people and that is their real name. RIP Scott Fusare 7/9/21. Good guy.

Frank, I’m confident your abilities are quite good at determining junk registrations and folks who are legitimate. Lots of clues within the phpBB Viewing Profile section. Tbh, it’s really not all that much work to “admin approve” all account registrations during a morning cup of coffee.

Setting shown from my personal phpBB page It’s really the only sure shot way to avoid dictatorial edicts to long term members, ensuring rules are met with new registrations, and to avoid member initiated abrasive responses to non-compliant members. Otherwise, status quo will persist and we’re sure to relive this issue repeatedly.

Mark Rowley

Ok, it is done. I will be the heavy and be sure people comply before their first post. One more thing on my To Do list twice a day now.

As one of those 'rocky' start people, being professional is not just proper, it is essential. That said, repeated violations of this simple policy does need to be brought to the attention of the poster; we still have one or two ...well, that isn't germane on this thread right now but hey, some of us have issues from time to time with posters that are a bit over-the-top.

I will say that an engineer should be more able to handle rules and mild criticism better than the average person... well, you'd think. I will add that when I first posted here I did use my full name. I considered this place a professional forum and as such, it never occurred to me to use a 'handle' through that was allowed and not terribly uncommon then (mostly newer members.)

However, using a handle is SOP for so many places that people are not use to anything on the internet being used in a professional manner and we should try and cut some slack to those that don't; yes, reminding them is ok but as Frank said, let's try and be nice (at least a few times .)

Sad news that Scott passed; I do believe I meet him at one of the HEAS meetings I attended.

Thanks go to Frank for moving the Scott passing commentary to the admin forums. Yes, all of us engineers past and present are used to tough love mostly from our fellow peers. engineering is a rough and tumble biz for most as deadlines missed, recriminations from fellows, and just plain faux pas being pointed out in a many less than appealing ways. Not a place for mama's boys.

I came down hard on what I assumed was a grown man, engineer, if he was one, who had to know that no fusion device exists as a true power source. If he meant a non-fusion power source for aeronautical/space use, then why go to an amateur fusion specific site? Oh well... We did give him a chance to respond and he did not explain or clarify in any manner or in his defense. Engineers, clarify and fight back in a reasoned response for the most part. If we are wrong, we face up to it, do a suitable mea culpa and move on, (with suitable embarrassment). Our engineer just left, his feelings hurt, obviously.

To play here you need to put on your big boy pants, be kind to young folks who haven't lived much life yet or who have few skills. Teaching is important. Part of teaching begins with why are you here and what do you hope to accomplish. A formal aerospace engineer arriving is supposed to have some pre-knowledge, skills and a solid backgrounding in what is out there and possible, especially if his area is in propulsion or on board power sources.

Richard Hull

I went on as a guest, and clicked the "register" link and got the rules. The "use your real name" and "Your first post is introduce yourself" rules are the very first. But all of the text is "normal" small font. Perhaps the first two rules should be in bold as those are the rules we have the most trouble with. The other rules, such as no illegal stuff, profanity etc we rarely have problems wth and people are used to those as most forums have them.
"

FWIW
I had created a formatted, with some bold, version of the Rules that new registrants see. (See below.) I got this edit installed on the old site. Some time around the site move, it was lost and reverted to a mostly phpBB default. I made some effort connecting to get it installed and also did some work on the details of the lost attachments problem. Eventually I came to the impression that my help on phpBB related issues wasn't really desired that much. So I have become just a mostly lurking member.

C'est la vie.

=============================
The following is a BB-ised version of my suggested Rules page.
The actual changes need to be in html, but a forum post doesn't support html.
I have a copy of the html changes.
==============================

The Rules:
(updated 151214) (From http://fusor.net/board/ucp.php?mode=register

By registering for membership in this site, you agree to adhere to the following terms and conditions:

1. The first rule of membership in these forums is:
   You must create your account using your real, full, first AND last names as the LogIn/UserID for your account.
   
   If your name is John Smith, your UserID (i.e. login handle) must be John Smith, or John_Smith. This is the name that will appear in the forum listings. “JSmith” or “JohnS” or “JS997” or “handles” like “MrFusion” or “ProtonBoy” are NOT permitted.
   
   New accounts that do not adhere to this simple rule will be summarily deleted without any further consideration. Any questions? OK, rolling right along…
   
   
2. New members are required to introduce themselves in the "Please Introduce Yourself" forum prior to posting elsewhere on the site.
   
   
3. The following types of content, and any links to such content, are prohibited and subject to immediate deletion: obscene, vulgar, or sexually-oriented material; ad-hominem attacks; legal threats; displays or endorsements of unlawful activity; commercial advertising of any kind; solicitation of funding for individual projects or initiatives of any sort.
   
   
4. All content posted must be one’s own, or attributed to the creator and used with permission.

If you have any issues with these protocols (particular #1), you are welcome to contact the site admins: admin@fusor.net

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Rex,

I am happy to put your updated registration form on the site. Send me the form and tell me where you would like it to be placed and I will do it.

There were so many problems from the corrupt files from Media Temple that we worked for weeks to get most of the important things fixed as well as we could. I have to be honest that the fine working or font of the registration file was not even on my radar with the major problems on the site.

I know you suggested that certain posters had the problem while others did not. In the end, the database of attachments was literally only 60% of what was on the site before the MT file corruption. What we had was permanently gone. I dont know what other options you speak of as what was gone was gone. We promoted you and others so you could have site wide editing and modification privileges to do what you could to restore. We are grateful for that. Thank you. I am not sure what other work that you might be referring to that we did not implement.