Sign of the times (?)

News: Registration is free here at the CPMF!

November 2010 was a record-setting month here at the forums.  Here are some of the details...

New topics: 45 (record low; previous low was 61 in October 2010)
New posts: 174 (record low; previous low was 326 in February 2010)
New members: 54 (record high)

http://www.cdnpapermoney.com/forum/index.php?action=stats

So, what does it all mean?

Close to 20 of these users are "spam" users, with the user names following a certain pattern and e-mail addresses in Poland. The signatures of these users contain URLs the spammers want you to visit.

Winter is here it should pick up.

Currently, we don't have any new prefixes to talk about, maybe some members are doing less bricking, less findings to report (errors, low numbers and so on). 

Since we have the SNDB, all the reports about new prefixes are made in it.   The prefixes report was a big contributor for the total posts and new topics.

I don't see much excitment until we get new signature and/or polymer notes...

Currently, we don't have any new prefixes to talk about, maybe some members are doing less bricking, less findings to report (errors, low numbers and so on). .......... I don't see much excitement until we get new signature and/or polymer notes...

Perhaps this explains why we are starting to see a number of threads dealing with COINS on a paper money forum lol!

[edit]Post removed as it is slanderous against members of another forum. --BWJM[/edit]

We're up to 50 members in 10 days this month.  The problem with phony accounts is getting worse.

It's tough to prevent these things. It's like trying to swim in a giant strainer and not sink. If you plug one hole, there are a million others, and who knows how many more.

Just tonight, I've deleted about 90 phony accounts from the system, added a handful of new ban rules, and added a few more domains to the list of email providers you can't sign up with. The "no Gmail" rule that unfortunately frustrates a number of legitimate users prevents on a daily basis dozens of phony account signups.

Thanks to those who take the time to point out suspected phony accounts or alert me to spam posts.

Additional measures have been put in place today to prevent the high number of phony accounts that keep signing up. If they're robots, this may help solve the problem. If they are human, these measures may be less effective. I almost feel sorry for any humans who think spamming here might do them any good. Sigh.