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  2. For prospective new members, a word of warning: don't use common names like Dennis, Simon, or Kenny if you decide to create an account. Spammers have used them all before you and gotten those names flagged in the anti-spam databases. Your account registration will be rejected because of it.
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  3. Since it has happened MULTIPLE times now, I want to be very clear about this. You do not get to abandon an account and create a new one. You do not get to pass an account to someone else and create a new one. If you do so anyway, you will be banned for creating sockpuppets.
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Mail delivery issues Usernames Rule 4 Clarification Username Change Requests Disposable Email Addresses Ukraine Rule update XF2 testbed available

Common Names Causing Rejected Registrations

Discussion in 'Announcements and Rules' started by tehelgee, Jun 10, 2017.

  1. tehelgee

    tehelgee The stern gaze of justice. Administrator

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    Please don't use common names as a username.

    At least once a week, sometimes more often, an attempted registration will get rejected because a user chose a name that's flagged in the database we use. The reason for most of those is that it's a normal name. Matt, Theresa, Sam, Lucy, Thomas, and so on. Once one of those names has been rejected, future attempts using the same email and IP address get automatically rejected and it becomes a hassle to get people signed up if they email me about it.

    So, I'm making this thread to pin with the rules to hopefully cut down on that.
     
    tehelgee, Jun 10, 2017
    #1
    Ozekee, ChestBurster, Lemonbarb and 9 others like this.
  2. magic9mushroom

    magic9mushroom BEST END.

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    Could you explain why attempting to sign up with such a name deserves an IP-ban? It seems pretty harmless to me.
     
    magic9mushroom, Jun 10, 2017
    #2
    Ddmkm122 likes this.
  3. tehelgee

    tehelgee The stern gaze of justice. Administrator

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    Because spammers use them as low effort usernames across many websites, the names get tagged as belonging to spammers in the database.
     
    tehelgee, Jun 10, 2017
    #3
    Grimmouse197, Orcinus, JiggieP and 13 others like this.
  4. Prezombie

    Prezombie Getting out there.

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    A simple warning is probably okay as a stopgap fix, but IP banning should only ever be used as a last resort. It's easy for bad actors to get around, while false positives have a far worse time because IP addresses do not have a 1:1 association with people.

    Add a captcha to the registration process, maybe two if you're extra paranoid (one during registration and a different one on the "email confirmed" link page), and instead of having that "common name database" triggering a ban, simply have it trigger the "username already taken" error.
     
    Prezombie, Mar 30, 2018
    #4
    Jimmy_McFubble, Ozekee, Alayne and 9 others like this.
  5. alethiophile

    alethiophile Shadowed Philosopher Administrator

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    This is automatic functionality through XenForo's StopForumSpam integration, which aggregates spam reports across multiple sites. We don't have the ability to make detailed changes to the internals of the system, and just turning it off would increase the spam load on the moderators a lot.

    Captchas don't really help; modern computers can solve them, and if not people get paid just to solve captchas 24/7 to let bots spam places.
     
    alethiophile, Apr 1, 2018
    #5
    Grimmouse197, JiggieP, Alayne and 7 others like this.
  6. Nilbog

    Nilbog (Verified Cape) (Unverified Goblin)

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    The banner up top makes me wish i made an account named "Dennis, Simon, or Kenny" as one name. Just for a stupid joke no one will get in like, a month
     
    Nilbog, Apr 2, 2018
    #6
    Grimmouse197, 94000130 FFF70000, Ku4kin and 10 others like this.
  7. EDGEYMCNAME2016

    EDGEYMCNAME2016 Kitsunes Are Better, Fite Me Bii.

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    They rejected Kenny, you bastards!
     
    EDGEYMCNAME2016, Apr 12, 2018
    #7
    Grimmouse197, Echoes, Ku4kin and 25 others like this.