Flourish Forum
Forum Info & Support => Flourish Forum News => Topic started by: Erica McPhee on December 15, 2014, 04:59:38 AM
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Hi Friends,
In order to keep our forum safe and sound, I have implemented some new security measures.
1. All new member registrations will be approved by me.
2. All new members will be requested to post a brief hello or intro.
3. All lurkers/members who have not visited the forum in the past 120 days will be deleted.
4. The first few posts will be moderated for approval to prove you are not a spammer.
5. The confirmation questions will remain in place until a set number of posts have been made.
Unfortunately, this will lose us some members but I would rather we are a tight, safe bunch than subjected to spam attacks.
Hopefully, this will help keep the meanies out. As always, suggestions, comments are welcome.
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Thank you, Erica! Those are very fair guidelines & will keep us safer! Although, I must admit that yesterday's spam that had a gorgeous hunk of a man's photo was pretty easy on the eyes.... Ha, ha!
Janis
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Thanks alot erica for making this place safe and sound for struggling calligraphers as me.
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Thanks, Erica - were you not tempted to say "prospective members should apply in writing to ..."? ;-)
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It's easy to say this is a great idea Erica,
But this means such a lot of additional work for you.
For that, you have my deepest thanks.
It's such a great effort you are taking to keep this forum up and going. Wonderful members and a truly wonderful Administrator.
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Where was the glorious hunk of a man??! I missed it. If this is the sort of thing I'd get to see, then I would be happy to volunteer my services as a security guard ;)
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Great idea, Erica. Your diligence on the behalf of the forum is wonderful!
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Thank you, Erica. It is a real pleasure to be a member of a forum that is so carefully moderated. I enjoyed the chance to practice my Russian yesterday (one of the spam posts began with a Russian summary of Harry Potter), but that's not really why I'm here!
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LOL! I'm actually thinking of this in terms of "tell me why you want to join..."
Thanks, Erica - were you not tempted to say "prospective members should apply in writing to ..."? ;-)
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Really?! I love Harry Potter! ;D LOL!
Thank you, Erica. It is a real pleasure to be a member of a forum that is so carefully moderated. I enjoyed the chance to practice my Russian yesterday (one of the spam posts began with a Russian summary of Harry Potter), but that's not really why I'm here!
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Thank you, Erica! :)
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thanks erica!!!
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Also thanks, Erica!! I can imagine it's even more work now …
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Yes, Erica. Prasad's got it right that it's additional work for you and I'm also grateful
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yay! thank you for this erica :)
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Thank you Erica!!! That's so much moderation work for you, but it's very appreciated.
P.S. I would've been totally cool with submitting a "why I would like to join..." questionnaire, as a total newbie to the site! Just sayin'!! ;)
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Hi Erica,
This forum has been such a wonderful resource.
I deeply appreciate all you do for the Forum.
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Thank you Erica for keeping us safe from these spammers & anyone else with non-calligraphy related stuff!
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Thank you for the many updates, Erica! ;D
Happy New Year, everyone! *confetti* :-*
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Thankyou Erica! :-*
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You are certainly doing your due diligence (quoting one of my Realtor-husband's fav phrases), Erica, and for that I am very grateful. The Forum continues to offer a wealth of ideas & discussions for the calligraphy community. Your list of questions are totally reasonable. Interested joiners will actually have to "think" about joining & contributing. I guess I missed yesterday's spammer.
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Thanks everyone!
The spam attack was a few weeks ago. However, every day we get anywhere from 50 - 1,500 attempts to access our site maliciously. UGH! I don't understand why they do that as no one is going to go visit their spam sites and if they trash the forum, there is nowhere to advertise! Just another form of virus, really. But keeps me on my toes! :)
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Hi Erica,
You seem to be doing a great job of keeping us shielded from all the rubbish that's trying to invade the forum, thank you for that!
Your stance on lurkers has me a little worried though, especially since, with my lurkerish tendencies, I can see myself fitting that description. While most of the time, whatever I want to add to a discussion has already been said much more eloquently by someone else by the time I get around to it, I do like having the option to participate, no matter how rarely I do so. Would you be willing to reconsider that part of the new policies?
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Thanks Erik,
It's completely fine to lurk (observe and take it all in). It's those who haven't logged in for 4 months or more. I would like to keep us "active" members (meaning those who visit, not just those who post regularly).
Hope that helps. Thank you for sharing that concern with me. :)
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Thank you, that does help! :)
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Thanks, Erica
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.... a gorgeous hunk of a man's photo was pretty easy on the eyes.... Ha, ha!
How could I miss this?! LOL!
On a more serious note, thank you Erica for your hardwork. :)
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Erica,
I'm ecstatic to be a part of this forum. However, I am not able to "introduce" myself on that forum. Do I have to receive a request to post on that forum? Any help will be appreciated.
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Hi Lauren,
All of the first couple of posts by new members are moderated. This is to reduce the possibility of a spam attack (which we have had in the past). But after that, they will just go right through and within a few more, the questions before posting are gone, too! :-)
Your intro has already gone through. Welcome to Flourish!
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Erica - setting up the Forum was a task in and of itself. Now to implement new measures to protect our "little" community is a whole other level. Thank you for all you do!!
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Thanks Theresa! Yes - keeping Flourish running smoothly is a full time job! But I love it and our community makes it so worth while.
We now have about 20 - 30 new members signing up each day. I have to look up every IP against a SPAM database and then follow up for a personal response. Once I hear back, I can activate the membership so the person can then sign in. I then review the first several posts before they are sent to the forum to try to avoid a repeat of the spam attacks we had last year.
That's just the new membership! ;D There is a lot of "behind the scenes" but almost all of it is positive! :) Exchanges are about 20 - 30 hours of set up and implementing in total. But SOOOO worth it! LOL! ;D
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Thanks for all your hard work Erica. The forum is an amazing resource. I am so thankful to have found you and everyone here!
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Hey Erica!
I'm a new member and would like to participate in the flourum holiday envelope exchanges! How do I get involved? Does the flourish forum send email newletters notifying everyone of when things occur or do we we need to continue to keep checking the website! I get busy with work and forget to check the website but i don't want to miss out!
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Hi Ashley,
Please see this board for information on exchanges: Flourish Exchanges (http://theflourishforum.com/forum/index.php?board=39.0).
Exchanges are announced and open for sign ups for about two weeks and then the lists are sent out. There is a calendar posted but there is only one exchange left for the rest of the year (the last advanced exchange will be post poned until January). I will be announcing the sign ups for the Holiday exchange in the next couple of days.
I like the suggestion to announce exchanges via the newsletter. Thanks!
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I liked the little calligraphy questions at the end. Just when I figured out all of the answers they went away. Boohoo. Not that I'm saying that I want them to come back... Thanks for keeping the spam down. I have left a lot of discussion groups in the past because of it.
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I wondered why I kept having to answer questions! :) If it keeps the boards clear of spam, I'm glad to answer the questions before I post for as long as it takes.
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Erica: Just a reminder...you are one AMAZING woman!! And I - rather, we all , appreciate you more than any of us could every convey!! Thanks for keeping us safe and relatively free of trolls!! ::)
Rebecca
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Thank you Rebecca! Your post made my day! ;D
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Thanks, Erica
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Suggestion: Maybe ask for volunteers from the senior members to help with some of the tedious work (like IP lookup, first post scanning, etc.)?
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time to put a reminder for myself every 3 months cos i have a habit of not using the internet when work is crazy haha
but those are fair rules (:
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Thank you for including me!
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I'm glad I'm still in. Thank you.
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Hey Peet ~ welcome to the forum from a fellow Spencerian student. You may receive more views & replies if you make an introduction post in the Introductions subforum.
http://theflourishforum.com/forum/index.php?board=2.0
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Thanks for responding June! I moved the message to the Open Discussion and will delete this in a bit. ;D
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A sound and intelligent way to run a forum. It sounds good to me. Thank you 😊
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Hi , THe guideline are a good idea and i like the questions they get you thinking about something thats second nature .
The book review is good to expand your library Thanks
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Thank you Erica – it's great to know that our Forum is carefully moderated.
I understand this means a great deal of more work for you, so thank you for all your time and efforts – we all appreciate you!
Have a wonderful day!
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Hello Erica! I have just been approved to become part of the forum today, so thank you!
I would just like the details of where I need to post my introduction? I didn't see any details in my email.
Again, thanks a lot! ;D
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Hi Melody! @Melody H.
That's a great question!
You can post your introduction here: Introductions Topic (http://theflourishforum.com/forum/index.php?board=2.0)
You may also want to check out this section: New Here? Start here! (http://theflourishforum.com/forum/index.php?board=17.0) It has tips on where to go first and how to find things.
Lastly, this FAQ on the home page has some really helpful tips, too. Flourish FAQ (http://www.theflourishforum.com/faq/)
Welcome! ;D
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Hi, Erica! This sounds great. I am new here and I'm looking forward to be part of the community!
I am a budding calligrapher and currently trying out ways to kick start my career in calligraphy. I am excited to meet my fellow aspirants to get along with!
Happy New Year, everyone! :)
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Nice initiative.
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Thanks Erica!
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Thank you for this info! What a task you have at hand!
Will members be given a warning before they are deleted? (ex/ let's say life gets busy and one doesn't have time or forgets, etc. to log on and be active -- will there be any message sent to the member or will they just be automatically deleted?)
thanks!
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Hi @ElleK ,
I haven't deleted anyone. I know life gets busy and people come and go. Also, the time we have to dedicate to calligraphy varies. I have found some folks stop coming by for a bit and then come back so as for now, I don't want to delete anyone off. ;D
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I’ll be sure to post a few times. It’s been a couple years since i last logged on. Great to be back! Thanks for all you do Erica!
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Erica, thank you!
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Hooray! Welcome back Kei! And you’re very welcome Kacy! ;D
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YAY KEI!
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Thank you, Erica. I freaked out when I tried to log in to the Forum yesterday, and it refused me! After reading your post I changed my "session time" from "forever" to "one month", and boom! I was in again! Whew! Thanks for being such a diligent guardian. Your efforts are much appreciated.
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I'm so glad you figured out a workaround @rubyrose5757 ! Sometimes that even happens to me. I find I can usually then login by going down to the menu list (starts with Home) and then log in and that works. Different browsers act differently as well. Happy you figured it out! :-*
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I'm so looking forward to what this group has to offer!! Thank you in advance for your insight and shared knowledge.
Debra
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*tap* *tap* *tap* .....is this thing on? It’s been years since I’ve picked up my pen and I did it yesterday! Muscle memory still good but how on earth did my writing get so shaky? I feel like I can’t remember a thing....do I rinse off my nib in water when I’m done for the day? Does ink have a shelf life? Are dinky dots still a thing? Halp, Erica!!! ;D
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*tap* *tap* *tap* .....is this thing on? It’s been years since I’ve picked up my pen and I did it yesterday! Muscle memory still good but how on earth did my writing get so shaky? I feel like I can’t remember a thing....do I rinse off my nib in water when I’m done for the day? Does ink have a shelf life? Are dinky dots still a thing? Halp, Erica!!! ;D
@ewigginton
Wow, Hi Ellen. What's it been--five years? A few of us still here from that time. Good to see you back.
If your ink hasn't molded or dried up completely, you might be able to use it by adding enough water to get it back to the proper viscosity, but why not treat yourself to a new bottle? And yes, rinse off the nib and wipe the ink off so it doesn't dry on the nib (I use a paper towel with a little Windex on it). Dinky dots? The parent/toddler groups or the dotted paper/fabrics?
I am curious what prompted you to pick up the pen after so much time. Still need more practice writing Chris Yoke's name?
I'm sure Erica will chime in when she sees your post. Again, welcome back.
Mike
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Welcome back Ellen! @ewigginton So great to see you here! It just takes a while to get your steady hand back. But it will come. Mike gave you some great answers. I still use dinky dips. But there are these cute little glass bottles I get from Hobby Lobby which work perfectly and are a little bit bigger but not too big.
Happy to see you post again! :-*
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I’ve retired and have all the time now to play! Aw, thanks so much for remembering me! I can’t believe how much stuff is out there compared to back in the day. Glad to you see you all still here. Some among have really gone on to wonderful things! I follow some on IG and they’re amazing! I’ve been dabbling in watercolors and lettering and that dip pen was just staring me in the face! Happy to be back!
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Welcome back Ellen! @ewigginton But there are these cute little glass bottles I get from Hobby Lobby which work perfectly and are a little bit bigger but not too big.
I would like to see them (love all things cute). Wonder if I visited site and did search "little glass bottles" would it yield them? ::)
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Great idea. Thanks, Erica!
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Hello,
Thanks you for solving my registration issues and adding me to this forum. I wish to learn a lot from this forum. Good luck to all the members of this forum.
Thanks & Regards
Tushar
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It’s a shame that such precautions have to be taken but they are indeed sensible. I work in technology professionally so see the bad stuff from the corporate side as well. Well done Erica for the fairly epic amount of effort it must take to keep the ink flowing smoothly (well, well-oiled machines and cogs didn’t seem that appropriate a metaphor).
:D
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Thanks @AndrewD ! That gave me a good chuckle. ;D
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Hi Erica, so sorry I'm feeling such a dummy, I am a newbie here, and wanted to post my introduction, I just haven't figured it out yet LOL, in the mean time I wanted to thank you for letting me in :) So appreciate to be here, I will keep trying to figure out the introduction post thing
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@Blanca03 No need to fret. All is well. ;D Happy you have joined us.
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Thank you Erica, for the amazing work you do to keep the site updated, safe and such an amazing resource. Still consider myself a newbie and greatly appreciate the vast wealth of experience shared in the forum.
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The pleasure is all my @Rivers ! I appreciate your kind words! :-*