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Is my signup process scaring people away?

by AvusBlue
19 replies
I recently got a PM on my entrepreneur forum from a recently signed up member saying that the signup for the site felt like a background check. He was joking, but at the same time, it got me thinking if our signup process is scaring people away? :confused::confused::confused:

Is there a different way to keep spammers away and still have quality members signup?

I'd love to get some feedback. You obviously don't have to register, but do you mind just maybe looking at the questions and register form?
novumdives.com/forum/forum.php
#people #process #scaring #signup
  • Profile picture of the author VinnyBock
    Originally Posted by AvusBlue View Post

    I recently got a PM on my entrepreneur forum from a recently signed up member saying that the signup for the site felt like a background check. He was joking, but at the same time, it got me thinking if our signup process is scaring people away? :confused::confused::confused:

    Is there a different way to keep spammers away and still have quality members signup?

    I'd love to get some feedback. You obviously don't have to register, but do you mind just maybe looking at the questions and register form?
    novumdives.com/forum/forum.php
    Your forum is new, so right now your main objective should be getting people signed up... Unfortunately spammers are part of our way of life as webmasters, you can always take more precautions against them once you have more people registered...

    Right now, I'd try to make the sign up process as easy as possible while still making sure it's as secure as possible...
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Mensah
      Originally Posted by VinnyBock View Post

      Your forum is new, so right now your main objective should be getting people signed up... Unfortunately spammers are part of our way of life as webmasters, you can always take more precautions against them once you have more people registered...

      Right now, I'd try to make the sign up process as easy as possible while still making sure it's as secure as possible...
      yeah, if your site is that new its best to let everyone through now and then weed out the ones you dont want later.
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  • Profile picture of the author ContentWritingPhD
    Banned
    You'll have to keep your "information cost" low. Information cost is the number of information your users are required to provide. Your site is still new and as much as you want to avoid spammers, people are also not comfortable in providing personal info if they still don't trust you enough.
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  • Profile picture of the author shawnlebrun
    You can think of it this way....

    Ask for very little... get lower quality members

    Ask for more info... you tend to weed out those who are not serious.

    By asking for more, you'll get less people, but the quality should be higher.

    In most cases, the more hoops you have someone jump through, the less people who will continue... but those who make it to the end are usually pretty good members to have around.

    I've run forums in my biz and the single biggest pain in the ass is spam, so you gotta do what you gotta do to filter out the riff raff.

    I belong to a few forums, and what you're asking for really isn't anything too different or in depth compared to those, so I don't think it will completely scare folks off.

    Just ask for the minimum that will allow you to run it effectively.
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  • Profile picture of the author GetBack2it
    Would love to take a look but I'm getting a 404 error
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  • Profile picture of the author InternetSuccess001
    Took a look.

    Seems like a standard sign up form.

    Don't worry about it.

    Johnathan
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  • Profile picture of the author waynemoney
    Most spammers use automated systems... I believe to get signups you need fewer questions... People in general will not be bothered to fill out a ton of questions... However if you look at the average spammers system they only have the normal data name, sex, date of birth.. ect.. if you simply ask a question that they would not have in there automated system and require it to be filled in you will eliminate most spammers...

    something like what is the best american car? it doesn't matter as long as it is not a normal signup field... They have figured out how to get around the captcha but they will not get around this any time soon..

    Hope this helps...
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  • Profile picture of the author Don Schenk
    I clicked on your register button, and everything seemed to lock up - or so I thought.

    Because I had to scroll to the top to his the register button, I didn't see the page change below the fold. I kept seeing the header, thinking I was stuck on the home page.

    Maybe have the header go away on the sign-up page.

    A birthdate and name are two of the essential components to identity theft. Reqiring a birth day date is a turn-off for anyone being security conscious. I never use my real birthdate on anything on the web.

    :-Don
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    That's a default vBulletin signup page, no big deal.

    Remove the Adsense in the signup page footer, unless you want to take the chance of trading Adsense clicks for forum member signups.
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  • Profile picture of the author jeffsolochek
    Originally Posted by AvusBlue View Post

    I recently got a PM on my entrepreneur forum from a recently signed up member saying that the signup for the site felt like a background check. He was joking, but at the same time, it got me thinking if our signup process is scaring people away? :confused::confused::confused:

    Is there a different way to keep spammers away and still have quality members signup?

    I'd love to get some feedback. You obviously don't have to register, but do you mind just maybe looking at the questions and register form?
    novumdives.com/forum/forum.php

    Hey,

    I like where I can register using my Facebook account. I tried clicking the register button but nothing happened. What about creating a landing page that is a squeeze page? In exchange for someone signing up with this give them some sort of free report or something.

    Just a thought
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    Jeff Solochek
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    http://www.networkcelebrity.com

    I also build blogs for companies and individuals

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    • Profile picture of the author GrowTutor
      Originally Posted by waynemoney View Post

      if you simply ask a question that they would not have in there automated system and require it to be filled in you will eliminate most spammers...

      something like what is the best american car?
      That's a horrible question since different people think different cars are best.


      Originally Posted by Don Schenk View Post

      A birthdate and name are two of the essential components to identity theft. Reqiring a birth day date is a turn-off for anyone being security conscious. I never use my real birthdate on anything on the web.
      Me too, I usually use April 1st.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary McCaffrey
    When I started a forum years ago, I done away with the regular signup form and made a squeeze page giving away access to good content just asking for username, email and password.

    I had a programmer automatically add everyone to the forum without anyone even realising, then once I had around 500 signups I emailed them announcing the forum, and a forum contest awarding prizes for most replied to quality thread, and most posts (warning against short, worthless replies).

    Within days of anyone but me knowing the forum existed, I had over 500 members and thousands of posts.

    Now the forum is live and busy, when people signup at the squeeze page they're sent to a forum thread to access all they signed up for, as signed up and logged in members of the forum.
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  • Profile picture of the author JasonBennet
    Spammers will always find their way through if they want to spam your forum but it is a good start by you to have a form that requires more information from them. This will discourage most of the spammers. But as some Warriors have mention, you might want to get more people to sign up first before you start to monitor the spamming issue.
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  • Profile picture of the author hustlinsmoke
    You just have to monitor the crap out of it is all. Look at warriors they have tried everything, they still get through the cracks, all we can do here is report and hope the mod is on at the time.

    If you weren't new I would tell you to do a 24 hour posting guideline that when they sign up they can't post for 24 hours but don't think it will work for your site.
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    • Profile picture of the author WSS
      The "why are you here?" question is what turns me off.

      In a sentence or two, please tell us why you have to decided to join our community. Registrations with one word answers are deleted. We read all of these and won't approve your membership if we think you won't be a good fit for the community.
      This kind of questions usually have me hitting the back button. It comes across as a bit rude and elitist to some people who may consider signing up. Instead, they just might not bother as it seems more difficult than it should be. If you want more sign ups I'd consider removing this part for the time being and just amp up your modding to remove the "bad fits".
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  • Profile picture of the author Moneymaker2012
    I personally don't like it. You may take it as a feedback and look what you can do to make it right.
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    • Profile picture of the author CH Yeo
      I also don't quite like it ... asking so much personal stuff in one go.

      Is there a way requiring those who wish to post or thread starters to fill up more information about themselves first before allowing them to post/start?
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    There seems to be a strategy especially within social
    media that the rules are very slack at the beginning in
    order to get the crowds in and they when people
    start to complain then the change the rules afterwards.

    It's a matter of "easy get in" when you are new and when
    you are popular then you tighten the rules. I've seen this
    done by Google Adsense, Facebok, Paypal, Youtube
    .. and the list goes on.

    Many companies I see that were made big by the small
    man and when they "made it" they pressure the same small
    man who made them big. But that's a different story.

    -Ray Edwards
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  • Profile picture of the author zahanega
    I just ask for their email initially and deal with spammers later.
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