The rate of new users is up dramatically, with the number of folks signed up increasing roughly 5X in the last six months compared to the previous six months.  More folks registered yesterday than in an entire month less than a year ago.

 

HOWEVER, virtually none of them post.  Yes, I understand what it means to be a lurker and have been one myself on some boards, but if you aren't going to post, why sign up at all?

 

Quick stat: of the last 300 users that signed up, only three have posted.  Nice ratio!

 

I did some further examination of a handful of the more unusual names and found that some of these are rather infamous on the net for spamming chatrooms/boards, gave Russian email addresses, and/or have some obviously nefarious email address  So, why bother registering?  Are spammers trying to scrape email addresses?

 

Do I seem to have too much time on my hands?  Maybe I have become a post-whore?  LOL!

 

 

Bill

I too have noticed all of the new users over the last months, and have thought 'How nice that these *babe* and other product-related names are taking an interest in unRAID'!!  They probably have only our best interests at heart!

 

Seriously, I have to thank Tom or his assistant or the forum software for a terrific job of blocking what must be a lot of spam from these new users.  I know of lists and forums that have had to quit because of too much spam.

 

I've also wondered if all of the spam being dealt with is what causes the forums to be very slow at times.

 

I lurk on so many forums that I cannot begin to keep count. mostly, it is the way I learn about new things. So ofte, I am awed by the sophistication and knowledge of most of those already there. I say nothing. The only times I have posted on this forum was when I was in trouble and needed help. Otherwise, I just sit back and learn. I have been messing with computers, including putting together boxes for twelve years. Still, I know so little. UnRaid has been such an incredible product that I have not had to do more than listen to what others have had to say. I promise not to spam you, unless that is what I just did.

I too have been a lurker for a long time, still am most of the time.  I guess I was afraid of some of the very abrasive posters elsewhere, but I have found the unRAID group to be an especially civilized group.  I started posting less than a year ago, because I wanted to help.  And I wouldn't be surprised to see you contributing too, if you have been using an unRAID system and reading the forums that long.  I think I can speak for others here, that it is definitely appreciated when someone else pops up with a "oh yeah, I've had that, and here's what worked for me" post.  Helping others is a voluntary effort that is only fun when we don't feel obligated to do it.  And some times, some could contribute a helpful post, but don't because they feel someone else could do it better.  That leaves the load on only a few.

 

In this industry, we stay learners every day.  Everything changes, something new to learn comes out every day.  I like to say there is no such thing as an expert in the computer field.  If you think you are today, you won't be tomorrow.

 

So welcome to the forums!

 

I certainly hope I didn't sound like I hated lurkers.  Lurking is fine and I expect for ever poster, there will be several lurkers, but 100X?.  My observation was that the number of lurkers indicates to me that there is trouble afoot.

 

 

Bill

Just took the page with the lastest registrations, and they have 0 minutes online.

 

It is very hard to call someone with 0 minutes online, a lurker. Is there such thing as a non-lurking lurker :-))

 

It looks like foul play, but I cant see the point !!. Unless the plan is to gear up and spam flood later.

 

/Rene

 

Hopefully it isn't some script registering dummy users for a spam attack.

I can hardly see the value of flooding the board it self.

But, this is a longshot, if a lot of posts point to a site, and the posts are scanned by a searchengine I assume the site will have a higher ranking, a higher value, and will be listed higher. Even if it is only for a short time, rankings are of real value.

 

/Rene