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Thread: Blocked from registering as a "Spammer"?

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Blocked from registering as a "Spammer"?

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    AQ's registration system references a third party blacklist of spammers to block registrations from spammers and spam bots. This service and a few other lines of automated defences blocks hundreds to thousands of spammers/bots registrations daily. This is why AQ is comparatively spam free despite being a comparatively "old" and active forum.

    Unfortunately, this also means that some legitimate users are blocked from registering (and falsely accused as spammers) because of "false positives" or erroneous reporting.

    It is not feasible for AQ to turn off the screening system as we get too many spammer registrations daily. We are also not able to remove IPs from the blacklist as we do not own the list. It is a service provided by another organisation. Only the owners of the IP addresses can make a request to the blacklist owners to to de-list the IP addresses.

    How does that affect me?
    Most ISPs/IAPs have a limited pool of IP addresses for their subscribers. When their subscribers access the internet, they are randomly assigned an IP address from this pool. The IP addresses are randomly re-used and re-assigned as their subscribers come online and go offline. If a subscriber conducts spamming activities and gets reported, his/her assigned IP address is added to the blacklist. If you happen to get assigned the same IP address subsequently, you get blocked at some sites that references the blacklist like AQ.

    SingNet Users
    Recently, some of SingNet's proxy servers were reported and added to the blacklist as spammers. This is most likely because one or more of their users allegedly conducted spamming activities. The knock down effect is that any SingNet user who happens to be accessing the internet through any of these proxy servers will be blocked from registering.

    I still want to register. What are my options?
    1. Use a PC or mobile device on a different ISP/IAP (e.g. mobile data, at work, at school, free public wifi) to register on AQ. Once you have registered, you can access AQ from your usual PC/device. The usual risks of using public wifi, etc, applies, so please be careful.
    2. Use a cookie-friendly web proxy to access AQ's registration page. Once you register successfully and you get the message to check your email for account activation, you can use normal means to access AQ. One web proxy to try is http://www.hidemyass.com/ (Just use their free service. No sign up required.). There are some risks using web-proxies, so make sure you use a reputable one. Most web proxies are blocked because lots of spammers know how to take advantage of web proxies.
    3. Reset the IP address of your home network router, PC or mobile device (if you own them). You will need to Google for instructions for your specific home network router, PC or mobile device, or call your ISP/IAP for instructions. (Has no effect if you are a SingNet user or other ISP/IAP that put their users behind proxy servers.)
    4. SingNet users can opt to keep re-trying until they randomly get assigned a SingNet proxy server that is not blacklisted. Not recommended, but it is possible.


    We apologise for the inconvenience. We too wish we do not have to go through this as we lose some registrations because of this. Unfortunately, the proliferation of spammers means that it is not feasible for us to take down our anti-spam features.

    If you still have trouble, please use the Contact Us form. If you have already seen this, do state so, else we the first thing we do is point you to this post. Thank you.
    Last edited by vinz; 9th Jan 2014 at 16:55.
    Vincent - AQ is for everyone, but not for 'u' and 'mi'.
    Why use punctuation? See what a difference it makes:
    A woman, without her man, is nothing.
    A woman: without her, man is nothing.

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