FourDegreez - 7:54 pm on Dec 5, 2005 (gmt 0)

I used to filter IPs and ISPs due to problem users, particularly AOL. Now I've got a much more complicated system.

My sign up page asks a series of questions. Based on the answers, points are awarded or subtracted. Are they in my target age range? Did they enter a hotmail email, or a .edu email? Are the open-ended answers long, short, or left blank? Do any answers contain swear words or "netspeak"? Have I logged past attempts to sign up with this cookie or IP address?

So a score is assigned, and if it is below a certain threshhold, the account request is automatically declined. The system works real well at screening out the most undesireable people. The account requests that make it past this part are then placed in a queue for manual review by volunteer members, who accept or decline them. Accepted members are put into a sort of newbie purgatory for a few days, with limited abilities, before being given more priveledges.

Yes, truely hard-core. It's a site I run as a hobby, not to make a profit. I've had a lot of headaches in the past from bad users. I am head-ache free with my current system. The few users willing to jump through all my hoops tend to work out well in the community.