Hi Everyone

In light of some recent spam attacks on both the forums and accounts being set up pretending to be someone else, the Moderators, along with our Community Manager and Developer at Leaf Group (formally Demand Media) have decided that all new members will need to have their first forum post approved.

The Moderators, Community Manager and Developer at Leaf Group are going to work together over the next while to look into other options to remove/reduce the risk of spam posts/spam members.

If you are a new member to our forums, then welcome and thank you for your patience and understanding. This new requirement will increase the Moderators work load here at airliners.net as we screen first posts, but I'm sure you'll all enjoy seeing less spam posts as we work to remove members who simply shouldn't be posting here.

If anyone has any questions/concerns, then as always please feel free to contact us at moderators@airliners.net.

On behalf of the Airliners.net Moderators

777ER
Head Forum Moderator

I hope you don't mind me posting here. I just wanted to let you know that, after signing-up, I had to logout and login again, before I could use the forums. That's not to criticize your site (which is fabulous), but new members might not know that and wonder if their account is broken.

Thanks for the information .. I am new here and i will follow all rules and regulations of this Forums

Er... well... here I am, I guess. And if I am going to get something wrong, this is a good a place as any to do it.

So let's start off with a technical question (site related); what are the icons at the extreme left hand side of the list of conversations? The first four have red map pins, signifying that these threads are pinned to the top - I get that. The other threads have icons that allow us to jump to the most recent posting on a particular topic? And what is the difference between the "page-of-text" icon, and the "red-cloud-with-two-pointy-ears-protruding" icon? (I'm speaking from memory - I can't actually view them just now)

SheikhDjibouti wrote:

Er... well... here I am, I guess. And if I am going to get something wrong, this is a good a place as any to do it.

So let's start off with a technical question (site related); what are the icons at the extreme left hand side of the list of conversations? The first four have red map pins, signifying that these threads are pinned to the top - I get that. The other threads have icons that allow us to jump to the most recent posting on a particular topic? And what is the difference between the "page-of-text" icon, and the "red-cloud-with-two-pointy-ears-protruding" icon? (I'm speaking from memory - I can't actually view them just now)

The difference between the page on text icon and the red cloud with two pointy ears protruding icon is that the red one shows a thread you have clicked on/read with more than 100 posts, basically it makes it easier to identify when looking for it. The other icon you will notice from time to time is an arrow pointing to the left, this means that particular topic has been moved into a different sub forum, for example from civil aviation to travel, polls and preferences

qf789 wrote:

The difference between the page on text icon and the red cloud with two pointy ears protruding icon is that the red one shows a thread you have clicked on/read with more than 100 posts, basically it makes it easier to identify when looking for it. The other icon you will notice from time to time is an arrow pointing to the left, this means that particular topic has been moved into a different sub forum, for example from civil aviation to travel, polls and preferences

Firstly - thx for the reply.
Secondly - I'm not sure you are 100% correct.
I am seeing red pointy ears icons on all sorts of threads I know for a fact I have never even glanced at. It does seem to be true that the red markers come with threads that have more than 100 posts, so... could it be that the marker signifies that a particular thread is popular (as in "on fire" perhaps)? I cannot believe that the icon is really designed to mimic a cloud with ears, so could it represent a small blaze with two flames?

Hi, everyone, nice to meet you !
I hope this forum 'll have useful for me and all!!

AlexAmsterdam wrote:

I hope you don't mind me posting here. I just wanted to let you know that, after signing-up, I had to logout and login again, before I could use the forums. That's not to criticize your site (which is fabulous), but new members might not know that and wonder if their account is broken.

I just joined, I did think something was wrong with my account initially as I couldn't post my first post, thankfully I saw the quoted post. Thanks, AlexAmsterdam!

Hello to all,

" The Airliners.net Photo Screening Team regrets to inform you that a photo you sent was rejected "
But I do not understand why some images with wrong details are accepted and others with just and detailed specifications are rejected???

On your website some images of example, the airplane FALCO F8L with I-MIKI registration are referred to as SEQUIOIA while in truth it is a AVIAMILANO !!!

As per the other replier to the thread, I too had to sign out and back in again before I could reply. Is that normal for here?

bigelowbiggles wrote:

As per the other replier to the thread, I too had to sign out and back in again before I could reply. Is that normal for here?

No. It could be an issue with your browser settings. You should stay logged in on the same device. If it doesn't, then I would recommend you check your settings and/or try a different device.

Good day. I can not add information to my profile, data is not saved

I've having the same issue trying to build out my profile. Can't add an avatar, photos or anything. Everytime I try and save, I get a message saying I have been blocked?!
It doesn't matter if I use Chrome or Firefox.

Cloudflare Ray ID: 4caabf03a812ccd4

When I try to use the contact us form -- regardless of browser -- it doesn't let me send -- says a field needs to be filled out -- but there is no field to fill out.

B6BOSfan wrote:

I've having the same issue trying to build out my profile. Can't add an avatar, photos or anything. Everytime I try and save, I get a message saying I have been blocked?!
It doesn't matter if I use Chrome or Firefox.

Cloudflare Ray ID: 4caabf03a812ccd4

When I try to use the contact us form -- regardless of browser -- it doesn't let me send -- says a field needs to be filled out -- but there is no field to fill out.

If you look towards the end of this thread, it's an issue that several users are dealing with. The site developers are aware, and are hopefully working on a fix. Unfortunately I don't have any more details.

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1338787

Hi all!

Been an airliner buff for many years and also a private pilot once-upon-a-time. I'm in my 50's, male, and from San Antonio, Glad I finally joined.

Hello everyone! New member here.. I saved a pic to an album and want to add my favourite pics there .. how do I find MY album as I have looked everywhere.I can only add to the album at the bottom of a given pic but I cannot find the album anywhere. I also tried to go to Photos on top menu and then Photo Albums in the drop down menu but there is no search option there and it just shows pages of all albums. Thanks for your help in advance if I am just missing the obvious somewhere.

Hello,

I finally got around to joining. Been meaning to do so for some time.

I had my first air experience in 1966, a ride in a Bell 47D helicopter, registration G-ASOL. In the 1980s I learned to fly and acquired a PPL licence in 1991. I still fly occasionally with an instructor. In 1990 I obtained a City & Guild Certificate in Aviation Studies at Farnborough Technical College. Today, I play a minor role in the support of the Daedalus Aviation & Heritage Group based at Solent Airport (EGHF).

I've been lucky enough to fly domestically and internationally over the years, both for business and leisure. I've got a lot of photos on my hard drive so will be uploading a few of them.

That's me. How about you?

Redspan wrote:

Hello,

I finally got around to joining. Been meaning to do so for some time.

I had my first air experience in 1966, a ride in a Bell 47D helicopter, registration G-ASOL. In the 1980s I learned to fly and acquired a PPL licence in 1991. I still fly occasionally with an instructor. In 1990 I obtained a City & Guild Certificate in Aviation Studies at Farnborough Technical College. Today, I play a minor role in the support of the Daedalus Aviation & Heritage Group based at Solent Airport (EGHF).

I've been lucky enough to fly domestically and internationally over the years, both for business and leisure. I've got a lot of photos on my hard drive so will be uploading a few of them.

That's me. How about you?

Welcome aboard, mate!

Why are all my new threads going under a review? OP says first post requires approval

Thanks for checking.
I can send DD-214’s upon request

F15CrewChief wrote:

Why are all my new threads going under a review? OP says first post requires approval

Thanks for checking.
I can send DD-214’s upon request

Your first five posts require approval. It's how we screen new users to ensure they aren't spammers or don't have multiple accounts, among other things.

I want to point out that even when the site was paid membership only — $25 for posting, I think? Well anyway, the problem still existed even under paid membership, it just was much less severe.

From my distant memory, I know of at least one case where a member, who I have to assume had a lot of disposable income, admitted on a parody anet site to buying and operating 7 accounts at a cost of $175 US.

Through my own research, and contact with a former moderator back then, I came to the conclusion that the claim was, in fact, genuine. His accounts were all banned after he made the sloppy decision to make all of them from the same IP address.

Let’s talk about IP address blocking though. In your opinion, mods of this site, what would implementing IP address blocking entail? Pluses? Drawbacks? Let me know! I’m very interested to hear.

Although returning paid membership only probably is not an absolute panacea for the mods of the site, it would probably cut 75% of their workload, supremely increasing their productivity so that they don’t have to waste time on spam/meaningless trolling etc.

I for one love when I see a moderator posting in a non-moderator capacity (just participating in a discussion as any other member would). It reminds me that they are human, too, and have a genuine interest for the topic at hand that extends above and beyond an enforcement role.

Far too often, for a wide variety of reasons, many forums have a large amount of mods that only visit the forum just to moderate, and hardly ever post in a non-moderator-capacity.

lpdal wrote:

I want to point out that even when the site was paid membership only — $25 for posting, I think? Well anyway, the problem still existed even under paid membership, it just was much less severe.

Right. A paid membership does create a buy-in too, so it likely creates a (albeit slightly) higher level of quality among users, because they're invested in something. It won't stop all multiple accounts, but it stops enough of them to make it manageable rather than playing whack-a-mole. What you guys don't see are the hundreds, if not thousands of accounts we've banned created by spammers that we filter out during the post approval phase. Sometimes it's a half dozen or more a day. That gets frustrating, especially when some of them can be sneaky, but it's additional work for us that wouldn't happen if they were required to pay.

lpdal wrote:

Let’s talk about IP address blocking though. In your opinion, mods of this site, what would implementing IP address blocking entail? Pluses? Drawbacks? Let me know! I’m very interested to hear.

I'd rather not go into this on a public post, but we have a few blocking tools at our disposal that work in various situations. There are certainly pluses and drawbacks.

lpdal wrote:

Although returning paid membership only probably is not an absolute panacea for the mods of the site, it would probably cut 75% of their workload, supremely increasing their productivity so that they don’t have to waste time on spam/meaningless trolling etc.

Agreed. Trying to keep track of users requires time and effort from us, and it diminishes the value of a short term ban if someone can just circumvent it with a new account. Granted that happens fairly infrequently, but if we permanently ban someone and they find a way to come back, sometimes it takes some time to put them together. We usually get there with most people, but it's frustrating. It's time that we would rather spend elsewhere.

lpdal wrote:

I for one love when I see a moderator posting in a non-moderator capacity (just participating in a discussion as any other member would). It reminds me that they are human, too, and have a genuine interest for the topic at hand that extends above and beyond an enforcement role.

Far too often, for a wide variety of reasons, many forums have a large amount of mods that only visit the forum just to moderate, and hardly ever post in a non-moderator-capacity.

I'm glad that you feel this way, but unfortunately not everyone does. I think it's important that we function with a dual purpose, because we're supposed to be members of this community. I joined this site in college 15 years ago when my contributions were limited to that of a reasonably educated enthusiast, but now, I can offer insight as an experienced professional. It would be a shame for me to give that up just so that I can contribute my moderating duties. That dual purpose was the whole reason I applied to be a moderator eight years ago, and I'm glad that it's still something that is actively promoted by the head moderators and the community director. If nothing else, I think that for us to earn any level of respect, we need to be able to demonstrate our own knowledge and ability to participate. Without that, it's probably harder for some people to accept it when we need to intervene. There are still plenty of people who don't like or respect us (or even me specifically), but we can't expect to win everyone over, and it would be harder to win anyone over if we participated here purely in a moderator capacity.