Ask the Staff v8

[twinsrule26]

Originally Posted by twinsrule26

Has there been a major change in the way this site advertises ? the reason I ask is after I get to the site and try to log in I'm getting tons of pop up adds so many that I'm not having any fun here any more . What can I do about it .

Turns out my desk top was badly infected and had to be cleared out including unloading and reloading both my security program and Google Chrome but now it seems to be running fine ( knock wood )

[gertiekeddle]

Glad it's not us then.

[Mugwump3091]

I tried to post a new thread last night and I received a message saying it was being "reviewed by moderators". When will I receive some kind of update / when will it appear on The Stone forum?

[Alastor]

Originally Posted by Mugwump3091

I tried to post a new thread last night and I received a message saying it was being "reviewed by moderators". When will I receive some kind of update / when will it appear on The Stone forum?

Unfortunately, the less activity we have, the longer it takes before a new thread is spotted and acted upon. Thread starters just need to log in now and then to see if it's approved.

Your thread is now merged with Snape and Dumbledore: Joint Character Analysis

[gertiekeddle]

If it takes too long, feel free to owl Alastor or me - it's possible we're not checking regularly these days.

[twinsrule26]

Has somebody changed the most users on line ,line at the top of the home page ?? I don't recall seeing that many users or students on line that day ,or ever for that matter even when this place was busy .

It now reads most ever online 4,567 on Oct. 8 , 2015 at 1.22 am. I believe it used to say 3600+ back in 2005.

[gertiekeddle]

Well, yes, that is odd. I doubt there is any chance that real people came online that day in that number - or that we even had that many members. So most likely it is a glitch or we got some bot attack (but for now I didn't think they count). I can't see anything in the admin panel though but I never was very tech savy on here and don't even know how to access the tech settings.
What's most likely very reasonable...

[Alastor]

The user activity stats say 32 users were online on that day.

I don't have a clue of what happened. But if it registers both students and muggles like the map does, it could have been a bot attack.

[Morgoth]

Yeah, it was a bot attack, a brute force thing trying to get into the site.

It's been like this for a while now. Not much I can do about it I'm afraid, though I will make an effort to contact some people to see about security.

[twinsrule26]

Thank you all .

[brattyc]

I'm sure it's posted somewhere, but I can't find it Could you tell me when you can get to use an avatar? I think I heard you have to have a certain amount of posts to get one.

Thanks for your help.

[Alastor]

I have to disappoint you here. Only those who are invited to Hogsmeade can have avatars.

And we haven't invited anyone for 3 years now. Because we are still waiting for the forums to either be transfered to MuggleNet or shut down.

[brattyc]

Originally Posted by Alastor

I have to disappoint you here. Only those who are invited to Hogsmeade can have avatars.

And we haven't invited anyone for 3 years now. Because we are still waiting for the forums to either be transfered to MuggleNet or shut down.

Thanks for the answer. At least the forum is still around...had to do a Google search to find it after the link disappeared at MuggleNet.

[Pegasus]

You can just go directly to cosforums.com. I come in whenever I remember that this place exists...and am always pleasantly surprised that someone has been on in the past month. What's the likelihood of it disappearing at this point? Do you know?

[gertiekeddle]

Nope, honestly no idea.

[Midnightsfire]

I like "never" as an answer.

[Fawkesfan1]

Originally Posted by Midnightsfire

I like "never" as an answer.

So do I.

[Pegasus]

Me too.

[BrianTung]

Originally Posted by Alastor

I have to disappoint you here. Only those who are invited to Hogsmeade can have avatars.

And we haven't invited anyone for 3 years now. Because we are still waiting for the forums to either be transfered to MuggleNet or shut down.

Speaking of having the fortune to be on before things died down...

I was reading elsewhere on the Web that someone tried to register for this site because it looked interesting, but that they got a page that registration had been closed. Is that gone forever, or is that also waiting on the fate of COS with respect to Mugglenet?

I'm glad it hasn't shut down yet. Just a week or two ago, someone asked to be FORT Sorted for the first time in over three years. That was a pleasant surprise!

Oh, that reminds me: Where is the COS sorting thread? Is it gone? I couldn't find it. ETA: Never mind, I realize I asked about that a year or two ago and you all mentioned it had gone away.

[Alastor]

It was closed because it was flooded with both spambots and live spammers every day. Sifting through that flood in order to find the rare potentially honest applicant was simply too much work.

If this site ever gets a new owner, be that MuggleNet or whoever, what to do with registration is theirs to decide.