Registration FAQ

[M.Thorsen]

Answers to Frequently-Asked-Questions about registering at the LASFS Forums:

1) What lines on the Forum Registration do I absolutely have to fill out? What can I leave blank?
--Answer: (*Sigh* SF fen and their unlisted @#$% phone numbers....) A profile full of blank lines is not something we like to see. We need to know what to call you, so you must fill out the "Name" line. You should use some form of your real name or a nickname you wish to be known by. Avoid nicknames which include the names of gender organs, pharmaceuticals, or other typical spam info, or we're likely to think you're a spammer and delete your registration instead of activating it. We need to know where to send your activation confirmation, and your password if you ever forget it, so your email address is a must. Your password prevents strangers from entering your account and posing as you, so you need to enter a password. And you have to pass the visual confirmation test, by correctly transcribing the alphanumeric string displayed in a graphic visual medium which renders merely cutting and pasting the info impossible. (This prevents all but the very best-written spambots from registering at all.)

If you wish to share with us your location, your website and your profession, great. If you don't wish to say, you don't have to. However, we need to know what Interests you may have that are related to the topic of our forum, so that we can tell you apart from the spambots that do manage to register here (and are deleted) on a daily basis. Call us crazy, but we feel you'll make better conversation if you possess sufficient intelligence to note down some interest in science fiction, fantasy, or fandom while registering at a science fiction/fantasy fandom discussion forum. Spambots tend to not possess that level of sophistication.

2) I'm new here and I just want to read what others have written. Do I really need to register?
--Answer: No. Registration is necessary only if you wish to add to or originate discussions. Most of the forums on this board can be viewed by anyone, regardless of whether or not they are registered or logged in. (Some are for private in-house business, and cannot be perused without first entering a password.) But the lion's share of topics and discussions can be read without logging in, so if you don't forsee a need to ever put your 3 quaatlu's worth into one thread or another, there's no point in going to the bother of registering.

3) I'm a legitimate user, but I keep getting deleted, sometimes moments after I finalize my registration. What am I doing wrong?
--Answer: Due to the persistence of nuisance registrants (ie, spammers), it has been necessary for the administrators and moderators of this site to adopt a zero-tolerance policy with regard to questionable user info. If a LASFS member is registering, he/she should do so under his/her real name or the nickname that he/she is commonly known by in the organization. (It might also help to list any fan-group affiliations under "Interests", just in case your membership predates my own.)

If the registrant is not a LASFS member, but is a fan of science fiction or fantasy in film, literature, art, song, etc, some mention of that should be made on the "Interests" line. A favorite SF TV show, SF movie, or SF novel, names of favorite SF authors, or some SF-related activity or frequented SF convention would serve to identify you as someone who belongs.

(This is, after all, an SF discussion forum.)

We delete out of hand users who register under the names of gender organs, male enhancement pills, ringtones, financial services, or other things that fail to indicate they are (A) someone we know, or (B) someone we want to know. We also eliminate users with blank profiles, or profiles filled with random, disassociated words (ie, sport - sailboat - purple) or random letters (ie, jfhfoigjdf gjj hjgf). We also frown on the inclusion of sexual imagery in avatars or signatures.

Please note that if you register with a real name and put SF-related info in your profile, and then post spam, you will be deleted and banned just as readily as if you had chosen an offensive username and/or left your profile blank. We expect all registered users to follow our VERY SIMPLE RULES at all times.

4) "SF" this, "SF" that, "SF" the other thing. I don't grok acronyms. What does this "SF" thing mean?
--Answer: Contemplate the words in large, boldface white letters at the top of this page. In time, the light may dawn.

5) I'm paranoid about my email address being harvested by spammers. Do I really have to put my correct email address down in my registration?
--Answer: Yes; if you do not, you will never receive the email notification we send to you after activating your account, and we will be unable to assist you if you ever forget your password.

Site Admin's Special Note on Email Addresses: Certain ISP's are favored by spammers because of their total lack of restrictions regarding how many online identities each user may have simultaneously. Google is first and foremost among these. If I see a profile with no other info except a username I don't recognize and an email address, particularly if the address is ___ @ gmail.com, I am likely to delete the account on general principles. I am reluctant to blanket-ban *@gmail.com because certain legitimate fen already registered are gmail users. However, I am unlikely to tolerate an otherwise blank profile if the registrant is (A) not using a name I am familiar with and (B) a gmail user.

6) I'm an online entrepreneur (ie, spammer) and my account keeps getting deleted. Why is that?
--Answer: Because profiles filled with links to online pharmacies or moneylenders or other businesses, or pornography or malware-autodownload sites, are inappropriate to our forum and are not wanted. Duh!

7) Why should I enter any information at all in my profile? What if I don't wanna?
--Answer: Why should I let you join our discussion forum? What if I don't wanna?

As a newcomer, you need to convince me that you have legitimate business here. (And, no, posting smut pictures and dropping links to unsafe sites and selling meds and mortgage refi and god only knows what else is NOT legitimate business at a science fiction discussion forum.) It is therefore incumbent upon you to put down some tidbit of information that tells me you are a fan of science fiction or sword-and-sorcery literature, games, movies, TV shows, music, magazines, conventions, etc.

Either that, or convince me you are someone I am acquainted with personally, ie, a member of the LASFS. If you can't imagine a way to do either of those things, I can't help you.

You get one shot. If I read your profile and don't immediately think "SF Fan", you flunk. If you flunk, you're deleted and banned before you ever get to post a word. Zero tolerance. No exceptions.

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Now, if you haven't already, and the above hasn't turned your knees to jelly, feel free to REGISTER.

[M.Thorsen]

Upon careful review of the new forum software, it appears that, unlike on the old forum, there is no entry field offered in the User Registration page for a newcomer to enter his or her Interests as they pertain to the subject of our forum. Nor does there appear to be a way to add one.

Which basically means that newcomers have to work much harder to avoid the appearance of being Spammers in order to have their registrations approved. Usernames such as "iuiuiuiu777" or "5uckb1gc0kk" will get your registration attempt summarily deleted quicker than anything you can think of. Names no one recognizes with gmail edresses are also a big red flag, particularly if I do a google search on said names and discover that they have also registered on 400,000 other websites simultaneously.

It's not hard to get registered here. All you have to do is be a real person.