Big Membership Vote

**Man1c M0g** · 04-17-2005

Hiya peeps! I've decided to set up a general membership vote in order to gauge opinion about a contentious issue.

The Issue: Like most sites we have a problem with hotlinkers and bots. These are a problem because they drain bandwidth as well as needlessly follow links in a blind fashion, making the linkbase voting system rather corrupt. In the past we have used differing means to control these problems, with good success. Unfortunately for us, though, the rise of end-user internet security programs causes false-positives in the protection scripts and stops these users accessing most of the downloads that we offer.

The Proposed Solution: Make all downloads and voting member-only features. Guests would still be able to browse the downloads and use the linkbase, but not download or vote without logging in. This would, of course, eliminate our problems, but at the expense of alienating our visitors.

The Route: Just vote and make your opinion known. If the idea isn't liked, i'll have to find another way around the issue... although that may take some time given that I've already used the simplest and most effective methods...

scrowler · 04-17-2005

i'm for this idea, although you could alternatively store all the downloads in a blob column of mysql and process various php enviroment settings to make sure the user is actually on biorust.com, although this would be a little slower, it would prevent the need for fully membership-ized scripting...

**Man1c M0g** · 04-17-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrowler

i'm for this idea, although you could alternatively store all the downloads in a blob column of mysql and process various php enviroment settings to make sure the user is actually on biorust.com, although this would be a little slower, it would prevent the need for fully membership-ized scripting...

I've already tried the environment variables approach, but it doesn't work! Security programs prevent these parameters being read which screws up the system, and bots seem to spoof their ways into things using pretty intelligent code... :/

**Bub** · 04-17-2005

I'm also in favor of this. I've especially noticed the linkbase rating system out of whack due to people giving their personal sites a high rating and other sites a lower rating.

Also, the bots reporting dead links in the linkbase are slightly annoying.

ViciOuS · 04-17-2005

Yes, it would likely solve all your problems. Registering doesn't even take 3 minutes, if you have the time to read the content on this site/forums then you have the time to register.

supafly · 04-17-2005

i agree with ^^^^^^

Lexiblue · 04-17-2005

I think it is a good idea, and I don't think it will be a problem for visitors. Biorust has quality content....people won't mind becoming members to utilize the downloads, etc. (Especially since they can still view it without being a member.) I vote thumbs up on the idea.

Simple solution to what seems to be a growing problem.

ConceptualMind · 04-17-2005

Bleh ... I find member-only options annoying. However, I understand the situation. Shouldn't BioRUST members be awarded for joining the GREATEST community in the world? (

)

scrowler · 04-17-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bub

Also, the bots reporting dead links in the linkbase are slightly annoying.

i agree, would it help if you took all the meta information out of that page?

**Bub** · 04-18-2005

Not sure, I just notice at times there will be 6 - 8 pages of "dead links" reported. How do you correct this? Even visitors will probably be able to report dead links, right?

scrowler · 04-18-2005

yeah, but the only way spiders can view pages is by them having meta keywords etc on them, so take them off and once they expire from the database they wont be able to view them anymore...

Order · 04-18-2005

Bottom line, if a user can't take 5 mins to register, they definately won't be an asset to BioRust in the first place. Take the time people.. there is plenty

**Man1c M0g** · 04-20-2005

Thanks for everyone who voted! After a little reprogramming today, all downloads are now driven using a membership-only function that routes via the member system. In other words, if you can log into Biorust as a member, then there is no reason on gods green earth why you can't download files too.

Please let me know if this new system still gives you problems...

**Bub** · 04-20-2005

I was a tad bored so I tried downloading the files while being logged in and not logged in. Seems your code works flawlessly -- with IE atleast

Good Job M0g!

**Man1c M0g** · 04-20-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bub

I was a tad bored so I tried downloading the files while being logged in and not logged in. Seems your code works flawlessly -- with IE atleast

Good Job M0g!

Heee, thanks! This time all processing is done server-side, so I can't really see how the system COULD fail...