Forum is back

[anchorman]

I have no idea what it took to get things back up, but good job..........I hope it didn't effect enjoyment of the holidays.

[john]

I hope it didn't effect enjoyment of the holidays.

Don't worry as I'm at work in Korea.

That being said, we are not 100% up and running yet so be sure to let us know any bugs you find.

Thanks to everyone for sticking with us!! Let's keep our fingers crossed that the hackers show mercy and don't hit right back.

[john]

Also, my apologies to all new visitors but we are shutting down new registrations for a few days while we continue to clean up. -John

[cmjeff]

Thank god! that was almost as bad as the time my ship ran out of coffee

[Mikey]

Yea thanks for your hard work John. It is appreciated in more ways than you know.

[anchorman]

Don't worry........ as I'm at work in Korea.

Don't forget some Habu Saki before leaving.

[dougpine]

Keep away from the Soju, John.

[richard8000milesaway]

I was awake all night concerned that gcaptain forum was gone forever. fitful. angry. snappish. the poor buttons on the DP controller got a good pressure test as I jammed down on them.
glad you guys are back; am now back to "Cool Hand Luke" status.

what was it anyway?

[Ordinaryseaman]

Thanks for all the hard work to get the forum back up

[Shellback]

John and Mike, words can't begin to express, my personal thanks for your efforts...Thank you ..

[tengineer]

John,
I got hit with the hackers crap Christmas morning when I clicked on your website. What a mess! I had temporarily disabled my antivirus, spyware etc while installing a new program and thought I'd click over to gcaptain while I was waiting for it to load. Man was that a mistake! As soon as gcaptain started loading a Java script started trying to load and I knew I was in trouble. I manually shut down my computer but it was too late. My system went into a logon-log off loop so I couldn't even get in to throw the crap out. The same loop happened in safe mode. Luckily I was able to use some magic boot discs I have and get things cleaned out. The Russians know their stuff! I conservatively had over 20 malwares traced back to that event.
Glad you're back up and running.

[john]

John,
As soon as gcaptain started loading a Java script started trying to load and I knew I was in trouble. I manually shut down my computer but it was too late.

tengineer, please confirm that it was in-fact a page on the forum (as opposed to the blog or homepage) that you were visiting when the Java script hit.

Otherwise, I feel terrible about the trouble this caused. Please accept our apologies, we spent more time making sure we had back-ups and such than prevention, and that seems to have been a mistake.

So the question is what to do moving forward. We really have two remaining problems 1) It's too easy for bots to pass the Captcha & security measures to register for a new account. 2) We don't have money in the budget to hire a server guy.

One suggestion that was made was to charge a nominal amount of money for membership, say $5 per month. This would discourage hackers (and spammers!) from registering and (depending on the number of members willing to pay) provide enough money to hire a professional server manager.

What are your thoughts??

[Ordinaryseaman]

John- that's a legitimate concern-

However-

I think you're better off having a dedicated store area- where you can buy Rain Gear, Books, knives and other maritime gear- and using the profits to hire the server manager- or perhaps you could host advertising in exchange for their services (barter)

Or.... you could offer employment agency services on a percent of first contract basis- ala Capt. Sweeney.

The monthly dues would likely dissuade spammers- as well as new members.

I have numerous other revenue generation ideas- PM me if interested.


Thanks again from all of us who appreciate the time, effort, and money you (and others) invest in providing this forum

Anthony

[NAUTICART]

One suggestion that was made was to charge a nominal amount of money for membership, say $5 per month. This would discourage hackers (and spammers!) from registering and (depending on the number of members willing to pay) provide enough money to hire a professional server manager.....What are your thoughts??

I have thoughts, but will have to type later when I can think.

put out one of those simple surveys on it for now ?

[CMA_Decky]

I think the membership dues would definately dissuade new members. Some of the best threads on here have been started by people who come on here to vent for a couple minutes and I think dues would discourage that.

[john]

[QUOTE=Ordinaryseaman;23445]I think you're better off having a dedicated store area- where you can buy Rain Gear, Books, knives and other maritime gear- and using the profits to hire the server manager- or perhaps you could host advertising in exchange for their services (barter)[/QOUTE]

We have had a store for years but took the banners down recently because we would only get 1 or 2 sales per month. You can still find the link on our homepage (or click HERE)

.... you could offer employment agency services on a percent of first contract basis- ala Capt. Sweeney.

I have offered this idea many times, even offered him free trial links but, despite our help promoting his service, he has no interest in helping out this forum.

[Ordinaryseaman]

Wow- I had no idea about the store

[Diesel]

Anchorman, I think you were going through withdrawals.

[Azimuth]

tengineer, please confirm that it was in-fact a page on the forum (as opposed to the blog or homepage) that you were visiting when the Java script hit.

Otherwise, I feel terrible about the trouble this caused. Please accept our apologies, we spent more time making sure we had back-ups and such than prevention, and that seems to have been a mistake.

So the question is what to do moving forward. We really have two remaining problems 1) It's too easy for bots to pass the Captcha & security measures to register for a new account. 2) We don't have money in the budget to hire a server guy.

One suggestion that was made was to charge a nominal amount of money for membership, say $5 per month. This would discourage hackers (and spammers!) from registering and (depending on the number of members willing to pay) provide enough money to hire a professional server manager.

What are your thoughts??

Let me start by saying this is not a shameless plug. I think it would be worth your while to contact Aaron Miller @ http://www.atlantiqmedia.com/ . He is not only a personal friend but an extremely competent, fair, dedicated, and honest individual. He is very flexible as to the services he provides and I would be surprised if ya'll couldn't work something out. You can also find him on LinkedIn. Tell him Azimuth sent you. The call is free!

[seadawg]

I too was on this forum Christmas morning and received a "trojan horse alert" from my anti-virus..ran a scan and all seems to be fine..have just recently logged back on with reservation??