AMVETS Department of New York

[Webmaster]

Our forum has been upgraded significantly, however it has become necessary to take security measures. People who use our site to build links that would improve thier Google rankings but increase unwanted traffic to our site are now blocked. I'm not against traffic, but when the links are porn sites, adverisements for businesses and such, I have to draw the line. As a result of these attempts, people will not be allowed to type thier website url during registration. After registering and posting one message in the forum, they may then click on "Profile" at the top of the page and enter thier URL.

When registering, you will be required to enter a valid email address. I will not allow unknown people to enter the forum and wreak havoc.

Spam bots have become very popular and we have been bombarded with attempts to register in this way. That is why you must enter a random security code during registration. Spam bot software cannot get past this and it is only a minor inconvenience during registration.

I have enabled the ability to upload and download files. Only registered members of the forum may do this. These files will be monitored, so don't send private information unless you are posting a private message or "PM" to a specific individual. Any files posted in the public area that are porn related will result in an automatic ban from the forum. As the administrator of the AMVETS Forum I cannot waste a lot of time cleaning trash from the forum. The solution is to simply stop the site abuse by banning the source of the abuse.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I want to say that so far we have had absolutely no trouble from registered AMVETS, just from people who use bots as described above. Hope everyone understands that these measures are just necessary to make the forum more useful and enjoyable. That said, have a great day and HAPPY POSTING!!!