If you scroll to the bottom of the home page, you can see how many "people" are online at this site. This morning, it shows 48 members and 7382 "guests". I sincerely doubt that there are 7000+ real humans exploring the site who have not signed up as members. I assume these are mostly Internet "bots" gathering information, looking for email addresses and phone numbers by scrolling through all of the posts. There are legitimate bots like Google indexing what info is available and helping with searches, but I have some concerns about the magnitude of the others. Anyone share these concerns?
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Gary Ash
Dartmouth, Mass.
'32 Indy car replica (in progress)
’41 Commander Land Cruiser
'48 M5
'65 Wagonaire Commander
'63 Wagonaire Standard
web site at http://www.studegarage.com -
You bet Gary. It is like people who use "tapping" for their credit cards(versus activating by a pin number)as that is yet another method for big brother to track who we are, what we do etc.
People should re-read Orwell's "1984" to refresh their memories.
Bill -
Bill you should be aware that your post can be construed as "political" in nature and as such is verboten on this site.
Just sayin.Comment
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Gary,
I recon a lot of those "bots" are people like me ! I drop in and check quite a bit but don't "sign in" until I want to say something, There is no doubt a few bots as well, but not all of them.Comment
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This site was developed and is run by the SDC. It is open to the public. It does not cost an SDC member a penny but costs the SDC several thousands of dollars a year. There is one way to solve the problem with BOTS and that is to do what the AACA did many yers ago and that's to take it private and make it a members only site for SDC members. IN my opinion that's the solution but at the moment I am in the minority on that idea.sigpicSee you in the future as I write about our pastComment
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I think if someone comes to the site and clicks on a post, then it shows up as a "view". So, BalkaRoo exploring the forum would register on the view counter even if he doesn't post. It surprises me that for as many people/bots are shown in the statistics, the views for the posts don't seem to increase in proportion. It seems common that 100-200 views per post are typical. Can the web-crawling bots go through the forum without triggering the view counter? Note also that only about 500 or so members are listed as "active". I forget what it takes to be counted as active.Originally posted by BalkaRoo View Post
If you run down the list of who is online, the real members are seen to log in randomly a few minutes apart. The "guests" seem to log in 50-100 at the exact same time.
The AACA Forum requires that one be a signed-up forum member to post, but otherwise they don't require that someone be an AACA member, as I recall.Gary Ash
Dartmouth, Mass.
'32 Indy car replica (in progress)
’41 Commander Land Cruiser
'48 M5
'65 Wagonaire Commander
'63 Wagonaire Standard
web site at http://www.studegarage.comComment
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Avantidon, just curious. Why does this site cost several thousand dollars per year? Where does that money go? How is it allocated? Again, just curious.Comment
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The issue of whether the forum should be open to outsiders or only to those who have registered was discussed by the board of directors at some length back when an SDC-sponsored forum was first proposed. I know that many other old car clubs require membership (or at least registration) to view the contents of their forums. The reason the "open model" was chosen was because the SDC bylaws include the phrases:Originally posted by Avantidon View Post
". . . the purpose of SDC is to encourage the acquisition, restoration, maintenance, and enjoyment of all cars and other vehicles built by Studebaker or associated with the Studebaker heritage" , . . . "and to increase communication and fellowship among those persons who are interested in these vehicles."
These phrases devolve from the fact that SDC was established in 1962 when Studebaker was still in business and was not at the outset an old car club. So there was (has always been?) an implicit intention to spread the word about Studes and support those who were driving them. Maybe that implicit mission component is now obsolete?
Not trying to lobby one way or the other, just providing a little background.Skip LackieComment
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We are Now more than ever, needing to RECRUIT Recruit, recruit as much as possible, so blocking Non-members out sure would not help.
But a Registering requirement may be a better option.StudeRich
Second Generation Stude Driver,
Proud '54 Starliner Owner
SDC Member Since 1967Comment
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Its easy to spend someone else's hard earned money.Originally posted by Avantidon View PostComment
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Dang, I have been discovered
As one of the first
members here 20-odd years ago nobody knew about bots. I was a bot before bots were cool.
Do with me what you will. I have
already stolen everybody’s personal information and deposited it on that scary ol’ Facebook. We are your kings now!Proud NON-CASO
I do not prize the word "cheap." It is not a badge of honor...it is a symbol of despair. ~ William McKinley
If it is decreed that I should go down, then let me go down linked with the truth - let me die in the advocacy of what is just and right.- Lincoln
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Ephesians 6:10-17
Romans 15:13
Deuteronomy 31:6
Proverbs 28:1
Illegitimi non carborundumComment
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Thanks, Gary for the explanations from you and the other contributors.
I use both this forum and also the AACA site, and living in Australia, I am not a financial member of either, although I "am" a member of our local VCC branch.(Veteran car club of Western Australia) It's good to see people trying to understand what the best way is to lay these forums out. I have gained a lot of very useful information off this and other like sites, and anything that can make them more accessible and more relevant to users is very welcome. Most sites struggle with options, and I can see that some of you more active contributors are trying to find a good way forward. Most of the sites I go to require a registration and activation by an administrator before posting and that seems quite normal and not a concern, I doubt it would be a worry to very many "would be" users, although making it a "members only" forum would kill it for a lot like me. The only thing that does concern me is the rise in use of "facebook" sites. I do not like or very often use those for a multitude of reasons, even though I am registered on a few.
Sorry for being a bit "long winded", but it's just nice to see the concerns being discussed so rationally!
GrahamComment
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I am a computer guy and pay to host my own web sites. The unregistered users (many of which are probably bots) are probably not costing the SDC anything. The money spent on the web site is partly paying a hosting company to host the site. Usually, these charge based on the data storage and network reliablility needed. It is possible they also charge based on expected traffic but 7000 simultanious users is nothing in Internetland.
The other big expense is to pay whatever professional manages the site. That is probably not a regular expense but if something needs updated, modified, or fixed someone has to pay for that.
Keep in mind not all bots are out to get you. Bots are how search engines and large model AIs collect data.
My personal hosting, with web site hosting, domain registration for 4 different domains, and e-mail, is about $200/year. But I do my own admin work.
NathanComment
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I am also a member of "STAR", the Sunbeam Talbot Alpine Registry. But it doesn't hold a candle to SDC & all that is offered not only to us members but to the internet community as a whole. My first Stude was my first car back in 1964. I wish I had known about the SDC then because if I had, I might still have that special Lark today!59 Lark wagon, now V-8, H.D. auto!
60 Lark convertible V-8 auto
61 Champ 1/2 ton 4 speed
62 Champ 3/4 ton 5 speed o/drive
62 Champ 3/4 ton auto
62 Daytona convertible V-8 4 speed & 62 Cruiser, auto.
63 G.T. Hawk R-2,4 speed
63 Avanti (2) R-1 auto
64 Zip Van
66 Daytona Sport Sedan(327)V-8 4 speed
66 Cruiser V-8 autoComment
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