Is Fluther open to new members? I haven't seen any newbies for a very long time, and knew it was closed at one time?

Good question. I don’t think I’ve seen any new members in a while.

I guess a way to find out is to log out, then click “join” and create a new profile and see if it works, then delete that profile. That’s a lot of work, though.

I think it is.

I logged out, and then the “Join for Free!” template was available, without any blocks or restrictions.

I could have created a membership for my wife to give it the full test, but I think what I found is sufficient evidence that it’s still open.

I think the mods would have to weigh in for us to truly know. I know we were blocked for new members after that troll kept joining and attacking us about 6 months ago.

Is there a way to see a list of members then sort by Lurve?

@RocketGuy Yes. go through Meta, and search for the roll call. I will do one now You will need to search by hand to get an ascending order.

@RedDeerGuy1 But even in the roll calls, not everyone may respond.

A roll call is not indicative of anything in particular as @jca2 says. I don’t think we’ve seen any newbies on any questions is more to the OP.

Last month there were a few questions and responses from people with tiny lurve numbers.

^I remember that.

We do see a newcomer now and then. But something must be different because we no longer have the hordes of spammers that used to flood us every night. Maybe better screening is also filtering out some legitimate newbies? Only a mod would know for sure.

@Jeruba I think that the spammers using school computer labs are down because of the summer break. We will find out in September when classes are in session.

Hey all – I think it’s important that everyone knows that membership is actually no longer open. It appears as though it is, but on the last step of registering, you will receive an error. It’s been like this for many months.

I reached out to the mods, and they confirmed that this was done intentionally. There will be no new members. A mod was helpful and allowed me back by resetting my old account.

Thank you @hat. I wish a mod would come and answer this.

Looks like the mods logged out and forgot their passwords.

I find it odd that there was never an announcement. Every month or so, I’d try to sign back up, but was met with the same error. I’d then come here and look for the official announcement or discussion. It’s strange that it happened without the knowledge of people who’ve been here for many years.

Without breaking anonymity, the mod that was helpful and reactivated my old account for me told me that it was Ben who closed sign-up for new users due to some abusive behavior from a former user.

It would be nice, however, if an official announcement were made.

@hat I was told about it and aware of why. I can’t remember whether it was in PMs or a Meta thread; I think there was posting on a Meta thread that it was being done. There certainly was public discussion of the problems with the troll; it had become impossible to use Fluther for a while. What we weren’t updated on was whether a fix had been found and new members were being let in again.

^thanks

I think I remember that it was openly discussed, but I don’t have the energy to go back and try to find it.

I kind of like that there’s no more spamming posts and troll posts. I remember some days, I’d have a lot of “activity for you” and there would be many new spam posts. It’s nice to have new members, but it’s not nice to have to deal with spam and trolls.

”... abusive behavior from a former user.”

Dang, now I want to know (who that could have been…).

I know! Inquiring minds need to know.

I think we’re talking about the dick guy who I think was a newbie who was immediately offensive, was kicked off and kept coming back with increasingly offensive questions and answers.

From what I understand, the site was closed to new members to rid us of one abusive user. He would log on and send sexually explicit messages to one particular jelly, and then he would mess with questions and answers. He would be caught by the mods and banned.

Evidently, he was using a VPN to get around the bans by choosing a new location for his internet connection, so he would return over and over. I remember a few days when he would create dozens of accounts here all to sexually harass one particular jelly.