[Jon S.]

The hacking/spam posting is out of control. But even so, its functionality is outdated. See TGP for one example of a guitar forum using powerful/effective forum software. The change will take $$. If the Administrators want to determine it and take up a collection via a GoFundMe or similar campaign, I'll pledge the first $50. I'll also be happy to hook you up with TGP's technical administrator if you'd like to speak with him about what TGP uses.

[Jedstein]

The spam is annoying as hell. This forum has been so incredibly helpful to me -- I would totally throw in $50 to make that shit go away.

[tntawney]

The spam is getting worse and worse. I’ll donate to the fund.

[Poor Peter]

Im in too.

[brbadg]

-Yes I would too.We deserve better.

[aiq]

Yeah but what if you need the best in bath cabinets?

I would kip in too, it is pretty bad.

[phpbb]

I'd like to say sorry for having the spam get out of control. It is a difficult problem to stop and also difficult to manage. I personally think the issue mostly lies in using a godaddy hosted platform than it does with the PHPBB software. I have been hacked both on this forum, and internally through godaddy. So, I have been doing some research into migrating off of godaddy and onto AWS in the hopes of a more secure and reliable platform. so If you think there are better forums, what would you recommend?

My main reason for godaddy is cost, and moving off of that gets expensive. Trying to generate revenue on this site to pay for the costs has been a challenge, and my attempts to be as behind the scenes about it do not cover my current costs, so I hope you can understand my hesitation to increase it.

I am really open to suggestions, and would appreciate constructive thoughts.

[Searing75]

I have met my dream wife from Thailand because of the spam you fellas are making fun of, so I really don’t mind it.

I really don’t mind the spam, but would donate some money to help get us a better host. Or, whatever it’s called?

[Bigfoot Co.]

I would be down with chipping in.

You could also maybe give mod status to a few of the more responsible / long standing members to help pull the weeds.

[phpbb]

I did a little more research and I think I may have figured out what happened. I believe that someone was able to turn off the anti spam software behind the scenes (it was disabled) and allowed the floodgates of Spammers to open.

I am checking all new registrations until I can guarantee the system is properly checking for spam, but there is certainly a set of contaminated users in the system. Also, I will begin them migration to a more secure platform hopefully by the end of the year.

[Rusty the Scoob]

Thank you for everything you do!

[Jon S.]

Yes, thank you.

A thought. On The Gear Page, there are three levels of paid membership allowing different benefits (there is also a bottom level unpaid status). IIRC, to use the Emporium (our equivalent is the Garage Sale), you must have at least the lowest paid membership level. I believe in strongly supporting forums I benefit from so I have the highest level which allows me to, among other things, have an avatar (others don't). Their system has been remarkably noncontroversial - if anything, it enjoys widespread support.

Obviously, this is a far smaller forum than TGP but there is no reason why you personally, any more than Brian Scherzer and Scott Peterson, the Administrators of TGP, should have to foot the entire bill for everything it takes to keep this place running.

[strumminsix]

Simple recognition.... It's refreshing to see a "something should change" coupled with "I'll help, here's $$".

It's there a few times in this thread.

[TI4-1009]

Let's see, I've been a registered forum user for 7 years, and I'll bet I printed out song chords for at least 10 years before that (before I knew there even was a forum). Putting a value on the amount of useful information I've gleaned from these pages..... priceless. I'm in.

And thanks to the Mods! Sing for the unsung heros!

[NQL]

Maybe T shirts for a half a hundred a piece. I'm in!