Skip to main content
Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

Beefs about the site

Enter a word or two to search the forum section and click the Search Forum button.

a) there is no obvious way to report site problems like I am doing now

b) the CAPTCHA spam filter can be impossible to read and there is no way to refresh the image to something more readable other than to return to previous which can trash the info on the form you completed.  Took me 4 attempts to get registered

c) The site does not appear to have the option to send you a msg when someone has replied to your thread or a thread you are watching

wristpin Sat, 21/07/2018

Perhaps, you should go to a certain opticians.

The site has its quirks but it’s mainly a question of getting used to it and working with it. For your part cluttering it up with multiple posts all about the same machine when they could be dealt with in one hit, is unnecessary and unhelpful.

gtc Sat, 21/07/2018

the CAPTCHA spam filter can be impossible to read and there is no way to refresh the image to something more readable

 

It's been a long time since I registered, so I forget what the situation was, but I have struck similar CAPTCHA problems elsewhere and it really is frustrating. My understanding is that there are various forms of CAPTCHA available to admins depending on the "strength" desired.

The site does not appear to have the option to send you a msg when someone has replied to your thread or a thread you are watching

Such features would be nice to have. At present, the closest is the New & Updated Topics button.

 

 

gtc Sat, 21/07/2018

To the above I would add that I am an administrator on a large forum site based in the USA and, although we don't use CAPTCHA to vet new members, we do employ a fairly sophisticated suite of algorithms to defeat the spam robots and paid individuals that try to create new member accounts at times reaching the rate of two or more attempts per minute, so some form of protection is definitely required against such things, the strength of which is a judgment call for the forum's owner.

 

olcadmin Sun, 22/07/2018

In response to the original points:

a) there is a site-wide contact form that you can use. Also, once logged on you can click on the "Send Email" tab at the bottom of the user profile panel at the left hand side of every posting and answer. I have made plenty of postings over the years so it's not exactly difficult to contact me this way. Similarly, you can contact me through the contact form on the olcadmin profile page. Click on the username to see the profile.

b) we get more spurious (ie spam) applications than genuine ones so some form of gatekeeper is absolutely necessary. Captcha is the easiest to implement on this site and we also ask people to answer two questions about mowers which bots cannot do (and if they are not answered, no registration ensues). Of the 1000+ people that are currently registered (and hundreds more whose registrations have been deleted because they didn't post after registering) I think only half a dozen or so have had problems in over eight years.

c) yes it does - click the subscribe button at the bottom of the original posting.

 

gtc Sun, 22/07/2018

click the subscribe button at the bottom of the original posting

Ha, have never noticed that! :-)

robint Wed, 22/08/2018

I thought it might be nice to post an avatar - waste of time when i got past captcha after 4 attempts it said upload accepted - no result - so I wont bother