gmail.com

[JimH]

I'm seriously considering adding gmail.com email addresses to Jim's list of banned registration email addresses.
The 'bots are ever more sophisticated, which means I have to check every applicants email and IP address against an anti-spam database*.
The vast majority of false applications we get these days are from gmail.com addresses.

*This gets tedious when there's a lot of 'em...

[Benjamino]

I have gmail (which I consider to be superb) and I had to get Amanda to ask someone to register me because it wouldn't accept my gmail email address...

I wouldn't give up my gmail for all the tea in China!

[JimH]

The problem with gmail is that it's obviously too easy to register for, allowing for lots of auto-registrations.
I'm not really keen on any of the free-to-register email addresses WRT forum applications. The idea is you give your ISP issued email address as a form of ID and an assurance that you won't register just to abuse the forum.

The free to register email addresses do not work as ID, as anyone can apply for one in any name they like, then never check it again.

I'm sure gmail works perfectly well for the user, and I know that some ISP's don't provide email these days, so we're kind of stuck with it.

The problem is with gmail accounts at the moment, there's probably 20 false applications for every good one from those accounts, and they all have to be checked.
False applications from any other email domain than gmail.com are negligible these days. For instance hotmail.co.uk either has better security checks which foil the bots on application, or is just less widely preyed upon by international spammers.

BTW - people who have already registered here will not be affected, whether they continue to use a gmail address or not.

[John Johnson]

a lot of the dogdy emails we get via the website trying to order stuff overseas and leg us up are from gmail accounts

[Mark Hanman]

It seems reasonable, given the potential workload, to block that particular address type. A shame, though. I take it that the registration process makes it clear which addresses are invalid, and why. The process of filtering these is a background and probably thankless task, the benefits for which I presume would only become apparent if you stopped.

Oddly enough, I have a gmail account which is almost inactive, due to the amount of crap i got within days of registering. And my longtime hotmail account is 80% spam these days. most of which gets trashed on receipt, but a good proportion still gets into the inbox. Enough to be a nuisance.

[marcz]

On the two forums ("fora"?) that I run, I have banned gmail already Jim. That follows hotmail, yahoo and a couple of others. I am fed up with bots, dodgy member registrations and also the amount of bounced mail that ends up in MY mailbox due to people neglecting the accounts they use to register.

Go for it Jim... I KNOW your pain!

[JimH]

Here's a search result on a recent applicant:-
Stop Forum Spam - IP Check - 80.243.153.69

stopforumspam has saved us from a fair few spammers now.
I go though the list of applicants and delete the obvious fakes (those with rediculous user name/emails or who have a birth date of 1 jan 1980).
The bots have got cleverer though, so I now run everyone else through the IP check to see if they appear in the spam database.

If you have a buddy that you want to get access quick, get them to put you as a referrer in their application, and feel free to nag me with their username.
Passing a single user takes seconds, wading though the dross takes a little longer...

[Jim Haseltine]

Gmail was on the list of blocked accounts but so many people can't be arsed to get a formal email account that I was receiving requests to manually add members at a rate of two or three a week, so I removed it from the list.

I think it's still there as gmailx or something.

[Phil Payne]

Originally Posted by Jim Haseltine

Gmail was on the list of blocked accounts but so many people can't be arsed to get a formal email account ...

King Knut and the tide, I believe. Just take a look at all the pies Google has its finger in these days:

google - Google News

That page fills up four or five times a day with Google news. The latest is that Google might well wind up as the planet's ONLY telephone provider. I don't have a choice - as a Google "Bionic" I HAVE to have a Gmail account because that's the only way they will send me NDA information. That will be the case for many others - a Gmail account is in no way inferior to a "formal" email account - whatever that is.

[marcz]

It is Phil in that it is easy to set up fake IDs with Gmail, it's easy to leave a Gmail account unattended (thereby causing bounced emails to clutter forum admin's mailboxes) and even "bots" can have Gmail accounts.

A "formal" email account is the one(s) you have as part of your internet provider service or workplace.

What is "NDA information"?