# The Hobby~Machinist. The "Un"-Friendly Machinist Forum?



## clivel

A Google search a few hours back led me to a thread on The Hobby~Machinist Forum. The thread had some interesting information but as only registered members are able to view the images I decided to register.

After filling in the registration information, reading through and agreeing to the rules, upon clicking the "Complete Registration" button I was presented with the message: "_Registration has been rejected. High amounts of spam has come from your registration information._" and no other explanation 

A little bit ironic from a forum that bills itself as "The Friendly Machinist Club"!


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## Tin Falcon

Just drop it. I you can not say something nice do no say anything.  .A good adage to live by can not say have always been successful at this. 
IMHO lets stop this discussion before it starts. 
Tin


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## robcas631

<<<<agrees with Tin.


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## ///

At the bottom of their site is a '_Contact Us_' link which will take you to a page with a form to fill. This when submitted will email the site Administrator directly.
The form on that page even includes a '_Registration Problem_' check-box. Thm:


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## Till

clivel said:


> "_Registration has been rejected. High amounts of spam has come from your registration information._" and no other explanation


On many forums your mail-adress is automatically checked upon registration. If it's on the blacklist e.g. because your mail-account was hacked and used for sending spam or using spambots on forums, they won't let you in.
You probably won't notice that your mail-account was hijacked (or still is!), but changing the password on a regular basis is always a good idea.


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## ///

Good point Till.
There was one forum I was a member of years ago that did not accept any registrations from anyone with an AOL email address or IP address.


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## Kenlew

/// said:


> At the bottom of their site is a '_Contact Us_' link which will take you to a page with a form to fill. This when submitted will email the site Administrator directly.
> The form on that page even includes a '_Registration Problem_' check-box. Thm:



I received the same message..  When I contacted them, I was told that I "was a spammer because I was all over the internet."  We own an accounting, bookkeeping and tax service and have spent a great deal of time and money promoting our website and associated videos and apparently that was causing me to be identified as a "spammer".  I explained that I had just bought a Hardinge lathe and wanted to learn how to operate it, but was still denied access.  If you have been active on the internet, that may be the problem.

Ken


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## Omnimill

For what it's worth I don't have a problem with Clive's post, in fact if it was meant somewhat tongue in cheek then it's quite funny. As far as Hobby Machinist goes I've often been irritated by websites that hide some of their content unless you are a member but it's their choice. As far as your post goes Tin, I've read an awful lot of your posts on this and other forums and this is the first time I've seen you be rude to someone. I've read your "A good adage to live by can not say have always been successful at this" several times but it still makes no sense! Just my two penneth.


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## clivel

Omnimill said:


> For what it's worth I don't have a problem with Clive's post, in fact if it was meant somewhat tongue in cheek then it's quite funny. As far as Hobby Machinist goes I've often been irritated by websites that hide some of their content unless you are a member but it's their choice. As far as your post goes Tin, I've read an awful lot of your posts on this and other forums and this is the first time I've seen you be rude to someone. I've read your "A good adage to live by can not say have always been successful at this" several times but it still makes no sense! Just my two penneth.


I must admit I was a little bit taken aback by Tin's response, but he did follow it up with a PM apology and an explanation - apparently there had been some bad blood in the past between the owner of Hobby~Machinist and this forum which Tin understandably didn't want dredged up again. Needless to say I was completely unaware of this past history when I started this partially tongue in cheek thread.

A few months ago, I tried registering again at the Hobby Machinist, and this time the registration went smoothly. I don't think that they are consciously obstructionist, it seems instead that it is the software they use which borders on the paranoid.
I find that Hobby~Machinist complements this forum nicely, although there is of course some overlap, Hobby~Machinist  really is mainly about machining, whereas the focus in this forum, as per its name, is much more about building engines.
Clive


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## Omnimill

Thanks Clive, yes I've also been in touch via PM, all sorted!


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