The Question and Answer Board

[Mattu]

Idea up for debate/suggestion:

I like the general concept of e-mail verification, but it isn't working quite the way I want it. So, I'm thinking of a little spin on it.

The way every other site works out there, you sign up and get an e-mail verfication sent to you. You click the link and it activates your account. Same thing here.

The problem with the concept is that it still allows the more sophisticated people to maniupluate the sytem that have thousands of e-mail addresses [ie Lebed]. Sure, it makes it annoying for the casual idiot -- it has been VERY effective so far at that. Most of the people who signed up just to be asses haven't bothered. They probably can't figure it out. However, spammers are still seeping through. That's because they have a billion different e-mail accounts.

So, I came up with the idea of reversing the e-mail process. Make the user e-mail me.

Here's the idea -- do everything the same way but with a twist. You sign up, your account is suspended and you can post 0 posts. Instead of the system sending you an e-mail for verfication and you clicking the link, it spits out a form with a link that only I can click to activate your account. You simply copy/paste the form and e-mail it to me from your account. Once I click it, then you are upgraded to 3 posts/day. It would include important data in the e-mail. If I saw something in there that didn't look right, I wouldn't approve the account.

Why bother? Spammers tend to have a pattern to them, as do the standard idiots, but a system will never be able to catch them. A human can. I don't mind doing the extra work as long as it makes sense.

Thoughts? Im trying to think of an angle where this wouldn't work.

Or maybe not entirely reverse process but put an extra trigger in there that I have to approve for posting even the verified accounts....