In Justice We Trust
Gender: Male
Location: Southern California
Rank: Admin
Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:31 pm
Posts: 4214
So in case it's not obvious, we tend to get a lot of spambots. Because of how many of the blasted things try to register, we're trying to get rid of them before they even post. Why do you need to know this? Because there's a risk (albeit a miniscule one, as we try to err on the side of caution) that you'll be mistaken for a spambot as long as your post count is zero. As such, it's in everyone's best interest (especially yours) for you to distinguish yourself from a spambot as quickly as possible.
What is a spambot?A spambot is a computer program that creates an account for the express purpose of posting spam. The ones that show up here are usually designed to post ads for products or sites or simply boost their search engine ranking by creating as many links as possible.
Clicking these links is strongly discouraged, as it is very likely that the sites they link to contain spyware, viruses, or other stuff you really don't want on your computer.Worryingly, as of 2023, some spambots have recently gained access to human users' accounts. If your account is hijacked, we will contact you via email and ask you to change your password in the hope that that will lock the spambot out.
If you fail to change your password and your account continues to be used to post spam, we will ban it. If that happens, please contact us once you are ready to change your password and we will unban your account.What do we do to spambot accounts?Our standard procedure for dealing with spambots is to ban them, delete their posts, and then delete their accounts. The username is banned for life, any IP addresses the spambot used are also banned for life (meaning any new accounts or posts created through that IP address will be rejected), and the spambot's email address is banned for life (meaning any new account created through that email address will be rejected). After that, we delete the account and its posts--essentially, the spambot disappears from the forum like a dissenter from a dictatorship.
All new accounts are subject to administrator approval before they are activated. Please contact us with your CR account name, be it through the Ace Attorney Discord or through email, once you've registered and we'll activate your account. An account that shows clear signs of belonging to a spambot is simply banned and deleted rather than activated.
What if my account has been hijacked by a spambot?If your account is hijacked and we spot it posting spam, we will alert you by contacting the email address you used when registering. Please look into ways to cut off the bot's access on your end. We believe changing your password will suffice.
If the bot continues to use your account to post spam, the account will be banned until we hear from you. Because of this possibility, though, it's crucial that your account show clear evidence of your humanity; we don't knowingly delete humans' accounts, but if nothing in the profile or prior posts points to you being human, there's a serious danger of us mistaking the account for one that was always run by a bot.
How do I prove I'm human?For the time being, our system of admin approval is sufficient, but there are probably some spambots who got in before we adopted the new system. We try to err on the side of caution, so you're unlikely to be mistaken for a spambot, but the risk is not zero. Below are some things you can do to help ensure you won't be "disappeared" by mistake.
- Personalize your profile. Some spambots will make a signature or choose a generic avatar, list their interests, etc., but there are often telltale signs of their inhumanity in the way they do it--such as by having the name of a product or site in their custom user title. That being the case, personalizing your profile in a way that doesn't resemble spambot behavior--such as by putting an explicit reference to the Ace Attorney games in it--helps you stand out as human. Regrettably, spambots have been prone to altering the profiles of any accounts they hijack, so this isn't a guarantee.
- Don't advertise any sites in your profile. The one exception to the "personalize your profile" bit of advice is websites. Not all spambots bother with advertising sites in their profiles, but if there's a link to an obscure or dubious site in your profile, it's going to make you look suspicious.
- Post. As I pointed out in the beginning of this post, there is a risk that you'll be mistaken for a spambot as long as your post count is zero. Now, this doesn't mean you'll get banned for lurking; we respect your right to not post. That said, the content of a user's posts is pretty much decisive and incontrovertible proof of their humanity (or lack thereof), so posting is the best way to get out of the "possible spambot" category. Now that spambots have been caught hijacking accounts, any prior posts of yours double as evidence that your account was merely hijacked rather than fully a bot account.
What if I'm banned by mistake?To my knowledge, this has only happened once and it was corrected before it was too late, so I doubt you have anything to worry about, but as with any ban, we have a system in place to address this problem. Most of us staff members have our respective email addresses and/or one or more of our respective IM addresses visible on our respective profiles, so just contact one of us through one of those media and explain your situation. Once your IP address has been removed from the banlist, you'll be able to register a new account here (sorry, but since we delete spambot accounts, restoring an old one is impossible). You can also contact the forum staff as a whole by sending an email to
courtrecord@gmail.com. We're also on the Ace Attorney Discord server, so you can try reaching out to us there, too.

I'll always love you, Max.
Last edited by General Luigi on Sat Dec 28, 2024 8:34 pm, edited 7 times in total.Updated