Do we all have to go without the "members" button because a couple of people feel "big" about their post counts? That thing was very convenient, expecially since the member search option only advances two pages at a time.

Can't we simply address those individuals?

That's my whine for the quarter. Carry on.

Agreed

Bring it back.

It wasn't just an issue of a couple of 'abusive' members, it's a load issue and we're in the process of scoping out yet ANOTHER server or completely upgrading this server to manage the site's load

Of course this is your site Geoff but I have to say that the member button is incredibly useful. I can still search for members but the search on vbulletin is largely useless, as we all know. If there is a way to save on load issues another way then I'd rather see that happen. If not then of course we'll all live.

I asked Geoff this before, and he had said that someone had told him that companies will abuse and make use of the member directory to send spam emails. I think this is very true. I still don't understand how this can affect the servers, though. Maybe keeping an open directory of member listings that have to be updated all the time can be a hog pf resources. I can live w/o the members button.

There are server problems again? I thought we were doing a little better with the bandwidth limitations?

I miss the button....

Now I can't do a search on how many "keysers" there are.



-k
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Yeah, I need to feel big about my post count

Honestly guys. there was other reasons that Goeff took the button away. do a search and you would see that Spammers also get your e-mail off of those.

there was many reasons. I was sort of bummed at first because I did member searchs for post and so forth, but I realize that it was done for a legit reason. and Yes, I asked for it back aswell suggesting to get rid of post counts.. so if it's not a matter of those indiviuals to address. it was more of a matter of just Goeff's choice. let it go. I would rather have less spam (and the forum's sources not go to those looking up your e-mail address info) You can live without it.

As far as spam goes, I believe that having your email where others (besides admins) can find it is optional.

I know that it wouldn't be hard for any spammer worth his/her salt to get the emails through the email icon available just as readily in each thread.

Don't forget the "kaisers".

Bring this back, is there no way to search for a member? I don't need any lists, I just need to see one user ID so that I can find a way to contact this person in e-mail or instant message.

I don't believe he's ever posted, so searching for posts is of no use...

He's never posted? Well, you could drop us an e-mail, and we could track him down.

Since this has been unearthed, can anyone substantively comment on whether or not it actually has done any good saving bandwidth? I know that the cost of it is still pretty high in how annoying (or downright impossible) it is for me to track down any user since the list is gone.

Ironically, I'd be willing to bet money that I use 4 times the bandwidth doing searches for a user than I ever did when I just clicked on the old "member" button. Alas...

AFAIK you'd need to be registered to be able to pull of email addresses for spambots, right?

If the members list does open this wide for spam, there's ways to spamproof your address.

For example, instead of [email protected], write Mike Hunt At [email protected] or something to that effect.

The member list does not show all the emails.

P.S. If you do that, and you have something like that listed for your email. If you ever need your password emailed to you, you have trouble.

He's posted now, so I can find him using the thread search. But what if it was someone who hasn't posted in a long time, and all his/her threads are long gone?

Anyway, the point was not to complain, but to make sure I wasn't being dense. But if restoring the member search is reconsidered at some point in the future, put me in the camp that would really like it back.

I concur, I liked the members buttona lot.

[Thanks for the info, but it kind of goes against what we're trying to accomplish here. - X]

Well, like I said, you could e-mail an admin. We have a control panel that lets us search by anything in their profile... member name, e-mail address, etc.