Kind of Strange

[spiritbird]

Recently for the last two days I have been receiving e mails from you know who??? The Parrot Forum. Is anyone else?

[cdog]

Long time no see!
I too have been receiving emails from them, those emails actually prompted me to come back here lol.

[plax]

If I may ask, what's the nature of those emails from PF?

And BTW, welcome back Chris!

[cdog]

Thanks Tony.
The emails I received were various "trending" posts.

[plax]

Thanks Tony.
The emails I received were various "trending" posts.I see. The admin there has seemingly decided to send members unsolicited email notifications about forum activity :(. Thanks!

[94lt1]

I thought it was tapatalk that sent the email....

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

I received one today along the lines of 'long time no hear'. I ignored it and if they send another I will set up a spam filter.

[spiritbird]

Since we have been banned they must know we are not about to join. Tapatalk had an ad in the e mail.

[jtbirds]

Well I was IP banned and that is so easy to get around, Actually currently my IP has changed so its easy access.. although I have zero plans to be wrapped up in such nonsense again.

[plax]

Well I was IP banned and that is so easy to get around, Actually currently my IP has changed so its easy access.. although I have zero plans to be wrapped up in such nonsense again.That's interesting. An admin had to do that... SMods can't IP ban anyone. FWIW, I'm cookie banned there.

[spiritbird]

So when a mod bans a person from a forum what is banned? I thought is was always the IP. Does the IP change when one moves?

[plax]

So when a mod bans a person from a forum what is banned? I thought is was always the IP. Does the IP change when one moves?When a moderator bans a member, it's the ability of that member to initiate a login session that's banned. And that's done through a cookie which is placed on the member's computer by the forum software running on the server. Hence it's known as a 'cookie ban'. If the member deletes the banning cookie from their computer, the forum software will simply replace said cookie once it detects the same user name is attempting to log in. So there is virtually no way for a cookie-banned member to log in, since creation of the banning cookie is prompted by the user name itself (and the email address that's associated with it).

It's important to also note that when someone has been cookie banned, they will still be able to browse the forum categories and the posts they contain (as long as the banned member remains in guest mode). And cookie-banned member records remain in the database. If a cookie-banned member is ever deleted from the database, so is their ban record. If/when this happens, the member will be able to re-register with the same user name (and/or email address), then log in normally again.

Conversely, an 'IP ban' blocks a user's internet address from connecting to the forum software, resulting in no further ability to connect and browse in guest mode (or otherwise).

[cdog]

I still don't understand why you guys were banned.

[plax]

I still don't understand why you guys were banned.In short, one of the SMods there had been appointed as an SMod here as well. A dispute developed between her and my then co-admin here. Consequently, the PF SMod resigned from PP. It seems that her retaliation preference was to then ban anyone from PF who was actively enjoying PP. It's not easy to understand why she behaved in this manner... but she happened to have more seniority and power than any of the other SMods on PF, and that's how she chose to deal with it.

[cdog]

That's unfortunate, thanks for clearing that up.

[Macaw Lover]

I received that email also. My guess is they are trying to get back members that have gone by the wayside for one reason or another.

Myself, I just don't go on there anymore. It is a sad day when someone brings a bird into a vet possibly because the bird had convulsions but no tests were run, no medications were tried, nothing and the bird was killed. I was chastised for not being sympathetic when I did not sit there and join in with the rest of 'oh how sad' or 'I feel so sorry' when the owner has the bird killed when you did not know exactly what was going on.

I think I have 3 or 4 warnings over little poop like that and was surprised I had not been banned but it doesn't matter, I saw what goes on there and anyone with any type of knowledge is not welcome to express and help others if you 'offend' someone when referring to the idiot airline employees who stick their fingers into an animal carrier and get a finger bit. That is the reason if you ship an animal you have to put an additional mesh on the door and windows in order for fingers not to be bit. Who else's safety would it be for? Not a passenger as they would not have access. I received a PM from another member and she took 'offense' to the reference of 'idiot airline employees' as she had worked in the past for an airline and her husband presently does. I just ignored that and a few days later a moderator changed it and I was given another warning and I just don't go back there anymore.

This was all on a post where someone was looking on how to ship a Hyacinth they would be coming back with on a plane. I put what carrier to buy, how to set it up and everything seeing they had no clue what to do.

I will admit when I received their email my reaction was: I don't think so, you ain't seeing me back there trying to help someone again.

[plax]

That's the thing, Renee' ... the prime objective of the company who owns that forum site is to gain as many members as possible so it will hopefully generate as many clicks upon the incessant ad banners there as possible. That site, like so many others, serves as a dynamic billboard. The admins there aren't even interested in pet birds. It's purely an enterprise for them :(. PF admins apparently believe that a key to gaining and keeping the highest number of active users is to impose the 'do not offend anyone' rule. So the SMods there follow that philosophy. But any way we want to slice it, the website enjoys critical mass status. It's always on top, member count-wise and SEO ranking-wise :(

[spiritbird]

Did anyone respond to that e mail? I thought AA was top for the number of members.

[kendrafitz]

Off topic, but does anyone know why AA isn't on tapatalk anymore?

[plax]

I thought AA was top for the number of members.Nope. PF currently has 22,941 members, while AA has only 10,016 members. And PF, a ForumFoundry.com website, is always significantly above AA (and all other companion bird forum sites) with its search engine result page (SERP) positioning.

[plax]

Off topic, but does anyone know why AA isn't on tapatalk anymore?I'm not sure, Kendra. Unless they wanted to get away from the fact that certain versions of Tapatalk on certain platforms have been known to allow users to bypass the registration security measures put in place by site administrators. That's just a guess, though.

[plax]

Okay, I now know what PF's email campaign is about. After checking an old email account of mine, I discovered that I too received the email message promoting activity on PF :th_eek:. It's actually NOT from PF... instead, it's from Tapatalk. It's called a 'trending' mass email announcement and it's offered as a service from Tapatalk to forum owners who use their plugin. What it amounts to is a way to spam every member in a forum site's database via their email addresses. The system doesn't detect which of the email addresses are flagged with 'banned' status (which is why we've received the mailings) and the entire mailing process is done by Tapatalk! Whether or not to utilize the service is optional to each forum owner, of course. But all a forum owner need do is opt in for the automatic mass sendings (through their Talpatalk control panel) and the mailings begin happening automatically. In recent months, I have been urged by Talpatalk (via emails from them) to enable these 'trending' announcements for PP as well. I simply chose not to do that. So there you have the scoop on PF's spam effort :)

This is off of the subject... but I couldn't help noticing that one of the items within Tapatalk's most recent trending announcement for PF shows photos of a Blue-throated Macaw with a skin rash (the poor bird). The strange part is that within the description from the bird's owner where they are asking for advice concerning its rash condition, they have referred to the bird as a "blue and gold macaw". For me, this tends to beg the question: how could someone who owns a blue throat not know that it's a blue throat? I merely found it a bit peculiar :indecisiveness:

[cdog]

This is off of the subject... but I couldn't help noticing that one of the items within Tapatalk's most recent trending announcement for PF shows photos of a Blue-throated Macaw with a skin rash (the poor bird). The strange part is that within the description from the bird's owner where they are asking for advice concerning its rash condition, they have referred to the bird as a "blue and gold macaw". For me, this tends to beg the question: how could someone who owns a blue throat not know that it's a blue throat? I merely found it a bit peculiar :indecisiveness:

I would certainly know if i had a BT, they're beautiful; that's not to say B&G's aren't beautiful, I just think BT's look a bit better.

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

But why did I get one? I haven't a clue what tapatalk is. Is it for people who like eating tapas or perhaps for people who communicate using morse code tapping in the radiator?

[plax]

But why did I get one? I haven't a clue what tapatalk is.Tapatalk is an application offering a mobile device interface for discussion forums that's user-friendly on small screens. Did you at one time register on PF perhaps?

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

Yes I was on there for a short time but have never owned a small screen device. I am still trying to get my money's worth out of my laptop and very basic mobile phone.

[plax]

Yes I was on there for a short time but have never owned a small screen device. I am still trying to get my money's worth out of my laptop and very basic mobile phone.That makes no difference. They obtained your email address through your act of registration and Tapatalk's "trending" notification system then harvested it. I have no doubt that you and others will continue to receive those mailings.

[spiritbird]

Not nice Taptalk. I know there was a reason I did not join you.

[jtbirds]

Well Tony to add to your statement I have people call my BT a blue and gold all the time. As well I recently adopted out a Blue and Gold that someone swore was a BT and I had to almost argue with them to get them to understand the huge difference>.<.

[Macaw Lover]

The strange part is that within the description from the bird's owner where they are asking for advice concerning its rash condition, they have referred to the bird as a "blue and gold macaw". For me, this tends to beg the question: how could someone who owns a blue throat not know that it's a blue throat? I merely found it a bit peculiar :indecisiveness:

I really want to reply ignorance but uneducated is more accurate.

Keep in mind a lot of people that have birds have no clue what species they own. Now if they sell their 'parrot' and someone else comes along and buys it and have no clue about birds either, they could look up on the internet see the coloring and think they have figured it out. Of coarse there are about another trillion reasons they would be calling it a B&G.

A lot of times when I see something listed on eBay that is listed as a Macaw and it is clearly a 'Too I will contact them and let them know of their error. It seems most non bird people think that every bird is a Macaw because that is the only name they are familiar with.

[plax]

Well Tony to add to your statement I have people call my BT a blue and gold all the time.Oh I can believe it. But one would think that if someone owns a BTM they would at least know what they had. Especially since BTMs are significantly less common than B&Gs.



As well I recently adopted out a Blue and Gold that someone swore was a BT and I had to almost argue with them to get them to understand the huge difference>.<.Yep, I can see that happening, too :)

[plax]

I really want to reply ignorance but uneducated is more accurate.

Keep in mind a lot of people that have birds have no clue what species they own. Now if they sell their 'parrot' and someone else comes along and buys it and have no clue about birds either, they could look up on the internet see the coloring and think they have figured it out. Of coarse there are about another trillion reasons they would be calling it a B&G.

A lot of times when I see something listed on eBay that is listed as a Macaw and it is clearly a 'Too I will contact them and let them know of their error. It seems most non bird people think that every bird is a Macaw because that is the only name they are familiar with.A couple (or a few) years back there was a new member who was telling us about his "Hyacinth Macaw" that he had recently acquired. It was either on this site or on PF... I can't remember. When the guy finally posted photos of the bird, it was a B&G. He was very surprised that he didn't have a Hy.

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

I really want to reply ignorance but uneducated is more accurate...


...A lot of times when I see something listed on eBay that is listed as a Macaw and it is clearly a 'Too I will contact them and let them know of their error. It seems most non bird people think that every bird is a Macaw because that is the only name they are familiar with.

I find this quite worrying. These who obviously do not realise that shouldn't be a bird OWNER.