This was orginally done by TWO admin and mods 2-3 years ago when we were getting plagued by so-called "kitchen spammers", i.e people who we had suspected were only here to lark about. While I totally understand the reasons for disabling new registrations, this should IMO only be done as a last resort in the event of us getting a whole lot of registrations from these "spammers". I do agree that the block on new registrations has more than likely contributed to the decline in forum activity that has been observed in recent times.

Maybe time to rethink this policy?

Thanks for everything you have done Darren, I really can't add much more to what's already been said. Except to say that I also miss the good old days and have my own ideas where it went wrong. TWO won't quite be the same.

The "kitchen spammers" were actually people from the Far East systematically registering on every forum they could find to post adverts for kitchen companies. Latterly there have been fewer kitchen posts, and more about selling designer trainers. On a couple of occasions some of these spammers registered enough spam posts to make the posting league Top 100, which also devalues the whole thing.

I've always been of the opinion that it ought to be possible for the forum to be adjusted so that anyone can register, but their first post has to be approved before it can be posted. It should be quite easy to tell whether a debut post is from a member or a spammer. But I think Brian has bigger fish to fry than sorting this out.

I would also like to thank everyone for their words of support. I do feel guilty for pulling the plug; you may have been able to tell that it's something I've been thinking about doing for some time, but realising that I would have to do loads more work for the data to even be right was the final straw - why slave over something that's actually wrong?

I'm not promising anything, but I want to see if there is a way I can resolve the data issues above and be able to do something more low key in the future. At the moment work has been busy, with me hardly even being at home at the moment due to working up north, nothing is going to happen soon.

Thanks for the explanation, Darren.

As I said before, I think a block on new registrations should only be applied in the event of us getting overrun with spammers, and then only for a week or two at the most at any one time. I know that registrations being closed for long periods cannot be totally blamed for the decline in forum activity seen in recent times, but it can't have helped either.

Darren, I know from some months back that you had considered giving up the analysis.

What you do is greatly appreciated.  I know it must be time-consuming and I do understand the frustration of finding some of your data compromised.

I do hope that when you have some time you will be able to find a solution and continue with the excellent service you give us.

It would be great Darren if there were a way to lighten the workload and problems you have experienced, even if it were to become only a once a year, sort of Christmas special event.

That's sad to hear , I know I'm just a Winter player and only post during the colder months .

Love Darren's write up's along with all the facts he produces.

I can understand his decision , it must be quite time consuming.

Thank you Darren

P.S

Has Matty deleted his account? ............noticed he has gone from Rogues Gallery

Hi Marcus,

Wrt your question about Matty, I'll PM you later in answer to this.

Anyone who hasn't posted for over 6 months is removed from the gallery. And that is the case for Matty.

According to his profile, the only posts Matty has made in 2016 were on New Year's Day. Before then, he hadn't posted since the beginning of October last year. Quite a contrast to the period a few years back when he wasn't out of the Top 100 posters each month for about a full decade!

Only just noticed Darren's announcement. Very sad that such a longstanding pillar of the forum will be no more. But I totally understand the reasons. I have been having similar issues this year in finding the time to keep up to date with posting on the forum (hence why it has taken me 3 weeks to spot the announcement!).

Thank you for all the stats and analysis over the years Darren. As others have said if, at some point, you have time to work out a way to produce a short summary analysis which takes you less time then I am sure that would be welcomed by everyone.

A year-end summary would be good 

Here is the top 10 for September. Whilst I am still collecting the data, as mentioned in the previous update, I'm not going to issue the full updates any more, pending a possible future redevelopment of my system. Unfortunately, some bad news I have had in the past week (not wishing to go into details) means that any future redevelopment is even less likely to be soon.

Thanks for the update Darren, and sorry to hear of your bad news  Thoughts are with you.

Good update Darren.    Sorry you had bad news...

Thanks Darren, and good luck.

You know, I didn't check this thread as didn't expect to see anything!

Thanks for running this 'interim' update.

And, most importantly, I hope the bad news isn't too bad, and I wish you well.

Nice compliments there Saint. I'll second that.

Hi Saint,

It's getting out in public now, and as this bit of the forum is members only, I'll tell you - my wife has breast cancer. She had an operation today, will be starting chemotherapy soon, then more surgery after that. We're going to have to cancel our holiday we had booked for next April, and just trying to keep going with normal life whilst all this happens.

Thanks for all of your concern. 

I'm so very sorry to hear this, and hope the treatment brings the right results so you can get on with being the great family that you are. All my best wishes.

I shall second everything Saint has said above, Darren.

My very best wishes to your wife and yourself at this time.