Some people have registered at my website but never posted a single thing. What’s weird is that users don’t have to register to post or to browse the site. The only benefit to registering is that, if you post, your username gets associated with your submission.
So, is there a hack that can be achieved only by attempting to register for a website? Does the activation email that the website sends them potentially contain some information that hackers can use to hack into a site? That is, do these guys register for a bunch of websites, checking for vulnerabilities, and once in a while find the information they need to hack the system?
Of course, it could be that some of these people registered but changed their minds, but given the number of them, it seems a bit unlikely. Also, I Googled some of these usernames and found them being registered on other websites with zero posts.
Perhaps they register for a bunch of sites in bulk, most of which do require registration to post. Yours doesn’t, but it’s easier to register for all of them than to find out which ones they don’t really need to register for, and single them out.
…
Step 3: profit.
(maybe step 2 is the spam posts we see here now and then, with a poster registered a while ago more believeable than one who just registered. I dunno. At least you got a bump.)
The SDMB has a LOT of people who register, and then never post, for whatever reason. We require email confirmation, which weeds out a lot of the stupider human spammers and spambots, but even the ones who complete the confirmation often just never get around to posting. If I look at a page of new registrants, I never see more than half of them with one or more posts…and quite frequently the percentage is lower than that, even if I go back several pages.
So, all I can tell you is that your experience is not unique.
Yeah, these are the ones that puzzle me the most. They register, and then click on the confirmation email to complete their registration, and then never post.
I think some people just change their minds and don’t post, but I suspect that for some of them, registering is a sort of probe into a website, and depending on the info they get from the registration process, they can see whether the website is vulnerable to hacking or not.
I’m one of those infrequent posters. I’ve been a lurker for nearly 4-5 years…I just enjoy “listening” so to speak…I like reading posts and hearing all of your anecdotes, etc., but I don’t feel a huge need to contribute. I finally registered so I could use the search function and have the ability to post if I want to ask a question that I can’t easily find the answer to on Google or if I want unbiased opinions (as in, opinions from people who don’t know me personally therefore would be more likely to give an honest answer). Also, maybe someday I will feel a huge need to contribute.
I lurked for a few months before I finally decided to register, too. But I did it because y’all were pay to post, and I didn’t want to start posting here, like it, and not be able to continue posting (since I didn’t have a credit card).
When I finally registered, I had to make up an excuse to post so that I wouldn’t feel stupid. My lurking habits quickly declines, as you can see by my post count.
