Due to the level of malicious users/spammers/phishers on the site, mainly from places like Russia and Ivory Coast, I am considering blocking all access from outside of the UK (similar to what BBC does with its iPlayer).   What do you think about this? Would this cause considerable problems for you as a member (i.e. When on holiday)?                                                                                                                                                                             

  It makes no difference to me Matt. (Holiday, what's one of them? Some of us aint lucky enough to be employed.)   However I think those who are already members may not like being excluded from the site just because they live abroad. We have a few members outside the UK who I'm sure are not spammers etc. Not sure how you'd handle that.   Tho' I'm not sure why a  genuine person who lives abroad would  want to join a site that encourages folk to meet up on a regular basis.                                                                                                                                                                               

Not a problem for me but then again I'm sneaky and manage a network so I can always present as a UK IP address.  I assume for regular members outside the UK you can allow their ISP's allocation range.    One odd  issue I hit recently was the Channel Isles, Jersey and Guernsey can present as UK or French IP ranges via France Telecom so if we have any channel island members it's one to be wary of.                                                                                                                                                                             

lol Prof, oooo cheeky.   I may make it so that you cannot REGISTER from outside of the UK then - what you think?   I'm going to do some work to investigate how many people use the site from outside the UK.                                                                                                                                                                             

  If you exclude folk who aint joined yet, then that is ok. Don't see how you could offload foreign members unless they haven't been active, on the site, for a while.   (don't mean to sound snobby or owt Matt but you're in a foreign land, are you banning yourself?  )                                                                                                                                                                             

Good point Matt, if you are blocking non UK IPs presumably you will have to log in from the console............                                                                                                                                                                             

What about just europe?                                                                                                                                                                             

my Ip will be excluded of course. It will probably be best if I just have the registration form disabled for people outside of the UK.   Europe is also a problem, we have a lot of spammers hopping via proxy servers in amsterdam for example                                                                                                                                                                             

  my Ip will be excluded of course.   what about the other 98p?  ha ha                                                                                                                                                                               

Ahh,i see,the old proxy server hacker spammy thingy                                                                                                                                                                                 

looks like i got here just in time!lol while in south africa i could only subscribe by giving a UK postal code , some of my mates wanted to do the same but we communicate via facebook instead , its easier for them.                                                                                                                                                                             

No problems for Ian & I if the site is unavailable when we are outside the UK ... just means you will have to either check facebook or wait till we get home to hear all about it                                                                                                                                                                              

It's rather unfortunate for folk in Billy's position, looking to make new UK friends for when they return... plus we have a few forces members... but what can you do?

Last thing I want to do when on holiday is log onto a website, so that's not an issue!

                                                                                                                                                                             

the issue is really Security vs Accessibility.   How many spammers do we have in Russia vs how many people go on holiday (and use BM) from Russia???   I think the best option is... Disable the registration form for anyone outside the UK Make a link available for those with a genuine reason for applying so they can contact the Mod team and give an explanation for the registration request. They will then be emailed a secure link they can use to sign-up with. All profiles (not accounts) will still require a UK Postcode to be filled in.  Those working away from home can use one they know in the UK (In the area they will return to).  The reason is simple - it's  UK site and the code has to know your postcode to search the database. How does that sound?                                                                                                                                                                             

OR.... only subscribed users can access the site from outside the UK.  Spammers never pay to use the site (Cos that would reveal their true details via their Paypal payment)                                                                                                                                                                             

Sounds like a good compromise - your option of a link to contact the Mod team will enable folk in Billy's position or folk serving overseas to still be able to join.

Security's always a nightmare and I daresay the more persistent among them will find ways to bypass whatever measures you put in place, but you can only do so much and this should stop the bulk of them. There are plenty more sites they can target with much less security, so they won't waste time on yours
                                                                                                                                                                             

I'd go for the second option on the grounds of simplicity.                                                                                                                                                                              

OR.... only subscribed users can access the site from outside the UK.  Spammers never pay to use the site (Cos that would reveal their true details via their Paypal payment)

TBH I'd avoid that one - Paypal accounts are often hijacked - it'd be easy enough for them to make a payment...
                                                                                                                                                                             

But they soon get blocked when the payment is reversed by Paypal though.  These are easy to spot WB and 99.99% of the spammers on the site give up as soon as they realise they have to pay.   We have 1,500 accounts registered accounts now with BM where the last visited IP was from overseas.... and most of them are Russian/Nigerian addresses of spammers                                                                                                                                                                             

Ah well in that case then, as Wills says, in the interest of simplicity, it sounds like your second option is the way to go