Fake accounts

[Jesper]

I was recently PM'd by a 'member' here (Martha Webb) and it was nothing to do with cycling aside from the "l love riding bikes" line. 8 checked and found that this account had posted nothing as a thread or comment, but seems comfortable with just messaging me and stating that my profile was interesting and "caught my eye". Well I know that was BS because my profile says this: "I am an idiot; follow my advice and die."

I decided to play so I sent a message back explaining that I considered to contact to be AI generated, but that 'she/it" could prove to being sincere and real if wanting to, but alas I feel that I scared off the program because no reply has been forthcoming. Amazingly, I was also able to trace the "user" to a F@#kbook account. Same person in the photo as in the member icon used here. It looked again like a fake account with no posts and friends were all men of dubious character.

I hope no one else has been hit up by this scam account, but I think there needs to be a screening method where a member cannot contact another member without at least first posting in the forums. That in and of itself might stop some of this BS, as well as potentially exposing scam in the open before it goes private.

I am reporting the account and I hope others do as well if you have been contacted by same.

I also recommend that accounts opened 5 or more years ago be purged if they never posted here and/or posted only once (usually just to enter the bike giveaway). If you go to the membership list you will discover that the majority of "members" are none and done or one and done. Why have members who do not contribute. They can view everything as a guest so why inflate the membership numbers when it does not truly reflect the activity of the site.

Last note: CLOUDFAIL is a joke and should be removed. I cannot access the site under normal conditions and never really know if I can access it until I've let that damn program cycle for HOURS only to be denied. Why do I have a password? If you want to use CLOUDFAIL then use it for new accounts, not for established accounts.bIt has created problems for me on every site that uses it. It has done one god thing though; it keeps me from going online which is better than being online so maybe CLOUDFAIL is actually a success for me.

[GirishH]

Ditto, @Jesper. Martha Webb contacted me too :-( I played along and replied, but fortunately, there have been no replies since.

I will report this as "spam"—thanks for pointing it out! @Rasmus

I like your reason for "loving" CLOUDFAIL...:-) maybe I should use it more :-) and avoid being online!

[Rasmus]

Hi @Jesper and @GirishH - thanks for letting us know!

I banned Martha Webb today, and I'm also going to set up a security rule so that new accounts without real posts cannot send PM.

I'm also going to look into our Claudflare settings further and see what I can do, especially for users that are already logged in. The main issue isn't really spam posts/users on the forum, but rather bots that overload the server, which is why passwords don't help.

[Jesper]

(10-11-2026, 11:03 AM)Rasmus Wrote:  Hi @Jesper and @GirishH - thanks for letting us know!

I banned Martha Webb today, and I'm also going to set up a security rule so that new accounts without real posts cannot send PM.

I'm also going to look into our Claudflare settings further and see what I can do, especially for users that are already logged in. The main issue isn't really spam posts/users on the forum, but rather bots that overload the server, which is why passwords don't help.

Thank you. I understand that the site is trying to filter out the "bad actors" with Cloudfail, but it does not help it if keeps out the good actors. I tend to sign out of an account when not in use so I am regularly affected by the program. It has a lot to do with signal strength, age of device and operating software; things which Cloudfail does not figure into its algorithm.

[Rasmus]

(10-11-2026, 11:24 AM)Jesper Wrote:  

(10-11-2026, 11:03 AM)Rasmus Wrote:  Hi @Jesper and @GirishH - thanks for letting us know!

I banned Martha Webb today, and I'm also going to set up a security rule so that new accounts without real posts cannot send PM.

I'm also going to look into our Claudflare settings further and see what I can do, especially for users that are already logged in. The main issue isn't really spam posts/users on the forum, but rather bots that overload the server, which is why passwords don't help.

Thank you. I understand that the site is trying to filter out the "bad actors" with Cloudfail, but it does not help it if keeps out the good actors. I tend to sign out of an account when not in use so I am regularly affected by the program. It has a lot to do with signal strength, age of device and operating software; things which Cloudfail does not figure into its algorithm.

Yes that's a good point! I have made several changes now, which should mean that you receive CloudFlare much less often (maybe never, or once or twice, but definitely not all the time). Please let me know if it works well from your end or if you continue seeing issues.

[Jesper]

(10-12-2026, 07:39 AM)Rasmus Wrote:  

(10-11-2026, 11:24 AM)Jesper Wrote:  

(10-11-2026, 11:03 AM)Rasmus Wrote:  Hi @Jesper and @GirishH - thanks for letting us know!

I banned Martha Webb today, and I'm also going to set up a security rule so that new accounts without real posts cannot send PM.

I'm also going to look into our Claudflare settings further and see what I can do, especially for users that are already logged in. The main issue isn't really spam posts/users on the forum, but rather bots that overload the server, which is why passwords don't help.

Thank you. I understand that the site is trying to filter out the "bad actors" with Cloudfail, but it does not help it if keeps out the good actors. I tend to sign out of an account when not in use so I am regularly affected by the program. It has a lot to do with signal strength, age of device and operating software; things which Cloudfail does not figure into its algorithm.

Yes that's a good point! I have made several changes now, which should mean that you receive CloudFlare much less often (maybe never, or once or twice, but definitely not all the time). Please let me know if it works well from your end or if you continue seeing issues.

I will do that when aI sign out next time and let you know if I experience any problems.

[Flowrider]

@Jesper . Thanks for the heads-up, and yeah, a screening method is a go-to!