[AmyShepherdBucobloj]

This is the message I get: [#1026] You are not permitted to modify all or some of your profile information.

Why is this?

I cannot find anything about it in the forums either.

Can someone help me?

And I also get this when I try to GET to my account info or anything else from the home page.

404 - Page Not Found
Oops! We're not able to find the page you're looking for. Here are
some options to help you get back on the right track:

Only thing I'm able to do is read articles and read and post in the forum.

This post has been edited by AmyShepherdBucobloj: 06 April 2011 - 02:41 PM

[bcappel]

Hello and welcome to the forums. New members are not able to change their profile, this is to prevent spammers from signing up and putting spam links in their profile. After you have been with us for a while your account will automatically be promoted to a normal Member at which time you will be able to edit your profile.

Thank you,
Bill

[bvs1216]

bcappel, on 06 April 2011 - 03:57 PM, said:

Hello and welcome to the forums. New members are not able to change their profile, this is to prevent spammers from signing up and putting spam links in their profile. After you have been with us for a while your account will automatically be promoted to a normal Member at which time you will be able to edit your profile.

Thank you,
Bill

Hmmmmm never heard of that one before, spammers starting new accounts just to put spam links on their profile, seems kind of fruitless to me

[AgentF]

bvs1216, on 27 May 2011 - 10:00 AM, said:

bcappel, on 06 April 2011 - 03:57 PM, said:

Hello and welcome to the forums. New members are not able to change their profile, this is to prevent spammers from signing up and putting spam links in their profile. After you have been with us for a while your account will automatically be promoted to a normal Member at which time you will be able to edit your profile.

Thank you,
Bill

Hmmmmm never heard of that one before, spammers starting new accounts just to put spam links on their profile, seems kind of fruitless to me

It has two purposes that I can think of: 1.) A search engine indexes the profile page with the link. PCWorld.com is a large community that's been around for a long time, so it has what's known to Search Engine Optimizers as a lot of "link juice". Some link juice from PCWorld is given to that website, so that website performs a little better in search results. 2.) A user happens to stumble upon that profile page and clicks the link. It's rather unlikely a bunch of people would click into a user's profile who hasn't posted, so backlinking for link juice to improve search results is more likely the motive.

[bvs1216]

I still don't get it, I'm not the brightest bear in the brush

I have seen people post links to cheesy things, but I never seen it really be a problem, seriously how many PC World members would click on links they don't know?

You can find almost anything you are looking for with a simple search, so yeah links on dude's profiles don't interest me in the slightest

Maybe I'm missing the picture though, like I said I'm not the brightest bulb in the hallway..

This post has been edited by bvs1216: 27 May 2011 - 02:51 PM

[AgentF]

bvs1216, on 27 May 2011 - 02:45 PM, said:

I still don't get it, I'm not the brightest bear in the brush

I have seen people post links to cheesy things, but I never seen it really be a problem, seriously how many PC World members would click on links they don't know?

You can find almost anything you are looking for with a simple search, so yeah links on dude's profiles don't interest me in the slightest

Maybe I'm missing the picture though, like I said I'm not the brightest bulb in the hallway..

Like I said, it's probably more for Search Engine Optimization than for you or I to click it. Search engines use a very complex algorithm to sort the websites listed in a search result page. Google alone uses over 100 different factors, many of which are not public knowledge. One they do use is incoming links. If a lot of websites are linking to your site, search engines think your site is good, so your site will appear higher in search results. In addition, they've used these algorithms to score PCWorld.com rather high, so the weight (the "link juice") of PCWorld.com linking to your website is even greater. Spammers register accounts here to post their link in hopes search engines will recognize the incoming link, improve their website's ranking on a search engine result page, increase traffic to their website, and increase sales for their products/services.

Here are a couple Wikipedia pages with more information if you're interested:
http://en.wikipedia....ne_optimization
http://en.wikipedia....website_linking

[bvs1216]

That sounds plausible but why isin't it determined on how many posts you have?

If it's only dependent on time, well then that won't stop spammers from registering new accounts because sooner or later they can change their settings, so why not just create a bunch of accounts every month and periodically check back on them waiting for the settings to be changed?

[rjnq]

OK, so this answers my question. I have to say, I rather resent being presumed to be a spammer by default. I need to edit my profile because I ended up with some weird user name that I did not choose. Actually, I would rather delete my profile, as it was created only because I commented on an article. I seem to recall signing in with Google, I did not authorize creation of an account in these forums. (I only got to the forums because it said "click to read more comments" on an article, and found my comment had ended up on the forums). I might've enjoyed these forums, but the whole process has left me annoyed and wanting to delete my profile, but I guess I'm not "authorized" to do that, either.

[AgentF]

rjnq, on 26 July 2011 - 07:55 AM, said:

OK, so this answers my question. I have to say, I rather resent being presumed to be a spammer by default. I need to edit my profile because I ended up with some weird user name that I did not choose. Actually, I would rather delete my profile, as it was created only because I commented on an article. I seem to recall signing in with Google, I did not authorize creation of an account in these forums. (I only got to the forums because it said "click to read more comments" on an article, and found my comment had ended up on the forums). I might've enjoyed these forums, but the whole process has left me annoyed and wanting to delete my profile, but I guess I'm not "authorized" to do that, either.

You may not understand this, but spammers are a serious problem to websites in a number of ways, including the security of normal members like you and me. To help prevent problems spammers cause, obstacles need to be setup in effort to block the spammers from performing their action. It isn't as simple as setting up one obstacle and blocking all the spammers because all spammers are different, just like all people are different. In fact, automated spam blockers and spam filters have become almost too good in blocking automated spam systems. That means more human spammers are working the front lines.

If a legitimate human can bypass CAPTCHA and other anti-spam obstacles, a human spammer can just as easily. There is a difference though. A human spammer isn't likely to post 15+ times (or whatever the limit is set here) before he/she is considered a fully fledged forum member and get all the benefits therein. A legitimate member would say, "Hey, I reached 15 post count and have more access to the community features. Cool," and then go about positively contributing to the community.

That's why you're "presumed a spammer" (somewhat limited as a new forum member). It helps to keep real spammers out of the community, and it's a common obstacle among online communities. Administrators have the ability to change your username, so send a private message to bcappel (Bill) and chat with him about it.

Another thing you need to understand is that "signing in" with Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. on various website services like PCWorld will create a account on that service with the sign in service you choose. The comment you made on PCWorld was saved to the PCWorld database. Instead of having two communities: PCWorld articles and PCWorld forums, the two were connected together into one, so making an article comment will reflect in the appropriate forum discussion thread.

The whole process here is pretty similar among all online communities, so you can still enjoy this one just fine.

[LiveBrianD]

Come to think of it, a while ago some person who was a new member and had 0 posts tried to put a spam comment on my profile. Of course, I have things set so I have to approve all comments, and then I simply took a screenshot of it and sent it to coastie65, who requested a ban for the person, and the comment never actually appeared on my profile because I didn't approve it. But there is the potential for a spam comment on a profile to go unseen there. On the other hand, there are some legit uses for it that a newbie might have. Perhaps if they need to solve a recapcha or whatever to send a PM?

[rjnq]

AgentF, on 26 July 2011 - 03:17 PM, said:

rjnq, on 26 July 2011 - 07:55 AM, said:

OK, so this answers my question. I have to say, I rather resent being presumed to be a spammer by default. I need to edit my profile because I ended up with some weird user name that I did not choose. Actually, I would rather delete my profile, as it was created only because I commented on an article. I seem to recall signing in with Google, I did not authorize creation of an account in these forums. (I only got to the forums because it said "click to read more comments" on an article, and found my comment had ended up on the forums). I might've enjoyed these forums, but the whole process has left me annoyed and wanting to delete my profile, but I guess I'm not "authorized" to do that, either.

You may not understand this, but spammers are a serious problem to websites in a number of ways, including the security of normal members like you and me. To help prevent problems spammers cause, obstacles need to be setup in effort to block the spammers from performing their action. It isn't as simple as setting up one obstacle and blocking all the spammers because all spammers are different, just like all people are different. In fact, automated spam blockers and spam filters have become almost too good in blocking automated spam systems. That means more human spammers are working the front lines.

If a legitimate human can bypass CAPTCHA and other anti-spam obstacles, a human spammer can just as easily. There is a difference though. A human spammer isn't likely to post 15+ times (or whatever the limit is set here) before he/she is considered a fully fledged forum member and get all the benefits therein. A legitimate member would say, "Hey, I reached 15 post count and have more access to the community features. Cool," and then go about positively contributing to the community.

That's why you're "presumed a spammer" (somewhat limited as a new forum member). It helps to keep real spammers out of the community, and it's a common obstacle among online communities. Administrators have the ability to change your username, so send a private message to bcappel (Bill) and chat with him about it.

Another thing you need to understand is that "signing in" with Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. on various website services like PCWorld will create a account on that service with the sign in service you choose. The comment you made on PCWorld was saved to the PCWorld database. Instead of having two communities: PCWorld articles and PCWorld forums, the two were connected together into one, so making an article comment will reflect in the appropriate forum discussion thread.

The whole process here is pretty similar among all online communities, so you can still enjoy this one just fine.

I've managed message boards before, so I understand spammers are a huge problem. I also know there are other ways of dealing with it besides treating all new members like infants, or presuming them guilty until they prove themselves innocent. I also know that most other forums I've been to do NOT create a new account with a random profile name when I log in with another service (Facebook or whatever). I did not intend to join the forums here, and do not like what I have been forced into by simply making a comment on a website. I would like to know how to go about deleting my account. Thank you.

[rjnq]

Never mind, I've figured out a workaround if I can't delete the account, which from what I've read seems to be the case.

[AgentF]

rjnq, on 26 July 2011 - 06:26 PM, said:

I've managed message boards before, so I understand spammers are a huge problem. I also know there are other ways of dealing with it besides treating all new members like infants, or presuming them guilty until they prove themselves innocent. I also know that most other forums I've been to do NOT create a new account with a random profile name when I log in with another service (Facebook or whatever). I did not intend to join the forums here, and do not like what I have been forced into by simply making a comment on a website. I would like to know how to go about deleting my account. Thank you.

Most websites utilizing message boards that I've seen don't allow people to delete their user accounts. They say just abandon it and let the site Admins prune it if they so choose (less likely the more you keep posting). I don't see how you're getting treated like an infant or presumed guilty either. Some boards put strict restrictions to new members like: preventing new discussions/replies in certain boards, disallowing links & images, or manually accepting each post. It's also pretty common to disallow certain features of the forum to new members and that the distinction between a newbie and regular is pretty short like 15 or 30 posts. The only such restriction I know of here is something like 10 posts allowed per day. Not very restrictive if you ask me. Then you're complaining about not being allowed to change your display name. Guess what? Neither can the rest of us regulars. It's not apart of you being a newbie. If you have suggestions for the community, I'm sure the staff here would like to read them.

When you posted your comment to that article, where did you expect it to go? Did you expect guest posting to be enabled - an option that makes spamming easier?

As for your workaround, don't you think it would be easier and less like a spammer to just PM an Admin about your account issue rather than curse within your profile? For someone who's managed message boards before, I'm a little surprised by your actions and attitude. Seriously though, just PM an Admin, setup a junk email account and change your forum address to that account, or just abandon the forum account and hope it will one day be pruned.

This post has been edited by AgentF: 26 July 2011 - 11:38 PM

[coastie65]

rjnq, on 26 July 2011 - 06:26 PM, said:

AgentF, on 26 July 2011 - 03:17 PM, said:

rjnq, on 26 July 2011 - 07:55 AM, said:

OK, so this answers my question. I have to say, I rather resent being presumed to be a spammer by default. I need to edit my profile because I ended up with some weird user name that I did not choose. Actually, I would rather delete my profile, as it was created only because I commented on an article. I seem to recall signing in with Google, I did not authorize creation of an account in these forums. (I only got to the forums because it said "click to read more comments" on an article, and found my comment had ended up on the forums). I might've enjoyed these forums, but the whole process has left me annoyed and wanting to delete my profile, but I guess I'm not "authorized" to do that, either.

You may not understand this, but spammers are a serious problem to websites in a number of ways, including the security of normal members like you and me. To help prevent problems spammers cause, obstacles need to be setup in effort to block the spammers from performing their action. It isn't as simple as setting up one obstacle and blocking all the spammers because all spammers are different, just like all people are different. In fact, automated spam blockers and spam filters have become almost too good in blocking automated spam systems. That means more human spammers are working the front lines.

If a legitimate human can bypass CAPTCHA and other anti-spam obstacles, a human spammer can just as easily. There is a difference though. A human spammer isn't likely to post 15+ times (or whatever the limit is set here) before he/she is considered a fully fledged forum member and get all the benefits therein. A legitimate member would say, "Hey, I reached 15 post count and have more access to the community features. Cool," and then go about positively contributing to the community.

That's why you're "presumed a spammer" (somewhat limited as a new forum member). It helps to keep real spammers out of the community, and it's a common obstacle among online communities. Administrators have the ability to change your username, so send a private message to bcappel (Bill) and chat with him about it.

Another thing you need to understand is that "signing in" with Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. on various website services like PCWorld will create a account on that service with the sign in service you choose. The comment you made on PCWorld was saved to the PCWorld database. Instead of having two communities: PCWorld articles and PCWorld forums, the two were connected together into one, so making an article comment will reflect in the appropriate forum discussion thread.

The whole process here is pretty similar among all online communities, so you can still enjoy this one just fine.

I've managed message boards before, so I understand spammers are a huge problem. I also know there are other ways of dealing with it besides treating all new members like infants, or presuming them guilty until they prove themselves innocent. I also know that most other forums I've been to do NOT create a new account with a random profile name when I log in with another service (Facebook or whatever). I did not intend to join the forums here, and do not like what I have been forced into by simply making a comment on a website. I would like to know how to go about deleting my account. Thank you.

Ok.Let me give it to you from another perspective. Before the changes, they ( The spammers ) would come in and drop a fast 50+ posts that we had to clean out. Those SPAM bots can post them a whole lot faster than we can remove them and it is a pita to do so. That is why the change was made. I also moderate another web site, that is not all that active. That thing got covered up in porn spam on one occasion and took some time to clean up. WE have taken some hits here as well, but since the change, it is a bit more tolerable to deal with. I know it is aggravation to new members, but that is way things are. Just be patient and you'll soon be out of "provisional" status and a full member.

[LiveBrianD]

coastie65, on 27 July 2011 - 08:24 AM, said:

Ok.Let me give it to you from another perspective. Before the changes, they ( The spammers ) would come in and drop a fast 50+ posts that we had to clean out. Those SPAM bots can post them a whole lot faster than we can remove them and it is a pita to do so. That is why the change was made. I also moderate another web site, that is not all that active. That thing got covered up in porn spam on one occasion and took some time to clean up. WE have taken some hits here as well, but since the change, it is a bit more tolerable to deal with. I know it is aggravation to new members, but that is way things are. Just be patient and you'll soon be out of "provisional" status and a full member.

Yeah there are quite a few spammers over at Toms Hardware.

[rjnq]

coastie65, on 27 July 2011 - 08:24 AM, said:

rjnq, on 26 July 2011 - 06:26 PM, said:

AgentF, on 26 July 2011 - 03:17 PM, said:

rjnq, on 26 July 2011 - 07:55 AM, said:

OK, so this answers my question. I have to say, I rather resent being presumed to be a spammer by default. I need to edit my profile because I ended up with some weird user name that I did not choose. Actually, I would rather delete my profile, as it was created only because I commented on an article. I seem to recall signing in with Google, I did not authorize creation of an account in these forums. (I only got to the forums because it said "click to read more comments" on an article, and found my comment had ended up on the forums). I might've enjoyed these forums, but the whole process has left me annoyed and wanting to delete my profile, but I guess I'm not "authorized" to do that, either.

You may not understand this, but spammers are a serious problem to websites in a number of ways, including the security of normal members like you and me. To help prevent problems spammers cause, obstacles need to be setup in effort to block the spammers from performing their action. It isn't as simple as setting up one obstacle and blocking all the spammers because all spammers are different, just like all people are different. In fact, automated spam blockers and spam filters have become almost too good in blocking automated spam systems. That means more human spammers are working the front lines.

If a legitimate human can bypass CAPTCHA and other anti-spam obstacles, a human spammer can just as easily. There is a difference though. A human spammer isn't likely to post 15+ times (or whatever the limit is set here) before he/she is considered a fully fledged forum member and get all the benefits therein. A legitimate member would say, "Hey, I reached 15 post count and have more access to the community features. Cool," and then go about positively contributing to the community.

That's why you're "presumed a spammer" (somewhat limited as a new forum member). It helps to keep real spammers out of the community, and it's a common obstacle among online communities. Administrators have the ability to change your username, so send a private message to bcappel (Bill) and chat with him about it.

Another thing you need to understand is that "signing in" with Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. on various website services like PCWorld will create a account on that service with the sign in service you choose. The comment you made on PCWorld was saved to the PCWorld database. Instead of having two communities: PCWorld articles and PCWorld forums, the two were connected together into one, so making an article comment will reflect in the appropriate forum discussion thread.

The whole process here is pretty similar among all online communities, so you can still enjoy this one just fine.

I've managed message boards before, so I understand spammers are a huge problem. I also know there are other ways of dealing with it besides treating all new members like infants, or presuming them guilty until they prove themselves innocent. I also know that most other forums I've been to do NOT create a new account with a random profile name when I log in with another service (Facebook or whatever). I did not intend to join the forums here, and do not like what I have been forced into by simply making a comment on a website. I would like to know how to go about deleting my account. Thank you.

Ok.Let me give it to you from another perspective. Before the changes, they ( The spammers ) would come in and drop a fast 50+ posts that we had to clean out. Those SPAM bots can post them a whole lot faster than we can remove them and it is a pita to do so. That is why the change was made. I also moderate another web site, that is not all that active. That thing got covered up in porn spam on one occasion and took some time to clean up. WE have taken some hits here as well, but since the change, it is a bit more tolerable to deal with. I know it is aggravation to new members, but that is way things are. Just be patient and you'll soon be out of "provisional" status and a full member.

I don't want to be a full member, I actually never wanted to join in the first place, but was simply trying to comment on an article, and am sorry I ever did. I won't make that mistake again. I'd like my account deleted.

[smax013]

rjnq, on 29 July 2011 - 07:36 AM, said:

I don't want to be a full member, I actually never wanted to join in the first place, but was simply trying to comment on an article, and am sorry I ever did. I won't make that mistake again. I'd like my account deleted.

Unfortunately, the PCWorld article comment system uses the forum system for all comments. So, when you make a comment, you are actually posting to the forum and then the comment system "reflects" those posts as comments on the article page. And for this to work, you must have an account....either one that you create yourself or one that is automatically created for you if you use another login "service" such as Facebook Connect.

So, yes, you did not know that and, yes, you do not like it. While it might be harsh, all I can say is life is not fair...get over it and move on.

And as several others have already said, PCWorld does not delete accounts as a standard rule. You are certainly free to continue to gripe about it here if it makes you feel better, but it probably ain't gonna change a thing. Yes, that sucks, but I will refer back to my comment just above.

If you really want any remote chance of getting your account deleted, then try PMing bcappel. While I suspect that you will get the same answer as I and other have offered, since he is the one who deals with the forum and can do what you want (none of the rest of can even if we wanted to...even the moderators), he would be your only chance and might decide to make an exception if you ask politely and respectfully ("you catch more bees with honey" as the saying goes).

Assuming that the answer remains "no", then as other have stated, just abandon your account. As long as you don't fill out any information in your public profile on the forums, no one will ever know whose account this is. We cannot see any personal information for the account unless you enter it into your public profile. And if it is a concern about getting spam email from PCWorld or others, then you should be albe turn all email notifications off. The forums themselves only send you email notifications for topics or forums that you "watch". If the "third party" login process also creates you a general PCWorld website accounts as well (don't know if it does or not), then you might get other emails through that, but they can be turned off as well (I turned them off a long time ago).

End result, if that you should have no impact from the account unless you WANT to have impact from it (i.e. actively use it).

[rnoel]

Hello,
I would like to edit my profile to at least ad my real, professional head shot and fill out the about tab. Can someone please lift the restriction from the following error:

[#1026] You are not permitted to modify all or some of your profile information.


My join date is 04-October 11and I have linked my LinkedIn profile to my PC World Profile this morning (at least I said allow when requested by the web app) and rest assured that I am not a spammer, but a contributor.


Thanks,


Rick

[smax013]

rnoel, on 16 June 2012 - 07:12 AM, said:

Hello,
I would like to edit my profile to at least ad my real, professional head shot and fill out the about tab. Can someone please lift the restriction from the following error:

[#1026] You are not permitted to modify all or some of your profile information.


My join date is 04-October 11and I have linked my LinkedIn profile to my PC World Profile this morning (at least I said allow when requested by the web app) and rest assured that I am not a spammer, but a contributor.


Thanks,


Rick

Basically, "being around for a while" essentially means reaching a certain number of posts (which is not advertised) I believe. So, if you are in fact here to be a contributor and continue to post, then you will be able to update your profile at some point.