First, don’t panic – we are going to make this easy. Starting About November 7th/8th, commenting on WUWT will require you to be a registered user. Read on for the hows and whys.
For over 15 years, WUWT has been open to commenting by anyone. That had both good and bad aspects to it.
The good was obvious – anyone could immediately comment by simply placing their email address and name/handle into the comment box. The first comment required approval, after that comments went unfettered provided the commenter didn’t use any of the prohibited words or phrases that most platforms already flag as inappropriate.
The bad was not so obvious – and appeared mostly behind the scenes at the moderation level. Through the years we have fought with some nefarious people hell-bent on disrupting this forum doing things like using fake email addresses, spoofing other identities to get past moderation, (in particular, one well-known climate troll from Oregon has been caught and warned dozens of times, and is banned), and then we have the “bots” – which are getting worse daily.
A recent WUWT article noted this:
We are being spammed by an extremely clever and aggressive spambot.
The bot uses several techniques to spoof users but is trying a new one today.
Then there’s Twitter, which has millions of “bots” estimated to be somewhere between 5% (according to Pre-Elon Twitter) and as much as 20% by other estimates.
How many bots do we have on WUWT? Well, there could be dozens to hundreds. Some people, like “griff” act like bots, where they throw up some cryptic or inane comment, and then never respond to replies to it. But, we don’t really know a total bot count.
What we do know, is that it is getting worse, and as the climate alarmist establishment gets even more zealous, trying to make people believe there is a “climate crisis”, our workload to weed out false commentary from bots and other fakes has increased significantly.
When I started WUWT in 2006 the Internet was a different entity. Now, it’s a climate war zone, and we have to harden the fort against daily attacks. I’ll point out that almost any other website today that has user interaction requires registration – we are just late to the party.
As I first said, “we are going to make this easy.” Here’s how.
We have a process by which we are going to use some automation assistance to help our valid pre-existing users get registered. I don’t want to give the details, because that will tip our hand to the bots and the bullies. Let’s just say, you’ll be hearing more soon.
For reference, here are some WUWT statistics as of this writing:
- 475,929,091 Views
- 28,652 Posts
- 3,490,060 Comments
Thanks to all of you for making WUWT the most-viewed (and likely most-commented) climate related website in the world.
-Anthony
UPDATE: Some folks have jumped to erroneous conclusions about what registration here will require.
All that will be required is two items you supply now – a name/handle and and email address, and additionally, a password of your choosing.
Passwords are encrytped – only you will know it. – Anthony
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Ability to comment on WUWT wicked smart and often entertaining posts only requiring registration?
No reasonable person would object to this.
Appropriate
My only request is that if someone registers my handle before I get a chance to, there be some kind of moderation so I can get it back.
You’ll probably be automatically registered.
The mere fact that there is auto registration is solid evidence that we are not going to be asked for lots of additional information in order to register.
griff take note.
I presume your handle will be associated with your email address so easy for Anthony et al to identify.
It would be a shame to lose Griff if he feels registering is beyond his tolerance zone.
It is useful to have contributions from those who are clearly believers in the climate alarmists scam. Their presence is a constant reminder of how deep and wedded to nonsense the believers are.
Rod, have you watched television any time recently?
No, thank you Anthony. I can’t imagine the determination you have had to muster to keep this site going through everything you have gone through.
A sane space in an insane world.
It will be interesting what suddenly stops showing up……
Indeed!
Anthony, they will be many like me who use your site to gain knowledge and scientific data to argue again the prevailing climate madness, but do not have the required knowledge to offer comments. You perform an extremely valuable service and long may it continue.
Dear Professor Kenny (and all others like he),
Please allow me to share with you what a long time commenter, John F. Hultquist, said to me when I commented for the “first and probably the last time” (lol …. not even close to a correct guess, there 😄 ) in April, 2013, for reasons similar to what you just stated:
You know things. Share.
Do.
Your ally for truth in science,
Janice
🙂
Grateful. 😊
I have learned more about science, in particular the scientific method, than I learned in over 50 odd years of life before joining WUWT.
I’m a layman who had one question some years ago; does atmospheric CO2 cause the planet to warm and how?
I visited skepticalscience (the site title seemed to make sense) before WUWT and was abused for even asking the question. I came to WUWT with the same question expecting the same abuse, but instead was greeted by numerous, generous, educated people who tolerated my ignorance and patiently walked me through innumerable subjects.
Thanks to Charles’ encouragement, I was even allowed to publish my own article after many years and am humbled that it was generously received by most people here.
I look forward to Anthony one day writing a book about his WUWT rollercoaster ride.
I am thankful that you shared that, HotScot.
Congratulations 😃 on being asked to write for WUWT (and getting published). That is something some of us have aspired to and never had happen. It was good for me to read that Charles reached out to you. It put me in my place with an ego-deflating thump (one I definitely need from time to time, I assure you). Since 2013, I have never been asked to write an article for WUWT nor have I had anything published here, not even the essay I entered in the contest about a year ago (Phil Salmon’s wasn’t, either, so, it wasn’t personal).
Partly to salve my hurt and mostly (I hope) to offer you something you may enjoy reading, here is the link to the article where the pdf of my anthology celebrating 10 years of WUWT in 2016, “WUWT, The Battle for Science — the First 10 Years” is linked. There is no link to it anywhere on WUWT, except for this page:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/11/17/wuwt-milestone-10-years/
Until Anthony writes his own book about WUWT, here ya go! 🙂
Thanks Janice. I do enjoy your post’s (and recognise your education and wisdom) only, the sugar stuff gives the impression of a crazy cat lady, and I’m sure that’s not true.
All I did to get my article published was to submit it via the usual channels.
It was probably a very slow news month.
Don’t put yourself down, H. Scot. WUWT wouldn’t have published what you wrote if it wasn’t worthwhile. Good job! 🙂
Thank you for your compliments and for the information… . 🤨 I never realized that I come off as a “crazy cat lady” at times! Oh, brother… . And I am not fond of cats. I LOVE DOGS <– very much, as you can see. 😊
Thank you for giving me the courtesy of a response.
Take care.
Only occasionally. It’s the lack of sugar I think. 🤣
I’m largely keto, so I get it.
Janice, that was a mighty piece of work AND writing!
And only six years ago, well, six years on November 17th.
You still deserve respect and praise.
😃 THANK YOU!
When I was a believer because science said so, I also went to SKS. I posted under a different name.
My questions were also met with abuse even though they were genuine questions
I’m still certain we need to do more to protect the environment, just not the whole CO2 is evil crap
Never be afraid to comment. We’re a fairly welcoming bunch here.
I’m fine with this but I do ask that you do NOT require me to have a mobile phone in order to verify my identity. I am Chairbound and currently have a phone which only intermittently works inside but I can’t go outside; So my identity DISAPPEARS 🤯
Ebay is currently losing my Business on this and I would hate to think that WUWT would lose my pearly words of wisdom from time to time.
There must be some other way to nail me to ground if need be.
Dear Alasdair,
All of us would hate to lose your fine comments. I doubt that a cell phone is going to be necessary.
With sympathy and admiration for your soldiering on so valiantly and wittily despite “the chair,”
Your ally for data-driven science,
Janice
” a phone which only intermittently works inside “
You have my understanding (empathy), and I can go outside where the darn thing is often flaky. Cheers, though.
Our mobiles also were flaky inside our house. Talked to the service folks at the service provider, and they sold us ($20USD, back when that was worth something) a “cell tower in a box”. It takes power from the wall, and plugs into the internet router. It also has a GPS antenna on a window pane. Service is now outstanding. Possibly your provider can help with that.
Our phones are able to connect with the wi-fi router when we are home.
We don’t pay for phone calls and internet usage when connected to the wi-fi.
That’s one of my biggest gripes about 2-factor auth – the people who implement it are incapable of comprehending that not everyone has a cell phone or cell service where they would be needing to authenticate. It’s not that hard to offer options.
They comprehend just fine. No one can support all users in technology. It is a calculated decision to decide what cohort is too small to worry about.
I’m not so sure they do, at least not all of them. I’ve encountered it directly “Oh we never considered that!”
And as I said, it’s easy enough to offer alternative methods. I’ve done it. The development cost should be quite small.
Will register
“When I started WUWT in 2006 the Internet was a different entity.” [Anthony]
I did not get a fast connection (DSL) until the fall of 2008. Then I spent hours reading at WUWT, following links, searching, and even went to the local university and scrounged physics and chemistry texts. What a ride!
I’ve commented frequently but have only done one post. I also did one of the “How not to …” measure temperature submissions. I also miss some of the folks that were contributing but have disappeared.
Thanks, Anthony and everybody.
John
That’s a good idea, I’ll register if possible, but please don’t go the “Disqus, Facebook, Google, Twitter” way other nice pages did.
👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍
Agree. I do not use any social media so I hope you use your own log in not linked to any of those.
me too.
Absolutely!
I moderate three science blogs even administrate one of them to learn that it is getting harder to substantiate valid e-mails too many comes back saying it isn’t verifiable which forces me to make additional checks to see if I am getting the same results, in my own new forum I had one who used an unverifiable e-mail address that someone registered with to see if he is the person I know well from elsewhere which he replies back in the return e-mail reply thus know it is valid despite it saying it isn’t verifiable he ended up getting banned anyway…. LOL.
When I became Administrator of a blog several months ago there was a lot of daily spam postings which I quickly tired of deleting then suggested to the owner/webmaster try a different spam detector software which they changed to that cleared the problem immediately but one particular member who was the most active commenter of the blog was suddenly in moderation because he was put there by the new spam software which is the same one used here thus he is in permanent moderation because his IP is a massive spam problem which is why he is always blocked but I approve all his posts because he is well known person and has been completely good in his posting history.
Spam senders that spoof addresses and IDs much prefer to spoof reliable well known URLs.
He won’t do anything about it which is why he is in perpetual moderation.
Sign me up, I have nothing to hide, except that open bottle of rum in the console while driving in excess of 80 mph on rural roads.
Only 80? Driving on gravel is a skill most don’t have, I enjoy that floating feeling
I get that from snow and ice during the winter.
There’s nothing like it.
Inspiring such fond memories of my childhood. What I wouldn’t give for an early 70’s Buick land yacht.
Not a problem for me.
I will gladly comply. This site and the community of knowledgeable commenters from around the world are both enlightening and encouraging.
As an aside, who or what is the source of your new, rather abstract or avant-garde artwork accompanying many of the posts of late? It conveys a sense of the darkness and evil that is confronting us.
Not Charles, but I know the answer because we talked about it on the phone recently. He got access to a new AI software. He tells it what he wants as art for a post, and the AI draws the artwork automatically. And somehow Charles got it for free—maybe as a beta test site.
This is unfortunate, but given the situation a result of the overload in process. Although we are not in the dark age predicted with some now agreeing, the computer revolution along with other problems has produced too large of a crass society who produce too many insults and intolerance to such. I just voted, including in a local election where lack of transparency was the issue. Imagine how bad it is in higher levels of government. We locally have real voter ID, also absolutely necessary everywhere to avoid the rampant hiding behind anonymity.
I’ll drink to that.
LifeSite tried this same tactic a few months ago, then reverted back to an ‘open forum’ when their user numbers plummeted. Watch and See, WUWT.
I shall be pleased to cooperate in any way. This is a fantastic site. I don’t often give praise so let me say that I really enjoy the posts, especially the technical ones such as from Willis or Andy May. I have to admit that the balance of topics is pretty good.
I appreciate the frequency and number of posts. Serving a global audience is a full time job and WUWT does it superbly.
I started coming here sometime around 2009. The late Christopher Booker said in his Sunday Telegraph column that he got a lot of his information from WUWT and I have been a regular ever since.
I remember being glued to my screen after Anthony reported that he was at some airport and had just received information about a release of emails from UEA. This was the start of ClimateGate.
I live in hope that a bunch of senior scientists will announce that climate change is a load of %&*£ but sadly, I know that it is a forlorn hope.
I also have memories of the early days when the site was more like an extension of Anthony’s family and we shared the ups and downs of everyday events. That era has ended and the internet is a very different place. All of which takes us to the subject of this post.
Well done to Anthony, Charles and the others who make this site the best.
Agreed!
Including the frustrating days immediately following as WUWT, rightfully, was much more careful about publishing the allegedly stolen, but actually FOIA emails.
Gavin, Mosher, Nick and others warning us against publishing/reading stolen emails.
After a few days, the lid came fully off the FOIA emails release, as revelations crashed worldwide.
Good luck. It is important that sites like this continue.
I’m in. Most every other site I follow has registration requirements.
sign me up.
I’ve no problem with this.
My only concern is that after Junkscience.com did something like this, I screwed with my password or username after I registered. I tried to register again a couple of times but couldn’t do so. (Maybe email could only be used once and I forgot what name or password I originally used?)
I hope some kind of appeal could be made?
I realize WUWT “knows” me. Junksciece.com maybe didn’t.
I found no “second chance” there.
I hope that a “second chance” will be afforded to klutzes like me that messed it up the first time.
I realize that may take awhile to account for such.
(It’s been a few years. Maybe I give Junkscience.com another shot at commenting?)
Gunga,
I’m sorry, but do consider writing your user name and password down As You REGISTER.
Then – either write it down again where you can find it, with a note of which site it’s for ….
or
per folk I know who use such [unlike me] use an online password vault.
I am not advising either, obviously.
Auto
Thanks, auto.
I do use a password manager but for some reason, when it asked if I wanted to save the knew login, I didn’t. (Maybe I didn’t notice the little popup?)
very happy to register
I see that griff is exlaining he a real human being. WUWT may care to note he has been publishing what I term renewableBollox™ since at least 2010 – he used to frequent the Telegraph environ Mental pages. He may still do, as I dont bother to take up the subscription when they made it pay to view, because it became a troll infested shithole.
He doesnt appear to be totally thick, so I conclude he doesn’t believe a word of what he spouts, but is paid to spout it by some reneable energy lobby group.
Why believe anyone is getting paid to type rubbish on the internet when there are lots of people willing to write rubbish for free?
Leo
“He doesnt appear to be totally thick, so I conclude he doesn’t believe a word of what he spouts, but is paid to spout it by some utterly unreliable energy lobby group.”
Maybe better ….
Auto.
griff is Moderator Charles Rotten’s alter-ego. Mr. Rotten, was formerly lead singer with the Sex Pistols band, using the name Johnny Rotten. He misses the attention he got in the good old days. Mr. Rotten posts grifter comments to spike page views here. Charles loves it when other commenters go berserk in reaction to his Grifter comments.