Banning using IP addresses.

Banning using IP addresses.
Several threads have been started in the last few days dedicated to the recent influx of hoaxes. In one thread showing some particularly awful UFO pics I was informed by a fellow member that the perpetrator had been caught several times in the act and identified by their IP address.
Is it technically possible to ban someone by their IP address?
peace
Mr Mx

yes, it is not only possible, but used commonly...

ATS wouldn't want some hoaxer that was previously banned returning with a new username, right???

Thats what I thought. I just didn't know if it was possible to do it or not, not exactly computer savvy.
Why was this moved to BTS?

Im sure this software allows for it but there are ways around it that Im sure a lot of the trolls are very aware of, since this is what they do for kicks. They of course have been banned from other places as well too. For the ones that don't know I wont mention how they get around it to give them a new idea.


Pie

It was never moved. "Board Questions & Business" is on both ats and bts.

Must have been a glitch with my computer some how it was showing up blue last time I checked but it wasn't this time.

...and "Board Questions & Business" is also on pts

If a thread of yours gets moved you will always receive a u2u telling you where it got moved to.


edit: I can't spall

[edit on 2006/6/6 by Hellmutt]

Couldnt you just use a proxy to access this site if you were banned by IP adress?

But one could simply change their IP no? Like a Proxy Server or something? Right?


Sorry for my stupid question, don't flame me

This particular guy would be easy to spot.

THE MOST EARTH SHATTERING,LIFE CHANGING UFO..EVER..

complete with a pie tray hanging from a string photo

Ya, lol he's not very creative with thread names.

Hmmm... it doesn't seem to have caught on with Produkt/Prot0n. It's so obvious that Prot0n is the banned member known as Produkt it's ridiculous. No one seems to care about this member though.

IP Banning tends to be effective only on repeat offenders who are on a static IP connection (commonly associated with broadband or college networks) and even then it only works if they dont have the brainpower to use a proxy. Of course then you get trolls from the AOL dialup pool that only have to disconnect/reconnect to get another address, which makes stopping them a pain because you cant really ban all of AOL given the size of it.

Yes, I think he's honing his skills on us.
I read the threads.

There are a number of problems with banning IP addresses:
1. many users are on dynamic IP adresses, every time they reconnect to the internet they recive a new Ip adress from a block of available IP adresses. By banning a user on one of these IP adresses the ban is completly inefective and you run the risk of tempoily banning ligitimate users.

2. By using proxy's the user can be apearing to come from a different IP. This is quite easy to do. Banning all known proxy Ip's is also silly as many ligitimate ATS users like to protect there anonimity and services like TOR don't use fixed proxy servers.

3. If the banned person changes ISP they get a new IP address. Somone eles who may be a legitimate user then signs up for that ISP and gets the banned users old IP.

4. many ISP's supply upto 8 fixed IP's and more if you ask for them.

alert your local mod if that ATSer becomes a pest again...

There's no easy solution to this.

As pieman said above, a lot of the people who are banned from ATS due to starting hoax threads have also been banned from dozens of other sites, so this is hardly new to them.

Computer technology protects you from such idiots fairly well, but no technology is flawless.

It's just a shame that sometimes there are people that for whatever reason would rather post with bad intentions and ill will towards others, and really, technology be damned, they usually won't last long on here thanks to an extremely alert membership.

i loved that part

it is so true...

and so is you great signature