Topic: IP addresses

[springbok]

On joining a forum like this, does the moderator have access to the IP address and can actually locate people using more than one name

Just on another forum I work with we can, and we actually ban all names on the same IP address, esp where trouble makers are concerned.

[Eristic]

All website pages can monitor ip addresses manually or under automation but bear in mind the following:

1. The monitored ip address is the address the sender says it is and not always the real thing.
2. The ip address can be withheld.
3. Most users are assigned an ip address which can be different each time they connect to the Internet.
4. Many users could be legitimately assigned the same ip address as in an extended home lan, school, office or college Internet connection.

As I run web servers from home I have static ip so Dan could identify me with ease unless I decided to be a bad boy and use poxy servers, obfuscation, webbots etc. Ip address is useful information but does not in itself identify a person.

[Hyacinth]

Was also wondering along the same topic.....although I'm an OAP leading a very modest life, yet I seem to have acquired 2 laptop puters as well as my desktop (one of them, my latest, is a Katynewbie baby 8))

As I use these 2 when travelling & link-up wherever, what ISP will come up when I do?

Katiesbaby will go with me to the US where the caffs all have internet hook-ups at the pavement caffs even (how civilized is that)?....so what ISP will show?....and if I should ever use the PC at the local library here...same question?

Dun't know nuttin, me, so please scuse a Numptie's ramblings...

(posting after Eristc's answer came in - think he may have used words of more than 1 syllable and this will take me a bit of time to decipher.) :-[

[Uncle Joshua]

On joining a forum like this, does the moderator have access to the IP address and can actually locate people using more than one name

Just on another forum I work with we can, and we actually ban all names on the same IP address, esp where trouble makers are concerned.

They should be able to but banning multiple IP's isn't the way to go, if you banned a user using a 195 IP even if you put the whole IP into the filter it would end up banning most AOL users plus many more, the same is also true if you ban any  Virgin users who's IP's start with 60/9 71/86 a ban on an email addy is the best way but then most people have more than one of those these days.

On my forum we have worked with many other forums over two years and have built up a list of spammers that each forum has added to our filters and we all get less than 4 spam members per year now.