Banned members

[tomn]

Forum URL: domainofthebears.proboards.com/

I have banned a member for poor behavior. Unfortunately he has registered again under a different username and IP address. I knew it was him because he used his original email address. I then banned the new account he created.

Question-- besides restricted registration is there any thing i can do/try to prevent this from happening again and again if it actually does?

[Kami]

Jun 19, 2021 11:12:09 GMT -8 tomn said:

Forum URL: domainofthebears.proboards.com/

I have banned a member for poor behavior. Unfortunately he has registered again under a different username and IP address. I knew it was him because he used his original email address. I then banned the new account he created.

Question-- besides restricted registration is there any thing i can do/try to prevent this from happening again and again if it actually does?

Unfortunately, it sounds like this member is internet-savvy enough to ban evade. In cases like these there isn't a whole lot that can be done other than lather-rinse-repeat on banning any new accounts from them — not because PB doesn't allow you to, but because ban technology is simply imperfect.

Be sure you're banning all three items: global account, username and IP. The global account ban will force them to have to use a new email & create a new global account for every registration.

If you notice their IP addresses were similar except for the last few digits, you could try a wildcard ban by substituting an asterisk for the last few numbers that change: eg if the addresses were 123.456.78.91 and 123.456.78.92 you could ban 123.456.78.9*

Bear in mind wildcard bans are nuclear options. The more digits you wildcard (eg 123.*) the broader the net and the higher the likelihood of banning innocent folks.

Other than that, you may want to create a member group with zero ability to post anywhere that new members automatically get sorted into until you verify them. It's under admin > settings > login & registration. At the bottom is an option to "assign new members to a group". You'll need to create the group first, and this would sort of function like restricted registration, except there'd be no outward indication that there were restrictions.

Sorry there isn't more that can be done :( Good luck! Just keep at it.

[tomn]

Thanks and then there's the member with VPN although I have a site that i can enter the IP address and it will tell me whether a VPN or proxy is being used or not. I do not allow them to register if they are using a VPN.

[Kami]

Jun 19, 2021 12:13:23 GMT -8 tomn said:

Thanks and then there's the member with VPN although I have a site that i can enter the IP address and it will tell me whether a VPN or proxy is being used or not. I do not allow them to register if they are using a VPN.

For whatever it's worth, sites like that aren't 100% fool proof. They can mark folks as being on VPN / proxy when they're not, and overall it'd be wise to take the results with a grain of salt.

Also, there are legitimate reasons to use a VPN or proxy. For example, I have a job with a lot of freedom to it and I frequently browse PB during business hours — but, I'd be on my organisation's VPN as I switched back and forth between PB sites and my work tasks. VPNs are also commonly used for additional personal security when browsing, etc. Not all VPN/proxy use indicates malicious intent. Plus, there are also ISPs that provide their customers with dynamic IP addresses and sometimes innocent users can be assigned an IP formerly assigned to a bad actor.

Take this as you will but based on my experience, I wouldn't really worry about IP addresses unless someone repeatedly uses the same one to misbehave or shows an intent to circumvent bans by changing their IP intentionally.