Banning

[Esmerelda]

Forum URL: introvertsisland.boards.net
What is the difference from a standard ban and banning someone's global account? Anyone at all can answer this if you know-thanks.

[Scott]

Esmerelda -

Banning a member by their global account bans any account that was made or can be made by the member's global account, from the forum.

[Esmerelda]

Aug 1, 2025 14:56:54 GMT -8 Scott said:

Esmerelda -

Banning a member by their global account bans any account that was made or can be made by the member's global account, from the forum.

Thanks but I suppose a VPN could still defeat this correct?

[Scott]

A VPN can circumvent an IP ban, not a Global Account ban.

[Esmerelda]

Aug 1, 2025 15:05:13 GMT -8 Scott said:

A VPN can circumvent an IP ban, not a Global Account ban.

Thank you for the valuable info.

[BeaniCraft]

[Esmerelda]
Just wanted to add, a global account ban is basically an email ban, so keep that in mind.

[Esmerelda]

Aug 2, 2025 14:21:42 GMT -8 BeaniCraft said:

[Esmerelda ]
Just wanted to add, a global account ban is basically an email ban, so keep that in mind.

So a member that uses VPN's would still able to get into the forum AFTER a global account ban by just using another e-mail address to get in?

[Kami]

Aug 3, 2025 3:55:53 GMT -8 Esmerelda said:

Aug 2, 2025 14:21:42 GMT -8 BeaniCraft said:

[Esmerelda ]
Just wanted to add, a global account ban is basically an email ban, so keep that in mind.

So a member that uses VPN's would still able to get into the forum AFTER a global account ban by just using another e-mail address to get in?

Sorta.

There are 3 levels of ban: username, global account (email), IP.

Username is the lowest level; each username is unique to a forum and will ban only that single account with the matching username on that forum. No two accounts on a forum can have the same username.

Global account is the medium level; when you use your email to create an account on a PB forum, you also create a global PB account that will be associated with all activity on PB's service across multiple forums should you choose to join more than one. Subsequently, every new forum account with that email is tied to that global account. It still operates on a forum to forum basis for each account, but those accounts are collected together by the global account sort of like a key ring. If you ban a global account, that means the user using that email will be unable to create new accounts on your forum with that email, and will be unable to access any other already made accounts that share that email.

IP is the highest level; each person accessing the internet is assigned an IP address from their internet provider when they connect. This IP address is shared with whatever website they visit. Banning this means that anyone with that IP would be unable to create or access any account on your forum at all, regardless of what account or email address they use.

However, there are caveats. IP addresses can be reused or changed (whether an internet provider uses a dynamic IP, or the user accesses via VPN, etc) and people can create new email addresses.

At every level of banning, people can circumvent by changing whatever was banned -- if a username is banned, they can create a new account with a different username; if a global account is banned, they can create a new global account with a different email; if an IP address is banned, they can create a new account by changing their IP.

If a user was banned via global account / email ONLY, they would be able to just create a new global account with a new email. They wouldn't be able to access their old accounts, but they would not need to use a VPN to do this unless you also banned their IP at the same time.

There is no way to fully prevent banned users from coming back permanently — for the internet as a whole, the technology to ban hasn't kept up with users' abilities to circumvent them.

[Esmerelda]

Aug 3, 2025 5:16:19 GMT -8 Kami said:

Aug 3, 2025 3:55:53 GMT -8 Esmerelda said:

So a member that uses VPN's would still able to get into the forum AFTER a global account ban by just using another e-mail address to get in?

There is no way to fully prevent banned users from coming back permanently — for the internet as a whole, the technology to ban hasn't kept up with users' abilities to circumvent them.

Thanks for that but it is an unsettling thought to know that a determined troll with a bit of IT knowledge can come back as whoever and cause havoc, and there really isn't much that an admin can do about it. Hopefully I never have to deal with this.

[Lynx]

Aug 3, 2025 6:15:27 GMT -8 Esmerelda said:

Aug 3, 2025 5:16:19 GMT -8 Kami said:

There is no way to fully prevent banned users from coming back permanently — for the internet as a whole, the technology to ban hasn't kept up with users' abilities to circumvent them.

Thanks for that but it is an unsettling thought to know that a determined troll with a bit of IT knowledge can come back as whoever and cause havoc, and there really isn't much that an admin can do about it. Hopefully I never have to deal with this.

If I'm understanding the topics I see regarding trolls, I believe your best bet is to just ignore them. Get rid of them (and any of their posts) quietly and without announcement. It seems trolls are in it mostly for attention, so if they don't get any attention, they should eventually lose interest and move on. I've been fortunate enough to not have to deal with trolls on any of my forums, but I have an extremely small member base and very low activity - so trolls probably just skip my forums.

[Esmerelda]

Aug 3, 2025 7:41:16 GMT -8 Lynx said:

Aug 3, 2025 6:15:27 GMT -8 Esmerelda said:

Thanks for that but it is an unsettling thought to know that a determined troll with a bit of IT knowledge can come back as whoever and cause havoc, and there really isn't much that an admin can do about it. Hopefully I never have to deal with this.

If I'm understanding the topics I see regarding trolls, I believe your best bet is to just ignore them. Get rid of them (and any of their posts) quietly and without announcement. It seems trolls are in it mostly for attention, so if they don't get any attention, they should eventually lose interest and move on. 

Good advice if the troll(s) are normal albeit dastardly people. But that advice may not work if the troll has mental health issues and suffers from an obssesive personality disorder such as OCD.

[Kami]

Aug 3, 2025 6:15:27 GMT -8 Esmerelda said:

Aug 3, 2025 5:16:19 GMT -8 Kami said:

There is no way to fully prevent banned users from coming back permanently — for the internet as a whole, the technology to ban hasn't kept up with users' abilities to circumvent them.

Thanks for that but it is an unsettling thought to know that a determined troll with a bit of IT knowledge can come back as whoever and cause havoc, and there really isn't much that an admin can do about it. Hopefully I never have to deal with this.

Honestly I dont think you need to be worried about this, even if someone takes it to an extreme.

There are other methods to employ, such as restricted registration (you can require people to leave a specific message to weed out any trouble makers), guests must log in, and if a particular user is being very awful, PB will take action in extreme cases (they're limited to the same ban methods but can do them at a larger scale which is a very big deterrent for most).

You can also set users to be sorted into a member group on registration that disallows them from posting anywhere except a specific board and they can leave a message that will help you determine if they're someone you want to let into the forum proper.

At the end of the day, deterrents work as long as you keep doing them. Spammers and problem members do eventually just fizzle out if you do not acknowledge them and deny their access repeatedly. I've been running forums for 20 years now and every repeat spammer I've had has given up before I did.

And I will note as someone with OCD, most trolls do not have it, they're just a-holes.

[Esmerelda]

Aug 3, 2025 10:50:27 GMT -8 Kami said:

Aug 3, 2025 6:15:27 GMT -8 Esmerelda said:

Thanks for that but it is an unsettling thought to know that a determined troll with a bit of IT knowledge can come back as whoever and cause havoc, and there really isn't much that an admin can do about it. Hopefully I never have to deal with this.

And I will note as someone with OCD, most trolls do not have it, they're just a-holes.

I suspect that you're probably right on this.