Abuse & Banning

[Moxie]

One way to ban users is by IP address. If they are using the same IP address or a similar one it may be possible to prevent a person logging in or registering by that method.

Most BBs have that feature either as an add on or built in, I know I've used it when trying to prevent spam.

Send me a PM if you need further details.

Yes, we've had to do this in a couple of cases... but sometimes when people are using a public computer it causes a problem because then multiple users get banned, i.e. a library in NY city for instance - It's problematic. That's just one of the reasons we always try to fix the problem and make our users all happy instead of being ban-trigger-happy.

It's also difficult when people try 'moving around' and using different IP's. Then we have a real headache on our hands...

[Ithink-Iam]

Other ideas that I'm sure you've already thought of are use a JWR Connect type login where you have to be validated first. By the way I applied about a week ago and never heard back.

You can always block a group of IP addresses (e.g. 142.43.9. instead of 142.43.9.1) but then might cut off valid users, something to think about.

Check email addresses but people can always get new ones at hotmail, etc.

Write a cookie when they login and then check the cookie, they would have to go to the trouble of deleting their cookies (if they're using the same computer) to not show up as an old user. The system I'm sure already writes a cookie, you would just have to look for the presence of the original cookie.

If you really wanted to get techie, search for key words in posts, or time patterns, etc but the effort is probably too much for one annoying poster.

That's about it...

[BigBeastie]

Dear members of JWR,

This is the first message of its kind here on the forum, but we felt it was important to share this information with you and be totally transparent.

Unfortunately we've had an individual who has made repeated attacks on various members of this board. For months we have tried to moderate this situation behind the scenes, keeping this drama away from general view. Our goal has been to keep everyone happy, safe, and to support the mission of JWR in maintaining a positive environment for healing and recovery.

In spite of our repeated efforts, this individual has refused to stop these attacks and in fact the issue has escalated dramatically when this member made viscous and repeat attacks against Rifter, who donates so much of his time to peacefully moderating this site.

You know that we do our very best not to ban people here. Our track record proves that. In the last year we have only blocked spammers and had to ban less than 5 troublesome members. This is a much lower number than on similar forums and it is consistent with our mandate to provide support. This calls for a lot more time spent to mediate situations but we are happy to go the extra mile.

However, as you may have noticed, a member on JWR has recently been banned. Since being banned for relentless attacks on JWR members as well as Rifter, this individual has repeatedly tried to re-register under different names, only to come back and continue to abuse. For this reason we have had to enact an official policy on creating multiple accounts. (You can view this policy in the Welcome & FAQ section viewtopic.php?p=51879#p51879).

Because of this individuals attacks, we had to limit new member registration over the weekend, which was unfortunate but necessary. We want to keep JWR completely open to new members as and when they need it, but with someone with a vindictive agenda, this makes our job very, very difficult. We are literally at our wits end with this and would like to ask for your support with this issue.

I think that the mod/admin team that helps run this board deserve so much credit. It takes a pretty major, regular commitment of time and energy to do what these guys do and I feel that they deserve appreciation and respect. That is why I am so troubled when a member will take apparent pleasure in abusing one of our Mods or Admins. I simply couldn't maintain JWR without their support and so I view this as a big deal when any one of the site team are attacked repeatedly.

I hope this clears up questions some of you may have had and again we are counting on your support as we work to maintain the quality of JWR.

I can't say that I ever noticed any of those problems but thanks for all your efforts.
I imagine that it may be the time zone difference because when I read JWR, it would be very late night/early morning in the USA so any issues would have been dealt with by then.
I have seen differences of opinion on here but not noticed anything bannable and I'm still trying to figure out who the disfellowshipped person is

[jctexas]

even disfellowshipped don't come to jw meetings sites and interfere........

it is called respect.....

jc

[DF1996_BEX]

I think I remember on my server in my old chat room that I had a hard time banning people with aol because it resets thier IP everytime they log out

One way to ban users is by IP address. If they are using the same IP address or a similar one it may be possible to prevent a person logging in or registering by that method.

Most BBs have that feature either as an add on or built in, I know I've used it when trying to prevent spam.

Send me a PM if you need further details.

Yes, we've had to do this in a couple of cases... but sometimes when people are using a public computer it causes a problem because then multiple users get banned, i.e. a library in NY city for instance - It's problematic. That's just one of the reasons we always try to fix the problem and make our users all happy instead of being ban-trigger-happy.

It's also difficult when people try 'moving around' and using different IP's. Then we have a real headache on our hands...

[Master Mutant]

Sometime ago when I was a moderator for three different sites, we had similar problems. There was a long discussion about banning people by URL"s I think it is a great idea. Being a gamer I have some familiarity with this concept. The program I remember was Punch Buster, but I haven't seen it in a long time. Here is one advertised on the web now http://www.guidingtech.com/7420/block-d ... xtensions/ called Chrome Nanny. I have not seen this in action and don't know anything about it. The point is such things do exist and have for a long time. From experience I can tell you they are not totally fool prof, but they can help. If someone wants to pick up their computer and physically move it to harass you there isn't much you can do about it. There are also so called Ghost programs that change URL's constantly to prevent tracing, banning, tracking and other things. Those in theory should be almost imposable to block. Good luck and thank you for the great job.