FAO Mods

[realityhack]

Oh. What about administrator? Can he access the IPs?

Can nothing be done??!? AAARGH

[expat]

You mean some people are using more than one user id? I bet they lie on their CVs too

[administrator]

Firstly I would like to say how sad I am that you have made me sit here and type instead of sitting out in the graden - is lovely out there today!

Yes, I do have access to IP address info, so does the Contractor UK account but we are the only ones who do.

I do use this often to weed out dodgy accounts but sometimes it becomes difficult to weed out the real users from the sock puppets. Some contractors work at large clients where whole buildings may access the 'net from a single web proxy and I do see several obviously unique individuals accessing the site from the same IP - probably unaware of the other posters on here who work on the same site. Could even be separate locations accessing the site from the same IP but I digress...

I concur with SAS, there do not appear to be that many sock puppets. Some say IP addresses can be spoofed but to post on a forum like this you need a real IP for the interactive nature of a forum to work so as far as I am aware no truly fake IP addresses can be used. I do not believe Chico was a sock puppet, despite the stories suggesting otherwise, as if someone can be bothered to sort multiple internet connections to amuse themselves and never make a mistake using the wrong login then they can carry on. And how is there any way to stop this unlikely scenario?

Users can access through proxies if they are so inclined but these usually stand out and a reverse DNS or RIPE lookup usually tells a story - like accountants registering as users to rubbish the competition or big up their own services, registering from an IP that is leased to your company is not very clever but is often done.

OK - on to the subject of the recent annoyance - chetty and Payload. I meant to ban these yesterday or the day before. Initially I could not conclusively say that they were sock puppets, yes they both came from the same IP but so did five other users, none of them real regulars on the site but nothing to suggest they were all the work of one user. It is a large organisation the users come from so would not be surprised to see more than one individual access the site from this group.

The clincher was yesterday when the user forgot to log out from the Payload Bollington account and posted a chetty reply. Unfortunately I got side tracked and did not ban at the time but have banned both these users now.

I also PM'd chetty last week but got no reply so if the puppeteer can't be bothered to fess up then it makes me happier to ban as well.

I think there is a place for sock puppetry here, if it is a source of amusement then I do turn a blind eye but these really are few and far between.

Anyway, RIP chetty & Payload - hope it killed a few billable hours for the creator. We should really ask for an agent-sized cut in terms of helping while away the hours!

[DimPrawn]

[Board Game Geek]

Thanks Admin for the reply and sorry to drag you from the glorious sunshine outside.

I for one feel a bit more secure knowing that the Admins do have access to IP's used to register accounts, and whilst I do appreciate that it can get difficult when multiple people use the same proxy (at say for example, a large company), it is reassuring to know that everything is being recorded and kept so that legal action can be instigated if things get out of hand.

Without controls and measures in the background, we end up with anarchy. No thank you.

[Zippy]

Wow! People power.

[Platypus]

1. I have no sockies at all.

Yeah, right.

You're spoiling the board with your silly creations.

[DieScum]

I thought it was a bit of harmless fun.

Unless someone is really spamming the forum I don't see the problem.

I thought Chetty and Payload were amusing and pleasantly obvious.

I'm sure the forum will now go back to being extremely serious and professional now.

[ChimpMaster]

I'm sure the forum will now go back to being extremely serious and professional now.

[HornyHorse]

Well I'm glad them 2 are gone.