Proxies

[TheLionPrince]

So I recently joined another forum, and when I did, they had a notice that said if I registered with a proxy, my account would not be approved for posting. I was wondering if we could implement something like that on MLK. Proxies have no legit purpose for a lion king forum. It would probably put an end to all of the recent troll attacks a few days ago, whom, I'm certain, use phony IPs. Just my two cents, though.

Your thoughts and concerns?

[DGFone]

Well, trolls use proxies because most of the time, they are ex-members who had their IPs blocked, so they can't use their real IPs to create a dupe to troll with.

But to be honest, I think that this topic would have been best if sent to the mod team though the Feeedback page, because at any rate, the mods will have to think about it, but the trolls will see this topic as a negative reaction to their attacks - which is what they want and only encourages them to troll some more.

[TheRoguePrince]

Some people like me need proxies to access MLK when we're in school or other places that block internet forums. Anway, how does banning proxies deter trolls? I'm pretty sure they use their real IPs when posting.... I don't see the point of this at all.

Why am I not surprised you are the one saying that?

Well, first off, back when I was in high school, forums were never blocked. I honestly don't think you should be on MLK at school anyway, don't you have better things to do? And, well, I know I'm not suppose to speculate, but it's obvious the people who spammed MLK (whether be SH/Kops/Donut/Others) have been banned from MLK before, and thus have their IPs banned. Therefore a new account would require a new IP address. I like the idea personally

[WildSimba]

It's REALLY not that big of a deal, the staff just continue doing their job and these people get banned accordingly. All doing this would do, is possibly scare new members off.

[Moka]

That and, sometimes people have ISPs that are detected as proxies.

[FlipMode]

The thing is some legit users have what is called a static IP (given a new ip with each visit) and those are recognised as proxies even though they aren't actually using a proxy server as such...

[DGFone]

The thing is some legit users have what is called a static IP (given a new ip with each visit) and those are recognised as proxies even though they aren't actually using a proxy server as such...

Just to go all technical on you, I believe you are referring to a dynamic IP. Static means stable and unchanging, so an IP that changes is dynamic, not static. And there are different kinds of dynamic IPs, those that change rarely, to I've heard even once every fifteen minutes if not even more often.
Just checked: just as its name implies, a static IP never changes.

And my household uses a dynamic IP, so I assume that many innocent members can suffer if dynamic IPs will get blocked.

[FlipMode]

^ indeed, I literally forgot which was which for a second and took a 50-50 guess lol but yeah dynamic IPs are what I meant but the point remains, some innocent accounts may be effected from banning proxy IPs

[WildSimba]

The thing is some legit users have what is called a static IP (given a new ip with each visit) and those are recognised as proxies even though they aren't actually using a proxy server as such...

Just to go all technical on you, I believe you are referring to a dynamic IP. Static means stable and unchanging, so an IP that changes is dynamic, not static. And there are different kinds of dynamic IPs, those that change rarely, to I've heard even once every fifteen minutes if not even more often.
Just checked: just as its name implies, a static IP never changes.

And my household uses a dynamic IP, so I assume that many innocent members can suffer if dynamic IPs will get blocked.

Dynamic IP's do change. But they don't undergo major changes, just a few numbers. If traced, the ip will show the exact same location and information. This is impossible for proxies. We should look at people that log in at 6am from an ip in the US and at 8pm from an ip in India for example. Mods can easily see the difference between a dynamic ip and a proxy (if they do their homework lol)

Also, I misread something. You can in fact go around a blockage with proxies. However, If you're not supposed to go here, don't go here. Using proxies will confuse the mods and admins. If you use them, deal with the consequences.

I'm sorry but it's way to easy to say ''I need it in school'' while in fact this could be a duplicate account from people we don't want here.

We need to realize what damage proxies have done to this community. Various members have come back (silently). Last night was a nazi pm festival, Nazi pridepoints, Regular spam, abuse of members and the systematic trolling events.

I say: Make a rule that forbids proxies, but do educate yourself on the difference between dynamic ip addresses and proxies. There are differences and they can easily be seen.

It depends. IP's almost never show someone's exact location. It can change it around, or come up with false positives. And, that would also be assuming that the mods should check every new member an be suspicious of every member for a proxy. It just wouldn't work, it's too much work than needed, and as said before, it'd only add more red tape to the forum.

These attacks just happen sometimes. It's a forum. No reason to drown it in more rules to prevent the impossible. The mods just need to act when it comes up.

[TheRoguePrince]

We need to realize what damage proxies have done to this community. Various members have come back (silently). Last night was a nazi pm festival, Nazi pridepoints, Regular spam, abuse of members and the systematic trolling events.

It depends. IP's almost never show someone's exact location. It can change it around, or come up with false positives. And, that would also be assuming that the mods should check every new member an be suspicious of every member for a proxy. It just wouldn't work, it's too much work than needed, and as said before, it'd only add more red tape to the forum.

These attacks just happen sometimes. It's a forum. No reason to drown it in more rules to prevent the impossible. The mods just need to act when it comes up.

How is this a big deal? Just have a moderator check the IP once the member needs to have their first post approved. This kind of thing doesn't happen more than once a day. The new members list shows this happening 5 times in the past week. And that's not counting the spammers accounts that were deleted

It's hardly a rule, since it affects no legit members (as Woeler pointed out), and requires hardly any additional mod effort. Like Woeler said, if they use a proxy, you can tell. You talk like someone who has never been a mod before. And if you think the attacks are done with, well, you'll excuse me while I LOL all over the place.