Dcmbarton - Where Are You? Options

[Dulciana]

Anyway, the teachers' forum seems to have died off a bit to me.

Yes it does! I don't have as much time as I used to and tend to only look at threads that I have a particular interest in these days. Nothing personal! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) But there does seem to be less debate. Some of the bullies as well as the bullied did have interesting things to say sometimes; they just went too far in getting personal, which is unacceptable - but we've now lost the bullies as well as the bullied, and if all had just retained some measure of diplomacy the teachers' forum would still be a good place. But a forum depends on debate and different views to thrive. I just wondered if there had been something specific on there recently that I'd missed!

[Alicia Ocean]

But all they have to do is re-register using a different email address.

Many (most?) forums compare the user's the IP address to see if they're already registered or are banned.

[LizzieT]

My best wishes to David - I hope he gets this sorted soon and can return here. He is a valued contributor. I hope he sees this thread.

[Mad Tom]

But all they have to do is re-register using a different email address.

Many (most?) forums compare the user's the IP address to see if they're already registered or are banned.

This is unsound. Individual users do not (usually) have fixed IP addresses. Apart from anything else, because of the way they are structured (at least with IPv4) there are not enough of them to go around.

[Solari]

This is unsound. Individual users do not (usually) have fixed IP addresses. Apart from anything else, because of the way they are structured (at least with IPv4) there are not enough of them to go around.

No, but you can usually gain a clue by the fact that they will still be allocated an address in the same pool/subnet allocated to the ISP or on the same dslam/local node (when you do a reverse lookup on their IP address it'll potentially be the same or similar name as they're broken down by area.

Obviously there are ways around this, which means a bit of detective work and 2+2 for the admins. It's not always possible to be 100% effective on enforcing bans, especially if the offending person has a clue (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[janj]

But all they have to do is re-register using a different email address.

Many (most?) forums compare the user's the IP address to see if they're already registered or are banned.

Not always possible to tell - a lot depends on the ISP. Some ISPs allocate an individual IP address to each subscriber, in which case it's easy to see if a new user has already posted under a different name, but many use dynamic IPs, so each time a user logs on they are allocated a different address. And on a busy forum you could have a lot of users registered with the same ISP. So very hard to say for certain in those circumstances if a new user is re-registering.

Of course some users give themselves away quite quickly - on the forum I mod we had one banned user who resurfaced with a different user name, and promptly posted a photo of herself posing with a certain horsey celebrity, wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the name of the forum and...her OLD username!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rofl.gif)

[Ayshah]

I too would like to add that I miss DCM and valued his input.

Its all been said about cyber bullying and I totally agree that it is an unpleasant feature on Forums and would hope the moderators would squash it speedily.

[muffinmonster]

I'm sorry too to hear that David has been driven away in this manner - his posts were always thoughtful and he was generous with his time and experience. Very much hope he will come back.

[muzikalbadger]

im new to the forums, and have only just started posting... but i have been reading them for ages, and i always enjoyed DCM's insightful posts, and his obvious love and knowledge of his instruments. Its so sad that someone can be harrassed so much that they feel they can no longer keep posting and supporting other teachers and pupils, and get support from them. This is such an amazing community of people on here, that are so willing to help each other out!! I hope things improve and DCM feels he can come back!!!