Site Bans

Johnboy1951

This can result in a site ban and this carries now to all future accounts you may create

I apologise if this is the wrong forum for this quesiton.

How is it possible for Boards to know the same person is attempting a new sign-up?

Into The Blue

gobshtes sometimes use the same email address!
other times ip addresses

Johnboy1951

Into The Blue wrote: »

gobshtes sometimes use the same email address!
other times ip addresses

Hehehehehehe ...... ok ..... so it really cannot be done unless the bad boy is also stupid and uses the same email addy.

Most people have a dynamic IP address, so it cannot be done based on that ...... today it might be his addy and tomorrow mine.

Into The Blue

thats just from my own limited knowledge of la net..
chances are there are other means..

Brian2208

Could be by the MAC address of the router you connect through. That stays the same and can't be changed

Johnboy1951

Into The Blue wrote: »

thats just from my own limited knowledge of la net..
chances are there are other means..

From a technical POV I would like to know if it can be achieved.
I cannot think how presently.

Maybe someone 'in the know' would care to comment.

TherapyBoy

IP's & email addresses are only a small part of it. There's a fleet of low flying drones following your every move!

Johnboy1951

Brian2208 wrote: »

Could be by the MAC address of the router you connect through. That stays the same and can't be changed

Yes it is very likely to remain the same .... but most (?) can be changed these days.

But that would not be sufficiently certain either ...... mobile devices, use of wifi hotspots etc etc.

Often times people don't change their posting style, so if you've spent a lot of time around it then you get used to recognizing these. Not to mention there are a lot of tools at a mod's grasp.

Mrs OBumble

They have sophisticated analytic algorithms which record a range of metrics about every user, including the vocabulary they use in their posts, and their typical keystroke patterns (ie time between pairs of letters) - which vary widely with how different people type.

They also have an AI-spiderbot which crawls all posts, and builds up a knowledge base of the users style of posting (starting threads vs responding, reference sources they link to, typical sentence structures, attitudes to social issues, ratio of posts to PMs, ratio of reported vs non-reported posts, and various other metrics).

And they have a gut-feeling, backed up by IP address (some people have dynamic, I'm not sure it's most).


The combination of these lets them predict the probability of a re-reg match between two users 95% confidence and 6 degrees of freedom.










PS Some of this post may not be true.

Nody

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I apologise if this is the wrong forum for this quesiton.

How is it possible for Boards to know the same person is attempting a new sign-up?

Most commonly because they out themselves; let's say you got site banned due to Game of Thrones (taking one of the forums I mod) because you constantly argued and posted spoilers and GoT was your main interest on boards. Chances are as a re-reg you'll come back to GoT and continue on in the exact same way as you did before which means you'll fall under scrutiny and be identified as a likely re-reg of X due to posting style, forums used and other items such as this (or simply be banned a second time for being a troll).

osarusan

Some of the ones in AH want to be found anyway - similar usernames, and back into the same threads to post the same stuff. There must be something of an 'Hey mods, look, I'm still here' function to it.

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

They have sophisticated analytic algorithms which record a range of metrics about every user, including the vocabulary they use in their posts, and their typical keystroke patterns (ie time between pairs of letters) - which vary widely with how different people type.

They also have an AI-spiderbot which crawls all posts, and builds up a knowledge base of the users style of posting (starting threads vs responding, reference sources they link to, typical sentence structures, attitudes to social issues, ratio of posts to PMs, ratio of reported vs non-reported posts, and various other metrics).

And they have a gut-feeling, backed up by IP address (some people have dynamic, I'm not sure it's most).


The combination of these lets them predict the probability of a re-reg match between two users 95% confidence and 6 degrees of freedom.










PS Some of this post may not be true.

I swear, you were making me self conscious about how I did all of those things and thinking, "right, I need to change how I do all of those!" -- it's like saying, "you are now breathing manually" and seeing what happens.

Timberrrrrrrr

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Hehehehehehe ...... ok ..... so it really cannot be done unless the bad boy is also stupid and uses the same email addy.

Most people have a dynamic IP address, so it cannot be done based on that ...... today it might be his addy and tomorrow mine.

Ip can change, Mac address can't (well you can spoof it) most use same pc/phone/tablet. Then there is just their posting style.

GreatDefector

People with very low post counts talking about boards/mods like they're so familiar with the place

Taltos

Fair question OP.
It's a range of tools, none of which I'll go into for obvious reasons.

But you can see the intent here. If someone wants to act the muppet and cause issues in multiple forums well that kind of mess will follow them to any and all future accounts. For posters who want to escape their past and have a fresh start that's fine. Quite a lot of people wish to separate themselves from their historical posts and have a fresh start, nothing wrong with that. But for every few good posters out there wanting a fresh start there will always be one muppet out to cause trouble.

When or if they do re-reg and are banned, if a different admin deals with them or if I am not around to provide that background information at least the feedback thread will provide context to help with that discussion and negotiation.

Lovely Bloke

GreatDefector wrote: »

People with very low post counts talking about boards/mods like they're so familiar with the place

so?

uck51js9zml2yt

TherapyBoy wrote: »

IP's & email addresses are only a small part of it. There's a fleet of low flying drones following your every move!

You forgot to add that they are "manned" by a corp of gerbils

Taltos

hamsters....

The gerbils ate too much and got fat and lazy.

TherapyBoy

Taltos wrote: »

hamsters....

The gerbils ate too much and got fat and lazy.

Of course, hamsters are naturally more aerodynamic. Death from above!

Johnboy1951

Taltos wrote: »

Fair question OP.
It's a range of tools, none of which I'll go into for obvious reasons.

But you can see the intent here. If someone wants to act the muppet and cause issues in multiple forums well that kind of mess will follow them to any and all future accounts. For posters who want to escape their past and have a fresh start that's fine. Quite a lot of people wish to separate themselves from their historical posts and have a fresh start, nothing wrong with that. But for every few good posters out there wanting a fresh start there will always be one muppet out to cause trouble.

When or if they do re-reg and are banned, if a different admin deals with them or if I am not around to provide that background information at least the feedback thread will provide context to help with that discussion and negotiation.

I think it was the tools that interested me from a technical point of view.
How to be certain that the new user is the old one.

Peregrine

I have a hound that tracks their scent.

Winterlong

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I think it was the tools that interested me from a technical point of view.
How to be certain that the new user is the old one.

Sometimes if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...then it is a fair assumption that it is a duck.
(And of course if it has the same writing style as a duck)

Johnboy1951

Winterlong wrote: »

Sometimes if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...then it is a fair assumption that it is a duck.
(And of course if it has the same writing style as a duck)

but 'fair' it is not

family members; close friends etc might appear to be similar enough to trigger that.

Anyway, I have no beef at all with anything to do with Boards, I only asked because I saw a statement and wondered how - technically - it could be achieved.

Penn

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

so?

So it raises the question of how they're so familiar with the history of the place if they're a new user, unless they had a previous account.

Obviously, unless the account was also causing trouble then it wouldn't matter, but if they're causing trouble and seem to know a lot more about the site than a new user would, it signals that further investigation would be justified to see if they're a re-reg of a banned user.

jimmycrackcorm

Peregrine wrote:

I have a hound that tracks their scent.

Or a hound that can sniff out cookies like Ann airport drugs dog...

Into The Blue

TherapyBoy wrote: »

There's a fleet of low flying drones following your every move!

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

They have sophisticated analytic algorithms which record a range of metrics about every user, including the vocabulary they use in their posts, and their typical keystroke patterns (ie time between pairs of letters) - which vary widely with how different people type.

They also have an AI-spiderbot which crawls all posts, and builds up a knowledge base of the users style of posting (starting threads vs responding, reference sources they link to, typical sentence structures, attitudes to social issues, ratio of posts to PMs, ratio of reported vs non-reported posts, and various other metrics).


The combination of these lets them predict the probability of a re-reg match between two users 95% confidence and 6 degrees of freedom.

PS Some of this post may not be true.

Alena Abundant Twinkle wrote: »

You forgot to add that they are "manned" by a corp of gerbils

Taltos wrote: »

hamsters....

The gerbils ate too much and got fat and lazy.

TherapyBoy wrote: »

Of course, hamsters are naturally more aerodynamic. Death from above!

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Or a hound that can sniff out cookies like Ann airport drugs dog...

This is what happens when one poster thinks they're in AH and then all follow suit to appear in with the crowd..


did someone say coke and hookers yet?
or this is why we cant have nice things?

Taltos

Fair point Blue.

OK long and short of it is we have a number of tools which we are not about to disclose.
Sorry I can't be of more help than that OP.

With this in mind and since I can't go any further down to your question I'll close this thread off now before we meander again.

Cheers.