Instead use some scripting to make his posts invisible to everybody, but himself (only someone visiting from his IP gets to see his posts/comments). He will think he is successfully posting his trolls, but nobody else sees them.
No mod points for me, so I just wanted to say: this is a great idea.
This shouldn't be the only thing in your bag of tricks, but it should be your very first attempt. Hold off on trying anything until after (if) the bully is clever enough to figure it out.
If your forum software doesn't support this natively (I think most don't) and you cannot implement it yourself, any competent PHP developer should be able to implement it for you for just an hour of billable time.
Nah, he will probably come back using proxy's.
Instead use some scripting to make his posts invisible to everybody, but himself (only someone visiting from his IP gets to see his posts/comments). He will think he is successfully posting his trolls, but nobody else sees them.
I like this idea! I need to figure out how to do it using phpBB.
That isn't hard to detect and some sites are notorious for doing this to non-groupthink posters rather than true trolls. All one needs to do is use another machine with a different IP and a new nym to catch this. The end result is no different than banning the troll and having the troll come back with a new nym.
A straight ban has more integrity than this tactic and the "trollcage" doesn't really take any cleverness at all to detect. The same method has been used for years on IM services to see if someone has dropped you from their friends or is truly offline. This pretty much means that all teenagers are aware of the countertactic.
Ban Tor exit nodes and proxy ips from posting and require a ip address that isn't either to post. Starting with a post ban followed by an IP ban is far more effective than playing a g
The end result is no different than banning the troll and having the troll come back with a new nym.
When that happens he can either keep up his shennanigans and get banned again or he lays low and continues on. Either way, the desired result is eventually achieved.
Friend of mine ran into this problem as well. Here's what I did:
I first cloned his primary forum to a second forum instance.
I then set triggers in the first forum's database to update the same tables in the second forum.
Configured Apache httpd to route the troublemakers (by IP) to the second forum.
I'm looking into writing a filter that will update the IP addresses in the troublemakers list based on the username. So, no matter where the idiots login, they'll get routed to the second site.
So far, he's
Do you happen to know a way to do this with VBulletin? And if you do, how efficient is this?
I am a member of a forum, there is a guy who uses anonymous proxy servers, creates clone accounts whenever his old ones are deleted/banned.
How to "trollcage" that? He can login from a different account and see that his posts are not there. If you try to trace by IP - he won't see his older messages either, since he has a new IP each time.
I don't see a way to "trollcage" such folk.
It is impossible to travel faster than light, and certainly not desirable,
as one's hat keeps blowing off.
-- Woody Allen
Elimination (Score:2)
Create a "Trollcage" (Score:4, Interesting)
Instead use some scripting to make his posts invisible to everybody, but himself (only someone visiting from his IP gets to see his posts/comments). He will think he is successfully posting his trolls, but nobody else sees them.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
No mod points for me, so I just wanted to say: this is a great idea.
This shouldn't be the only thing in your bag of tricks, but it should be your very first attempt. Hold off on trying anything until after (if) the bully is clever enough to figure it out.
If your forum software doesn't support this natively (I think most don't) and you cannot implement it yourself, any competent PHP developer should be able to implement it for you for just an hour of billable time.
Re:Create a "Trollcage" (Score:4, Informative)
So, you basically add him to everyone's ignore list. That is a rather neat solution.
Re: (Score:1)
Nah, he will probably come back using proxy's. Instead use some scripting to make his posts invisible to everybody, but himself (only someone visiting from his IP gets to see his posts/comments). He will think he is successfully posting his trolls, but nobody else sees them.
I like this idea! I need to figure out how to do it using phpBB.
Re: (Score:1)
That isn't hard to detect and some sites are notorious for doing this to non-groupthink posters rather than true trolls. All one needs to do is use another machine with a different IP and a new nym to catch this. The end result is no different than banning the troll and having the troll come back with a new nym.
Nothing is perfect (Score:3, Informative)
However, dicks stand out in a crowd, and it's obvious when a repeat offender comes back. Simply rinse and repeat. Few clicks, done.
Re: (Score:1)
A straight ban has more integrity than this tactic and the "trollcage" doesn't really take any cleverness at all to detect. The same method has been used for years on IM services to see if someone has dropped you from their friends or is truly offline. This pretty much means that all teenagers are aware of the countertactic.
Ban Tor exit nodes and proxy ips from posting and require a ip address that isn't either to post. Starting with a post ban followed by an IP ban is far more effective than playing a g
Re: (Score:2)
The end result is no different than banning the troll and having the troll come back with a new nym.
When that happens he can either keep up his shennanigans and get banned again or he lays low and continues on. Either way, the desired result is eventually achieved.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm looking into writing a filter that will update the IP addresses in the troublemakers list based on the username. So, no matter where the idiots login, they'll get routed to the second site. So far, he's
Re: (Score:2)
Do you happen to know a way to do this with VBulletin? And if you do, how efficient is this?
I am a member of a forum, there is a guy who uses anonymous proxy servers, creates clone accounts whenever his old ones are deleted/banned.
How to "trollcage" that? He can login from a different account and see that his posts are not there. If you try to trace by IP - he won't see his older messages either, since he has a new IP each time.
I don't see a way to "trollcage" such folk.