Be wary of IP banning users...

[AlexT]

But I'm fairly sure if @Mike checks the IP address on this post, it would match Google's

The question is not whether this particular IP belongs to Google, but how it came into the IP log table. As Mike said, it is possible to fake the IP addresses in http headers other than REMOTE_ADDR, and if some add-on/xF Modification wrongly uses this information, or messes in some other way with user sessions, then you'll end up with what you got above.

 

[Adam Howard]

Sorry for quoting an outdated source (who the heck is Matt Cutts anyways?). You banned "the IP address"? Well, there might be more than one IP address. And Google doesn't publish the IP addresses/ranges for their services (since they can change at any time). And I say it again: Googlebot and Google Translate do not share IP addresses, simple because otherwise their recommended way (rDNS on the IP) of verifying Googlebot wouldn't work.

No, I know it was the correct IP address. I posted with it when someone told me about it. And then it was as simple as tracking down my post & banning that IP.

Of course this was all done on IPB at the time. So maybe they handle IP address a little differently than XenForo. But I wouldn't imagine it would be so far off that it could be impossible

Matt Cutts is the head of webspam at Google. But never the less, his comments were back in 2006. A lot has changed within Google since then.

 

[Adam Howard]

The question is not whether this particular IP belongs to Google, but how it came into the IP log table. As Mike said, it is possible to fake the IP addresses in http headers other than REMOTE_ADDR, and if some add-on/xF Modification wrongly uses this information, or messes in some other way with user sessions, then you'll end up with what you got above.

As I personally do not run a stock copy of XenForo (without add-ons) and in the past have used CloudFlare and now Incapsula.com

I would assume I am not the right person to comment further on how default XenForo manages IP Addresses.

*bows out & steps back*