Shared IP details

[picom]

Hi,

I recently banned a member from my forum only for another member to contact me and ask why were they banned.

I checked the other member`s details and discovered they had the same IP, thinking this was a sock account and this person was using two different accounts I challenged him. He said it wasnt him who was the other account.

I then checked my IP details and discovered that even my IP is shared with other users.

Is this normal? I thought all IP address details were unique, I'm afraid now that I have banned some members based on IP and I could have had innocent members caught up in the bans.

 

[djbaxter]

There are several reasons why legitimate users may be sharing the same IP, including:

• logging in from the same business office or university/college
• logging in from a mobile device using the IP of the mobile provider
• logging in from a retail outlet like Starbucks providing free wifi
• roommates or family members with separate accounts using a shared ISP
• logging in from a library or internet cafe

Even using cookie-based duplicate account systems is fallible. That will tell you if two members are using the same device but again it may be a library computer or roommates or family members sharing the same device.

 

[Snog]

Banning members by IP address is never a good idea. For example, I show you having accessed my site by 5 different IP addresses. That tells me you're either using a proxy or you have a dynamic IP address. Either one of those, other people can get at some point in time, thus resulting in a shared IP address.

 

[StarArmy]

Are you using Cloudflare?

 

[doublespaces]

This is kind of out of hand IMO. ATT is the main culprit I've found but I've seen various ISP IPs matched up. If we are matching ipv6, then it means millions of people can have the same IP....

I use cloudflare, but these aren't cloudflare IPs.





On XF1 I remember this almost never happened. And now, its virtually every single user that has a shared IP with at least one if not dozens of users.