What exactly does banning prevent?

[Mendalla]

Oddly, banning doesn't seem to prevent a user from replying to existing conversations. Or at least it didn't last time I had that come up as an issue.

Really? I need to test that because it should not be that way. What if the user was banned for harassing people using conversations?

 

[Alvin63]

How can they reply to existing conversations if they're banned and can't log in?

 

[Forsaken]

Yes I already found that one of this person's IP's was identical to another members, from a mobile network, so that would cause issues.

Mobile IP are more commonly used than a home ISP IP, so you should never really ban those.

Xon's add-on is indispensable for dealing with banned users.



Most of those have been caught by Xon's add-on, and previously the multiple user detection add-on (though it was not as good as Xon's).

 

[Alvin63]

How does that actually work? I had a quick look. Is it more for preventing spammers?

 

[Paul B]

Oddly, banning doesn't seem to prevent a user from replying to existing conversations. Or at least it didn't last time I had that come up as an issue.

Banning a member blocks their access to the site completely.

There is no way they could respond to a DM via the site when banned.

 

[Suzanne O]

Yes I already found that one of this person's IP's was identical to another members, from a mobile network, so that would cause issues.

If that happens it means he has another account.
Take it up with that account via pm

 

[Opus X]

They can't log in, but clearly read as a guest and keep sending hostile messages to the forum email!

Set your email client filter and send their emails into the bit bucket (trash) so you never even see them. If you use Gmail for your inbound email, you can do that on the GMail web interface itself.
As long as you offer the Contact Us link, they will be able to send you email. Putting their email in as a banned email may work, but then they can get a disposable email to pester you. Ultimately, no real way to prevent it.

 

[mjda]

If that happens it means he has another account.

Not true. Mobile companies don't use static IPs for their customers. At least all of them don't. Some might. On my site I have shared IPs with a half dozen, or more, of my users. Those are definitely not my other accounts. It's just that they have the same mobile company as me so they sometimes get the same IP address I've used.

 

[Alvin63]

The other account is another known member so it’s not a duplicate account.

 

[Alvin63]

So IP banning is a bit pointless if a user tends to use their mobile mostly for accessing the site (which most of my members seem to do).

I can’t see that restricting permissions to the contact email would help if they are viewing as a guest. They can’t login as the account is closed. I have blocked them from accessing the forum social media though.

 

[Alvin63]

Even discouraging the IP’s wouldn’t work if it affects another user.

 

[dougdirac]

Banning a member blocks their access to the site completely.

There is no way they could respond to a DM via the site when banned.

hmm... Maybe it's the way our permissions are set up? On our site, banned users are still able to read the forum, since of course they could do that if they weren't logged in. And often we only need to give a 24 hour temp ban.

The issue is there doesn't seem to be a permission to prevent someone from responding to an existing conversation or to turn off access to conversations altogether. There's only permissions about creating or receiving new conversations (besides things like ratings and attachments). So yeah, a banned user is still able to respond to existing conversations. Happy to be corrected with a fix for that behavior.

 

[Paul B]

Banned members can't log in so can't reply to DMs.

Whatever is happening on your site is either due to a third party add-on and/or the members are not banned.

 

[Suzanne O]

The other account is another known member so it’s not a duplicate account.

If they're using the same ip address they're the same person.

 

[Alvin63]

I'm pretty sure they're not They're different nationalities for a start off and have different voices and physical locations - the forum members show videos sometimes. It's a Mobile Network IP address. The problematic ex member also has two other IP addresses which are individual to them - but uses mobile to access the forum mostly so can't see the point in blocking the other two IP addresses.

 

[dougdirac]

If they're using the same ip address they're the same person.

Yeah that's not necessarily true. If they use the same cellular carrier or the same VPN service they can have the same IP.

 

[Lee]

If they're using the same ip address they're the same person.

This is just categorically untrue. Please read about IP addresses and understand how they work before sharing misinformation that might be detrimental to other communities.

 

[dougdirac]

Banned members can't log in so can't reply to DMs.

Whatever is happening on your site is either due to a third party add-on and/or the members are not banned.

I guess not. Allowing them to stay logged in but not post allows us to keep track of "banned" users. Especially if they start sending harassing messages as mentioned above. Though for us, most figure out how to stay civil and are eventually are allowed back.

But what am I missing about conversations? Is there not a permission setting to keep a usergroup from replying to existing conversations? Or either to deny access to conversations?

 

[Suzanne O]

This is just categorically untrue. Please read about IP addresses and understand how they work before sharing misinformation that might be detrimental to other communities.

I tend to disagree with you.

Why?

Banned members sign up with other accounts often.

 

[mjda]

If they're using the same ip address they're the same person.

Absolutely incorrect. As I said before, I have shared IPs with quite a few members on my own site. I'm fairly positive that they're not me...