Stopping a Troll

[mark350]

Hello

I run a Christian community site and we have a member that keeps joining our site and causing all kinds of problems. We ban his account & IP, however, he simply signs up again with another IP and/or email... then starts all over.

Is there anything we can do (legally or technically) to stop this person? Any help in this matter will be greatly appreciated, thank you.

[private_ale]

Just moderate new registrations for a week or so and unless this guy really has no life he should give up.

ACP > User Reg Options > Moderate New Members > (yes)

[dismas]

Use the "Miserable Users" hack by Paul M...

[private_ale]

Use the "Miserable Users" hack by Paul M...
technically that would work for a single account, but it won't stop him from re-registering a new, non-miserable account.. :)

[Dismounted]

If he's determined to come back, nothing much that you do will stop him. However, you could create a usergroup which has first X posts moderated, and after X posts, move the user into a "full permissions" usergroup.

[dismas]

technically that would work for a single account, but it won't stop him from re-registering a new, non-miserable account.. :)

If they haven't been banned and they don't know that they've had the hack turned on them, then they may not think to create another account.

[mark350]

Thanks for the help... it looks like I am stuck with this guy. Is there anything that can be done legally? Is there anyway to track a person on the web (we have his IP's, for example).... are there any sites/resources available on the internet to help find people like this? Thanks again for the help.

[Peter Ostry]

It is basically possible to track people but it is very difficult and involves more than sitting on a computer and "scanning the world". Nobody will start such a complicated chase unless the person is a national danger.

Better do not answer any of his posts or mails and tell your users to do the same. And delete his accounts over and over without saying a word. On the long term you will win, these people live on communication. If you don't talk but just throw his accounts away, he will get tired rather quickly. Don't talk.

[NeroObsedian]

A potential option is to make your forums private and put everyone acceptable into a usergroup with the proper privs. It would work, but eh..

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Sent him to Coventry

[Digma]

He'll find out sooner or later when you sent him to Coventry. Also using miserable users is no guarantee as he will find out at some point and re-register.

Have you tried installing this?
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=125871&highlight=multiple+login

It works for vBulletin 3.7.3. Gives you at least a tool to track him down as soon as possible. Be it that he doesn't delete his cookies all the time.