The worst kind of user...
 

I have a user on my board that has the ability to completely change his IP address any time he wants to, and he knows vBulletin inside out. He knows that when I ban him, he can re-register by clearing his cookies and changing his IP address.

I've enabled email address checking, and at least that has stopped him from posting anything under his new usernames. Now's he's posting profanity in his usernames.

I think I've fixed it by making only moderated usernames show up on the front page. Is there anything else I can do? How is he changing his IPs?! (He can change them instantly, so it can't be a proxy.)

Please help!

IP spoofing programs can do this.

How is he re-registering? Free email accounts? Ban them - I have a list of them in my sig. That will stop him from re-registering when he has no email addresses to use.

He has unlimited email addresses through his ISP.

Isn't there a way of finding out his true IP address?

There is a hack that does that here (or claims to) - have a look for it. You can always report him to his ISP. It works.

I already reported him to his ISP, but I haven't heard from them. :(

I'll have a look for that hack you mentioned, thanks Erwin.

Can't find this hack - it has nothing to do with a proxy, right?

Call his ISP then, don't give up with the ISP situation, it's the best solution, he knows cookies, IPs, masking, proxies, vB, all very well, it's the only way.

Don't let him get your goat. If he rejoins with a profane username, don't allow him access. If he rejoins with a decent username and behaves, don't ban him but if he acts up ban him again.

You are in psychological war now. The trick is for you to be calm and consistant. He will get bored soon enough. Don't show anger publicly and don't let him see that he's getting to you. He is looking for attention and a big response. If he doesn't get it, he will tire of his game.

Amy

He's not doing it to get attention - he's doing it for "personal reasons".

The man is a complete nutcase. I haven't made contact with him, or mentioned what he's doing in public. He has signed up with about 25 false usernames, containing profanity.

The other day when I IP banned him again, he created a username called "nicetry".

He's a nut - I have no idea what I can do next... :\

Wait until he registers again, throw a little code in your global.php file to check for his userid and a variable in your headinclude template that will add a redirect to http://youdontknowwhoiam.org if that user logs on. That might not solve the problem completely, but will at least annoy him as much as he's annoying you. ;)

Here's an idea maybe: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...threadid=49810 - by Zzed, just released today I think :)

I made a very simple thing that just shows a database error to certain users, but he'd probably figure that out real quick... If you're interested it's in my profile..

The problem is that his aim isn't to post things under usernames. It's to post things through the "Newest Member" thing on the front page.

He hasn't tried doing this since I changed the code so only the latest verified member shows up, so I do't know if it works. Either way, I'm still going to have to delete the fake accounts he creates. :(

Turn on moderate users and just never approve his account.

I've had to do that - but it all hangs on whether new user accounts show up on the front page as the "Newest member". :\

I recall a hack (don't recall who though) that instead of banning the user, it essentially tortures them with slow load times, random errors, etc. The dev said that there's only a 5% chance of success when posting replies.

So, my suggestion is install this hack and when the 11-year-old-super-w00t-w00t-1337 kid comes back, torture him. :)

BTW: Julie ("SweetCheeks" here) runs a ban-free community but apparently uses a similar system by which would-be-banned users instead have extremely restricted permissions. Maybe she'll have an idea.

If you are only concerned with the "New Member" showing the profane name on forumhome, why not just temporarily edit the template and remove the code that will display it for a while.....

You can put it back once you have a better solution.

I have some unpublished hacks for dealing with people like this. I can help you if you are interested.

Feel free to PM me or send me an Email to edwink@seebeyond.com ;)

LOL, I love it. The ban expert has some secret weapons. :D

Oh-Oh, I'm jealous now Zzed. No phone calls, mister! ;)

lol

OMG, my reputation has been tarnished... :D:banana:

I must say I am quite flattered Nick. :) Thank you. :)

Not to worry my friend you are still one of my most favorites on this board. :)

One of your favorites? What do I have to do to become [high]THE[/high] favorite? ;):)