Folks, I've had a field day at this today, a dozen anyway - and that's not been the heaviest day!
The process is as follows:
[list=1][*]I get an email each time someone applies for registration. SOmetimes you can tell right there whether it's another idiot, but sometimes you have to dig a bit deeper;[*]Next step is to open my user control panel which comes with the software. This shows all sorts of interesting bits of information about him;[*]You look the name first; if it's gibberish, the chances are it's an Idiot, but it may also be someone just following what is 'normal' internet protocol elsewhere, so onwards;[*]Then you look at the email address. Some of them are obviously made-up and others are from the same general sources which host many of these bastards. The suffix can tell you things right off as well, such as country;[*]After that, you look at obvious stuff such as 'home page' links provided - again, often obvious, but occasionally misleading, which causes one to investigate further;[*]The same as above for whatever's in their signature block;[*]The you look at the options they've chosen. Right off the bat, almost 100% of those I've had to ban show ICQ numbers; in addition, if they're not saving login details, it's almost sure sign that they're up to no good;[*]Aha! The IP address. This is from whomever is routing their internet traffic and is always recorded (incidently, this is how I can trace who's been where on the forum if I take the time to do so, as in the case of troublemakers who get in). It's trace-time! I use Firefox, so I have Domain Dossier open at all times in the next tab. I copy and paste the IP addresses into that and do a full search to find out where he tracks to. Sometimes you can figure out by the tracking that he's in fact a legitimate user who just needs to have the name thing clarified, but more often than not it simply shows you where the idiots originate. For certain sources you can choose just two or three blocks out of the four-block address, and you copy those;[*]Next step is to zap and then ban the bastard without further adieu.[/list=1]
Fun eh? I've had to do this over two hundred times now, with in some cases some ****ers trying to get in a dozen or more times. There's no way, though - even if I don't wipe and ban them immediately, they can't post until I manually approve them, and in those cases they often just go away on their own. THEN I ban them.
The point behind this explanation is twofold - first, don't get your knickers in a knot when you see some new, obvious spammer/member in and on the Forum - he can't post and I'll clean his clock when I get to him.
Second and more important, occasionally banning a partial block of numbers may inadvertently nail one of you. No worries - you're not being stalked! Just drop me an email and from that I can get your IP and rectify the error.
Just a friendly heads-up on a Saturday night in Toronto!
