[IMC-bristol] proposal to ban IP addresses

[Jamie Lokier]

Mike Tonks wrote:
> I can turn on logging and capture addresses if required.  However, I 
> think the basic idea is rubbish.
> 
> For example, most users on dial-up or broadband will have a different IP 
> address each time they go online.

Quite.  This is why many discussion boards with moderation or ranking
require users to log in before posting, or if they allow anonymous
posting, anonymous posts are given a lower ranking to start with.

It seems to be a basic problem that anonymity encourages crapflooding
once a forum becomes popular enough.  Give it more time and you'll
start getting viagra spam in the comments too.

BIMC needs to preserve anonymity for those who need it, while at the
same time discouraging crap.  It's a tough one.

> I find that if people just get their posts deleted, they give up after a 
> while.  It's only when we leave that junk up on the site, that people 
> seem to just post more of it.

I agree, that seems like the most effective solution.  A bit like the
bouncer or librarian making sure the space has a certain kind of atmosphere.

BIMC achieves this by having a few non-anonymous users with the
ability to hide posts.  Some other sites do it be allowing anyone to
have the ability to hide or rank posts, provided that person is
willing to create themselves an account.

Various schemes for deciding how much to trust rankings from random
users exist, they can get quite complicated because on popular sites
crapflooders form cliques to rank each others posts as good, trying to
defeat whatever system is in place.

-- Jamie