When you are banned...

[RobWin]

Unless a person has a dedicated IP address, it's virtually impossible to ban them permanently without banning innocent bystanders in the process. If you know that certain IP's are definitely a proxy server, you could place them in a ban list, but 9 times out of 10, those anonymous proxies are on a compromised home user's system, and posted everywhere, so it wouldn't really do any good, because those proxies are a dime a dozen. Meaning that they could change proxies at the drop of a hat..

The casinos do it everyday... There's got to be a way to fix this problem. We have some damn smart folks in here and I'm sure we all could put our heads together and come up with a solution to this issue if given a little time. It's not quite rocket science ya know.

[BingoT]

Royallyflushed = babs
Mercy = fcat

Wow No S.......

[Casinomeister]

Bryan, I don't quite understand how these same folks are allowed to keep coming back over and over and over again...
Also when you ban someone are you just simply banning their username here or are you banning their IP Address??

They aren't allowed to come back, their accounts are just an extension of their deceptive ways.

We have methods of detecting people who slip back in. Banning IPs is not the way to go since like Winbig mentioned, it could block out chunks of people. Flying under the radar really isn't that hard, and it's a frustration of every board administrator - especially boards the size of this one, but it's easy to detect when one looks into these people's accounts.

We have on average 15-20 new members per day. Each one of these accounts are reviewed for spammers and other miscreants. We also have software that detects bots (30-50 per day). These IPs are usually blocked, but sometimes a dolphin gets caught in the tuna net. Just today XOXOXOXO got snagged as a bot

Simply put, we are always on the look out for a-holes who like to waste our time with these juvenile games. The thing is we do catch many - you just aren't aware of it since it's not made public that often.

Fcat uses numerous proxy servers. One time it was pretty funny. I was watching her log in (with one of her banned accounts before it was banned), and as she logged in, I would ban that IP. A minute later she'd log in with a different IP. I'd ban that one, and she'd use another. It was rather silly entertainment

Oh, life of a webmaster

[RobWin]

Another way maybe of fixing this issue would be to simply install a small script or program on the end users client machine at time of registration the same way MG does it by use of (IE: ActiveX or use Java Applets) along with MAC Address ban, IP ban and cookie ban it adds another hoop for banned members to go through.

[Pinababy69]

I strongly disagree and I use me as an example..I wanted to play and enjoy poker without losing all I had and I did learn how to do that..and I use the word "strongly" because if I can do it and I was BAD, anyone can do it, you just have to "want to do it"...I think drugs, alcoholism, or just smoking cigarettes and hard habits to break because the body depends on it and I do agree with you that you can't just stop those habits for 6 months and then have a taste now and again..
And your also right about Bryan not letting them back in after "they" ask to have their accounts deactivated, I was wrong there..if they ask for it then they are admitting that CM hurts them, whereas it helped me..

Without totally derailing the thread, and getting too deeply into it.....you should do some research into addiction. The physiology of it, physical vs. psychological, dopamine levels in the brain, etc. Don't be fooled into thinking that alcohol for example is solely a physical addiction, it's not. Or that gambling is solely psychological, it's not. They are all tied together with the pleasure centres in your brain, and the dopamine levels that are released (the "rush" you get when you gamble, snort a line, shoot up, etc.). They are all both psychological AND physical is the point I'm trying to make.

Anyway, heavy discussion for another thread. I'd actually like to see a whole forum dedicated to responsible gambling, addiction, etc here at CM. It would give us all an opportunity to discuss these things in more detail...and who knows, it may even help a person or two along the way. Maybe I'll run some ideas by him at some point, see what he thinks.

[FRENCHIE]

I don't mean to start something, what is a bot I have asked in other threads and haven't got an answer yet. would someone please answer please.

[RobWin]

They aren't allowed to come back, their accounts are just an extension of their deceptive ways.

We have methods of detecting people who slip back in. Banning IPs is not the way to go since like Winbig mentioned, it could block out chunks of people. Flying under the radar really isn't that hard, and it's a frustration of every board administrator - especially boards the size of this one, but it's easy to detect when one looks into these people's accounts.

We have on average 15-20 new members per day. Each one of these accounts are reviewed for spammers and other miscreants. We also have software that detects bots (30-50 per day). These IPs are usually blocked, but sometimes a dolphin gets caught in the tuna net. Just today XOXOXOXO got snagged as a bot

Simply put, we are always on the look out for a-holes who like to waste our time with these juvenile games. The thing is we do catch many - you just aren't aware of it since it's not made public that often.

Fcat uses numerous proxy servers. One time it was pretty funny. I was watching her log in (with one of her banned accounts before it was banned), and as she logged in, I would ban that IP. A minute later she'd log in with a different IP. I'd ban that one, and she'd use another. It was rather silly entertainment

Oh, life of a webmaster

The thing that really disturbs me here though is the fact that (Mercy: aka: Fcat) was allowed (or not allowed) however you want to view that statement, to post and stay here this last time for eight (8) months now ...all I'm saying is...there's got to be a better, faster way of outing these folks my friend...

[lots0]

I don't mean to start something, what is a bot I have asked in other threads and haven't got an answer yet. would someone please answer please.

A "Bot" is a software program that wanders the www doing the bidding of whoever programed it.

for a better description...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_bot

[winbig]

The casinos do it everyday...

The casinos situation is similar to a forum's. Even the casino doesn't realize that a player isn't who they say they are until that player slips up. At that point they ban the player's account, and not their IP. Even if a player was banned from playing at that particular casino, they can still connect to it....and even register a new account for whatever reason...then the cycle starts all over again.

In some instances, a small rural area for example. if you were to ban a block of IP addresses, or even a single IP, you might be banning a whole bunch of people. Sort of like using a shotgun to kill a roach - overkill.

[BingoT]

And here you Trusted Mercy LOL (Most of you)
And Babs I never knew you would do this.