Banned from a site but how did they know ?

[norfolkbird]

My friend is on a site and has been banned as was accused of having more than one profile on the site . She lets her brother use her pc when he stays which is where the more than one profile probably happened..
but his home post code is another area .
so how would the site know that his profile is being used on her pc
( if this makes sense)
If join a site and have 3 profiles all different with post codes from 3 different areas... how do they know they are all actuall run from te same pc?
thanks

[friedgreentomato]

iip address

[mccfluff]

or ip address :-p

[norfolkbird]

errr sorry am a bit dim where pc 's are concerned.

what does ip address mean

[jno]

You can I think tell if several posts at a time come from the same computer, though not necessarily if they're posted on different days (as computer addresses often change from day to day). But why the site doesn't like the idea of more than one person using a computer, I don't know.

[jno]

IP address is just your computer's electronic address. Some are static, some are dynamic (ie they change each time you access the internet).

[norfolkbird]

jno
they were not posting at the same time... she got banned , then when he went on the site he was as well...

[norfolkbird]

jno
thanks..

so is there any way around this?

[jno]

I didn't mean simultaneously, but during the same internet session. Once one was banned, the site's computer might have recognised his post as coming from the same IP address and therefore have banned it too.

And if the IP address is static, then any posts coming from it might have been recognised and misunderstood as coming from the same person.

[norfolkbird]

ohh thanks for explaining jno

so there is no way round it then...

[jno]

well, they could appeal to whoever runs the site. (eg on AB, it would involve clicking the Contact Us link at the bottom of the page).

Failing that, try rejoining under a new name, perhaps from a new computer (laptop?). But don't let brother use the same computer to do the same thing this time.

[norfolkbird]

jno

thanks for your help :-)

[beso]

If they logged on the same computer user account the site would see its own cookies written for the other profile. I would say this is the most likely scenario.

[jno]

yes, that's a point - I tend to forget about cookies as I've got my PC set to delete them. You can probably do the same.

[norfolkbird]

OHH how do i get rid of cookies... ar they not got rid of when pc does a scan ? not that i actually know what a cookie is

[factor-fiction]

Maybe her brother gave an existing email address (hers) when he signed up.
Sometimes (although your friend's case is different) site administrators are also pretty good at spotting users with multiple IDS because of the style, tone or pattern of posts. For example one poster on AB who has had at least 20 IDs in the last few months gives him/herself away regularly (deliberately or accidentally I don't know) by using an almost identical form of words in every post.

[jno]

you can set some browsers, eg Firefox I think, to delete cookes every time you leave the internet. Or you may be able to do it manually via Start (the icon in the bottom left corner) - Control Panel - Network and Internet - Internet Options

[Buenchico]

Whenever you visit a website that site needs to know where to send the data to. For that reason your internet service provider allocates an 'IP address' to your computer. A small minority of people have 'static' IP addresses (which never change) but the vast majority of internet users are allocated a different (= 'dynamic') IP address whenever they connect to the internet.

So, assuming that you've got a dynamic IP address you can get a new one simply by disconnecting, and then reconnecting, your router from the phone socket.

To see the IP address currently allocated to you, go here:
http://whatismyipaddress.com/
(My IP address is currently 79.123.72.75)
After reconnecting your router you can go back to that site, to see if the address has changed.

Cookies are small packets of information which are dumped onto your computer when you visit websites, so that you'll be recognised when you re-visit the site. (Cookies can also be shared among websites, so that your browsing habits can be monitored for advertising purposes). The Answerbank has placed a cookie onto my PC (when I logged on), telling their computer that any messages I send are coming from Buenchico (so I don't have to log in separately every time I submit a post). If I now go away and visit some other sites (without logging out from AB), and then come back here again, I'll still be recognised as Buenchico because the cookie will still be there.

You can remove cookies from your computer by following the instructions here:
http://www.wikihow.co...r-Browser%27s-Cookies
However you may then find that sites which previously recognised you automatically now need you to login again.

Chris

[ZebUK]

I've written software for websites that track IP addresses for users logging in.

Every time a user logs into the site I record only four pieces of information:
* username
* IP address
* date
* time

From that alone all I would need to do is query the database for any IP address that has two or more usernames associated with it.

This is where it gets slightly tricky because as mentioned earlier, many people have dynamic IPs but the key is looking for patterns of data in regard to multiple usernames on IPs. For the thousands and thousands of addresses out there the chances of someone on my site being issued the same IP address that someone else has used is slim so if the usernames share more than one IP between them then they are two separate profiles on the same PC.

[norfolkbird]

OHH thanks guys, thats realy helpful and understandable lol

will try the router thing... thanks :-) norfolkbirdie