IP != end user
ZiNgA BuRgA Offline
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Post: #1
IP != end user
I don't get why so many stupid forum admins think that an IP is somehow representative of a user.  In fact, this extends to stuff like spam control, like StopForumSpam, or Cloudflare, or whatever system relies heavily on a blacklist of IP addresses.

An IP does not represent the end user
There are many things to consider:
  • School/college/corporate networks often use a single public facing IP
  • Public computers or wireless hotspots may also use a single IP
  • ISP transparent proxies - some ISPs redirect TCP port 80 traffic through a transparent proxy, meaning a limited number of front facing IPs across the ISP
  • Dynamic IPs - quite common
  • IPv4 exhaustion - a problem which is only going to get worse considering that IPv6 still has pretty much no support; I believe ISPs in Asia are already deploying ISP level NATs (on top of dynamic IPs)
  • Multiple people living in the same house or accommodation building
  • Zombie computers or hijacking neighbour's wifi
  • Oh, and of course, heaps of proxies out there...
Essentially, dynamic IPs and NATs/proxies.

Just felt like getting it off my chest.

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11-15-2011 06:50 PM
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RateU Offline
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Post: #2
RE: IP != end user
Yeah, I agree with that.
1 IP can be used by many users, or, 1 user can uses many IPs.
So, IP != end user.

11-17-2011 07:09 AM
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Sama34 Offline
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Post: #3
RE: IP != end user
I think this is common sense that is learn with time, new webmasters are not suppose to know everything from the beginning, are they? Tongue

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11-17-2011 08:30 AM
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