# How to find out troll's IP address ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 21, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-find-out-trolls-ip-address/381351 "2006-11-21T22:22:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![justqwerty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/59ef9b/32.png) [@justqwerty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justqwerty)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-find-out-trolls-ip-address/381351/21 "2006-11-26T23:31:22Z")
I have emailed the mod. She refused to give me a status, but promised to set up a compulsory registration. Whether it’s gonna help remains to be seen. Meanwhile I still looking for a way to trap the guy without involving the moderator. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2006, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-find-out-trolls-ip-address/381351/22 "2006-11-26T23:47:21Z")
You need more than the mod, you need the admin to get involved. I don’t know about other forum softwares, but I run two vBulletin forums. At least in the newest version there are a few hacks that can at the very least inconvenient a poster enought that they’d quit. But only an admin can do anything about, maybe mods don’t have access to IPs, and even if they did they wouldn’t know what exactly it means, or what to do with it. Plus, if you are trying to start a war in a forum where you are not the owner, or even a mod, I don’t see much difference between you and the troll. It’s not your forum, and unless you are a paying user, I don’t see much you can do. Move on. ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-find-out-trolls-ip-address/381351/23 "2006-11-27T00:49:07Z")
It doesn’t sound like he’s trying to start trouble or a forum war, he seems to be annoyed by a sock. They are annoying! You have my sympathy because there’s nothing worse than posting on a board you really love and have an absentee mod or admin. > [@](#): > > But only an admin can do anything about, maybe mods don’t have access to IPs, and even if they did they wouldn’t know what exactly it means, or what to do with it. That’s probably the problem. Unfortunately if the admin doesn’t want to get involved, there really isn’t anything you can do. > [@](#): > > Another possibility is to ask her to turn on “visible IP”. This in an option on all board software, where IP appears on every post, and dissuades the situation from arising at all. That won’t help with all IP’s though, will it? I doubt if it would help with AOL. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-find-out-trolls-ip-address/381351/24 "2006-11-27T06:06:27Z")
[QUOTE=Caridwen] It doesn’t sound like he’s trying to start trouble or a forum war, he seems to be annoyed by a sock. [/QUOTE] His words: [QUOTE=justqwerty] 1. The consensus seems to be: leave the troll alone and move on, there isn’t much you can do anyway. Nope, I still want to fight. [/QUOTE] Maybe I misinterpreted it? As I said, if the admin doesn’t want to do anything about it it is not his job to. It’s not his forum. Time to move on. ---
**Author:** ![justqwerty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/59ef9b/32.png) [@justqwerty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justqwerty)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-find-out-trolls-ip-address/381351/25 "2006-11-27T22:41:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Maybe I misinterpreted it? yes, what I meant is that the majority of regulars do want to get rid of the guy, but we want to do it smart way and not to create a disruptionon . > [@](#): > > there’s nothing worse than posting on a board you really love and have an absentee mod or admin. that is exactly the case some more clarifications: The Moderator = Admin = owner of the forum (site). The forum software has been developed by her and is not of-the-shelf variety. She doesn’t want to get involved for reasons that are irrelevant. My question now goes like this : How can we find out the troll’s ( or any poster’s for that matter) IP address ( no further info is necessary) **without** **admin/mod help** by using third party programs, sites that log IPs and make it public or by any other way ? ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-find-out-trolls-ip-address/381351/26 "2006-11-27T23:08:26Z")
[QUOTE=justqwerty] My question now goes like this : How can we find out the troll’s ( or any poster’s for that matter) IP address ( no further info is necessary) **without** **admin/mod help** by using third party programs, sites that log IPs and make it public or by any other way ? [/QUOTE] Basically, if the board owner has decided to not oust the suspected troll, then that’s the decision y’all should roll with. You probably won’t (as evidenced by this thread), but the SDMB probably doesn’t need to be involved in getting around other boards’ owners’ wishes. We sure wouldn’t want the the tables turned where other boards were advising our posters (even those with the best of intentions) on how to circumvent our decisions. For that reason, this is closed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-find-out-trolls-ip-address/381351.md?page=1)