# Quick question about bannings. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 22, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-bannings/507325 "2009-08-22T17:42:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Weston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8797f3/32.png) [@Weston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weston)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-bannings/507325/1 "2009-08-22T17:42:28Z")
Just curious, can you still read the boards after you’ve been banned? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-bannings/507325/2 "2009-08-22T18:07:11Z")
> [@Weston](#): > > Just curious, can you still read the boards after you’ve been banned? Yes, if you’ve removed the cookie that keeps you logged in. If you haven’t, I think the software says you don’t have permission to view or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-bannings/507325/3 "2009-08-22T18:08:06Z")
A ban means you can no longer post to this board. It does not stop you from reading the board. Kinda like standing outside the chocolate shop, in the summer sun and heat, staring in the window and watching everyone else inside (where it’s delightfully air conditioned) deliciously enjoying the chocolate truffles. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-bannings/507325/4 "2009-08-22T18:12:39Z")
vBulletin does have an option to IP ban someone as well, which prevents any computer at that address from viewing the site. However, I believe that’s only ever done in extreme cases, like spammers and persistent trolls. ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-bannings/507325/5 "2009-08-22T18:41:38Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > vBulletin does have an option to IP ban someone as well, which prevents any computer at that address from viewing the site. However, I believe that’s only ever done in extreme cases, like spammers and persistent trolls. This is easily circumvented, though, as I’m sure you’re well aware. Almost to the point of being useless. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-bannings/507325/6 "2009-08-23T08:18:13Z")
Giraffe didn’t mean anything bad. He never does. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-bannings/507325/7 "2009-08-23T13:00:40Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Giraffe didn’t mean anything bad. He never does. If this is a reference to the recent **SmashTheState** situation, you’re in the wrong thread. Regardless, you’re clearly referring to something other than his post in this thread – if you have a problem with **Giraffe** , take it to the Pit, don’t post irrelevant snark any random place you see his name. twickster, Moderator ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-bannings/507325/8 "2009-08-23T16:21:58Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Giraffe didn’t mean anything bad. He never does. I didn’t try to say he meant something bad. I was just saying that IP bannings are useless. My comment, other than including a quote from Giraffe, had nothing to do with Giraffe or his post. I was making a general statement about banning IP addresses. We clear? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-bannings/507325/9 "2009-08-23T16:55:26Z")
IP bans are problematic. A few years back, we had a problem at the board I moderate, in that certain users were getting the “You’ve been banned” message. Those users had not been banned, and one of them had never even been moderated. As it turns out, all involved were AOL users, and at that time AOL was assigning a different IP address every time someone logged in, but reusing the same pool of IP addresses. Our innocent users just happened to get lucky in the draw, and drew IP addresses that had previously been banned. We almost never do IP bans anymore. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-bannings/507325/10 "2009-08-23T19:49:46Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > IP bans are problematic. A few years back, we had a problem at the board I moderate, in that certain users were getting the “You’ve been banned” message. Those users had not been banned, and one of them had never even been moderated. As it turns out, all involved were AOL users, and at that time AOL was assigning a different IP address every time someone logged in, but reusing the same pool of IP addresses. Our innocent users just happened to get lucky in the draw, and drew IP addresses that had previously been banned. > > We almost never do IP bans anymore. We had a problem with IP blocking on a board I moderated. We would IP block a troublemaker and then find that we’d banned about 20 innocent people as well. On investigation it was found that they all used the same cable internet provider and had come in on identical ip numbers. (The companies were clearly channeling them through a proxy). I’d always believed that ip numbers were unique before but it ain’t necessarily so. Here’s [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address): > [@](#): > > Whether using a blacklist or a whitelist, the IP address that is blocked is the perceived public IP address of the client, meaning that if the client is using a proxy server or NAT, blocking one IP address might block many individual people. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-bannings/507325/11 "2009-08-23T21:38:01Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > We had a problem with IP blocking on a board I moderated. We would IP block a troublemaker and then find that we’d banned about 20 innocent people as well. On investigation it was found that they all used the same cable internet provider and had come in on identical ip numbers. (The companies were clearly channeling them through a proxy). > > I’d always believed that ip numbers were unique before but it ain’t necessarily so. > > Here’s [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address): > > > [@](#): > > > > Whether using a blacklist or a whitelist, the IP address that is blocked is the perceived public IP address of the client, meaning that if the client is using a proxy server or NAT, blocking one IP address might block many individual people. This is particularly problematic outside the US, as many countries received small blocks of the IPv4 address range, and have to use NAT extensively. As useless as IP blocking is here, it’s even worse for international. > [@twickster](#): > > twickster, Moderator twickster’s a moderator? Is that new, or did I get a couple of wire crossed in my head? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-bannings/507325/12 "2009-08-23T21:46:50Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > twickster’s a moderator? Is that new, or did I get a couple of wire crossed in my head? I’ve been a mod a couple of months (since early June). Whether or not you have wires crossed in your head, I’m not gonna speculate. 😛