If you exclude China, I would lower that to perhaps millions.
[Mods can correct or clarify the following]
You all are ignoring the fact that socks don’t usually give themselves away by using similar IP addresses, but by posting in a compulsive manner.
I know of another board that freaks out if you try to use anonymous proxies, refusing to let you sign up in the first place. I had assumed that was in place here. In that case, IP addresses would be much more usefult.
That said, my IP varies between two quite wide numbers (and a few similar ones to both), with the first number being over 100 off from one another. But I never use a proxy here.
I just use my computer. The rest-no idea. Guess I wouldn’t make a very good sock.
While we’ve considered it, we’ve never banned posters for using proxies.
Personally, I would. But, we dont.
Brazil, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, Vietnam, off the top of my head. I suppose you could call that millions.
PS that’s just the places where people choose their own proxies. If you count countries that enforce proxy use then you’ll have a much longer list.
Can you give us an a proxy mate number?
I think some people just prefer to hide their IP, maybe they just don’t want to be tracked and prefer privacy rather than because of any nefarious activities.
TSD is a site that was, thankfully, not blocked in China 
Facebook, Youtube and all blogs - not so much.
It seems sites open to comment and lacking moderation are on the restricted lists.
I once put an entire load of socks into the washing machine. When the cycle was complete, half of them were missing. I put the remaining socks into the dryer, and when that cycle was complete, the machine was empty. 
I’m pretty illiterate about how this internet thing works, but I thought an IP was a number that identified your specific device, so that the site you are reading knows where you are and how to send you the next packet of information you click on.
But I gather that it’s apparently not so specific. So now I’m even more confused: How does banning work?
Somehow, the mods here do a great job of removing spambots and jerks. And the spam filter I pay for from my ISP also eliminates all the viagra and Nigerian princes from my email inbox.
But they say that spam still makes up 70% of all email in the world.
So: no force in the world can eliminate spam from email, yet within the sites of the WWW*, it’s apparently not difficult.
I remain confused.
*(which I know is different than email)
You guys are all wrong. Socks go missing because, like preying mantises, socks become cannibalistic during the breeding season. That’s why the top part of the sock gets all stretched out. It’s from eating the mate sock.
The tiny baby socks escape through the dryer vent (like ballooning spiders) and go elsewhere. This explains why you often find a sock that not only has no mate, but that you don’t even remember buying.
I keep telling NatGeo that a primetime series (Sock Week!!!) on the lifecycle of the sock would be a HUGE hit for them, but they never listen (and in fact have started returning my letters unopened). “Scientists” my ass.
Banning works by banning the username and possibly email used to register the username, and MAYBE the IP although that’s a dangerous thing to do because many IPs get recycled all the time and reissued to new people.
The number that identifies a particular piece of hardware is called the MAC-Address, and guess what? Even that can be spoofed. In theory, yes, each device in the world be it a cell phone or nintendo DS, or laptop, or whatever, has a unique MAC-Address that can uniquely identify that device. But, even those can be spoofed (altered, like switching license plates on a car). As far as I am aware though, people’s MAC-Addresses are not easily seen by the outside world. I don’t think the straight dope servers ever get my MAC-Address. If you have a cable modem hooked up to your computer, your ISP probably can see your MAC-Address. If it’s hooked up to a router, then they can see that MAC-Address but probably none of your devices connected to the router.
That’s my understanding anyhow.
For most of us, IP addresses are assigned by your ISP to your computer each time you connect to the internet. You don’t get the same one twice; your ISP has big blocks of numbers and you get one each time you connect.
You can ban IP addresses, or even ranges of IPs. On the site I run we’ve done that since we know there’s no legitimate traffic from the Ukraine, for example. But if you connect to the net from a major ISP in the US there’s no way to ban an block of IPs without blocking lots of valid users.
Schrödinger’s Socks?
I waste enough time here… let alone time to be another poster.
I’m glad that is the case. My ISP is the only internet provider available in the area that I live and they only offer internet by proxy - all of their customers appear to be using the same IP to the outside world, and there is no choice in the matter.
So if anyone appears to be posting from my IP address but their comments aren’t on-spot, witty, and informative they are probably not my sock but just another customer of the same ISP.
I just signed up to say that I agree with Crazyhorse.
oops wrong account…
I’m betting all of our members who reside in North Korea use a proxy.
That’s pretty much why we don’t ban posters for using proxies. However, if a poster is exhibiting bad behavior in other ways, we certain might consider proxy use to be a suspicious sign. IOW, you won’t be banned JUST for using a proxy, but for other bad behavior.