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TheWatchman · 05-13-2003, 09:21 PM

Good point Borderstone. I have done the same thing with my message forum. Here is what can be done with the forum software that this site uses.

You can activate the security feature that people must use a valid email address because the software will create a password for them and will automatically email it to them. If they use a fake email address, they will not get the password to post. Is it foolproof? No, but it does help. If somebody is hell bent on causing trouble, they will do it. It's just part of the risk when you have an open, public forum as a means to communicate. You can have hundreds of email accounts with Hotmail, Yahoo etc. Perhaps it will discourage the people flying by from posting to only never return. Many sites on the internet are using security features like this.

By the way, you notice that little yellow "logged" link in each thread? It gives the IP address of the poster, which will change often. With the correct software, you can trace the computer to the street block that they posted from. I still believe that people on many forums post under several different names. This may actually be the case on this site as well.

It's best just to ignore stupid posts and delete them as they surface.

[This message has been edited by TheWatchman (edited May 13, 2003).]

05-13-2003, 09:21 PM	#3
TheWatchman Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Columbia, Maryland Posts: 930	Good point Borderstone. I have done the same thing with my message forum. Here is what can be done with the forum software that this site uses. You can activate the security feature that people must use a valid email address because the software will create a password for them and will automatically email it to them. If they use a fake email address, they will not get the password to post. Is it foolproof? No, but it does help. If somebody is hell bent on causing trouble, they will do it. It's just part of the risk when you have an open, public forum as a means to communicate. You can have hundreds of email accounts with Hotmail, Yahoo etc. Perhaps it will discourage the people flying by from posting to only never return. Many sites on the internet are using security features like this. By the way, you notice that little yellow "logged" link in each thread? It gives the IP address of the poster, which will change often. With the correct software, you can trace the computer to the street block that they posted from. I still believe that people on many forums post under several different names. This may actually be the case on this site as well. It's best just to ignore stupid posts and delete them as they surface. [This message has been edited by TheWatchman (edited May 13, 2003).]