Multiple users with same IP

[Ipuck]

I was going to ban a user (multiple registration) by banning his IP address, it turns out that more than 100 users have already register with the same IP.

Can some one please explain please, I thought the IP where unique for each user.

[Steve Machol]

No, this is common. Many ISPs user dynamic IPs that are reused.

[Shining Arcanine]

Do a lookup on the IP. You will probably find that it resolves to a domain owned by a dial-up ISP like AOL.

[Offthepace]

No, this is common. Many ISPs user dynamic IPs that are reused.

If that's the case, how can I determine who's who? Also what constitutes a legit view or is there no such thing? Advertising on yahoo or google paying by the number of "clicks", (traffic to your site) counts as a view correct? So based on what you saying there's no way to tell if those clicks are legit either.

Then there's the views I would create just by posting or checking out what was said, then if anyone goes back to edit that's a view also, not sure on the latter. My question at this point would be, why even bother paying attention to "views", when everyone out there has you over a barrow.

Plus dealing with the multiples puts another crimp in the works.

[Steve Machol]

There is no way I no of to determine who is 'legit' or not. What is the exact problem you arer having that you want to fix?

[Offthepace]

There is no way I no of to determine who is 'legit' or not. What is the exact problem you arer having that you want to fix?

Do I have to have a problem with vBulletin to post on "Chit Chat"? If so, hold on and I see if I can find one. Might take awhile.

[PossumX]

I think this sounds an awful lot like AOL woes. Their IP address can (and does) change between page navigation. It is unreal.

AOL = Demonseed of the ISP world.

[Offthepace]

I think this sounds an awful lot like AOL woes. Their IP address can (and does) change between page navigation. It is unreal.

AOL = Demonseed of the ISP world.

Thanks PossumX, I was just being inquisitive about IP addresses and views.

[Offthepace]

There is no way I no of to determine who is 'legit' or not. What is the exact problem you arer having that you want to fix?

Hey Macho man, just let you know my couriosity about veiws is sadisfied.

It's a little unsettling knowing I have all those spiders crawling around in my computer, snatching up what ever they want including vBulletin. What the heck, I realized a long time ago I didn't have a "personal computer", public would be a better description.

It's amazing how much information that's available here, give me a year or so to read it all, of course I'll have to learn a new language to understand it all. Come to think of it, reminds me of why I don't repair my cars and trucks anymore.

Just chit chating Macho man. Have a good day and thanks for you help, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have explored this site like I should have to begin with.

[DoE]

Legitmate spiders can be "told" which directories not to crawl into. See google or yahoo on how to do this.

Multiple users from one IP is not uncommon, many businesses and schools use one IP address for multiple users.

If you get 100 users from one IP in a short period of time, then it isn't from a business/organization/school, but rather a bot. Again, google and yahoo, and other legitimate crawlers, will tell you how to limit what directories/files for their bots to stay away from.

[Offthepace]

Legitmate spiders can be "told" which directories not to crawl into. See google or yahoo on how to do this.

Multiple users from one IP is not uncommon, many businesses and schools use one IP address for multiple users.

If you get 100 users from one IP in a short period of time, then it isn't from a business/organization/school, but rather a bot. Again, google and yahoo, and other legitimate crawlers, will tell you how to limit what directories/files for their bots to stay away from.

Thanks DoE, but if it requires writing scrip and so on, I'll be at a loss. It's all mumble jumble to me.

[Wayne Luke]

Its a file called robots.txt and it includes a series of allow and disallow statements followed by folder names and bot names. If you do a search here you should be able to find some examples for use with vBulletin. Do a search on your favorite web engine and you'll find a lot of information on them.

One other thing.. A lot of accesses from a single IP might be a site ripper application as well. These load lots of pages in the background and download your site to a separate computer either for offline viewing or other catalog purposes.

[Offthepace]

Thanks Wayne. After I learn some more about vbulletin I'll concider doing that, now that I'm paying more attention to my site.

At first it was confusing to me on how to find answers to my questions. Now I'm using the search feature, I see it's all here, well at least what I'd be looking for. Was able to solve an Avatar problem doing just that. When something comes up that's to technical for me, I'll have to hire someone to fix it.

Oh yes, I'm running vBulletin 3.6.4 but I couldn't find it anywhere. Can you explain what the .4 is all about?

[Wayne Luke]

In versions we have Major version releases, Minor Version releases, and Bugfix Releases and Patch Levels.

3.6.4 = Major.Minor.Bugfix.

3.0.0 was a major release.
3.6.0 is considered a minor release with new features building on what came before.
3.6.4 is a bugfix release that fixes bugs that occured in the version before.

Patch Levels are a new concept and were introduced in 3.6.6. This allows us to fix a security issue without administrators having to perform a full upgrade. The latest stable version (3.6.8 PL2) is an example of a Patch Level release.

[Offthepace]

In versions we have Major version releases, Minor Version releases, and Bugfix Releases and Patch Levels.

3.6.4 = Major.Minor.Bugfix.

3.0.0 was a major release.
3.6.0 is considered a minor release with new features building on what came before.
3.6.4 is a bugfix release that fixes bugs that occured in the version before.

Patch Levels are a new concept and were introduced in 3.6.6. This allows us to fix a security issue without administrators having to perform a full upgrade. The latest stable version (3.6.8 PL2) is an example of a Patch Level release.

Thanks, so actually I'm running 3.0.0 with upgrades to 3.6.4. I take it you think I should download the patch and upgrade to 3.6.6?