My IP for your IP -- help posting after forum ban

[BlueSkies]

Hi everybody.

I don't know if this is inappropriate to post. If it is, just let me know -- or remove it.

I know it is quite common for people to get banned from their favorite forums and for admins/mods to make it literally impossible to re-register and/or post under a different username. Oftentimes IPs and entire ISPs are banned, along with all types of proxies, even paid for high anonymity proxy servers.

If one wishes to continue to post on this forum, one will need to get a good friend from as far away as possible to post their messages from their computer and IP. This can be quite embarrassing though and friends quickly lose patience.

So here is my thought/proposal: I post for you and you post for me. My IP on your forum, and your IP on mine. No questions asked about why were you banned, why do you want to post this, etc. As long as it's neither illegal nor abusive I'd be willing to post for you at your site in exchange for you posting for me a few times.

Sound good? Shoot me a PM if you're interested. Thanks.

[clanmills]

I am very uncomfortable with this message. However as I respect free speech, I'm not going to use my moderator privileges to delete this thread.

I know that on this forum users have been banned for spam. Any legitimate message is permitted. So I believe the forum administrators should have the right to ban people who abuse our service, our readers or our contributors.

Others may think differently and I welcome comments.

I have not discussed my thoughts about this with the the admin and moderators on this forum. I also respect their free speech and they may disagree with me if they wish.

[wimiadmin]

Although this is an unethical practice, I'll let the post remain for now.

If I had to guess, I'd say 7 out of 10 users banned are banned for good reason. However, there are always slight chances that innocent users are banned by happenstance (ie., getting caught in a block of IPs that are banned).

When we ban people, we ban based on a users contribution quality to the forum. If a new user posts spam, then obviously we don't want them here and we ban them.

These banning methods on our forum and other forums are to give the user a better experience when visiting. If you went to a forum and had to sort through mounds of crap each time you visited, chances are, you'd stop going.

If you ran a forum, would you ban users who tried to use your forum unethically? If you don't, then you'll be the site that people will end up not coming to any more.

[AboveTheLogic]

this is a bad idea

if you must get around IP problems, use a proxy or VPN service

[BlueSkies]

First off, thanks to the admin and mods for allowing this post.

I realize it is a bit ... controversial.

I should add to my original post that besides illegal or abusive posts, spam would also not be part of the "deal". I have no interest in helping anybody spam up a forum.

Without going into any details, I need help for purely personal (or even emotional) reasons. I was banned from my favorite forum because my ISP was banned. Supposedly, that ban cannot be lifted for individual IPs or members.

This particular site also has a "no proxy" policy which is strictly enforced. Not only are the public proxies banned, but apparently every new member is "manually" checked for proxy use. Even paid-for high-anonymity proxy services are discovered since all it takes is to do an IP search on a site like this one and then go to the domain listed which will show some type of proxy server business.

It has proven to be virtually impossible for me to keep a user account open on that site and all I want is to be a regular productive member of the community. No trolling, flaming, spamming, etc.

AboveTheLogic, would you mind explaining how a VPN service might be helpful in this case? I had never even heard of that, then googled it and read some of the information available. I don't think I really grasp the technical concept though.

Would this provide a consistent IP address that is different from my home IP without revealing that a VPN service/proxy is being used? Ultimately I need an IP that looks, walks, talks, smells, etc. like a real home IP.

Thank you for your patience.

[Greenbean]

I will take you up on your offer, BlueSkies. Reply if you are still interested.