Block IP

[losttoy]

Title
Block IP

Short, concise description of the idea
A simple way to block spam or internet attackers who use the Anonymous feature, without having to block all Anonymous posting.

Full description of the ideaInstead of having a user block all Anonymous posts or having the user delete each spam or trolling post, create an option to block the

Comments

[azurelunatic]

If implemented, the blocked IP address list should have the ban date on it, and possibly even a link to the entry that the comment was deleted from, if applicable.

It would be also very useful if, when an IP address is blocked for anonymous commenters, any logged-in comments originating from that IP are flagged somehow (and the usernames listed in the banned IP list next to the IP). This obviously won't distinguish between moments when a so-called friend is being a dickwad anonymously but nice as pie when logged in and situations where an anonymous dickwad happens to have used the same IP as a friend (friend-of-a-friend being a dickwad on friend's computer is one scenario that springs readily to mind) ... but it would be a useful thing to know.

Say something like this:

Unblock?IPBlock DateBlocked FromUsers commenting with this IP since blocked
[ ]127.0.0.12001 May 02 11:21:05http://azurelunatic.livejournal.com/5848457.htmlNone
[ ]192.168.0.22001 May 03 15:30:59http://azurelunatic.livejournal.com/5844148.htmlexampleusername
frank
status

[neitherday]

Obviously, for privacy purposes it should only list users whose IPs you'd already have access to (from IP address logged posts you made).

Searching through posts to find comments made with the IP address seems like it might be resource intensive. Perhaps it would be better to simply add "BLOCKED IP" after the IP address wherever the IP address would normally be displayed.

[azurelunatic]

*nod* I'd think that in order to block by IP, you'd have to have IP address logging on.

I wouldn't have it searching actively in past comments - I'd have it running all new comments made past the IP address block list -- perhaps in the same or similar part of the comment creation process where it checks for ban status from the journal? -- and then if the IP is banned for anonymous users, it appends the username creating the comment to the list. And possibly generates an event that one can subscribe to.

But putting "blocked IP" after the IP address is something like where I was going with the "flag comments" idea.

One could probably make a client-side script to note IP addresses of deleted anonymous comments and flag logged-in IPs based on that, though it would not be half so useful as an LJ-side tool.

[azurelunatic]

And possibly the number of times the logged-in commenter has commented from that IP. You can't tell for sure, but the coincidence factor looks mighty dodgy when a logged-in user has been coming from an IP known to be abusive in AC mode 99 out of 100 times they've commented to you.

[losttoy]

I like the "users commenting with this IP" option. After I turned off anonymous posting (most reluctantly), I found a new lj user with the only post they made was to my journal. I checked the IP myself and I believe it came from the place I deleted the previous anonymous comment. However, your "users commenting with this IP" idea would make it much easier.

I also like how you organized the management window for your example. As it stands right now, deleting a comment does not keep track of anything. I think that any additional benefits with minimal work would be is worth implementing.

[azurelunatic]

I would want anonymous commenting from a particular IP to be blocked before any comments were made, and that wouldn't show an entry that it was blocked from. I'd also want the option, on deletion of a logged-in comment with a logged IP address, to ban anonymous commenting from that IP.

I like that your suggestion here differs from most other ideas I've seen on the same lines in that it only affects people posting as anonymous. Most of the other ban-based-on-IP suggestions I've run into involve affecting logged in users based on their IP, which is completely not fair for the reasons mentioned above.

But between limiting the blocking to anonymous comments only, and tracking the logged-in usernames commenting from an anon-blocked IP, and having a new username pop up on that list as a subscribable event, and allowing the blocking of IPs without having an anonymous comment from the IP to delete, and having banning users as a tool, I think this would accomplish the same things that people who want wholescale IP blocking would want done, and neater.

Say you suspect exampleusername of being the one behind all those trolls you're getting. You already have anonymous commenting turned off. Additionally, you block the IP address that exampleusername has been using. You see that sure enough, when status trolls you, you've got a hit on that blocked IP. So you ban status. Then you get a trolling comment from frank. Same IP. Ban-time, and you may have enough ammunition to report the trio of usernames for possible ban evasion.

You won't wind up blocking trollish comments from the same IP before they start, you won't necessarily prove that the offender is one and the same person, but you won't wind up blocking unrelated logged-in users who happen to be on the same IP, although there's the potential for social stickiness should someone with the same IP show up in all good faith when you're watching that IP with murder in your eyes.

[losttoy]

very well said ... I agree