Board Thread:Administrative/@comment-1009000-20150828144858/@comment-61022-20150828151234

Open proxies are basically a means of making it appear as though he is accessing the site from another IP address. Or he could be slightly more low tech and just using different computers. Either way, he's getting around the IP block by accessing the site via an IP address, or tricking the server into thinking that he is.

Probably the best way to try and curb this problem would be to block proxy servers outright. That would involve keeping track of Proxy lists and adding them to a list of banned IP addresses. (Not sure the technical side on how to do this, but I suspect that it's something that an admin can do)

The con here being that anyone else using said proxy will also be blocked. On the other hand, a typical use for a proxy is to access sites that are blocked. Usually people using it for legit (all be it socially and politically murky) reasons it to access a website that has been blocked by an employer, government, or internet service provider, because there is a "legitimate" reason to do so (depending on your point of view). Since I don't think people accessing the site are doing so to try and send out news to the free world from inside an oppressive regime, I doubt enacting this sort of tactic would be affecting many legitimate contributors to the site.

The challenge going forward is to keep up on blocking these proxies until Steelryan eventually gives up and goes someplace else to irritate someone else.

Mind you, now that I think about it, what he is doing can be constituted as harassment. Which, depending on what country this person lives, there could be laws to protect people from it. (Canada for example has anti-cyber bullying laws on the books) I don't know how effective filing an official complaint with his local authorities would be, probably an avenue we can explore in the absolute extreme.