Feedback Duplicated Accounts taken too serious here on DP?

Good Day,

I just need to get this of my heart. I know rules are rules and if you share an IP address you should let Mods know. How many people are actually aware of the rules or aware of that they share an IP address?

But seriously now, there are so many good and honest people here getting banned because of duplicated accounts (at least that why you ban them). Some people have 3000, 6000, 10'000 even 13'000 posts and they got banned! I myself got banned because apparently I had duplicated accounts. All I did was referring a friend from work to this Forum. He created the account and BAM we both got banned. After weeks of trying to contact Mods here it finally got solved. But I see it happening to other people all the time, they get banned cause they shared an IP address one time for one post!

It's 2010 people!

• People use Internet Cafes all the time where they share IPs
• People use public Hot Spots with their Phones/Notebooks
• People use proxies to surf anonymously in the internet where they share the proxy IP.
• People use their Internet from work, where they might be sharing an IP Address with several 100 people (reason I got mistakenly banned).
• People use their connection from College/University where they are it with several 100 if not 1000 people as well.

People sharing house holds, where they refer their flatmates to this forum
People simply dropping by a friends house and using their computer

And on top of that, ISP's are running low on the IP4 protocol IP Addresses, meaning that IPs will be re-assigned more often to new users.
One of Ireland biggest Forum with 18 Million posts and about 320'000 users stated that in 2009 almost a 1000 users had gotten an IP Address within a 1-2 months from a user that previously had that IP address. Simply because the ISPs are limited with their IPs

And DP is one of the biggest Forums around and I think that just blindly banning users who shared an IP Address once for one post is wrong, especially not when they have several 100 posts or 1000s and are members for several years.

Yes DP has lots of scammers but banning Accounts who shared IP addresses back fires probably more often than you are aware of.
Why ban Accounts who share IP's in the first place? To avoid scammer's who give them self good feedback, reviews etc. And most scammers are aware of sharing IP Adresses and will take the necessary steps. Maybe there is also that innocent 14 year old user who simply has fun with multiple accounts to talk to him self because he is out of his mind

Look at the eBook section of this Forum, after being here for 3 months it's not hard to tell which ones are scams and which ones are serious.
There are so many users who just signed up, make 30-40 posts in 2 weeks and sell stuff they found for free on the internet or via P2P software. About 30% of the books everyday are scams and nothing is being done about it! But god have mercy on a users soul if he shares an IP Address by accident.
I hope it's not becoming a hype between mods to ban people. After all you want to make money with this Forum and attract people to click on the ads. I know not a good argument since it's huge and the owner is a millionaire already.

It's like in the entertainment industry and the whole DRM protection. DRM was/is a total flop, mainly because the honest customer who buys for example a PC Game, can only installed 3 times on a computer and then has to go through the hassle of calling the support etc.
And people who download the cracked version of the game are DRM free, no hassle with support plus they got it for free!
I'm trying to say that the honest customer gets face slapped while the person who gets it illegally is simply laughing.

Bottom line:
Why ban people who share IPs in the first place? Especially when they don't do any harm. I'm proof that this banning by IP address backfires. Aren't you suppose to ban people who are rude, make the forum look bad and scammers/con artists?
I'm not saying that you should stop banning people who share IP's but maybe look into it a bit more serious and just hammering the ban button for fun

Apart from that I love the Forum.
This is my feedback and I hope it helps.

 

Well, I was and so was my friend from work.
I do hope there is more to it though. But it can be very frustrating when nice people who make lots of good posts in different sections of the Forum are getting banned and then in the eBook section people who sell other peoples stuff without rights and sell accounts to access member areas of website where you normally have to pay for etc. are not being banned and just continue to sell the stuff.
You should start to introduce a low membership fee for the eBook section, so only serious people will be able to sell their products.

 

Aww... poor scammers, where would they sell there stuff then?
Well I like the eBook section, especially if there's a book being sold that comes from someone who knows what they are talking about.

But okay, I'll start using that Report Post button more often.

By the way, where did the link go for the Payment section. The one for Premium Membership, Phone verification etc? Maybe I'm blind but I can't find it in the top menu.

 

While the "internet cafe" and "same building / different company" explanations are oh so popular... those total strangers with the same IP have a remarkable tendency to write glowing endorsements for the product of that total stranger sharing their IP, bump his threads in BST, and generally support whatever inane claim he makes. Go figure.

When you see that amazing coincidence (gee, there are over 6 billion people on the planet... what are the odds this fella's biggest fan is anonymously sitting next to him in Starbucks?) ... the tale about "total strangers" sorta loses credibility. It is absolutely to the benefit of others in the forum when mods remove the weak members that need multiple IDs. If their service is so worthless they cant sell it without a shill to sing their praises, they need to take their show on the road.

Here's a perfect example of why IP matches have to be watched... people that have been banned for such puppet shows buy an ID and return countless times:

 

Haha, okay true! In cases like that it is obvious! But what if a guy sells something here, his best friend who is also active on DP drops by the guys house, looks at the product and then decides to give it a good review and logs into the Forum from his friends house? That scenario is very unlikely but exists.
I've never seen so many banned users in any Forum, especially not users who have 13'000 posts! I'm sure they have different reason for banning, but DP does have a very high ban rate. And I know of people who got banned for IP sharing where it was an accident and it can be proven that they are not the same person.
Maybe give people the option to send in an explanation, cause when you're banned, you're banned with no option to explain yourself.

3 years back I worked for Blizzard on World of Warcraft, and the amount of gold sellers we banned was insane, and they didn't care when they got banned. But now and then accidents happened and people who care about their accounts were able to contact us and explain themselves so we could investigate further. And in some cases we saw that we made a mistake.
So maybe have an option to explain yourself rather than block people and look the other way... cause accidents happen.

I'll stop questioning your methods, this was just suppose to be a feedback

----
Cheers Shawn, wow that's a good bit hidden away.

 

I suppose it's probably technically possible that if the atmospheric conditions were just right, it could rain beer.
Wouldnt go outside with a pitcher every time it clouds up though... it's still generally just gonna be water.

 

Aw that's disapointing Rob we are expecting snow here in the next day or two, and I was hoping if I catch things right I might catch some free vodka falling from the heavens.

On another note @OP are you dealing drugs to these friends that visit and buy your product to download or are you in the habit of not giving good friends who come a visiting a break by not giving them free access to such things?

I am joking btw, it's just as others have said this story doesn't really wash or add up in most cases!

 

Well, either it's beer raining from heaven time... or the guy in the screenshot I posted above is back. See http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1748163

 

He'll be back, and since he was kind enough to leave a message on my blog (bottom of my profile page) saying I'm to deliver an apology within 24 hrs or else... figure I'll invest a little time turning up his new IDs in return. It's the least I can do for the boy.

 

I agree with k.meier. People having multiple accounts is not the problem. The people who spam and post scams are the probelm. If people have multiple accounts, but they make quality posts I don't see what the problem is, as it still contributes to the forum and attracts new users. The simple solution is to make all the users more aware of the report button and ensure that people actually use it. And to make more moderators, so that they can clean up the spammy threads. Problem solved.

Also @digitalpoint, I think the ebook section is good. There has been quite a few good books in there, though admitted, more spam than not.