Tech Question

[Dalton]

So there is a poster on another board that I belong to that is giving everyone the creeps. Seems like he might really be dangerous.

Can someone find out an IP address from someone posting on a messageboard? If they can, can they track people down with it?

 

[Liesje]

Depends on the board, but I'd say yes.

That's how this board works. When you're banned, your IP is banned.

Then I think you track them down with a reverse IP lookup.

 

[typhoon]

Yeah, when you do a reverse IP look-up, you can get his ISP, and if he's sufficiently creepy, you can report this guy to them. At the very least, you can ban him.

Most message boards record IP addresses for posters and let administrators view them.

 

[Dalton]

The problem is that this guy said he can track a girl (another poster) down from her ip address. She's pretty freaked.

I didn't think that was possible. Right?

 

[typhoon]

Well, some universities set up their host names so that they tell the name of the building the computer is in. But generally, no, you can't trace a person with only their IP address unless you get their ISP involved (and they don't tend to just hand that kind of information over).

If they're not an admin, they have no way of finding another poster's IP address (unless they've directly connected over another medium, like instant messaging). He's probably full of shit.

 

[Liesje]

Well, some universities set up their host names so that they tell the name of the building the computer is in.

This can also backfire. When I moved into the dorms as a freshmen, I quickly discovered that myself and all my U2 fan friends were banned from Interference. Aparently someone from my school had been banned, but the IP address that shows up is just the DHCP server for the res halls, so everyone on the entire network was banned.