Guest fountainhall Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 I am curious about ip addresses and the ease with which these can be tracked/changed. I most often access this Board from my home computer or an office in Hong Kong. Since I travel to other places, though, I assume other ip addresses must tell whoever wants to check that my posts on this or other Boards are being made from several different countries. Or is my ip address generated by the computer, in which case only my desktop and laptop would appear? I know about proxy servers, thanks in fact to HeyGay who responded to a post I made on this Board when it was impossible to access SGT from Bangkok. I also know these enable someone to access a site using a totally different ip address. But if I use the same proxy, I have no idea if it is always the same address or each time different. In that regard, I recall a post on another Board last month in which the owner (I believe) spilled the beans on one poster and actually listed more than a dozen ip addresses the same poster had used in only a few days. If I wished to remain totally anonymous, therefore, but have it appear my posts generally came from a specific location other than my own (with a few others thrown in to suggest I was travelling), how could I do that? And can that basic location be in a country other than the one where I live? In other words, could I in fact be not who I appear to be? Quote
Guest jomtien Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 Have no fear. You are certainly not who you appear to be. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 That's nice to know. But it hardly answers my questions Quote
Guest thaiworthy Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 That's nice to know. But it hardly answers my questions That's Jomtien-speak for "I know, but I'm not telling." Quote
Guest jomtien Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 Actually, I know nothing but tell all. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 In other words, I regret to say, a typical BL/snapshot response. If a poster asks a legitimate question and a moderator chooses to answer, I'd have though he might actually make some intelligent attempt to answer the question. If not, why reply? Quote
Guest jomtien Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 I thought I was being humorous in response to Thaiworthy. Obviously not. I seem to have offended you. You have my sincerest apologies. As a moderator, I have no access to ip addresses and stuff like that so I cannot answer your question. Quote
KhorTose Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 Okay your IP address changes with your computer and your location. Your ISP will assign you a number and they have a block based on geography, but in the old days before DHCP your machine was also assigned an IP number. Now the best you can do is locate the area your machine is in unless your yourself are a host. The joke is that there is software out there that can hide, change or trace an IP number so that is not by any means a real test to find out if a user is where he says he is or who he says he is. Even with DHCp if you use a different computer using the same ISP connection you will often get a slightly different IP address. This comes in handy with a place like the New York Times that only allows you to read seven articles free. Just change to your laptop and you get to start all over. I am not an expert on this, but I am sure some one else can provide a better answer. Check with Snapshot. Quote
Bob Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 I could be wrong but I believe that one can always trace a given IP number to a location. With a proxy, it'll trace only to the location of the proxy server (you use a Swedish proxy, it'll look like you're posting from Sweden). Somebody at that proxy location could trace you to wherever you're really located but, as I understand it, they don't do that nor keep records (supposedly) of those IP numbers. Quote
Bob Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 Okay your IP address changes with your computer and your location. Hmmm.....is that right? I had a cable modem back in the frigid midwest and I had a fixed IP number. When I got a new computer, I believe I still retained the same IP number (I remember checking it once and it looked the same). That kinda makes me think it's the modem itself that spits out the IP number but hell if I know. (But I never worried about my IP number as I made all the death and bomb threats on Khun Fountainhill's computer). (Dear Mr. NSA - I'm only kidding, you wrinkled goverment hack!) Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 Thanks to KT and Bob for clarifying the issue. And apologies to jomtien. I was under the impression that the moderators sometimes discussed this on the moderators' forum in relation to certain posters and certain posts. I take it, therefore, it is only the Board downer who is privy to such information and such discussions. I was obviously mistaken. Quote
Guest timmberty Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 the post on another board you mention FH i belive the owner of that board made his remark as a put down to his deposed partner .. it was also the reason i left that board .. as for who/what and where you are .. does it really matter who knows ? when im in pattaya i fing it quite amusing looking at certain people and wondering could he be so n so .. or he could be .... because hes acting like a complete jerk, unless you are an in the closet M.P. royalty or film star i dont really see as it matters .. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 I think it does matter to some people. And it's stated in the Posting Code that personal details of others cannot be divulged, an issue that has seen at least one poster get booted out. (Wonder who that was????) I've met a few posters here and so I'm not too fussed about it. But others clearly are. Heck, that reminds me Beachlover went to extreme lengths to protect his identity - even blacking out several parts in several photos he posted, including one of his room at the FCC in Phnom Penh, specifically so there could be no trace of his identity. He's the only poster ever to have gone to those lengths, to my recollection! As he said in the post (which is still in the archives even though all mention of BL in the members list has disappeared). Apologies in advance but I have blacked out even the mildest of possible identifying objects in some of the photos, things like signs and personal possessions. Might sound paranoid but there's just too many nutcases on these boards. I'd have posted the photo, but the post says "Sorry. This person moved or deleted this image." You can see he claimed he was afraid of the nutcases on this Board. Doesn't it take one to know one? Or might it have been because he was not who he claimed to be? Oh dear me! What a thought! Quote
Guest timmberty Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 i thought you was being serious for a moment, until the last line .. p.s. they are all nutcases on that board!!! dont belive anyone who tells you otherwise. Quote
Moses Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 I am curious about ip addresses and the ease with which these can be tracked/changed. I most often access this Board from my home computer or an office in Hong Kong. Since I travel to other places, though, I assume other ip addresses must tell whoever wants to check that my posts on this or other Boards are being made from several different countries. Or is my ip address generated by the computer, in which case only my desktop and laptop would appear? If I wished to remain totally anonymous, therefore, but have it appear my posts generally came from a specific location other than my own (with a few others thrown in to suggest I was travelling), how could I do that? And can that basic location be in a country other than the one where I live? In other words, could I in fact be not who I appear to be? IP address doesn't depends on your computer. IP address is assigned to you by your Internet Service Provider. IP can be "permanent" for full life of your contract with provider or "rented" (usually for 24 hours) from pool of his IP addresses. Your computer (or modem/router - depends of type of connection) has own address named MAC-address (usually it is hard-coded by manufacturer address of network card). Proxy servers can be "anonymous" or "transparent". First type hides all details of your connection, second just changes IP-address but all other details are still visible: MAC address, your browser, headers of your requests. With other words: when you browse websites anonymous proxy will send his own request to site on behalf of you and transparent proxy will send request of your browser with changing IP. RFC 2616 (Hypertext Transfer Protocol—HTTP/1.1) offers standard definitions:"A 'transparent proxy' is a proxy that does not modify the request or response beyond what is required for proxy authentication and identification". "A 'non-transparent proxy' is a proxy that modifies the request or response in order to provide some added service to the user agent, such as group annotation services, media type transformation, protocol reduction, or anonymity filtering". If you want to have real anonymity then check "tor" and "tor network" in Google. Quote
TotallyOz Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 Moses gives the correct answer. However, I didn't understand his last sentence. IP's are easy to switch but if you use proxy servers you can often see it is a proxy server by doing a search on the Internet Quote
Guest Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 I take it, therefore, it is only the Board downer who is privy to such information and such discussions. I was obviously mistaken. I believe only the board owner can directly access IP data. Considering IP addresses can easily be changed, they're a pretty poor way to detect members returning with new IDs. Much better to rely on the obvious giveaways that sometimes arise in the posts. Quote
Moses Posted January 8, 2013 Posted January 8, 2013 Moses gives the correct answer. However, I didn't understand his last sentence. IP's are easy to switch but if you use proxy servers you can often see it is a proxy server by doing a search on the Internet For total anonymity "Tor network" is only solution for now. Check it here https://www.torproject.org/ I believe only the board owner can directly access IP data. Considering IP addresses can easily be changed, they're a pretty poor way to detect members returning with new IDs. Much better to rely on the obvious giveaways that sometimes arise in the posts. There are a lot of solution to find and "fix" clones. For example it is possible (and used at big forums) to check multiple accounts by retrieving manufacturer's ID from mother board or by Windows license number. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted January 9, 2013 Posted January 9, 2013 Considering IP addresses can easily be changed, they're a pretty poor way to detect members returning with new IDs. Much better to rely on the obvious giveaways that sometimes arise in the posts. Thank you Moses. That is really what I was driving at. Posting habits, writing style and comparisons with past posting behaviour seem a far more logical and accurate way to determine those creeping back with new IDs. Maintaining totally separate personalities over a period of time can not be so easy. Not impossible, but not easy! Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted January 9, 2013 Posted January 9, 2013 the post on another board you mention FH i belive the owner of that board made his remark as a put down to his deposed partner That seems indeed to be the case. However, it was not only the partner's multiple ip addresses that were listed. Several other regular posters were shown to be posting from quite a number of different ip addresses - all in the space of a few days. Quote
Guest timmberty Posted January 9, 2013 Posted January 9, 2013 the guy who owns that site is very talanted on a computer .. so i wouldnt be surprised if he made that list up, thats the point i was trying to make. Quote
Rogie Posted January 9, 2013 Posted January 9, 2013 I agree he is talented, and he's Dutch I believe, usually pretty level-headed, rational people the Dutch, although I expect there's the odd psycho out and about. He calls his board the Gay Thailand Forum, and I'm writing on the Gay Thailand Message Board, so he's being a bit cheeky I reckon. Seems having two of everything is rather in vogue, not long ago we had BahtStop and Baht-Stop. Siamese twins? . . . like Chang and Eng . . . no, not really, they just sound similar but as different as chalk and cheese. I have a suggestion: the two 'Gay Thailand' forums / message boards to join forces The one I'm writing on gets some fresh talent and t'other one gets some credibility. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 so i wouldnt be surprised if he made that list up, thats the point i was trying to make. I do not know this person. Do you? If he was just aiming a barb at his partner/ex-partner, why involve several other posters? No other posters at that time considered your suggestion very likely. They regarded it virtually as fact. Quote
Guest timmberty Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 no idea who he is either .. dutch fella so he says .. no other poster had a chance to agree with me as he banned them all at the same time ... and guess whatie ... they where all the people on his list. Quote
Guest timmberty Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 I agree he is talented, and he's Dutch I believe, usually pretty level-headed, rational people the Dutch, although I expect there's the odd psycho out and about. He calls his board the Gay Thailand Forum, and I'm writing on the Gay Thailand Message Board, so he's being a bit cheeky I reckon. Seems having two of everything is rather in vogue, not long ago we had BahtStop and Baht-Stop. Siamese twins? . . . like Chang and Eng . . . no, not really, they just sound similar but as different as chalk and cheese. I have a suggestion: the two 'Gay Thailand' forums / message boards to join forces The one I'm writing on gets some fresh talent and t'other one gets some credibility. no one has posted on that board for a week almost now .. and most of what got posted there was total rubbish .. and i should know i posted most of it ¬.¬ Quote
