Need help with forum troll

[SlackJaw]

Re: Need help with forum troll

Well, we can give a try, although this isn't really a tech support site. These sites cover a lot of small networking basics, and may be beneficial if someone here can't push you in the right direction.

Glad to hear you say that thorn; I've had a nagging problem keeping me up nights.

In the FCS segment of a framed packet, does the polynomial generated have anything to do with the random timeout sequence during a CSMA/CD "jam" mode?

You know, this is a bullshit question but I can almost guarantee someone here could expound on it and turn it into a quite enlightening lesson. However, before I get blasted, I'm aware that packet framing and CSMA/CD have little to do with each other.

God I'm bored..........

[xor]

Re: Need help with forum troll

Netbios not working is a good thing :)

xor

[IBTrippin]

Re: Need help with forum troll

At times there are some pretty heated discussions on the forum. We're located about fourty miles southwest of Jena, Louisiana, home of the Jena 6 that's been in the news the past year. So the discussions about that get pretty heated sometimes. Right now news is slow and there's not much other than your typical banter going on.
When our troll first started posting he was using the name Lawnrebel and the first thing he started doing was belittling people about their comments. then it went to accusations of stalking, calling others trolls, and then to outright cursing other posters. He was warned several times about his language and attitude untill he cursed one of the other moderators. That's when we decided to pull the plug. Well he's back and right now he seems to be behaving so we'll let him be for now. But we want to be prepared.
I think I'll wait untill after the hoildays to mess with the networking issue, there's more to it than just a simple "oops I forgot to do that" type thing. System restore has quit working, I can't access netbios, and there's a couple of others I can't recall right now. But I don't want to mess with it right now, not with the holidays approaching. Maybe at the end of January when everything gets boring and I've nothing much to do. Everything is working good enough for the time being and if the desktop fails there's always the laptop.
Thank you for your time, you've been more than helpful and completely professional.
Best Wishes to you and yours
IBT.

[xor]

Re: Need help with forum troll

I went to the newspaper website and was just looking around and I didn't see anything that was really objectionable. Why exactly do you want to ban this person other than he maybe SPAMMIING the forum by talking to himself with different user names. I didn't spend a lot of time there as I was bored out of mind after the first 5 minutes, then again I don't live in your home town. Just curious...... Heck if I was banned by every site I went to for bad jokes and talking to myself(the most intelligent conversation I've had all day) I would turn on my computer and try and go to the internet and get a blank screen. :)

I'm sure this person will tire of this. Defcon forums have an interesting policy where you have to wait a specific amount of time before you can post after registering; a fine policy indeed(shameless brown nosing). :) Perhaps you should consider a similar policy.

You could also look at it in a positive way as this person despite spamming you may in a small way be generating buzz about your site. We have been programmed by the media since birth to pay more attention to negative behavior than positive. Heck, I got sucked into going there and looking around.

xor

[Thorn]

Re: Need help with forum troll

Listen to Thorn.

Can I quote on that?

Ok Guys, Thank you very much for your time and suggestions.

You're welcome.

BTW do you offer help with networking issues? I having some problems with my home network that's driving me nutzoid. Just wondering.

Well, we can give a try, although this isn't really a tech support site. These sites cover a lot of small networking basics, and may be beneficial if someone here can't push you in the right direction.

Suggested Websites:
www.practicallynetworked.com
www.tomshardware.com
www.homepcnetwork.com
www.homenethelp.com

[IBTrippin]

Re: Need help with forum troll

BTW do you offer help with networking issues? I having some problems with my home network that's driving me nutzoid. Just wondering.

[IBTrippin]

Re: Need help with forum troll

Ok Guys, Thank you very much for your time and suggestions. The information I've recieved from all of you has been very enlightening. I know a little more that I did before and that's what I needed, a push in the right direction. You've been a big help.
Happy Holidays to all of you.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Need help with forum troll

Just be careful when asking questions here. If you ask a question here that I can find answers for by asking google, then that shows you are not investing much time in your own personal research. (I don't mind helping people that demonstrate they want to be helped by first helping themselves through independent research.)

The worst offenders in asking simple questions are found in cases where I can take their question, word-for-word, and paste it into google to find an answer on the first page, or worse-- the first hit.

As for a user having different IP addresses...

Listen to Thorn. Learn about how IP Addresses work, network blocks, and how you can attempt to locate real-world cities/states/countries as points of origin for the user. If all or most of the IP addresses used are from a geographical location, then you might know a little more about the user than you thought.

People frequently have one or more jobs, sometimes with internet access, maybe school with internet access, if they are professional in IT, maybe one or more colocation facility networks, and maybe the occasional coffee shop with free WiFi. Additionally, many home users with dialup or broadband are forced to use IP based on Dynamic assignment. Any of these could explain why an avergae user might have different IP Addresses.

[IBTrippin]

Re: Need help with forum troll

It's seems funny sometimes how much you can learn about someone just from what they post. Yes Thorn you're right. This has just been kinda dumped off into my lap and I really don't know too much about what's actually going on. All I'm required to do is follow up on abuse reports, make sure our Terms of Service is being followed and Post/email the occasional warnings. All of this was set up before I was brought in on it. But I'm trying to learn. And learning starts with asking someone who would know about such things. Like you people. Then following up on my own and taking my newfound knowledge to the next level. I had hopes that I could find a "quick fix" so to speak. But I am looking at the phpbb website and I am researching what would need to be done there.
As for he being the same poster we're quite sure that Raven Rivers and Lawnrebel is the same person. It's just he always has a different IP address everytime he logs on. But his phrases and syntax is the same as well as his methods of posting. We're not sure about JAKE49 not only is his IP always different and his methods are somewhat different also.
Thank you for your advice.

[Thorn]

Re: Need help with forum troll

This is the URL of the website he posts under most often:
http://forums.thetowntalk.com/viewfo...9df977ef053acb
His user name is Raven Rivers but we think he also posts as JAKE49. In the past, when all of this started he was using Lawnrebel as his handle.

The way that is worded makes it sound like you don't positively know its the same person. Have you determined that it is the same user via IP address and/or subnet?

If you don't know, you probably need to start with some basics on how to identify users based on things like IP addresses and subnets on your Forum. (There's an old saying in these circles: "RTFM" or "Read The, uh, Fine Manual.")Since it appears you are using PHPBB, the manuals for PHPBB v2 and v3 are located here: http://www.phpbb.com/support/documentation/

Of course, part of what's implied there is that you have a basic understanding of how the Internet works in general, or at least a rough idea of how Domain Name Servers (DNS), and Internet Protocol (IP) Addresses work. A quick search on Google for both those topics (along with some words like "introduction" or "basics") should give you some information to get you started.

Excuse me if you're an ubergeek who set this all up, and the above is old hat, but from what you've said so far, it sound like you've been given the task of moderating the forum, but don't have too much technical experience. If that's true, you will probably need to learn a few basics of DNS and IP Addressing, and work with someone who knows those details quite well. That would at least get you up to speed so that the obnoxious users don't know more about how all this works than you.

[theprez98]

Re: Need help with forum troll

I say ban the whole subnut, possibly all of apnic ... you will save yourself a lot of time at the cost of only a few worthless readers.

booya?

I know some people that do in fact ban all of APNIC. Depending upon your site, there might be good reasons to do it.

[IBTrippin]

Re: Need help with forum troll

This is the URL of the website he posts under most often:
http://forums.thetowntalk.com/viewfo...9df977ef053acb
His user name is Raven Rivers but we think he also posts as JAKE49. In the past, when all of this started he was using Lawnrebel as his handle.
Yes any answers on defense is what I'm searching for. I'm not looking to beat a ban but to enforce one. I was just hoping that any information as to what he may be using would give me insight as to what course of action I should take but it's not necessary.
Thanks Again Guys.
IBTrippin

[converge]

Re: Need help with forum troll

I say ban the whole subnut, possibly all of apnic ... you will save yourself a lot of time at the cost of only a few worthless readers.

booya?

[TheCotMan]

Re: Need help with forum troll

I'm not disclosing any private information about this user, but I can tell you the email address used is not from one of those generic, throw-away free webmail accounts, and the IP/SNM matches the provider in whois. (There are cheaper ways to SE exploits, and the users doesn't seem to be pushing request for exploit techniqes.)

There are other items which suggest this isn't a case of SE, but the prudent choice would be to provide suggestions on defense, but not offensive techniques.

Before answering, I attempted a few google searches to find HowTo on dealing with trolls, spam and more in a forum setting, but several searches revealed little more than comments about how much trolls and spam both suck.

I'm not vouching for this user, but a few suggestions on defense seem reasonable. I've omitted most techniques that require explaining an attack vector-- especially more advanced techniques. TOR is so widely known, I considered it a freebie. Even IRC Servers have supported filtering of Tor Exit servers to some degree for about 2 or 3 years or more.

Of course a URL to examples might help. It might also help to identify the forum being used, to better suggest application-specific solutions. (It would have helped me in google searches to suggest better search patterns so the user could help themself.)

[SlackJaw]

Re: Need help with forum troll

Post the URL to your forum and the current username of the offender. I believe some here would perhaps like to see this firsthand so as to make an informed decision. Or not....