[Barney_Rubble]

Hello everybody. I'm not quite sure where's the best place to put this, but I'm hoping somebody here, perhaps the admins, can tell me exactly what information my computer is broadcasting to anybody able to detect it.

For a few years I was a regular on another forum, but then something happened in my private life, causing me to "drop out" for a few months. When I did return, intending it to be on a much more "part time" basis, I found the place had acquired a "school playground" mentality that I didn't like. I sometimes had the odd "lurk", but seldom bothered to log on any more.

A few months ago I did attempt to log on to help somebody with a problem that had been ignored for some time, only to find that I had been banned! Even more insulting, the message said I would be "unbanned" in so many days, hours, minutes ...

Had I not tried to log on that day I may never even have known about the ban. Perhaps I'd been banned before. Nobody bothered to contact me.

From a single cryptic clue, it seems that - in my absence - I may have been accused, tried and convicted of trying to impersonate another member!

This was the last straw, so a few days after the ban expired, I logged on and posted a "goodbye" message. Nothing offensive. No mention of the ban. Not one word of criticism. I merely said that I would not be back and that my friends were welcome to contact me via my website (http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/lesgrotte/).

I checked back later and they'd deleted my post and cleared my profile, so I think I can safely assume that I've become an "unperson", though I've never been told why.

I won't be going back there, but if such a thing can happen once, it could happen again.

I realise "anybody" can see my IP address, though being on dial-up, I understand that this is randomly allocated each time I connect to the internet. I'm aware that my OS (Windows ME) and browser (IE6) is detectable. Presumably my e-mail address is also visible. Is there anything else though? Is there something which, had I any interest, I could have told them to check that might have proved my innocence? Is there ANY way I could have directed them to something that would have proved my case one way or another?

They obviously didn't check whatever information may have been available to them, but for my own future protection I do need to know what that information is.

[DJDK]

barney, good to see you again, ive had problems with the forum you wish not to mention, and there is a lot of data available. i believe the forum you mention uses google analytics which can pin point where you live. there is a lot more data that you can find out pending on your firewall, if i find a site that shows you some of the things collected ill forward the address to you

[HJM]

Never mind pin pointing where you live, those Google stats can tell what colour undies you're wearing and what rocks your Dolly Partons!!

[DevilsAdvocate]

Never mind pin pointing where you live, those Google stats can tell what colour undies you're wearing and what rocks your Dolly Partons!!

Ooh, you are aweful, but I like you!

[paulthomasno6]

They sound like a nice bunch to avoid.
I understand that you've got reasons not to name them aloud, Barney, but is there a quiet way of advising us who they are? If they've been given the thumbs down by folks here at DAL, that's good enough for me. I'd like to keep my distance.

[Barney_Rubble]

Thanks for the welcome, DJDK. My private life is still pretty screwed up, though fortunately my computer isn't, so there's very little time available to spend on a forum any more - even a good one like this (grovel).

There's no special reason not to identify the other forum. It just didn't seem all that relevant. For those who don't already know, it's Web User magazine (www.webuser.co.uk).

It's the only place I know where, if a member complains about intrusive advertising and somebody advises how to block it, they do everything they can to make the adverts even more annoying and more difficult to block. The attitude is "if you don't like it, you know what you can do", so I did. That and the time-limited "ban". If you're going to ban people, ban them. I can't imagine which dictionary contains that non-word "unbanned", but to me it just indicates a lack of education.

No offence intended to people who weren't lucky enough to get a proper education. The government doesn't consider that important any more. I'd have thought the AOL-Time-Warner-IPC group could have got it right though.

"Your ban will expire in (days, hours, minutes)" would have been better in terms of correct English, but it wouldn't have made it any less insulting. "You're accused of having been a naughty little boy. You will be excluded from school for two weeks" or whatever the duration of the "ban" may have been. What's the point of a time-limited ban, especially when the person being banned isn't even informed? I may never even have known I'd been banned.

[D-A-L]

Hey Barney,

I must admit I have actually not been on here as much as usual in the recent weeks due to some issues with my phone line and internet. I have not myself ever had any experience with Webuser although I am aware some members here have. All I wanted to add to this thread for what its worth is that I am aware of people being banned from other forums I frequent sometimes because they have signed up for more than one account. As an administrator this is easy to find out if I wanted to and is usually investigated by an admin if someone is appearing to be trying to impersonate another user by signing up a second account on the forum. This can usually be detected by an IP address but other factors can also be taken into account to track this. I am not saying for one minute you did do that by the way just that this is what most forums would class as impersonating another member.

It is indeed true that forums using Google Analytics (including this forum) can track certain detail about the country you are from, the browser you are using etc This has been the case for a long time though on the internet and is nothing new in terms of web stats software. It is possible to minimise the amount of information you broadcast by having stricter control over your own PC's security but we are certainly entering an age now where the large internet corporations are collecting increasingly detailed personal data about us all and what we do online.

[Barney_Rubble]

Thanks for that, D-A-L (Guru/Genius - I like it!), and apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I'm going to be disappearing again soon. With support being withdrawn next month for older versions of Windows I'm planning a good clear out, clean install, grab all the updates again and then make a nice clean, fully updated GHOST image for future emergencies (everything crossed).

That lot could keep me out of circulation for up to a fortnight allowing for the lack of time nowadays.

Any chance of listing ALL the information you can get about me from this thread? Not the actual details in the case of things like my e-mail address, of course, just the TYPE of data. I probably won't find myself in the same situation again, especially as I won't be going back to Web User, but I'd feel better knowing exactly what my computer is broadcasting and what I could tell people to look at if something like that ever did happen in the future.

[DevilsAdvocate]

Dual IDs are a no-no on many a reputable forum, and rightly so. Dual IDists are often banned members, trolls or some other nuisance.

Perpetrators often get found out, sooner or later, one way or another; writing style, post themes, phraseology, IP address', cookie feedback, etc. Whilst some instances may not offer absolute proof, most admin will deal with any potential breach of policy on a balance of probabilities basis, and act accordingly.

One has to be extremely diligent and canny to get away with it for any length of time.

[Barney_Rubble]

(Back at last)

Ok. I give up. To be accused is to be convicted. It's clear that I'm not going to get the information I asked for, even though there's a potential security threat involved.

For the future I'll just have to hope my style of writing doesn't match anybody else's too closely.

One final point. If I'm ever suspected of any wrongdoing on here, I hope I'll be told about it, and if I'm to be banned, make it a REAL (=permanent) ban.