Fake handles - we do NOT want you here. And you WILL get rumbled - read here for more info! A gentle overview of fake handles only started here to be a nuisance - I can and will find you and ban your handle and your ISP!
Just a little overview for info, of how sophisticated this phpBB software really is that I am using. These boards are used heavily by all kinds of groups of folks with common interests. The largest board has
SEVENTEEN MILLION members:
http://rankings.big-boards.com/?filter=phpBB,allThis board below (from Holland) has the same look as ours, yet has near 50
MILLION posts;
http://www.bokt.nl/forumsSo phpBB Admin software can handle the biggest boards, and has masses of features, that normal users do not see. It has so many bells and whistles attached to it behind the scenes, even after months of using it I am still finding my way.
What I see as Admin on the control console is phenomenal.
By the way - I can 105% guarantee you that all user passwords are NOT visible to Admin - that much you would know from other Bulletin Boards you have used. I have never seen them, or can never access them at any point.
But what I (and the 20 other members appointed as moderators) can see on
EVERY post is a little box that tells us the actual ISP (internet address) that posted it. Very interesting. And EVERY IP that member has ever posted from. And if I click on any of those IP addresses it gives me an exact location of where it was posted from.
Of course lots of commercial sites offer that match anyway like:
http://www.ip-adress.com/So if you paste in my IP address:
58.164.75.16
.... into that box on that site it tells you I am in Sydney Australia. Neat. You can even see an aerial photo of where I am typing this from!
Now for 99.999% of users, this will not be an issue for them - or Admin.
And when I or the 20 moderators here click on that little "IP" button on a post we think looks just a little weird or suspicious ..... guess what --
the software automatically displays any OTHER handles on this board that have posted from that same unique IP address. And when, and on what threads.
So when 3 apparently un-connected handles like "Rusted" of Scotland, "Perfed" from Kansas" and "Mutton" from Auckland are all actually living and posting from Cairns, even a dummy like me smells a rat!However we all know "there is one in every crowd" and a few jackasses will even mess around with fun stamp boards. It has occurred already in a tiny way, and I quickly negated it without anyone else noticing.
No problem. I can ban any user name(s) and remove all their posts in a 5 second operation if I choose. I LOVE computers!
And in the next 5 second operation I can blanket ban that IP address from ever posting here again ..... they simply can't even access or see the site.
Any moderator can click a box on
ANY post and it vanishes in a second. This can and does occur with spam and porno stuff etc and users ordinarily never even see that - it vanishes so fast.
I have no real issue with folks having 2 handles IF for a good and valid reason. for instance if Kevin Morgan wants to start one for
Kevin Morgan and one for
bidferret so as to post separately I'd have no issue whatever with that or anything similar. A good deal less typing than the current
bidferret/Kevin Morgan handle!
The control panel has a few other VERY neat tricks too, that I will not go into here, but they are hard to beat.
As I outlined elsewhere I've made
over 40,000 posts on travel boards over 7 years. I am a moderator on one, and on the member elected Board for another with 135,000 members. In short I know my way around these boards like the back on my hand. Whatever 'clever' thing anyone has even thought of I have seen, heard of, and know how to deal with it in seconds.
Just a friendly "heads - up" ... please stick to friendly posting about stamps and you will NEVER need to read this section! Glen