Good Day Everyone.
In October 2007, our site upgrades included an IP tracker; this creates an automatic notice whenever a new user registers a profile on AGORACOM using an IP address already on our network. We would then look into the matter and dismember the newly formed account.
One problem with this application is that IP addresses are not necessarily unique. Internet service provider use IP addresses to locate and talk to each other on the Internet, much the same way people use phone numbers to locate and talk to one another on the telephone. When you want to visit whatis.com, your computer asks a domain name system (DNS) server (think telephone information operator) for the correct dotted quad number (think phone number) for whatis.com and your computer uses the answer it receives to connect to the whatis.com server.
It would be simple if every computer that connects to the Internet could have its own static IP number, but when the Internet was first conceived, the architects didn't foresee the need for an unlimited number of IP addresses. Consequently, there are not enough IP numbers to go around. To get around that problem, many Internet service providers (including Telus, aol) limit the number of static IP addresses they allocate, and economize on the remaining number of IP addresses they possess by temporarily assigning an IP address to a requesting Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) computer from a pool of IP addresses. The temporary IP address is called a dynamic IP address.
Where an IP address is assigned to multiple users.
In our experience, it becomes reasonably obvious as to who may be using another profile to either skew with users ratings, or to use another alias to bash on other boards. And for the overwhelming amounts of time members of the community or an admin catch them.
Nothing can be full proof these days, however with the help of participants within this forum, we do catch the vast majority of users with multiple aliases.
We hope this eases your concerns regarding this matter.
Kind Regards,
AGORACOM
