Board Game Arena

So I've been playing on BGA for 2.5 years plus, at first mainly with friends and recently with strangers. Today I had an experience with an extremely aggressive, angry and abusive player. It's only the 2nd time I have ever had to report abuse-- they basically demanded we quit the game immediately because something came up, when others resisted began abuse, obscenities, etc. After I reported the person I went back to tag a comment in case I ever see this person again, despite my thumbs down. The account had been shut down, so maybe the BGA moderators were really quick in follow up?
Okay, but this person seemed violently abusive, so I wonder-- if someone is banned for abuse couldn't they just return under a different screen name and resume it? . . . or would BGA flag the IP address? Just wondering if anyone knows. (I shouldn't make a big deal of it, but this is one of the last places I expect to run into raving maniacs, so just wondering.)

The player wasn't banned by the moderators so fast; otherwise, it would have shown a red text "this player was banned forever" or something.
The player simply deleted their account after the game you refused to abandon; and that you ultimately quit... I assume because of the obscenities and the anger.
So that's why the account vanished.

And yes, the player can (and probably will) remake an account.
As for the IP: if you, for instance, had an Internet Router and were IP-banned by BGA for abusive behaviour and reset your Router, I am not sure 100%, but I think the IP-ban would be futile and you would be able to continue creating accounts and engage in abusive behaviour (because you now have a different IP).

So unless BGA banned all IPs coming from a certain country or region, I think people with non-fixed Internet connection would be immune to any IP-ban, if they reset their IP.

MarkTJaipur wrote: ↑09 January 2023, 22:35 After I reported the person I went back to tag a comment in case I ever see this person again, despite my thumbs down. The account had been shut down, so maybe the BGA moderators were really quick in follow up?

This sounds like this happend within minutes? I guess it is very unlikely that BGA moderators are that fast. At least they should investigate before banning someone? Probably they banned this player for other reasons and just by coincidence it looked like an immediate reaction to your report.

Ze Monstah wrote: ↑09 January 2023, 23:10 As for the IP: if you, for instance, had an Internet Router and were IP-banned by BGA for abusive behaviour and reset your Router, I am not sure 100%, but I think the IP-ban would be futile and you would be able to continue creating accounts and engage in abusive behaviour (because you now have a different IP).

Following up on this, I'd hazard a guess that most casual Internet users have dynamic IP addresses (e.g., DHCP), even at home, not fixed IP addresses. So after a while they won't even be using the same IP address. Also, if bans were based on IP addresses, it would be hard to know if they had been playing at a coffee shop, at school, at home, etc., and when they change locations they'd have a new IP and would no longer be banned. That seems silly and I doubt it's done that way.

Meeplelowda wrote: ↑10 January 2023, 00:24

Ze Monstah wrote: ↑09 January 2023, 23:10 As for the IP: if you, for instance, had an Internet Router and were IP-banned by BGA for abusive behaviour and reset your Router, I am not sure 100%, but I think the IP-ban would be futile and you would be able to continue creating accounts and engage in abusive behaviour (because you now have a different IP).

Following up on this, I'd hazard a guess that most casual Internet users have dynamic IP addresses (e.g., DHCP), even at home, not fixed IP addresses. So after a while they won't even be using the same IP address. Also, if bans were based on IP addresses, it would be hard to know if they had been playing at a coffee shop, at school, at home, etc., and when they change locations they'd have a new IP and would no longer be banned. That seems silly and I doubt it's done that way.

There are enough players who don't have a dynamic IP at home (even though most players have it dynamic) and who don't play on BGA by using the phone's mobile data (while not at home).

But I know for a fact that a player who got banned (banned as in not being able to register anymore), simply reset the IP and then, was able to make a new account. So...
But maybe we are both right, and register-bans can be given by both IP-banning and otherwise; who knows...

The best solution would be for people to stop getting banned (by changing behaviour or whatever).

Another would be to ban IPs based on location (small area, country, etc.), but I am sure anyone can see the difficulty (if not ridiculousness) in going this way.

Ze Monstah wrote: ↑10 January 2023, 01:21But I know for a fact that a player who got banned (banned as in not being able to register anymore), simply reset the IP and then, was able to make a new account.

That is interesting. I wonder why they'd bother with a method of enforcement that is so easily evaded.

Meeplelowda wrote: ↑10 January 2023, 02:30

Ze Monstah wrote: ↑10 January 2023, 01:21But I know for a fact that a player who got banned (banned as in not being able to register anymore), simply reset the IP and then, was able to make a new account.

That is interesting. I wonder why they'd bother with a method of enforcement that is so easily evaded.

Perhaps it's the only known/possible way?
I mean if you want to ban a human being (after the usual account-ban fails), you have to ban something related to that individual's internet, right?
What can you ban, Internet-related? The IP.

So you can either ban the IP of that person at the moment of the ban (if he/she has a fixed Internet, that would do it), or... you can go a step further and perhaps ban all the IPs coming from a certain area that the individual was associated with? (country, etc.) This seems extreme, and obviously won't be taken into consideration.

I am not an expert in IT, IPs, Internet or whatever, but since I know resetting the IP evades a registration-ban... I am not sure what else can be done, in extreme abusive cases.
Except repeatedly ban the IPs of the abusive individual until he or she gets bored of BGA.

Thanks to everyone who took the time and effort to reply!! Yes, it does make sense that the person realized they had crossed a line (a couple lines, actually, unfounded ad hominem attack + obscenity) and temporarily deleted the account . . . I think when I play the game in which we were interacting, I will be careful when seeing unfamiliar faces to look and see when the account opened, if any behavior arouses suspicion. If it opened Jan. 9, 2023 or later, could be this person. Hopefully they don't have the intensity and interest to stalk me, but I think a reasonable amount of caution should see me thru . . . again, 98% or more of my interactions on BGA are positive, so fingers crossed this was just random bad luck.

It really * that there aren't really good ways to stop someone who's been banned for abusive behaviour online from making a new account. Unfortunately this a possible issue in any online community. I think that deleting & recreating an account in order to evade other players' red thumbs should definitely be punished with a more permanent ban but I also understand that BGA has limited means with which to enforce that. Still... Report jerks like this to the mods anyway, it can only help the rest of us.

With regards to your specific situation, let's just hope that is that the person rage quiting means they have given up on BGA entirely now. Possibly not, but we can hope!

*moderator edit: please remember to use family-friendly language on BGA.

... and obviously we have methods to face this kind of behavior, including IP ban, and including other methods that we cannot / do not want to describe in order to keep their efficiency. Otherwise, this would happened frequently, while this does not happen that often