I am here to plead the case of someone who was banned 2 yrs ago after undergoing relentless persecusion from a couple of other members who were banned at the same time this persecution extended to a former moderator aswell who wasnt banned.

My friend regrets what was said and what was said in the heat of the moment by him to members of staff at the time and after all time moves on and these were just words upon a screen and like many of the great works of art that have come and gone and faded into memory.

I have never been in trouble here and would vouch for my friend and should he step out of line again should you consider the lifting of his ban you could also ban me without any come back.

My friend has not asked me do this and doesnt even know that i have done this

so if i supply you with his membership name at that time would you kidly reconsider your ban and i would like to thank all who would support this action

kelvin hughes

Uh, he can just sign up with a new name. People do it all the time, even "banned" ones. bonni

Elizabyte if thats the case whats the big deal over a banning? Not being a smartass here either, I thought that once they banned you, somehow you couldn't even access the site anymore from your puter.

They used to do IP bans, but yeah, people can just sign up again. I know people with several clone accounts, one after the other. Generally, so long as you behave yourself in the new clone, they don't care too much (at least, from what I've seen). The big deal is that people do get attached to their 'nym and want to keep it, and they lose access to their download history and such. bonni

but my friend has ip ban and i would like to see it lifted if thats true what is happening then it is unfair to some one who is IP banned as they are unable to log at all to the site

Hi kelvinhughes, The member in question would need to contact us theirselves by emailing admin@renderosity.com. We cannot discuss another members account and such with anyone other than that member. Thank you, Stacey Community Manager

Anyone whose IP address was banned can just get himself a new ISP and he'd have a new IP address. And I wonder how such bans would cope with dynamic IP addresses? Perhaps that's why they don't do them any more (if that is in fact the case).

I think it's a TOS violation if somebody tries to make a clone account after being banned, but if the guy (or gal) is truly repentant, maybe they will let him sign up again. Using buzzwords like "persecution" is not a sign of repentance, but maybe if he/she drops that confrontational approach, things will work out for him/her.

If I understand the matter correctly, IP bans have the effect of locking out an entire section of IP's -- not just the IP held by the banned individual.

If this it true, then an IP ban is like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly.......the ancillary damage exceeds the goal.

Hi Guys, Just to clear up, if you have been banned if you create a another username (a clone account) you will be banned again. A Clone Account IS against the TOS. :) Ryuslilangel Moderator

A duplicate account is a clone account. Since each account has to have a different user-name, it is impossible to have real exact duplicates in the same way that PhotoShop makes a duplicate layer. Some people do come back repeatedly. Somtimes they hang around for a bit too long before getting caught out. But if they are so readily identified, it is probably for the same behavior which got them banned in the first place. A person who has moved several times, say from state to state and back again, may have had a half dozen email accounts under different ISPs... but if the trouble-maker is that recognizable, s/he has to be dealt with each and every time they try to sneak back. Carolly

I think it's a TOS violation if somebody tries to make a clone account after being banned Yes, but people do it all the time, anyway, and they mostly get away with it. bonni

If I understand the matter correctly, IP bans have the effect of locking out an entire section of IP's -- not just the IP held by the banned individual. You can block one IP address or a whole range of them. Some ISPs use a proxy address, so if you block that, you block huge portions of their users, though. And yes, if the person has a dynamic IP and you block a whole range to keep them out, you also keep out everyone else at that ISP. IP blocking is only genuinely effective in a reasonable way if the person you're trying to keep out has a static IP address. bonni

And if the fixed IP doesn't belong to a network of users.

** A Clone Account IS against the TOS. :)** Really....hmmm so how many clone accounts are here at 'Osity?

Sometimes I wonder if you people are talking about clones or clowns? LOL! Okay, excuse me, one of those blonde moments, my lizard hairpin may be on too tight. So jumpy, what happens if a forum TOS bans itself because eighty nine percent of the membership may be clones? And what about some members that are a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone, I mean, just think of how many clones must be voting in the gallery hot twenty alone! Makes you wonder if even merchants clone to buy their own stuff to have nice lists of buyers? That be just as silly and I sure don't want to believe that could even happen. This clone thing is over rated in one sense and under rated in another. I don't believe it is promoted, but I think it is used as an excuse at times to bun people and way overlooked in others or the whole forum would be only around three hundred and twenty four original members. I would laugh at this point, except it's not funny. None of this is. Giving me a headache which is not a good way for a woman to start her Weekend.

Hey Jumpy, What rysuslilangel meant was coming back in as a clone if you have been banned is against the TOS. We know there are members here who have more than one account, while we certainly don't encourage this, its not against the TOS. Thanks Stacey Community Manager

"Makes you wonder if even merchants clone to buy their own stuff to have nice lists of buyers? That be just as silly and I sure don't want to believe that could even happen." "Silly" would be an understatement, given that Rendo takes 50% on each sale :) Mick.

I mean, just think of how many clones must be voting in the gallery hot twenty alone! ~snicker~ dont want to think about that. @Stacey: Thanks. Now, is there any way to tell exactly how many 'actual' members there are...? It would be interesting to know that true number. And just out of curiosity, will several clone accounts pull on the bandwith here? {have NO clue about bandwith issues..still learning that}

Hi Jumpy, There's not a way right now to get total members since it takes so long for the member statistics page to resolve all the queries . However, we just queried the database and there are 174262 active members. Hope this helps a little:) The second question I am not sure about either and so I asked one of the programmers and he wasn't clear on your question about the clones and bandwith issue. Sorry Thanks Stacey

Thanks Stacey :) What I meant about the clones and bandwith is, if members/users in general being here, would pull bandwith {Im thinking yes} what would it do to have those same members using clone accounts..would it use anymore bandwith?

Short answer no...not really..bandwidth has to do with how many pages are being served/images served/queries run, etc. You could have 2 pages open in 2 windows and be signed in under 2 names running 2 different searches, but it wouldn't be any different than one user having 2 pages open running 2 searches. Same difference. Unless one found a way to have all 170000 people logged on at once doing things I don't see how it would affect bandwidth at all.

XENOPHONZ wrote "If I understand the matter correctly, IP bans have the effect of locking out an entire section of IP's -- not just the IP held by the banned individual.". Similar happened with me. I worked in a university until recently. (I am now retired.) Around 10 or 15 years ago the university's email server blocked all access to sites whose names contained "netcom", to block access to some porn sites. And as a side-effect it blocked incoming email from a small computer-repair firm called Netcom that I needed to contact sometimes.