Any way that when newbies sign up, their IP address is compared against existing offenders (as the ivan hater tonight showed) and they are prevented from joining or they are read only?
There is. However, the real question is it too much to do such for ET management or a waste of their time & energy. Also, as you already know (you've said it yourself a few times in the past)... Banning an IP address does not prevent someone from returning. If they're stupid but eager...they'll just go use another computer some where else. Yet, if they're smart and eager...they'll just set it up so that they can easily change their IP address on the same computer. A better method but more work is to just identify the ISP and if it's one from North America... Contact the ISP and send them copies of the offensive messages and IP header info. A good ISP will take action via warning or canceling the account of their customer that broke their own TOU policy. I've done that myself elsewhere at another forum and it works very well where I moderate. Yet, like I said, it's more work and you really need to send a lot of documentation as proof. Then there's the message post queue (hold the first 1 - 10) posts in queue for moderator review prior to releasing the message. That works well too but only at particular types of discussion forums. The best option as everybody and their grandparents knows about... Re-design the registration process so that you can put a face on those wanting access to the forum. The belief in error is that this will scare away potentially good members. In reality, it attracts good members and scares away the problematic posters. Yet, most forums aren't willing to try that method via all the myths associated with it about losing members. Mark