The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 3 (of 5)

Are IP addresses recorded?

Does this board record my IP address when I make a post?

Thursday, December 18, 2003

Yea, it stores it in a database with your mother's maiden name and the perfume you were wearing when you posted :)

Stephen Jones
Thursday, December 18, 2003

Any answer would be meaningless.

- No is not a guarantee about later today or tomorrow.
- Yes they are - again could change

In the end, if that is your concern, get yourself a nice anonymous surfing connection like http://www.the-cloak.com/login.html knowing that if someone wanted to, with enough effort they could still find you.

Anon -- Ok I am being ironic....
Thursday, December 18, 2003

Stephen

I think the mothers maiden name goes in the table where password reminder questions are kept.

127.0.0.1
Thursday, December 18, 2003

There's no need for sarchasim here. It's a simple question. Why does it matter? I don't know, but obviously the OP was curious. Doesn't IIS record that information anyway?

I'm sure the IP address could be used in forum software for many different things: IP address blocking, Displaying various posts to a given set of IP's etc etc...

As far as finding someone through their IP, I'm sure that is not much of a concern to the OP. (Is it?)

Maybe a better question would be, If my IP address is recorded, how is it used in this message board?

Thursday, December 18, 2003

If I recall Joel said if a post is deleted the original poster will still see it thinking it hasn't been deleted. So probably the only way to do that is to use the IP address and match it up with the post.

DJ
Thursday, December 18, 2003

"So probably the only way to do that is to use the IP address"
or a cookie maybe? I seem to be getting a sUniqueId cookie amoung others from this site.

i like i
Thursday, December 18, 2003

Goodbye thread.

www.MarkTAW.com
Thursday, December 18, 2003

DJ, they use cookies for that, not IP address. I have cookies blocked for this site (it's actually the only site I have cookies blocked for) so I can tell when they've deleted one of my posts.

Apologies for the sarcasm, but you should remember that sites can keep your IP address when you just link to them, let alone post.

Stephen Jones
Thursday, December 18, 2003

Cookies of course - not good to post before the first coffee in the morning ;-)

DJ
Thursday, December 18, 2003

LOL!

Incoherent Abbreviator
Thursday, December 18, 2003

Joel, you crack me up.

Thursday, December 18, 2003

This is one of the few sites I don't have cookies blocked for, but using several browsers I could check if I wanted to. Though, whenever one of my posts is deleted, I see it as having been deleted.

www.MarkTAW.com
Thursday, December 18, 2003

This is a way old post, but it provides an answer to your question.

http://discuss.fogcreek.com/joelonsoftware/default.asp?cmd=show&ixPost=89&ixReplies=12

Big B
Thursday, December 18, 2003

* We now track IP addresses of posters, which provides a modicum of accountability. Maybe not much, but helpful if someone actually uses this discussion board to commit a felony. (Yeah, right!)

====

That's funny. Since then I've seen a half dozen posts, no more harmful than the spam I get, advertising illegal this or illegal that.

www.MarkTAW.com
Thursday, December 18, 2003

Can anyone cite a reference for the "you can't tell if your post is deleted" rumor?

Mike Schiraldi
Thursday, December 18, 2003

It's not a rumor. It was e-mailed out to all the people who subscribe to Joel's e-mail. There were many details he gave out only in that e-mail, and the "don't know when your own post has been deleted" thing was on that list.

Brad Wilson (dotnetguy.techieswithcats.com)
Thursday, December 18, 2003

Whenever I need to post to this forum, I drive to a neighboring city and post from an Internet café.

You can't be too careful these days.

Tinfoil hat contingent
Thursday, December 18, 2003

> There were many details he gave out only in that e-mail

No, that was the only detail in that e-mail that didn't make it to the post.

I'm really surprised this thread is still here, or maybe it isn't, maybe it's a cookie or my IP address that are still allowing me to see it.

www.MarkTAW.com
Thursday, December 18, 2003

You do remember to put false license plates on the car first I hope.

Stephen Jones
Thursday, December 18, 2003

... And pay cash, wearing disposable gloves (which you burn) the whole time so that there are no fingerprints anywhere. Not to mention subtly altering your appearance, and switching modes of transportation and backtracking at least once along the way.

www.MarkTAW.com
Thursday, December 18, 2003

Joel's playing games. Earlier he only allowed the posts in this thread that had my IP on them to show. Very funny. Then he switched it back to all posts showing or some such nonsense. I guess I could disconnect and then reconnect to my ISP to obtain a new IP address... nah.

All I can say, Is that my life is pretty plain
Thursday, December 18, 2003

Plain life,

A tinfoil hat will prevent that from happening. Joel isn't behind it - it's 'them'. You know who I mean. Be sure to put the shiney side inwards to keep them from infiltrating. This is because tin is 3C without the B ,r 12.4 if you don't.

secret agent man
Thursday, December 18, 2003

Most web servers log your IP address merely when you visit them to view stuff. You don't need to post anything. You should *assume* your IP address is being recorded at every web site you touch, and use an anonymous proxy if you don't like it.

T. Norman
Friday, December 19, 2003

Never mind ip addresses

Take a couple of these tests to see what sites you visit can see on your machine.

You will be amazed (*hint contents of clipboard + whole lot more) at what any site you visit on the internet could see on your machine.

http://www.anonymizer.com/privacytest/test_ip.shtml

http://www.all-nettools.com/privacy/anon.htm

Tapiwa
Friday, December 19, 2003

You'd be amazed how little information is available when you aren't running IE.

Oh boy. They got my IP address. That's really impressive. *snort*

Brad Wilson (dotnetguy.techieswithcats.com)
Friday, December 19, 2003

Wow, I never realized just how much information is given out when you don't go thru a proxy server. Everything from my screen resolution to the name of the DLL that implements Macromedia Flash.

T. Norman
Friday, December 19, 2003

All that information is also given out when you go through a proxy server.

And if you think about it you want it given out. It is telling the web site how best it should display itself on your system.

Stephen Jones
Saturday, December 20, 2003