Solution: Ban their IP addresses. This actually works, I’ll tell you why. Not because they can’t get new ones, but because they can’t infinitely get new ones. If you’ve ever sought an unsecured proxy (a key way of obscuring your IP address) you’ll know that it’s tough to find a good proxy, they’re slow, and they frequently leak your IP address regardless. Even programs like Tor only have so many IP addresses. To make it worse, (for them) it’s no fun to use proxies that are far away—they’re slow as all get out. This technique worked on spammers on a forum that was growing fast. It took a while to collect all the IP addresses they were using, but it was an extremely effective method of stopping spam. Banning the account will make this more effective. Doing both will make it a real hassle for them to post, and after a while, it will be hard to find good proxies.
A solution also requires that volunteers from the forum / moderators can ban the trolls.
Solution: Ban their IP addresses. This actually works, I’ll tell you why. Not because they can’t get new ones, but because they can’t infinitely get new ones. If you’ve ever sought an unsecured proxy (a key way of obscuring your IP address) you’ll know that it’s tough to find a good proxy, they’re slow, and they frequently leak your IP address regardless. Even programs like Tor only have so many IP addresses. To make it worse, (for them) it’s no fun to use proxies that are far away—they’re slow as all get out. This technique worked on spammers on a forum that was growing fast. It took a while to collect all the IP addresses they were using, but it was an extremely effective method of stopping spam. Banning the account will make this more effective. Doing both will make it a real hassle for them to post, and after a while, it will be hard to find good proxies.
A solution also requires that volunteers from the forum / moderators can ban the trolls.