Is it possible to block a specific guest?

[LynnB]

Is it possible to block the ability of a specific guess who is not logged in from seeing the boards? Bans don't kick in unless the IP is logged in. Thanks

[YogiBear]

http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=440188.msg3093088#msg3093088

[LynnB]

There is no "security." Perhaps I need the new version to do this?

[Illori]

i dont think the ban system has changed in this way in 2.0.

[LynnB]

My admin menu down the left side shows no "security," and I don't find anything labeled security anywhere else. I thought it was something outside the "ban system" since bans (as far as I can see) only apply to a registered member. I found no way in ban to ban an unregistered guest. Does the path to security Yogi posted exist in any version? Which? Thanks!

[Illori]

that is in your hosts control panel not part of smf in anyway.

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

IP addresses can be banned from using the site completelt, through SMF bans. It doesn't matter if a user logs in or not, if you ban their IP address.

[LynnB]

I just re-checked and I have banned IP addresses that show up as guests. These are not members who I banned when they were members, I just created a new ban and made the IP in question the trigger. They show up in the ban list, and they show up often as guests.

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

Make sure the ban is a full ban, and check out your ban log - it should always add an entry when it blocks a guest. I'm not completely sure, but even though they are banned they might still be visible as guests on the whos online list, but should only see a "Sorry guest, you are banned..." message.

[LynnB]

They do show on the log list and they do show as online as guests. But that's an interesting thought that even though they show up there, they can't see anything. But why would anyone or anybot, keep coming back if they were getting no access. Would a bot keep doing that because it didn't know it was locked out? Would that hurt anything?

And while we're on it, I've always wondered - what are spambot guests or members trying to accomplish when they aren't able to post?

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

Most harvesters and spam-bots are stupid, and blindly try and try again, even if they don't succeed.

I know the whos online list shows guests even when the forum is completely closed too guests, so I guess it also shows people who are banned but unable to access.