Sorry, Shrift, I was teasing. I really shouldn't, not in these parlous times.

the IP addresses of the machines used to make the posts. Some web servers log that.

I think we have that info too, but ita doesn't have the time or access to do anything with it right now, that's all.

I think she was quoting referrals from a pre-munged set of stats provided by the hosting company.

I think we have that info too, but ita doesn't have the time or access to do anything with it right now, that's all.

Yup. I can open some of the log from the 24th onwards here, but not all. And the IP addresses are unresolved, so it's really not going to be statistically informative.

The question is, can we associate and IP address with the posting of a message? Because what we really want to know is if two messages with different user IDs are from the same IP address. We don't need to resolve the IPs, just compare them.

This might be a lot of work. Perhaps it's not worthwhile.

It might be useful, in the future, to log the IP address of the poster in the database along with the post. I wonder if that's possible.

It'll take aligning posting time, referrer, and URL. It'll be a bit of work.

As for saving the IP address with the post, it gives me a bit of a big brother quease. I don't actually want anyone to know where I'm posting from. Also, if two users have the same ISP, they can easily have the same IP, depending on how the software works. I know AOL used to make it look like all of their subscribers were from VA.

Sorry, Shrift, I was teasing.

Oh, I knew that, Betsy. And I was joking, too.

Although, in retrospect, I realize I might not be very funny when I'm this drugged. I mean, I think looking at my face in a spoon is hysterical right now. "Look! It's shrift in a funhouse mirror!"

I really shouldn't, not in these parlous times.

When the time comes that we can't laugh at ourselves, that's when I think we'll really run into trouble.

When the time comes that we can't laugh at ourselves, that's when I think we'll really run into trouble.

But you can't laugh at me, just so's you're clear.

Absolutely not.

As for saving the IP address with the post, it gives me a bit of a big brother quease.

But you already know this from the logs. It would just make it easier if we need to put a stop to some abuse.

I don't know it from the logs. That knowledge is contained therein, and I'm quite happy to leave it really difficult to find. Especially with the inconclusiveness of it all.

I mean, I can post from two completely different IPs from home -- different organizations and cities (although same state). Either of which someone else could be posting from too at the same time.

I'd just rather leave it very last-resorty, even though it means more work for me to find out.

Since my suggestion of logging IP addresses bothers you, I'll drop it.