You can't prevent it entirely Mousethief, if someone is hellbent on stirring up trouble BUT you can drastically reduce it.

Most people will either log on from the same computer at home, and the same one from work, if they're checking the forum at work. So for the most part you have 1 - 2 consistent IP originations per user here.

Of course if one has say cable internet on 1 home computer and a dial-up ISP connected to a 2nd home computer, (not very likely or common) or they want to invest the time to go to a friend or relatives to logon from their computer not much can be done.

No one's privacy is being violated with this encoded IP method. Your actual IP is never visable to anyone on the Forum, but your scrambled/encoded IP address is. Big deal. No one but Max and other designated administrators would have the ability to descramble and reveal it, and besides your actual IP is automatically logged whenever you visit here I would imagine. It simply applies a consistent set of numbers and symbols after the poster's name which correspond only to that IP address, so you can (with a little detective work) determine if a "guest-troll-flamer's" encoded IP matches that of say an existing member's encoded IP. Bingo, game over, and relative anonymity out the window for that member choosing to post as a guest. And also, being able to distinguish between numerous "Guests" in a thread.

Yes, there are a few flaws with this method, but having it, I think is far better and offers a little more security to the community as a whole than not having it, and witnessing the things we've been seeing around here lately what with Kat and Mousethief's member names getting hijacked, and other flaming bullshit stuff done anonymously.

I guess though that if you wanted to post something highly personal and use a "Name Withheld By Request" beside guest, you'll have to drive over to your Aunt Judy's or something.
I think the minor inconvenience is worth it.

I'm still thinking about this one. Noted. - Max