Wed May 15 20:54:24 2002

One kid does. I delete her account. She does it again.

So now I have to crawl through the philboard code that powers my ASP bbs and rewrite IP referrer tags into a new table within the JET DB.

This way, I can track her AOL box's IP...

The problem? Her AOL IP changes frequently because AOL assigns web IPs dynamically.

Result? I'd have to browse the board every day in order to make sure that I can act on the IP and catch the culprit.

I don't suppose Peter or Paul(or anyone else for that matter) know of a trick that I can use to snag this kid?

Or is all our "l33t" skill wasted when discussing a 12 year old?

M.

Wed May 15 21:12:41 2002

Wed May 15 21:21:45 2002

Not an option.

M.

Wed May 15 21:26:14 2002

Seriously though, if you deleted her account, how can she "do it again"?

Wed May 15 21:30:02 2002

Tadaa..

Problem renewed.

M.

Wed May 15 21:34:55 2002

Hand them out manually or require a fixed ID like say, student number or full name.

Wed May 15 21:40:20 2002

Let's see. So the student stops entering s as their name and now enters Barbara.

Oops. There's no Barbara in our school. Ok, let's ignore the fact that my lil' Access database isn't tied to the school system's Oracle monstrosity. Let's ignore the fact that they'd never let me do so.

Now the kid enters another student's name. Jaime, for instance. We now have one student framing another.

As for giving IDs away: It's a good idea, but I'd like to avoid it. I'm swamped enough as it is without having requests every five minutes. Not to mention that there's no way for me to confirm EVERY student in a school of 2k+.

M.

Wed May 15 21:44:49 2002

But god, having to enter 2000 school IDs, re-doing the board so that the IDs become the username system. THEN, redoing the access so that only a set of userids are available(and provided) and finally migrating and translating existing posts onto the new board would be a pain...

I'd rather just let the board disappear.

I think I'll call AOL. Inform them of the situation and for them to warn the individual of the problem. Maybe block the individual or maybe they can notify who the individual is.

M.

Wed May 15 21:45:30 2002

If the kids have signed a 'contract' that sez they can't abuse it, can't you then take this issue to the kid's parents?  Y'know, send a note to their home reporting that the kid has repeatedly violated rules, yada yada.  Even if it's just scare tactics, the parents should take action (at least, IMO good parents would - YMMV).

Wed May 15 21:46:57 2002

from Madan posted at 5:44 pm on May 15, 2002

School ID is a good idea. One username per school ID.

But god, having to enter 2000 school IDs, re-doing the board so that the IDs become the username system. THEN, redoing the access so that only a set of userids are available(and provided) and finally migrating and translating existing posts onto the new board would be a pain...

I'd rather just let the board disappear.

I think I'll call AOL. Inform them of the situation and for them to warn the individual of the problem. Maybe block the individual or maybe they can notify who the individual is.

M.

Mad, is this bbs run on a school server, or on AOL?

Wed May 15 21:51:05 2002

Supposedly.

M.

Wed May 15 21:58:25 2002

You don't have to tie the board to schools db, you just need to get the list of IDs imported. Run a report to a flatfile and import it or something.

Make the students enter their student number in order to register, and when you ban, ban by ID number.

You might have to rework the board.

Wed May 15 22:13:47 2002

From my experience at Saint George's, in general it's a bad idea to let kids have access to computers in general, and the school website in particular.

Close down the BB.  Make it very clear why.  Problem solved.

Wed May 15 22:18:47 2002

What did this kid do, and how do you know that it's her repeating the bad behavior?  This info may help determine the path to the best solution (or an implementable solution).

Same topic. Same name. Same login specs.

If the kids have signed a 'contract' that sez they can't abuse it, can't you then take this issue to the kid's parents?  Y'know, send a note to their home reporting that the kid has repeatedly violated rules, yada yada.  Even if it's just scare tactics, the parents should take action (at least, IMO good parents would - YMMV).

Uhm, who's the kid? They logged in as "C" "S", first/last names respectively.

Even if I required a full/last name, what's to stop them from entering Bugs Bunny?

M.

Wed May 15 22:22:12 2002

If you don't have a way to confirm student IDs then you should just trash the board - because it isn't a school board, it's a public board open to anyone.

It IS a school board. I run it on the school server and it's maintained on the school site by a school employee(me).

Make the students enter their student number in order to register, and when you ban, ban by ID number.

It'll probably have to come to that.

What happens if a parent wants to register? Or a teacher/employee? Or an administrator? Or a community activist?

No numbers there.

M.

Wed May 15 22:22:36 2002

And again I gotta ask: Can't you send the parents a note reporting this bad behavior?

Wed May 15 22:27:23 2002

I think it's bad karma on your part, after you spammed this place...

:rolleyes:

From my experience at Saint George's, in general it's a bad idea to let kids have access to computers in general, and the school website in particular.

Close down the BB.  Make it very clear why.  Problem solved.

You know, I fixed the problem. I cleaned up after myself and you still hold a fucking grudge. What the fuck ever. Thanks for being snide.

M.

(Edited by Madan at 3:27 pm on May 15, 2002)

Wed May 15 22:29:15 2002

It IS a school board. I run it on the school server and it's maintained on the school site by a school employee(me).

But if it's available to everyone over the internet, it's ostensibly public.  If you can't restrict access to the BBS to only those you want, it's an "open" system.

I take that that, since you're the one responsible for this bbs, there is no IT department.  If the higher-ups won't allow you to connect to the Oracle DB that handles IDs, then IMO you're better off shutting it down.  While there are ways to put in restrictions (as you alluded to earlier), the only options you're being left with are long, tedious, and cumbersome -- especially for someone whose primary job function lies elsewhere in the school.  Either the bigwigs should allow a link to the ID DB, or rethink the necessity of the BBS.

Wed May 15 22:34:18 2002

No, removing the board is a last recourse. I'll figure something out.

M.

Wed May 15 22:39:53 2002

It IS a school board. I run it on the school server and it's maintained on the school site by a school employee(me).

It belongs to the school sure, I mean it's pretty much a public board like ARS because you don't have any real control over who uses it. IE you can't actually ban anyone.

It'll probably have to come to that.

What happens if a parent wants to register? Or a teacher/employee? Or an administrator? Or a community activist?

No numbers there.

M.

Add employee numbers to the database.

Allow multiple screen names per student ID and tell parents to use their childs student ID. Of couse when you ban a child, you'll ban a parent and they'll ask why. Doesn't strike me as a bad thing.

You'd have to manually approve each registration for anyone not employed by the school. Which sucks, but there you have it.

Personally, I'd go so far as to require registration to even read the board.

Wed May 15 22:40:28 2002

How hard is that?

Fuck, at Saints I had to administer usernames and passwords for every fucking student at the school, so we could track down what the little miscreants were doing every time they logged onto any of the NT workstations.

Wed May 15 22:42:53 2002

How hard is that?

Fuck, at Saints I had to administer usernames and passwords for every fucking student at the school, so we could track down what the little miscreants were doing every time they logged onto any of the NT workstations.

It's not only the kids in my class. Great analytical skills there.

I already mentioned it was 2k students PLUS 60+ teachers PLUS 1000+ parents PLUS 250 externals.

But thanks for that, oh so useful, suggestion. Like I said, I'll figure something out. Evidently, Ars SQ posters don't have any better ideas either.

M.

Wed May 15 22:52:58 2002

Let people sign up willy nilly, but require a vaild email address - email them the password for the account.
Ban all free email services, hotmail etc. When you ban, ban by email address.

Not watertight, but a lot less maintenance.

Wed May 15 22:59:19 2002

I'll look into it.

M.

Wed May 15 23:05:36 2002

M>

(Edited by Madan at 4:09 pm on May 15, 2002)

Thu May 16 18:23:06 2002

Evidently, Ars SQ posters don't have any better ideas either.

Kids and computers are always bad news.  Nuke the site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.