I don't really think its illegal (although, i don't know what the law is in the UK) but the problem is IPs are dynamic. If you block an IP all the person has to do is unplug their router/cable modem for a little while, plug it back in and there you go, new IP address. Now, if you block the range that they can possibly get, you also block everyone else who uses that ISP.

Really, they should do what the other forum i visited did, and that is you have e-mail confirmation. Sure its a good bit of work for the admins, but we have quite a few, and it would really slow down the spam.

Its to bad that there is not one single good EU sales mesuring sistem . Especially for Nintendo and Sony , because there games sometimes sell more here than in the US . For MS is easy , mainly because 80% of there sales are in there own teritory :?

It works enough. Whoever he/she is, they still have to put all their "energy" into being arsebutts.

There are a lot less of us, and its pretty easy for us to erase every single post they put up. Unless it ends up being bot generated, I think the current system works pretty well. We occassionally get bursts of stupidity on the board - but it rarely lasts.

Well, ioi should give you guys fair warning of when he's going to post the numbers that put the Wii past the 360. I would be surprised if there wasn't an onslaught of attacks from organized xbots signing up to spam/flame/etc.

There are things that can be done, but are usually more trouble then they are worth. Basically you have to contact the offenders Internet Service Provider with the relevant information. Then the provider will forward a warning to the offender. Then if the offender persists they will get their access revoked. Usually the warning suffices a troll rarely will risk the wrath to persist in their torments. Instead they will move to a new forum to torment new people. Those stupid enough to persist lose their access, and have to get a new provider. In most areas there are a limited supply.

Basically through civil discussion with the provider you can get what you want, and if the problem persists you have a legal remedy called a lawsuit. Most companies will not go to the mat for a ten dollar customer. Eventually if the troll bypasses these measures you finally have a right to sue the individual. Seeing as you took all reasonable measures you will win in a court of law. The net result is it will be stopped at that point. I have actually seen sites go this far. Rare though it is it can be done, and you really damage the troll in real life.

However the best coarse of action is for a site to enact troll counter measures. Banning the poster, and deleting the posts immediately. Followed by banning troll feeders. When you give attention to a troll for negative behavior you are feeding the troll. You are doing what the troll wants. So as long as a troll gets a good feeding the troll stays it almost becomes domesticated to a particular forum.

A site really has to have a zero tolerance policy towards obvious trolls. No talk just ban and delete. Anyone that feeds the troll should be banned also. That is a irresponsible poster. That is a shame, but after the first dozen posters get banned for feeding trolls the feeding usually stops.

Anyway if you have a serious issue with trolls you should advocate a zero tolerance policy to the moderators. The least you can do is be part of the solution, and not part of the problem. Report the posts, ignore the poster, and do not post yourself. You have the power to starve the troll.

I think that there is some organisation like NPD in every european country, and if you had those numbers, it would be very easy to compile a european chart. The problem is that those organisations, like NPD, don't want to publish their data for free, and because interest is low here in europe, there are much less leaks and nobody gets the data that does not pay.

I get it, thx