Forum Moderators: DixonJones
is there any simple way to indentify a user automatically when they come back to my site later
There may be certain instances, but overall they remain the same and therefore are your best method of tracking via your access_log files.
so are there any solutions that work?
Are not both of those always on connections and therefore do not require repeated log-ins?
Not trying to belabor the point, it's just that with all the emphasis that has been placed on IP Numbers [google.com] here at WebmasterWorld, I fail to ever recall reading anything about the frailness of using IP Numbers to ban nefarious visitors.
are there any solutions for this that work?
And, to the best of my knowledge we are not on a dedicated IP Number.
Maybe the distinction lies in who I'm talking about. Such to say, the nafarious ones are usually on faster connections, I don't know.
For years I've been banning via IP Number with great success. The only times I see anyone return for the same file, or series of files, has been via the same IP Number and thus were fed the traditional 403 and I scan my access_log files manually too. Believe me, not much gets past me in that regard.
On DSL, my computer goes through a visible login each time I reboot my system and its usually a different IP each time. Not all the time, but most of the time.
Yes, the 2nd case is drastic, but it's very possible. It all depends on the load balance for that user's proxy server. In conclusion, relying on IPs may not be the *best* way to go. I would look into a solution involving cookies, where you set your own IDs.
I'm trying to figure out a way to just track what kinds of articles and photos my users are most interested in on my blog. So I want to be able to also see which article/photo led to clicking on the next one, which would require some way of differentiating between users. And nobody is going to take the time to register an account and login just to view my blog.
Do you have any knowledge of a server-side scripting language?
