What to do when you find yourself banned
First, let me say this clearly.... Yuku does not control and will not control what board owners, admins or mods do at their
boards unless it violates our Terms of Use.
The owner of any board is has the last and final say of who gets to post, period. It's his or her board, and Yuku will not tell them how to run it. If you
want to know why you were banned, contact the board owner and ask.
That being made clear, here are some facts you should know about being banned:
1) Simply not being able to log onto the board does not mean you are banned. If you are truly banned, you will see a "you are banned" message
whenever you try to view the board.
2) Have the admin or board owner check the banned email list to see if your email is on it.
3) It is possible that you were accidently banned if they have banned someone else by IP address. Ask the board owner or admin to check the IPs to see if yours
is on it, and remove that from the list. IPs change, and especially with AOL, many members of the same ISP can share the same IP numbers, as they can change
every time you log in.
When you find yourself banned by IP, first of all, make note of the IP you are using.
You can find out your current IP by going to this site: http://whatsmyip.org/
Take note of the number, then throw it back in the IP pool by logging off from the internet. Draw a different number out of the pool by logging on again.
Does that solve the problem? Not always, it depends on whether a specific number has been banned or a range has been banned. Most IP bans are specific numbers,
not ranges. Board owners only tend to ban a range when they have a particularly stubborn user who keeps coming back after being banned.
Once you have noted the number, contact the board owner or an admin and let them know that the IP you logged on with has been banned so that they can take
precautions and possibly unban the IP.
If you have a static IP and you find yourself banned, chances are that you have been banned intentionally. In that case, contacting the board administration might turn out to be fruitless.
If you are able to view the board when you are not logged into your account, but get the banned message when you visit while logged in, you are banned by username rather than by IP.What is an IP number?
An IP number or Internet Protocol address is a number
assigned to devices participating in a computer network. These numbers are assigned to companies such as your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and fall into
two general categories, dynamic and static. When a computer is configured to use the same IP address each time it powers up, this is known as a Static IP
address. In contrast, in situations when the computer's IP address is assigned automatically, it is known as a Dynamic IP address.
Dynamic and static IPs
Logging on with a dynamic IP is like using a public phone to make your phone calls.
Say you call from the public phone at the corner of your street. You'll be dialing from a certain number, because that particular phone has its own
specific number. The next time you use a public phone, you use the phone at the store, two blocks down. You are now dialing from a different number. But no
matter which phone you use, someone will have used it before you did, and someone will use it after you do, so they will be calling from the same number you
did.
It is the same with a dynamic IP. A dynamic IP could be considered a public number rather than a private number. Someone has used the number before you did,
and someone else will use it after you are done with it.
If one of the people who used it before you did was being a bad boy or girl on the board, the board owner might have banned the number. Now you are using that
number and you find yourself banned.
Cable and DSL users general have what is known as a sticky dynamic IP address. A sticky IP is a dynamic IP address that does not change often. The number could stay the same for months or even years.
Since the modems are often online for extended periods of time, the leases on the IP addresses are commonly renewed by their ISP, and therefore may not change.
Should the modem be turned off, a new IP address may be assigned when the modem is turned back on. IP address changes may also be triggered by resetting the
modem.
Think of a sticky IP as one of those pre-paid cell phones where you keep the same phone number as long as you add new minutes before the expiration time. If you forget and let the minutes lapse, your number is given to someone else and when you renew your minutes, you get a new number.
Because sticky IPs are assigned to the modem, not the computer, you can have several people with the same IP number, for example a home network with 5
family members and 5 computers. They will all have the same IP number een though they have separate computers.
A static IP on the other hand is an IP that is given to you and it is yours, just like when you have your own
phone in the house as opposed to using a public phone. If you have your own phone, you'll always use the same number.
The problem is that there aren't enough static IPs to give every person who uses the internet their own number. Thus, some internet service providers have
a certain amount of numbers, but they have more users than there are numbers. Their numbers go in an imaginary "pool". When you log on to the
internet, you draw a number out of that pool and you will use that number for the time you are logged on. When you log off, the number you used goes back in
the pool and someone else will draw it next time around.
Some internet service providers have a relatively small IP pool which causes problems on message boards because if several people on the board use the same ISP they are likely to draw a number that has already been used by a different member on the board.
Banning a dynamic IP
Banning a dynamic IP is useless and only leads to trouble for innocent users. The member who used the IP will draw a different number next time they log on, so
they will no longer be banned. The only thing accomplished here is that other members who will draw that IP will be banned for no reason. When a dynamic IP is
banned the user will only be banned for the time (s)he is logged on to the internet. After logging off and logging back on, chances are that (s)he will draw a
different IP.
How does a board owner know when an IP is dynamic?
Some ISPs have their ranges listed, but some don't. You can tell who has a dynamic IP on the board.
When the board owner looks up a profile and looks at the IPs used by this profile, if the member has been to the board several times, they will most likely
show multiple IPs, this is an indication that their IP is dynamic. If the member has been to the board on several occasions and there is only 1 IP showing, it
means that the IP is static. In such cases - and only in such cases- an IP ban can be effective.
How can I get unbanned? Can I have Yuku staff unban me?
You'll have to contact an admin at the board where you are banned and ask if they will unban you. The only time that Yuku staff can unban someone who is banned at a board is if the owner or an admin of the board, is having problems unbanning a user. They will need to open a Help Ticket to request our help in getting you unbanned.
How can I find out how to contact an admin, if I am banned?
If you can view the board while logged out of your account, look to see if they have the Community Profile enabled and the list of community staff showing. If so, you can visit the profile of an admin, then log back in and send a private message. Some boards will have a "Contact Administrator" link of some type on the board. You can also scan through posts looking at the titles of the posters to see if they have a title that identifies admins.
If you can't view the board (and it is open for viewing) see if you access the board from another computer or have a friend see if they can access the board and get the contact info for you.
If you can't view the board at all (MBA or private board) or if there is no community profile or admin titles, then we're very sorry, but you won't be able to contact an admin and we can't give out that information.
If you are able to find the contact information and the board owner/admin ignores your messages or refuse to unban you, then that is all that you can do, except look for another board on the same subject.
If you have been Globally banned from all Yuku boards, and you don't know why
You can open a Help ticket and use Legal as the department to ask why you are banned and if there is a way to get the situation resolved.
Little note from Yuku Legal: The ONLY reason a global ban will ever be overturned is, if the banned account was previously stolen, and the thief's subsequent actions got the account banned. If this is not the case, don't bother with the ticket to legal. If you really have lost your account due to account theft and the actions of the thief, be prepared to prove it. Only security logs, posts, and other Yuku contents will be accepted as evidence.
Yes, proving one's innocence in this fashion can be incredibly difficult. However, as reports of account theft are rapidly dwindling, we expect that this issue will continue to grow less and less relevant.
