Range banned again

[Lobo]

Hello all,

Once again I come to this forum to request server admins that 82.154.X.X. (I think that's my ISP's IP range - I'm not sure) be removed from your general blacklists or whatever place you get your info from. I'm banned from most servers once again. All of you - all of you that know me, at least - know that I do not cheat.

I also would add the request for the "range ban" policy to be revised, since it doesn't prevent cheaters in any way but does prevent honest players like me to access many servers - players that, just like me, just want to have a good time and are fond of this game.

I know that the answers to this thread will be on the lines of: go to clan IRC, contact the servers admins, etc. But I will not do that, since I think it's the entire "range ban" policy that is wrong. Also, I will find that any response in the lines of "any player that cares makes its case" is an understatement. As you may understand, not all of us have the same amount of time to spare contacting server admins, going to chat boxes, etc.

The servers I'm banned from (afaik) are:

NS AC
U|
MyS
TyD


Thanks & cheers.

[OpenSource]

Why not ask server owners for a deban password to servers?
So the range ban can stay. It maybe a bit better for the rest of us.

[Lobo]

Even if I did that (which I won't, since I didn't cause this) why would you want to keep range bans? It only prevents new players to show up.

If you want to add new blood to this game - range bans are not the answer. The population isn't increasing is it?

Why not have a login/pass on a master server (with a "verify code" thing going on) that redirects to subsequent servers? That would clear all the hackers. You wouldn't need to worry about hackers nor preventing access from an entire IP range.

[OpenSource]

It prevents hackers to show up.

Or just download AssaultCube 1.1 witch as anti cheat.
http://assault.cubers.net/download.html

[Lobo]

I've downloaded 1.1. already... OpenSource.

There's no one there most of the time.

[jamz]

I'm banned from most servers once again.

The Tyd blacklist entry for 82.154.0.0/16 is dated 13 February. I would guess you've been banned since then.

...the "range ban" policy ... doesn't prevent cheaters in any way...

This isn't true. Provided a range ban is accurate and comprehensive, it works. The problem is...

If you want to add new blood to this game - range bans are not the answer.

Absolutely true. This is the dilemma that conscientious server owners have: to range ban or not to range ban. I try to make sure that if a range ban includes innocent players, it is only for the most determined annoyances, but sometimes owners just want to get rid of the problem as quickly and easily as possible so that the majority of innocent players can play unhindered by cheats/idiots.

a login/pass ... would clear all the hackers.

If this were true, every game would be cheat free.

I've downloaded 1.1. already ... There's no one there most of the time.

There are 96 players on 17 servers while I write this. I accept this is not as many as pre-1.1, but it's hardly no-one.

It isn't fair that you should be banned because of someone else's actions, but it also isn't fair that server owners should have to allow a cheat to play (even if they no longer cheat) because of, at most, a handful of innocent players. Someone is always going to lose out - some server owners choose the cheat (and, unfortunately, you); some server owners choose the hundreds of other honest players.

[Bukz]

82.154.0.0/16 // [2010-02-13] Lambe-Minh-Cona - Speedhack, edit mode - http://www.26things.com/ac/forum/astral2...d_TKTF.dmo

...easy to say you're innocent to those kind of cheats, because they are so hard to catch right? lol

Fail.

[V-Man]

and really, the determined ones will find the forum and decide to contact server owners about a deban password.
Hardly troublesome compared with the distress of playing with cheaters.

[Lobo]

There are 96 players on 17 servers while I write this.

Well, there must be something wrong with my client then... I see no active servers...

----Anyway, it seems that my IP range was removed from some servers. --edit-- or not...

---edit---

Ok, I was using 1.1.0.0.... Forgot to update. Doh.

[titiPT]

In 1.0 i see myself banned from woop servers too often.

[#M|A#Wolf]

I've always wondered if it wasn't possible for server owners to somehow add IP's the server should accept, so if you're caught in a range ban, you can still connect by adding the innocent player's IP, helpful for static ones, though if it's dynamic that may be a problem.

In 1.0 i see myself banned from woop servers too often.

You are maybe in the same range ban; which could mean maybe this range ban affects most if not all Portugal players. Your statement doesn't make sense, though. You can either be caught in a range ban; hence being blacklisted, seeing yourself banned, or not. It's not like you will sometimes not be blacklisted some days...

[jamz]

To answer your first query Wolf, it doesn't work like that. Static IP addresses and dynamic IP addresses are never (or very rarely) issued from the same blocks or ranges. In other words, if an innocent player is caught in a range ban, it's because she/he has a dynamic IP in the same range. Sometimes large ranges are listed erroneously, when a smaller range would be appropriate, but it requires in-depth analysis of different IPs used at different times by different nicks, something most players don't have the time or resources for.

Regarding titi's post, not all dynamic IPs are issued from the same range. Imagine a cheat appears in 123.45.6.7 and 123.45.89.0 and the 123.45.0.0/16 gets banned. However, his/her ISP issues IPs from this block and 123.67.0.0/16 completely randomly. An innocent player with the same ISP is now going to be banned when on 123.45.0.0/16, but not on 123.67.0.0/16. This happens regularly with, eg. Brazilian and French ISPs.

[titiPT]

Exactly.