Forums General Discussion Can I hide my /whois information due to a banning?

For some reason, the server name that shows up in my /whois has been banned from an IRC room. Is there anyway to change how this information displays, so that I won't be banned? I don't think I should be banned for someone else's behavior. Plus, I've heard of many rooms indiscriminately banning anyone from AOL. That's not right. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Easiest way to get around this is to use a proxy. Change your other information fromt he mirc setup crap and your back in

I keep changing my information, but the /whois stays the same. It says something like: ... Level3.net ...

It is the Level3.net that I have to get rid of from my /whois information.

How do I do that?

What is a proxy and how do I use one?

Thanks

Using a proxy without the permission of the owner is not legal in most places. Most networks also disapprove of it and will ban you for using them if detected.

If a network or room owner has banned you then you have no right to circumvent the ban in any way. It does not matter if you have done something wrong or not. Connecting to IRC means connecting to a computer owned by someone else and the issue of who may connect lies solely with the owner and their appointed staff (if any). Personally, when I see someone evade a ban I place, regardless of what they think their rights are my usual response is a stronger ban, EG: their domain, a z:line on a vhost provider's c class, even a TLD if necessary.

Your only resolve is to use another server or network until the ban is lifted.

If somebody p*ssed off a room owner so that they ban everyone using a particular server, that's not my fault. So I do have a right to circumvent the ban. That's like banning all black people from your store, just because 1 black person did something wrong. It's like racism! Therefore I am combatting the same kind of thinking that underlies racism.

You don't understand the culture of IRC usage then. I said that when you connect to IRC you are connecting to a computer that belongs to someone else. They set the terms of use, rules, regulations, acceptable use policies and the appropriate indemnity jargon.

You do not have any rights over property belonging to someone else any more than I or anyone else does. When people like you decide that you have the right to tell the owner of their equipment that you can do what you please then that is when stronger bans get laid and thus it just makes matters worse. No-one has ANY rights on IRC. Connection to a server is a privilege which can be removed at any time without a reason.

In addition, it's got nothing to do with what colour you are. Look at it in this light. If I am a shop owner and someone steals my stock I would then be entitled to refuse any further entry to them and any other convicted thief, or person I deem a thief, without fear of being sued for restraint of trade. On IRC people who evade bans (like you want to do) can be rebanned with a stronger ban.

There's no law against it either as IRC doesn't cost you anything.

You said it yourself "any other convicted thief".

Well, I got banned without being convicted of anything. I did nothing, and am still banned.

All I want to do is know how to hide my /whois information, or else how can I connect using a different server that is not banned? Would you consider the latter wrong? Just using another server to connect?

I'm seriously considering getting a different ISP because I'm pretty sure that would totally change my /whois information and would let me in. Or do you think that would be unethical, that just because someone using the same server as me was banned, I must forever bear his burden and be banned myself?

Well I am obviously not getting through so I will comment no further except to repeat that you risk being rebanned if it is found that you have hidden your true details and that as such I am not going to provide assistance with how to go about it.

Thanks for your input anyway.

I think an excellent feature of mirc should be to allow people to change their /whois information at will, to circumvent frivolous bans.

I suggest we unlock all the doors in prisons and get rid of the guards so people who were wrongly convicted can get out.

Besides, it's not mIRC who provides the whois information, it's the server.

I suggest we lock everyone up in their house, because a tiny fraction of individuals are criminals; so let's just punish everyone for their actions. That should spur the global economy.

How do I change my server?

I think an excellent feature of mirc should be to allow people to change their /whois information at will, to circumvent frivolous bans.

Excuse me while I go laugh my ass off.

Newsflash - you do not have a god-given right to access any network or channel on IRC. If somebody wants to ban your whole ISP from a network or channel, it's their right. Privately owned networks; privately run channels. If you're banned, tough luck - either contact the channel / network owner or operators, or find another channel / network to chat in.

Think of a house. The house owner decides to not allow anybody with green eyes inside his house. Even if it's "not fair", it's his right to do that, and I doubt you'd be clamoring for somebody to hand you a pair of eye-color-changing contacts just to get inside that house. You'd find another house to visit.

You said it yourself "any other convicted thief".

Well, I got banned without being convicted of anything. I did nothing, and am still banned.

No, he said "any other convicted thief, or person I deem a thief" (emphasis mine). In this case, you're being deemed a thief. Tough luck, find another place to chat.

I wouldn't be suprised if your obsession with ban evasion was the same thing that got your ISP banned in the first place.

Furthermore, your analogy is a load of balls. It is a human right that "Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state." It is not a human right that you can get into other people's property without their permission.

It's my understanding that one user from that server was asked their age, and they gave 2 different answers on 2 different occasions. And that's what caused the ban of everyone from that server. Now, even if the person had given a consistent age both times, there's no way at all you can verify the age of a chat room participant. You just have to take their word for it. Since the ban is totally frivolous, and has nothing to do with me or my behavior, I have a right to overcome it.

"Stupidity must always be met."

I find it hard to believe you actually have this opinion, but there we go.

I think one of the more pertinent points here is that mIRC has very little to do with your /whois information. The server hands it all over, mIRC simply displays it. The only information you can change is your nickname and full name. That straight away points out that *we* cannot do anything about the ban and it has nothing to do with this forum. See this page for further information.

Secondly, the fact is you do not have a right to ban evade. No matter how much you say that you have, or what you think your rights are, you don't. You mentioned the word racism - well yes, people can ban others for racist, ageist or sexist reasons. If you say "I'm male" then the ops are free to ban you. Some channels have banned entire countries such as *.my (Malaysia) and *.pk (Pakistan) - This could well be racially motivated, but that doesn't matter. They are allowed to do this, irrelevant of who is being affected by the ban, whether they are innocent or not.

You need to sort your issues out with the ops of the channel concerned. If they do not want to remove the ban or comply with your request then they do not have to and you need to go and pick another channel out of the thousands that exist on IRC.

I think everything has been covered in this thread now. Put it this way, continuing to post is not going to get you helped, sorry.

That said, I hope your issue is resolved soon and that you get back in. It is very frustrating when something happens to you and it's unfair, unfortunately, IRC is not a world of fairness. After all, it would be unfair to restrict what type of bans those ops can set on their channel, wouldn't it? - We (including you) have to just put up with these inconveniences. Fighting bans (by evading them) will get a wider ban set, a ban from the server/network, and/or a longer ban. Hardly worth it!

Best of luck.

Regards,

Excuse me? What part of FREE don't you understand?
1. The equipment and bandwidth used to power each server is all donated. You don't own it, nor do you PAY for it, therfore you have NO RIGHTS regarding connections to it.
2. A channel is OWNED by the person that created/registered it. This means they can run it as they please, including keeping any group of people out of it because they WANT to. They don't need a reason, any more than you need a reason to keep random people from walking in your home.

Grow up and get a clue, dude!

If someone has the power to ban you then they are allowed to do so otherwise they wouldn't have that power in the first place, even if they ban you for absolutely no reason at all it's their choice and their right to ban you, even if they want to ban you because they don't like your nickname it doesn't matter, it's their right to ban you for whatever they like.

I'm perminently banned from a channel for saying i like wmp better than winamp, whether it's unfair or not, i don't have a right to evade the ban, sure i could evade it, but as watchdog said it would make things worse.

Just wait the ban out or try contacting them and asking them to either remove it or ask if they can make an exception.

If you decide to contact them, remember to be polite, don't say anything like "unban me now you little <something>, i've done nothing wrong"

Until then, find another place to chat.

There are thousands of servers out there, whether it's as good as the one you were banned from or not, it should be fine to use until you are unbanned.

If they decide that it's a perminent ban, just put it down to experience and find another server to chat on perminently.

Don't bother evading the ban, because they will see that you've evaded it sooner or later and then they will just ban you again, it's much easier and better to just cooperate with them than trying to get around it.

Well here's how I look at it. They have a right to ban me from their room. And I have a right to ban their stupid behavior by evading the ban. We're both banners in our own way.

Uh. No. You aren't.

Follow the metaphor. A channel is not a public place. It's like a house. If somebody tells you to stay out of their house, do you try and enter it anyway, by disguising yourself or whatever? It's their channel. If they want you to stay out, STAY OUT.

But I guess I'm just wasting my time here. Typical the-world-owes-me-everything critter. A dime a dozen nowadays.

You do realize that (depending on the policies of the network) the channel operators and owners, if they catch you banevading, can contact the IRC operators of the network and get you banned from the NETWORK? And that if you evade THAT ban, the IRC operators can contact your ISP and, if you persist, get your internet connection pulled?

I don't think the world owes me anything. I just despise rude folk.