AXJules... I'm not sure vernacular means what you think it does.
No Rudey, KSig RC & Damasa, I did not know that. No doubt you'd all fit neatly into the gifted class in Malcolm in the Middle, well good for you - I don't feel particularly embarassed about that gap in my knowledge of genetics

. I did not 'get' your little quip and I don't have a problem with that because I do not use the plight of disabled people for humor.
ImtheChamp & Swissmiss; yeah, you guys are spot on. I didn't mention those points before but now someone else has it's cool. With a dialup the IP address changes slightly each time leaving you with the option only of banning an IP block (which could include legitimate users); likewise IP address spoofing is possible which means you come up as on a totally different address. Public proxies aren't that much use since while they'll hide your IP... a lot of boards just get a list of all the public proxy IPs and ban them all at once.
I still say a board administrator holds a lot more cards in his hand than a problem user and can make life pretty hard for them

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