No access to forum if using a VPN.

[Rhinofeed]

"Sorry Guest, you are banned from using this forum!
Proxies are not allowed on geekhack. Please use the IP address provided to you by your ISP and clear your cookies to regain access.
This ban is not set to expire."

I use a VPN (PrivateInternetAccess) to securely and privately connected to all of the websites I use daily. Why does Geekhack block proxies? I don't want to have to disconnect from the VPN and then clear my cookies. It's too much of a hassle to read the forum here.

[jdcarpe]

Admins have to block proxies, else people who are IP banned could log in from one of those and create a new account.

[Rhinofeed]

Does IP banning really help? Someone who is IP banned could simply create an account and log in using public Wifi, and continue to use different networks even if they are not proxies. VPN's have been increasing in usage because ISP's are being stupid as of late, so I feel it just alienates members like me who use them for the security.

[user 18]

We have had to ban many VPN and proxy services because they are a near-constant source of spammers, trolls, and other undesirable types, who use these services in order to hide their identities from website administrators. While you're right that it does inadvertently affect legitimate users, and doesn't remove all trolls or spammers, we find that it is a necessary tradeoff.

I'm sorry that this policy has caused you trouble. I'm not sure how your VPN software works, perhaps there is some means of allowing a particular application to use the standard network connection rather than the VPN connection. Such a configuration would allow you to browse geekhack in one browser, while allowing you to keep the rest of your traffic private in another browser.

Take a look at this post, if you haven't already -- it explains the reasoning behind the banning of VPNs and the necessity of clearing cookies.

[heedpantsnow]

My company is considering moving to full-time VPN access for remote users (including me). So I guess this will affect me too?

[C5Allroad]

Let's apply NSA thought to this...
If you're not doing anything wrong, why worry?

[SpAmRaY]

I use PIA occasionally and haven't had any issues.

[strict]

My company is considering moving to full-time VPN access for remote users (including me). So I guess this will affect me too?

Very doubtful. In the unlikely event your access to geekhack is routed through your corporate VPN, it will appear to the GH servers as whatever IP your employer is, which almost certainly isnt going to be on one of banned pirate/spammer IP blocks.

There are two types of corporate VPNs:
- Full tunnel: where all your traffic gets routed through the corporate VPN regardless of destination
- Split tunnel: where only the traffic destined for your employers LAN is routed through the VPN

As a remote user my guess is that you will be using a split tunnel VPN. In this scenario, supposing you worked for Microsoft, only traffic destined for microsoft.com and/or whatever IP blocks Microsoft uses on their internal network would traverse the VPN tunnel and all of your other traffic (google, facebook, redtube, etc) will get routed out your residential ISP like normal.

However, if your employer wanted to monitor everything you're doing on the internet while on company time, they may choose to implement a full tunnel solution so that they can tell if you're surfing facebook when you should be filling out TPS reports.

[microsoft windows]

Does IP banning really help? Someone who is IP banned could simply create an account and log in using public Wifi, and continue to use different networks even if they are not proxies. VPN's have been increasing in usage because ISP's are being stupid as of late, so I feel it just alienates members like me who use them for the security.

If somebody is truly hell bent on posting on a forum, I don't think there's much that can really be done. Every McDonald's restaurant has public wi-fi, along with numerous other locations. The worst an IP ban can do is pose a slight inconvenience.

[inanis]

Does IP banning really help? Someone who is IP banned could simply create an account and log in using public Wifi, and continue to use different networks even if they are not proxies. VPN's have been increasing in usage because ISP's are being stupid as of late, so I feel it just alienates members like me who use them for the security.

If somebody is truly hell bent on posting on a forum, I don't think there's much that can really be done. Every McDonald's restaurant has public wi-fi, along with numerous other locations. The worst an IP ban can do is pose a slight inconvenience.

Not to mention, the site doesn't run over HTTPS, so not only could someone who wishes to cause harm get by an IP ban, they could, with very little effort, use real user accounts/passwords. The no HTTPS thing is really concerning.

[strict]

Does IP banning really help? Someone who is IP banned could simply create an account and log in using public Wifi, and continue to use different networks even if they are not proxies. VPN's have been increasing in usage because ISP's are being stupid as of late, so I feel it just alienates members like me who use them for the security.

If somebody is truly hell bent on posting on a forum, I don't think there's much that can really be done. Every McDonald's restaurant has public wi-fi, along with numerous other locations. The worst an IP ban can do is pose a slight inconvenience.

Not to mention, the site doesn't run over HTTPS, so not only could someone who wishes to cause harm get by an IP ban, they could, with very little effort, use real user accounts/passwords. The no HTTPS thing is really concerning.

There was talk of implementing SSL but I'm not sure what the current status of that is.

[noisyturtle]

Does IP banning really help? Someone who is IP banned could simply create an account and log in using public Wifi, and continue to use different networks even if they are not proxies. VPN's have been increasing in usage because ISP's are being stupid as of late, so I feel it just alienates members like me who use them for the security.

If somebody is truly hell bent on posting on a forum, I don't think there's much that can really be done. Every McDonald's restaurant has public wi-fi, along with numerous other locations. The worst an IP ban can do is pose a slight inconvenience.

Not to mention, the site doesn't run over HTTPS, so not only could someone who wishes to cause harm get by an IP ban, they could, with very little effort, use real user accounts/passwords. The no HTTPS thing is really concerning.

Quoted for truth

[EpicSNES]

I use Geekhack on my company's VPN without issue. Shhhh don't tell anyone!!!!!!!!

On the flipside, I would love to see SSL implemented on Geekhack.

[inanis]

There was talk of implementing SSL but I'm not sure what the current status of that is.

I remember reading that thread - it was before I started participating, but after I created an account. I am fairly well versed in how certificates and CAs work. I remember thinking that was something I might actually be able to help with, but since I never posted before I wasn't sure it was my place to go demanding changes. I would be more than willing to help if there was something I could do. The thread never really went anywhere though. If they ever do pick that back up, I'd certainly be in to help, even give some $$ to make it happen.

On the direct topic, I connect from a VPN on occasion. Thus far I have not had any trouble, but typically it is just my company VPN. In my case it is most certainly not split-tunnel - they want to see EVERYTHING. Even decrypt encrypted traffic. Nothing like your own employer doing a man-in-the-middle attack to you on a routine basis! Security at it's finest. 

[mkawa]

My company is considering moving to full-time VPN access for remote users (including me). So I guess this will affect me too?

Very doubtful. In the unlikely event your access to geekhack is routed through your corporate VPN, it will appear to the GH servers as whatever IP your employer is, which almost certainly isnt going to be on one of banned pirate/spammer IP blocks.

There are two types of corporate VPNs:
- Full tunnel: where all your traffic gets routed through the corporate VPN regardless of destination
- Split tunnel: where only the traffic destined for your employers LAN is routed through the VPN

As a remote user my guess is that you will be using a split tunnel VPN. In this scenario, supposing you worked for Microsoft, only traffic destined for microsoft.com and/or whatever IP blocks Microsoft uses on their internal network would traverse the VPN tunnel and all of your other traffic (google, facebook, redtube, etc) will get routed out your residential ISP like normal.

However, if your employer wanted to monitor everything you're doing on the internet while on company time, they may choose to implement a full tunnel solution so that they can tell if you're surfing facebook when you should be filling out TPS reports.

pretty much

[mkawa]

oh crap, i completely forgot about updating the httpd config for https access