Alt Detection

Just because we're both little balck foxes wit teh same start date and similer names. Its so unfair!

I've heard from a couple of people that there is a way to get anyone's IP address in SL.
And, once you have that, there is an Online Detector and you can plug someones IP address in it and it will tell you if that IP address is logged in. So you may not know what their alts name is, but you would know that someone is logged in from their computer.

True or not? Anyone know?

And what do you do when several computers share the same IP address?

As I said in my post "So you may not know what their alts name is, but you would know that someone is logged in from their computer."

You wouldn't unless you knew that they lived alone, you would just know that someone using their computer was online.

Read that post again. If IP addresses match, it's either the same computer or they're located behind the same Network Address Translator (NAT) and sharing the address. IP addresses can corroborate that they're alts, but can't confirm or deny the possibility.

I've never heard of such a thing.

didn't read all of it, but ...

First of all - every connecting hardware has a hard wired I/P adress - so if you get this, you might be able to know that different AV's are using the same machine.

Usually you won't come behind my firewall router - so all 5 systems in teh house will show up as one.

But more - my provider assigns a different I/P every time I connect - no chance for anyone either.

And last but not least: More than one may share a computer.

... you never ever will know about alt's ...

Wol,
SL Guided Tours

There's no such thing as a "hard wired IP address". One can be manually configured, but usually we get them via a protocol called "DHCP" (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). Every device does have a "factory MAC address", but that's not as easy to obtain as someone's IP address. Generally, MAC addresses are only used locally and never appear at the other end.

Furthermore, the IP address a machine gets is generally not the one the rest of the world sees. Often, there's a device upstream called a "Network Address Translator" or NAT, which allows multiple machines downstream of it to share a single IP address. This is useful because there's a bit of a shortage of IP addresses, due to routing and allocation constraints.

Most people with a home network use a home router that serves as the NAT. The NAT feature is usually on by default, so you don't have to configure it or turn it on.

Workplaces generally have a NAT.

In some places, or so I've heard, network service providers have NATs in their networks so a NAT is involved even if there's not one on the customer site.

The IP address you'd see using the method alluded to above would be the "upstream" IP address, which thanks to NATs, multiple computers can share, and all you know is that the computers using it are not too far from each other (from the standpoint of network topology, though physical distance can vary).

Finally, someone could have different IP addresses for alts. For example, they could play one from home and the other from work. Or they could be funning run through an address-hiding proxy. These devices can work similarly to NATs, but do it for a different reason.

Now, let's get back to alt-bashing!

/me whacks Lear's alt upside the head

Hit him again! He deserves it. She does too, probably!

One observation I've made over time is that the people who make accusations are often pulling the same altish tricks themselves - possibly a guide to their own patterns. The thing that always strikes me about the nasty interpersonal aspects of this anonymous structure is that it's a complete natural for "users".

"Meeting someone who can genuinely take pleasure out of manipulating, deceiving, and abusing other people can be a life-altering experience—especially if you've been raised in a loving, sheltering family." Barbara Oakley - "Evil Genes". Interesting and useful book, and very relevant to SL.

Given that we were evolved to respond to a replicable reality, the "users" are simply taking advantage of natural inborn credulity. In that form, it's reprehensible.

Indeed.

In considering these matters, it's a great comfort to believe in karma.

What was that old song? I'm my own grandpa? I'm my own alt.