banning domains or countries

[hamburger]

Hey there,

I don't run the server my website is on; I only have webspace on it. The
server is pretty basic and doesn't allow CGI or anything like that.
Nevertheless, is there any way for me to ban certain domains or
countries from accessing the site? It has its own domain name in case
that makes any difference.

Thanks,
~hamburger

 

[Richard Grove - ®ed Eye Media]

Hey there,

I don't run the server my website is on; I only have webspace on it. The
server is pretty basic and doesn't allow CGI or anything like that.
Nevertheless, is there any way for me to ban certain domains or
countries from accessing the site? It has its own domain name in case
that makes any difference.

Thanks,
~hamburger

..htaccess

Regards
Richard Grove
http://www.shopmaker.co.uk - Ecommerce Shop Systems

 

[Charles Sweeney]

Hey there,

I don't run the server my website is on; I only have webspace on it. The
server is pretty basic and doesn't allow CGI or anything like that.
Nevertheless, is there any way for me to ban certain domains or
countries from accessing the site? It has its own domain name in case
that makes any difference.

Can't be done. A user could use a proxy.

Why would you want to ban countries?

 

[hamburger]

hamburger wrote:




Can't be done. A user could use a proxy.

Why would you want to ban countries?

These users wouldn't bother. Nor would they know how to, most likely. I
basically just want to ban a handful of specific users from the site,
and since the website is only relevant to residents of my own country, I
figure I might as well just ban the entire countries of the users. I
tried to upload the .htaccess file to the root directory of my webspace,
but the file just disappeared. I suppose that means my host doesn't
support it?

~hamburger

 

[Charles Sweeney]

These users wouldn't bother. Nor would they know how to, most likely.
I basically just want to ban a handful of specific users from the
site, and since the website is only relevant to residents of my own
country, I figure I might as well just ban the entire countries of the
users. I tried to upload the .htaccess file to the root directory of
my webspace, but the file just disappeared. I suppose that means my
host doesn't support it?

Although your service is not aimed at people outside your country, what's
the harm in them seeing your site? Why bother "banning" them, seems a bit
extreme to me, and much more bother than it's worth?

 

[Matt Probert]

I tried to upload the .htaccess file to the root directory of my webspace,
but the file just disappeared. I suppose that means my host doesn't
support it?

Any file with a name commencing '.' is hidden under Unix. Try

ls -a .htaccess

And you'll soon know if it's there!

Matt

 

[Toby Inkster]

I basically just want to ban a handful of specific users from the site,
and since the website is only relevant to residents of my own country, I
figure I might as well just ban the entire countries of the users.

Why not just ban by C-class network?
e.g. if their IP is 1.2.3.4, block all of 1.2.3.x

 

[brucie]

In alt.www.webmaster,alt.html hamburger said:

is there any way for me to ban certain domains or countries from
accessing the site?

no, they could just say there were from somewhere else.

 

[Alfred Molon]

I don't run the server my website is on; I only have webspace on it. The
server is pretty basic and doesn't allow CGI or anything like that.
Nevertheless, is there any way for me to ban certain domains or
countries from accessing the site? It has its own domain name in case
that makes any difference.

Is there a speedy way for a script to automatically identify which
country an IP address is from ?
--

Alfred Molon

http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm - Photos from Myanmar, Brunei,
Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Egypt, Austria, Prague,
Budapest and Portugal

 

[William Tasso]

...
is not aimed at people outside your country, what's
the harm in them seeing your site? Why bother "banning" them, seems a
bit extreme to me, and much more bother than it's worth?

and really irritating if you happen to be abroad.

 

[marcus]

since the website is only relevant to residents of my own country, I
figure I might as well just ban the entire countries of the users.

How are you going to decide who is, or is not, a resident of your country?

Will you be checking their passports as they visit your site?

Seriously, though, this is a very bad idea as you will very likely exclude many
of your intended audience. The Internet is global and your pages should be
visible globally, without exception...

regards
Marcus

 

[marcus]

Is there a speedy way for a script to automatically identify which
country an IP address is from ?

No - and the automated attempts that Google, for example, tries to make are
invariably not well done...

regards
Marcus

 

[lostinspace]

----- Original Message -----
From: "hamburger" <>
Newsgroups: alt.www.webmaster,alt.html
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2004 10:26 AM
Subject: banning domains or countries

Hey there,

I don't run the server my website is on; I only have webspace on it. The
server is pretty basic and doesn't allow CGI or anything like that.
Nevertheless, is there any way for me to ban certain domains or countries
from accessing the site? It has its own domain name in case that makes any
difference.

Thanks,
~hamburger

Verio is kind enough to provide some examples ;-)
http://www.verio.com/support/view_article.cfm?doc_id=3624

If that's not enough?
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum11/2095.htm

 

[Starwolf]

Although your service is not aimed at people outside your country, what's
the harm in them seeing your site? Why bother "banning" them, seems a bit
extreme to me, and much more bother than it's worth?

Good point. While there are excellent reasons to block countries and even
particular companies from mail servers, the hassle of doing it under the
OP's circumstances vs the bandwidth saved does not seem to have much of an
ROI. Having a handy way to block from a particular referrer however, is
always good thing.

 

[hamburger]

hamburger wrote:




Why not just ban by C-class network?
e.g. if their IP is 1.2.3.4, block all of 1.2.3.x

Because then they could just use someone else's computer. It'd be much
better if I could ban by country. But I guess if there's no way to do
this then I'll just have to settle for that. Thanks for the replies
everyone.

~hamburger

 

[Charles Sweeney]

Because then they could just use someone else's computer. It'd be much
better if I could ban by country.

So what's the big deal about people not from your country (wherever that
may be) viewing your site?

You can't hide anything online.

Why not save yourself all the hassle, and make it clear on your site that
your service is only aimed at (whatever country)?

 

[hamburger]

hamburger wrote:




So what's the big deal about people not from your country (wherever that
may be) viewing your site?

You can't hide anything online.

Why not save yourself all the hassle, and make it clear on your site that
your service is only aimed at (whatever country)?

I've got nothing against people from other countries visiting the site.
As I explained earlier, I only want to ban a handful of specific users.
Since there is absolutely no reason for people outside of my country to
visit the site, I figured it'd be most effective to just ban them all.

~hamburger

 

[Charles Sweeney]

I've got nothing against people from other countries visiting the
site. As I explained earlier, I only want to ban a handful of specific
users. Since there is absolutely no reason for people outside of my
country to visit the site, I figured it'd be most effective to just
ban them all.

Right, got you. Banning a handful of users is a waste of time too. How
can you stop them using a proxy, internet cafe, friend's PC, computer in
work, college, local library etc, etc, etc?

Is it a forum you're doing?

 

[hamburger]

hamburger wrote:




Right, got you. Banning a handful of users is a waste of time too. How
can you stop them using a proxy, internet cafe, friend's PC, computer in
work, college, local library etc, etc, etc?

Which is precisely why I'd prefer to ban the entire countries the users
come from.

Is it a forum you're doing?

No, just a website. Anyway, I've now banned their IP ranges so hopefully
they won't be smart enough to use a proxy server. I seriously doubt
they'd bother.

~hamburger

 

[Charles Sweeney]

No, just a website. Anyway, I've now banned their IP ranges so
hopefully they won't be smart enough to use a proxy server. I
seriously doubt they'd bother.

Good luck.