Tracking user's geo location from Wordpress blog

[wj007]

On a Wordpress blog, Is there a way to check where comments are originating from (geographic location)? I am not the blog owner so I can't get the IP address. I have a suspicion that there's a spammer using multiple handles who is trolling.

I believe I can confirm this by seeing where these comments are coming from (since the blog is not very active). Any way to do this? Maybe this isn't specific to blogs, but could be a more general location detection via pings to a website. Thank you !

 

[Outlander_04]

contact the admin

 

[ThatVietGuy]

You're not getting help invading someone's privacy here.

 

[4745454b]

I like outlander's idea better. Contact wordpress and have them remove the user. I don't use wordpress but look for any admin tools you already have.

 

[wj007]

Thanks, I've already contacted the admin who is not responsive. My guess is that the spammer is using different IPs (maybe through a proxy) so it looks like its different users. I remember a while back that there was some kind of tool that would show you where traffic to a given website was coming from , and it did not require admin access. That's what I'm looking for.

And no, I'm not trying to invade someone's privacy. Just trying to get evidence to help vanquish a troll. Thanks for any info that you have.

 

[4745454b]

There are user names like wj007 and 4745454b, and there are IP addresses. If you have full control of the site and it has the ability you can ban either. wj007, or 56.54.224.187. (I have no idea what that IP address is, I just made it up.) If he is using a proxy then banning by IP will be next to impossible. You can ban the user name, but they can probably just make another. If you are the owner of the blog can you at least remove the offending posts? That might be your best bet.

 

[wj007]

Thank you for the explanation. Unfortunately, I am note the owner of the blog nor do I have admin rights. I also can't get the owner or an admin to help. I'm trying to gather evidence and believe the best way to do this is to show that the offending posts (tho coming from different ips and usernames) are coming from the same geographic location. On a blog with limited posts, this is enough to show that its most likely the same user.

As I stated, this may not be a blog specific solution. It could be a 3rd party site that monitors traffic to a given website, most likely in real-time. I know its been done before but I can't seem to find anything on it.

 

[USAFRet]

If you're not the owner or admin, and they won't engage with you....there's not a lot you can do.

 

[bobmanuk]

there are plugins for sites like wordpress/joomla/mambo that can track incoming connections and comments but you NEED to have access to the system behind the blog, the information displayed to you is all you can see, unless the admin installs a plugin that will feed the information you require to another source there is no way to get the information you want.

 

[wj007]

there are plugins for sites like wordpress/joomla/mambo that can track incoming connections and comments but you NEED to have access to the system behind the blog, the information displayed to you is all you can see, unless the admin installs a plugin that will feed the information you require to another source there is no way to get the information you want.

Thanks bob, this is interesting and I want to learn more. Can you provide a little more information about these plugins, if you don't mind? Then I can look them up myself and go from there. Thank you very much for your time.

 

[4745454b]

If you are not the owner then I'm switching gears and clamping down. Now I fail to see why you should have this info if it's not YOUR blog. Bob's plugin idea shouldn't work as he said you NEED access to the system behind the blog which you don't because you aren't the owner. (Probably the reason why they haven't got back to you.) Not sure what's going on, but my advice is to move on. I don't know what you are doing, but it's probably a bad idea.