Log IP address un UserMeta when account is created

[Ipstenu]

As WordPress becomes more and more a CMS for everything, not just blogs, managing users becoms more important. With MultiSite and user registration more open, WordPress should have a built in way to record the IP address of a user.

So at registration, log the IP in usermeta. Done, easy. List it on the user page.

At comments, obviously, it's already logged, so nothing needs be done there. Also, since you can already click on an IP and list all comments made from that address, there wouldn't be much else that needs to be done.

[Denis-de-Bernardy]

Should be logged when the ip mysteriously changes too, no?

[mrmist]

Essentially agree with the concept of the ticket, but wonder what use it would be put to? There's a lot of ambiguity around IP addresses - proxies, dynamic IPs etc. that mean they are not as useful as they might be.

Maybe the core element should just provide for the storage of IPs, and leave the business to plugins?

[ipstenu]

Trolls and sock puppets.

Spammers are one thing, but morons who like to intentionally be dicks, pardon me, are another. They're often people who try to make multiple accounts, all from the same IP, to intentionally cause mayhem and piss people off. Being able to see where all the accounts were made from can help weed out the idiots.

And I wouldn't think you need to monitor when the IP changes. That's already logged in comments so you can search that way very easily. And yes, it helps me a lot :)

[dd32]

IMO, This should probably be relegated to Plugin territory.

I'd like to see a Google Last-accessed-from style plugin for WordPress, Thats about the only non-spam-targetting use I can see for such a function.

Tracking IP's is somewhat pointless IMO, The vast majority of ISP's around the world use Dynamic ip's, and issues related to Proxy headers has always plagued comment ip tracking as well..

[ipstenu]

There's a difference between spam and trolls.

This won't help a bit for spammers, you're right. But for TROLLS, people who intentionally make many accounts to be a jerk, their IPs don't change all that often, and even if they did, if you saw 14 accounts created by the same IP, you'd have a red-flag raised.

I think this is something needed for user management. If WordPress is 'just' a blog, it's not needed at all. But with MultiSite being official, you need a better sort of way to spot-check people when a problem crops up.

There is a plugin - ​http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/register-ip/ though it's not BuddyPress friendly. Which is another saga ;)

[ipstenu]

I'm making a plugin for this that'll work with MultiSite and SingleSite, based on the other plugin. It'd be better if you could pick and choose what columns you want to see on the user list pages, but I'll live.

[Ipstenu]

For single AND multisite - ​http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/register-ip-multisite/

[johnbillion]

I think this should remain plugin territory. The 'IP Address' column can be misleading as would only show the IP address of the user when they first registered, not their current IP. And if it did, do that then things become complicated.

Ipstenu's plugin addresses the issue well for those who need it. If there's a strong argument for this in core, please re-open.