In Reply to: What exactly does "Identical IP Adderss" mean? posted by Taekwondo Man on July 11, 2003 at 3:26 PM:
These two new icons are to help us all find and delete fake hits. If two (or more) bill entries have the identical IP address, the "computer" icon will appear. This DOES NOT MEAN that these hits will be deleted, only that they are suspect for being a fake hit. I'll look at the bill along with all the other information available to me, and decide if the hit is fake, and delete if it is clearly a fake hit. Due to proxy servers and dynamic IP addresses, it's quite possible to have the same IP address on different entries and still be entirely valid. It's really meant to help identify bills that may have lots of fake hits from the same full IP address or IP domain (i.e. like aol.com or mindspring.com or some other business or ISP *.com address).
Now this also DOESN'T mean to start flooding Team Aqua with requests to check out a bill that might have one IP address icon - it's meant to find the bills with LOTS of hits from the same or similar IP addresses. If I happen to see any fake hits on any bills, they will be deleted (as they should be) - even if it means someone's 8 hitter bill becomes a one-hitter (it happens often).
-Hank