I had a one-time client that is a medium-sized Los Angeles-based advertising agency, which essentially has an anti-Trump (hence, anti-Republican/conservative) bias throughout the company. A couple of weeks ago, I was at the site instructing management associates about the database setup for their reports. On a training break, I attempted to log into Democratic Underground under one of my many banned user names. Of course I couldn't log in as MIRT is brutal, but I wasn't on a VPN.
Recently, I got a call from management that many of their employees complained about not being able to log onto DU, believe it or not. Apparently, they all got notices that their screen names were banned! For awhile, I couldn't figure out the problem, but then I realized that MIRT is so paranoid they preemptively banned anyone who even logged in from an account that was on the same IP as a banned account! I know this because I cannot create a new DU user from my own IP. I have to actually use VPN and a US or Canada-based IP address to log into DU, and then I have to stay off my own IP to risk being logged off.
Anyway, I actually told the company the truth: I had tried to log into Democratic Underground myself, but they had banned me in the past. I also told them that the site itself *MAY* be banning users on IP addresses, and that they take it up with the site management. I probably won't get any repeat work from the company, but thought I'd let you in on this little nugget. To be fair, I'm not sure if this is all a huge coincidence or not, but the story is funny as hell in any case if it is true.
(Geez, this sounds like a bouncy.)