Bans come in strengths. A soft one shows a captcha or an error for a few minutes. A hard one refuses the address for days. Some sites ban a whole subnet when several addresses in it misbehave.
A proxy changes the address, which gets around the ban, but it does not change what caused it. Sending fewer requests per address, keeping the steps of one visit on one address, and sending normal browser headers do more to prevent bans than any number of addresses.
To tell a ban from a fault, load the same page without the proxy, or through a different address. If it opens, the first address is limited or banned. If it opens nowhere, the site is down or the request itself is wrong.
Questions about IP ban
How long does an IP ban last?
Anything from minutes to permanently; the site decides. Temporary limits after a burst of requests usually clear within the hour.
Will a new IP address always lift a ban?
It lifts a ban on the address. If the site banned the account, or recognises the browser, a new address changes nothing.
Related terms
- Rate limiting
- Rate limiting is a cap on how many requests a website accepts from one visitor in a given time. Going over it brings errors or a block.
- IP rotation
- IP rotation means changing the IP address your requests come from, either on every connection or after a set time, to spread them out.
- Bot detection
- Bot detection is the set of checks a website runs to tell people from programs: the IP address, the browser fingerprint and the behaviour.
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