I have been having problems to visit Quora app. So I informed them, although much later, and they said they needed some information. I obliged. Then they asked my IP address. Now I am in hesitation as to whether or not should I give my IP address. Will it be safe? I am a VPN user, too.
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The website already has your IP address. These are Administrative users of Quora. Sounds like moderators who don’t actually have Administrative access trying to troubleshoot your connection problems. Quora is a horrible website, I cannot in good faith, help you connect to such a horrible website.– RamhoundCommented Jun 25 at 2:06
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IP addresses are relatively public knowledge and can be very useful for helping find issues (its a key that can be used to narrow down log searches for example). You would normally give this information to anyone who asks. The only thing is that if you are using the VPN to keep anonymous from Quora - and if you have not logged into their site from the IP address you may not want to disclose your IP address [which is actually your VPN endpoint IP] and will allow them to associate you as coming through the vpn.– davidgoCommented Jun 25 at 2:48
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Of course giving them your IP address, if they are using moderator tools, will prevent them from helping you. So you’ll probably want to give them the IP associated with your Quora profile– RamhoundCommented Jun 25 at 2:59
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2since you use a VPN, your public IP is likely constantly changing each time you reconnect, so there is no diagnostic value in giving them your real public IP. you might instead give them the VPNs public egress IP you are assigned at a time when you had a problematic session, so they can review logs for your IP. that said there is likely little they can do to fix any traffic flow issues since your IP is always changing.– Frank ThomasCommented Jun 25 at 3:10
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You can give your ip address, but make sure you give the right one. So connect to VPN first, then go to whatismyip.com and that address, you give to them. Do note, a vpn will likely give out a new ip every time you connect, so its probably pointless and you are better off telling them that you use a vpn, so that you have a dynamic ip.– LPChipCommented Jun 25 at 6:37
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1 Answer
So first lets consider the simple case without a VPN.
Every time your browser requests a web page, it must provide the server with the IP address to respond to (the source IP of the TCP connection). In this sense, you are telling them your IP with every HTTP request. As such, it isn't particularly unsafe to provide them your IP. You only really need to worry about hiding your IP from would-be adversaries (whomever they may be to you).
The site operators are asking for your IP address, so they can search their HTTP logs, application analytics, firewall logs, etc for your IP, and hopefully get some idea what is going wrong for you.
Now, you use a VPN, so the situation changes somewhat. The purpose of a privacy-centric VPN or proxy is to appear to change your IP address as others see it when you connect to their services. As such your real public IP address will not appear in the site operators logs. instead the VPN exit IP address you had at that time will.
Commercial VPN services generally do not assign the same IP address to a client over multiple sessions, for myriad reasons, but as a result your IP will appear differently to the site provider over time, so unless you provide them the IP address the VPN service assigned you when you had the problem, they have no hope of finding it in their logs.
answered Jun 25 at 5:12
