IP addresses identify the Internet connection used by each poster to the forum. The forum can be set to record these IP addresses, and, optionally, to display them against each posting.

The IP addresses can be used, with appropriate legal process, to reveal the true identity of a poster, and thus can act as a detterant against inappropriate posts.

This is most useful for very large forums, where the scale makes it impractical for administrator to monitor all the postings, or where the site has a deliberate policy of not monitoring (in order to reduce their own legal responsibiity for any postings)