Don't block proxies, that's absurd. I get stuck with proxies constantly and they work fine.

Lets not go back a step by blocking proxies.

I do not belive proxies give you a correct representation of the actual ping of a player in this game.  It seems as if every time I get in a game with proxy players, they have flucuating pings and always lag out the game.  Proxies are just another cause of connection issues and disconnects, IMO.  I'd rather play a game with Z E R O proxied players.

I can't say with all assurances that these Proxy servers aren't causing the issues, however it's far more likely the user that's connecting to the Proxy server has a fault somewhere rather than the server themselves. They were added to enable people who were unable to connect, to connect to the proxy server which then connects to everyone else for them. This type of service forms the backbone of some of the larger Network services in the world, including Blizzard Entertainment's Battle.net. Most of these services, however, simply don't detail how it connects everyone.

Well if the lobby wasnt so buggy, that would answer all of your problems and you wouldn't need a filter list.  The way it is now, you take a gamble kciking anyone.  I cant tell you the number of times that people are actually in-lobby but the space shows "empty".  I can't see them, but others can.

danomanox, you spent way too much time on php.net...

A 320 ping can work for 3v3 games without problems, same goes for 3v3s with one or two proxied players. I would not recommend to allow proxies in 5v5 unless you get the impression that the player knows his connection can really handle it (just ask him nicely and see what happens).

What I really dread are the few 'poison pill' players who can only connect to one or two players and turn an 'all green' lobby into a a yellow swamp of utter fail. I've seen that a few times and many times the game is doomed from that moment on. Either the host crashes or one or two players will suddenly drop midgame for no reason. If the proxies kick in early enough there is a good chance it might work though.

If somebody has a ping that suggests he is either on the ISS or Mars wait for a few seconds. Sometimes the ping will go down and you can play a 3v3 or 2v2 without problems.

I often give players a chance to get a proxied connection in 3v3s or at least 20-30 seconds to see if their ping stabilizes on a level below 320ms. If it goes south and the game is lagging I'll announce a rehost in chat and leave the game. Most of the time the same players join again a few seconds later and you can restart in under a minute.