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This probably won't fly on wp-en, but on wp-de apparently it's acceptable to block someone if they're disturbing good editors and keeping them from contributing at their normal rate. Since we are writing an encyclopedia, not creating a community, this makes sense... if some account appears, contributes no content, and just goes around antagonizing well-meaning editors, right now it is difficult to block them if they know "the rules" and are careful not to make actual personal attacks, violate 3RR, do anything that fits under disruption, etc.
Why not allow blocking of people who contribute nothing or essentially nothing to articles, but contribute a great deal of argumentative comments? --W.marsh13:52, 16 July 2006 (UTC)
I'd be wary of doing this due to the potential for abuse. I think the existing ability to block for disruption or community ban for general stupidity covers these problems. Rebecca03:52, 17 July 2006 (UTC)
Google Web Accelerator
I was recently getting messages saying I was blocked because somebody was using my IP address for vandalism; I found this wholly unlikely because my IP is static. If I clicked "Edit this page" several times, I'd be allowed to do so. Moreover, the IP address listed was not my own; I used some DNS tools and the IP is used by Google. I found that by disabling Google Web Accelerator, I haven't run into any problems, though it could just be a coincidence. Perhaps this is worth noting somewhere... more official so that other users can benefit from this. If its already been mentioned, then I guess I just didn't look hard enough. --Douglas Whitaker04:37, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
I think the correct solution is to use "Don't Accelerate These Sites" feature within GWA and add WP to the list of unaccelerated sites. Obviously GWA will pick up blocked IPs over time so this step will be needed for all WP users who elect to use GWA (until Google figures it out and automatically removes WP from its acceleration list). Crum37512:45, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
I'd have to agree wholeheartedly on this. I was thinking about what the implications were, and allowing GWA didn't seem all that good of an idea. If it is indeed the cases of using GWA, I think this should be made much more public so other users can find out about this. --Douglas Whitaker22:51, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
The Google Web Accelerator sets the X-Forwarded-For: HTTP header, which indicates the user's original IP address. Is the MediaWiki code not making use of that fact? Obviously you don't always want to trust X-Forwarded-For, since a hooligan could set their own on non-proxied connections. But you do want to trust it for known proxies. --FOo03:23, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
GWA doesn't proxy POST requests, so it can't be used for vandalism. The problem comes when a blocked user requests an edit page with GET, then the autoblocker will block the proxy. Subsequent requests for edit pages from the same proxy will show a block message. A POST request would work just fine if the user was able to download the form to post. Indeed we do use the XFF header for known proxies, see m:XFF project, but at the moment, we don't have a list of GWA proxies. -- Tim Starling07:31, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
It's the obvious question, I know, but have we asked them? I'd think the folks at Google wouln't mind telling us, but I suppose I could be mistaken. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 12:15, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
Block length
I have changed the section which states that the maximum block length for static IPs is one month to say that it is indefinite, as this seems to be the general consensus. I have seen static IPs blocked indefinately on several occasions and Template:IndefblockedIP exists.--Conrad Devonshire09:10, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
Role accounts
Is there something about role accounts somewhere? I cannot find it at the moment; some help would be nice :-) --HappyCamper16:55, 5 August 2006 (UTC)
There is something about Public accounts, which is not quite the same thing. The authority for role accounts is WP:SOCK which says that role accounts are not officially sanctioned and are likely to be blocked. -- zzuuzz18:31, 5 August 2006 (UTC)
Extend the blocking templates to give more information?
Would it be an idea to add more information to the block templates? For example, Template:Test5 currently reads:
You have been temporarily blocked from editing for vandalism of Misplaced Pages. Please note that page blanking, addition of random text or spam, deliberate misinformation, privacy violations, and repeated and blatant violation of WP:NPOV are considered vandalism. If you wish to make useful contributions, you may come back after the block expires.
This gives no information on when the block expires, with no indications on how to find out, or mention that the user can still edit their talk page, or tell the user which edit they have been blocked because of. Template:Test5-n does some way towards this, by telling the user how long they have been blocked for, but it's still not ideal, or in common use. The rest of the blocked templates are no better. I'm not sure of the best place to ask this, as it's not tied down to a single template. Mike Peel17:09, 6 August 2006 (UTC)
I hadn't seen that template. It's better than the others, but not there yet. It should really link to this page, and preferably note how to contest the block (see Template:Block). Also, I'm more after making this a common thing, something that will be used in the majority of cases, rather than something that the odd admin will do. (Note: I'm not an admin. I can't block people, so don't use these templates myself. I just see a lot of them on my wiki travels.) Mike Peel17:29, 6 August 2006 (UTC)
