Wikipedia:Blocking IP addresses
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| This page outlines issues and problems related to blocking IP addresses. |
IP addresses can be blocked by administrators in the same way as registered users are. IP blocks can be more powerful and effective, but also have additional ramifications.
Contents |
[edit] Policies
[edit] Sensitive IP addresses
[edit] Sensitive due to public relations implications
If you block an IP in any of the following ranges, you are required to immediately notify the Wikimedia Foundation Communications Committee. These ranges are allocated to major governmental organizations and blocks of these organizations have political and public relations implications that must be managed by the Foundation's press relations team. Avoid long blocks of these addresses and be especially careful in formulating your block messages because your block message will be seen and commented on by the press.
- 82.148.96.68, 82.148.97.69 - The nation of Qatar
- 143.228.0.0/16, 143.231.0.0/16 - United States House of Representatives
- 156.33.0.0/16 - United States Senate
- 149.101.0.0/16 - United States Department of Justice
- 192.197.77.0/24, 192.197.78.0/23, 192.197.80.0/22, 192.197.84.0/23, 192.197.86.0/24 - Government of Canada
- (These ranges include any IP matching 192.197.{77-86}.*)
- 192.197.82.0/24 - Canadian House of Commons
- 194.60.0.0/20 - Parliament of the United Kingdom
If the IP belongs to anything that might be closely related to the above, or a major corporation, for example Microsoft, Sun, etc. it can be a good idea to notify the committee.
[edit] Sensitive for technical reasons
Blocking an IP listed in this section can cause undesired effects on Wikipedia, which varies depending on the IP in question. Please issue soft blocks on any bot coming from this address, and ensure that you immediately unblock the Toolserver IP after performing a block on a bot hosted here. If you are unsure as to how to do this correctly, please do not issue the block, but contact another admin.
- 91.198.174.194, 145.97.39.143, 91.198.174.201 - Wikimedia Toolserver (m:Toolserver) which hosts a number of bots which perform routine, but highly relied-upon, edits to Wikipedia, including archive bots and anti-vandalism bots.
- 24.40.131.153 - Abscissa.cluenet.org which hosts multiple bots that perform critical tasks on Wikipedia, including ClueBot.
[edit] Guidelines
[edit] Block lengths
Blocks should be based on the protection of Wikipedia rather than the punishment of offenders. Most IP addresses should not be blocked more than a few hours, since the malicious user will probably move on by the time the block expires. If there is persistent disruption or vandalism from an IP address, the block should be extended (with the 'anon-only' option selected) as long as is necessary to prevent further disruption.
However, IP addresses should almost never be indefinitely blocked. Many IPs are dynamically assigned and change frequently from one person to the next, and even static IP addresses are periodically re-assigned or have different users. In cases of long-term vandalism from an IP address, consider blocks over a period of months or years instead. Long-term blocks should never be used for isolated incidents. If someone uses an IP address for only a short time, then this is normally a good indication that the IP address should only be blocked for a short time, regardless of the nature of their policy violation.
Open proxies should generally be reported to the WikiProject on open proxies and blocked for the length of time they are likely to remain open on the same IP address, which in most cases is likely to be only a few months.[1] Many open proxies have been blocked indefinitely, but this has become less common as the extent of the collateral has become apparent.
If you do indefinitely block an IP address, place {{indefblockedip}} or {{blocked proxy}} (do not substitute) on its user or user talk page for tracking purposes.
[edit] Shared IPs
Before implementing a long-term block on an IP address with a long history of vandalism, please check if it is shared by performing a WHOIS and Reverse DNS lookup query on the IP to determine if it belongs to a school or a proxy server. If a Shared IP's talk page is not already identified or tagged as such, use either the {{SharedIP}}, {{SharedIPEDU}}, or any one of the templates at Category:Shared IP header templates to do so. For anonymous-only blocks of Shared IPs, please consider using {{anonblock}} or {{schoolblock}} as your blocking reason.
[edit] Range blocks
Administrators can block ranges of IP addresses (commonly called rangeblocking). Use careful judgement and make them as brief as possible; they can affect up to sixty-five thousand IP addresses each, potentially affecting millions of users. These should be reserved as an absolute last resort.
For more information, see mw:Help:Range blocks. You need some knowledge of how networks and IP numbering work, and of binary arithmetic. If you don't, many other administrators do— ask on the Administrators' noticeboard or on IRC.
If you propose to block a significant range, or for a significant time, consider asking a user with checkuser access to check for collateral blocks - that is, for the presence of other users who may be unintentionally affected by the range block. Alternately, if you are unsure whether or not disruptive edits from a specific range can be matched to a single user, you can post a request at sock puppet investigations where an administrator or a checkuser will attempt to match users with IP addresses.
[edit] Problems and solutions
[edit] Shared and dynamic IP addresses
Many users operate from shared IP addresses, often those belonging to proxies used by large networks or home users with their Internet service providers. Since it is impossible to distinguish between individual users operating from shared IP addresses, blocking one may affect a very large number of legitimate users (ranging up to millions). Users operating from dynamic IP addresses change IP addresses periodically. This can compound the autoblock problem, particularly when they are also shared, because a block targeted at a malicious user may shift to a legitimate user while the target shifts to an unblocked IP address.
See Wikipedia:WikiProject on XFFs
[edit] Open proxies
Open proxies may be blocked on sight according to the policy on open proxies. The IP should be unblocked once the proxy has been closed. Because the IPs may eventually be reassigned or the proxies closed, blocks should not be indefinite, but in some particular cases can be very long term. Block lengths should typically range from several weeks for dynamic IPs and short term Tor nodes, up to several years for long term proxies hosted on static IP addresses.
Administrators who block open proxies should attempt to record in the block log or on the user talk page how to verify whether the IP address is still an open proxy at a future date. Administrators who deal with unblock requests from blocked open proxies should typically seek advice from either the blocking admin or the WikiProject on open proxies before unblocking.
[edit] Indefinite blocks
Some behaviour by users, for example egregious threats and harassment, is so extreme that an indefinite block of the user is warranted. There are also some Wikipedia policies, for example Wikipedia:No legal threats and Wikipedia:Sock puppetry where an indefinite block of the user is mandated. However while the user may be considered indefinitely blocked and subsequently blocked on sight, the IP addresses they use should only be blocked for as long as they are likely to remain assigned to the same user.
[edit] Notes
- ^ See nl:Gebruiker:RonaldB/Open_proxy_fighting#Lifetime_of_OP.27s for more information on the lifetimes of open proxies
