Wikipedia:Blocking policy proposal

The following is a proposed Wikipedia policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption.

This proposal is being developed, so please help improve it!

This proposal, based on this, aims to introduce a new level of blocking that would reduce the level of collateral damage done by blocking certain IP addresses, while at the same time reducing vandalism by allowing blocking anonymous editing from specific IP addresses that can't be satisfactorily blocked at present.

At present we have 2 kinds of blocks, one by username, the other by IP. The IP block locks out everybody, even logged-in users. This causes situations like this and this.

The solution

Blocking IP addresses commonly associated with vandalism that are also used by good users, but allowing logged in users to still use that IP address.

Note that current forms of blocking would still exist, this form of blocking would only be used when the other types are not applicable.

Implications

This new form of blocking will only affect specific IP addresses, most obviously will be AOL, which would almost certainly be blocked due to the level of vandalism.

There will be two main consequences of this; 1) Vandalism will be reduced as we can block them more effectively, 2) Good editors will no longer be blocked just for using the same IP address as a vandal.

Problems

1) Some more determined vandals will simply make a user account if the IP address is blocked, and carry on vandalising Wikipedia, solutions to this problem include;

Only allowing approved user accounts to be made on blocked IP addresses.

Pros: Adds a human element into the process, thus making it more accurate in most cases.

Cons: We need to find people to approve these accounts.

Place hurdles on the creation of blocked IP addresses:
- Putting a time delay on new user accounts from the blocked IP address.

Pros: Potential contributors on blocked ips can make accounts and continue editing.

Cons: Potential contributors may be deferred and not willing to wait, determined vandals may be willing to wait.

Ask the user to solve a captcha, either when creating a new account or occasionally when saving a page from a blocked IP (or both). Brion Vibber is currently adding captcha code to MediaWiki (to impede link spamming) which could be used for this purpose. This solution could also be combined with the time delay solution if either is considered too weak to be sufficient.

Pros and Cons: Similar to time delay proposal.

Additional pro: Prevents bots from using shared/anonymous IPs.

Additional con: Captchas can cause major accessibility problems.

Additional con: Captchas don't stop non-automated vandalisation.

Ask for a valid email address.

Pros: Requires no extra work, will stop all but most determined vandals.

Cons: un-wiki?

Additional con: Like captchas, some legitimate users will be unable to pass this stage

Nothing, these vandals would have been vandalising wikipedia anyway, at least this way we can block their new user accounts (unlike before where we couldn't realistically block them at all). Possibly we could have a separate Special:Log/newusers page which lists new user accounts from blocked IP addresses.

Pros: Least work to implement

Cons: Easier for vandals to get around IP blocks.

2) Some good users will be forced to log in.

A price worth paying. At the moment some good users are blocked just for using the same IP as vandals.

Please discuss on the talk page before making substantial changes.

Vote

This 3-way vote is just a way to gauge general consensus, it won't necessarily have any impact on Wikipedia. There will be no time limit, lets just see what the results look like after 50 votes.

Add this new form of blocking, and let new accounts from the blocked IP addresses be created freely

Yes please. Kaldari 17:08, 16 October 2005 (UTC)
This one looks technically feasible and should cut down high-school vandalism considerably. More complicated solutions simply may not have enough people to be implemented. Pavel Vozenilek 00:29, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

Add this new form of blocking, but implement some sort of hurdle to new accounts being created on the blocked IP addresses

Martin 08:58, 15 October 2005 (UTC)
I love the whole proposal but I hate the captcha idea. I was once on a site that required a captcha for every page...and it was annoying as heck. Plus, much of our vandalism is non-automated. — Ilγαηερ (Tαlκ) 13:56, 15 October 2005 (UTC)
Charles Stewart 00:40, 17 October 2005 (UTC)
asking for a valid e-mail shouldn't be a problem. Maybe put a suggestion on where to get a free one for those who don't already have one. - Trevor MacInnis (Talk | Contribs) 06:23, 17 October 2005 (UTC)
Yes, but no captchas, just a "new account delay" of say 1 hour. -- SGBailey 08:39, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

No new form of blocking

It's a good idea, but I have doubts. If this is implemented, most likely all of AOL, Netscape, all other major corporations, colleges, and school districts will be blocked using this form. This would restrict anonymous editing severly, contrary to the spirit of the Wiki. In addition, I don't believe that this would help counter-vandalism; in fact, in my opinion, it makes it harder for us to block vandals. Flcelloguy | A note? | Desk | W_S 15:41, 15 October 2005 (UTC)