[WikiEN-l] Should we block unregistered AOL users?

[Ilmari Karonen]

Angela wrote:
> On 7/12/06, Ilmari Karonen <nospam at vyznev.net> wrote:
> 
>>Given the above, would it now be advisable to block the entire AOL proxy
>>  pool from editing by unregistered users?  This would have the side
>>effect that AOL users would no longer be hit by random autoblocks.
> 
> AOL have agreed to set XFF headers for Wikimedia sites, so this won't
> be necessary. However, that was a few weeks ago now and I'm not aware
> of it having been implemented yet. I'll follow up and see if there's
> any response. I suggest holding off on the blocks for a while longer
> to see whether we can avoid this.

That's *great* news!  I suppose Tim is also in on this, given that he 
maintains the trusted XFF list?

That said, it might still make sense to block anon editing from the 
proxies until this is implemented, assuming we feel the blocking is a 
good idea at all.  Once the XFF feature has been enabled on both ends, 
those blocks will then (as far as I understand the system) simply stop 
having any effect.

As an implementation detail, if we do this, we should probably set up a 
helpful template and use it in the range block summaries.  That way the 
users affected by the blocks will know exactly what's going on and what 
to do.

-- 
Ilmari Karonen