Sam Korn wrote:
On 1/15/06, Sharad B skrod@hotmail.com wrote:
From user: Snpoj
Current user IP: 63.19.227.233
I think the system in place for range IP blocking should undergo a change. Here's why:
I just signed up with NetZero which I assume, like most dial-up ISP's, uses dynamic IP's. After logging in and attempting to contribute to an article, I learned that my IP had been blocked by user: Curps. It seems that his email was unavailable otherwise I would have brought the issue directly to him rather than to the mailing list as a whole.
The problem here is not that my IP was blocked, because if I had not logged in and tried to edit an article, I would have been fine and understanding of the fact that the IP had been temporarily blocked. The problem here is that I logged in as a responsible contributor with no reports of vandalism and was blocked. Furthermore, I would have understood the blocking if I had registered in the IP range previously and then was blocked, but I did not register within that IP range, nor have any of my contributions been within that IP range.
[snip]
According to
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Range_blocks
A "/17" will block 32,768 IP addresses. (And here's a quick disclaimer: I am not very familiar with binary and range blocking so this may be incorrect.)
I understand the dedication admins take to block vandals but in all honesty I think it's a bit extreme to block 30,000 IP's even if it's only for a couple of days.
If any admin is reading this, I ask that you please address this issue to the admin community on my behalf. Again, I understand that this issue may be rare, but I anticipate having problems like this in the future while using an ISP such as NetZero.
Thanks for your time. Regards, -Snpoj
Bugzilla bug 550, I believe. I do agree, however, on first glance that a /17 for two days does seem excessive. On the other hand, when you see the block history [1], you can understand why the long block was made. I believe this is the infamous "North Carolina" vandal.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=block&u...
-- Sam
Sharad,
Did you try complaining to NetZero regarding this problem, at least part of which may well be within their ability to control? See http://www.juno.com/legal/accept-use.html for their AUP.
-- Neil