This evening I saw something that I knew to be inaccurate on a Wikipedia page (namely on the *Starbucks* page). I often visit Wikipedia, and enjoy reading it, but never before had I ever attempted to edit anything. So I was really surprised when I clicked on the *edit* button and it send me to a page informing me that I was blocked. I would like to find out why my I.P. address is associated with this event, and I appreciate your efforts in looking into this.
*General info*:
I do not have an account at this time, so no username.
My I.P. address is *198.151.179.66* ** Wikipedia says that I was blocked by *Refdoc* for "vandalism," but does not specify any further (i.e. what it was concerning).
I would be really pleased if this could be sorted out/cleared up, explained, and I could then create an account with Wikipedia. I really want to find out what this "block" is referring to. Again, thank you for your time.
-Lauren Sweat
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A quick 'WHOIS' reveals that your IP is registered to Austin College. Most colleges operate 'proxy' systems so that everyone accessing the internet from that college will have the same IP address. The problem this presents is that if ANYONE in your college vandalizes Wikipedia, you will see the warning messages and suffer from the ban that has to be imposed. There isn't a lot that can be done about this - all you can do is wait for the ban to expire or try editing from a non-college computer
Cynical
Lauren Sweat wrote:
This evening I saw something that I knew to be inaccurate on a Wikipedia page (namely on the *Starbucks* page). I often visit Wikipedia, and enjoy reading it, but never before had I ever attempted to edit anything. So I was really surprised when I clicked on the *edit* button and it send me to a page informing me that I was blocked. I would like to find out why my I.P. address is associated with this event, and I appreciate your efforts in looking into this.
*General info*:
I do not have an account at this time, so no username.
My I.P. address is *198.151.179.66* ** Wikipedia says that I was blocked by *Refdoc* for "vandalism," but does not specify any further (i.e. what it was concerning).
I would be really pleased if this could be sorted out/cleared up, explained, and I could then create an account with Wikipedia. I really want to find out what this "block" is referring to. Again, thank you for your time.
-Lauren Sweat _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@Wikipedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
G'day David,
A quick 'WHOIS' reveals that your IP is registered to Austin College. Most colleges operate 'proxy' systems so that everyone accessing the internet from that college will have the same IP address. The problem this presents is that if ANYONE in your college vandalizes Wikipedia, you will see the warning messages and suffer from the ban that has to be imposed. There isn't a lot that can be done about this - all you can do is wait for the ban to expire or try editing from a non-college computer
That won't be possible, as the IP was blocked indefinitely in September 2005.
The IP's contribs show only the one edit; it's unlikely that an entire university would produce only a single edit, and even if Austin only connected to the Internet in late 2005, the blocking would presumably have generated *some* complaint. As such ISTM that the entire University wasn't blocked, but rather one workstation, which Ms Sweat had the misfortune to edit from some months later.
There's very rarely a good reason to indefinitely block an IP address (only do it in cases of open proxies, or Raul's cunning "email me to get unblocked, school administrators" manoeuvre), and in this case the blocking admin almost certainly did not have enough information to make the "block forever" call like that. I'll take the issue up with him.
(cc'ed in case you aren't subscribed to the list)
G'day Lauren,
This evening I saw something that I knew to be inaccurate on a Wikipedia page (namely on the *Starbucks* page). I often visit Wikipedia, and enjoy reading it, but never before had I ever attempted to edit anything. So I was really surprised when I clicked on the *edit* button and it send me to a page informing me that I was blocked. I would like to find out why my I.P. address is associated with this event, and I appreciate your efforts in looking into this.
This happens often. On Wikipedia, we (perhaps tactlessly) refer to it as "collateral damage". It means that you are editing from the same IP address as someone who has made malicious edits ("vandalism"). We recognise that this is not your fault, and will usually try to unblock people caught up as you were as soon as we can.
*General info*:
I do not have an account at this time, so no username.
My I.P. address is *198.151.179.66* ** Wikipedia says that I was blocked by *Refdoc* for "vandalism," but does not specify any further (i.e. what it was concerning).
I've checked the relevant logs, and an editor using the computer you used at uni made this edit back in September: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=University_of_the_Ozarks&diff=prev&oldid=24875327
I am not sure why your IP address remained blocked over all this time, as we generally try to keep our IP blocks as short as possible to avoid as much as possible affecting legitimate editors like yourself.
I would be really pleased if this could be sorted out/cleared up, explained, and I could then create an account with Wikipedia. I really want to find out what this "block" is referring to. Again, thank you for your time.
I've unblocked you, and apologise for the inconvenience caused. Thanks for supporting Wikipedia: first impressions notwithstanding, good authors *are* always welcome! :-)
Thanks,