Dear Wikimedia Community:
I am writing to express my concerns about the current practices regarding the blocking of anonymous IP addresses on Wikimedia projects. While I fully understand and support the necessity of preventing trolls, disinformation, and vandalism, I believe that the approach to blocking anonymous addresses may need reconsideration.
It appears that IP addresses are sometimes blocked preemptively, based on the possibility of misuse, without concrete evidence of abusive activity. This practice, while well-intentioned, can inadvertently discourage genuine contributors who prefer or need to edit anonymously. The potential for such contributors to be excluded from participating in the Wikimedia projects is a serious issue that warrants attention.
I believe it is essential for our community to find a balance between safeguarding the integrity of our content and maintaining an open, inclusive environment for all contributors. I urge the community to review and discuss these policies to ensure they are both effective and fair.
Thank you for considering these concerns. I look forward to a constructive discussion on how we can address this issue together.
Regards, Robert Levenstein
I wonder what context made you bring up these concerns. I know sometimes several IP addresses are blocked because of IP-hopping trolls/harassers, etc. This can unfortunately lead to collateral damage, and it may superficially appear to be preemptive, but it isn’t.
From, I dream of horses She/her
On Jul 26, 2024, at 10:41 PM, Robert Levenstein rlev2022@gmail.com wrote:
Dear Wikimedia Community:
I am writing to express my concerns about the current practices regarding the blocking of anonymous IP addresses on Wikimedia projects. While I fully understand and support the necessity of preventing trolls, disinformation, and vandalism, I believe that the approach to blocking anonymous addresses may need reconsideration.
It appears that IP addresses are sometimes blocked preemptively, based on the possibility of misuse, without concrete evidence of abusive activity. This practice, while well-intentioned, can inadvertently discourage genuine contributors who prefer or need to edit anonymously. The potential for such contributors to be excluded from participating in the Wikimedia projects is a serious issue that warrants attention.
I believe it is essential for our community to find a balance between safeguarding the integrity of our content and maintaining an open, inclusive environment for all contributors. I urge the community to review and discuss these policies to ensure they are both effective and fair.
Thank you for considering these concerns. I look forward to a constructive discussion on how we can address this issue together.
Regards, Robert Levenstein _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
Hello,
I don't know what you mean by "anonymous IP addresses". IP addresses usually are anything but anonymous. They may have some degree of anonymity when they are VPNs and TOR nodes, for instance, but for your own security, unless you know very well what you are doing, better treat any IP address you are using as something that can give your exact location at the time you are using it, often up to the workstation you are using at that moment. And that is usually logged, and can be checked afterwards by TI personnel, the government, police, etc. If you want some degree of anonymity you should definitely use a registered account (running over VPN or whatever), and never the IP address directly. Using your own IP address is a severe privacy and security breach, which should never have been allowed into Wikimedia projects even in 2001, and it's quite mind-boggling why it is still there after 23 years. If at least some of them are blocked, thats good. We blocked them all 4 years ago at the Wikipedia in Portuguese and never looked back.
Best, Paulo
Robert Levenstein rlev2022@gmail.com escreveu (segunda, 29/07/2024 à(s) 02:22):
Dear Wikimedia Community:
I am writing to express my concerns about the current practices regarding the blocking of anonymous IP addresses on Wikimedia projects. While I fully understand and support the necessity of preventing trolls, disinformation, and vandalism, I believe that the approach to blocking anonymous addresses may need reconsideration.
It appears that IP addresses are sometimes blocked preemptively, based on the possibility of misuse, without concrete evidence of abusive activity. This practice, while well-intentioned, can inadvertently discourage genuine contributors who prefer or need to edit anonymously. The potential for such contributors to be excluded from participating in the Wikimedia projects is a serious issue that warrants attention.
I believe it is essential for our community to find a balance between safeguarding the integrity of our content and maintaining an open, inclusive environment for all contributors. I urge the community to review and discuss these policies to ensure they are both effective and fair.
Thank you for considering these concerns. I look forward to a constructive discussion on how we can address this issue together.
Regards, Robert Levenstein _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
This wouldn’t apply to the English Wikipedia. VPNs/similar technology have been blocked there for people consistently using them to vandalize. You can get an IP block exemption if you are both trusted and demonstrate a need for privacy above and beyond what most people need (for example, to circumspect government censorship, etc.).
From, I dream of horses She/her
On Jul 29, 2024, at 9:01 AM, Paulo Santos Perneta paulosperneta@gmail.com wrote:
Hello,
I don't know what you mean by "anonymous IP addresses". IP addresses usually are anything but anonymous. They may have some degree of anonymity when they are VPNs and TOR nodes, for instance, but for your own security, unless you know very well what you are doing, better treat any IP address you are using as something that can give your exact location at the time you are using it, often up to the workstation you are using at that moment. And that is usually logged, and can be checked afterwards by TI personnel, the government, police, etc. If you want some degree of anonymity you should definitely use a registered account (running over VPN or whatever), and never the IP address directly. Using your own IP address is a severe privacy and security breach, which should never have been allowed into Wikimedia projects even in 2001, and it's quite mind-boggling why it is still there after 23 years. If at least some of them are blocked, thats good. We blocked them all 4 years ago at the Wikipedia in Portuguese and never looked back.
Best, Paulo
Robert Levenstein <rlev2022@gmail.com mailto:rlev2022@gmail.com> escreveu (segunda, 29/07/2024 à(s) 02:22):
Dear Wikimedia Community:
I am writing to express my concerns about the current practices regarding the blocking of anonymous IP addresses on Wikimedia projects. While I fully understand and support the necessity of preventing trolls, disinformation, and vandalism, I believe that the approach to blocking anonymous addresses may need reconsideration.
It appears that IP addresses are sometimes blocked preemptively, based on the possibility of misuse, without concrete evidence of abusive activity. This practice, while well-intentioned, can inadvertently discourage genuine contributors who prefer or need to edit anonymously. The potential for such contributors to be excluded from participating in the Wikimedia projects is a serious issue that warrants attention.
I believe it is essential for our community to find a balance between safeguarding the integrity of our content and maintaining an open, inclusive environment for all contributors. I urge the community to review and discuss these policies to ensure they are both effective and fair.
Thank you for considering these concerns. I look forward to a constructive discussion on how we can address this issue together.
Regards, Robert Levenstein _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org mailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org mailto:wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org_______________________________________________
Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
Hey Robert
I replied in the wiki https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:IdeaLab/Partnership_between_Wiki...
On Mon, Jul 29, 2024 at 9:15 PM Neurodivergent Netizen < idoh.idreamofhorses@gmail.com> wrote:
This wouldn’t apply to the English Wikipedia. VPNs/similar technology have been blocked there for people consistently using them to vandalize. You can get an IP block exemption if you are both trusted and demonstrate a need for privacy above and beyond what most people need (for example, to circumspect government censorship, etc.).
From, I dream of horses She/her
On Jul 29, 2024, at 9:01 AM, Paulo Santos Perneta paulosperneta@gmail.com wrote:
Hello,
I don't know what you mean by "anonymous IP addresses". IP addresses usually are anything but anonymous. They may have some degree of anonymity when they are VPNs and TOR nodes, for instance, but for your own security, unless you know very well what you are doing, better treat any IP address you are using as something that can give your exact location at the time you are using it, often up to the workstation you are using at that moment. And that is usually logged, and can be checked afterwards by TI personnel, the government, police, etc. If you want some degree of anonymity you should definitely use a registered account (running over VPN or whatever), and never the IP address directly. Using your own IP address is a severe privacy and security breach, which should never have been allowed into Wikimedia projects even in 2001, and it's quite mind-boggling why it is still there after 23 years. If at least some of them are blocked, thats good. We blocked them all 4 years ago at the Wikipedia in Portuguese and never looked back.
Best, Paulo
Robert Levenstein rlev2022@gmail.com escreveu (segunda, 29/07/2024 à(s) 02:22):
Dear Wikimedia Community:
I am writing to express my concerns about the current practices regarding the blocking of anonymous IP addresses on Wikimedia projects. While I fully understand and support the necessity of preventing trolls, disinformation, and vandalism, I believe that the approach to blocking anonymous addresses may need reconsideration.
It appears that IP addresses are sometimes blocked preemptively, based on the possibility of misuse, without concrete evidence of abusive activity. This practice, while well-intentioned, can inadvertently discourage genuine contributors who prefer or need to edit anonymously. The potential for such contributors to be excluded from participating in the Wikimedia projects is a serious issue that warrants attention.
I believe it is essential for our community to find a balance between safeguarding the integrity of our content and maintaining an open, inclusive environment for all contributors. I urge the community to review and discuss these policies to ensure they are both effective and fair.
Thank you for considering these concerns. I look forward to a constructive discussion on how we can address this issue together.
Regards, Robert Levenstein _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
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