On Wed, May 29, 2013, Rishikesh Madan <rishikeshrmadan(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hello guys,
I subscribed to this newsletter a long time ago, I don't go through it
much. I am a novice at this, please forgive me I'm just 17. So the thing
is, my ISP assigns me a random IP every time I connect. So I got a message
from wikipedia (on the top of a page) that my IP was involved in vandalism,
I didn't do anything. Is it possible that some other person did this when
the IP address was assigned to him? Should I be worried? Should I always
use my wikipedia account while making edits? I hope someone reads this.
Thanking you in advance. Sorry for acting like a noob.
No, there's absolutely no problem with asking here. And there is absolutely
no reason to be concerned about the warning.
I think most IPs are dynamics with large service providers in India. The
warning is a standard template and you don't have to worry about it. The
admins and other editors know that IPs can be dynamic, so the template
itself has a note that you can log in or just ignore if you have a dynamic
IP. It's just there for record in most cases. You can ignore the warning
for now.
If you plan on editing or using Wikipedia, it is advisable to create an
account and remain logged-in, you won't see any IP-related warning. Other
users and admins see you as an IP address when you are not logged-in, since
the IPs keep changing it is hard to keep track of vandalism, and a lot of
users end up sharing the same IP. But if you have an account, there will be
no link to your IP, that information will remain hidden and you can read
and edit freely as yourself only.
Regards
Theo