On 7/1/05, Angela beesley@gmail.com wrote:
If there is a problem with the information given to blocked users, which as far as I can tell makes no such suggestion that the user is a vandal, then this can be edited by any admin at [[MediaWiki:Sorbsreason]] and [[MediaWiki:Sorbs create account reason]].
Well, here is what the text looks like, so you all don't have to go try it yourselves. It doesn't explicitly suggest the reader is a vandal, but it certainly isn't polite. It is rather deceptive, really, in that it seems to tell you how to solve your problem, but is only leading you towards further exasperation. If you follow the SORBS DNSBL link, it takes you to an inscrutable User-page whose clearest sentence is "Please contact User:Tim Starling or an administrator with any problems." Of course you have no way to Tim Starling, as you can neither edit nor follow the "email" link from his user-page. If you follow the "administrators" link you are taken to a page full of user-page links, almost none of which have a visible email address. Sorry, chump.
There is a brief half-apology to AOL users near the end, but by the time you get to it you are probably in no mood to notice. It also advises you, inexplicably, "Note that you may not use the "email this user" feature unless you have a valid email address registered in your user preferences." -- if the authors of this text realized that, why did they not provide a way out? It makes you feel as though you are missing something obvious.
I don't know where this text shows up, and it doesn't seem to be a Mediawiki: message, but the default is what should be changed.
__________________________________________
= User is blocked =
From <projectname>
Your user name or IP address has been blocked by [[SORBS DNSBL]].
The reason given is this: Your IP address is listed as an open proxy in the SORBS (http://www.sorbs.net) DNSBL.
You may contact [[SORBS DNSBL]] or one of the other [[administrators]] to discuss the block. Note that you may not use the "email this user" feature unless you have a valid email address registered in your user preferences. Your IP address is 194.117.134.72. Please include this address in any queries you make.
==Note to AOL users==
Due to continuing acts of vandalism by one particular AOL user, this wiki often blocks AOL proxies. Unfortunately, a single proxy server may be used by a large number of AOL users, and hence innocent AOL users are often inadvertently blocked. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
If this happens to you, please email an administrator, using an AOL email address. Be sure to include the IP address given above.
[Return to Main Page.] __________________________________________