Brion Vibber wrote:

On Mar 20, 2004, at 11:29, Walter Vermeir wrote:

...

I have discovered there is now a robot active on I believe all Wikipedias whit the name "Proxy blocker".

It blocks automaticly all users who are using a open proxy server.

It looks like a action form the English Wikipedia.

Tim plugged this experimentally into the wiki in response to a massive spambot attack a few days ago that worked through open proxies. It's not a vigilante robot, but an automated part of the wiki that runs a check when a given IP address first makes an edit. (This should have been announced; if it wasn't, I hope Tim will remember to do so next time.)

To implement a proxy scanner/blocker was an idea I had in early February some time, when I saw simple vandals using anonymous proxies to evade bans. I raised the idea of systematically blocking anonymous proxies on wikien-l in mid-February, under the subject "Anonymous proxies", to discuss the ethical issues. Jimbo was behind the idea. I wasn't even sure if I was going to write it at that stage, I just wanted to make sure there was no reason I couldn't do it. But events in early March inspired me to get on with it and quickly push it into service. I'm sorry I forgot to announce it in the rush. I did mention it on IRC a few times, and I wrote some documentation at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Proxy_blocker

Neil Harris wrote:

A suggestion: instead of blocking auto-detected open proxies indefinitely, they should only be blocked for a limited period such as one week.

Done.

-- Tim Starling