[WikiEN-l] Overly lengthy blocks

[Ben McIlwain]

wiki.pedia.WiseFool at spamgourmet.com wrote:
> Matt Brown <morven at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> On 3/21/06, wiki.pedia.WiseFool at spamgourmet.com
>> wrote:
>>   
>>> I've been blocked from editing Wikipedia from a university connection
>>> for over three months now, since the IP block stops traffic from the
>>> entire state of Maine's library/school system. Are four-month blocks
>>> really an accepted part of policy, for a system that blocks
>>> established users along with anonymous users from contributing?
>>>     
>> Could you tell us what IPs this is regarding?
>>
>> -Matt
>>   
> It's 169.244.143.115. Blocking that blocks every public computer in the
> whole state, apparently.
> 
> Four months just seems excessive. I thought there was a maximum length
> for blocks on IP's that are shared, like by public libraries and schools.

You assume we're omniscient.  We're not.  There's no way for us to know
whether any given IP is used by a single user or by an entire state.
You're the first person who's informed us of this.