On 8/17/07, David Gerard <dgerard(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Go for it :-)
Thanks, David.
Now, I don't know exactly where to begin, it's been awhile since I've really
opined on this issue in public. Yes, sockpuppets are a concern. Yes,
vandalism is a concern. As a Wikipedian who is no stranger to dealing with
either, I take these problems very seriously. But -- and I'm sure you knew
there was a "but" -- I'm just as torn when I see willing, helpful people
prevented from contributing, sometimes people who have a lot to offer us, or
even people who are already widely recognized on the wiki for their work,
all on account of potential abuse from others.
There's been a lot Jimbo-quoting, lately. That's all well and good, but
let's not forget that there are plenty of apt, eloquent comments on the
matter. As Gmaxwell said, just recently:
We're not an anonymity service, but until the day we make giving your
real name + DNA sample a requirement for editing we
should try to be
as friendly towards outside anonymity services as we can reasonably
be.
If anything the ability to handle the good users coming through a set
of anonymous proxies will allow us to be more aggressive at blocking
sources of problems.
Hell, as part of the growing consensus among the community, the "policy" tag
on [[WP:NOP]] has been "disputed" since mid-July, and even recently
*removed* without any significant argument. I'm clearly not the only person
who isn't quite satisfied with our current means and ways of dealing with
proxies.
There has to be more we can do. On IRC, it's as simple as getting +e set on
your nick, to overrride the general quiet on Tor users. Maybe we can to
implement a new class of ipblock-exempt. Maybe we can to implement a new
class of blocking for proxies, which certain users could circumvent. Such
permissions could be granted by invitation, by discussion, by some community
process to deal with requests. I'm no tech whiz, but I certainly hope we're
open for suggestions, here. Our problem is with the abusive use of proxies,
not with the helpful people behind them. There probably is no perfect
solution.
But we should try.
-Luna