[WikiEN-l] Jayjg: Abusing CheckUser for political ends?

[Blu Aardvark]

Anthony wrote:
> On April 13, 2006, the text of [[Wikipedia:No open proxies]] was
> changed from the descriptive "Users using open or anonymous proxies
> are currently not allowed to edit Wikipedia." to the prescriptive
> "Users are prohibited from editing Wikimedia projects through open or
> anonymous proxies."  The edit was made by User:Pathoschild and the
> summary of the change was "Updated policy from the Meta-Wiki".
>   

This was more or less the original version of the policy, which based on 
[[m:No open proxies]]. This is also the version that certain groups are 
striving to rigorously enforce, and they don't mind hanging a few 
adminship nominations out to dry in the process.

It should be noted that [[m:No open proxies]] is an outdated policy. It 
went live in 2004, although the meta policy page wasn't created until 
2006. Softblocking of proxies was, when the policy was created, not 
possible.

Longstanding practice and consensus on the English Wikipedia appear to 
support the use of proxies, so long as those proxies are not being used 
abusively. The fact that some groups are striving to re-force an 
outdated policy onto the English Wikipedia for undisclosed reasons 
shouldn't have bearing on the longstanding practice and consensus.