Wikipedia:Blocking IP addresses

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←Information pages Blocking IP addresses
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WP:IP
 This page outlines issues and problems related to blocking IP addresses.


IP addresses can be blocked by administrators in the same way as registered users are. IP blocks can be more powerful and effective, but also have additional ramifications.

Contents

[edit] Policies

[edit] Sensitive IP addresses

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WP:SIP

[edit] Sensitive due to public relations implications

If you block an IP in any of the following ranges, you are required to immediately notify the Wikimedia Foundation Communications Committee. These ranges are allocated to major governmental organizations and blocks of these organizations have political and public relations implications that must be managed by the Foundation's press relations team. Avoid long blocks of these addresses and be especially careful in formulating your block messages because your block message will be seen and commented on by the press.

If the IP belongs to anything that might be closely related to the above, or a major corporation, for example Microsoft, Sun, etc. it can be a good idea to notify the committee.

[edit] Sensitive for technical reasons

Blocking an IP listed in this section can cause undesired effects on Wikipedia, which varies depending on the IP in question. Please issue soft blocks on any bot coming from this address, and ensure that you immediately unblock the Toolserver IP after performing a block on a bot hosted here. If you are unsure as to how to do this correctly, please do not issue the block, but contact another admin.

  • 145.97.39.143 - Wikimedia Toolserver (m:Toolserver) which hosts a number of bots which perform routine, but highly relied-upon, edits to Wikipedia, including archive bots and anti-vandalism bots.
  • 24.40.131.153 - Abscissa.cluenet.org which hosts multiple bots that perform critical tasks on Wikipedia, including ClueBot.

[edit] Guidelines

[edit] Block lengths

Blocks should be based on the protection of Wikipedia rather than the punishment of offenders. Most IP addresses should not be blocked more than a few hours, since the malicious user will probably move on by the time the block expires. If there is persistent disruption or vandalism from an IP address, the block should be extended (with the 'anon-only' option selected) as long as is necessary to prevent further disruption.

However, IP addresses should almost never be indefinitely blocked. Many IPs are dynamically assigned and change frequently from one person to the next, and even static IP addresses are periodically re-assigned or have different users. In extreme cases, consider long-term blocks over a period of months or years instead. Long-term blocks should never be used for isolated incidents.

Open proxies should generally be reported to the WikiProject on open proxies and blocked for the length of time they are likely to remain both static and open, which in most cases is likely to be under two years. Many open proxies have been blocked indefinitely, but this is becoming less common.

If you do indefinitely block an IP address, please place {{indefblockedip}} or {{open proxy}} (do not substitute) on its user or user talk page for tracking purposes.

[edit] Shared IPs

Before implementing a long-term block on an IP address with a long history of vandalism, please check if it is shared by performing a WHOIS and Reverse DNS lookup query on the IP to determine if it belongs to a school or a proxy server. If a Shared IP's talk page is not already identified or tagged as such, use either the {{SharedIP}}, {{SharedIPEDU}}, or any one of the templates at Category:Shared IP header templates to do so. For anonymous-only blocks of Shared IPs, please consider using {{anonblock}} or {{schoolblock}} as your blocking reason.

[edit] Range blocks

Shortcut:
WP:RANGE

Administrators can block ranges of IP addresses (commonly called rangeblocking). Use careful judgement and make them as brief as possible; this can affect over sixty-five thousand IP addresses, potentially affecting millions of users. These should be reserved as an absolute last resort.

For more information, see mw:Help:Range blocks. You need some knowledge of how networks and IP numbering work, and of binary arithmetic. If you don't, many other administrators do— ask on the Administrators' incidents noticeboard or on IRC.

If you propose to block a significant range, or for a significant time, consider asking a user with checkuser access to check for collateral blocks - that is, for the presence of other users who may be unintentionally affected by the range block.

[edit] Problems and solutions

[edit] Shared and dynamic IP addresses

Many users operate from shared IP addresses, often those belonging to proxies used by large networks or Internet service providers. Since it is impossible to distinguish between individual users operating from shared IP addresses, blocking one may affect a very large number of legitimate users (ranging up to millions). Users operating from dynamic IP addresses change IP addresses periodically. This can compound the autoblock problem, particularly when they are also shared, because a block targeted at a malicious user may shift to a legitimate user while the target shifts to an unblocked IP address.

See Wikipedia:WikiProject on XFFs

[edit] Open proxies

Open proxies may be blocked on sight according to the policy on open proxies. The IP should not be unblocked until the proxy has been closed. Because the IPs may eventually be reassigned or the proxies closed, blocks should not be indefinite, but in some cases can be very long term. Block lengths should typically range from several weeks for dynamic IPs and short term Tor nodes, up to several years for long term proxies hosted on static IP addresses.