MisesWiki:Blocking policy

Users may be blocked from editing for several reasons, including repeated vandalism, spam, or disruption to the wiki. Furthermore, the Mises Institute reserves the right to block editors for other reasons at its discretion.

Only administrators can block users. To do so, go to Special:BlockIP, or click the "block" link found next to a user's IP address or username in the recent changes list.

Blocking options

The options when blocking are:

• IP Address or username: Enter in the username, IP address, or IP range to block in the "User" field.
• Expiration: Select when the block should expire from the drop-down, or manually type in an expiration time of the block. When manually typing in a time, follow the GNU standard format.
• Reason (optional): The reason selected from the drop-down combined with the other/additional reason specified will be used as the message displayed to the blocked user when they try to edit.
• Select additional block options (optional): Depending on if a username or IP is being blocked and other options that may have been enabled, some or all of these options will be displayed on the form:
  • Block anonymous users only: This option is only available when blocking an IP address. When selected, registered users who try to edit using a blocked IP address will still be able to edit. Otherwise, they will be unable to edit as well.
  • Prevent account creation: Selecting this option will prevent the blocked username or IP address from creating new accounts.
  • Automatically block the last IP address used by this user, and any subsequent IPs they try to edit from: This option is only available when blocking a username. When selected, the user's IP will become "autoblocked" for one day and any other IP addresses that the blocked user tries to edit from will be blocked as well.
  • Prevent user from sending e-mail: This option is only available when blocking a username. When this option is selected, the user will be unable to use the Special:EmailUser interface.
  • Watch this user's user and talk pages: When selected, this adds the blocked user's user page and user talk page to your watchlist.

Spam accounts

Spammers often use open proxies to create accounts and post new spam articles. In general, the process for dealing with such problems should be:

• Block the offending user (indefinitely, also block the IP address used and prevent emailing)
• Delete the spam page
  • Optionally, protect the spam page once deleted, to prevent re-creation
• Use the Check User tool to get the spammer's IP address (this requires the Check User right)
  • If the IP address is an open proxy (as it usually is), block it for a period of time (see Open proxies section below)

Open proxies

An open proxy is a proxy server that can be accessed from the internet, allowing users to mask their true IP address. They are commonly used to make editing truly anonymous; however, they make it easy for vandals to avoid blocks.

Therefore, IP addresses identified as open proxies should be blocked. To determine if an IP address is an open proxy, go to Wikipedia and enter the IP address. If that IP address is blocked on Wikipedia as being an open proxy, it can be blocked here as well.

There are surely better methods of determining if an IP address is associated with an open proxy; feel free to edit this page to add additional details.

An IP address that is currently associated with an open proxy may no longer be at some point in the future. Thus, only block open proxies for a fixed amount of time, such as 6 months.

When blocking an IP address associated with an open proxy, check only the "Prevent account creation" box. All other boxes should be left unchecked.

Users with the Check User right enabled are called "Checkusers." A list of current checkusers is available.