THC Science

Blocking is the method by which administrators may prevent users from editing Wikipedia. Blocks are used to prevent damage or disruption to Wikipedia, not to punish users.

Any user may request a block at the administrators' noticeboard for incidents or a specialised venue such as the administrator intervention against vandalism noticeboard. Users requesting blocks should supply credible evidence of the circumstances warranting a block. Administrators are never obliged to place a block and are free to investigate the situation themselves.

If you wish to contest a block, see Wikipedia:Appealing a block for further instructions. Except in cases of unambiguous error, admins should not undo other admins' blocks without prior discussion; see below.

When blocking may be used

The following are the most common situations when blocking may be used. This is not an exhaustive list; blocking may be used in other situations, particularly situations addressed by more specific policies dealing with particular issues.

Even though this is not an exhaustive list, if a situation is not listed below, then a block is more likely to be controversial than otherwise. A rule of thumb is when in doubt, do not block; instead, consult other administrators for advice. After placing a block that may be controversial, it is a good idea to make a note of the block at the administrators' noticeboard for sanity checking.

Protection

A user may be blocked when necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of the Wikimedia Foundation, its users or the public. A block for protection may be necessary in response to:

persistently making personal attacks;
making personal, professional or legal threats (including outside the Wikipedia site);
performing actions that place users in danger;
disclosing personal information (whether or not the information is accurate);
persistently violating copyrights;
accounts that appear to have been compromised, as an emergency measure.

When blocking in response to disclosing personal information or actions that place users in danger, consider notifying the Arbitration Committee (by email) about the block and contacting someone with oversight permissions to request permanent deletion of the material in question.

Disruption

A user may be blocked when his or her conduct severely disrupts the project; that is, when his or her conduct is inconsistent with a civil, collegial atmosphere and interferes with the process of editors working together harmoniously to create an encyclopedia. A block for disruption may be necessary in response to:

persistent vandalism;
persistent gross incivility;
persistent harassment;
persistently posting material contrary to the biographies of living persons policy;
persistent spamming;
edit warring or revert warring;
breaching the sock puppetry policy;
persistently violating other policies or guidelines, where there is a consensus among uninvolved users that the violation is disruptive.

Furthermore, some types of user accounts are considered disruptive and may be blocked:

public accounts (where the password is publicly available or shared with a large group);
accounts with inappropriate usernames;
bots operating without approval or outside their approval;
accounts that appear, based on their edit history, to exist for the sole or primary purpose of promoting a person, company, product, service, or organization in apparent violation of Conflict of interest or anti-spam guidelines.

Open or anonymous proxies

Open or anonymous proxies are prohibited from editing by the Wikimedia Foundation, and may be blocked on sight.

Non-static IPs or hosts that are otherwise not permanent proxies typically warrant blocking for a shorter period of time, as the IP is likely to be transferred, the open proxy is likely to be closed, or the IP is likely to be reassigned dynamically.

There is also a Wikipedia project, the WikiProject on open proxies, which seeks to identify and block open proxy servers.

Enforcing bans

A Wikipedia ban is a formal revocation of editing privileges on all or part of Wikipedia. A ban may be temporary and of fixed duration, or indefinite and potentially permanent.

Blocks may be used to enforce bans. Such blocks are based on the particular terms of the ban. Except for partial bans, banned users are customarily blocked for the duration of the ban.

Evasion of blocks

Shortcut

WP:EVADE

An administrator may reset the block of a user who intentionally evades a block, and may extend the duration of the block if the user engages in further blockable behaviour while evading the block. User accounts or IP addresses used to evade a block may also be blocked.

When blocking may not be used

Disputes

Administrators must not block users with whom they are engaged in a content dispute; instead, they should report the problem to other administrators.

An exception is made when dealing with unsourced or poorly sourced contentious biographical material about living persons. Administrators may enforce the removal of such material with page protection and blocks, even if they have been editing the article themselves. (See the BLP policy.)

Cool-down blocks

Shortcut

[[:|WP:CDB]]

Brief blocks solely for the purpose of "cooling down" an angry user should not be used, as they inevitably serve to inflame the situation.

Self-requested blocks

Sometimes people request that their account be blocked, for example to enforce a wikibreak. Typically such requests are refused. There is a JavaScript-based "wikibreak enforcer" which may be used instead.

Recording in the block log

Blocks should not be used solely for the purpose of recording warnings or other negative events in a user's block log. The practice, typically involving very short blocks, is often seen as punitive and humiliating.

However, very brief blocks may be used in order to record, for example, an apology or acknowledgment of mistake in the block log in the event of a wrongful or accidental block, unless the original block has not yet expired (in which case the message may be recorded in the unblocking reason).

Unblocking

Administrators should not unblock users blocked by other administrators without first attempting to contact the blocking administrator and discuss the matter with them. It may not necessarily be obvious what the problem necessitating blocking was, and it is a matter of courtesy and common sense to consult the blocking administrator. If the blocking administrator is not available, or if the administrators cannot come to an agreement, then a discussion at the administrators' noticeboard is recommended.

If a block is the result of an unambiguous error and not a judgment call (for example, if the blocking administrator obviously misspelled a username), and the blocking administrator is not available, then it is not necessary to discuss prior to unblocking. Where there is ambiguity, discuss the block before removing it. Wheel warring is considered very harmful.

Altering block options

Administrators may unblock a user in order to re-block them with different blocking options selected, where that is necessary (for example, if a block on a registered account is causing significant collateral effects to a shared IP address or a blocked user is abusing the Special:Emailuser function).

Temporary circumstances blocks

Some types of blocks are used in response to particular temporary circumstances, and should be undone once the circumstance no longer applies:

blocks on open or anonymous proxies should be undone once it is confirmed that they have been closed;
blocks of unapproved or malfunctioning bots should be undone once the bots gain approval or are repaired;
blocks for making legal threats should be undone once the threats are no longer outstanding.

Implementing blocks

Technical instructions on how to block and unblock, and information on the blocking interface, is available at Help:Block and unblock. The following is advice specifically related to blocking and unblocking on Wikipedia.

In addition to the advice below, there are special considerations to take into account when blocking IP addresses. See Wikipedia:Blocking IP addresses and Wikipedia:Sensitive IP addresses.

Education and warnings

Everyone was new once, and most of us made mistakes. That's why we welcome newcomers and are patient with them, and assume that most people who work on the project are trying to help it, not hurt it. We also ask that newcomers make an effort to learn about our policies and guidelines so that they can learn how to avoid making mistakes.

As such, before blocking is used, efforts should be made to educate users about our policies and guidelines, and to warn them when their behaviour is in conflict with our policies and guidelines. A variety of template messages exist for convenience, although purpose-written messages are often preferable.

Warning is not a prerequisite for blocking (particularly with respect to blocks for protection) but administrators should generally ensure that users are aware of policies, and give them reasonable opportunity to adjust their behaviour accordingly, before blocking. Users who have been made aware of a policy and have had such an opportunity do not require further warning.

Duration of blocks

The purpose of blocking is prevention, not punishment. The duration of blocks should thus be related to the likelihood of a user repeating inappropriate behavior. Longer blocks for repeated and high levels of disruption is to reduce administrative burden; it is under presumption that such users are likely to cause frequent disruption or harm in future. Administrators should consider:

the severity of the behavior;
whether the user has engaged in that behavior before.

Blocks on shared or dynamic IP addresses are typically shorter than blocks on registered accounts or static IP addresses made in otherwise similar circumstances, to limit side-effects on other users sharing that IP address.

While the duration of a block should vary with the circumstances, there are some broad standards:

incidents of disruptive behaviour typically result in 24 hours blocks, longer for successive violations;
accounts used primarily for disruption are blocked indefinitely;
protective blocks typically last as long as protection is necessary, often indefinitely.

Setting block options

There are several options available to modify the effect of blocks, which should be used in certain circumstances.

autoblock should typically be disabled when blocking unapproved or malfunctioning bots (so as not to block the bot's operator), though it should be enabled when blocking malicious bots.
prevent account creation should typically be disabled when blocking accounts with inappropriate names (to allow the user to create an account with an appropriate name), though it should be enabled when blocking malicious names (for example, clear attacks on other users).
block e-mail will disable the user from accessing Special:Emailuser for the duration of the block. This option should not be used by default when blocking an account, but rather it should only be used in cases of abuse of the "email this user" feature. When enabled, efforts should be taken to ensure that the user's talk page remains unprotected and that the user is aware of other avenues (such as the unblock-en-l mailing list) through which he can discuss the block.

A "softblock" is a block with autoblock disabled, account creation not disabled, and blocking only anonymous users enabled. The effect is to block anonymous users but allow registered users to continue editing. Softblocks are commonly used when blocking shared IP addresses.

Reasons and notification

Administrators must supply a clear and specific block reason which indicates why a user was blocked. Block reasons should avoid the use of jargon as much as possible so that blocked users may better understand them. Administrators may also notify users when blocking them by leaving a message on their user talk page. It is often easier to explain the reason for a block at the time than it is to explain a block well after the fact.

When implementing a block, a number of pro forma block reasons are available in a drop-down menu; other or additional reasons can also be added. Users can be notified of blocks and block reasons using a number of convenient template messages — see Category:User block templates and Wikipedia:Template messages/User talk namespace.