[WikiEN-l] Auto blocker is bad

Fri Sep 23 14:27:38 UTC 2005

>From: Jack Lynch <jack.i.lynch at gmail.com>
>
> > In general, some form of autoblocking is necessary or blocked
> > users will be able to simply log out and conitnue editing.
> >  Carbonite
>
>If they do, they can be blocked again, or their IP blocked.

Assuming you know for sure that it is them.  But of course, you can't know 
that if you don't know their IP, or if they use a sockpuppet.  And not 
everyone is an admin to be able to block sockpuppets when they show up.

>Frankly, I am confused
>as to what the upside in all this is.If a user sneakilly logs in
>anonymously and makes acceptable edits, who cares? And if they resume
>where they left off or otherwise make trouble, that will be pretty
>obvious, won't it? They can simply be blocked then, and their IP
>blocked if there appears a need.

You'd think, wouldn't you?  And yet, that's not always the case; quite often 
all sorts of IPs and new accounts show up to revert for someone who is 
blocked, all insisting that they are not sockpuppets at all, but merely 
disintersted third parties who happened to stumble on to the conflict and 
decided that their first edit should be a revert.  One person who has been 
consistently e-mailing this list (including today) was involved in exactly 
such a war, and insists to this day that none of the IPs and new accounts 
were sockpuppets.

Jay.