Wikipedia:Open proxies
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This page provides information about the use of open proxies to read and change pages on the Simple English Wikipedia.
- If you have received a message that you are blocked from editing as an open proxy, please see this help page.
Policy
Open or anonymising proxies may be blocked from editing for any period at any time. While this may affect legitimate users, they are not the intended targets and may freely use proxies until those are blocked. No restrictions are placed on reading Wikipedia through an open or anonymous proxy.
Proxies are left open due to deliberate or inadvertent configuration or because crackers have changed the configuration. Non-static IP addresses or hosts that are otherwise not permanent proxies should typically be blocked for a shorter period of time, as it is likely the IP address will eventually be transferred or dynamically reassigned, or the open proxy closed. Once closed, the IP address should be unblocked.
Explanation
Although Simple English Wikipedia encourages anyone in the world to contribute, open proxies are often used in a bad way. MediaWiki, the wiki software that powers Wikipedia, depends on IP addresses for administrator intervention against abuse, especially by anonymous users. Open proxies allow malicious users to rapidly change IP addresses, causing continuous disruption that cannot be stopped by administrators. Several such attacks have occurred on Wikimedia projects, causing disruption and occupying administrators who would otherwise deal with other concerns.
This policy is known to cause difficulty for some editors, who must use open proxies to circumvent censorship where they live; for example, citizens of the People's Republic of China, from which access to the Chinese language edition of Wikipedia is currently blocked by the government's Golden Shield Project.
Related pages
- Wikipedia:Sock puppetry
- m:Editing with Tor
- This policy is based on No open proxies.
Other websites
- WikiEn-l: "Anonymous proxies (was Re: Desysop Morwen)", Tim Starling 15 February 2004
- WikiEn-l: "Anonymous proxies (was Re: Desysop Morwen)", Jimmy Wales 16 February 2004
- WikiEn-l: "Anonymous proxies (was Re: Desysop Morwen)", Jimmy Wales 16 February 2004