Editing Incubator escapee wiki:Wikipedia Signpost/2005-02-07/Proxies (section)

{{Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Templates/Signpost-article-header-v2|{{{1|Effort to block proxies via bot aborted}}}|By [[User:Michael Snow|Michael Snow]]}}

Continued concerns about the use of anonymizing proxy IP addresses prompted an effort last week to implement widespread blocks of such IPs, but technical problems forced the project to be put on hold.

These IPs, known as [[open proxy|open proxies]], have a reputation for being primarily a source of vandalism, as well as being used by blocked users to circumvent their editing restrictions. To deal with the problem, [[User:Fvw|Fvw]] made a proposal to use a [[Wikipedia:Bots|bot]] that would identify and block such proxies.

Routine blocking of open proxies originally began in February 2004 after discussion on the English Wikipedia mailing list. It was initially done by having the servers scan IP addresses when they attempted to edit, and blocking those that were identified as proxies. However, the regular scanning was disabled after a while. Since then, administrators have blocked open proxies when they are discovered editing Wikipedia, rather than trying to identify them systematically.

Fvw initially proposed running a bot to block proxies on 23 January. He offered to collect lists from websites that publish the IPs of anonymizing proxies, verify them and then block the IP.