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Post by Salzmank on Jul 18, 2018 17:38:28 GMT
Incredibly weird question that I doubt anyone will have an answer for, but I wonder if anyone else has had this same problem.
I intended to post a question to Wikipedia’s help desk and got a message that I had been banned from it. OK, that’s weird, especially as I’ve never had a Wikipedia account before. I e-mailed a guy who’s supposed to help and just got an ominous response that “based on the history of the IP-range I wouldn't hope too much on that [lifting the ban].”
I asked him why, and he told me that there had been abuse in the IP range. Does anyone know how large an “IP range” is? Neither I nor anyone in my household has a Wikipedia account of any kind, and we’ve never done any kind of “abuse” (whatever “abuse” is in this case. He still hasn’t explained it to me).
I’m asking here because my IP was once banned here by accident, and I’m wondering if it’s the same thing; also, as I wrote, if this has happened to anyone else before.
This whole thing is really weird.
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Post by _ on Jul 18, 2018 17:49:30 GMT
IP addresses are broken up into blocks of numbers. An example of this would be 148.20.57.0 through to 148.20.57.255. Once it reaches 255 the next number is 148.20.58.0. A block of 16 would start 148.20.57.0/28. A block of 32 would start 148.20.57.0/27. A block of 64 would start 148.20.57.0/26. A block of 128 would start 148.20.57.0/25. A block of 256 would start 148.20.57.0/24. So if you have an IP address and you want to block the range assigned how do you know which one to use? Let's say you have a problem with 148.20.57.34. You can lookup who has this IP address at arin.net/whois/?queryinput=148.20.57.34. Say this tells us that this IP address is assigned, along with a LOT of others in a /17 range, to the Department of Defense. We certainly don't want to block a large block of the DoD! The rule of thumb is block as little as possible. Only block a range if there is a cluster of IP addresses giving a problem. |
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Post by Catman 猫的主人 on Jul 18, 2018 17:56:15 GMT
One time a guy at Eidos was trying to ban one person's IP address and ended up banning the whole west coast.
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Post by Salzmank on Jul 18, 2018 18:21:48 GMT
Thanks, Catman 猫的主人 and _. My guess is what you wrote, Catman 猫的主人—someone accidentally banned a too-large range. I’ve called Wikipedia headquarters in San Francisco and left several messages, so I’ll let you know if they get back to me. Thanks as always, everyone. |
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jul 18, 2018 20:06:57 GMT
SalzmankIF / when they contact you … ask about that singer, you know, "whats-is-name" while you have their attention. poor ol' horse 
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Post by Salzmank on Jul 18, 2018 20:45:32 GMT
Salzmank IF / when they contact you … ask about that singer, you know, "whats-is-name" while you have their attention. poor ol' horse That was why I was going to log in in the first place!  On hold in a “live-chat” with a lady from the company right now. Does no one take phone calls any more?  |
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Post by Salzmank on Jul 18, 2018 21:35:12 GMT
Well, it’s not Columbo or Sleuth, but at least this mystery is solved. It was, as we expected, a too-wide-ranging IP ban, and I was apparently “collateral damage,” as a manager told me. Ho hum. I did learn that you can’t expect to reach anyone by phone anymore, though. Weird that I could be accidentally blocked without being told, though. Thanks, Catman 猫的主人, _, and BATouttaheck! |
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Post by Salzmank on Jul 18, 2018 21:39:05 GMT
Anyway. I can set up an account and sign on now. Question they won’t be able to answer about singer in Sleuth coming right up! |
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Post by BATouttaheck on Jul 18, 2018 22:02:34 GMT
Is there a term for the chronically collaterally categorized ? If not … there should be., Salzmank so.. did they Un-Block you while you were chattin' ? erm.. that sounds like an iffy question, eh ?
edit .. already answered ^^^ you are good !
edit the edit … I seem to have accidently added about a yard and a half of blank spaces to this note ...oops. fixed I hope |
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