Wikipedia talk:Consented blocks

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This page was nominated for deletion on March 23, 2007. The result of the discussion was tagged as historical.

Umm. I'm not entirely sure that this is a good idea. Schools have the technical ability to block Wikipedia of their own volition (editing, viewing, or both) if that's what they really want. I don't believe that we should allow them to duck responsibility for the block by having us do it instead. If China asked us to block China from editing, would we grant their request? Then how is this different? The Uninvited Co., Inc. 18:55, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Explain how they can block editing, retain viewing, without buying expensive new software? -- Zanimum 13:30, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Most schools, at least in the UK (and I'm sure something similar applies in the US and other nations as well) have access to basic filtering software via the LEA, and such institutions are entitled to discounts on slightly better stuff. robchurch | talk 13:58, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

You missed the key part of the sentence, which was "block editing, retain viewing". Kurt Weber 14:06, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Indeed, I didn't. It's possible to filter URLs by pattern, including those containing action=edit. robchurch | talk 14:07, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Would it be possible to create a tutorial on this, and promote this sort of thing to schools? -- Zanimum 14:19, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

However such URL filtering may have negative side-effects on other sites as well (Well... now that I think about it I guess you may be able to filter for "wikipedia.org" and "action=edit"). I have a few questions about this though: Would the Autoblocker potentially burn anyone as a result of this? (I'm not quite up to speed on how it works). Secondly if we ban them on English Wikipedia, does that mean they are subsquently banned from all other wikimedia projects? What would prevent students from going and vandalizing other wikipedias or other wiki projects? Regards Charlie^{( @CIRL | talk | email )} 14:46, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

I've just checked on fr.wikipedia, and it includes action=edit also. So, if a school blocks editing from Wikipedia, they block editing on any MediaWiki-based project, even if Wikimedia or Wikia doesn't run it. -- Zanimum 13:21, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Any filter capable of catching action=edit is also capable of matching the en.wikipedia.org in the URL, allowing the selective blocking of edits on a per-site basis. There are other solutions as well, such as placing clients behind a web proxy that does not pass POSTs to Wikipedia. Honestly, I think there is probably more free software with the necessary capabilities than there is expensive software. —ptk✰fgs 12:49, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

How will students with an account still be able to edit if their IP is blocked? — Knowledge Seeker দ 06:57, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

They won't. Until our developers get through the backlog of feature requests, and create a way that an IP can be blocked, but not an account, some student editors may be forced to edit solely from home. However, we simply will hope that any of the Wikipedians in high school don't go to high school that blocks editing. -- Zanimum 13:21, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

See also bugzilla:550. æle ✆ 2006-06-08t01:49z

I think the sentence about students being to edit with an account is misleading at best—I added a qualifier—but it should probably be removed. — Knowledge Seeker দ 01:52, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

It says this is a proposed policy which has not been accepted as official yet. So why have blocks been made through it? (I go to TE Middle, and a lot of my classmates are pissed about this) --Nintendorulez talk 22:37, 8 June 2006 (UTC)