Yo Ho Ho

Happy Chinese New Year!

I am involved on User talk:Carletteyt

Nobody is obliged to follow my "note to next blocking admin" on their page. Otherwise I'd be pulling the trigger myself. Another week would be my call. But I'm very much involved as a wannabe mentor. I'd like to continue to be positive with the user even when disappointed. I had already announced this was going to happen, long and loudly. BusterD (talk) 21:01, 25 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah. Your position is this is an excited editor who might be able to edit constructively. I agree at least on the first part. I'm not about to block myself. If this goes to WP:ANI, I'd certainly support a block but my preference would be some way to convert them into a constructive editor. But wowsers, they are a ways away from that at the moment. Sometimes, having these editors try out over on simple.wiki is helpful, but I think it wouldn't be here. --Yamla (talk) 21:13, 25 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Yep, that's got to be my position because few will take it. They need an advocate and they may yet surprise us. This edit and this one give me hope. This is mere minutes after I asked them to read Template:Cite magazine. Maybe get friends like User:Dream Focus to help them learn how to search and cite well. Such renegades might be of help. Teachers I know are optimistic by nature. And they've been quiet this afternoon. BusterD (talk) 22:58, 25 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Carletteyt

Their one edit wasn't bad but this was. It has nothing to do with the topic and is basically corp spam. Guess now I have to go take this to ANI. Sigh. PRAXIDICAE💕 15:09, 26 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, I'll follow along there. --Yamla (talk) 16:33, 26 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Proxy blocks

Hi Yamla. I'm not quite sure how to approach this. I keep seeing unblock declines such as this and this. Don't worry, it's not just you, though I am writing here since you do a large number of unblock requests, including the ones I've just come across, and I might just link others to this note.
We are currently facing a situation where just every IP address in the whole of Ghana has been blocked as an open proxy. This situation affects several other countries in West Africa - Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, and a few others. If you're assigned an IP address by your regular ISP in one of the countries, the chances are significant that it will have been blocked as an open proxy. And if it's not the IP address currently assigned then it will be the one assigned in the past or following hour. I'd like to encourage admins to consider whether it's likely that the user is actually using an open proxy, in other words, whether they are evading scrutiny by editing from perhaps another country, or whether it's likely that the person is in the same place as the IP address. If the user is in Ghana, then IPBE is definitely the way ahead. If you have any concerns about this, I'd be happy to be solicited for my opinion. Thanks. -- zzuuzz (talk) 21:58, 26 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I hear you. @ST47: correctly does most of these P2P blocks. I agree these are hitting a lot of innocent users, but it's also the case that a lot of these addresses are the cause of significant abuse. For example, a moderate number of IP address blocks were already on my watchlist because of prior abuse, long before being blocked by ST47. I have no problem generally handing out IPBE if this is what we think best. Perhaps generally IPBE for established editors? Frankly, I'm not sure the best approach but I agree with you, zzuuzz, these are causing problems for good editors. --Yamla (talk) 22:04, 26 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I also know why these IPs are blocked, and there are some US-based LTAs who edit almost exclusively via these proxies. I've granted over 200 IPBEs this year to users in these countries. I get lists of accounts from people running editathons, and/or more or less trusted users, and I pick up many other accounts during the process. I do have a personal undisclosed policy of not granting IPBE to people writing about non-notable musicians, entrepreneurs, philanthropists (and all that) and this has probably served me well. Just taking the example of the unblock declines I posted above, it seems like a no-brainer to grant IPBE. -- zzuuzz (talk) 22:14, 26 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
You've convinced me. I'll take that approach for established editors (with only certain exceptions, along the lines of yours). Happy to discuss what to do with non-established editors where nobody can vouch for them (such as an editathon); I can't see a good solution there. --Yamla (talk) 22:18, 26 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Speaking of which --Deepfriedokra (talk) 21:13, 5 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

UTRS appeal #57926

Hey! Can you with the x-ray vision talk to them? --Deepfriedokra (talk) 21:11, 5 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Or zzuuzz! It's User talk:Igini234 --Deepfriedokra (talk) 21:20, 5 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I'll take it! --Yamla (talk) 21:28, 5 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
htanks! --Deepfriedokra (talk) 21:29, 5 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
IPBE granted, see comments at UTRS appeal #57926. --Yamla (talk) 21:31, 5 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
thanks. done --Deepfriedokra (talk) 21:41, 5 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks both. I see what you did there. -- zzuuzz (talk) 01:21, 6 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

User talk:82.148.97.69

Working on a short, fun little, YouTube video about the 2006 Qatar IP block. Would you like to make any comment for it?
If not, I won't make any mention of you.
Hope all is well with you, –MJLTalk 04:09, 7 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Could I get your thoughts...

...on Danesarehappy (talk+ · tag · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log · CA · CheckUser(log· investigate · cuwiki)? Given the editing pattern, timing and username, I'm inclined to believe they might be connected to one of the various farms with a vested interest in Ted Stamm, but I'm also not super eager to file because I'd like to avoid having to split the case for the third time in a row. :P Thanks, --Blablubbs (talk) 15:14, 8 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I'm all but certain they are part of the Ted Stamm UPE sock farm, as is your suspicion. I think there's already enough to block as WP:MEAT here. In fact, I had noticed the edits on my watchlist. I suspect it is worth extended protection on that article. What are your thoughts on that? --Yamla (talk) 17:17, 8 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, I think ECP is probably the only thing that has a decent chance of calming things down in the long term, but I didn't want to apply protection before dealing with this latest account. Would 6 months sound appropriate to you? I'm still trying to figure out which group Danesarehappy belongs to (I think it might be Eashleyfox proper again, but that's just a hunch), though I suppose it doesn't matter all that much beyond the fact that it would satisfy my intellectual curiosity. --Blablubbs (talk) 17:33, 8 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I'm entirely uncertain who the sock belongs to. My guess is that it's actually just another UPE rather than directly controlled by one of the sockmasters. --Yamla (talk) 18:21, 8 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]