MarioWiki:Blocking policy: Difference between revisions

==Procedure==

If users fail to follow the rules and policies of the Super Mario Wiki, official warnings should be issued, instructing them to stop their inappropriate behaviour. Increasingly severe warnings are issued if users continue to act disruptive towards the other users or destructive towards the wiki's content, and eventually, blocks of increasingly lengthy durations are used in place of more warnings. Some offences are more serious than others and warrant severe warnings or even blocks right away, with no prior notice.

However, this progression from two weeks through three months to a permaban is only a rule-of-thumb, and admins may choose to use longer or shorter blocks at any time. Block lengths may also be altered after they are initially given; for example, the admins might extend the second block from three months to indefinite if they discover additional offences committed by the user and decide that they have already used up all their chances to be a proper member of the Super Mario Wiki. Blocks may also be shortened or removed altogether if the admins decide that a certain punishment is too severe or if a misunderstanding occurred.

===Automatic permanent blocks===

====Vandalism====

If a user joins and promptly starts to vandalize the wiki, they should be blocked. Acts of major vandalism include uploading inappropriate images and replacing pages or sections of pages with inflammatory or profane remarks. Blanking pages is another common form of vandalism, and while it is possible that it could be a new user making a rookie mistake, it probably isn't and they should be blocked, especially if they blank a major page or more than one page. One form of vandalism that must be guarded against is spamming, in which gibberish or advertising is inserted into articles ''en masse'', and must be dealt with as quickly as possible to prevent excessive damage and tedious clean-up work.

====Trolling====

====Inappropriate usernames====

Usernames that are designed specifically to impersonate or copy legitimate users may be blocked, although Last Warnings should typically be issued first, giving the user a chance to change their name normally. Even this course of action should only be taken if the impersonation is definitely done ''maliciously''. Someone might have simply chosen a name similar to that of another user without having any ill intent whatsoever, which is especially true of names based on generic or common themes relevant to the wiki. For example, a new user calling themself "WarioRules" is probably not trying to impersonate an older user known as "MarioRules", whereas if there is a user known as "WhiteOut" and a new account known as "White0ut" or "WhiteOut2" joins, this is suspicious. The first one could be attempting to pass themselves off as the original user, while the second name could be seen as a form of antagonism towards the user. If a user with a similar name proceeds to copy the original user's signature and/or userpage, or even sign their comments with the original's name, this is definitely a case of impersonation and should be confronted. Impersonators may also try to defame the original users by vandalizing or flaming other users, in which case they can be blocked immediately for those crimes in and of themselves.

Blocks and permanent bans are punitive measures taken against disserviceable individuals in order to protect the wiki, and they should not be used for any other purpose. Admins should not block themselves in order to force themselves to take leave of the wiki (temporary or otherwise), and users cannot request blocks for themselves, whether it is to take a break or because they want to leave the wiki forever with no option of coming back.

However, this caution is only necessary when dealing with blocking users who make good edits as well as their misbehaving, and who have received warnings prior to the situation coming to the point where blocking is the next step. If an account deserves an automatic permanent block, any admin can place the ban, even if they were the target of any flaming, spamming, defamatory usernames and malicious impersonation, or any other form of trolling or vandalism. No one will argue that an admin is abusing their powers when they block a vandal, troll, spammer or sockpuppet that is threatening the wiki, its community, and the administrators charged with keeping the peace.

==How to block==

Expiry times are set by selecting a block length from a drop down menu that is provided. Situations requiring unique block times (i.e. blocks ending after a non-standard amount of days or at a specific time of day) have never come up, but unique expiry times ''can'' be entered, using the GNU standard format (which is described in the [http://www.gnu.org/s/automake/manual/tar/Date-input-formats.html tar manual]). The option for "infinite" ban can also be found in the drop-down menu, in which case, there is no expiry date, and an admin must physically remove the block if the user is to be allowed back onto the wiki. If an admin does not enter an expiry time when blocking, an error message will be displayed.

Finally, there are number of checkboxes present on the blocking page, two of which are automatically checked. "Prevent account creation" should only be unchecked when the user is ''supposed'' to create a new account (i.e. during a forced namechange). "Automatically block the last IP address used by this user, and any subsequent IP addresses they try to edit from" should also be unchecked when a user is supposed to create a new account, or when blocking non-malicious sockpuppets (i.e. ones created by accident, or if a user forgot their password and had to make a new account, etc.). Please note that the automatic blocks ("autoblocks") caused by the feature enabled by this second checkbox only last for 24 hours, and is not the same as directly blocking an IP address ([[#Blocking IP addresses|see below]]). The "Prevent user from sending e-mail" box should never be checked except in extreme cases of trolling (i.e. unacceptable e-mails are part of the troll's attack), as e-mail is the main way that users who feel their block was unnecessary get in contact with the admins to try and get the situation rectified. "Hide username from edits and lists" generally does not need to be checked since Bureaucrats physically rename accounts with inappropriate names to clear contributions and lists. Whether the blocking admin wants to check "Watch this user's user and talk pages" is their personal choice; they are not required to do so.

===Blocking IP addresses===

===Unblocking===

Administrators may unblock users if:

*They were blocked due to a misunderstanding (i.e. sibling confusion).

*The block has lasted too long.

Blocked users can still see all wiki pages, but they cannot login or edit. Instead, hitting the "edit" link brings them to [[MediaWiki:Login-userblocked|a notification page]], which provides the e-mail that they can contact if they want to protest the block.

When a blocked user attempts to edit, the IP from which they are editing is "autoblocked", so that they cannot try to go and edit from another account instead. There is an internal autoblock expiry time set to 24 hours, meaning that when a username is blocked indefinitely, their IP will be automatically unblocked 24 hours after they last accessed a page.

==Accidental blocks==

Users who try to impersonate a previously banned user, or who pretend to engage in vandalism are also likely to be blocked as sockpuppets or vandals themselves, even if they were doing it in jest. The logical solution is to simply behave in a way that will ''not'' draw unwanted attention and suspicion onto oneself. If users conduct themselves maturely and follow the rules, they will not be blocked: it's as simple as that.

==See also==

*[[Special:Log/block|Block log]]

*[[MarioWiki:Warning policy]]

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