Well, it looks like we had yet another sock puppet (http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Contributions/190.93.190.1).
Even though these incidents are not that common, I wonder if there are measures we can take to further minimize these sorts of harassment and vandalism. The behavior of these types of incidents seems consistent with someone on the wiki using TOR (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_%28anonymity_network%29), mirroring even patterns of one-off IP vandalism that wikipedia suffers from.
Now, I'm not speculating about trying to find a way to block TOR exit nodes (which wikipedia has struggled with as a policy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Blocking_policy/Tor_nodes, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:IP_block_exemption/Archive_1#Evidence_that_the_world_won.27t_end.2C_and_a_counter_argument), but maybe there are ways we can limit the permissions of fresh IPs? I know wikipedia has permissions categories like "autoconfirmed users," and I wonder if there are ways to just prevent anonymous IPs from editing user talk pages, etc.
Obviously I don't have a firm idea in mind; this is why this is not a policy proposal: I just want to brainstorm and see if others have any ideas. I'm also not quite sure what tools admins have at their disposal. I just know that even a 1-year block for vandalizing IPs (as was done to 190.93.190.1) is kind of pointless because under TOR one person's displayed IP can switch from edit to edit. (Thelee (talk) 17:04, June 20, 2013 (UTC))
- If you have a complaint about how wikia handles new IPs then really the only thing to do is complain to them as we have little control over things like this. This isn't something that can be solved or even brainstormed in this forum because of the amount of limitations the staff has on every wiki.
- The only solution to this problem that is given to us is to lock the wiki so only email confirmed user names can edit. Therefore brainstorming is irrelevant. The only thing to do is revert, ignore, and report. Lancer1289 (talk) 17:21, June 20, 2013 (UTC)
- We have a tool that prevents anons from editing User pages (as that is one of the most common forms of vandalism). However, I wouldn't want to use it for Mainspace pages because of all the innocent and helpful IP users out there. Trandra (talk) 20:29, June 20, 2013 (UTC)
- I'm in complete agreement with Trandra on that point. Mainspace editing restrictions should be a last resort. SpartHawg948 (talk) 21:49, June 20, 2013 (UTC)
- We have a tool that prevents anons from editing User pages (as that is one of the most common forms of vandalism). However, I wouldn't want to use it for Mainspace pages because of all the innocent and helpful IP users out there. Trandra (talk) 20:29, June 20, 2013 (UTC)
- Thanks for the feedback guys. I wasn't aware that there was limited nuance in what you could do (and that it's mainly wikia-level), and I definitely of course wouldn't be in favor of a general mainspace editing freeze.