Exactly, cgNAT is a pain. I think we should shorten global block, and turn
them into soft blocks for countries where carrier-grade NATs are in use.
Then, I don't expect to be hard to tell legit users apart from abusers.

Vito

Il giorno mer 20 apr 2022 alle ore 23:42 Mario Gómez <[email protected]>
ha scritto:

> Hello Florence,
>
> Thank you for bringing this up and collecting all this feedback.
>
> Here's the announcement of the new P2P proxy blocks on English Wikipedia,
> it includes information about the origin of the blocks for this particular
> proxy service:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Archive335#Recent_proxy_blocks
>
> These blocks from English Wikipedia are now also imported to Spanish
> Wikipedia, as well as global blocks (the ones by Tks4Fish). The blocking
> system has received some tuning over time to decrease the number of
> affected users, but it's clear that it's not enough, in particular for some
> countries like Ghana or Benin. So we need further tuning, or rethink
> how/when we apply the blocks.
>
> This is not meant to be a definitive answer, but I hope the additional
> context is useful.
>
> Best,
>
> Mario
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 20, 2022 at 8:21 PM Florence Devouard <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>> Hello friends
>>
>> Short version : We need to find solutions to avoid so many africans being
>> globally IP blocked due to our No Open Proxies policy.
>> *https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/No_open_proxies/Unfair_blocking
>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/No_open_proxies/Unfair_blocking>*
>>
>>
>> Long version :
>>
>> I'd like to raise attention on an issue, which has been getting worse in
>> the past couple of weeks/months.
>>
>> Increasing number of editors getting blocked due to the No Open Proxies
>> policy [1]
>> In particular africans.
>>
>> In February 2004, the decision was made to block open proxies on Meta and
>> all other Wikimedia projects.
>>
>> According to the no open proxies policy : Publicly available proxies
>> (including paid proxies) may be blocked for any period at any time. While
>> this may affect legitimate users, they are not the intended targets and may
>> freely use proxies until those are blocked [...]
>>
>> Non-static IP addresses or hosts that are otherwise not permanent proxies
>> should typically be blocked for a shorter period of time, as it is likely
>> the IP address will eventually be transferred or dynamically reassigned, or
>> the open proxy closed. Once closed, the IP address should be unblocked.
>>
>> According to the policy page, « the Editors can be permitted to edit by
>> way of an open proxy with the IP block exempt flag. This is granted on
>> local projects by administrators and globally by stewards. »
>>
>>
>> I repeat -----> ... legitimate users... may freely use proxies until
>> those are blocked. the Editors can be permitted to edit by way of an open
>> proxy with the IP block exempt flag <------ it is not illegal to edit using
>> an open proxy
>>
>>
>> Most editors though... have no idea whatsoever what an open proxy is.
>> They do not understand well what to do when they are blocked.
>>
>> In the past few weeks, the number of African editors reporting being
>> blocked due to open proxy has been VERY significantly increasing.
>> New editors just as old timers.
>> Unexperienced editors but also staff members, president of usergroups,
>> organizers of edit-a-thons and various wikimedia initiatives.
>> At home, but also during events organized with usergroup members or
>> trainees, during edit-a-thons, photo uploads sessions etc.
>>
>> It is NOT the occasional highly unlikely situation. This has become a
>> regular occurence.
>> There are cases and complains every week. Not one complaint per week.
>> Several complaints per week.
>> *This is irritating. This is offending. This is stressful. This is
>> disrupting activities organized in good faith by good people, activities
>> set-up with our donors funds. **And the disruption** is primarlly taking
>> place in a geographical region supposingly to be nurtured (per our strategy
>> for diversity, equity, inclusion blahblahblah). *
>>
>>
>> The open proxy policy page suggests that, should a person be unfairly
>> blocked, it is recommended
>>
>>    - * to privately email stewards[image: (_AT_)]wikimedia.org.
>>    - * or alternatively, to post a request (if able to edit, if the
>>    editor doesn't mind sharing their IP for global blocks or their reasons to
>>    desire privacy (for Tor usage)).
>>    - * the current message displayed to the blocked editor also suggest
>>    contacting User:Tks4Fish. This editor is involved in vandalism fighting 
>> and
>>    is probably the user blocking open proxies IPs the most. See log
>>
>>
>> So...
>> Option 1: contacting stewards : it seems that they are not answering. Or
>> not quickly. Or requesting lengthy justifications before adding people to
>> IP block exemption list.
>> Option 2: posting a request for unblock on meta. For those who want to
>> look at the process, I suggest looking at it [3] and think hard about how a
>> new editor would feel. This is simply incredibly complicated
>> Option 3 : user:TksFish answers... sometimes...
>>
>> As a consequence, most editors concerned with those global blocks... stay
>> blocked several days.
>>
>> We do not know know why the situation has rapidly got worse recently. But
>> it got worse. And the reports are spilling all over.
>>
>> We started collecting negative experiences on this page [4].
>> Please note that people who added their names here are not random
>> newbies. They are known and respected members of our community, often
>> leaders of activities and/or representant of their usergroups, who are
>> confronted to this situation on a REGULAR basis.
>>
>> I do not know how this can be fixed. Should we slow down open proxy
>> blocking ? Should we add a mecanism and process for an easier and quicker
>> IP block exemption process post-blocking ? Should we improve a process for
>> our editors to pre-emptively be added to this IP block exemption list ? Or
>> what ? I do not know what's the strategy to fix that. But there is a
>> problem. Who should that problem be addressed to ? Who has solutions ?
>>
>> Flo
>>
>> [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/No_open_proxies
>>
>> [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Log/Tks4Fish
>>
>> [3]
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Steward_requests/Global_permissions#Requests_for_global_IP_block_exemption
>>
>> *[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/No_open_proxies/Unfair_blocking
>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/No_open_proxies/Unfair_blocking>*
>>
>>
>>
>>
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