Author: mapellegrini
Description:
The english wikipedia has, for the last 4 weeks, been experiencing a severe rash
of vandalism from people who have determined how to do a maximum amount of
vandalism possible while staying unblocked (At least some of it is attributable
to the GNAA)
A vandal will register the maximum number of usernames registerable from an IP
address (currently set at 10 usernames per IP per day). He will then use each
username to vandalize exactly once, log out, log back in with a new fresh
username, and vandalize again. Because he never attempts to edit from a blocked
account, he never trips the autoblocker. The targetted articles tend to be
linked prominently - featured articles and 'in the news' items. Admins can only
block the throw-away accounts after each vandalism, but are powerless to prevent
new vandalisms. Semi-protecting all the targetted articles is an option, but not
a particularly good one - there's nothing to stop them from moving from one
target to the next.
Here is one recent example from [[Triumph of Will]]:
(cur) (last) 03:05, March 3, 2006 Shanel m (Reverted edits by
SUckit@excite.com (talk) to last version by Titoxd)
- (cur) (last) 03:05, March 3, 2006 SUckit@excite.com
- (cur) (last) 03:04, March 3, 2006 Titoxd m (Reverted edits by Jayjose (JJ)
(talk) to last version by Shanel)
- (cur) (last) 03:04, March 3, 2006 Jayjose (JJ)
- (cur) (last) 03:04, March 3, 2006 Shanel m (Reverted edits by Bereavedheroz
(talk) to last version by Shanel)
- (cur) (last) 03:04, March 3, 2006 Bereavedheroz
- (cur) (last) 03:01, March 3, 2006 Shanel m (Reverted edits by MShariat (talk)
to last version by Titoxd)
- (cur) (last) 03:01, March 3, 2006 MShariat
- (cur) (last) 03:01, March 3, 2006 Titoxd m (Reverted edits by Xiao Mai Chung
(talk) to last version by Shanel)
- (cur) (last) 03:00, March 3, 2006 Xiao Mai Chung
- (cur) (last) 03:00, March 3, 2006 Shanel m (Reverted edits by AckJohn (talk)
to last version by Titoxd)
- (cur) (last) 03:00, March 3, 2006 AckJohn
- (cur) (last) 02:59, March 3, 2006 Titoxd m (Reverted edits by Ninjachu (talk)
to last version by Shanel)
- (cur) (last) 02:59, March 3, 2006 Ninjachu
- (cur) (last) 02:59, March 3, 2006 Shanel m (Reverted edits by Argentinian
jackalope (talk) to last version by Titoxd)
- (cur) (last) 02:59, March 3, 2006 Argentinian jackalope
- (cur) (last) 02:58, March 3, 2006 Titoxd m (Reverted edits by Sheeyeung (talk)
to last version by Titoxd)
- (cur) (last) 02:58, March 3, 2006 Sheeyeung
- (cur) (last) 02:57, March 3, 2006 Titoxd m (Reverted edits by Fastnaturedood
(talk) to last version by Titoxd)
- (cur) (last) 02:57, March 3, 2006 Fastnaturedood
- (cur) (last) 02:57, March 3, 2006 Titoxd m (Reverted edits by Freedigger1
(talk) to last version by Titoxd)
Here's the user creation log for one of the above users (IP 67.180.114.100)
+- 02:16 (User creation log) [Smoovejohnson; Noname 88; LAndrew; TwoRaider;
Wolfnissy; Dancing babies; XxX MKD XxX; Oh yeah thats it]
All of those were registered the same minute, and all of them used to vandalize
within another two or three minutes.
The autoblocker needs to be modified so that it retroactively blocks recently
used IP addresses (where recent can be as short as 10 minutes). Reducing the
number of IP addresses that can be registered per IP per day would also help. As
it now stands, only users with checkuser can combat this type of vandalism, and
there simply aren't enough to do the job.
Version: unspecified
Severity: normal