Summary
Users on blocked ranges cannot create a temporary account and engage on wiki to appeal a block. This is problematic.
Background
Without temporary accounts enabled, if someone is blocked due to their IP address being blocked, they can appeal their block via their talk page, if the block allows users to edit their own talk pages. They may be:
- A logged in user
- A pre-existing temporary account
- A logged out IP user, in which case their talk page is User_talk:<their IP address>
In this situation, with temporary accounts enabled:
- A logged in user can still edit their own talk page
- A pre-existing temporary account can still edit their own talk page
- A logged out IP user can no longer edit. Special:MyTalk will direct them to log in. If they manage to find User_talk:<their IP address>, they will not be allowed to edit it since it is not their talk page (at the point when they try to edit, they are identified as a placeholder temporary account, so they have no talk page)
So with temporary accounts being deployed there is no onwiki way to request unblocking for unregistered users without a temporary account affected by an IP (range) block.
Pre-temp accounts users affected by IP (range) blocks can still request IPBE on their user talk page unless that option is specifically disabled. That’s also true for users with active temporary accounts. Here's what that looks like on the block form (bottom checkbox):
However, if a user doesn't have a temp account already there’s no way for them to write on their user talk page because every block by default also prevents temp account creation.
Reported on wiki.
Specifications
From an end user perspective it would be good to keep as much consistency as possible with workflow for IP editors.
Proposed new workflow for editors experiencing the block:
- If the option "Prevent this user from editing their own talk page while blocked" is not checked, an unregistered editor on a blocked range should be able to follow a link such as Special:MyTalk that displays a warning similar to the messaging we show for new would-be temporary account holders, and a button.
- On pressing the button, a temporary account is created and the user is redirected to the talk page.
- Note that the temporary account will not actually exist until the user pressed the button.
- The user is able to interact with their talk page, as would have happened before temporary accounts were enabled. They are not able to edit other pages.
- If the temporary account holder moves to a different wiki where their IP/range is not blocked, they can edit as a regular non-blocked temporary account.
- If the temporary account holder moves to a different wiki where their IP/range is blocked, they will be subject to the conditions of the local block (i.e. whether or not talk page editing is allowed for example).
- There is no change in workflow for globally blocked users. They will be able to follow instructions as laid out on meta: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_blocks/FAQ
Design
| Component | Copy |
|---|---|
| Page title | Appeal this IP block |
| Page content | Your IP address is blocked from editing. Pressing continue will create a temporary account. You can then edit your temporary talk page to appeal this block. |
| Button | Continue |
Instrumentation
- Clicking the button should generate a Logstash entry with the temporary account name, indicating that this mechanism was used
Notes
Existing established workflows for handling blocked users on IPs/IP ranges will apply for temp accounts. Some examples of this:
- On English Wikipedia users are directed to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Appealing_a_block#Requesting_to_be_unblocked when they encounter the blocked message: MediaWiki:Blockedtext.
- See https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Blockedtext for guidance blocked users receive on frwiki.
