I was banned from Wikipedia (Offically I still am), but it seems my ISP has given me new clothes by giving me a new IP address!!!
I double checked my edit history with my previous IP address - which is still blocked.
My new IP is close to the old one, but far away enough.
Has this happened to anybody else?

Yes, I get a new IP every time I reboot my server, and occasionally spontaneously even when I don't. It's very common in Britain.

My IP address was only banned once (when I was initially banned). It changed again twice since then; the second time, it changed to a really strange IP which maps to a location hundreds of km away, which is nice for misdirection.

Well, if that's the case, it seems to be a revolving door for banned users. Get kicked out, come back in again using a different name, build up a editing history for a couple of months and then get back into the article for which you were kicked for.

I don't know why the arbitration committee go through an the long process of banning editors by gathering evidence, voting on motions and discussing proposed statements about their view of the editors conduct.

Why do they bother?

Don't they have a life?

It happens all the time.

Of course they do; It's called Wikipedia.

If that sounds terribly sad, well, it is.

It keeps them out of Mainspace.

If you have a dynamic IP, you can get a new IP by turning your router on and off.

If you have a fixed IP, you can ask the ISP to change it.

(just in case you get banned again, PL, because you are such a rebel)

They have ways of identifying you that don't depend on IP address.

Or enable MAC address cloning in your router, and change the MAC address.
Some ISPs (such as mine) tie the IP address to your MAC address.

My understanding with Verizon FiOS Internet, you get a new IP address (within a block of 50 different addresses, which are typically shared to some extent by other customers on your node ((that is, people on your street, on your block, in your neighborhood))) every time you power down and power up your modem.

It's a beautiful thing.

Wikipediots are lately responding to this "problem" by blocking the whole block of addresses, which (of course) deprives multiples of "innocent" users of Wikipedia of their right to edit, per every "guilty" user they manage to block.

Can't bode well for Wikipedia's reputation in the court of public opinion. "Yeah, Frank, I tried to fix that article about our local state park, but for some reason, they have my IP address blocked until February. You apparently can't really edit Wikipedia, and it's full of mistakes."

Greg

Yes, this is why it is wise, in every Internet cafe, on every acquaintance's WiFi network, at every college, high-school, or public library you visit, to make a trivial edit "outing" SlimVirgin or Jayjg or vandalizing one of the cabal's favoured articles, as they will indef-block the IP, or even better the range. Sooner or later, they'll have blocked the entire internet and people will forget about Wikipedia.

By being hair-trigger idiots, they make it sooooo easy!

not the router... power cycle the modem.

Unless the modem and router are in the same unit, of course...!

When I was doing this during my Uncyclopedia days, I found that I'd have to keep the thing off for at least 5-10 minutes, or else they'd just give me the same IP address I had when I turned the thing off.

In Texas, I had Roadrunner (Time-Warner cable) from 2003-2005. Then beginning in 2006 I've had DSL (SBC Global at first, but now AT&T owns it; Yahoo handled the mail servers at first and might still do that, because there was a partnership deal). I still have DSL, and I like it much more because it's more consistent and more reliable in San Antonio.

My experience was this:

With Roadrunner I'd try to change my IP address and it wasn't easy. Several times I managed to do it by powering everything down for 48 hours. But as often as not, this didn't work either.

With DSL all I ever have to do is power cycle my DSL modem. It takes about one minute to lock into the connection after powering down for a few seconds. About 99 percent of the time it has a new IP when it reconnects. The new IP geolocates to San Antonio still, but apart from that the IPs are all over the map in terms of similarities within the IP address itself. It could start with a 68.x.x.x or with a 216.x.x.x, etc.

Usually powering down the computer itself, but not powering down the DSL modem, will also change the IP address. A warm reboot never changes the IP address, as long as the DSL modem stays powered up. Normally I have everything powered up 24/7 because I monitor remote servers. The IP address rarely changes while everything is powered up, except perhaps spontaneously about four times a year.

I think RoadRunner was tied to the MAC address reported by your cable modem; at the time I was thinking that I could buy a compatible cable modem and switch modems to fool RoadRunner into reassigning my IP address. But I never tried it. Even then, the switching would have to be maybe once a month maximum (whatever time it takes them to give your old IP address to some new customer, so that you don't get the same address back when you switch the next time).

Unless you are paying for server quality hosting, your IP address is most
likely dynamic (though you might have long lease times), or else you may
be behind a large NAT, i.e. not just your personal home router. NAT
provides a way for multiple computers to share the same IP address.

Dial-up IPs are particularly dynamic.

And of course there are ways to borrow someone else's IP address.

Still, why go through the bother of editing somewhere you aren't
appreciated? They ban you, they don't deserve you. Go on
strike! Or quit.

Yes, unless you pay extra for a small business account that guarantees you a static IP, in the U.S. they always claim your IP is "dynamic" in their terms-of-service for residential hosting. But that's just a label that lets them change it whenever they like. What we're discussing here is not the fine print in the terms-of-service. We're talking about how "sticky" the IP address is in practice. Your mileage may vary considerably on that score, depending on your type of broadband connection, your ISP, and your location.

Sure, if you live in a dense neighborhood (lots of apartments around), you can use Wi-Fi and there are probably at least two or three strong-signal, unsecured access points available from unwitting neighbors. That's the only way I know how to borrow someone's IP address.

The IP address you give out has to be "real" if you're expecting an answer. Otherwise the answer won't reach your computer.

Some routers have a feature that lets you change your MAC address,
as it is reported to the ISP.

Still, as long as you are on the same ISP, or geographic region for that
matter, depending on how paranoid they are, it will look suspicious to a
Checkuser.

Now where's the fun in that? Guys and gals like JzG and Durova and Calton and Ryulong thrive on having suspected-banned-user edits to revert and new accounts to ban and IPs to block for various lengths of time! If we went away, what would they do?

Greg

Or, specifically, the settings of your local DHCP (Dynamic Host Configration Protocol)
server(s). (And I don't mean the DHCP server on your personal home router. The
other DHCP server(s), that gives the router its IP address. Your router is probably
a NAT.) Dynamic IP addresses are leased out for a given period of time, depending
on the settings. If they are not renewed, they can be reassigned after that period
ends.



Look for sockpuppets that don't actually exist?




If Alice can talk to Bob, and Bob can talk to Catherine, then Bob can
talk to Catherine on behalf of Alice. Hence, proxies. And there are
plenty of Bobs, including myself, who willingly provide this service,
hence making it perfectly legal, unlike stealing your neighbour's
wireless, which is more questionable.