MediaWiki:Blockedtext

secure login ''' Block warning: You can read pages, but you are blocked from editing and changing them. '''

'''Note: See below - you will usually still be able to edit your user talk page, and contact other editors and administrators by email, even if blocked.'''

What does this mean?
As do many websites, Polar-a-pedia administrators occasionally block accounts and IP ranges that are deemed responsible for or related to problematic activity. You may be an innocent victim of collateral damage, whereby a block of some other activity has accidentally caused your account to be inaccessible. Alternatively, your account or IP may have been identified by an administrator as responsible for or related to misuse, or some other breach of policy.

If your account has been blocked by mistake, it will be reactivated very quickly, as soon as you let an administrator know of the problem. Otherwise, there is a rapid appeal process which obtains quick review by other independent administrators, and brief discussion of the matter. The box above gives the information you will need in either case, as provided by the blocking administrator.


 * What is a block?
 * A block is a measure used to protect Polar-a-pedia from possible improper use, or modification in breach of editorial policies. Once blocks are over, they become history unless problems recur. Blocks can apply to a user account, an IP, or a range of IPs. A number of automated features identify unblocked usage which apparently should be blocked; this can be quickly rectified if incorrect.


 * Most common causes:
 * Your IP matches that used by another blocked account, or the software believes your account or IP is connected to another blocked account. Ask for further information and/or request unblocking.


 * Your account or a connected IP has been used in a problematic way, or your username was unsuitable and you need to choose another. The reason should be in the box above.


 * You have just clicked a ' red link ' - an article that does not yet exist - but you don't have access to start a new page when no article exists already. Ask someone else to create the page for you, or create an account yourself to do so.


 * You are trying to edit a page that can only be edited by users with established accounts. See below.


 * You are using Google Web Accelerator or some other web accelerator, or an open proxy, or other similar software to access this site, which can interfere with some aspects of Polar-a-pedia's vandalism-management process. Some schools, colleges, workplaces and ISPs can also cause this problem. Disable these and try again, or see below.


 * Useful quick links:
 * Polaroid Wiki:Blocking policy
 * Polaroid Wiki:Username policy
 * Polaroid Wiki:Autoblock
 * Polaroid Wiki:Appealing a block

What do I do now?

 * 1) If the reason given is "username", "user...", "contact an administrator for verification purposes", or something similar, then you have been blocked for choosing an inappropriate username. To request a change in username and be unblocked, please follow these instructions. Alternatively, you can create a new account with a more appropriate name.


 * 1) If you have never edited Wikipedia before, or do not have an account, please see the Unregistered? section for specific information.


 * 1) If you are using Google Web Accelerator, please disable it for this site. This also applies to any other web accelerator software you may have installed.


 * 1) If your computer is blocked as an open proxy, please follow these instructions.


 * 1) If a specific reason is given or you wish to appeal, please see the following section.

Appealing
Your block will expire $6. If you do not wish to wait for your block to expire, you have multiple routes to resolve this. The first recourse is one or both of the following two steps:


 * 1) Contacting $1 (the blocking administrator) via email to resolve the problem that led to the block. You can use the 'email this user' feature if you have a valid email address registered and confirmed in your user preferences, and have not been specifically blocked from using the feature.
 * 2) Appeal the block by requesting that another administrator review the block. To do so, add
 * {&#123;unblock|your reason here&#125;}
 * to the bottom of your user talk page (which you can edit while blocked, unless it is protected) to request unblocking. You will need to state a reason for this, and the block is then free to be discussed.

If you are unsatisfied with the discussion with $1, or if you cannot contact $1, and you still believe the block is unfair, then independent unblock review as described above will be your best solution. More details and other options, can be found under Polaroid Wiki:Appealing a block.

IP blocked?
Unfortunately, each IP address on the Internet does not necessarily map directly to a single person depending upon one's Internet service provider. If your block log (check via my contributions) does not list any current blocks, then your IP address or range has been "hard blocked" due to abuse either by the previous person who was allocated or sharing your IP address.

Please copy-paste the following text to the bottom of your user talk page.


 * {&#123;unblock-auto|1=$3|2= $2 |3=$1&#125;}

Do not do this if you were blocked directly; instead, see the "Appealing" section above.

If this problem affects you repeatedly, we encourage you to contact your Internet service provider or IT department and ask them to contact Wikimedia's XFF project about enabling X-Forwarded-For HTTP headers on their proxy servers. This will reduce collateral damage from future autoblocks.

Unregistered?
MediaWiki, the software that both Fandom and Polaroid Wiki run on, identifies users without an account through their IP address. However, some IPs are shared by many people, and as a result unregistered users are sometimes blocked for the misbehavior of another editor. Since administrators have no way to accurately tell the claims of an innocent user from those of an anonymous vandal, we strongly encourage you to create an account. This gives you your own contribution history, which administrators can use to determine if you are a trustworthy user who has been inadvertently blocked.

Blocks tagged in their reason as "AO" or "AB" have been set to "anonymous-only", meaning only registered users who have logged in can edit from this IP address. If you are currently blocked from creating an account, we suggest the following:
 * Try again after the block on your IP address expires.
 * Create an account at home and then log in at your school or workplace, if you are blocked there.
 * Ask a trusted friend on a different network to create an account for you. Don't forget to change the password when you first access the account.
 * Use Wikimedia's secure server at https://secure.wikimedia.org/, this may bypass your network's proxy server.

See Why create an account? for a full list of benefits that come with registration.

Emailing us
 Due to the high volume of email we receive, you are more likely to get a quick response if you try requesting an unblock via your talk page first.

Before you email us, please make sure your situation has not already been addressed by the above sections. Your talk page may also contain further details related to your block or IP address and we strongly advise that you review it before contacting us.

When sending us an email, please copy-paste and fill out one of these forms.

Help us to help you by copying and using the forms provided. If you don't, the first reply will probably ask you to do so.

Even though emails sent to unblock-en-l mailing list are viewable only by administrators and trusted volunteers, under no circumstances should you email us your account's password or reveal it to anyone else even if asked to. When requesting an account, a temporary password will be generated and emailed to you. Please change the password on your new account as soon as possible.

This list exists for the purpose of reviewing blocks only — any request to make edits to articles on your behalf will be disregarded. Correspondence containing legal threats, personal attacks or rudeness is likely to be ignored and may result in the lengthening of pre-existing blocks.

IMPORTANT: Please do not email us without providing the information requested above. You are wasting your time and ours if you do. [mailto:unblock-en-l@lists.wikimedia.org Click here to contact unblock-en-l]