Notice to administrators

If a user is requesting that you release an autoblock of this IP address, remove the autoblock as soon as possible, as it will affect scores of legitimate users. This IP address is registered to Virgin Media, it is a transparent proxy.

Starting in December 2008, all accesses to en.wikipedia.org (91.198.174.2) from Virgin Media (NTL/Telewest) customers are redirected via this proxy service. It is being used by a very large number of people in the United Kingdom, including many, many established users. Use extreme caution when blocking this IP.

At the request of the Internet Watch Foundation, the proxy passes through all requests, except accesses to following two URLs: /wiki/Virgin_Killer (album) and /wiki/Image:Virgin_Killer.jpg . Varying the URL slightly circumvents the block, as does using secure.wikimedia.org.

Other ISPs' servers: Category:Cleanfeed servers

Notice to users unable to create an account

This IP address is registered to Virgin Media and used by a very large number of people in the UK. Because of the large number of users, you may not be able to create an account.
If you are unable to create an account, please request an account from the account creation team either by:

Filling in the form on http://toolserver.org/~acc/, or
Emailing accounts-enwiki-l@wikimedia.org with a preferred username.

[edit] Notice

Due to a technical issue, Virgin Media customers are currently being treated as a single IP address. This means that the contributions of many different people are being assigned to the same address.

Because of this, the address may be intermittently blocked in response to abuse by a handful of people, and such blocks will affect many people. If you have a user account, you should be able to log in and be unaffected by such blocks; unfortunately, account creation from this IP address has been automatically disabled by the software and there is no way for us to re-enable it.

Apologies for the inconvenience -- Gurch (talk) 15:57, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Anonymous editing from your Internet Provider is disabled. Please log in.

Wikipedia is apparently being filtered by your Internet service provider. Unfortunately, the method they are using makes it impossible for Wikipedia to differentiate between legitimate users and those abusing the site. As a result, we have been forced to block several IP addresses from editing Wikipedia.

Registered users are still able to edit. If you are currently blocked from creating an account, use our account creation tool to request an account with details of your block as explained below. Alternatively, you can edit anonymously, and create an account through, our secure server which does not currently seem to be affected.

More information may be found on your talk page. You may wish to contact your Internet service provider to inquire about this issue.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

As an alternative workaround, you can use the secure server to access Wikipedia. The secure server is operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, which also operates the Wikipedia servers. For technical reasons it is not on the same domain as Wikipedia.

Click here to read and edit Wikipedia using the secure server, which is not affected by the problem.

--Hans Adler (talk) 09:51, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Discussion

We don't know how many users are affected, but we have an estimate that the number is six figures long. The issue is somewhere in the Wikimedia server farm, but is caused by your ISP using a transparent proxy to reduce the amount of traffic on their network. This means all traffic is routed through one IP address. However, something called XFF is usually implemented to let users' real IP addresses be known to the server, instead of the proxy's IP address. This appears to have broken somehow. That's what we think has caused all the issues. Stwalkerster [ talk ] 20:15, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] I.P. farce

Tesco Net runs off of the N.T.L. Bristol pool, not Virgin and pulling my modem out always changes the I.P., but this time it has not. WHY!!!--62.30.249.131 (talk) 13:29, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

I've now turned off and on again found I had the same I.P. on my return!--62.30.249.131 (talk) 14:45, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

You probabally have a different IP address, but due to the transparent proxy that is in use on the Virgin network (which owns NTL), you are still accessing Wikipedia from the same IP address. Stwalkerster [ talk ] 20:17, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Virgin Media bought NTL, remember? (replying to post at 13:29, 5 December 2008 --62.30.249.131 (talk) 15:39, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Here is what I mean by a 'Tecos number'.

% Information related to '86.25.0.0 - 86.25.255.255'

inetnum: 86.25.0.0 - 86.25.255.255

netname: NTL

descr: NTL Infrastructure - VISP IP POOLS (Tesco)

country: GB

admin-c: NNMC1-RIPE

tech-c: NNMC1-RIPE

status: ASSIGNED PA

mnt-by: AS5089-MNT

remarks: INFRA-AW

source: RIPE # Filtered

--62.30.249.131 (talk) 19:06, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

The issue is somewhere in the Wikimedia server farm, but is caused by your ISP, or somewhere upstream of your ISP using a transparent proxy to reduce the amount of traffic on their network. This means all traffic is routed through one IP address. However, something called XFF is usually implemented to let users' real IP addresses be known to the server, instead of the proxy's IP address. This appears to have broken somehow. That's what we think has caused all the issues. If Tesco use NTL, and NTL was bought by Virgin, then all Tesco internet traffic will also be routed through the same transparent proxy. Stwalkerster [ talk ] 20:15, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] It's been banned again!

Now It's been banned again for vandalism and trolling! --62.30.249.131 (talk) 13:39, 5 December 2008 (UTC) The ban is aalso on anny account creation to.--62.30.249.131 (talk) 14:07, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

There is no ban on account creation on this IP address. However, the software that Wikipedia uses, MediaWiki, restricts the number of accounts that can be created from one IP address in 24 hours. This limit is currently set at 6 to reduce abusive account creation. Unfortunately, the issue outlined above has turned this into a problem. Stwalkerster [ talk ] 20:15, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Historical value

I have aded the notice that was deleted about 25 minuets ago by the vandals over why the I.P. was banned so every one would know what was going on.--62.30.249.131 (talk) 13:58, 5 December 2008 (UTC) [[1]] [[2]][[3]][[4]] [[5]][[6]] [[7]] [[8]][[9]]

I've added some aditional edit ant talk page links here for future referenec.--62.30.249.131 (talk) 10:52, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Virgin Media!

I have just sent a complaint about this I.P. to Virgin Media.--62.30.249.131 (talk) 14:31, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

That won't help; it's like complaining to someone about their postal address, this is just an IP address they happen to be assigned. The problem is in Wikipedia administrators' handling of it -- Gurch (talk) 15:37, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

That and the technical issues in the server farm. Apologies that I originally blocked this IP address before discovering there was an issue. Stwalkerster [ talk ] 20:20, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Technical Issue

There is a discussion about the technical issue affecting this IP address here. For the time being, the block has been lifted as it was affecting a disproportionate amount of people. Should the vandalism escalate, then this IP address may end up getting locked again. In the meantime, I would suggest that you register for a username (see the link at the very top of your screen). StephenBuxton (talk) 15:40, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Not an option, the account creation limits on both affected IP addresses were exceeded some hours ago -- Gurch (talk) 15:46, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Having a username (even a well-established one) does not help when an autoblock is applied. DuncanHill (talk) 16:19, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Virgin media 2

I have e-mailed to Virgin and they have said there dealing with it!--62.30.249.131 (talk) 17:03, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Unfortunately this shared address is temporarily blocked from editing for 24 hours due to continued vandalism. Wikipedia is aware that this is an address shared by many users. For now it is suggested that you request an account to edit with by following the link at the top of the page under users unable to create accounts.¤~Persian Poet Gal ^(talk) 17:08, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Anonymous users from this IP address have been blocked from editing for a short time in accordance with Wikipedia's blocking policy due to persistent vandalism originating from your proxy server or network. If you have a registered Wikipedia username, you may log in and continue to edit. Otherwise, once the block has expired, you are welcome to make constructive contributions. If you believe this block is unjustified, you may contest the block by adding the text {{unblock|your reason here}} below.

StephenBuxton (talk) 18:55, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] New victims

A tiral of 4 I.S.P.s are down now!

[edit] Telifonica

It's hell in London after Telifonica, Be and O2 all got sucked in to 1 I.P.! London has suffered heavly, but victims are also in Manchester and Oxford. I and a Tesco Net user from Banbury.--62.30.249.131 (talk) 19:43, 5 December 2008 (UTC) [[10]]

Yeah, our system adminstrators are trying to fix the problem if they can, although one of them has just said that they doubt it's a problem on the Wikimedia end. This makes it seem wierd that the same issue has happened on two unrelated networks at the same time. Stwalkerster [ talk ] 20:32, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] EasyNet/UK Online-

EasyNet/UK Online is now down!

[[11]]

[edit] PlusNet/Technologies Ltd!

PlusNet/Technologies Ltd!

[[12]]

[edit] Opal telecommunications (TalkTalk)-

Opal telecommunications (TalkTalk)

[[13]]

[edit] Demon Internet-

Demon Internet

[[14]]

[edit] Read this on the Wiki Admin's page

Wiki Admin's page-

[[15]] [[16]]

[edit] Nationalaty of banned IP Addresses

Strangly Telefonica is Spanish, whilst the rest are British. Why is this?!

62.24.251.240, 62.24.251.241 - ISP = Opal Telecommunications (TalkTalk)= UK-
62.30.249.131- ISP = Virgin Media/NTL/Tesco net = UK
89.167.221.3- ISP = Be Unlimited/O2/Telefonica= Spanish
193.195.3.40, 193.195.3.41- ISP = Demon Internet= UK, but USA owed.
212.134.155.210- ISP = Easynet/UK Online/Sky Broadband= UK
212.159.3.233 , 212.159.3.234‎, 212.159.3.235, 212.159.3.236- ISP = Plusnet Technologies Ltd =UK
213.249.193.2- ISP = Eclipse Internet / Kingston Communications= UK

--Peter john Lloyd 3rd (talk) 12:52, 7 December 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Peitet Poin-Dexter (talk • contribs)

[edit] Galaxy net

My libary uses Galaxy, so I will see if there down on Monday!--62.30.249.131 (talk) 19:12, 6 December 2008 (UTC) Galaxy was not afected.--86.29.243.160 (talk) 09:19, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] The palaces affected

[edit] London

It's hell in London after Telifonica, Be and O2 all got sucked in to 1 I.P.! London has suffered heavy, but victims are also in Manchester and Oxford.--62.30.249.131 (talk) 19:07, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] The Chlterns, England

I and a Tesco Net user from Banbury. Telifonica losses are in Oxford now.--62.30.249.131 (talk) 19:07, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] South-East England

Demon user, only the Virgin Killer image and image page are blocked, the page and the thumbnail of the cover are not. Searching for a Number 10 Petition on this now, if not I will create one and link it here. —Vanderdecken∴ ∫ξ φ 13:43, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Midlands, England

I use Be, also censored here. Midlandstoday (talk) 13:05, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Retford also censored, using Be as well. --tgheretford (talk) 13:34, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Northern England

Telifonica losses are in Manchester to.

[edit] Southern Scotland

Glasgow here, just wanting to say I'm also affected, not a London thing then. 62.30.249.131 (talk) 22:52, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

We are unfortunately aware of this mess, rest assured that we are struggling for what is best for the encyclopedia here :s -- lucasbfr ^talk 22:54, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Warning notice up in Paisley @20:07 2008/12/06 62.30.249.131 (talk) 20:07, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] East Scotland

just want to add that Perth is affected, too, so not just Glasgow. it's just typical of virgin media, we've been having problems on and off with them, so i'm not surprised by this! Geeness (talk) 18:00, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] East Anglia

Cambridge and Peterborough are affected to.--62.30.249.131 (talk) 19:07, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] How long..?

How long until this mess is sorted?62.30.249.131 (talk) 22:58, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Our system administrators are working as hard as they can to fix this issue. Stwalkerster [ talk ] 23:46, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Is there no way?

Of blocking this IP but letting it make accounts? Like take off the restriction of 6 for this IP only? That way everyone really wanting to edit will and only the people who really can be bothered to vandalise will.--62.30.249.131 (talk) 23:02, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

The 6 accounts per 24 hours is set by the Mediawiki software and there's no way to manually change it. If you'd like to create an account follow the instructions at the top of the page. Regards, Matt (Talk) 23:27, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Whats going on?

This isn't my IP address, why am I blocked? I have a static IP I pay for and only I can use it. I have never vandalized. Please unblock. 62.30.249.131 (talk) 23:23, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Hi there. A technical issue on the Wikimedia server farm has caused Wikimedia servers to recognize customers from certain UK ISPs by the transparent proxy server that they use instead of their actual IP address. If you'd like to edit please follow the instructions at the top of the page for creating an account. Regards, Matt (Talk) 23:35, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Is this a short term thing? I prefer to edit anonymously. 62.30.249.131 (talk) 23:37, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

I hope so - it's giving a lot of people a headache. Stwalkerster [ talk ] 23:47, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard#Major UK ISPs reduced to using 2 IP addresses and bugzilla:16569 will have information that's hopefully kept up to date. Developers and sysadmins are looking at the issue; I'm not sure if we have a specifically identified problem, yet. Apologies for the inconvenience. In the meantime, you will be able to edit if you register an account. – Luna Santin (talk) 23:51, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Page protected

I really hate to do this folks, but I've had to protect this page from anonymous editing for a short time. Please can I ask you all not to blank this page, as it contains some very useful information for those affected. Thanks, and sorry for the even greater inconvenience. Stwalkerster [ talk ] 23:50, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for your patience folks, the page was automatically unprotected 15 minutes ago. Stwalkerster [ talk ] 00:29, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] It's me again (phishing letter warning)

It's me again and my Banbury I.P. address is still down, so Tesco Net is not free yet. I just received an "X-mass x-max T.V." e-mail. It tried to get through, but F-Secure said it was a phishing letter and I deleted it.--62.30.249.131 (talk) 10:14, 6 December 2008 (UTC) Unrelated --Rodhull andemu 21:55, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Affected sites

This is what happed on these sites-

[edit] Simple English Wiki (not yet blocked)

[[17]] [[18]]--62.30.249.131 (talk) 11:25, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] German Wikipedia (not yet blocked)

[[19]] [[20]] [[21]] --62.30.249.131 (talk) 19:26, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

.

[edit] Italian Wikipedia (blocked)

[[22]]

[edit] French Wikipedia (not yet blocked)

[[23]]

[edit] Wiktionary (blocked)

[[24]] --62.30.249.131 (talk) 18:48, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Czech, Welsh, Spanish, Bosnian, Romanian, Catalan and Afrakaans Wikipedias

The IP has now started to reaced them, but the Welsh, Spanish, Catalans and Poles quickly blocked it. [[25]] [[26]] [[27]]

This blocked user's request to have autoblock on his/her IP address lifted has been reviewed by an administrator, who declined the request.

62.30.249.131 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · edit filter log · block user · block log)

62.30.249.131 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · info · WHOIS · RDNS · trace · RBLs · http · block user · block log)

Block message:

Anonymous editing from your Internet Provider is disabled. Please log in.

Wikipedia is apparently being filtered by your Internet service provider. Unfortunately, the method they are using makes it impossible for Wikipedia to differentiate between legitimate users and those abusing the site. As a result, we have been forced to block several IP addresses from editing Wikipedia.

Registered users are still able to edit. If you are currently blocked from creating an account, use our account creation tool to request an account with details of your block as explained below. Alternatively, you can edit anonymously, and create an account through, our secure server which does not currently seem to be affected.

More information may be found on your talk page. You may wish to contact your Internet service provider to inquire about this issue.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Blocking administrator: Lucasbfr (talk • autoblocks • blocks)

Decline reason:

We apologize for the inconvenience. Editing from this network is currently restricted due to your ISP filtering your connexion. If you wish to edit, please create an account: contact us (with reference to this IP address) using the account creation tool and an account will be created for you. Please ensure that any username you choose is not listed as taken here. You may also create an account from an other place (for example at work) and use it here to contribute. Thank you for your understanding. — -- lucasbfr ^talk 17:44, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

[edit] For goodness sake

Can't you just look at $_SERVER['FORWARDED_FOR'] to find out that this is in fact not my IP?

Anyway I guess this sucks because I like being able to edit without being firewalled out by my country for "objectionable content"

I am on Virgin Media by the way

See here amongst other things. The proxy servers involved aren't passing on the real IP address, so there is no way for anyone to verify this. 217.33.218.200 (talk) 12:29, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

This blocked user's unblock request has been reviewed by an administrator, who declined the request. Other administrators may also review this block, but should not override the decision without good reason (see the blocking policy). Do not remove this unblock review while you are blocked.

62.30.249.131 (block log • active blocks • global blocks • autoblocks • contribs • deleted contribs • abuse filter log • creation log • change block settings • unblock)

Request reason:

See above

Decline reason:

See my comment on the similar unblock request above. Believe me, we really have not much choice at the moment :/. There is a link to request an account at the top of the page. -- lucasbfr ^talk 13:54, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

If you want to make any further unblock requests, please read the guide to appealing blocks first and then use the {{unblock}} template again. If you abuse this procedure by making too many unconvincing or disruptive unblock requests, you may be prevented from editing this page as long as you are blocked.

[edit] Vandalism

Sorry I reverted your edits, I just thought that this was my ip that is all. If it was it wouldn't be relevant. Again, sorry. 62.30.249.131 (talk) 18:00, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

This account is a suspected sock puppet of Elspeth Monro and has been blocked indefinitely.
Please refer to editing habits, contributions or the sockpuppet investigation of the sockpuppeteer for evidence. This policy subsection may also be helpful.

Account information: block log – current autoblocks – edits – logs – abuse log

This is the discussion page for an IP user, identified by the user's numerical IP address. Some IP addresses change periodically, and may be shared by several users. If you are an IP user, you may create an account or log in to avoid future confusion with other IP users. Registering also hides your IP address.
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User talk:62.30.249.131