Wikipedia bans all of Qatar after encyclovandalism

Author: Ryan Garside
Published: 3rd January 2007
Comments (10) Stumble
Wikipedia bans all of Qatar after encyclovandalism

Wikipedia is justifiably classed as one of the modern wonders of the world.

The BBC reported yesterday that Wikipedia, the online fountain of knowledge, temporarily banned the entire nation of Qatar from accessing its articles after repeated attacks by someone in that nation on the entries on the US, sex and Muhammad.

The restriction for the entire country was originally thought to be a forced necessity, due to the nature of Qatar’s internet service. Wikipedia would normally ban the offending editors IP but that isn’t possible with Qatar, as all web traffic is routed through one single IP. Wikipedia wanted to make clear that its position wasn’t to offend any particular nation, with chair of the Wikimedia Foundation, Florence Devouard telling the BBC:

"None of us is against any country. We come from countries all over the world. Not only the USA, not only Europe. We are aware some of our very good editors are sometimes blocked after a vandalism spree, this happened just a few days ago in Thailand. We unblock people as soon as possible. We wish to allow the maximum numbers of people, from everywhere. We just have to protect ourselves from vandals from time to time."

We did a little bit of investigating to see if we could find the offending posts in the Wiki history. In the entry for Muhammad we found this reason for deleting one new entry:

“Reasons: Who are those people with red hats? Have you ever seen an old Arab wearing red hat? Can you imagine the Muhammad wear blue dress? Muhammad sits with people and not on top. Who is the woman?”

Unfortunately we weren’t able to find the picture of the Arabs in the red hats and so can’t offer an opinion on the legitimacy of the ban.

To clarify; the ban on Qatar only affects those without a login. Even once the ban was implemented people could still edit articles if they were from Qatar provided they logged in. Obviously most people don’t like creating a log in as that removes the opportunity for posting anonymously.

In speaking with the Guardian Jimmy Wales explained the block on the entirety of Qatar was in fact an administrative error:

"The admin who did the block did not realize that the IP number was one of the special ones that we try to keep open even when there is a repeated series of vandalisms. Other admins pointed it out, and the IP was quickly unblocked."

So there you have it, Wiki will continue to have this struggle against vandals whilst it allows people to edit articles anonymously. Do you support anonymous editing? Let us know in the forums.
Quote DougEdey 3rd January 2007, 11:05
So to hack into Qatar I need just one IP address.... I feel l33t hacking skillz coming on.
Quote ComputerKing 3rd January 2007, 11:07
Quote:
Originally Posted by DougEdey
So to hack into Qatar I need just one IP address.... I feel l33t hacking skillz coming on.

Lol , Go ON , Keep Going , man They .............. ,

Any way Good news that they got ban

Good luck Guys Thanks for the information
Quote Glider 3rd January 2007, 11:48
Links dead... Brings up a
Quote:
Oops!
An error occured in the system somewhere or you may be trying to access a page that does not exist - try hitting your browsers refresh button.

If you think we made a mistake...
Please send an email telling us what page address is causing the problem.
Quote DougEdey 3rd January 2007, 11:53
Links to the preview of the news, it is on the news page though.
Quote Phil Rhodes 3rd January 2007, 14:37
Of course if the Qatari government weren't such a bunch of fundamentalist throwbacks when it came to the internet, this sort of thing wouldn't be an issue.

Okay, they're a hell of a lot more progressive than other regional powers, particularly Saudi, but fer crying out loud - this is exactly why we don't piss with technical standards.

Phil
Quote Flibblebot 3rd January 2007, 18:30
But, as the article points out at the end, part of the problem is that Wiki still accepts edits from anonymous people (i.e. people with no account). If Wiki required people to register (and perhaps have a cooling off period before allowing those new registrants to edit articles), Wiki would be able to solve their problems with anonymous users making stupid or biased edits to articles.

I know Wiki has this socialist/Star Trek view of the world, but maybe it's time for them to realise that's not the reality...
Quote specofdust 3rd January 2007, 19:11
Quote:
I know Wiki has this socialist/Star Trek view of the world, but maybe it's time for them to realise that's not the reality...

They're making it the reality! It may be slow, but information is the most powerfull tool of all and they're making it their job to give everyone as much as possible for free.

I've always been highly impressed by how well wikipedia has been run since it first became well known. With a little luck it will continue to be run as well and things will continue.

As for the single IP thing, that's not because they're stupid - it's simply because the US and UK hog the vast majority of all the IP addresses. There are simply nowhere near enough left for the rest of the world, so they have to use single IP's for entire countries untill the world gets off its ass and implements IPV6.
Quote Hilariousity 3rd January 2007, 19:45
Quote:
Unfortunately we weren’t able to find the picture of the Arabs in the red hats and so can’t offer an opinion on the legitimacy of the ban.

Thats is entirely bs!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Maom%C3%A9.jpg/250px-Maom%C3%A9.jpg

all behold in wonderous amazement of the picture of arabs in red hats! Found on the wikipedia article of Muhammad right where it is said to have been. Do I agree with the ban? Yes! Do I agree with Anonymous editing on wikipedia? nope.
Quote DXR_13KE 3rd January 2007, 21:11
from the land of WTF and bad beer comes the news from Qatar were someone says:
Quote:
Who are those people with red hats? Have you ever seen an old Arab wearing red hat? Can you imagine the Muhammad wear blue dress? Muhammad sits with people and not on top. Who is the woman?

about that picture..... fashion freaks? NO ....... fanatic religion? yes....... i don't really care..... let them live in there ignorant bliss.

and what about the one IP for a entire country? aren't people hacked a lot there?
Quote speedfreek 4th January 2007, 04:37
Quote:
Originally Posted by specofdust
They're making it the reality! It may be slow, but information is the most powerfull tool of all and they're making it their job to give everyone as much as possible for free.

I've always been highly impressed by how well wikipedia has been run since it first became well known. With a little luck it will continue to be run as well and things will continue.
That is why I like Wikipedia, I even considered donating until I looked at how broke I am. :D
Quote:
Originally Posted by specofdust
As for the single IP thing, that's not because they're stupid - it's simply because the US and UK hog the vast majority of all the IP addresses. There are simply nowhere near enough left for the rest of the world, so they have to use single IP's for entire countries untill the world gets off its ass and implements IPV6.
Im sure that they could get another IP and then have a whole 2.
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