Author: JoostMeerten

Description:
Have the autoblocker block addresses for no longer than 15 minutes, counting
from the time the original block was issued; if this is more than 15 minutes
ago, the autoblocker shoudn't block at all.

Rationale: http://en.wikipedia.org/Special:Blockip now lists ranges of addresses
that contain proxies through which sometimes hundreds to thousands of different
users are individually served. For this reason, it urges administrators not to
block any address in these ranges for longer than 15 minutes.

If administrators block a registered account editing from such proxies, the
autoblocker will kick in and block the offending IP for 24 hours, no questions
asked, and the IP is not revealed. Administrators have no way of limiting the
damage up front. While users innocently blocked this way can appeal this, it
gets old to have to do this every other day.

This is not an academic debate. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:WBardwin/AOL_Block_Collection. Barring a more
sophisticated handling of proxies by MediaWiki, we desperately need something to
contain the damage from things we cannot control. The autoblocker has no
business assuming it can block any IP address for 24 hours.

Version: unspecified
Severity: enhancement