Wikipedia:Abuse response

Abuse response (AR), previously abuse reports, was a Wikipedia process by which volunteers could respond to issues of persistent vandalism or disruptive editing from IP addresses. The process involved (1) taking note of persistent abuse from a particular IP address or group of IP addresses within the same network, (2) compiling a report based on the IP(s) contributions in order to demonstrate the pattern of abuse, and (3) making contact with the ISP or network responsible for those hosts, usually via the abuse contact listed in the Whois data for the IP address(es) in question. The general exclusionary rule for AR was that the report needed to concern an address with at least five blocks, one of which was recent.

AR was officially retired in November 2013 after a long decline in activity. This process suffered from serious problems. The report compilation process was involved and time-consuming, and as such a great volume of reports were listed but never had reports compiled. At the time of AR's closure in 2013, there were pending reports dating back to 2011. It is still possible for administrators and vandal fighters to contact ISPs, schools, and employers on their own, but they should be sure to note that they are only a contributor and not employed by Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation. Many ISPs, schools, and employers are cooperative, while many others are not.



If you need help
If you need help with either submitting an abuse report or processing an abuse report, please ask on the talk page. You may also wish to directly message members of the team. A list of active team members may be found on the list of volunteers. Feel free to also contact members on their talk page.

Process

 * The processing of an Abuse Response case has three phases.


 * Alert: An attentive user notices a trend of vandalism from a given IP (or range) and reports the IP address here.
 * Under Investigation: Once an alert is made, it is opened by a project member, who begins an investigation and compiles a report for use when contacting the ISP or organization responsible for the IP number.
 * In Contact: Once a case has been investigated and a report prepared the case handler then attempts to contact the ISP or organization responsible for the IP address, explain the situation to the organization and points them to the prepared report. The case handler remains in contact with the organization, most likely by email, to answer any further questions or provide other requested information.

Once the case handler has made contact with the provider, the case remains open as long as contact continues. If the provider successfully resolves the complaint, the case handler closes the case, with a summary of the result. If the provider is unwilling to cooperate, the case is noted and closed with a summary of events.