OurMed:Appealing a block

During day to day operations OurMed administrators routinely block accounts and IP ranges, to reduce or prevent vandalism and other serious inappropriate behavior. This page explains to blocked users why they may have been blocked and how to request an unblock.

Why was I blocked?

 * You may be an innocent victim of collateral damage, where you are accidentally affected by a block of some other user.


 * Alternatively, your account or IP may have been blocked because it appears to have been responsible for (or connected to) a serious breach of OurMed's policies.

If your account was 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. One aim of blocking in some cases, is to ensure the user learns from the incident, and that the issues don't happen again.

Common questions
1. What is a block?

A block prevents a user or IP range from editing OurMed. (They can still read it). Blocks are used to protect OurMed from possible improper use, or other activity that may breach 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. Automated features also identify usage which apparently should be blocked; this can be quickly rectified if incorrect.

2. I've never done anything wrong and I was blocked! Please advise.

Do you use an ISP or web accelerator that involves shared IPs? Common examples include AOL, Comcast, StarHub, schools, colleges, or Google Web Accelerator. If so, you may have been affected by collateral damage. If you are using AOL (or any ISP listed above), please see our advice to AOL users. If you are using Google Web Accelerator (or any other web accelerator that uses shared IPs), please disable it for this site by following these instructions.

3. I did something a bit wrong, but how do I get unblocked now?

OurMed has a very thorough review process for blocks (see below), and all blocks can be reviewed upon request.

One common requirement for unblocking is simply "do you understand that what you did was inappropriate for this site, and confirm that you won't do it again".

However in the case of shorter blocks, especially for good cause, the usual answer is to wait quietly until the block ends, then you may continue editing putting it in the past - but learning from it. A repeat of a previous block is often longer than the first one, so it is important to learn from blocks - in a way blocks are intended to guide a user when words don't seem sufficient.

4. It says I've been "indefinitely" blocked. What does that mean and how do I get unblocked?

An indefinite block means the blocking administrator did not set a time limit on the block. The user needs to discuss the matter with an administrator before any unblock. It could be because the owner needs to confirm everything is ok. Or it could be due to the user needing to understand some behavior was inappropriate.

Typical examples are where the account owner must be contacted (eg suspected 'hacking' of their account), and users whose behavior was severely inappropriate (eg threats, "outings", repeated vandalism or edit warring, repeated failure to listen, etc). OurMed is an encyclopedia community so behaviors like these are not acceptable. For some issues, a user may need to stop, learn our site norms, and confirm they will not repeat the bahavior (or will edit in accordance with certain conditions), before an unblock can take place.

Note that "indefinite" does not necessarily mean "long" or "infinite". It means "however long is needed for the user to address the issue" which can be minutes, hours, or indeed they may never do so.

5. It says I've been "autoblocked" because of another person whom I don't even know!

See OurMed:Autoblock for an explanation. If you use a shared ISP (namely AOL, Comcast, StarHub, schools, colleges, etc.), you may be affected by collateral damage from other users who have edited disruptively. An administrator will sort this out as soon as it's drawn to their awareness – please follow the instructions under the "Autoblocked?" section on your block page, or alternatively here.

6. I want to edit OurMed, but I keep getting blocked because of others on the same network as me!

If you are an unregistered user, it's recommended that you create an account. Shared IP addresses such as school and company networks or proxy servers are frequently blocked for vandalism which often affects many innocent editors on the same network. However, registered users in good standing can request existing blocks on their IP address be "softened" to only affect anonymous editors on their network so that they may continue contributing. See also OurMed:Why create an account?
 * Note: If your IP address is blocked, you may need to create your account at home, on another computer, or (in rare cases) in another country.
 * Note: Many rotating IP addresses of ISPs practising shared IP addresses are blocked as being "proxies" or "zombies" because of the large number of different users sharing the IP. On these computers, logged-in users will be autoblocked immediately. If you encounter such a case, please follow the unblocking request steps or consult an administrator.

How to request to be unblocked
Instructions for requesting an unblock are given on your block page. A quick way to see it again is by trying to edit the OurMed:Sandbox by clicking [ here]. If you are not blocked from editing the sandbox then your block has already expired or been lifted and you need not do anything more. Requests for unblocks should be reviewed by administrators other than the one who administered the block. Before changing the block, the reviewing administrator should first attempt to contact the blocking admin to discuss the situation.

The guide to appealing blocks may help you in composing a persuasive unblock request.

Note for others seeking to help blocked users: The template for the message seen by blocked users is viewable at MediaWiki:Blockedtext.

What happens next
When a block is appealed, other editors – most of whom probably have no involvement in the matter – will review your editing history, which has been logged, as well as the reason for the block and the history leading up to it. Requests for unblocking are listed at Category:Requests for unblock.

Editors with administrator access will strongly avoid wheel warring, that is, overriding each other's decisions, in almost all cases, since this is in itself a serious breach of administrator policy. For this reason, blocks will not usually be allowed to become a source of conflict; rather, consensus will be sought, by means of a fair and objective examination of the matter and of any policies alleged to have been breached.

The routes to resolve a block are agreement by the blocking admin, a (very rare) override by other admins in the case that the block was clearly unjustifiable, or appeal to the Arbitration committee to make a formal ruling on the matter.


 * If there is agreement that you may have been blocked unfairly, you may be directly unblocked (if the block was clearly and obviously a mistake), but this is very rare unless there genuinely were no prospective grounds for the block. Usually the blocking admin's judgement is respected if there is any question of doubt.
 * You may be unblocked if the blocking admin changes their mind or can't be reached, and an unblock is considered reasonable.
 * When you are unblocked, you may then follow the dispute resolution process if you believe that you were treated unfairly.
 * If an unblocking needs discussion, reaching a consensus usually takes several days.

Appeal to the Arbitration Committee
In principle, any blocked user may appeal their block to the Arbitration committee as a last resort, after other attempts to have the block lifted have failed. In practice, the Arbitration committee rarely (if ever) hears cases involving short-term blocks, since most arbitration cases take at least 4 weeks to reach a final decision. Allegations that an administrator has acted improperly by making a block can be dealt with more efficiently by the dispute resolution process after the block has expired.

Indefinite blocks (that amount to a ban from OurMed) may be appealed to the Arbitration Committee. Banned users should not create new accounts, or sockpuppets to file an appeal. Rather, they should contact the Ban Appeals Subcommittee via email at to have their case reviewed. Banned users may also contact an Arbitration Clerk via email for assistance with this process.

Other possible appeal steps
In highly unusual cases, you may wish to utilize the dispute resolution process while you are still blocked. To do so, you may contact other OurMedns by email, or by editing your talk page (which you may do even while blocked).

Abuse of the unblocking process
A usual block prevents users from editing all pages except their user talk page. Users are allowed to retain editing access to their user talk page, in order to have a chance for appeal, and so that they are not shut out completely and are able to participate at least to some degree in OurMed, while the block is active.

Upon a request to seek arbitration, editing access may be restored to a limited number of other pages (such as those connected with their appeal) pending the formal decision, so that the matter (and any evidence, facts, mitigating circumstances, or corrections) can be presented as well.

A minority of editors who are blocked use these privileges poorly, for personal attack or to play games and make a point. Inevitably the response to such actions is simple – editing access is blocked in its entirety and without further discussion, whereas if the user had been responsible and reasonable, an entirely different result might well have happened.

OurMed blocks are usually warnings only, and once over and learned from, unless repeated, they are in the past. OurMed and its administrators and arbitration committee have a real wish for everyone who is capable of acting responsibly to be able to enjoy editing.

Users who are blocked are asked to use this as a chance to reflect, an opportunity to show their understanding and ability to act responsibly, and a period of time to let the matter pass and be learned from.