Block appeal

(English) This is an essay. It expresses the opinions and ideas of some Wikimedians but may not have wide support. This is not policy on Meta, but it may be a policy or guideline on other Wikimedia projects. Feel free to update this page as needed, or use the discussion page to propose major changes.

The following provides a general guide for appeals blocks, locks or bans.

Appealing local blocks

If you are locally blocked in a wiki (but see special cases below), there are several ways to appeal. The following guide applies if you are the intended block target. If you can not edit because your IP is blocked, see #IP range or proxy blocks below.

Talk page

If you can edit it, you can appeal in your talk page; in many wiki there is a {{unblock}} template and you can place {{tl|unblock}} on your talk page. A how-to-use guide is available at Template:Unblock/doc. If you do not receive replies in a few days, try to ping the blocking admin.

Email

Even if you are blocked, you may still be able to contact the blocking admin using Special:EmailUser if you configured a email in preferences and you are not blocked from sending email in a wiki.

Note blocks are local, so even if your email access is revoked you can still email a user in another wiki. Abusing email globally may cause your account be globally locked.

Some wikis does not prefer this approach. For example in English Wikipedia UTRS is preferred instead.

Mailing lists

Some wikis have a dedicated mailing list for appeals.

Off-wiki communication channels

In some off-wiki communication channels (such as IRC, Telegram or Discord), you may post an appeal or reach the admin who blocked you. You need to follow the rule of such channels. This is not the preferred way to appeal in some wikis (such as English Wikipedia, which use UTRS instead).

UTRS

English Wikipedia have a Unblock Ticket Request System (UTRS) where you can request an unblock if you are blocked in the English Wikipedia.

SRM

If you have appealed in your talk page (if you can), and you do not get response from any local admins even after emailing them, then you can describe your situation and link to your appeal at Steward requests/Miscellaneous. Stewards will review your block, but usually they will overturn them if either:

• Your blocks is placed by a global sysop or steward;
• Or there are no active sysops in the wiki.

RFC

If you think the entire active administrator team of a wiki can be corrupted, or where a few administrators can intimidate other administrators into submission, see User:Rschen7754/Help, my wiki went rogue! for guide.

IP range or proxy blocks

Sometimes IP ranges may got locally blocked because they are used by LTA; Open proxies are usually blocked because of no open proxies policy. Wikimedia does not encourage using proxies to edit, so you should disable proxies if possible. However, if you must edit using proxies (for example, because of internet censorship), see this section for guide.

This section only concern local blocks; see #Global blocks below for gloal blocks.

In most cases what you need to do is to create an account and request an IP block exemption.

Create an account

Some wikis have a guide for requesting an account; for example in English Wikipedia a dedicated system is used. In other wikis:

• If you are able to contact a local admin (e.g. via a public e-mail address, or off-wiki communication channel, they may create an account for you.
• Otherwise, contacting stewards (stewardswikimedia.org) and they may create an account for you. You must specify the wiki you want to edit.

In all cases, you need to specify the username to use; you must not provide a password, but must provide an e-mail address to receive the system-generated random password.

Create local account for users in another Wikimedia project

Note Wikimedia user accounts are connected to SUL and works across wikis. If you have an account in another Wikimedia project and not in the wiki you want to edit (you may check it via Special:CentralAuth:

• If you are able to contact a local admin (either off wiki, or by Special:EmailUser), they may create a local account for you.
• Otherwise, contacting stewards (stewardswikimedia.org) and they may create a local account for you.

In all cases do not provide a password.

Request IP block exemption

Some wikis have a guide for requesting IP block exemption. In other wikis:

• If you can edit your talk page, using #Appealing local blocks process to request a local IP block exemption.
• If you are able to contact a local admin (either off wiki, or by Special:EmailUser), they may grant IP block exemption to you.
• If you are (also) affected by global blocks, first handle them; see Global blocks/FAQ.
• Otherwise, request IP block exemption at Steward requests/Permissions#Miscellaneous requests.

Checkuser blocks

Most administrators may not review checkuser blocks. You may appeal Checkuser blocks using user talk page, email, but in some wikis there is a dedicated place to review checkuser blocks (for example, in the English Wikipedia, the Arbitration Committee).

If you believe the Checkuser block is wrong and you do not receive a satisfactory answer from local checkusers, you may submit complaints to ombuds.

Oversight blocks

Most admins may not review oversight blocks. You may appeal oversight blocks using user talk page, email, but in some wikis there is a dedicated place to review oversight blocks (for example, in the English Wikipedia, the Arbitration Committee).

If you believe the oversight block is wrong and you do not receive a satisfactory answer from local oversights, you may submit complaints to ombuds.

ArbCom blocks

Some wikis have an ArbCom and blocks by ArbCom may not be lifted by other admins without ArbCom consent. Usually ArbCom has a public email address where users can communicate with it (such as making appeals).

Community bans

This section only concern community bans. See ArbCom blocks section for bans imposed by ArbCom.

Global blocks

Requests or appeals should be made on the Global [un]block and [un]lock requests page or the Unblock Ticket Request System.

Global locks

If you are global locked (for reasons other than being Foundation banned or compromised), you should appeal via emailing stewards@wikimedia.org or placing a request at Steward requests/Global.