In response to your question at Wikipedia:Village_pump_(assistance)#Pschemp_will_probably_block_me_.28.3F.29, that edit seemed to contain a personal attack directed at Pschemp (the reference to idiocy). I couldn't see anything in Anonymous Andy's contributions that looked like trolling, so I'm not sure. In any case, if you are blocked again, you can just follow the instructions that appear when you try to edit an article to request unblocking. I'm not going to second-guess Pschemp, but I'd suggest you try to edit articles and not second-guess and criticize administrators on administrative tasks. The proper forum for that is probably WP:ANI, if you do choose to do that. If you choose to use it, keep your comments concise, polite, and factual.--Kchase T 08:50, 27 July 2006 (UTC)Reply

  • Thanks for the reply. To be fair, I had stated at first that "in my opinion," Pschemp and other administrators behaving similarly were behaving like "fucking idiots." The edit that elicited the deletion and blocking was actually my toned-down, and I thought quite fair, revision of this initial angry comment. I'm still doubtful as to whether that justifies Pschemp's apparently entirely self-serving reaction. Andy emigré 08:59, 27 July 2006 (UTC)Reply
(I copied this to talk (where I should have posted to begin with). Turn it around. If my response here had been, "In my opinion, Andy emigré is an idiot," would you consider that a personal attack? Or at least an insult? In any case, whether Pschemp over-reacted or not, the comment could have been more civil. Just try to be careful in the future when talking about anyone, admins included.--Kchase T 09:07, 27 July 2006 (UTC)Reply

Yeah, I completely understand that he'd have taken it as an insult. But part of my point is that his behavior pisses people off--he certainly seems to have angered "No chinese allowed", and he definitely pissed me off by deleting my comment and summarily blocking me. It just stinks of administrative abuse. If it were me, I'd either have ignored it or taken the opportunity to explain my actions, not just silenced the criticism. It's just a real eye-opener that people like Pschemp, and whoever blocked my university's subnet without explanation for somebody else's unpronounceable name, are allowed to be administrators here on Wikipedia.

Oh well, whatever. Andy emigré 09:14, 27 July 2006 (UTC)Reply

You make a good point about blocking the subnet. Collateral damage with blocking is a major problem here. Well, you've got a new account now. If you get blocked again, follow the instructions at Wikipedia:Appealing a block. All blocks can be reviewed by other admins.--Kchase T 09:21, 27 July 2006 (UTC)Reply
Pschemp never blocked your IP address. If it happened, it was an Autoblock, probably triggered by you trying to edit as Anonymous Andy after the account block was applied. Because user IP addresses are hidden from users and admins, there is no way to know in advance that this will happen, and there is certainly no reason wikipedia should know that your university is configured to send your entire building through one proxy server. The autoblock can be lifted by any admin but you have to give them your IP address (its included in the autoblock message) because IPs are hidden in the system. Hope this helps a bit. Thatcher131 (talk) 14:08, 27 July 2006 (UTC)Reply
      • Re "The autoblock can be lifted by any admin but you have to give them your IP address..." Unfortunately, this proves to be impossible when you're forbidden from editing. There's no way to communicate with admins. Believe me, I tried when Pschemp blocked my "Anonymous Andy" account. Andy emigré 17:53, 27 July 2006 (UTC)Reply
If you include your e-mail address when you register an account, you can use the "E-mail this user" link even when blocked. You can also post {{unblock}} to your talk page, since even when blocked you can edit your own user and user talk pages. Thatcher131 (talk) 17:59, 27 July 2006 (UTC)Reply
Also if any of the other users in your building were affected by the block, they would have gotten an autoblock message and could also have posted the {{unblock}} message to get attention. Thatcher131 (talk) 18:03, 27 July 2006 (UTC)Reply