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If your account has been 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. The box above gives the information you will need in either case, as provided by the blocking administrator.

What is a block?

A block is a measure used to protect Wikipedia from possible improper use, or modification in breach of 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. A number of automated features identify unblocked usage which apparently should be blocked; this can be quickly rectified if incorrect.

Most common causes

• Your IP matches that used by another blocked account. Ask for further information and/or request unblocking.
• Your account or a connected IP has been used in a problematic way, or your username was unsuitable and you need to choose another. The reason should be in the box above.
• You have just clicked a 'red link' - an article that does not yet exist - but you do not have access to start a new page when no article exists already. Ask someone else to create the page for you, or create an account yourself to do so.
• You are using Google Web Accelerator or some other web accelerator, or an open proxy, or other similar software to access this site, which can interfere with some aspects of Wikipedia's vandalism-management process. Some schools, colleges, workplaces and ISPs can also cause this problem. Disable these and try again, or see below.

• If you have never edited Wikipedia before, or do not have an account, please see the "Unregistered?" section (below the "Additional information" header) for specific information.
• If the reason given is "username", "user...", "contact an administrator for verification purposes", or something similar, then you have been blocked for choosing an inappropriate username. To request a change in username and be unblocked, please follow these instructions. Alternatively, you can create a new account with a more appropriate name.
• If you are using Google Web Accelerator, please disable it for this site. This also applies to any other web accelerator software you may have installed.
• If your computer is blocked as an open proxy, please follow these instructions.
• If a specific reason is given or you wish to appeal, please see the following section.

Appealing

The current block will automatically expire 16:24, 17 October 2013. You have many routes to appeal the block or its duration. First of all, if you are a registered user, you can contact Spellcast (the blocking administrator) via email. You can use the 'email this user' feature if you have a valid email address registered and confirmed in your user preferences, and have not been specifically blocked from using the feature.

Blocked directly?

Alternatively, you may appeal the block by requesting that another administrator review the block. To do so, add
{{unblock|your reason here}}
to the bottom of your user talk page (which you can edit while blocked, unless it is protected) to request unblocking. You will need to state a reason for this, and the block is then free to be discussed. Our guide to appealing blocks may help you in composing a persuasive unblock request.

You may use the the freenode IRC network to discuss your block with administrators available at the time. If you have an IRC client, the unblock channel can be found at #wikipedia-en-unblock. If you don't have an IRC client but still wish to use the channel, you can use this link to the Wikimedia toolserver to use a web based client.

If you cannot contact Spellcast or cannot resolve the matter privately, then independent unblock review as described above will be your best solution. More details and other options can be found at Wikipedia:Appealing a block.

Please note: While this block may be upsetting or unexpected, abuse of appeal processes, repeatedly using the unblock template when denied, personal attacks, or impolite conduct, will often lead to protection of that page preventing further use of the unblock template.

IP blocked?

If you are not blocked directly, your IP address (208.53.157.30) or range has been "hard blocked" due to abuse either by the previous person who was allocated or sharing your IP address.

Please copy-paste the following text to the bottom of your user talk page.

{{unblock-ip|1=208.53.157.30|2=<nowiki>{{blocked proxy}}: proxyhamster.com</nowiki>|3=Spellcast}}

Do not do this if you were blocked directly or are not logged in; instead, see the "Appealing" section above (under the "What do I do now?" header).

If this problem affects you repeatedly, we encourage you to contact your Internet service provider or IT department and ask them to contact Wikimedia's XFF project about enabling X-Forwarded-For HTTP headers on their proxy servers. This will reduce collateral damage from future autoblocks.

Unregistered?

MediaWiki, the software that Wikipedia runs on, identifies users without an account through their IP address. However, some IPs are shared by many people and as a result, unregistered users are sometimes blocked for the misbehavior of another editor. Since administrators have no way to accurately tell the claims of an innocent user from those of an anonymous vandal, you are strongly encouraged to create an account. See Why create an account? for a full list of benefits that come with registration.

Some blocks will still allow logged in users to continue editing. If you are currently blocked from creating an account, try the following:

• Try again after the block on your IP address expires.
• Create an account from a different computer.
• Ask a trusted friend on a different network to create an account for you. Be sure to change the password after logging in.
• Use Wikimedia's secure server; this may bypass your network's proxy server.

Emailing us

Before you email us, please make sure your situation has not already been addressed by the above sections. Your talk page may also contain further details related to your block or IP address and we strongly advise that you review it before contacting us.

When sending us an email, please copy-paste and fill out one of these forms.

Help us to help you by copying and using the forms provided. If you don't, the first reply will probably ask you to do so.

Even though emails sent to unblock-en-l mailing list are viewable only by administrators and trusted volunteers, under no circumstances should you email us your account's password or reveal it to anyone else even if asked to. When requesting an account, a temporary password will be generated and emailed to you. Please change the password on your new account as soon as possible.

This list exists for the purpose of reviewing blocks only — any request to make edits to articles on your behalf will be disregarded. Correspondence containing legal threats, personal attacks or rudeness is likely to be ignored and may result in the lengthening of pre-existing blocks.

IMPORTANT: Please do not email us without providing the information requested above. We will always require that information to help you. Click here to contact unblock-en-l.