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> But how does allowing everyone to see IP addresses help with anti-vandalism? There’s already the CheckUser if there needs to be an IP-block ban. It scales be
by nullc 6y ago
> But how does allowing everyone to see IP addresses help with anti-vandalism? There’s already the CheckUser if there needs to be an IP-block ban.
It scales better.
Pretty much just that.
> Maybe I’m a unique case, but I’m still willing to bet that there would be more interaction from non-logged-in users on Wikipedia if their IP address were hidden.
You're not. Though WP would generally prefer you not use throwaway accounts (as would HN, for that matter!).
It's unclear how many people it discourages-- a lot of people manage to make edits without realizing their IP will be displayed because they miss the warnings. Users asking the site to delete edits that were accidentally IP-exposing is a not-infrequent support request.
Users suffering unwelcome exposure is largely an external cost (except for those support requests, and the invisible long term discouragement-to-contribution).
- surround 6y agoAnother thought: If anyone can make an account to hide their IP anyways, why not hide the IP of all users? But I guess the answer is that enough vandals don’t create accounts to warrant keeping IP addresses public.
- nullc 6y agoAnd other users can make an account easily enough to not bother fixing it. Probably on the balance, considering everyone's costs and risks it would be better to make IP edits private. But the decision to do this is made by Wikipedians, and considering just their costs, favours not doing it more strongly.