Conservapedia:Blocking the planet

This Conservapedia-related article is of largely historical interest and is no longer the focus of RationalWiki today. Conservapedia (and religious fundamentalism to an extent) was a major focal point in the early history of RationalWiki, but long ago ceased coming up with new ways to appall and amuse. Our energies are now spent debunking other, fresher examples of pseudoscientific claims, authoritarianism, and deceit. For RationalWiki's less ancient content, try the Best of RationalWiki.

“”An answer to our prayers that justifies emailing as well as posting: We can block ranges now!

—Andy Schlafly upon discovering the keys to the bunker.

Trus me Conservapedia

Introduction

Newcomer's Guide What is going on?

Commentary

Best of Conservapedia Blatant plagiarism Differences with Wikipedia Hijacked articles "SDG" "TZB" "Fab Five" Sysops Timeline CP in the media

In-depth analysis

Active users Illustrated guide

Fun

Article Matrix Greatest Insights Parthian Shots v - t - e

As more and more people become aware of what an intellectual cesspool Conservapedia is, the powers that be have to resort to ever more extreme measures to preserve the extremist orthodoxy on their "Trus(t)worthy Encyclopedia". A major weapon in their arsenal is the massive IP range block, which is essentially just a way of rescinding the "open editing" policy. The number of people they can trust to preserve the ideological purity of their website keeps shrinking (especially as one editor after another turns out to be a sensible person, or, as they like to say, a "traitor"), so they have to block out the rest of the world.

Method

The number of IP addresses blocked on Conservapedia over time.

The principal way this is done is with the IP range block. All editors' IP (Internet Protocol) addresses are noted by the wiki software, and anyone they don't like can be banned. In their neverending paranoia, escalating daily, to prevent that user from re-registering under a different name, the IP address is blocked. For instance, if Conservapedia sysops hate Bill, and Bill lives in the same city as James (who perhaps shares their views), and James signs up for Conservapedia, by sysop logic, James must be Bill, and he will be blocked asap. Because IP addresses are often assigned randomly from large blocks by ISPs (Internet Service Providers; companies like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T), entire ranges are often blocked. This has the property of blacking out entire ISPs, cities, colleges, companies, and countries. But the powers that be don't care; they already have all the users that they feel they can trust. In any case, colleges and foreign countries are particularly ideologically suspect.

The use of range blocks appears to have become extremely widespread around December 2008. As of this writing (June 2009), the number of IP addresses that have been blocked is over TEN MILLION TWENTY MILLION TWENTY ONE MILLION. That is far in excess of the number of users, number of existing pages, or even the number of page edits on Conservapedia (less than 700,000), and represents 1 IP address blocked for every 5.35 page views.

IPs blocked at CP and WP

block periods of non-infinite range blocks at CP and WP

Wikipedia issues IP range blocks, too. But there are a few decisive differences:

• the periods of the blocks are generally much shorter at Wikipedia than at Conservapedia. For instance, half of the /16 ranges are blocked for less than one day, while typically such a block at Conservapedia will last for six months!
• even if your IP is blocked at Wikipedia, most times you're only prevented from anonymous editing. You may still be allowed to edit after logging in. Conservapedia doesn't allow anonymous editing in the first place, and when your IP is blocked, you cannot edit. Period.
• though Wikipedia dwarfs Conservapedia in virtually every category, there are more IP numbers blocked at Conservapedia than at the English division of Wikipedia.

What locations are blocked?

The following are places that Conservapedia can no longer be edited from, or are particularly untrusworthy. Conservapedia sysops have begun to assume by mere geographical location that users are sockpuppets of each other.

Libraries you should not use

We would like to have thought that holding libraries hostage is a level to which Conservapedia would not stoop. We were wrong. Since this was not an IP block, we don't know what library it was, but, being a "sockpuppet" block, it was apparently aimed at some IP or IP range.

• "Perhaps you should've thought about all the other library users before you decided to do this."

Companies you should not work for

UNITED STATES

• Evergreen Interlink Advertising Services Inc., Englewood, CO

MEXICO

• Uninet S.a. De C.v

LEBANON

• Ogeronet, Beirut; some employee apparently runs TOR.

Hotels at which you should not stay

• Westford Regency Hotel, Westford, MA (Block comment says "INSURANCE SERVICES OFFICE - Arlington, MA".)

State government offices you should not work for

• Minnesota Office of Enterprise Technology

School systems you should not use or work for

• Denver, CO Denver Public Schools

• Hamilton, ON Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (Notice that TK gives gave the operator's name and phone number.)

Universities you should not attend

Colleges and universities receive particularly bad treatment; this may be due to the generally higher level of intellect to be found there. While our data are not conclusive, it appears that the following universities are currently blocked. This list may not be entirely accurate due to problems determining the location corresponding to an IP address.

Europe

Block	University	Country
128.232.250.82	Cambridge University	UK	This is one of Britain's (and the world's) most prestigious universities.
131.111.0.0/16	Cambridge University	UK
129.67.0.0/19	Oxford University	UK	This is one of the world's leading universities.
129.11.80.150	University of Leeds	UK
130.83.0.0/16	Technische Universität Darmstadt	Germany
131.111.232.122	Cambridge University	UK
134.226.0.0/19	Trinity College, Dublin	Ireland
134.226.1.0/24	Trinity College, Dublin	Ireland
143.117.140.0/22	Queen's University of Belfast	UK
147.163.102.132	University of Palermo	Italy
149.157.205.5	University of Ireland	Ireland
157.228.112.0/20	University of Sunderland	UK
164.11.204.51	University of the West of England, Bristol	UK
192.173.4.0/24	University of Northumbria at Newcastle	UK
193.11.209.105	Uppsala University	Sweden
193.63.38.108	University of Northumbria at Newcastle	UK
194.80.32.8	University of Lancaster	UK
194.80.32.9	University of Lancaster	UK
194.80.32.11	University of Lancaster	UK
212.219.153.63	University of Northumbria at Newcastle	UK
212.219.207.41	Lancaster University	UK
212.219.207.43	Lancaster University	UK
194.81.33.118	Liverpool Hope University	UK	That's the only Catholic university in Europe, so not exactly a huge Atheist den.
???	King's College, London	UK
144.32.180.39	University of York, York	UK
193.1.172.163	University College Dublin	Ireland

Americas

Block	University	Country
12.182.30.10	College of Charleston	USA
18.238.4.0/24	MIT	USA
18.85.0.0/16	MIT	USA
72.33.78.35	University of Wisconsin, Madison	USA
72.33.92.0/23	University of Wisconsin, Madison	USA
72.33.93.192	University of Wisconsin, Madison	USA
72.33.94.149	University of Wisconsin, Madison	USA
72.33.95.0/24	University of Wisconsin, Madison	USA
74.43.240.0/22	University of Iowa	USA
128.233.0.0/16	University of Saskatchewan	Canada
128.238.35.14	Polytechnic University, Brooklyn	USA
128.2.141.33	Carnegie Mellon University	USA
129.2.175.87	University of Maryland	USA
129.3.20.3	State University of New York, Oswego	USA
129.3.173.156	State University of New York, Oswego	USA
129.137.0.0/16	University of Cincinnati	USA
129.210.51.160	Santa Clara University	USA
130.113.0.0/16	McMaster University	Canada
130.156.0.0/22	County College of Morris	USA
132.205.103.165	Concordia University	Canada
132.239.85.187	University of California, San Diego	USA
137.110.0.0	University of California, San Diego (La Jolla)	USA
134.71.232.0/22	California State Polytechnic University - Pomona	US
137.99.142.163	University of Connecticut	USA
137.229.70.243	University of Alaska	USA
138.16.32.229	Brown University	USA
139.102.253.0/24	Indiana State University	USA
139.102.254.37	Indiana State University	USA
139.102.254.38	Indiana State University	USA
141.217.222.252	Wayne State University	USA
142.12.0.0/18	University College of Cape Breton	Canada
142.12.1.36	University College of Cape Breton	Canada
142.12.66.0/24	University College of Cape Breton	Canada
142.103.0.0/16	University of British Columbia	Canada
142.150.32.108	University of Toronto	Canada
143.88.67.6	University of West Florida	USA
147.31.4.0/22	Widener University	USA
156.143.48.12	Furman University	USA
161.6.148.0/22	Western Kentucky University	USA
163.118.0.0/16	Florida Institute of Technology	USA
165.91.188.159	Texas A&M University	USA
169.232.124.0/22	University of California	USA
198.214.232.0/24	University of Texas	USA
204.8.156.142	Boston University	USA
204.196.186.45	Northeast Louisiana University	USA
216.165.0.0/17	New York University	USA
???	University of Louisiana (we're not sure; can anyone confirm?)	USA
???	Louisiana State University (we're not sure; can anyone confirm?)	USA
186.6.0.0/16	???	Canada

Asia/Pacific

Block	University	Country
130.56.0.0/16	Australian National University	Australia
137.132.3.17	National University of Singapore	Singapore
137.132.3.16	National University of Singapore	Singapore
137.132.3.15	National University of Singapore	Singapore
137.132.3.14	National University of Singapore	Singapore
137.132.3.13	National University of Singapore	Singapore
137.132.3.11	National University of Singapore	Singapore
137.132.3.10	National University of Singapore	Singapore
137.132.3.9	National University of Singapore	Singapore
137.132.3.8	National University of Singapore	Singapore
137.132.3.7	National University of Singapore	Singapore
137.132.3.6	National University of Singapore	Singapore
137.132.3.5	National University of Singapore	Singapore
137.132.3.4	National University of Singapore	Singapore
137.132.3.3	National University of Singapore	Singapore
137.132.3.2	National University of Singapore	Singapore
137.132.3.1	National University of Singapore	Singapore
140.113.94.101	National Chiao Tung University	Taiwan
165.229.90.89	Yeungnam University	Korea
192.43.224.0/22	University of Adelaide	Australia

Cities you should not live in

Blocks in the US

The extensive list of these "Forbidden Cities" is below:

• Alaska, USA: Not any city, but the entire state. Home to the infamous Icewedge and also to Helios, Nolife, and Opcn, three more users well hated by Conservapedia.
• Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada: This beautiful seaside city is home to the notorious Halifax Troll. Sysops are convinced that any IP from this address is a sockpuppet with his latest iteration in cp:user:DemocraticUnderground. As Karajou has said to other sysops, "We need to block this man permanently. We've got to do a blanket block of his IP, because all he is doing is hanging up, dialing again under a slightly-different IP, and damaging the site." Update: 65,536 IP addresses in Halifax are blocked. BTW Karajou, who says the Troll is even a man? Maybe it's a smoking hot female (not that you'll ever know what that is anyways).
• Atlanta, Georgia, USA: the notoriously evil liberal AmesG grew up in Atlanta, leading Karajou to conclude that any user in Atlanta is possibly AmesG. All such users are under suspicion and likely to be blocked for the slightest misstep.
• Houston, Texas, USA: despite the fact that Houston is one of the largest cities in America (in the top 5), sysop and conspiracy theorist RobS is convinced that any user from Houston is the same AmesG. Houston also has the third largest, and fastest growing, legal market in America; regardless, any Houstonian involved in this market must be AmesG. So if you're from Houston, and especially if you're also involved in law, you will be blocked or ignored.
• New York, New York, USA: given this logic, it won't be long until all 10 million New Yorkers are suspicious and amenable to blocking-on-sight. However, this might finally rid Conservapedia of Ed Poor.
• San Francisco, California, USA: every citizen of San Francisco is a homosexual Jewish liberal. This includes well known liberals like Michael Savage.

Apparent ISPs in various cities

Blocks in Europe

UNITED STATES

• Berkeley Heights, NJ Interserver Inc

• San Diego, CA Road Runner HoldCo LLC

• Bellevue, GA Cox Communications Inc. TK says it's in Nebraska.

• Plano, TX AT&T Internet Services

• Monroeville, PA Comcast Cable Communications Holdings Inc

CANADA

• Toronto, ON Bell Canada

• Edmonton, AB Interbaun Communications

GERMANY

• Schlau.com A DSL service; some customer apparently runs TOR.

• Munich Gigahosting

AUSTRIA

• Innsbruck myNET Internet Solutions

UNITED KINGDOM

• Manchester Bt-central-plus

• Watford Watford Broadbandaudit, Telewest Broadband IP Network Services

NETHERLANDS

• Dordrecht Pmg-adsl Planet Technologies TK calls people like this "Eurotroll". Cute.

INDONESIA

• Jakarta Pt. Telekomunikasi Selular (telkomsel)

Countries not to live in

xkcd:map of the internet

blocks mapped accordingly

More of a footnote and not quite enough for its own article, but when it comes to non-US countries, CP sysops are much more radical with their banhammer:

• Canada: Apparently, according to Conservapedia, the Halifax troll is now in Sydney, Nova Scotia, and as a result Karajou blocks another 65,000 ip addresses. This now brings the total up to almost 200,000 ip addresses blocked because of the Halifax troll. Update Apparently 142.16.0.0/16 is also used by the halifax troll, despite being registered to the Government of British Columbia.
• Germany: It looks like CP thinks that no German other than Sid would ever want to visit Conservapedia, so any German IP (even if it's just a proxy located in Germany) just has to belong to him (as Peter Bird found out).
• Dominican Republic: Thoroughly despised by Karajou, who has claimed 336,896 IP addresses from this beautiful, sunny island.
• China: so far, 1,536 dirty communists' IP addresses have been blocked by Karagoon and Terry Koeckritz. Surprisingly, none were blocked by Rob Smith.
• Russia: Another 65,536 IPs, per above.
• Mexico: TK blocked 16,384 IPs from "Montevideo, Mexico". He probably meant "Monterrey", since Montevideo is in Uruguay, but there you have it.
• Ireland, The UK, New Zealand, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Macedonia, South Africa, Iceland and "Libya via Amsterdam": TK again. This site is growing rapidly!
• Croatia - many IPs blocked
• France - as France Telecom gets locked out.
• Indonesia, Bangladesh: They still use proxies to get inside CP, and Karajou ferrets them out......even if they've done nothing at all.

Wireless devices not to use

Don't expect to be able to edit using your Blackberry, on its own or tethered to your laptop. Whether he knew what he was doing or not, TK took out the entire Canadian and US Blackberry network for all mobile providers (T-Mobile, Rogers, AT&T, etc.) until March 2010, with the deceptive block message that he was merely banning "liberal Canadian trolls, Alexkm and RonS -- Research In Motion Inc. -- Waterloo, ONT, Canada)." Blackberry is go. I repeat: Blackberry is go.

The logical conclusion

Late in 2023, Andrew changed the site's account creation policy to prevent anyone from making an account without e-mailing him to ask for permission (and writing a small dissertation about why he should), thus well and truly blocking the entire freaking planet.

See also

• Conservapedia:IP blocks