Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26567684-20190621212514/@comment-9605025-20190621215328

The internet is a public computer network. Computers communicate over networks by sending and receiving information. If you think of this like sending a letter in the mail, then the IP address is akin to a mailing address. If a particular network has more computers than available IP addresses (or if the network administrators are afraid this might become the case), then dynamic IP addresses are used. What this means is that each connected computer is assigned one of a variety of possible IPs for a certain amount of time. When that time expires, it is assigned a new IP that some other computer may have previously used. If someone was spamming/vandalizing the wiki, their IP may have been blocked (i.e. the wiki refuses to acknowledge edit requests sent from that IP). If your computer has been temporarily assigned that IP, then you are blocked until your IP changes again. - Edit:

This will typically happen if you are using a public/institutional network such as a library or a university.

A VPN is a way to connect to a private network (for example, a university) over the internet. When accessing the internet while connected to a VPN, your IP is assigned from the pool allocated to the private network you connected to; not the network your computer is directly connected to. VPN services have become more and more popular as a way to avoid being tracked. Essentially, private companies set-up a private network with the sole purpose of allowing others to connect to the internet through them; thus hiding the true IP of the customer. Since VPNs typically use dynamic IPs, the issue is the same.