User blog comment:Trellar/Hangout with Office Hours this Thursday/@comment-971093-20130305182443/@comment-26686429-20130305183250

There is no real way to tell if someone with the same IP address is someone from the same building, or the same person - as there's no technical information that can get any more detailed than "this person is coming from the same IP address". It sounds harsh, but my response to "my brother did xyz and now I'm blocked" is, "well, you should be mad with your brother", you need to keep the wiki free from trolls, and as there's no way to separate the good user from the bad (if they even are different in the first place) - the only real solution is blocking both.

The problem with chat is that it doesn't have the same "autoblock" feature as a normal block has. For repeat trolls, it's sometimes enough to block the troll as well as banning them from chat, as that creates an automatic block - but that's not a perfect solution, and it can be frustrating experience playing "whack a mole" with new accounts. An autoblock also doesn't help if they're switching IPs by turning their router on and off (something trolls sometimes do).

If you're having trouble with someone who keeps coming back over a short period - you might want to check if a VSTF member's online - we can do a quick check and block the sockpuppets. Bear in mind that we can't do random CheckUser requests, they need to go through staff, but if you're fairly certain it's the same user just under a different name harassing you - we can put an IP block in to stop them.