Forum:Infinite expiry times

I would like to complain about the fact that I cannot block users with on my wiki Liberapedia. Why are disabled? This is annoying. Elassint, 06 27 2008 talk


 * I mostly never had to block someone for that long, i think, but i had the feeling it was a policy somewhere around here that block should never be infinite. See Blocking. — TulipVorlax 21:07, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
 * But I'm pretty sure Wikia had sometime. Why is it gone?
 * What's wrong with blocking users for a year? That's long enough IMO.--Richard 17:41, 30 June 2008 (UTC)


 * On my part, when it's anon users, one month is long enough because many people still have internet service that change IP at least one time per month. — TulipVorlax 18:32, 30 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Spambots usually have static-IP so there's a good reason to block them until the end of their lives --Ciencia Al Poder (talk) -WikiDex 18:40, 30 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I've seen the wikia staff perma block users. Why can they do it and I can't? Elassint, 07 5 2008 talk


 * Infinite used to be an option...have you tried selecting "other" and typing in "infinite" ? --LordTBT Talk! 22:27, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Explanation
Wikia made the decision to "remove" this option globally some time ago, as they do not believe that IP addresses should ever be permabanned. The major drawback is of course the inability to quickly permaban disruptive users, not to mention the wide-spread belief amongst inexperienced admins that infinite blocking is no longer an option.

However, rest assured that you can still block with an infinite expiry. Just choose "other" in the drop-down list and type "infinite" in the "other time" field. You can restore infinite to the drop-down list by editing MediaWiki:Ipboptions. I recommend cut/pasting the current Central options to your wiki/s.

2 hours:2 hours,1 day:1 day,3 days:3 days,1 week:1 week,2 weeks:2 weeks,1 month:1 month,3 months:3 months,6 months:6 months,1 year:1 year,infinite:infinite

As for the suggestion above that a year is sufficient; personally, I have seen some trolls return after year long bans, and frankly, accounts with names such as or logged in spambots such as  deserve nothing less than an infinite block. -- Manticore   (talk)  09:49, 6 July 2008 (UTC)