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Abuse response (AR), previously abuse reports, was a Wikipedia process by which volunteers could respond to issues of persistent vandalism or disruptive editing from IP addresses. The process involved (1) taking note of persistent abuse from a particular IP address or group of IP addresses within the same network, (2) compiling a report based on the IP(s) contributions in order to demonstrate the pattern of abuse, and (3) making contact with the ISP or network responsible for those hosts, usually via the abuse contact listed in the Whois data for the IP address(es) in question. The general exclusionary rule for AR was that the report needed to concern an address with at least five blocks, one of which was recent.
AR was officially retired in November 2013 after a long decline in activity. This process suffered from serious problems. The report compilation process was involved and time-consuming, and as such a great volume of reports were listed but never had reports compiled. At the time of AR's closure in 2013, there were pending reports dating back to 2011. It is still possible for administrators and vandal fighters to contact ISPs, schools, and employers on their own, but they should be sure to note that they are only a contributor and not employed by Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation. Many ISPs, schools, and employers are cooperative, while many others are not.
Abuse Response is a community initiative for the reporting and investigation of abuse originating from IP address users. Those IP addresses are then reported to the Internet service provider with jurisdiction over the IP address in hopes to counter and even deter abuse to Wikipedia.
Abuse Response is not for blocking accounts. If an IP address user is presently vandalizing Wikipedia, please go to AIV.
We do not handle abusive user accounts. To report abusive users for action, see the long-term abuse project and follow the instructions there.
For a list of current Abuse Response volunteers, or for information on how you can help with the Abuse Response project, please see the volunteers page. We are always looking for help.