Trolling is fun, until you get caught. And that’s exactly what just happened to someone in Washington, who got a Congressional IP address banned for trolling Wikipedia.
It all started when the Twitter account @CongressEdits started tracking (and tweeting) the anonymous edits Congressional IPs were making to Wikipedia. It seems that someone (a staffer no doubt) got just a little too trigger happy, and after a slew of increasingly zany edits — including one that called the outlet Mediaite “sexist” and “transphobic” — the offending IP was banned.
The IP-based ban is only 10 days, but can affect multiple computers — just like the one I earned for my entire library in high school. Users can get around it by creating an account, but that makes it a little more annoying to troll. So for now the fun is mostly over, and if Congress-folk continue to act up, Wikipedia has stronger ban options up its sleeves.
Here’s to hoping whoever is behind this has learned their lesson: Don’t be so obvious! [The Washington Post via The Wire]