Wikipedia:Temporary account IP viewer
 | This page documents a procedural policy of Wikipedia. It documents various processes by which the English Wikipedia operates. |
 | This page in a nutshell: The ability to view the IP addresses used by temporary accounts can be granted to non-admins who meet certain criteria. This tool is only for combatting policy violations and each use is logged. |
Temporary accounts (formerly called IP Masking) are coming to the English Wikipedia on 7 October 2025. Admins will automatically see temporary account IP information. Qualified non-admins may request the temporary account IP viewer permission, which allows selective viewing of temporary account IP information.
Access to temporary account IP address information is logged. This log is viewable by CheckUsers only.
There are currently 141 users with temporary account IP viewer rights, which together with Wikipedia administrators makes for a total of 968 users with this permission.
Criteria for granting
[edit]To be eligible for the permission, an editor must:
- Make a request for the permission (admins are not permitted to assign the right without a request)[a][b]
- Have a registered account for six months[a]
- Have made at least 300 edits to English Wikipedia[a]
- Agree to use the IP addresses in accordance with Foundation policy, solely for the investigation or prevention of vandalism, abuse, or other violations of Wikimedia Foundation or community policies, and understand the risks and responsibilities associated with this privilege[a][c]
- Have a demonstrated need for access. Some examples are experience with new pages patrol, counter-vandalism, or sockpuppet investigations. This requirement is subject to the discretion of the granting admin.
Admins are permitted to decline applicants who meet these criteria but are otherwise unsuitable for access to this tool. Stewards are authorized to make exceptions to the Foundation requirements (criteria 1–4) if someone needs access for a purpose that cannot be reasonably addressed by users who already have this access.
Once the permission is granted, editors must visit their preferences and enable Preferences → User profile → 
Enable revealing IP addresses for temporary accounts.
Requests for the permission may be made at Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Temporary account IP viewer.
Criteria for use
[edit]Use of the temporary account IP viewer tool must follow the Access to Temporary Account IP Addresses Policy. Use of the tool is logged at Special:Log/checkuser-temporary-account.[a] Editors must be extremely careful with how they publicly discuss conclusions drawn from the temporary account IP viewer tool.
What can and can't be said
[edit]- It is never a violation of the TAIV disclosure policy to make a statement that does not rely on use of the TAIV tool. In particular, this means that purely behavioral comparisons of TAs to old IPs or TAs to permanent accounts are not governed by that policy. (e.g.
The edits at Sun and Moon by ~2025-12345-67, 192.0.2.1, and User:Example appear to be by the same person.
)- However, TAIVs should take care not to give the impression that they are inappropriately disclosing TAIV information. Especially in the case of TA-to-IP behavioral comparisons, it is recommended to explicitly state that TAIV was not used.
- Publicly linking a TA to another TA is allowed. (e.g.
~2025-12345-67 and ~2025-12345-68 are likely the same person.
) - Publicizing an IP address gained through TAIV access is generally not allowed (e.g. ~2025-12345-67 previously edited as 192.0.2.1 or ~2025-12345-67's IP address is 192.0.2.1.)
- Publicly describing TAs in relation to each other is allowed (e.g.
~2025-12345-67 and ~2025-12345-68 are on the same ISP and geolocate to the same area
,they both use proxies
), but not in absolute terms (e.g. they are both on Orange and geolocate to France). - CheckUsers will generally not publicly link permanent accounts to TAs (since TAIVs and admins can see the IP behind a TA, this is equivalent to CUIP).
Criteria for revocation
[edit]Admins are permitted to remove the temporary account IP viewer permission for misuse of the right, including the disclosure of temporary account IP addresses in violation of the Access to Temporary Account IP Addresses Policy.
Additionally, the permission should be removed from editors who have been inactive for a year.[a]
Templates
[edit]| Wikitext | userbox | where used | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
{{User Wikipedia/Temporary account IP viewer}}
|
|
linked pages | ||
{{User temporary account IP viewer since}}
|
|
linked pages |
See also
[edit]- Meta:Temporary account IP viewers
- Global temporary account IP viewers
- The request for comment establishing the criteria for granting this permission
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f This is a requirement from the Wikimedia Foundation policy governing the permission, and is exempt from consensus.
- ^ Requests are preferably made at WP:PERM/TAIV, but this is not a Foundation requirement. Admins are permitted to encourage qualified editors to submit an application. See also: Special:Diff/1308311575.
- ^ This requirement is satisfied by editors checking a box in their preferences, stating they have read and agree to this condition. Because this is enforced by the software before editors can make use of the permission, editors are not required to state their agreement in their request.