Template talk:Range vandal

Template-protected edit request on 20 February 2023

It appears the Robtex link, which is provided for doing a WHOIS on an IP range, no longer works ("404 not found"). Can we switch to another WHOIS service provider that does support IP ranges? For example, ARIN ([1]) appears to support WHOIS on an IP range. Here's an example:

https://search.arin.net/rdap/?query=2600:1008:0:0:0:0:0:0/32

If ARIN is a suitable service provider, then change the code from this:

[https://www.robtex.com/whois/{{urlencode:{{{1}}}}}.html WHOIS (partial)]

to this:

[https://search.arin.net/rdap/?query={{urlencode:{{{1}}}}} WHOIS (partial)]

But if there are other/better service providers, then use whichever is best. — Archer1234 (t·c) 13:02, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

No idea how this looked before but https://www.robtex.com/ip-lookup/2600:1008:0:0:0:0:0:0#owhois still exist but require a log in. --Trialpears (talk) 13:44, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

I do not know what robtex's whois report showed previously. ARIN appears to show the relevant/corresponding information it would show for a single IP address. Toolforge's WHOIS displays some of the same information that ARIN shows ([2]). Since Toolforge's WHOIS also links to other Wikipedia tools (viz, GlobalContribs & Stalktoy), I think that would be the most appropriate, although the ARIN link could be shown as an "alt" link. In any event, all things being equal I think we should prefer using a service that does not require logging in. For that reason, I would not use the robtex link. — Archer1234 (t·c) 14:24, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I've implemented this as proposed in the meantime since a working link is strictly better than a broken one, but I'm really not sure if this is the best way to do it. What is the prefered WHOIS lookup service for ranges? When that is decided that could be added to {{user-multi}} and this template be converted. I've placed a message at WT:SPI about this and they will probably be able to help answer what link is best. Merging with {{Vandal}} like was recently done with {{IPvandal}} may also be an option, but that would need the same initial steps. --Trialpears (talk) 14:27, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

@Trialpears, thanks for placing a note at WT:SPI and making the change. I suspect the toolforge WHOIS [3] is going to be recommended as the preferred service provider, with ARIN or another provider listed as an alternate. Thanks. — Archer1234 (t·c) 15:18, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

(Here from WT:SPI) https://whois-referral.toolforge.org is my usual pick. When I do need more than what that tool provides, firing up a terminal is the only good option I've found. --Blablubbs (talk) 19:28ebruary 2023 (UTC)

I use whois-referral. Why we have 3 fork/branches deployed to different toolforge subdomains (whois-dev, whois) is beyond me... MarioGom (talk) 20:50, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

Robtex used to be quite good once upon a time, but has definitely long gone outside our scope of usefulness. It would show, for example, websites hosted within the range. I'd normally pick whois-referral as the tool of choice. It's not designed for ranges, but doesn't barf on them so probably suffices. There may be other better options, though I don't have any on me. ARIN would be a good alternative, but it can be temperamental.[4] -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 21:27, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

Come to think of it, and while we're at it, Hurricane Electric's BGP tool might be a useful addition.[5] -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 21:47, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

Also here from WT:SPI. I use https://whois-referral.toolforge.org primarily because that is the main one used by the CheckUser tool on enwiki—see MediaWiki:Checkuser-toollinks. The Toolforge WHOIS tool is nice because it aggregates the information from a number of different regional Internet registries, ARIN being one of them. With that being said, though, I just tried a few European and Asian IPs through the ARIN WHOIS tool, and it looks like ARIN's WHOIS pulls from the other Internet registry sources properly as well, so it's probably good for use in this template. Mz7 (talk) 03:26, 21 February 2023 (UTC)