Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 16:36, 13 April 2007

The following is a proposed Misplaced Pages policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption.

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This page in a nutshell: For the safety and well-being of the Misplaced Pages community, attack sites should neither be linked to nor promoted.

Attack sites are sites outside Misplaced Pages that are used to facilitate, promote, or encourage the harassment of individual Misplaced Pages editors. Harassment of those who choose to edit the encyclopedia is a serious matter. It discourages participation, and may put people in danger. These sites' activities include the malicious posting of abusive comments, physical threats, libel, and attempts to disclose the private information of Wikipedians.

In order to try and ensure the safety and well-being of the Misplaced Pages community and its individual editors, attack sites should never be linked to or in any other way promoted.

What is an attack site?

For the purposes of this proposal, an attack site is a site outside Misplaced Pages that regularly engages in any of the following, or condones it by failing to remove it:

• Harassment of Wikipedians;
• Attempts to violate the privacy of Wikipedians;
• Legal threats toward Wikipedians;
• Defamation of Wikipedians.

An attack site might be run by an individual, in the form of a private website or a blog, or it could be a virtual community, such as another wiki or discussion forum.

Dealing with attack site links, promotion, or content

Links to, promotion of, or material imported from any attack site should be removed. The removal of such material is not subject to the three-revert rule. If the material removed was on a user page, you may leave the user a note explaining why it was removed. If found in article or project space, or in archives, removing it with a note in the edit summary note would be sufficient.

Blocking

Users who repeatedly insert links to attack sites, import material from them, or persistently promote attack sites, may be blocked for disruption after being warned. The appropriate length of the block depends on the severity of the violation, past warnings, and whether it is likely to be repeated. In particular cases, indefinite blocking or community banning may be necessary.

See also

• Privacy policy from the Wikimedia Foundation
• Off-wiki personal attacks
• Misplaced Pages:Harassment
• Misplaced Pages:Blocking policy
• External links normally to be avoided

Relevant Arbitration Committee principles

• "Any user, including an administrator using administrative powers, may remove or otherwise defeat attempts at harassment of a user. This includes harassment directed at the user themselves." See #Combating harassment
• "Links to attack sites may be removed by any user; such removals are exempt from 3RR. Deliberately linking to an attack site may be grounds for blocking." See #Links to attack sites
• "Users who link to webpages which attack or harass other users or to sites which regularly engage in such activity are responsible for their actions." See #Support of harassment
• "A website that engages in the practice of publishing private information concerning the identities of Misplaced Pages participants will be regarded as an attack site whose pages should not be linked to from Misplaced Pages pages under any circumstances." See #Outing sites as attack sites
• "Sites which make some attempt to engage in legitimate criticism such as Misplaced Pages Review present a different situation and should probably be addressed, not by a blanket prohibition, but on what is being linked to. Many of those who have been banned by the arbitration committee or by the community have ended up there, and continue to voice criticism of our decisions and practices. These criticisms are occasionally useful." See Response by arbitrators

• Misplaced Pages proposals