Wikipedia:Universal Code of Conduct/Enforcement draft guidelines review

The Universal Code of Conduct Phase 2 drafting committee would like comments about the enforcement draft guidelines (also copied below) for the Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC). This review period is planned for 17 August 2021 through 17 October 2021. Comments are invited below or at the draft review talk page on Meta in any language, talk pages of translations, local discussions, round-table discussions, conversation hours, through other forms of outreach, and by email to ucocprojectwikimedia.org.

Input from Wikimedia communities has been gathered throughout the UCoC project. The collected material was reviewed by a drafting committee of 11 volunteers and four Wikimedia Foundation staff members. They met over several months to produce the enforcement draft guidelines for a comprehensive community review. The input collected will be used to further refine the guidelines. Xeno (WMF) (talk) 16:11, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

Discussions will be summarized and presented to the Drafting Committee every two weeks. The summaries will be published here.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Xeno (WMF) (talk) 16:11, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

Enforcement draft guidelines

A Note from the Drafting Committee

Please keep in mind that the UCoC Enforcement Guidelines outlined in this document are iterative, and will continuously be evaluated and evolve with community feedback, along with the Universal Code of Conduct. The committee has also provided questions for the community to think about in regards to this draft.

Abstract

In this table, you can find an abstract of the full Enforcement draft guidelines review document. It was created to ensure that every member of the community can understand the new guidelines.

WHO will be responsible for enforcing the UCOC?

• The WMF, designated people such as code enforcement officers, and a new committee called the Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (AKA the U4C).

• The U4C will oversee the process of UCoC enforcement, manage special cases, provide guidance and training, and monitor enforcement of the UCoC.

• Local and global functionaries will have guidance to know how to enforce the UCoC even if they are not part of the U4C.

HOW will this be done?

• The UCoC should be visible in as many places as possible.

• Certain individuals will have to declare their respect for and adherence to the UCoC.

• Local communities, affiliates, and the WMF should develop and conduct training for community members so they can better address harassment and other UCoC violations.

• The guidelines also lay out recommendations for which parties should address what types of UCoC violations.

• The guidelines suggest certain principles for processing and filing cases to ensure UCoC violations are addressed similarly across all projects.

WHAT else needs to be done to enforce the UCOC?

• The draft recommends the creation of a common, centralized reporting system.

• The draft also recommends expanding the coverage of ArbComs to increase global coverage.

• The draft notes that appeals should be possible and practically available to individuals who were sanctioned for UCoC violations.

HOW can I get involved in the EDGR process?

• The Drafting Committee has provided questions for the community to think about in regards to this draft. Please answer a couple of them in your preferred discussion venue.

Overview

Code Enforcement Definition

Code Enforcement is the prevention, detection, investigation, and enforcement of violations of the Universal Code of Conduct. Code enforcement is a responsibility of designated functionaries, the Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee ["U4C Committee" - Final name to be determined], and the Wikimedia Foundation. This should be done in a proper, timely fashion, consistently across the entire Wikimedia Movement. Consequently, individuals charged with enforcing the Universal Code of Conduct must be fully acquainted with the regulations they enforce.

Enforcement of the UCoC is applied by means of preventive work and campaigns, issuing warnings and notices to persuade people with signs of problematic behaviour to comply, imposing technical restrictions and punishments, or taking additional steps that may be necessary and appropriate. Local and global functionaries who implement policies, codes, rules, and regulations on the Wikimedia spaces, both online and offline, are supposed to understand the management of the code enforcement function and the process.

Code Enforcement Officer (To Be Determined) Definition:

A [Code Enforcement Officer - final name to be determined] is a volunteer or a staff member of the Wikimedia Movement who possesses training and technical rights, and whose duties are the prevention, detection, investigation, and enforcement of violations of the Universal Code of Conduct.

The Code Enforcement Committee - "U4C Committee" Definition:

The drafting committee suggests creating a permanent committee as the body responsible for monitoring the UCoC implementation, in addition to being a partner in the implementation of the UCoC with the Wikimedia communities, and the Wikimedia Foundation.

The "U4C Committee" monitors reports of breaches of the UCoC, may engage in additional investigations, and will recommend a course of action to the respondent where appropriate.

When a case involves a request for information from law enforcement or potential legal action either against the Wikimedia Foundation or a user, the "U4C Committee" may request support and education materials from the Wikimedia Foundation to assist the relevant community volunteers or legal parties about the relevant UCoC section.

When necessary, the "U4C Committee" will assist the Wikimedia Foundation in handling cases. Additionally, the "U4C Committee" will monitor and assess regularly the state of enforcement of the Code and may suggest suitable changes to UCoC to the Wikimedia Foundation and the community for consideration.

Once formed, the permanent committee will decide on how often it should convene, and the nature of the cases that can be escalated to it. We recommend that this committee takes the following types of cases, although the final decision is left to them:

• Where no local structure exists to address a complaint;
• Where local structures are unable to handle or needs to escalate cases to this committee for final decision making;
• Severe systemic issues.

Members of the U4C will sign a non-disclosure agreement to provide them access to non-public information

Preventive work (articles 1 and 2 UCOC)

The goal of preventive work is to make users of public Wikimedia Foundation wikis and others under the UCOC aware that it exists, and promote voluntary adherence to the code.

Recommendations of UCoC Translation for voluntary adherence:

The original and legally binding version of the UCoC is in English. It should be translated into other languages used on Wikimedia projects. In the event of any differences in meaning between the original English version and a translation, the original English version takes precedence.

Recommendations of UCoC Consent amongst Community and Foundation Staff:

The UCoC applies to everyone who interacts and contributes to online and offline Wikimedia projects and spaces. The following individuals should be required to affirm (through signed declaration or other format to be decided) they will respect and adhere to the Universal Code of Conduct:

• All Wikimedia Foundation staff, Board Members affiliated staff and contractors;
• Users with enhanced rights such as, but not limited to: sysop, bureaucrat, steward, interface admin, checkuser;
• Any individual, Wikimedia Foundation employee or otherwise who wants to use the Wikimedia Foundation trademark in an event such as, but not limited to: events branded with Wikimedia trademarks (such as by including them in the event's title) and representation of the Wikimedia organization, community, or project at an event (such as, but not limited to, a presenter or a booth operator);
• Any individual, who is seeking out formal, on- or off-wiki documented Wikimedia affiliation (such as, but not limited to: an individual, or group of individuals who is seeking to promote and/or collaborate a Wikimedia sponsored event, group, study, either on or off-wiki in a research setting);
• Any individual who is performing the duties of a Code Enforcement Officer for the UCoC

Recommendations of UCoC Training/Education amongst Community:

Local communities, Foundation and Affiliates should develop and implement training for community members to be able to identify, address, and mitigate the harms caused by harassment. Training for users should include, at least, guidelines and tools for identification of what is considered unethical behaviour and a manual for how to respond when targeted by harassing behaviour.

• Training will have the following level certifications:
  • Level 1: Overall basic knowledge of the UCoC
  • Level 2: The ability to handle a UCoC violation
  • Level 3: The ability to handle a UCoC appeal
  • Level 4: Support targets of harassment by appropriate means (see Anti Harassment Program)

• A link to the UCoC should be present on:
  • User registration pages;
  • Edit confirmation pages when a logged-out user edits;
  • Footers on Wikimedia projects;
  • Footers on the websites of recognized affiliates and user groups;
  • Prominently displayed at in person events;
  • Anywhere else deemed appropriate

Responsive work (article 3 UCOC)

The goal of responsive work is to provide pathways for the processing and filing of reported cases, providing resources for processing cases, definitions for different types of violations and enforcement mechanisms, as well as suggestions for the reporting tools, and pathways for appeals.

Principles for processing and filing of reported cases

• Reporting of UCoC violations should be possible by the target of the harassment, as well as by an uninvolved 3rd party that observes the incident;
• Cases should be resolved by mediation rather than administrative sanction whenever possible and appropriate;
• Cases should be resolved in as reasonable a timeframe as possible;
• Cases may be prioritized in justified circumstances;
• Obviously unjustified (such as, but not limited to: bad faith reporting) reports in which a lack of need for investigation should be discarded (keeping the case ID valid);
• Simple cases such as, but not limited to, simple vandalism should be resolved through editing and the regular processes that exist on a wiki to handle disruption;
• Cases should be forwarded or escalated where appropriate;
• Eventual sanctions are applied according to the responsibilities of the person who has violated the UCoC (paid staff, elected or selected user, volunteer, etc.), the nature of the breach and its seriousness;
• Appeals should be possible, and handled by a body different from the one that issued the appealed decision.

Providing resources for processing cases

The coverage of Wikimedia projects by ArbComs should be maximized, by means of the following suggested provisions:

• A shared ArbCom among projects of different types in the same language is an option the committee encourages projects to consider as a means to create a more effective UCoC project enforcement system;
• A group of projects that is sufficiently big (Current suggestions for metrics to measure this may include: active users, active sysops.The committee recommends these details to be elaborated by the Wikimedia Foundation with the U4C) are strongly encouraged to have an ArbCom;
• Ensure such a shared ArbCom is not Wikipedia-centristic, among other by providing a project-neutral domain for it, for example "id.wikiarbcom.org";
• Allow multiple different languages to share such an ArbCom if there is support for such in the participating communities.

Types of violations and enforcement mechanism / groups

This section will detail a non-exhaustive list of the different types of violations (noted in bold), along with the enforcement mechanism pertaining to it.

• Violations involving threats of any sort of physical violence:
  • Handled by Trust & Safety
• Violations involving litigation or legal threats
  • Cases should be promptly sent to the Wikimedia Foundation Legal team, or, when appropriate, other professionals who can appropriately evaluate the merit of the threats
• Violations related to affiliate governance
  • Handled by AffCom
• Systematic failure to follow the UCoC
  • Handled by "U4C Committee";
  • Cross-wiki violations of the UCoC at the administrative level will be handled by "U4C Committee"
• Off-wiki violations (examples such as, but not limited to: in person edit-a-thons or off-wiki instances such as on other platforms similar to: social media platforms, discussion lists)
  • Handled by "U4C Committee", if the case is referred to them by event organizers or local affiliate groups
• On-wiki UCoC violations
  • Cross-wiki UCoC violations: Handled by the "U4C Committee", either directly or by referral from global sysops or stewards and from the bodies that handle single-wiki UCoC violations;
  • Single-wiki UCoC violations: Handled by individual Wikimedia projects according to their existing guidelines (examples such as, but not limited to: vandalism, introducing bias or incorrect information, abuse of power, ban evasion)

Recommendations for the reporting and processing tool

In order to lower the technical barrier for reporting and processing UCoC violations, a centralized reporting and processing tool for UCoC violations is to be developed and later maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation as a MediaWiki extension. The reporting tool should allow the complainant to provide details of the UCoC breach, as well as details about themselves and the other community members involved.

Reports should include enough information to be actionable or provide a useful record of the case at hand. This includes information such as, but not limited to:

• The way in which the reported behaviour violates the Universal Code of Conduct;
• Who or what has been harmed by this violation of the UCoC;
• The date and time at which this incident, or incidents, occurred;
• The location(s) where this incident occurred;
• Other pertinent information to allow enforcement bodies to best adjudicate the matter.

The tool should operate under the principles of ease-of-use, privacy and anonymity, flexibility in processing, and transparent documentation:

Privacy and anonymity

• Allow reports to be made either publicly (where all details of the case are viewable by the general public), or with varying degrees of privacy (for example, where the name of the reporter is hidden to the public; where the username of any individuals involved in the reported behaviour are hidden to the public; and other potential examples);
  • Clarify that increasing privacy may constrain the options available for resolution - for example, public mediation as an alternative to administrative sanctions may not be compatible with a completely private report;
• Permit reports to be made whether logged in or logged out

Processing

• Allow reports to be processed privately by the bodies charged with resolving UCoC violations;
• Allow reports to be forwarded to relevant bodies;
• Link current cases to previous cases involving the same recipient of a complaint, including allowing reports made in-person or off-wiki to be linked to ongoing reports of UCoC violations;
• Provide a way to integrate or document an in-person report into this same reporting system;
• Allow those who are processing cases to filter out bad-faith reports

Transparent documentation

• Provide a way to publicly archive all cases in a searchable manner, while preserving privacy and security in non-public cases;
• Assign each case a unique public identifier for the purpose of public visibility;
• Allow limited data collection on basic statistics about the use of this tool, for the purposes of reporting out information about UCoC enforcement to the general public, in keeping with our principles of minimal data collection and respect for the privacy of our community members

Individuals charged with enforcing the UCoC are not required to use this tool and may continue to work with whatever tools they deem necessary or most appropriate, provided that they allow cases to be handled or created according to the same principles of ease-of-use, privacy and anonymity, flexibility in processing, and transparent documentation.

Recommendations for local enforcement structures

Where possible we encourage existing enforcement structures to take up the responsibility of receiving and dealing with UCoC violations, in accordance with the guidelines stated above. In order to make sure that enforcement of the UCoC remains consistent across the movement, we recommend the following principles are applied when handling UCoC violations on the scale of an individual project.

Training and support

• Resources for translation provided by the Wikimedia Foundation when reports are provided in languages that designated individuals are unfamiliar with, especially where machine translation is inadequate or problematic;
• A training process for functionaries and staff to learn how to apply due processes and understand the UCoC in practice

Fairness in process

• Supportive conflict-of-interest policies that help admins or others determine when to abstain or disengage from a report when they are closely involved in the dispute
• In keeping with existing Wikimedia arbitration processes, anyone named in a dispute should recuse themselves from the case;

We recommend that the Foundation work to create a system where contributors can safely express whether they feel safe in a particular project or not.

Clear communication between local administrators

• Spaces, guidelines, and encouragement for admins to work together with other admins to support review and decision making, especially when an issue is complex (e.g. ones that involve many people, or involve reviewing long page histories)

Transparency of process

• Existing communities and/or the Wikimedia Foundation should provide documentation on the severity of different, common kinds of harassment that can be used to map onto different outcomes. This would aid in supporting administrators or other enforcement bodies to use these recommendations to self-determine appropriate severity

For Wikimedia-specific conversations occurring off-project in unofficial or semi-official spaces (e.g. Discord, Telegram, etc.), Wikimedia’s Terms of Use may not apply. They are covered by that specific social media or discussion platform's Terms of Use and conduct policies. Nevertheless, the behavior of Wikimedians on these networks and platforms can be accepted as additional evidence in reports of UCoC violations. We suggest that off-project spaces create guidelines that discourage exporting on-wiki conflicts to 3rd-party platforms.

Recommendations for how to process appeals

Individuals who have been found to have violated the UCoC should have the possibility of appeal. Appeals may be brought against either the decision of whether or not a UCoC violation occurred, the way in which investigations were conducted, or against the sanctions placed on individuals as a consequence of their violation(s) of the UCoC. Appeals should be handled by a third-party that was not involved in the initial process of enforcement, and determination of that third-party should be based on the following factors:

• The severity of the initial breach of the UCoC;
• Any prior history of UCoC violations on the part of the individuals involved;
• The severity of sanctions against the person engaging in a UCoC violation;
• The impact and harm caused by the UCoC violation to specific individuals, classes of editors, and to the project as a whole

Local enforcement bodies may elect to consider additional factors, or their importance, when choosing whether or not to take or allow an appeal. The specific logistical details of the appeals process for each project is left up to their own determination. In the case that the third-party reviewing the appeal does not speak the language in which the original violation was handled, they should receive translation support from local enforcement bodies.

Looking Forward

Please keep in mind that the UCoC Enforcement Guidelines outlined in this document are iterative, and will continuously be evaluated and evolve with community feedback, along with the Universal Code of Conduct. The committee has also provided questions for the community to think about in regards to this draft.

Experimentation with the reporting tools upon development and "U4C Committee" will occur during a transition period of 1 year. After the year concludes, fine-tuning can be done using observations to adjust the reporting tools and define more precisely the tasks of the enforcement Committee.

Open questions for the Community

• Escalation: Where do the complaints go, what instance/body/judge is supposed to process them.
• Regulations for appeal (after the previous question "Where do the complaints go" has been answered).
  • Should the U4C committee also decide individual cases or process appeals?
  • When should someone be able to initiate an appeal for a UCoC violation?
  • What kinds of behavior or evidence would we want to see before granting an appeal?
  • Who should handle the appeals process?
  • How often should someone be allowed to appeal a UCoC violation decision?
• To what extent should individual Wikimedia projects be allowed to decide how they enforce the UCoC?
• How will people be chosen for the U4C committee?
  • Our current recommended list of users include, but are not limited to: CheckUsers, oversighters, bureaucrats, administrators of local projects, arbitration committee members, Wikimedia Foundation employees, Affiliates, etc.)
  • Should an interim committee be formed while the "U4C" committee is being created?
• Should global conduct committees, such as the Technical Code of Conduct committee, be merged into the proposed U4C?

Enforcement draft guidelines review

This page is meant to function as a local review the enforcement draft guidelines. Comments about the draft text that don't specifically relate to English Wikipedia may also be made on Meta, and may be copied there for ease-of-reference.

Comments about 'Overview'

• If anything, the section should be rewritten to remove the tautology that Code Enforcement ... enforcement of violations. Suggestions for alternative wording are on m:Talk:Universal Code of Conduct/Enforcement draft guidelines review Vexations (talk) 18:24, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

Comments about 'Preventive work (articles 1 and 2 UCOC)'

• One would think that the goal of preventive work means work that prevents harassment, but apparently it is not. Instead of encouraging behavioral changes that make editing our projects a better experience, we're promoting observance of a rule, as if people don't know how to obey the letter, but not the spirit of the law. Vexations (talk) 18:36, 10 September 2021 (UTC)
• Additionally, since the UCoC does not override local policies where they exist and are deemed to exceed the minimum requirements, it should be local behavioral policies that people will have to observe. A new enwp editor should never have to encounter the UCoC. Vexations (talk) 18:44, 10 September 2021 (UTC)
• It is remarkable that despite the fact that the UCoC is a baseline, bare minimum standard, the WMF will only hold its staff to the minimum standard, while declaring itself competent to enforce more extensive policies. 18:48, 10 September 2021 (UTC)
• "voluntary adherence" is like saying voting is democratic for the people of a one-party state who support the Party. Adherence to the UCoC is coerced.
• Local communities ... should develop and implement training Local communities already have capacity problems. That's one of the reasons some of them do not have extensive behavioral policies and guidelines. And to help them you want to add even more requirements. Vexations (talk) 19:04, 10 September 2021 (UTC)
• The Training section has the skills ordered backward. Support is a level 4 skill but enforcement is level 2. We're a community; any member can and should support victims of harassment. Vexations (talk) 19:15, 10 September 2021 (UTC)
• I have to wonder what certification for skill level 1: "Overall basic knowledge of the UCoC" would consist of. A test for comprehension? If that's necessary, then the code is too difficult to understand.
• A link to the UCoC should not be presented anywhere on enwp because we have our own behavioral policies that exceed te UCoC.

Comments about 'Responsive work (article 3 UCOC)'

• Reporting of UCoC violations should be possible by the target of the harassment, as well as by an uninvolved 3rd party that observes the incident No it shouldn't. An unsolicited defense of a victim of harassment may not be welcome. Always get consent first. Vexations (talk) 19:25, 10 September 2021 (UTC)
• Missing from the Principles is any hint at due process; including the right of reply for the accused. Vexations (talk) 19:30, 10 September 2021 (UTC)
• The U4C is recommended as the enforcement mechanism pertaining to social media platforms. When those social media platforms are not owned or operated by the WMF, that is problematic, because the WMF has no jurisdiction there. If I get harassed by a Wikipedian who does not use Wikipedia to harass me, but does it on Facebook (I'm not on Facebook, but a friend might see it and report it), then all the WMF can do is ban the user from Wikipedia, (where they are not creating any problems) but they cannot ban the Facebook user, who can continue harassing me. That solves nothing and will likley make the harassment worse because now the harasser really has something to be upset about. Instead, recommend that new users maintain complete anonymity and educate them on how to do that until they are aware of what making one's identity public involves. Vexations (talk) 19:50, 10 September 2021 (UTC) thank

Open questions

Escalation: Where do the complaints go, what instance/body/judge is supposed to process them?

• This question isn't clear; complaints about what? Escalation this context could mean raising the level of urgency, requiring a more timely response, etc. Vexations (talk) 20:02, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

  Speaking only for myself, as I understand it what we're asking here @Vexations is does a person need to go through local processes before going global? If yes, do they need to go through all local processes? So in an enwiki method, if they try ANI and don't get help can they appeal globally without trying ArbCom? Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 21:14, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

  I think there are two different processes: appeals and escalations. Progressing through a series of cases handled by bodies with increasing scope (from local to global) is appeal. I think that's not desirable at all. The principle of subsidiarity says we should try to handle issues where they occur. I have outlined on this page when I think an appeal should be granted. I don't think it makes sense to allow complainants to exhaust all potential venues where they could potentially be heard.

  Escalations may be necessary when an incident changes in gravity or in urgency, and not responding in a timely manner will have a harmful impact on a community member. If the gravity of an incident suddenly changes, we have no alternative to the WMF to handle threats of (self)harm for example. We do not operate a crisis helpline, and we should not pretend that our volunteers have the skills and capacity do that. An escalation process may require a service-level agreement (SLA), which is difficult to implement with a volunteer workforce. There may be a need for a timely response, even though an issue is not life-threatening. The only body I can think of that can have an SLA is (again) the WMF. Escalations require clear criteria. Consider what impact not acting immediately will have, and what needs to happen, by when and who can do that. Vexations (talk) 22:12, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

  So by your definition if you go to my userpage and ask me to stop doing something and I don't so you decide to go to ANI that's an appeal? Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 22:22, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

  Barkeep49, We should try dispute resolution first, but AN/I is the first step that involves a quasi-formal decision-making body, so it's not an appeal yet. Although in practice I think AN/I is more a way of finding a single admin to make a decision. But let's say you don't stop, and I take you to AN/I, and you get blocked, then you can appeal to overturn that decision by requesting an unblock, on the grounds of successful remediation. If the outcome at AN/I is the result of a procedural error, or because there is an issue with the interpretation of the relevant policy, then I should be able to ask for a review of the decision at Arbcom. Vexations (talk) 11:36, 11 September 2021 (UTC)

Regulations for appeal (after the previous question "Where do the complaints go" has been answered).

Should the U4C committee also decide individual cases or process appeals?

• No. Appealing to the same body that rendered a result that you're not happy with is not likely to produce a better outcome. Vexations (talk) 20:20, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

When should someone be able to initiate an appeal for a UCoC violation?

• On enwp? Never. Local policies override the UCoC.Vexations (talk) 20:20, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

What kinds of behavior or evidence would we want to see before granting an appeal?

• There are two reasons for an appeal: the policies were applied incorrectly (error correction) or the policies are unclear and need to be clarified (interpretation).
  One aspect of enforcement of behavioral policies that has received (too) little attention in these recommendations is remediation. If a user who has been found in violation of the policies has understood why what they did was wrong, made things right with the victim(s) and has committed to compliance, they should be able to request a pardon. But let's not confuse pardons and appeals.Vexations (talk) 20:20, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

How often should someone be allowed to appeal a UCoC violation decision?

• As many times as there is a valid reason for appeal. For the same reason, once. Abuse of process should result in the loss of the right to appeal. Vexations (talk)

To what extent should individual Wikimedia projects be allowed to decide how they enforce the UCoC?

• The full extent. Subsidiarity and volunteerism are important principles. Do not coerce a community into enforcing things they do not want to enforce. Also, if you find that a set of rules that you think represent the consensus of the community are not adopted by that community, maybe you should stop to wonder if they actually have consensus after all. Vexations (talk) 20:38, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

• Seconded -- the community should be 100% responsible for enforcing the UCoC (unless there's a situation where the community fails to respond to a violation; but this should be an extremely rare occurrence). -- Rockstone^{[Send me a message!]} 05:23, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

• I wrote this below, but to restate it: the community should be allowed to enforce this to the maximum extent possible. Local administrators should handle 95% of all enforcement. --Rschen7754 05:54, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

How will people be chosen for the U4C committee?

[Our current recommended list of users include, but are not limited to: CheckUsers, oversighters, bureaucrats, administrators of local projects, arbitration committee members, Wikimedia Foundation employees, Affiliates, etc.]

Should an interim committee be formed while the "U4C" committee is being created?

• No. We wouldn't be saving any time by trying to figure how to set up an interim committee in stead of a committee. Both have the same level effort if you try to make sure it has some legitimacy and acceptance. And then, once you have the interim, you have to do it again, so it's more work. Vexations (talk) 20:42, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

Should global conduct committees, such as the Technical Code of Conduct committee, be merged into the proposed U4C?

• As far as I can tell, the mw:Code_of_Conduct/Committee (this is what we're talking about, right?) opposes that proposal. Vexations (talk) 20:47, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

General comments

Xeno (WMF), are you able to shorten the RfC statement a bit, say by around 10%? At over 2,200 bytes, the statement above (from the {{rfc}} tag to the next timestamp) is too long for Legobot (talk · contribs) to handle, and so it is not being shown correctly at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Wikipedia policies and guidelines. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 20:27, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

Thanks Redrose64, seems to be working now. Xeno (WMF) (talk) 21:40, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

Yes, Thank you. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 22:36, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

• I have many misgivings and concerns, and I'm struggling to summarize them all in a sufficiently pithy way. The most pressing thoughts I have at the moment are:-
  (1) The Universal Code of Conduct text has not been ratified by the community, so to talk about enforcement is self-evidently premature.
  (2) The Universal Code of Conduct text as currently drafted is a griefer's charter. Section 3.3 in particular contains provisions which I expect that people antagonistic to Wikipedia will gleefully exploit.
  (3) Who will test the proposed mediawiki software extension? We naturally hope the Foundation software is excellent, but that hasn't always historically been the case. How much stress would it take to crash it, and how have we planned for the aforementioned people antagonistic to Wikipedia to try?
  (4) If the software can take the stress of these antagonists, can our systems? In other words, are the systems going to be quick and flexible and well-staffed, or heavily rule-constrained, bureaucratic and operated by volunteers?
  (5) I have grave concerns about the imposition of a new class of enforcement officer with their own governance body. How will they be elected and who will be eligible to vote for them?
  (6) In the obviously foreseeable case of conflict between these enforcement officers and our sysops, which will have priority?
  (7) What provision do we envisage will exist to support, guide, supervise, and where needful remove or de-authorise, enforcers? Are they going to be appointed for a specific or indefinite period?
  (8) If these enforcers have substantial powers, then some users will seek to win a content dispute by baiting the other side into saying something that can be framed as mean or petty and then calling on UCoC enforcers to get them banned. That's already a winning tactic on en.wiki and I fear that this well-meaning idea will exacerbate that problem.
  (9) Our sysops don't make content decisions, but they have lots of powers to deal with conduct. When these UCOC enforcers come online, what exactly do we expect the sysops to do going forward?
  Overall, I'm pretty uneasy. I expect this to be a big deal that will make major changes to the character of our community.—S Marshall T/C 02:13, 19 August 2021 (UTC)

  @S Marshall: So, to answer a lot of your questions (from 5-9), and the answer is that it has yet to be determined. The community is being asked what they think the answers should be here. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 03:05, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

  Hmph. Then I think my answer to all of the above is, see point #1.—S Marshall T/C 10:31, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

  For completion: Point #10. ...? Point #11. Profit! El_C 12:15, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

  S Marshall: Thank you for your comments and review. I'd be interested in seeing a "direct comparison" of the UCoC policy to local policy, to highlight any divergences. I'll re-iterate your concern with 3.3 of the policy text (it was also noted in the previous round): revisions to the policy text are expected in a subsequent review. Several of your questions were also posed by the drafting committee above in order to give the community an opportunity to provide thoughts. If it's alright with you, I will include references to your substantive concerns in sections above. Xeno (WMF) (talk) 14:14, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

  Xeno, I'm confused and not sure what you mean. You've wikilinked the French language code of conduct and I can't imagine why, unless perhaps you're asking for my review of the translation? I'm content for you to convert this text from discussion mode to document mode at an appropriate stage.—S Marshall T/C 22:15, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

  S Marshall: Sorry for the confusion, I linked it because I found it compelling how they succinctly highlighted the divergences (with red links) between the UCOC expectations and what is already expected in their local policy. Xeno (WMF) (talk) 17:31, 6 October 2021 (UTC)

• "Code Enforcement Officer" seems either like a redundancy considering the responsibilities of WMF Trust & Safety, admins, and arbitration committees, or an attempt to usurp or replace those preexisting positions. If the WMF was sincere in its original declarations that communities that already have rules that fit much of the UCOC would be allowed to implement the code into their community policies and be mostly self-policing, then why do we need a new position for it? I don't see as much of a problem with WMF headquarters having one or two Code Enforcement Officers embedded in T&S for egregious, intractable cases that local communities are unable to handle (all things considered, since the whole UCOC idea makes me uneasy), but I do not think it would help to establish a whole new role on each community and fill those ranks with people who should just be our locally selected admins. -Indy beetle (talk) 11:53, 27 August 2021 (UTC)

  @Indy beetle: Of course, I can only speak for myself and not the rest of the committee, but I would like to share the responsive given here by Barkeep. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 21:28, 27 August 2021 (UTC)

For the relatively low level of publicity this is getting, I am not sure that the drafting committee appreciates the gravity of the changes (and the work) that this would entail. "The following individuals should be required to affirm" - do we have a firm number on this? What happens if there are mass resignations because of this? (Even when the privacy/nonpublic access gets revised and people have to re-sign, we always lose between 5-10% of CU/OS holders). --Rschen7754 00:05, 4 September 2021 (UTC)

How does one even enforce the 'requirement to reaffirm' anyway? Unless the UCOC Committee plans to cull a load of sysops, it sounds toothless. ProcrastinatingReader (talk) 01:04, 4 September 2021 (UTC)

@Rschen7754 I hear you on that and appreciate the feedback. I am curious though what you would see as helping it get more publicity because the low level of comments here, and on meta, have been concerning to me. Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 04:39, 4 September 2021 (UTC)

I don't know, maybe more AN posts or watchlist notices? In all fairness, I was out for a few weeks on vacation but I didn't see this until the admin newsletter came out today. --Rschen7754 04:43, 4 September 2021 (UTC)

@Xeno (WMF) have there been watchlist notices? If not that seems like a good idea. Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 12:24, 4 September 2021 (UTC)

@Barkeep49: Watchlist notice sounds like a good idea. Maybe we can also remove the "also on Meta" link from the CENT listing? (Note I’m playing catch up after some time off.) Xeno (WMF) (talk) 13:53, 5 September 2021 (UTC)

If I had to pick a place for people to comment it would be meta not here. Here the only two committee members that an editor can be assured will read it is me and MJL. There could be others, but those are the two I know. I know more of the committee is reading it on meta. So if people comment here they will basically have their feedback heard indirectly - through the summaries prepared for the committee. If they comment on meta they are more likely to be heard directly. Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 14:28, 5 September 2021 (UTC)

Would you please alert the other committee members of this Wikipedia community discussion, for those of us who don't edit outside of Wikipedia unless some Commons deletions and such. Thanks. They may enjoy spending more time here, because I hope you're not saying that only two members of the committee are active Wikipedians. Randy Kryn (talk) 19:51, 5 September 2021 (UTC)

There are more than 2 committee members who are active Wikipedians, but not all of the Wikipedians on the committee are from English Wikipedia. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 20:38, 6 September 2021 (UTC)

• As a sysop in en.wiki, I expect to lose my enhanced powers if I behave badly. If I sign something to "affirm" that I'll obey the UCoC, I expect to lose my enhanced powers if I behave badly. So what is the difference? Related to this is the wording "legally binding". That phrase should only be used if WMF intends the "affirmation" to be a contract enforceable in law, in which case the jurisdiction has to be specified and other conditions have to be met. As others have said, this "affirmation" is going to offend lots of good citizens and some will leave. Is that a great idea? What will become possible that is not already possible? Zero^talk 14:07, 4 September 2021 (UTC)
• Oppose, if I correctly read this project this is a non-starter for Wikipedia. Maybe write the code up as an essay, and let us know that in many particular instances the foundation has offered to assist with its resources, and I'd think some admins will want to work with the appropriate contacts at the foundation on some of the worse of the code violations, but on an informal and not ordained basis. Please remember, the Wikimedia Foundation has no real governing power over the core of Wikipedia but was set up two years after Wikipedia to assist and fund it. Asking this community to accept or approve a code of ethics laid down by the same people who thought that a position named 'Code Enforcement Officer' would fly shows a lack of understanding of Wikipedians, the Wikipedia community, and the correctly named Wikipedia movement. Those who hope to carry out here a reflection of a society presently in control-mode turmoil are barking up the wrong tree when things have run fine for 20 years and no barking, certainly well-intentioned yet carrying a hint of an authoritarian voice, seems needed at all. Randy Kryn (talk) 14:13, 5 September 2021 (UTC)

  @Randy Kryn: In my 1000% personal opinion (not the committee's of course), Code Enforcement Officer is a bad name. Regardless, it didn't matter to me whatever name we went with because the name is less important than the types of tasks the guidelines were laying out for that type of user. It even says in the document that the final name is TBD because it probably will be changed. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 20:35, 6 September 2021 (UTC)

• The 'Code Enforcement Officer' name seems secondary to the concept which seeks to overlay an unneeded control mechanism onto the Wikipedian community. Nothing is broke here, as Wikipedia has its successful principles, policies, and check-and-balance systems already in place. Randy Kryn (talk) 10:14, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

• Oppose I'm not going to affirm any pseudo-legalistic BS that this calls for. The drafting committee does not seem to understand how Wikipedia works. This is just unnecessary red tape and huge change to sysop role for no benefit at all to anyone. jni^{(talk)(delete)} 09:52, 6 September 2021 (UTC)
• An observation: A collaborative online project where people are told that if they show "signs of problematic behaviour", they may be subject to "punishments" is not a safe space. Vexations (talk) 14:38, 7 September 2021 (UTC)
• Oppose as mentioned immediately above my comment, this is extremely problematic to consider "punishments" on an online global community of contributors who are not employees or volunteers governed by the Wikipedia Foundation. The increased presence of a "stateness" and authoritarianism in this community as contributors being below and under the watchful eye of many oversights, and IMO the addition of a "Code Enforcement Officer" is only detrimental to a pillar of Wikipedia – specifically "Wikipedia is not [...] an experiment in anarchy or democracy". In addition, detrimental to overall morale and willingness for new editors and admins to enter the community. Our policies and guidelines are already well enforced by admins and arbitration committees. WMF needs to seriously consider that it is a support for WP, and the fact that multiple comments have reiterated the points I've mentioned should be concerning. waddie96 ★ (talk) 18:48, 9 September 2021 (UTC)
• Oppose Convoluted and bureaucratic processes to enforce a badly drafted policy that does not have community support. As someone who has stopped contributing as a result of the manner in which WMF has usurped the community's self governance, this enforcement proposal only serves to solidify my view that things are moving in wrong direction. WJBscribe (talk) 15:33, 10 September 2021 (UTC)
• Comment. Before this train fully leaves the station, I feel the need that I (personally, in my own capacity, not on behalf of the committee; 1000% do not take this as official or representative of the committee's thoughts or feelings on the matter because they are just my own) must clarify that blanket oppositions are incredibly unhelpful when no one has responded to any of the open questions listed above. There are answers to them on Meta, but I know people here are going to have alternative viewpoints which I want the committee to see. (again these are my views; not committee's) –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 18:10, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

  Just to show that it's not representative of the committee's thinking, I will say, in my own personal capacity, that I take the writing here as a message that ratification is a must. As a person helping draft it, I know that without meaningful ratification by communities I will not support the final product no matter how much I like the rest of it. Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 18:22, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

  MJL, well, I think I answered al the questions. I hope that encourages other people to offer their perspective. Vexations (talk) 20:50, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

  @Vexations I'll just note how I appreciate the time you've put into your answers above. Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 20:55, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

  Barkeep49, do you think the question about escalation can be clarified? I was in charge of handling escalations (of software bugs) in a previous life, so I might be able to offer some insight). Vexations (talk) 21:01, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

  You. Are. Amazing. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 15:07, 11 September 2021 (UTC)

  I think you should understand the blanket "oppose" !votes here as a rejection of the ucoc, not a rejection of the enforcement mechanisms. When I read this feedback, I see that the community doesn't like it and won't be corralled into talking about enforcement mechanisms because it isn't on board with the principles, or isn't on board with the ucoc text, or rejects the WMF as a decision making body on the basis of past missteps. I think you should give your colleagues who aren't reading this page a link to it. I would urge you to consider going back several steps and asking to community to review amend improve and ratify the ucoc itself. —S Marshall T/C 23:46, 11 September 2021 (UTC)

• As far as a shared ArbCom, I could see this going bad if people suggest having 1 ArbCom for all the languages of the Balkans, considering the numerous ethnic conflicts in that region. Even English-language projects probably wouldn't get along in this scenario. For ArbComs in individual wikis: a good standard would be what stewards use to determine if an ArbCom will be recognized to determine if they can appoint CU/OS (25-30 support votes - m:CU). English Wikinews does have an ArbCom but it is hard to tell if they really do anything, 9 voters and it is hard to tell if they really do anything [1]. --Rschen7754 17:26, 11 September 2021 (UTC)
  • That being said, enforcement should be handled by local communities to the maximum extent possible. I think this is the best way to prevent conflict between local communities and the WMF. --Rschen7754 17:28, 11 September 2021 (UTC)
    • @Rschen7754: There is some talk of a Scandanavian arbcom forming (happening at the local level) which I find a welcome development at least. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 23:28, 11 September 2021 (UTC)
      • The other thing is though, is a [a language only spoken in one country] ArbCom going to be able to handle NPOV issues very well or will decisions always be slanted towards the nationalism of said country? --Rschen7754 05:57, 13 September 2021 (UTC)
• Oppose -- I don't see any reason why this need sto be enforced by Wikimedia when it can be enforced by the local project here. -- Rockstone^{[Send me a message!]} 05:21, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

The coming Universal Code of Conduct essay

Since discussion about WikiMedia writing and polishing their Universal Code of Conduct has reached our shores, I'd just like to point out that here, at most, this code might qualify as a unendorsed essay about the fourth of Wikipedia's WP:PILLARS, civility. These five pillars, and the policy and guideline system, have worked well as W.'s codes since 2001, and contain nothing about an overlapping code of conduct from off-site. As a self-governing website with established editor-endorsed sets of rules and regs, an official-sounding attempt to alter these should be seen as both a good faith overreach and, perhaps, an essay. Randy Kryn (talk) 19:45, 19 August 2021 (UTC)

As Wikimedia owns the website, including En:Wiki, and has stated that the UCOC will be compulsory and that Sysops and the like (presumably including admins) will be required to sign up to it.It represents a lot more than an essay. Pretending or doesn't exist or that en:wiki can just ignore it is not a sensible option.Nigel Ish (talk) 22:55, 19 August 2021 (UTC)

I would think that this would qualify as a guideline about civility, maybe even policy itself. Reading what the current state of the UCOC is, it seems fairly reasonable. There are ongoing draft review discussions if there's something that anyone takes issue with. I don't see the point of people "signing up to it" as that seems very inefficent, I'd imagine it'd just be something that people in general are expected to adhere to. Clovermoss (talk) 23:25, 19 August 2021 (UTC)

Wikipedia already has a code of conduct, the five pillars. Those, along with its policies, guidelines, ongoing liquid consensus, and then the essays and such, have kept the place running for 20 years. Doesn't make a difference what an administrator signs as a private editor, they can individually use the essay as reasoning but can't correctly call it a Wikipedia code of conduct, policy, or even a guideline, so other considerations would probably have to enter into any Wikipedia decision based on it until a consensus is reached in an RfC as to what to call it. Randy Kryn (talk) 02:49, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

Quote "The UCoC applies to everyone who interacts and contributes to online and offline Wikimedia projects and spaces. The following individuals should be required to affirm (through signed declaration or other format to be decided) they will respect and adhere to the Universal Code of Conduct:...Users with enhanced rights such as, but not limited to: sysop, bureaucrat, steward, interface admin, checkuser".Nigel Ish (talk) 12:20, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

Since we're talking about the UCOC, then I would like to share a link to review the current proposed enforcement guidelines: Wikipedia:Universal Code of Conduct/Enforcement draft guidelines review. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 03:25, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

Please, I have to know what happens when an unstoppable Code Enforcement Officer meets an immovable Cow (Man) trapped in the turnbuckle! El_C 09:25, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

Code Enforcement Officer? Yeah, that'll go over like a lead balloon. --Jayron32 14:39, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

While it may not be popular with many here, UCOC almost certainly will happen here sooner or later (although much of it only codifies things we already claim to do). En:Wiki will need to get its act together if we don't want to see a lot of interaction with enforcement officials from outside our community (as a minimum, we will need to make sure that we cover all of the requirements of UCOC, and we will have to make sure that we can work properly with the mysterious "centralized reporting and processing tool for UCoC violations" that is being developed by the Wikimedia Foundation.Nigel Ish (talk) 15:01, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

BTW, I've been informed that due to mocking the WMF, they have suspended all payments to me. And since they pay me in hugs and kisses, now I'm sad. El_C 15:09, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

*hugs* ~TNT (she/they • talk) 15:15, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

@El C: As a WMF insider, I've pulled some strings to get your pay restored. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 18:41, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

The entire problem with WP:FRAM, and one that The Foundation appears to have not learned by, as they are doubling down on the mistakes they made at WP:FRAM, is that foundation people, is that double secret probation is not a system that engenders trust and faith in the community they are supporting. The idea that arbitrary sanctions can be enforced by people from outside the community with no accountability to that community is the issue. There are ways the Foundation could help with problems of civility and harassment at Wikipedia, but having a nebulous "Code Enforcement Officer" empowered to act on random complaints sounds like a system rife with possibilities for abuse by the harassers themselves, with little chance of actually strengthening the community. --Jayron32 16:18, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

Preach it, brother! I'd like to see a Lulz Enforcement Officer figure out, say, the harassment/LTA indef block (with TPA disabled) that I've just handed to KonsTomasz a few minutes ago. But I guess there's money to spend, so maybe they'll figure it out super-fast and super-correctly! Anyway, what do I know? I only joined the project in 2004, became an admin in 2005, and been unrelentingly spamming ever since. //Cow Man out! El_C 16:31, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

I think the members of this committee are meant to be community members (hopefully elected ones). Enforcement Officer is unclearly defined, but it sounds like it just means local sysops with training, but I could be completely wrong, since the definition and scope of these officers is very poorly defined, and the defined term ("Code Enforcement Officer") is not even used again in the document except to say this group has to "affirm" their respect for the UCOC. This part is lousy drafting IMO. ProcrastinatingReader (talk) 16:45, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

In that case, level-up XP for being a sysop with a WMF Lulz Enforcement Officer (LEO) rank! Sorry, but I am wiki-LEO, so stand down, I have a license to lulz. Community? What community? It's busy, it doesn't want any! El_C 17:01, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

It feels like neither the Wikimedia code enforcement officers ("Show me your edits!") or involuntary signing of promises to enforce (don't even know what that means, Wikipedians are free to sign or not sign anything they want) will make it very far here as a top-down dictate, too much free thought through my random and limited knowledge of the community. I haven't read the code as yet, have come late to the discussion, but am guessing it will be larger than the ideal of printing it on one side of a piece of paper. And hopefully it is formatted as a Wikipedia policy or guideline so it could be RfC'ed for consensus and adoption as a policy or guideline. If Wikipedia is to stay Wikipedia, with a community of editors who've developed the machine and kept it running for 20 years, this code of conduct, and such things as code enforcement officers, would probably have to enter it through a vigorous on-site discussion and consensus (if I'm correctly estimating the independent spirit of Wikipedians). Randy Kryn (talk) 17:38, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

Seriously, though, I don't understand the utility of adding these LEOs, here, to the English Wikipedia project when WP:T&S already exists. What is this extra layer of bureaucracy even for? BTW, I've dealt with T&S (as well as WP:EMERGENCY) on many occasions and they were always professional and prompt. If it ain't broken (etc.)... El_C 17:19, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

The purpose of extra layers of bureaucracy is, as always, to provide employment to bureaucrats, and to make the top-layer boss-bureaucrats seem more important. As for fixing things that aren't broken, when it isn't pure make-work it is generally a displacement activity taken on to avoid trying to fix things that are, since doing so could lead to awkward questions about who is in charge of the 'fixing'. AndyTheGrump (talk) 17:26, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

Something must be done about incivility. This is something, therefore it must be done. - MrOllie (talk) 17:29, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

I am curious how it'll work on projects like enwiki. I mean there are incidents that the community apparently doesn't deal well with (c.f. the ongoing RfC apparently inspired by Wikipedia:Unblockables), but we already have a method for resolving conduct issues by fiat (the Arbitration Committee). For those cases that even ArbCom don't want to touch, I guess a useful question to first answer is 'why not?'. It's not like they're restricted by policy; much of the UCOC was already either enwiki policy as-written or as-applied. If ArbCom can't fix those problems, why would another fiat body be able to?

I guess there is a slight difference in scope (ArbCom's is "serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve", and U4C's is "Systematic failure[s] to follow the UCoC" / "cross-wiki UCoC violations"). The U4C's scope seems to include all of ArbCom's first scope. So, are all single-user conduct issues that the community can't fix now going to fall into the remit of the U4C Committee? If so, how will this committee interact with ArbComs on overlapping scopes? The enforcement draft seems to omit touching on that (rather important) detail. ProcrastinatingReader (talk) 17:41, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

The UCOC is not aimed specifically at English Wikipedia, on the contrary. There are 300 language Wikipedias and countless other Wiki projects, who are significantly under-resourced/have far more issues of conduct enforcement/baseline standards. I'll admit I don't fully understand what will be different for an existing and highly engaged community like enwp; but I am not too worried about it either. The issues of nationalist editing/holocaust revisionism are documented on Croation and Japanese Wikipedia for example. Shushugah (he/him • talk) 17:49, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

I'm reminded also of the case Meta:Requests for comment/Global ban for Til Eulenspiegel who was a sysop and bureaucrat until an extreme example of homophobia lead to it being removed followed by that global ban then a WMF ban. In small projects I imagine it's easy for one or two admins to ride roughshod over the community. We often get reports of alleged administrative abuse in other projects. Most of these are probably nonsense, but I always fear some may not be. But there's also the question over what is 'abuse', which the alleged problems with the Japanese and Croatian wikipedias may touch on. But coming back to the Codex Sinaiticus/Til Eulenspiegel case, it was never clear to me that it was a case of one administrator riding roughshod over the community, or whether the community that existed even if whatever blocks hadn't happened, would have been supportive of the kind of actions Codex Sinaiticus took. I acknowledge it's impossible to know anyway. Even if you go through all the blocks and work out which ones were dodgy, for anyone who was blocked we can't know much they would have contributed and even without being blocked, editors may never join or just leave when they see the blocks and other behaviour is the norm. Also for those who weren't banned, it's hard to know how they truly feel. Anything before Codex Sinaiticus was banned may be affected by fear of what Codex Sinaiticus would do. Anything after and well having seen what happened to Codex Sinaiticus they may have feared the same thing or at least that it would be useless. But my ultimate point is that while I have no idea if it was the case in the Amharic wikipedia, since it's hard to deny that views on what sort of conduct is okay varies quite significantly throughout the world there is always going to be the chance that in on some wikimedia project, what they allow and enforce is going to be something we find wrong or even disgusting and vice versa. And although Codex Sinaiticus's problems extended beyond the Amharic wikipedia, I assume as IMO was shown in the global ban discussion, that most English Wikipedians are perfectly fine with enforcing certain universal values no matter whether they conflict with whatever local norms and values may exist. So it seems to me more a question of what those values should be and how far we should go in enforcing them and how that should interact with what the local Wiki is doing. The UCoC seems to be pushing for there to be greater enforcement of such universal values so situations less than the extremes of the Codex Sinaiticus are dealt with. Nil Einne (talk) 00:40, 21 August 2021 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Speaking only for myself and no other member of the UCoC enforcement drafting committee, I think the feedback around the name Code Enforcement Officer has been valuable. It's not something I spent a lot of time talking about in committee work and so appreciate all criticism of that term. I will say that that a core idea is getting a little lost (i.e. looking at Andy's and El C's comments above) but the idea with these people was that most UCoC enforcement would not be some new bureaucratic layer. Enforcement, to the extent it's necessary, would instead be entrusted to projects and the people on projects already tasked by those projects. So for us that would be some combination of admin, CUOS, and arbitrators. In extreme circumstances it would be T&S. This is because most violations of the UCoC will not be the sort of thorny harassment/incivility issues that many are thinking about when they hear UCoC. Most violations of the UCoC will be vandalism or the more routine kinds of harassment that we have sophisticated policies and procedures to handle, but which many small projects do not.

What is undecided is where local enforcement needs to stop in favor of some global enforcement. There is some good discussion going on in this thread about that topic. And if people weigh in here on enwiki that's fine. That feedback will be sent along to the committee - in what form I don't know because I haven't seen it yet but I know it will be read and passed along. But what I fear is that feedback which is only left here on enwiki will get lumped together and be 1 data point even if say 50 editors participate and say the same thing. And then we'll also get 1 data point in a conversation where 4 editors participate in some other language and that will also be 1 data point. Then those two data points are considered in equal weight moving forward. Where as if the feedback is left on meta it is more likely to be seen by members of the committee and so even if the summary again makes it a single data point, the fact that 50 editors are saying it will be felt in a different way. Even here I expect that the feedback among our editor base to be diverse and not always agree. That's great too. BUt there will be a lot we do agree on and it's incredibly important that both those places we agree and those places we don't are heard and thought about by the drafting committee. And so my fear is that if we stay in our enwiki safe space, then we will have a situation where we get to ratification (and meaningful ratification is a hill I am ready to die on, especially because it didn't happen with the UCoC text itself) and it fails because the objections and the intensity those objections were held in didn't translate up. Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 18:27, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

• Well, I'd like to join El C in praising T&S and EMERGENCY. --Deepfriedokra (talk) 18:13, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

• Heh, in fairness, DFO, this is how it usually goes. Me to T&S: I gots an urgent call-the-FBIs case! T&S: Sigh. Forwarding to EMERGENCY. Me to EMERGENCY: I gots an complex international stalking case, call the lawlyers, stat! EMERGENCY: Sigh. Forwarding to T&S. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ El_C 20:45, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

  What if you get Wing Attack Plan R? -- RoySmith (talk) 21:08, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

Then they send you a survival kit with which a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas. Deor (talk) 21:58, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

References

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ says it all. --Deepfriedokra (talk) 20:49, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

BTW, WMF, if you read this: Japanese_Wikipedia#Criticism seems to only be scratching the surface. Maybe some money$ should go toward not making the 2nd largest -language Wikipedia an embarrassment and a stain on the movement...? Just sayin'. El_C 20:59, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

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This above comments are transcluded from Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive335#The coming Universal Code of Conduct essay

Participate in the Universal Code of Conduct Roundtable on 18 September 2021

Read this announcement in other languages

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The Movement Strategy and Governance facilitation team is hosting Roundtable discussions on 18 September 2021 at 03:00 UTC and 15:00 UTC for Wikimedians to talk together about how to enforce the Universal Code of Conduct . These calls are part of the Universal Code of Conduct project Phase 2 Enforcement draft guidelines review (EDGR).

Each session will last for 90 to 120 minutes and translation support for various languages will be provided. Also, sessions in specific languages may also be held depending on demand. Community members are encouraged to sign up in advance and add the topic to discuss during roundtable session.

If you are not able to make the roundtable session, you can provide comments at the draft review talk page in any language, talk pages of translations, and local discussions.

For more information, please visit roundtable discussion information page at Meta-wiki.

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Please let me know if you have any questions. Xeno (WMF) (talk) 17:11, 11 September 2021 (UTC)

• Wikipedians discuss things on Wikipedia. This present RfC page constitutes a major discussion of the topic on English Wikipedia. Randy Kryn (talk) 23:48, 11 September 2021 (UTC)

  Randy, this should go without saying, but these guidelines effect more than enwiki. Naturally, there are going to be discussions held elsewhere, but that does not mean enwiki editors are not welcomed to participate there as well. [insert usual stuff about how this is my opinion and not the committee's, you get the point, etc.] –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 06:22, 12 September 2021 (UTC)

• Of course, just pointing out the obvious as well that this RfC is the present discussion on English Wikipedia. There are no English Wikipedia guidelines that use this proposed code of conduct or create an enforcement arm. Randy Kryn (talk) 08:58, 12 September 2021 (UTC)

Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Draft Guidelines review still needs your ideas and opinions

Hello, this is a reminder that the Universal Code of Conduct Draft Enforcement Guidelines are open for local review and comment (comments may also be left on Meta, and at other local venues). The Drafting Committee will start working on revisions and improvement after October 17, so it will be helpful to provide thoughts before then.

There is also a newly-published abstract that provides an overview of the draft guidelines..

We are also hosting another conversation hour on October 15, 2021 03:00 and 14:00 UTC, as well as another functionary consultation October 7 18:00 UTC (tomorrow).

On behalf of the Drafting Committee, many thanks to everyone who has given ideas so far. We hope to hear from more of you - the Guidelines will be much stronger if more opinions are included. Xeno (WMF) (talk) 16:40, 6 October 2021 (UTC)

cross-posted from WP:VPM

• @Bilorv, Blueboar, Chess, Chrisvls, Dennis Brown, Feminist, Firefly, Fram, Ganesha811, Gtoffoletto, Isaacl, JJMC89, Jc37, Johnuniq, Jonesey95, Jéské Couriano, Kaldari, Levivich, Lomrjyo (public), MER-C, Mr248, Newslinger, Nosebagbear, Otr500, Pawnkingthree, Pelagic, ProcrastinatingReader, Risker, Robert McClenon, Rschen7754, S Marshall, Steven Crossin, Stifle, Titodutta, Valereee, Vexations, WJBscribe, Wugapodes, Ymblanter, and Zzuuzz:: Thank you for participating at Wikipedia:Universal Code of Conduct/2021 consultation (and this page if you've already done so). The previous input was summarized and provided to the drafting committee. The committee has presented the draft guidelines on this page for consideration. We welcome your additional input as the drafting committee will resume work shortly taking into account the input on this page. Xeno (WMF) (talk) 17:17, 6 October 2021 (UTC)
  • @Bilorv, Chess, Chrisvls, Dennis Brown, Feminist, Firefly, Fram, Gtoffoletto, JJMC89, Jc37, Johnuniq, Jonesey95, Kaldari, Levivich, and Lomrjyo (public): (missed recipients from above) Xeno (WMF) (talk) 17:20, 6 October 2021 (UTC)
• The no harassment UCoC and its proposed enforcement is what would be expected from a committee where no one wants to be the person who says something unkind. I don't see any acknowledgement of the fact that for every possibly valid claim against a good contributor, there will be a dozen retaliatory claims by contributors who damage the project. Many enthusiastic but essentially clueless contributors will (in their eyes) be insulted (their work is criticized), and threatened (by mentions of noticeboard reports or a block), and hounded (by someone checking their contributions and reverting problems). From programming, I expect the worst and may be wrong in this case, but it seems likely that many "returned users" and other POV pushers who end up being blocked will use the UCoC as an appeal mechanism, or at least as a tool to irritate the good editors who did the work to have them removed. The hope that there is an infinite supply of good editors to replace those driven away by bureaucracy is not correct. Johnuniq (talk) 02:37, 7 October 2021 (UTC)

• Notice that the opening statement of this section ignores that the RfC went almost totally against English Wikipedia being a part of this thing and speaks as if it's a done deal. Will need a full discussion and policy acceptance on a prominent well-promoted page, and unless I'm wrong it will not be accepted as policy but would make a nice essay or two. Randy Kryn (talk) 02:56, 7 October 2021 (UTC)

Why are we asked to continue to draft "enforcement guidelines" for something that was not accepted in the first place? Enforcing things which aren't accepted is a perfect recipe for another round of "WMF tries to show off muscles, but fails miserably after pushback from enwiki, dewiki, ...". The experiments the WMF did in enforcing something like this before there was a UCOC were a disaster (and the appeal then and how it is now described now a total disgrace, with T&S not only refusing to share even the most basic facts, but deliberately spreading false claims and rumours to poison the well right from the start); comments about the UCOC are largely ignored, and the WMF continues, just like always. So, my idea and opinion is: drop this altogether, burn the shiny "code enforcement officer" badges, and restrict T&S to what it used to do when it was created (and get rid of those T&S people or the ones guiding them who want to expand their power grab and who have shown themselves to be worse than the problems they pretend to solve with this). Fram (talk) 07:20, 7 October 2021 (UTC)

@Fram: The ratification of the UCoC is something that I have personally seen a lot of feedback for, but I am going to side-step that discussion for fear of misspeaking about the matter.
The purpose of these guidelines, in my own view, is to provide set clear expectations for when a matter should be handled by a local community (through whatever process they follow but especially admin noticeboards and arbcoms) vs the global community (via the "U4C Committee"). It is not, still in my view, providing for the expansion of T&S's scope.
While the list provided under Article 3 of the guidelines is not meant to be exhaustive, you'll see that only "Violations involving threats of any sort of physical violence" has thus far been listed as something T&S will handle. In my time on the project, I have heard child protection being another thing people agree should be handled by them. This leads me to ask, for the benefit of receiving more in-depth feedback from you based on your own experiences; what other specific types of cases (if any) do you think should be handled by T&S regarding the UCoC (assuming it is ratified)? –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 00:12, 8 October 2021 (UTC)

Oh, they may give it a different name (U4C or whatever), but what they'll do is the same as what T&S tried with me (and others), so to me it's all just one and the same. Yes, T&S should stick to dealing with threats of harm and child protection, and the WMF should only deal with truly disfunctional wikis (like what happened with the Chinese one, and probably should happen with some Eastern European ones). But installing a kind of secret state police with trials without a realistic chance to defend oneself is not the kind of thing we need. Fram (talk) 07:14, 8 October 2021 (UTC)

Some thoughts: First, why is T&S not already tasked with child protection? I am not opposed to a "Universal Code of Conduct/Enforcement" as long as it does not infringe upon those platforms that have a workable system in place to deal with enforcement. I am also not opposed to the community being involved in assisting in reviewing the draft.

My concerns are:

• 1)- Does the WMF feel this platform has a problem with enforcement of harassment or there is an issue or general atmosphere that leads to some editors not feeling "safe" contributing to Wikipedia that cannot be solved locally?

There seems to be a universal attachment to the word "harassment". I will continue to advocate that the word, by definition, would be continual attacks that become egregious when considered personal attacks. That policy opening sentence states: Do not make personal attacks anywhere on Wikipedia. It also includes Insulting or disparaging an editor is a personal attack regardless of the manner in which it is done.

• 2)- Major concern: "A [Code Enforcement Officer - final name to be determined]". This is too vague as to the relationship to the "U4C committee, T&S, or the community. What is the envisioned role of this position?
• 3)- "Open questions for the Community" (I don't understand the aversion to numbering things):
  • a)- Should the U4C committee also decide individual cases or process appeals? --NO! Not concerning this platform. There is AN/I
  • b)- When should someone be able to initiate an appeal for a UCoC violation? -- Wikipedia is not a democracy but also is not a police state. There should always be the option of an appeal.
  • c)- What kinds of behavior or evidence would we want to see before granting an appeal? Is that a rhetorical question? It would certainly depend on who "we" refers to and what has customarily been allowed.
  • d)- Who should handle the appeals process? This platform has an WP:ARBCOM and the appeal of decisions seems to be clear and unobjectionable.
  • e)- How often should someone be allowed to appeal a UCoC violation decision? That is spelled out in the "appeal of decisions" linked above.
  • f)- To what extent should individual Wikimedia projects be allowed to decide how they enforce the UCoC?" I think this is a crucial question if any support from the English Wikipedia is expected then the local process of appeals would have to be followed.
  • g)- How will people be chosen for the U4C committee? The recommendations seem to be fair considering they seem to include Members of the English Wikipedia. I would think admission might also include WP:Global sysops. If ARBCOM is suspected of not acting according to some vision of the WMF, the body formulating this draft, or there are just concerns moving forward for transparency this should be communicated. I do not see any evidence that the current process is failing. A suggestion of ARBCOM creating a sub-committee to handle special reported cases may be appropriate. If a report is received by ARBCOM or the U4C committee they can either look at it as a whole or defer it to some special sub-committee. A "special sub-committee" could receive any "training" specific to the UCoC vision. I would suggest any of this be directed to ARBCOM for their collective opinion. Again, lacking any evidence to the contrary, I think the current system works.
  • h)- Should an interim committee be formed while the "U4C" committee is being created? -- Not yet considered.
  • i)- Should global conduct committees, such as the Technical Code of Conduct committee, be merged into the proposed U4C? Not yet considered. -- Otr500 (talk) 18:06, 11 October 2021 (UTC)

Thank you for your continued comments and ideas on the Universal Code of Conduct enforcement guidelines. Your responses have been received and will help the drafting committee as they move to refining the guidelines.

The drafting committee has been meeting to update the enforcement guidelines. The drafting committee wants to consider all comments as they make their updates. Please submit any additional comments by the end of November. The Committee hopes to finish its revisions before the end of the year, and the revised guidelines will be published as soon as they have been completed.

The next steps for the Universal Code of Conduct include conversations about ratification of the enforcement guidelines. There will be a conversation about ratification on Nov 29.

The Wikimedia Foundation will make recommendations to the Board of Trustees about the ratification of the guidelines in December. The recommendations will inform the next steps in the Universal Code of Conduct process. Xeno (WMF) (talk) 20:55, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

Next steps on the Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) Enforcement guidelines

Cross-posted from Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)#Next steps on the Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) Enforcement guidelines

Hello all,

I’d like to share an update on the work on the Enforcement guidelines for the Universal Code of Conduct.

In 2022 May, the Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) project team completed a report on the 2022 March ratification vote about the guidelines. Voters cast votes from at least 137 communities. At least 650 participants added comments with their vote. A report is available on Meta-Wiki. (See full announcement)

Following the vote, the Community Affairs committee (CAC) of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees asked that several areas be reviewed for improvements. A Revision Drafting Committee will refine the enforcement guidelines based on community feedback.

To help the Revisions committee, input from the community is requested. Visit the Meta-wiki pages (Enforcement Guidelines revision discussions, Policy text revision discussions) to provide thoughts for the new drafting committee. (See full announcement)

Let me know if you have any questions about these next steps. Xeno (WMF) (talk) 17:12, 27 May 2022 (UTC)