Wikipedia:Contentious topics

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Discretionary sanctions are a form of sanction imposed by administrators acting on the authority of the Arbitration Committee. The Committee generally authorizes discretionary sanctions for use in a particular topic area, which is referred to as the "area of conflict".

The discretionary sanctions process is summarised as follows:

  1. Discretionary sanctions are a fast-track procedure to tackle misconduct within defined topic areas and/or to prevent disputes from within the defined topic area overflowing freely into other areas of the encyclopedia;
  2. Discretionary sanctions may be imposed by any uninvolved administrator after giving due warning;
  3. Best practice includes seeking additional input prior to applying a novel sanction or when a reasonable, uninvolved editor may question whether the sanction is within the scope of the relevant case;
  4. Warnings should be clear and unambiguous, link to the decision authorising the sanctions, identify misconduct and advise how the editor may mend their ways;
  5. Notices of imposed sanctions should specify the misconduct for which they have been imposed as well as the appeal process;
  6. Discretionary sanctions have an established and clearly defined appeal process, which must be adhered to;
  7. Overturning arbitration enforcement actions out of process is strictly prohibited per longstanding principle;
  8. Discretionary sanctions should be used with caution where the community is already dealing with the specific issue through dispute resolution processes.
    — Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Procedures#Discretionary sanctions

Sanctions

Discretionary sanctions are authorised for areas of conflict by the Arbitration Committee, usually following an arbitration case relating to the area in question. The wording of the discretionary sanctions provision is either:

  1. As specified in the case decision page or other announcement of the decision; or
  2. As in the standard wording, which are specified in the panel below.

In either case, unless otherwise explicitly stated, the contents of this page and other relevant sources constitute authoritative guidance to administrators on the use of discretionary sanctions. Of particular importance are Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Procedures#Reversal of enforcement actions and Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Procedures#Discretionary sanctions.

Authorization

Any uninvolved administrator may, on his or her own discretion, impose sanctions on any editor working on a page within the area of conflict (or for whom discretionary sanctions have otherwise been authorized) if, despite being warned, that editor repeatedly or seriously fails to adhere to the purpose of Wikipedia, any expected standards of behavior, or any normal editorial process. The sanctions imposed may include blocks of up to one year in length; bans from editing any page or set of pages within the area of conflict; bans on any editing related to a topic within the area of conflict or its closely related topics; restrictions on reverts or other specified behaviors; imposition of mandated external review; or any other measures which the imposing administrator believes are reasonably necessary to ensure the smooth functioning of the project.

Warnings

Prior to any sanctions being imposed, the editor in question shall be given a warning with a link to the decision authorizing sanctions; and, where appropriate, should be counseled on specific steps that he or she can take to improve his or her editing in accordance with relevant policies and guidelines.

Appeal

Further information: Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Procedures § Reversal of enforcement actions

Discretionary sanctions imposed under these provisions may be appealed to the imposing administrator, the appropriate noticeboard (currently Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Enforcement), or the Committee. Administrators are cautioned not to reverse such sanctions without familiarizing themselves with the full facts of the matter and engaging in extensive discussion and consensus-building at the administrators’ noticeboard or another suitable on-wiki venue. The Committee will consider appropriate remedies including suspension or revocation of adminship in the event of violations.

Logging

All sanctions imposed under the provisions of a particular arbitration case are to be logged in the appropriate section of the case page.

Guidance

For administrators

In determining whether to impose sanctions on a given user and which sanctions to impose, administrators should use their judgment and balance the need to assume good faith and avoid biting genuinely inexperienced editors, and the desire to allow responsible contributors maximum freedom to edit, with the need to reduce edit-warring and misuse of Wikipedia as a battleground, so as to create an acceptable collaborative editing environment even on our most contentious articles.

Administrators must also follow the Committee procedures set down at Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Procedures#Discretionary sanctions.

{{Uw-sanctions}} can be used to satisfy the "Warning" provision of the discretionary sanctions process. A warning need not be issued by an administrator; see the template's documentation for further details.

For editors

Editors wishing to edit in these areas are advised to edit carefully, to adopt Wikipedia’s communal approaches (including appropriate conduct, dispute resolution, neutral point of view, no original research and verifiability) in their editing, and to amend behaviors that are deemed to be of concern by administrators. An editor unable or unwilling to do so may wish to restrict their editing to other topics, in order to avoid sanctions.

Affected areas

The following list is stored at Template:Contentious topics/list.

The following topics are currently designated as contentious topics. The italicised link after each topic names the associated arbitration decision.

Previously authorised

The following topics have previously been designated as contentious topics, or had discretionary sanctions authorised under the previously used procedure, but this designation has been rescinded or superseded by later cases. The italicised link after each topic names the associated arbitration decision.

See also

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