Wikipedia:Community response to the Wikimedia Foundation's ban of Fram

User:Fram banned for 1 year by WMF office

Fram (talk · contribs · logs · block log)

Please note admin User:Fram has been banned for 1 year as per Office action policy by User:WMFOffice.Pharaoh of the Wizards (talk) 17:56, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

What the hell? There had better be a damn good explanation; Fram is arguably the best admin in Wikipedia's history, and while I can imagine problems so bad they warrant an emergency WP:OFFICE ban without discussion, I find it hard to imagine problems that are simultaneously so bad they warrant an emergency ban without discussion but simultaneously so unproblematic that the ban will auto-expire in a year. ‑ Iridescent 18:01, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

And also only applicable to enwiki, meaning Fram can communicate on other wikis. I note that the WMF only recently gave themselves the power to do partial bans/temporary bans.. Galobtter (pingó mió) 18:09, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Galobtter - Any clue about whether Fram's ban is the first exercise in implementing these or have other editors been subject to these P-bans, earlier? ∯WBG^converse 18:43, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Winged Blades of Godric, first on enwiki at least per User:WMFOffice contributions, I checked de wiki and found some more de:Special:Contributions/WMFOffice; the timing of those dewiki bans suggests the policy was put into place to ban those two people. Galobtter (pingó mió) 18:47, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

@Winged Blades of Godric: It is not. The first WMF partial bans were done in German Wikipedia. The earliest that I know of is Judith Wahr in February. Policy regarding partial bans were added around the same time (about two hours prior to the bans' implementation). -★- PlyrStar93 _{→Message me. ←} 18:50, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

I don't want to import drama from other projects into here but is there any more public info (i.e. discussed on de.wikipedia in a public location and still available) on what went on there? As mentioned, the timing of the policy change suggests it was likely at least partly done to allow a block of that specific user. Given the way the WMF stepped in, I expected something similar to here, may be an experienced editor who was blocked. But they only seem to have around 900 edits. True the ban there was indef though unlike this one and it doesn't seem the editor is particularly interested in editing elsewhere however as others said, it was technically also only a partial ban since it didn't affect other projects suggesting whatever it is wasn't severe enough to prevent editing any WMF projects. Nil Einne (talk) 06:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I suspect this isn't going anywhere further but for the benefit of others I had a quick look at machine translations of one of the discussions linked and think that possibly the account linked above was just one of the accounts the editor used which may explain the low edit count. Nil Einne (talk) 10:19, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

See #FYI: Similar incident in de.wp some months ago. Which reminded me of something I'd read about but completely forgot when replying. It sounds like the editor concerned was already either blocked or banned by the community so it probably wasn't quite like here where plenty feel any ban of the editor concerned is unjusitified. Of course concerns over WMF's over reach or getting unnecessarily involved in project governance as well as other issues like the WMF ban unlike the community block or ban being unappealable still arose. Nil Einne (talk) 22:02, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I'm with you on this. Fram and I have butted heads a time or two (I think?) but I just am trying to wrap my mind around a decision like this with no real explanation. I understand the nature of WMFOffice blocks but I would think that anything egregious enough for an emergency decision like this would have had some indication prior to it happening, like a community discussion about bad behavior or abuse of tools which would reveal PII (os, cu), but Fram was neither of those. I can't seem to think of a single thing that would warrant such unilateral action that could also result in only a one year ban (as opposed to indefinite, if that makes sense) and so narrowly focused on one local project. Praxidicae (talk) 18:06, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Going to echo this as well. This is a very cryptic block, which seems very hard to tie to any public behaviour. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 19:01, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Yes, saying "email us" is not sufficient explanation for banning a well-known veteran editor and admin like this.-- Pawnkingthree (talk) 18:10, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Per Iri. It's also so unproblematic that he's not banned on any other WMF projects?! Banning from en.wiki only seems like something ArbCom gets to do, not WMF. And I see he's already been desysopped by WMF, instead of locally, too. If there are privacy issues involved, I certainly don't need to know what's going on, but I do want ArbCom informed of what is going on and get their public assurance that they agree with the action, and this isn't bullshit. They even preemptively removed talk page access. --Floquenbeam (talk) 18:11, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

User:Whatamidoing (WMF), I know you're heartily sick of my pinging you, but if ever there was a situation that needed an explanation from Commmunity Relations, this is it. ‑ Iridescent 18:13, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

This is T&S business and I am not sure if Community Relations knows better. — regards, Revi 18:14, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Which goes back to my original point: if it's egregious enough (T&S) to warrant a unilateral decision like that, why only a year? Praxidicae (talk) 18:15, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict) If it's a T&S issue, then why is he still trusted on every other project, and why is it simultaneously so urgent it needs to be done instantly without discussion, but so unproblematic it expires after a year? "We're the WMF, we can do what we like" may be technically true, but the WMF only exists on the back of our work; absent some kind of explanation this looks like a clear-cut case of overreach. As Floq says, if there's an issue here that can't be discussed publicly then fine, but given the history of questionable decisions by the WMF I'm not buying it unless and until I see a statement from Arbcom that they're aware of the circumstances and concur with the actions taken. ‑ Iridescent 18:20, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

I've asked ArbCom to comment at WT:AC/N. --Floquenbeam (talk) 18:26, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• WTF? Echo everything that Iri says. ∯WBG^converse 18:25, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• As above. I am not Fram's biggest fan (the feeling is more than mutual, don't worry) but when I saw this in my watchlist it was an actual spoken 'WTF' moment. We need a good explanation, quickly. GiantSnowman 18:50, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• Office has full-protected Fram's TP in the midst of this discussion; it is hard to believe they do not know it's going on, but certainly easier to believe that they feel they can ignore it. 2A02:C7F:BE76:B700:C9AE:AA89:159B:8D17 (talk) 18:52, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• Like everyone else, I simply fail to understand why the Foundation would ban a good-standing admin for no apparent reason. funplussmart (talk) 18:52, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• T&S: training and simulation? Very confused. Talk English please. DrKay (talk) 18:53, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
  • DrKay, T&S means Trust and Safety. funplussmart (talk) 18:54, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
  • m:T&S. Killiondude (talk) 18:55, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• A big ‘ole whiskey tango from me too. –xeno^talk 19:03, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• I've put a note on meta:User talk:JEissfeldt (WMF), I believe that is the place for a wiki-talkpage-request. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 19:05, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• (moved from an) Holy shit, what? That’s insane. It appears that their admin rights have also been removed... can only wmf restore the rights, or will fram have to go through an rfa?💵Money💵emoji💵^💸 19:06, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Neither; this is a WP:OFFICE action so we can't overturn it. Per my comments above, I can't even imagine the circumstances in which this is legitimate, since if it were genuinely something so problematic he needed to be banned instantly without discussion, it would be something warranting a global rather than a local ban, and permanent rather than time-limited. ‑ Iridescent 19:09, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• "HELLO? IS THIS THING WORKING???" Explanation required. The Rambling Man (talk) 19:13, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• I sent a note to the WMF email address listed on User:Fram and asked for an explanation. I would suggest that perhaps other people might want to do the same. I imagine that T&S has valid reasons, but I believe that some sort of summary explanation to the community, at a minimum, is called for in this case. UninvitedCompany 19:15, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
  • So have I. --Floquenbeam (talk) 19:20, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
    • Seems like we are in good company as well. Probably better to wait now for any reply. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 19:23, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• Uh, yeah. Explanation required, please WMF. The fact he's only been banned from en.wiki and not globally locked suggests it's regarding something that's happened regarding this wiki. So, we're waiting. Black Kite (talk) 19:22, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  In the absence of any explanation, the cynic in me guesses that at some point in the next 12 months the WMF are going to reattempt to introduce the forced integration of either Wikidata, VisualEditor or Superprotect, and are trying to pre-emptively nobble the most vocal critic of forced changes to the interface. ‑ Iridescent 19:25, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Don’t forget Media Viewer —pythoncoder (talk | contribs) 23:56, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  @Iridescent: The cynic in you has some evidence in its favor ... . * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 19:41, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  This is worth quoting in full: This priority will focus on deeper evolutions to the core product — integrating content from Commons, Wikidata, Wikisource and other projects into Wikipedia. This will be accompanied by rich authoring tools and content creation mechanisms for editors that build upon new capabilities in AI-based content generation, structured data, and rich media to augment the article format with new, dynamic knowledge experiences. New form factors will come to life here as the outcomes of earlier experimentation. We will showcase these developments in a launch for Wikipedia’s 20th birthday in 2021. Nice of them to ask if we wanted this, isn't it? ‑ Iridescent 19:46, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• Actually, if the WMF office knew anything, they knew this would blow up. So waiting is inappropriate really, they should have already been in a position to respond immediately to this. The Rambling Man (talk) 19:26, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

•  Bureaucrat note: (and response to User:Money emoji) While it is useful to have a notice here about this action, there isn't really anything for 'crats to do right now. The WMF Office action indicates a 1 year prohibition on administrator access at this time that we would not override. Per the administrator policy, former administrators may re-request adminship subsequent to voluntary removal. As Fram's sysop access removal is not recorded as "voluntary", the way I see it is that a new RfA, after the prohibition period, would be the path to regaining admin access (outside of another WMF Office action). — xaosflux ^Talk 19:29, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• At ths point I don't even care about the reasoning but there is no way that the WMF can claim this is preventative. If it's so bad that WMF had to act in what appears to be a local matter, why is there no concern about this a year from now? Why, if whatever happened is so bad, is there no concern about ill intent on the hundreds of other projects Fram could edit? I'm not suggesting Fram be indeffed but I think some transparency from WMF is needed here, the optics are very bad and no matter which way I connect the dots on this, it seems extremely punitive. Praxidicae (talk) 19:30, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
  • Well, the term "Poisoning the Well" comes to mind. Fram comes back, has to go through an RFA if they want the tools back (where they did a hell of a lot of good on preventing shitty code and tools from being unleashed here). There is a substantial population here that will vote against them simply because of this action, being right or not. spryde | talk 22:31, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
    • Yes, WMF has poisoned the well and provided precisely zero justification for doing so. Heinous. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:33, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  @Praxidicae: this has the comment I most agree with on the subject. It never was preventative, and I think that being the case is what caused much of the stir. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 13:19, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Yeah,a big whiskey tango foxtrot from me as well. What the hell are they playing at? Reyk _YO! 19:41, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• Could this have been self-requested? I can't imagine T&S saying yes, but you never know. In any case, piling on here. An explanation is required. Without one, people will assume the worst, either about Fram, or the WMF. I'm ashamed to admit my mind already went to same place as Iridescent's. Suffusion of Yellow (talk) 19:48, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Speculation can take us anywhere of course. Keep in mind there could be additional T&S terms that we are unaware of (such as a speculative "may not hold admin or above access on any project for a year") - functionally, enwiki is the only project where advanced access provisioned, so may have been the only one where rights modifications was warranted. — xaosflux ^Talk 19:51, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• Add me to the list of those who said "WTF" out loud after seeing this. The scope of the ban is baffling, too; if Fram has violated the terms of use, why only a year, and why only the English Wikipedia? If they haven't, then why a ban at all? Also, the WMF is doubtless aware that Fram was an admin with a long an prolific history of productive editing. Any office action against them was always going to be controversial; so why wait to post a statement at all? I see that the de.wiki bans were also to a single wikimedia project; but I haven't enough German to find any subsequent discussion. Vanamonde (Talk) 19:52, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• WTF???? I wasn't aware of any misconduct from Fram that warranted this. I'm eager to know what prompted this ban.—CYBERPOWER (Chat) 20:01, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• Early betting at Wikipediocracy is that this is preliminary to some sort of centralized imposition of either Superprotect or Flow or Visual Editor, Fram being one of the most outspoken critics of WMF technological incompetence and bureaucratic overreach -- not that there is much room for debate about that at this point. I share the views expressed above: we need answers. Carrite (talk) 20:04, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Which is clearly way outside any "office actions". That's called "repression" where I come from, should it be in any sense true. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:11, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• Every block needs to be given a reasonable explanation. Without an explanation, we cannot know if a block is valid or not. This entire situation is suspect until an explanation is given. ―Susmuffin ^Talk 20:07, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• Since it doesnt appear anyone has asked the question: Has anyone asked Fram? I am sure at least one of the admins and/or arbcom has had off-wiki correspondence with them at some point. While obviously asking the subject of a ban for their version of events has its own drawbacks, in absence of any other information.... Only in death does duty end (talk) 20:08, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Yes, no reply. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:10, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  I've already asked on Commons (where he's not banned) if he wants to make any public statement, and offered to cut-and-paste it across if he does. Technically that would be proxying for a banned editor, but I very much doubt the WMF wants the shit mountain banning Fram and me in the same week would cause. ‑ Iridescent 20:11, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  I'll do it, then no harm no foul if TRM gets permanently banned. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:13, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Well I pinged him before you posted this and offered same. I have no fucks to give and lets see if he likes me more ;) In more seriousness, I am concerned that the WMF has enacted a wiki-specific limited-time ban, which indicates two things: Firstly its a local en-wp issue, possibly linked to a specific ENWP individual editor, and secondly that its punishment not a genuine concern for safety. If it was, you would just ban someone permanently, and from all wikimedia projects. Only in death does duty end (talk) 20:14, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  To expand a little on the above: I want the WMF to ban editors permanently if there is a *safety* issue. I dont want them interfering in local wikis because someone got their feelings hurt. If they want to do that, they can do the rest of the work policing the userbase too. Only in death does duty end (talk) 20:18, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• (edit conflict) So what, are they repressing people with no explanation now? What did they violate? SemiHypercube 20:12, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  SemiHypercube, disappearing people without explanation is accepted practice at Wikipedia in extreme circumstances; there are sometimes good reasons we want someone gone and don't want to discuss it publicly for their own privacy's sake. What's unique here is that the WMF are saying that Fram is untrustworthy here, but trustworthy on every other WMF project, and will become trustworthy here in exactly 365 days' time, both of which are confusing to say the least. ‑ Iridescent 20:16, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Not to mention that "disappearing" someone like Fram is going to cause a shitstorm, unlike the Great Purge, where you just purged those causing the shitstorm too. I'm afraid to say, and Arbcom may now ban me forever, but this looks like incompetence of the highest order by WMF. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:30, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• People I trust say this is warranted, but I do object that this was communicated to stewards and not the local ArbCom. Most en.wiki users don’t even know what a steward is, and the local arb with the least support here has more voters for them than even the most popular steward. Stewards do great work and I trust them and have a good working relationship with them, but local only blocks should be disclosed to the local ArbCom, not a global user group that is mostly behind the scenes on en.wiki. This action was guaranteed to get local pushback, and having users who were trusted locally be able to explain it. I’m someone who has a good relationship with the WMF and stewards, and as I said, from what I’ve been told by sensible people this was justified, but if I was trying to think of a better way to make the WMF intentionally look bad on their biggest project, I couldn’t. TonyBallioni (talk) 20:14, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  I can not recall a single instance an explanation was given in the case of WMF ban (and being active on Commons, I have seen them a lot). I do not expect this situation to be different.--Ymblanter (talk) 20:18, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Stewards are informed the reason for every WMF ban, including this one. They can’t say what it is, but considering that this was such an extraordinary event, letting the local group that would be most comparable know the reason would have been the very least that could have been done. Then an arb could say “We’ve seen why and it’s warranted.” TonyBallioni (talk) 20:21, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  TonyBallioni, given that it only affects en-wiki it must relate to en-wiki. I no longer have Magic Oversight Goggles, but can see nothing remotely problematic in Fram's contributions or deleted contributions in the past month; is there anything in the contributions of Fram (or User:EngFram, who the WMF have also ejected) that raises the slightest concern? (You obviously don't need to specify.) ‑ Iridescent 20:25, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Iridescent, I don’t see any recent suppressed contributions that raise red flags. I don’t know any more than anyone else other than “Yes, this was intentional, and yes, it looks valid” from people who are generally sensible. Of the WMF departments, T&S is usually one of the most sensible. My objection here is that I know they’re pretty sensible because I’ve worked with them in the past on other things and trust them. Most en.wiki users don’t know that T&S is any different than [insert pet bad idea from the WMF here] and so communicating with the local ArbCom so at least some name recognition here could say they know why. TonyBallioni (talk) 20:40, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Pretty sure WMF has never made a unilateral decision on a local matter that resulted in a long term editor and sysop being removed for local issues either. So...Praxidicae (talk) 20:21, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

TonyBallioni, now that at least Fram's side is out, do you still trust those people? spryde | talk 13:42, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• This might sound a bit like conspiracy theory nonsense but has anyone checked to see if WMFOffice is compromised? Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 20:22, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Ivanvector, I was thinking something similar but that seems unlikely, as stewards have indicated that the ban was justified, and the wmfoffice account doesn't seem compromised, based on its edits. 💵Money💵emoji💵^💸 20:39, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• I've emailed them - I suggest everyone do the same to push some weight on that route. There are actions that could warrant this - but they'd have to be confident it was Fram not a compromised account. That normally requires a bit of time consideration. Which let's us ask...why such a dramatic sudden action . ARBCOM can handle off-wiki information, so that's even fewer possible actions that could lead to this. We should also ask ARBCOM to discuss it at their monthly chat - I suspect several requests from us would have more impact. Nosebagbear (talk) 20:29, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Yes yes, I emailed them hours ago. Nothing at all, of course. I do wonder how much thought went into this on behalf of WMF. Perhaps the UK government have paid them to create some kind distraction from Brexit? It's probably the only rational explanation. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:33, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

It does not matter at this point what the action was as WMF acted only in a local capacity and not the global capacity that they should act under. There is no action as far as I'm concerned that would warrant WMF Office involvement in just a local project, this is black and white in my opinion and if Fram's behavior (or non-behavior, considering we don't know what has happened) was a problem only for the English Wikipedia, it should have been dealt with by measures that are in place on the English Wikipedia and not by a WMF employee/global group acting as a rogue arbcom. Praxidicae (talk) 20:31, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

From WP:OFFICE, the WMF have the right to ban from a single project on the grounds of Repeated misconduct within a single Foundation-supported project, with considerable impact either on that project overall or on individual contributors who are active in that project., but that seems unlikely here, and if there were some kind of misconduct going on, if it were at the level the WMF needed to intervene I'd expect the ban to be permanent. ‑ Iridescent 20:37, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Ditto, see my comments above. If T&S have to be involved, why are they doing time-limited bans? Thats how ENWP deals with serial problem users. If its a T&S issue they should either not be involved in day-to-day misbehaviour or should be enacting permanent bans. Time-limited either indicates its punishment or that its not an issue that rises to T&S level. Only in death does duty end (talk) 20:44, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• So, are we technically prevented from unblocking? Tiderolls 20:36, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Not in a software sense, but the WMF will insta-desysop anyone who overturns them. ‑ Iridescent 20:38, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Then they need to get their collective asses in gear before someone does something regrettable. Tiderolls 20:43, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Not really. I agree that the shroud of darkness around this matter is regrettable (they haven't even gone to the extent of telling us "we can't tell you anything" yet...), but as long as we sit on the WMF's servers then we as a community are ultimately powerless to do anything about this. We can ask the question, but if we don't like the answer then our only options are to (a) keep quiet and toe the line, or (b) fork the whole encyclopedia under CC licence on to a new set of servers... (and if Wikivoyage vs Wikitravel is anything to go by, such an exercise would probably not end up a success).  — Amakuru (talk) 20:49, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Everything you post is true, Amakuru, and I'm still open to the fact that WMF's silence to Fram's advantage. My point is just because the WMF can take an action, doesn't necessarily mean the should take that action. Tiderolls 21:03, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Was that fork borne of a constitutional crisis? –xeno^talk 20:53, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Actually, Wikivoyage was a fork of Wikitravel, not the other way around. (See Wikitravel#Community fork in 2012). * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 20:58, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  @Amakuru: - there is one other step we've seen before. In the wake of the Superprotect saga, and the failure of the Community board members to act, all three were replaced. But before we get that far, and waiting on T&S' "we can't tell you anything for your own good" - perhaps we reach out both to community liasions and to our board members? Nosebagbear (talk) 20:57, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Indeed, if a sufficient number of admins agree this should be reversed, WMF will be committing suicide to act against them. This will go to the press (I can guarantee that given questions I've received offwiki) and WMF will look stoopids. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:55, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  (edit conflict) @Xeno: The details are here... "excessive monetisation of the site (a plan to put links to a booking engine on every page was one example) and the poor and worsening technical support offered by the site's owners" is given as the main reason. So maybe a sort of ongoing low-level constitutional crisis? The trouble is, it hasn't really worked. Last time I checked Wikitravel always appears way further up the Google hits than WV, and has more daily edits.  — Amakuru (talk) 20:59, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  User:Amakuru actually Wikivoyage is now significantly more popular than Wikitravel and has received way more edits for a long time :-) Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 03:39, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  I don't think forking has ever really worked in the long run. See, for example, Enciclopedia Libre Universal en Español. It would probably work even less here given that the English Wikipedia is the world's 5th-(?)largest website and that any fork would likely fizzle. – John M Wolfson (talk • contribs) 21:36, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Do you think enwp would fare any better if the unpaid administration went on a general strike? –xeno^talk 22:04, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  I think it would earn immeasurable respect for unblocking Fram and dealing with the consequences. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:06, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• Does anyone know of any T&S team members who would be responsive to the community? Surely one of them has to be a reasonable human being that we can actually communicate with? I find it hard to believe that "Trust" & Safety has no problem (further) decimating community relations without any attempt at damage control. Then again, WMF never fails to disappoint in these situations. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 20:51, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  The whole lot of them are listed here (you need to scroll down to reach T&S); pick one you think looks trustworthy. ‑ Iridescent 20:55, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  40% of the T&S team don't trust us to let us know what they look like. Enough said. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:57, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Not entirely fair—40% of them just haven't copied their photo across from Meta yet (e.g. here's what Sydney Poore looks like). ‑ Iridescent 21:00, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Not that it is important for this matter now, but Karen Brown is the same person as Fluffernutter--Ymblanter (talk) 21:24, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Also, Sydney Poore is FloNight and her picture is on her user page. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 07:06, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• WP:AGF says we should assume good faith on the part of editors. Absent of any further information from the WMF (or indication that there are privacy issues involved), my default assumption is that he did nothing wrong. Unless the WMF issues a real explanation, there's no proof that this isn't just the WMF trying to suppress criticism of its various failed experiments. Also, on any other wiki, site administration acting this tyranically would be a forkable offense. —pythoncoder (talk | contribs) 00:12, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• (self-removed) Legoktm (talk) 02:10, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Noting that you are *employed* by WMF. ∯WBG^converse 02:12, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  I'm a software engineer with a part-time contract with the WMF (technically not an employee), though I've been a Wikipedian for much longer, and it's in that role that I'm writing here. Legoktm (talk) 02:39, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Based on my interactions and what I've observed on-wiki, it's easy for me see multiple people sending complaints to the WMF - just because those people aren't speaking up here, doesn't mean they don't exist. (my third attempt at leaving a comment here.) Legoktm (talk) 03:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Overly harsh and punitive blocks are rarely never a good idea. Even when the reasons for blocking are clear. I'm sure Fram must feel he has been treated very unjustly. Martinevans123 (talk) 19:20, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• +1 to the "WTF?" camp - I cannot wrap my head around how or even why a veteran admin such as Fram was blocked by the WMFOffice.... I also find it slightly bizarre that the block only goes on for a year and not indef ? (Not that I want it indef but I just find it odd and somewhat pointless). –Davey2010^Talk 19:30, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Statement from the WMF Trust & Safety Team

(edit conflict) Dear members of the English Wikipedia community,

We have been approached by several volunteers with questions concerning the recent Office Action, the time-limited partial Foundation ban of User:Fram covering your project. As we saw similar questions also being asked in your discussions around the project, including here, we thought it is most accessible to interested community members to provide clarifications publicly here:

• What made the Foundation take action at all and why at this specific time?
  • As described on the Metapage about Office actions, we investigate the need for an office action either upon receipt of complaints from the community, or as required by law. In this case we acted on complaints from the community.
  • All office actions are only taken after a thorough investigation, and extensive review by staff. This process usually takes about four weeks.
  • Office actions are covering individuals and not just individual user accounts. Therefore, the measure covers more than one user account in this case.
• Who made the complaint to the Foundation?
  • The Foundation always aims to be as transparent as possible with office actions. However, as outlined in the general information section of the office actions page, we also prioritize the safety of involved parties and legal compliance. Therefore, we do not disclose who submitted community complaints.
• Why did the Foundation only ban for a year?
  • As part of the Improving Trust and Safety processes program, less intrusive office actions were introduced. Those options include time-limited and partial (project-specific) bans to address serious concerns that are, however, temporary or project-specific in nature. For example, if a user has been problematic on one project in particular while contributing without concerns to another community wiki, this can now be addressed in a more targeted way than a full Foundation global ban.
• Why did the Foundation de-sysop? Does this mean that Fram will not be an administrator when his ban ends in 2020?
  • The removal of administrator access is intended as enforcement of the temporary partial Foundation ban placed on Fram. It is the community’s decision what to do with Fram’s administrator access upon the expiration of the Office Action ban.
• What kind of appeal is possible against this office action?
  • As a this time-limited Foundation ban is an outcome of a regular office action investigation, it is governed by the same rules already familiar from Foundation global bans: it does not offer an opportunity to appeal.

As the team carrying out office action investigations, Trust and Safety starts cases from the position that it is up to volunteers to decide for themselves how they spend their free time within the frame of the Terms of Use and the local community’s rules provided for in section 10 of them. The Terms of Use do not distinguish whether a user participates by creating and curating content, building tools and gadgets for peers doing so, helping out as a functionary handling admin, checkuser or oversight tools or in other forms. However, on occasion community members submit evidence strongly indicating cases where local communities consistently struggle to uphold not just their own autonomous rules but the Terms of Use, too. We will continue to consider these rare cases brought to our attention under the framework of the office actions policy. Best regards, WMFOffice (talk) 20:58, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

However, on occasion community members submit evidence strongly indicating cases where local communities consistently struggle to uphold not just their own autonomous rules but the Terms of Use, too. We will continue to consider these rare cases brought to our attention under the framework of the office actions policy. So does that mean you have determined that the ENWP's community failed to uphold its own rules or the TOU in relation to Fram, despite no actual case, action or report being raised against Fram on ENWP? Only in death does duty end (talk) 21:02, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Of all the non-answers I've seen in my life, that's possibly one of the most long winded. Reyk _YO! 21:08, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Award-winning. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:09, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Oooh, this sounds like a whole new way of getting rid of people we don't like... without going through the tedium of due process, ANI, ArbCom or anything. Just badger the WMF with complaints and, hey presto, the user is vanished. Winning!  — Amakuru (talk) 21:16, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

@WMFOffice: What was it about this complaint that meant it required investigation and action by WMF Trust and Safety instead of enwiki's ArbCom? If you cannot state this publicly (even in general terms), please send an explanation to ArbCom's private mailing list so they can confirm that there were good reasons for this action to be handled in this matter. WJBscribe (talk) 22:47, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

Response

• I.e. NOTHING. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:00, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  technically we can rule out a Rémi Mathis type issue.©Geni (talk) 21:27, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Oh cool, thanks. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:29, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• What TRM said. I'm noting the singular absence of these alleged "community members who raised concerns" from any of these discussions, or of any concerns actually being raised about Fram at any of the venues where community members are actually supposed to raise concerns; would they happen to be either Wikidata-spammers or Visual Editor programmers by any chance? ‑ Iridescent 21:03, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
  • No. Let me translate. They were socking, and someone complained about the actions of the other account. (Based on the statement above, only, and not any inside information) UninvitedCompany 21:05, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
    • WTF? The Rambling Man (talk) 21:08, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
    • That would make sense, if WMFOffice had blocked more than Fram and EngFram. If there's a sock that has caused all of this, they've not blocked it... Nick (talk) 21:09, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
      • Exactly. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:10, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
        • I should point out, socking isnt actually against the TOU. Its a local ENWP policy. I would be surprised if it was a simple sock issue, as thats ENWP specific (no matter how many other wikimedia projects have rules against it). I would be more surprised if T&S was looking into SOCKPUPPETRY as a useful allocation of their resources. Only in death does duty end (talk) 21:11, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
          • I'm not sure that UninvitedCompany really gets this situation if he thinks it's really about socking. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:13, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
            • I doubt very much that it's entirely about socking. I would imagine that it is about whatever the sock did. UninvitedCompany 21:14, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
              • What are you talking about? The Rambling Man (talk) 21:22, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
    • "the measure covers more than one user account in this case" Perhaps the other account is already blocked. UninvitedCompany 21:11, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
      • I'm having as much difficulty parsing that steaming pile of nothing as everyone else, but I think that just means the two accounts, Fram, and the legit alt EngFram, both of which were blocked by the WMF. Suffusion of Yellow (talk) 21:16, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
        • For those speculating about socking, I doubt it. See the recent Od Mishelu precedent, that was ArbCom only, not WMF. I ully agree about this being a non-response though. GiantSnowman 21:17, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
          • The WMF has removed functionary access because of socking before: Ciphers was a CU on ar.wiki who was caught vandal socking here on en, and they removed the CU bit, but in that case the block and eventual lock were community actions: I blocked the account and a steward later locked it. From discussions at the time, this was intentional. That is to say: I doubt only socking would have caused this, and if there was admin socking, it is usually handled by the local CUs/ArbCom. TonyBallioni (talk) 21:18, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• It is the community’s decision what to do with Fram’s administrator access upon the expiration of the Office Action ban. but can I just say. How the fuck can we do that when WMF won't give us any information to make an informed decision ? Nick (talk) 21:06, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  We can't, which is indisputable proof that the WMF, in this instance, are fucking clueless. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:08, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• @WMFOffice: Your statement seems premised on "strongly indicating cases where local communities consistently struggle to uphold not just their own autonomous rules but the Terms of Use, too" - could you explain how we've consistently struggled to uphold one or both of these facets. Logically, if there's sufficient evidence to indicate repeated failure, then you should be demonstrating what we've done wrong or there's no reason it wouldn't keep repeating. Nosebagbear (talk) 21:09, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Well, the way we would do that is that Fram would make a request at RFA, and we would follow the usual process. If he got thrown under the bus for reasons that are still, at that point, a big secret, then I would imagine that the RFA would be widely supported. UninvitedCompany 21:10, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  How the fuck can we run an RFA when no-one knows what he was de-sysoped for? And how does the community know whatever he did to invoke the wrath of the WMF won't happen again? Madness. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:12, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Well, my view is that we would run an RFA based on the information that we have in hand. And people would support or oppose based on whether they thought that being blocked by WMF for secret reasons a year ago is a good reason to oppose. UninvitedCompany 21:16, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Well that's just plain stupid if Fram could then be de-sysoped once again on the invisible whim of WMF. Just think about it. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:21, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• Translation from WMF-speak: *WMF to en.wiki: Drop dead. --Floquenbeam (talk) 21:10, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• The statement is mostly a copy of their post on deWP in February. Sunrise (talk) 21:12, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  i.e. NOTHING. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:13, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• If the implication here is that EnWp failed to uphold some vague terms of use, is there evidence that enwp in any of its various venues for solving disputes were notified, considering arbcom aren’t even aware? This sounds like total bumbling incompetence from WMF and like they’re involving themselves in some sort of editor dispute. Praxidicae (talk) 21:15, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• This seems like the wrong place for this discussion. Can we identify a better place? Thanks S Philbrick(Talk) 21:17, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  @Sphilbrick: - other than perhaps peeling this off as a separate page so we don't clog up the Crat's board, it seems a reasonable location. As we are limited on our direct action, it's not like we can turn it into an RfC. Nosebagbear (talk)

  It’s fine to continue here; imo, moving the discussion at this point would just introduce further collective confusion. –xeno^talk 21:41, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Agreed, but at least in theory this could be a good fit for the largely-defunct Wikipedia:Village pump (miscellaneous): it's a community-based discussion without particular relevance to any specific page, policy, or editing function that has ranged from gossip and speculation to vocal outcry and condemnation. In practice, of course, VPM is frequently devoid of activity, so there'd be no use in opening a discussion there to begin with. ~ Amory (u • t • c) 21:55, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• They can't be this stupid, Community Relations has got to be telling them the catastrophes that can come from not involving anyone from a local wiki in banning a local sysop. It's been, what, 3 years since there was major blowup between the WMF and the Community - surely we don't have to relearn the same lessons? Their actions might even be justified - it's how they're going about it that makes it so ludicrous! Nosebagbear (talk) 21:18, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• @GiantSnowman: - the office response says explicitly, "Therefore, the measure covers more than one user account in this case." That is confirmation that it was at least partially a socking incident, isn't it?  — Amakuru (talk) 21:20, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  No, that's a reference to Fram's legitimate alt account EngFram. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 21:21, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  No it could just mean it was his two stated accounts. If it was socking, there are enough CU's, admins and Arbcom who would be able to work it out damn fast from all blocked users. Only in death does duty end (talk) 21:23, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Stupid is as stupid does. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:22, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Ah, I see. Thanks Pppery.  — Amakuru (talk) 21:22, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• WMFOffice you're in the shit here I think. Unless you want a revolution on your hands, you'd better start talking the talk. Don't be obtuse and fob us off with another boilerplate horseshit response. If you have any competence left (yes Arbcom, I know), please clarify in precise terms what has happened here. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:26, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• We, as a community, need to craft a unified response. Seriously, I see no consensus here for acceptance of this action. With the exception of Fram's privacy in this matter I see no good reason for such a lack of transparency. Tiderolls 21:31, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  @Tide rolls: - you're definitely right as regards unified response. There could legitimately be concerns from an accuser of Fram (the unhappiness here probably would increase that). However, that would justify not resolving it on, say, ANI. It would still be a legitimate area for ARBCOM to consider. Given that their "justification" was repeated failures by en-wiki in implementing our rules or the TOS, non-communication is particularly non-acceptable. Nosebagbear (talk) 21:35, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  That seems like a great idea in principle but what's really needed is a "Spartacus" moment. Unblock Fram. And keep unblocking Fram, until we run out of admins. This is fucking stupid, and WMF have a huge responsibility here to address the stupidity rather than treating us like fucking idiots and providing boilerplate bollocks. How insulting. How denigrating. Many of us have been here for more than a decade, and to get that bullshit "recorded message" response in reaction to such a hugely controversial measure is beyond belief. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:37, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Such a scenario seems extremely unlikely. Even in the event that all admins could be convinced to take part, and it seems unlikely since it seems clear from this discussion that not all agree that T&S were wrong to act, in reality it would probably end with maybe the 1st, 2nd or at most 3rd to try it when the WMF introduces a 'superblock' which can't be overturned by anyone but the WMF. Of course admins are free to resign or stop acting as admins or leave wikipedia as they see fit. They could even take other protest action likely leading to the removal of their tools and maybe other sanction if they desire. But the particular course of action you suggested is never likely to last long. Nil Einne (talk) 04:42, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  @Nosebagbear: As has been said already, we have little direct action available. The only direct action I have at my disposal will mean my desysoping. The more the WMF obfuscates the less that scares me. Tiderolls 21:42, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

@The Rambling Man and Tide rolls: As long as we don't suddenly find out this was justified after all, there's always proposing a new exception to the socking policy. Then we wouldn't lose you as admins and it would fall to the WMF to perform enforcement. Sunrise (talk) 22:24, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• Tide rolls a unified response? Do you mean something along the lines of a very public vote of no confidence? Sure, it wouldn't be formally binding in any way, but it would terrible publicity for the WMF. Maybe, just maybe, it would force them to give a real explanation. Lepricavark (talk) 03:57, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Hi, Lepricavark. I'll assume you're watching here and not aggravate you with a ping. I had no format in mind when I posted. Your interpretation is something I would support. With all the varied participation here my confidence is not high that a single proposal will gain substantial traction. Rest assured that I would lend support to any proposal that stresses community action over WMF interference. Tiderolls 04:17, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  I think that a broadly worded statement of no confidence would probably garner a not-insignificant level of support right now. The community is rightly angry and so far we evidently haven't been able to get the WMF's attention. As somebody pointed out elsewhere in this thread, the community -- which is never unified -- has been unified against the WMF. That being said, I'm not the best person for drafting a statement. There are others in this thread that could do it, but I won't single anyone out. Lepricavark (talk) 04:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Well that's a massive great amount of absolutely fucking nothing, isn't it? Try again. Black Kite (talk) 21:33, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• Gag order? The statement does not say that Fram is precluded from discussing the issue. I don't think the Office has the authority to issue a gag order, so if Fram isn't talking that suggests he either doesn't want to talk about it, or agreed to a gag order in exchange for something (1 year instead of 2?) I see that some are attempting to contact him. Has any response occurred, even if to simply explain whether he is voluntarily silent or required to be silent?S Philbrick(Talk) 21:34, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Or hes asleep/away etc and will wake up at some point to a full email inbox and a headache. I generally dont read anything into non-response until its been at least 72 hours. Only in death does duty end (talk) 21:37, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  (edit conflict) It is half past midnight in Belgium—there's a very good chance he's just asleep and will wake up to a thousand pings. ‑ Iridescent 21:37, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  More like half past eleven, actually...  — Amakuru (talk) 21:38, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Seriously. The translation is pretty straightforward. A user filed a complaint against Fram's behavior onwiki. This behaviour did not occur yesterday, it may have happened a long time ago and it took a while for WMF to investigate, or it could have happened over long time and the person only filed the complained recently. Now, if you want to know what this behavior exactly was, I think it is not very difficult to guess. I have no idea who filed the complaint. I did not do it (and never in fact considered it seriously). There are some obvious candidates, but I do not want to be WMF blocked myself, and therefore will not continue here and will not respond private requests. I do not think this is in any way important at this stage.--Ymblanter (talk) 21:40, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  To clarify what I have written is not supposed to be a support of the WMF action, rather a clarification how I understand it.--Ymblanter (talk) 21:46, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  They state above it takes about 4 weeks. So my bet is on this Only in death does duty end (talk) 21:49, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Seems the likeliest explanation so far.  — Amakuru (talk) 21:53, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  But we should remember that a complaint normally taking about 4 weeks to investigate doesn't guarantee whatever it was was four weeks ago. It may be most likely it was around the time of the complaint. But as as Ymblanter was I think intending to say, someone may complain about something that took place longer ago perhaps when they first notice it. (Also it's possible it took longer or much shorter than 4 weeks in a specific instance.) Since this was a time limited and en only ban, it seems unlikely it was something that took place very long ago since if the concerns hadn't repeated in a year (giving a random example) since whatever it is occurred then a 1 year ban doesn't seem to serve much purpose. But still a few months seems possible. In addition, it's possible some of the behaviour was over a year old, and some was more recent In that case it's less clear whether a 1 year ban will be enough but I think the situation is complex enough that it could have happened like that. Especially since we still don't know what communication the WMF had with Fram and have zero definite idea what it's about.) Nil Einne (talk) 07:11, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Well now we have Fram's comment demonstrating it was something about 4 weeks ago. Funnily enough when people suggested it was because of the NPA discussion, I was thinking I seem to recall Fram making some strongly worded comments related to arbcom and possibly some related to the portal mess and the use of wikidata in the recent past. Anyway we also see it does involve older stuff as well as the recent stuff. And as a final comment, I do think it was a mistake to bring any specific suggestion of what it was especially when it involved specific other editors. Maybe the WMF shares the blame for that, but whatever their mistakes, we as a community didn't have to bring up others, especially so soon. (I mean it's still less than 24 hours.) We should be showing we are better than all that. Nil Einne (talk) 10:19, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Bollocks. Nothing you've said substantiates a one-year ban on a single Wikipedia. I call bullshit. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:44, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• Could another way of looking at this be the verdict of a closed-door appeals court to address long-term patterns of behavior among WP:UNBLOCKABLES? There have certainly been lots of calls, both on-wiki and off, for the WMF to intervene with harassment and other intractable behaviors that have proven difficult for the community to address. Note that this isn't a judgment of Fram, whom I wouldn't have thought of in those terms, but an effort to understand what's happening (and what might happen in the future). I think that ultimately any time the WMF intervenes due to "things the community has a hard time addressing" it's going to be difficult all around, since there are of course reasons the community has not addressed it (i.e. another way of wording "hard time addressing" is "decided not to take action"). I'm undecided how I feel about mechanisms that allow for that kind of intervention (i.e. action for reasons other than the particularly egregious sorts of things global bans are used for). There are certainly times when I've thought ANI, etc. has failed to deal with long-term problematic behavior. (Though, again, Fram has not been involved in those, so forgive my abstraction/speculation here). Regardless, it would be good to have some kind of clarity if that's the situation we're in or if indeed there was a single problematic action -- or otherwise something more. — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 21:38, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  I did ask for that above, the key point of addressing things that have been difficult for the community to address is that the community has to attempt to address them first before its proven difficult. I cant think of anything in Fram's history that is close to that except for issues that the community as a whole has trouble address (such as the WMF's technical 'advancements' and wikidata's attempts to force itself into everything). Only in death does duty end (talk) 21:43, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  @Rhododendrites: - if it was "something more" then it would be even less justified to tell us nothing, since there wouldn't be any privacy concerns for either Fran or Fran's accuser(s). Nosebagbear (talk) 21:42, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Sorry, the "something more" was intended to follow "it would be good to have some kind of clarity" (i.e. more information about what happened). — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 21:43, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  I have a hard time believing that any situation would warrant that remedy, Rhododendrites, if it was something out in the open. If ANI and ArbCom collectively fail to apply sanctions to a user, then chances are they don't deserve any sanctions. I'm not sure how a different, more remote, set of people are somehow more qualified to take that decision than those we've already entrusted to do so.  — Amakuru (talk) 21:44, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Well, I think the argument would be not about qualification but about their focus and the [debatable/hypothetical] benefits of making a judgment from outside the community. When WMF makes a decision, it can remain more focused on the behavior and their own investigation without legions of friends, detractors, grudge-holders, partisans, etc. jumping in and complicating the discussion. I imagine it would prioritize community health over other aspects of the project that the Wikipedia community sometimes weighs differently. When those discussions happen, any admin who closes those threads knows they'll become a villain to some. Is it useful to defer that villainy to people paid to be in that position rather than volunteers who shouldn't have to take the abuse? Or, I suppose the question isn't "is it useful" but "is it worth it to give up autonomy". It's hard. — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 22:05, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  (ec, re Rhododendrites' initial post) In which case, I'd expect them to be able to point to the community failing to address an issue. The only dispute I can see Fram involved in in the last couple of months was Wikipedia talk:No personal attacks#Harassment, mocking or otherwise disrespecting someone on the basis of gender identification and pronoun preference, and frankly if the WMF banned everyone Fae made accusations against we'd have about three editors left. (Plus, if they were genuinely looking for a mechanism to get rid of editors the WMF didn't like but whom the community refused to ban, it beggars belief their fancy WP:OFFICE laser cannon wouldn't be fired squarely at Eric Corbett.) ‑ Iridescent 21:44, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  I don't disagree re: being able to point to the community failing. But yes, basically, my question to understand what's going on could be framed as "would this have happened to Eric if these processes were in place years ago?" (With apologies to Eric, who I don't actually want this to become about). — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 21:51, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  There is perhaps at least one difference between me and Fram, who I note has done his duty and banned me on more than one occasion - which must have earned him brownie points- and that is that I don't give a flying fuck what the WMF do. I do however agree with Iridescent and wonder why I've never been at the end of the WMF's weapon du jour, and can only conclude that Fram must have done something far worse than call Jimbo out for being a dishonest c**t. Eric Corbett 22:39, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  @Rhododendrites: - it would also require the following: the WMF to always make decisions in line with what is actually beneficial for the project, rather than the WMF's appearance, any specific team's viewpoint etc etc. The Visual-Editor saga showed that those decisions are not well made. If they want reduction in autonomy then they either need oversight accepted by both sides, or to be flawless. That decision would also have to be specifically made by the Community - whereas TOS changes are self-made by the WMF. Nosebagbear (talk) 22:25, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  This (Iridescent's idea and link above) does fall under issues 'the community has had difficulty enforcing', so this seems the likeliest explanation put forth so far. Perhaps Fram was singled out because he was an admin, and it fell under ADMINCOND. Softlavender (talk) 22:56, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

This just seems like a rehash of WP:OFFICE in that it describes the process in general rather than why specifically it was used. Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but still. – John M Wolfson (talk • contribs) 21:33, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• This is not an adequate response. ―Susmuffin ^Talk 21:41, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

I got an email back from T&S that essentially pointed me here. I'm trying to engage with them and point out specific concerns about how this has been handled, because I don't believe they are likely to follow the discussion here. It would be my goal for WMF T&S and the ENWP community to have a high degree of trust respect for one another. It pains me to see actions taken that could have the effect of undermining that trust and respect. UninvitedCompany 21:50, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

They're well aware of how piss-poor they're handling this. This community has zero trust in the WMF T&S group right now. That's obvious. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:53, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• The policy seems clear that someone(s) complain(s) about alleged TOU vios (the list of possible offences is kind of broad ); Office decides if it's merited or not; and it's all held privately. Alanscottwalker (talk) 21:54, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• If it were a one of the "cases where local communities consistently struggle to uphold not just their own autonomous rules but the Terms of Use, too" then not letting the local community know what it's about prevents us taking steps to improve what we do. In my experience when someone says "I'm doing this for your own good, I've got a good reason for doing it, and I'm not going to tell you what that reason is" sooner or later they will be proven to be lying. DuncanHill (talk) 21:57, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• Different languages - could those with multi-lingual capabilities drop a summary of what's happened and a pointer onto a few of the big wikis. If it is going to be a big flare-up (and I'd really want to hear something, even indirectly, from Fram first) then other wikis knowing is worthwhile. Nosebagbear (talk) 22:00, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Indeed, some external press agencies in the UK are asking questions too. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:02, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  The single best way to get people to dislike you on any other project is to import en.wiki drama. I’m waiting to see if ArbCom can say anything that makes sense, but if your goal is to get the global community behind you, going about it in that way is pretty much guaranteed to backfire. TonyBallioni (talk) 22:12, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Tony, I appreciate your endeavour, but since this has nothing to do with Arbcom, it would be shameful if WMF gave you some information that it wasn't prepared to share with the community. That's not how WMF nor Arbcom should be working. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:14, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  I’m not on ArbCom (thankfully) my point was more that if they share their reasoning with stewards, they should be willing to share it with the local ArbCom since privacy is within their remit. Anyway, more to Nosebagbear’s point, if someone tried to notify other projects, the response would almost universally be “We don’t care, why are you trying to cause drama here, we have enough of it without you importing en.wiki drama.” TonyBallioni (talk) 22:21, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Did they not share the reasoning with ArbCom in this case? Since the ban only affects this project that would make sense to me. -- Ajraddatz (talk) 23:20, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  @Ajraddatz: Since you're here; it strikes me that while this is clearly WMF's responsibility, a statement from one of the stewards could go a long way toward reducing tension here. Vanamonde (Talk) 23:34, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  I don't think my personal opinion would add much to this, unfortunately. There has not been any discussion of this among the steward group. -- Ajraddatz (talk) 23:42, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Ajraddatz, are you aware of the reasons? ∯WBG^converse 00:44, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  I was a steward when WMF global bans became a thing (2015). They would give us maybe a sentence of why the user was banned. Of course, we couldn't say anything about it. --Rschen7754 01:05, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Please let me know when we're going to abolish the WMF. Nothing good comes from that office. Chris Troutman (talk) 22:06, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

I sent notes to several of the trustees highlighting the importance of this matter to the relationship between WMF and the ENWP community and would encourage others to do likewise. UninvitedCompany 22:24, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• Seriously, if it is something to do with this, we might as well all give up now, because the main users that caused the issue in the first place remain editing. Black Kite (talk) 22:26, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Indeed. And no, we shouldn't be coerced into sending begging letters to WMF to let them know what a fuck-up they're making of this. They know this. They should fix it. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:28, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Well even if T&S were taking action over the that dispute, it may be for whatever reason (possibly including private info, who knows) they saw what Fram did there worse than you or TRM or a few others saw it. To be clear, I'm not saying the WMF was right to feel that way, I'm only loosely aware of the dispute and have intention of looking in to it, especially since I have no idea of it's relevance to anything. My only point is that it may be that even if that was part of the reason, no one else is likely to be blocked for similar reasons despite getting into dispute with one of the editors concerns. And in addition, someone will need to complain to the WMF. The fact that someone may have done here doesn't meant they will do so in every other dispute involving any specific editor. We really have no way of knowing who and why. Even the person themselves may not really know. I'm sure that I'm not the only person to notice sometimes a confluence of factors not all of which you can identify, you take some particular dispute more severely then others even if to other observers they look similar. Nil Einne (talk) 04:42, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Has anyone considered asking Jimbo to give us some sort of explanation or force the office to give us a meaningful explanation? Seriously, this is the sort of thing where I'd say that we need to consider going over the Foundation's collective head. rdfox 76 (talk) 22:29, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Yes. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:30, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Rdfox 76, User_talk:Jimbo_Wales#Admin_Fram_locally_banned_by_T&S_for_one_year. SQL^{Query me!} 22:32, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• Brainstorming, the possible behaviors this could have been in response to (if they occurred) include: socking, misuse of tools (sysop tools, CU tools, etc.), personal attacks, outing or borderline/attempted/threatened outing, or ADMINCOND. There my be other possibilities that I haven't thought of. Softlavender (talk) 23:00, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  All of which we have mechanisms to deal with, and do so on a regular basis. What makes any of those so unique that the WMF gets to overrule both our own community processes and Arbcom? As has been pointed out ad nauseam, in the four week timescale they mention in their statement, there has been no complaint made about Fram at any venue, so how is this a case where local communities consistently struggle to uphold not just their own autonomous rules but the Terms of Use? ‑ Iridescent 23:05, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  Did the committee receive a complaint and neglect to act? So this was an appeal of the committee’s decision? If not, I don’t see how the argument that the local community has struggled, if not given an opportunity. –xeno^talk 23:17, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

  @Xeno: An arbitrator has denied that hypothesis. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 00:11, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  No idea, Iri. I think whoever complained must have convinced WMF, or WMF convinced itself, that EN-wiki doesn't deal with whatever situation it was very optimally. I'm obviously not approving either the action or the secrecy. They should at least tell us which of the categories I listed it falls under. I made my list because no one had made a comprehensive list of the possibilities. Softlavender (talk) 23:21, 10 June 2019 (UTC)

• The partial ban here can only be done after review by Legal, Maggie Dennis, and the Executive Director [1], the only people left are the Board (and not Jimbo alone) but it's hard to imagine the Board overruling the entire staff or going against legal who will no doubt advise, keep it private. (and when will the Board even meet next, Wikimania?) Alanscottwalker (talk) 23:14, 10 June 2019 (UTC)
• Jfc, what a joke. A boilerplate legalese response from a faceless role account that says absolutely nothing. Still waiting on ANYONE from T&S with integrity to come forward as an individual and actually communicate in a reasonable fashion like a human talking to other humans. It's actually hilarious how not a single person will. I actually feel less confident in the WMF now than I did when we had no response. This looks dirty. If it's not, quit acting like a soulless, faceless, evil corporation run by sociopaths trying to cover up corruption, and start acting like a fucking humanitarian non-profit that wants a good working relationship with its volunteers. Literally no on-wiki issue ever comes close to uniting the community like this. And yet you're doing it, you're uniting the community against you. Do you really just not even care? ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 00:44, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  @Swarm: I've come to the realization that the WMF actually think they're doing the right thing. They may be, but their communication skills are inhibited by unimaginable disconnect or unlimited hubris. You've been around long enough to recognize the pattern. I'm tired of rolling over. Tiderolls 01:08, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• It would be nice if they at least told us which term of the TOU was violated. Otherwise, how is a community suppose to improve its ability to uphold its own autonomous rules and the Terms of Use without knowing what the violation was? "This community has consistently struggled to do something but we won't tell you what it is, instead we're going to ban this admin for a year" is probably not a message that should have been sent. – Levivich 00:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• With respect to next steps, it appears arbcom has reached out to the WMF. I just became aware of this issue when someone above pinged me. We have our next board meeting on Jun 14th 2019. A good first step would be someone providing us Fram's position on this. I am than happy to reach out to folks at the WMF and fellow board members to see if we need to look at this issue (if Fram so requests). Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 00:56, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Doc James, do you have concerns about this? I would hope that the Board is unable to get the specifics of cases like this, but I would imagine that you know people on T&S. StudiesWorld (talk) 01:12, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  StudiesWorld the first step is does Fram want anyone to look into this further or do they accept the ban? Well the board would be unlikely to provide any details we could likely at least confirm whether or not it was justified (and at that point you may simple be required to take our word at it). Arbcom may already be performing such a role per the comments above. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 01:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Doc James, that makes sense. So, as I understand it: at this time, you have no specific cause for concern, are investigating the situation, and will let us know if you believe it to have been inappropriate. StudiesWorld (talk) 01:25, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Doc James The issue is not necessarily the ban itself. The ban may be 100% justified, and Fram may have no grounds to contest it, nor intention to. If that is the case, that doesn't make everything okay. This is, primarily, a community relations disaster that the Foundation does not appear to be taking seriously—in this regard, the merits of the ban are completely irrelevant. If that is the case, that arguably makes it worse, because a simple, bare bones explanation would be all that is needed to avert this crisis, and yet the Foundation appears unwilling to provide even that. That is the issue. Whether the ban was deserved, or whether Fram accepts the ban is entirely irrelevant. The only reason people are suggesting it's a corrupt "disappearance" is genuinely because that's the most plausible explanation for this bizarre stonewalling. In the best case scenario, the Foundation is harming its relations with the community for no good reason. Anything less than that is a truly frightening thought. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 05:52, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• The legal will almost certainly advice T&S/Jimbo/XYZ-(WMF) to refrain from issuing any non-generic statements and I don't see them deviating from it; our best bet lies with the ArbCom. ∯WBG^converse 01:01, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  • FWIW, I do not agree that his fallout with with Fæ is relevant to the ban; if it was so, Guy Macon and User:SMcCandlish would have ended perma-banned by now. ∯WBG^converse 03:59, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  As far as I know this block has nothing to do with anything Fram wrote to me, and it would be jaw droppingly astonishing if this action had anything to do with the campaign of transphobic abuse and death threats I have been targeted with recently. Fæ (talk) 04:46, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  I would have preferred that other users had not filled the void of information with reference to that incident. cygnis insignis 05:13, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• This is a messy non-explanation from WMF. I think we deserve to know something about this office ban. And what gives with bypassing the community so blatantly? Worrisome behavior, at the very least. I'll be watching this very closely. —Javert2113 (Siarad.|¤) 01:17, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Karen (Fluffernutter), something serious enough to warrant WMF action should not attract a one-year block on this site only. Anything not serious enough for a permanent global block by the WMF should be handled by the community or ArbCom. We therefore need a fuller statement, signed by an individual, as soon as possible. It isn't clear from this page who is in charge of Trust and Safety, so I'm pinging you as the first name and as someone I trust. SarahSV ^(talk) 01:23, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
  • I've just noticed that Jan Eissfeldt is the lead manager. I didn't notice that earlier because he is described as a contractor. Hi Jan, we would appreciate a fuller statement as soon as possible. SarahSV ^(talk) 02:09, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• This mess is creating a huge cloud over ArbCom. If ArbCom knows of issues with Fram and has declined to act (which is one interpretation of the WMF statement), then action against ArbCom should follow. If ArbCom doesn't know (as seems likely from WT:ACN statements) and the WMF acted in the belief ArbCom wouldn't act on a local matter, then enWP is being left with an ArbCom that the WMF doesn't trust – which is also something the community needs to know and action would be needed. If the complaint went to T&S and they bypassed ArbCom because it is a non-local issue, why was Fram only restricted at enWP? If the issue is local and ArbCom was bypassed for no good reason then T&S are demonstrating questionable competence. WMFOffice, should we be expected an OFFICE action dismissing the present ArbCom or a statement declaring the WMF's lack of confidence in them? Will the WMF be taking over ArbCom's roles and responsibilities? Or, has Fram been banned only from enWP over a non-local issue... and if so, why? Or, is this a case of T&S incompetence? Is there a possibility I've missed? Whether intentionally or not, the WMF actions appear to me to undermine ArbCom in a grossly unfair way, as well as harming relations between the WMF and the largest WP community. Doc James, irrespective of Fram's view, isn't it a board-level problem when T&S undermines ArbCom in this way? EdChem (talk) 01:55, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
  • • Waiting on details... Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 03:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
  • This had nothing to do with ArbCom, therefore it is mostly certainly not "creating a huge cloud over ArbCom". The only "cloud" it seems to be creating is over WMF. Softlavender (talk) 03:21, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
    • The statement from WMF strongly implies a lack of trust in Arbcom to take necessary action ("on occasion community members submit evidence strongly indicating cases where local communities consistently struggle to uphold not just their own autonomous rules but the Terms of Use, too"). That's creating a pretty big cloud. Absconded Northerner (talk) 05:54, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• I considered creating Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Fram 2, but I was too scared of what the WMF’s Ministry of Love would do to me. —pythoncoder (talk | contribs) 02:17, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  A candidate is required to accept their RfA for it to begin. Fram is incapable of doing so while he is still banned. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 02:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• That is one of the more bizarre statements I have ever read. The whole thing could've been summed up in one sentence. It was remarkably long and said essentially nothing other than the fact that they are not going to bother explaining anything. The last paragraph was particularly irksome. Enigma^msg 03:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• If the intent was to do damage control as a result of taking an unpopular and (widely-seen-as) disproportionate and unjustified action, then they have failed miserably. This is not how you do this shit, Trust & Safety. You've gone and made a martyr at the expense of pariahing everybody who had any real say in this decision. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 03:54, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• I find it very strange that Fram's page was completely locked and he was given no ability to even speak in his defense on his own talk page. If whatever he supposedly did is so bad that we can't even trust him to post on his own talk page, then why is the ban only for one year? If it's going to be for a limited period of time, why is a year any better than 3 months or 6 months or 2 years? Seems kinda arbitrary, unless they had a specific reason for keeping Fram out of our community for a year and would only need him blocked for that long. I'm aware of the conspiracy theory floated above and our longstanding lack of trust in the WMF coupled with the complete lack of a genuine response certainly make me uncomfortable. Lepricavark (talk) 04:23, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• It's not just that they did that; they also revoked email access. I can understand revoking talk page - this block can't be appealed, and the only use of a talk page while blocked is to appeal - but why block email? —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 05:01, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• It's of course possible that email was one area where concerns arose. Nil Einne (talk) 07:03, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• It bloody well better not be, given that Fram can send and receive e-mails via our sister projects. Nick (talk) 07:14, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• • I find it completely inappropriate to blank the user and talk page, aside from fully protecting them so no one can say anything. They could've simply added a box at the top rather than getting rid of the pages. Enigma^msg
• I've spent some time reading about Meta:Trust and Safety, and what their purpose and remit is, and Meta:Office actions/WP:Office actions and what their scope is. I can't currently envisage a scenario involving Fram that would merit an undiscussed, unwarned (unwarned on-wiki), unilateral, unexplained, virtually extrajudicial desysop and one-year site-ban and TP+email lockdown, unless the activities/actions occurred off-wiki. Among other things, I would like to find out somehow, ideally from Fram, whether he received an email warning or any opportunity to discuss prior to the ban and desysop. Softlavender (talk) 04:41, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• I don't understand...does anyone understand? Shearonink (talk) 04:59, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• All I understand is that the WMF's quiet act has backfired on it. Surely there's some information that doesn't implicate privacy or legal policies that will be helpful in understanding why Fram's (time-limted, mind you) block was justified, since the boilerplate the office gave us is functionally useless. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 05:03, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• @Shearonink: The community is lacking information at this stage, the situation is unusual but currently static. The blocked user has made no comment in the brief time since this was announced, which constrains how members of the local community can and should respond or any actions that can be taken. That is where things are up to, at least, the important bits as I have seen this emerge. cygnis insignis 05:40, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Cygnis insignis, Shearonink: Fram cannot comment because access to his talkpage has been blocked, and his email has been blocked. Softlavender (talk) 06:35, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Softlavender I know Fram is unable to comment on-wiki and that editors' email access from WP-->him has been disabled. I still don't understand...if his behavior, either on- or off-wiki has been so [fill in the blank here folks...we don't know what we don't know] that he is barred from his own user-talk so he cannot communicate with us on-wiki AND his email access has been borked both outgoing and incoming via EnWiki...why does the ban/block only last a year? Shearonink (talk) 07:19, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• (edit conflict) All of this makes me think that I need to find at least one long-term Wikipedian that I trust, confirm my identity with them so that if I get banned by a WMF Office Action I can still be able to communicate with someone who can still post here. I'll have to have my own Designated Survivor on-wiki... Shearonink (talk) 07:28, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• (modification EC) Well one of the reasons why this ban seems to be contentious is because it was only partial suggesting whatever the problem is it wasn't severe enough to warranty a complete ban from WMF projects. So Fram can comment elsewhere if they desire albeit risking being blocked by the other project for importing drama. Then again it's arguably on-topic at meta and at a stretch anywhere since people are uncertain what's the reason for the block and therefore people in other projects may also be uncertain whether there's reason to be concerned over Fram editing their project. Probably the bigger issue is the WMF could consider commenting on the ban elsewhere justification to extend the ban to the other project. And of course, Fram is also able to comment anywhere outside WMF project. I'm not sure if they have any existing identities connected to them elsewhere but realistically a joe job is likely to be quickly noticed. I recall some mention somewhere in this long discussion that others have been in contact outside the WMF universe before this blew up so added reason why it would be impossible to joe job if Fram is interested in commenting. Now whether or not we are able to discuss Fram's comments on en.wikipedia, even more so if they are posted outside of the WMF universe is less clear cut. Still the point remains Fram is able to comment if they wish to. As others have mentioned there is a possibility that Fram has agreed not to comment for whatever reason. More likely they either are not even aware of this yet, are aware but are holding off on commenting for now, or maybe don't even intend do ever for whatever reason. Nil Einne (talk) 07:22, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• At the risk of taking this a bit too far, I have a few thoughts:
  

As a matter of procedure, this decision and announcement has been in the works for at least around four weeks, and potentially a lot longer. The WMF knew what the reaction to this would be, but they also know how much power they hold, and probably expects us to complain for a week or so, until most of us eventually get tired and forget all this happened. And after all, what is one admin? Some among us may miss him, but will the project?

If we stop and think, we see the real issue: if we do nothing, this will happen again. The WMF grows year after year, and they become increasingly obsessed with their image, their brand. When they aren't satisfied with the community process, they will intervene. They will give themselves additional powers, bypass community consensus, shape projects as they see fit. And why not? There are no consequences. All the content here is free, but the means of distributing it is not, which means they hold all the cards.

But what is the cost? The fundamental appeal of Wikipedia is that it is free and open, it belongs to no one, and has no agenda. When the WMF takes actions such as this, they undermine those values. In rendering unappealable dictates they deny participation to communitymembers; by subverting existing disciplinary processes they take control from the hands of ordinary users; by concealing their reasoning and motives they engender fear, mistrust, and uncertainty. These actions have a profoundly chilling and disruptive effect.

So what can we do? The WMF would like nothing better than to post their vague non-statement and disappear, to let this peter out. If we wait for them to come back for Q&A, we will be waiting a long time. Our only real option is to force them to engage with us (or our representatives) by presenting a united front and using whatever leverage we have combined. What exactly that entails or how it could be organized I couldn't begin to speculate, but it seems worthy of consideration. Bear in mind: the issue isn't one ban/desysop, it's the role of the WMF in our project and how far we're willing to let them push their authority before we push back. —Rutebega (talk) 05:26, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• There's one I can think of, but it would likely result in the admin and bureaucrat doing it being whacked - do to WMFOffice what they did to Fram, minus revoking talk page and email, and leave them blocked unless and until they can come up with a satisfactory explanation for this. It's clear the Trust and Safety team fucked this up, so the easiest way to make it clear we disapprove is to block and deop the main office account. It is symbolic more than anything, but it would, if nothing else, force them to acknowledge that there is unrest among the serfs. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 05:32, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Actually, that's an interesting thought: We can ban by consensus of the community. Granted, the WMF may not honor such a ban and may do what they're doing anyway, but I think just being subject to such a sanction would be a significant statement in itself. (And if the WMF themselves are evading a ban, can they complain if someone else evades one of theirs?) Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 05:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• We can't overrule OFFICE (which blocking the associated account amounts to); but is there any ToU reason we can't ban any account ending in "… (WMF)"? So far as I can tell, they haven't carved out a loophole for employee-role accounts anywhere, and that would send a pretty loud signal about our unhappiness at this situation. Accumulating WMF-account block logs over years would also be a nice way to keep track of incidents of overreach over time. --Xover (talk) 06:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• There's a similar long discussion at de.wiki over here. From my cursory glances, I see that the Foundation had ignored the editors in entirety, after posting the same boilerplate statement. We ought not expect anything different, over here. ∯WBG^converse 05:41, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• So, several problems here. The first is the lack of transparency. I know there are cases where private, off-wiki evidence is used in a decision, and in that case, privacy issues are what they are. But in that case, WMF should at least say that they made their decision partially or entirely based upon evidence which cannot be released to the community. (Of course, they should only be making decisions in those cases; if everything is available to the community, the community should be making the decision as to what to do about it, including nothing.) And in those cases, where they're too sensitive for even ArbCom to handle, I was aware of the details of a few when I was on ArbCom, and there was never a case where only a year's ban was justified. Situations grave enough to be handled by WMF should be cases where a user has done something extremely egregious with serious off-wiki consequences, and should be cases where that person should never, under any circumstances, be allowed back. Not your run of the mill edit warring, or editors sniping at one another during a discussion; that should be handled on-wiki, and WMF should not be handling matters where only a time-limited sanction would be the appropriate remedy. If the issue was, as UninvitedCompany guessed above, related to sockpuppetry, well—in the very thread above this one, ArbCom and the CheckUser team handled an admin inappropriately using socks. So that is clearly not a case where, even by the WMF's own policy, the community can't handle that issue. We literally just handled it. So, this seems like a way for WMF to step in and overrule decisions by the community (including a decision not to act at all, which is itself a decision made), and to do it with "We have banned __________ because they...did something. The evidence of that is...we won't tell you. Our reasons for deciding the ban was warranted are...well, won't tell you those either, but they were very good ones; just trust us." One of the values of the community has always been that decisions are, to the greatest extent possible, made transparently, publicly, and by consensus. By doing things this way, we don't even know what to do next. The WMF statement says Fram can run a new RfA, and, well, sure, he can, but what do we do from there? Is Fram a victim of WMF overzealousness or an error in judgment, or did he do something we legitimately should be concerned about? Should Fram be welcomed back with open arms, watched closely, or perhaps even sanctioned further? Well, because of this Star Chamber style of doing things, we don't know. So, based upon all this, I will, if no one else gets to it first, be preparing a statement of no confidence for editors to comment on, and if that gains broad consensus, the next step from there might be community sanctions or a ban against User:WMFOffice. I think it's time to remind WMF that they are here to serve, not rule, the Wikimedia projects and their communities. I thought that lesson had been sufficiently taught to them with the last few software fiascos and their increased engagement with the community following that, but perhaps Trust & Safety, too, need to learn that "We're going to do what we do, we're not going to tell you why, and fuck you if you don't like it", which is what their statement says (if in more polite language and a great deal more of it), is never an acceptable approach for dealing with the volunteers here. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 06:35, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
  • I think this is an excellent idea, and I would love to help you draft the statement. Starting a discussion among the community and determining consensus, if it exists, is the way we make all our important decisions, and it would help organize us and send an unambiguous message to the WMF that we disapprove. We occasionally need the their legal protection, but we don't need this overreach. Community sanctions against WMFOffice, if done right, could show that this community can handle itself, its rules, and its members. It also might be interesting to consider an RFA for Fram in absentia, conditional on the WMF not saying anything more. The page WP:RFA is nothing more than a place to form consensus about whether an editor should be made an admin, and there's no reason we can't form that consensus without the editor in question accepting a nomination at the conventional page. I think starting with a statement like you suggest is the right way to go about any of this. KSFT ^(t|c) 07:29, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Banned without the right of correspondence. Careful. You, the unfortunate reader, could be next. EclipseDude (Chase Totality) 06:38, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• The real point is this. "However, on occasion community members submit evidence strongly indicating cases where local communities consistently struggle to uphold not just their own autonomous rules but the Terms of Use, too.". Now, we know that Fram hasn't broken the TOU with their editing on enwiki in the last few months because we can see their contributions. Unless they've been socking, and I'm pretty sure that if that was the case Office would have blocked any socks as well, which they haven't. This only leaves off-wiki activity (including email). In which case, why didn't they just say that - no details would have to be given. Also, anything off-wiki serious enough for Fram to be "disappeared" from enwiki would almost certainly have resulted in a global lock anyway. So we need answers - after all, any of us could be next. Black Kite (talk) 07:13, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• I don't see how we can know that. For starters, how many of us have actually looked at even 5% of Fram's contribs in the past few months? I probably haven't even looked at 0.1%. More to the point, even if every single wikipedia contributor had and none of them who didn't work for the WMF had found a TOU violation, it doesn't mean the WMF didn't find one. Now this disconnect between how the WMF feels and how other contributors feel is likely to be a problem, but it doesn't mean it can't happen. And for better or worse, barring legal action the WMF is the final arbitrator on what is and what is not a violation of their TOU. (And most TOU tend to be written, and the law surrounding them likely, gives wide latitude for the company to interpret them however they wish.) And of course even when legal action proves them wrong, it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Actually similar things happen all the time in far more serious areas e.g. employment disputes. Ultimate point being, if people want to say 'in my opinion from what I've seen of Fram's on wikipedia contribs, none of them are TOU violations so I'd like to more info on what contribs, if any, that the WMF found are violations since if I don't agree I want to express my disagreement/stop editing here/whatever' that's fine. But we cannot know that the WMF didn't find some of their contribs were since we have too little info. Nil Einne (talk) 07:31, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Also, re "I'm pretty sure that if that was the case Office would have blocked any socks as well, which they haven't" I don't think we can be so certain of this either. If there was a socking issue, perhaps involving an· IP, then there would be privacy issues involved with linking the sock to Fram, and they would have had to find some other mechanism for blocking rather than the same account making that block and Fram's as its only action that day.  — Amakuru (talk) 07:43, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Yes, they'd have gotten one of their trusted admins to quietly block the sock account. But I don't think there are any other accounts involved apart from the legitimate EngFram alt. I still strongly suspect this is about Fram's vocal opposition to things like WikiData and VisualEditor. Reyk _YO! 07:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Comment 1) I want to wait a day or two in hope of hearing from Fram, before going bonkers. Fram can figure out ways to communicate with us even if all of xer(?) (that's supposed to be the possessive of the disputed pronoun "xe") wikiproject accounts are blocked. 2) But maybe someone can check if xe has a working email link at commons or meta, since the one here on en.wp is apparently disabled. 3) Yes WMF is showing a considerable tin ear, but that's ok, they lost sight of Wikipedia's supposed goals many years ago already (a rant for another place and time). I appreciate Doc James' efforts to look into this. 4) As someone already mentioned, socking per se is not against the Wikimedia TOU. Abusive socking could have been handled by the local wiki if it had been reported, but it apparently wasn't. 5) I can think of some things that might infringe the TOU without running afoul of en.wp policy (example: using a bot to scrape too many wiki pages) but this reaction seems extreme unless there is a considerable backstory. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 08:07, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Comment: The Inner Party has spoken, so all of us proles just need to suck it up and accept their power creep? That's what I got from the WMF Office statement (and their follow-up statement). From my view, this action violates WP:5P4 by not showing any respect at all to the enwiki community and its established policies and procedures. The claim of "protecting privacy" is ridiculous as multiple groups associated with Wikipedia (ArbCom, Oversight, Check User, OTRS, Stewards, and perhaps others) handle sensitive and private information regularly without any issues. We (enwiki) have people who can and do handle very sensitive and very private information on a DAILY basis. To say that such information couldn't or wouldn't be handled with just as much care by ArbCom is blatantly false. If it's an issue with an editor on a specific wiki, let the established groups on that wiki handle it. If it's so egregious, I have no doubt that ArbCom would act swiftly and decisively to protect the integrity of the project. If it's just someone getting all offended and needing a safe space, then perhaps they need to suck it up and be an adult. People are going to be offended by content on Wikipedia regardless of how careful we are. If it's an issue with someone's alleged actions, we have established procedures for dealing with that. WMFOffice needs to back off and stop micromanaging. </steps off soapbox and goes back to mostly lurking> ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe · Join WP Japan! 23:31, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Fram's response on Commons

Thank you to everyone who commented at the various discussions or sent me an email about this. I'm as baffled about this as any of you, I'll share whatever information I have. i'll not repost full emails, as that is normally not allowed, but I'll try to give a fair assessment.

In April 2018, I received an office email from Kalliope (on behalf of the Trust and Safety team) with a "conduct warning" based on offwiki complaint by unnamed editors. "I have taken a look at several conflicts you’ve had over the years with other community members as well as Foundation staff, and I have noticed increasing levels of hostility, aggressive expression—some of which, to the point of incivility—and counterproductive escalations." The "as well as Foundation staff" is quite telling here...

In March 2019, I received a "reminder" about two edits I made in October 2018 (!); this one and this one. Even though acknowledging that my edits were correct, and that "We remain convinced that the activity on Laura’s articles listed above was not intended to intimidate or make her feel uncomfortable." (which is true, as I was, as is most often the case, new page patrolling when I tagged and corrected these), they issued a one-sided interaction ban (yep, the WMF issues interaction bans as well apparently, no need to bother enwiki with these any longer).

And then a few hours ago, they posted my one year ban, and helpfully gave the actual reason. Which is one edit, this one. That's it.

"This decision has come following extensive review of your conduct on that project and is an escalation to the Foundation’s past efforts to encourage course correction, including a conduct warning issued to you on April 2018 and a conduct warning reminder issued to you on March 2019. With those actions in mind, this ban has been triggered following your recent abusive communications on the project, as seen here [2].

This action is effective immediately and it is non-appealable."

Basically, after you recive a conduct warning from the Office based on undisclosed complaints, any pretext is then good enough to ban you (1 year now, I presume indef the next time I do anything they don't like). That I just happen to be one of the most vocal and efficient critics of the WMF is probably a pure coincidence (sorry to tout my own horn here, but in this case it needs to be said).

No evidence at all that the enwiki community tried and failed to address these issues. No indication that they noticed that my conduct has clearly improved in general over the last 12 months (I said improved, not been raised to saintly standards). No, an edit expressing widefelt frustration with an ArbCom post is sufficient to ban me.

I would like to state empathically, if someone would have doubts about it, that I have not socked (despite the rather nefarious sounding "Office actions are covering individuals and not just individual user accounts. Therefore, the measure covers more than one user account in this case."), I have not contacted or otherwise followed or bothered anyone offwiki, I have not even contributed to any of the Wikipedia criticism sites or fora (though it does become tempting now), ... Everything I did is visible on enwiki, no privacy issues are involved, and all necessary complaint, investigations, actions, could have been made onwiki.

Basically, this one-year ban is at the same time a means to silence one of their most vocal (and fact-based, consistently supporting WMF criticism with many examples of what goes wrong) critics, and a serious (and unwarranted) blame for the enwiki admin and arbcom community, who are apparently not able to upheld the TOU and to manage the site effectively.

This ban is not open to appeal, so I'll not bother with it: but I most clearly disagree with it and the very flimsy justification for it, and oppose this powergrab by the WMF which can't be bothered to deal with actual serious issues (like the rampant BLP violating vandalism at Wikidata, where e.g. Brett Kavanaugh has since 31 March 2019 the alias "rapist"[3] (A BLP violation whether you agree with the sentiment or not).

I have not the faintest clue why the WMF also couldn't post the justification for their block online, but communication has never been their strongest point.

Any non-violent action taken by enwiki individuals or groups against this WMF ban has my support. If you need more information, feel free to ask. I also allow the WMF to publish our full mail communication (I don't think it contains any personally identifying information about me or others), to give everyone the means to judge this impartially for themselves.

Again, thank you to everyone who expressed their support, especially those who would have reasons to dislike me based on previous interactions. I'm not a model admin or editor, but I believe I was steadily improving. But that's not for enwiki to decide apparently. Fram (talk) 07:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Copying Fram's statement from Commons here. --Pudeo (talk) 08:24, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• WTF? Did the ArbCom have any problem with the last diff? This is ridiculous and WMF T&S have been effectively appropriating the role of ArbCom without any minimal transparency. Nothing mentioned over here, needs any privileged dealings. ∯WBG^converse 08:32, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Yeah, always a good idea to silence people who criticise you. Reminiscent of the Nazis. The Rambling Man (talk) 08:35, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• "This action is effective immediately and it is non-appealable" - Huh?! It can take months to desyop an admin on here, with plenty of discussion, but this sort of thing can happen behind closed doors? Great way for WMF to help with editor retention. Lugnuts ^{Fire Walk with Me} 08:36, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Pathetic behavior by the WMF. The community needs to send a strong message that this type of side stepping of the community policies and guidelines will not be tolerated. Mr Ernie (talk) 08:42, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Well someone, or some people at WMF should be removed from their position really. This is a disgraceful abuse of position. The Rambling Man (talk) 08:44, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Who and where and how do we send the strong message that this is a community and deserves community discussion. - I am not biased, no particular friend of Fram. Silencing criticism in such an obscure way is not acceptable. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:51, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• OK, that's that then. You can be unappealably unilaterally banned (and effectively gagged) and desysopped, without discussion or recourse, by WMF on the strength of two or three edits and the use of the F-word. Good to know. Softlavender (talk) 08:54, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
  • Fuck that. >:( Reyk _YO! 08:55, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Wait. Seriously? It was for incivility? Incivility that supposedly culminated in this statement, speaking out against a highly controversial Arbcom action? Sentiments which were so overwhelmingly backed by the community, that Arbcom actually backpedaled and issued a correction? That was it? Are you fucking kidding me? The office is banning people for incivility towards Arbcom? In that case, there are no privacy considerations, and it isn't confidential. So who complained to the fucking office? Was it an Arbcom member? Was it an established editor? Who? Was it the one Arb who resigned? This is beyond insanity. Why the fuck is the office civility policing, this user, after so many years? Is this a joke? Honestly, if no one complained, then that's even worse. Who's responsible for this? Please, have some integrity and come forward. At least own it, like Arbcom did. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 08:59, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Incase anyone has missed this, Jimbo is reviewing the situation. Lugnuts ^{Fire Walk with Me} 10:17, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Yeah, that'll help. ‑ Iridescent 10:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Also who is LauraHale and what is her role in this? So far we have allegations that you warned Fram for unspecified and anonymous complaints, then you unilaterally IBANNED Fram for good faith edits that happened to “make [LauraHale] feel uncomfortable”, and the next piece of evidence is a legitimate critique of an Arbcom blunder that the community overwhelmingly backed. It doesn’t add up. How can one, or two, or even a handful of users lobby the Office for a unilateral ban of a MOSTACTIVE admin? Since when can we circumvent the process by lobbying the office? Or was a staff member on Fram’s case the whole time? In either case, why wasn’t this referred to the relevant on-wiki authority? Laura, do you have any insight on this? ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 10:20, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  I will provide for you two pieces of the puzzle. First one is on the top of Laura's talk page and has been there for longer than I can remember. Another one is this one. Note that none of them answers your question though.--Ymblanter (talk) 10:40, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  I assume Swarm already read that thing on the talk page since they mentioned said editor's name here. Nil Einne (talk) 10:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  She is mentioned above by Fram and, as far as I see, nowhere else on this page. I stopped short of mentioning her yesterday.--Ymblanter (talk) 10:53, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Ymblanter, if you are saying what I think you are saying, this whole thing could have been easily and equitably resolved at ANI, and if not fully resolved there, definitely at ArbCom. Such run-of-the-mill interactions and disagreements are exactly what our noticeboards are designed to handle. The fact that an editor or editors did an end-run and went straight to WMF is truly tragic, and has resulted in massive overkill and a reprehensible unilateral "unappealable" secretive longterm action by WMF. A bad deal all around. Softlavender (talk) 11:29, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  I actually agree with that. I think this is a real conflict, or at least was a real conflict, and it should have been probably gone to ArbCom. It is absolutely inappropriate by WMF to take offica action here rather than referring the case to ArbCom, using the established community dispute resolution procedures.--Ymblanter (talk) 11:34, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Well it's worse than that. Not only did it not go to Arbcom, but apparently Arbcom weren't even informed about it. The Rambling Man (talk) 11:35, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Were even the preliminary conduct-dispute-resolution boards (ANI/AN) which typically hands out IBans et al, invoked? It does not seem so ..... We ought to mention T&S, in our page about dispute resolution, seems to be an impressively effective method! ∯WBG^converse 11:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Not that I think it matters in this case, but they were alerted that WMF is considering a sanction against Fram which would be solely on en.wp, see OR's responde on the ArbCom talk page.--Ymblanter (talk) 11:43, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

On "who is LauraHale" question, in my fuzzy memory banks I recall a period of interactoin on GA reviews maybe 7 years ago. My recollection was they they had a WMF role or connection. The just-noted message at their talk page also mentioned WMF members. Back then they opened an Arbcom case which resulted in an editor getting banned.North8000 (talk) 21:58, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• This is a major vote of no confidence by T&S in Arbcom and this community's ability to maintain appropriate norms and standards. If T&S do indeed believe that the "local community is consistently struggling to uphold the Terms of Use", then that is serious: they should be making Arbcom directly aware of their concerns, and having a full and frank discussion with the community. This is the very least we should expect. But there has been no such discussion. Otherwise, and given that there appears to be no issue of urgent safeguarding here, T&S's untransparent and unchallengeable actions appear to be an over-reach, beyond their charter, ultra vires. Our systems are not perfect. Bringing and taking an issue through Arbcom can involve a huge amount of process: intimidating, overwhelming, exhausting; and too often a drama-fest. There is the question of whether some users are so-called "unblockables". And, on the other side of the coin, there would also be sensitivities if it seemed WMF were taking sides, one user over another, in a public process. But the clear message needs to go out, that we expect T&S to normally encourage (and perhaps support) users to work through established community processes, unless there are reasons not to do so that are truly pressing and overwhelming. That does not appear to be the case here, so the community is entirely right to be up in arms. T&S has serious questions to answer, if it felt its involvement here was unavoidable - to the community, preferably; failing that, if necessary, to the board. Its role is not to supplant Arbcom and community processes except in the most extreme circumstances -- which these do not appear to have been. Jheald (talk) 11:07, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Earlier in this discussion we were told that stewards has agreed this action was justified. Would any steward care to comment on whether Fram's summary is accurate to the best of their knowledge, and whether they agree that the action is justified? As far as I can see the action was totally unjustified, and if the stewards think otherwise, it's not only WMF that needs a vote of no confidence. Absconded Northerner (talk) 11:24, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Absconded Northerner, AFAIS, Tony claimed that some particular steward had asserted of the justifiability/seriousness of the action. Ajratadzz, a steward has said that Fram's ban was not discussed among them. I don't see as how all stewards are to blame. ∯WBG^converse 11:29, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• That's a fair reading but I think it can also be read as multiple stewards. I should probably have separated my hypothetical from the question more clearly too. At the moment I don't see any problem with the stewards individually or as a group. I apologise for my lack of clarity. Absconded Northerner (talk) 11:59, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Ajr mentioned it as in we haven't discussed it as a "Stewards" group (I can also vouch that that there was no discussions about this), and what Tony said is (IMO) some stewards has said they (personally) believe the actions were justified outside our "Stewards" group talks. (I'm just clarifying this and won't look back on this page (even for popcorns for Wikidrama) for next few weeks. If you have questions about this, I'll try to answer you on my talk page except I am not going to name Tony's some stewards, or my opinion on this matter.) — Gisado aka -revi 07:03, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Absent a coherent response from Trust & Safety, I believe Fram.

Folks here probably don't know because it's not technically part of this project, but something is foul over at Azerbaijani Wikipedia. A cabal of admins has formed there publishing clearly politically biased material with an agenda, much of it blatant copyright violations, and also defending each other and blocking any editor who expresses disagreement. In short, they have hijacked the project to turn it into Armenian-genocide-denial-pedia. The admin at the centre of the dispute more or less admitted it. That seems pretty bad, doesn't it? Like something the WMF would want to step in and urgently do something about, in defense of their brand and Wikipedia's mission? Well, you'd be wrong. The Foundation seems plenty comfortable trying to let the global community (with participation from the allegedly corrupt azwiki admins) work this one out on its own. There has been a discussion going on over at meta ("Do something about azwiki") for a month now, which WMF was notified about on May 21, and responded that they "[would] evaluate the situation". A proposal to the effect of desysopping and banning all of the admins at Azerbaijani Wikipedia is stalled because stewards insist it requires WMF intervention. They haven't. But Fram says "fuck" to an arbitrator? That's what the Foundation thinks needs urgent office action.

It is a completely outrageously disproportionate response for the WMF to have interfered here. We're the biggest 'pedia and the most active, with the longest-standing and most mature community processes to deal with this kind of benign incivility, had anyone participating in that discussion felt offended enough to engage in them. Frankly Arbcom deserved being sworn at for that ridiculous notice, and Fram was hardly the only one expressing outrage in that thread (related: User:Ivanvector/2019 Arbitration Committee protest - if I am officebanned in the same way as Fram has been, that's most likely why). Using that as a pretext to pick off one of the Foundation's most vocal critics reads like somewhere between a bad day in the Comms department and outright tyranny. I'm for doing something right up to and including "going bonkers". Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 13:26, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I was also thinking of the Azeri festering pustule, which is allowed to continue even today without anybody at WMF apparently caring. At least their page "So-called Armenian genocide" was moved to a less offensive title today. --Randykitty (talk) 14:17, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Have we considered de-crosslinking articles from that wiki until such time as that situation is brought under control? Lepricavark (talk) 15:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• After reading many paragraphs of text, this all boils down to Fram used some vulgar language and so the WMF banned him for a year. This is a mind-boggling turn of events. Useight's Public Sock (talk) 14:52, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Note to self, if I ever have any problem with another editor's conduct, especially a longstanding admin, I'll be sure to go straight to WP:OFFICE! Yeehaw, chaos reigns! R2 (bleep) 20:01, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Community response to WMF

OK, I said further up that I wanted to wait a few days to hear from Fram before going bonkers. 17 minutes later, we heard from Fram. Is it time to go bonkers?

Support response to WMF (1st proposal)

1. The block of Fram was ridiculous micromanagement by the WMF, and Fram wasn't even that noisy a WMF or Arbcom critic (I'm sure everyone here can think of noisier ones). I'm not an admin so don't want to sound like "let's you and him fight". But the strongest response I can think of offhand would be an admin general strike (let the WMF handle its own vandalism and BLP reversions, or shut off editing) until Fram is unblocked and resysopped.

   Something like that should only be done if there is considerable solidarity among the active admins. They should communicate with each other (probably off-wiki though it couldn't really be private) before deciding.

   Lesser actions are also possible (suggest your own). As a resolution I'd be fine with the WMF referring the matter to the en.wp arbcom, which I think would respond with an appropriate "sheesh" and do nothing. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 08:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

2. Silencing criticism in such an obscure way is not acceptable --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:53, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
3. Fram can be abusive, hostile, a pain, but existing WP policy is sufficient to ensure that we separate harassment from robust discussion. If the WMF believes Arbcom is incompetent, or policy is not being implemented properly, then that is something to raise openly, where the evidence can help improve the culture and norms. This action should be handled from here on by Arbcom, where Fram can follow the appeals process. --Fæ (talk) 08:54, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
4. What Fæ said. If an editor is causing problems, we have mechanisms either to deal with the problem or to decide that the problem isn't actionable; we don't need the WMF sending in secret death squads to eliminate editors against whom they've taken a dislike, simply because they don't trust our own processes to come to their preferred verdict. Consider this a complete vote of no confidence. ‑ Iridescent 08:59, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
5. Per Iridescent, this is a vote of no confidence. Yes, I know this will put me on the WMF's hit list. No, I do not care. Reyk _YO! 09:05, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
6. Per Fae and Iridescent. ∯WBG^converse 09:10, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
7. First they came ...; per all the above. (Block all WMF accounts for a period as a minimum - anything 10 minutes to a match of Fram's block), just to kick things off. - SchroCat (talk) 09:11, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
8. Yes. The community needs to make it overwhelmingly clear to the Foundation folks that actions like this are not welcome here and won't be tolerated. If they won't repeal that ban, and do it quickly, heads must role at the office. Fut.Perf. ☼ 09:12, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
9. We have long-established processes in place. We don't need or want WMF office actions for anything other than serious legal / safeguarding issues. A faceless, anonymous WMF account with no accountability, no intention of explaining themselves, and no competence or experience deciding s/he knows better than the entire en.wiki community, deciding our norms for us, and flinging around blocks is not what we signed up to. WMF, if you don't trust the en.wiki admin corps, the en.wiki bureaucrat team, and the en.wiki arbitration committee to manage our own house, feel free to go right ahead and look after it yourselves. Block your own vandals, protect your own pages, why should we do it for you if there's no trust? Fish+Karate 09:14, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
10. Consider my comment a vote of no confidence in the WMF. This was a sanction in search of a reason, and when none could be found, the WMF hid behind Trust & Safety. Mr Ernie (talk) 09:15, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
11. Overturn as a gross abuse of wmf t&s oversight. I'll have more words later, but this unilateral ban for criticizing ARBCOM is completely unwarranted. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 09:16, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    Expanded version: I don't support strikes, letting vandalism in, or anything that would jeopardize our core mission. Plus, if this was the brainfart of a couple of well-meaning but over-reaching people in the ass end of a basement in the WMF, we should at least wait until the higher ups at the WMF respond. Yeah the T&S team fucked up (and I find the 'deep state' silence-the-critic accusations to be too out there and unsubstantiated to be believable at this point). But if this is resolved in say 1 week, or at the WMF meeting, let's not shoot ourselves in the foot by having to undo 7 days of unchecked vandalism. If vandalism/vandals are allowed, what pressure does that put on the WMF? Very little, if any. BLP lawsuits? Let's not forget that the real victims would be the subject of the biographies, not the WMF. If the WMF fails to properly respond? You want to take an action that puts actual pressure on the WMF? Then block all WMF accounts from enwiki. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 17:24, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    This is indeed precisely what I meant above, and it is clearly not ok. I do think there are issues (or more precisely there were issues a year ago), but they must have been handled via existing on-wiki processes.--Ymblanter (talk) 09:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC) I still think like this, but the header has been changed in the meanwhile, and I can not support the new header. --Ymblanter (talk) 15:42, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

12. Support per Mr Ernie. WMF have made a huge error of judgement, people should lose their positions over this, and Fram should be restored to the community. The Rambling Man (talk) 09:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
13. (edit conflict × 8) I also agree with Fæ and Iridescent. I'm certainly not Fram's biggest fan but we do have processes here to deal with actual problems and it does not look as this was attempted and failed. That said, I do generally see a problem with WP:UNBLOCKABLES being able to evade scrutiny and in these cases an intervention from the Foundation might actually be helpful if local processes failed. I just don't see that this was the case here although I am open to be persuaded iff the WMF actually explains their actions. Regards SoWhy 09:20, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
14. I support any of the following "community responses" in order of decreasing severity: 1) a ban or block of WMFOffice, 2) a TBAN to WMFOffice from enacting blocks, bans, desysops etc except where legality supersedes community desire and/or 3) a general admin and editor strike. Consider this a vote of no-confidence with sanctions attached. (Oh yes, noting Headbomb's vote I'm also up for a very bold overturn of the office sanctions if that's the way we want to play it). Mr rnddude (talk) 09:20, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
15. Overturn the ban, and start seriously discussing methods to ban Foundation-controlled accounts support MER-C's discretionary sanctions suggestion in instances of hideous overreach like this. This is not just beyond the pale, it's something that any other admin would lose his tools and very likely his editing rights over given how grossly disproportionate this is. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 09:23, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
16. Per Mr Ernie - this is an excuse to push through unwanted software changes when they can't even get the basics right. This decision should have been referred to Arbcom. Put all WMF staff under discretionary sanctions while we're at it. FYI: Community action against the WMF is not unprecedented - we nearly had to resort to using the abuse filter to implement WP:ACTRIAL (see Wikipedia talk:The future of NPP and AfC/The DGG discussion and Wikipedia talk:The future of NPP and AfC/Archive 1. MER-C 09:29, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    That is an interesting point. "Structured data"? "AI-generated content"? The WMF has a serious conflict of interest with the supposed goal of writing an encyclopedia. But, I don't think that was the motivation for the immediate incident. It seems more like a facepalm-worthy attempt at living the wokeness currently fashionable in the internet platform management world. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 09:51, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

17. Per Mr Ernie and Iridescent. While Fram might be a "love him or hate him" character, they most certainly do not deserve such underhanded action. And the WMFs attempt at censorship is akin to an online dictatorship. Cassianto^Talk 09:33, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
18. Support withdrawal of service. Until this is overturned, the WMF can do my admin job too, because I won't. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 09:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    Honestly, an admin/functionary strike might help - or it might backfire horribly. I'm doubtful it'd be ignored, though. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 09:52, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    The only thing which would help is a blackout for a visible period of time.--Ymblanter (talk) 09:57, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    I can't see any backfire that could possibly affect me. As I say in the section below, I will not work as an admin under the control of an unaccountable civility police - and if that is not rectified, I don't want to be an admin here anyway. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 10:36, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

19. Support - I'm not really following this monster thread any more, but follow whatever action (such as striking) my fellow editors/admins agree upon. I'm not a scab! GiantSnowman 10:06, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
20. Support - if people go for this then I'm in. I too am appalled by what's happened and happy to go with whatever consensus is reached. Another possible idea is to replace the main page with a banner of some sort. We could do that as a community couldn't we?  — Amakuru (talk) 10:22, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    Yes, of course, if we have a consensus to do so. The Rambling Man (talk) 10:24, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    I would oppose doing anything destructive to the encyclopedia itself - I simply support the withdrawal of admin labour. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 10:39, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    Admins going on strike is ipso facto destructive to the encyclopedia because it will give vandals the temporary ability to make hay. That action, although likely to make the WMF take notice, is actually a lot worse than turning off the main page would be, since it would affect our readers and the accuracy of what they read without their necessarily being aware that then are being affected.  — Amakuru (talk) 11:08, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    The distinction I'm trying to make is between any of us actively doing anything destructive, and passively not doing anything to stop destruction. And I think that's an important distinction. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 11:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    It is necessary to make it clear that we work here as volunteers and can withdraw our free labour as and when we choose. This is a message that some people at WMF apparently do not choose to hear. · · · Peter Southwood ^(talk): 11:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

21. Support general strike as described. Just halting Main Page processes like TFA, ITN, DYK, and OTD is going to make SanFran uncomfortable. Chris Troutman (talk) 10:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    It'll take some balls, but that's a great idea. Let's just delete tomorrow's TFA, DYK, OTD, ITN, TFP. The Rambling Man (talk) 10:30, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    No, we shouldn't actively break things, just passively not do them any more until this is resolved. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 10:41, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    I propose that we let the stale TFA, DYKs et al remain. No need to actively blank stuff.

    And, along with that, cease using editorial/admin tools. If the WMF can micromanage to such extents, they can certainly write the encyclopedia and maintain it. ∯WBG^converse 10:44, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    Yes, let's not be actively disruptive - just passive. Non-violent civil disobedience. GiantSnowman 10:47, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    Alright, that. The Rambling Man (talk) 10:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

22. Support Vote of no confidence, blocking all WMF usernames not associated with a specified person, and a general "down admin tools" until this has been reversed. · · · Peter Southwood ^(talk): 11:08, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
23. Support vote of no confidence. I will participate in any non-destructve measures to drive home the community's rejection of this gross overstep. Tiderolls 11:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
24. Support CBAN per CIR. I believe there should be a measured and proportionate community response to this, so obviously we should hand out 1 year unappealable bans like candy. The OFFICE ban is ridiculous, and so is the form letter statement. At least put together a half-assed explanation when banning people, if a full-assed one is too hard. Alpha3031 (t • c) 11:22, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
25. Support Go bonkers. Per Fae & my longer comments above. [4]. T&S should not supplant Arbcom and community processes except in the most extreme circumstances -- which these do not appear to have been. Jheald (talk) 11:25, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
26. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 11:30, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
27. Support, per the above. Karellen93 (talk) (Vanamonde93's alternative account) 12:44, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
28. I agree with many above that, based on the information provided here so far, this action by the WMF Office appears irresponsible and unjustified. I support the community overturning it, to the extent possible under applicable policy, and pending a better explanation by the WMF Office. Sandstein 13:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
29. Support anything that doesn't damage the encyclopedia. —pythoncoder (talk | contribs) 13:39, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
30. Support - I'm a non-admin, and even I think that something needs to be done, if nothing else to at least get the WMF's attention.--WaltCip (talk) 14:21, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
31. Support - I'm out for now. - Sitush (talk) 14:44, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
32. Support Just like the people in Hong Kong knew what was coming a long time, we knew what was coming the minute they started locking accounts at all. But now that it's here and they're directly making their move to take over, we still might as well protest like those million people on the front page. We accumulated a lot of content and a lot of money and now a certain class of Better Than Us is here to take it all for themselves so they can continue to be Better Than Us. Wnt (talk) 14:51, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
33. Support at a minimum, we need to strongly consider banning LauraHale for her the grotesque and unconscionable overreach that resulted in an IBan, evidently at her behest. And yes, I'm quite comfortable taking Fram's word against the WMF's word. Why? Because Fram is the one who cares about and contributes to this community. Lepricavark (talk) 14:58, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    Do you have any reason to suppose it was her behind this? Two edits pertaining to her were used to explain the initial 'warning', but I don't want to infer too much from that. If we lash out at a bystander carelessly, we'll take a beating for it. Wnt (talk) 15:16, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    I've revised my statement slightly, but suffice it to say the initial warning was extremely shady. Going back several months and handing out an IBan for two edits that weren't even inappropriate? Unbelievable. And I doubt that she had nothing to do with it. Lepricavark (talk) 15:33, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

34. Support Note that this is not exclusive to my support of other options. rdfox 76 (talk) 15:14, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
35. Support If "going bonkers" means strong, escalating responses to the WMF action - which has not been satisfactorily explained to the community - based on the continuing evolution of the situation, then yes, indeed, the community needs to "go bonkers" to adequately express its displeasure. Beyond My Ken (talk) 17:01, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
36. Support Going bonkers, on strike, cancelling TFA etc whatever. Fuck the WMF, it's clearly starting to become incompetent to run the projects. They have little to no care about situations that clearly need their involvement (Croatian and Azerbaijan Wikipedia) but for some reason is happy to suddenly ban an admin while revoking talk and email for stuff that should be dealt here. Also block the WMFOffice account as a violation of the username policy. CoolSkittle (talk) 17:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
37. Support: There's a cancer at the heart of the Wikipedia establishment, and this is yet another example of it. That the Office have gone over the heads of the entire community to ban Fram for "civility" issues which wouldn't even result in a slap on the wrist from AN/I is unconscionable and we shouldn't have any part in it. Sceptre (talk) 18:01, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
38. Support - The WMFs blocking and response above is all but bullshit and I would 100% support any strike that happens, If it's true Fram was blocked due to that last diff then well my respect for the WMF is nothing ... pretty much like their statement really. –Davey2010^Talk 19:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
39. Support walkout per B!sZ, who said everything I wanted to without the WTF sputtering. When I think of all the time I've spent helping to shore up Jimbo's pet project, I feel like a damn fool. Miniapolis 00:42, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
40. Support going bonkers. 04:15, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
41. Support - think it was excessive and opaque. starship.paint (talk) 05:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Oppose response to WMF (1st proposal)

1. "Go bonkers" isn't really specific enough for me to be able to support. I do not support many of the escalation paths listed in the support section, such as beginning to block WMF-related accounts. It'd be nice to hear a more specific proposal. --Deskana (talk) 11:11, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
2. Oppose anything more than a passive "down tools" action right now. No WMF blocks, bans, or anything like that, as that is over-reaction at this stage. Jimmy is apparently looking at it, Doc James suggests the board will look at it, ArbCom is apparently seeking clarification. So let's keep our heads cool and not go dramatically overboard until we see how that all turns out, huh? Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 11:14, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
3. More or less per Boing! said Zebedee in this section. Let's wait for inquiries to produce anything. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 11:32, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
4. Oppose I'm particularly concerned about any attempts to make this a "you're either with us or against us" type situation with comments about scabs etc. If individual editors (including admins) want to stop editing here (including taking admin action) they're completely welcome to. But it would be incredibly harmful to everyone if we try and force others to act in a certain way. I'm likewise obviously completely oppose to any active attempt to harm wikipedia like deleting elements of the main page. (To be clear, blocking WMF accounts doesn't fall into that category since the WMF can ultimately override those if needed although I am opposed to it as it's something which just seems silly.) See also my oppose to the other proposal. Nil Einne (talk) 11:35, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
5. Oppose - I don't see how this is going to help. Our responsibility is towards the encyclopedia, and us downing tools as our first counter-step is insanely counter-productive. Let's let the community reps on the Board have a go (they meet on the 14th June) and give us a thumb up/down on whether it was reasonable (even if excoriatingly badly handled). Nosebagbear (talk) 11:48, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
6. Oppose. "Go bonkers" is not something that will plausibly help defuse the situation or result in any other positive outcome - whatever your view about Fram or the WMF. Thryduulf (talk) 12:00, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   Thryduulf, have you missed a "not" from this? - SchroCat (talk) 12:04, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   @SchroCat: I did indeed, now fixed. I went through about three different ways of phrasing this before clicking save - seems I didn't update everything! Thryduulf (talk) 12:20, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

7. 'going bonkers' can rarely count on my support and I support the statement by Zebedee above. I do however find this entire page plenty evidence as to why people would feel safer turning to T&S than to the community when it concerns Fram's behavior. I've long stated that I think the community is not upholding it's own rules when it comes to certain people; That I can barely support our current core community as it is and regularly consider leaving it (it's a tough battle between the mission I care for and getting rid of negative influences in my life, which i consider this community to be). I'm also first to admit that Fram gets considerably less consideration from me. Fram's behavior towards volunteers and staff was a big part of why I turned in my sysop tools for 2,5 years. While I've seen progress by Fram over the last few years, it is far from perfect. As such none of this surprises me very much. I also note that only T&S is likely aware of employee complaints about editors. I'm not sure that was into play here, but the communication does seem to imply some history (unsurprisingly). I fully support the Foundation in providing a safe and sane atmosphere for their emmployees to work in. If you don't, then please stop using this website and start running your own and hiring people yourself that you are responsible for. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 12:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   Translation:- I developed severely shitty products during my tenure with WMF and plan to do so; Fram did not like it and criticized me. But obviously, we are above criticism. Incompetency is a virtue in WMF and we are a bunch of children, to be mollycoddled. We got angry and complained to our Class-Monitor and he (obviously) took action. Now I see that nobody supports such stuff but hey, that's the reason why I don't like the core community, at all. I am beginning to think that I am the sole arbiter of civility and that the rest of the community can fuck off. ∯WBG^converse 13:32, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   Winged Blades of Godric, I never worked for the foundation. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 13:54, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

8. Oppose per TheDJ. Gamaliel (talk) 13:25, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
9. Oppose per most of the above, basically, "go bonkers" is not something that I can support. —DoRD (talk)​ 14:15, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
10. No it is not time to go bonkers. It is time for civil discourse and possibly straw polls of actionable statements. — xaosflux ^Talk 14:16, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
11. As above. TonyBallioni (talk) 14:23, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
12. I had the pleasure of meeting TheDJ at Wikiconference North America 2018 and hold him in high regard. His statement resonates with me. What real-world court would not find someone who addressed them in the manner Fram spoke about Arbcom without finding them in contempt? At least one member of the Arbitration Committee presumably read this, and they failed to effectively respond. wbm1058 (talk) 15:56, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    ArbCom ain't your fucking Court. What do you propose next, that we start addressing the honorable arbitrators with Milord? ∯WBG^converse 18:07, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

13. Oppose. "Going Bonkers" in this case is playing chicken with a train. Calm down.--Jorm (talk) 16:55, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
14. Oppose. That said, WMF needs to exercise a bit more transparency. I doubt the three edits Fram listed are the real reason. The final may have been a last straw, but there is a lot more to this story. Until we have more information, the torches and pitchforks need to be stored for later. Montanabw^(talk) 17:24, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
15. Per TheDJ, Boing! said Zebedee and Deskana. – Ammarpad (talk) 17:28, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
16. Oppose Per my comments below and per Montanabw. Calliopejen1 (talk) 17:38, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
17. Oppose. Concur with sentiments expressed by Nil Einne, Nosebagbear and Thryduulf, among others. Overreaction will not solve any issue or improve the encyclopedia. SusunW (talk) 18:02, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
18. Oppose the initial suggestion here. I will not join in any "administrator strike". What a perfect example of disrupting Wikipedia to make a point that would be! I do agree with the reaction of most people that this seems to have been an outrageous abuse of authority (which they recently granted to themselves) by WMF. But I doubt if any amount of outrage from us editors is going to have any effect on the situation. I think that ArbCom, Jimbo, and the WMF board are the actors that might be able to do something and we should encourage them. -- MelanieN (talk) 18:15, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
19. Oppose per others. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 18:23, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
20. Rschen7754 18:39, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
21. Oppose as not really able to evaluate this non-proposal, and it's not even really clear that everyone in the "support" heading is even voting for the same thing. ST47 (talk) 10:10, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
22. Oppose cases like these are difficult enough to handle when people are calm. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 17:11, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
23. Oppose per others.--Vulphere 09:59, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
24. Oppose any strike actions. If administrators disagree with WMF's stance, the best move would be mass resignstion, not disruptions. Wikipedia's function should not be disrupted by internal issues. Administrators actively disrupting in protest should be removed for abuse. Juxlos (talk) 16:19, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Alternative proposal: The WMF was wrong to ban Fram, and we reject this overreach and have no confidence in the WMF's handling of office bans.

Support response to WMF (alternative proposal)

1. Support – I'm adding a new heading, because I don't think "go bonkers" is quite the right reaction. I don't know how I should format this, so feel free to change it. As I mentioned above, I think Seraphimblade has the right idea. KSFT ^(t|c) 09:14, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   Do you mean ban WMF accounts? I'd count that as going bonkers (and I'm in favor of going bonkers), but it is silly and wouldn't change anything (try to realistically imagine how it would play out). 67.164.113.165 (talk) 09:20, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   (edit conflict × 2) I mean that we should start by making clear statements, like, I hope, the one I wrote above, and that we should consider later symbolic protests like imposing a community ban on WMF accounts, possibly including WMFOffice. As much as I seem to agree with you, I don't think "go bonkers" is a particularly useful call to action here. This isn't mutually exclusive with the heading above. KSFT ^(t|c) 09:25, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   Do you want to suggest an alternative wording to "go bonkers"? Would "throw a gauntlet" work for you? What I mean is take non-symbolic action that potentially leads to disruption (e.g. the idea of an admin strike: who needs to do shitty volunteer work day and night if the result is to be treated like this?). Banning WMF accounts would be symbolic (i.e. ineffectual) and disruptive, which seems even more bonkers to me. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 09:33, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   Just ban the ones that do not have a responsible person attached. We already have a policy that an account must be for a single user. · · · Peter Southwood ^(talk): 13:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

2. Support. This is not mutually exclusive with the Support I will be giving above. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 09:22, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
3. Support- again, this complements my support of the "bonkers" section. Reyk _YO! 09:24, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
4. Support of course they were wrong. The Rambling Man (talk) 09:25, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
5. Support per Fæ. If the WMF can persuade ARBCOM this was justified, that would be adequate, but to have not even attempted to do so is overreach. Even as a new user, I'm shocked. GreyGreenWhy (talk) 09:26, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   I'm sorry this is one of your first looks at behind-the-curtain stuff. This doesn't paint anyone involved in any sort of a good light. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 09:30, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   For what it's worth, I appreciate the comments in opposition to this, and my support can be considered withdrawn if arbcom or the community board members express confidence this was okay. Thanks, GreyGreenWhy (talk) 12:08, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

6. Support. MER-C 09:29, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
7. Partial Support. I wasn't generally opposed to WMF's handling of Office Bans because there are some that clearly need to be done. But this is clear overreach and is firmly overstepping into issues that the community and ArbCom should have been left to handle. The T&S squad has appointed itself as an unaccountable civility police. That's a chilling development and presents an environment under which I will not work. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 10:11, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
8. Obviously Per all above. ∯WBG^converse 09:58, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
9. Support - Per everything. Mr rnddude (talk) 10:02, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
10. There are some issues that need to be handled privately, but this is not one of them. For a WMF employee to appoint themselves as en-wiki's Civility Cop and start handing out additional blocks and bans because they don't feel we're being harsh enough is a gross abuse of their position. For a WMF employee to be so clueless that they're unaware of how much reputational damage this would cause is incompetence rising to the level of outright misconduct. ‑ Iridescent 10:07, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    Yes, they should be encouraged to seek alternative employment. The Rambling Man (talk) 10:10, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

11. Support - of course. GiantSnowman 10:12, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
12. Support and one wonders if this piece of gross mismanagement is the WMF's new method of removing their critics, in which case a lot of us should be severely concerned. Black Kite (talk) 10:14, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    Well, if was good enough for the Nazis and the North Koreans... The Rambling Man (talk) 10:20, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

    This was bound to happen eventually... —pythoncoder (talk | contribs) 13:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

13. Support -  — Amakuru (talk) 10:22, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
14. Support. What Iridescent said. Fut.Perf. ☼ 10:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
15. Support as an alternative to bonkers, which is my preferred choice. Chris Troutman (talk) 10:29, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
16. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 10:52, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
17. Support as second choice to the above - SchroCat (talk) 10:55, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
18. Support No confidence in WMF's handling of this office ban, anyway. Jheald (talk) 11:28, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
19. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 11:30, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
20. Prefer this one after reflection on Boing's oppose. – Teratix ₵ 11:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
21. Support. The handling of this has been unacceptable; I have been reading and drafting responses to this thread for too long - a statement of lack of confidence is important, but other action may also be required. My guess is that at the very least, a number of experienced people will get completely disenchanted with the whole thing and gafiate (a pretty useful term, even though this isn't fandom). --bonadea contributions talk 12:37, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
22. Support --Fæ (talk) 12:37, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
23. Support -- In fact, I am very tempted to take the next year off in protest. -- Dolotta (talk) 12:44, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
24. Support Absolutely outrageous the WMF would trample over Arbcom and all our processes this way.-- Pawnkingthree (talk) 12:51, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
25. Sandstein 13:30, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
26. Support per everything. —pythoncoder (talk | contribs) 13:36, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
27. Partial support along the lines of Boing. I found Fram's actions towards ArbCom troubling, especially when ArbCom decided to started making changes in response to Fram's decision to clerk through protection like sectioning themselves (which is silly) because it suggested Fram cowed ArbCom. I still cannot in any form or factor support the WMF Office action in response. ArbCom was wrong to not stand up for itself. We the community were wrong to not stand up to Fram in a stronger way about their actions towards ArbCom. And yet despite that wrong and that inability/failure of the community to act WMF got it wrong in more substantive substantial ways with this action. Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 13:40, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
28. There are some bans that absolutely have to be done, and whose reasons are unsuitable for public discussion. Arbcom spent years trying to get WMF to take over child protection bans, for example. But WMF needs to remember that the legitimacy of their bans depends on a limited reservoir of community goodwill, and that reservoir can easily be depleted by this kind of overreach. T. Canens (talk) 13:43, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
29. Support; aside from the fact that this specific ban appears totally unjustified based on the evidence so far presented, the idea that we will now have two overlapping and competing bodies (one paid, one volunteer; one accountable to the community, one not) dealing with routine conduct and civility issues is a terrible idea for many reasons, made worse by the fact that it was imposed on the community without any input or consultation, and made worse still by the fact that the first target was a long-standing administrator well-known for offering legitimate, on-point criticism of the WMF's various bureaucratic overreaches and technical foul-ups. This really stinks, and needs to be pushed back on with whatever means we have at our disposal. 28bytes (talk) 13:52, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
30. Support to the same extent as my support for the previous proposal. · · · Peter Southwood ^(talk): 13:56, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
31. Support Disgraceful and sinister (ab)use of power that undermines the open and community-based decision-making of the project. PaleCloudedWhite (talk) 13:58, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
32. Support certainly a broad statement, but it's pretty hard to have confidence right now. What concerns me is that the WMF apparently thinks they will get away with this. Lepricavark (talk) 14:55, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
33. Support at a minimum. Outrageous. No such user (talk) 15:15, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
34. (edit conflict)Support First choice. Again, not exclusive of my support of other options, but we need to send T&S a vote of no confidence right back at them for their vote of no confidence at the community. rdfox 76 (talk) 15:17, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
35. Support - what a clusterfuck. Jauerback^dude?/_dude. 15:35, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
36. Support. I largely agree with several of the "Oppose" voters, particularly Deskana and TonyBallioni—Trust and Safety has up to this point had a good track record and I don't see any reason to question their actions up until recently in applying global bans. However, from the evidence brought forth so far, it seems that as a result of the T&S consultation and the changes to allow a broader spectrum of office actions than permanent global bans, T&S feels empowered to expand its scope of practice well beyond what they've done competently in the past, and beyond what (IMO) even their revised policies support. I think a vote of "no confidence" in the parliamentary sense is justified—not that nothing they do can be presumed competent, but because going forward there's going to be a big element of uncertainty as to whether an office action was for the horrific misconduct we expect or for tone-policing. Choess (talk) 16:02, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
37. Support Unless and until T&S and the WMF have satisfactorily explained this action - which they have not done to this point - then supporting this proposal is a necessary step. Beyond My Ken (talk) 17:03, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
38. Support as per those above. –Davey2010^Talk 19:52, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
39. Support pbp 22:21, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
40. Support, obviously, Huldra (talk) 23:33, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
41. Partial support I don't believe that "go bonkers" was intended literally, and our sea of indignant words must be reinforced with action or the WMF will simply wait us out. Boycotts are effective. Miniapolis 01:18, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
42. Support per Fæ. Oshawott 12 ==()== Talk to me! 02:15, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
43. Support Benjamin (talk) 04:16, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
44. Support, in the "parliamentary sense" as mentioned above. Prior to this, I did know why some WMF bans were implemented (granted, the WMF still didn't say, but I was already familiar with the background). Those bans were entirely appropriate and necessary, and were folks who we very much do not want around. However, they seem to be extending their reach to interfere with normal community policy enforcement, and based upon the accounts of editors from the German and Chinese projects, does not seem to be the first time they've done it, nor the first time they did it badly and upset those communities. I do not have confidence in WMF to take those kind of actions; community processes are already in place to deal with regular on-wiki misconduct and that should not be tampered with by WMF. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 04:22, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
45. Support - think it was excessive and opaque. starship.paint (talk) 05:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
46. Support Agree with this statement. ST47 (talk) 10:11, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
47. Partial support following Boing! said Zebedee's comment above, some WMF bans are necessary, but this ban appears to be overreach. The WMF has not yet made a strong case as to why this could not have been handled by arbcom. Dialectric (talk) 14:03, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
48. Support. There appears to have been a secret trial without the right of representation, defense or appeal. That's not the way community projects should work. Nor is it even the way these things work in the non-virtual world. DrKay (talk) 16:32, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
49. Support - This ban in particular is ridiculous based off what we know. A substantial amount of faith has been lost. Anarchyte (talk | work) 16:35, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
50. Support per Iri. Ealdgyth - Talk 18:03, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
51. Support. I have no idea whether Fram deserved a ban, but the WMF was definitely wrong to ban him. --Yair rand (talk) 21:39, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
52. Support - Office actions should be limited to legally necessary steps, and privacy requirements should not be used to keep civility sections trials secret. EllenCT (talk) 00:57, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
53. Comment I support the handling of civility issues using on wiki processes such as ANI and Arbcom, while recognizing that harrassment issues require privacy. Unfortunately, I despair at the thought of codifying the distinction.S Philbrick(Talk) 16:33, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
54. Support If the WMF is now asserting en.wiki are their own personal fiefdom, I'm out. A little confused by people who oppose any action. You're going to sit back and take this? I don't care how you feel about Fram. I don't have any personal feelings about him. What has been happening is outrageous. We have given them plenty of time to apologize or backtrack and all they've done is double down and triple down. As for 'confidence', given what they've done (whoever they are, I have no idea if every action/edit is signed off on by every member of the team or not), I have zero confidence in them to handle any cases whatsoever. Competence issue. Enigma^msg 16:30, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Oppose response to WMF (alternative proposal)

1. Oppose. I don't agree with the above statement, because I think it is far too broad. I haven't yet looked in detail into the circumstances of Fram's ban. However, even assuming that the ban was handled improperly, I do not agree with the blanket statement that I "have no confidence in the WMF's handling of office bans". The vast majority of their bans are reasonable, so if this ban was handled improperly then I would say that my confidence would be reduced, but I would not say that I "have no confidence" at all. --Deskana (talk) 11:07, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
2. Oppose per Deskana. I personally do feel the way the WMF handled this was very poor, and I'm not convinced they should have gotten involved in the way they did. But I also don't feel I've seen enough to be able to comment reliably and in any case it's only one particular action (or a series of actions about one editor). And I do find a number of the comments Fram has made that I've seen before, and I don't just mean the ones highlighted here, the sort of commentary which I feel harms a community. Whether they were bad enough to warrant sanction, I make no comment in part because I haven't looked into them in detail and I'm also unsure how far we should go in requiring civility etc. (And I repeat what I said that I'm unconvinced it made sense for the WMF to involve themselves the way they did.) But I was very reluctant to post this because I didn't want to paint a target on my back from anyone. I ultimately plucked up the courage due in large part to someone who is either new or socking and Deskana the first (and only when I wrote this) to oppose either proposal as well as coming to the realisation that I don't really care that much what others think. And I trust that however people may disagree what I've said, it's not going to be strong enough reaction to encourage doxing or anything untenable. So whatever the WMF have done wrong, I do think we need to consider how we have responded. P.S. Give the two principles of 'don't care enough' and 'this is a mess all around and I don't like a lot of what I'm seeing', this will probably be my last involvement in the matter. Nil Einne (talk) 11:43, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
3. Oppose 1) Let's wait and see if the board reps feel it was justified as a ban (even if badly handled). 2) As Deskana says, I don't have no faith in their office bans - we are instead concerned with a growing overreach of their responsibility. Nosebagbear (talk) 11:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
4. Oppose as far too broad per Deskana. The handling of this particular block was terrible but we don't know enough to understand whether it was reasonable or not. Other office blocks that I know about (e.g. from my time on arbcom) were absolutely correct and handled appropriately. Thryduulf (talk) 12:02, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   the problem with that argument is that firstly its not enough to be reasonable but it also has to be reasonable for the WMF to do it through the office mechanism. The other issue is that it appears this block is so flawed that it is difficult to have any faith in their actions going forward.©Geni (talk) 13:51, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   Every office action I know enough details of to have a firm opinion about was a correct use of the office mechanism. I do not agree that the publicly available evidence gives the appearance that this block is flawed - it simply shows that the communication of the block was flawed; we do not have enough evidence to know whether the block was flawed or not. My gut feeling is that it was not, but I will happily change my view if the evidence shows otherwise. Even if this was an error, it does not rise to the level that I have no confidence going forward. Thryduulf (talk) 17:09, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

5. Oppose per Deskana. I aware of the circumstances of a number of the office bans and in all of those cases they were done properly and were warranted. Gamaliel (talk) 13:26, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
6. Oppose as too broad. I do have confidence that the office has, at least up to this point, made appropriate and necessary bans, and that they likely can in the future. —DoRD (talk)​ 14:21, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
7. In favour of alt 2. I have general confidence in their ability to handle bans. It just appears this one was a pretty large mistake. Basically what DoRD said. TonyBallioni (talk) 14:22, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
8. Oppose I have confidence in office bans. Calliopejen1 (talk) 17:38, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
9. Oppose per Deskana and Gamaliel. SusunW (talk) 18:04, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
10. Oppose per others. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 18:24, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
11. Oppose per Gamaliel. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 17:12, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
12. Oppose per my opposition below to alt 2. Galobtter (pingó mió) 17:23, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
13. Oppose, sometimes privacy is needed. AdA&D 21:24, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
14. Oppose per Deskana and Gamaliel and AnnedrewAndrewandDrew. --Rosiestep (talk) 00:22, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
15. Oppose really, nobody should be drawing conclusions based on no information. Banedon (talk) 00:54, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
16. Oppose per Deskana and Gamaliel.--Vulphere 10:07, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Alternative proposal 2: The WMF was wrong to ban Fram

Support response to WMF (alternative proposal 2)

1. Regardless of broader issues they've failed to provide any justification for a block or the need for the block to be carried out by the WMF using the office mechanism. There is no evidence that they have any such justification and what evidence is availible strongly suggests they don't.©Geni (talk) 13:54, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
2. Obviously. This support is not mutually exclusive with the others I have supported. Reyk _YO! 13:56, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   Assuming that the information we have access to is accurate and complete, I support this statement. —DoRD (talk)​ 14:17, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   I now know that the information available then was incomplete, so I can no longer support this. —DoRD (talk)​ 11:19, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

   TonyBallioni (talk) 14:20, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   per striking per DoRD. My concern is with this being done locally only. I do not know if it was justified, so I should not be supporting this. TonyBallioni (talk) 18:22, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

3. Per DoRD and Geni. Currently, there is no information available to suggest that this was an appropriate action. Regards SoWhy 14:30, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
4. Yep. GiantSnowman 14:42, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
5. I think Fram should have been desysopped and banned for his behavior a long time ago. I also think it should have come from ArbCom or the community, not WMF. --Rschen7754 14:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
6. I'm concerned that the quantity of proposals floating around here will muddy the waters and result in us all getting bogged down in disagreements. We need to provide a united front to the WMF letting them know that we are not okay with what they did and that there will be consequences. We may need to take a bit longer to work out exactly what those consequences should be, but for now this proposal is a good starting point. Lepricavark (talk) 14:54, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
7. From the evidence we have, I think the statement is correct. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 15:07, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
8. Support as third and weakest choice. Again, this is not exclusive of my support of other options. rdfox 76 (talk) 15:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
9. SQL^{Query me!} 15:25, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
10. Support. If a WMF employee were to open an ArbCom civility case, that would have been more likely to accomplish the WMF’s apparent goal of deopping one of its biggest critics. But that didn’t happen, so here we are. This is a new low for the WMF. —pythoncoder (talk | contribs) 15:38, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
11. This is the one I am comfortable to support. The case must have been referred to ArbCom to follow usual dispute resolution avenues. The office action is not appropriate in this case (on the basis of what we currently know).--Ymblanter (talk) 15:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
12. Sandstein 16:21, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
13. I don't understand what was so problematic with those sports edits, it appeared Fram just added templates. The Arbcom comments were a bit harsh but not enough to warrant even a block, let alone an office action. – John M Wolfson (talk • contribs) 16:55, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
14. If Fram's description of the precipitating events is accurate - and we have no reason to believe it is not, given the absence of a substantive response from WMF - then the block was unjustified. It is also unjustified in that no community involvement was sought, and there is no apparent reason that T&S couldn't have referred the case to ArbCOm and allow normal processess to work. Beyond My Ken (talk) 17:08, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
15. Assuming Fram's description is accurate. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 19:06, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
16. pbp 23:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
17. Reading through the opposes, the issue is not so much the one-year unappealable ban (which, based on the facts we know from Fram, I believe is excessive, but opinions may differ), it's that the ban should never have gone through Office in the first place, then the completely botched handling of post-ban events. – Teratix ₵ 23:43, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
18. Support, although in light of increasing evidence I think we're parsing this major screw-up to death. We, the backbone of WP, deserve more respect. Miniapolis 01:25, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
19. Support Especially considering the way it was done, this should be uncontroversial. Benjamin (talk) 04:18, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
20. Support - think it was excessive and opaque. starship.paint (talk) 05:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
21. Support Firstly, the opacity is a problem. The ban is inexplicable, no explanation has been offered. The combination of both its urgency, and its limited duration, are even more puzzling. But the real problem is that in the absence of any adequate explanation, the rumour mill is now circulating its own which offers a plausible explanation that reflects very badly on WMF. In the absence of anything else, that's the version which will have legs. Andy Dingley (talk) 17:51, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
22. Support - in addition to the arguments above, if the Arbcom had a COI because Fram used uncivil language, they should have been given the opportunity to make that decision themselves. EllenCT (talk) 00:58, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Oppose response to WMF (alternative proposal 2)

1. Civility and respect, one of the five pillars, is at best a weak suggestion these days. I have no problems with T&S taking action against users who have a years-long track record of incivility and making rude/nasty comments to people. I would like to see the WMF being more transparent about this type of ban, however, and will be recommending that to them. -- Ajraddatz (talk) 15:09, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   If they had a worthwhile case they could present it to arbcom like anyone else.©Geni (talk) 15:52, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

2. Per Ajraddatz. I can't say I'm an expert in all things Fram-related, but i don't object in principle to a civility-related block from the WMF for a longtime offender. Calliopejen1 (talk) 15:36, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
3. Exactly per Ajraddatz. The problem with this block is how it was communicated, not that it was made. Thryduulf (talk) 15:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   Since we don't know the entire circumstances, how do you know that the block itself was not problematic? Are you saying that it is justified based on the evidence in Fram's statement? I don't see that. Beyond My Ken (talk) 17:10, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   Since we do not know the entire circumstances we know only that the block was poorly communicated and widely unpopular. This does not equate to it being incorrect. Based on what I do know (which includes things from off-wiki sources*) I believe it is more likely than not that this block was a reasonable application of the terms of use. If the review by Jimbo and the board finds otherwise I will revise my opinion. (*I cannot ottomh remember the privacy of this material (I'd guess it dates from circa September 2018 but that is plus or minus several months) so I will assume that I cannot disclose it here). Thryduulf (talk) 17:43, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

4. Oppose per Ajraddatz and Calliopejen1. Gamaliel (talk) 16:22, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
5. Oppose per Ajraddatz, Calliopejen1, and Montanabw. --Rosiestep (talk) 17:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
6. Oppose per Ajraddatz, Calliopejen1, and Thryduulf. SusunW (talk) 18:11, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
7. Oppose per others. How can anyone support this, while complaining about not knowing the facts of the case? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 18:25, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
8. For the same reasons outlined above by Ajraddatz. I might as well indicate my support here. We should avoid making statements until we know all the info, and I do think we have unaddressed conduct problems at a decently high level. :/ –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 19:05, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
9. Oppose per Ajraddatz, Calliopejen1, Thryduulf and Montanabw. Fram should have been banned for life a long time ago. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:23, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
10. Oppose per above. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 17:13, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
11. Oppose per Ajraddatz. Galobtter (pingó mió) 17:21, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
12. Oppose per Ajraddatz. I find it embarrassing that Fram apparently thinks he's not had enough warnings and was banned over one (emphasis his) edit. Banedon (talk) 00:42, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
13. Oppose As I've explained before, I think the WMF handled this poorly. I can't judge whether or not they were wrong to ban Fram without further info. I do have concerns over the way Fram generally interacts and am not sure whether them being the one to ban was the best course of action although I do understand the great difficulties privacy issues create. While I also understand the concern some community members have about the apparent secrecy of the proceedings (complaints, evidence etc) even when it comes to Fram themselves, I also understand that the WMF we probably be between a rock and a hard place given their legal obligations and reasonable expectations they have on the information they received, as well as the nature of the internet making any NDA or similar difficult. (If these sort of things were to happen at an employment or university level for example, the person will often be entitled to a fair amount of detail over what is alleged but may also be binded by an NDA or similar as well as various other legal recourses relating to harassment etc if there is concern over details of the complaint resulting in harassment etc.) The way this was handled is of course not that different from the way a lot over websites will handle complaints, the problem is we have a community where this is very far from the norm. I really have no idea how to proceed from here, but do think this action is not it. Not without a lot of further info and as said, I'm not even sure if we should ever have that further info. Nil Einne (talk) 03:31, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
14. Per Ajraddatz. – Ammarpad (talk) 06:46, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
15. Oppose per Ajraddatz.--Vulphere 10:09, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Alternative proposal 3: Work towards the position where Office local actions are appealable to ArbCom

I think we can assume that almost nobody took real offence at Fram's posts which were the stated reason for the ban, otherwise they would have ended up at ANI or ArbCom, so it's likely that most folks on enwiki would have viewed the "fuck ArbCom" post as a bit of venting following a badly worded message from ArbCom. Fram is a highly valued, long term editor and admin, and despite any differences we've had, I fully believe they have the best interests of the encyclopedia at heart, and don't think we should be losing their contributions for a year over a trivial matter. So it's quite understandable that most of us feel outraged at the ban imposed.

On the other hand, if we step back a bit and try to assume good faith (hard as it may be) on the part of Trust & Safety (and given the people involved, I think we ought), I feel we ought to concluding that they were also acting in what they felt were the best interests of enwiki, but were mistaken. Now, if that sort of mistake was easy to rectify, then we wouldn't really have a big problem. Just appeal the T&S decision and be prepared to accept whatever the result of the appeal was. But that's not how things are currently set up.

Sadly, I don't think that we can any longer trust T&S to make ban decisions affecting just a single wiki without a mechanism to appeal that decision, particularly when the wiki in question has a well established, accountable body in place that is charged with making those decisions. So I propose that we focus our efforts on ensuring that the sort of local ban we have seen is appealable, and I suggest that ArbCom is the correct venue for that appeal. Don't be distracted by red herrings like "T&S need to be able to impose bans over confidential issues" – of course they do, but they also need to be accountable to the community they claim to serve, and that accountability can easily be implemented by making their ban decisions which affect only enwiki subject to review and appeal though the English ArbCom, which is directly accountable to the community that elected them. --RexxS (talk) 15:59, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Support making T&S enwiki bans appealable to ArbCom (alternative proposal 3)

1. Support as proposer. --RexxS (talk) 15:59, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
2. Support with caveats - (1) only when the sanctioned user communicates to arbcom that they wish to appeal; (2) it is explicitly limited to actions that are not global in scope; (3) any appeal to ArbCom is explicitly final. Thryduulf (talk) 16:14, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
3. Support. I can understand the concerns expressed below, but this proposal is for single-wiki bans only, and the kind of serious stuff that should not be appealable will be global. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 16:23, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
4. Support as a final action. However, the role of Wikimedia Foundation in Wikipedia matters needs to be clarified, and Thyrdulf's three caveats are good. This ban seems to be unfair and especially points to a lack of clarity in understanding the role the WF has or should have in Wikipedia affairs. This proposal would be a sensible unemotional response but also a wider dealing with the multiple issues that have arisen is needed both for Fram and for the future. Littleolive oil (talk) 17:12, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
5. Support Much of the community outrage is because the nature of this ban just doesn't make sense. Miniapolis 01:28, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
6. Second choice after abolishing them. If T&S needs to issue a ban, it should not be limited to a single project. EllenCT (talk) 01:01, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
7. Support. No brainer. Arbcom is the official venue for last-resort or sensitive issues. No opaque, uncommunicative, and authoritarian regime should be over-riding standard, policy-based, trusted, equitable processes on Wikipedia. Softlavender (talk) 02:10, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Oppose making T&S enwiki bans appealable to ArbCom (alternative proposal 3)

1. Oppose as pointless. The WMF has shown on many occasions that they have no interest in having to be accountable to local wikis, and any attempt to push for this position will just be stonewalled and/or ignored by the Foundation--and, fundamentally, as owners of the site, they don't have to be accountable to the users, in a legal sense, so the only leverage we would have would be threatening to fork enwiki to a new site, which is, frankly, a pretty empty threat, given the odds of any attempt to do so succeeding. rdfox 76 (talk) 16:07, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
2. Oppose again, I do not want ArbCom dealing with pedophiles. TonyBallioni (talk) 16:16, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   Pedophiles would not get just a single-wikipedia ban and would not be covered by this. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 16:25, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   Tony, couldn't any WMF block involving a pedophile simple be rubber-stamped by ArbCom? I see no reason for them to open a case, or even a full in camera review, for every appeal which might be brought to them. Beyond My Ken (talk) 17:13, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   The fear of pedophilia is frequently used as a wedge to deny other people their rights. But for every one pedophile we know about, there are probably a hundred we don't. Are we really making anybody safer by endorsing a Star Chamber procedure to deal with a small risk with a small percentage of pedophiles we know about, rather than having an honest community process? I should note that I had this position from the very beginning because I knew then that we would end up here out of it. No bureaucrat ever really gives a damn about the children. Wnt (talk) 13:36, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

3. Oppose Some things may truly be legal or safety issues, that may not be safe to disclose to even NDA'd users. StudiesWorld (talk) 16:19, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   Truly legal and safety issues would not get just a single-wikipedia ban and would not be covered by this. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 16:26, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

4. Oppose The thinking is right, but this is structured the wrong way around. Given the lack of cross-examination and appeal, office actions on en-WP should generally be reserved for misconduct so egregious as to require permanent sanction, such as the categories named above. If T&S receives a complaint and decides that it's problematic but doesn't rise to the level of a perma-ban, they can take it to ArbCom themselves to ask for whatever intermediate sanction they deem appropriate. Choess (talk) 16:24, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
5. Oppose per TonyBallioni, StudiesWorld, etc. Arbcom is hardly capable of dealing with the sorts of issues that T&S has to deal with. Gamaliel (talk) 16:25, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
6. Ideal oppose ArbCom should not be involved in areas where the T&S should be (namely legal issues). But vise versa should most certainly also be the case, which the banning of Fram clearly demonstrates isn't. funplussmart (talk) 16:34, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
7. Oppose In most cases where the WMF steps in, there's a legal issue involved. ArbCom is a volunteer group, and as such, there is pretty significant liability protection for the individuals who serve. Unless ArbCom can also be sued the way the WMF can be-- with concomitant protections -- they can't be offered nor should they accept this kind of power. Montanabw^(talk) 17:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
8. Supporting this unfortunately does not make sense; or maybe it does symbolically, but I am not a fan of symbolics. Per m:Office actions#Primary office actions, these bans are not even appealable to the Foundation. "They are final and non-negotiable." [5]. So this proposal is not enforceable. It'd be better if something with possibility of happening is proposed in place of this. – Ammarpad (talk) 17:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
9. It would make more sense to make T&S actions appealable to the Foundation in general. Nobody is perfect and every action should be reviewable somewhere. I do understand though that if the Foundation steps in, it usually means - or ought to mean(!) - that local processes, including ArbCom, are not equipped to handle these kinds of problems. If the Foundation steps in without need to do so, someone higher up at the Foundation should be able to hear an appeal and overwrite the decision if needed. Regards SoWhy 18:05, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
10. Oppose per Montanabw and because this would likely have other unintended consequences. --Rschen7754 18:13, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
11. Oppose per TonyBallioni, StudiesWorld and SoWhy SusunW (talk) 18:15, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
12. Oppose per others. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 18:26, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
13. Oppose If there are legal and safety issues, we need to be careful. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 17:14, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
14. Oppose per rdfox 76. Banedon (talk) 00:42, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
15. Oppose I would support WMF bans having an appeal process to the foundation. Not to the arbcom given the numerous problems that would create re: privacy etc. While I have great respect for the work arbcom does, history makes it difficult to trust anything sent to them is not going to eventually leak. More importantly even if it does, I can understand both the legal issues, and the reasonable expectations of complainants etc which would mean they would not want arbcom being provided all the info needed making this a non starter. Nil Einne (talk) 03:35, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
16. Oppose per rdfox76.--Vulphere 10:13, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
17. Oppose per Megalibrarygirl. I can imagine situations where I would want an appeal process implemented, but I can imagine situations in which I accept that the no appeal decision is appropriate. This proposal overreaches.S Philbrick(Talk) 18:27, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Alternative proposal 4: The WMF was wrong in at least the manner in which it decided on and implemented this ban, and the ban should be reversed if the community does not support it.

Support statement (proposal 4)

1. Support – I'm adding yet another proposal here, because, while the ones above have significant support, some people think they are too broad or go too far. I wrote proposal 2 and stand by it, but I think it might be useful to see if this is a baseline statement more people can agree on. Of course, this is not mutually exclusive with the other proposals. KSFT ^(t|c) 18:41, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
2. Support Office actions should be limited to legally necessary bans and blocks, and ToC issues limited to a single project within the purview of established policy procedures and community processes should not be within the Foundation's remit. We shouldn't allow discretionary editorial control by the Foundation for intermediary liability reasons anyway, in case section 203 case law returns to its previously established state. EllenCT (talk) 01:05, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Oppose statement (proposal 4)

1. Oppose. While the handling of this was at the very least suboptimal, whether the community supports an action enforcing the ToU and/or an action taken based (in part) on private evidence is irrelevant. Thryduulf (talk) 18:57, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
2. Oppose since there may be legal and safety issues involved, we should leave the situation at WMF. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 17:15, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
3. Oppose per Thryduulf. Banedon (talk) 00:43, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
4. Oppose based on all I've said before and Thyrduulf. Nil Einne (talk) 03:36, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
5. Oppose I don't have sufficient facts to assess whether the decision was wrong. That's not to say I don't have raised eyebrows and concerns about the process, but I don't accept the the community has the authority to reverse it simply because it doesn't support the action.S Philbrick(Talk) 18:31, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Administrators general strike

I'm putting this here although it's not really a proposal that requires community support, but see the section below. Wikipedia is not compulsory, it's voluntary, and that includes pushing the admin buttons. If the WMF wants to insist that we're incompetent and go around us, fine. They can be the admins. I wrote in response to something that ended up being directly related to this: "I [was at the time] one functionary of dozens and [am] one administrator of hundreds, so my absence is unlikely to have any significant impact other than symbolically. But I believe strongly that members of a community have a duty to use their status and privilege to stand up to oppression. And so yes, I am aware that this is going to be long-term, and am prepared for the consequences."

Sign below if you're an administrator who will not exercise administrative functions until Fram's office ban is rescinded, and/or WMF Trust & Safety publishes a more appropriate response.

1. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 14:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC) indented per response below, but I think this was pretty well moot anyway

1. Yes, subject to my caveat below. GiantSnowman 14:28, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
2. I've said elsewhere that I will not work as an admin under the control of an unelected and unanswerable civility police, which is a role that the T&S people appear to have taken on. I also do not wish to be an admin under a WMF that has usurped the en.wiki community powers that we have traditionally exercised via consensus and via the Arbitration Committee if that is what, as appears, has happened. Until I can be convinced that, in fact, no new power regime has been imposed on us (which, I think at this stage would need to include the rescinding of Fram's ban with the referral to the appropriate body, ArbCom, if needed, plus a convincing assurance that they will not act in this way again), then I will not carry out any admin actions. If the outcome is not as I hope and does confirm the existence of this new power regime, then I will formalize it and turn in my admin bit. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 14:51, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   Just to respond to those below who fear the damage this might cause, I want to add that I am not urging any other admin to join this - I'm just being clear about the conditions under which I, personally, wish to be or not be an admin. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 14:56, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

   Ach, I've already broken my strike - a disruptive idiot was hard to ignore. I need self control! Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 16:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

3. Support. It may be that the decision is correct, but I find the process and poor communication so disturbing that I will not participate in this project until an adequate explanation is provided. --Mojo Hand (talk) 17:57, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
4. Support, as I've indicated (per Sitush) on my TP. WP:VOLUNTEER, and I don't feel like donating so much of my time to a corporation (let's call it what it is) that wields power so capriciously and opaquely. Miniapolis 01:32, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Community support (general strike)

Please sign below if you are not an administrator but want to endorse the action in the section above.

1. The WMF profits handsomely off the tireless contributions from volunteers. They owe at least a little bit of accountability in return. Mr Ernie (talk) 14:21, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
2. Subject to the caveat that this is only as regards routine day-to-day stuff, I'd support such an action. rdfox 76 (talk) 15:20, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
3. Support withdrawal of labour on the main page. ——SerialNumber54129 15:24, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
4. For now, let's start with withdrawing main page labor and potentially even putting up a banner on the main page explaining why. Lepricavark (talk) 15:26, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
5. Support complete withdrawal of labor from main page. ∯WBG^converse 15:41, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
6. Support. I look forward to many of the people on this page discovering that they are not as indispensable as they think they are. Gamaliel (talk) 16:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
7. Restoring previous support statement - Came back from a self-imposed hiatus just to support this collective action. Simonm223 (talk) 16:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
8. Support, but preferably with the idea of it being a real strike that basically stops work on wikipedia, rather than just a few admins stepping away and increasing the workload on the rest. If WMF is going to take over blocking people for flaming arbcom, let them take over all the rest of the wiki's administrative duties too. Some admins were concerned about BLP abuses and stuff like that. If you do want to stay vigilant about that sort of thing, I think the right way to handle any incidents during the strike would be refer them to the WMF Trust and Safety team, rather than handling them yourself. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 01:50, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Discussion (general strike)

• Comment ​ I feel like this would only compound many of our current issues. I worry it sends the wrong message that we don't care about Wikipedia and are willing to take our ball and go home (so to speak). If we are going to break rules and protest WMF, then maybe writing an an article would be better? (edit conflict) –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 14:25, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  I don't see any rules that would be broken if admins decide they don't want to be sharecroppers for the WMF. And the WMF has already taken the ball from us. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 18:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• We need to define what administrative actions we will not refrain from, for example serious BLP violations. I'm happy not to block petty vandals, no deletions, no day-to-day stuff like DYK/ITN - but we should still block BLP violators, otherwise we are opening the doors to trolls posting child porn everywhere or something ghastly. GiantSnowman 14:28, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• This will only hurt real people. I don't volunteer my time on Wikipedia as a sysop and functionary because I get some power trip or because I get some great joy about being part of a self-governing community. I volunteer my time because the work I do has a real impact in actual people's lives from a harassment and privacy perspective. Good faith volunteers will continue to edit. LTAs will continue to edit. People with agendas that want to harass others and out them will still be here. Those of us who have been entrusted by the community with extra tools to assist in protecting the encyclopedia and aiding those who write it should act upon that trust so long as we continue to hold the tools. While I think this action was incorrect, I cannot in good conscience call upon other administrators to not act in the encyclopedia's best interest. TonyBallioni (talk) 14:30, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• An administrator's strike would effectively be an invitation to vandals to do their worst, and would likely result in such widespread damage to the encyclopedia that some of it would slip past the radar and never be repaired. bd2412 T 14:34, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Fair points (the three above). Defending BLPs and protecting users from harassment are important things we do, even if the WMF thinks we're incompetent to do those things. There was half a proposal further up to specifically refrain from certain functions, such as DYK/ITN or anything to do with content on the main page, which would be noticeable without being unreasonably disruptive. How about something along those lines? Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 14:46, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Agree with BD and TB, that seems more reasonable. Things that would harm the English Wikipedia to readers (both short and long term) would be counter-productive at best. ~ Amory (u • t • c) 15:07, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I am not saying let BLP vios etc. go rampant. They have to be taken care of, but I'm saying hand that responsibility over to the WMF. If they want to directly run Wikipedia, then they get the scut work too, not just the power trips of banning longstanding contributors. I'm also surprised to hear some of this stuff about Fram. I don't even think of Fram as being a particularly bad admin. He had his not-so-good moments like most of us, but he would have been rather far down on my list of admins I thought of as corrosive. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 18:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Wikipedia would be better off long-term if we left petty vandalism ("Changed text of the page to PENIS") to the readers. It would get them involved, maybe even start them editing long term. Plus, it disgusts career bureaucrats and might drive them away (see above). Paid stuff, bot stuff, professional vandalism, that may be a different story. "BLP violations" are a mixed bag -- people venting about Trump or Clinton aren't nearly as big a deal as some here make out, but you don't want some high school kid with a Wikipedia article written by a fan club. I think it might better to have a long term loosening of administrative control as an attitude and policy than to have a short term strike, but I don't really know that. Wnt (talk) 15:00, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Per TonyBallioni I refuse to cut off the encyclopaedia's nose to spite it's face. I contribute to this encyclopaedia because I believe in the mission and I enjoy playing my part in making free knowledge accessible to as many people as possible. No one editor is more important than that, regardless of how many people like or don't like them, regardless of how good or bad they behave. Thryduulf (talk) 15:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

This sounds like you think that the people who are making these suggestions and protesting this block are doing so because they like Fram and are trying to defend him because of that. Am I understanding what you mean correctly? 24.140.224.174 (talk) 16:10, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

For most of us, this is about a lot more than just Fram. Lepricavark (talk) 16:28, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I think some people (not everybody) is protesting this block because they like and are trying to defend Fram but that is not relevant to my opinion that any action of this nature will cause far more harm to the encyclopaedia than any benefit that could theoretically arise from it - and this would be the case regardless of which editor was sanctioned - even me. If you don't like that you, me and everybody else edit this site at the pleasure of the WMF then you have the right to leave and/or to fork, but you don't have a right to insist that the WMF do not enforce the terms of use that you agree to when you make an edit. Thryduulf (talk) 16:58, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Of course I have the right to leave/fork. However, as a long-term contributor to the encyclopedia, I have every intention of making my voice heard on this. My anger over the WMF's decision to hand down draconian sanctions while playing civility police is not at all appeased by references to the terms of use. This is our community, not theirs. Lepricavark (talk) 17:28, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict) If you're referring to me, I don't like Fram really at all, to be honest. They [a|we]re an aggressive and abrasive administrator who I've thought for several years to be on the road to a site ban, specifically over the sort of issue which seems to have led to this, even though I happened to agree with their sentiments toward Arbcom over the 2FA thing. I'm objecting to the sinister and secretive way this was enacted. There absolutely are things that should be handled by Trust & Safety in private, very important things, but telling Arbcom to get fucked when they fuck up is not one of those things. Yes, the WMF can do what they like with their property and they should retain that power, but if unnameable people whispering in private is enough to get the WMF to start doling out unappealable bans overriding our local policies, then none of us is safe. Even if this was the culmination of a very long term conduct problem (and it may have been) we have processes to deal with that here already, as privately as we need to, based on now nearly 20 years of being just fine at it. Not perfect by a long shot, but neither is the WMF picking and choosing what is OK and what is not. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 17:39, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I was not referring to you. I disagree that the WMF enforcing the TOU is in any way overriding local policy. Thryduulf (talk) 17:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

If this is enforcement of the TOU, then I agree. Based on the WMF's non-statement and Fram's response, I do not believe TOU enforcement is what's happening here. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 18:52, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Admins serve the project and the community, not the WMF. I therefore consider an admin strike to be at best pointless, and at worst as reinforcing the wrong notion that the WMF is our boss. Because strikes are generally directed at one's boss. Sandstein 16:23, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

When somebody can fire you they are your boss, whether or not you recognize their authority. nableezy - 17:41, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Sandstein, I think Nableezy is right about this. In the old days the WMF also served the project, but that might no longer be true. The encyclopedia may now be an epiphenomenon of the WMF rather than the other way around. And if the WMF is operating at cross purposes to the community, we should reconsider whether we want to keep working for them for free. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 19:20, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Two sections for support, one for discussion, none for opposing? Really? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 18:29, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

@Pigsonthewing: Like I said at the top, admins deciding not to do things does not require support. On what basis could you oppose an admin sitting on their hands? Nonetheless, plenty of good points have been made in this section. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 18:55, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Perhaps you missed that one of the sections is called "Community support (general strike)". Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 19:32, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I didn't miss it, I named it. By definition, non-administrators cannot participate in a general strike from making administrative actions, so I added a section for non-admins to express support for the concept of a general strike. Some editors have sworn off participation beyond my original scope but that wasn't my intent. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 20:22, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• I do think, from what we know now, that this was an overreach by WMF, taking actions that should have been left to the established mechanisms here. In particular I strongly object that they took this action without any kind of warning to Fram or any attempt to hear what he might say; he was blindsided by it. This was a Kangaroo court procedure and should be condemned almost no matter what their justification was. BUT: I will not join a "strike". I will not stop doing what I do at Wikipedia as some kind of statement. I completely agree with Tony and others here. As I said above, this would be a classic example of disrupting Wikipedia to make a point - and would be violating the trust the community put in us when they gave us the tools. -- MelanieN (talk) 18:42, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Let's be patient and wait for the June 14 board meeting to see if anything comes out of it. If not, I fully support taking drastic measures to show the WMF that it cannot disregard the will of the community like this. Otherwise the issue will just fizzle out and the WMF will be even more emboldened the next time. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 01:48, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• TonyBallioni and bd1242, the idea is WMF can handle any BLP issues its own self, given that it's decided it can also handle blocking admins. If it decides otherwise, it can end the strike instantly anytime it wants, by unblocking Fram. King of Hearts, June 14 seems like a reasonable wait, though given Wikipedia's limited attention span, who knows. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 01:55, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Concerning an admin general strike, I think it would be damaging to the 'pedia and therefore do not support it, but I would support general admin civil disobedience, via mass unblocking and resysopping -- as often as necessary -- of Fram and Floquenbeam. The more admins who get involved with that the better. It's easy enough to discipline one admin, another thing entirely to do so to a dozen or more. Beyond My Ken (talk) 02:11, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• I would have quite a problem with an admin general strike. Admins are trusted members of the community elected to serve the community and protect the encyclopedia. Going on strike in effect is a failure to uphold that responsibility. Furthermore, as Fram is an admin, there would no doubt be a view that this would be the admin corps going on strike to protect one of their own (an extreme view, but the view that the admin corps protects their own does crop up on ANI every now and then). Going on strike achieves little beyond damaging trust between editors and administrators. Any action directed in response to this fiasco has to be seen by the WMF as a united front by editors and not a disparate effort by editors and administrators. Blackmane (talk) 07:05, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Statement of intent

If WMF isn’t going to say more, I am going to assume everything Fram says is true. Now that I understand the circumstances better, this “strike” seems too passive for my taste. Since there is near unanimous opposition to this site ban, I intend to unblock Fram as soon as I get to a regular computer. If that results in Fram’s reblock by WMF and my desysop, I’ll be sad. It would make me feel better, however, if another admin unblocks him when I’m desysopped. And another. And another. See how many admins they’re willing to lose. If the answer is “as many as it takes to enforce our will”, then I don’t want to be part of the system anymore. —Floquenbeam (talk) 11:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

This will most certainly result in Fram's reblock and your desysop, without any benefit for the cause, so that I strongly advise you against doing this. There are other, more efficient ways, to express your distrust with WMF actions.--Ymblanter (talk) 11:57, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

if I’m the only one desysopped, that’s true. We’ll see if I’m the only one. Civil disobedience with no potential cost isn’t civil disobedience, it’s whining. —Floquenbeam (talk) 12:04, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Please don't do that. It is really unnecessary. Both Doc James and I are on the case, trying to understand what happened here, and the ArbCom is discussing it as well. Drama will not be necessary, but more importantly, drama will not be helpful.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 14:23, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

If calm, reasonable discussion is what is desired, then we can have a calm, reasonable discussion while Fram is unblocked. If I'm desysopped for unblocking Fram when there is an overwhelming local consensus that the block is wrong, then I won't be the one who is escalating things. --Floquenbeam (talk) 14:35, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I think you and I can both forecast that a wheel war will not serve as a useful introduction to a calm and reasonable discussion. Give it a little time.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 14:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

But how can we have a discussion of any kind if the WMF is content to give a boilerplate response and then nothing else? Lepricavark (talk) 15:04, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Okay I couldn't resist the temptation to check out what was up when I saw this was now a separate subthread and then saw this weirdly titled thread. As I mentioned above, it seems unlikely this will happen more than say 3 times at the most. Not because so few will try, really I have no idea and it's irrelevant. The WMF control the software and I see nothing stopping them adding a type of superblock that cannot be overturned by anyone but those given the special power. There is zero reason to think they're going to need to keep blocking editors, putting aside the WMF, no one is likely to do that when they control the software whoever they are. It's simply not the way things work in the real world. Nil Einne (talk) 14:38, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Floq's actions have enough symbolic value, as a form of protest against WMF's abominable micromanagement and over-reach, by resisting their whimsical orders. But, then, I do believe that WMF is indeed tone-deaf enough to desysop Floq and we can't afford to lose one of our best sysops. ∯WBG^converse 12:07, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Floquenbeam - I admire your resolve. It is not in our best interests to lose you as an admin. You are indeed one of our best sysops. Mr rnddude (talk) 12:09, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Please don't do that Floquenbeam, give the people who are apparently looking at this behind the scenes (Jimmy W, the board, ArbCom) some time. It's unrealistic to expect an instant response, and it's better to give them a chance than make a pointless knee-jerk sacrifice. If we reach a stalemate point where it's certain that no more will be done and you're not satisfied, by all means make a big gesture then - but falling on your sword right now won't help. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 12:11, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

It's 5am in San Francisco. At least give them a chance to wake up before you decide they're aren't going to say more? -- KTC (talk) 12:05, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Yeah, this. Pigs might fly, but they *might* come to their senses - probably worth waiting before running out of the trenches into the machine gun nests. Black Kite (talk) 12:16, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I'm not expecting anything other than another long-winded and fatuous boilerplate brushoff or, more likely, silence. But let's wait and see before we go and do something rash. Reyk _YO! 12:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• I support this, but with the caveat of waiting 24hrs to allow issues with timezones. Lugnuts ^{Fire Walk with Me} 12:13, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• We've lost one too many administrators as it is – we don't need to lose another. – Teratix ₵ 12:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Sigh. OK, I'll wait until noon SF time. I don't actually think waiting is a good idea, but since my whole shtick is "en.wiki community consensus", I'll try to listen to others and be patient. But not more patient than that. --Floquenbeam (talk) 12:23, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Next board meeting isn't for a few days yet, and Doc James is on it - can you at least give it that long? Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 12:30, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I probably have more confidence in Doc James than any of the people close to this, but I'm not waiting days for action. The WMF needs to act today. Today. Tiderolls 13:51, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Get a useless Admin to unblock Fram, that way when they get desysopped the project is improved! I could suggest a few. Or make people "Sacrifice Admins" specifically for the purpose of reinstating him. I'd even volunteer, and promise to relinquish the tools as soon as ... -Roxy, the dog. wooF 12:34, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Tried that, Roxy the dog, it just gets supervoted out under the guise of "reducing drama". Fucking incredible. ——SerialNumber54129 13:44, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Also - see Jimbotalk - he's investigating as well FWIW. Black Kite (talk) 12:57, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Something needs to be done, most certainly, but I'm not sure what. I've been a harsh critic of the WMF many times - and I've also received some really impolite threatening emails from the WMF in the past, some signed, some unsigned on generic WMF email accounts, but I've refused to be bullied and I've got stuff done. If someone comes up with a good idea, I'll support it and then probably have a lot more to say. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 12:54, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• @Floquenbeam: WTF is "noon San Francisco time" — could you please speak to be understood? What time UTC do you intend to block? I was interested to read your statement of intent just as I was typing up my own intention to unblock, which would have had a ping of you specifically, asking for your support. But I'm always too slow, and this time I also had a dental appointment. :-( Anyway, I'm with you, Floq, and I'll be Spartacus if you are. I'll mention that I saw the diff Fram says he was blocked for, this one, at the time. I thought it inappropriate and asked him to stop with the personal stuff.[6] I was thinking especially of the attacks on AGK. Admittedly my comment didn't seem to do any good, inasmuch as Fram replied quite combatively.[7] But I would still say my approach was on a better level than a fucking non-appealable one-year block. A sanction might have been appropriate, but should have been up to the community, for instance via WP:AN. (I wouldn't go directly to ArbCom. The community should have a go first.) Incidentally, I can't say I have much faith in Jimbo accomplishing anything in this case. He's quite keen on civility policing AFAIK. Anyway. Bishonen | talk 13:28, 11 June 2019 (UTC).

  The only thing Jimbo is good at now is making BLP violating edits for his COI friends. Nick (talk) 13:35, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Jimbo long ago banned Fram from his talk page for criticizing him, so let's make sure our expectations of helpful action on his part are realistic here. 28bytes (talk) 14:10, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I can assure you that my commitment to, and support of, appropriate principles and our established constitutional order is far far more important than any personal conflict that I may have ever had with anyone. I'm not taking any position on this yet, because the reasonable thing to do is to listen to all sides calmly and come to an understanding of the issues.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 14:24, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

"Calmly"... It would be easier to remain calm if the precipitating Office action and their response had been done in such a way to engender calm. Shearonink (talk) 16:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Noon in San Francisco (UTC-7) is UTC19:00. Currently it's about 6:30 in the morning. (Source: in a weird time zone myself and have to do business with the west coast a lot) Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 13:32, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks ivanvector. Bish, the extent of my knowledge (without a calculator) is that US Eastern time is 3 hours ahead, so it's 3pm my time. All other calculations are left as an exercise for the reader.

I also want to say somewhere that T&S plays an important role. I would imagine with the exception of this ban, all of their other bans have had the support of like 95%+ of editors. After all other attempts have been exhausted, even an unappealable ban has it's place here; but this is absolutely not the situation. The fact that this ban has 95% of editors in opposition should tell them they are in the wrong. I'm disappointed they won't simply admit to that, particularly now that I see that several people I respect are involved with T&S. So I'm not willing to throw T&S under the bus for this one big mistake. Instead I hope to force their hand and make them reverse course. And go back to actually protecting en.wiki from things we can't solve ourselves, as they have been doing up to now. --Floquenbeam (talk) 14:12, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I'd like to remind everyone that it is my long established view that all bans are appealable to me. I seldom intervene, even if I have some minor disagreement with a ban, because no major constitutional issues or errors are at stake. It is too early to know what is going on in this particular case, but please if anyone is planning to "fall on their sword" for principle, let it be me. But, I really don't think that will be necessary here. The WMF staff are diligent, thoughtful, and hard working. If an error has been made, I'm sure they will revert and work out procedures to make sure it didn't happen again. If the ban was justified, I'm sure they will find a way to make it clear to - at a minimum, if privacy issues play a role, to me, to the board, and to the Arbitration Committee. Therefore, dramatic action would not be helpful at the present time.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 14:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

The absolute worst thing that could possibly happen right now would be for you to intervene. TonyBallioni (talk) 14:32, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I could think of worse things. At least a Jimbo-related action is par-for-the-course. (edit conflict) –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 14:42, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

@Jimbo Wales:, I disagree with my friend above, and would ask that you do intervene. People seem to be treating this as an all-or-nothing proposition, when it is in fact an opportunity for negotiation and clarification of roles. I therefore request that you reverse Fram's ban pending discussion of an appropriate sanction by the community for the offense alleged. You can think of it as sentencing him to time served plus probation. As he has been desysoped, which is by itself a harsh punishment, leave it to the community to have a discussion as to whether that bit should be restored, not as a response to WMF's actions, but on the merits of Fram's conduct. It will be easier to get to the point of discussing what the appropriate delineation of roles should be once the immediate point of conflict is resolved, even if the resolution is a temporary measure. bd2412 T 14:41, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I would think negotiation should precede action. Tiderolls 14:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

That's arguably illegal. Jimmy may like to pretend he has this authority, but he doesn't. He is one member of the board of directors and if he were to act this way overruling an action of the corporate organization without the support of the full board of directors his position on that board would be untenable. Board members have no authority in their individual capacities. They have authority in their collective capacity. Jimmy intervening would turn what has been a project specific constitutional crisis into a foundation wide one with potential legal implications. TonyBallioni (talk) 14:46, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I would let those cards fall where they may. The immediate crisis is the block, and its demoralizing effect on the project. bd2412 T 15:11, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I've just taken a look at Special:RecentChanges and the project seems to be getting on with business as usual, just fine. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 19:48, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Yep, Pigsonthewing, now Fram's been unblocked, all is good with the world. The Rambling Man (talk) 19:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

@Floquenbeam and Bishonen: I agree we should not throw T&S under the bus, but neither of you should go there either. Having worked with them for 4 years as an Arb and in various ways before that, I'm extremely puzzled by this action. But they are a bureaucracy and from my experience may not be able to respond today, and any unblock might be a needless sacrifice. I want to see this solved asap but there's no immediate deadline. However, unblocking may be a one-way street to a desysop. I can easily imagine a situation where ArbCom doesn't want to desysop anyone over this but feels compelled. At least let's give them until the end of the week, please? I'm asking here for what may be a major favor and I'll owe both of you if you agree. Doug Weller talk 14:40, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Doug Weller, end of the week? They are not volunteers, they are paid by WMF to discharge their duties. I fail to see, as to why they shall take more than 24-48 hours, at all. ∯WBG^converse 14:48, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I'm going to be away from the computer for a few hours, so just to be clear before I go: I fully intend to do this at noon SF time if it hasn't already been resolved; even if people I really, really respect, like you, ask me not to. To be honest, I'm finding it hard to justify not doing it right now, which would be the actual right thing to do. I said I would wait, so I will, but I shouldn't. As I said to Jimbo above, if discussion is needed, it can happen while Fram is unblocked. I'm certainly not going to stand in the way of discussion after the unblock. If this is going to result in a desysop, then it's useful for the community to know that this is how the WMF handles things. Instead, they should unblock right now themselves, and then have whatever kind of discussion they want to. --Floquenbeam (talk) 14:48, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I'll be clear too: if you do, and get desysopped (and/or blocked, because why not) and Fram is reblocked, I'll unblock him, and potentially you. No extra waiting. Sorry, Doug. Bishonen | talk 15:30, 11 June 2019 (UTC).

@Bishonen: Courtesy ping now that this has happened. Tazerdadog (talk) 05:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@Tazerdadog: thanks. I was asleep, but I've unblocked now, with a note at WP:BN. Presumably San Francisco is in its turn asleep, so we'll have to see when the next desysop comes through. Bishonen | talk 07:33, 12 June 2019 (UTC).

(edit conflict) Doug Weller, they could respond today, even if just to say "We do intend to discuss this further with the English Wikipedia community, and we're working out who should do that and where, but we understand there are serious concerns over what's happened and we do plan to engage with you about them." Even that would be better than radio silence. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 14:51, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant they might not be able to make a decision today, I shouldn't have said "couldn't respond". Also we have no idea whether they are dealing with what they (and maybe we would) see as more urgent issues. Doug Weller talk 14:57, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict)I agree with Doug Weller. This is a bureaucracy we're dealing with, and even if a majority of the necessary decisionmakers believe this decision should be moderated or at least explained, reaching that majority decision to act can take what seems like ridiculous amounts of time. I get that such gestures and their fallouts can provide meaningful information to all parties, I really do. But I'd hate to see anyone spend all their capital because a bureaucracy is moving slowly rather than because it ultimately made no correction. This is crucially important, but that doesn't make it urgent. --valereee (talk) 14:58, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• The first thing we need to establish here is whether this was genuinely a Fram-specific action or if they mean to supplant all the admins and simply chose one to start with. If a bunch of our best admins go and get themselves desysopped, and the bureaucrats intended to supplant them all, this won't work to our benefit. So the question is ---- how many other admins besides Fram are out there who have already gotten 'warnings' from Trust & Safety? Wnt (talk) 15:06, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Wnt, that's just paranoid. Can't happen. Everyone, to make matters worse, two of the most senior people that would be involved today are on holiday, Maggie Dennis and Kalliope Tsouroupidou.[8] Doug Weller talk 15:57, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I don't think it's paranoid, and in fact I was thinking the same thing. However, if they're planning to do that, then they will do it, so it may as well be sooner than later. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 17:04, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Hypothetical question

Hypothetically speaking, if someone were to unblock Fram (which I'm not saying is advisable!) and then get desysopped for it, couldn't we, as a community, RFA that desysopped admin back into having the tools? The wording at WP:RFA even says, "Most nominations will remain active for a minimum of seven days" (emphasis mine). Just a weird, hypothetical question about a technicality. Useight's Public Sock (talk) 14:59, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

@Useight: so I think we'd have a problem, as even if Fram were unblocked, there is still a WMF OFFICE action that has prohibited that account from holding administrative access for 1 year, so any 'crat would be violating that office action to grant it - even with community support. As far as an RfA goes, it could certainly run, but I can't see any reason that this issue would be so pressing that it would need to close early. However, even after closing successfully the implementation may need to be on hold for the year. — xaosflux ^Talk 15:11, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I slightly misread that, let me rewrite it in a min. — xaosflux ^Talk 15:13, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

OK, so "it depends" - if the WMF Office desysops that person, it will likely include at least a limited foundation ban preventing them from holding administrative access again. Should it not, then sure they should be able to re-RFA. But in any case, I can't see something like that rising to the bar of an IAR emergency that would preclude following the normal discussion period. — xaosflux ^Talk 15:15, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Does T&S have the authority to remove administrative tools? Especially in cases where no tool misuse or abuse has occurred? Even if they do, does a block not prevent the entire administrative toolset from being used? If so, shouldn’t the administrator userright remain in place during the block? –xeno^talk 15:36, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

@Xeno: there are beansy administrative functions still available to blocked admins. — xaosflux ^Talk 15:41, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Entirely unrelatedly to the present case: should it be thus? Shouldn’t a block disable all administrative functions? –xeno^talk 15:46, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Following up on your talk. — xaosflux ^Talk 15:48, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

@Xeno: as to the other, I can realistically see that as a component of the TOU enforcement option regarding a user's account or access. Note, I'm not stating personal support that this was the most appropriate action, just that it appears to be covered in the TOU. — xaosflux ^Talk 15:44, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks. I’ve been playing catch up. –xeno^talk 15:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Your struck portion also brings up an interesting point. Theoretically, we could preemptively have an RFA for Fram, even as the one-year ban is in place, that (assuming the RFA is successful) could take affect immediately when the ban ends. This would allow Fram to regain adminship immediately after the ban's end, instead of waiting a week. Of course, the tricky part would be accepting the nomination and he couldn't answer any questions posted on the RFA. Useight's Public Sock (talk) 15:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Regardless of the circumstances, I would oppose any RFA where the nominated person was knowingly unable to take up their tools within a reasonable time after the conclusion of a successful RFA (reasonable being less than circa 2-3 weeks). This is because any support would necessarily be blind to their contributions in the meantime. In this specific case, Fram is free to contribute to any other project and it is possible that they could act in such a way on those projects that he would be very clearly unsuitable as an admin here, e.g. harassing other editors, edit warring against consensus, flooding Commons with copyvios , etc. (I'm not saying they will do this, or even that it is likely, but it is possible). Additionally I would oppose any candidate, whatever their behaviour on other projects, who has not been sufficient active on en.wp recently enough to demonstrate an understanding of the current rules. Whatever the merits or otherwise of the current block, Fram is unable to do this while it is in place. Thryduulf (talk) 16:02, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Has the WMF been notified of this discussion

I can't see anything on this page that says they have, but I could easily have missed something (like a post from someone from the WMF). I've had two out of office messages from the first two I've contacted, I've tried two more. Doug Weller talk 16:14, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Doug Weller, Dan from T&S has read my mail that alerted of the developments. ∯WBG^converse 16:17, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks, that's good to know. Doug Weller talk 16:26, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

They posted the long (and empty) statement earlier too. - SchroCat (talk) 16:40, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

My concern was that they were aware of the Noon SF time deadline that Floq has set. I've contacted two people and they are both aware of it now. Doug Weller talk 17:37, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

<sarcasm>Notify them about things like they notified us?....<sarcasm/> But seriously...I guess it's a good idea to behave like adults. Shearonink (talk) 17:42, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Petitioning

Moved [9] to Wikipedia:Community response to the Wikimedia Foundation's ban of Fram/Proposals about WMF Office since there hasn't been much attention on this thread. @Teratix, Trumblej1986, StudiesWorld, and Seraphimblade: You may revert me if you wish. starship.paint (talk) 08:20, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Board

I have requested, as a board member, a briefing of what occured, preferably today Pacific standard time. Might not be able to arrange anything until Jun 14th however. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 14:52, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks, Doc. I'm not sure if 14 June will be soon enough, though. It sounds like some action will occur within a few hours. If nothing else, though, I hope the briefing, whenever it comes, will shed some light on this situation. I'll be watching this closely. —Javert2113 (Siarad.|¤) 14:57, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks, Doc James; we are glad to have you representing us on the board, and we recognize that you will have the greater good of the WHOLE project (not just enwiki) as a goal. One thing I don't think has been pointed out strongly enough: they took this action without any warning to Fram or any chance for him to respond or defend himself; he was blindsided. This was a classic Kangaroo court action. The issue Fram says they gave in their email to him was something that could and should have been handled at enwiki. Unless there turns out to have been something else, something we don't know about that was totally unacceptable, something so damaging to the whole project that alerting him would have precipitated major problems - absent that kind of situation I think the point needs to be made that this was an outrageous way to proceed. And they should consider, in that light, how to reconsider their action. -- MelanieN (talk) 19:10, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Any progress? ∯WBG^converse 06:44, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Doc James and I have been pursuing this with diligence. I continue to recommend the following to everyone here:

• Don't wheel war - it isn't going to be helpful in achieving the goals you want, and could actually make it harder
• Do express your opinions clearly and firmly and factually, with kindness - it's the best way to get your point across
• Remember that there is no emergency here - the phrase "important but not urgent" fits very well - getting this right and fixing this situation is incredibly important, but it doesn't have to happen in 4 hours (and it also, of course, shouldn't take months)
• I applaud those who have kept separate in their minds and words the separate issues here. The issue of Fram's behavior and whether desysopping and/or some form of block are appropriate is separate from the "constitutional issue" of process and procedure. Conflating the two would, I fear, only serve to raise emotions.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 08:16, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Jimbo, the Office are the ones that have wheel-warred here. This mess—by which I mean the future relationship between the WMF and the community, including the recent power-grab by the office to step into Arbcom's role without any recourse to an appeals procedure—needs to be sorted quickly - even if that means hitting a reset button and going through a more transparent process with regards to Fram, at which members of the en.Wp community (Arbcom, perhaps) are the ones with the information and responsibility. - SchroCat (talk) 08:19, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• The Office is currently taking actions directly against community consensus. The Office should cease taking any action regarding this matter until more details are known and the community can decide. Mr Ernie (talk) 08:20, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Mr Ernie you don't know if you have community consensus. English Wikipedia is made up of a lot more editors than have posted on this page. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 17:18, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Megalibrarygirl, ok feel free to change how community consensus is understood. Does every member of the community comment on RFC's or RFA's? I'm clearly speaking about consensus by participants on this page. Mr Ernie (talk) 17:31, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Mr Ernie this page does not reflect community consensus either. Plenty of us disagree with the so-called consensus on this page. In addition, just because not everyone participates in RFC's does not mean that for something very large... like this... that we shouldn't have a much broader consensus. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 17:45, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• I have to say I am somewhat heartened by Jimbo Wales's comments above - the cynic in me didn't really expect him to do anything about this and I am cautiously optimistic that the enquiries mentioned by Jimbo and DocJames may actually result in what most of us want, which is either (a) a reversal of the ban (and probably the good faith unblocks made by Floq and Bish too), or (b) an assurance that the is justified, for reasons that haven't been, or can't be, made public. For now I am thinking that we should all follow his suggestions and put this on the back-burner for a while. Unlike the Community, the WMF is a 9-to-5 organisation with real employees, for whom this is a professional and legal matter. i.e. not something you rush. To be clear, I am not defending the WMF action and I am certainly not defending the PR surrounding it - clearly there is a lot of reflection needed around that and a fresh approach in future. But those of us on the outside don't necessarily have all the facts yet and we should await the opinions of those who do before running around unblocking ad infinitum, symbolically banning the office etc. Thanks  — Amakuru (talk) 09:03, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Dear Doc James and Jimmy Wales, thank you for your response. It is great to read that you are looking into the situation. You have my full support to look into this case. As a community member I do not have all the facts, but to me this seems like a wrong application of an Office Ban, as everything I read so far falls within the scope of the enwiki community and the arbitration committee. At the very least it is not necesary for this to escalate as much as it does. You call for calm is very much supported. It is good that the situation is reviewed from within the Foundation. I look forward to reading your further updates. Sincerely, Taketa (talk) 11:00, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Why the de-sysop?

While many here feel that the decision to ban and block was mishandled, I'd like to specifically discuss the decision to de-sysop. I don't see that the triggering incident had anything to do with the use of tools. I can't think of anything that a blocked and banned editor could do if the admin bit were not removed. Once the ban is either lifted or expired, Fram should automatically be an admin and the community can take action if it so chooses, but absent evidence that the event triggering the ban had anything to do with misuse of admin tools, I can't think of any justification for the de-sysop?S Philbrick(Talk) 15:47, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I’m grappling with this as well, above at #Hypothetical question. It seems the userright should have remained in place –xeno^talk 15:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

No, indeed, no abuse of the tools at all. The de-sysop was just yet another indication of the fact that the Office action was poorly thought out and doubly poorly executed. There's already been a lot of pre-emptive talk about another RFA, but as far as I can see, there's no cloud here, just a bunch of obfuscation from WMF which doesn't relate in any sense to Fram's ability to admin. The Rambling Man (talk) 15:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

See, if memory serves, a blocked admin still has access to deleted revisions and similar read-only stuff. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 15:52, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

@Jo-Jo Eumerus: yes on that, and also some "writeable" things I'm not going in to here. — xaosflux ^Talk 16:00, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I wonder if WMF had forgotten (or indeed, weren't aware) that admins can no longer unblock themselves? Black Kite (talk) 15:53, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

WMF is protecting themselves from legal liability

Here's my take on this turn of events:

• Fram is an inflammatory administrator who I believe has benefited from the Community going easy on them when it comes to CIVILITY. If Fram is known to be publicly on the fringe of what's acceptably CIVIL, how are they off-wiki and out of the public eye?
• The complaints WMF received indicated to the WMF Legal Team that Fram's activity exposed them to legal liability. WMF can't allow Fram to expose them to liability, hence the ban.
• The community should probably be concerned about the implications that the WMF had to step in to enforce the TOS- I agree with whoever said this shows the WMF doesn't have confidence in the community to enforce compliance with the TOS.
• The fact that the WMF statement doesn't really go into detail isn't surprising at all- WMF isn't going into specifics if it's going to give ammo to a potential plaintiff. Not to mention the privacy considerations of having a T&S team that doesn't out people who bring grievances.
• Stop trying to Right Great Wrongs. Fram dug this grave for himself, and there's no way in hell the WMF Is going to bend on this.Rivselis (talk) 16:08, 11 June 2019 (UTC) CU-blocked. Beyond My Ken (talk) 04:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

A sensible comment. It's no secret that Fram has had a long-term civility problem. The community (and ArbCom) should be considering how to better enforce that policy in the future so the WMF doesn't need to. -- Ajraddatz (talk) 16:11, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

If the enwp community is going to upload civility enforcement to T&S, then they’re going to need a bigger staff. –xeno^talk 16:13, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Ah yes, the long-standing justification for not addressing long-term incivility issues on enwiki: there are other bad/worse people. They only need to do enough to start a cultural change, not do it all themselves. -- Ajraddatz (talk) 16:15, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

On the contrary, the real problem with "not addressing long-term incivility issues" is that you won't find two enwiki editors who will consistently agree on most of the issues that get labelled "incivility". There is no "fringe of what's acceptably CIVIL", because everybody has a different view on where that fringe lies. The solution to "long-term incivility issues" is not to place resolution in the hands of an unaccountable group, but to strengthen our own, accountable, procedures. The damage caused to the community by one ban that is widely seen as unfair is more than a hundred "Fuck ArbCom"s. --RexxS (talk) 16:31, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Agreed, the enwiki community has repeatedly demonstrated its inability to deal with long-term incivility issues. Just because the community can't agree on the extent of the problem doesn't mean that the problem doesn't exist. The WMF is setting the standard. And the WMF's process is accountable: accountable to WMF management, who signs off on all OFFICE actions, and accountable to elected members of the global community who have the opportunity to review every action. I think that the latter should also be extended to local ArbComs for project-specific actions, to be fair, but the accountability structure is there. -- Ajraddatz (talk) 16:46, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Setting a standard usually requires that the bar is divulged. - Sitush (talk) 16:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

No, by imposing an unexplained and unappealable ban, they are not setting any standards at all. For a standard to be a standard, it has to be explained. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 16:48, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Correcting that for you:- ... accountable to elected members of the global community, who are out of touch with the community, (how else, will we push our pet civility-police efforts?!) and one of whom even asserted to Tony about how Fram's block was superb ..... ∯WBG^converse 16:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Yes, the comms should have been better. I hope that conversations are being had within the WMF on how to better communicate these types of actions to the community, and I will certainly follow up with them on that. I'll note that my opinions here are as a member of this community, and are made with the knowledge that I am in a small minority of those who agree with this action. -- Ajraddatz (talk) 16:59, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Good luck with that. WMF and better communications is rather oxymoronic. In any event, the communication needs to start before the action, and the LauraHale links supplied by Fram appeared to have nothing to do with civility. If civility is indeed at the heart of this, Fram's statement doesn't provide any evidence of prior relevant warning nor of any generally announced standard. - Sitush (talk) 17:04, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

You're a long way out of touch with the enwiki community, Ajraddatz. The community endorsed ArbCom's creation of arbcom enforcement sanctions, which effectively ended the issue of "unblockables" quite some time ago. The WMF is setting no standards at all. The action was taken by T&S, who decided to act themselves on a complaint rather than refer the matter to the local ArbCom, quite likely in contradiction of their own aims (see m:Trust and Safety #Trust and Safety), or at the very least in contravention of the spirit of them. There is nothing accountable in what you describe. A great man once said ask them five questions: “What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?” We know the answers for ArbCom, but not for T&S. --RexxS (talk) 00:41, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I don't lack any information about this case or how the "community" feels about it, I just happen to disagree with the majority sentiment. -- Ajraddatz (talk) 00:47, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Rivselis, that may be the case. But we as a wiki have NDA'd users who could be informed of greater specifics and give a statement to the community. I don't know whether or not the ban was the correct result, but I do have problems with the process. StudiesWorld (talk) 16:13, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Where did "The complaints WMF received indicated to the WMF Legal Team that Fram's activity exposed them to legal liability" come from? (Genuine question, I don't remember seeing it anywhere). Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 16:20, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Gut instinct. I believe the WMF wouldn't have banned Fram in the absence of legal considerations. Rivselis (talk) 16:24, 11 June 2019 (UTC) CU-blocked. Beyond My Ken (talk) 04:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  We really don't give a fuck about your gut instinct. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 16:34, 11 June 2019 (UTC) (@Rivselis: Apologies, I've struck that. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 18:08, 11 June 2019 (UTC))

  Thank you for your well-reasoned and civil rebuttal to my read of the situation. Rivselis (talk) 16:41, 11 June 2019 (UTC) CU-blocked. Beyond My Ken (talk) 04:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  OK, I'll try and be nicer - your gut instinct is of no value. It might be right, it might be wrong, but deductions based on it are pointless. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 16:52, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Since we're all speculating: if there were legal considerations, why was Fram banned from only one project? Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 16:54, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  The ban being only on one project is the part that leaves me the most baffled. Hazarding a guess, Fram might not be active on other projects (I haven't checked), the one who raised a grievance might only operate on WP:EN, or there might be jurisdiction considerations. (This last point feels the weakest to me.)Rivselis (talk) 18:04, 11 June 2019 (UTC) CU-blocked. Beyond My Ken (talk) 04:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  84 net edits, Rivselis, what's your main account? ∯WBG^converse 16:35, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  I've been lurking on WP over ten years. A recent stint of unemployment meant I've had more time on my hands to get involved. Rivselis (talk) 16:41, 11 June 2019 (UTC) CU-blocked. Beyond My Ken (talk) 04:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  At 84 edits, you're not "involved". Jumping right into an ArbCom statement from years away with under twenty edits means you're bullshitting hard if you're claiming Rivselis is your primary account. Ben · Salvidrim! ✉ 17:26, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  You are not the arbitrator of whether I am involved in the project or not, and your aspersions that this is not my main account are unwelcome. Rivselis (talk) 17:33, 11 June 2019 (UTC) CU-blocked. Beyond My Ken (talk) 04:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Unwelcome, because true. Beyond My Ken (talk) 04:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Rivselis is not bullshitting, so you guys can stop with your witch hunt.--Jorm (talk) 18:29, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Rivselis was blocked for sockpuppetry. He was bullshitting, believe it or not. Oshawott 12 ==()== Talk to me! 02:22, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Indeed. Should the sock comments be struck? Enigma^msg 03:35, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  I'm striking them now. Beyond My Ken (talk) 04:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• @Ajraddatz: - You can't say this is intended to cause a cultural change if they won't actually say what happened. The WMF spends a lot on lawsuits to demonstrate points without us asking for them. For them to refuse to say anything because it aids their legal position, whatever the morals, is reprehensible, hypocritical and nothing more than moral cowardice. Nosebagbear (talk) 16:38, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Agreed that the WMF should have handled the comms better on this. There should be a middle ground between avoiding liability and letting the community know what's up. -- Ajraddatz (talk) 16:47, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  (edit conflict)Frankly I've long been of the opinion that WP:CIVIL, in its current form, causes more harm than good. It's far too common for civil POV pushers to engage in tendentious editing and then run to AN/I complaining about incivility the second somebody does a swear at them. If the worst thing Fram ever did was be incivil to ArbComm, they don't deserve one whit of punishment for it. Simonm223 (talk) 16:56, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• I concur that "WMF can't allow Fram to expose them to liability." We don't know what happened, and until we do, what we all know is that Fram has frequently crossed the lines of the widest possible gray area into some truly vicious behavior. I do think WMF needed to present a less weaselly explanation, but I also do not believe Fram's self-serving examples were the real reason. Frankly, Fram's utter and complete refusal to acknowledge any responsibility at all is not the behavior of an innocent person, it's the behavior of someone who is doubling down on whatever they did. I do think that we as a community have repeatedly failed to properly address severe, long-term patterns of incivility. I concur with Simonm223 that there is too much WP:BAITing going on in general, but it's not use of the word "fuck" that got Fram banned and in our gut, we all know it. Montanabw^(talk) 17:37, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Agreed Rivselis (talk) 17:43, 11 June 2019 (UTC) CU-blocked. Beyond My Ken (talk) 04:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Montanabw, to summarize, you are saying that Fram is hiding some stuff and/or lying, (when he says that his dealings with T&S have been limited to those three episodes), thus preventing us from gauging the true extents of the alleged misdeeds, which led to his ban. Am I correct enough? ∯WBG^converse 17:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Winged Blades of Godric, You are half correct, but be very careful not to manipulate my words. I do think that we cannot, at this time, "gauge the true extents of the alleged misdeeds, which led to his ban." But I specifically did not say he was "lying," though that is certainly one possibility. He may have been typing fast and given an incomplete answer. Or such behavior could also occur because Fram is utterly clueless as to the harm s/he has caused, or is in denial. Fram may also be operating under a sincere belief that the three incidents linked were the sole cause, but I suspect that Fram is far more intelligent than that. Let's just say that people don't get banned from WP solely on account of tagging articles and saying the f-word. There's more and we all know there's more. We just don't know what and Fram's choice of words sounds like someone trying to deflect blame, not someone trying to defend themselves against a false accusation. Montanabw^(talk) 18:23, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Looking back into the past, via links given above, it seems Fram's explanation, even if all of it was true, was far from being complete. Thincat (talk) 17:53, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Thincat, clarification, please. ∯WBG^converse 17:56, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Re: "Fram's utter and complete refusal to acknowledge any responsibility at all is not the behavior of an innocent person", you do realise that sounds perilously close to "Ah yes, pleading innocent is exactly what a guilty person would do", don't you? Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 17:59, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Boing! said Zebedee, there's a style of outraged denial that indicates innocence and there's a style of denial that is a type of deflection and manufactured outrage that usually indicates wrongdoing. Someone who is remorseful about their wrongdoing or someone who is falsely accused responds with a different style from someone who is merely unhappy that they finally got called out on their shit. Whatever the actual incident, Fram finally crossed a line and got called on it. Montanabw^(talk) 18:32, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  And your expertise in criminal psychology is...? Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 18:41, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• What we know in our guts are actually assumptions, however accurate we think they are; also, who's "we"? ——SerialNumber54129 17:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC). ——SerialNumber54129 17:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Montanabw we don't know whether there was anything other than being incivil to ArbComm behind this action; that's the problem. If WMF provided some clarity beyond this vague "there were complaints a month ago," response, we might be able to adjudicate this. Absent that though, all we can say is this is a poor example of transparency in policy implementation. Simonm223 (talk) 17:51, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• • • • The lack of clarity has poured fuel on the fire, I can agree with that. But there may be safety concerns and legal issues we don't know about. There's enough smoke, we know something blew up. Montanabw^(talk) 18:32, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  The only thing that is clear is that WMF have acted incredibly poorly. If the smoke you describe isn’t even actually smoke, it’s worse: WMF have acted negligently and people should consider their positions. The Rambling Man (talk) 18:34, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Not a legal issue per "or as required by law. In this case we acted on complaints from the community.". Wouldn't be a liability issue if they produced a list of edits as the reason for the block. So no that defence doesn't work.©Geni (talk) 20:01, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• If Fram's summary of what happened is accurate, then I don't see the legal risk to WMF. R2 (bleep) 20:51, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• One possible source of legal liability is if the WMF says "you can email us confidentially", and then they violate that confidentiality, that could result in getting sued. Hence, they won't tell us who made the complaint, and they won't post diffs because the diffs would reveal who made the complaint. – Levivich 21:16, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• If Fram "exposed them to legal liability", regardless of what he has told us, can you point to some edit he made that has recently been revdeleted as an Office Action? I mean, if the comment invites liability, they would have done that, right? Wnt (talk) 21:16, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• The claim that Fram exposed them to legal liability is absurd on its face. If that were the case, he'd've been globally banned for good, as opposed to banned on en.wp for a year. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 04:56, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

A Proposal

My Proposal

The English Wikipedia Community, ACCEPTING the WMF is permitted to take office actions, in order to protect the safety of users of Wikipedia and enforce the Terms of Use and other legal obligations, or in order to enforce local and global policies, when local processes have failed or the disclosure of details to local processes could pose a real and imminent danger; and BELIEVING the WMF should refer to local processes any complaint it receives that they could effectively handle, share with Stewards and any relevant local privileged users, such as the Arbitration Committee and Check Users, as much information as legally and safely possible regarding any office actions, and publicly disclose, except when prohibited by law or precluded by safety concerns, which policy was being enforced by an office action; CALLS UPON the WMF to brief the English Wikipedia Arbitration Committee and the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation regarding the office actions taken against Fram; ENTREATS that the English Wikipedia Arbitration Committee pass a motion expressing their support for the office actions taken against Fram; PETITIONS FOR an independent panel, including one (1) member of the Trust and Safety Team (T&S), one (1) member of the Community Relations team, one (1) member of the Legal team, one (1) member of the Board, three (3) members elected globally by the community, and one (1) member of the Arbitration Committee from each project on which the targets are active (or a locally-active Check User or Steward if no arbitration committee exists), be called to review and approve each office action and prepare a statement to be released to the Community regarding the action; and ENDORSES the position that the WMF should forthwith conduct an investigation into their communication practices and take appropriate measures to assist in improving communication regarding office actions. We humbly give our supplications as fore to with stated.

I think this captures the ideas discussed on the talk page, but I'm also open to modification. I intend this as a middle line between going bonkers and blindly trusting the WMF in perpetuity. StudiesWorld (talk) 16:16, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

From my years of military service, I've learned, never give the agency you're requesting something a chance to deny your request; if the prescribed form has "APPROVE/DISAPPROVE", and you want it approved, always pre-circle APPROVED before you ask them to sign it. That being said, I think you should remove "or lack thereof" when asking for ArbCom's motion. I'd also change ASKS to something stronger, but stopping short of DEMANDS (appeal, entreat, petition, etc) Trumblej1986 (talk) 16:30, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Trumblej1986 - This phrasing maintains a friendly tone to ArbCom, while reframing the WMF aspect as something that it will benefit from. I don't love "RECOMMENDS", so if you have a better word, feel free to just change it. StudiesWorld (talk) 16:34, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

And we need not be 'er so ever 'umble, either; remind the WMF of their position. Servus servorum dei, and all. Otherwise OK. ——SerialNumber54129 16:47, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Agreed, we need not be obsequious in our entreaty. I tend to initially be over-tactful when I surmise the possibility of retaliation from the other side and softened language can be more diplomatic in the long run; but by no means am I stating we need to grovel, either. Trumblej1986 (talk) 16:52, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Thoughts on my changes? Overall, I do like what you wrote, and I think it encompasses the solid via media necessary here. Trumblej1986 (talk) 16:48, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Trumblej1986, I like your changes, I think that they improve how it reads. SerialNumber54129 - We may agree on that, but we want the WMF to be agreeable. StudiesWorld (talk) 16:51, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Many minds tweaked the petitions and supplications of old after a brilliant laid a more than suitable foundation. Good work yourself. Trumblej1986 (talk) 16:55, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

a) The Terms of Service are not a legal obligation (of course they are enforceable, I just mean that the law does not require them to be what they are, since otherwise we wouldn't need them). b) The part about handling stuff locally when possible is fine, but they already opted against that; c) If you want to ask arbcom to do something, open a request for arbitration or whatever. This current thing is about WMF. d) The "independent committee" is silly and the petition overall is much too pompous. Let's see what Doc James and Jimbo say though. e) WMF staff is already accountable to the Board but the Board for the most part is not particularly accountable to us. All we can really do is tell them that if they want to run Wikipedia directly, they can do it without us. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 17:43, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

WMF conduct warnings

Fram's statement alluded to the fact that he had received two "conduct warnings" from the WMF. I think that's gotten drowned out by the more serious sanctions imposed, but I think that should also be part of the discussion. Is it appropriate for the WMF, rather than the English Wikipedia community, to be issuing "warnings" for on-wiki conduct on the English Wikipedia? Has anyone other than Fram received them? (I can confirm that I have not, though we'll see after today.) English Wikipedia editors and administrators issue conduct warnings all the time, so that is clearly not an issue which the community here is incapable of handling. If we do not issue such a warning, it means that we have chosen not to, not that we can't. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 16:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

FWIW, they are mentioned in Wikipedia:Office actions#Secondary office actions. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 16:20, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

WMF hosts the servers, pays the bills, and has a multitude of legal concerns that come along with hosting Wikipedia. Of course they have the remit to police what they own. Like it or not, the TOS overrides the community consensus on on-wiki conduct. Rivselis (talk) 16:21, 11 June 2019 (UTC) CU-blocked. Beyond My Ken (talk) 04:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I have not received them, but I believe that there may be cases in which they are appropriate, such as if the WMF has received a cease and desist about a particular user's behaviour. StudiesWorld (talk) 16:22, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Enforcement of the TOU is something that the WMF and only the WMF should be doing. Accordingly breaches and near breaches should met with warnings and bans (as appropriate to the individual situation) from the WMF. Thryduulf (talk) 16:26, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I don't understand the assertion that that "enforcement of the TOU" is something that "the WMF and only the WMF" should be doing. For example, the TOU prohibits Infringing copyrights, trademarks, patents, or other proprietary rights under applicable law. Does that mean we ought to quit deleting copyright violations and blocking editors who repeatedly upload them, and leave that to the WMF? Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 16:37, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Copyright violations are also against en.wp policy. When we block editors who repeatedly violate copyright we are enforcing en.wp policy not the ToU. That some actions violate both en.wp policy and the ToU does not alter this. Thryduulf (talk) 16:51, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Thanks, I think I better understand what you mean now. (And copyright may not be a great example, since it's also a legal issue, and the WMF has always been able to act on those.) However, in the case of civility and interaction with other users, that's also covered by local policy, so in that case I would assert that the WMF should respect local decisions in regards to them, including a decision to take no action at all. (Unless there were also a legal issue there, such as an actual court order.) Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 16:56, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Just because en.wp and the ToU both include "civility" does not mean that the standards are the same or that it is impossible to violate one without violating the other. To use the copyright example, Commons policy is a lot more strict than the WMF ToU provision - it is perfectly possible to upload an image to Commons that breaches that project's policy but which is perfectly acceptable according to the ToU (e.g. every fair use image on en.wp). Thryduulf (talk) 17:02, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Like I said, copyright violations are a poor example, because they also implicate legal considerations. So, take promotion/advertising, which both English Wikipedia policy and the TOU prohibit, but isn't against the law. We could legally allow people to post all the promotional material they want, and indeed some sites very legally do allow that. So, let's say an English Wikipedia AfD discussion concludes that an article has some promotional tone but is salvageable, and should be retained. Should the WMF then come along, say "Nope, this violates the TOU", and delete the article as an OFFICE action, or respect the decision made by the community? Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 17:09, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

If the standards are the same and the evidence available is the same then there will never be a reason to disagree with the community decision. If the standard is different and/or the foundation has relevant evidence the community does not and the foundation judge that it breaches the terms of use then yes they should delete the article as an office action (if they believe this is the best action they have the ability to take) - but they should be clear they are doing so because it violates the terms of use rather than making any judgement about whether it does or does not breach en.wp policy. The only definite fault with the block of Fram is the communication of it. Thryduulf (talk) 17:16, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Alright, then I think we just fundamentally disagree in that case. I do not think the Foundation should be using "TOU" to overrule local community decisions, as community policies and practices are that community's interpretation of how the TOU applies there, as with your example of Commons' "Absolutely no nonfree content" and our "Nonfree content may be accepted in some limited circumstances" both being acceptable interpretations of the "Do not violate copyrights" portion of the TOU. Similarly, the English Wikipedia implements certain policies related to civil conduct to implement the user conduct portions of the TOU, and takes action (or declines to) when a breach of those is alleged. If the community declines to take action, the TOU has not been breached. The only time the Foundation should overrule the community is when legally required to (no way around that), or if the Foundation possesses knowledge which is too sensitive to be shared even with ArbCom, generally in areas such as child protection or threats. If private evidence could be submitted to ArbCom for a decision (and it usually can, ArbCom members must all sign the privacy and confidentiality agreement), they should do that rather than acting unilaterally. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 18:00, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I'm going to look at this from another angle, if I may, Seraphimblade: those conduct warnings were issued upon the action of a Wikipedian-in-Residence, or following some sort of monitoring system for WiR. I can tell you, for sure, that the Foundation would not do so if you or me or some other poor sod had to deal with this mess. Now, I'm no firebreather, but, suffice it to say, I have questions regarding the propriety of the WiR system, insofar as improper Foundation influence is concerned; and, quite frankly, about the propriety of paid editing overall, including WiR. —Javert2113 (Siarad.|¤) 16:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Javert2113, that particular WiR had been subject to enough controversies and IIRC, 2 ArbCom cases ....... ∯WBG^converse 16:54, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

So, said WiR was on the radar. That resolves one question. Thanks, Winged Blades of Godric; I appreciate the explanation. I mean it. The other question, however, remains up in the air, but probably isn't a topic to be fully explicated here. —Javert2113 (Siarad.|¤) 16:58, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Wikimedians in residence prove just how unfit for purpose all of en.wp's focus on (undisclosed) paid editors rather than non-neutral editing is. But as you say that's very much a topic for a different place. Thryduulf (talk) 17:05, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Can someone explain a little more what WiR has to do with this? Thanks. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 18:29, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Fram's statement on Commons indicated that the WMF had placed him under an interaction ban with a WiR because he placed maintenance templates on two articles which she started. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 18:44, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

True as far as it goes, but appears to have been more of a ‘last straw’ than a cause in itself. As Ymblanter indicated, there was quite a long history of conflict (the perennial trope of following-to-clean-up-after vs WP:HOUNDING) before then.—Odysseus1479 19:24, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Ah ok, but they didn't notify WP or Arbcom about the iban? Did they notify Fram about it, prior to the block? Are any non-blocked editors under any WMF sanctions that the community and arbcom don't know about? If yes, I'd encourage them to, at minimum, communicate the matters privately to arbcom. I can understand if Fram didn't do that though, given Fram's apparent dim view of Arbcom. I note that Fram made good contributions to several arbitration cases in the past though. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 21:14, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

The WMF certainly has the right to issue conduct warnings and punishments, even when there is an existing community with their own policies and guidelines. If that existing community is not enforcing certain points of the TOU themselves, the WMF will, as with this case and civility. Vermont (talk) 18:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC) (struck as reasoning is not yet confirmed/certain Vermont (talk) 19:01, 11 June 2019 (UTC))

Further comment from the Foundation

[Forthcoming shortly] WMFOffice (talk) 18:58, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Dear members of the English Wikipedia community,

Over the last few days we have received many requests to review the recent issues that have surfaced due to the office action taken against Fram. We are reviewing such feedback with care and aim to reply in helping to clarify the situation. We expect to reply at least one more time as we continue to review the feedback. We hope the following helps to address several points raised so far:

The Foundation is strongly supportive of communities making their own decisions within the framework of the Terms of Use, as outlined in section 10. There have been many questions about why the Foundation's Trust & Safety team handled this case rather than passing it to the local Arbcom to handle. This happened for two main reasons.

• First, our privacy provisions do not always allow us to "pass back" personal information we receive to the community; this means there are cases where we cannot pass on to Arbcom things like the names of complaining parties or the content of private evidence that might support a concern. As a result, the best we could have given Arbcom in this case would have been a distillation of the case, severely limiting their ability to handle it.
• Secondly, we believe it would have been improper to ask the Arbcom to adjudicate a case in which it was one primary target of the person in question, as this could put volunteers into a very difficult position and create the appearance of a conflict of interest regardless of the actual handling of the case.

For these two reasons this case was handled differently than Trust and Safety would usually have handled cases falling under section 4. of the Terms of Use.

In terms of us providing direct justification for this ban to the community, as both several community members and we have already mentioned, we do not release details about Trust & Safety investigations due to privacy concerns. What do we mean by that? We mean that when someone reports a situation to us, or someone is involved in a case we investigate, we are obligated to keep their identity and any personally-identifying evidence private. That includes not only literally not publishing their name, but often not sharing diffs (which might show things like "who the named party was targeting" or "what dispute this investigation arose from") or even general details (in many cases, even naming the specific infraction will allow interested sleuths to deduce who was involved). What we can say in this case is that the issues reported to us fell under section 4 of the terms of use, as noted above, specifically under the first provision entitled “harassing and abusing others.”

Many of you have asked questions about why a one-year local ban was placed in this case, as opposed to the more-common indefinite global ban. The Trust & Safety team updated the policies to allow these less-stringent sanction options for use in cases where there was reason to think time might change behavior, or where disruption is limited to a single project. The intention of these new options is to be able to act in a way that is more sensitive to an individual’s circumstances and not have to give out indefinite global bans for problems that are limited in time or project-scope. Based on the evidence we received, this is such a case and we are hopeful that if Fram wishes to resume editing in a year, they will be able to do so effectively and in line with the terms of use. Prior to this policy update, the only sanction option available in a case like this would have been an indefinite global ban.

We know this action came as a surprise to some within the community, and we understand that many of you have deep concerns about the situation. We can only assure you that Trust & Safety Office Actions are not taken lightly, nor are they taken without sign-off by multiple levels of staff who read the case’s documentation and evidence from different angles. We take these actions only in situations where we believe no other option is available that will preserve the health and/or safety of the community. We will continue to monitor your feedback and provide at least one more reply regarding this matter. Best regards, WMFOffice (talk) 19:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Discussion about the "Forthcoming shortly" placeholder

Original title: "Discussion about second WMFOffice comment"

Which there almost inevitably will be. (edit conflict × 2) –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 19:01, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

WMFOffice, thank you for providing more information. I appreciate your attempting to engage. StudiesWorld (talk) 19:00, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Very, erm, interesting timing. Lepricavark (talk) 19:00, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

We would like to hear what you have to say. —Javert2113 (Siarad.|¤) 19:01, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Floq, finger off the trigger - for a little while as least. - SchroCat (talk) 19:02, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

That would definitely be advisable. No harm in waiting a few more minutes. StudiesWorld (talk) 19:03, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Fucking outrageous. WMF are treating this like some kind of joke. The Rambling Man (talk) 19:03, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

@TRM: They haven't said anything yet? (edit conflict) –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 19:07, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Are you joking? This placeholder was posted two minutes before Fram was about to be unblocked. The Rambling Man (talk) 19:12, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Give credit for realising the urgency, and that communication, even a placeholder if that's the best they got, is absolutely needed. --Xover (talk) 19:06, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Odds: More boilerplate 5/6; More boilerplate with some information we didn't actually know 2/1; An actually good explanation of their actions 5/1; Fram unblocked 10/1. Black Kite (talk) 19:06, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• 5/6 wins. Bookies always do, don't they? Black Kite (talk) 19:34, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  No, it's the 2/1; I don't believe the WMF ever made the claim that, for instance, Arbcom [...] was one primary target of the person in question, before. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 19:37, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• What does "shortly" mean in your lexicon, please? I assume you posted this because Floquenbeam is set to unblock right about... seven minutes ago. If you want to prevent that, please specify how shortly. In 15 minutes? An hour? A week? Bishonen | talk 19:07, 11 June 2019 (UTC).

I'm not good at math but sounds about right. Praxidicae (talk) 19:08, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Amazing that they’ve had hours to respond, as humans would, but leave it until two minutes before Fram is unblocked. This is fucking literally unbelievable. The Rambling Man (talk) 19:14, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I don't understand why they weren't prepared for the inevitable backlash. Lepricavark (talk) 19:15, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

The Foundation has never been prepared for the consequences of its actions, I see no reason to suspect that they would have changed their ways for this. DuncanHill (talk) 19:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I'm appalled by what the Foundation did here, but I doubt they never prepare for consequences. The way we've probably experienced it is that when they do bother to try to anticipate the consequences of their actions, it leads them to moderated measures which aren't seen as objectionable. EllenCT (talk) 19:25, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Whatever you do, please don't think you need to respond just because the masses are lining up by the door. Respond because we want transparency to what happened. Sir Joseph ^(talk) 19:09, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Will the last one out turn off the lights... Shearonink (talk) 19:21, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Thanks to Black Kite for hitting me up on my talk page; I checked this page for WMF input at 18:58 and was about to hit the button. I'm not an idiot or a jerk, so I'll hold off until we get this info. --Floquenbeam (talk) 19:11, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• ...Withdrawn question about role account edits moved to talk...
• I have changed the title of this section and moved the original title below the heading. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 19:40, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Discussion about second WMFOffice comment, now that it is actually posted

• We take these actions only in situations where we believe no other option is available that will preserve the health and/or safety of the community." Let me be the first to say, fuck that bullshit. Only in death does duty end (talk) 19:29, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Comment moved to discussion section in Special:Diff/901426089 ~ ToBeFree (talk) 19:42, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• No new information. No decent justification. Not good enough. I suspect there is a large element of score-settling going on here - we know Fram has had interaction with someone in a relationship with a member of WMF, let alone his role as a critic. - SchroCat (talk) 19:32, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  It's unfortunate that so far as I know they only knew about the deadline when I finally was able to reach someone in the office, and that was only a couple of hours ago. Give them a chance to make a proper reply, which they've told me they are preparing. I'm sure it will be today now that they know Floq's intentions. Doug Weller talk 19:29, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• This is pretty lackluster for even a canned reply. Praxidicae (talk) 19:30, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Welp, we've gotten the new statement, which is nothing but more boilerplate with no new information. Exactly what we expected... rdfox 76 (talk) 19:31, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• • I mean, honestly, what would you expect a "good" statement to look like in a case that we now know involved harassment? "Here's the diffs so people can go harass the person who reported harassment"? ~ Rob₁₃^Talk 19:33, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• "Harassing OR abusing". Get it right. Black Kite (talk) 19:36, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Does that affect the point I was making in any way? ~ Rob₁₃^Talk 19:37, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Whichever way, you've missed the point, which comes as no great surprise. - SchroCat (talk) 19:37, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Of course it does. If the WMF disappeared anyone who abused anyone else ... Black Kite (talk) 19:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

The issue is...well, many but primarily the interference in a local issue and a manufactured crisis (a la Trump's border wall.) They shouldn't be claiming this was some egregious abuse and an issue of trust or safety, or both but that it somehow doesn't exist on other projects and won't exist in a year. It's an overreach. I'm no fan of Fram's behavior but it's hardly the worst thing that's been said on Wikipedia by a generally respected user/sysop. Praxidicae (talk) 19:39, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• (edit conflict) BU Rob 13, we now know that the case involved an allegation of harassment. If putting maintenance templates on two pages constitutes "harassment" worthy of an IBAN, I think their definition is suspect, to put it about as politely as I can. (The product of a bull which is not a steak comes more to mind.) Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 19:46, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• "we screwed up and we dumped the matter on arbcom in the hope they will make us look slightly better".©Geni (talk) 20:07, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Again, NOTHING. Wait, oh wow, now I get it!!! Thanks WMF for the clarification!!!!! Not in any way shape or form. The community now takes precedence. There's nothing here that requires the "office" to prevent harm, that's utter claptrap. Unblock Fram and seek an RFC on the role of the Office. "We know this action came as a surprise to some within the community" are you being serious? ARE YOU BEING SERIOUS? You're a bunch of cowards. Disgusting. The Rambling Man (talk) 19:43, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• That response had essentially no content. Consensus is clear, and Fram said yesterday "Any non-violent action taken by enwiki individuals or groups against this WMF ban has my support", so I have unblocked him.
  Regarding "not having all the facts", the one overwhelming fact I do have is that he is free to edit any other project. Therefore, there cannot be any personal-safety-related, child-safety-related, legal-related, or similar reasons. For the same reasons, I am not touching the double secret iban that apparently exists, because that is, indeed, something I don't know enough about. But with a project-specific ban like this, there is no possibility of lasting damage to an unblock now, and going thru local processes is an option if whatever the problematic behavior was continues. --Floquenbeam (talk) 19:41, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  (edit conflict × 2) Note that the policy for office-action removal of advanced rights limits when that action can be done to major breaches of trust performed by Wikimedia functionaries or other users with access to advanced tools that are not possible to be shared with the Wikimedia communities due to privacy reasons ... (emphasis mine}, so the WMF would be breaching its own policy by carrying out a desysopping here. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 19:46, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• (long-time listener, first-time caller) First point at least makes a little sense to me, second point doesn't. Fram wasn't the first to say scary mean words to ArbCom and probably won't be the last. Sure, there's some conflict of interest if ArbCom is handling a matter involving abusive behavior toward ArbCom, but I would hope that ArbCom would be mature enough to handle that neutrally. From what little I gleaned from that statement, I'm getting the feeling that T&S should have told the complainer to go through ArbCom, or at least asked permission to share information with ArbCom. creffett (talk) 19:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  (edit conflict) ArbCom has, in many instances, had to hear a case which involved a vocal critic of ArbCom, and in some cases parties even criticized the Committee or particular members of it harshly during the case. So, that's absolutely nothing new to any arbitrator. If criticizing ArbCom were a way to escape their jurisdiction, a whole lot of people would be saying "Fuck ArbCom". Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 19:54, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

We needed actual, usable information, not more canned non-responces. Right now, Fram has told us more useful information in a single paragraph than WMFOffice has told us in two replies, which is more an indictment of WMFOffice and their legal team than anything else. If you want us to get on board with your (increasingly) ludicrous ban, you need to both give us a valid explanation that doesn't encroach on any privacy rights and you need to quit it with these asinine responces that only seem to serve the purpose of riling editors up. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 19:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• This response is just as vague as the last one. I agree with User:Floquenbeam. ―Susmuffin ^Talk 19:51, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Question: is there a way for admins/oversight to conveniently view all of Fram's revdel'd/suppressed edits and check whether any of them harassed anyone? I agree with the idea of not telling the rest of us who specifically was harassed. The rest of us can check Fram's still-visible edits but that leaves the edits we can't see. I've seen the occasional abrasive discussion post or obsessive argumentation from Fram but don't remember anything that would rise to this level. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 19:52, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Comment the WMF post sounds like a statement of no confidence in the community. We probably have to respond to it on that basis. (Btw I don't have much confidence in the community either, but it has a better track record than the WMF does.) 67.164.113.165 (talk) 19:52, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• (edit conflict × many) I know this isn't exactly going to be a popular statement given the current environment, but here goes. I, for one, appreciate this new, more detailed statement, which actually seems to make an effort to explain the situation and address various concerns while considering the privacy of those involved, instead of a vague hand wave about the Foundation knowing best. I had a suspicion that conflict of interest between Fram and Arbcom has been a factor recently, and I was curious how Arbcom was going to handle that. I guess we have our answer: the WMF did it for them (apparently, according to BU Rob13, with no prompting). If the Foundation is stepping in with that in mind, well, okay I guess. I trust members of Arbcom to be able to handle a personal conflict of interest, but maybe it is better if the entire Committee is forcibly recused in this kind of situation. I'm not entirely on board with the precedent this sets, but I at least have confidence that the WMF is acting in what it believes to be the project's best interest. But, since this is the WMF supplanting what's supposed to be a community process, they should also have come up with an appeal mechanism. I strongly disagree with the notion of an undefendable complete ban with no chance for appeal. I know some wikis do permanent bans with no appeal but we never have on English Wikipedia. Any editor who earns a ban or indefinite block on this project has at least the standard offer as an appeal mechanism, and so the Foundation's block in this case goes against one of our fundamental best practices. I would appreciate if the Foundation would reconsider the parameters of their ban. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 19:55, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Ivanvector, I appreciate this well-reasoned and level-headed reply. I wish that people weren't going bonkers.StudiesWorld (talk) 19:59, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Ivanvector, I agree - I mean, I would like more information, but I can see how that would be difficult while keeping the identity of the complainant(s) etc confidential. Galobtter (pingó mió) 20:12, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Floquenbeam did the right thing and I await whatever WMF is going to do to make this worse than it already is. 2001:4898:80E8:2:A5F:2E62:10E4:D7D1 (talk) 19:55, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Also how long until someone makes a userbox with something like "I do not support the WMF"? 2001:4898:80E8:2:A5F:2E62:10E4:D7D1 (talk) 19:57, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Negative time. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 19:59, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• If ARBCOM faced a COI issue in taking this issue up, then that is for them to decide. Not to make stretchy legal analogies, but a judge or a lawyer recuses himself or herself--they are not removed from a case by a higher authority automatically to "protect" them. I can absolutely see why ARBCOM might push the issue away and choose not to deal with it--however, they should be doing so with a public record, explaining the issue. If ARBCOM was one of the targets, does that mean that the complaint came from someone at ARBCOM? I don't know, but that is terribly inappropriate and I sincerely hope (and frankly, do not think) that that is not the case. Not because people at ARBCOM should not be safe from harassment, but because they should have to follow the same procedures as the rest of us, regardless of any political fallout which may occur by doing so. Again, I hate making a legal analogy, but that's like a judge recusing herself and then tampering with the court of appeals case by contacting the new judge. If there is an issue raised and ARBCOM has a COI, that needs to be publicly noted. There is no reason for this issue not to go through ARBCOM.

I have no issue with year-long bans. I don't personally know Fram at all but I can understand that some people can change with time. Given the alleged nature of the issue (problems with ARBCOM and/or members of ARBCOM), I can maybe even see why you would only ban Fram from enwiki. But WMF still must understand that performing an action of this nature with a newish policy (and who instated that policy again?) on a well-known editor, without any documentation or explanation of why, was foolish, inconsiderate, and disrespectful to our community here at enwiki.

We deserve an apology, and frankly, if Fram is a decent enough person by your measure to receive only a partial ban of 1 year, then Fram likely deserves an apology as well. You cannot document every single bit of evidence that went into this decision, we get it. But saying nothing at all was unethical and unwise, and not at all conducive to the kind of environment we need in The Free Encyclopedia. Read that again. The Free Encyclopedia. In fact, I daresay that the way this was handled (not the action itself, but how it was handled) was directly in contrast to the values of a community of people wishing to build a Free Encyclopedia. Prometheus720 (talk) 20:01, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

In such cases in the past, Arbcom referred the issue to community sanctions processes by explicit motion. The T&S action was absurd. EllenCT (talk) 20:23, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• BTW, just as an aside, I stopped taking any of this "statement" seriously after the first phrase: "Over the last few days ...". Can't these people get even the most basic facts about their own actions right? The ban was enacted a mere 24 hours ago. Seriously... – Fut.Perf. ☼ 20:03, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Perhaps the T&S team were experiencing internal dissent before the action, one would hope anyway. EllenCT (talk) 20:23, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Since we know that they told some people in advance (though we don't know exactly how much they told or to whom), we can presume that at least some of the people they told objected, so they may, indeed, have been hearing about it over the last few days. – Levivich 20:51, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Specific questions for second response as promised

@WMFOffice: regarding your stated intent to "provide at least one more reply regarding this matter" I would like to ask that you address the following questions:

1. Were there any complaints you considered in arriving at this action beyond Laura Hale's several-year dispute with Fram, culminating in the tagging and removal of unsourced material in her new articles about which you warned Fram, and Fram's critique of AGK and the Arbcom's retracted-with-apologies new account security policy for admins?

2. Were there any reasons that you could not or should not have asked Laura to seek dispute resolution within the project's policies or its community processes?

3. Did you find anything substantively in error factually with Fram's critique of Arbcom and AGK?

4. The Terms of Use provision under which you say the reported issues fell forbids harassment, threats, and stalking, among other less pertinent restrictions. The sole reason for the penalty Fram says you provided was a strongly worded complaint which appears to be factually accurate and does not involve threats or stalking. It does not appear to be the sort of thing which the community generally considers harassment. Do you believe the diff Fram says you cited as the reason for his block was harassment; if so, why?

5. If you determined that Fram was harassing or threatening Laura Hale, how many instances of such did you identify, and over what time period? Were any of those instances of which she complained considered to be inaccurate edits, edits which you determined did not improve the quality of the encyclopedia, edits which constituted any sort of a threat, or edits which would be seen as out of place in the course of ordinary new page patrol? EllenCT (talk) 19:53, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

6. I also have a question. Since the above discussion has left many with the impression that this ban was the result of the tone and tenor of Fram's comments directed to ArbCom, if that is not in fact the reason for this ban, can you say so? bd2412 T 19:58, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

A more specific follow-up: Does the WMF contest the version of events presented by Fram? StudiesWorld (talk) 20:01, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Regarding #6: doesn't Arbcom...was one primary target of the person in question basically confirm that Fram's comments to ArbCom was at least part of the reason for the ban? Galobtter (pingó mió) 20:02, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Yes, but as Fram noted the topic that he was venting about was one that was controversial from the word go anyways, and attracted a lot of anger towards ArbCom. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 20:05, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

If WMF would have let the ArbCom conduct pass, but there was something else that they felt necessitated a ban, I'd like them to say so - even if they can't say what the something else was. bd2412 T 20:13, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

BD2412, my reading of their second statement is that they've already said as much. If Arbcom was one primary target, that means it wasn't the only primary target, right? – Levivich 20:57, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I'd like it in their words. Basically, if Fram hadn't posted what he did in ArbCom, would they still have blocked him based on whatever the other stuff was that they can't tell us about. bd2412 T 21:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• I would add that the above statement says: We take these actions only in situations where we believe no other option is available that will preserve the health and/or safety of the community. My question is, to the WMF Trust & Safety team, can you, after reviewing this discussion and the consequences of what you did, still say with a straight face that you believe the decision you made was beneficial to this community? Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 20:39, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Yes, it was. (My reasoning is above.) Rivselis (talk) 20:56, 11 June 2019 (UTC) CU-blocked. Beyond My Ken (talk) 04:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• I can't take this latest statement seriously either. If the fact that Fram said "Fuck ArbCom" was sufficient for T&S to act because ArbCom had a "CoI", then if Fram had also said "Fuck T&S", would they have recused themselves as well? Does this mean that if we all say "Fuck ArbCom; Fuck T&S", we're all safe from being banned? It sounds like we have a simple resolution for this problem: shall I start a page for us all to express ourselves? --RexxS (talk) 20:59, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• This is how Wikipedia settles disputes: a) figure out who is better than who and has the power to silence him; b) whoever has more power does whatever the fuck he wants. It just happened to me right here in this discussion [10] because I called out the original sin of all the hierarchicalization. Wikipedia is turtles all the way down, and under that, us. Wnt (talk) 21:34, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  That was a dumb suggestion (regarding spilling BEANS) and I don't think the person who reverted it is particularly powerful. I don't want to encourage or enable new kinds of vandalism. But, I'm all in favor of turning the duties of handling the old kind of vandalism over to the WMF. If it wants to micromanage Wikipedia admins, it can manage the vandals on its own resources instead of having us do it as volunteers. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 22:08, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Wow. After reviewing this pathetic excuse of an explanation, it's blatantly obvious the WMF no longer upholds the interests of the community it was established to protect. The above statement is both patronizing and insulting to the community. I strongly agree with most of what's already been said. I'd like to see a) an apology and b) an actual transparent explanation. -FASTILY 23:55, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• I do not accept for one second that saying 'FUCK ARBCOM', or words to that effect, is anywhere near a 'trust and safety' issue or within the WMF's remit, and it is ludicrous to hold that ARBCOM is unable to deal with such criticism. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 18:27, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Further clarification

To follow up on the earlier statement from today, we can provide additional clarifications:

The scope of Trust and Safety investigations: The Foundation's office action investigations generally review the conduct of the user as a whole. Therefore, they usually involve conduct on the projects over an extended period of time. In the case of established editors, the time window reviewed often extends beyond any individual complaints received and can include conduct spanning several years. The scope is one of the main reasons why such investigations usually take at least four weeks. Such investigations evaluate the conduct of a user and by default not the substance of their views.

Conduct warnings: Conduct warnings are a rare office action. They are normally issued when a situation is observed to be problematic, and is meant to be a preventative measure of further escalation. It is considered as a step geared towards de-escalation of the situation, when there is believed to have sufficient margin for it. It informs the recipient that behavior they may consider acceptable is in fact not, grants them the opportunity to reflect on it, and encourages them to take corrective measures towards mitigating and eventually eliminating it. However, should these warnings be ignored and the problematic behavior continues, further actions (such as bans) may be deemed necessary and their text usually references the possibility.

Style and substance: Critique is an inherently important part of an encyclopedic community. Neither the Foundation nor community institutions, like ArbCom, are above criticism. Such criticism naturally can be direct and hard on the facts, but in a community it should also remain strictly respectful in tone towards others.

Enforcement: The Wikimedia Foundation never seeks to force administrators or other community members to enforce the Terms of Use (just like an admin is rarely 'obligated' to block a vandal), but we do greatly appreciate the work of administrators who choose to do so. Admins who do take such actions should not be subjected to threats of removal of their admin rights, when their actions are based on a good faith belief that they are upholding the Terms of Use (and any action in support of enforcing a Foundation office action or a community global ban is, by definition, upholding the Terms of Use). If community believes that their good faith efforts are misguided, the issue may need discussion, if necessary, a different approach. We are always happy to join in such conversations unrelated to individual cases. Best regards, WMFOffice (talk) 00:33, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Reactions to further clarification

Just opening this up. —Javert2113 (Siarad.|¤) 00:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@WMFOffice: I am concerned that this statement does not reflect the realities that everyday administrators/functionaries face about dealing with editors criticizing themselves:

1. CheckUsers and stewards frequently take action against accounts obviously attacking themselves, using profanities, references to genitalia/race/sexual orientation/occupation/address/relatives' names etc. that I won't use here and that are a lot worse than what Fram said. Are you saying that they can no longer do so and must refer such cases to the foundation?
2. Fram has also attacked WMF. The logical implications of your statement mean that you cannot take action against Fram, either. --Rschen7754 00:51, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• I note with very deep disappointment that none my substantive yes-or-no questions which could have been addressed without exposing private information were addressed unambiguously. The extent to which the "clarification" obviously evaded the central yes-or-no issues is plain to all. It is so sad that we are now governed by those with such regard for reciprocity and fairness. Chilling in the worst way. EllenCT (talk) 01:54, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Could WMFOffice please confirm in their next statement whether off-wiki evidence was involved in this specific case? It has been strongly hinted throughout but as far as I can see was never explicitly stated, and Fram contradicted this in his statement ("Everything I did is visible on enwiki, no privacy issues are involved, and all necessary complaint, investigations, actions, could have been made onwiki.") – Teratix ₵ 02:31, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• "WMFOffice", whoever you are, the next time you post anything here, please sign your name(s). The Wiki community doesn't talk with faceless bureaucracies hiding behind an anonymous role account. If you have anything to tell us, tell us who you are. If there's a specific person behind these announcements, I want to know who that person is. If you genuinely composed these statements collectively, that's fine too, but then by all means tell us that. We are people, not institutions, and you guys are people too, so talk as people. Fut.Perf. ☼ 07:10, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Agree with FPaS. Hiding behind an anonymous account is discourteous and uncivil. Consider yourself conduct-warned by this (not very active, but long-standing) administrator. I don't even know if "you" is just a trigger-happy overeager naive newbie or a power-drunk cabal in a self-reinforcing justification circle. At least, one cannot personally attack an impersonal account, I assume. As for the alleged misconduct: Wikipedia is not a Victorian girl school, and people standing for ArbCom know what they are in for. Fram's comment was an honest response adequately describing the situation at hand. It's not a style I would normally choose, but is entirely within the envelope of normal and widely tolerated behaviour. At most something like this might result in a talk page warning, or after 5 public escalating warnings in a mild slap at AN/I. In particular, it has nothing whatsoever to do with "trust and safety", unless you are in full newspeak mode. Please politely undo this action, apologize, and step back from further stupidity before even more community trust and support is lost. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 21:48, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Office RFC

[MOVED to Wikipedia:Community response to the Wikimedia Foundation's ban of Fram/Proposals about WMF Office ]

I'm trying to start a split to a subpage for WMFOffice-specific actions, so I moved this over there. Please consider editing this section over there, if acceptable. Wnt (talk) 12:52, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Who does represent the editing community here?

As has been mentioned numerous times, neither ARBCOM nor the WMF are intended to represent the interests of the editing community (such as the community's interest in due process for disciplinary measures). Perhaps it is time some organization existed to do so? power~enwiki (π, ν) 20:18, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Support. the creation of some organization that represents the community. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 20:20, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Wouldn't any organization that effectively "represents the community" be the community?~ ONUnicorn^{(Talk|Contribs)}problem solving 20:25, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I think it is meant the authorized representatives of the community that are made to speak on our collective behalf. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 20:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Right, but such an authorized representative allowed to speak for the community would first have to determine what the community has to say. I think that would end up looking very similar to an RFC, with the authorized representative required to read the discussion, determine the consensus, and then act on that consensus. In short - we already have that, with the "authorized representative" being whatever admin or experienced closer closes the relevant discussion, and the "speaking on the community's collective behalf" being the closing statement.~ ONUnicorn^{(Talk|Contribs)}problem solving 20:35, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I believe the idea is that the community selects this person (more likely a group of people) based off what they and not without guidance. Based off the statements from power~enwiki this has more the feeling of a collective bargaining representative. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 20:44, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Hopefully somebody can be appointed to act as a fiduciary, rather than just creating another sea of RFC discussions. power~enwiki (π, ν) 20:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

What do you mean by the community? The people who shout the loudest? Because that's who makes most of the decisions around here, but that certainly isn't representative of the entire editing body. -- Ajraddatz (talk)

"The community" is a group of people, with size somewhere between me and everyone with a Wikipedia account. If there weren't such obvious issues, I'd suggest a trade union; the lack of any remuneration to define members, as well as the multi-national jurisdiction make anything that formal deeply problematic. power~enwiki (π, ν) 20:29, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• That'll be "the editing community" then. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:26, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I agree with Ajraddatz: those who are loudest often think they "represent the community." The only way to find out the "will" of the community as a whole is to poll ALL of us anonymously. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 17:22, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Belay this discussion until Jimbo and Doc James can find out just what the hell is going on. We have active editors on the Board, and Doc James (will bring it up next board meeting) and Jimbo (investigating) are working on trying to get to the bottom of this. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 20:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

What would prevent this becoming just like the WMF? StudiesWorld (talk) 20:31, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

The WMF has at least two other responsibilities: developing MediaWiki software, and establishing communities of editors in other languages. Furthermore, due to the whole "paid editing" thing, most WMF members aren't active editors, here at enwiki or on any other wiki. Doc James is on the board, which is great, but it would be nice if there was some organization backing him up. power~enwiki (π, ν) 20:34, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Arbcom does this to an extent, and there are WMF Liasons editing, plus some active editors are board members, plus there is Jimbo. Jimbo and Doc James are pursuing discussions right now and I hope some good comes out of it. But we have to think about the BATNA and to some extent that means figuring out what the WMF is really about. I think we are naive some of the time. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 22:05, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Banned but not blocked

Okay, just a quick thing. We have now a perhaps paradoxical situation where Fram is banned from en.wiki but not blocked. Is this is a precedent? Do we need to understand more about what that situation means? I.e. if Fram edits once, does he get blocked? The Rambling Man (talk) 20:28, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

@The Rambling Man: we constantly "ban" editors without blocking them, see Wikipedia:Editing_restrictions#Active_editing_restrictions for examples. — xaosflux ^Talk 20:30, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Except in this case, isn't the user site banned? My research on the subject yielded mixed results. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 20:34, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

What makes this any different from a new account being created for block evasion or a sleeper sock or a friendly admin helping you block evade by unblocking a sock? StudiesWorld (talk) 20:31, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Pedantically, there is no paradox. Blocks can be used to enforce bans (WP:EVASION). As long as Fram doesn't violate the ban, there is no evasion and no reason to re-block. But any edit technically is violating the ban; it's kind of like a topic ban from everything. Not that I'm going to touch any of this with admin rights, but that's how I would play it. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 20:32, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

xaosflux I'm not a dick, so explain what happens now Fram has been banned from en.wiki yet unblocked. If he makes an edit to en.wiki, will he be blocked? I think you know where I'm coming from, so some explanation would be helpful. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:33, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Because Floquenbeam unblocked him due to there being overwhelming consensus to do so. funplussmart (talk) 20:36, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

That is the long and short of it. He edits en.wp, WMF will likely reinstate the block (or worse, glock). —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 20:36, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

That's the way I see it, ban evasion is ban evasion. But I'm not going to be the one pushing that button. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 20:37, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

(many EC) It's often fairly trivial to create an account to get around a ban, at least for a short time. And of course many IP editor who are banned are not blocked for long, given dynamic IPs etc. So I don't think that part of the situation is so unusual. The fact that the main account is unblocked is a little different. (Well sometimes socks are banned at least defacto without their connection to their main account being uncovered, and obviously them editing from their main account is still violating their ban. However it's still a little different in that in those cases it's because the connection is unknown and the account/s which were uncovered are blocked.) But really the main difference to me seems to be that the editor is banned by the WMF, but have been intentionally unblocked by an admin based on their reading of community consensus. Whatever happens to the unblocking admin aside, I have strong doubts that the WMF will take kindly to someone evading their ban however it comes about. It's the editor's choice if they wish to do so, I'm sure they're aware of the complexities of the situation. Nil Einne (talk) 20:39, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict) @The Rambling Man: I don't think you are - just passionate about the issue. I don't think we share the same point of view on this, but I don't think we are diametrically opposed either. As to "what happens": I'd think that Fram would be "in violation" of the ban, whether or not anyone would enforce the violation with another block for example is beyond me (I wouldn't personally enforce it, but I'm not usually active in ban enforcement areas either). — xaosflux ^Talk 20:40, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• WMF could reblock right now, or they could wait to reblock if he edits. They're essentially the same thing, so I assume (and it is assuming, I don't speak for her) that Bish would then unblock. Or if I'm not desysopped, I could unblock again. So the only difference is, Fram might be surprised if he's not reblocked immediately, edits, and is then reblocked. But other than the surprise (and delay) there really isn't a difference. If he chooses not to edit thru the theoretical ban, it's the same as being blocked. I'm not the WMF; I can technically undo an office action block, as long as I'm willing to suffer the consequences, but I can't prevent them from reblocking either now or later, and I can't *make* then rescind the theoretical ban, just (while I have the admin bit) the technical block implementation. --Floquenbeam (talk) 20:43, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
  • I want to go on record as saying that WMF would be very much in the wrong if they were to take any recriminatory action against Floq. The unblocked-but-banned status is an awkward one, but it is entirely within community norms for an admin, after reviewing lengthy discussion, to unblock a blocked user. (Indeed, a re-block would arguably be wheel-warring, at least by en-Wiki standards.) The worst possible thing to happen next would be for WMF to escalate an already tense situation by any sort of chest-thumping directed against the unblocking admin. --Tryptofish (talk) 21:00, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

WP Policy is clear that "Wikimedia administrators and others who have the technical power to revert or edit office actions are strongly cautioned against doing so. Unauthorized modifications to office actions will not only be reverted, but may lead to sanctions by the Foundation, such as revocation of the rights of the individual involved." (From WP:OFFICE) Rivselis (talk) 21:08, 11 June 2019 (UTC) CU-blocked. Beyond My Ken (talk) 04:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I know that. And I still mean what I said. --Tryptofish (talk) 21:12, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• I personally HIGHLY disagree with Floquenbeam's actions.. This is effectively undermining the Foundations' responsibility in upholding the Terms of Use of their own website. I think that is and should be a blockable action. As I've said before, people can fork and run your own webproperty. I even considered opening an Arbcom case about this action. But I need to sleep, and tomorrow i have to work, making that a bad idea. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 21:13, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Suffice it to say that it would be a bad idea even if you had all the time in the world. Lepricavark (talk) 21:22, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Yes, although the WMF has the legal right to demand fealty, they have a commonsense management responsibility to recognize that without a supportive editing community, the WMF would have little reason to exist. This is an important concept: just because one has the right to do something doesn't mean that it is wise to do it. --Tryptofish (talk) 21:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Unless they speak a lot more languages than I think they do they already have a very limited ability to do that on any practical level.©Geni (talk) 21:31, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  We pretend we're part of a community, but all we are are bums on somebody else's property. That's what computing is about: poor people pretending they can play on the rich man's estate, and so long as play means dusting and sweeping for free, maybe they can, but eventually the rich man comes up with some other plan. We should spend less time studying Wikipedia policy, more time studying Marx and Kaczinsky. Wnt (talk) 21:40, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

FWIW, Fram has been reblocked by WMFOffice [11] Nil Einne (talk) 00:36, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

And then unblocked again by Bishonen. Thryduulf (talk) 11:06, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Unban Fram

So it's now clear that while we had overwhelming consensus to unblock Fram, that is actually meaningless to the wikilawyers who would tell us that since he's still banned yet unblocked, any edit he makes anywhere on en.wiki could end up lengthening his ban. Which of course is horseshit. So we need to try once more. In the face of precisely zero evidence, I propose that Fram is unbanned from English Wikipedia. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:42, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Oppose - Trusted community members are still investigating the matter. Procedurally, this is impossible. StudiesWorld (talk) 20:47, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  "Procedurally, this is impossible" anyone that says that should be summarily ignored. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:48, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  I'm sorry, explain this to me. You believe that it is currently possible under local policy to overturn an office action? StudiesWorld (talk) 20:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Trusted community members are still investigating the matter. if that means the same "trusted group" who banned Fram in the fist place, plus Jimbo (please!), then the point is moot. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:57, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Yes. Of course. Fram can be re-sysopped locally by 'crats and his ban (which is an abstract concept now he has been unblocked) can be ignored. What kind of super powers do you think WMF hold??! The Rambling Man (talk) 20:52, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Exactly. Beyond My Ken (talk) 23:51, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  The keys to the site? I mean it only exists at the whims of the Foundation. Q ^{T C} 15:56, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Strong support The community needs to be able to make their own decisions without needing intervention from the Foundation. The ban of Fram is completely uncalled for and the inadequate response from the Office shows its complete lack of transparency, especially in this situation. I don't care that this is "procedually impossible" if its because the bureaucratic Foundation makes it that way. funplussmart (talk) 20:53, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support per funplussmart. CoolSkittle (talk) 20:55, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support in the absence of further information. If this is about civility, ban everyone else on the project, as the border of civility and rudeness is nebulous. If this is a metasticisation of his dispute with the WiR, check the WiR's history here on en.wp. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 20:57, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support WMF have acted inappropriately here, maybe on behalf of an inside relationship. This action should be seen as wholly illegitimate. Mr Ernie (talk) 20:59, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Mu. Office bans cannot be undone by the community. ~ Rob₁₃^Talk 21:00, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Of course they can. If the community deems the Office to have over-reached, then it will be fixed. Jeez, no-one "owns" the community, without us, you're nothing. Get used to thinking about how we feel about shitty decision-making. Arbcom was bad enough, now we have this Office bollocks. Gervais would be proud of us. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:26, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Support. The "procedural impossibility" is for WMF to ban editors solely for their on-wiki conduct, with narrow exceptions such as child protection or threats. (If Fram's account of events leading to the ban were inaccurate, WMF has now had the opportunity with its second statement to dispute it, and did not do so, so at this point we will have to presume that Fram's account is accurate). "Fram was mean to me" is a matter for the English Wikipedia community to handle, either directly or through the Arbitration Committee it elects. It is not a matter in which the WMF can intervene because it does not like the community's decision, including a decision to refrain from action. If Fram has behaved in a way deserving of a site ban, that ban should be imposed by the community or ArbCom only. (And when there are not legal considerations, yes, the community absolutely can overturn Office actions. If we've not yet clearly established that we have that authority, now's as good a time as any.) Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 21:03, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• (edit conflict × 11) In the abstract, I support unbanning and reopping, but that assumes the RFC is binding (and it’s unclear if it is at this moment). —pythoncoder (talk | contribs) 21:06, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Mu (I like that as a response, thanks Rob). While we're here, let's vote to break the UK's parliamentary Brexit deadlock, to reconcile the Israelis and the Palestinians, and to cure the world of all known diseases too. Well, we have as much power to do those as reverse an Office ban, so why not? I think the ban is wrong, and I think it represents a power grab and a chilling shift in the governance structure of en.wiki. I think the ban should be reversed, but we can't do it, and voting on it here is just pissing in the wind. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 21:16, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support even if we can't make it stick, we can at least tell the WMF exactly what we think. Lepricavark (talk) 21:22, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• (edit conflict) The community consensus for an unblock already includes consensus that Fram be allowed to continue editing, otherwise it would be pointless. I doubt people were thinking, "restore Fram's technical ability to edit, but if he actually uses it then the ability should be removed again." Even if the WMF ban technically still exists, at minimum the community expects that it will not be enforced. (But whether the WMF enforces it anyways is a separate issue, of course.) Sunrise (talk) 21:21, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support Well yes. If the office wishes to make a case to arbcom they are free to do so.©Geni (talk) 21:33, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• My understanding is that the community does not have the authority to override an office action, so this is not possible. The unblock, though understandable, was therefore premature. This will need to be looked at through proper channels, via the board members accountable to the community. They are in a position to question WMF staff about the reasons for these actions and explain them to the community. And, if need be, they can help take Foundation-level decisions about any necessary consequences from this episode, including personnel decisions and an office-level unban. Process should be followed, even if it is annoying. Sandstein 21:33, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support in the absence of a non-boilerplate response by the WMF. For this nonstandard of an action to be taken against such a well-established editor, with little-to-no comprehensive explanation (thus leaving us all to speculate) is ridiculous. -A lad insane (Channel 2) 21:38, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Oppose In agreement with Sandstein. In the face of precisely zero evidence, I propose that the Brexit deadlock be considered null and void. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 21:40, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Hawkeye7, is not it a bit rich for you, of all folks, to talk about evidence in these type of cases? ∯WBG^converse 12:01, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Oppose this is not an anarchist site. Sir Joseph ^(talk) 21:55, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

@Sir Joseph: Just because people oppose a decision a leader(s) make, doesn't automatically make them anarchists. The people want good leadership, not incompetent leadership. X-Editor (talk) 04:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Oppose when it comes to sensitive personal data we should be very careful. -- Magioladitis (talk) 21:57, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Mu. BU Rob13 and Boing! said Zebedee are in the right here. The community cannot do this, and its time would be better spent on a different approach. Mz7 (talk) 22:19, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Yes, the community can do whatever it gets consensus to do. Applying primitive constraints is stupid and wasteful. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:26, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Mu. It is not within the remit of the local community so discussing this is meaningless (this is the perfect way to describe my response; thanks!).--Jorm (talk) 22:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Well it just think a bit harder then. What would you vote if you could get your desired outcome? We, as a community, can do anything we like here. Or perhaps you'd prefer to just go along with the sheep? Yes sir. No sir. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:29, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  I'm not sure you'd be happy to know my desired outcome.--Jorm (talk) 22:31, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  I don't really care about your opinion. What I do care about it is the ability for us as a community to exercise our consensus in the way that Jimbo originally conceived. Twenty years later we're not seeing that, too many owners. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:35, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  You only care about the opinions of those who agree with you. Got it.--Jorm (talk) 22:44, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  What a strange thing to say. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:49, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Support i.e., the community resolves Fram in its view is still welcome to edit and administer the en.wp project. This means that by community consensus, Wikipedia admins should not intervene to enforce the ban. Whether the WMF gives a fig about that, or enforces the ban itself, are separate matters that don't concern us here. The community should also not recognize Fram's IBAN with the anonymous WiR, but it can postpone disputing that issue (and I'd advise Fram to do the same). I'd be satisfied about the IBAN if WMF turns ownership of it over to Arbcom (Arbcom doesn't have a COI regarding it) and Arbcom lets it stay in force while they review it and ultimately decides whether to lift it. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 22:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Comment. Here are some axioms: (a) we do not have the power, under US law, to override the office unless we fork and leave their servers, (b) there is allegedly an ongoing attempt by Jimbo Wales and Doc James to do some mediation, which has not run its course yet, and (c) we still don't know for certain whether there is more to this than Fram's statement would imply. Give those axioms I therefore propose that we sit tight for a while and wait and see. I agree with the spirit of Floq's unblock, but just as the WMF need to de escalate and build bridges, so also do we.  — Amakuru (talk) 22:37, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  I don't see it as overriding the office to say there is no community ban in force, the community wants Fram to be editing, and the community refuses to act on the WMF's behalf with regard to enforcing the ban. WMF owns this ban and if it is enforced at all, WMF itself must do the enforcement. We won't do this dirty work. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 22:43, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Contrary to the statement above, there is nothing whatsoever in US law that forbids the user of a site from taking actions which the owner of the site disagrees with. The owner can, of course, undo the action and ban or block the user, since they have the technical and legal power to do this -- but that is entirely irrelevant in this case, which hinges not on what the WMF can do, but on what actions it is willing to do in the face of a community revolt. They can choose to retaliate, and do, most probably, extreme damage to the website, destroying its ethos and undermining its future improvement, or they can look the other way and negotiate. I believe they would do the latter, because as inappropriate and (predictably) stupid as this action was, I do not think that they are, collectively, unintelligent people. Beyond My Ken (talk) 23:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Oppose as premature. As Wikimedia staff has stated, they are unable to release the evidence that supported their action. Without having seen the evidence (or even a summary of that evidence), it is premature for the community to demand that the action be immediately overturned. Let the oversight and investigatory processes proceed, and then an informed decision can be made. Cbl62 (talk) 22:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Its trivial to claim that you have evidence that you can't release.©Geni (talk) 23:07, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Comment what time is it in California? The Rambling Man (talk) 22:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

4 PM. 2001:4898:80E8:2:A5F:2E62:10E4:D7D1 (talk) 22:57, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Not our call. The WMF has the authority to ban anyone from their site who they deem to have violated the ToS. Any community consensus to overturn such a ban is completely meaningless. AdA&D 22:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Moreover, if the WMF found that Fram has harassed and abused others, he should be held to account like any other user. I understand the frustration about the lack of transparency, but that's the unfortunate reality of harassment complaints lodged to WMF itself; they're confidential. And let's be real, people are only kicking up such a fuss because he's a power user. If this was some random editor you guys wouldn't give a shit. AdA&D 23:53, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Nope, without a community, the WMF is purposeless. Think about it. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:51, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  TRM, I like you but you are not cynical enough. Look at some of Wnt's posts. She or he is more astute about this. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 23:13, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Comment Even without a conclusion, we're learning a lot about our fellow editors, aren't we? Black Kite (talk) 23:05, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support Arbcom is elected and accountable to the English Wikipedia Community. "WMFOffice" and whoever is behind it is not. The fact that there is no transparency behind who did this is another problem. I may not know who "BURob 13" is but enough editors of this community trusted them with the responsibility of being an Arb which is how this whole project works. Enough of us work together to build this place. One foreign, unaccountable person should not and cannot perform actions like this when we have local, effective governance in place. Fram is a pitbull when he finds an issues for better and worse. I've thought multiple times they need to back off but its always been because they want to make the Wiki better. I've been an on and off editor for 14 years. First as an IP, then as a user, back to an IP, and back to a sporadic user. Actions like this kills communities. Remember, this community is your golden goose. No community, no encyclopedia, no donations. spryde | talk 23:21, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support unban. This section, as I understand it, is for gauging the community's views on the Office action banning Fram. The WMF may or may not take our views into consideration as they review this situation, but for God's sake don't pre-emptively say your voice doesn't matter by muing at us. Support the unban or oppose it, but don't sit in the cow pasture "mu"ing because you think you won't be listened to, because that's a self-fulfilling prophecy. The WMF may ignore a strong consensus of editors, but they most definitely will ignore people who are fearful of taking one position or another, and they will be right to do so. 28bytes (talk) 23:40, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support Of course. The block was only intended to enforce the ban, unblocking him only undoes the technical mechanism which kept him from editing. To be effectively undone, Fram needs to have the ability to edit freely as well. If undoing an OFFICE action is forbidden, well, then, Floq already crossed that threshhold (thank you, Floq), on his own, in recognition of community consensus. If community consensus is also to unban Fram as well (as it should be), then some other admin should take that action. Finally, if community consensus is that Fram's desysopping was out of process, and the community supporst his being re-sysopped in the interim, some brave bureaucrat should do that. I say this with the full recognition that those taking these actions could easily find themselves the target of OFFICE actions as well, but if each action is properly well-supported by the community, then I don't believe that the WMF would be foolhardy enough to take those steps. What they have now is a tightly-focused result, what they need to watch out for is provoking a widespread revolution. Beyond My Ken (talk) 23:42, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  I can't sit behind my completely unprivileged IP address and encourage people with advanced permissions to wheel war with the WMF (I described my suggestion of admins passively going on strike as "going bonkers" but it turns out to be one of the mildest actions discussed). But I would say that the "unban" we're discussing means the community doesn't object to such actions, won't sanction anyone who does them (even if the WMF might do so), and might sanction those who try to undo the actions. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 00:06, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Support per 28bytes, who hits the nail on the head. I say this, however, recognizing that there might be factors that I don't know because they haven't been made public. --Tryptofish (talk) 23:47, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support per 28bytes. This is about sending a strong message to the WMF that local governance should not be sidestepped without a good reason. This discussion may not result in any concrete implementation (Fram is unblocked and can technically edit, the community won't sanction him if he does, so the ball is in WMF's court regardless of the outcome here), but we need to present a unified front to make it harder and harder for them to defend their actions (either that or provide an actual transparent explanation of what Fram did, if he did indeed do something ban-worthy). As shown in the superprotect fiasco, the WMF will cave under sufficient pressure. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 00:17, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• (edit conflict) Regardless as to whether the community is capable of doing this, I support this proposal. Unless Fram's post-ban statement on commons is incorrect, then there is no confidential information in this ban, meaning nothing stops the community from coming to its own judgement. Since the community does not ban users for one year on a first offence, the one-year ban is clearly excessive and should be undone. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 00:19, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support Logging in after not being here for ages just to support this, with a caveat: all evidence so far presented claims that Fram’s ban was solely for on-wiki behavior. Assuming that’s the case, that behavior hasn’t always been optimal but it certainly isn’t outside the purview of the community’s already in place mechanisms to deal with conflicts. That the diffs provided to Fram, including the backdoor IBan, all involved conflicts with people with direct access to the Office stinks to high heaven. Fram’s conflicts with the WMF are no secret and, much more often than not, he was correct about the facts, even if overzealous on the execution. Assuming the office ban is based solely on on-wiki behavior, the idea that anonymous complaints are “private” is asinine and antithetical to every conflict resolution process setup by the community. This same type of banning has happened across multiple language wikis since late 2018, baffling those communities as well. If that’s what the WMF wants, then so be it, but then drop the charade. Then, you know, actually pay community moderators to enforce your insular whims, if that’s their intention, because the WMF clearly didn’t have confidence that the community would sanction Fram for attacking their own. Capeo (talk) 00:55, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support - For all I know, the sanction may be warranted (I personally think it was excessive, but that's beside the point). However, this is a local matter that should have been referred to Arbcom. I do not appreciate the WMF meddling in issues that are for the local communities to solve. –FlyingAce^✈hello 01:20, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support At this point, it has become clear that the WMF doesn't care about being answerable to anyone but themselves, and providing a strong community consensus against this ban is the only way that we stand a chance of getting this overturned by the Board, by giving Jimbo and the Community Representatives something to point at and say how blatantly out-of-touch this action was. rdfox 76 (talk) 03:05, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support I'm not just going sit back and let the WMF get away with banning a guy just because he made a somewhat rude comment against ARBCOM and get banned for a whopping one year as a result. The WMF needs to be more transparent and actually get consensus for this type of ban. X-Editor (talk) 04:22, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support Benjamin (talk) 04:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Strong support per nom. Oshawott 12 ==()== Talk to me! 04:27, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support. The ban may or may not be warranted, but it should not be WMF's decision to make. Their flimsy rationale for bypassing arbcom applies equally to WMF itself, of which Fram has been a long-time vocal critic. If Fram does need to be banned, and T&S reviewed Fram's entire history of 187k+ edits as claimed (or even a substantial portion thereof), then they should have no difficulty putting together a case for the community's established processes to consider, in private if necessary. T. Canens (talk) 04:39, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support - No muing, the community should not enforce this ban. The ban itself is conexcept, but enforcement of it is not. Tazerdadog (talk) 05:10, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support per Tazeradog and all above. ∯WBG^converse 06:42, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support - reversal needed for this opaque, seemingly harsh, and confounding situation (if he did something so bad, would it be a one-year ban? starship.paint (talk) 07:17, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support - It has become clear that this ban was arbitrary and capricious. Whether our reversion of this ban is real or symbolic, it is important. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 08:12, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Mu? - Support in principle, but there's no point in this vote because the community can't overturn office bans. ST47 (talk) 10:17, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Oppose. Unless and until the investigation(s) by the board, Jimbo and Doc James demonstrate evidence that the ban is actually incorrect not just unpopular. Thryduulf (talk) 11:07, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support as there is no evidence to support a ban, and the ban itself appears to be an attempt to undermine community resolution in a disruptive manner. DuncanHill (talk) 11:09, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support - Ofcourse WMF blocks generally cannot be overturned blah blah blah - Block was ridiculous and as such I support unblocking, –Davey2010^Talk 12:00, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support — This is how to walk back this gravely ill-considered office action. Of course, it would mean tacitly admitting error, so I don't have much hope that the geniuses who decided to do this will reconsider without a big push from their boss and/or nominal overseers. Carrite (talk) 12:13, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support. We can only judge the situation based on the evidence presented to the community, and on the basis of the evidence, the ban is at the very least an unwise overreach. If we assume the worst of the imposers, then it could be corrupt and disruptive. DrKay (talk) 16:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Oppose if this is a legal or safety issue, we don't have the "right" to view all of the lurid details in order to get this unblock. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 17:23, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Fram has already been unblocked (twice). This is about the ban. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:58, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Support. If there is a concrete legal concern behind the ban, that needs to be explicitly stated by WMF legal, which certainly could be done without revealing personal information or all of the background. If this is not a legal issue, this should have been addressed by Arbcom rather than the WMF; Arbcom is well equipped to handle sensitive and private information carefully and rationally.Dialectric (talk) 20:56, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

1. Oppose acting without information is very dangerous. Wait for Jimbo, Doc James, etc, to conclude their investigation. Banedon (talk) 00:49, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
2. Oppose as others have said, not without further information. There is no rush, especially for an action which has no clear effect. Nil Einne (talk) 02:40, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

A request to the Office

I stayed out of yesterday's discussion, because as a long-term former ArbCom member I've also found myself in the position of "we have to do something drastic and unpopular, and we're sorry but we can't tell you why." But from the information available so far, it appears that this may not actually have been such a case. In any event, while accepting that the Office acted with good intentions and some of the name-calling has been excessive, the action taken has not been helpful and the situation has obviously become demoralizing for everyone. I look forward to any further insight that Jimmy Wales and Doc James, or the Board as a whole or the Office staff itself, may be able to provide consistent with any genuine privacy issues that might exist. In the meantime, to the Office staff: please don't further worsen the situation by reacting reflexively to recent developments, and please do give careful thought to how it might be possible to quickly deescalate this situation, without jeopardizing the Office's needful role in dealing with the very serious situations that are within its core responsibilities to address. Newyorkbrad (talk) 20:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Well said. The Rambling Man (talk) 20:47, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Newyorkbrad, thank you for this level-headed and measured response.StudiesWorld (talk) 20:48, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

I've been watching this for some hours now, and trying to figure out what I want to say, but I think that Newyorkbrad just said it better than I could have. --Tryptofish (talk) 20:50, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Well said, Newyorkbrad. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 20:52, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Yeah pretty much this. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 21:01, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Newyorkbrad, thank you. Hey Cas Liber, nice to see you again. I hear the birds outside, so it must be winter for you. Drmies (talk) 22:17, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Brad: Thank you. Beyond My Ken (talk) 23:54, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Very well put. BubbaJoe123456 (talk) 14:23, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• WMF Office: please de-escalate the situation by leaving Fram blocked banned if you wish, but turning jurisdiction over the block ban over to the en.wp DR system (ANI or Arbcom) for discussion and possible reversal. This includes the IBAN with the WIR member. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 21:04, 11 June 2019 (UTC) (edited) 21:44, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  He's already unblocked. What? The Rambling Man (talk) 21:23, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

  Floquenbeam unblocked Fram by community consensus (see Fram's user log). I edited my wording since BU Rob13 posted a caution/observation/concern trolling/warning/whatever on Fram's user talk that the WMF ban is still in force and it could be extended if Fram "evades" it. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 21:44, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• I want to sign onto this. I think I understand why they banned Fram. I am perhaps one of the few who think Fram is a significant net negative for the project. And I can see the frustration in letting him continue to have advanced rights given how uncivil and hounding he can be. But this was ham handed at best, foolish at worst. How the heck did this action get taken without a least running it by the board first? Looks rushed and ill-thought out. Yes, doing this right would have taken time. But as the line goes "You don't have time to do it right, but you do have time to do it again?". You've made him a martyr. Hobit (talk) 01:15, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Well, so much for restraint (see “Reinstatement …” § below). Vengeance is theirs, sayeth the role-account from behind the curtain. Do we start Floq’s RFA now, or should we wait 23 days?—Odysseus1479 00:49, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  I'm not sure which part of "a RfA can be opened once 30 days elapse" is unclear. Neither "now" nor "23" are given. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 01:14, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Or else what? But, I wouldn't support starting an RFA at all. WMF should restore Floq's bit. If they don't, it's up to Floq whether they want to participate in an RFA. I'm much less invested in the wiki-hat thing so I'm speaking only for myself, but if it were me in that situation I'd decline. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 04:55, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• I endorse Newyorkbrad's assessment, and would urge community members to be cautious about escalating the situation. This crisis needs level headed work toward de-escalation, not more inflammatory rhetoric. There has been far too much of that already. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 05:21, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• I also echo Newyorkbrad's statement. There's a lot of ill feeling going round at the moment but jumping up, waving our hands angrily and spilling the beer isn't the way to go about it. Blackmane (talk) 06:35, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• I endorse the call for calm and reasoned behaviour. I also fully endorse Hobit's comment. Thryduulf (talk) 11:11, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Welp, I'm going to take the good advice for calm and restraint to heart and not comment any further on this. I hope the meeting on the 14th ends up with a satisfactory resolution. But before I sign off I want to say the following. The english wikipedia is the flagship of the whole empire and you on the WMF get paid because of the unpaid volunteer work of editors here, who you then treat with contempt. The fact that you've arrogated to yourselves the role of ArbCom instead of letting us handle our own business, that you think we're either dumb enough to be fobbed off with boilerplate non-answers or spineless enough to not object to them, proves that you have a low opinion of us. Your bungling of the reblock also shows that you don't quite get how things work here. We may have accept that office functionaries are necessary to step in in extreme circumstances; that does not mean we can't complain if you mess it up. And, unfortunately, the way this has all happened has given the unmistakable impression that office powers have been used to pursue a personal vendetta on behalf of an acquaintance. In short, this has been a catastrophic fuckup and if you don't want to drive a permanent wedge between yourselves and the people who actually write the encyclopedia you'll resolve this issue in a transparent and responsible way. Reyk _YO! 12:07, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

A day and a half later, and this reasoned appeal still seems like the seed for a consensus resolution. ~ Amory (u • t • c) 13:56, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

FYI: Similar incident in de.wp some months ago

It may have been unnoticed in the Wikimedia-world, because it happened outside the focus of the en.wp, but some months ago User:WMFOffice has infinite banned a long time very productive editor in the German wikipedia, User:Janneman, former sysop, former ArbCom member, author of uncounted great aricles, including several featured articles about American history and literature. The WMF was invading in a case, that was solved by the local community (the account was blocked indefinitely after a rant, but there would have been open steps to search for an appeal or the involvement of the arbcom, to hopefully re-integrate a long-time productive member again in the community), and they gave an explanation comparable to here, which means: long text saying nothing. You can read details (of course in German) here: de:Wikipedia_Diskussion:Kurier/Archiv/2019/02#Office Aktion der Wikimedia Foundation. I resigned as a sysop in the follow-up to this (from my point) totally unnecessary invasion in a community process on behalf of an undisclosed complaint from an insider, that used the WMF to make project-politics from the hidden. My explanation was: "Since the WMF recently started, to rule the local projects in their own non-transparent and unrevisable way, I see no need for local administratorship any more. So I don't want to waste my time any longer in just an alibi function." ([12]). --Magiers (talk) 21:27, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for recounting this. It was mentioned earlier but it's good to get more specifics. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 23:11, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

The most baffling aspect of that specific case was the, in the view of many in German-language's community, unnecessary "extra ban" as a "partial Foundation ban" in that project, after the user was already locally banned. So the WMF suddenly appearing long after the case was thought to be closed and imposing an add-on ban (that effectively changed nothing) seemed quite strange. Gestumblindi (talk) 00:00, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Translation of the message from the WMF to the German-speaking community

Dear members of the German-speaking community,Several volunteers approached us with questions about the current office action; the Partial Foundation Ban of User: Janneman / Edith Wahr / Judith Wahr in respect of your project. Since we have seen similar questions in your discussion above, we decided to make the explanation publicly available here, where it is most easily accessible to interested members of the community: Why did the Foundation act and why just now? As described in the Meta page on Office actions, we investigate the need for an Office Action either when we receive complaints from the community or when it is required by law. In this case, we reacted to complaints from the community. All kinds of Office Actions are only carried out after a thorough investigation and after a detailed review by various Foundation employees. This procedure usually takes about four weeks. In the present case, this procedure was delayed, because it coincided above all with the current Improving Trust and Safety Program. Some of the overhaul of policies in the program, which began in July 2018, had an impact on the investigation and had to be completed before we could close the case. So, while the case went through the same procedure as earlier Office Actions involving German-speaking Wikipedia, as part of the 2018/2019 Annual Plan, new and less powerful measures became available within the existing, stable framework of Office Action Policies. Who contacted the Foundation with complaints? The Foundation strives for Office Actions to be as transparent as possible. However, we also balance the privacy and security of all parties involved, as well as legal issues, as provided in the general information section of the Office Actions page. That's why we do not share the information about from whom the complaints were referred to us. Why did the Foundation act, even though all three accounts were already blocked? The investigation took into account the community's discussions late last year, as well as the fact that not all three of the person's accounts were affected by the community block. What kind of appeal is possible against this office action? Because the Partial Foundation Ban is the result of a regular office action investigation, it is subject to the same rules that are known by the Foundation Global Bans: there is no possibility for appeal. Trust and Safety, as the team that conducts Office Actions investigations, begins all cases by assuming that volunteers themselves decide how to exercise their free time under the terms of use and autonomously within the community within Section 10 of the Terms of Use created by us. The terms of use do not distinguish whether a user writes or improves content, builds and provides tools or other tools for other volunteers, or helps by acting as a functionary of the administrative, checkuser, or oversight buttons. Occasionally, however, community members come to us with strong hints that local communities in some cases have long term difficulties not only maintaining their own rules in these cases, but also maintaining the structure of ToU . We will continue to address these rare cases brought to us within the framework of the Office Actions Policy. Sincerely, --WMFOffice (discussion) 10:54, Feb. 21, 2019 (CET)

provided by Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 02:14, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@Kudpung: I suppose that's a machine translation? For it also translates the names of Janneman's other accounts "Edith Wahr" and "Judith Wahr" into English, which doesn't make sense... I fixed this part and added "machine translation" for clarity; if it's actually a human translation, feel free to remove it :-) Gestumblindi (talk) 02:18, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Addition: As the rest of the translation looks fine and quite natural, I removed "machine" from the heading myself, probably translating "Wahr" as "True" was just a mistake? Gestumblindi (talk) 02:23, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I am a 100% bilingual, but I often let a machine do the typing. I spent many minutes cleaning it up for syntax, false cognates (and there were a lot of those), etc, but I forgot to think of the names. Thank you for your diligence - it also demonstrates that some people do indeed take the trouble to read additional content in collapsed sections. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 02:52, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

In this case, although the T&S gave in typical manner of lawyers in "ongoing trials" no details its pretty clear what happened. Janneman was as mentioned a long time editor esteemed especially in english and american literature (his major editorial activity dates some time in the past) and was a long time admin. He had the main account Janneman, a second " Edith Wahr" and a third one and last by the name "Judith Wahr". The word "wahr" means "truth" in german and "Edith Wahr" sounds like "edit war" and indeed he was on many occasions not very polite. Jannemann was for some years more and more in anger about the use of "US-american" instead of "american" especially in his "own" articles. In the german wikipedia both is possible, in the academic circles and wide parts of the public "american" is traditionally used. A lot of other german wikipedia editors think nowadays "US-american" the more specific choice to be used for example in short characterizations in biographies, don´t think twice about it and see this as common usage (to older people with slight reminiscences to 68er times or the GDR). At one point Janneman as "Judith Wahr" lost his nerve and threatened one such user in a totally inacceptable manner. He had a prehistory of bans and his two older accounts were banned indefinitely on his own request some time ago- meaning he gave up editorial work under his main user name. Technically this was not a permanent ban (he could have applied for reactivation of his account). Under his last account Judith Wahr he was immediately sanctioned and first blocked three days, than by another admin infinitely (December 9, 2018, log book, Discussion "Vandalismusmeldung" 2018). The german admins saw therefore no reason for further action. But according to the rules of the german wikipedia this was no permanent ban, in principle he could reappear under a new user name, though this would have certainly be detected in view of his former behavior. There was a complaint to the wikimedia foundation and office action followed two month later (February 19, 2019) resulting in a permanent ban (in the german wikipedia, not in other projects). The german admins hat no clue and were taken by surprise (in my view a serious communication problem and likewise here). Some came to the conclusion, that the WMF mistrusted the german Admin-community of volunteers as a whole and that the WMF should handle all such cases of permanent ban in the future by themselves. --Claude J (talk) 09:38, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Just a clarification: Janneman/Judith Wahr used completely inacceptable words against that user, but he did not actually "threat" them, that is, he did not use words threatening to do something to them; what his outburst contained was, when read literally, a request to the user to do harm to themselves, but it was clear that it was said in a fit of rage. You are right that there are no unappealable permanent bans in German-language Wikipedia; any infinite ban (such as this one was) can, in theory, be appealed at "Sperrprüfung". German-language Wikipedia also has not developed the intricate distinction between "blocking" and "banning" that English Wikipedia has (the blocking policy is short, there is no distinct banning policy). It is understood that accounts are blocked if issues with that account can't be solved otherwise, but usually, if people come back with a different account and behave well, these are not blocked. Vice versa, there is a standard blocking reason "Sperrumgehung, keine Besserung erkennbar", that is "block evasion, no improvement shown" - so, if there is improvement, we don't always block users evading their block with a new account. Gestumblindi (talk) 10:58, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

As someone active in the German-language Wikipedia but not involved in the case of Janneman/Judith Wahr I would like to explain why many editors like me (with few exceptions like User:Magiers) were happy with those unspecific statements of this ominous office account: Since his accounts were already blocked, there was no perceivable change of the status quo and more importantly, since he was already blocked and apparently had not contributed with a new account it seemed obvious to me that the reason for it had to be something he did outside of Wikimedia projects (and hence to be dealt with off-wiki, with possible off-wiki consequences for him).--Debenben (talk) 19:14, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I did not want to discuss the case here in detail, because it does not belong in this project. But you pinged me and made some speculations, that do not seem to have much insight in the case. I know the past development of Janneman and the reason of his growing dissent to the project in detail, I also have read the rant, he was blocked for, and it gave a legitimate reason for the block in de-wp. But I don't know of any evidence, that there was some kind of off-wiki incident after, and he denied that explicitly in User talk:Janneman. So why do we have to speculate about something, that has no evidence? And why this stadium of not knowing the real background from the people, who are respondible for the ban, makes you happy? Are we in Wikipedia not all dedicated to the principle of easy access to knowledge, so that people don't have to speculate but are able to know? --Magiers (talk) 20:14, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@Magiers: You are right, sorry for the speculation, I have no evidence to suggest that Janneman did something wrong exept for the onwiki-things described above. What I meant to say is: Before the current case opened my eyes, I trusted the WMF-office account more than I did trust Janneman. If the WMF-office people felt the need to suddenly ban someone whose account had been blocked for months and did not do any harm on-wiki since, suddenly, without consulting anyone in the community and without giving a proper reason the only logical conclusion for me was that they were afraid of making some legally contestable statements in face of a potential trial in court. I did not comment in the discussion about the office action at that time precisely because I did not know any reason for it and I did not want to speculate. I would see things different now, probably other people would, too.--Debenben (talk) 21:55, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

The de and zh wikipedia examples show that WMF office bans are being applied in strange and arbitrary ways in general. User:INeverCry is another example. We already globally banned him as a community on 22 November 2017. Whose brilliant idea at WMF was it to waste two more months "investigating" him before concluding that yes, in fact, he should be banned, and doubly so? -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 02:51, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Two similar bans & one "conduct warning" on Chinese Wikipedia

Hi there. This is Yan from Chinese Wikipedia. I would like to share two WMF-imposed bans on Chinese Wikipedia. These cases share many similarities so I hope sharing them here will lead to a more in-depth discussion for Fram's ban and hopefully the WMF's banning policy in general.

There is a list published by the Foundation showing users banned by the WMF (mostly), which so far I haven't seen anyone discussing them. Two users from Chinese Wikipedia, 守望者爱孟 and Galaxyharrylion were banned by the Foundation in 2017 and 2018 respectively. These users are probably the most controversial Wikimedians contributing Chinese Wikipedia, with their block (by "block," I mean blocking from editing by local administrators instead of WMF) triggered countless discussions and arguing on Chinese Wikipedia locally. I have personally spoken to both users, and they both showed me the emails they get from the Trust and Safety team. After they were globally banned, lengthy discussions were triggered again - of course, they won't be as lengthy as this one in English Wikipedia as zhwiki has a smaller community, but one of them was severe enough to cause articles created on Chinese Wikipedia in that month saw a significant decrease because everyone went discussing what was going on.

Here are some differences and similarities I discovered:

As the message from the Foundation suggests, the ban on Fram was only limited on English Wikipedia, partly because they updated the terms which allowed them to do so. However, these two users I mentioned were banned entirely from all Wikimedia projects even though both of them mostly contribute zhwiki only. Another difference is, both users on Chinese Wikipedia were highly controversial - you can tell by looking at their block logs. However, in both cases, the two banned users were behaving far less controversial without actions too aggressive, and there were no community discussions around these users by the time the ban was imposed. The Trust and Safety team failed to give any reason, not even exact edit diffs which Fram received from previous warnings. Additionally, both users were banned without any warnings.

Claim these two users controversial is because, if we held a request for comments on Chinese Wikipedia by the time of those bans, there wouldn't be most people opposing the ban like Fram's case on this page, and there wouldn't be most people supporting the ban like INeverCry who was banned by the WMF as well, while most local Wikipedians at least consider WMF's banning was an over-kill - they might need blocks/bans but not something like infinitely banning them from all Wikimedia projects. But again, by the time of the bans, they behaved normally. Actually, one of these users was just unblocked by a local admin after a years-long blockade.

Another Wikimedian on zhwiki, who is a close college working with me on China's Wikipedia community recently got an email from the Trust and Safety team, saying this is a "conduct warning" and he told me the context of that email suggests this is a type 2 warning. Again, no details or diffs were provided in the email saying what exactly you did was wrong. However, the email did ambiguously mentioned several broad scopes of what the T&S team thought what he did was deemed not appropriate, but no diffs. Unlike previous bans, the user who was warned behaved quite well on Chinese Wikipedia, with no bans or even warnings from local users/admins against any problems mentioned in T&S's email. He replied T&S's email, with no reply or further explanations at all, even he said his email asked several answer-able questions that won't be too difficult or requires privacy information.

It's also worth mentioning that, in all three cases on Chinese Wikipedia that I know so far, T&S repeatedly use "privacy" to deny any meaningful explanations. The third case which a user received "conduct warning" sent an inquiry email with no reply; the first two cases were set, there was someone wrote to their email and did get replies, but there was still no meaningful information contained in it.

I recalled everything from my memory (I have no time for referencing), so some details might not be correct.

So here's my speculation and personal feelings after seeing 4 cases by the T&S team. The most noticeable difference between cases from zhwiki and Fram's case is that no one in the Trust and Safety team nor the Wikimedia Foundation understands Chinese, but somehow they are capable to judge cases in a language that none of them understands, which was like a slam on my face as an admin on Chinese Wikipedia - why no one on zhwiki acted but the Foundation's team have to act? So that means there is someone constantly and secretly reporting to the T&S, who may be personally in opposition to the one being reported trying to fabricate against them. After the first warning by T&S, you got watched by our big brother and even after you said fuck for once, you're done. This is a chilling effect that prevents contributors from standing out. I don't even think the Foundation's account WMFOffice will actually come out and respond to public's condemn because the WMFOffice account never made a public appearance on zhwiki at all, and the inquiry email the third user sent out ends up with no reply. They seem to be able to understand Chinese while imposing the ban while their Google Translator stopped working after the bans. Their protection on "privacy" put us volunteers at the risk of being framed by others. If, say, some admin deletes my article, maybe I could look out which off-wiki event he/she went, then write an email to the Foundation claiming I have been harassed by the admin - as easy as that. You got warned by the Foundation, you asked why, and they tell you to protect victim's privacy I can't tell you. After you said "fuck" or any curse word once, you got banned, and you got no chance for appeal.

The T&S team is exactly the opposite of what Wikipedia's transparency: every log is traceable and will keep forever, we don't even have a way to PM others, and almost all discussions are visible to everyone. The true irony is the English Wikipedia (and global north) Wikipedia community stopped growing since 2010. The community was totally fine in pre-T&S era, why it suddenly become such a huge deal for the Foundation to work this out? More importantly, does it solve anything? If Fram does anything wrong off-wiki, the T&S team should ban Fram from off-wiki activities; if Fram curse on-wiki, then other admins should take care of that. Banning a user for one year on English Wikipedia does not solve anything. The T&S team has been becoming more active and making decisions that local communities made up by volunteers instead of paid employees in the Foundation feeling inappropriate. The list of users blocked by WMF linked above started in 2012, and spiked since 2015, with three users so far in 2019 and probably more because they are now able to partly ban a user. The Foundation shall learn step away from communities, which are working hard to fight exactly the same problem the T&S is designed to do.

The T&S team did more than banning users. (UPDATE: I just saw someone shared a similar ban on dewiki above.) But I don't feel like sharing more at this moment.

--Techyan（Talk） 21:48, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks, Yan. The German bans had been mentioned before, but this is the first I've heard of the Chinese one. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 22:45, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

@Techyan: Be reminded that the T&S revised the office ban policy earlier this year to allow for temporary and limited-scope ban, previous only global indef ban was allowed. However, I do share your concern in respect to the non-disclosed nature of the bans. With that in mind, the zhwiki community does not have unequivocal support for the aforementioned banned users like enwiki do for fram from what I gather. I don't think it's possible to abolish the office action policy if that's what you're suggesting. The suspicious nature of this office action lies in the possible conflicts of interest between the office and fram, I also don't think that's the case for these two users on zhwiki. Nonetheless, should the office decide to hear appeals, I do agree these two members of the community deserve a chance, and not indef bans. Viztor (talk) 13:01, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I feel compelled to point out that the Foundation Terms of Use does explicitly forbid harassment, but on civility, only says, "support a civil environment," and "we encourage you to be civil and polite," which to me does not seem to forbid the kind of language you might expect to find in PG-13 movies or a typical non-customer facing workplace environment. We've had enwiki arbcom cases saying salty language alone doesn't constitute personal attacks or harassment, but clearly I think we all agree that slurs, on the other hand, do. If T&S is applying vocabulary-based civility standards instead of just behavioral factors, those need to be made far more explicit than the current language. It's clear the community as a whole reacts far worse to slurs than mere expletives, but slurs do not seem to have resulted in T&S issuing warnings. EllenCT (talk) 23:14, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

• Yet again, EllenCT nails it. Strange that after a billion bytes of argument (including mine), it can be summed up in one paragraph. Black Kite (talk) 23:20, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Ban WMF people from en.wp?

[MOVED to Wikipedia:Community response to the Wikimedia Foundation's ban of Fram/Proposals about WMF Office ]

I'm trying to start a split to a subpage for WMFOffice-specific actions, so I moved this over there. Please consider editing this section over there, if acceptable. Wnt (talk) 12:54, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Trust and Safety?

A curious convolution.

Trust. Warm and fuzzy, relaxed open and honest.

Safety. Also warm and fuzzy tones, but locked into a framework that includes absolutism. Generally, "trust" is not a simple component of "safety". "Trust me, I'll be safe" is not OK. "You can trust him, he works safely" is also not OK. Some element of trust is part of any process, to some extent, you must trust that the information provided is truthful. However, a threat or a violation to safety necessitates an authoritative response. Safety is more closely aligned to security than to trust.

There is a strong element of pretence, of fiction, in this name.

I think the WMF should break "Trust" out of "Safety". The assumption of trust is not safe. Safety is not achieved from an approach of trust. Trust and safety are in more ways in conflict than they are in harmony.

Trust is important. But it is different to safety. I do not trust WMF Trust and Safety. They will say "safety" in an appeal to their own authority when their claim to trust is weakest. --SmokeyJoe (talk) 00:14, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

"When I hear talk of trust, I release the safety catch on my...", no wait, got confused, but it did seem to be going that way. ;-). 67.164.113.165 (talk) 00:30, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Interesting. I thought yesterday, there's no longer trust from my side and safty I've felt the last time before the last Wikimania. Trust & Safty can go around and kick out everybody they don't like, they don't need to explain anything. Their victims must also held for their "we can not talk about it" excuse. -- Marcus Cyron (talk) 04:59, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

People report harassment claims only after it's gotten incredibly bad because victims are almost never taken seriously by their own communities (sometimes even by their own families). I'm glad to know there is a place I can turn to for help if the Wikipedia community has let me down. I'm glad to know that if anyone was systematically harassing myself or other Wikipedians that there is someone -- Trust and Safety -- that will have our backs. Why are we so quick to support the alleged harassers as opposed to seeing that whatever happened here was so bad that it had to be kept private? If legal and safety issues are involved, that's a big deal. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 17:42, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Reinstatement of Office Action and temporary desysop of Floquenbeam

Hello all,

We are aware that a number of community members believe that the recent Trust & Safety Office Action taken against Fram was improper. While the Foundation and its decisions are open to criticism, Office Actions are actions of last resort taken by the Foundation as part of our role and our commitments to hosting the Wikipedia sites. In section 10 of the Terms of Use, we identify that the need may arise as part of our management of the websites to take certain actions, and these actions may not be reversed. Using administrative or other tools or editing rights to reverse or negate an Office Action is unacceptable, as is interfering with other users who attempt to enforce an Office Action or the Terms of Use.

As has been correctly observed by users on the bureaucrats' noticeboard and other places, Office Actions are explicitly not subject to project community rules or consensus. If a user attempts to reverse or negate an Office Action, the Wikimedia Foundation may take any action necessary to preserve that Office Action, including desysopping or blocking a user or users. In this case, and in consideration of Floquenbeam's actions in reversing the Office Action regarding Fram, we have reinstated the original office action and temporarily desysopped Floquenbeam for a period of 30 days.

Floquenbeam's contributions to the projects are appreciated and we are not against them regaining admin rights in the future, hence our action is not permanent. If they wish for their admin rights to be restored, a RfA can be opened once 30 days elapse, and the community may decide on the request at that time in such or another way.

However, we cannot permit efforts to obstruct or reverse Office Actions or to subvert the Terms of Use. Doing so would undermine the policy's ability to protect our projects and community. On these grounds, we will not hesitate to take further appropriate actions should such abuse occur again. The same applies for any attempts made by Floquenbeam to evade the sanctions announced against them today or by attempts by others to override that sanction. We will reply to other concerns in a separate statement as indicated in the post prior to the attempt to overrule the office action. Best regards, WMFOffice (talk) 00:32, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

WMFOffice you’ve written If they wish for their admin rights to be restored, a RfA can be opened once 30 days elapse, and the community may decide on the request at that time in such or another way.- in particular where you said “in such or another way” could you clarify whether we may establish in the restoration of privileges policy that bureaucrats may summarily restore adminship once the office action has lapsed? (See Wikipedia talk:Administrators). –xeno^talk 03:49, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

WMFOffice, Whom is speaking, please? Don't hide behind the role account. SQL^{Query me!} 00:39, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

In hindsight, that isn't likely to help anything. Struck. SQL^{Query me!} 00:51, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Everyone, please remember not to say "F*** the WMF Office for its heavy-handed and authoritarian actions seemingly designed to inflame and divide the editing community." That sort of thing could get you banned. Try to find a more civil way of expressing it. 28bytes (talk) 00:55, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I think that's plenty civil enough, no? --Dylan620 (talk) 00:59, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Stop fucking stonewalling us. You're only burying yourselves deeper. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 00:59, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• This is exactly the wrong thing to do if the WMF wishes to de-escalate the situation and maintain the barely tenable perception that they care about concerns raised here at all. – Teratix ₵ 01:01, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Comment by me, now moved to below. --Tryptofish (talk) 01:20, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  At this point I don't even think the WMF knows what they want, other than to spite en.wp and its consensus. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 01:09, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Yes it’s nonsense. The WMF is just making it up as they go along. Pawnkingthree (talk) 01:14, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

This will not end well for you. 2001:4898:80E8:2:56DB:4566:6C0F:24E5 (talk) 01:11, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

No, I asked a serious question, and I would like WMF to give a serious answer. --Tryptofish (talk) 01:12, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Good luck with that. -A lad insane (Channel 2) 01:16, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Indentation mistake. Was not meant to be a reply to you, but to the clown currently running WMFOffice. If what I'm reading is correct, which it damn well appears to be, there is a SERIOUS conflict of interest and someone is about to lose their entire job. 2001:4898:80E8:2:56DB:4566:6C0F:24E5 (talk) 01:19, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I'm still confused why people think there is any real chance any of the major actions of WMFOffice can be ascribed to any one person. This seems extremely unlikely to me knowing what I know (very little in many ways) about the way any sufficient large organisation tends to work when there is something major and that the WMF has shown all signs of fitting into that category. Nil Einne (talk) 01:42, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

P.S. In case there's some confusion, I wouldn't be surprised if it was primarily one person operating the account for big chunks of time although the precise person could change depending on various things. But I find it extremely unlike the major actions i.e. the two blocks and the three major comments here didn't have multiple people approving them before they happened. Nil Einne (talk) 02:03, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Considering Floq understood that a potential, and not improbable outcome, was a desysop and some kind of ban, I congratulate the WMF on a measured response, though Tryptofish's question could be answered. There is all the world of difference between this statement and action which can point to principles that were clearly laid out and well known and the chain of events that led to the inciting incident. Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 01:24, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• IMO this wasn't really a potential outcome, but a likely one. From where I stand, the only real likely alternative was the WMF implementing a superblock quickly and simply reblocking with a super block and giving a very stern warning to Floquenbeam. But the fact that we don't actually have any existing different levels of blocks (AFAIK, although the upcoming partial blocks could be related) means a superblock/officeblock was always likely to take a while. It's not quite like super-protect where we already had different levels of protection which affected different classes of editors so was I assume a far easier software task. Whatever the wisdom of the original block, or for that matter whatever the harm to community relations, the action they took seemed almost definite since the WMF would feel the need to make it clear when they say something can't be overturned especially a ban, they mean it. Frankly I strongly suspect if legal didn't really care before, they really, really care now. There is simply no way the WMF could realistically risk giving the impression their office actions can be overturned by anyone but themselves. I mean there was a slight chance they would just make clear that the ban still stands, and just hope Fram doesn't test the waters. But IMO even that was likely to be seen as way too risky. This is IMO way more extreme case than super-protect. In that case their actions were fairly predictable for any organisation, but in many ways it didn't matter that much to them that they send a clear message as was the case here. We could keep trying until they implement a superblock, or we could just accept that we need to convince them to change their minds on the ban. Nil Einne (talk) 01:57, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@Nil Einne: from a technical level, if they don't want to get stuck in wheel warring is to just upgrade to a global lock, I doubt stewards are going to try to pull an "override wmf" card. — xaosflux ^Talk 02:05, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Nil Einne, yeah I perhaps understated things but that was my point. Floq did the unblocking knowing the consequences and the WMF, rather than even going as harsh as they could have reasonably and with-in policy go, decided to be measured. This stands in stark contrast to how the foundation failed to really explain what seems to be a movement wide change in policy in addressing certain issues, coupled with more nuanced remedies at their disposal, ahead of their acting on it. That's the distinction I was trying to draw, if doing so imperfectly. Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 02:10, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

And can you, can you imagine fifty admins a day, I said fifty admins a day walking in and unblockin Fram and walkin out. And friends, they may thinks it's a movement. And that's what it is, the Floquenbeam's Restaurant Anti-Massacree Movement, and all you got to do to join is unblock Fram the next time it come's around on the dramaboard. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 01:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

That'd actually be really nice. ENWP has always had an issue of long-term 'power-users' getting away with things new users would get blocked for. Q ^{T C} 16:02, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

What the actual fuck? CoolSkittle (talk) 01:27, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@CoolSkittle: Alice's Restaurant. Bishonen | talk 08:00, 12 June 2019 (UTC).

• Is there a reason that you keep blocking Fram with talkpage access and email disabled? Bizarre at best. SQL^{Query me!} 01:50, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  @SQL: The only valid usage of talk page (and presumably email, although I'm not aware of an explicit policy on the matter) access is to appeal one's block. A blocked user that (from the WMF's point of view) has literally no means of appealing would have no reason to edit their talk page or send email. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 01:53, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@Pppery: Not actually true. You may find Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive991#Improper use of talk page while blocked interesting. An indeffed editor was not only freely using their talk page, but was using it to continue to make (constructive) edits by proxy. Ironically, it was SQL himself who tried to enforce what you said here, revoking TPA. The ensuing controversy was so severe that he self-reverted, with a majority of the community opposing the revocation, and all agreeing that there was no existing policy or precedent-based guidance. Mind you, that was a user attempting to make edits via proxy while blocked, which could be easily construed as block evasion, and the majority of the community opposed TPA revocation. So while what you say is a common notion (and FWIW I agree with it), it's certainly not an actual rule that the community has ever backed. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 05:52, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Your response contains a contradiction—or, at least, a strong tension—between two policies. The first is that WMF is a last-resort enforcer of the project's basic policies. The second is that Office Actions are explicitly not subject to project community rules or consensus. Unless WMF restricts administrative sanctions to the most clear-cut cases, that means you're basically going to exercise your powers arbitrarily. I don't know where to go from that, other than it's the kind of thing that can do a lot of damage. --Jprg1966 ^(talk) 02:01, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• If I were Fram right now I would happily stick 2 fingers up to this website and never return!, What a fucking shit show this has become, I 100% stand by Floq's de-escalation of the issue. –Davey2010^Talk 02:17, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

you have lost 3 administrators today, care to go for 4?50.106.16.170 (talk) 02:19, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I'm admittedly late to this discussion, 50.106.16.170, but I don't understand your math...Fram, Floq, who's number 3? Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 03:32, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Rob, presumably. T. Canens (talk) 03:39, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

He had already stated a few weeks ago that he was going to leave: this is just a dramah quit. - SchroCat (talk) 06:31, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Ansh666 also comes to mind, although that was unrelated. -A lad insane (Channel 2) 04:07, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Bureaucrats%27_noticeboard#Notice:_WMF_desysop_of_Floquenbeam total now stands at 5.50.106.16.170 (talk) 07:34, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Dear WMF - maybe we should start talkin' about an Revolution. What do you guays in Frisco thing, how log we let do this to us? Who pays who? You guys have to work for us, not against us. The whole behavior here ist the clear kind of acting as in dictatorships. As long you do such Office actions, we need to talk about this office! -- Marcus Cyron (talk) 04:54, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Kudos to Floquenbeam for the moral courage to reverse the action. The opposite to the WMF, who need to read the first law of holes. Tazerdadog (talk) 05:00, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Please clarify the desysop

I'm moving my comment here, from above. --Tryptofish (talk) 01:20, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• I have a question about the meaning of the "temporary desysop". This (among so many other things) is difficult to understand. A "temporary 30-day desysop" would ordinarily mean that, after 30 days, the sysop flag would automatically be restored. It's like a 30-day block, in that after 30 days the user is no longer blocked and does not, at that time, have to file an unblock request. However, the statement above refers to a new RfA. Is it in fact the case that re-sysopping can only occur via a new, successful RfA? If that is so, then calling it a "30-day desysop" is not accurate. Rather, that would mean that the desysop is indefinite and under a cloud, and that the community as a whole is banned for 30 days from participating in a new RfA. Is WMF really sure that they want that? --Tryptofish (talk) 01:04, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Clarification would be good although they said If they wish for their admin rights to be restored, a RfA can be opened once 30 days elapse, and the community may decide on the request at that time in such or another way. (emphasis mine) I take it to mean we could decide a RfA is not necessary after the 30 days has expire, like they seem to have suggested we could do for Fram themselves when their ban expires or is removed. Nil Einne (talk) 01:29, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I take your point, but I still feel a very serious need for clarification, mainly because I don't see what such "another way" would really be. If some "other way" is required, then it wasn't temporary, and WMF is restricting what the community can do, or at least when we can do it. --Tryptofish (talk) 01:35, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

On the one hand, I think that the minute that 30 day clock is up, the nearest 'crat should immediately restore rights. On the other hand, I think it would send a good signal to immediately have an RfA where Floq gets the most votes ever for adminship. bd2412 T 01:44, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

BD2412, I'm sympathetic but, while I'm not a 'crat, if I were, suspect I would struggle it finding authority for such an action. For better or worse, 'crats tend to be, well, bureaucratic. I would welcome some clarification as I also see an inconsistency between the word "temporary" and the subsequent wording.Might guess is they didn't want to make it automatic, but want to leave it to the community to decide but as far as I know there is no precedent so the community has no rules for such a situation. Far better that they treat "temporary" literally and restore the bit at the end of that period, with the community always having the authority to consider whether de-sysopping should occur. S Philbrick(Talk) 18:40, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

'Crats follow policy. Let's just enact a policy that states: "If a Wikipedia administrator is temporarily relieved of their administrator status by the Wikimedia Foundation for carrying out an administrative action for which local consensus had been established, their administrator status may be restored by any Wikipedia bureaucrat without further process, upon expiration of any period specified by the Wikimedia Foundation". Then the 'crats would be following policy by reinstating the admin bit. bd2412 T 19:24, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Now proposed at Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)#Allow bureaucrats to quickly re-sysop admins temporarily de-sysoped by WMF for carrying out out community consensus. bd2412 T 19:33, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

The proposal above is similar to of what I was thinking about. However, even if we put aside that it doesn't seem to have gaining consensus at this time, it's IMO it's somewhat of a flawed proposal if intended to apply to Floquenbeam without further discussion. It's IMO an open question whether Floquenbeam carrying out community consensus. Especially since the discussion was not formally closed by a neutral admin or better 3 as we normally reserve for contentious decisions. (Floquenbeam was clear very far from neutral here so should not be the one to assess community consensus in such circumstances.) It was also not open for a minimum of 24 hours. While the later is the standard we normally require for any community ban, it seems to me any unblock on such contentious circumstances as this would also need to follow the same standard at a minimum, but it did not do so here. Note that as always, any close would need to be more than a simple counting of votes. Even in such overwhelming numbers as this, care needs to be taken. As a participant of said discussion, I'm aware there was at least one editor who expressed support for an unblock of Fram, but did not seem to clearly support going against the WMF in the way Floquenbeam did.

So ultimately it seems difficult to judge that Floquenbeam's action had community consensus from the evidence we had. In other words, even if such a proposal were to pass, I don't think it's clear it would apply to Floquenbeam as worded without some further consensus process to determine that. Still this would not need to be an RFA. We could have instead a community consensus process to determine of Floquenbeam's actions had community consensus. If they did, and the earlier proposal passed, then re-admining Floquenbeam after 30 days would seem to be justified without an RFA. Note that a discussion after the fact would IMO need to be clear on what we're discussing. We would not be discussing whether or not there was community consensus for Floquenbeam's actions, but whether Floquenbeam's actions were carrying out community consensus at the time. If Floquenbeam's actions would have had community consensus, but did not at the time because the consensus process was not completely carried out, this would still seem to point to Floquenbeam's action lacking community consensus. It would IMO be a bit of a disaster if we start allowing people to carry out an action based on community consensus before it's clear that such a consensus existed. Still it's ultimately up to the community. I mean we could decide an action which has consensus as established after the fact is considered to have community consensus when it was carrier out if we wanted to.

An alternative course of action would have been for a clearer proposal that would apply to Floquenbeam without doubt. But I'm not sure how easy it would be to word such a proposal without specific mention of Floquenbeam. Do people really want a policy that we automatically re-admin anyone de-syspoed by the foundation for reversing office action when the foundation no longer has an objection to such a resysop? Again, IMO it would be a mistake but it is up to the community if they wish to do so.

BTW, in terms of whether a "temporary" de-syspoed is really temporary if someone has to go through an RFA this is IMO largely a semantic issue. If I'm right that the WMF have no clear opinion on what should happen after 30 days, then it's up to the bureaucrats taking their queue from the community as to what to do. I don't think we have any clear precedent for a situation like this. I'm not aware of what happened very long ago before circa 2007 or so, but the only recent temporary de-sysops I'm aware of are those where there is doubt who controls the account. Funnily enough, what happens in those circumstances may have been one of the things that lead to this whole mess. Still they aren't a good comparison.

I think even with the WMF saying it's up to the community, bureaucrats will struggle to make a decision without some guidance from us on what should happen. I suspect they'll most likely err on the side of not re-syspoing if we really gave no guidance. As said, this doesn't have to be an RFA, but whatever their flaws in the understanding of what goes on here, the WMF were IMO right to conclude we will need to give guidance in some form if we expect Floquenbeam to be resyspoed.

Nil Einne (talk) 03:00, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

@Tryptofish: As the most likely explanation, I would guess that the person/people who wrote the message simply don't have a good understanding of enWP policies and procedures, and so they didn't know that what they wrote is self-contradictory. That and using the word "temporary", especially in the heading, makes the optics of their action look better. Sunrise (talk) 04:07, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for a very reasonable interpretation, but I still believe that we, as a community, really do not know what can or cannot be done. --Tryptofish (talk) 20:49, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• It is very, very unfortunate that instead of a measured response -- which would have been to maintain the status quo of Floq's clearly community-backed unblock -- WMOffice has chosen to go the authoritarian route and desysop Floquenbeam. I would urge someone with the proper amount of chutzpah and the necessary rights to restore Floq's flag. I think the point needs to be made, as forcefully as possible, that the community will not stand for unaccountable Office actions which bypass or override normal community-based processes.

  Not to be too melodramatic, what is being decided here is who is in charge, and I believe that if the community, collectively and individually, does not stand up to the Foundation and its staff members when they behave in ways which are detrimental to our ability to govern ourselves, we will, over time, lose that capacity altogether. That is really what's at stake here, and Jimbo Wales had better step up his "investigation" and report back PDQ before he loses what he created.

  This is not a call to the barricades ... yet, but it is intended as a warning to Wales, the Board, and the office staff that they are playing with fire, and if they think that en.Wiki -- which is the community, is going to roll over and play dead, they could well be surprised. Beyond My Ken (talk) 01:54, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  At the very least, the WMF board needs to meet via teleconference and make the decision to set the playing field back to zero, undo every Office Action taken in this incident, and open a frank and honest dialogue with the community instead of hiding behind empty boilerplate bullshit. The people who built this encyclopedia deserve nothing less. Beyond My Ken (talk) 01:58, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

There's no need for clarification. They can do whatever the fuck they want without explanation. It is absolutely, strictly, THEIR COMPUTER and they'll throw off whoever they feel like, censor whatever they want, push whatever shitty video game ads on the Main Page they want, and work with any and all paid editors they want. Wnt (talk) 01:56, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Wnt, please stop your pessimistic and paranoid (as well as wildly unrealistic and ungrounded) postings here. I believe everyone is well aware of your viewpoint, and, frankly, you're not helping anything by constantly being Debbie Downer. If you have so little faith that the Foundation wants to help make en.wiki better, despite their current missteps, you should simply stop editing here and find something else to do with your time. Beyond My Ken (talk) 02:04, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Good luck. Paranoid conspiracy theories, particularly on Wale’s TP, is WNT’s thing. Capeo (talk) 02:46, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

...and it is exceedingly tiresome, Wnt. Like a broken record. Go back to Jimbo's talk page where you usually hang out and make dire predictions. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 03:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Wnt's posts look perfectly factual and accurate to me, in saying what could happen (not necessarily what will happen, at least immediately). Maybe Debbie Downer is just a Depressive realist ;-). 67.164.113.165 (talk) 04:40, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Since Wnt is prognosticating, unless you've got a time machine that can take you into the future, there's no possible what that you can know that they are "factual and accurate". If what you meant to say was "I agree with Wnt" or "I think that what Wnt said is a possible outcome of this affair", please just say those things, and not wrap your personal opinions up in false claims of factuality. Beyond My Ken (talk) 09:13, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Okay, 28: F*** the WMF Office for its heavy-handed and authoritarian actions seemingly designed to inflame and divide the editing community. —pythoncoder (talk | contribs) 04:16, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• 28bytes-- to misquote Fram: Fuck ArbCom WMF which doesn't even understand their own messages and again give themselves powers they don't have. First it was deletions visual editing, then it was mandatory 2FA "AI-generated content", inbetween it is loads of evidence of utter incompetence in many of its members (witness the statement by AGK the WMF Trust & Safety Team above, but also some of the comments at e.g. the Rama Media Viewer RFC case request). Just crawl into a corner and shut up until the community asks you to do something within your remit, but don't try to rule enwiki as if you have the right and the competence to do so. Or collectively resign. But don't give us any more of this bullshit. Fram (talk) 07:39, 4 May 2019 (UTC) 67.164.113.165 (talk) 04:19, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Doesn't really seem to fit here since the WMF have not given themselves powers they don't have. They have always had whatever powers they wanted to on their end of things. Nil Einne (talk) 03:07, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• There's no clarification needed IMHO. They've said temporary, it's temporary and he gets the rights back after 30 days. They can desysop but they can't mandate an RfA. I think that's a misunderstanding on their part. Doug Weller talk 05:25, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
  • They can because the bureaucrats interpret being desysopped by the WMF as "under a cloud" and will not give the bit back without a RfA. Enigma^msg 05:39, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
    • The crats, the community at RfA, it doesn't really matter. The default for desysopping is that the bit can be reinstated via RfA at any time, with the understanding that a just desysop could not be reversed for years and years. The 30 day freeze on resysopping, AFAIK, is unprecedented, which is hilarious, because they're admitting that they know that everyone would rubber-stamp a resysop same day if we could, which by extension is an admission that the desysop is blatantly unjust and that they need to prevent it from being overturned for their own reasons. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 06:00, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
      • I just think it's significant that the 'crats indicated they will not return the bit because while being without the bit for 30 days is not a big deal, having to undergo a new RfA is. You'll deal with the usual opposes from anyone who doesn't like you, plus added opposes from people who believe "if you were desysopped, you obviously did something very wrong, so you shouldn't be trusted with the tools." Good luck finding anyone who was desysopped and actually passed a RfA. I think Floq would pass because the RfA would get tons of eyes and the community overwhelmingly feels the WMF is out of line, but not without a significant amount of opposes. Enigma^msg 06:15, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
        • Enigmaman: in both your comments above you seem to indicate a belief that the bureaucrats have presented a unified front on this matter, but I do not see that as the case. What is clear is that to return the bit summarily after 30 days requires either new community policy considerations or an IAR action as this situation is unprecedented on this project. –xeno^talk 19:31, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
          • The discussion may have changed since I read it. I read the discussion at BN/WT:ADMIN before I commented here and based on the discussion at the time, every 'crat (who chimed in) had said they would not resysop automatically. Obviously, time has now passed since my comments, and more replies have been made at BN/WT:ADMIN. Enigma^msg 20:24, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
      • Swarm, not unprecedented, see [13] for the same. Quite possibly that's the last case of something similar, which received the same response. Galobtter (pingó mió) 06:33, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

        Galobtter, interesting, and relevant. What happened at the end of 30 days? S Philbrick(Talk) 18:44, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

        You can see the discussion at c:Commons:Village_pump/Archive/2016/03#Edit_and_wheel_warring, not sure what happened at the end of it. Galobtter (pingó mió) 18:56, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• So, what admin wants to unblock Fram next? I don't care that this is wheel-warring; the WMF fucked this up royally, and consensus that the block and ban is unjustified, as far as I can see, has not changed at all. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 06:04, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
  • I would strongly discourage this. The WMF already basically mandated Floq will need a new RfA and it can only be done after 30 days. I doubt they'll be as 'lenient' with the next one. Anyone considering unblocking Fram should consider that there's a very real possibility that they won't be an admin here for a long time. The WMF knows the community is against them. They don't care and they will continue to lash out at those who defy them. Enigma^msg 06:18, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  • Then let them lash out. Let them deop whoever the fuck they please. Let them ban whoever the fuck they please. The more open our defiance, the more open their responces to it will necessarily have to be, and it's going to spill out sooner rather than later. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 06:24, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• I think this must go to ArbCom for clarification. RfA is the community process.--Ymblanter (talk) 07:12, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• When this all ends, I think both Fram and Floq should be able to just approach the bureaucrats and ask for their admin rights back as former admins in good standing. Insisting they go through RfA is just another insult. Reyk _YO! 08:01, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Is this the first time someone has been temporarily desysoped? My understanding is this Wikipedia's rule has always been that editors either hold the tools indefinitely, or not at all. I can't think of a case of ArbCom removing the tools for a set period - as far as I'm aware, they always desysop indefinitely, with the editor being able to regain the tools only after the community endorses this in an RfA. I don't think this sets a good precedent. Nick-D (talk) 08:58, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Nick-D, in the earliest days of Wikipedia, we used to have temporary desysops. Need to check the ArbCom case archives. ∯WBG^converse 09:01, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Thank you for that reply. As well as the question as to why the WMF thought this was a good response given that it doesn't reflect modern nroms, it's also unclear to be why Floq wasn't referred to ArbCom per the usual procedure for admins believed to have missused the tools. Surely ArbCom could be trusted to handle this? Nick-D (talk) 10:42, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

30 days - or 24?

@WMFOffice: - you say that he is de-sysopped for 30 days, and the community can run an RfA after that point. Putting aside (just for now) the rightness/wrongness of this action, surely the community can run an RfA after 24 days. The requirement is "not to become an admin again within 30 days", RfAs take a week, however overwhelming the support. If an RfA is forbidden till then, you've punished him for 37 days - which would mean stating 30 days would be a lie. Nosebagbear (talk) 13:56, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

They never said the discussion had to run for seven days. It's up to us how long we want it to run. Smartyllama (talk) 14:17, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

That's a distinction without a difference. All RfAs here run at least seven days if they're to be closed as successful, so if they're saying an RfA is required (which is not exactly clear, because none of their statements have been clear about anything), then they are saying at least 7 days. Enigma^msg 14:29, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Press

Has anyone contacted the press about this? I'm sure Wired or CNN online, etc. would love to hear how WMF is overriding/ignoring/bypassing long-established Wikipedia procedures, unilaterally blocking/banning/desysopping long-term admins in good standing, and refusing to openly discuss the matter. Softlavender (talk) 01:25, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

The best you are going to do is Brietbart or the Register. Gamaliel (talk) 01:28, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure they meant actual press, not those two. Black Kite (talk) 01:31, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I sincerely hope that anyone speaking to press about this does so with care and neutrality; the question seems to imply a lack thereof. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 01:28, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@Softlavender: this is such a bad idea. It's also a good idea, but it's also a real bad idea. (edit conflict × 4) –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 01:29, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Nope nope nope. Please don't do that. Won't help anything, will harm many things. --Yair rand (talk) 01:32, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Let's face it, unless WMF reverses course immediately, this is going to hit the press sooner or later. Plenty of journos watch and report on Wikipedia, and a scandal this big is very hard to keep under wraps. Softlavender (talk) 01:36, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

What people want to do is ultimately their choice but a reminder that it can be quite difficult to predict how the press will see things, even if you get them interested. They may see things the way you outlined, or maybe they will see things differently when someone (to be clear this will never be me) highlights whatever the public stuff they think the press will be interested in. In other words, if anyone does wish to do that, remember that even if you succeed, it may not be the way you envision and it could be something that will be uncomfortable for people besides the WMF whether Fram or anyone else. (But I think the chance anyone except certain minor outlets interested is small anyway.) Nil Einne (talk) 01:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Please don't! That isn't good for the project or any of us. StudiesWorld (talk) 01:38, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• This could end horribly. ―Susmuffin ^Talk 01:42, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Whether or not it's a good idea (as to my feelings on that, let's say it certainly won't be me calling up the newspapers), I think this is a bit too "inside baseball" at this point for them to care about. If it turns into a bigger blowup, with multiple desysops or bans, that might be significant enough, but I'm not sure they'd understand "Well, they banned someone, and they're allowed to, but only because they gave themselves the authority, and they shouldn't be doing it...". Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 01:45, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

A website by the name of reclaimthenet.org covered the ban in this article, so I guess that's something. X-Editor (talk) 02:54, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

"wikipedian banned for criticizing the WMF" is the kind of inaccurate summary that frankly no-one should be propagating... The Land (talk) 06:48, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Most news websites have a contact us/submit a tip link somewhere on their front page. I've already submitted a couple of tips to my favorite technology news websites, I encourage you all to do the same -FASTILY 02:30, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I mean, no-one outside (a small slice of) the Wikipedia community is going to see this as a problem. No-one else cares enough about the sanctity of Wikipedia processes - to everyone else it just looks like the WMF banned someone for persistent antisocial behaviour, to which they'll probably go ... "...good?" The Land (talk) 06:48, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• You're blind if you think the media wouldn't pick up a story about this shocking and unprecedented rebellion by Wikipedia's editors against the WMF, in response to [what will probably be portrayed as] clear corruption coming from a supposed humanitarian nonprofit. This is probably the biggest scandal Wikipedia's ever seen since Essjay, and I will remind you all that Wikipedia is one of the biggest websites in the world. This is a huge story and it would likely spread like wildfire. I don't want that. In the minds of the public, it will likely translate to Wikipedia's leadership being corrupt, so even if the WMF deserves to be publicly humiliated, it may well mar our project's reputation by extension, and I don't know how easy to recover from such a blow. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 07:36, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Or, and as I personally think this will how it play out: "Wikipedia bans an harasser. The community rebels." or something like that will be the headline, and then the article will talk about the problems of Wikipedia with women editors (especially easy to tie into considering many incidents Fram has been involved are regards to quality control of WP:WIR effors by women editors and such similar things) and paint a picture of a WMF that is attempting to "fix" issues in the community but is being stymied. The Land puts it extremely well as to how an ordinary person/journalist, who haven't been exposed to the community's constant downplaying of abuse, would see it.

  I think getting anyone outside of Wikipedia interested in this is sort of a hard sell. "OMG the WMF banned someone!" "Why did they do that?" "It's not exactly clear but something to do with harassing someone and telling people to go fuck themselves" "Ok why are you protesting?" "Because the WMF banned them without consulting the Wikipedia community and without involving Arbcom! This is an outrage!" "So, that stuff about harassing someone and telling people to go fuck themselves, you're fine with that, are you?" "Well, idk, but we haven't seen adequate evidence of it and most importantly the WMF didn't follow the existing procedure..."

  Galobtter (pingó mió) 09:47, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Unfortunately, this is exactly what will happen. – Teratix ₵ 10:25, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

There was no attempt to make a narrative that Fram was a sexist harasser until the Chair got called out for having a COI that motivated the ban. Raystorm's narrative is not credible. You can't bury this as "Gamergate". The fact that the Chair would employ the "sexism" defense after a female admin overruled the WMF's action here alone is shameful. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 10:32, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Swarm, Sorry, I totally missed where the "Chair got called out for having a COI". I thought part of the motivation for the office taking action rather than ArbCom was the conflict of interest with our common. Is this something else I missed? S Philbrick(Talk)|TB| 18:48, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Swarm I now see that this is a reference to a huge section that was removed from the page. Not sure that was a good call, but that was done by someone else.S Philbrick(Talk) 20:16, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• To the naysayers: The press is interested in conflicts of interest and scandals at WMF (which is no stranger to them), and to lack of transparency at WMF, and to scandals/conflicts this massive within Wikipedia. Another point to consider is that, generally speaking and historically, WMF does not particularly care about editors or administrators or what they need and want (this entire saga is a case in point), and does not really care about the quality of Wikipedia articles or whether the mainpage is updated. What WMF does care about, individually and collectively, is its reputation(s), and its/their money. Both of those are affected by public exposure. Softlavender (talk) 23:04, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Press, you say?

You want press? Here's what you do. Gain a consensus for adding a small banner to the top of the main page for, say, 3 days. Give it a compelling title like "The Wikipedia editing community is under attack. Click here to learn more." Link that to an information page that concisely lays out what has transpired so far, and asks readers to help by signing a petition to the WMF, or contacting the WMF to express their views, or some other appropriate action. One of the many, many journalists who use Wikipedia will see it and click.

We know we do not have the power to override the WMF's bad decisions with unblocks or resysops, at least not in the long term; they run the servers and can block and ban and desysop whomever they wish. The only power we as a community have is our words. We can say what's troubling us about what's going on, and if we say it in a prominent enough place, people will listen. They might not agree with us, of course, but at least the case will be made.

The question is, will the WMF forcibly prevent us from doing this, by, say, threatening to ban anyone who makes that front page edit? (Or by bringing "SuperProtect" back from the dead?) I don't know the answer to that. Is it worth trying, assuming that after the June 14 board meeting the situation has not improved, or has deteriorated further? I don't know the answer to that either. But if you want press coverage, that's how you get it. 28bytes (talk) 02:15, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

If they try, that would exacerbate the situation. As it is, they're risking open rebellion. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 02:24, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I don't think that they would. But should things devolve further, I think that this is the best course of action: it remains civil and is more effective than wheel-warring the site into oblivion. --Rschen7754 02:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

We don't want to harm the WMF or its reputation. The WMF shares our goals of having a successful community-governed free encyclopedia project. They're on our side. This is not a war, it's an internal disagreement about delegation of certain responsibilities. The WMF leadership is quite clear on the fact that they do not run Wikipedia. --Yair rand (talk) 02:27, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

To be blunt, we're not the ones doing the reputational damage. The WMF is by botching the handling of this as badly as they have. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 02:34, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

If the WMF would be embarrassed to have people know about what they're doing, they should stop doing it. The community didn't start the problem here. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 04:05, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

With respect, Yair rand, speak for yourself. You must be talking about a different WMF, not about the Wikimedia Foundation. Yngvadottir (talk) 04:07, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Support 50.106.16.170 (talk) 02:20, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Comment. This has been one of the possibilities I've been considering if they don't back down in the next few days. This will surely grab attention, and is strong but less openly hostile than repeatedly wheel-warring with OFFICE, which I feel is likely to be the least effective option. Another option (discussed above) is more passive but it gets more effective the longer it persists: simply refuse to handle any admin tasks, and post a banner on all major admin areas (XfD, ANI, etc.) so that anyone who wishes to join the strike may do so. Other than posting the banners (necessary to prevent those who have not heard about this incident from becoming inadvertent strikebreakers), simply do nothing, don't proactively cause disruption. In the end we'll see what happens: If everything is still running smoothly, then looks like the WMF has won, the community has implicitly endorsed their actions. But if everything grinds to a halt, WMF will be forced into action. The advantage of this method is that it actually uses the only true leverage we have against the WMF if they want to go all out: they can't force volunteers to do anything. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 02:45, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

King of Hearts, don't forget that there are several hundred users in the admin tribe but only a couple of dozen are real warriors or community leaders. If we simply refuse our admin tasks, there are hundreds of others who will continue to gnome away at AIV, CSD, XfD, and RFPP, etc., indeed, they may not even be aware of this issue, and if they were, just choose to ignore it. Wheelwarring would have the most impact because the WMF would have to desysop a lot of prominent and productive admins, but it would be guerilla tactics, and I'm not sure that the current Arbcom would support the community it is supposed to represent. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 05:25, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Support If we all unite against the WMF's decision and protest via a banner and petition on the main page, then they will be pressured into unbanning Fram, because at the end of the day, WMF relies on us all to keep Wikipedia alive. X-Editor (talk) 04:06, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• No, let's not abuse the main page of an encyclopedia for biased propaganda. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 04:05, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Oppose as counterproductive. Most people who're on the Main Page generally aren't the sort of people who would have any interest in the backstage shit. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 04:18, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Weak Support - Right now, this is premature. That said, if this is not resolved within 12 hours of the board meeting on the 14th, this is the best possible response. Tazerdadog (talk) 04:56, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Comment Can this actually be carried out - is such a banner within community control? I remember when the community wanted to place a banner/logo across the main page in celebration of achieving 5 million articles on en:wp, and the WMF came along and told us we could only have it up there for 24 hours (I think that was the timescale). I thought it outrageous interference at the time, but everyone else just toed the WMF line as if they had no choice. PaleCloudedWhite (talk) 07:13, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  The Wikipedia community has the ability to run arbitrary javascript. Thus, this is clearly (from a technical perspective) within its purview. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 20:55, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Oppose Press will only make a bad situation way worse. Captain Eek ^{Edits Ho Cap'n!}⚓ 08:05, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Strong oppose - At this question, while there are questions about process, it is unclear teh reason for the block and therefore we are not in a position to directly go against it. Also, press just won't help anyone here. StudiesWorld (talk) 10:24, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Oppose. As others have stated here, this issue is not accessible enough to the average reader for a main page banner to have any effect other than to sow confusion. cf Seraphimblade's first comment in this section. ST47 (talk) 10:28, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Comment I have, on various occassions, spoken with the press about government programs where I worked, and about a private organization I belonged to. (The instances when I spoke to the press about my places of employment were with the approval of my supervisors.) Be warned, you cannot control how what you say, or the information you point to, is used by the press. I particularly cringe at the memory of how one of my quotes was used in an editorial. - Donald Albury 11:50, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Support what is it going to take for some of you to realize that we should be fighting back by any means available? Lepricavark (talk) 12:08, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Oppose pending the outcome of the meeting on the 14th. If that goes sideways, I'd likely support something like this (wording may need some help). Hobit (talk) 13:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Wikipedia editors are so egotistical to think the rest of the world actually cares about, of all things, us? Hell, the way we speak of each other shows we don't care about us. Talk about delusions of grandeur. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 18:22, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Revert WMF actions related to this conflict

[MOVED to Wikipedia:Community response to the Wikimedia Foundation's ban of Fram/Proposals about WMF Office ]

I'm trying to start a split to a subpage for WMFOffice-specific actions, so I moved this over there. Please consider editing this section over there, if acceptable. Wnt (talk) 12:39, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Fork. Pass the hat and unionize the functionaries for a clean break

Github proved frequent and easy forking was hugely beneficial, not the last resort people from the 1990s seemed to think. It would probably take passing the hat to raise a few hundred thousand dollars, but I'm sure a majority of admins can do it in a way that would benefit us all. The WMF has proven that they are a net negative to the project, and they've always told us to replace them if we need to. EllenCT (talk) 02:24, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

That might have been more feasible earlier in Wikipedia's life, but at this point inertia would make it very difficult to survive if we did fork the project and take it elsewhere. Nevertheless, I would Support this as a last resort. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 02:27, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Isn't it the size and activity of the Wikipedia community that makes self-governance feasible? Isn't it completely counterproductive to create a smaller community that is more likely to require intervention? ~ ToBeFree (talk) 02:32, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

No not at all, Wikipedia started out with Jimbo running things but took off on its own quite quickly. Bori is right about inertia though, and I think the WMF itself has seen to it. That's why I've said for years that the WMF has a conflict of interest. I recommend to you all the site http://wagesforfacebook.com (a parody of Wages for housework). The annoying scrolling effect is part of the message, but you can make it stop by disabling javascript in your browser.

Regarding a fork, I'm interested and can supply technical help setting up a server and stuff like that, and maybe a bit of leadership as a long-time Wikipedia editor with some concrete notions of how the project has gone astray over the years. I'm sure everyone else has such notions too, though. And I can't provide any financing the way Jimbo did. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 02:53, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Let me know if you do this; I'd love it. Yngvadottir (talk) 04:05, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Forking would only be realistic if you could get the backing of one of the big search engines. As long as Google, Bing and Yandex all top-rank Wikipedia, that's where the traffic is going to go, and the fork will just wither. It's entirely possible that one of the major tech players would be interested in hosting a fork, but that would bring problems of its own; if you find the WMF's ethical flexibility troubling, you're certainly not going to want to work for Muskopedia, Applepedia or English Language Baidu. ‑ Iridescent 07:13, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I know I cannot possibly imagine the difficulties; but a lot of us who actually write the encyclopedia are fed up with constantly having to deal with new technical challenges, messages that the servers are down for maintenance, crap imported from Wikidata&nbsp... it might even be possible to leave the huge apparatus of discretionary sanctions behind. Heck, there might even be less nomination of articles for deletion without notification of contributors. I don't edit for page views; I edit to put information out there for people who want to read it, and to clarify what others have written. I can't believe Google would not index it, esp. since I understand we would have the right and ability to fork the existing encyclopedia, so they'd find it hard not to list the forked versions somewhere for readers to find them? I already often have to go to the 2nd or 3rd page of search results to get past the chaff. Plus citing Google Books has in the past been a fast track for my articles to get indexed, and they couldn't exactly ban such links? No, I wouldn't want to work for any other the other big techs. But Raystorm's statement on this page encapsulates the arrogance of the WMF. We are to take on faith whatever they say—or don't bother to say—because they believe they own us and our work. They just monetise it, and I am fed up with being monetised. They don't even give us services to do our work: their version of Toolserver crapped out on me yesterday with a 7-hour lag. How much can it possibly cost to set up rival servers, and we can undoubtedly find better programmers. The WMF is a ball and chain that lashes our ankles with knives, even leaving out of the metaphor its misusing our names to raise money it doesn't need. Why on earth would we want to continue to work with them when we do not even receive the slightest bit of respect. Yngvadottir (talk) 14:40, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Is not going to work, realistically. In the Wikitravel/Wikivoyage case, even when essentially the whole community split, and even when the whole project was taken over by WMF, it was way below the Wikitravel in search engines and, if I am not mistaken, only recently caught up (I am talking about the English version, other languages had different trajectories). There is zero chance that a significant part of the community will leave with the fork, and thus it is not going to be a success story.--Ymblanter (talk) 07:30, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

So you can end up like Voat? Q ^{T C} 16:04, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Meh, Citizendium is still running and someone is still editing it.[14] I thought Wikinfo was gone (it was around for a very long time), but it is (maybe again) up, and the same person is editing it too.[15] I don't care much about "success" since nobody is paying us either way. It would be nice to have a new place to edit that's free of Wikipedia's more annoying bullshit. Of course it would have its own bullshit if it gets any traction at all, but at least it would be different bullshit. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 07:43, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

This is a lazy response to difficult situations. "Fork off if you don't like it" has been used on Wikipedia since it started, rather than resolving hard issues. In practice either the community can defend itself from hostile takeovers and fend off the inevitable slow death by natural entropy, or it dies. Hopefully it will be replaced by something a magnitude better, but that will not happen with a fork which can only ever hope to create something worse. --Fæ (talk) 11:23, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Forking is feasible if you have substantial support and you can tolerate greater freedom. That second part is the central curse for us -- Wikipedia was a child of an enlightened age; it is hard to believe that today's goons wouldn't have found a way to strangle that child in the cradle. IF you can find an Exalted Master of Men with the money to run a big server with all the content on it, yet one so enlightened he doesn't turn it into his own crooked preserve, then you can make a new encyclopedia with changes. But with so much content and so few people those changes are going to include the usual sort of company vanity articles, spam, Encyclopedia Dramatica style biographies written by axe-grinders. And then the cries of horror that somebody somewhere anywhere would be allowed to be less censored than Wikipedia, which obviously T&S doesn't think is near censored enough, probably as representatives of a larger corporate/governmental belief system. So honestly, I think at this point you should scale back the "fork" plan to something that is also very useful but more practical: we need to get archive.org to back up this entire site. Because the Powers That Be wouldn't be making a move to seize control if they didn't have something they wanted to wipe out. Wnt (talk) 12:09, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Wnt, that's silly. You can download a dump of every Wikipedia page with its history intact at [16]. I gather it's around 16TB uncompressed. Plus there are numerous full Wikipedia mirrors already if what you want is a third-party backup. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 16:12, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• They own the computers, and the computer users will always be subject to the rules of the computer owners. That means the owners' interpretation of civility will override the users' interpretation. If there is a civility problem in the eyes of the owners, and the users can't handle it on their own, the owners will step in and handle it. That's because we users can say whatever we want here and not really face any consequences, whereas the owners are the ones who have to deal with the real-life legal authorities and consequences (like getting sued and getting subpoenaed). If Wikipedia forked and had someone else host, that someone else would raise and spend the money necessary to host the site, and they would become the new computer owners, and we'd just have a new WMF. The community is not in charge here, it never was, and it never will be, unless the computer users also become the computer owners. Set up a non-profit corporation where every registered non-anonymous editor (that is, registered under their verified real-life identity) gets a share in the corporation. One share per verified named editor. One vote per share. The shareholder editors vote for the Board of Directors, and the Board is in charge of raising and spending the money (including hiring an Executive Director and other officers, buying equipment, renting space, etc.). This would lead to a two-tier editing community: named, voting editors, and anonymous editors, but at least the community would own the computers its using. Someone would have to put up the seed money to get it started (including setting up an identity verification system). A faster way to do it is to petition the WMF to amend its own Bylaws to create this system. (They have the money already.) That might require like a general strike to accomplish. And even if this were done, there would, nevertheless, be politics and drama, as well as incivility and harassment issues. – Levivich 23:12, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

And also somehow implement blockchain. Everyone loves blockchain, right? Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 23:17, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Does the project really need even that many employees? One of the biggest problems with the WMF from my perspective is their constant self-serving drive to encumber us with new and more complex software, forced transclusions from Wikidata, requirements to use lots of complex templates ... whereas the original interface was written to be quick and dirty, and the constant changes mess up our workflow; especially because they employ the most inept programmers they can possibly find, but also because they impose change for reasons unrelated to writing good encyclopedic text, and often for change's sake. We don't need new skins, a headache-inducing media viewer, redesigned talk pages, ever more complicated ways to add references ... and the Toolserver was what, 2 servers and 2 sysops funded entirely by Wikimedia Deutschland, and worked better than the bells and whistles thing they forced on us ever has. (Not to mention we can't get urgent bugs fixed or community software requests fulfilled for any amount of asking.) I can't help but think we could host the encyclopedia on a relative shoestring and under a really small non-profit. (Not hosting huge conventions would also help.) This dog is being wagged by an immense tail. My biggest regret would be that you are probably right about real names being required for having a share in ownership. The WMF itself is in my view responsible for the single greatest threat to the security of community members by urging real-name use, which particularly endangers female, LGBTQ, and politically dissenting editors, and I will always argue that requiring real names is at best insensitive and from anyone who invokes Gamergate, hypocritical and callous. But it's probably a necessity for the kind of legal structure you envisage. I would hope that can be circumvented as much as possibl;e, because our diversity is one of our greatest strengths. Yngvadottir (talk) 17:19, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Yngvadottir, where does WMF encourage real-name use? At any case, forking is entirely unfeasible and we need a lot of those employees.

Certain (typically) non-visible WMF teams do a *lot* (I cannot over-emphasise that) to keep this site running and reasonably accessible. Running the 5th largest website in the world ain't child's play and if you're interested enough, I can go into the details of running data-centers, maintaining site-security, operations and allied stuff, but they do a lot.

A decade back, you would not have been surprised to have found your popular geek-website "down" for a few hours; today, it will be sheer unacceptable, even if measured in minutes. For all the VEs and MVs, (what's the issue with skins and adding refs, by the way?) they have done good work -- handling edit-conflicts, introduction of Lua, library-partnerships et al. Also, most of Mediawiki was crowd-sourced by random high school students (IIRC, Abuse-Filter is one such example and pathetic, as to code-quality) and WMF devs have taken a lot of efforts to streamline and re-organise that.

Further, you need to enable a proper fundraising (which will need it's folks) for running the site, maintaining some sort of contingency fund and to tackle legal issues (which is highly important and needs house-staff, despite outsourcing some/much of it). For an example about why so many folks are employed, the folks w.r.t travelling seems to be superflous but Risker (IIRC) has given some insider-justification about doing valuable work, which I can't recall now.

Credit must be given where it's due despite WMF's fair share of outright incompetent (and likely more-visible) engineers, at least one of whom treated the wikis as some sort of personal sandbox for trialing clueless product-designs. To be fair, we can definitely cull some of the staff, but not too many and am certain at that. ∯WBG^converse 18:02, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Yes, I am probably naive. But no, we don't need constantly new ways to do things, and templates are harder to use than the original code (things like two apostrophes to enclose italicized text and square brackets and a space to make a link), which were designed to be easily learned and typable; this is the only place I ever use squiggly brackets, and much of my previewing is for the templates. This stuff may be user-friendly for a tech maven, but it's really offputting—not to mention we used to worry about tenplate overload slowing load times, but apparently everyone has very fast computers now. Except that not everyone does. The WMF relentlessly pushes citation templates (probably they "emit metadata") and I have to think they are behind the push for "sfn", which is a step beyond. The point is, we don't need this complexity. And as for downtime; in the past few days I've had repeated "Our servers are feeling poorly" messages when I try to check my edits in draft space. And up to 7-hour lags on the Supercount or whatever it's called. That is not acceptable performance. They don't even deliver acceptable performance.

They require real names for attendance at any of their meetups, for a good start. (And then tag the photos with real names on Commons.) I'm not far from SF; I considered going to a meetup but they're all held in a secure building requiring ID. They editorialise about the desirability of editing under a real name. I've come to regard the T-shirts as phishing attempts, I'm afraid. Yngvadottir (talk) 18:40, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Can we all stop proposing things and stick to the ones that already exist

By my count, there's 13ish proposals on this right now. If anything, this will just split up votes and make everything impossible to find majorities in places. The last thing we need is even more proposals. -A lad insane (Channel 2) 02:28, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

You might hate me, but Support. Oshawott 12 ==()== Talk to me! 02:43, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Nope, oppose. GiantSnowman 08:38, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Split this page and summary style, obviously. Wnt (talk) 12:10, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Mu. You can't stop people from making proposals. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 14:43, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• By proposing that we stop making proposals, you have already violated your proposal! Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 14:48, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

WMF have extended the ban by two days to 12/6/20 instead of 10/6/20

Clearly just unfamiliarity with the tools when resetting the block but it does make them look less than competent with the use of the blocking tool. I have asked the office d to clarify their intent [here]. Spartaz ^Humbug! 05:31, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I am just catching up to what happened and I am speechless. So many thoughts right now (and sadly no time) to express them, but the fact we already lost 4 admins (Fram, Floq, Ansh and Rob) with 5th being in danger for desysop as well now....oof. Jovanmilic97 (talk) 07:40, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

No, Ansh did not leave because of this, and Rob said a few weeks ago he was leaving - this was just a diva quit. - SchroCat (talk) 07:43, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

While he had intentions of leaving, Ansh left because of this per User talk:Ansh.666, citing it as "the straw that broke the camel's back". I see for Rob if true. I won't comment on the "drama" part and using WP:AGF. Jovanmilic97 (talk) 07:47, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

5 [17] Tazerdadog (talk) 07:54, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

No, Rob left because of this. Doug Weller talk 14:18, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Two other issues

Why were Stewards notified in advance and not ArbCom?

One aspect of this controversy has been somewhat overlooked. TonyBallioni notes above that Stewards were notified in advance about the desysopping, block and ban of Fram, but ArbCom was not. Since the action involved English Wikipedia only, and since Stewards have -- relatively speaking -- much less involvement in en.wiki's affairs than they do on other, smaller wikis, and considering the remit ArbCom is covered by Stewards for wikis that don't have their own, why was this the case? What possible justification can there be for giving Stewards notice, and not ArbCom?

This is yet another part of these office actions which needs to be explained to the satisfaction of the community. Beyond My Ken (talk) 07:46, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Beyond My Ken, stewards are generally made aware of all Office actions related to bans and are even consulted.

On a sidenote, (among arbitrators), Opabinia regalis was made aware by T&S in their monthly phone call, that Fram was (very likely) going to be sanctioned in some manner over en-wiki; why she did not choose to pursue it, any further, can be answered by her and her alone. ∯WBG^converse 07:53, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Do you know if OR told the rest of the Committee? Beyond My Ken (talk) 08:08, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Based on what SilkTork has said, she did not. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 08:11, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

The rest of the arbs did have the minutes from the meeting available shortly after. Galobtter (pingó mió) 08:12, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

These two points contradict to some extent, though it's perfectly plausible that STork did not read the minutes. ∯WBG^converse 08:27, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I can confirm that the meeting minutes were available to those of us who were not on the call, and included a section about the likely action against Fram. GorillaWarfare (talk) 13:06, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

GorillaWarfare, this is plainly weird stuff. You were aware of everything yet STork resorted to lying in saying over WT:ACN that the Committee received the news regarding the ban at the same time as the community which painted a picture of ignorance. It honestly seems to me that after seeing the community backlash, you were just trying to turn WMF into a scapegoat. ∯WBG^converse 13:21, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

As Opabinia said in her comment, Arbcom found out this was implemented at the same time everyone else did. We did hear in advance that an action to do with Fram was under consideration. I believe SilkTork was referring to the fact that we did not know that action was definitively going to be taken with respect to Fram until the ban was placed, though only he can confirm what he meant to say. We did know that the WMF had been considering it, and the meeting notes from last week's meeting mentioned that the Trust & Safety team had made the recommendation in favor of the one-year ban. GorillaWarfare (talk) 13:39, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

GorillaWarfare, many thanks. This is a succinct and well-written disclosure which should have come hours earlier. ∯WBG^converse 13:46, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I am astounded that ArbCom did not think there would be some form of backlash and didn't say anything to the WMF. Did the WMF assume there would be no backlash because they had run it past you? I get that there will have been discussion about this behind the scenes since the news broke, and that Jimmy has said he is communicating with you, and that you are probably (like us) waiting for something from the board meeting, but it is looking like you (as a group) will have some explaining to do. In the interest of not pinging all ArbCom members (many of whom are inactive), I will ping GorillaWarfare and Opabinia regalis and ask them to alert the others (and will post at WT:AC/N). If this is purely a failure to read meeting notes where only one arb was at the call, then by all means say that, but sooner rather than later. Or was there internal discussion of this? Carcharoth (talk) 14:46, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I don't think anyone, either on the Arbitration Committee or at the WMF, was naive enough to think that blocking Fram would be uncontroversial. Again, the Wikimedia Foundation informs us when they are likely to place an office ban, but it is as an FYI, not to request our approval. We don't typically advise them on how to go about it—after all, we are volunteers and they are the professional community managers. We are perhaps more familiar with this community, but I'm also not sure what we could have told them that would have changed their approach: that the ban would be controversial? They knew this. That people would want to know why it was placed? I'm sure they anticipated that as well, but they stated from the getgo that they would not be providing details, and are remaining firm there.

If you're wondering how many of us saw the meeting notes, I can only speak for myself. I had not read the meeting notes (nor have I been keeping up with other email largely since the beginning of the month)—I went inactive on June 7 and somewhat belatedly noted on my userpage that I've been quite busy in real life and so have had to take some time away from both the wiki and the ArbCom. GorillaWarfare (talk) 15:36, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

"professional community managers" - LOL, thanks for injecting some humour into this sad affair. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 15:41, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Well, they're hired and paid for it at least; the ArbCom is just a random group of folks who know a lot about the English Wikipedia but generally not a whole lot about "community management". We've certainly bungled our fair share of communications in the past, so I don't know if we have much of a leg to stand on when it comes to saying we could have advised them on how to handle this better. GorillaWarfare (talk) 15:44, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

They're paid, certainly, but "professionalism" means a lot more in my book. Would the current ArbCom, with far greater knowledge of en.wiki policies and culture and with a wide range of options for actions at your disposal have done a better job than a "professional" group with a single-minded civility agenda and no tool more subtle than a 1-year no-appeal ban hammer? I'm quite sure you would. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 15:54, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I certainly don't think anyone could have done any worse. The statements made by arbitrators about this situation have been far more clear, and do not have the patronizing tone of the corporate many-words-to-say-nothing "statements" the WMF has been issuing, to say nothing of them barking orders in the same breath. So, paid or unpaid, WMF could take a few lessons from that. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 16:00, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks, GW. The bizarre thing is that they did talk to Fram, and gave him enough information that the details (at least in part) of what he was being banned for did not remain confidential (as he disclosed them). Arguably, by providing Fram with the information (and diffs), the WMF have breached their own privacy policy. They should either say enough to be transparent, or say nothing. The WMF clearly were naive here, and have not been handling the fallout well. If they had any sense, they would undo their actions, back off and leave on-wiki civility/interpersonal interaction issues for ArbCom to deal with. There is still a sense that more went on here, some set of double standards. If the Board can demand full disclosure of what was discussed at each level of review of this decision, they should do that. Carcharoth (talk) 15:50, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I started to respond to this thread, had to step away for a bit, and came back to find GW has pretty much covered it :) I don't think anyone was naive enough to think there wouldn't be a strong reaction to this. I had a somewhat strong reaction myself in past meetings where the general topic of project bans was discussed. For a sense of the actual conversation, it's basically as GW says - information only. The discussion was not a request for new input and I certainly did not have the sense that they were thinking they were getting arbcom's blessing or insulating themselves from community response by informing us in advance. I certainly do think they genuinely thought they were doing a good thing for the project, and that it was not a convenient way to get rid of a critic or some kind of personal corruption or whatever other weird conspiracy theories are cropping up. Opabinia regalis (talk) 17:09, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Going back to the original question, when global bans started stewards were given maybe a sentence of why there was a global ban. I thought I read somewhere that they were more extensively consulted on some of the global bans that came after I stepped down from the team. As for why, I have my own ideas (global bans came right after superprotect, and stewards tend to be the incredibly paranoid type that go through Meta logs on a regular basis)... but I can't say for sure. --Rschen7754 18:34, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

This discussion is essentially an indictment by the community of the T&S staff

In another comment, Tony also vouches for the work of the T&S people, and since I have great respect for Tony, I have absolutely no reason to disbelieve him, but, surely, even given that T&S is usually sensible and does good work, this entire community discussion must be seen as a indication of a complete lost of trust by the English Wikipedia community of T&S's actions in this instance, as, in fact, a indictment of them by the community. I believe that any investigation by Wales and the WMF board should look into not only the way this incident was handled, and whether T&S inappropriately usurped powers usually wielded here by ArbCom, but also they must take a very close look at whether changes need to be made in the T&S staff due to what appears to be gross negligence or hamfisted behavior. Beyond My Ken (talk) 07:46, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Don't forget COI--see further up. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 08:03, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Or, Beyond My Ken this discussion is full of a lot of people who are angry because they aren't getting what they want: the lurid details. Some issues can't be handled publicly. From what I casually knew about Fram, they had many issues and a lot of supporters. Of course the supporters are angry. They want to be able to litigate the situation themselves and decide for themselves if the issues were "bad enough" to warrant the ban. In the real world, we trust processes like juries to make these decisions without knowing the details of what the jury decided. What goes on in the jury room stays in the jury room. And even in the real world, some victims are kept anonymous for their own protection. Sometimes we have to understand that we don't always have to know the details. So I disagree that this is an indictment. This is a discussion as it should be. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 17:02, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

If you think this is just an angry reaction by Fram's supporters, you have very badly misread the situation. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 17:11, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Boing! said Zebedee I don't think that. I don't think this really about Fram at all. I see that people don't want WMF involved. What I'm saying is that since they got involved at all this must be a serious case. It also shows some failure to fix things on our end. I don't have a solution for that sort of thing at all and wish I did. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 20:09, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Sorry MLG, I know you are coming from a good place, but this case is not about wanting to know "lurid details", if any of that actually exists it can and should stay confidential, and it certainly is not a case of Fram's 'supporters' being a pitchfork wielding mob; especially as I was accused by several people of being Fram's most likely accuser so hardly fit that profile. Your parallel of a jury is a good one, as it is this element of accountability and credible governance that is missing. --Fæ (talk) 17:17, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks, Fæ, I appreciate your perspective. It's just that when legal or safety issues are involved, as seems to be the case here, I don't think that we get to know. In my example, the jury would be T&S. In a legal case (at least in the US), we don't get to know the reasons why the jury decided, we only get to know what the jury decided. I think this is similar. Of course, in the US, it's can be easier to allow the victim to remain anonymous. But there are parts of cases that are closed to the public. These things happen and I think that in the balance, it's OK. I think this situation is similar. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 20:04, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

(ec) I wish you wouldn't paint critics of WMF's action here with such a wide brush. I, for one, barely knew Fram. I am objecting because of the process, because this is the most serious challenge to our self-governance in three years. Some secrecy and sensitivity is good, WMF's stonewalling and holier-than-thou attitude is not. You think the hundreds of thousands of people marching in Hong Kong don't care about the victim of the horrific murder in Taiwan? -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 17:20, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

King of Hearts if you don't feel you fall into that category, then I'm probably not talking about you. I understand that a lot of people are objecting to the process. That's what I'm trying to address: sometimes the process needs to be opaque. And that sucks, but I'm OK with some amount of opaqueness and privacy for those involved if it means a safer community for editors to edit in peace. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 20:08, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Yeah, any reasonable process for dealing with harassment (in online communities especially) would have to include victim privacy, which means the process will be by definition "opaque". Galobtter (pingó mió) 20:13, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

What a weird statement, which unfortunately leads me to think you don't understand what's going on at all. In this case there was no jury, simply a judge who made a decision without the input of the accused's peers. Most people are upset that a jury, ie the community designated body to handle such things (ArbCom), was not involved. Mr Ernie (talk) 17:35, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Mr Ernie I was using a metaphor. I think that T&S as a group can be seen as a jury. Is this an exact or perfect metaphor? No. And as far as I can tell Arbcom was not involved because it would allow too much transparency and therefore become a problem for the person reporting the issue. Sometimes privacy is needed. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 20:05, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

My professional background is in "Human Resources". In that environment, there are times that information cannot be shared outside of HR, the organization's Legal Department, etc. In the case of this ban, I would assume that T&S shared their findings with WMF Legal, and that WMF Legal supported the decision made by T&S, or perhaps, WMF Legal made the actual decision and T&S simply carried it out. The wiki community and Fram will probably never know all the facts, but as an HR professional, I am confident in assuming that there was legal justification for the T&S action. I am also assuming that the T&S action is meant to protect the identity of people involved in the investigation who need/want to remain anonymous for their protection... names that might surprise everyone. --Rosiestep (talk) 00:17, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Rosiestep, As a complication, the office statement:

...we investigate the need for an office action either upon receipt of complaints from the community, or as required by law. In this case we acted on complaints from the community.

seems clear that it was not a legal issue. That said, and recognizing the complications that the office may be unable to fully clarify, I can imagine a situation that was not precipitated by a legal action, but has legal ramifications. My guess is that you are exactly right but based upon their initial statement my mindset has been that this is not a legal issue. I'm guessing that assumption is incorrect, even though it is based on their statement. S Philbrick(Talk) 16:41, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

@Megalibrarygirl: - I must agree with Mr Ernie - there was no jury, there was a judge, and I'll go further in saying that by all appearances, the judge was also the executioner. With the available information, it appears that it was a trial in absentia - there was no opportunity for Fram to defend themselves for the recent ban. So, perhaps, we could appoint a proper jury. I recall there was some suggestion on this page, of having esteemed members of the community (who can be trusted on privacy matters) to review the evidence to judge if there were really privacy concerns. What do you think? P.S. - for the record, I'm not a Fram supporter, I don't even know anything but their name. starship.paint (talk) 00:59, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Starship.paint, We already have them. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 17:22, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Bishonen unblocked Fram (+ reactions)

[18] - at 07:20, 12 June 2019 (UTC), Bishonen unblocked Fram with the following reason: Reversing the wheel warring by WMFOffice. Please note that Floquenbeam did not wheel war in unblocking Fram; WMFOffice did when they re-blocked. See WP:WHEEL. Created this section for reactions to this latest incident. starship.paint (talk) 07:40, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• This is a highly outrageous and contentious move, and I will be issuing my condemnation in Barnstar form on User talk:Bishonen. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 07:43, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

In all seriousness, Bishonen did something incredibly brave. The WMF made an example of Floq, and yet Bishonen did the right thing anyway. We're not worthy of these admins' sacrifices. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 07:48, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Hear, hear! El_C 07:51, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

We can try to be. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 10:53, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

how many more you willing to lose wmf?50.106.16.170 (talk) 07:45, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I support what Bishonen did. She's essentially enforcing the community's consensus that the block and ban are illegitimate and doing what she can to further that. No doubt she'll also be deopped for 30 days because WMFOffice still seems to be completely averse to anything resembling talking it out. Also, thank you, Swarm, for the levity. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 07:46, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Thank you to Bishonen. That decision displayed strong moral character. We will soon see if the WMF can figure out to stop digging the hole deeper this time. Tazerdadog (talk) 07:46, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Y. Reyk _YO! 07:50, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Nick has now resigned in protest as well. How many admins will we have to lose just so that the WMF can die on this hill? ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 07:51, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Providing quote - [19] - Nick: If you could remove my sysop bit please. I'll re-collect it when the Wikimedia Foundation comes to its senses and properly deals with the Fram block, the Floquenbeam desysop and the inevitable Bishonen desysop. I'm not all that busy/useful anyway, and don't have the time to really get involved in challenging the WMF at this time in the way Floq, Bish and others have. starship.paint (talk) 07:56, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• I applaud Bishonen's action as upholding an obvious community consensus. Beyond My Ken (talk) 08:10, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• To be honest, I find this stupid and childish.--Ymblanter (talk) 08:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• I'm sorry you don't see what to me are the clearly serious long-term implications of our not taking whatever actions are possible without harming the encyclopedia. Beyond My Ken (talk) 08:34, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  This did harm an encyclopeadia because we are losing active admins. Without actually gaining anything.--Ymblanter (talk) 08:39, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Yes, the WMF is harming their own encyclopedia by causing us to lose active admins. You're not placing the blame on us, are you? If you want to toe the line and pick up the slack, good on you. Some of us have principles behind our contributions here beyond blind obedience to the Foundation. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 09:13, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• (edit conflict × 2) This clearly has the popular support in the community, but I'm in the pessimistic camp. The unblock is clearly out-of-process and will almost certainly be reversed again; Bishonen will be desysopped just as Floquenbeam was. WP:WHEEL does not apply because the community does not have the authority to overturn WP:OFFICE actions – let's not kid ourselves here thinking we have a procedural policy-based reason for unblocking because we don't. There may be a "community consensus" to unblock, but we lack the authority to actually carry it out. What Floquenbeam and Bishonen have done is more akin to civil disobedience than a legitimate administrative action. Mz7 (talk) 08:32, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  At this point, however, the community has little and less tolerance for anything WMFOffice does. We're straight-up desperate for ANYTHING resembling actual dialogue, especially as regards the allegations of Raystorm's involvement and the motives thereof (which, if even partly true, is a serious issue that the WMF needs to deal with as soon as possible), and given they have not attempted to shut Fram up on Commons, their "everything is privileged, we can't tell you dick" claim is implausible on its face (since they would have escalated Fram's ban if that were true). We want WMFOffice, or whoever is using that role account, to actually make their case and answer the accusations, but all we've gotten is canned responses and radio silence. The WMFOffice account (and by extension the WMF staffers of Trust and Safety, in whose name the ban was levied) is practically destroying its own credibility. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 08:40, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  We are not going to get the dialogue we are seeking through this approach. I expect we will have yet another entry in Fram's block log and yet another former administrator. Mz7 (talk) 08:48, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Do you really believe we're going to get any kind of reasonable dialogue if all we do is say "Tsk tsk, we're very disappointed in you"? In real-world terms, the WMF is in the catbird seat, and we are nearly powerless against them. We need to level that playing field in some way and make them understand that real, honest discussion is required, and not the boilerplate bullshit they've been foisting on us. This is one of the few actions available to us, and we should not hesitate to use it. Your way will inevitably lead to the WMF getting what it wants, and the erosion of our right to govern our own community. Beyond My Ken (talk) 09:05, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Which is why I called on the Arbitration Committee to make a statement — after all, it is their mandate that was usurped. El_C 08:35, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Yes, it is indeed civil disobedience, and considering what the ramifications are of letting the Foundation go in this direction, completely justified. Not having a technical legal basis does not mean it is not morally the correct thing to do. Beyond My Ken (talk) 08:38, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• let's not kid ourselves here thinking we have a procedural policy-based reason for unblocking because we don't. Yes, we do, and this is a textbook example of an exceptional case which is the exact reason that particular policy exists. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 11:03, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Let me get this straight - we've lost (so far) three admins? Fram, Floq, and Nick? With Bish (and God knows how many others) likely to follow? When will @WMFOffice and Jimbo Wales: pull their fingers out and sort out this mess? If they're not careful there won't be any admins left very shortly and this wonderful site will decay and end. GiantSnowman 08:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Ansh666 has also left because of this and Nick is now asking for a desysop, with a certain desysops happening with Bishonen and another one when blocking consensus happens. What a mess. Jovanmilic97 (talk) 08:49, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• I know it sounds a bit morbid, but is it worth keeping a public list of editors who are de-sysoped/resign/retire etc.? GiantSnowman 09:04, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• If you feel it's worthwhile, go for it. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 09:07, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• (edit conflict) WP:FORMER. FWIW, Ansh666 has said publicly that the timing is just coincidence and has nothing to do with this. ‑ Iridescent 09:07, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• (edit conflict × a billion) I know I probably shouldn't be here (was trying to keep this account free of blue on the pie) but I do want to clear this up a little. I never said that it was entirely coincidence (the wording I used at WO was, I believe, "mostly unrelated"). I was planning to resign the bit soon, dragging my feet a little, but this situation made me finally give it up. Any further questions should go to my user talk. I do not wish to be further involved here - watching from the sidelines with some popcorn is good enough. Thanks, ansh.666 09:51, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• This is insane. One administrator banned, one desysoped, soon to be two, and one handing in the bit, all because of this sorry saga. Has there been anything like this in project history? – Teratix ₵ 09:11, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
  • You should also count BU Rob13 at least in part. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 09:22, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Shall I expect that Bish ain't getting de-mopped, given the passage of hours? ∯WBG^converse 10:59, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• No. It's 04:00 PDT at time of writing, so it's almost certain nobody is at the office at this time. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 11:04, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Arbitratory section break

• People, please don't resign! Make them de-sysop you for some tiny token of disobedience, but don't leave it where they can minimize the statistics by saying "we didn't do that and we don't really know X's reasons for resigning". You know they will! Wnt (talk) 11:21, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  You seem to ignore the fact that Rob resigned because of their support for the WMF. StudiesWorld (talk) 11:35, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  More accurately, I resigned because the community has shown itself to be perfectly okay with engaging in witch-hunts, harassment of people they are assuming (falsely, most likely) were reporters of Fram's behavior, and the defense of "harassment and/or abuse of others" with no understanding of the evidence. This is a disgusting display of mob mentality, sensationalism, grandstanding - you name it, it's here. In fact, I imagine the lot of you are confirming to the WMF that the community cannot handle the enforcement of civility, because you are showing that incivility is a core tenet of the enwiki community. This page will be used as the justification for future WMF office actions because of how egregious the targeting of victims and reporters is here. Rather than reflecting on why the WMF needed to step in to hear evidence that you have not seen because a victim felt it necessary to avoid the community's wrath and fury, you are collectively bringing about the death of the community-based decision-making process on Wikipedia by taking this opportunity to highlight all of its failings. ~ Rob₁₃^Talk 12:08, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Who exactly was targeting victims (whoever they are)? Laura's t/p features a prominent notice, that sheds enough light on the issue and the community has every right to ask Raystorm of her conflicts with Laura given the amount of their collaboration. ∯WBG^converse 12:19, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  BU Rob13: Until very recently, you were a member of the Arbitration Committee. Is it your position that the committee is not capable of handling privacy-sensitive matters? From what we have gleaned, the committee was not even given an opportunity. –xeno^talk 12:24, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  I cannot comment on whether the Committee ever had the opportunity to discuss Fram's recent conduct. The only statement I've made thus far is that ArbCom did not report Fram to the WMF, and I only said that because the single diff the WMF provided Fram may make it seem the report came from ArbCom. It did not, unless it happened after my tenure, which is highly unlikely since the WMF takes about a month to act on these reports, minimum.

  It is unequivocally my position that the current Arbitration Committee is wholly unable to resolve civility issues of this type, however, for the following reasons.

  1. In order to avail yourself of ArbCom as a remedy, you must first go to ANI and see no resolution. This means that victims must throw themselves into the lion's den of ANI, often resulting in the sort of targeting of victims that we see toward Laura/Raystorm above, in order to even start on the road to addressing harassment.
  2. ArbCom does not hear cases based on public evidence privately, even when holding a public case would likely lead to targeting of victims. So even after going to ANI, you have to face a full month of further targeting in the public slug-fest of an ArbCom case in order to seek any type of sanction. Which brings us to...
  3. The current Committee is not willing to take definitive action on civility issues, especially at early stages when setting clear boundaries/expectations on long-term contributors could prevent major issues later. Even if a victim goes through all of this, after weeks of ANI and a month of ArbCom, the likely outcome would be - at most - an IBAN and an admonishment, at which point the uncivil editor may go on and harass some other person.
  4. There are no protections for the victims at any point in the process. This is where our on-wiki DR system majorly differs from other types of dispute resolution you find in the real world, like the justice system. In the justice system, you have the right to question your accuser and respond to evidence, which is important. But there are consequences if you intimidate or target the reporter. There are consequences if you badger them. There are consequences if you start stalking them around. There are no such consequences on-wiki, because both the community and the Arbitration Committee favors inaction over holding people accountable when they respond to claims of harassment by harassing the accuser further.

  For all of these reasons, no, I do not think the Arbitration Committee or the community currently has any hope of solving civility issues. I did not necessarily think that 48 hours ago, but I sure as hell do now, after seeing the community's reaction here. Victims aren't going to go through the process I just described, for no clear resolution while subjecting themselves to months of further abuse. They're just going to leave. Look at editor retention numbers. Look at the declining admin corps. Clearly, it isn't the case that fewer people are coming to Wikipedia, because our readership is as high as ever. Instead, more are looking around and saying "Yup, not for me." And I cannot blame them one single bit. ~ Rob₁₃^Talk 12:41, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Thank you BU Rob13, I appreciate your response and insight. –xeno^talk 19:03, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  BU Rob13, I agree with you on all counts. My logical conclusion would be that a modification needs to be made to the ArbCom process to allow the private hearing of on-wiki evidence, at a very minimum. However, I would remain supportive of the WMF intervening if that failed in specific instances or generally. Would you be supportive of such a change? StudiesWorld (talk) 12:45, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  I think that would be helpful, especially if such private cases came with an automatic IBAN/prohibition on discussing the case publicly. The results for Laura/Raystorm of Fram's misleading statement speak for themselves. This cannot be allowed to happen again. (I shy away from saying I'd support it, since I no longer consider myself a member of the community, and do not plan to stick around long enough for any reform efforts.) ~ Rob₁₃^Talk 12:48, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  What about Fram's statement is misleading? Mr Ernie (talk) 12:49, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  (ec) Please correct Fram's misleading statement. There's always a possibility that Fram is intentionally/unintentionally tampering with certain stuff to downplay issues and it will be a pleasure to hear the corrected version. ∯WBG^converse 12:57, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  The part that emphasizes Laura in a warning from a year ago as if that has absolutely anything to do with the current situation. The WMF's email to Fram stated that he was being banned for a continuation of the pattern of behavior he had been warned about in the past. Since he has been a jerk to plenty of people since the last warning, but has not particularly interacted with Laura during that time, to my knowledge and given the IBAN that he has disclosed which is likely with her, it's highly likely someone else reported him for harassment. Emphasizing Laura's involvement out of nowhere, in apparent violation of a likely IBAN, is misleading. ~ Rob₁₃^Talk 12:54, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  I don't think Fram's message "emphasized" any other person at all - as I recall, she wasn't mentioned; just two diffs were given. The diffs were article diffs -- looked like a run of the mill editing dispute, the kind of thing ANI should be able to look at if needed without inviting any unusual attention (not much usual attention either, really). Instead, somehow this ended up in a Star Chamber few of us even knew about, and surprise surprise, that blew up in the complainant's face. And now you tell me that the harassment the complainant is receiving as a direct result of WMF's screwed up way of trying to supplant the admins is proof that we need to send more cases through that mechanism? You don't think there are going to be recriminations and acrimony with their next local ban, and the one after that? I suppose every time the peanut gallery goes after a new complainant in angry response to this loss of community, it's just proof we need more power for the Star Chamber, maybe they should be banning people for reading the wrong newspaper, eh? This is War on Drugs level foolhardiness. Wnt (talk) 13:05, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  I am entirely unable to see where Fram emphasizes Laura's involvement, out of nowhere. After an (apparently) factual narrative, he chooses to editorialise when he writes:-Basically, after you recive a conduct warning from the Office based on undisclosed complaints, ..... (that's hardly emphasis, either). At any case, he has made nil effort to link that undisclosed complaint with the next warning, (received courtesy of his meddling with Laura's articles). Nowhere does he state that Laura has pulled the strings or anything like that. BU Rob13, please provide the phrases, that lead to your observations of undue emphasis or retract and apologize. ∯WBG^converse 13:09, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Laura is the sole editor mentioned in his tirade. That is undue emphasis. In fact, mentioning Laura at all is a violation of his one-way IBAN. Given what it has led to, I certainly hope the WMF globally bans him for it. ~ Rob₁₃^Talk 13:18, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  That you wish for something to be undue emphasis, hardly makes it. At any case, am glad that you have left the community. ∯WBG^converse 13:24, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Being allowed to present evidence in your own defense at trial is one exception to IBANs I'd always like to see respected. Reyk _YO! 13:28, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Fram may not be IBAN'd on Commons. In addition the imposition of the IBAN in general doesn't appear to have been warranted, and there was no way for Fram to appeal it. These are not the steps of dispute resolution our community utilizes. If an editor with a potential contact at the WMF is able to sidestep the normal processes in dispute resolution, and if that potential contact at the WMF is also involved in the dispute, then we ought to be very concerned about that. Mr Ernie (talk) 13:30, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  BU Rob13, thank you for your clear and concise statement. I fully support your description of the current situation. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 13:55, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Hear hear, Rob. Thank you for being a voice of sanity in the middle of this lynch mob. I think it's safe to say that very few of these people who are flying off the handle have worked in an office where someone has been terminated for cause, when management (read: WMF) is legally prevented from disclosing any details. WP:AGF applies to them as well, so any accusations of ulterior motives are completely unwarranted absent any solid evidence, as are assumptions of what they might have done if some fact were true. I don't know Fram and if I've ever interacted with him before, I certainly don't remember doing so. I do know of his reputation, though, and this looks to me yet another case of a user who has been getting a free pass on bad behavior simply because of his contributions, which only shows how much lip service we pay to WP:CIVIL – apply it like a cudgel to some people and look the other way for others. I freely admit I've done the latter myself for The Rambling Man, and I vow to do better on that in the future. —howcheng {chat} 16:21, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  I think it's safe to say that very few of these people who are flying off the handle have worked in an office where someone has been terminated for cause, when management (read: WMF) is legally prevented from disclosing any details. I think it's probable that many people who are "flying off the handle" here have more experience of what goes on in offices than you suppose. Deor (talk) 16:45, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  What Deor said. I have been in those environments. No one swears, but many of them are far, far more toxic than anything here, and a lot of it is because of the bullshit, talk behind the closed door, nice to your face and stab you in the back kind of environment. I would much rather be told to fuck off than try to navigate all that again. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 16:53, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  ↑↑This↑↑ ∯WBG^converse 18:17, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Office politics notwithstanding (which can indeed be ridiculously toxic), my statement was regarding someone who is terminated for cause. —howcheng {chat} 18:10, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  BU Rob13 I also fully endorse your statement here, thank you for making it. Thryduulf (talk) 14:11, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  BU Rob13 Same here, plus, we are taking at face value Fram's statement without any input from WMF and rushing to judgement, knowing that we don't have a good track record with dealing with this type of behavior. It doesn't look good for us. Sir Joseph ^(talk) 14:32, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  To be clear, I don't even think Fram is being intentionally misleading. The WMF has outright said Fram hasn't been told the exact evidence behind the ban to protect the reporter. Perhaps misleading was a poor choice of words, because it implies intent. "Talking out of his ass" is perhaps better. We know that Fram doesn't have the full story, because both Fram and the WMF have agreed that's the case. So why the community is accepting it as the full story is beyond me. ~ Rob₁₃^Talk 14:36, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  It doesn't sound like the WMF was very concerned with giving Fram a chance to defend himself. Lepricavark (talk) 14:39, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

...And within 2 days, we've already turned this into one of the biggest shitstorms this site has ever seen. Great job, WMF. A Dolphin (squeek?) 15:21, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

That's on this community. We have to decide something: do we support harassment because the editor does "good work" or are we going to stop tolerating behavior that turns away other good editors? I agree with Deor. In human resource situations when things have gone this far, protecting the victims of harassment is important. Legal issues I can't speak to, but I understand their sensitivity. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 16:58, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Megalibrarygirl, where did Deor say that? Probably, someone else, you wished to attribute to:-) ∯WBG^converse 18:17, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Winged Blades of Godric in an office situation, these kinds of disputes are handled by human resources. Deor brought up offices and therefore the people involved would be HR. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 19:01, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

You know, it is possible to both believe that the Wikipedia community should be more proactively protective of those who are being harassed and also have a significant degree of uneasiness in regard to how this has been handled, with secrecy and furtiveness that goes well beyond just not sharing specifics about the "who" that is involved. Grandpallama (talk) 18:39, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Nobody is saying that we should support harassment. That's a strawman. Lepricavark (talk) 19:53, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• BU Rob13 There is always a trade off to be made on sensitive issues like this. In real life too the question exists: what are state secrets of legitimate national interest that should be protected, and when has the CIA gone too far to punish whistleblowers? (Not implying that anyone here is a whistleblower, only making an analogy on the overall principle.) But the WMF has simply gone too far this time for me. We have an unelected, unaccountable committee looking at secret evidence submitted by a secret accuser with no ability of the accused to defend themselves or even appeal. Indeed there are cultural problems with the current community, but just as one would not want to be part of a community where harassment is rampant, one would also not want to be part of a community that is being forced to trust top-down decisions where there is no realistic way to depose of the decision-makers. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 15:47, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  I also endorse Rob's comment's above. People keep on harping about using community processes, but the actual community process for dealing with harassment is ANI...which is widely acknowledge even to be terrible. Galobtter (pingó mió) 16:55, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Then delete ANI, delete Arbcom, and throw it all into the Foundation's lap. Go on, I dare you. DuncanHill (talk) 16:58, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Arbcom and ANI being terrible at handling harassment doesn't mean that everything needs to be punted to the Foundation (because ArbCom and ANI of course handle much more than that - disruptive, POV, battleground editing etc). As a side note, not that I want to, but I can't delete WP:ANI or WP:ARC, because those pages have more than 5000 revisions (only stewards can do it). Galobtter (pingó mió) 17:08, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Just wanted to note that I agree with Rob, Megalibrarygirl, etc. Wikipedia has increasingly become an ugly place, and our community processes have failed in terms of addressing conduct like this. I for one welcome intervention from on high to work toward solving the problems we have proved ourselves incapable of solving, and don't think that the circumstances of every block need to be public. And I think there are many other Wikipedians (and, importantly, potential Wikipedians) who would agree with me but are not involved in drama like this. Like Rob, I'm pretty disgusted that the only cause for which admins have righteously sacrificed their bits is the protection of a harasser. I don't buy that it's only about process, because if it were only about process, could we not wait for a board meeting in two days? What is the emergency here? One more note: there is an important gender split displayed in the voting above. This outrage seems to be mostly male, in a mostly male community. (I know that Bishonen is a woman; the split of course is not perfect.) This is not the path we should be going down if we want to diversify our community. Calliopejen1 (talk) 17:43, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Catch me up please: is the assertion that Fram criticizes female editors more stridently or frequently then male editors? I generally don’t keep track of the gender of editors, so I honestly wouldnt know if they do or not. –xeno^talk 17:54, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  I don't know if that is the case or not. But women are much less likely to want to spend their time in a space where harassment is allowed to persist. Calliopejen1 (talk) 17:55, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  I don’t know enough about the specifics of the case to comment further. If Fram has engaged in harassment, there is a local governance mechanism available to those who have been harassed. –xeno^talk 18:00, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Yeah, throw yourself to the wolves and be prepared to lose because he's WP:UNBLOCKABLE. That's what I mean by our community processes have failed. Calliopejen1 (talk) 18:02, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  If the WMF or T&S have lost confidence in the Arbitration Committee to handle complaints of harassment that are privacy sensitive or involve established users, they need to say so plainly so that the committee can upload this responsibility to T&S. An avenue of appeal should be provided, as well. –xeno^talk 18:11, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Agreed. Wikipedia's processes are completely unsuited to dealing with harassment, or really any behavioural problems. The group of self-appointed insiders at ANI routinely protect their own (either explicitly, or because those that are protected know how to modify/frame their actions to get away with what they are doing) and pick apart the reporter. -- Ajraddatz (talk) 18:14, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  I would agree, but a case has never been brought to ArbCom specifically on the basis of Fram's user conduct/suitability to be an administrator. I am among the few who think that Fram should have been sitebanned a long time ago, but not this way. --Rschen7754 18:34, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  True, but I also don't use the lottery regardless of how much its wealth-building potential is advertized because I know it's not suited for purpose. Any established community member knows what happens when you take an unblockable to a noticeboard: they get away with whatever nonsense they were up to, again, and you get a slap on the wrist for literally anything that you did that wasn't completely perfect in the process. We all know this, and for some reason we think this is acceptable. Also, to be clear, I don't think it's a good thing that the WMF had to step in here. I would love for us to have functional local processes to deal with these cases. But at the moment we don't. -- Ajraddatz (talk) 18:39, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  A noticeboard != ArbCom. There's also a difference between here and azwiki: there the process is broken, but here it was not given a full try, WMF just took a shortcut. --Rschen7754 18:53, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  It's the same actors in both locations, and you'd need to start off at a noticeboard. It isn't a functional system if the complaintant knows that they would need to dedicate months of their time and endless public scrutiny of their entire wikilife in order to maybe get results. -- Ajraddatz (talk) 19:00, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I also think it would be helpful in T&S/WMF would explicitly say if they've lost faith in en, including ArbCom, to handle certain kinds of issues and if they have what those issues are or if it's particular to issues in this case. If it's the former, in response the community could decide to try and improve or we could decide, through inaction or lack of ability to come to consensus, to farm certain things out to T&S/WMF. The times (before this nonsense) where I've grown most dispirited about Wikipedia have been the times around civility discussions in both the abstract and around specific editors (or when those specific conversations about editors never happen or are shouted down by a a cohort who believe civility is a codeword for other things). I think WMF is wrong to try, as BMK keeps pointing out, to change the core dynamic between English Wikipedia and WMF because that's what they've done here. But that doesn't mean that the failings of our community that the WMF has decided are there are incorrect or wrong. Best, Barkeep49 (talk) 19:35, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

There is such a thing as due process; just because someone is pessimistic about something succeeding doesn't mean that the accused isn't entitled to their day in court. And ArbCom does occasionally get things right (example: Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Joefromrandb and others). If WMF clearly laid out a framework for how they were going to handle this sort of thing from now on, and clearly stated when they were going to act, and why they acted, that would be a step forward. I don't know why there is a gag order on these time-limited / local-only bans, for one. They aren't going to use one of these for child protection (for example), which is the big underlying reason why the global ones are. But as it stands, this is subject to use and abuse. If T&S local bans and desysops are a thing now, I have a long list of names and diffs queued up in Microsoft OneNote ready to go. But of course, I have to be careful because if I say the wrong thing to some user with the right connections, I could be banned overnight.

I also find it ironic that we are criticizing azwiki and going to desysop all their admins for (among other things) deciding things via Facebook when WMF is basically doing the same thing. --Rschen7754 00:26, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• That's not quite true. (I'm not sure if there have been more recent attempts, my memory isn't great and searching for case requests that weren't accepted is a nightmare.) GorillaWarfare (talk) 18:43, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Well crap, I didn't see that one from 2016. But I do think that if someone had brought a case against Fram in 2018-2019, I think it would have been accepted. --Rschen7754 18:53, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  Multiple people tried in 2017-18. I gave up at some point after my comment was removed by a clerk claiming it is unsubstantiated. In 2019, Fram's behavior improved considerably (in my opinion, and not only in mine as far as I know), and I though this is not necessary anymore. Though I still keep my diff collection, just in case.--Ymblanter (talk) 19:31, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  An arb recently added Fram as a party to a case and more or less got pilloried for it. There has been discussion about Fram's conduct at ANI in 2019 as well. – Levivich 20:59, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  I know Fram has been brought up tangentially in a few case requests since 2016, but none of those focused squarely on Fram. --Rschen7754 00:26, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

  I think that Sandstein and DGG have stated the points I was trying to get across more effectively. --Rschen7754 18:29, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• I also agree with Rob13. The Land (talk) 18:07, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
• Moreover, the WMF should be working with us to design a reporting mechanism that is fit for purpose, staffed by both trained volunteers and the community, allows the alleged harasser to respond to the (suitably anonymized) complaint, is accountable to the community, respects the privacy of the reporter, whose decisions are appealable and is able to impose sanctions fairly (including on the reporter if the process itself is used to harass through vexatious complaints). I agree that harassment is a problem. This ham-fisted, cynicism provoking and poorly communicated effort to combat it is counterproductive because it burns through the community good will needed to design and operate such a system. [I seem to recall this being on the Anti-Harassment team (of developers), but they're still working through deficiencies in anti-abuse tools...] MER-C 18:35, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

MER-C, I've been mulling over in my head what I think the next step should be, not for the Fram situation but the underlying shortcomings that led to that situation, and this is a pretty good summary of what I was thinking.S Philbrick(Talk) 20:32, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

BU Rob13, I appreciate and agree with your reflections. MER0C and Sphilbrick, this feels like a thread worth a separate discussion. It's worth exploring how other communities have dealt with this at scale. [e.g., reporting models, subcommunities w/ differing social norms, ombudsfolk focused entirely on communicating about such issues] – SJ + 19:34, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• I thank Rob13 for their measured responses and agree with what he said. As a community, we have failed to provide a safe working environment for many. We don't have the processes in place to do that. We also need to keep in mind that when speaking of consensus, especially in highly-charged issues like this one, the vocal minority may not actually represent the community. SusunW (talk) 19:08, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard#User:WMFOffice - Ban Proposal

Hi all, I've proposed a indef ban & block on WMFOffice. Comments/!votes are welcomed. -FASTILY 08:05, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Note: discussion closed as a non-starter. starship.paint (talk) 02:53, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

note: I'm trying to start a split to a subpage for WMFOffice-specific actions at Wikipedia:Community response to the Wikimedia Foundation's ban of Fram/Proposals about WMF Office. (but I didn't remove anything from this particular section) Wnt (talk) 12:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Need for a shorter Resume

Main page: Wikipedia:Community response to the Wikimedia Foundation's ban of Fram/Summary

This discussion is longer than 0,5 GB. I'd be happy to read a shorter resume of the above text. --Perohanych (talk) 09:09, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

To view the summary by starship.paint (talk), click [show] to the right --->

• WMF bans and desysops Fram, a WP:MOSTACTIVE user and admin who retains the enwiki community mandate, without warning or explanation.
• Community begs for an explantion, WMF refuses to provide one.
• The community gets pissed, starts speculating about corruption being behind it.
• WMF responds from a faceless role account with meaningless legalese that doesn't say anything.
• Fram reveals that it's a civility block following prior intervention on behalf of User:LauraHale, a user with ties to the WMF Chair.
• Community is so united in its rebuke of the WMF that an admin unblocks Fram in recognition of the community consensus.
• WMF reblocks Fram and desysops Floquenbeam (the unblocking admin), still without any good explanation.
• A second admin unblocks Fram. Consequences to be seen, but apparently will be fairly obvious.
• We start speculating about just how corrupt the WMF is, what behind the scenes biases and conflicts of interests led to this, and what little we can do against it. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 09:22, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
  • The WMF Chair, accused of a direct conflict of interest against Fram, responds, declaring "... this is not my community ...", and blaming the entire incident on sexism, referencing Gamergate. A user speculates that her sensationalist narrative will be run by the media above the community's concerns of corruption. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 10:40, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Swarm, We have no idea who made the complaint that led to the block - so I would ask that you fix "on behalf of User:LauraHale". As an aside, I think this discussion shows precisely why T&S keeps the identity of complainents secret - even merely the guess that Laura or Raystorm filed the complaint or were behind the ban (the latter who has denied having anything to do with it, btw), has led to intense scrutiny on Laura (and internet stalking on the Site That Shall Not Be Named), which is certainly what no one wants to happen to them when they file a complaint. Galobtter (pingó mió) 09:51, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I wonder how much of that is due to Streisanding, though? We've been trying to get any sort of information from WMFOffice, and we may as well have been trying to wring blood from a rock since they claim everything is privileged information - which is facially absurd given Fram has faced no further consequences for what he has said on Commons. I understand there are some things that'd need kept secret in this case - but not everything. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 10:01, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Making a subpage out of this. Oshawott 12 ==()== Talk to me! 10:02, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Galobtter, please spare the blame on all those editors who have dragged Laura. She maintains a near-polemical banner at the top of her t/p (we have deleted such edit-notices and banners over MFDs) which prominently links her, Fram and T&S. We have also come to know that Fram had been IBanned by T&S with her. Given that Laura was hardly a low-profile editor and was subject to two ArbCom cases, (whereupon it was found that one of her protector admins did not disclose necessary conflicts), it's quite obvious that the links will be scrutinized.

I don't support anyone posting private pictures over external sites but as a neutral admin has noted over here, Raystorm had participated in the dispute between Fram and laura, with an entirely one-sided approach and had extensively collaborated with Laura over multiple wiki-spheres, from writing reports to delivering talks. Given that she also holds a BOD seat, it's obvious that Raystorm will be asked to provide explanations about potential conflicts. ∯WBG^converse 10:06, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I did not say "we know", I said "Fram revealed". But that said I have cleaned up the wording. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 10:45, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Community response to the Wikimedia Foundation's ban of Fram/Summary has been made. Oshawott 12 ==()== Talk to me! 10:21, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I have independently posted a timeline below. Tazerdadog (talk) 10:58, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@Tazerdadog: Sounds useful, but where is it? ——SerialNumber54129 11:49, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Blanked – Teratix ₵ 11:51, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@Serial Number 54129: I was informed that it was far enough from a neutral summary to be actively problematic. I think I'm too far on one side of this issue to be well-placed to make a timeline. Feel free to use any parts of it for anything at your discretion, but I will not be re-posting it. Cheers, Tazerdadog (talk) 12:03, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Self-inflicted damage to the WMF reputation needs to be considered

I have been a participant to this project since 2005, a registered editor since 2008, and an admin since 2011. Over that time I've witnessed multiple incidents that the Foundation didn't handle perfectly, but I never lost faith in the WMF entirely. After nearly 15 years, I have lost faith in the WMF. You no longer have my trust. You no longer have my support. If a journalist came to me right now, I would throw the WMF under the bus as a terrible and corrupt organization that has lost its founding principles. It will take serious steps to begin to reestablish that trust. It is clear that I am not the only one feeling this way. A significant portion of the community has had their faith in the WMF shattered. Most notably, Floquenbeam and Bishonen, two of our greatest, and most policy-compliant, admins of all time, who have openly rebelled in spite of the revocation of their tools. These are people who gave a great deal to your project. If you want this project to survive long term, you need to start taking the community seriously, right now. Jimbo has taken us seriously since the early days. If the WMF wishes to betray that precedent, then it deserves to be relegated to the ash heap of history. And it will. You are not immune to the court of public opinion, and you need to start realizing this. This is a turning point in Wikipedia's history. You can either side with the community, or against it. But make no mistake that your decision will make a difference in the development of Wikimedia long after this blows over. If successful in repressing this dissent, it may well break out in the media later on as a successful coverup. There are few things the public hates more than a corrupt charity. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 09:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• And in case it literally needs to be spelled out, it’s a big fucking deal that Floquenbeam and Bishonen have fallen on their swords over this. These are not random admins. These are serious pillars of the community who can’t be replaced. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 09:54, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Echo above in its entirety. I have (had?) a lot of faith in WMF, and I know editors who have either worked with WMF, it's sub-orgs or were contractors, and needless to say, they were wonderful people. But, what we are seeing is a terrible, terrible way to reflect their lack of faith in the community. This needs to stop, for an organization which claims they conduct their business transparently, this is the equivalent of dirty and opaque knee-jerk reactions. Each of their response is increasing stonewalling of the community and just seems to be an authoritarian actions as a byproduct of their arbitrary whims. They keep saying each of their actions is thought out and passed through multiple staffs and that just makes it so much more worse than bad decisions, this shows a terrible design by committee that fails from the get-go. As someone who has faith in the WMF, this is just amazingly terrible behaviour from an organization that seeks to help the community. You do not have my vote of confidence any more. And everyone from the WMF who is involved in this and everyone who partook in this opaque, stonewalling move is not welcome to this community. That is all I had to say. --qedk (t 桜 c) 09:57, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

WMF chair "sexism" whitewash

• The WMF Chair is now directly attempting to whitewash the community outrage as sexist. If this is our reward for dedication to the project, labelled by someone who couldn't who hasn't actually been an active contributor to the project since 2007, then I don't see what the point of any of this is. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 10:59, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Rubbish. When you are being trolled and your personal life made sport of, including open calls to go sniffing for dirt through personal social media accounts, in some cases by active Wikipedians who are contributing to this page, then the response here is both understandable and justified. Honestly, you think none of that motivation is for bad reasons? See Jerk. --Fæ (talk) 11:05, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

There was certainly no possibility of sexism in the community's initial reaction to Floquenbeam's de-sysop, since the reason cited was a general statement of disregard for ArbCom. The prior warnings looked like innocent edits and certainly had no screaming banner of sex hanging over them. Heck, I'd always assumed Flo was a woman, and had to go back and change my first comments because I kept saying 'her' by accident.

That said, there is obvious potential for some "GamerGate" response tactics, which are typically to be held rightly in very low regard. Caveat being that if Wikipedia becomes an organization where central power dictates who is in and who is out and what must be deleted and what spin an article has to have, then it isn't itself any better than GamerGate tactics and there is then no moral basis on which to condemn them; they would just be "ordinary politics" at that point. Wnt (talk) 11:33, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I have no idea what you’re referring to, Fae. I have done nothing of the sort. Neither have the vast majority of the community who are outraged, including the admins who have given up the bit over this. I don’t know who you are referring to, but it’s certainly not most of us. It’s clear insanity has prevailed here and speaking out against it will only get us slandered by the Chair herself. Until some semblance of common sense and respect for the community has been retaken, I’m done contributing. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 11:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

It's nonsense because I have been highly critical of the lack of transparency and accountability for the use of the WMF Office account for years and was one of the first in the line to support firm re-action. What Raystorm has written on this page did not slander me, nor do I feel disrespected.

Read the personal statement in context. This was a response by Raystorm, who is being subject to intense trolling and ridicule by a number of f***tards. It was not a statement by the WMF board, and I did not read it as a statement by the WMF Chair. This is Raystorm putting in her 2c and it is perfectly understandable if she is hopping mad at the bullshit she and her personal life is being subjected to.

So, read, think, get real. --Fæ (talk) 11:57, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Will confirm User:Fæ's comment that this is a personal statement by Raystorm and not a board position. The board has not yet had the opportunity to meet. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 12:44, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Second, it is not, was not meant to be AFAIK, and does not sound like a statement from the Board. It is personal statement and I appreciate Raystorm's effort to make it and to follow up with the details. Pundit|utter 14:52, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• I see sexism here in the response to the ban. I also see a bunch of mostly male editors who have a great deal more tolerance for harassment than do female editors. I don't know if you want to label that as sexist, but this whole discussion should be Exhibit A for why our editing community remains mostly male. Calliopejen1 (talk) 17:48, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• With respect, the gender issue was never raised at all until Raystorm did so. I can see no gender-based comments in this entire thread before that section. Black Kite (talk) 18:14, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I agree with Black Kite. EllenCT (talk) 01:07, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I've been pondering this, and I agree too. Sexism is a very serious, and very real, thing. It should be taken seriously, and there is no place for it at Wikipedia. But that does not mean that the very real concerns of many members of the community are the result of sexism. To a far, far greater degree, the concerns were triggered by some incredibly clumsy moves by the WMF. Editors should be able to call foul on that without being accused of sexism. --Tryptofish (talk) 01:21, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

@Calliopejen1: - I also see a bunch of mostly male editors who have a great deal more tolerance for harassment than do female editors. - okay, so from your statement, males apparently think differently from females. I don't know if you want to label that as sexist - would males thinking differently be sexist? Not in my view. It would only be sexist if the male editors would not tolerate harassment of other male editors, but allowed harassment of female ones. Frankly, I don't think anything at all would change if, hypothetically, the accuser was Lawrence Male, and the Foundation member being Raymond Storms. starship.paint (talk) 01:50, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Will User:WMFOffice posters identify themselves?

Will the posters behind the role account User:WMFOffice posts of Statement A, Statement B, Statement C, and Statement D identify themselves and who they represent? For transparency and accountability to the community. Also requesting future identifications while using the account. starship.paint (talk) 11:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@Schreibvieh: - you okay with merging your topic into mine? It seems that we both had similar ideas at the same time...? starship.paint (talk) 11:42, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@Starship.paint:All good, I removed my comment, as it is not needed any longer.--Schreibvieh (talk) 13:08, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Assuming they won't do that, I wonder if they would tell us whether they intend to limit access to the account and control over the "Trust and Safety" bans to personnel within the actual office, or whether they are using or will use subcontractors like Cognizant to review postings? Do they have to provide expedited access to official or covert government agencies to make these decisions? Are they subject to a coordinated program of censorship with other social media that requires a uniform business model, terms and conditions, and procedures for enforcement, as well as a gag on their motivations and procedures? Yeah, they're not going to answer those either. But my paranoia can, and my paranoia is more reliable than most other sources of information I have here. Wnt (talk) 11:55, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

So the enwiki community can harass them like they are Laura and Raystorm? No. I applaud the WMF for taking reasonable measures, such as the use of the WMFOffice account, in an attempt to shield their employees from the toxicity of the enwiki community at this current time. It is a credit to the Foundation that they are respecting the duty of care they owe their employees by preventing a single individual employee from facing widespread harassment for merely publishing a statement that is coming from the WMF as a whole. Perhaps reflect upon why a WMF employee would want/need a degree of separation from the atrocious behavior of the community at the moment. ~ Rob₁₃^Talk 12:12, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I agree with basically everything you say here, BU Rob13, except that your broad-brush attack on the community is unwarranted IMHO. The fact that a small minority have engaged in disgraceful behaviour should not detract from the fact that the community is legitimately angry about what has happened and feels that something has gone badly wrong in the management and running of the encyclopedia. To you that may be "toxic" but to us it is an attack on our values, which are all about openness and due process except where there is demonstrably reason not to be open (and so far there's no evidence of that here).  — Amakuru (talk) 13:06, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Respectfully, what actions have you taken today to bring a stop to the harassment of Raystorm and Laura? Where are the blocks? Warnings? Discussions? If the community does not address these issues, they are complicit as a whole. ~ Rob₁₃^Talk 13:15, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I had a look at their talk pages and the histories of those, but only see polite notices that they have been mentioned here. Please give me links/diffs where the harassment takes place and I'll see what I can do. --Randykitty (talk) 13:49, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

We could start by archiving the section, as Raystorm has clarified she had no role in the decision to ban, rendering the section irrelevant to the overall discussion. – Teratix ₵ 13:30, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict) @BU Rob13: Well, speaking for myself, I am at work today and just dipping in and out of this discussion. So unfortunately don't have time to investigate and bring action right now. I will look in more depth later, or support motions to block at WP:ANI if they are filed there. That doesn't mean I don't condemn it, though, as you do. I'm sorry that you are feeling disengaged from the community and want to leave - your contributions will be missed if you do. Perhaps I'm a deluded optimist but I continue to believe that most people here are fundamentally good, and want the best for each other and the readership.  — Amakuru (talk) 13:41, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Really? I have nothing against you, but you were an admin up until yesterday, and if you felt those actions needed to be taken against certain editors as a result of their behavior on this page, you could have taken them. Castigating others for not doing what you also chose not to do is a bad look. Grandpallama (talk) 16:01, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Rob, I agree with everything you say about harassment and I also agree that the level of aggression and foulmouthed abuse being hurled around is too high here at enWP. BUT: A secret trial, with secret and unaccountable judges, no opportunity for the accused to defend themselves, secret accusers, secret accusations, secret evidence, and to top it off, no appeal possible? Sorry, but for me that's a bridge too far and I will not stand for this kind of Stalinist practices. At a minimum, ArbCom should have been informed, with Fram being allowed to defend themselves, again at a minimum, by email to the Arbs. It's not so much the action that I object to (for all I know, it was completely justified), it's the method that is completely, utterly, and totally unacceptable. --Randykitty (talk) 12:24, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  It seems that ArbCom was informed that action was being investigated against Fram. StudiesWorld (talk) 12:32, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

  It was mentioned to Opabinia in such a way that she did not feel a pressing need to follow up, and buried in the minute notes for everyone else. That doesn't feel robust enough to me. Tazerdadog (talk) 12:50, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Arbs are accountable to the community, WMF is not (or at least feels it's not). And just informing them that an action is being prepared without any details is not what I had in mind above. --Randykitty (talk) 12:55, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• A meeting, it should be noted, was held at 1AM EDT (6AM BST). On a worknight. I wasn’t there due to the timing, but it certainly wasn’t anything brought up in alarm on-list. Courcelles (talk) 13:07, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Why should we care about the names of WMF employees who perform these actions? Can't we just assume that the WMF is acting as a block and then agree or disagree with those actions? I care about protecting the Wikipedia community's right to govern itself, not about singling out WMF employees or about speculations about board members' personal lives. Those are the kind of tangents that will only help the WMF make its case that the community isn't to be trusted. Let's get back to the core issue: We need to force the WMF to realize that Wikipedia wouldn't exist without us and that they can't risk alienating us. We should discuss how to make this clear to them and leave all this other crap alone.--Carabinieri (talk) 13:02, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• I agree with that. WMF employees should just be executors, following instructions from the communities that they serve. It's things like ArbCom that take responsibility and have accountability. They are democratically elected by the community to handle tricky stuff. I will not accept unimpeachable decisions from nameless bureaucrats (not meaning our own 'crats, of course) that never were elected. Whatever Fram did or didn't, whomever filed a complaint against them, all that is irrelevant to me. It's the process that is absolutely and irredeemably wrong. --Randykitty (talk) 13:09, 12 June 2019 (UTC)
  • WMF employees should just be executors, following instructions from the communities that they serve.
  • Then resign. Because this isn't accurate at all: we edit at the pleasure of the WMF, who can take away that privilege at any time. And there's no way they're going to hand over all decision-making to this (frankly bonkers) community. So you're not going to get what you want without forking Wikipedia and starting your own community. — The Hand That Feeds You:^Bite 13:35, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
    • The volunteers are the hand that feeds the WMF. –xeno^talk 13:42, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Note: I tried to move this section with the other WMFOffice specific actions to Wikipedia:Community response to the Wikimedia Foundation's ban of Fram/Proposals about WMF Office, but got reverted on this section. Someone else will have to move it if they want. Wnt (talk) 12:56, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

+1 to Randkitty. AFAIK, I've had no intereaction with Fram, good or bad, nor ever even crossed paths, so I've no way of knowing of any bad behavior. The handling of any, given there is any, is deeply troubling, especially given the sense I've gotten in the past of indifference to complaints & unfairness of (supposedly) fair processes--& those were the open processes. This does not bode well for any of us, all the way down to beginners--maybe worst even for the inexperienced. TREKphiler ^{any time you're ready, Uhura} 09:16, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

As an FYI, a section on WMFOffice's talk page archive on Meta may give some insights as to the foundation's position (four years ago at any rate). -- Dolotta (talk) 23:05, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Further response from Fram

I have to step away from the computer for a bit, but there has been a further response from Fram over on Commons, see here. Maybe someone can copy that here, or include as a subsection above in the original response section. Not sure. Obviously too much back-and-forth will get difficult to manage, but pointing it out as no-one else seems to have seen it yet. Carcharoth (talk) 14:01, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

About the ban

First, thank you to everyone who stands up against or at least questions the handling of this by the WMF (no matter if you think I'm a good admin or if you believe I should have been banned a long time already).

Then, to the actual case. As far as I am concerned, there are no privacy reasons involved in any of this (never mind anything legally actionable). I'll repeat it once more, if it wasn't clear:

• I have not contacted anyone I was in conflict with in any offwiki way (be it through email, social media, real life contact, whatever)
• I have not discussed anyone I was in conflict with in any offwiki way (e.g. I have not contacted employers, I haven't discussed editors or articles at fora, twitter, reddit, whatever).
• I haven't threatened to do any of the above either.
• I don't know who made complaints about me to the WMF, and I won't speculate on it. The information I gave in my original post here just repeated the info I got from the WMF.

I invite the WMF to either simply confirm that my original post was a fair summary of the posts they sent me, or else to publish the posts in full (I don't think any editors were named in their posts, but if necessary they can strike out such names if they prefer). I also invite the WMF to explain why standard procedures weren't tried first, i.e. why they didn't refer the complainants to our regular channels first.

I'll not comment too much further, to avoid throwing fuel on the fire (or giving them a pretext to extend the ban). I'll not edit enwiki for the moment either, even when unblocked (thanks for that though), at least until the situation has become a bit clearer. Fram (talk) 11:14, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

One more thing, regarding my first post here, and now BU Rob13 claming that it was misleading: they have their facts wrong (e.g. the warning was not from a year ago, but from March 2019), but I noticed on rereading my post that I had one fact wrong as well. I said that I had received an interaction ban, but what I actually had was:

"However, in the hopes of avoiding any future issues and in the spirit of Laura’s own request on her talk page, we would like to ask that you refrain from making changes to content that she produces, in any way (directly or indirectly), from this point on. This includes but is not limited to direct editing of it, tagging, nominating for deletion, etc. If you happen to find issues with Laura’s content, we suggest that you instead leave it for others to review and handle as they see fit. This approach will allow you to continue to do good work while reducing the potential for conflict between you and Laura.

We hope for your cooperation with the above request, so as to avoid any sanctions from our end in the future. To be clear, we are not placing an interaction ban between you and Laura at this time. We ask that her request to stay away from her and the content she creates be respected, so that there is no need for any form of intervention or punitive actions from our end."

To me, a "suggestion" that I stay away from her or I would get sanctioned by them does read like an actual interaction ban, but technically it wasn't. But whether it was an interaction ban or not, former arb BU Rob13 should be aware that mentioning an interaction ban and the editors you are banned from in the course of ban discussions and the like is perfectly acceptable. I did not drop her name just for the fun of it, I raised the issue because it was the only thing I got alerted from by the WMF between their vague first warning in April 2018, and the ban now. I was trying to be complete and open, but apparently that was "misleading"?

BU Rob13 may think the LauraHale thing was unrelated, but the actual mail by the WMF says otherwise:

"This decision has come following extensive review of your conduct on that project and is an escalation to the Foundation’s past efforts to encourage course correction, including a conduct warning issued to you on April 2018 and a conduct warning reminder issued to you on March 2019. "

(note that the "including" may suggest that there is more than these two, but there isn't: the March 2019 reminder is the LauraHale one).

All of this could be made easier if the WMF posted their full mails of course (although by now large chunks have been reposted here). Doing this the wiki way instead of through mail would have helped a lot. Fram (talk) 13:12, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Reactions

Appreciate you collating this, Carcharoth. Something to consider. —Javert2113 (Siarad.|¤) 14:32, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

SchroCat copied it over. It is easy to miss developments in this sprawling mess... Carcharoth (talk) 14:39, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

It's even easier to miss it when SchroCat fails to signs the edit when he did it! Carcharoth, thanks for posting there was an update. - SchroCat (talk) 14:42, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Thank you both. —Javert2113 (Siarad.|¤) 14:45, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

My reaction is that Fram should not have dropped any names. That's the point of dealing with harassment issues... the more the names are out there, the more likely the victim of harassment will receive further harassment. I had a clue that Laura may have been involved from the discussion above. And from this discussion, there is now a photo of her posted on a public forum in connection with this discussion. (No, I will not link to the forum and invite further harassment.) I am going to report the photo which is posted on the forum with the words "names to faces." As you can see, bringing up the very name of a person who may or may not have been involved (I really have no idea--I heard about the ban from a friend and my first reaction was "I thought WMF didn't get involved with on wiki stuff") can invite more harassment.

I will say, however, that it's very problematic that we only hear Fram's detailed side of the issue. We have no idea what the scope of the situation is or was. We don't know if Fram is even fully aware of the scope. I would like to hear from the other side in detail, too, but clearly, there are also issues of safety involved. How do we balance such a thing? Is there a way to hear from the other side that won't out whoever they are? Is there more than one side? Why aren't more people concerned with the general harm that a person who is victimized by harassment online goes through in this discussion? I think we should be addressing these issues instead of threatening a general strike or appeals to Jimmy. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 16:43, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Let's make this not about either Fram or the victim (alleged or otherwise) for a moment, and instead consider the optics of this entire situation. To the surprise of virtually everyone in the community, a respected administrator - albeit one with known civility issues - has been banned by an office action for a period of one year and cannot appeal this. Regardless of however you feel about Fram, this is an unprecedented act and one that ultimately acts as a chilling effect to other editors on Wikipedia, since existing and long-standing community procedures (some of which were very recently reaffirmed in ArbCom cases not too long ago) were set aside for what essentially amounts to an ad hoc decision, thus the visceral reaction. However you come down in this dispute, this is not a good look at all. Editors should have a reasonable expectation of who ultimately is the governing authority on this website. Up until now, it's been assumed that any and all civility disputes are handled via WP:ANI and, if necessary, at WP:RFARB. The existence of a vague, difficult-to-quantify shadow process that supersedes all of this essentially wrecks the self-governing dynamic of the community, and undermines the belief that all of these established processes will work when needed. If that was WMF's intent, then that's fine, but this was something that should have been more clearly communicated. As it is, the fact that this wheel-warring is taking place amounts to a leadership vacuum.--WaltCip (talk) 17:11, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

There was a moment when a more circumspect view was here, consideration of what might not be aired and the very good reasons for that. I do not think the reply above is as cautious as I would hope in editors commenting on this aspect, the other aspects are well aired here and off-site. cygnis insignis 17:40, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Fram himself mentioned his rude comment on ArbCom talk on May 4 as one of the main reasons for action of the WMF against him. In my view this is a massive breach of TOU. What exactly did the english wikipedia community in response to that between May 4 and the recent action of the WMF ? Was there any vandalism report ?--Claude J (talk) 07:02, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

The problem is that the TOU are very vague, and I would estimate that multiple comments as severe or more severe than that are made every day across the English Wikipedia; a selectively enforced rule is as good as no rule. If the speed limit for driving on a highway is "reasonable and prudent" (yes, that's a real thing in the rural US) and our own local cops will pull people over for doing 85, and this has been the way for years, you can't expect us to not be surprised when a state trooper suddenly decides to step in one day and pull over someone for doing 75. We should indeed be tightening up our civility/harassment policies. But instead of engaging in productive discussion with the community about how we can improve as a whole, the WMF simply decided to impose a decision on their own. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 07:14, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

But the rules are clear in this respect and Fram is/was an Admin and responsible for enforcing this rules.--Claude J (talk) 07:28, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I have tried to avoid this thread as it is a huge time sink, but several people (with a range of different views on the issue) have contacted me (on and off wiki) asking me to say a few words. I have banged heads with Fram more than a few times, but the phrase I keep coming back to is "being right and being a dick are not mutually exclusive". If I have a pound for every time I have said "well Fram wasn't very nice to say that but he's right and I agree with him" I'd probably never have to work again.

In March 2018, an Arbitration Case was opened between Fram and myself after we got in a bit of a row and shouted at each other. We both expressed remorse, apologised and the case was declined. I don't think it's been brought up, but one arbitrator said, " Fram, this is the third time in just over 4 months that you've been involved in unrelated case requests - to do with behaviour that supposedly the community cannot handle. I advice that some introspection would be useful to stop a fourth time, as it certainly appears that you are the common factor in multiple disputes."

Over the coming months, I believed Fram was making a sincere effort to improve his conduct, which has (mostly) continued since. However, I also got several off-wiki complaints about Fram, with an eye on starting an ArbCom case to get him desysopped. I declined to start a case on the following grounds:

1. I didn't think there was enough firm evidence to result in an Arbcom case ending in a desysop, based on who was likely to contribute, past cases and the general standard of Arbcom
2. I felt a case, even if accepted, would result in an enormous amount of drama that would be completely unproductive towards building an encyclopedia (I think this very page has proved that one right)
3. As an admin who had recently clashed with Fram, I probably shouldn't be the one starting the case as I had something of a conflict of interest

However, just because I didn't personally think Fram's conduct rose to the level of a desysop or ban, it doesn't mean anyone else was obliged to share my view. I am sure those coming to me privately with grievances about Fram are based on a genuine belief they do not feel safe or welcome on the project, and if people do not want to contribute to Wikipedia because of Fram, they are entitled to hold that opinion even if I can get on with him. To give a rough analogy; I'm a 6-foot male middle-aged geek who thinks nothing of walking late at night alone from the station to my home underneath an underpass with some unpleasant racist graffiti on it. If I was a 21-year old woman, I might have a different view on that. I believe the complaints were made privately because they didn't have confidence that Arbcom would be a suitable venue to air grievances privately and get the result they want, which other people have documented elsewhere in this thread. To give a practical example (which drew several off-wiki complaints to me, and not from the article creator), I am certain that Fram deleted Allanah Harper in good faith, that it was a legitimate application of WP:G12 and totally backed up by policy. But equally, so was my restoring the article in a rewritten state that didn't violate copyright, which seemed to satisfy the complainants.

I know Fram has on-wiki thanked me at least once recently for saying he's been incivil but right, so as far as I know my current relationship with him is in good standing. I think Office has acted in good faith using the policies and procedures that are open to them, but I don't think a year's ban with no avenue of appeal is an appropriate response and the blowback from the community was predictable. I also agree with those who have said the office procedures that might work on smaller wikis don't really scale to an established community the size of en-wiki, that the offices' relationship with the community needs work, and that harassment and safety are real issues we need to deal with. I am sure that Floq and Bishonen acted in good faith in the sincere belief they were helping the project. The actions may be somewhat, um, novel but I have full confidence in them as administrators - it's not like they do this sort of thing on a regular basis. I also have confidence that Doc James will be able to present something to the board tomorrow that will get this issue sorted out. If it doesn't, that's the time we need to discuss what to do next.

Finally, I will respect and listen to anyone who feels they have been harassed or feel unwelcome editing here. Whether or not I or anyone else agrees with their views, they should still be treated like people and given a fair hearing. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 07:30, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

That is far too reasonable a reaction to be on this page. nableezy - 08:06, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

So you mean Fram is insightful, then he should resign voluntarily from his admin post for one year (before trying to be reelected) to avoid more damage to the project.--Claude J (talk) 09:42, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I mainly agree with Ritchie333 in his description of the situation.--Ymblanter (talk) 09:48, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Far too reasonable indeed. Thank you, Ritchie, for writing this. – SJ + 19:19, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Some of this issues can be remedied if you give admins time limits. The issue is not surprising and still maintains the status quo, a few people get access to ban someone without their actions scrutinized and thereby find a perfect way to dodge scrutiny. Why did they go through this route? because part of the system is broken? the drama boards are not effective? Meanwhile, if it is a case about some editor with 400 edits or less, many people will not even read a sentence just scroll to what an established editor or admin writes and rubber stamps it, ban him. I think wikipedia needs to go back to treating people equally, taking people to the same 'ineffective' drama boards and juries or fix a problem if it exists. Wikipedia for a long time have a thriving small niche of amateur conflict resolution specialists and negotiators managing the affairs of content disputes and behavior, leading to an incoherent application of set policies and procedures, and now the WMF have shown to be below or on the same level. I am sure it is nothing new to a few people. My problem is what makes this case special that drama boards cannot take the case? while a few people have to go through this drama boards, be admonished, and every other stuff. Nothing new, same old same old.Alexplaugh12 (talk) 21:01, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Request for volunteer journalism for The Signpost

Moved to Wikipedia talk:Community response to the Wikimedia Foundation's ban of Fram § Request for volunteer journalism for The Signpost

——SerialNumber54129 14:39, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

What is this "mu" nonsense?

Moved to Wikipedia talk:Community response to the Wikimedia Foundation's ban of Fram § What is this "mu" nonsense?

- SchroCat (talk) 15:06, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

more like muved to talk Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 15:14, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Your rights have been revoked per our ToU chapter 6 appendix iii point 4.b where you subjected another editor to a terrible pun. Whether the community wishes for you to keep your rights is a different matter but we wanted to block you, so we did! --qedk (t 桜 c) 15:27, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Amusing side note

Moved to Wikipedia talk:Community response to the Wikimedia Foundation's ban of Fram § Amusing side note

--qedk (t 桜 c) 15:05, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Realistic proposals

Lots of verbiage on this discussion page but not many realistic proposals as to what the WMF or we as a community should actually do IMO. Here's the facts of the case, as I understand them:

1. Fram was banned by the WMF for violating section 4 of the Terms of Use, namely the "Harassing and Abusing Others" provision
2. According to their privacy policy, the WMF is unable to release any information to the community (that includes ARBCOM) that could identify the complainant
3. Several employees of the WMF reviewed the case and agreed that Fram violated the Terms of Use
4. Jimbo and Doc James are looking into the matter, but they likely won't be able to release any info that WMF hasn't already (besides perhaps saying whether they agree with the decision)
5. WMF has the ability to unilaterally enforce their Terms of Use regardless of community consensus (See: WP:CONEXCEPT and WP:OFFICE)

Given the points above, here are a few proposals that aren't possible:

• WMF should release more specifics about why Fram was banned
• WMF should refer the case to ARBCOM
• en.wiki should reverse Fram's ban itself

Here are some proposals that might be possible:

• WMF could alter their policies so that going forward ARBCOM can handle harassment/abuse claims filed with the WMF
  • This wouldn't necessarily increase transparency, it would just change *who* is making unpopular decisions shrouded in secrecy
• Going forward, the WMF could require a community representative to be involved in the process of handling harassment/abuse claims
• Our benevolent dictator for life could investigate and decide whether to reverse the ban
• We could fork Wikipedia
• WMF could alter their privacy policy so that going forward, harassment/abuse claims are not confidential

AdA&D 15:15, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

For the record, I disagree with most of the possible options of recourse I listed above, but unlike most of the proposals on this page they are actually feasible. AdA&D 15:15, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Forking is a little problematic, not least due to the difficulty of porting across userrights and usernames to the new wiki and reserving them for the existing Wikipedian. I'm not yet convinced that we need to do it over this latest WMF scandal, but has anyone put any thoughts in to how it could be efficiently done? ϢereSpielChequers 15:31, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

The problem with your assertions is that you assign immunity to WMF's policy without explanation. WMF might have current technical superiority, but we all know that in reality the Wikimedia project relies on the community, and without the community, it is nothing. And the WMF understands it too, otherwise Fram was already blocked again and the sysops that unblocked him would be too. But they aren't, because the WMF understands that without the community it has nothing. So no, WMF policy is not above criticism, protest and mass civil disobedience, if necessary. Yoohabina (talk) 16:19, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I think that the suggestions by Anne drew Andrew and Drew are reasonable. And I would say that, like they mentioned, I disagree with them, too. Harassment is such a difficult issue for the community to deal with. People who have not been the subject of harassment don't understand what the victim goes through. Sometimes these situations need to be handled anonymously. I would also say that the fact that this was handled anonymously shows that something very serious must have happened. I wish I knew the details, but we don't and sometimes that's OK. We need to accept that privacy and safety issues are sometimes more important than all of us knowing what we want to know. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 16:34, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

"People who have not been the subject of harassment don't understand what the victim goes through. Sometimes these situations need to be handled anonymously. I would also say that the fact that this was handled anonymously shows that something very serious must have happened." It would be better if you didn't speculate about what happened or raised accusations without a shred of evidence. Nothing "very serious" has happened. I have no idea why the WMF feels the need to handle this with such secrecy, or why they drop hints about legal and so on being involved. Basically, they are pointing a very ominous picture without providing any evidence for any of this (because, well, there isn't any). If their reasoning is that I have been uncivil towards too many people for too long, or that I have kept an eye on some problematic editors for a longer time, and that from now one they will be banning or blocking people for such things, fine, say so, no need to be secretive. But your comments make it very clear that their process, the way they handle this, is effectively poisoning the well, in a "well, if there's smoke there has to be fire" method.

I would invite the WMF to provide their evidence to a number of trusted enwiki people who have no real reason to defend me, but whom I still trust to be impartial. People like Newyorkbrad, Drmies, Ymblanter, GorillaWarfare, Giant Snowman, ... Let them judge the evidence in private, without sharing it with me; if they agree that a) th evidence is compelling, and b) it couldn't have been handled in public, then so be it. Fram (talk) 19:59, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• Where do you see in their Terms of Use or Privacy Policy that sharing with ArbCom is not allowed? In fact, upon reading it (especially the section "To Protect You, Ourselves & Others" in the Privacy Policy) I seem to get the opposite impression. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 16:54, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• I'm working off their justification here, which states:

First, our privacy provisions do not always allow us to "pass back" personal information we receive to the community; this means there are cases where we cannot pass on to Arbcom things like the names of complaining parties or the content of private evidence that might support a concern. As a result, the best we could have given Arbcom in this case would have been a distillation of the case, severely limiting their ability to handle it.

I'm assuming this statement is indeed rooted in WMF policy, but I'm not sure exactly where that is. Perhaps someone at the Wikimedia Foundation can provide some clarity. AdA&D 17:14, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

This provision makes no sense because all functionaries are subject to confidentiality agreements (also called L37 in WMF legalese) and as such, eligible to partake in nonpublic information sharing. --qedk (t 桜 c) 18:02, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Anne drew Andrew and Drew, I think the "community representative to be involved in the process" proposal has merit.--S Philbrick(Talk) 19:03, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Are "warned" editors subject to harsher examination?

In theory, the Terms of Service either allow or don't allow something. (ignoring the intentional lawyer-mumble such things always have). So in theory, any editor, whether "warned" about TOS issues or not, either violates or does not violate TOS by the same criteria. Unfortunately, Wikipedia policy has a bad habit of telling any editor caught doing 60 in a 55 mph zone that now he has to drive at 45 or less. We don't do that IRL because it is designed to fail (except, of course, in the probation and parole system, where it is designed to fail, because the politicians want 'criminals' in 'prison').

Now I don't mean to say that a warning should never happen - it is conceivable that an editor could be told that he is "just short of the line" (but here it is, and it's not moving) or "given a pass just this one time" (implying that only behavior of equal severity or worse will trigger a ban). The question here is: does WMF stick to that, or are they judging editors they 'warned' like Fram more harshly than they judge un-tarred editors? If they do, then the protestations of the necessity of their policy seem to be wholly unjustifiable, since all they will do once they get properly under way is increase editor turnover to the point where everyone gets warned once, then knows to leave. (except for the paid editors who have a support team to back them up in their good work) Wnt (talk) 15:43, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

A broader question about process

Because the Wikipedia community recognizes that is not omniscient and sometimes makes mistakes, we have processes in place to recognize and correct those mistakes. If an article is wrongly deleted, we have Deletion Review. If an editor is wrongly blocked, we have a guide to requesting unblocks, and failing that, a block review on the administrators' noticeboard. If we elect someone to ArbCom who turns out to be awful, we have the chance to vote them out when their term expires, and if they're really, really awful, there are processes in place to have them removed from the committee. These processes are not perfect, in part because they're implemented by people, who are also not perfect, but they are there because having some documented procedure for fixing mistakes is vital.

When it comes to the WMF Trust & Safety team, however, I am unclear on what the process is to deal with a mistaken action. The answer appears to be "We do not make mistakes. Therefore, there is no process for correcting them." That is, to put it mildly, disturbing, and in my opinion is a large part of the reason that the community is acting with such revulsion at the way the WMF is conducting itself. If we recognize that every organization is capable of making errors from time to time, the natural question is "what is the process for getting them fixed?" The answer cannot be "none, because we are infallible." So, WMF, what is the process we should use for getting a mistaken T&S action corrected? 28bytes (talk) 15:59, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

My guess as to what the WMF will say: Many, many words that say absolutely nothing and boil down to "None, because we are infallible," even though Jimbo and others have pointed out that there is always the last-resort appeal to the Board (via him, typically).

What the community should say in response: "Well, then, it's time for the Board to fire you, install a new set of T&S people, and institute a formal method of final appeal short of demanding action from the Board."

And when the WMF ignores that statement entirely, then enwiki should boycott the next annual fundraiser, including blocking the WMF's advertising banners for it and/or ensuring that each one is accompanied by an enwiki-wide banner that explains the community consensus to boycott the fundraiser and links to WP:FRAM to explain why. It's becoming increasingly clear that the only way to get the WMF to listen to the community is to hit 'em where it hurts... the wallet. rdfox 76 (talk) 16:07, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I like your ideas, Rdfox 76. ···日本穣 · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe · Join WP Japan! 17:15, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

It sounds like Jimbo and Doc James are actively trying to bring this crisis to a close. Since there has been no further escalation, I say let's give them a chance. I am hoping this tone-deaf interaction with the community on the part of this Foundation role account will prove an anomaly rather than the norm. But anyway, there's no reason not to be cautiously optimistic that progress on this front is forthcoming, including but not limited to safeguarding that this incident does not repeat. This has been an enormous distraction, with likely some heavy costs attached to the project. Let's make sure it doesn't happen again. El_C 17:25, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I still don't know on what basis people are confidently stating this action was a mistake. There seems to be a quite a lot of assumption that anything done on the basis of non-public information is automatically an error, and quite a lot of taking Fram's word against the WMF's. The Land (talk) 18:14, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

In fairness, that's in large part due to the fact that WMF hasn't said much. Even those who are arguing for privacy over transparency should be able to acknowledge that there are things the WMF could be more transparent about in terms of their decision here that they haven't been. There've been a number of pointed questions about procedure and process that have been ignored, which could have easily been answered without getting into particulars here. Grandpallama (talk) 18:25, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

What Grandpallama said. Established admin editor making a disclosure (however unreliable it may be) vs. faceless entity enacting a one-year ban and following up with non-responses. Fram could be literally any other editor (including an LTA) and this whole process would still leave a sour taste in people's mouths, however justified the ban turns out to be.--WaltCip (talk) 18:30, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

The WMF could have denied Fram's statement (if it isn't true) without putting anyone's privacy at risk. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 18:34, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Yet they didn't even do this, or attempt to escalate the ban on Fram when he did discuss this (which, if privacy was that much of a concern they should have done so). There are a lot of things that WMFOffice and the people behind that account should have done, but did not do, instead just claiming everything - even things that wouldn't have implicated ANY sort of privacy issues (i.e. that Fram had been warned twice before and that this was his third strike, that it was specifically based on harassment (since this was and is, at most, implied for all possible parties, Fram included), and their rationale for limiting the ban the way they did) was privileged. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 20:40, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Exactly. Even if it turns out that banning Fram was indisputably justified, the WMF still made at least one error here, perhaps two. The first was in communication. Without revealing any private information, the WMF could have said that there was off-wiki evidence (if there was), without revealing anything about what it was. That would have at least indicated the need for private handling rather than community review. The second was attempting to usurp the community, and by now, after VisualEditor, after Superprotect/MediaViewer, they should know better. They have had that experience; they know that is going to cause a huge, massively damaging storm, they know not to do it. (At least I damn well hope, after this time, they know not to do it.) Even having ArbCom handle it privately would have been suboptimal, if everything was indeed on-wiki, but that still would be better than it coming from San Fran. Wikipedia was here first, and the WMF was created to serve it and its community. Not the other way around. The relation between the community and WMF has always been one of uneasy cordiality at best, but if WMF attempts to interfere with the project's editorial independence, it should expect a reaction like this one every last time. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 18:38, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I'd say there is a third significant mistake in not realizing that an explanation, of some greater sort, would be needed to accompany the initial announcement. Grandpallama (talk) 18:43, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Even if (and arguably, especially if) that explanation is "We do not trust the existing community processes to handle this particular scenario." At least then the recurring comment I am seeing here of a systemic problem on Wikipedia re: "the unblockables" can be validated.--WaltCip (talk) 18:46, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Definitely not arguing the WMF has handled this perfectly. Even if it was appropriate for them to do this as an office action rather than via Arbcom, I certainly agree that more communication probably was possible and would have avoided quite such a raging trashfire of a discussion. Probably time for me to wheel out my essay on Foundation-community dynamics again. Equally, I have plenty of personal experience (from all kinds of settings) of situations where someone has behaved unacceptably, complaints have been made in private (because they can't or shouldn't be made in public), someone has been banned/kicked out/fired as a result, and a bunch of people have strutted around afterwards going "well I never had a problem with him", or "it's OUTRAGEOUS due process hasn't been followed", "But what about ALL the vital work they do?", or "ZOMG conspiracy, someone is out to get him". So I am fairly open to the possibility that that's what happened here. The Land (talk) 19:12, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

"Definitely not arguing the WMF has handled this perfectly." Understatement of the millenium. Not only did they not handle it "perfectly", they could hardly have handled it any worse. If I were to try and think of a way to enrage the community, it would be quite a challenge to top what the WMF did. Every single thing they did was wrong and it's troubling that all you can say is they "didn't handle it perfectly." Enigma^msg 02:51, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

@The Land: I take Fram's word against the WMF's because I have observed and interacted with both of them for the better part of a decade and have found Fram to be more credible. Simple as that. 28bytes (talk) 18:35, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Things are getting removed from this page to other places, and the discussions are widening with some repetition, so please excuse my making this a response to you rather than in a better place; I looked for one. The WMF exhausted my assumption of good faith a long time ago. This is totally about allowing English Wikipedia to govern itself, and at root about respect for us, the editors. The WMF are not our bosses and even if they were, this high-handed action without even a clear explanation to Fram himself shows a disrespect that puts them in the wrong. I would not go so far as to support the suggestion that admins make retaliatory bans on WMF accounts editing here: blocks are supposed to be preventative, and besides it's useful to have the visual reminder of who's on the payroll. But whatever Fram's reputation or one's opinion of them, this is unacceptable conduct towards the community and the WMF have lost the right to have us assume they must have had adequate justification. Their action toward Floquenbeam makes it worse. We are a community of volunteers, not a village of serfs, and the important thing right now is to get the WMF to back down and apologize. Yngvadottir (talk) 20:45, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Two questions

Having read through this a few times I have a couple questions.

1. Is WMFOffice an account used by one person or is it used by anyone in the office? If it is used by more than one person how do we know who is saying what when they post here. There is a reason that WP:SHAREDACCOUNT exists.
2. Why does Floq have to go through a RFA in 30 days. a) He has not lost the confidence of the Wikipedia community. b) The WMFO said the desysop was "temporary" - it would be temporary if rights were restored at the end of thirty days - if he has to go through a new RFA the removal is not temporary.

Any clarification that others can add will be appreciated. MarnetteD|Talk 17:17, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

MarnetteD you are assuming that Floq did not lose the confidence of the Wikipedia community. They have lost my confidence, for one. I'm sure I'm not alone. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 17:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

That is sad for you since Floq did the right thing. Floq hasn't lost mine nor, looking at their talk page, many others. If you want the bit permanently removed there are other venues for getting that to happen. MarnetteD|Talk 17:31, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

MarnetteD any admin that acts in a unilateral fashion without considerable thought on such a difficult issue (with minimal facts to boot!) has lost my confidence. In addition, it's a fallacy to assume that because many people support something it was the right thing to do. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 18:52, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

You must not be taking the time to read things. You are certainly misreading what I wrote. Floq took considerable thought before acting. The support I mentioned on the talk came after the action not before. Once again if you want the bit permanently removed there are venues to make that happen. Maybe you will get a WP:CONSENSUS there and maybe you won't. We will never know until you start the process. MarnetteD|Talk 19:01, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

MarnetteD, I can assure you that Megalibrarygirl read your comments; it's very odd to assume that she didn't. She simply disagreed with you. Calliopejen1 (talk) 19:05, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

It also wasn't especially unilateral, given the overwhelming consensus at that point (when the outrage was peaking) that it should be done. Grandpallama (talk) 19:04, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Who is the line manager of User:WMFOffice? –xeno^talk 17:19, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Either Valerie D'Costa or Maggie Dennis. IIRC, someone said somewhere in this morass that Maggie is currently on holiday. ‑ Iridescent 17:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Can we call her back? –xeno^talk 17:39, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I already think it's bizarre that the Wikimedia community is trying to overrule office actions, now we're trying to set their employees' vacation schedules? GorillaWarfare (talk) 18:10, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Not to mention, Maggie IS NOT on vacation. She’s on medical leave. Courcelles (talk) 18:11, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Courcelles, I don't think that it's appropriate to put out online that she is on medical leave. I'm pretty sure this violates WP:PRIVACY. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 18:50, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Quick! Call the hospital! Puts things in perspective, anyway. Hoping she's OK and makes a swift recovery.  — Amakuru (talk) 18:18, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@Megalibrarygirl: You are probably unaware that Maggie made a public announcement to that effect (I saw it on Facebook, it may have been posted elsewhere). —howcheng {chat} 06:25, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

(multi ec) Sorry for my attempt to add levity, of course I wasn’t serious and she would certainly deserve all the vacations. Moonriddengirl is one of our greatest assets and I hope she gets well soon. –xeno^talk 18:23, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Ah, apologies for missing the joke. :) GorillaWarfare (talk) 18:33, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

With regards to the second question -- based on WMFOffice's responses so far, especially this particular one: "Admins who do take such actions should not be subjected to threats of removal of their admin rights, when their actions are based on a good faith belief that they are upholding the Terms of Use (and any action in support of enforcing a Foundation office action or a community global ban is, by definition, upholding the Terms of Use)." I'm guessing they believe there's a silent majority dynamic at play here, where it's assumed that there are people who have been following this whole debacle and believe Floq committed an error so egregious that he violated the trust of the community -- but that those people have not spoken out, due to the futility in doing so with all of the back-and-forth noise on this incident, and will hold their tongues until the reconfirmation RFA is initiated. I know many people are expecting Floq's RFA to be a love-fest (certainly relative to some other RFAs I've seen), but I would not be surprised if there were a much larger dissent than expected.--WaltCip (talk) 17:25, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I don't expect Floq's reconfirmation RfA to be unanimous by any means. After all, some people certainly already have expressed dissent. I think the WMF already expected that their action would go over better than it did—Fram can be quite abrasive and isn't the best-liked person around here, and I don't even think he would argue with that. The response here has seemed quite discombobulated, and I think, frankly, that WMF expected that opinion would be, at worst, about evenly divided. I do not think they were prepared for the overwhelming negative response. At this point, this is not a referendum on Fram, it is a matter of the English Wikipedia's editorial independence, and I think most of us here realize that, regardless of our personal feelings regarding Fram, that is the crucial thing at stake. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 17:40, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

(+1) to the above. Obviously, it won't be unanimous and I can foretell scores of opposes. ∯WBG^converse 17:58, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Seraphimblade, this is absolutely not an issue of "English Wikipedia's editorial independence." That's a red herring. This is about a person who was banned for a year for apparently a long-term pattern of poor behavior. The fact that it had to go so high and that WMF got involved at all should give us all a clue about the real problem: English Wikipedia isn't policing itself well. In addition, victims deserve the right to have their privacy considered and if this is the way that it has to be done: so be it. If English Wikipedia was doing a good job in the more transparent areas to prevent harassment etc, then there would not have been a need to get WMF and T&S involved at all. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 18:58, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Then you they should have been honest and upfront, and told us in advance that you they were taking over the policing of the English Wikipedia. And, in my view, you they should have not escalated the policing regime such that the minimum sanction is a no-appeal 1-year ban. At least, not without prior consultation and discussion. You mention transparency, but you they act as if you they don't know the meaning of the word when it applies to you them. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 19:07, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Talk about red herrings. A lot of claims are being made in that post without a shred of evidence. Please don't cast WP:ASPERSIONS about individuals or the community at large without proof. MarnetteD|Talk 19:11, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict × 3) Megalibrarygirl, in the particular incident in question, there is no evidence that there was even an attempt to resolve the matter via normal processes prior to taking it straight to WMF. So, I'll agree that a process cannot possibly work when it's not even tried. So far as editorial independence, deciding who may be an editor and administrator is every bit as core to that as decisions based upon article content. Now, in both of those cases, we realize that there are instances where the WMF must intervene. Chief among those are legal considerations, but there is also broad community consensus that the WMF ought to handle child protection cases and cases of threats of harm to self or others. (And those are quasi-legal as well, as they may involve reports to law enforcement and the like.) But just stepping in and saying "You haven't blocked this guy, and we think you should've, so we will and no one's allowed to unblock him" is every bit an encroachment on editorial independence as them stepping in and saying "We don't like how this article says X, so it's now going to say Y instead, and no one's allowed to change it back." It is a misuse of Office actions to use them simply because the WMF thinks the community made the wrong choice. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 19:08, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@Boing! said Zebedee: not sure what you're saying here at all. I'm not WMF and I already know that English Wikipedia fails its editors quite often. MarnetteD I'm not casting aspersions. I think that anyone looking at the issue the way that Seraphimblade is framing it is incorrect. The issue IS very much about a failure in English Wikipedia. I know many editors that have hesitated to report using our own tools because they in turn had seen how those who did use the tools were harassed because the process isn't working. I'm here to talk about what I think the problem is. I agree with Seraphim that this isn't about Fram per se, but I don't think it's about our freedom as editors, either. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 19:20, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@Megalibrarygirl: My sincere apologies, I confused you with someone else - I've edited my comment above. I agree that the English Wikipedia has some serious failures, but I really think an unannounced and undiscussed takeover by WMF is close to the worse possible way of fixing that. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 19:30, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@Megalibrarygirl: Or avoiding en-wiki's dispute resolution process could have something to do with unclean hands and avoiding scrutiny. LauraHale has been topic-banned from using Spanish-language sources by AN since January 2014. The thread was initiated by Fram, and after that she has claimed that Fram has hounded her. If this was handled at en-wiki, this whole history could be assessed. I doubt that the WMF T&S, taking private email complaints, was aware of this dispute going back to 2014. Framing this simply as "harasser vs victim " is daft. --Pudeo (talk) 19:31, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@Pudeo: you may think it's daft; I think it's apt. I don't know anything about what your alleging and I didn't really gear up into editing seriously until 2015, so I'm not really aware of what you're talking about. Seems to me, however, that Fram has been involved in many different issues with different editors. If they did not feel comfortable reporting on English Wiki, that's an issue. As for Laura, on an offsite forum (no I am not linking) people have recently posted her picture in a thread about Fram's ban and they wrote something like "names to faces." You can see how harassment can happen to someone just after their name is mentioned in a discussion like this. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 19:43, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Due to Fram being one of the most outspoken about pushing back against software that is/was poorly designed/buggy/unfit for purpose, including Visual Editor when it was released, Flow, Media Viewer and superprotect, it is about our freedom as editors. This action creates a chilling effect for all those who have legitimate criticism of the WMF, especially regarding their previous failures to listen to and act upon community feedback. As I stated above, the WMF need to work with us in order to fix the underlying problem of the absence of a suitable venue for reporting harassment. This action is counterproductive towards that goal. MER-C 19:38, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

@MER-C: Why would you think that this has anything to do with criticism? It seems like he was banned due to some form of harassment and violation of TOU. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 19:49, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Poor communication, distrust and cynicism based on past experience with the WMF (Die Lösung comes to mind). If it was about ____, they should have explicitly said so when imposing the ban - for example "We have banned ____ for undisclosed paid editing in violation of our terms of use". This isn't one of their pedophilia bans where naming the reason for the ban is counterproductive, otherwise Fram would have been banned completely. If they allowed Fram to respond to the ban publicly, then they should have, and there was nothing stopping them from, provided a justification and brief history of the matter while still respecting the privacy of the complainant. Additionally, if the WMF believe our processes cannot handle complaints of harassment, they should tell us in a friendly manner so that we can work with them in order to fix them. None of this happened. Furthermore, if it was not about Fram's legitimate criticism of the WMF, then the WMF need to explicitly say so to help avoid any implication that it is.

FYI: The Visual Editor saga happened in 2013, superprotect in 2014 and Flow has been ongoing for several years until recently being killed off. MER-C 20:37, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Again you claim "failure in English Wikipedia" without presenting any evidence of what that failure is. That is textbook WP:ASPERSIONS. MarnetteD|Talk 19:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

MarnetteD If our community, ie English Wikipedia isn't dealing with an issue well, it's OK for me to criticize. Or are you trying to silence me by accusing me of WP:ASPERSIONS? I enjoy the right to say what I think is true: that Wikipedia often fails its editors who want to be free of harassment. I see it all the time and I don't know how to stop it either. It doesn't stop being a problem just because we ignore it, though. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 19:52, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Speculation is not useful here. If the internal processes need to change due to editors fearing retribution for legitimate complaints, WMF needs to initiate that dialogue with the community rather than taking matters into their own hands and expecting everyone to follow suit.--WaltCip (talk) 19:29, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

A clear catch-22. I assume you're asking for specific examples of the process failing to adequately deal with unblockables. If she gives specific examples, then no doubt people will rush to criticize her for making accusations or personal attacks against those individuals. If she continues to talk nonspecifically, then you accuse her of casting aspersions... against the project I guess? Ironically this is also the catch-22 that anyone hoping to report harassment or abusive behaviour is faced with and exactly what is wrong with our system. -- Ajraddatz (talk) 19:30, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I think it would be ridiculous to consider criticizing the English wikipedia in general to be WP:ASPERSIONS (which is about attacking the reputation of inidividual editors). Anyhow, here's a specific example just today of process failiure. I'm sure I'll get critized for posting this specific example as Ajraddatz says, but whatevez. Galobtter (pingó mió) 20:07, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I don't think you'll be criticized for specifics, because you linked to an entire archive of a noticeboard, so it could any one of dozens of topics. Enigma^msg 02:59, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Enigmaman, The section was I was linking to was removed - it is now at Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/Incidents#The_Rambling_Man. Galobtter (pingó mió) 06:13, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

The WMF are not the higher-ups. There does not exist a point at which things escalate so far as to go to the WMF. I haven't a clue who Fram is or what they may have done (beyond the linked diffs) and I don't care. There's a chain of decision-making here and the WMF is not in it. --Yair rand (talk) 20:00, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

If you look it all over (including my previous post) A strong and knowledgable critic of WMF, and in some kind of an ongoing contentious situation with someone with WMF connections, then maybe even an unpaid parking ticket can get you smacked. If we get more info, we'll see how my crystal ball is. North8000 (talk) 22:14, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

• MegaLibraryGirl suggests that she's being silenced with accusations of "casting aspersions", but "casting aspersions" is not some subjective, slanderous accusation that can be debated. It's a statement of fact that simply means "making accusations with no evidence to back you". I've reviewed Mega's statements, and I see no actual evidence to support the Foundation having been presented. None. Plenty of strongly-worded opinions against Fram and the community, sure, but nothing, absolutely nothing, to demonstrate that there is an actual issue that provoked this situation. Shame. I'm sorry to see a newly-minted admin self-destruct her good reputation with brainless pro-WMF shilling and anti-community activism. I really though you'd be one of the good ones, Mega. I hope that you can rebuild your position of trust here. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 07:09, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I'm sorry you feel like that. I personally think Sue is one of the nicest, most caring and compassionate people I know. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 10:31, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Back to my original questions

Since this thread has been sidetracked by thoughts about "Wikipedia has problems" I would like to see if I can get answers to

1. Are posts by WMFOffice coming from one person or several?
2. Why does WMFO feel they have the authority to maie make Floq go through a RFA in 30 days. Isn't that something that the Wikipedia community should decide?

Whatever discussion continues above I would like brief answers to these questions. MarnetteD|Talk 21:52, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Did you mean make? Oshawott 12 ==()== Talk to me! 01:53, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Thank you Oshawott 12. MarnetteD|Talk 01:57, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Has the WMF said that Floquenbeam needs to go through an RFA in 30 days? As I pointed out before, their initial comment wasn't entirely clear but seemed to suggest it was up to us. As they also more or less stated for Fram after they came back (rather than 30 days). The only thing they seemed to definitely say is Floquenbeam couldn't be an admin for the next 30 days. I looked at WMFOffice's contribs and there doesn't seem to be any more recent comment about Floquenbeam's administrative status than this one [20] which is the one which seems to suggest it's up to us whether and how Floquenbeam becomes an admin again after 30 days. So can you clarify where the WMF have said Floquenbeam must go through an RFA? I looked at the earlier discussion and I don't see any further comment from the WMF saying that Floquenbeam needs to go through an RFA. It would be good if we could get further confirmation from them, but as things stand, it seems to me they've already said it's up to us and have never said that Floquenbeam must go through an RFA. (Note as I explained in great detail above, even without any objection from the WMF I don't think an automatic re-sysop is likely without further guidance from us although this does not need to be in the form of an RFA.) Nil Einne (talk) 03:10, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I’m still waiting for clarification from the WMFO on that and other questions. –xeno^talk 10:43, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

The sentence as written states "If they wish for their admin rights to be restored, a RfA can be opened once 30 days elapse, and the community may decide on the request at that time in such or another way." There is no ambiguity about the fact that a RFA has to be opened. After that there can be quibbling over what happens next. Thankfully Floq has had the tools returned. MarnetteD|Talk 14:36, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

"in such or another way" in fact explicitly leaves this decision to the community. Would ping WMFOffice but I know any "clarification" would just lead to more confusion. —pythoncoder (talk | contribs) 15:08, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Plus all the previous pings have been ignored, as far as I can tell. Enigma^msg 16:27, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

It’s likely the individual or individuals who have been using the account have been asked to refrain from further comment and actions pending further direction. –xeno^talk 16:31, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Essay about conduct

• Wikipedia:Community response to the Wikimedia Foundation's ban of Fram/Community conduct

I wrote that essay for my own benefit. A lot of stuff is getting repetitive and becoming a collective drain on the project. I'm just really tired about how much we have let this all affect how we conduct ourselves.

Everyone is welcome to sign the statement onto it if they so agree with this sentiment. I know everyone won't, and at least some people will be upset at this suggestion. I just would have kicked myself if I didn't actually put this out there, though.

Thank you again. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 19:20, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

A perspective on why WMF may be acting so opaquely

It strikes me that perhaps the only way to square WMFOffice's and Fram's comments (both of which seem credible) is the possibility that T&S believes Fram engaged in some form of harassment or abuse that it believes it cannot legally disclose either not only to the community but also to Fram himself for reasons of personal data privacy, namely, the privacy of Fram's accuser(s). So I think it's appropriate to look at that aspect in greater detail.

The privacy policy says that the WMF may disclose personal information if it is reasonably believed to be necessary to enforce or investigate potential violations of our Terms of Use, this Privacy Policy, or any Wikimedia Foundation or user community-based policies. The WMF might believe that disclosing an accuser's identity or complaint is not reasonably necessary to investigate the complaint. The problem with this belief, if held, is that the right to confront one's accusers has been considered since ancient times a critical element of a fair trial. The Romans viewed this rule as a guarantee against wrongful conviction. Therefore, in my view, disclosure of an Office Action complaint to the accused is reasonably necessary to investigate the complaint and doesn't violate the WMF's privacy policy. However, if they don't adopt this view, then the privacy policy can and should be re-written to explicitly give the WMF discretion to disclose complaints to the accused and to the community.

The second legal consideration is that even if disclosure is consistent with the privacy policy, the WMF might believe it still violates the GDPR (EU's general data protection regulation). The GDPR has stricter consent rules than U.S. law. The way this likely would have come about is if the complainant demanded that WMF not share their complaint or identity with Fram. Whether the WMF might be permitted to disclose the accuser's complaint against their wishes is not fully clear to me. If there's someone where knowledgeable about GDPR Article 6(1)(f) and how it might apply, please speak up. R2 (bleep) 19:26, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

I think the main problem here is that T&S did not handle this in a way to allow itself and ARBCOM to both have a prepared statement. They had as much time as they needed before actually issuing the ban/block to think about what they could and could not reveal and to write a statement following all of the legal and procedural lines, as well as to ensure that ARBCOM could do the same thing. And yes, potentially Fram deserved a notification as well. I can't speak on that one way or the other. But enwiki certainly deserved to hear a considered and pre-written explanation from T&S the moment that Fram was banned/blocked. If that alone had happened, it would have mitigated a lot of this issue. Prometheus720 (talk) 19:43, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

This. Assuming the timeline by Fram and OR are correct, they had every opportunity to have a prepared statement from wither or both the WMF and ArbCom explaining why they were taking this step, without exposing anything that would reveal the genesis of the complaint. You'd have people still grousing over it, but you wouldn't be seeing the outrage that we have been seeing. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 19:51, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Prometheus hit the nail on the head exactly. Not much more that can be added to that, really.--WaltCip (talk) 19:54, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Yep. Except that they also hung that Official account and its (primary?) operator out to dry. All of this could have been handled so much better (if indeed there was a need for it--which I am still not convinced of, and there's nothing yet to accept on good faith), and now here we are--dozens and dozens of Wikipedians, some of whom can't even look each other in the eye and say "how are you", all more or less united against an administratively necessary cadre that, wittingly or not, has made itself into an overlord when it promised to stay out of things. Drmies (talk) 00:24, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• @Ahrtoodeetoo: - It would be well within the bounds of Legitimate Interest as a justification to provide sufficient information for a fair assessment, unless a judgement was that actual harm or seriously major disruption would occur. The WMF would have to show that they minimised data transfer and minimised disruption to the data subject(s). The former couldn't really be done (it's somewhat all or nothing) but the latter could be done with steps like implementation of a 2-way IBAN at the outset of data sharing. It's a risky enough area that a DPIA would need to be done, but that's a couple of hours work from a staff member. Nosebagbear (talk) 22:39, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

That was my suspicion. Thanks for the input. R2 (bleep) 23:12, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

This isn't a trial. That's part of the problem. People keep trying to insist that the conditions of a trial must be adhered to but... it's not. WMF has not implied Fram did anything illegal just that they don't want Fram to admin or edit English Wikipedia for a year. It's a weird disciplinary action for a lot of reasons; but Fram has no right to confront his accuser in this regard. Simonm223 (talk) 12:14, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I am reminded on an incident I was involved in years ago. I was witness to an act that was both foolish and questionable (what they did was anonymous, but involved something that mean i could iD them), this was as part of (both mine and someone elses) paid work. I informed the management, who told me not to tell anyone (to protect the other person). However it was already too late, and it had got out (I was not alone in seeing it), though they had not been identified at this stage by anyone else. They were then fired without any explanation to anyone, to protect them (lets just say that if it had gone really bad they might have ended up in a ditch, it was that weird). Thus (and without knowing the story) this may have been more to do with protecting Frams image. Like the people you see on TV banging on about some injustice until it turn out ion fact they were at fault.Slatersteven (talk) 18:06, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I doubt that. They have more or less stated the intent was to protect the accuser's identity (Which prolly hasn't worked). —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 20:05, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

A perspective on ArbCom's ability to handle sensitive matters discreetly

Moved to WT:ACN § A perspective on ArbCom's ability to handle sensitive matters discreetly

--Galobtter (talk) 19:56, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Floq re-sysoped

And in the latest developments, WJBScribe has restored Floq's admin permissions. Personally, I agree strongly with that action. --Tryptofish (talk) 23:44, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

The log summary was "return admin rights - neither ArbCom nor any other community process has mandated their removal". See ongoing BN thread. --Yair rand (talk) 23:48, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

And Arbitration Request... ST47 (talk) 00:26, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

He did the right thing. Oshawott 12 ==()== Talk to me! 01:57, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Agreed. GiantSnowman 08:53, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Tryptofish, I disagree as well. To the level that I cannot in good conscience keep mine. Wikipedia:Bureaucrats'_noticeboard#Desysop_(TheDJ) —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 11:16, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Trypto and the others commenting actually agreed with the action. You disagreed. Enigma^msg 14:08, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Sigh. --Tryptofish (talk) 21:46, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

basic principle about bullying

There's a key idea in the WMF Office's interaction with Fram which is almost wholly overlooked here, and is really important, that cuts through common bullshit within Wikipedia about impossibility of defining when bullying is going on. This principle has not ever been understood by any ARBCOM, as far as I know. If it were understood and adopted as a bright-line type rule, it would go a long way toward reducing the oppressive bullying that goes on and is generally ruinous of this community. In my mind, it would have worked to curtail bullying that I know about personally, over years against me. In my mind the principle distinguishes between those who acted as bullies and are fairly labelled as being bullies, vs. situations where I and others were perceived as bullies unfairly by some persons.

I appreciate the comments of BU Rob, Ajraddatz, Megalibrarygirl, Howcheng, and some others above. To me, the fact that the Office is taking some action against harassment, i.e. removing an apparent bad actor for a while, gives me a tiny bit of hope here. This topic has attention of many sidetracked with outrage on side issues, not addressing the failure of ANI and ARBCOM processes to deal with problems. What a shame that it is probably impossible to get any learning to happen here at all, about how to really take action against bullying. Does the simple principle need to be spelled out in words of one or two syllables? Say, what do _you_ get from the coverage above of what WMF Office said to Fram, and evidence in some diffs above about how Fram acted? --Doncram (talk) 03:54, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

You miss the point entirely. If Fram misbehaved, it is the responsibility of the English Wilkipedia community, through its normal processes, to determine that, it is not the job of T&S to bypass ANI and ArbCom completely and institute behavioral blocks and bans. Policy is explicit that the WMF gets involved only after the community has had its chance and blown it. That is not the case here, where it appears that a high-ranking WMF official applied pressure for T&S to take precipitate action on a complaint filed by a personal friend. That, all that, is what the controversy is about, not whether Fram is "guilty" or not, so your comment is wrong in its entirety. Beyond My Ken (talk) 04:08, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

A not-insignificant faction seem to suggest that they don't trust the community processes to deal with these issues effectively and hence, WMF intervention is good (esp. that it sides with their proffered outcome). ∯WBG^converse 04:20, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

To BMK, well, no, I did not miss the point. To BMK and WBG, well yes I do pretty much think the Engish Wikipedia community does fail in its normal processes. You can't even tell whether Fram misbehaved horribly or not; I think you do not have any rule that works for you to judge which behavior is unacceptable or not. Can you see any potential rule implicit in what has gone on? --Doncram (talk) 04:48, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Beyond My Ken, I have ZERO trust in this community and there are entire private groups of people agreeing with me too scared to post here. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 06:22, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

@TheDJ: You're a fucking admin of this community. Please resign your tools immediately if you wish to so blatantly declare your resentment of us. It's clear you're not here to serve a community you have "ZERO trust" for. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 06:26, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Swarm, ah yes, close rank or you are not part of the group. gotta get rid of those who vocalize the dissenting opinions. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 06:31, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

What a ridiculous thing to say. You're part of the community by being an admin. By all means disagree with the hivemind but it is downright insulting to those you're supposed to be leading as an admin by saying you have no trust in them. Anarchyte (talk | work) 08:26, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Why did you apply for admin in the first place if you didn’t have trust in the community? This is absurd. If you hate everyone in this discussion, just resign. I totally agree with Swarm in this. Oshawott 12 ==()== Talk to me! 09:09, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

The DJ, weren't you the one who suggested a one-year site ban for everyone who supported banning the WMFOffice account? Yes, yes you were. You have no standing to accuse other of closing ranks or trying to get rid of dissenters. Lepricavark (talk) 12:32, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I can sure say that I’ve never seen DJ anywhere, and this has definitely gave me a bad first impression. Oshawott 12 ==()== Talk to me! 13:59, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Oshawott 12,

I'd say this illustrates how big this place is. My initial reaction was to be stunned someone could possibly not know TheDJ, but then I realized in CopyPatrol work, I routinely run across editors I've never heard of but who have hundreds of thousands of edits. While I wouldn't attempt to compile a list of the most important contributors to Wikipedia because I'm sure I would be missing important chunks of contributions, if I were to make such a list based on things I've seen, the DJ would be in my top 10. I understand the DJ turned in their tools, but I hope they have not decided to walk away. If that happens, it would be the single biggest negative outcome of this whole mess. S Philbrick(Talk) 17:08, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Swarm, that comment is completely inappropriate. --Yair rand (talk) 06:44, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Ah, DJ, so you're a brave dissenter, is that it? Defending an all-powerful corporate entity against us horrible, bloodthirsty volunteers with our pesky moral objections. What a martyr you shall go down as. Not to worry, though, your honorable, oh-so-brave statement will be memorialized on my user page, right along side our glorious supreme leader. Your bravery will not be forgotten. In all seriousness though: Humor aside. Joke's over. Resign your tools. The community deserves nothing less from you. Or, at the very least, run a reconfirmation RfA, immediately. Put your stance to the community that appointed you. Admins on the other side of the debate are willing to do so with no issue. I would do so with no issue, if it came to that. You're so sure you're right? Show some integrity, beyond shilling for the WMF. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 06:47, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Well that escalated quickly. nableezy - 07:07, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

What has been escalated? A WP:MOSTACTIVE has been unilaterally desysopped and banned, by faceless Foundation staff members, in an unprecedented move. The community is rebelling against WMF in an unprecedented move. An admin has overruled an Office Action in an unprecedented move. The WMF Office has wheel warred in an unprecedented move. A second admin has overturned the Office's wheel warring in an unprecedented move. The Chair, having directly intervened with a COI, has accused the community of malice and sexism, in an unprecedented move. And yet this is what you'd consider to be an "escalation? Really? ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 07:15, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

That was just a reference to calling somebody a traitor, seemingly for holding a position you dont agree with. I dont actually disagree with nearly everything youve written, excepting the quisling bit. At the end of this, where do you think the relationships between the people who have staked out these maximalist positions go? Either you are with "the community" or you "support harassment and bullying", or even are a misogynist, according to the other side. There is a former arb saying he hopes what was a few days ago an admin in good standing be globally locked and multiple admins and a crat that had, as of a few days ago, exceedingly wide support across the community be stripped of their tools. There are multiple admins saying essentially if you dont oppose this action you are worthless as a member of this community. You think theres any going back to working together after this? Especially if each side gets more strident in how they voice their opinions? Jesus, the I/P pages get less heated than this. nableezy - 07:51, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I'm not trying to be hysterical or incendiary, and I am certainly not trying to be the one to invoke Godwin's law. Yet I can't think of any better description beyond "quisling" for an admin who sides with the Foundation and directly attacks the community on this. Yes, in ordinary circumstances, it would be inflammatory to say such a thing, but in the case of an unjustified ban coming from the WMF, I can literally not think of a better description for an admin who directly attacks the community and defends the WMF without actually presenting evidence to support such a viewpoint. Quisling, class traitor, corporate shill, you can take your pick, but from what I've seen, a good faith, evidence-based, debatable point of view in support of the Foundation's actions is not something that has actually been presented. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 08:30, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Yes, I agree, there has been no evidence-based point of view in support of the WMFs actions anywhere, from the WMF or anybody else. Im just saying there aint no walking that one bit back later if (or hopefully when) cooler heads prevail. There are a number of admins on this page that have the respect of a wide swath of the community. And yall are cannibalizing each other. nableezy - 08:52, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Well, in my decade+ here, I've come to know Fram, Floq, and Bish as recognizable, serious members of the community and administrators. AN, ANI, RFPP, RFPERM, AN3, XfD, any area of the admin backlog; I know all of these admins as responsible and respectable members of the community. I don't know DJ, and I've never seen DJ before now, when they're defending the indefensible. So you'll forgive me for not "recognizing" their contributions, which I have never seen anywhere in the past decade. DJ is not a known, respected admin within our community, and I don't think I'm "cannibalizing" a colleague, so much as calling out a user who's made it clear that they don't belong within our ranks to begin with. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 09:11, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Wikipedia is a large place. You (Swarm) may not recognise DJ, but I do. Maybe because both he and I have been around here a few years longer than you. I have a great deal of respect for DJ, based largely on encounters with him a long time ago. People change and take different paths to different areas of Wikipedia, and he and others I don't encounter each other as often (largely to be fair, because I am not very active on-wiki), but I still respect them. Unless you have gone down that route, of activity tailing off, and/or moving to different areas of Wikipedia or the WMF projects, it can be difficult to get a sense of how attitudes and philosophies can change. And people get older and get more life experience as well. There will always be those who are extremely active in particular areas, and hold strong opinions, and are very forthright, but there is always a need to empathise with the views of others, especially when feelings run high. For the record, TheDJ has handed in their tools at WP:BN, citing the re-sysop of Floquenbeam, but I doubt the tone of the discussion here helped. Maybe now is a good time to build bridges, rather than burn them. Carcharoth (talk) 11:24, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I'm going to echo Carcharoth here. If you don't know who The DJ is or what he does, that's fine. But to say that DJ isn't 'a known, respected admin' means you are profoundly ignorant of their contributions. And even if they were a random newbie, they would still not deserve the vitriol. You can disagree with someone's viewpoints and positions without resorting to gross incivility. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 18:02, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I would not have used Swarm's language or vehemence, but I can empathize with someone's views and also believe that if their take is that they have ZERO trust in this community, then they indeed have no business being an admin. Turning in their bit was the right move, regardless of Floq. Grandpallama (talk) 11:37, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I full-throatedly endorse what Carcharoth has said here. Sysops are all volunteer editors and will do what they wish. No one should be considered "less than" for choosing to do one aspect of admin work or another. Whether we are familiar with another editor's work has no bearing on the merit or value of that work, and neither should it lead to any negative judgment. TheDJ is a valuable member of the community, possibly invaluable, whether any one of us individually values him. ~ Amory (u • t • c) 13:50, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Well, getting rid of the dissenting opinion is certainly one optic for the WMF action against Fram, vis-a-vis their software initiatives. - Sitush (talk) 06:49, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I mean, it's a possible optic for complete fantastists, but yes, it's a possible optic. Normally people complain that the WMF doesn't care what Wikipedians think about software development, though I suppose it is just about also possible that the WMF cares SO MUCH what Wikipedians think that they hatch secret plans to ban dissenting voices from Wikipedia and it just so happens that the first person so banned also has some, er, conduct issues... But yeah. No. The Land (talk) 07:22, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

There is a lot of fantasising going on because we have so little information to work with. Here's another: while some people have fantasised about this discussion broadly reflecting a male/female divide (although acknowledging Bish as an exception, and presumably you, too), it could equally be fantasised that the broad division here is between people who have a historic close connection to the WMF through chapters, grant awards, the "in residence" program etc, and those that have not. I doubt either of these fantasies is anywhere close to reality but they are optics, nonetheless. - Sitush (talk) 08:02, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

@Swarm: it is preferable that your comment is struck, it could not be helpful. cygnis insignis 09:12, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Cygnis insignis, what for? He might be a bit harsh, but I totally agree with the spirits. DJ has no role in administrating a community, whom he does not trust, at all. ∯WBG^converse 09:27, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

And Swarm speaks for Swarm. The community is an accommodating term, only the other user would do well to outline what they mean. Assuming the right to step as defender is what, magnanimous?, i suppose it could be viewed that way, but not helpful as i see it. Do you doubt the processes of the appropriate place to make that assertion, someone who should not have tools, stripped of rank. cygnis insignis 09:38, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• How long before you mention Nyttend? ∯WBG^converse 04:27, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

My, that sounds unpleasant. Like insinuations and other tactics routinely acceptable at ANI. Actually, though that editor and I have had differences, I don't think the simple rule I think is applicable here applies there. I am not saying just one rule works always to differentiate what behavior should be acceptable or not. But please don't badger me about past individual interactions, i don't want to play 20 questions about which cases exactly I am reminded of, from the facts suggested here. About Fram, by the way, I read all the above long discussion thinking that I could not remember any past interaction with them, though now I think there was some interaction. It doesn't matter here, I am just speaking about statements and diffs above. WBG, do you have any framework for defining what is acceptable vs. what is harassment in this case? --Doncram (talk) 04:48, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Struck out my question; unnecessary, it was. Replied over your t/p. ∯WBG^converse 09:27, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• I think we have a David vs. Goliath case here. For a majority of participants here, some combination of Fram and/or the community are David here and are being bullied by the Goliath WMF. For a significant minority, an anonymous complainant (David) is being bullied by Fram (a powerful admin and one of the so-called "unblockables", hence Goliath). To explain the outrage on both sides, I think it is human instinct to side with David over Goliath, the bullied over the bullies. There just happens to be disagreement on who's the bigger bully. But for the general problem, I agree that we need to fix the environment long-term. It should be easier to impose small but escalating sanctions on long-term users for misbehavior, a complicated discussion we can have after this is over. However, the OFFICE charging in and surprising the community is not a good solution. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 04:39, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

  There seems to be a misconception that Office took action because they had no confidence in the ability of enwiki processes to reach a just outcome. According to one of their own statements, the main reasons they did not refer the matter to Arbcom were privacy concerns and potential conflicts of interest. – Teratix ₵ 04:44, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

  I don't think the reason matters here. If it's for privacy reasons, they need to be clear about what general types of cases are not referable to Arbcom, because they don't mention exceptions to the ability to share info in the wmf:Privacy policy ("To Protect You, Ourselves & Others"). The COI excuse is laughable: if "being criticized by Fram" is a reason to recuse oneself, the WMF would be struck from the case long before Arbcom. In any case WMF has not shown an ability to communicate effectively with the community in this saga, instead WP:BLUDGEONing us with meaningless legalese. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 05:05, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

  I agree, that was intended as a separate comment and not a reply. – Teratix ₵ 06:48, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

  Interesting about David vs. Goliath being a simple principle that seems descriptive about two factions here. But we can't have a simple principle that "David is always right". What about cases where a newbie comes in, inserting too-close paraphrases from sources, and a very powerful editor notes the problem. The little guy isn't automatically right.

  What is clear enough misbehavior here, for ARBCOM or the community otherwise to have taken actions?

  I see no big difference between having "no confidence in the ability of enwiki processes to reach a just outcome" vs. there being privacy concerns which prevent ARBCOM from handling the case properly. Privacy concerns, and the general David vs. Goliath-ness of the situation for a harassed victim, do preclude an ARBCOM case from being the solution, so I don't have confidence in it working out either. Or, hmm, maybe the community had enough to act on, from facts presented here, so that an Arbcom case wouldn't have been necessary? --Doncram (talk) 05:29, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

  I see no big difference between having "no confidence in the ability of enwiki processes to reach a just outcome" vs. there being privacy concerns which prevent ARBCOM from handling the case properly. There is a big difference. Hypothetically, there might be a case where the Foundation legally cannot share enough relevant information with Arbcom, but that doesn't necessarily mean the WMF thinks Arbcom is incapable of making the right decision if they had all the facts. – Teratix ₵ 06:59, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• From my experience with arb com for 2014-2018, I find neither part of the WMF explanation sensible or even believable. (as others have said also:. 1. Unless there is some additional hidden secret, there is nothing here that seems to imply any particular privacy, and even if it had, this would have exposed it. Even if it did require privacy, arb com deals with similar situations continually--I can recall many. 2.Arb com also routinely deals with situations where part of the problem is people expressing their anger to arb com , even in extreme terms. It's fairly usual during a case. One of the reasons we have arb com clerks is to act as a buffer.)

However, I am not trying to defend the way arb com does things involving harassment and bullying, because (as I have previous said in each of the last 3 arb com elections), there has been drastically insufficient willingness on arb com to do what is necessary about these problems. But trying to deal with a particular case secretly by fiat from above without discussion is the worst possible way to go about it. I find it incredible that even those with little WP experience could have been so stupid. Even in actually hierarchical organizations dealing with workers who did actually depend upon the whims of an actual management, this would have raised unfavorable reactions.

and, as has also been said, most recently by Doncram just above, the effect of this has made it more difficult to deal with any harassment from the individual. After thissort of publicity, anything done will seem unfair.

But there is one positive effect of all this: it has made it clear to us all how entirely unfit the WMF is to deal with the actual operations of the enWP. It's not a matter of the current people there. It's inherent in their role--if they raise the money, they think themselves qualified to deal with what they do not understand. DGG ( talk ) 05:35, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

DGG - they're only "raising the money" in the same sense that I would be if Paul McCartney decided to go busking on the London Underground and I put up some posters, tweeted about it, and sat in front of him with a tin cup and a sign round my neck saying "Good cause - give generously". -- Begoon 05:55, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

DGG, "by fiat from above without discussion" it's why we have terms of use. We are here because of the inaction of en.wp. We have only ourselves to blame for this fiasco. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 06:26, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I would be the first to agree that we have not dealt with it satisfactorily,, and that the rash and disruptive action of the WMF might give us an incentive to do better--it has at least shown us that action in this needs to be both open and fair, giving the person accused a chance to respond, and to appeal. But I suspect it is more like to discourage action altogether, because of our revulsion to their interference. DGG ( talk ) 08:48, 13 June 2019 (UTC) .

@TheDJ: - we haven't even heard from WMF what exactly went wrong, so how can you blame the community for inaction? Do you know exactly what the accusation really is? starship.paint (talk) 07:55, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• The "bullying" narrative is horseshit. Bullying and harassment are serious issues, and if a long-term bully has run amok and the community has failed to deal with it in spite of multiple credible complaints, then I would be the first to defend the WMF stepping in. But attempting to create such a narrative as an explanation here is as pathetically comical and non-credible as the sexism narrative. There is no evidence whatsoever that Fram is a bully who the community powerless to stop. Nor has there even been any attempt to make such a case to either the community or to Arbcom. I'm a huge advocate for civility enforcement, but don't pretend that this is much-needed civility/harassment enforcement that was taken as a last resort. Fram, while imperfect, is certainly not an obvious target for such drastic enforcement, if good faith civility enforcement reforms were intended. ~Swarm~ ^{sting} 06:17, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• Didn't you participate a few weeks back in an ANI discussion about Malik in a similar topic? Suddenly now it's horseshit? Sir Joseph ^(talk) 15:43, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• There is actually something to Doncram's argument. The community processes are not good at dealing with harassment and bullying from established editors, hence the essay WP:UNBLOCKABLES. The community and ArbCom should long have been much more serious about dealing with longterm incivility and uncollegial conduct. I don't rule out a role for the WMF in dealing with such problems if they cannot otherwise be resolved. The problem here, of course, is that community dispute resolution was not even attempted, and that no understandable explanation for this - and the action itself - was provided. The community backlash against the WMF is therefore justified, and I, too, fear that this episode will make it more difficult to deal with longterm misconduct by established editors in the future. Sandstein 06:30, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

  There may be problems, but the world is not perfect. We need to be able to have robust discussions, including robust exchange of arguments. Bullying can be a problem, but very many cases where bullying has been claimed have just been protracted arguments where at least one side did not like the way the discussion was going. We have strong guidelines against e.g. outing. And we are not talking about a stalker hounding someone over multiple channels, sending them creepy pictures, and whispering "I know what you did - maybe I'll tell your mother tomorrow". As long as we are talking about talking, there still is the old Sticks and stones rule. Especially people (like Arbs) who voluntarily step into the limelight must be prepared to deal with more than normal levels of criticism - that comes with the job. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 06:55, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

There is a problem on en:wp with bullying and how the community deals with it. A couple of years ago I contacted an anti-bullying charity and spoke with someone about bullying on en:wp. It was a 45 minute phone conversation, within which I read out some edit summaries that had been listed at ANI and defended by at least one admin and one checkuser. The charity worker didn't even let me finish quoting the edit summaries before they interrupted with, "that's appalling". I made it clear that the summaries hadn't been directed at me, so the charity worker wasn't just being sympathetic. The problem as I see it is that en:wp's 'law enforcement' and quasi-judicial system comprises individuals with very little separation from 'plaintiffs' and 'defendants'. The solution would be to have clearer separation. Some comments elsewhere on this page suggest that this recent WMF intervention was an alternative way of tackling bullying (if indeed this case can be classed as such - certainly the WMF has classed it as harassment), but the WMF has gone about it the wrong way in my view - namely, using a very secretive 'hitman takedown' approach, with no right of appeal, on one individual who is a known WMF critic, when what would really be needed is an overhaul or revision of the whole system. PaleCloudedWhite (talk) 07:06, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

To me, ANI’s popcorn. Could you show us all the diffs just so we can know the nature of the bullying you talk about? Oshawott 12 ==()== Talk to me! 09:17, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• I think DGG and Sandstein have hit it on the head there, and Doncram does bring up a valid general point. Yes there are bullying/harassment/civility problems on the English Wikipedia, and we as a community (its not ArbCom's fault) have been poor at dealing with it - poor at defining it, even. Yes, there are surely cases that can't be dealt with by the community/ArbCom route. Yes, I'm quite certain there are people who are afraid to even approach the community/ArbCom route because they see it as intimidating and fear public exposure and ridicule. Yes, maybe a process conducted by a body outside the English Wikipedia community is needed to tackle these difficult problems. But surely openness, discussion, consultation before such a change in direction was implemented would have been far preferable, instead of just deciding on the new approach in secret and hitting us with it before we had any idea anything had changed. The way it has been done comes over to me as condescending and unnecessarily domineering, and I think that lies behind a lot of the anger. Anyway, if I might offer a meta comment on this specific discussion, the emotive/charged/confrontational responses some have received here for simply presenting their honest opinions seems to me to be a very good example of what is wrong with our Community. If we want to solve issues like this, we absolutely have to put our anger on hold and accept (no, welcome) opinions that contradict our own. So I'd urge everyone to try to dial it back a bit (even in these fraught circumstances), and try to see it from the the opposing point of view - because all POVs in this dispute have considerable merit, in my view. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 09:24, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• Strongly endorse the sentiments expressed by Doncram and those others named, and think it a good starting point to address online harassment (or worse) and any emergence of structural bias in our community's ability to reduce it. I think about solutions, and averse to the framing as, for example, 'the problem of women editors' when that is clearly not the "problem" that needs addressing. cygnis insignis 09:27, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

  It is actually already being discussed at Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard#Can we handle harassment?--Ymblanter (talk) 09:34, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

  Cheers, cygnis insignis 09:40, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• Participation in the discussion at WP:AC/N is definitely worthwhile. It's both been very productive, and held in a much calmer tone than the legitimately annoyed and angry talk here. If we ever get any dialogue with the WMF, then being able to offer our own thoughts on handling it could be beneficial. I encourage editors to at least give it a read. Nosebagbear (talk) 10:24, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Stopping bullying is a great idea. The catch is that secret processes by unexplained rules don't stop bullying. Their proponents say "look, there's nothing available online for people to look at, isn't that great?" Well, ask Laura how that worked out for her complaint -- I mean, if she even complained in the first place; even that seems like a surmise of dubious validity. In the absence of solid data, the bullying mob makes shit up. I mean, if you go to wikirev.org you'll some of them making up stories based on axes they were grinding in 2010. With a secret process you can't be sure who will be bullied, and maybe that's a relief for some special someone who really started this process whose name we don't know, but we know that it will raise tempers and paranoia and will lead to somebody being bullied. So what we need is a standard public process of discussion. If someone comes with a harassment complaint, either it will be bogus and no action taken and soon it will be forgotten, or it will get a half dozen comments on the record from people who back the action to show the rest of the world that no, this wasn't entirely capricious. The difference we need is only to introduce a process of impartial jury selection to improve the quality of our public process and inspire better confidence in its results. There is even a private company claiming to do that in social media (minds.com) though if you look at the details there are big loopholes and imposed compromises. We are an idealistic community that should do better than this. Wnt (talk) 10:26, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• Yow. You go to sleep, and then look what happens. First off, yeah, let's dial back the vitriol. I'm pissed about what happened here too (if I somehow hadn't already made that clear), but on this project, we have always accepted that reasonable people can disagree. Let's please not attack someone like that just because they do. And on the other side of it, claiming that this discussion doesn't really represent consensus and there's some "silent majority" otherwise is also unhelpful. We don't and can't know if that exists. If the "silent majority" wants to be heard, they need to drop the first word and quit being silent.

  That being said, I think it should be made clear that the English Wikipedia community, being founded by, for lack of a better term, a bunch of geeks (and still being populated, to a large extent, by that; I mean, let's be honest, what would you call someone who voluntarily spends part of their free time writing an encyclopedia?) has its own culture, and that probably is not comparable to many, if any, other places people might be used to. Being right and being competent will often be prioritized over being nice or polite. That doesn't mean those things have no value or that we shouldn't aspire to them (and I think in the past, we did a better job of at least trying to aspire to them), but it also means the guy who's an old grump but does an absolutely stellar job will be sticking around, even if his grumpiness gets turned your direction one day because you stepped on his toes. Of course, there are certain red lines which must never be crossed (off-wiki stalking, threats to do violence to other editors, etc.), but the community has always largely agreed on those. So, I'm all for a discussion about how we handle "bullying", but I would also want to be very narrow and very conservative in how we define that term. Being a little grouchy is not, generally speaking, bullying, it just means we have a variety of people with a variety of temperaments. (I wish I could remember who said it, during a discussion of whether Wikipedia is a "work environment" and should be treated with the same sort of saccharine-sweet HR-approved veneer of "politeness". They responded that if Wikipedia is any kind of work environment, it is a shop floor, not a high-rise office. If anyone remembers who said that, please let me know and I'll credit them appropriately, but it was, I think, an excellent observation.)

  So, for whoever above said someone found a few rude edit summaries on ANI "appalling", well, I got news for you—sometimes, people are rude, and abrasive, and blunt, both on the Internet and in real life. Sometimes that truly does cross a line, but sometimes it's just how they are and such as it is. So, I want to make sure we handle the situations where we do, indeed, have a case of deliberate targeted harassment. But I want to make sure we don't mistake the wrong things for that. "I keep screwing up and X keeps catching me when I do" is not harassment. "X is a grouch to everyone and was grouchy with me too" is not harassment. "X sent me a ten-page email telling me how worthless I am, and has demanded a response twice a day for three days since" is harassment. So, let's by all means figure out a way to handle genuine harassment or bullying, but let's also not be afraid to tell people "Look, you need a bit thicker skin" if they feel the need to shout "harassment" or "bullying" every time someone dares to say fuck in their presence or legitimately points out a mistake they made. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 14:49, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I'm User: Stephan Schulz and I endorse the above comment. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 15:01, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

The "shop floor" comment was made by Wehwalt, here. aboideau^talk 18:31, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• • I do not recall commenting on bullying/harassment cases before, as I am not a regular participant on the noticeboards, but I will say that most of the cases I've seen where "bullying" or "harassment" is alleged, it's a case of a person being overly sensitive. This includes the case WMF T&S warned Fram about. Obviously, there are occasional real cases which should not be dismissed. Just a general observation. I concur with the substance of Seraphim's above comment. Enigma^msg 15:04, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

This. This right here. While I also agree with Enigmaman that most such allegations on en-wiki have been cases of people being overly sensitive or trying to silence someone who was actually right about their problematic editing, overall, I'd say that Seraphimblade hit the nail squarely on the head, and this needs to be a core aspect of how we view and address this situation. rdfox 76 (talk) 15:38, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

@Seraphimblade: - Just to be clear, since I was the one who made the "silent majority" comment - I don't know that there actually exists a silent majority who is observing what is unfolding here but holding their tongues for fear of retribution. I do know there are people who have not weighed in yet on this incident. I just wanted to make that clear, because I personally am of the belief that WMF way overstepped their bounds, and that the response of the community (the unblocking, re-sysopping, etc.) was an altogether valid and organic response. Nothing that has been said or done so far has led me to believe that the actions of Floquenbeam, Bishonen, and now WJBScribe have been against consensus. With that being said, the messaging of WMF leads me to believe that they are speaking on behalf of a more sizable group of people that may not necessarily be representative of the people who have been commenting here so far. But that could just be reckless speculation on my part.--WaltCip (talk) 18:57, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

WaltCip, the comment I saw that precipitated that comment was not yours, but written by TheDJ: I have ZERO trust in this community and there are entire private groups of people agreeing with me too scared to post here. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 20:24, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Allow me to say that while I'm not familiar with the user in question, I am highly skeptical of that claim. It's extremely dubious for several reasons. Enigma^msg 20:34, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I agree to some extent with Seraphimblade. It is important to distinguish between legit claims vs nuisance claims. I think a major issue is that people don't seem to feel safe bringing their claims to light. In addition, a lot of excuse making for WP:MOSTACTIVE goes on. I don't care how active or good an editor is if they are driving away other volunteers. That seems to have happened here. And how can we get more transparency when the act of transparency causes individuals to experience further harassment from others? Also, the shop floor analogy doesn't have to be place of "rough and tumble" or a lack of civility to one another. We all have different amounts of tolerance and we need to respect each other's levels of what civility are. That would even happen in a shop environment! People in every work place must learn to get along or the project dies. Megalibrarygirl (talk) 16:27, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I am an admin on enwikt, not much of a Wikipedian, but similar issues about the initimidating climate and its effect on contributors and potential contributors arise.

In my gut I strongly agree with Seraphimblade's extended comment above. And I don't have much sympathy for silent-majority arguments. BUT, I am concerned about the effect of the tone of discussion on potential contributors. It does not take much to discourage them. It isn't just a matter of not biting the newbies. OTOH, I don't think that ham-handed actions by T&S or ARBCOM or any body that operates in partial secrecy (even though the secrecy is justified) are going to be terribly useful in creating a climate that will lead to broader participation by new contributors. Harassment and bullying are charges that are easily made against the behavior of people who are intensely engaged in wikiwork. We need some level of tolerance for strong dialog, eg, heartfelt criticisms, even repeated, of a fellow contributor's competence in wikiwork.

I hope it goes without saying that, for the good of the movement, civility has to be the norm and does require enforcement actions of some kind, preferably mild to start, and accompanied by person-to-person persuasion. DCDuring (talk) 19:05, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

You can't build 5,800,000 articles by prioritizing just civility in manners,as if it trounced every other consideration(evidence of hard work, competence in the topic etc). That prerequisite is fundamentally designed, with some good reason, to protect many people with thin skins (and often very little else) and ensure constant recruitment of new editors. Civility issues should be, but never are, measured tacitly by looking at what the respective editors actually do round here, whether they complain a lot, haggle over minutiae, obstruct efficient editing and all the things summed up by WP:IDIDNTHEARTHAT, esp.excessive argufying on talk pages in proportion to actual article input (beyond tinkering or reverts). While this place should certainly be friendly to newcomers, people who have been around a long time should have adaptively developed tough hides, sufficiently worldly-wise to shrug off occasional expressions of exasperation thrown their way. We are here to undertake hard yakka. Anyone who's worked as a navvie knows you will cop a bit of stick, which is dropped commensurately if you show your worth, but which gets thwackier if you become a whingeing lounger, always ready to drop whatever you are not doing to complain to the union. In practice, the high priority to make the Wikipedia environment impeccably civil has probably burned, rather than recruited, more highly productive editors. The most civil editor I have encountered managed to stop the Shakespeare Authorship Question from getting out of its conspiratorial quagmire theory base. He never put a foot wrong, and almost drove one of our finest Shakespeare authorities to abandon the place. Fortunately, several very good admins and editors finally twigged at the Passive-aggressive behavior lurking behind the mask of urbanity, and allowed Tom Reedy to pull it through, with a little help from friends, to FA status. So, when prompted by instinct to thrash the whip of sanctions, please learn to take an extra half hour reading through the talk page with an eye to passive aggessivity and Ididnthearthat niceness and if someone there displaying inimitable manners while just reverting or dabbling about, before rushing to judgement.Nishidani (talk) 20:12, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Related discussion at meta.wikimedia: Conditions of a fair process

Maybe you are interested in m:Talk:Trust and Safety#FYI. I'm a long-time user from German wikipedia, highly irritated by the irregular proceeding of the Trust&Safety team. As you know from the sections above, the same proceeding, including non-answers by T&S, was used before against a user of the German wikipedia (who already had been infinitely blocked by local admins). My idea is that some rules of a fair trial must absolutely apply to any such action. Not knowing the Fram case in depth, I don't want to say anything about this concrete case, but the general proceeding of WMF and T&S is, in my view, intolerable.Mautpreller (talk) 08:07, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I've read your proposal, and encourage people to do so as well. starship.paint (talk) 08:59, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Ok, this is getting silly. No, an organization doesn't need to adhere to the rules of a fair trial to dispose of a volunteer. While I do think WMF should be more transparent with regard to the specifics of why they took the exact action they did (rather than a permanent global block) at the time they did, it's perfectly within the rights of an organization to say goodbye to a volunteer if they feel the volunteer is no longer of value to the objectives of the organization. The thing that I suspect is part of the central problem here is that, considering how much of Wikimedia's activity depends entirely on volunteer labour, the organization has been quite content to foster a sense of ownership for the project among its volunteer base. But it's Wikimedia's project, we just choose to help when we see it as a worthwhile goal. That's the agreement volunteers strike. WMF is a non-profit, but it's not a co-op and technically it's not beholden to any specific due process in the management of its volunteers.

Now that said, again, I want to stress that I am not saying WMF is blameless here. Their communication strategy was weak. We don't know why this senior volunteer was given a time-out, and the nature of the action combined with the vague statements from WMF muddy the waters. If Fram was harassing someone, why are they being allowed back after a year and why just English Wikipedia? If this is because of a general pattern of abrasive comportment, why not just say so clearly? However the big problem on the WMF side isn't that they decided to remove Fram. That's an unfortunate element of volunteer management but it is one that organizations sometimes need to engage in and it's understandable. The big problem is what WMF chose to tell the rest of the community WRT why. But that's not something a formal trial, which may or may not involve re-victimizing complainants when they face... ^^^ all of this ^^^ in response to their complaint, is going to make any better. Simonm223 (talk) 12:07, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Without the volunteer labour that has been spent building this project, the WMF would not even exist. –xeno^talk 12:24, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

And I think this organzation, which lives from its volunteers (and not viceversa) has to duty the respect rules of a fair trial. Simonm223's point of view is a little bit to submissive to me. Obey, volunteer, obey! --Informationswiedergutmachung (talk) 12:27, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Actually you're looking at my perspective from the opposite direction. I am a project manager who cut his teeth in non-profits with large volunteer workforces. So my career was actually situated on the WMF side of things. WMF screwed the pooch on fostering a non-toxic volunteer culture here but volunteers thinking they own an org is something that orgs should actively avoid just because of debacles like this one. I'm actually highly critical of WMF here, but because I think they've let the maniacs run the asylum for far too long. Simonm223 (talk) 12:42, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I think you’re missing the point. The maniacs built the asylum, and hired a few bean counters to keep the lights on. Now those same bean counters are trying to put the maniacs in straight jackets. –xeno^talk 12:44, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

(ec) It's not quite the same. The primary value of most nonprofits is their web of interconnected relationships and the goodwill of their brand. But for Wikimedia, it is in the repository of free information submitted so far - something that, as per the CC license, belongs to neither WMF nor its users, but rather to the world at large. -- King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 12:48, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

To be fair, the strategies and actions coordinated by the WMF have added immensely to the brand and the product. Without that, arguably the WMF and its projects wouldn't be where they are today. You do need both, and for better or worse, we are stuck with the WMF. It is unlikely to be possible to change at this late date (the WMF was founded in 2003, only 2 years after Wikipedia started, however the massive expansion of the WMF came a bit later - I would say from around 2009-10). Carcharoth (talk) 13:02, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Fair. –xeno^talk 13:20, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

The English Wikipedia pre-dates the WMF. You say that "it's perfectly within the rights of an organization to say goodbye to a volunteer if they feel the volunteer is no longer of value to the objectives of the organization". If you are of the view (as many are) that the WMF was created to serve the needs of the community, then that can be rephrased as "it's perfectly within the rights of a community to say goodbye to its foundation if they feel the foundation is no longer of value to the objectives of the community". The (imperfect) analogy that can be used is that of a managing agent contracted to service a block of flats. I know the WMF is not contracted to provide its services, but think for a moment if the English Wikipedia editing community were organised enough to contract out to an organisation other than the WMF to provide the services that the WMF provides. If the WMF knew that its contract could be terminated if it was not providing the right level of service, then it might have more of an incentive to get things right and not mess up. It comes down to whether there is respect for volunteer labour, or whether volunteer labour is treated as a disposable and replaceable resource. See here for more thoughts, the key bit being: "Effectively, the Board will have to sort out a breakdown in trust between the paid and volunteer workforce (one of the key aims of the WMF should be to maintain and nurture that relationship and not have it deteriorate)." Someone with similar (and strong) views on this is @Seraphimblade: see here. Carcharoth (talk) 12:47, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Ok, but how many volunteers are up in arms? 70? Out of what? 30,000 or so active editors? The other thing I suspect a lot of editors here need to do is look up and notice how much of Wikipedia is just... getting on without them. Perhaps, just consider for a moment, that the majority of Wikipedia editors who aren't extremely online don't care if Fram has the bit. WMF was created because Wikipedia grew to the point that it needed an organization to actually run it. Well surprise, surprise, running a volunteer-heavy organization sometimes means shedding a volunteer. And if that means alienating 0.2% of your volunteer force, well, it's something they should try to avoid, but not at the cost of letting a senior volunteer who has become a net negative for the project continue being grit in the wheel.Simonm223 (talk) 13:00, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

The other thing I suspect a lot of editors here need to do is look up and notice how much of Wikipedia is just... getting on without them. Perhaps, just consider for a moment, that the majority of Wikipedia editors who aren't extremely online don't care if Fram has the bit. That is a non-argument, and ridiculous. If my office neighbor walks into my office right now and punches me in the face, the fact that my company continues to get along just fine while a part of it is disrupted means the disruption is no big deal or can be ignored? That there is no obligation to address the problem? That's an ill-conceived approach to resolving obvious issues that require resolution. Grandpallama (talk) 14:45, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

All of our editors should to be able to expect natural justice in how they are treated. That's part of the values we're about as a community, more than just a website. Without community this place is nothing. Jheald (talk) 13:04, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

The problem is not to kick out a volunteer sometimes. It is the way they want them kick out, snobbish patronizingly. We say Jump, volunteer, jump and you may not ask Why? but only How high?? -Informationswiedergutmachung (talk)

(ec) We already have an editor and administrator retention problem, I do not think secret proceedings with unappealable decisions will help with that. And - for the most part - it wasn’t the fact that Fram was excommunicated that has caused consternation, but the manner in which it was done and communicated. There are critics of Fram who have objected, for example. There are editors who have never found common grounds in their lives linking arms in protest. That should be telling. –xeno^talk 13:12, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict)x2 There's no such thing as natural justice. Grind the universe down to the finest powder and sift it and you won't find one grain of justice in it. What you are asking for, rather, is for the concept of justice you believe in to be adhered to by others. However, Plato was wrong, and these abstracts are not universal. So what you're demanding doesn't exist. It's arbitrary. It's nothing more than an agreement which was never made in this community or this context. Simonm223 (talk) 13:13, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Ok, Simonm223, you got an opinion and I am right. Have a nice day. And always jump, jump higher. --Informationswiedergutmachung (talk) 13:16, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

There is, actually, such a thing as natural justice, which is why we have a term and an article for it. True, you wouldn't find it if you ground the universe down to a powder, but that's only because then all you'd have would be powder. You will, however, find it in most (not all!) interactions between people, at least as a goal to be aspired towards. And that's what people here are asking for. --GRuban (talk) 14:22, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I also certainly missed the part where moral nihilism was a WMF value. —Nizolan ^(talk) 16:21, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Uh huh. But consider this. The WMF has around 300 employees. That is a relatively small number. It would be possible to replace all of them with a different organisation with different values. I suspect that of your 30,000 or so active editors, most of them would not notice if that happened. What actually happens is that people are more concerned about what happens in their own little area. Carcharoth (talk) 13:17, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict) You know what? Go ahead and try to get 300 people fired because one admin has to take a year-long break from (checks notes) antagonizing Jimmy Wales regarding the spelling of Will.i.am and arguing with transwomen about whether it's offensive to use a neologistic pronoun that they prefer not to use. I'll just be over here, watching and laughing. As for Informationswiedergutmachung's WP:POINTed comments, that's some good understanding of the concept of consensus right there. Have a nice day but don't expect further replies from me - I dislike arguing with brick walls. Simonm223 (talk) 13:21, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Yes, I know what and this and also that. Thx for your dialogue monologue. Don't know your time zone, but in mine the sun shines and it is time to go out of my asylum to take my monthly shower. --Informationswiedergutmachung (talk) 13:30, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Would you like a list of what the WMF has got wrong over the years? This is right up there with the worst of them. Carcharoth (talk) 13:32, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Both Wikipedia and the WMF get things wrong sometimes —this is an example of the latter— but evaluating either organization strictly by its flaws would not be a balanced approach. El_C 17:32, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Some troubling context.

Someone reported yesterday that they dropped this discussion into Word, and it was over 1600 pages. That was yesterday, it is far larger today. (I recognize that chunks have been moved or archived.)

For context, the Mueller Report, which was far too long for many interested parties to read, was 446 pages.

We've hit a multiple of that and more will come. While I think @Seraphimblade: provided some useful advice, I shuddered when I read If the "silent majority" wants to be heard, they need to drop the first word and quit being silent.

Before I make my suggestion, a few more numbers.

256 editors are contributors to this page. That's a lot, but still a fraction of active users.

The average contributor has under 5 edits to the page, while 20 editors have 22 or more. Both facts mean this discussion is not representative of the community.

Should the WMF contract a competent organization to do a random sample of active editor and ask some questions? That might generate some feedback from the slient majority in summary form (without bringing this page to its knees).--S Philbrick(Talk) 19:46, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• Sphilbrick Thank you! Numerous editors have tried to point out that participation in this discussion reflects a minority view. Those statements were not taken well. SusunW (talk) 20:03, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• I echo SusunW's comment regarding minority view. There are many editors who do not feel comfortable engaging in pages such as this one, though they are following the commentary. I know this as I am hearing from them in various other channels. They are the editors who avoid contentious situations. You'll never know who they are because they are the silent majority. But they are paying attention, and they are speaking their minds, just not on a page where they are anxious regarding what might happen if they do so. --Rosiestep (talk) 20:48, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• • I strongly disagree that it's a minority view. Yes, a small percentage of the users of en.wiki have chimed in, but that's the case for any en.wiki process. I suspect the views here are fairly representative of the overall editing body. Tossing aside the opinions here by stating that there are many other users who haven't commented is rather unhelpful and unproductive. Enigma^msg 20:10, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

    Enigmaman, by definition, it's a view of the minority, which may or may not be a minority view. It may or may not be representative. S Philbrick(Talk) 21:14, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

    • Please see the comment I was responding to, which explicitly called it a minority view, which very likely is incorrect. Saying many people have not chimed in is correct, calling it a "minority view" indicates that it does not represent the view of the majority, which is a rather ludicrous assertion to make. Enigma^msg 21:17, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• I suspect they didn't mean just this discussion, but all the related discussion. I just dropped everything in this editing window into Word and got 235 pages. The point remains though, regardless. I concur with Enigmaman that this is likely a representative sample, though statistically it is probably somewhat tilted. A true RFC would bend it somewhat more towards neutral, but not by much. I don't think contracting an external organization would help. The bottom line here is the WMF badly, badly messed up and is fumbling about in the dark, with no directions and no torch, trying to figure out how to solve the problem. No amount of polling the editors here will change that reality. I've said for many, many years that I feel the WMF is woefully incompetent (and now I wonder if in saying that they'll up and decide to ban me), and this is merely a permutation of this. This is just the most recent example of this, as we've seen from testimony from the German Wikipedia. I suspect that once the WMF board meets, there will be an end to this from their side, and that Fram will have his ban officially revoked. After that, there might still be a great deal more material added to the various discussions, but nothing will come of it and we'll be back to business as normal until (not if) the WMF screws up again. --Hammersoft (talk) 20:37, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• No question that this discussion reflects a minority of users and it is dominated by Fram's supporters, who are repeatedly weighing in, and if my experience is any indication, they routinely challenge anyone and everyone who disagrees with them to a far greater extent than anyone is calling them out. The bottom line is that anyone who weighs in here needs to be ready for that, and it's something that is quite intimidating to many editors, particularly content creators who, as a rule, prefer to avoid the drama boards. As a result, the "silent majority" is often a silent, intimidated majority. To the extent that "any en.wiki process" is like this reflects the problem: a loud flock always ready to start bleating "four legs good, two legs bad" declares a "consensus" immediately and shuts down anyone who argues otherwise. Montanabw^(talk) 20:46, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
  • I have weighed in several times and I don't recall ever having contact with Fram or discussing him. Additionally, some of the people who are upset with the WMF's actions have said they do not like Fram and at least one said they would like to see him banned. I'm skeptical of the claim that this is dominated by Fram's supporters when so many users have chimed in, but I don't know the qualifications for being a Fram supporter. Enigma^msg 20:53, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
    • I've virtually never interacted with Fram. Doesn't stop me from wanting an answer to this. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 21:16, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
      • I've publicly said in the past that Fram's conduct … has been an atrocious mix of unnecessary overpersonalization, extreme defensiveness when challenged, lashing out at anyone he feels isn't sufficiently agreeing with him, and a general attitude that his opinions are invariably correct and it's his duty to bludgeon them through regardless of opposition, but it doesn't stop me wanting an answer to this, either. Fram was warned about his behaviour last year, toned it down, and other than the "fuck arbcom" diff and a minor squabble over pronouns, as far as I can tell has been completely uncontroversial since; as best I can tell, his recent conduct has been a good example of Wikipedia's civility enforcement mechanisms working correctly. ‑ Iridescent 21:22, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict × 2) Sphilbrick, first off, "page" isn't an actual unit of measure. I've read a good deal of this discussion. (Then again, I also did read the entire Mueller report, and I do know I read quite a good deal faster than most people do.) But I'd still dispute your premise. An articles for deletion discussion with ten people arguing to delete and none arguing to keep would be considered a clear consensus to delete the article. An RfA with 95 people arguing to give the individual an admin flag and five arguing not to would be considered a crystal clear consensus for the crats to promote. An RfC on a change to a core policy, with 30 in favor and 2 against, would be considered a clear consensus to make the requested change. The participation of 256 editors is way more than the normal quorum to consider a consensus established by that discussion. Yes, that means decisions are often made by those who care the most about the issue—but in a lot of ways, that's a feature, not a bug. I would, however, oppose some anonymous "survey" replacing that. Surveys are easy to manipulate. "Should editors on the English Wikipedia be nice to one another?" "Oh, look, 99.5% of respondents said yes, we've got a mandate to ban editors behind closed doors!". We don't do things that way. If you want your voice heard, you show up to the discussion, and you explain, with your name on it, what you think, why you think it, and if you wish you defend your position. (And so far as the assertion of Montanabw that this is about supporters of Fram: I don't particularly like Fram to begin with. This is about the English Wikipedia's editorial independence, and the WMF not stepping in where they have not been specifically invited to. It's not about a referendum on Fram.) Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 21:19, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Yes, I find this topic ludicrous. You could go to every single community discussion and call it a "minority view" by the standards given. Just because less than 1% of editors have chimed in, does not make it a minority view. Enigma^msg 21:25, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Enigmaman, your argument could be equally applied to reach the opposite conclusion. And just as an example of how people who offer disagreement are harassed, this is an example. Montanabw^(talk) 21:55, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Television ratings (aka Nielsen) are generated by using a very small percentage of the total TVs in use. Political polls are generated by polling a very small number and assuming it's representative. The same goes for when US TV networks "call" a state for a certain party/candidate. They base their "call" on the small percentage. In Wikipedia discussions, we assume the people commenting are representative of the larger view. I believe this page does that too. Most people are dismayed by the WMFs actions while a few choose to make it out to be "justice" against "harassers", even though the WMF provided no such evidence and communicated terribly. There is no evidence to suggest that the community at large somehow feels strongly differently than the overwhelming sentiment here. As for the diff you gave, I do not condone that kind of behaviour, and I understand sometimes people are victims to unpleasant actions like that. I still find it improbable that there are large groups of people afraid to edit this page. Enigma^msg 22:33, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Long time lurker, first time caller in this fiasco I've been reading this page since it popped up and I try not to get involved in hot-button issues like this. I like to do my thing and make the encyclopedia a better place. My opinion reflects that of the community at large, even though I have not chimed in about it. This was an overstep by the WMF with no transparency for their actions with dubious rationale for doing so. I've never dealt with Fram, but as a denizen that frequently reads through AN, ANI, and BN; I've seen that he can be difficult to deal with. But I find the gagging of a productive and competent admin to be troubling. Wikipedia is only as good as it's editors- when someone gets insta-banned that is a great net positive to the project, it is worrying for everyone. Jip Orlando (talk) 21:43, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Seraphimblade, you just hit the nail on the head. —pythoncoder (talk | contribs) 23:02, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• The WMF contract a competent organisation? Pull the other one. DuncanHill (talk) 21:58, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• @Sphilbrick: This will likely be my last post here. I just exported a bunch of pages related to this controversy with version history, and the xml file was was 354 MB. This isn't an article; this isn't a noticeboard we're talking about. It's only pages that were created at most a few days ago. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 22:38, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

  MJL, And is there a point? S Philbrick(Talk) 22:44, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

  @Sphilbrick: I guess not. I thought we were sharing numbers. You're idea is good, but I also recommend checking out this. (edit conflict) –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 22:53, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I think I initially misunderstood your post. I get it now.S Philbrick(Talk) 23:09, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Statement from Jan Eissfeldt, Lead Manager of Trust & Safety

Dear members of the English Wikipedia community,

My name is Jan Eissfeldt and I’m commenting in my role as Lead Manager of the Wikimedia Foundation Trust & Safety team about the team’s recent investigation and office actions. In addition to this comment, the Trust & Safety team will be making a statement at Arbitration Committee Requests/WJBscribe tomorrow.

I want to apologize for the disruption caused by the introduction of new type of sanctions without better communication with this community beforehand. While these changes were the result of the changes to the Trust & Safety team’s processes, and are not an expansion of the team’s scope, I know that these changes to the processes came as a surprise to many people within the community, and that many of you have questions about the changes.

Responding to community concerns about the office action requires deliberation and takes some time. We have been in active dialogue with staff and others - including the Board - to work on resolutions, but we understand that the time this takes opens the door for speculation and allowed concerns to expand.

I realize that this situation has been difficult for the English Wikipedia’s Arbitration Committee (ArbCom). The Trust & Safety team apologizes for not working more closely with them in the lead-up to this point. We will improve our coordination with community-elected bodies like ArbCom across the movement when carrying out our duties.

I also want to elaborate on the reasons that Trust & Safety cases will not be discussed in public and often not even privately with members of the Wikimedia movement who sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). When we receive non-public information, the Wikimedia Foundation must handle it in a manner that is both consistent with our Privacy Policy and any other commitments made to the person disclosing their information. When dealing with sensitive allegations of inappropriate behavior, we must ensure that we are upholding a relationship of trust and confidence with people who have entrusted us with personal information about their experiences. This means that even in cases where users have signed a community NDA, our legal obligations may not allow us to share information given to us.

Additionally, I want to explain the reason for using a role account when performing office actions and during follow up communication. Decisions, statements, and actions regarding things such as Office Actions are not individually-taken; rather, they are a product of collaboration of multiple people at the Foundation, oftentimes up to and including the Executive Director. As a result, we use the WMFOffice account as a “role” account, representing the fact that these are Foundation actions and statements, not a single person’s.

Some of you may remember that Trust & Safety staff used to sign with their individual accounts when discussing Office Actions. Unfortunately, this is no longer possible due to safety concerns for Foundation employees, as in the past staff have been personally targeted for threats of violence due to their Office Action edits. I am taking the step of making this statement personally in this case due to extraordinary necessity.

There continue to be questions from some people about the Foundation’s Trust & Safety team doing investigations about incidents occurring on English Wikipedia. I want to clarify the rationale for Trust & Safety doing investigations when requested and they meet the criteria for review.

Part of the Trust & Safety Team’s responsibility is upholding movement-wide standards based on the Terms of Use. We recognize that each of the hundreds of global communities under the Wikimedia umbrella have their own styles and their own behavioral expectations, but we also believe that there must be a certain minimum standard to those expectations. Sometimes, local communities find it difficult to meet that minimum standard despite their best efforts due to history, habit, dislike by some volunteers of the standard, or wider cultural resistance to these standards. However, it is important to keep in mind that even communities that are resistant to it or are making a good faith effort are expected to meet the minimum standards set in the Terms of Use. In cases where community influences or barriers interfere with the meeting of these minimum standards, the Foundation may step in to enforce the standards - even in situations where the local community dislikes or outright opposes those standards.

It is important that victims of hostilities like harassment have a safe place to make reports and that we uphold and respect their privacy when they do so. The Foundation is currently working with the community on a User Reporting System that would allow communities and the Foundation to cooperate in handling complaints like harassment, and we have every hope that that system will facilitate local, community handling of these issues. However, at the current time, no such system exists for victims to make reports privately without fear that their “case” will be forced to become public. Indeed, it is often true that a mere rumor that someone was the victim of harassment can lead to harassment of that person. Unfortunately, that has been proven the case here as some individuals have already made assumptions about the identities of the victims involved. Accordingly, the Foundation is currently the venue best equipped to handle these reports, as we are able, often required by laws or global policies, to investigate these situations in confidence and without revealing the identity of the victim. That is why we will not name or disclose the identities of the individuals involved in reporting incidents related to this Office Action.

There have been some concerns raised about the level of community experience and knowledge involved in Trust & Safety’s work. The Wikimedia Foundation’s Community Engagement Department, of which Trust & Safety is a part, supports contributors and organizations aligned with the Wikimedia Foundation mission. In order to conduct informed and contextualized investigations, safeguard the community at events, and support community governance, Trust & Safety has focused on building a team with a combination of deep Wikimedia movement experience and team members who have experience with Trust & Safety processes with other online communities. To better assess incidents, the team has people from diverse geographic, linguistic and cultural backgrounds. We have former ArbCom members, administrators, and functionaries, from English Wikipedia as well as other language communities, informing our decisions, and expertise from other organisations helping to build compassionate best practices. We have utilized all of this experience and expertise in determining how best to manage the reports of harassment and response from members of the community.

One of the recent changes to the Trust & Safety policy is the introduction of new options that include time-limited and partial (project-specific) bans to address serious concerns that are considered temporary or project-specific in nature. This change to policy is not a change of the team’s scope of cases taken. However, it does alter the way that sanctions are enforced and unintentionally introduced ambiguity about the ability of local communities to overrule office actions.

In acknowledgement of the confusion caused by the application of this newer type of ban, we will not be issuing sanctions against or desysopping those who edited the block or the sysop rights of those who edited the block to date. However, despite the ambiguity in its application, the ban continues to stand whether it is being technically enforced by a block or not. Should Fram edit English Wikipedia during the one-year period of their ban, the temporary partial ban of User:Fram will be enforced with a global ban (and accordingly a global lock). We must stress again that Office Actions, whether “technically” reversible or not, are not to be considered reversible by a local, or even the global, community, no matter the circumstances or community sentiment.

The occurrence of Office Actions at times is unavoidable, but it is not our intention to disrupt local communities any further than necessary. Here we failed on that score, caused disruption to your community, and we welcome feedback about how such disruption could be avoided in the future when the Foundation takes Office Actions, and ask that we all engage in a good faith discussion bearing in mind the legal and ethical restrictions placed on anyone within or outside of the Foundation engaging in reports of this nature.

In addition to asking for feedback about the trust and safety office actions in this incident, over the next year, the Foundation will be asking members of the Wikimedia movement to work with us on several initiatives that are designed to promote inclusivity by ensuring a healthier culture of discourse, and the safety of Wikimedia spaces. --Jan (WMF) (talk) 20:44, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Response to Statement

• There are several aspects of this I find troubling, but I respect that you did come forward and put your name to it. It was well-written and it does add some information, considerably more than the statements made by the role account. Enigma^msg 20:51, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• To quote A. E. Housman, "And since, my soul, we cannot fly / To Saturn nor to Mercury, / Keep we must, if keep we can, / These foreign laws of God and man." Cheers. Dumuzid (talk) 20:55, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• Really pathetic. Accusations of harassment are very serious. Please provide the diffs. This new type of star chamber judgment against editors is most unwelcome. Mr Ernie (talk) 20:59, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• we will not be issuing sanctions against or desysopping those who edited the block or the sysop rights of those who edited the block to date – WHAT??? EEng 21:04, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

  EEng, I don't read that as a pardon by any means – "we will not be issuing sanctions" doesn't mean ArbCom won't be doing so. – Juliancolton | ^Talk 21:24, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

  Do you really think ARBCOM will do anything? Sir Joseph ^(talk) 21:36, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

  I was simply highlighting the difficulty these people have formulating a coherent sentence. EEng 23:33, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• Thanks for coming here and making the statement. The next step should be indeed a constructive discussion outlining the boundaries more clearly, sharing responsibilities, and clarifying how communication can be improved, because, indeed, in this case the communication was a total disaster.--Ymblanter (talk) 21:10, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

  And, specifically, I can live with the idea that T&S will enforce civility even when the communities are not prepared to accept it, but in this case it must be very clear whic level of civility is expected. Otherwise it turns into a minefield. In this case, I believe, though Fram has been banned, it is still not clear to them which red line exactly have they crossed. They are of the opinion that the "Fuck ArbCom" comment played a role, in which case dozens of users could be banned anytime. --Ymblanter (talk) 21:30, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• It is regrettable and avoidable that Wikipedia users have taken to onwiki and offwiki harassment of WMF staff, and in this context it is understandable to use the role account. This most recent statement also acknowledges community concerns more clearly than the previous ones. Even so, I suspect other community members will still struggle to understand (1) the necessity of the action taken against Fram in the first place, and (2) by what process of decision WMF will decide to issue sanctions in potentially controversial cases. I suppose we will not get more clarity on the former, but surely in the latter? --Jprg1966 ^(talk) 21:11, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

  It is striking that Eissfeldt says that the unexpected blocking reflects "changes to the Trust & Safety team’s processes". Yet the link he gives by way of support/explanation of this presents a primary objective of mak[ing] more transparent to the team’s stakeholders - communities, affiliates, Foundation staff, and partners - what kinds of complaints the team refers to community processes under current practice and which types it does handle. This is plainly what has not been achieved, nor does there seem to have been any discussion with the community of the team's processes, its balances, or its outcomes. The community are stakeholders in this project too, and are right to insist on being treated as equal partners. Jheald (talk) 21:27, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• Thank you for publishing this statement, and please do endeavour to keep the community informed as to how we can participate in improving the dialogue between ourselves and the Foundation. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 21:14, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• This was a good statement, and it addressed a lot of my own personal concerns. I also thank you for the apology that this caused disruption to the community. As a newer editor, I sometimes feel that the power hierarchy built here is intentionally built to shut certain people out. It's almost as if there is a shield of protection that exists for the powerusers, admins, and even established users which simply does not exist for me because I both new and (oftentimes) impulsive. They are a known quality, whereas I am not (nor am I as particularly helpful as they are). Early on, I was told by the users who care about my wellbeing that if I used our pre-existing reporting mechanisms that retaliation would almost be guaranteed. That isn't the system anyone in the community intended to have, but it is the one that best prevents disruption. I really don't have all the answers, but I'm glad that WMF at least wants to have this kind of conversation. I can't say I agree with how this has been handled up by the foundation up to this point, but if at least some good comes out of this then we'll at least have that. [placeholder] –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 21:14, 13 June 2019 (UTC) Replaced: 21:42, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

MJL, thanks for your thoughts on this. I think you expressed many of my main concerns better than I could have. I agree with everything in this comment. StudiesWorld (talk) 21:45, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

@StudiesWorld: [Thank you for the ping] I'm pretty sure that is the first time someone has ever told me that on wiki. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 22:05, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• While I appreciate the effort to make some kind of statement, I find this tremendously inadequate. Yes, protecting privacy and the general rights of the accusers is very important. But due process for the accused, in any fair system of justice, whether in a court system or not, comes part and parcel with the very notion of a fair adjudication. There has been *zero* effort made to outline what due process the accused can expect in these ex parte hearings and what rights *Fram* has to defend himself against serious charges. Not even the slightest lip service is given to the notion. And anyone for whom the concept of due process is either foreign or merely inconvenient has *zero* business being involved in this project. WMF exists to be the servant of the Wikimedia movement, not its master. It's not supposed to be a jobs program for those who want to cosplay as tin-pot dictators. CoffeeCrumbs (talk) 21:17, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

What if the accused disclose the evidence, as occurred here, potentially leading to further harassment of those named in the evidence, whether or not they were involved in or even aware of the complaint? StudiesWorld (talk) 21:41, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Then the ban should have been escalated immediately. They did not do that, which has ultimately led to a Streisand effect with regards to the likely complainant. The downside to this is that this would have likely have instantly confirmed the complainant's identity. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 22:27, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

There are plenty of things that can be done to escalate in a situation like that. Like in every other hearing in every single context everywhere, ever. It's WMF's stance that is the gross outlier. People will figure it out and the accused certainly will be able to make some pretty good guesses; if a crime is severe enough for this penalty, it wouldn't be a complete surprise and if the crime isn't, it hasn't any business being taken out of ArbCom's hands. "Sorry, Mr. Hinckley, we can't tell you what president you're accused of shooting, because then you'll know!"CoffeeCrumbs (talk) 23:11, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• My thanks too to Jan for posting what he has. I do have two questions (or points for discussion), though I appreciate Jan may not be able to engage in back-and-forth answering of the many questions people may have.
  • My first question is this (if the ban does end up staying in place): how can Fram, who by virtue of being able to edit other Wikimedia projects is still a member of the Wikimedia movement, participate in discussions on en-Wikipedia relating to changes to the Wikimedia software and similar strategic proposals being made by the WMF? What I foresee, is that others will include his critiques even if they are made on different WMF projects. This is why project-limited bans can be difficult to enforce. For example, if Fram is participating in Meta and MediaWiki discussions on those topics and makes cogent points, will people be able to point to and quote his opinions in discussions here, without being accused of proxying for a banned user?
  • The other question (a bit more difficult to address) is whether the Trust & Safety team can operate effectively if it loses, or has lost, the trust of a community it is policing? If enough people believe that you made the wrong decision here, they will not have trust in any of the decisions you make as a team until those trust issues are addressed.

I suspect others will want the issues of local autonomy and allowing en-Wikipedia to police their own addressed, so will not say anything on that. Carcharoth (talk) 21:17, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• (edit conflict × 2) The Wikimedia Foundation did not accuse Pudeo, SchroCat or 1989 of proxying for a banned user when they copied Fram's comments from Commons. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 21:25, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• @JEissfeldt (WMF): - thank you for your well written message. But you still don't explain how someone is supposed to defend themselves against non-specific accusations under privacy conditions as strict as these - it end's up in a judge/jury situation, with the accuser getting to set their case, but not the accused. Nosebagbear (talk) 21:20, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
  • That's not a bug, Nosebagbear. It's a feature. --Floquenbeam (talk) 21:24, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• Thanks. We are not done, but that's a good start. S Philbrick(Talk) 21:21, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• @JEissfeldt (WMF): You wrote: "It is important that victims of hostilities like harassment have a safe place to make reports and that we uphold and respect their privacy when they do so." There is a striking implication in that statement that Fram was banned for harassment, otherwise such a statement would be very out of place. Would you be so kind as to answer a couple of questions?
  1. Was Fram banned for "hostilities like harassment", or harassment?
  2. If so, was public evidence used in your findings (content that can be found on enwiki pages, or in enwiki logs or revision history).

I'm sure you realize that answering those questions cannot possibly reveal any other parties in the matter, nor would it disclose any private information. Thank you.- MrX 🖋 21:22, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• That we've been dignified with a substantive statement, in contrast with the boilerplate copy to which we've hitherto been subjected, and that some concessions have been made in earnest make this a not-insignificant step in the right direction. Hopefully the community can match that step with some introspection of our own. – Juliancolton | ^Talk 21:23, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• Statements like this are why I consider T&S to be one of the most competent teams at the WMF. Thank you for acknowledging the confusion here. TonyBallioni (talk) 21:27, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• Something strikes me as extremely odd about this. The claim being made is that (1) this block is based on harassment and (2) regardless of what you have said, the basic gist of it remains "everything is privileged". That has led Fram to fill the void, and while he is a biased source and there are things missing in his reply on Commons, you have done nothing in responce to this. I understand this would be counterproductive in some way - Upgrade to a glock, and you essentially confirm what Fram says; confirm it and breach people's privacy - but the way this was handled was such that T&S hasn't done anything at all in responce to this. The only reason these conspiracy theories (of which one of them may eventually be right, and it's looking increasingly likely this was used to "win" a long-running editorial dispute between two users who, frankly, aren't very well liked) have been promulgating is because T&S maintains that literally everything is privileged, dowm to the word "the". This is not only an asinine position to take, but Raystorm's statement emphatically did not help given she accused everyone defending Fram of sexism, which only serves to help confirm those theories.
  The end result does not reflect well at all on the WMF or its Trust & Safety team. "More communication" is impossible if T&S's starting position is "everything is privileged", when I can think of a few things in this situation that would not be (that it's specifically for harassment, that Fram had been warned twice before, and WHY the ban was limited). At a minimum ArbCom should be told the sort of actyion being taken and (in broad strokes) why it is being taken, and while an arb has said that they were told vaguely this and it was provided afterwards in the meeting minutes, that arb (and others) evidently did not expect a ban. The communication has just been grossly mismanaged by T&S from the word go, and because of that T&S as aa whole no longer has the community's trust, as Risker points out so succinctly below. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 21:34, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• simply thx -jkb- (talk) 21:36, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• I appreciate any effort to clarify and communicate, so thank you for that. But I cannot make sense of it, if I simultaneously believe everything in this statement and also believe everything that Fram has posted about what he says he was told of the reasons for the ban. If I believe that the comment Fram made about ArbCom was the immediate reason for the office action, then it just does not seem like a valid reason for the office action. --Tryptofish (talk) 21:37, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• It isn't; it's just the last straw. Fram has outright stated that they've gotten two warnings from T&S over the past year; the ArbCom comment was a third strike of sorts. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 21:39, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• Then it isn't a valid last straw. --Tryptofish (talk) 21:43, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• Jan E. was the man behind Superprotect. This has led to his de-sysop in the German Wikipedia. No, no, no trust in this man. A former german language Wikipedian admin... OMG --Informationswiedergutmachung (talk) 21:41, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• Thanks for stepping up. For any future TS bans where you can't identify the accuser, it may make sense not to say it was for harassment.
• Halfway transparent houses are dangerous for a couple of reasons. 1) Online sleuths on platforms WMF don't control are liable to guess who the accuser was, and then take action against that person(s). So they can cause folk to suffer harassment that might be worse than any excessive scrutiny experienced on wiki. 2) It can be unfair to the accused. I've gone up against Fram several times over the years to defend the outstanding inclusionists he used to attack, so I think I know them quite well. I can see why their actions might validly appear to be harassment, but it always seemned they were in fact just trying to protect the encyclopaedia from what in Fram's misguided but sincere opinion were excessive mistake makers. So it's annoying to see Fram (effectively) labelled a harasser by a star chamber.
• It's great you're going to step up efforts to promote inclusionism. I hope it's appreciated this is a task that may need great tact if you are to avoid alienating the volunteer enforcement wing of the community, who in several ways do a better job than the very expensive and hard to manage paid moderators used by the other large platforms. FeydHuxtable (talk) 21:42, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• Just for information: Jan was the one who declared the open war of the WMF against the communities together with Eric Möller in the MV-disaster. He was the one who worked with extreme hostility against the deWP. I don't have the faintest idea ,how such a completely disgraced person in regard of community interaction could have become head of trust and safety, he is the very opposite of trustworthy from the community perspective. Grüße vom Sänger ♫ ^(talk) 21:44, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• @JEissfeldt (WMF): Thank you for your statement, Jan. Despite what I'm about to write, I do appreciate you taking the time to make it. First I want to welcome this:
  "We will improve our coordination with community-elected bodies like ArbCom across the movement when carrying out our duties."
  However, I have grave concerns about a couple of the statements you make, namely:
  "the reasons that Trust & Safety cases will not be discussed in public and often not even privately with members of the Wikimedia movement who sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) ... This means that even in cases where users have signed a community NDA, our legal obligations may not allow us to share information given to us." This is the part that's unacceptable to the community. It is a mistake to think that your staff are going to be any more capable of preserving privacy than the elected representatives of our community who are bound to the same level of confidentiality. If you have evidence of ArbCom failing to meet their obligations on that front, then say so. There's no need for chapter and verse, but we deserve to be informed if T&S no longer has faith in ArbCom's ability to perform its mandate.
  Secondly, "In cases where community influences or barriers interfere with the meeting of these minimum standards, the Foundation may step in to enforce the standards - even in situations where the local community dislikes or outright opposes those standards. You need to tell us plainly exactly what minimum standards the English Wikipedia community fell short of in this case. You are wrong to suggest that the English Wikipedia community dislikes or opposes any of the standards expressed in TOU, and I hope you'll either justify it or retract that slur. In fact we not only have policies that make clear our support for the standards you're so keen on, but also policies and precedents that show how we deal with breaches of those standards.
  In conclusion, I for one, am not willing to stand by and see T&S arbitrarily impose a parallel, yet unaccountable, scheme of dispute resolution on the English Wikipedia. If you want to meet your remit and supply support for editors who don't feel able to use our dispute resolution procedures themselves, then bring a case on their behalf and allow the community's elected ArbCom to decide the case. Otherwise you need to consider why the English Wikipedia should not simply abandon its present procedures, disband ArbCom and refer all of the disputes to T&S. --RexxS (talk) 21:45, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

RexxS. My reading of the statement regarding not communicating with NDA users was that it meant that the WMF was under the impression that they had legal obligations to keep some complaints internal. If that is the case, then there would be no way for them to effectively handle these complaints without allowing some internal proceedings. I think that this could be a result of an interpretation of GDPR, based off of discussion higher on this page. StudiesWorld (talk) 21:49, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

ARBCOM doesn't decide on cases unless DR or ANI fails first and I for one would never go to ANI on a conduct or bullying issue. Sir Joseph ^(talk) 21:51, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

That is simply not true, not in cases involving privacy. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 22:14, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I was going to say the same thing as Rexx about the "minimum standards", but he did it better than I would have. We have no idea how the community is 'falling short' of Terms of Service, so we are all literally in the same boat as Fram! I also take umbrage at SuSa will create a complaint processing map of its and related community workflows to make more transparent to the team’s stakeholders - communities, affiliates, Foundation staff, and partners - what kinds of complaints the team refers to community processes under current practice and which types it does handle. The program will reduce the risk of double work on the same issues from staff and volunteer functionaries... To me this is confirming what I suspected - the Trust and Safety goal is to supplant administrators on anything it cares about - and any powers they retain is merely current practice, a historical accident. T&S will super-protect, super-delete, super-ban, super-bias anything it wants any way it wants, and then the community is free to ban anybody else because who really cares. And I expect that like any other social media company, no one will really know why or what they will go after. Wnt (talk) 22:23, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• I understand that there are going to be times that a final authority will need to exercise some drastic action. However, until now, that has been limited to things that are so serious as to require an indefinite global ban, and I am unaware of any global ban that has seen a wider community challenge it because of that understanding that the tool would only be used for such extremely serious activities (child protection and such things). I am still at a loss as to how a user can have a time-limited ban for behavior and not be informed as to exactly what behavior is at issue. The Foundation is seemingly deciding to both impose on this community a standard on civility that it has repeatedly rejected and also failing to actually define that standard. You are effectively saying to any user dealt in this way that their conduct is lacking, but you cannot tell them what that conduct was, but be sure not to repeat that conduct when they are allowed back despite not knowing what the actual conduct in question is. The Trial is not supposed to be an instruction manual. At the end of the day, this is private property, and you may do whatever you wish to do with that property. You can deny access and ban someone, you can impose access and require us to allow somebody to edit. But if you want us to know what is expected of us then you need to explicitly say what that is. nableezy - 21:55, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• @JEissfeldt (WMF): when you say "In acknowledgement of the confusion caused by the application of this newer type of ban, we will not be issuing sanctions against or desysopping those who edited the block or the sysop rights of those who edited the block to date", is that an acknowledgement that it was a bad idea to desysop User:Floquenbeam? Do you regret not re-sysopping him before User:WJBscribe stepped in and did it, less than 24 hours ago? Bishonen | talk 21:57, 13 June 2019 (UTC).
• The key element to me is "not to be considered reversible by a local, or even the global, community, no matter the circumstances or community sentiment" - or, in other words, the community be buggered, T&S are the editorial controllers of Wikipedia and nothing you say or do can change that. Fucking disgusting. DuncanHill (talk) 22:02, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• I like the polite fuck off statement but it solves nothing. There is no escalating blocks or indeed any sort of system to appeal or otherwise moderate it. Hell in a Bucket (talk) 22:20, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• This bothers me: While these changes were the result of the changes to the Trust & Safety team’s processes, and are not an expansion of the team’s scope. You have a contentious claim asserted as a fact. You have a link that looks like it might be a supporting source, but doesn't actually support the rebuttal. In an article I'd tag that with a {{cn}}. Guettarda (talk) 22:28, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• Fire Jan Eissfeldt and his whole T&S-Team. --Informationswiedergutmachung (talk) 22:33, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
  • Nah. Firing people for their failures only breeds fear, not competence, and not improvement. We need a better response to crises, especially when they're entirely self-created. Guettarda (talk) 22:45, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• JEissfeldt (WMF), while I appreciate you at least being willing to put your name on this statement, it is still more of the same. I will be posting a response as to why shortly, point by point to what you said, but in short: The WMF is not a "higher authority" than the English Wikipedia community, and may not overrule it, any more than we could walk into the San Francisco offices, point to an employee, say "You're fired", and expect that to have any effect. WMF is a separate body, but it is not "higher" than the English Wikipedia community. We don't can your employees, you don't can our editors or admins. You also do not overrule or bypass our editorial or community processes. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 22:49, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• Jan, assuming you're taking the time to read all of these comments: if the current NDA does not facilitate communication of matters like this between its signatories and the WMF, is Trust & Safety interested in working with WMF Legal to replace it with an agreement which is compatible with such communication? Or is it your position that this is either impossible, or not worth the time? Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 22:52, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• I appreciate the statement, Jan, but I continue to have significant and severe questions and concern about both the conduct of the Office, of which you are a member; and the Trust and Safety team, of which you head as Lead Manager. I'm going to be frank: I join the sentiments of DuncanHill and Nableezy completely and fully. Now, I originally wanted to discuss how WP:IRL is a fact; but that has been supplanted by another matter: the nature of the ban itself. You note, Jan, in your statement, that these time- and project-limited bans are for "serious concerns that are considered temporary or project-specific in nature". I'm afraid I don't understand how the actions, statements, and behaviors of Fram in any way qualify or otherwise comport with the statement, more or less, of when such bans are to be used; how, exactly, is this situation time-limited? Clarification, both in general and regarding the specifics of this case, would be appreciated. —Javert2113 (Siarad.|¤) 23:00, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• @JEissfeldt (WMF): Thank you for your statement, however, I would dispute "While these changes were the result of the changes to the Trust & Safety team’s processes, and are not an expansion of the team’s scope..." If the manner in which the sanctions were levied against Fram is an example of how they are intended to work, then what has happened is not merely an "change to the processes", it is a usurpation of community rights which is indeed an expansion of T&S's scope, and an extremely unwarranted one at that. That you cannot see this is a significant part of the problem here, and the actual core of the controversy, not whether the sanctions were justified, but that T&S took upon itself a right which is the community's.
  Further, you have said nothing about whether the sanctions were influenced by pressure from the WMF chair, who is, apparently, a personal friend of the complainant. This, if true, is a matter of institutional corruption, and must be dealt with as well. Beyond My Ken (talk) 23:03, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• If it was, they wouldn't dare confirm it so as to protect the complainant. But Raystorm's accusing everybody defending Fram of sexism strongly hints that it is, and I don't think Raystorm realised that was how such an accusation would be received. —A little blue Bori v^_^v ^Bori! 23:10, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• @JEissfeldt (WMF): I am concerned about the basis for the ban and suspicion of lack of impartiality behind it. I would only be satisified if the uncensored reasons were shared with another independent body (presumably the arbitration committee or ombudsperson) to review and conclude the basis of the ban was justified or otherwise. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 23:25, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
• I find the statement from Jan Eissfeldt completely unsatisfactory. Fram has said all he was banned for is on wiki (ie, no email, no personal contacts, etc). Many of us have looked hard at Fram's contributions, and while I have found some which could, say, merit sanctions over language etc, nothing merit the draconian punishment from WMF. My conclusion is that WMF has punished its possible most ardent critic. If you think that will bring WMF any credit: you are wrong. I suspect most Wikipedians find the action of WMF totally despicable, Huldra (talk) 23:32, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• First, thanks to Mr. Eissfeldt for stepping up and communicating. I can appreciate the need for discretion, but considering this office action has the community deeply concerned about the WMF's commitment to transparency, the previous statements from WMFOffice were anything but helpful. When a significant number of volunteers have serious concerns, it was disappointing (if not entirely surprising) to see the Foundation answer with responses that were impersonal, opaque, and bureaucratic. As I stated previously, this attitude goes against Wikipedia's spirit of free participation and mutual respect. It's my sincere hope this will serve as an opportunity for growth, both for WMF and its staff, and our community at large.

I expect after the board meets tomorrow, there will be further dialogue, and hopefully a little more openness where warranted. For now, in the interest of drawing the right conclusions and focusing our energy toward productive ends, we can reasonably infer a few things from Mr. Eissfeldt's statement:

1. Specifics regarding the case against Fram cannot be made public (or shared with anyone outside WMF) as a requirement of the Privacy Policy, and/or other contractual or legal obligations to the complainant
2. Fram was banned for violating the harassment clause of the Wikimedia Terms of Use, but not necessarily our harassment policy
3. WMF considers WP:HARASS inadequate in covering violations of the ToU, or else it views ArbCom as incapable of adequately enforcing WP:HARASS (or both)

We are not going to get details about who accused Fram of what, ever. Nor would we if this had gone to ArbCom, nor should we in a serious case of harassment. All we can hope is that the board will review it, and if they uphold it, give us a sense of why it was justified. IMHO, a year ban seems like a lot, even for one as prickly as Fram, but I don't know what happened.

I think we can all agree this was needlessly disruptive for a variety of reasons. The core of the issue though, is that the ToU (as interpreted by WMF) don't align with WP:HARASS (as interpreted by ArbCom/the community). We can do very little to change the ToU or the WMF (not that it's stopped us trying), but this would be an opportune time to review our harassment policy and how it's enforced. We may not think there's any problem, but as long as the WMF disagrees, this sort of thing is bound to keep happening. With any luck, we will receive some clarification on how exactly harassment is defined, vis-a-vis the ToU, and what ArbCom would need to do to better enforce it, thus avoiding the need for office action in the first place. —Rutebega (talk) 23:36, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Superschutz

Superschutz, im englischen Original Superprotect, war ein Gruppenrecht, das die Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) am 10. August 2014 eingeführt hat. Es ermöglichte den Inhabern dieses Rechts, Seiten auch vor Bearbeitung durch Administratoren zu schützen. Das spezielle Gruppenrecht wurde eingeführt, um den Wheel-War vom gleichen Tag um den Medienbetrachter zugunsten der Wikimedia Foundation zu entscheiden. Im November 2015 wurde das Gruppenrecht wieder entfernt

Translation:

Superschutz, in the English original Superprotect, was a group right introduced by the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) on 10 August 2014 . It allowed the owners of this right to protect pages from being edited by administrators. The special group law was introduced to decide the wheel war of the same day to the media viewer in favor of the Wikimedia Foundation. In November 2015, group law was removed.

Say No to Trust and Safety: Nothing, absolutely nothing learned. --Informationswiedergutmachung (talk) 21:48, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Comments from Risker

*Noting that I see Jan Eissfeldt has written something while I was drafting and reviewing the text below, so some of the concerns I have identified may have been (partially) addressed.

Like many English Wikipedians, I have felt very conflicted about the OFFICE action that has imposed a one-year ban on Fram on this project only. Now let's be clear. There are plenty of people on this project who would not have been the least bit distressed if Fram had been blocked and/or desysopped using our own community processes, and I respect that opinion, whether or not I share it. I've also had a long and generally positive experience working with what is now the Trust & Safety team, going back more than 10 years. Most of my problems center around the processes that have led to this action. My critique of recent events is focused primarily on the process.

Complete lack of communication in the change of use of OFFICE actions: Until this week, everyone on English Wikipedia understood that an OFFICE action against a user was taken when there was no appropriate local process to address the issue, or the issue needed to be addressed globally. We knew this meant things like paedophile advocacy, realistic threats of harm against other users, deception in access to non-public personal information, or something to that effect. It was big, it was major, and it was quite literally unaddressable by the community, and it justified a permanent removal from all projects.

Then came the ban on Fram. It is localized, it is of comparatively short duration, it is unappealable, and it is for reasons that are deliberately not being shared with the community. This is pretty much the opposite of what everyone on this project (and in fact, just about everyone in the global community) understood OFFICE actions were all about. This change in use of the OFFICE power has been completely undiscussed with the Wikimedia community in any formal setting of which I am aware, at either a local enwiki level or a global level. This is a major failure of communication, because it leaves contributors uninformed of what kinds of behaviour may lead to OFFICE actions. It is clear from what we have learned from the Dewiki and Zhwiki communities that the practice of localized bans was put into place some months ago (although this appears to be the first non-permanent ban), so there is no justification for failing to inform the global community of the change in the use of OFFICE actions.

Failing to differentiate between previous OFFICE actions and this new type of action: Until this past week, it was widely understood that OFFICE actions were permanent removals of a person from all projects. It was the "nuclear weapon" that both local and global communities recognized was needed in certain narrow circumstances, and that is why it has been respected for many years. This current usage is not in any way similar to that usage. While Trust & Safety may feel that they need to carry out these (potentially temporary) local actions, it is very inappropriate to be using the same tool for this as it is for those well-understood "nuke" situations. If a user is not so irredeemable that they are still allowed to contribute on other projects, then a different tool is called for. It is not reasonable to use the biggest weapon in the arsenal to deal with a localized issue; surgical precision is required, and OFFICE is not it.

Target selection: This is the first OFFICE ban of its kind, a time-limited single-project ban affecting a user on the largest Wikimedia project. In order to develop community buy-in for this new process, it was important that the target of the ban be someone who was clearly behaving in a way that was (a) unacceptable to a significant part of the community and (b) whose inappropriate actions were focused on the ordinary editorship. Community buy-in should be a primary goal in taking such an unprecedented action, particularly when it disproves everything that the community understood about such actions. It is unreasonable to believe that Fram is the only "problem" user whose behaviour is being watched by the Trust & Safety staff. The WMF should have waited until they had a better target.

Fram's reputation on this project revolves mainly around two things: he is very active, productive and generally appropriate in his content and administrator work, and he has been a thorn in the side of the WMF technology/developer teams for a very long time. There have been some justified complaints about the manner in which he has interacted with WMF staff. Fram also has a pretty good history of being right when pointing out problems with software or technical matters, and going against WMF Tech/Development (especially when they are creating major issues that have large-scale negative impacts) has historically been one of the most frustrating and thankless tasks that community members could take on, which has earned him the grudging respect of community members in some quarters. There is also a history here of concerns or complaints about Fram from people who have or are perceived to have a disproportionate influence on WMF staff compared to "average" contributors. Whether or not this history was involved in any way in the final decision to block, it is the one point that is clearly visible to the community when we look at Fram's contributions.

Involvement of stewards: Stewards are specifically selected by the global community to carry out certain technical activities. They are specifically *not* selected for their understanding of or ability to carry out dispute resolution, content management, or individual user behaviour management. They do not have the knowledge, experience, or scope to deal with these situations. Nothing that occurred here, particularly as it is a local ban, required or even suggested there would be any useful input or action on the part of stewards. On enwiki, only users with super-advanced permissions (i.e., checkuser and oversight, Arbitration Committee, and those who run the Arbcom elections) have any reason to work with stewards, and the majority of stewards have no connection to the enwiki community. That they have "more information" than even the local dispute resolution body about this block is extremely disturbing. If the WMF wants to turn stewards into their "community authority", then the global community needs to be informed, and the global community needs to have the opportunity to select stewards on a completely different basis.

The illusion of safety: The overall impression given by the OFFICE action in this case is that the WMF has decided to implement a radical change in its manner of dealing with what it perceives to be unacceptable behaviour on the part of individual community members without formally discussing with either the global or local community, and has used a tool that was previously only used for very serious situations that were clearly outside of the ability of local communities to address. The WMF is treating this as a shot across the bow for communities to....well now, here's the hard part. It's completely unclear what their concern is here, what they want us to change, what they see as problematic. It comes across as a FUD campaign: we'll temporarily ban people who did something wrong according to rules we haven't shared, but we won't tell you what they did, what can be done to prevent similar actions, or whether we'll change the [unshared] rules again without telling you. This is why even people who don't like Fram, and even those who think Fram was behaving unacceptably, are having a hard time with this ban. Bluntly put, I feel much less safe working on a Wikimedia project today than I did a week ago, because one of the most fundamental understandings I had about working here has now been proven wrong.

A message to the community: Please, stop being cruel to individuals whose names have come up in the course of this issue; if ever you wondered why User:WMFOffice exists, those of you who have overpersonalized this situation have illustrated the point quite well, while also not helping to bring impartial eyes to the situation. Admins and 'crats, please don't unblock/resysop again until more of the dust has settled and we have had the chance to talk this out as a community. Let's stop the "fork" conversations; it's not going to happen. There are issues, yes. Some of these need to be addressed at a global level, not just here on enwiki, and we will need to consider exactly what message we want to send, how we can encourage other projects to understand and join in our message, and what outcome we really want to see. Let's take some time to think about that.

Risker (talk) 21:24, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Was there any involvement of stewards in this? I don't recall any. Vermont (talk) 21:31, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

#Why were Stewards notified in advance and not ArbCom? higher up on this page. --GRuban (talk) 21:40, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Well said, Risker, and thank you. Enigma^msg 21:35, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

That's a very good summary, thanks. --Tryptofish (talk) 21:40, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks also from me.--Ymblanter (talk) 21:44, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Well said as usual, Risker. I do believe Jan's simultaneous statement has somewhat addressed some of your concerns, particularly the "illusion of safety" bit, but there's still a lot of "finding common ground" to be done here. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 21:47, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I am afraid the statement actually confirmed the worries of the safety illusion.--Ymblanter (talk) 22:00, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I'm referring more to the "we banned someone and we're not saying why" aspect of that section. Jan was a little more clear on that than the previous WMFOffice statements. Not as clear as they could have been, probably, and certainly not as clear as some of the loudest voices would like, but if those voices think we're ever going to have full public hearings of sensitive harassment cases on Wikipedia, they're delusional. But no, I feel no more (nor less) "safe" from Office actions now than I did yesterday, nor on April 16th nor in 2014, for that matter. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 23:00, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Ivanvector, I don't feel any safer because of Jan's statement. It is good that at least some of the communication issues have been recognized, but it is only one small part of this. And no, when we still have no idea what kinds of interactions are triggering T&S warnings to users, let alone bans, there's more that has to be done here. Risker (talk) 23:24, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Note on the involvement of stewards: Indeed we are not selected for dispute resolution, but that isn't our role vis a vis global bans. Our role there is oversight of a Foundation process, specifically regarding use of advanced access by Foundation staff on-wiki and application of the appropriate global policies. Those are areas that we have always been involved in, and are not a change from the status quo. That said, I agree that for local Foundation actions they should be looping in the appropriate local group. -- Ajraddatz (talk) 21:49, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Very wise words. Yeah the Fork idea does seem a non starter. There's been dozens of attempts over the years to create a successful Fork. No one serious wants to fund another elitist Citizendium, but in the case of inclusionist Forks, they sometimes attract millions in Funding. ( E.g. Everipedia (which raised over 30 million, and includes a blockchain implementation) & more recently Golden (which raised over 5 million.) There's a reason why even hyper inclusionist search giants like Google don't provide them the support they need. Given that nothings ever perfect in this wicked world, they've concluded that Wikipedia is already about as good as it gets. FeydHuxtable (talk) 21:52, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

The WMF is endangering it. The idea of a fork would be to take it away from them to save it, not to start all over from zero articles. Yngvadottir (talk) 22:01, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

No one ever tries to start from zero articles (Well they do, but when that happens it's not a fork by definition.) The fork attempts useually start with a full copy of the Wikipedia database. But so far they never take off, even when they have millions of dollars of seed funding along with advantages like a much better UI and a deeply inclusionist ethos. I was surprised to read someone as perceptive as yourself seems to have such low trust for WMF. Maybe you could meet a few WMF staffers at the various RL events they often attend - they're not so bad once you get to know them. Though I agree this Fram affair could have been handled better, to put it mildly. FeydHuxtable (talk) 22:19, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I agree with most of that, and thank Risker for a good distillation of my own hard-to-put-into-words concerns. A more general, but (sorry Risker) even better written distillation coming from a slightly different direction is here. But I'm much more pessimistic than Risker: unless Doc James comes away from this widely over-anticipated meeting tomorrow and has been shown proof (rather than just be assured that proof exists) that I'm 100% off base, my faith in WMF T&S - which until recently, until 3 goddamn days ago, was nearly unshakeable - is irretrievably broken. They were like the one portion of WMF I respected. Now I realize that WMF in general (and now I'm guessing T&S in particular) literally doesn't care whether my trust in them is broken; I'm an easily replaceable cog. Maybe a few of my peers here care, which is why I even bother to spend time typing this. --Floquenbeam (talk) 22:04, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• "stop being cruel to individuals." Bottom line. The problem begins and ends with that issue. Thank you Risker for laying out that issue. Montanabw^(talk) 22:10, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for your kind words, and for picking up an important point (even if it's something of a buried lede), Montanabw. I'll point out, though, that we really don't know what constitutes "cruel" in the minds of the WMF at this point. Risker (talk) 23:24, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• As far as I can tell, earlier discussion of this sort of thing might have been somewhere in the large number of pages (and subpages) at meta:Community health initiative. Not sure, but I saw something there which I can't now find. Possibly by User:SPoore (WMF) (FloNight). I can understand that she may not want to comment here in any official role, so I'll go and ask over there. There is some interesting discussion at meta:Talk:Community health initiative/User reporting system consultation 2019. e.g. "Formal private reporting systems" and ArbCom. And looking even closer, I see you (Risker) and other former and current arbs are already aware of that page. So if the WMF were consulting on all this, why were changes made and implemented in this fashion, or am I conflating separate issues? Carcharoth (talk) 22:34, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for reminding me of that page, Carcharoth - enwiki functionaries were directly invited to comment. My comment centered around the fact that there was a major conflation between disruptive editing and harassment in a lot of what was there. That "consultation" is still ongoing, so I doubt it had any significant bearing on this specific case, which seems to have been initiated about 14 months ago, based on what Fram has said. Risker (talk) 23:24, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

I realiza a lot of people have thanked you already, but these comments are spot on. —pythoncoder (talk | contribs) 23:23, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

On the Nature of Shitstorms: A case study in how to not handle a T&S ban

Let's start by saying harassment is a problem across the internet in general, and Wikipedia is not immune to it. I also agree with Rob13 in broad strokes and many others that enwiki can be bad for witch hunts, and that how we, as a community, respond to it is not always the most humane and decent way. But what makes harassment tricky is that it is also, in many cases, subjective, and there is a significant amount of the population that conflate feeling harassed with harassment has happened.

Small aside on the cultural norms in Western society

There is also a natural (and fairly recent, in liberal Western society) desire/instinct to "acknowledge/believe/validate the 'victim' party" which presumes guilt, and competing with the desire/instinct to presume innocence (an operating principle of Western democracies), which "blames/disbelieves/invalidates" the 'victim' party. In any situation, this to leaves several outcomes, from clear cut cases Accused is provably guilty and punished Accused is provably innocent, and walks away to less desirable ones Accused is guilty, but not provably so, and walks away, satisfying the 'presumption of innocence' people Accused is not guilty, but looks 'guilty enough' in the eyes of the whoever makes the call, satisfying the 'believe the victim' people And this is further compounded by the nature of the beast that someone may very well genuinely feel victimized by something because their cultural norms are distinct from the ones of the community, or because they have genuinely misinterpreted a comment in a way that it was not meant to be. We can imagine walking into a strange land and being genuinely offended that you're getting spit on when entering someone's house, because in most Western society, spitting on someone is considered a form of assault and disrespect. But in another culture, the same action may very well have the meaning of 'I am sharing my water with you' and a sign of respect. And there is also a third option, often less considered, that spitting is simply a thing people do and give no thought about, and they'll just spit wherever and you happened to be where the thing lands on.

The TLDR of that aside is that harassment is complicated and has no single solution than can make everyone happy, especially in cases where different cultural standards are at play.

However, the issue here is that the WMF has cocked up the response so badly that both their competence and legitimacy is no longer accepted by default by a sizeable amount of the community. No one is faulting the T&S team of wanting to protect the safety/privacy of whoever made a complaint. However, in light of what the community knows, here are some plausible scenarios, in increasing order of malignity from the WMF and the T&S team.

1. T&S has unquestionable evidence/proof that Fram has engaged in what most objective third parties would consider harassment, and that this behaviour is both long term and unlikely to improve.

   The problem with this scenario is that this goes against what little is known about the WMF ban. We have diffs of, at its most egregious, a minor content dispute about acceptable sourcing. The reason most people in the community would not support a harassment ban based on those is because telling someone to use appropriate sourcing isn't harassment. It may not make the person being told to step up their game feel great, but it is not harassment. There may be other behaviour, but slapping {{cn}}/{{blp}}/{{third party}} tags and removing poorly sourced content isn't grounds for a ban.

2. T&S has questionable evidence/proof of the above. For example, something can be quite rude in one culture, but not in another. Or someone with hard line beliefs taking offense at a point of order that does not align itself with the belief of that person.

   The problem with this scenario is that you side with a side simply because of the narrative that they feel victimized. While we should do our best to avoid those situations when possible, they are also unavoidable on a project as large and diverse as this one. Should we start banning editors simply because certain people cannot get their views and feelings accepted as reality, and feel harassed because of this? Again no. The question here is on what grounds does the WMF think they can overrule our cultural norms and replace them with theirs, or that their norms have more legitimacy than ours? Enwiki is not a project where we need to have an external arbitrator impose 'fairness' onto us in the same way it might be needed on a smaller wiki with a lower diversity of editors, where you may have strong biases against other ethnic groups, due to the cultural norms of the social groups speaking that language.

3. T&S hold that criticism of ARBCOM is harassment/bannable, or is harassment/bannable because it had swear words and a pissed off tone in it.

   We're getting at Stasi / Gestapo levels of dystopia here. One may argue that there is a violation of WP:CIVIL, but WP:CIVIL was not raised in the context of this situation. If we start banning, AT THE WMF-LEVEL NO LESS, people for saying 'Fuck ARBCOM', should we also start banning our best people for writing things like "Shit I cannot believe we had to fucking write this month"? Wikipedia is made of people, and if the very institutions of Wikipedia give cause to Wikipedians to be angry, they will act as angry people, and rightfully so. Fuck specific editor, they're an incompetent asshole. Sure, block that. Fuck specific institution, they're incompetent. That does not fall anywhere near the remit of T&S.

4. T&S silenced a WMF critic, either at the direct behest of WMF, or through some Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?-type of zealousness from an employee, thinking it would please their employer.

   While I feel this is mostly a crackpot theory, the shit-poor handling of this by T&S and complete lack of transparency has left the community to find explanations for why Fram was banned. And, because no explanation has been forthcoming, and that good faith explanations are lacking and problematic, this leaves the real, if perhaps implausible, possibility of something willfully nefarious at play.

The whole clusterfuck here is that we are not convinced that #1 is what is happening here, and every response we had from User:WMFOffice so far fails to convince us that #1 happened. It is thus actually irresponsible of the community to fail to entertain scenarios where #1 is not what is happening. And because the community is made up of diverse humans, they will respond as diverse humans will. Some with calm, some with rage, some with a 'let's wait' approach, others with a 'let's fucking burn the whole thing into the ground and make them pay' approach. And they will continue to do so until the WMF convinces us that Fram's ban is a case #1, or that the WMF rescinds the ban and gets their T&S team up to date on what is or is not acceptable action.

How anyone working at T&S lacks the necessary insight to know their actions would not result in this fully avoidable shitstorm is beyond me. Especially since apparently a similar situation happened on dewiki before.

Perhaps that is why Shitstorm is a full (and well written) article in German, and while Shitstorm is nothing but a disambiguation page in English. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 22:13, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

(Actually that appears to be INcreasing order of malignity; might want to change that.) --Elmidae (talk · contribs) 22:17, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

@Elmidae: Yes, I'll fix that, thanks. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 22:22, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• @Headbomb: - an excellent piece. The latest response by the WMF, while superior to its predecessors, really failed to even mention two areas (as opposed to vagueness/avoidance on all the others). 1) How the accused could have a fair defence in the current format 2) Why should the local Communities trust T&S' judgement Nosebagbear (talk) 22:44, 13 June 2019 (UTC)
  • @Nosebagbear: With the understanding that the 'fair defense' bit does not need necessarily need to happen in our view, if indeed, having a public hearing would jeopardize someone's safety (which here, would be likely, given the vitriol caused by the WMF). Proceedings can all be private, but what needs to be clear to Fran is what the violating behaviour was, and what needs to be clear to us is what the nature of the behaviour was. But sadly, while something vague like (I'm completely making this up)

"Fram is banned for 1 year, as a T&S enforcement relating to long-term harassing behaviour against specific editor(s)"

might have been acceptable before, this will likely no longer cut it. An oddball solution might be that whowever made the complaint makes a WP:CLEANSTART and gives WMF permission to air the details, although it might not be possible if that person divulged their real life identity on wiki. Not that I'm comfortable asking a complainer to make a clean start to begin with. An alternative is to have ARBCOM (perhaps with certain recusals, if ARBCOM members are involved somehow) privately review a more thorough portion (not necessarily complete) of the evidence/problem behaviour in question under NDA and see if they agree a T&S violation was indeed the case. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 23:08, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

NSA Hypocrisy

The WMF has, for some time now, been engaged in long-running lawsuit against the NSA.

The NSA have indeed been extremely non-transparent about their actions, and are now prepping a state secret defence that they need to keep it secret in order to protect others. The WMF has opposed this viewpoint significantly.

Yet the WMF now expects us to accept a complete lack of transparency on the pure justification on the protection of others - despite significant negative side effects.

...The hypocrisy seems unbelievable Nosebagbear (talk) 22:48, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

The slight difference being that the WMF hid the identity of a victim of harassment while the NSA hid that they spied on millions of people. AdA&D 22:53, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Indeed, but many defend the NSA's actions as necessary for saving lives - and a lack of trust makes accepting that transparency morally risky, however justified it may fundamentally be Nosebagbear (talk) 22:59, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Editor retention

It's been noted by various people that if you piss off the volunteers, they leave. This is certainly true. However, I strongly suspect that the people who worry about our governance process, or are even aware of its existence, is a very small faction of our volunteer community. They may do a disproportionately large share of the editing (not to mention all the mopping), but overall, they're not who we need to be worried about when we're talking about editor retention.

The pie chart I've linked to is five years old, but I doubt anything has changed much. The top 10,000 people, which almost certainly includes all the people who have commented here, contributed 1/3 of the edits. The rest of the community contributed 2/3.

Let's assume WMF does some hypothetical thing which pisses off enough of the top 10K, that 10% (uniformly distributed) of them quit. Let's further assume that this same action makes wikipedia a more user-friendly place by reducing aggressive behavior, threatening language, and disharmony. Which results in a 10% increase in retention among the long tail of the community. This gives us 3% fewer total edits from the big users, but 6% more total edits from the small users, for a net increase of 3%. Even if you stipulate that this thing done by the WMF was a breach of process, it's still a win as far as increased community involvement is concerned.

Yeah, I know. The numbers are somewhat made up. And it doesn't take into account that the top 10% includes essentially all of the users with advanced capabilities. But, the WMF doesn't exist to (only) serve the serve the power users. It exists to serve the entire user community. As do all of us in the admin corps. My value as an admin isn't when I adjudicate some highly technical AfD argued by policy-quoting experts on both sides. It's when I help a newbie with something that needs a mop and convert them into a long-term contributor. I think we sometimes lose sight of that.

-- RoySmith (talk) 23:06, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

RoySmith, I think you're right to a degree, and we should generally try to avoid having a bite for new contributors. That being said, though, pissing off a few senior contributors to the extent they leave might have the same impact as annoying thousands of new contributors, since many of them only edit once and never again. We need to think very carefully before we do that. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 23:29, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

Editorial independence of the English Wikipedia community and response to Jan

This statement addresses the above one from the WMF. Simply put: The English Wikipedia editor community is entirely editorially independent from the Wikimedia Foundation. That means that, in addition to not deciding what English Wikipedia content may be, the WMF may not decide who may or may not write it. We have asked the WMF to step in for a few areas, such as child protection, threats of harm, or legal issues. However, it should be noted that the English Wikipedia community handled these issues before the WMF even existed. Wikipedia founded the WMF, not the other way around. The WMF exists to serve, not rule, the community, and absolutely may not step into any situation without being invited to do so. And the WMF may never, under any circumstances, overrule the community. The following is a direct response to Jan's statement and its numerous inadequacies, including its failure to concede editorial independence of the English Wikipedia to our editor community. We will not accept less than that.

Dear members of the English Wikipedia community,

My name is Jan Eissfeldt and I’m commenting in my role as Lead Manager of the Wikimedia Foundation Trust & Safety team about the team’s recent investigation and office actions. In addition to this comment, the Trust & Safety team will be making a statement at Arbitration Committee Requests/WJBscribe tomorrow.

I want to apologize for the disruption caused by the introduction of new type of sanctions without better communication with this community beforehand. While these changes were the result of the changes to the Trust & Safety team’s processes, and are not an expansion of the team’s scope, I know that these changes to the processes came as a surprise to many people within the community, and that many of you have questions about the changes.

This is not acceptable. You do not "communicate changes" to the English Wikipedia community. You ask if you may make them. If the community says "no", you do not make them, or at least you do not implement them here. WMF is not a "higher authority", and you may not push through changes without the consensus of our community. The problem is not (only) poor communication, it is entirely inappropriate action. The WMF may not overrule the English Wikipedia editorial community.

Responding to community concerns about the office action requires deliberation and takes some time. We have been in active dialogue with staff and others - including the Board - to work on resolutions, but we understand that the time this takes opens the door for speculation and allowed concerns to expand.

You have, however, not been in active dialogue with the English Wikipedia's community.

I realize that this situation has been difficult for the English Wikipedia’s Arbitration Committee (ArbCom). The Trust & Safety team apologizes for not working more closely with them in the lead-up to this point. We will improve our coordination with community-elected bodies like ArbCom across the movement when carrying out our duties.

Actually, you used to do this when I was on ArbCom. In the instances you had concerns about a user, you forwarded it to ArbCom. So, it is not "We will ban a user based on private evidence, heads up ArbCom", it is "We have concerning evidence about a user, here it is ArbCom." Except in cases of child protection, threats of harm to self or another, or United States law or court order, the WMF does not have the authority to ban editors on the English Wikipedia.

I also want to elaborate on the reasons that Trust & Safety cases will not be discussed in public and often not even privately with members of the Wikimedia movement who sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). When we receive non-public information, the Wikimedia Foundation must handle it in a manner that is both consistent with our Privacy Policy and any other commitments made to the person disclosing their information. When dealing with sensitive allegations of inappropriate behavior, we must ensure that we are upholding a relationship of trust and confidence with people who have entrusted us with personal information about their experiences. This means that even in cases where users have signed a community NDA, our legal obligations may not allow us to share information given to us.

If you require an updated NDA, have Legal develop a better one. You must be allowed to share information with the community organizations, such as ArbCom, involved. If your current NDA and policies don't allow that, ask for Legal's assistance to fix them so they do allow it.

Additionally, I want to explain the reason for using a role account when performing office actions and during follow up communication. Decisions, statements, and actions regarding things such as Office Actions are not individually-taken; rather, they are a product of collaboration of multiple people at the Foundation, oftentimes up to and including the Executive Director. As a result, we use the WMFOffice account as a “role” account, representing the fact that these are Foundation actions and statements, not a single person’s.

Do you really think your volunteer administrators have never gotten harassed or threatened as a result of on-wiki actions they took? I really wish I had the thirteen page death threat I once received for deleting an article, telling me in exquisite detail how the individual planned to torture and murder me. I just got a laugh out of it. If someone actually means to hurt you, they won't threaten you, they'll just do it. (Much of what they described was probably physically impossible, too.) If you take an action, you put your name on it. If it is Katherine who approves these bans, she should provide notice of them from her account. If you know what you did was right, stand behind it and put your damn name on it. Not some poor WMF staffer tasked to do it; the person who ultimately made the final signoff on the matter.

I've gotten a whole load of death threats, "You're a __________!", "You're corrupt!", whatever else, from decisions I've made as a volunteer on the English Wikipedia over this past decade. Now WMF wants to tell me that people who get paid to do this get to use some anonymous account, while I put my name on everything I did and still do? (For the record, I wouldn't have used some anonymous account even if I had the option. If I make a decision, I made it, and I will take responsibility for it. But if those of us who don't get paid a nickel put our names on what we do, and sometimes suffer negative consequences for it, you damn well can too when you're getting a paycheck to do it. If occasionally the reaction to that is negative—tough.)

Some of you may remember that Trust & Safety staff used to sign with their individual accounts when discussing Office Actions. Unfortunately, this is no longer possible due to safety concerns for Foundation employees, as in the past staff have been personally targeted for threats of violence due to their Office Action edits. I am taking the step of making this statement personally in this case due to extraordinary necessity.

Again, not acceptable. If you were the final or highest-level person to sign off, put your name to it. That's who is ultimately responsible. It is, at that point, not the "Wikimedia Foundation's" doing, it is your doing. If you would be ashamed to do it, then don't do it.

There continue to be questions from some people about the Foundation’s Trust & Safety team doing investigations about incidents occurring on English Wikipedia. I want to clarify the rationale for Trust & Safety doing investigations when requested and they meet the criteria for review.

Part of the Trust & Safety Team’s responsibility is upholding movement-wide standards based on the Terms of Use. We recognize that each of the hundreds of global communities under the Wikimedia umbrella have their own styles and their own behavioral expectations, but we also believe that there must be a certain minimum standard to those expectations. Sometimes, local communities find it difficult to meet that minimum standard despite their best efforts due to history, habit, dislike by some volunteers of the standard, or wider cultural resistance to these standards. However, it is important to keep in mind that even communities that are resistant to it or are making a good faith effort are expected to meet the minimum standards set in the Terms of Use. In cases where community influences or barriers interfere with the meeting of these minimum standards, the Foundation may step in to enforce the standards - even in situations where the local community dislikes or outright opposes those standards.

The "Trust and Safety Team" may not overrule community processes or consensus. The WMF needs to very, very swiftly disabuse itself of the notion that it is a "higher authority" than the English Wikipedia community. Wikipedia created the WMF, not the other way around. You exist to serve, not to rule, this community. If we say you may not step in for some particular thing, then you keep out of it.

It is important that victims of hostilities like harassment have a safe place to make reports and that we uphold and respect their privacy when they do so. The Foundation is currently working with the community on a User Reporting System that would allow communities and the Foundation to cooperate in handling complaints like harassment, and we have every hope that that system will facilitate local, community handling of these issues. However, at the current time, no such system exists for victims to make reports privately without fear that their “case” will be forced to become public. Indeed, it is often true that a mere rumor that someone was the victim of harassment can lead to harassment of that person. Unfortunately, that has been proven the case here as some individuals have already made assumptions about the identities of the victims involved. Accordingly, the Foundation is currently the venue best equipped to handle these reports, as we are able, often required by laws or global policies, to investigate these situations in confidence and without revealing the identity of the victim. That is why we will not name or disclose the identities of the individuals involved in reporting incidents related to this Office Action.

If the community decides the case should be public, it should be. The WMF does not exist to overrule community decisions it considers wrong. If a case involves private, off-wiki evidence, the ArbCom can already handle that in private. If it does not, it must be handled publicly. If you don't like that—in short, tough. The WMF does not exist to overrule community decisions it considers wrong.

There have been some concerns raised about the level of community experience and knowledge involved in Trust & Safety’s work. The Wikimedia Foundation’s Community Engagement Department, of which Trust & Safety is a part, supports contributors and organizations aligned with the Wikimedia Foundation mission. In order to conduct informed and contextualized investigations, safeguard the community at events, and support community governance, Trust & Safety has focused on building a team with a combination of deep Wikimedia movement experience and team members who have experience with Trust & Safety processes with other online communities. To better assess incidents, the team has people from diverse geographic, linguistic and cultural backgrounds. We have former ArbCom members, administrators, and functionaries, from English Wikipedia as well as other language communities, informing our decisions, and expertise from other organisations helping to build compassionate best practices. We have utilized all of this experience and expertise in determining how best to manage the reports of harassment and response from members of the community.

If they were familiar with the community, they should've known the fallout this would cause. The English Wikipedia jealously guards its editorial independence. If the Foundation staff is not explicitly invited to enter in an area, you are not welcome, and you must stay out of it. Anyone with even a passing familiarity with past Foundation interactions should know that. And the English Wikipedia is not "other online communities", so experience outside it is totally irrelevant.

One of the recent changes to the Trust & Safety policy is the introduction of new options that include time-limited and partial (project-specific) bans to address serious concerns that are considered temporary or project-specific in nature. This change to policy is not a change of the team’s scope of cases taken. However, it does alter the way that sanctions are enforced and unintentionally introduced ambiguity about the ability of local communities to overrule office actions.

This is a very troubling assertion. If previous globally banned editors were banned for similar reasons to Fram, that calls into question every global lock or ban the WMF has ever placed. Did you just accidentally leave Fram a way to defend himself? WMF should be intervening only in the most serious issues, not garden-variety "harassment" claims.

In acknowledgement of the confusion caused by the application of this newer type of ban, we will not be issuing sanctions against or desysopping those who edited the block or the sysop rights of those who edited the block to date. However, despite the ambiguity in its application, the ban continues to stand whether it is being technically enforced by a block or not. Should Fram edit English Wikipedia during the one-year period of their ban, the temporary partial ban of User:Fram will be enforced with a global ban (and accordingly a global lock). We must stress again that Office Actions, whether “technically” reversible or not, are not to be considered reversible by a local, or even the global, community, no matter the circumstances or community sentiment.

Let's neither of us be disingenuous, please. Floquenbeam, Bishonen, and WJBScribe knew they weren't supposed to do what they did. They didn't care and they were very deliberately acting in defiance of your overreach. You may not ban editors for simple incivility, whether or not you like the way the English Wikipedia handles it. It is outside your authority.

The occurrence of Office Actions at times is unavoidable, but it is not our intention to disrupt local communities any further than necessary. Here we failed on that score, caused disruption to your community, and we welcome feedback about how such disruption could be avoided in the future when the Foundation takes Office Actions, and ask that we all engage in a good faith discussion bearing in mind the legal and ethical restrictions placed on anyone within or outside of the Foundation engaging in reports of this nature.

Very well, here's the feedback: Don't ever again take an action of this nature. Take office actions only where the community has agreed you may: United States legal requirements, child protection, or threats of harm to oneself or others. Otherwise, leave control entirely local, and refer any complaints to local English Wikipedia authorities, even if you grit your teeth while you do it.

In addition to asking for feedback about the trust and safety office actions in this incident, over the next year, the Foundation will be asking members of the Wikimedia movement to work with us on several initiatives that are designed to promote inclusivity by ensuring a healthier culture of discourse, and the safety of Wikimedia spaces. --Jan (WMF) (talk) 20:44, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

That's nice. But Wikipedia ain't a "safe space", it's a website. People of a lot of different temperaments are there, and we like it that way. If you're going to participate in a project like it, you need something of a thick skin. It's the real world, not a safe room. But regardless, how it is run is ultimately decided by the community, not the WMF.

For these reasons, this statement, while at least from a named individual, is still inadequate. It tries to reassert that the WMF has the right to step in and overrule the English Wikipedia's community. It does not, and anything less than a full acknowledgement of community control is not acceptable, no matter how nicely it might be worded. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 22:34, 13 June 2019 (UTC)