[WikiEN-l] Civility poll results

[FT2]

On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 2:11 AM, George Herbert <george.herbert at gmail.com>wrote:

> AGF is a good place to start.
>
> No Personal Attacks is another one, but AGF is more core.
>



I'd settle for a "social contract" - I think "civility" is too loaded a term
in Wikipedia after all the past.

If we were going to design such a page, I'd start with the communal need to
work together and (given the diversity of users) the need to actively avoid
where possible distraction into disputes, and personal squabbles. I'd then
add the following as principles (rewording needed to avoid obvious issues):

   - Wikipedia is a community of diverse individuals. It covers many
   cultures and norms, and sees in that diversity, a source of immense value to
   the project.
   - Dispute resolution is the communally mandated way of resolving all
   disputes. Because disputes can be volatile, dispute resolution is expected
   to be actively promoted by all users who wish to engage in a dispute, either
   by trying to resolve it, or by referring the dispute to a formal resolution
   venue.
   - Users have a proactive duty to mitigate disputes or else avoid them.
   Disputes should be framed around evidenced behaviors and content, and
   participation in a dispute thread is for the sole purpose of calming the
   dispute, and addressing the underlying issue.
   - All participation in a dispute or series of disputes must start from an
   initial presumption that the other party is trying to comply with a good
   standard of conduct, unless there is clear evidence that offsets this. Such
   evidence must be cited, not merely claimed.
   - Administrators and experienced users have twin roles - to procure good
   editorial conduct and enforce upon errant users that substandard conduct
   will not be accepted, and, to do so in a manner that minimizes the dispute
   so far as possible. Users who cannot or will not do this, should avoid
   participation in, and comment upon, the dispute.

I wouldn't propose it in that form, but if those ideas ended up in a dispute
and conduct norm, I would not object.

FT2