On Thu, Jul 3, 2014 at 1:50 AM, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Moriel and others,
>
> Do you have a list of "realistic changes" in mind for the community?
>
> I hear almost no one say that the typical state of (in)civility on wiki or
> on Wikimedia-l is good enough or that people are being hypersensitive, so I
> get the sense that there's a lot of agreement that we have a cultural
> problem. Ideas for solutions seem to be in short supply, so any "realistic
> changes" that you can suggest would be good to hear, either on this list or
> in IdeaLab.
>
The problem on en.wiki at least is that a vocal minority effectively
prevent any enforcement of the civility policy. This includes a significant
group of admins that are willing to overturn blocks for all but the most
blatant violations of the policy. And because of the wheel warring loophole
(undoing a block is allowed, but reinstating a block is wheel warring,
which is prohibited), there is nothing that anyone can do about it. ArbCom
(or the community) could close this loophole, but so far have not shown
interest in doing so. The single action that I think would be most useful
on en.wiki would be for someone to shepherd an RfC to create a policy
statement that "unilaterally overturning a block is wheel-warring". I know
this sounds very far removed from the issue of making en.wiki more civil,
but I actually think such a change is realistically possible and would go a
long way towards shifting the balance of power away from the trolls and
misogynists.
Alternately, the board or ArbCom could step up and declare that civility is
not to be treated as a second-class policy, but I doubt that would ever
happen.
Ryan Kaldari