Fae I'm sorry but that is not true. 

We've said so in many places and by different people, it is a social problem and we will need to tackle it as such. Hence some of the work being done. 

But yes, before tackling that part, we aim to provide a set of tools that will make day-to-day management easier and more efficient. Because if we want to be able to tackle the social issue, we must make sure the "technical" part is handled and efficient. 

I paste here part of Patrick's email on the topic, 2 out of 4 areas aren't tech. And those are first steps: 

   - Better blocking tools and detection - the Wikimedia community works
   hard on the front lines keeping our users safe from harassment, through
   monitoring noticeboards and recent changes for problems, investigating
   “sock” accounts used to abuse contributors, and placing blocks on
   problematic users. Improvements to blocking tools, and the ability to
   detect harassing comments sooner can empower contributors to be more
   effective at these tasks.

   - Reporting and evaluation tools - The current systems for reporting
   harassment are overburdened and can be unclear to users, and there are
   limited tools that admins and stewards can use to evaluate the cases and
   make good decisions. New tools, developed in collaboration with
   functionaries and communities, can improve the experience of reporting,
   investigating and managing harassment cases.

   - Training for better handling of both in-person and online harassment -
   Better training can give contributors the tools and skills to handle
   harassment situations quickly and empathetically, document cases, and
   provide good advice to targets of harassment.

   - Policy and enforcement - Wikimedia communities have developed a
   variety of processes, policies, and approaches to dealing with behavioural
   problems.  As a movement, we need to identify which are working well, and
   share those successes. We also need to identify where our approaches are
   not working well, identify the problems, and try new solutions based on
   research and data.

(for reference his full email : https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2016-December/085668.html)

 

Christophe HENNER Chair of the board of trustees chenner@wikimedia.org +33650664739 twitter @schiste        skype christophe_henner

 

On Tue, Feb 7, 2017 at 11:09 AM, Fæ <faewik@gmail.com> wrote:

I find it depressing that the only actually *planned* way that this
money is going be spent is on developing reports and tools to hunt
down apparent harassers so that they can be blocked. Meh.

For those of us that have experienced obsessive harassment, we know
that this is not a cure. When the harassment continues off-wiki,
sometimes for years, the only advice from the WMF or on-wiki groups is
for the *victim* to vanish, meaning that those that were outed have to
close down their Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. accounts with all the
associated damage that comes with being forced to take a paranoid
path; not even mentioning how the rest of the Wiki-community is
affected by seeing how trolling does not stop until the target
vanishes or goes in to hiding for a few years. A better use of this
money would be to try new methods of engaging with the apparent
harasser and consider ways of encouraging them to change their
behaviour.

I doubt that many of the trolls that post misogynistic, racist or
homophobic rubbish believe in these views, they are seeking attention,
for personal reasons they may not even understand themselves. An
approach to harassment that offers experienced counselling and support
to both victim and attacker has a much better chance of being both an
effective and long-term solution.

Based on the related email discussion, the WMF seem to think that
long-term solutions are a community problem, so that's not something
they have any plans to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on. I'd
much rather see the smaller part of the money spent on more software
development, and the majority spent setting up support services that
handle alleged harassment in a more mature way, even if the people who
are doing the real support work end up being us volunteers.

Fae

On 27 January 2017 at 20:16, Carol Moore dc <carolmooredc@verizon.net> wrote:
> http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/craigslist-founder-donates-500k-to-curb-wikipedia-trolls-1.3259781
>
> Wow! When I think of the 2 plus hrs a week x 385 odd weeks of hours I spent
> dealing with guys who just didn't like the idea that a "female" dared to
> edit - or worse, change their edit - I still tear my hair out.
>
> I just hope it helps!!
>
> I'd like to go back in a few years when hopefully have accomplished other
> goals. Or ENCOURAGE women to edit, as opposed to now having to warn them all
> the time about what they have to do to edit safely!
>
> CM
>
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--
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Personal and confidential, please do not circulate or re-quote.

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