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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-- faewik@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae Personal and confidential, please do not circulate or re-quote.
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