On 3/21/07, Denny Colt wikidenny@gmail.com wrote:
- Reverting banned users: may vs will
The banning policy says, "Any edits made in defiance of a ban may be reverted to enforce the ban, regardless of the merits of the edits themselves". As the policy gives no leeway for them to post on Wikipedia pages anyway, shouldn't this language not contridict the rest of it and say "will be reverted" instead? Why indulge trolls and troublemakers?
Imagine a banned user sneaks in and reverts a vandalism. Or fixes a misspelling. OK, it's annoying, and deliberately defiant, sure, but reverting it, then reverting the vandalism, all that would be extra hassle and is rather procedurally silly. So some slack is useful there, and creating a definite mandate is always a bit difficult to work out (does it get enforced? how?). "May" vs. "Shall" makes our lives easier in that sense. "Should" might make a bit stronger, but in any case I think that is implied.
FF