I've dealt with suicide notes on Wikipedia twice before and the precedent I set was to notify the authorities as swiftly as possible and put a lengthy block on the account. I stand by Riana's decision to delete the user space. This type of thing is best handled with minimal fuss.
It isn't our call to determine which suicide threats are "legitimate" any more than it's our call to determine which death threats are genuine. Wikipedia's sysops manage a website with over 5 million registered accounts and within any population that large, some individuals will be dangerous. It's enough to know that some are and to understand we're not trained to make the distinction. It's also best in these situations to take firm and rapid action quietly: when a large enough population becomes aware of this the probability approaches one that somebody will do something really foolish.
-Durova
Yes, good work, just calling the police and ignoring your sniff test. Sometimes responsibility is the only call.
And it's easy enough to call saying "I realise it might be a hoax, but I thought I should call just in case." The police are used to dealing sensibly with questionable reports.
- d.
I was just wondering if it would be sensible to have a number of trusted users, administrators and the like listed that can be called upon to make contact with the relevant authorities in any given area. The situation yesterday needs to be dealt with quickly and quietly, no panicking, one person dealing with the situation, and so on. It seems a little unnecessary having to post to the mailing list looking for someone in the area, when a list could be drawn up and it's a simple case of e-mailing the contact(s) responsible for the specific police force responsible, area or country and leaving them to deal with it.
On 02/10/2007, Durova nadezhda.durova@gmail.com wrote:
I've dealt with suicide notes on Wikipedia twice before and the precedent I set was to notify the authorities as swiftly as possible and put a lengthy block on the account. I stand by Riana's decision to delete the user space. This type of thing is best handled with minimal fuss.
It isn't our call to determine which suicide threats are "legitimate" any more than it's our call to determine which death threats are genuine. Wikipedia's sysops manage a website with over 5 million registered accounts and within any population that large, some individuals will be dangerous. It's enough to know that some are and to understand we're not trained to make the distinction. It's also best in these situations to take firm and rapid action quietly: when a large enough population becomes aware of this the probability approaches one that somebody will do something really foolish.
-Durova
Yes, good work, just calling the police and ignoring your sniff test. Sometimes responsibility is the only call.
And it's easy enough to call saying "I realise it might be a hoax, but I thought I should call just in case." The police are used to dealing sensibly with questionable reports.
- d.
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On 02/10/2007, Nick heligolandwp@googlemail.com wrote:
I was just wondering if it would be sensible to have a number of trusted users, administrators and the like listed that can be called upon to make contact with the relevant authorities in any given area. The situation yesterday needs to be dealt with quickly and quietly, no panicking, one person dealing with the situation, and so on. It seems a little unnecessary having to post to the mailing list looking for someone in the area, when a list could be drawn up and it's a simple case of e-mailing the contact(s) responsible for the specific police force responsible, area or country and leaving them to deal with it.
That wouldn't be fast enough. If none of the contacts for the appropriate area are online, nothing would be done. I think the mailing list and IRC are the best bets for finding someone quickly - if someone really is planning on committing suicide (and we have to assume they are), then minutes count.