Brian McNeil wrote:
I will start by highlighting that I have CheckUser on the English Wikinews. This means I am on the CheckUser-l mailing list and have seen the discussion that has privately taken place about a global blocking mechanism.
My understanding of the requested functionality is that it is primarily for the most irritating IP addresses. We're not talking about someone who might reform if they go to another project, we're talking about people who create dozens of socks and take a perverse joy in making people clean up after them. The people who project hop in the hope of vandalising undetected; the really persistent vandals, not the strongly opinionated. We're talking "Willy on Wheels", not "Wendy on Wako".
If you build an environment of trust this concept would go through more easily, but the enthusiasm that some have shown for the proposal is worrisome. There is no confidence that everyone advantaged by this tool would use it wisely.
It is one thing to say that the tool would only be used against the most flagrant violators; it is quite another to believe that everyone will so limit himself in using a process which must often be performed in secrecy.
The autonomy of projects is important, and members of projects need to feel that the autonomy will not be compromised by others making decisions without consultation with the members of the affected community.
Ec