The lobby of high voltage warning signs disagrees.
Vito
Il giorno lun 7 gen 2019 alle ore 11:37 Yaroslav Blanter ymbalt@gmail.com ha scritto:
Well, in 2019 people should already have come to the notion that blocking locally an acting steward is not really a good idea.
Cheers Yaroslav
On Mon, Jan 7, 2019 at 11:21 AM Vi to vituzzu.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
Because of a truly great idea <
https://am.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E1%88%8D%E1%8B%A9:Log/block&...
the involved user's admin/bureaucrat access was revoked <
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Log?type=rights&user=&page=C...
by Marco Aurelio.
Vito
Il giorno lun 7 gen 2019 alle ore 11:02 Amir Sarabadani < ladsgroup@gmail.com> ha scritto:
Given the response on the talk page [1] I think it's clear violation of nondiscrimination policy [2]
[1] "promotion of homosexuality will not be tolerated here nor will it
be
forced down our throats to suit anyone's international political agenda
if
you expect Ethiopians to take part." [2] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Nondiscrimination
Best On Wed, Jan 2, 2019, 23:09 Risker risker.wp@gmail.com wrote:
I note that we are talking about the block of one single user on one single project; this particular account has thousands of edits over
about a
dozen projects, but is "attached" to hundreds of Wikimedia projects.
The
majority of these "attached" accounts are likely because the editor "visited" the various projects while logged in, activating the
automatic
account creation algorithm. The account was created 8 years ago, and
has
actively edited a wide variety of projects, including several
wikipedias,
Commons, Wikidata, and Meta. While English Wikipedia is the account's "home" wiki, about 55% of the account's global edits have been made
on
Marathi Wikipedia. The Amharic Wikipedia account does not appear to
have
edited, which suggests that it was automatically created when the
editor
was "looking at" the project on 9 February 2018. The block for
account
name was made on 22 October 2018. I note that accounts were created
on
over a hundred projects over the course of a few days in February
The point being raised in this thread is that it appears this editor
was
blocked on one of the 381 wikis on which they have an account,
explicitly
because of the perception that their username calls attention to the
sexual
behaviour of the editor. What we do not know is (a) whether that is
in
fact
a legitimate username block reason on Amharic Wikipedia, or (b) if it
is
a
legitimate username block reason, *why* it would be a username block reason. We don't know why this block was applied so long after the
account
was created. We don't know the username policy on Amharic Wikipedia,
nor
do
we know how it is applied; for example, we don't know if a username
like
"StraightGuy101" would be blocked. We do know that there are only 4 administrators on Amharic Wikipedia, and that there are fewer than 50 active users working on the project, which may be part of the reason
for
the delay between automatic account creation and the account block.
We also know that one of the challenges of single user login for all Wikimedia projects has highlighted the fact that certain usernames
that
are
acceptable on some projects are blocked on other projects; we've
known
that
for years. We know that each project establishes its own policies
when
it
comes to usernames. There are legitimate reasons why a username that
is
acceptable in one language is not acceptable in another language,
even
in
cases where the editor had no knowledge that the chosen username
would
be a
problem in another language. We do know that there have been lots of
cases
where usernames have been blocked for "username policy violation" on
all
kinds of projects, despite the account operating productively on
other
projects.
I also note that there is nothing in this thread that confirms the
editor
themself has raised any concerns about this block, and I am always
wary
of
turning an editor into a "martyr for a cause" without their direct agreement, as that can be as abusive as the original action. So the
first
step in this situation would be to confirm with the individual editor whether or not they want their "case" to be examined.
Should the editor be agreeable, I suggest that the next step is for
someone
who has the ability to converse in Amharic to contact the Amharic
Wikipedia
and find out why the block has been issued, how it is consistent with
the
username policy on Amharic Wikipedia, whether that policy is driven
in
part
by external considerations (e.g., does the project risk heavy
governmental
scrutiny if it appears to "promote" locally unacceptable
activities). I
am
personally curious as to why it took over six months to identify that
this
account did not meet the local username policy, and whether there was internal or external discussion about the username.
It is not clear to me what the desired outcome is in this case - at
least
in part because we have no idea of the opinion of the editor
involved. I
am hard-pressed to say that a project should be required to allow
usernames
that it has a long history of considering unacceptable, especially if
it
is
applied evenly to all accounts; in this case, if it disallows
usernames
that imply sexual preference regardless of what that preference is.
It seems to me that the WMF Trust & Safety group would probably be
the
right group to examine this.
Risker/Anne
On Wed, 2 Jan 2019 at 09:42, Ariel Glenn WMF ariel@wikimedia.org
wrote:
Additional notes: The user's regular page can be viewed on en wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:QueerEcofeminist Queer may have to do with gender identity as opposed to being an
indicator
of 'sexual behavior', so the blockers didn't even get that right.
Example:
I am gender-nonconforming as to my gender identity and expression;
this
is
the primary reason I use the label 'queer'.
I believe this should be reported... somewhere. But I don't know
where.
The
WMF CoC only covers technical spaces. A little help here?
Ariel
On Wed, Jan 2, 2019 at 4:26 PM Fæ faewik@gmail.com wrote:
Do we have cross project policies to govern or limit local
policies
for the use of sysop tools? I would like to pass on policy
advice,
and
any past cases folks here would like to highlight that set a precedent.
The case below is illustrative, though based on my recall of
several
complaints which went nowhere over the years, on email lists, and Jimmy's talk page, about apparently arbitrary blocks on different non-English Wikipedias, it seems reasonable to believe those complaints are the tip of the iceberg, and there are likely to be
many
historical cases of blocks that could have been appealed... had
the
user been confident to complain in English, and have the energy
to
pursue generic WMF policies on terms of use, or harassment/discrimination, to establish a meta-level case.
# Example case
An account block on the Amharic Wikipedia (am.wp) was flagged up yesterday on the WM LGBT+ Telegram discussion group.[3] The
rationale
for blocking the account was because the account name includes
the
word "Queer"[1]. The incident raises questions about process and accountability, particularly as the block gives the impression
that
this is the norm or an agreed interpretation of policy for sysops
on
am.wp, and because the user is well established using this
account
name across Wikimedia projects and has never edited am.wp so the
block
cannot be based on any prior action or dispute.
In this example there is no obvious process for appeal, if sysops
on
that project think that blocking any LGBT+ related account name represents local consensus. After off-wiki discussion, the WMF
Trust
and Safety team has been approached for advice,[2] as the
rationale
for the action appears hostile to any openly LGBT+ volunteers who might want to include something queer looking in their account
name
(such as my account name, should anyone want to read it as
transgender
related).
# Links
https://am.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%88%8D%E1%8B%A9:Contributions/QueerEcofemin...
; the block log states "Names calling attention to your sexual
behavior
have never been allowed here in 15 years and aren't suddenly
allowed
in 2018" 2. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Trust_and_Safety 3. https://telegram.me/wmlgbt
Thanks Fae -- faewik@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_LGBT+
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