On 11/12/11 10:43 PM, John Erling Blad wrote:
People stop the flame war, try to design a solution!
What would avoid
the problem, and still make it possible for the commons admins to do
their job properly. Everybody knows they screw up from time to time,
its no help if you keep yelling at them. Been there, done that, didn't
help a bit.
Why did it fail this time and what can be changed that makes it less
likely to fail in the future. Is there any easy quick fix, and is
there any larger changes to the overall process.
It failed because:
(a) An administrator (Yann) used a script to post hundreds of deletion
requests that happen to mention the word facebook, without verifying
that they were in fact copied from facebook. Also, posted more than
one per minute, leaving no time for examination, and without any
rationale required by deletion policy.
(b) When policy was cited, Yann stated: "I see that discussion with
you is quite useless."
(c) A mere 5 minutes later, another administrator (BĂ©ria Lima) deleted
the file, appearing to collude with the first administrator instead of
providing independent review. This second administrator has several
other complaints on his Talk about not waiting 7 days to close as
required by policy.
(d) Other deletion requests on the same date without comments have not
been deleted. That is, folks who respond are punished.
My solution is (renumbered):
(1) Use the reviewed flag to indicate each file has had a look. Only
obvious copyvio may be removed, as is policy for speedy deletion.
(2) Once reviewed, no deletion without a formal DMCA complaint,
registered with the Foundation Designated Agent.
(3) Log the date of the deletion request in the database. Prevent
deletion until the 7 day (configured) review time has expired.
(4) Throttle fast scripts from posting deletion requests, just as we
do now with moves. No administrator exception.
(5) Add a new WORD or function that ensures an email notice is
sent for users who haven't checked previous Talk changes.
(6) This email notice should be done upon setting the deletion request
log and actual deletion of watched pages as well, no weekly bundling.
(7) Add an optional phone number for SMS messages instead.
(8) Link the OTRS (or something) to the SUL user for any needed
verification. Keep the email address hidden in the OTRS, just as
in the user database.
(9) Be able to handle diffs from outside sites, for checking that
files are identical or have minor changes.
(10) Better process documentation.
(11) More stringent steward imposed penalties for violations.