[Foundation-l] Wikipedia:Office Actions

[Sebastian Moleski]

On 4/26/07, Peter van Londen <londenp at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> You did the same thing again, Mr Gerard: explanation seems futile.
>
> For all the other people this is my proposal, how to work with office
> actions (probably excluding EN:WP, where office-members might be known).
>
> In order to help the office with these kind of actions.
>
> We have on many projects OTRS-systems in place. If there is a necessity to
> delete or change content on an other project then on EN:WP let the
> office-people write an e-mail to the OTRS of that particular project
> (these
> e-mail addresses have been made available to the Office).
> Copyright/privacy/slander is a good reason for speedy  or immediate
> deletion, so OTRS-people can take care of that and immediately.


This is actually a pretty interesting question, especially in light of the
approach you suggested. What I find most problematic with that is that the
authority of OTRS people only goes so far. If action is needed in response
to legal threats, such actions are not always suitable to explanation,
particularly to the extent requested by some community members. Of course,
one can try to sit out such conflicts and make sure the OTRS action stands
but this may easily backfire on the individual ultimately executing the
action. This really is a question of trust, as you point out too, but trust
is sometimes a luxury not at our disposal.

That's why I think it is important for the foundation to be very clear that
in certain occasions actions will be necessary, which can't always be
explained or discussed publicly. In order to avoid accusations of arbitrary
decisions and reduce the potential for conflict, the process must be
documented sufficiently and tactfully respectful of the customs and culture
of the community involved.

Regards,

Sebastian