[WikiEN-l] /ban pages (was re: Viking ban)

[Jimmy Wales]

martin at myreddice.freeserve.co.uk wrote:
> * Have a different name for the page (eg /complaints, /problems, ...)

How about something like /Peace.  You post on that page with ideas
that you think would make both you and that person happier together.

I'm half-joking, but my point is just this: when we kick off a
discussion of a problem with a page called /ban or /complaints or
/problems, we cause people to go into defensive modes of behavior that
can lead to ego-battles that prevent productive solutions.

Of course there *are* people who can't be reached out to peacefully.
They will lie and cheat and backstab and keep being mean.  If that
happens, then, yeah, the best thing we've come up with so far is to
ask them to leave (and to ban them).

But that's a sad last resort for those few malcontents who won't talk
amiably about what's going on.

--Jimbo