[WikiEN-l] Harm reduction techniques

[The Cunctator]

On Fri, 2003-05-02 at 15:34, martin at myreddice.freeserve.co.uk wrote:
> Hi all.
> 
> This whole (long) post is going to go at [[meta:bans]], for people who prefer to have 
> the "edit this page" button available:
> http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bans
> 
> It seems to me that our current "zero tolerance" policy towards "banned" users does 
> not have a success rate that we can particularly brag about. We've got Lir (and co), 
> DW (and co), 142.177.etc, Michael (and co), and so it goes on. We ban 'em, they 
> come back under new names and laugh at us. But what are we trying to achieve?
> 
> * Are we trying to ensure the integrity of the banning system?
> * Are we trying to punish racists for being evil people?
> * Or are we trying to build an encyclopedia?
> 
All very well thought out.

An additional suggestion: require summaries on non-minor edits. That
will help all of us in general, and help patrol trolls as an ancillary
benefit.