[WikiEN-l] Will the WMF protect admins acting as their agents to enforce policies?

[Andrew Gray]

[oops, resend to list]

On 19/04/07, Info Control <infodmz at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 4/19/07, Andrew Gray <shimgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> > The admins are chosen and appointed by the community, not by the
> > foundation. The foundation does not control the community.
>
>
> If legally true, the WMF needs to say this and record it so that all admins
> know that legally they are on their own for any action they may take.

It is true; the Foundation is no more responsible for a user's actions
than they are for a user's writing or a user's thoughts.* I don't know
what legal force the Foundation restating basic facts would have, nor
what point it would serve - surely any individual capable of
functioning in society knows full well that they should be responsible
for what they do?

Incidentally, your demands for this and that to be done for Dread
Legal Reasons would be taken more seriously if, you know, you gave
your name.

--
- Andrew Gray
 andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk

* A caveat may apply for a very small fraction of users who do work
directly "for" the Foundation - OTRS correspondents, say - but I
wouldn't stake money on it, and those aren't who we're discussing