[WikiEN-l] WR's secret forum and list

[Aude]

On Dec 10, 2007 10:43 PM, Risker <risker.wp at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Actually, what is needed is some vision and willingness to recognise this
> is a community problem, not a problem affecting just a few people.  What I
> mean is to establish a list of supportive administrators (at least a few
> of
> whom have checkuser) who are willing to give their real names to police to
> support victims' allegations, and for the Foundation's Privacy Policy to
> permit release of information specific to these types of allegations to
> law
> authorities in whatever country. Instead of online group therapy led by
> untrained individuals (which has been proven to be as dangerous as it is
> sometimes comforting), develop lists of resources within communities.
>  Reach
> out to major law enforcement agencies and develop relationships with their
> cyberstalking units.
>
> One of the harms of online groups like this does more to closet the
> victims
> and withdraw them from the support of the entire community. It really does
> need some professional guidance.  And given that it has, to now, been
> invitation-only, victims have never known that there was someplace to turn
> to.
>
> Wikipedia isn't an island, we are in the real world and should make use of
> real world systems to  solve what is, at the end of the day, a real world
> problem.
>
> Risker
>

Agree with Risker. I have been analyzing the block log data for the past
weeks, and have a database dump to look at for longer term patterns.
[results forthcoming]  Not surprisingly, I find that a tiny fraction of
admins handle "difficult" blocks (that includes sockpuppets, trolling, and
otherwise disruptive users).  Some of these admins are target of quite a lot
of harassment, and abuse on sites like ED.  And, there are other admins like
me, who stay away from those blocks and controversy, out of real concern of
being tracked down in real life.

At the same time, I believe it's a small number of I guess we call them
"kooks" (groups or individuals) who are responsible for the harassment. With
support from the Foundation, I suggest we have people who can accept reports
of harassment, look into them, and reach out to law enforcement who have the
power to locate individuals. Vice versa, as well;  I do have law enforcement
contacts and they do reach out to other sites, such as MySpace and Facebook,
when working on cases.  We cannot tolerate harassment.

-Aude