[WikiEN-l] Accountability: bringing back a proposal I made nearly 2 years ago

[Cheney Shill]

Jimmy Wales <jwales at wikia.com> wrote:

> In response to the EssJay scandal, I want to bring back
> an old proposal 
>
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2005-May/022085.html
>
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2005-May/thread.html
> to read the entire thread of "An idea".
> 
> For anyone who is reading but not online, I will sum it
> up.  I made a 
> proposal that we have a system whereby people who are
> willing to verify 
> their real name and credentials are allowed a special
> notification. 
> "Verified Credentials".  This could be a rather open
> ended system, and 
> optional.
> 
> The point is to make sure that people are being honest
> with us and with 
> the general public.  If you don't care to tell us that
> you are a PhD (or 
> that you are not), then that's fine: your editing stands
> or falls on its 
> own merit.  But if you do care to represent yourself as
> something, you 
> have to be able to prove it.

For someone reading and online, but blocked for nearly a
year and unable to comment elsewhere, I like it in general.
 It seems to go even a step further than requiring only
admins to verify significant credentials they claim and
apply it to everyone.

My primary concern is in practical elements:
1. Who's verifying (e.g., admins verifying themselves,
buddy admins verifying one another)?
2. Are they allowed to post credentials while waiting on
verification, potentially taking advantage of practical
limits in how much can be verified via an extended waiting
period?  As a rough example, there are citation requests
that are essentially infinite, circumventing the point of
requesting verfication.
3. Do the credentials override any of the basic policies? 
E.g., does a verified PhD get to post OR?  I foresee
latitude problems as it is, much like admins and article
creators seem to get months, if not years, to provide
sources.


~~Pro-Lick
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/User:Halliburton_Shill 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Pro-Lick 
http://www.wikiality.com/User:Pro-Lick (now a Wikia supported site)


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