[WikiEN-l] Proposal: Harassment victim support fund

[joshua.zelinsky at yale.edu]

Quoting William Pietri <william at scissor.com>:

>
> Let me throw out an idea that might address the base problem,
> harassment, in a way that would perhaps obviate the need for censorship.
> I don't know if this is a great idea or not, but perhaps you folks can
> find and/or patch the flaws.
>
> I propose that we create a fund to support editors who are being
> harassed solely or mainly because of legitimate on-Wikipedia work. We
> fund this through contributions from the community. No WMF money would
> be involved, but perhaps they would consent to hold and/or supervise the
> fund.
>
> What do I mean by support? Well, that would be up to the community, but
> I imagine it would include:
>
>    * Legal or investigative support to someone pursuing criminal
>      charges against a harasser.
>    * Legal or investigative support to someone pursuing a civil suit
>      against a harasser, especially when seeking a protective order.
>    * Public relations assistance for the target of a high-profile
>      harassment campaign.
>    * Compensation for cash costs of dealing with harassment, like
>      changing phone numbers or moving.
>    * Legal support to someone frivolously sued for legitimate and
>      beneficial on-Wikipedia activity.
>
>
> Why would we do this?
>
>    * To signal to community members that they will be supported when
>      attacked by kooks.
>    * To provide a deterrent for people who might harass productive,
>      good-faith Wikipedia editors.
>    * If necessary, to make an example of a harasser as a warning to
>      future potential attackers.
>    * To stand behind editors who might otherwise hesitate when wading
>      in to clean up a mess.
>
>
> Would this work? Could it be done in a way that would be unlikely to go
> too far wrong? And would this help satisfy the people who are currently
> pushing for various forms of censorship as a solution to harassment?
>
>
> Humbly submitted,
>
> William
>
> P.S. If this happens, I'm in for the first $100.
>

I've discussed this idea with a few editors before including JzG, 
Slimvirgin and
KillerChihuaha all who thought it was a good idea. Unfortunately the first two
of those are no longer active. In both cases they might very well be active if
we did have such a fund. IANAL but we would need to set it up as a 501c3
probably and make very sure to keep it very separate from the foundation. The
foundation is more important than anyone editor and must be well insulated
against any legal foul ups by editors.