Harassment workshop

The Harassment workshop is the second in a planned series of discussions on the topic of harassment on the Wikimedia projects. The first consultation, launched in November 2015, collected some strong ideas and conversation on possible solutions and projects.

We have identified four major topic areas from the previous consultation and have presented them here along with relevant discussions and proposals from the past. This stage is meant to be a workshop on practicalities and approaches for specific solutions, with the goal of distilling ideas into actionable plans which could then be implemented by community members or the Wikimedia Foundation, as resources allow. We have listed some ideas for discussion under each topic area; please feel free to give your opinions in the sections below, or, if you don't see something listed that matches what you're thinking, contribute it to the open discussion section at the bottom of the page.

We ask that participants observe the Friendly spaces expectations when discussing these topics.

Technical

Background & context

Wikimedia projects use several varieties of machine-learning, detection, and edit filtering and flagging to assist contributors in detecting vandalism, spam links, and other unwanted content. There is potential to apply this concept to user talk pages and discussions to flag abusive posts. Relevant pages and discussions:

• Modeling Talk Page Abuse
• English Wikipedia: VPT discussion on edit filter for talk pages
• Discussion on the Community Wishlist survey
• Outside Wikimedia: "Doing Something About the ‘Impossible Problem’ of Abuse in Online Games", Jeffery Lin, Riot Games

Another potential improvement in the technical area is improving the tools available to the administrators who work to block harassers and abusive accounts. Relevant pages and discussions:

• Discussion on the Community Wishlist survey

Existing initiatives

Contributors had a number of ideas for technical solutions in the last round of consultation, including:

• Improved administrative and machine learning tools
• Collaborate with experts on harassment-related research
• Offer "canned" responses in the editing interface

Please share your thoughts about how any or all of these could be designed and implemented.

Discuss technical

Training and education

Background & context

Currently, there is no formal training on the topic of harassment available for Wikimedia's front-line functionaries and admins. Although some training has been offered at past Wikimanias, neither the WMF nor the communities have existing structure or providers to do this on a larger scale. Relevant pages and discussion:

• GenderGap Allies training

Existing initiatives

Contributors provided a number of ideas for training/educational solutions in the last round of consultation, including:

• Offer an Ally Skills workshop
• Annual training for advanced rights holders

Please share your thoughts about how harassment training could be designed and implemented.

Discuss training & education

Improving dispute resolution

Background & context

The Wikimedia projects have varying forms and methods of resolving and mediating disputes between contributors. Unresolved problems can fester, and contribute to long-term animosities and battleground behaviour.

• Requests for comment/Dispute resolution committee (2010)
• Requests for comment/Global arbitration and dispute resolution (2010)
• Community Capacity Development/Conflict management
• English Wikipedia: Wikipedia:Dispute Resolution Improvement Project

Existing initiatives

Contributors provided a number of ideas for improving dispute resolution in the last round of consultation, including:

• Redesign dispute resolution
• Unfettered right of reply

Please share your thoughts about how any or all of these could be designed and implemented.

Discuss dispute resolution

Policy and enforcement

Background and context

The Wikimedia projects have many behavioral policies, and several different approaches to enforcing them. Some projects lack any policies at all, while some suffer from overlapping or unclear practices. Often, enforcement of behavioural issues is a "pain point", dividing communities and producing inconsistent results. Beyond the Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use, there is no movement-wide expectation of behaviour. Relevant pages and discussions:

• MediaWiki Code of Conduct draft
• Friendly space expectations
• List of harassment policies for various projects

Existing initiatives

Contributors provided a number of ideas for policy and enforcement, including:

• Hire a harassment expert
• Not a black and white issue
• Policy
• Code of Conduct
• Contributor Covenant
• Centralised harassment reporting and referral service

Please share your thoughts about how any or all of these could be designed and implemented.

Discuss policy and enforcement

Open discussion

Contribute a new idea, or talk about meta-level issues - go for it!