User:MBisanz/ANLHeader/Administrator instructions

This a guide on how administrators (and, potentially, non-admin "clerks") should deal with reports at the AN/L abuse noticeboard.

WP:BLP
Biographical material about living persons must be written with strict adherence to a neutral point of view using only reliable sources which are clearly cited and not engage in any synthesis, speculation or opining. While new editors are likely to be unfamiliar with these policies, once they are made aware of them they are expected to adhere to them.

How to deal with reports

 * 1) Confirm that the reported editor has repeated tried to insert content which appears to violate the biographies of living persons policy.  Check the article talk page(s) for any discussion.
 * 2) Make sure that the reported user has been warned, and afterwards continued to engage in insertion.  Disputed additions of biographical material on living persons must be discussed on talk pages and resolved before re-insertion.  The onus is on the editor who wishes to include anything that the material satisfies BLP and to develop a consensus where a dispute exists.
 * 3) Move any discussion not related to the 3RR report (e.g. content disputes) to a more appropriate area (i.e. users' talk pages) and not become involved in said dispute (As it may create a WP:COI when dealing with the report).
 * 4) Check the diffs in the report (if there are no diffs, then it's best to check the article(s) history, but, otherwise, it's considered a "malformed" report and the reporting user should be notified as such) to ensure the report is accurate.
 * 5) After deciding on action(s), if any, to be taken (See ) and carrying out said action(s), leave a brief summary at the bottom of the report and in the report header (e.g. (Result: 24 hour block)).

Results

 * If the admin decides a block is warranted, then they should take into account the user(s) past history of edit warring (by checking their block log), if any, and the severity of the BLP violation. A minor offense or a first offense should be met with a block of 24 hours.  For later offenses, and more egregious ones, this length should be increased.
 * In place of blocks, for example, article/page protection may be used instead. This is most effective if the edit war is/was between new users and/or IPs. The length of protection is generally left up to the admin's discretion, taking into account the severity of the violations, etc.
 * Article or topic bans may be enacted if a user(s) has a long history of BLP policy violations. This can be effective to induce positive discussion between parties of contributors but can be difficult to appropriately enforce.
 * If the administrator feels a user has made problematic edits, but that the problems were unclear or the edit warring insufficiently severe, then he/she can issue another warning in place of a block.
 * If there has not been a clear or plausible violation of the BLP policy, then a result of "No violation" can be recorded.
 * Occasionally, a report may be considered too "old" (See ) to take action on and can be marked as "Stale".

Response templates
Make some.

Stale reports
A report, colloquially on Wikipedia, that is considered "old", or "out of date" is referred to as "stale". There is no set time or date for when a BLP policy violation report is considered stale; it is generally left up to the administrators to decide on this.

One important thing to note when closing a report is, if a block is to be carried out, will it be punitive or preventative? When an administrator looks at a report, if a user has violated BLP but there is no significant risk of future violations (in their opinion), then the block may be considered a "punishment", and, therefore, should not be executed.

Administrators are only recommended to make blocks where it will prevent damage to Wikipedia or the subjects of its articles. If there is doubt about whether the block will be considered punitive or not, do not block. Either contact WP:AN or WP:ANI for a wider communal input or use other forms of action.

Miscellaneous

 * Admins should avoid taking action if they're involved in a particular dispute related to the report. Rather, they should request third party assistance.
 * If in any doubt at all about what decision to make when analysing a report, admins should post a message at WP:AN or WP:ANI asking for another opinion.
 * Remember to WP:AGF when dealing with reports; new users will often not be aware of BLP.

Category:Administrator instructions