Wikipedia:Update/1/Enforcement policy changes, January 2010 to June 2010


 * Enforcement policy changes, June 2010


 * Administrators
 * In WP:ADMIN, added: "Involvement is generally construed very broadly by the community, to include current or past conflicts with an editor(s) and disputes on topics, regardless of the nature, age, or outcome of that dispute."
 * In WP:ADMIN, added: "A modern clarification of this statement would be that while the correct use of the tools and appropriate conduct is considered very important, merely "being an administrator" is not."
 * Changed WP:ADMIN to: WP:ADMIN
 * New subsection: WP:ADMIN
 * In WP:ADMIN, reduced text to: "Misuse of administrator access or behavior that is incompatible with adminship may result in an involuntary request for comment on administrator conduct. Administrators who fail to satisfactorily respond to community feedback are likely to become the subject of an Arbitration Committee review - see below."


 * Blocking policy
 * In WP:BLOCK, removed: "As a form of discretionary sanction,"


 * Protection policy
 * Significant changes throughout since May


 * Sock puppetry
 * In the introduction, removed: "(see WP:CLEANSTART)"
 * In WP:SOCK, removed: "Making a clean start with a new account, but then engaging in disputes with editors your old account was in dispute with; or turning up at pages you used to edit with the old account while denying any connection to it&mdash;this is particularly inappropriate if the article or edits are contentious."
 * In WP:SOCK, removed: [A clean start is permitted only if there are no bans, blocks or active sanctions in place against your old account,] " and so long as no active deception is involved, particularly on pages that the old account used to edit. That is, you should not turn up on a page you edited as User:A to continue the same editing pattern, this time as User:B&mdash;particularly while denying any connection to User:A, or if the edits or subject matter are contentious. You should also not, as User:B, engage in disputes you engaged in as User:A&mdash;whether they are disputes about articles, project-space issues, or other editors&mdash;without making clear that you are the same person."


 * Vandalism
 * In WP:VANDAL, removed: "Only a small number of editors with special powers above administrators have the ability to modify edit summaries"


 * Administrators
 * In WP:ADMIN, added: "The term was also used historically for an administrator improperly reversing some kinds of very formal action", along with a footnote.


 * Banning policy
 * Added in a hatnote above the introduction: For lists of banned and restricted editors, see List of banned users and Editing restrictions.


 * Blocking policy
 * In WP:BLOCK, added: "There is no limit to the number of unblock requests that a user may issue. However, disruptive use of the unblock template may prompt an administrator to remove the blocked user's ability to edit their talk page. In this case, a block may still be appealed by emailing unblock-en-l@lists.wikimedia.org or contacting the ban appeals subcommittee."
 * In WP:BLOCK, added: "However, if an editor is clearly not editing in good faith, then they should be blocked immediately."
 * In WP:BLOCK, removed: "If a user is blocked indefinitely, he or she is considered a banned user until an administrator unblocks the user."
 * In WP:BLOCK, added: [Autoblock] "will prevent contributors from contributing on the IP address that the blocked user was using, and ...". Added: [prevent account creation] "will prevent accounts from being created by the account; if autoblock is enabled, it will also prevent accounts form being created on the IP address that the blocked user was using."


 * Bot policy
 * In WP:BOTPOL, added: "If an administrator responsible for one or more adminbots is desysopped, their bots should be immediately desysopped at the same time (except if the administrator voluntarily stepped down in uncontroversial circumstances)."


 * Harassment
 * In WP:Harassment, added: "Threats to out an editor will be treated as a personal attack and dealt with accordingly."


 * Protection policy
 * In WP:PROTECT, added: [This includes] "templates ..."


 * Username policy
 * In WP:U, added: [Misleading usernames ...] "... usernames which can be confusing within the Wikipedia signature format, such as usernames which resemble IP addresses or timestamps." Removed: "Also, a username cannot include the #, /, and \ symbols because # is used for sections, and / and \ are used for subpages."


 * Blocking policy
 * In WP:BLOCK, added: "... poorly or incorrectly referenced" [or potentially defamatory information about living persons;]
 * In WP:BLOCK, added: "... however, there is a category of admins willing to entertain such requests."


 * Administrators
 * In WP:ADMIN, changed: "Administrators are not considered to be 'involved' with a given editor if the only interaction has been to warn that editor against further actions which are against policy or community norms, discussion and explanation of the warning likewise do not cause an administrator to become 'involved' or have a conflict of interest with regards to future blocks of the warned editor." to: "Warnings, calm and reasonable discussion and explanation of those warnings, advice about communal norms, and suggestions on possible wordings and approaches, do not make an administrator 'involved'."  Added: "A user seeking administrator or uninvolved user help in a matter may use the  template to request admin assistance. Requests will appear in Category:Requests for uninvolved help until removed."


 * Banning policy
 * In the introduction, removed: "As a social construct that is not enforced by the MediaWiki software," [a ban ...]
 * In WP:BAN, added a column named "Page/topic banned" to the table


 * Bot policy
 * In WP:BOTPOL, added: "Bots must only edit while logged into their account, bots which often attempt to edit while logged out should use AssertEdit, or a similar function."
 * In WP:BOTPOL, added: "Bots which are known to edit while logged out should have AssertEdit, or a similar function, added to them."
 * In WP:BOTPOL, added: "Note that any large-scale semi-/automated article creation task requires a BRFA."


 * Harassment
 * In WP:Harassment, added: "(Do not open a discussion about 'outing' on behalf of a third party without the victim's permission, unless the relevant page revisions have already been oversighted. It is important not to make violations of privacy more severe.)"


 * Protection policy
 * Removed section: WP:PROTECT
 * In WP:PROTECT, added: "Users whose talk page are semi-protected for lengthy or indefinite periods of time should have an unprotected user talk subpage linked conspicuously from their main talk page to allow good faith comments from non-autoconfirmed users."


 * Sock puppetry
 * After editing project space, changed: "Undisclosed alternative accounts should not be used to edit in project space ("Wikipedia:" pages) or project talk space, including in any vote or dispute resolution. The only usual exception is where a specific discussion is closely connected to a content matter (broadly interpreted) and the alternate account already has a clear connection with the discussion because of its mainspace contributions. In any case users are expected to take especial care not to accidentally "avoid scrutiny" in project space." to: "Undisclosed alternative accounts should not edit policies, guidelines, or their talk pages; comment in Arbitration proceedings; or vote in requests for adminship, deletion debates, or elections."
 * Under the WP:CLEANSTART shortcut, added: "You are not obliged to reveal previous accounts; however, it is strongly recommended that you inform ArbCom (in strictest confidence if you wish) of the existence of a previous account or accounts prior to seeking out adminship or similar functionary positions. Failure to do so may be considered deceptive, and as such be poorly received by the Wikipedia community."


 * Username policy
 * In WP:U, removed: [Exceptions to this rule are limited to accounts that directly represent the Wikimedia Foundation or internal Wikipedia committees,] "though none are currently active"


 * Administrators
 * In WP:ADMIN, changed: "Administrators who have failed to properly respond to community concerns at RfC" [have had their sysop access removed by the Arbitration Committee. ] to: "Those administrators who have failed to properly respond to community concerns of their misuse of administrative access or behavior incompatible with adminship,"


 * Banning policy
 * Significant changes throughout since January


 * Blocking policy
 * In WP:BLOCK, added: "If a user is blocked indefinitely, he or she is considered a banned user until an administrator unblocks the user."


 * Harassment
 * In WP:HARASS, added: [... harass carries real-life connotations] "from simple unseemly behaviour to criminal conduct" [and must be used judiciously] "and with respect to these connotations."


 * Sock puppetry
 * In the introduction, added: [Editors who use more than one account are advised to provide links between them on the user pages (see below).] "They can also redirect the user and user talk pages of that account to their main account."
 * In WP:SOCK, made changes to the "Editing project space" paragraph. Added: [Contributions to the same page with] "clearly linked" [legitimate alternate accounts is not forbidden ...]


 * Username policy
 * Under WP:U, removed: "If you edit for a group or organization please still use a non-shared name for your editing. A name such as "Megawatt Inc., (John)" may be appropriate."


 * Vandalism
 * In WP:Vandalism, added: "In addition, the edit history of an article may be checked for any recent suspicious edits, and compared with the version after any previous revert or cluster of non-suspicious edits. This method checks many suspicious edits at the same time."


 * Administrators
 * WP:ADMIN was renamed to WP:ADMIN and rewritten.
 * In WP:ADMIN, removed: [... only one account of a given person may have administrative tools] "The sole exceptions are by agreement of Arbcom or the community."
 * In WP:ADMIN, changed: [An admin ... whose actions on an article are minor, obvious, and do not speak to bias, is] "usually not prevented from acting on the article, user, or dispute" to: "not prevented from acting on the article, user, or dispute, either in an administrative role or in an editorial role"


 * Banning policy
 * In WP:BAN, added: "The absence of a name from this list does not mean that a community ban does not exist."


 * Bot policy
 * In WP:BOTPOL, changed: "After ten days" to: "After seven days"


 * Harassment
 * In WP:Harassment, added: "However, there is an endemic problem on Wikipedia which gives "harassment" a much broader and inaccurate meaning which encompasses, in some cases, merely editing the same page as another user."
 * In WP:Harassment, added: "If an editor has previously posted their own personal information but later redacted it, their wishes should be respected, though reference to self-disclosed information is not outing."


 * Protection policy
 * In WP:PROTECT, removed: [Pages that are protected because of content disputes should not be edited except to make changes which are uncontroversial or for which there is clear consensus (see above),] "like the addition of dispute tags."
 * Moved WP:PROTECT down
 * In WP:PROTECT, made minor changes


 * Sock puppetry
 * In WP:SOCK, added: "Deceptively seeking positions of community trust. You may not run for positions of community trust without disclosing the fact that you have previously edited under another account. When applying for adminship, it is expected that you will disclose past accounts openly, or to the bureaucrats if the accounts must be kept private."
 * In WP:SOCK, added: "Compromised accounts: If you have lost the password to an existing Wikipedia account, or you know or fear that someone else has obtained or guessed the password, you may well want to create a new account with a clean password. In such a case, you should post a note on the user page of each account indicating that they are alternate accounts for the same person, and you may well wish to ask an admin to block the old compromised account. You may want to consider using WP:Committed identity in advance to help deal with this rare situation should it arise later."
 * Under the WP:CLEANSTART anchor, added: [This is permitted only if there are no bans, blocks] "or active sanctions" [in place against your old account]


 * Username policy
 * In WP:U, changed: [An editor with a confusing username or signature may be blocked sooner than usual for other] "policy violations" [such as disruption or vandalism ...] to: "inappropriate behavior"
 * In WP:U, changed: [ Usernames for Administrator Attention is a noticeboard for] "dealing with severe violations of the username policy" to: "drawing attention to abusive usernames quickly".
 * In WP:U, changed: [Editors seeking privacy per their right to vanish can have their] "user and user talk pages deleted and their accounts renamed." to: "accounts renamed and their user pages and (in some cases) user talk pages deleted."


 * Enforcement policy changes, July 2009 to December 2009
 * Enforcement policy changes, December 2008 to June 2009