User:PSWG1920/Behavior which is never acceptable
The goal here is to list behavior which is never acceptable, with little interpretation or qualification, and make that into a policy page. Then, policies such as WP:NPA, WP:HARASS, and WP:CIVIL could be demoted to behavioral guidelines.
Behavior that is unacceptable
[edit]Please note that some of the following are of sufficient importance to be official Wikipedia policy. Violations (and especially repeated violations) may lead to the offender being blocked or banned from editing Wikipedia.
- No personal attacks: A personal attack is saying something negative about another person. This mainly means:
- No insults: Do not make ad hominem attacks, such as calling someone an idiot or a fascist. Instead, explain what is wrong with an edit and how to fix it.
- Do not threaten people: For example, threatening people with "admins you know" or having them banned for disagreeing with you.
- Do not make legal threats: Threatening a lawsuit is highly disruptive to Wikipedia, for reasons given at the linked page.
- Never post personal details: Users who post what they believe are the personal details of other users without their consent may be blocked for any length of time, including indefinitely.
- Do not misrepresent other people: The record should accurately show significant exchanges that took place, and in the right context. This usually means:
- Be precise in quoting others.
- When describing other people's contributions or edits, use diffs. The advantage of diffs in referring to a comment is that it will always remain the same, even when a talk page gets archived or a comment gets changed.
- As a rule, do not edit others' comments, including signatures. Exceptions are described in the next section.
- DO NOT ask for another's personal details.
- Do not impersonate other editors
- Do not claim to be an administrator or claim to have an access level that you do not have, as this can be highly disruptive and may causes other editors trouble in the cleanup process. User access levels can be checked at Special:ListUsers by anyone.
Personal attacks
[edit]There is no bright-line rule about what constitutes a personal attack as opposed to constructive discussion, but some types of comments are never acceptable:
- Racial, sexual, homophobic, ageist, religious, political, ethnic, or other epithets (such as against people with disabilities) directed against another contributor. Disagreement over what constitutes a religion, race, sexual preference, or ethnicity is not a legitimate excuse.
- Using someone's affiliations as a means of dismissing or discrediting their views—regardless of whether said affiliations are mainstream.
- Pointing out an editor's relevant conflict of interest is not a personal attack, though speculating on the real life identity of another editor may constitute outing, a serious offense.
- Linking to external attacks, harassment, or other material, for the purpose of attacking another editor.
- Accusations about personal behavior that lack evidence. Serious accusations require serious evidence. Evidence often takes the form of diffs and links presented on wiki. Sometimes evidence is kept private and made available to trusted users.
- Threats, including:
- Threats of legal action
- Threats of violence or other off-wiki action (particularly death threats)
- Threats of vandalism to userpages or talk pages.
- Threats or actions which deliberately expose other Wikipedia editors to political, religious or other persecution by government, their employer or any others. Violations of this sort may result in a block for an extended period of time, which may be applied immediately by any administrator upon discovery. Admins applying such sanctions should confidentially notify the members of the Arbitration Committee of what they have done and why.
Threats
[edit]Threatening another person is considered harassment. This may include threats to harm another person, to disrupt their work on Wikipedia, or to otherwise hurt them.
Legal threats are considered a special case, with their own settled policy. Users who make legal threats will typically be blocked from editing indefinitely. So don't threaten people!
Posting of personal information
[edit]Posting another person's personal information (legal name, date of birth, identification numbers, home or workplace address, job title and work organisation, telephone number, email address, or other contact information, regardless of whether or not the information is actually correct) is harassment, unless that editor voluntarily posts this information, or links to this information, on Wikipedia themselves. Posting such information about another editor is an unjustifiable and uninvited invasion of privacy and may place that editor at risk of harm in "the real world". This applies whether or not the person whose personal information is being revealed is a Wikipedia editor. It also applies in the case of editors who have requested a change in username, but whose old identifying marks can still be found. Edits attempting to out someone should be promptly reverted, and a request for oversight made to permanently delete the edits from Wikipedia.
If you see an editor post personal information about another person, do not confirm or deny the accuracy of the information as this would give the person posting the information – and anyone else who saw the page – feedback on the accuracy of the material. Do not treat incorrect attempts at outing any differently to correct attempts for the same reason. When reporting an attempted outing take care not to comment on the accuracy of the information. Outing should usually be described as "an attempted outing" or similar, to make it clear that the information may or may not be true, and it should be made clear to the users blocked for outing that the block log and notice does not confirm the information.
Unless unintentional and non-malicious (for example, where Wikipedians know each other off-site and may inadvertently post personal information, such as using the other person's real name in discussions), attempted outing is grounds for an immediate block.