OTRS/info-en mission

Note: This page is mirrored from the copy on the OTRS wiki, please submit changes there and not here.

The Info-en email address/OTRS queue serves a melange of missions of varying importance.

Currently, all inquiries written in English are bound to info-en queue regardless of the language of the project where the problem content resides. In addition, since August 2006, general inquiries about the Wikimedia Foundation have also been directed to info-en.

Primary mission

The primary mission of the info-en queue is to deal with reports of problem content on WMF projects including Wikipedia and its sister projects. There are four types of problem content so addressed. Beginning with the most common reports, they are:

1. Badly written, nonfactual, and libelous content
2. Egregious use of Wikipedia articles for advocacy
3. Privacy violations
4. Copyright violations

Reported problems are inside the primary mission only when the person reporting them is directly affected by the problem content, that is, they or someone they represent is the copyright owner, the subject of the libelous or badly written article, the person whose privacy is being compromised, or the target of advocacy. As of April, 2005, approximately 5-10 requests per day are received that fall within the primary mission.

The vast majority of requests are uncontroversial. They can either be implemented by following the usual consensus editing process, or be rejected summarily as being unreasonable or without basis in fact.

The contact us pages are structured to capture as many of the mission-centric requests as possible, while redirecting other requests to more suitable resources.

Secondary mission

The secondary mission of the info-en queue is to foster goodwill by providing a reasonable amount of assistance in response to other inquiries. These include, in no particular order:

1. How to search Wikipedia
2. How to edit pages or upload images
3. Requests for reciprocal links
4. Requests for intervention in editing disputes
5. Outage reports
6. Reports of Wikipedia content being used on other web sites
7. Research requests
8. Requests for technical assistance in reusing Wikipedia content or the MediaWiki software
9. Requests for contact information for Wikipedia editors or the subjects of Wikipedia articles
10. Vandalism reports
11. Suggestions for new projects
12. Various kinds of requests for intervention sent to Jimbo or the board, which they have chosen to redirect to info-en
13. Various kinds of requests for intervention sent to the Foundation general contact address, which are automatically redirected to info-en (since August 2006)
14. Requests for unblocking
15. Requests for geneaological information and coats-of-arms
16. Requests for assistance with login problems

Unless they can be dealt with directly with minimum fuss, the majority of these requests are redirected to the reference desk, help desk, dispute resolution page, and like pages. Requests for unblocking are generally referred to the blocking admin.

For requests that aren't actionable, such as login problems, outage reports (we're aware of the problem by the time it's reported), vandalism reports (almost always fixed by the time we read the report), and requests for intervention, we nonetheless provide a polite and kind reply.

As of April, 2005, approximately 25 such requests are received each day.

Tertiary mission

Many users send suggested article corrections and additions, and reports of poorly written or incomplete articles, to info-en. These are addressed as time and interest permit. Where the writer to info-en is articulate, knowledgeable, and willing to write with a balanced POV, an invitation to join the project is made. Since many suggested corrections are unsourced and relate to dates or other particular facts, they aren't actionable. Depending on the credibility of the writer and the state of the article, such suggestions may be ignored, copied to an article's talk page, or acted upon. A polite note is sent to people when a correction is made.

An area of particular difficulty is messages questioning the identification of the subject of a photograph or a photograph's date. In general, this information is difficult to corroborate.

See also

• Rule of diminishing replies