Requests for comment/Global rename policy
Global rename policy: For the time being, it's only a draft, but since the creation of SUL we do not have an effective global renaming tool (there's an old request on bugzilla about it). This policy will not be the solution, but would really help in bulk requests. --Lucas Nunes 22:23, 12 September 2011 (UTC)
- Agree we need the policy, disagree with the opt-in basis. Let's get something here that satisfies everyone, rather than make a solution which doesn't actually solve the problem. Ajraddatz (Talk) 22:26, 12 September 2011 (UTC)
- I agree with Ajr. Global means global. We need a tool that works at all wikis that stewards have access to, to help the increasing number of users looking for global renames and such. -- Marco Aurelio 15:23, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
- And as for myself I agree with the proposed requirements too. If we want to avoid problems those should be firm and clear, and more strict. -- Marco Aurelio 15:38, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
Global rename policy[edit]
We have a solution that can rename users across the wikis. Reopening the RfC. --Jyothis (talk) 19:46, 3 September 2012 (UTC)
- Local crats on projects that have them and will be effected by a the global name change should be notified and given an opportunity to weigh in on the change prior to it occurring. The notification would be automated messages to the relevant crat noticeboards. 7 days should be given to respond, if there are objections from regular editors (or crats acting in an unofficial capacity) it should be left to the steward whether the rename should occur. In the event there is an official objection from a crat, the rename should not occur on that project (though may proceed on other projects at steward discretion), and it should be up to the requesting editor to appeal locally. Monty845 (talk) 20:21, 10 September 2012 (UTC)
- And could you please explain us why this bureaucratic overkill should happen? Global accounts should be treated as global entities and hence renamed on a global base. In other webpages accounts are even able to change their names on their own just having to respect law and special policies. Local crats will of course still be able to review these actions and decide whether to disallow editing under this given name. Cheers, —DerHexer (Talk) 18:14, 11 September 2012 (UTC)
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- Because I think it is important to respect local autonomy. Suppose the editor has an extensive editing history and the new name does clearly violate local policy, perhaps it is highly offensive in the local language, and no one noticed here. Now you have an offensive name plastered all over editing histories, simply blocking locally wont undo that. Its not bureaucratic overkill, its just a notice so that there is a chance for local crats to way in. If they have no objection it doesn't cause much extra work, and if they do have an objection, its important that it be considered. Monty845 (talk) 20:22, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
- Your explanation is reasonable but a global name should not cause local problems, imo. Hence, all badwords from all languages should be moved to the global blacklist which should prevent stewards from renaming these accounts (while I still think that if e. g. “love”, “Peter”, etc. would be offensive in only one language we shouldn't disallow the global usage of this word—we are indeed a global movement). So if a renaming caused problems in one wiki, the problem would be addressed on meta, the word either added or rejected and the renaming be made undone. Regarding the bureaucratic overkill I have to make you aware of the current procedure: If one user with hundreds of local accounts requests a global renaming here on metawiki, stewards must tell them to ask hundreds of bureaucrats for renaming these local accounts while these bureaucrats often do not respond, don't care or don't even know how to rename a user (no joke). Not all projects are as well developed as the English Wikipedia (your homewiki) concerning bureacrat work, but all of them, including the larger projects, are part of the global Wikimedia world. Further, developers are working on a global rename tool so that it'd be just a matter of time before this procedure would be implemented anyway. We now could set up this slowly and thoughtful (e. g. with creating such global blacklist) using the JavaScript renaming tool and, hence, would be prepared for the official tool without having to face similar problems to these we had to face when SingleUserLogin was enabled. Isn't that reasonable? Cheers, —DerHexer (Talk) 09:24, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
- Shouldn't it be possible to create a bot to automatically notify every Crat noticeboard (or the local equivalent)? In my suggestion, once notified the onus would be on the local crats to come here and object. Other then a waiting period to give them a chance to do so, there should be additional burden on the requesting editor unless there are objections. Monty845 (talk) 15:10, 16 September 2012 (UTC)
- Your explanation is reasonable but a global name should not cause local problems, imo. Hence, all badwords from all languages should be moved to the global blacklist which should prevent stewards from renaming these accounts (while I still think that if e. g. “love”, “Peter”, etc. would be offensive in only one language we shouldn't disallow the global usage of this word—we are indeed a global movement). So if a renaming caused problems in one wiki, the problem would be addressed on meta, the word either added or rejected and the renaming be made undone. Regarding the bureaucratic overkill I have to make you aware of the current procedure: If one user with hundreds of local accounts requests a global renaming here on metawiki, stewards must tell them to ask hundreds of bureaucrats for renaming these local accounts while these bureaucrats often do not respond, don't care or don't even know how to rename a user (no joke). Not all projects are as well developed as the English Wikipedia (your homewiki) concerning bureacrat work, but all of them, including the larger projects, are part of the global Wikimedia world. Further, developers are working on a global rename tool so that it'd be just a matter of time before this procedure would be implemented anyway. We now could set up this slowly and thoughtful (e. g. with creating such global blacklist) using the JavaScript renaming tool and, hence, would be prepared for the official tool without having to face similar problems to these we had to face when SingleUserLogin was enabled. Isn't that reasonable? Cheers, —DerHexer (Talk) 09:24, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
- Because I think it is important to respect local autonomy. Suppose the editor has an extensive editing history and the new name does clearly violate local policy, perhaps it is highly offensive in the local language, and no one noticed here. Now you have an offensive name plastered all over editing histories, simply blocking locally wont undo that. Its not bureaucratic overkill, its just a notice so that there is a chance for local crats to way in. If they have no objection it doesn't cause much extra work, and if they do have an objection, its important that it be considered. Monty845 (talk) 20:22, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
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- Having a global policy, and tool, is an excellent idea. Following a recent rename on en.wp I've needed to hoover up disused accounts called "Hex" from over a dozen different language Wikipedias; the initial process of finding everywhere I needed to go, and translating my requests into the appropriate languages via Google (which only seemed polite) took several hours to accomplish. Nearly three weeks later, I'm still waiting for the process to complete in some places! Also relevant here is Requests for comment/Usurpation policy on commons, which relates to an extremely unusual rule - unlike on any other Wikimedia wiki I've encountered - being enforced by Commons bureaucrats regarding usurping user names. — Hex (❝?!❞) 10:30, 9 October 2012 (UTC)
- Isn't this policy only about renaming your own account and not about renaming accounts belonging to other users? You might be thinking of Steward requests/SUL requests/Usurpation policy. --Stefan2 (talk) 12:10, 9 October 2012 (UTC)
- No, that's old and something else. This comment from Trijnstel in the Commons discussion implies that global rename policy will cover usurpations. Perhaps
heshe can elaborate here. — Hex (❝?!❞) 12:50, 9 October 2012 (UTC)- Actually, Stefan2 is right. This is about normal rename requests and not about SUL requests, though with this new policy it's easier to choose a name which is not in use and then rename an account on all projects. So this policy could be interesting for SUL requests too. BTW: I'm a woman and thus a "she", not a "he". ;) Trijnsteltalk 20:09, 10 October 2012 (UTC)
- No, that's old and something else. This comment from Trijnstel in the Commons discussion implies that global rename policy will cover usurpations. Perhaps
- Isn't this policy only about renaming your own account and not about renaming accounts belonging to other users? You might be thinking of Steward requests/SUL requests/Usurpation policy. --Stefan2 (talk) 12:10, 9 October 2012 (UTC)
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Ah, okay; I suppose I got the wrong impression from your comment. Well, I think that having a global SUL policy could be a good thing. When I've had a chance for some coffee and a think this morning I'll open an RfC on it. — Hex (❝?!❞) 07:54, 11 October 2012 (UTC)
- Done. Please take a look at Requests for comment/Global usurpation policy. Thanks, — Hex (❝?!❞) 09:48, 11 October 2012 (UTC)
- I personally feel that it makes much more sense for first to fully implement fully the Global account system, that is, switch to a one-global account system and handle the name conflict resolution related to that. Then this policy would no longer be needed as local renames would never exist anymore. Snowolf How can I help? 10:50, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
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- I haven't heard of that, do you have a link for it? Thanks! — Hex (❝?!❞) 17:11, 20 October 2012 (UTC)
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- It's called a shared user database, what the rest of the modern wikiworld is using. mw:Manual:$wgSharedDB Ajraddatz (Talk) 17:30, 20 October 2012 (UTC)
There's now documentation on the plans for future work on CentralAuth. The short version is that eventually only global accounts will exist; merges will happen at various stages, and owners of left-over unattached accounts whose name conflicts with an existing global account holder will have to rename, either to an existing global account or to a new name. — Hex (❝?!❞) 22:49, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
- If you look at the history for that file, you will see that the documentation is from 2006 and that not much has happened since then, so I'm not sure if this still is planned. --Stefan2 (talk) 13:42, 11 March 2013 (UTC)
Update: This process is now planned to begin May 27. See Single User Login finalisation announcement and associated discussion. — Scott • talk 12:24, 1 May 2013 (UTC)
This just got a whole lot more relevant[edit]
It seems likely this may heat up a bit soon given that the scenario mentioned above where all renaming for all WMF sites would take place here is actually going to happen less than a month from today.
Right off the top I see a potential problem with the draft policy: that the user not be currently blocked on any WMF site. To begin with I don not know why that should be in the policy at all. Different sites have different policies and behavior that might get you kicked off of one site might be just what they are looking for at another, for example Wikivoyage welcomes and encourages original research and an informal tone, both things that will get you on trouble on Wikipedia. And, at en. Wikipedia anyway, we regularly do "soft" blocks for username issues, giving the user the option to either create an account with a new, non-infringing name or to post an appeal with their suggested new name if they want to keep attribution for their existing edits. This approach has fairly strong support from out local community and i do not believe that meta can or should tell any of the other projects what their username policy is. Clearly, this is a mess made by the WMF, not meta, but it is going to be meta's job to clean up the mess, and I am beginning to suspect it will be a big one as there are so many sites with so many different local username policies. We can't reasonably expect the stewards to be familiar with every single one of them, so what are we going to do? Beeblebrox (talk) 00:41, 1 May 2013 (UTC)
I agree with Beeblebrox's comments above. Also, will there be appointed a lot more stewards representing many more languages, or are you going to request assistance from the various "language communities" in order to e.g. weed out inappropriate names (as mentioned in the proposal), which often requires a near-native language fluency plus cultural knowledge/background? If a rename violates local policy, how will it be revoked? Another worry is that some people are not comfortable with languages other than their native one. I know that these problems must already exist to some degree, but with many large wikis being added to the mix, I fear that difficult renames, and the workload in general, will multiply for the poor stewards. - Kaare (talk) 14:06, 3 May 2013 (UTC)
