Harassment consultation 2015/Ideas/Case Study of the Meredith Kercher Topic

Project idea

Idea by:PhanuelB

What is the problem you're trying to solve?

I would like to see 2015 WMF Harassment Survey make a case study of the Murder of Meredith Kercher topic on the English Wikipedia.

"Harassment" might not be quite the right term. "Administrator Misconduct" or "Serious mistreatment" might be a better concept to focus on. In the Kercher topic many editors who broke few if any rules were banned because of their POV. It was an almost complete breakdown of Wikipedia's system and living human beings discussed in the topic were profoundly harmed.

What is your solution?

Some Talking Pointsː

(1) There should be a far greater role for both the WMF and Jimmy Wales in identifying and correcting problems in the various projects.

(2) There should not be a prohibition here on talking about anything specific. I do not see how the Community Advocacy Team can gain a proper understanding of the problem without looking at specifics.

(3) In the Kercher topic as a matter of policy, those who believe that Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were innocent were not allowed to edit the article. This study should seek input from each of the blocked editors. They will find absolute contempt and mistrust of the administrator ranks on the topic.

(4) The use of indefinite blocks should be cut way back. And there must be serious consequences for administrators who use such blocks to enforce an agenda, as happened in the Kercher topic.

(5) See the commentary here and here.

(6) The project should seiously reevaluate proper reactions to criticism. Any criticism of administrator actions on the Kercher topic resulted in immediate blocks due to claims of violations of AGF or civil.

(7) Wikipedia remains unsophisticated about governance. There needs to be far better oversight of the administrator ranks. Any allegation in a block log must be subject to a responsible review. That doesn't happen now. It's a joke.

Discuss this idea at: Talk:Harassment consultation 2015/Ideas/Case Study of the Meredith Kercher Topic

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