Wikimedia CH/Community Care

Wikimedia CH and Care

Creating a Safe Space for Knowledge Sharing

Free knowledge thrives when people feel safe to contribute their perspectives and expertise. To better support the volunteers who make Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects possible, Wikimedia CH offers concrete services to ensure that everyone can participate without fear of discrimination or harassment.

Context

Generally, Care refers to the provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something. It speaks of feeling or showing care for, concern about, or attentiveness to other people's needs; but it also speaks of taking reasonable measures to protect, offer counselling and support those in need. In the context of Wikimedia CH, it can be supporting volunteers who are confronted with various situations that threaten their health and well-being.

In the past the Diversity Working Group of the global Wikimedia movement has discussed and evaluated welcoming, safety and inclusion actions within Wikimedia communities, as well as the creation of a universal code of conduct (UCoC). The result of this work was the most important and crucial objective of the third recommendation of the 2030 Movement Strategy: Ensuring safety and inclusion.

A few years afterwards, the UCoC was created to provide a global baseline of acceptable (art. 2) and unacceptable (art. 3) behaviour for the entire movement which avoids bias and prejudice, excludes any type of harassment, and help create "a world in which everyone can freely share in the sum of all knowledge ». The Wikimedia Foundation Universal Code of Conduct is one of the consequences of the Duty of care supported by the Wikimedia Foundation [1] honestly, in good faith and with a reasonable amount of diligence and care. The duty of care requires that Board Members act in good faith, on a fully informed basis and in a deliberative manner. It generally requires that Trustees exercise the care of an ordinarily prudent person in similar circumstances.

Despite the UCoC, we still witness situations of harassment, legal disputes arising from contributions, hate speech, doxing etc. which can have a very negative impact on the health and well being of targeted individuals. More generally, contributing to Wikimedia projects can also have negative side effects in case of lack of physical exercise, long sessions in front of a screen, or poor eating habits.

Taking action

In 2025, Wikimedia CH decided to take action and strengthen its offer of services to the Wiki-contributors, association members, and staff. This is work in progress but several steps were already taken.

Adoption of a Friendly Space Policy to take action against unacceptable behaviour

In 2025, Wikimedia CH adopted a new Wikimedia CH/Friendly space policy.

In 2026, a round of training sessions was organized for Wikimedia CH staff, to understand the policy and master its implementation.

Training and resources modules are under development for public use. A detailed todo list is featured amongst the resources already produced and published.

Services: a free of charge Psychological Support Hotline

In February 2025, Wikimedia CH launched a pilot project in close collaboration with Wikimedia France. French-speaking Wiki contributors, association members and staff living in Switzerland got access to professional psychological support. This confidential service provides:

Professional counselling from experts familiar with the Wikimedia movement
Completely confidential support – no personal information is shared with Wikimedia CH
Flexible communication options after initial contact

Wikimedia CH aims to expand these services to other language communities in the future. The PsyHotLine was renewed in 2026. For more information, see here.

Legal support services

Beyond the psychological support hotline, Wikimedia CH propose support for community members facing legal challenges related to their contributions.

In March 2025, Wikimedia CH launched a pilot project developing a legal support service for community members facing legal challenges related to their contributions. This service is only offered to French-speaking contributors. Wikimedia CH aims to expand these services to other language communities in the future. For more information, see here.

Curated resources

Many resources have been curated or created over the years by Wikimedia Foundation or other wikimedian and non-wikimedian organizations. Here is a selection of material of interest.

Regarding your digital security

Lot’s of reading material is available.

We advise your start by understanding better which issues you might run into. Make sure to evaluate your own risks level and take the time to consider what is important to keep safe

Protecting the people: Some recommendations for safety while contributing to Wikimedia projects. (en, de, fr). Published on Diff in September 2024
How can a username keep you safe (en, de, fr). Published on Diff in Dec 2022
Have you tried doxing yourself. (en, de, fr). Published on Diff in May 2023
Doxing : why should you care. (en, de, fr). Published on Diff in April 2023
Assess your digital risks. Short course on WikiLearn
Do a threat modeling assessment.

After you did a threat modeling analysis, you may consider changing some of your practices. You may want to look into

Enhancing your Digital Safety While Traveling and Attending Events
Adopting a VPN that would be right for you
Check-out How to keep your data safe
If private information about you has been disclosed, consider a request for oversight
It is also possible to Change username
or to request Account vanishing

More generally, the Wikimedia Foundation team is maintaining a Digital Security Resources Center, packed with information.

Regarding mental health

The Wikimedia Foundation team is maintaining a Mental Health Resource Center, packed with information.