Grants:IdeaLab/Develop and introduce new comprehensive anti-bullying policies

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Develop and introduce new comprehensive anti-bullying policies

Some people will always treat other people badly and there is effectively nothing that can be done to change this reality. It's human nature and it's not some sort of aberrant behavior for it falls well within the parameters of the "normal" human behavior. However, the bullying can be moderated and reduced with a comprehensive, coherent approach to the problem (like remedial carrot-and-stick measures etc.,). In my humble opinion, the best way to moderate cyberbullying is by making cyberbullying as unpleasant as possible for the person doing the bullying (I know it from my own 7 years’ experience with cyberbullying). There has got to be a "real", but reasonable price to pay for messing around with other people.

idea creator• Stas12333

this project needs...

volunteer

created on09:22, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

Project idea

What is the problem you're trying to solve?

The issue of cyber-bullying and harassment

What is your solution?

My initiative, monikered “let’s make the Wikimedia Project a nice place to be”, is put forth hereinunder.

In summary, bullies should be put on display and publicly decried, but still allowed to remain part of the community and granted the opportunity to redeem themselves (as in, to make it to the top of the Redemption Page where everybody can see how they have turned themselves around or remain forever stuck on the bully-wall-of-shame page, and in some cases get permanently banned). In other words, our gaze and focus should be trained on correction, not on punishment. My general proposals shall follow below.

I hereby propose that an anti-bullying policy-drafting committee, composed of me as its chair, four Wikimedia Foundation representatives, five elected individuals from the “admin” community and two or three specialists/consultants in the area of interpersonal relationships, be established by the end of the year 2016.

I hereby propose adding a comprehensive report abuse functionality to all of the Wikimedia Projects. Short description: whenever you report a user, the reported user will automatically be added to your ignore-list for, at least, four straight hours. In conjunction with the three-strike Redemption System (more on that below), the reported user’s community-standing (more on that below) will experience a decline directly corresponding to the “level” of abuse (severe, false reporting or mild). All severe abuse cases will be brought to the attention of community moderators, through an automated abuse alert system, who will have the authority to do, at the very least, the following: to suspend the abuser’s user interaction privileges (for up to 24 straight hours on the first strike), to mark the abuser’s profile and username with a temporary (for up to 24 straight hours on the first strike) cyberbully icon, to further reduce the abuser’s community standing (in especially nasty cases), to subject the abuser to remedial measures (like sending the abuser anti cyber-bullying videos and literature), to place the abuser’s username on the bully-wall-of-shame page (the bigger the abuse the bigger the font), to make sure it was not a false report (if it is a false report then the community moderators will have the authority to “brand” the abuse reporter as a false reporter thus discouraging false reporting), to temporary ban the abuser (for up to 24 consecutive hours on the first strike), to offer help and support to the abusee (if necessary) etc.. There are many more other measures that can be taken to ensure that bullying is being addressed in a constructive way on the Wikimedia Projects. The complete details and particulars will be fully developed by the policy-drafting committee if my proposal gets picked.

I hereby propose establishing a three strike Redemption System orientated towards correction, not punishment. The System will seek to include a comprehensive code of punishable cyber abuses and corresponding remedial measures. It will include two schedules for one minor abuses (like rude off-hand remarks), the other for severe abuses (like death threats, suicide encouragement, etc.,) and one penalty clause for false reporting. It will also seek to ensure that the freedom of speech and free expression will be protected and that overzealous community moderators or users will not be able to abuse the system to further their own interests and ends through the creation of a system of checks and balances e.g., a comprehensive appeals process and the inalienable right to contest any decision made by community moderators. The complete details and particulars will be fully developed by the policy-drafting committee if my proposal gets picked.

I hereby propose creating a Community Standing Scale in which rude and abusive behavior will result in a degradation in the community standing. The more severe the abuse the bigger the degradation in the community standing. And the “positive achievements (to be further defined and developed)” will result in an increase in the community standing. Thus, in conjunction with the Redemption System, if someone, who has a high standing in the community, has had a bad day and just went off on someone else with a few rude remarks that someone will only see a drop (proportional to the abuse perpetrated) in the community standing, but will not be subject to any penal or remedial measure or some such for a single minor-abuse slip (in this case, there will only be an automated public notification displayed (for four straight days) on the user's home page that the user’s community standing has been docked for minor abuse and after two weeks’ time the user’s community standing will be restored to its pre-abuse level, barring any further abuses or positive achievements). False reporters’ community standing will also be degraded for falsely reporting abuse (false reporting will fall somewhere between minor abuse and severe abuse). Penalty degradation in the community standing resulting from any type of abuse will be subject to an appeal. Repeated abuse will result in increasingly higher “docks” to the community standing. The complete details and particulars will be fully developed by the policy-drafting committee if my proposal gets picked.

I hereby propose a crowd funding initiative nicknamed “stop cyberbullying” to finance the above-mentioned proposals. The complete details and particulars will be fully developed by the policy-drafting committee if my proposal gets picked.

P.S. Feel free to give your feedback and/or expand the aforementioned proposals.

Goals

• To create a safe and friendly environment without stifling free speech and civil discourse
• To define what harassment is as clearly and univocally as possible

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About the idea creator

I used to habitually engage in abusing, bullying, harassing and trolling other people on the net, and as a result I myself have been subjected to abuse, bullying, harassment and trolling. I have seen and dealt with all sorts of cyberbullies on the Internet. I know how to deal with cyberbullies and harassers.

Endorsements

• This is actually pretty well thought out, especially about the grades of seriousness. Maybe not every bit of this can be implemented, but whoever ends up writing the new harassment definitions should look at this. There is very little written from the harassers' point of view, thank you for writing it. —Neotarf (talk) 02:06, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

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