Universal Code of Conduct/2021 consultations/Enforcement/Bangla/Survey
- This summary focuses on the survey conducted during the consultation on Bangla wiki projects. Click here to see the overall consultation summary.
Participants
How do you identify your gender?
- Male: 55 (84.6%)
- Female: 5 (7.7%)
- Prefer not to say: 5 (7.7%)
Do you belong to any minority groups?
- Yes: 2 (3.1%)
- No: 58 (89.2%)
- Prefer not to say: 5 (7.7%)
How long have you been working on Bangla Wikimedia projects?
- 0–6 months: 9 (13.8%)
- 6 months – 2 years: 17 (26.2%)
- 2–5 years: 14 (21.5%)
- 5–10 years: 17 (26.2%)
- More than 10 years: 8 (12.3%)
In which Bangla wiki project you mostly work?
- Bangla Wikipedia: 57 (87.7%)
- Bangla Wikisource: 2 (3.1%)
- Bangla Wikibooks: 0
- Bangla Wiktionary: 1 (1.5%)
- Bangla Wikivoyage: 2 (3.1%)
- Others: 3 (4.6%)
In which Wikimedia projects you work other than Bangla projects?
- Majority of the participants answered that they work on English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata.
Do you have any advanced user rights in any Bangla wiki project?
- Yes: 15 (23.1%)
- No: 46 (70.8%)
- Prefer not to say: 4 (6.2%)
Are you associated with any Wikimedia affiliates?
- Yes: 14 (21.5%)
- No: 43 (66.2%)
- Prefer not to say: 8 (12.3%)
Is your real-life identity disclosed on the wiki?
- Yes: 24 (36.9%)
- No: 41 (63.1%)
Are you familiar with the behavioral policies and guidelines of Bangla Wikipedia or any of the Bangla wiki projects?
- Yes: 38 (58.5%)
- No: 6 (9.2%)
- Not sure: 21 (32.3%)
Do you know where to report conduct issues on-wiki?
- Yes: 35 (53.8%)
- No: 15 (23.1%)
- Not sure: 15 (23.1%)
Harassment
Have you ever been harassed, attacked, threatened by any user?
- Yes: 15 (23.1%)
- No: 50 (76.9%)
Have you ever been harassed, attacked, threatened by any user with advanced user rights?
- Yes: 6 (9.2%)
- No: 59 (90.8%)
Have you ever been harassed, attacked, threatened off-wiki for your Wikimedia activities?
- Yes: 9 (13.8%)
- No: 56 (86.2%)
Have you ever thought about leaving the project because of harassment/threat?
- Yes: 10 (15.4%)
- No: 55 (84.6%)
What kind of untolerated behavior have you experienced/witnessed? (please select all that apply)
- Personal attacks: 17 (26.2%)
- Harassment or insults: 15 (23.1%)
- Personal information leakage: 5 (7.7%)
- Physical threats: 1 (1.5%)
- Legal threats: 4 (6.2%)
- Sexual harassment: 0
- Hounding: 5 (7.7%)
- Trolling: 7 (10.8%)
- Others: 8 (12.3%)
- Not applicable: 38 (58.5%)
What conduct challenges are unique to Bangla projects?
- Most people addressed personal attacks during discussions as the common conduct problem in Bangla Wikipedia. Harsh tones used in communications between long-term and new users is another conduct challenge. We see other conduct issues like not giving adequate time to new users to rectify their errors, hasty actions, cleverly violating established policies, and neutral points of view in discussions, etc. We have seen that this kind of behavioral challenge is primarily raised by new and mid-level editors who easily get offended by deletion requests and speedy deletion requests. A few participants also mentioned that there is a lack of mutual helpfulness among some community members. There are also instances of users giving false information about community members and also revealing incidental flaws to insult and undermine the users. There are measures to prevent such conduct issues on Bangla Wikipedia, but they are not uniformly applied. Participants insisted that these issues should be taken seriously and preventive measures should be enforced strictly.
Is there anything particular in UCoC that you think is not aligned or conflicting with the current behavioral policies and guidelines in Bangla Wikipedia or any of the Bangla projects?
- Yes: 6 (9.2%)
- No: 13 (20%)
- Not sure: 46 (70.8%)
If you said yes to the previous question, kindly let us know which policy on Bangla Wikipedia or any Bangla project you think conflicts with the UCoC.
- This was not a mandatory question. We have got unclear responses to this question. A few participants responded yes to the previous questions but answered ‘not sure’ or ‘not applicable’ to this question. We received no answers that actually conflict with any policies on Bangla Wikipedia.
Reporting harassment
Have you ever reported any harassment, threat, or attack you experienced?
- Yes: 5 (7.7%)
- No: 39 (60%)
- Not applicable: 21 (32.3%)
If you reported your harassment, how satisfied are you with the outcome or action taken?
- Satisfied: 5 (7.7%)
- Not entirely satisfied: 4 (6.2%)
- Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied: 1 (1.5%)
- Not entirely dissatisfied: 2 (3.1%)
- Dissatisfied: 3 (4.6%)
- Not applicable: 50 (76.9%)
Do you think it is easy to report misconduct?
- Yes: 37 (57.8%)
- No: 27 (42.2%)
Is it easy to report misconduct on other Bangla language projects other than Bangla Wikipedia?
- Yes: 29 (45.3%)
- No: 35 (54.7%)
If you face misconduct in any Bangla-language project other than Bangla Wikipedia, where do you report or seek remedies? (select all that apply)
- Most users stated that they have or would prefer to file their complaints locally where the incident occurred. There are considerable choices of contacting administrators or active users to resolve the issue as well as bringing up the issue on Bangla Wikipedia for broader and experienced insights and speedy resolution.
Do you think it is necessary to have a private reporting system for conduct issues that cannot be reported publicly?
- Yes: 54 (83.1%)
- No: 11 (16.9%)
How should the reporting system be designed so that it ensures privacy and transparency?
- Most participants are in favor of having a dedicated emailing system (presumably OTRS-like). We understand the priority that the system should be easily accessible and usable. It is particularly important for new and less experienced users. To protect privacy, victims should be notified about revealing unnecessary private information. To ensure transparency, several participants suggested giving a few trusted, skilled users and administrators, access to see the private complaints. A few insisted that the users who possess such privileges should have an established track record of being impartial and neutral in mediating conflicts. There is also a proposal of making the cases public after a certain period of time to ensure transparency.
What can the local affiliates do to resolve or reduce conduct issues in Bangla Wikimedia projects?
- The participants prefer to get time guidelines and help from affiliates to resolve conduct issues like harassment, threats, insults. However, if it is not possible for affiliates to provide the necessary support, the community seeks WMF’s support. Some participants suggested that the affiliate can play a major role in making people aware of Wikipedia and its collective workflow so that the risk of individual contributors being harassed can be reduced to a minimum.
Do you support the idea of UCoC and its enforcement?
- Yes: 54 (83.1%)
- No: 0
- Neutral: 11 (16.9%)
Do you think current UCoC guidelines will be helpful to users in addition to the behavioral guidelines we have in Bangla projects?
- Yes: 51 (78.5%)
- No: 0
- Not sure: 14 (21.5%)
Enforcement body
Who should enforce UCoC violations on Bangla Wikipedia or its sister projects? (please select all that apply)
- Administrators: 32 (49.2%)
- Separately elected local body (like Arbitration Committee): 22 (33.8%)
- Separately elected body for all Bangla projects: 22 (33.8%)
- A global committee: 9 (13.8%)
- Wikimedia Foundation: 13 (20%)
- A combination of all above: 32 (49.2%)
If the above enforcement body you chose couldn’t resolve the issue, who you think the user should contact to find a solution?
- A global committee: 7 (10.8%)
- Wikimedia Foundation Trust and Safety team: 10 (15.4%)
- Both, starting with the global committee and then Trust and Safety team: 48 (73.8%)
Additional comments
Misunderstandings among community members happen frequently on Bangla Wiki projects. Many community members insisted that experienced users and administrators should be more patient when consulting new and inexperienced users regarding misinterpretations of actions, and harassment. While doing so they have to be extremely careful about not making intentional/unintentional personal attacks. For this, they need to be wary of the tone of their comments.