Wiki governance audit/2021/Wikivoyage

Steps
General instructions
  • On the checklist page, indicate what has been checked (or in some cases, not checked) and the problems that are found. Any problems found do not have to be related to the checklist, but could plausibly be solved with reasonable effort.
  • If you have to ask another user for help, or post on a page, indicate that you have done so and a reasonable timeframe to check back and make sure that proper action was taken.
  • Sometimes proper action is not feasible (technically/politically/etc.) That is okay, but note that for next year.
Bureaucracy
  • Should the wiki even exist?
    • Generally, the answer is almost always yes.
    • CPP summarizes valid reasons why it should not anymore. Generally, the issue would be a very small number of pages.
    • Chapter or user group wikis are owned by that chapter or user group. If that group ceases to exist it is unclear what happens. If the wiki seems to be out of date or unused, it may be worth following up with the group to see if they still want to keep using it.
  • Should the wiki allow global sysops?
    • The cutoff is less than 10 admins or less than 3 admins making a logged action within the last 2 months. However, stewards have been reluctant to enforce the 10 admins part.
    • However, local communities are allowed to override default behavior. See Global sysops/Local discussions.
      • If you think that a community needs help but doesn't fall below the threshold, you are welcome to start a discussion with that community.
    • Change requests should be made at SRM.
  • Should the wiki adopt the global bot policy?
    • The instructions are at Bot policy/Implementation. It is probably best to focus on wikis that don't have bureaucrats; wikis with lots of admins/bureaucrats that have not signed on probably have rejected the policy.
Confusion
Inactivity
  • Are there inactive rights holders (admin/interface admin/bureaucrat/CU/OS)? [1]
    • Any CU/OS that has no edits/logged actions in over 1 year can be removed by going straight to SRP.
    • If the wiki is listed at Admin activity review/Local inactivity policies then ask a bureaucrat or admin to perform the policy and remove the inactive admins.
      • If all the admins are inactive under that policy it is unclear what to do. Some requests at SRP in that situation have been successful.
    • Chapter wikis and some other special wikis are exempt from the global AAR. See User:Openbk/list2 for a list.
      • But it may be worth asking around (i.e. the chapter) to have admins removed who are clearly inactive, or to come up with an inactivity policy.
    • If the wiki does fall under AAR: what happened in this year's run? Occasionally wikis are indeed missed for some odd reason.
      • 2021 note: if AAR for this year has not happened yet then please let that process run, and focus on rights holders who have been inactive for 3 years and were missed in AAR19.
  • Are speedy deletions backing up? Check on Global sysops/Speedy delete requests.
    • If an administrator has edited recently, ask them to review. If not or they do not answer after 7 days, go to SRM.
  • Check Special:RecentChanges - are there any obvious problems? (vandalism/spam not being addressed, runaway bots, etc.)
  • Are there long-term projects related to this wiki on SRM that aren't being addressed?
Malicious behavior

If there are no current administrators, some of the following steps can be skipped.

Typically the two most abused admin rights have to do with blocking and user rights.

  • Check Special:Log/block.
    • Focus on blocks of established users. On a cursory glance does this seem right to you?
    • Are blocks being made that show that the admin has no idea how to do range blocks?
  • Check Special:Log/rights.
    • It is the general expectation of stewards nowadays that permanent adminship requires 8 support votes, and bureaucrat requires 15 support votes. +sysop/crat without any obvious discussion is troubling. (Chapter/test wikis are given an exemption from this).
  • Check the user rights structure through pages like Special:Statistics or Special:ListGroupRights. Does it make sense to you?
  • Check the CU and OS logs. Even if there are no permanent CU/OS holders, it is worth a check to determine if there has been misuse of rights by stewards, WMF staff, or OC. (Of course, the number of users who can actually check this is limited. There will be a separate item for this in the checklists, and we may have to close some annual rounds without this having been completed for all wikis).
  • Obvious problems with content (NPOV, machine translations) should generally be referred to SWA, SRM, or RFC as appropriate.
  • If there are recent RFCs or SWAs related to this wiki, they may be worth reviewing.
  • Check AbuseFilter for malicious abusefilters.

When you are making notes, please just state the facts and use diffs, and try to keep personal commentary to a minimum until this is referred to another venue. Generally issues from this section need to go to discussion with that admin, then with the community, then to RFC. User:Rschen7754/Help, my wiki went rogue! may also have some suggestions.

Privacy
  • Check for privacy-violating scripts: Load the wiki in a browser like Chrome, Firefox, or Microsoft Edge. Open the developer console with F12, click on the Network tab, and reload the page. Are all the scripts from Wikimedia sites? (wmflabs.org is not okay, they do not have the same NDA that the production environment uses).
    • If you are not an interface administrator (or GS/GEI/steward) you will need to request assistance at SRM.
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy:

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

Wiki has bureaucrats, probably not a good candidate for global bots. Also - could be opted out of global sysops, raised discussion here. --Rschen7754 18:55, 17 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion died. --Rschen7754 03:43, 29 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

Backlog of speedy deletions, asked admin at [2]. --Rschen7754 05:55, 21 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Moved to SRM. --Rschen7754 20:53, 30 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Rschen7754 Backlog has been dealt with. See also my reply on SRM. Wiki13 (talk) 21:31, 30 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Wiki13: That is fine, just as long as it has been reviewed. --Rschen7754 22:44, 30 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Note: 9 pages deleted. --Rschen7754 21:56, 31 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

No issues. One admin is about 1 month past the inactivity rule but that's relatively minor. --Rschen7754 03:53, 29 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

Added to GMD. --Rschen7754 19:52, 4 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

Speedy deletion backlog, asked admin. --Rschen7754 20:03, 4 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2 pages deleted. --Rschen7754 23:53, 6 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

Backlog of speedy requests, asked admin. Also noting https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T73681 where admins were given importupload, not considered a best practice. --Rschen7754 20:14, 4 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

34 pages deleted. --Rschen7754 19:25, 18 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

No problems --Rschen7754 03:55, 6 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy:

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

No problems --Rschen7754 04:00, 6 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy:

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

Deletion backlog, asked admin. --Rschen7754 04:09, 6 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Moved to SRM. --Rschen7754 17:19, 30 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
2 pages deleted. --Rschen7754 20:38, 30 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

No problems. --Rschen7754 04:21, 6 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy:

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

Proposed global bot policy. --Rschen7754 19:35, 18 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Made SRM request. --Rschen7754 19:32, 2 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Done. --Rschen7754 22:21, 2 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy:

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

From the 2019 audit: I had some concerns about the inactivity policy not being enforced. --Rschen7754 19:19, 20 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Backed up deletion requests, had a GS delete 1 page. --Rschen7754 03:46, 19 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Started discussion about inactive admins [3]. --Rschen7754 04:05, 19 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
nl.voy will be considered to have no policy in 2022: [4] Closing as nothing can be done now. --Rschen7754 18:06, 29 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Postscript: 3 admins, 3 crats removed. --Rschen7754 02:30, 5 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754
Started global bot discussion. --Rschen7754 04:37, 20 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Moved to SRM. --Rschen7754 05:25, 9 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Done. --Rschen7754 21:57, 15 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

No issues. --Rschen7754 04:42, 20 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

Started global bot discussion. Asked admin to delete page. --Rschen7754 05:02, 20 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

1 page deleted. --Rschen7754 06:44, 20 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Moved to SRM. --Rschen7754 05:29, 9 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Done. --Rschen7754 22:02, 15 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

Started global bot discussion. --Rschen7754 05:07, 20 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Moved to SRM. --Rschen7754 05:38, 9 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Done. --Rschen7754 22:14, 15 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

New wiki. Started the village pump, and posted global bot policy. Added to global message delivery. Set up the deletion templates as best I could. --Rschen7754 22:19, 21 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Moved to SRM. --Rschen7754 23:44, 4 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Done. --Rschen7754 00:28, 5 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy:

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

No issues, though the base of admins seems to have shrunk and a crat probably would not be elected today. --Rschen7754 03:55, 25 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

Proposed bot policy. --Rschen7754 04:15, 25 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Posting on SRM --Rschen7754 17:25, 9 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Done. --Rschen7754 22:21, 15 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

Global bot discussion started. --Rschen7754 16:08, 26 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Moved to SRM. --Rschen7754 22:25, 15 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Done. --Rschen7754 05:03, 21 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

Backlog of deletion requests - sent to global sysops. Global bot discussion started. --Rschen7754 05:49, 9 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

16 pages deleted. --Rschen7754 17:28, 9 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Moved to SRM. --Rschen7754 06:51, 25 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Done. --Rschen7754 07:25, 26 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Bureaucracy:   Done by Rschen7754

AllPages Bot policy: aa,gb

Confusion:   Done by Rschen7754 Inactivity:   Done by Rschen7754

Stewardry RecentChanges Delete

Malicious behavior:   Done by Rschen7754

block rights Statistics ListGroupRights AbuseFilter

CU OS logs checked:   Not done
Privacy:   Done by Rschen7754

Global bot discussion started. --Rschen7754 22:36, 15 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Moved to SRM. --Rschen7754 15:19, 30 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Done. --Rschen7754 17:09, 30 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]