Wikipedia:Block protocol

Note: A previous version put forth as a proposal failed.

The Wikipedia collegial, consensus over rigid rules atmosphere breaks down when high profile borderline editor behavior is under review. While WP:WHEEL works well in most cases, this block protocol will help Wikipedia operate more smoothly and require less expenditure of wikipedian hours.

Principles

• No one has a right to edit Wikipedia. As a privately owned resource, terms of usage are up to the Wikimedia Foundation.
• The strength of Wikipedia is the entire community, not individual editors.
• A transiently inappropriate block does not do significant harm to Wikipedia.
• Allowing editors to remain unblocked may do harm to Wikipedia.
• The past record of a block that the community later decided was inappropriate is too frequently used to attack editors.
• While administrators work for the good of Wikipedia, as individuals their interpretation of situations will vary. Good faith must be assumed except in the most egregious cases. An administrator making a block or unblock which later turns out to not be the eventual consensus of the community should be respected. Accusations of malfeasance are generally not appropriate.
• Accidents of timing, specifically which administrator evaluates a case first, should not be used to guide policy.
• Individual administrators are entrusted with the sysop bit on behalf of the community, and act on behalf of the community when making a block. Therefore, blocks are not owned by the administrator who made them, but by the community.

Default is block

Where a complex situation requires time and community discussion to come to consensus, any administrator may issue a block; a previous administrator statement to the effect that a block isn't appropriate shall not be considered an "action" in the sense of wheel war reversal. Additionally, after a block is made, any additional administrators who document support of the block should be given an opportunity to comment before reversal.

If consensus cannot quickly be achieved, a discussion should be opened at WP:ANI and continue until community consensus is achieved, with due regard to the WP:NOTBUREAUCRACY policy, as elucidated by the WP:SNOW essay.

Administrators should avoid blocking editors they have previously been in contention with.

Types of block removal

Removal of blocks before they time out are broken into two categories:

• Unblocking, where a block is removed per the blocked editor's request and commitment to refrain from the behavior which led to the block.
• Overturning, where the community consensus after review is that the block was not necessary.

Permanent record

To avoid the stigma and inappropriate use of the block log in future misunderstandings, if a block is overturned the block log will indicate overturned for seven days following removal of the block. After a seven day period, the block log will be purged of both the block and overturned entries. Except as required by other policies, e.g. WP:OUTING, no other purging of the discussion surrounding the block will be performed.

Hold harmless

The overturning of a block should not be used to impugn the motivation or judgement of the blocking administrator. Only if an individual administrator is consistently overturned over a period of time should a review of their actions be initiated.