Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Bulk talk page deliveries

This is a requests for comment regarding bulk talk page deliveries.

It is still being drafted. It's not live yet.

Background

It's possible, using various tools, to do bulk talk page deliveries. Using AWB or EdwardsBot or even tabbed browsing, it's possible to send a particular message to many users in a short period of time.

The purpose of this requests for comment is to examine when it's appropriate to engage in bulk talk page deliveries.

Section 2

In general, when is it ok to send mass messages to editors?
Is it acceptable for first-time messages to be sent without consent provided future messages are strictly opt-in?
Is indirect or passive interest demonstrated by activity in a topic area enough?
Does being a member of a WikiProject act as defacto opt-in for Project related mailings?
Should certain sized mailings that are not opt-in (20, 50, 100, etc.) require some type of approval?
What kind of pre-approval process could we create for borderline or gray area cases? What forum is best to comment on that issue?
What is the appropriate way to deal with a mass messaging that some editors find objectionable? Warning first? Removal from the access list? Blocks?
Based on the above, should all messages be opt-in only, or is opt-out ever acceptable?

Discussion

Comments by Kumioko

In my opinion the answeres to those questons are in order below:

At the discretion of those sending the messages
Yes, but it should be opt in after the initial post
Yes
Yes, unless they opt out
No, they are relatively rare and its easy to ignore, revert or delete them if they are not wanted. No reason to create a policy based on a knee jerk reaction to an isolated incident.
None, not applicable leave things as they are.
We could create a general edwards bot opt out list or create a category users could add to their user page (or both) that would exclude them from messages.
No/Yes. If we don't want people posting to our talk pages, then we shouldn't be here. Talk pages are for communicating information whether by automated means or by individuals.

Again, we are not the US Congress so there is no reason for us to pass a new bill just because of one isolated incident. Kumioko (talk) 20:28, 5 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]