User:Toomai/SW:UCC patching draft

This page is a draft. Feel free to contribute to this page as you would a mainspace page.

SmashWiki:Private concerns and complaints

Everything that happens on SmashWiki is public. This is generally a good thing. But in rare situations, there can be an issue that one desires to bring up only in private, and feels it must be taken care of very cautiously. This policy details how such is handled.

Before you start

This policy is the Serious Option. Only call on it if you really truly believe that going through the formal process is necessary. The exact meaning of this compared to other avenues is discussed below, after the process is outlined.

In addition, while this is the main framework of the policy, exceptional situations may require exceptional methods or decisions. Staff reserve the right to do things that don't fit the letter of these rules, should they agree it be called for in the spirit of the rules. (This is of course the case with all policies, but it bears repeating here.)

Raising an issue

If you have an issue that you do not feel safe being public with, there are two methods of requesting that staff look into it.

1. Go to Special:EmailUser and email an active staff member.
2. Join our Discord server and send a private message to an active staff member. (You will need to include your wiki account name.)

   Chat Operators in the Discord server are not wiki staff. Do not go to them with issues using this policy.

In either case, your message should make it very clear that you are invoking this policy. Starting your message with "I wish to make a complaint under SW:PCC." is recommended. If it is not extremely clear, the staff member receiving the complaint should request that it be made clear.

Be sure to include as many specific details and references as possible to support your complaint. Staff are likely to ask for more details if necessary, but if your initial complaint is bare or contains only generalities, it will be more difficult to take any action.

The intent of this policy is that complaints be made against specific users for the purposes of bringing staff attention to actions or behaviour that would not normally result in consequences by our hand (see examples below). But there could be other sorts of private matters that might apply.

As implied by the name, complaints lodged under this policy should be entirely in private; that is, not mentioned anywhere on-wiki or the Discord server. This is to prevent knowledge of it from impacting proceedings. Complaints will not be considered under this policy if they have already been made in public, until enough time has passed for the situation to have changed.

Complaints may not be made by or against anonymous users (IPs).

Response

Once a staff member receives a complaint, they will share it with the rest of the wiki's staff and begin discussing what to do with it. The user that raised the issue (the "raiser") or the user being complained about (the "subject") may be contacted for additional details; if both, they will be done separately. If the subject is contacted, staff will endeavour to not reveal the identity of the raiser if at all possible. However, it may be necessary to provide the subject with some details of the complaint. The raiser's name will be redacted, and their comments may be paraphrased, but it may be possible to deduce their identity regardless.

There are three possible outcomes to a complaint.

1. The complaint is deemed valid and so is acted upon. Most likely, this means punishment for the subject, such as being warned or blocked.
2. The complaint is deemed invalid but in good faith. No action is taken. The raiser is informed their complaint did not pass muster. The subject is only informed if they were already contacted about it; if not, they are not told of the complaint at all.
3. The complaint is deemed invalid and in bad faith. In addition to the "invalid but in good faith" actions, the raiser receives a strike (see below).

Wiki vs. Discord

The Discord server has additional "staff" members (chat operators) who are not "staff" on-wiki (administrators and bureaucrats). In most cases, the term "staff" on this page consists only of wiki staff, and this is the default group of people that will hear your complaint. However, if the nature of your complaint is purely about the Discord server, it may be correct for the wiki staff to share the issue with the Discord staff. Be aware of this when you make your complaint.

Strikes

As this policy is the Serious Option, the punishment for misusing it is equally serious. If a user accumulates three strikes, they will be blocked from both the wiki and the Discord server for disruption. The duration of this block is subject to typical guidelines. In addition, during this block, the user will not be permitted to submit complaints using this policy - any attempts will be ignored, and likely also extend the duration of the block.

Strikes expire after six months. If someone is blocked, their oldest strike expires when the block does (unless it already has), leaving them with the two most recent ones.

Since complaints are private, so is the list of strikes (or this would reveal who is sending complaints).

Meaning of the "formal process"

As stated above, this policy is the Serious Option. Here is how it differs from the other options available.

Public message

Many situations can be resolved in public before they become enough of a problem to require privacy.

• A public message is not anonymous (obviously). Invoking SW:PCC is.
• A public message can be seen, discussed, and judged by all members of the community. Invoking SW:PCC requires a measure of trust that the administration handles it properly in secret. (But hey, they've been voted staff because they are trusted.)
• A public message can cause additional problems and attention if the matter is sufficiently delicate. Invoking SW:PCC ensures that only the fewest people will even know about it.

Informal message to staff

There's nothing stopping you from simply sending a private message to a staff member without using this policy. For the vast majority of situations, this is probably good enough for whatever problem you're facing.

• An informal message has no requirements. Invoking SW:PCC requires a modicum of proof.
• An informal message can be sent to Discord chat ops. Invoking SW:PCC must be sent to someone who is staff on-wiki.
• An informal message does not necessarily protect anonymity (staff probably should anyway, but it is not required). Invoking SW:PCC does so as much as is feasibly possible.
• An informal message can be ignored or dismissed like any other message. Invoking SW:PCC requires action by the receiving staff member.
• An informal message may or may not be shared with other users, and might be judged by the messaged staff or any other. Invoking SW:PCC means the issue will be shared with all staff (no more or less), and the decision will be made by them as a whole.
• An informal message can have any result. Invoking SW:PCC may only have the three results stated above.

Examples

The following are simplistic boilerplate examples of the types of complaints this system is, and is not, intended to be used for.

Yes

These problems are prime examples for calling on this policy.

• "User X is aggressively badmouthing me on this other website because this talkpage discussion didn't turn out their way."
• "User X is stalking me across these three websites and is now on this wiki."
• "User X actively discriminates against people like me as shown by these comments elsewhere."

Maybe

While there is nothing wrong with using this policy on these sorts of issues, an informal message to staff will do just as well without going through the rigmarole.

• "User X is planning to vandalise us as shown by this series of tweets."
• "User X is posting subtly racist memes in the Discord rarely enough that no one else is seeing the pattern."

No

These problems should be taken care of by normal means established elsewhere (e.g. discussion on user talk pages).

• "User X is vandalising."
• "User X keeps reverting all my edits with lame reasons."
• "User X is being rude in most discussions."
• "User X is ignoring talk page warnings."
• "User X wants personal information removed from their Smasher page."