CZ:Moderator Blocking Procedures

The Citizendium Constabulary is established to ensure that the community remains a collegial place to do work. To this end, it must enforce certain rules.

There are two classes of offense that can result in a blocked account, or "ban": those to which any constable can be expected to make a fair, rapid response, and those that are relatively difficult to adjudicate, and which require a lengthier process. We have separated the relevant policies into two sections, below.

Strictly speaking, it is not accounts that are banned but persons, who are then forbidden from creating new accounts. Bans can be reversed only upon appeal or through application for reinstatement.

Constables, and persons contacting constables, should bear in mind that in general it is the function of the Constabulary to regulate behavior, not editorial matters.

Rapid Response Rules and Procedures

The Constabulary holds that there are certain offenses the quality of which is immediately evident simply by reading text that the offender has written, or by observing behavior. In such cases, constables are charged with responding as quickly as possible. Some of these offenses will result in a warning first, then a ban; others will result in an immediate ban, as we have a "zero tolerance policy" toward these offenses.

In either case, here is the procedure for enforcing the following rules. First, a constable spots the offense, or receives a report about it and examines it. Second, if necessary, the constable consults the rule and confirms that, in his or her own judgment, the rule clearly covers the offense. Third, the constable applies the ban (duration is permanent unless otherwise noted) or issues the warning prescribed.

If in doubt, a constable must consult with the constable mailing list.

Offenses which will result in a warning first, then a ban

The following are offenses that are both clear and serious, but which in the judgment of the Constabulary warrant first a (single) warning, followed by a permanent ban after the second offense. Warnings can be considered to have "expired" after six months.

• Blatant and obvious violations of the Citizendium neutrality policy; writing any text that virtually everyone should be able to agree places one view in a far better, or far worse, light than other, competing views that must also be presented sympathetically.
• Editing an article about oneself or about matters with which one has been directly involved, that pose an obvious question of conflict of interest.
• Insults or personal attacks that are relatively mild, but which are still definitely objectionable on grounds that they aggressively impugn the moral character, or personal or professional credibility, of a project member in good standing. It does not matter whether these attacks are made using Citizendium resources or other resources.

Offenses which will result in an immediate ban

Any language or behavior that most reasonable persons would interpret in the following ways may, and probably will, result in an immediate, permanent ban.

• Threats, either of physical harm or of other egregious aggression, whether against an individual or a group of individuals.
• Extremely offensive insults or personal attacks; direct and harsh attacks on the moral character, or personal or professional credibility, of a project member in good standing; or any application of particularly crude and vulgar epithets ("four letter words") to project members in good standing. It does not matter whether these attacks are made using Citizendium resources or other resources.
• Defamation; making what a reasonable person should know are false or unproven (and therefore legally actionable) claims about a person that affect the reputation and/or earning potential of that person.
• Uploading of copyrighted material.
• Use of an unapproved pseudonym.
• Creation of a second account (a "sockpuppet") without first having the first account disactivated. In this case, both accounts will be blocked. Obviously people can make innocent mistakes here; the penalty is applicable when a person attempts to create two separate identities.
• Vandalism, i.e., the gratuitous changing of text, or moving pages, evidently aimed at offending readers and/or inconveniencing constables.
• Writing or uploading clearly obscene, horrifically violent, or (in general) patently offensive text, images, or sounds.
• Public posting of private, personal e-mails of Citizens.
• Use of the wiki to sell goods and "spam," including, but not limited to, writing or editing articles about one's own company or organization, as well as adding links to websites with which one is associated. Persons tempted to do this are instructed to e-mail the Topic Informant Group at czinternal-topic@citizendium.org, or for minor additions, to use the article's talk page.

The Citizendium Adjudication Process

While constables are empowered to take many actions singly and with only appeal oversight--in relatively clear cases--disruptions of the community in many less clear cases cannot be decided so summarily. The following describes the process we have adopted for adjudicating the hard cases.

Here is a summary. Somebody reports a violation to constables@citizendium.org. If it seems serious, but not something that anyone can act on immediately, someone forwards it to czinternal-constable. Then two people volunteer to look into the matter and compile a list of problems and what rules they violate. At the same time they ask the respondent if he/she wants them to publish the results on the wiki. They collect statements from anyone involved who wants to offer them, and then settle on a decision. This decision is quickly put before the larger group of constables before acted on--then it is acted on.

In detail:

1. The adjudication process formally begins when someone makes a complaint about a Citizendium contributor by sending an e-mail to constables@citizendium.org. It may be a constable who lodges this complaint.

2. If a complaint is frivolous, resolvable summarily, or otherwise does not require a formal process, it will be resolved by whichever constable first responds, and then placed in an appropriate folder. Otherwise, a constable will forward the mail to the constable mailing list.

3. Two constables declare on the constable list that they volunteer to take up the case. Note that, due to conflict of interest concerns, no constable who has been a party to a dispute with a respondent may volunteer, nor may constables adjudicate disputes about their peers in a given workgroup of which they are members, or in which they often do much work regardless of whether they are members.

Note that merely having previously been an assigned constable for a case involving the respondent does not constitute having been "party to a dispute" with the respondent. It is the Citizendium Constabulary, not any particular constable, that has the dispute with the respondent.

4. If in the opinion of either of the assigned constables (including the first volunteer) it is the case that both (a) there is excellent evidence of a bannable offense, and (b) there is no evidence that the offending behavior has stopped or is likely to stop, then that constable may block the account of the respondent, with the following notice in the log and in an e-mail to the respondent: "Your user account has been placed on probation, possibly only temporary, by the Citizendium Constabulary, pending the final resolution of your case."

5. The assigned constables then ask the respondent whether he/she wishes the proceedings to be made public on the wiki or else to be kept private. The proceedings are kept private until the respondent clearly instructs the Constabulary to make the proceedings public, e.g., with the words, "Please make the proceedings of this case public."

6. The assigned constables then compile a list of offenses, that is, they list the respondent's offending edits or otherwise document the respondent's offending behaviors. If there are very many of them, then the constables list only those that are perceived to be the most egregious, and summarize the rest.

7. Next, the assigned constables present these documents to the respondent and to any other persons most directly impacted by the respondent's actions, and ask for statements from all parties. One week, measured from the time the request is first made, is allowed for statements, although the statement period can be shortened by various parties saying that they will not be making a statement. The respondent, in particular, is asked whether he/she wishes to contest either the findings of fact or the applicability of various rules to these findings of fact.

8. If the statements require any significant revision to the list of offenses, then 6-7 are repeated, although with the period for further statements being limited to three days.

9. The constables make a decision regarding the case, given their findings of fact, their judgment regarding what rules have been broken (and how egregiously), and any other relevant information contained in the statements proffered by the respondent and others affected.

10. If the constables cannot agree on a decision, or if in the view of either of the constables, the case presents any special difficulties, e.g., the covering rules are not clear or do not exist yet, then the case is forwarded to the entire constable group for discussion. All efforts shall be made by constables to arrive at consensus. If no consensus appears forthcoming, then the Chief Constable calls for a vote, which he or she then tallies. The decision in the case is then executed by one of the original volunteers.

11. If, however, both constables agree on a decision and that the case presents no special difficulties, then all documents are submitted to the constable mailing list, and (at about the same time) one of the assigned constables executes the decision.

The Appeals Process

Both bans and warnings may be appealed by sending an e-mail to constables@citizendium.org.

Appeals are to be assigned by the Chief Constable to a group of three constables which does not include any of the original two constables who made the decision.

Appeals may either be granted, rejected, or dismissed. Decisions made about appeals are final.

While appeals may be rejected with no ill consequences, appeals with no merit whatsoever may be dismissed. The accumulation of dismissed appeals will be regarded by the Constabulary as evidence of participation in bad faith, and may contribute to an author's ejection from the project.

We have not yet had any appeals and future policy may be settled more definitely after we do.

Application for Reinstatement

Generally speaking, reinstatement of contributor rights is achievable after a period of some months, so long as the respondent demonstrates remorse about and understanding of the offense, and also proves his or her identity. Requests for reinstatement may be made by sending a mail to constables@citizendium.org.

The Constabulary will decide (via discussion on its mailing list) what an appropriate period is for reinstatement, or whether reinstatement is indeed possible.

Reinstatement a second time will be much more difficult, and probably impossible.