Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/BU Rob13: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:35, 8 July 2016

Revision as of 16:55, 8 July 2016

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::'''A:''' (This question was changed after I answered it. Please see [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ARequests_for_adminship%2FBU_Rob13&type=revision&diff=728920137&oldid=728919670 here] for the original question.) No, absolutely not. They're commenting on the possibility that Wikipedia could be subject to a lawsuit from another person, not threatening to file one. As per [[WP:NLT]], "A discussion as to whether material is libelous is not a legal threat." We'd pretty much have to block every participant of an [[WP:FFD]] if we blocked editors for discussing how certain content may create legal issues for the Foundation.

:::To answer the broader altered question, NLT is very clear that obvious legal threats cannot be tolerated on the project, and I agree with that. Legal threats have a profound [[chilling effect]] on discussion. For blatant legal threats, an indefinite block until the threat is revoked is appropriate. For comments that could be construed as legal threats but which aren't obviously so, I would invite the user to clarify that their comment was not a legal threat rather than immediately blocking. In both cases, I would invite the user to withdraw the (potential) threat on their talk page, explain why, and invite them to discuss the issue that led to their (potential) legal threat. I'd also evaluate the substance of their complaint to see if something needs to be improved as per [[WP:DOLT]], especially for any alleged [[WP:BLP|BLP]] violations. ~ [[User:BU Rob13|<b>Rob</b><small>₁₃</small>]]<sup style="margin-left:-1.0ex;">[[User talk:BU Rob13|Talk]]</sup> 16:55, 8 July 2016 (UTC)

====Discussion====