All The Tropes Wiki Project, Part XVII

[robkelk]

And now that I've re-read ATT:Policy for Wiki Staff, I am reminded of sections 6 and 8 of the staff policy, which I'll quote here for the convenience of anybody who's followed the link in the sitenotice.

6. We will not censor for politics, prudery or prejudice. Period. Censorship is a slippery slope, and we don't want to play that game. That's not to say that there will be no censorship at all -- even a physical commons has time, place, and manner regulations on free speech. We will only censor content that is illegal in the United States, such as: photos of child pornography, libel, harassment, and hate speech that would incite a crime. The rest of our standards are up to the community. In practice, this means that we are not a site for young schoolchildren, as there will be strong language and discussion of adult themes in the media. (In order to edit, you must legally be able enter into an agreement to grant a copyright license, so there is that.)

8. Bans and page locks are for protecting the wiki, not taking sides. Sanctions should never be arbitrary and capricious, and banning users should be a last resort. Temporary locks will be used in most cases; an Edit War is a sign that editors need a chance to cool down, not an excuse to wave the banhammer +12 indiscriminately. That said, yes, you still can get permanently banned from the wiki. But, unless you're a spammer or a lawbreaker, you really have to work at it. Permanent banning is an extreme sanction, used for only the worst cases and not as a way to ensure that administrators always win arguments. We promise that banning won't become an easy way to dispose of someone an admin doesn't like. If we give a ban, we will try to inform the user why they were banned. Instant bans can happen: if you have some sort of censorware installed, we'll need to protect the wiki from poor software that doesn't understand the Scunthorpe Problem. Automated attacks, obvious vandals and spammers are also subject to instant bans.

I can see the potential conflict between these two clauses, which Geth chose to resolve in a way that Labster and Looney Toons thought an overreaction. I might have done the same thing, myself, and then asked whether the page lock should remain in place.