Based on recent discussions and related to our changes in deletion policy, I'm proposing a simplification of rule II.5, Content Posting by Banned Users:
Proposed rule:
5. Content Posting by Banned Users: Users currently banned from the site may not submit new content to the site in any way. This includes articles, forum posts, and all other forms of content. Site members may not post content authored by a banned user, or make posts or edits on a banned user's behalf, except as described in the following subsections.
a. Banned users may request anonymization of their articles, which will be carried out in accordance with the site's license and within the technical limitations imposed by Wikidot.
b. Staff will consider allowing the posting of collaborations that were in-progress at the time of a user's ban on a case-by-case basis, provided at least one co-author remains unbanned and that any banned user(s) ceased work on the collaboration at the time of their ban(s). Any operational staff member or administrator may vote on such a decision, and the number of staff members in favor of permitting posting must exceed the number opposing it by at least three for the work in question to be posted. (For example, if two staff members vote against the posting of a given work, then the requirement for posting would be five votes in favor.) Voting will be open for seven days.
Advantages of the new rule:
- Removes an unnecessary distinction between AHT and Disciplinary bans
- Includes all forms of content, not just articles, for all banned users
- Reflects that staff will no longer delete works at the request of their authors, irrespective of whether the authors are banned.
- Note that this aspect of the policy is not up for a vote; the current language in the site rules that allows banned users to request deletion of their existing work(s) is a dead letter following this vote. Banned users will remain unable to request deletion of their works whatever the outcome of the vote on this policy change.
- Makes it clear that anonymization is still an option, allowing banned users to disclaim any or all of their works if they so choose
- Addresses the occasionally-contentious issue of collaborations with banned users without allowing for rules-lawyering
In accordance with the site charter, this rule will be implemented directly if consensus can be reached on this thread; if not, a vote will be held. This discussion will go on for one week:
The prior vote on this policy was halted due to the omission of a procedure for site staff to make the case-by-case decision called for under 5.b in the proposed rule. That has since been added, along with other wording tweaks and improvements. In addition, I've added clarifying language to emphasize that this is not a vote on whether authors should be allowed to request that staff delete their works. We already had that vote, as linked above, and the answer was no.
Change log: Add 7 day voting limit per discussion.