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{{short description|Project page describing Wikimedia Foundation enforcement actions}}
{{procedural policy|WP:OFFICE|WP:OA|text=This page is also a ] ], established by ] and endorsed by the Foundation as necessary for the operation of the sites under its jurisdiction.}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=April 2022}}
⚫ {{nutshell|Sometimes the Wikimedia Foundation has to delete, protect or blank a page without going through the normal site/community process(es). These edits are temporary measures to prevent legal trouble or personal harm and ''should not be undone'' by any user.}}
{{dablink|"WP:OA" redirects here. You may be looking for ] or ].}}
{{Policylist}}
{{dablink|"WP:OFFICE" redirects here. You may be looking for ] for community discussions between the Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikimedia community.}}


{{ombox
'''Office actions''' are official changes made on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation, by members of its office. These are removals of questionable or illegal Wikimedia content following complaints. Office actions are performed so that the end result is a legally compliant article on the subject. Neither this policy nor actions taken under it override core policies, such as ].
| type = notice
| image = ]
| imageright = {{Ombox/shortcut|WP:OFFICE|WP:OA}}
| text = <div style="padding-top: 6px; padding-bottom: 5px;">'''This is an ].'''<br><div style="font-size: 90%;">It describes actions that are taken by the ] pursuant to the Foundation's ].</div>}}
⚫ {{nutshell|Sometimes the Wikimedia Foundation may have to delete, ], or blank pages, ], ] or ] users, or take other actions without going through the normal site/community processes to do so. These measures may be temporary or permanent and are taken to prevent legal trouble or personal harm. They must not be undone by any user without permission from the Wikimedia Foundation.}}
]|thumb]]
'''Office actions''' are actions performed by ] staff accounts (usually through the authorized ], '']''), and pursuant to the ]. Office actions are described by the Foundation as ''"official changes to or removals of content on the Wikimedia projects, or actions against specific individuals, performed by Foundation staff members and under the authority of the Wikimedia Foundation, upon receipt of one or multiple complaints from the community or the public, or as required by law."'' Complaints or issues that may lead to enforcement of office actions may involve, but are not limited to, ], ], ] or systematic ]. All office actions are performed pursuant to the Wikimedia Foundation ].


On the subject of modifying office actions, the Foundation states: {{quote|Wikimedia administrators and others who have the technical power to revert or edit office actions are strongly cautioned against doing so. Unauthorized modifications to office actions will not only be reverted, but may lead to sanctions by the Foundation, such as revocation of the rights of the individual involved. When in doubt, community members should consult the Foundation member of staff that performed the office action, or their line manager. However, details regarding an office action are only shared to the extent that they do not compromise the safety of users, the public or the project.}}
The most common complaints are ], ] and ].


For the full text of the Wikimedia Foundation official policy, see ].
==Short explanation==
Because "official edits" may seem strange in the context of an openly editable encyclopedia, some common causes for confusion should be clarified:


For pages currently protected by office action, see ]. For editing restrictions placed by office action, see ]. (The former log, ], is obsolete.) For some other office actions, see ], ], and ].
* Office actions are extremely rare.
* Office actions only occur by formal complaint made off-wiki (e.g. postal mail, electronic mail, telephone, or personal meetings).
* Grievances must be grounded in the law or be violations of Wikimedia standards. Requests for preferential treatment or attempts at intimidation are not heeded.
* The vast majority of cases are: libel, unjustifiable invasion of personal privacy, and copyright infringement. Since these are all inappropriate on Wikimedia anyway, office actions are preventable: if you see such a violation on a wiki, correct it or delete it and there will be no cause for complaint and no need for an "office action".
** {{tl|blp}}, {{tl|db-attack}}, and {{tl|db-copyvio}} templates have been established for the correction of these problems and are useful for this.


On the English Misplaced Pages, WMF Office deletions are covered under criterion ] of the Misplaced Pages ] policy.
== Process ==
Office actions will be clearly indicated both during and after to prevent ambiguities. Office actions may be authorized by any representative or delegate of the Wikimedia Foundation – such as its chair (currently ]), a member of the Foundation ], the Foundation's legal counsel, or a member of the ].


== Historical background ==
When a page is modified under this policy, the template "{{]}}" will be placed prominently on the page and the page will be ]. An article may be reduced to a few sentences to remove questionable content, and people then invited to build it up to a more reputable state. This will be indicated by the template {{tl|reset}}. In either case, the instructions on the template should be followed by everyone.
The office actions policy was ] on the English Misplaced Pages by ], back in February 2006, and shortly afterwards on ], in order to solidify long-standing practices and processes followed by the Foundation that were not officially recorded elsewhere in the projects at that time. Its original scope focused on page protections and ] article content changes, in response to increasingly rising number of escalated calls for action, placed directly to the Foundation's staff, by affected individuals. ] was the first designated Foundation staff member<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wool |first=Danny |date=March 12, 2006 |title= I am Danny |url=https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2006-March/041666.html |website=lists.wikimedia.org}}</ref> mandated to accept, review, and act on such requests,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wool |first=Danny |date=March 12, 2006 |title= Phone calls |url=https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2006-March/041684.html |website=lists.wikimedia.org}}</ref> with the exception of ] co-founder ].


The office actions page has undergone several iterations since, on both sites, and has been expanded to include a variety of office actions that have been taken over the years as common practice, broadening its original scope. At the same time, strict internal processes have been developed by the Foundation in order to complement as well as standardize office actions and staff use of advanced rights. In June 2019, the English Misplaced Pages page was changed to an information page referring to the Wikimedia Foundation office actions page located at ].
Administrators, who have the technical power to undo protections and deletions, are strongly cautioned against modifying these edits. Official statements and past incidents indicate that such unauthorized modifications will be actively reverted, and possibly the ] of the modifier will be revoked. When in doubt, consult the user applying the protection/template, or the ].


Office actions were originally intended to be temporary actions,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wales |first=Jimmy |date=March 12, 2006 |title= Apology |url=https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2006-March/041700.html |website=lists.wikimedia.org}}</ref> alleviating pressures caused by controversial situations and calling community attention to them in the hopes of resolution.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wales |first=Jimmy |date=April 21, 2006 |title= Libel chill |url=https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2006-April/044384.html |website=lists.wikimedia.org}}</ref> However, certain office actions have since evolved to be permanent and non-appealable due to the nature of the issues dealt with, while ].
== Who initiates office actions ==
# ] (Volunteer Coordinator), Philippe Beaudette (Head of Reader Relations), staff members of the Wikimedia Foundation Office and the Wikimedia Foundation's legal counsel.
# Members of the ], and particularly ], co-founder of Misplaced Pages and founder of the Wikimedia Foundation.


Office actions do not necessarily have widespread community consensus, in part because shared office role accounts, such as ], may lack sufficient communication and accountability.<ref>{{Citation |title=Misplaced Pages:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive309 |date=2023-02-04 |work=Misplaced Pages |url=https://en.m.wikipedia.org/Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/Archive309#h-User:WMFOffice_-_Ban_Proposal-Fram_banned_by_WMF_office-2019-06-12T08:01:00.000Z |access-date=2024-11-07 |language=en}}</ref>
== Currently under scrutiny ==
For images that have been deleted for copyright reasons, enter the name/description into a search engine to see what they looked like. If you see similar images bring them to the attention of the Office.
<!--{| class=wikitable
!Page name
!How to edit
!Date added
|-
| colspan="3" | There is currently nothing under office scrutiny.
|}-->
{| class=wikitable
!Page name
!How to edit
!Date added
|-
| ]
| Article is available to edit except for inclusion of signing keys. If you'd like to appeal, please contact ].
| 2009-10-07
|}


==See also==
For an automated, up-to-date list derived from {{tl|Pp-office}}, see ].
* ]
* ], a list of all official policies of the Wikimedia Foundation
* ]


== Originalia == ==References==
{{reflist}}


⚫ ]
; ] , from 6 February 2006
: In particular,
:* "Please note that this is official policy, and reverting a WP:OFFICE may be grounds for blocking. I do not recommend that admins block for this, I'm just saying... don't revert a WP:OFFICE edit unless and until you've asked and know what you are doing. There may at times be legal reasons for this."
:* "This quick action is in no way meant to override or replace the process of community consensus. There is still plenty of time, and there are still plenty of places, for the community to discuss and replace articles in due course."

; Relevant mailing list discussions
* Jimbo's clarification {{cn}}
*
*
*
*
* (Relevant selections from these discussions are available at ])

==DMCA compliance==
In some cases, the Foundation may be required to remove content from a Wikimedia Project due to a ] take-down notice. In order to retain safe harbor status, the Foundation is required to comply with validly formulated notices even if they are spurious. In the event that material is removed due to a DMCA notice, the only recourse for restoring such material is to file a counter-notice with the Foundation. If you believe that a take-down notice, which has been acted upon by the Foundation, is without legal basis, please visit the following sites to learn about filing a counter-notice:
* at Citizen Media Law Project
*
*
*

Please note that filing a counter-notice may lead to legal proceedings between you and the complaining party to determine ownership of the material. The DMCA process requires that you consent to the jurisdiction of a United States court. All notices should be sent to the Foundation's ].

]
]
⚫ ]

]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 01:39, 4 January 2025

Project page describing Wikimedia Foundation enforcement actions

"WP:OA" redirects here. You may be looking for Misplaced Pages:Online Ambassadors or Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Open Access. "WP:OFFICE" redirects here. You may be looking for meta:IRC office hours for community discussions between the Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikimedia community.
This is an information page.
It describes actions that are taken by the Wikimedia Foundation pursuant to the Foundation's office actions policy.		Shortcuts
This page in a nutshell: Sometimes the Wikimedia Foundation may have to delete, protect, or blank pages, suppress revisions, block or globally lock users, or take other actions without going through the normal site/community processes to do so. These measures may be temporary or permanent and are taken to prevent legal trouble or personal harm. They must not be undone by any user without permission from the Wikimedia Foundation.
An example of an office action blanking the page Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation

Office actions are actions performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff accounts (usually through the authorized role account, User:WMFOffice), and pursuant to the Wikimedia Foundation official policy. Office actions are described by the Foundation as "official changes to or removals of content on the Wikimedia projects, or actions against specific individuals, performed by Foundation staff members and under the authority of the Wikimedia Foundation, upon receipt of one or multiple complaints from the community or the public, or as required by law." Complaints or issues that may lead to enforcement of office actions may involve, but are not limited to, privacy violations, child protection, copyright infringement or systematic harassment. All office actions are performed pursuant to the Wikimedia Foundation Terms of Use.

On the subject of modifying office actions, the Foundation states:

Wikimedia administrators and others who have the technical power to revert or edit office actions are strongly cautioned against doing so. Unauthorized modifications to office actions will not only be reverted, but may lead to sanctions by the Foundation, such as revocation of the rights of the individual involved. When in doubt, community members should consult the Foundation member of staff that performed the office action, or their line manager. However, details regarding an office action are only shared to the extent that they do not compromise the safety of users, the public or the project.

For the full text of the Wikimedia Foundation official policy, see meta:Office actions.

For pages currently protected by office action, see Category:Misplaced Pages Office-protected pages. For editing restrictions placed by office action, see Special:Contributions/WMFOffice. (The former log, Misplaced Pages:Office actions/Log, is obsolete.) For some other office actions, see Special:Log/WMFOffice, meta:Special:Log/WMFOffice, and meta:Special:Contributions/WMFOffice.

On the English Misplaced Pages, WMF Office deletions are covered under criterion G9 of the Misplaced Pages criteria for speedy deletion policy.

Historical background

The office actions policy was originally launched on the English Misplaced Pages by Jimmy Wales, back in February 2006, and shortly afterwards on Meta, in order to solidify long-standing practices and processes followed by the Foundation that were not officially recorded elsewhere in the projects at that time. Its original scope focused on page protections and BLP article content changes, in response to increasingly rising number of escalated calls for action, placed directly to the Foundation's staff, by affected individuals. Danny Wool was the first designated Foundation staff member mandated to accept, review, and act on such requests, with the exception of Misplaced Pages co-founder Jimmy Wales.

The office actions page has undergone several iterations since, on both sites, and has been expanded to include a variety of office actions that have been taken over the years as common practice, broadening its original scope. At the same time, strict internal processes have been developed by the Foundation in order to complement as well as standardize office actions and staff use of advanced rights. In June 2019, the English Misplaced Pages page was changed to an information page referring to the Wikimedia Foundation office actions page located at meta:Office actions.

Office actions were originally intended to be temporary actions, alleviating pressures caused by controversial situations and calling community attention to them in the hopes of resolution. However, certain office actions have since evolved to be permanent and non-appealable due to the nature of the issues dealt with, while others have become defunct.

Office actions do not necessarily have widespread community consensus, in part because shared office role accounts, such as User:WMFOffice, may lack sufficient communication and accountability.

See also

References

  1. Wool, Danny (March 12, 2006). " I am Danny". lists.wikimedia.org.
  2. Wool, Danny (March 12, 2006). " Phone calls". lists.wikimedia.org.
  3. Wales, Jimmy (March 12, 2006). " Apology". lists.wikimedia.org.
  4. Wales, Jimmy (April 21, 2006). " Libel chill". lists.wikimedia.org.
  5. "Misplaced Pages:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive309", Misplaced Pages, 2023-02-04, retrieved 2024-11-07
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