Talk:Harassment consultation 2015/Ideas/Not a black and white issue

The need for balance

I quite agree with the sentiments expressed here. Insofar as we are trying to build an encyclopedia (or, in projects other than Wikipedia, accomplish other parallel tasks) harassers can be a serious problem, but so can people who too readily play the victim card. We need to maintain an atmosphere in which reasonable people will feel safe and in which serious offenders will be sanctioned, including expelled. However, we also need not to create an atmosphere where contributors are afraid to be plainspoken, or where contributors who easily feel slighted and are inclined to make a stink always have the upper hand over those who will let things slide. - Jmabel (talk) 21:58, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

I am glad to see that there is someone here who isn't too swift to panic. We need a clear balance here, as you have said. We can't be sanctioning editors left and right because people play the victim card. Tharthan (talk) 15:27, 19 November 2015 (UTC)

Gaming the system should also be considered a banning offense. It creates disruption and wastes our time, but we need a trustworthy, uninvolved expert or two to investigate those cases. · · · Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 15:54, 19 November 2015 (UTC)

I also strongly endorse this as a sentiment and guiding philosophy. As a guiding philosophy, it doesn't create any specific call for action, but it does put the damper on proposals that will go too far and create a "chilling effect" on editors. Davidwr/talk 19:47, 20 November 2015 (UTC)