I am a member of the volunteer response team (henceforth referred to as "OTRS"). This means I assist in responding to emails to and from the public. In rare cases, this will lead to me making an "OTRS action". When I do so I will clearly label such edits, and include the ticket number.
Appealing
editIf you feel I have made such actions in error, you are free to contact me. Please do not edit war with me over it, as I may have access to non-public information or circumstances about the page, so edit warring with the removal or addition is likely to make the situation worse. Instead, please email me via EmailUser at mdannmail
yahoo.co.uk, with either:
- The diff of the edit
- The ticket number
- the page title
- or, preferably, all three
What I will do
editI will aim to respond to your email as soon as possible, and where I can, provide more information about any non-public information I am aware of. Please note that, particularly with cases involving living people, I will only be able to give out limited information. Also, if I tell you more information, please do not assume it is OK to give out on-wiki; if you do, you are likely to face sanctions yourself.
Please also note I will keep a record of all emails sent to me about a case, in case I need to disclose them to a higher authority (eg. Arbcom) further down the line, however, I will not disclose them to the original emailer, except in exceptional circumstances.
Who else to contact
editIf you are not satisfied with my response, there are further avenues of appeal, as detailed at WP:OTRS:
- You can start a Request for comments about the material in question. As Wikipedia content is decided by consensus, these can overrule the ticket. If a RfC starts, I will aim to disclose as much as possible on-wiki, and will still disclose what I can over email. However, if you start a RfC, I would request you notify me, so I can respond appropriately.
- If you are not satisfied with my response, or think I am disclosing vital information not covered by the wmf:Access to nonpublic data policy, or feel I have responded inappropriately to your complaint, you may contact the Arbitration Committee
- If you feel I am unsuitable for the role, please contact an OTRS admin.
What I deal with
editI deal with most things that crop up, from routine vandalism reporting to issues with BLP's. While I strive to be as transparent as possible in my handling of cases, in certain cases I will be unable to give out much information at all. The other extreme is with copyright. I help out on the "permissions" queue, helping to verify Copyright releases. If you wish to get more information in these cases, I will almost certainly be able to give out more information.