Wikipedia:Crisis

Wikipedia is an online community, but in some cases, editors will make threats about actions in the real world which may require an emergency response.

A crisis in Wikipedia is a situation in which the life or safety of a Wikipedia participant is in danger. This can include threats by a Wikipedia editor to harm another editor in real life or a threat by a Wikipedia editor to commit suicide. People in danger, or who are witnesses to the danger, or other involved persons may wish to seek additional help from the Wikipedia community, staff at the Wikimedia Foundation, or other individuals or organizations which might be concerned.

This page reviews the kinds of crisis situations which the Wikipedia community has addressed multiple times. It is difficult to know what anyone should do to respond to any of these situations. The comments here are the best information that anyone has to give for addressing these situations.

Wikimedia Foundation

You can contact the Wikimedia Foundation to report situations in which the safety of a Wikipedia participant is in danger. The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization which acts as steward of Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.

Responding to threats of harm

Main page: Wikipedia:Responding to threats of harm

However, the Wikipedia community is generally ill-equipped to deal with actual real-life emergencies or threats of harm, whether those are threats of physical violence against others, or against oneself. By and large, its users have no special training related to handling individuals who are actively or potentially violent or suicidal. Mental health experts and suicide prevention specialists recommend referring such individuals to proper professional care immediately.

For threats which may get a response including involvement of local police, consider Wikipedia:Responding to threats of harm.

Addressing threats on Wikipedia

Most threats on Wikipedia or against Wikipedians are managed internally by the Wikipedia community. Again, the Wikipedia community has no special training or authority to manage threats. Members do not get legal counsel and may not know the best responses to threats. Still, by necessity, when someone is threatened by another person then that person has to deal with it, and so might their friends and colleagues in the Wikipedia community.

It is not possible to say how to respond to all kinds of threats on Wikipedia, but consider this one common case and how it usually is managed.

Suppose that a Wikimedia community member is engaging in proper, good faith Wikimedia community activities. For whatever reason, another person says, "If you continue to do Wikimedia activities, then I will make trouble for you in your personal life away from Wikipedia" or "If you continue to edit page XYZ, I will harm you." These are both considered a threat. This is how the Wikipedia community commonly responds -

1. The recipient of the threat should consider whether they want to report the threat themselves or whether they would like to ask someone else to report it. If the threat recipient would like to report it, then they can choose to do so publicly or privately.
   1. Most people report threats publicly, in which case they proceed to step three.
   2. If the threat recipient chooses to report it privately, then write to the Wikimedia Foundation. There is no need to be shy about writing to the Wikimedia Foundation, but then also, regular Wikipedia contributors rarely do this and most regular Wikipedians make a public on-wiki report.
2. If you wish to ask another person to manage the threat, then this could have the benefit of lessening your further involvement in the issue, and hopefully lessen the need for the target of the complaint to respond further if they wish to distance themselves from the threatening situation. Anyone else can manage the complaint on behalf of another, and common ways to have the complaint managed are to ask any wiki-friend or acquaintance to take up the issue, or ask any WP:ADMINISTRATOR to do it.
3. When it is decided who will make the report, go to WP:ANI, the Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents.
4. However the reporter likes, make the complaint there. The complaint should probably not be longer than 2 short sentences. It should contain the username of the person who made the threat, a description of the threat, and if the threat was online, a link to the threat. That noticeboard asks that when a complaint is made about someone, then the person being discussed gets a link to the complaint. If for whatever reason the person making the report is afraid to notify the person making the threat, then consider whether it would be better to make the complaint privately to the Wikimedia Foundation as described above, or consider ignoring the rule about making a post on the threat-person's page so as to not incite more tension.
5. The expected response is that an administrator will block the person who made the threat until and unless the situation becomes safe for all participants.
   1. One possible response to a block is that the person who made the threat leaves Wikimedia projects indefinitely.
   2. Another situation is that unfortunately, people who get a threat sometimes make threats in response. It is helpful for people who mediate these things if, upon receiving a threat, a victim just reports it, and does not seek to heighten the tension except to request their safety from other community members. Having a third party manage tense situations makes things less tense, so people who are threatened are encouraged to make a report immediately. All people who make a threat might be blocked from Wikipedia, even if one person provoked another.
   3. Usually after a threat has been dealt with, the Wikipedia community members return to their usual activities.

See also

• Wikipedia:Avoiding harm
• Wikipedia:Threats of violence
• Wikipedia:WikiHate