Wikipedia:Topic ban essay

Topic bans are a kind of editing restriction imposed either by the Arbitration committee or by community consensus as usually determined on one of the two active administrative notice boards: WP:ANI or WP:AN. The standards and best-practices for topic bans are listed below.

Types of topic bans

Among the several types of topic bans editors may be subject to on Wikipedia are:

1. Article space topic bans - this type of topic ban requires that the user not edit in the article or meta pages of Wikipedia related to the topic (see #What is a topic? for how this is determined). Such a user is still allowed to contribute to any and all discussion pages (anything with "Talk:" in the title).
2. Discussion space topic bans - this type of topic ban requires that the user not edit in either the article and meta pages or the discussion pages of the topic. This type of ban is usually imposed when a user is monopolizing conversation and causing discussions to become unwieldy on talkpages.
3. Complete topic ban - this type of topic ban means that the user is banned from making an edit about the topic anywhere on Wikipedia including the user's own talkpage. These sorts of topic bans are usually a last resort for users who have been so disruptive as to warrant a remedy which encourages them to disengage completely from the topic.
4. Interaction topic ban - editors may be prohibited from interacting with certain editors.

Note that topic bans are meant to be preventative and not punitive. That is to say that users subject to topic bans are not being punished for bad behavior but instead the removal of the user from that topic area where they repeatedly violate policy is meant to avoid the disruption that the community has agreed was caused in part by the topic-banned user.

In some contentious areas, the arbitration committee has given administrators wide latitude to subject users to topic bans to help solve protracted disputes. In such situations, the administrator is required first to notify a user of the applicable arbitration committee ruling before any topic ban is imposed. Usually a log of when these warnings were given and when any topic bans were imposed is kept on an appropriate subpage of the relevant arbitration case.

What is a topic?

A topic is often centered around a single article or group of related articles. Topics may be "broadly construed" to give wide latitude to enforcement and to prevent gaming. For example, a topic ban regarding a particular person might also be construed as a ban on editing articles about institutions which that person is a prominent member, subjects that the person has commented on or written about, or even places that the person has lived.

Since how "broadly construed" the topic ban is may be up to interpretation, the onus is on the user under the topic ban to avoid impropriety or even the appearance of impropriety. A good way to do this for users who are actively under a topic ban is for them to contact neutral third-parties to verify that a particular Wikipedia page is not subject to the topic ban before making any edits. This is not a foolproof method, but it has the advantage of adhering to Wikipedia's good faith guideline. Third-party users who agree to advise topic-banned users in this fashion should be prepared to confirm in some way whether or not they have green-lighted pages for editing by the topic-banned. A good way to do this is to create a subpage for the user User:Example/Topic ban where pages can be listed individually as subject or not subject to the ban. It is best for the topic-banned to find an administrator to help with this process as such people have gone through the process of gaining the trust of the community. This technique cannot be used as an excuse for violating the topic ban, but rather is used to help the user subject to the ban to see where his or her contributions to Wikipedia are best placed. To reiterate, this method is not foolproof, and even if a page was approved by one third-party, it is possible for another uninvolved administrator to determine the same page, in fact, is in the topic broadly construed and should not be edited.

Enforcement

See also: Wikipedia:Banning_policy § Evasion_and_enforcement

Those who violate their topic bans are usually blocked for a period of time to prevent them from continuing the disruption. Usually blocks are made in increasing increments of time as violations continue. Note that even trivial violations can result in blocking (for example, correcting a spelling error on an article from which you are topic banned), and so users who are topic banned should avoid even the appearance of a violation. It is very difficult for an administrator to tell whether a topic-banned user is gaming the system or genuinely made a mistake, so complaining about the injustice of a block in such circumstances is not likely to result in much sympathy. If a topic-banned user does make an honest mistake and admits to it while making assurances that such a breach will not happen in the future, this can be considered a mitigating condition. However, there is not an unlimited supply of second-chances.

As blocks become longer and violations of the topic ban continue, a harsher community sanction may be decided upon to prevent further disruption.

Edits by proxy

Topic-banned users subject to the first two kinds of topic bans who see egregious errors that they think require uncontroversial fixes can request that a third-party make the edits for them. A third-party who does this takes full responsibility for the edit in question. Care should be made to be as transparent as possible about such actions since sockpuppetry and meatpuppetry are expressly forbidden at Wikipedia. Continuing to battle opponents by proxy is forbidden and any editors who decide to make edits for a topic-banned user should be aware of policy on the matter.

Editors who are subject to complete topic bans should not be discussing the articles on Wikipedia at all and therefore even edits by proxy are inappropriate. It is the hope, rather, that editors subject to a complete topic ban will turn their attention to other areas of Wikipedia.

Rehabilitation

Most topic bans are in effect for a certain timeframe after which they are automatically lifted. In the case of indefinite topic bans, conditions should be given by which the user can demonstrate rehabilitation and a return to normal editing.