- Treat all claims seriously
- Many threats are empty, but most Wikipedians do not have the training to make such evaluations.
- If you are in immediate danger, call your local emergency services.
- Contact the Wikimedia Foundation
Immediately email emergency
with details of the threat.
wikimedia.org
- This address is only for true emergencies and is monitored around the clock. If you have an issue that is not an emergency, please see Wikipedia:Contact us for a more appropriate venue.
- You can also use Special:EmailUser/Emergency if you have an account with email enabled.
- Include the name of the page where the threat was made, or a diff.
- Avoid emailing other addresses or telephoning the Wikimedia Foundation office, as it creates confusion.
- Staff will typically acknowledge your email immediately.
- Staff will take appropriate action, such as tracing locations and contacting authorities.
- Contact administrators
In addition to emailing the Wikimedia Foundation as above, notify Wikipedia administrators privately.
- Even an administrator discovering a threat should notify other administrators.
- Use email, IRC, or other low-visibility methods. Avoid high-traffic noticeboards when reporting.
- If in doubt, join #wikipedia-en-revdel connect or failing that, in true emergencies there is almost always a steward on #wikimedia-stewards connect. If you don't have an IRC client, click the green connect button to launch web-based IRC.
- Also request oversight, as such posts often contain personal information requiring suppression.
Advice for administrators
- Threats of suicide or self-harm require discretion on the questions of blocking or removal of posts.
- Threats of violence against others should be met with blocking (generally including removal of talk page access) and possibly blocking email as well. Such threats should be removed; consider also deleting the problematic revision from public view.
- If in doubt, email the office at
emergency
.wikimedia.org
External links
- A behind the scenes look at the Wikimedia Foundation’s emergency response system, User:Mdennis (WMF), September 22, 2014
- Crisis support resources curated by Wikimedia Foundation Support and Safety.