User talk:DangerousPanda/RestrictionsProject

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Hi Bwilkins, I hope you don't mind me dropping in and leaving a few thoughts. I think something like this is sorely needed, the number of editors who are unblocked with restrictions, but then have those restrictions forgotten is quite large - and something like this would be really helpful. However, I think there would be problems with it too, and striking the right balance will involve some skill. I do recall one user who already has something like this in place - and I know that I've gone down this route for one of my adoptees too.

Pros:

Allows anyone to see very quickly what restrictions are in place on a user. If we can come up with a consistant place to check this out, that'd be great.
Stops restrictions from getting forgotten about, ensuring a user does not keep repeating the same behaviour over and over.

Cons:

There are editors out there who will assume bad faith based on past restrictions, we've seen it happen on blocks.
Restrictions are designed to move an editor away from problem areas - if the editor is doing so, why should they be subject wearing a badge of shame
Categories seem of little use besides to create a "list of problem users"
I'm not keen on "helpful" editors spending their time updating these lists, which will have a similar effect to baiting or grave dancing.

Now, I've got a few ideas which might be helpful.

The template suggestions you've come up with all show "stop signs" - which has a fairly negative association (it's used on all our level 4 templates) - I think something like the files on the right might work better. I'll draw up a suggested template in a moment.
I think it would be a good idea to have a section for "how imposed". There's a difference between a sanction imposed as part of an unblock request, a voluntary agreement and a community imposed requirement. It'd be good if that "how imposed" was linked to the discussion.
Forcing editors to display the restrictions on their userpage is usually a bad idea, it really builds up to the "badge of shame" idea. We don't force people to advertise that they are blocked, or have been blocked, but we have a consistent area that we can go to to check. Having a consistent place to check for restrictions should be sufficient, without transcluding it to a talk page.

In any case, I'll be watching with interest! Worm^TT(talk) 13:06, 26 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]