Forum:Unblock system
With Wikia's "Email this User" feature a thing of the past, we need a new method of allowing blocked users to communicate with other editors and to request an unblock. Being the evil and ungrateful thief that I am, I decided to steal (ahem, borrow) Wikipedia's system of requesting unblocks. Here's how it works:
- Whenever a user is blocked, they will be allowed to edit their talk page, especially for first offenses.
- When an admin blocks a user, they will usually leave a "You are blocked" message on their talk page. TSW does that already, which is great.
- The block message, in addition to informing the user why they were blocked, also provides options for the user to request an unblock.
- If the blocked user decides that the block was either unjustified, unfair, or no longer necessary, they may request an unblock. On Wikipedia, this involves adding a template to their own talk page (which is still editable by the blocked user). The template they use is "{{Unblock|Your reason here}}".
- Adding this template adds the user talk page to a category - on Wikipedia this is Category:Requests for unblock - where administrators can find the unblock requests and react accordingly.
- Any administrator may go over to review the block. This involves going through the reason the user gave, the blocked user's contributions, deleted contributions, and their logs (such as the edit filter log). They then decide whether they should unblock the user or not.
- The admin who blocked the user is not permitted to decline the request (though they can accept it). Otherwise, any administrator is permitted to accept or decline the unblock request, and they must provide a reason.
- If the user 1. Makes too many unconvincing requests, or 2. Is evidently abusing the privilege of being able to request unblock, they may have their talk page access revoked.
So that's basically the gist of the system. I would like to hear community input and opinion on this new system. Feel free to suggest any changes. The templates that could be used are being developed at my user sandboxes (Sandbox 2, 3, and 4). K6ka (talk | contribs) 15:59, March 26, 2014 (UTC)
Discussion
I'm in favor of implementing this. The only thing I'd stipulate is that it might be worth suggesting that an administrator try and consult with the original blocking administrator. I suggest this because the blocking admin may know of a particular reason for blocking that wouldn't be apparent to someone looking at it from an outside perspective. This would strictly be as a courtesy to the original blocker, however. -- LostInRiverview talk ~ blog 18:16, March 26, 2014 (UTC)