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Following a June announcement by the Arbitration Committee, it is requested that the community considers activating the user right to allow selected users to view deleted pages, on English Wikipedia.

This is a passive user right; it does not provide a means to change any thing, or to delete/undelete any content.

The activation of the user right, and a policy allowing its grant for good cause, would allow non-administrator users to gain wider participation in the English Wikipedia community.

We are concerned that as the community grows, non-administrators risk being marginalized from some kinds of wider involvement, because more and more, pages like Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets, the Mediation Committee and Cabals, and now the new Appeals List/Committee are problematic purely because of the need for users to be able to see deleted contributions and revisions. It also to a lesser extent handicaps non-administrator users who are routinely involved in commenting on disputes, disruption and block/unblock discussions (which non-admins may be active in as well), and where some cases involve deleted contributions as evidence.

This trend is likely to continue, and we don't wish to see it go that way much more. Users, whether admins or not, should be able to participate to the limits of trust (see 1), and this is an obstacle.

We note that admin tools are of two kinds - passive and active. This is a passive one. It allows material that is hidden from public view, but not "private" (can be seen by some 1600 admins already, so it's never going to be that) to be seen by some users who wish to get more involved in activities of the kind described. It does not allow the user access to any 'active' tool that changes anything (eg delete/undelete), but merely a passive ability to see deleted contributions.

We also note that at least one other passive admin tool is available separately - IP block exemption, given to non-administrators on good cause.

Developer Werdna confirms that the ability to see (but not undelete) deleted material as a user flag already exists in MediaWiki, and can be activated given policy and a consensus. We would like to ask the community to consider approving the activation of this feature, for the reasons given, and for the benefit it will give the community.

The developers have stated that features such as this may be activated if consensus agrees and a policy has been agreed and is in place.

That the separate user group for "viewing deleted pages" is activated, and that a policy is written that allows a user in good standing, and with good cause, to be granted that right by an uninvolved administrator, in certain circumstances. The policy might list specific circumstances that the right could be given, for example:

1. User appointed to one of the following dispute resolution and appeal groups - Mediation Committee, Unblock-en mailing list, Appeals (sub-)Committee.
2. User has a significant and long term active involvement in one of the following areas and a talk page discussion reaches consensus they should be granted it. These would usually be:

• Suspected sock puppets, Administrators noticeboards (AN, ANI and AE), Deletion processes (AFD, TFD, xFD), New Page Patrol, the Mediation Cabal, or
• Some other area of specific and visible involvement, where the ability to view deleted contributions would enable them to make a better contribution to the project and where a good case can be made that they are handicapped by its absence.

Wording like this would probably help ensure it was not a prolific right, but was given where visible good cause exists.

A final provision might be that the right may be removed if the user ceases to be meet these criteria for a significant time, abuses them, or loses the confidence of the community.

(Side note - The right might conceivably also be given to long standing users in good standing as a general tool on request, but that is outside the purpose of this request and would be a communal decision. Our interest here lies more with limitations on participation, rather than prurient interest in reading content that has been deleted by administrators for good cause. We note the option but have no view on it; it is not germane.)

Thank you for considering this. We believe it will benefit the community.

FT2 ^{(Talk | email)} 14:31, 27 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

For and on behalf of the Arbitration Committee