Archive:New Account Review Procedure

General policies and procedures

Goals of a new account review procedure

We have a strong interest in making sure that participants in the Citizendium be trustworthy. Of all participants, we require:

• a username that is the participant's own real name (special permission to use a pseudonym must be applied for)
• a working e-mail address
• a short bio
• endorsement of the Statement of Fundamental Policies

Because of their greater responsibility in the system, we require from editors and constables a resume or CV, as well as Web links supporting the claim that the applicant has a identity described.

The sign-up procedure

The sign-up procedure can be found at http://www.citizendium.org/cfa.html and further information may be gleaned from the wiki sign-up page.

Who reviews new accounts and applications

Personnel administrators may be either editors or constables. The persons making decisions about editor applications will be editors, not constables, but any constable may "fill in" an editor's user page once a decision has been made. Any constable may review new author accounts.

Instructions for personnel administrators

Personnel administrator procedures for new accounts

Block incorrectly-created accounts. Personnel administrators are to block (i.e., remove all permissions from) accounts that aren't created correctly. Incorrectly created accounts include:

• Monikers that don't appear to be real names; e.g., "A. Nony Mouse".
• Partial names, such as "lsanger" or "Jones".
• Obviously fraudulent accounts, such as "Bill Clinton" or "Cameron Diaz". If any celebrity wishes to join us, he or she may do so under a pseudonym that the Constabulary approves; otherwise, we must have proof that the person is who he says he is, and then we will add a notice to the person's user page to the effect that, indeed, this really is The So-and-So.
• Others general categories might come to light with experience.

Block persons who use unapproved pseudonyms. If persuasive evidence is presented that a person is using an unapproved pseudonym, both that account, and the person behind it, may be blocked from future edits by the Constabulary. The precise policy about this has yet to be worked out carefully.

If necessary, and in lieu of a better technical solution, personnel administrators may also block IP addresses of people who repeatedly create incorrect accounts.

Block persons who have not created biographies. In addition, once someone begins editing the wiki, if that person has not yet created a bio, then we upload a timestamped message to their user page, and e-mail the user, asking for a bio. If they continue to edit for more than 24 hours after this notice, we (temporarily) block their access, using a "temporary block, awaiting bio" template. When doing this, we e-mail them again telling them they've got to e-mail a bio to personnel@citizendium.org in order to regain access.

Personnel administrator procedures for editor applications

• Only personnel administrators who are also editors may make decisions about the disposition of editor applications, in all but the most obvious cases.
• We check for (and, if necessary, request) two additional items: a CV or resume attached (or linked), as well as some links to Web material that tends to support the claims made in the CV, such as conference proceedings, or a departmental home page. Both additional requirements may be fulfilled by a CV that is hosted on an official work Web page.
• We use {{ewelcome}} (the "editor welcome" template).
• We add both [[Category:CZ Editors]] and the category of the most appropriate workgroup, such as [[Category:Philosophy Editors]].
• In the welcome message, it would be a good idea to include a link to the discipline editor category page (e.g., Category:Philosophy Editors) and perhaps a few other pages such as the workgroup home page (e.g., CZ:Biology Workgroup).
• Also in the welcome message, we ask the new editor to subscribe to citizendium-editors, providing this URL: https://lists.purdue.edu/mailman/listinfo/citizendium-editors
• Finished applications are filed in the "Editors - Yes - Done" folder, not in the authors' folder.