Wikipedia:Blackouts
 | The following is a proposed Wikipedia policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption. |
On January 18, 2012, by consensus of editors, the English Wikipedia was blacked out for one day to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill in the United States House of Representatives. The process for deciding whether to execute this highly unusual action was put together quickly, and the decision itself also made very quickly.
In the interest of having more concrete guidelines in place for future actions of similar scale, this proposal is being drafted.
Principles
Our first pillar is "Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia." Our mission is primarily educational, and a blackout—even one undertaken to educate the public about dangerous legislation—hinders that mission. As such, it should be undertaken only under the most dire of circumstances. Blackouts that recur too often or for too long risk dealing irreparable damage to our reputation and our educational mission. This option should be saved for only the most important of opportunities, and implementing it must garner the most complete consensus possible.
Proposed steps
- A blackout requires at least two weeks' notice (that is, two weeks prior to the action date).
- The proposed action and action date must be clearly specified in a site-wide notice.
- The decision to take action should require at least a 60%-40% split of those in favor versus those opposed.
- Ideally, the decision should also require at least a simple majority of "active" editors (determined by some metric) (minus those who explicitly abstain).