 | This page documents an English Wikipediapolicy withlegal considerations. |
 | This page in a nutshell: If you post a legal threat on Wikipedia, you are likely to beblocked indefinitely. A polite report of a legal problem, such as defamation or copyright infringement, is not a threat and will be acted on quickly. |
| Legal policies |
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Do not postlegal threats on Wikipedia. A legal threat, in this context, is a threat to engage in anoff-wiki ("real life") legal or other governmental process that would target other editors or Wikipedia itself. It does not refer to any dispute-resolution process within Wikipedia. Legal threats should be reported toWikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents or elsewhere to anadministrator. Users who post legal threats are typicallyblocked while the threats are outstanding.
Instead of making legal threats, consider using one of Wikipedia'sdispute resolution procedures. If your issue involves Wikipedia itself,contact the Wikimedia Foundation.
The existence of a legal dispute between users, whether as a result of incidents on Wikipedia or elsewhere, is not a valid reason to block, as long as no legal threats are made on Wikipedia. Editors involved in a legal dispute should not edit articles about parties to the dispute, given thepotential conflict of interest.
Complaints of copyright infringement are not legal threats. If you are the owner of copyrighted material that has been added to Wikipedia, a statement about whether it is licensed for such use is welcome. You may contact theinformation team or the Wikimedia Foundation'sdesignated agent, or use the procedures atWikipedia:Copyright problems.
A discussion as to whether material islibelous is not a legal threat.The policy on defamation is to delete libel as soon as it is identified. If you believe that you are the subject of a libelous statement, email info-en-q
wikipedia.org.
Making paid editors aware of the requirements of the Wikimedia Foundation'sterms of use, or laws against undisclosed advertising, is not a legal threat.
Always choose your words carefully when starting or responding to any discussions or disputes, as well as with any messages or communication with other users; you must refrain from making any comments that other editors may translate or interpret (even incorrectly) as legal threats. For example, if you assert that another editor's comments are "defamatory" or "libelous", that editor might interpret your communication as implying such a threat. Use less charged wording, such as "that statement about me is not true, and I ask that it be corrected."
Posting legal threats isuncivil behavior that causes a number of problems:
Using thedispute resolution process will often lead to a positive solution without resorting to making legal threats or engaging in other unacceptable behavior.
The Wikipedia community has a long-standing principle that people can change: statements made in anger or misjudgment should not be held against once withdrawn.
The aim is to prevent legal threats, not to keep bad content from being fixed. Editors should encourage the aggrieved user to identify errors in the article; a link toWikipedia:Contact us/Article problem/Factual error (from subject) may be appropriate.
A user threatening a legal action on their talk page is limited in disruption. They should not be prevented from using their talk page until attempts have been made to open a civil discussion. Persistent or vexatious complaints may still lead to a ban.
