Grants talk:IdeaLab/Registration by e-mail address

Answer: probably a few thousands? Nemo 15:52, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

Technically useless, from an ergonomic point of view. Creating a new e-mail address on a reasonably popular provider is more trivial than dealing with IP address bans. Only tracking based on a persistent identifier is regarded as generally more efficient and people are likely not to want to apply it here. --Crou (talk) 08:28, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

"Okay, the miscreant might have other e-mail addresses but how many would he be willing to create before he gives up?"

You'd be surprised at the number. As mentioned before me, it can truly be in the hundreds and thousands. As long as one can create an infinite number of email addresses, they can create an infinite number of registered accounts and continue to harass. In my experience, registration by email address can slow down the lazy harassers but not the serious ones, because you are essentially only adding a couple additional steps they need to take in that process and it can be completed within minutes. This is why social networking websites and communities have been increasingly moving towards the "verification" or "vouching" route for their registered accounts/email addresses.

• In some networks this is done via payments (so, serious private information is stored).
• Or, by linking one or more other profiles (Facebook, Linkedin, etc.) to the account (which obviously means that more information is stored in the servers than it is currently).
• In other networks community members create trusted circles through in-person meeting and then vouching online, which works like a pyramid scheme. Obviously this works in communities where members are likely to meet each other in person. But you get the idea.

The second method is, in my opinion, the equivalent of a registration-by-email-address multiplied by a dozen or so as it requires several additional steps for the harasser to continue their abuse with another 'verified' account. That's because, once the registered (and verified) account is blocked due to abuse, there is nothing preventing the harasser from creating a new email address, using that to create an entire network of accounts in Facebook or whatever other network they need to use, multiply that step several times, add photos and descriptions on the profiles to make them look legit, link them so they appear to have friends and connections, then register that email address to WP, 'verify' it by linking to the fake FB profile (with its nice network of other fake profiles)... and continue to harass. The hope is that the majority of harassers will stop when they realise the number of steps they need to take in order to harass in the same manner they did before. And it does reduce the low-level harassment, though it still allows for the serious harassers to continue.

IMO, for the suggested email verification to work, we'd need to be implement it with an array of other supporting structures. On its own, it's not not going to solve much. My two cents. Kalliope (WMF) (talk) 11:20, 7 June 2016 (UTC)

Grants to improve your project

Greetings! The Project Grants program is currently accepting proposals for funding. The deadline for draft submissions is tommorrow. If you have ideas for software, offline outreach, research, online community organizing, or other projects that enhance the work of Wikimedia volunteers, start your proposal today! Please encourage others who have great ideas to apply as well. Support is available if you want help turning your idea into a grant request.

• Submit a grant request
• Learn from examples of completed Individual Engagement Grants or Project and Event Grants

The next open call for Project Grants will be in October 2016. You can also consider applying for a Rapid Grant, if your project does not require a large amount of funding, as applications can be submitted anytime. Feel free to ping me if you need help getting your proposal started. Thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) 22:49, 1 August 2016 (UTC)