Training modules/Dealing with online harassment/slides/documentation

Investigating reports: Documentation

Documentation of what you have learned and done in harassment cases is very important for a few reasons. First, private investigations performed off-wiki, as most harassment investigations will need to be, are not automatically documented the way on-wiki edits would be; the only thing that the future will know about is what you record. Second, no single person or set of people who performed an investigation can be expected to remain in their role forever; if you drift away from your role in the future, others will need a way to find out what happened and why it happened in any given investigation.

On the other hand, be aware that "documentation" doesn't – and shouldn't – mean "public documentation". It also should not mean that you or your team compile a permanent dossier about any involved editors. The parties involved in an investigation are entitled to as much privacy as you can reasonably give them while still doing your job, and it is your responsibility to protect information about them and the investigation by storing it somewhere reasonably secure and not recording or saving extraneous information.