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This is an essay on the blocking policy.
It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Sometimes it's best to give people one last chance. But only one. |
As the old saying goes "Give 'em enough rope, and they'll likely hang themselves." Sometimes this is the best approach when dealing with blocked users. If they are pleading to be unblocked and swearing up and down that they understand and won't repeat whatever it was that got them blocked, rather than arguing the finer points of the original block or demanding further explanation, it's usually better[note 1] to just unblock them and make it clear that this is their last chance. If they mean what they say, then unblocking will be the right thing to do, and if they don't, they'll be blocked again soon enough.
Sometimes there is a discussion about whether an editor should be blocked or warned. When in doubt, a warning is probably sufficient. If a block is needed, the editor will soon prove it.
The admin reviewing these requests has several choices before them:
This is not to say that this is always the better solution. Sometimes those prolonged unblock discussions produce real results in educating the blocked user about why they were blocked and helping them to edit productively in the future. But as a simple litmus test of a user's sincerity and willingness to edit cooperatively, it can be very effective. Sometimes even after a prolonged discussion it's hard to tell if the user understands the problem and/or is willing to stop editing disruptively, and the only way to find out for sure is to give them the opportunity. Another option in the case of vandal accounts is to decline the unblock request but add {{2nd chance}} which basically asks them to prove it before being unblocked.
The intention of this essay is to assist administrators when reviewing unblock requests, and discussions between admins about unblock requests is where it has often been cited. It could be viewed as uncivil to cite it in a direct discussion with the blocked user.
