Wikipedia:Personal acquaintances - Wikipedia (original) (raw)

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**This page is currently inactive and is retained for historical reference.**Either the page is no longer relevant or consensus on its purpose has become unclear. To revive discussion, seek broader input via a forum such as the village pump.

Personal acquaintances (German: Persönliche Bekanntschaften) was a community project that was started in 2008 in the German-language Wikipedia, to enable the confirmation of the community of active Wikipedians in "real life" (from meetups, associations, etc). Users of any Wikimedia project (including the English-language Wikipedia) can sign up to this project with their user name, and other users can confirm that they have met them face-to-face. Every user can sign up and receive confirmation to their main account which is known to other users. This system uses the primary account for a user (i.e. not alternative accounts). The project aims to improve the working environment and reduce, or eliminate, doubts about the identity of other users.

This system of mutual confirmations is currently only working in de.wikipedia, but is accessible to all other users via the single user login system. Its main pages have been translated into many languages, including English. It is easy to use, without the need to have an external review of the identity, and takes data protection and anonymity on the Internet into account. For disadvantages, see the FAQ. A more demanding alternative to this system is the bail procedure.

Wikimania project leaflet

Statistics: Number of confirmations and participants from February 8, 2008 to May 30, 2021

Users can create multiple accounts. Many users do, for different reasons and within policy. Secondary accounts are sometimes used with other intentions, which have nothing to do with encyclopedic work.

On this page, a user account is valid if it is a primary account under the following condition: at least three confirmed people confirm that they have had a face-to-face meeting with a real person with that specific username. They show their confirmations on the page listed below. Only confirmed primary accounts may confirm other users. Unconfirmed users are marked in the list shown below with unbestätigt ("unconfirmed"). Participation is optional. Once a confirmation is made, it's done definitively.

Anonymity and data protection

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Unlike identification, this method has the advantage of not encroaching on anonymity on the Internet. All participants can make their own decision whether to show or hide their names or personal data, as confirmations are only presented on this page using their Wikipedia user name. There is no change from their existing wiki status, regardless of the dates, places, times, or the number of meetings that were held. Data protection of data and the principles of Wikipedia are fully respected and complied with.

If the system is considered too fragile, or users want more security, they may optionally be confirmed by an independent proof of the user's identity. The proof can be referenced for the main account.

No prerequisites for participation

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It is not a vote; the confirmations are not votes; there are no prerequisites for participation. Anyone can participate. The order of the users has no informational value.

Five steps to participate:

  1. Before you start, it's recommended to set your preferences in de.wp to your native language if you don't understand German. Be sure that you're logged in with the account that you consider as your main (primary) account, and with which you would like to be confirmed.
  2. Go to de.wikipedia and there to your Einstellungen ("Preferences") to the Helferlein ("Extensions") tab, then to the section Veränderung der Oberfläche ("Modify Interface"), select the box labelled Erweiterte Benutzeroberfläche für Wikipedia:Persönliche Bekanntschaften aktivieren, um Bestätigungen hier vornehmen zu können ("Click here to activate advanced user interface for Wikipedia:Personal acquaintances").
  3. Next, go to neue Anfragen ("new requests") and select "I want to take part in this". Your account will be unbestätigt ("unconfirmed"), and so you will not be able to confirm other users yet. Therefore, it only makes sense to sign up here if you've already met at least three Wikipedians in person, or expect to meet them in the coming days - for example, at a Meetup.
  4. Once you've received three confirmations, you're considered a confirmed person, and will get a notice from a bot on your de.wiki user talk page.
  5. Users that have been confirmed can, and should, confirm other users that they've met personally in real life. There's no value or assessment involved. The relationship of users to each other (sympathy, antipathy, ménage à trois, or friendship) doesn't matter.

Not permitted in this project:

Currently more than 1,600 users are registered, and efforts are underway to address a more global audience:

Participants mostly active on the English Wikipedia

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This list should contain most users who are continuously active on the English-language Wikipedia and have signed up in the system of Personal acquaintances (German: Persönliche Bekanntschaften). Signing up and adding yourself here only makes sense if you have met at least three other Wikimedians in real life. Put this page on your watchlist if you want to be informed about new participants. See also the full list of particpants.

Does the participation change some of my anonymity?

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Why were some users confirmed at the beginning?

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Is there a user-independent verification here?

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Is this procedure safe from sub-accounts?

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What if I never go to meetings?

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I have discovered something, that makes a manual correction in the database necessary. What now?

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Examples: I have been confirmed by someone I've never met; I clicked on the wrong username while committing; User:XY has proved to be a sock puppet or created as a user:Z a new account. Such corrections can be requested here and handled by the project operators (see below). If you have received a dubious confirmation, you should first consult the concerned user on his talk page.

What does it looks like, if someone is trying to abuse the page?

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Won't this promote the formation of cliques?

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Is there a backup of the database and the scripts? What if the leaders are suddenly gone?

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Technical contacts are Ireas, Wiegels and Euku. For questions and suggestions please use the discussion page.

Babel user information
Persönliche BekanntschaftenThis is a confirmed main account and not a sock puppet.(→ Verify - info) → I have met this user, verify!
Users by language

The user box contains a link to the confirmations tool. If you want to add the box, add the following to your user page:

{{[User Personal acquaintances](//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:User%5FPersonal%5Facquaintances "Template:User Personal acquaintances")}}

Or it can be included in your Babel box like this:

{{#babel:en|vo-0|**Personal acquaintances**}}

These codes also work for your global user page on Meta. The userbox is available on many other Wikimedia sister projects, see d:Q16744021.