Wikipedia:Protecting children's privacy

Problems may happen between children who make changes here and other people who change or read the Simple English Wikipedia.

All users, including children, are allowed to make changes without an account and without giving out information about themselves. Administrators are allowed to try to discourage children from giving out too much information about who they are, and may sometimes take actions to stop them from doing so. This is because Wikipedia is a website that everyone can read, and the children's information may be seen by people who can use it to find them in real life.

Users who disrupt Wikipedia may be blocked. Users who say that they are children and give out personal information may have that information removed. If they keep adding it back, they may also be blocked. Some people who say they are children may actually be adults pretending to be children for reasons of their own.

When a user says they are a child, especially if they provide personal information, it can cause problems. Sometimes the user is immature and ends up being blocked for disruption. If they are not disruptive then personal information may just be removed and the user asked not to add the information back.[1]

Response

Users may be blocked on a case by case basis if they disrupt Wikipedia by pretending to be children in a harmful way, or add back personal information that an administrator has removed.

Users who appear to be children changing pages in good faith who give out identifying personal information should be treated kindly and advised that giving out personal information is a bad idea and may be dangerous. Deletion and oversight may be used to remove the information.

References

  1. "Protecting children's privacy - Requests for Arbitration". English Wikipedia. 2006-12-05. Retrieved 2016-01-31.