Wikipedia:Child protection

This policy is about the behavior and actions of adult editors with regards to children. For the policy regarding the content of articles related to living people, including children, see Wikipedia:Biographies of living people.

Legal policies
Child protection Copyright violations Copyrights Libel No legal threats Non discrimination policy Non-free content criteria Paid-contribution disclosure Reusing Wikipedia content Terms of use

Wikipedia regards the safety of children using the site as a key issue. Editors who attempt to use Wikipedia to pursue or facilitate inappropriate adult–child relationships, who advocate inappropriate adult–child relationships on- or off-wiki (e.g. by expressing the view that inappropriate relationships are not harmful to children), or who identify themselves as pedophiles, will be blocked indefinitely.

Handling of reports

Reports of editors engaging in such conduct should be made to the Arbitration Committee for further action, and should not be the subject of community discussion, requests for comment or consensus. If you are concerned about the behavior of another editor, please contact Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee at arbcom-llists.wikimedia.org, but please read the Communications and privacy section of the Arbitration Committee page before doing so. To report issues concerning images to the Wikimedia Foundation, email: legal-reportswikimedia.org.

Any administrator may block an editor for the conduct described in this policy. When an editor is blocked for such conduct, the blocking administrator is instructed to use neutral block summaries, and disable the editor's ability to edit their talk page as well as their access to the on-site user email interface. Blocking administrators should inform the blocked editor that any appeals or further discussion may be addressed only to the Arbitration Committee at arbcom-appeals-enlists.wikimedia.org, and then notify the Committee immediately.

Comments posted on Wikipedia suggesting that an editor may be a pedophile will be RevDeleted promptly, to avoid issues of privacy and possible libel. You should raise your concerns only by email; questions or accusations directed against a particular editor in project space may result in a block for the editor who posted them.

Advice for young editors

See also: Wikipedia:Guidance for younger editors

If you are a younger editor and feel that another person on Wikipedia is behaving in a way that you feel threatens your personal safety, or worries you in any way whatsoever, please tell a responsible adult, and ask them to look at this page. Do not continue to communicate with the other person – ignore the person completely. Never give out information such as your address or phone number to anyone, including people who say they are trying to help you. When in doubt about whether certain information is too personal to share, do not give it out.

See also

• Wikipedia:Advice for parents
• Wikipedia:Block policy on child protection issues
• Wikipedia:Child protection proposals
• Wikipedia:Community
• Wikipedia:Guidance for younger editors
• Wikipedia:Minors and persons judged incompetent (essay)
• Wikipedia:NOTANARCHY
• Wikipedia:Notcensored
• Wikipedia:Options to not see an image
• Wikipedia:Protecting children's privacy (essay, rejected proposal)
• Wikipedia:Sexual content
• Wikipedia:Youth protection (essay, rejected proposal)
• Wikimedia Commons: Child protection