How to resolve the problem of IP and user blocks in African editathons

[Qgil-WMF]

I have moved the posts specific to @Semmy1960 to a new topic specific to this personal case, to keep the discussion here focused on finding general solutions to the problem of IP and user blocks in African editathons.

@Semmy1960

I think we should create a program that will educate leaders in the community on how to become administrators,we also encourage the leaders to apply and the community will vote. They can work with other administrators in diaspora so that we can help retain new volunteers. They can also help protect our Wikis from the African end.

Training for new administrators is always welcome and perhaps there are precedents that could be reused for a training in Africa? There is nothing specifically regional about administrators work, if materials for administrators’ training exist somewhere else, they should be recyclable. Then again, having African administrators on Wikidata (or any project) shouldn’t be required to solve the problem of blocks in editathons.

Good preparation by editathon organizers is easier to achieve. You already have editathon organizers). Wikipedia:How to run an edit-a-thon - Wikipedia explains how to prevent problems with IP blocks.

Sharing a notice about an incoming editathon in the administrators noticeboard and requesting help to prevent accidental blocks is also easy to do, at least to ask. This should help prevent surprises, and if anything happens this notice should help show that you did all correctly on your end, so the accidental blocks should be easily lifted.

Finding allies among the admins of the project you are supporting should be possible too. Most admins want to help, this is why they become admins. Finding an admin in your time zone willing to help you prepare a block-free editathon shouldn’t be very difficult, or at least less difficult than bringing a new generation of African administrators.

Please don’t get me wrong, the idea of having admins from Africa (and any region) needs to be pursued, it’s the most sustainable solution. I’m just pointing out that there are other solutions that editathon organizers can apply here and now.

Question: does anyone know when and where is the next editathon organized in Africa? What if we take it as a pilot to try all the ideas discussed here?