Wikipedia:Backdoor canvass

This is an essay. 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.

Mentioning other editors not currently involved in a dispute who have previously or separately disagreed with your opponent so that you can "courtesy notify" them is obvious canvassing, no matter how you try to spin it. Proper conduct dispute resolution is best done by providing diffs of their behavior, not by making a shopping list of folks who agree with your point of view.

When "making a case" at either of the administrator noticeboards (

.

Nonetheless, Wikipedia has very strict rules about

and attempts to draw otherwise uninvolved editors into your dispute in order to boost your "case" will likely still be considered canvassing, regardless of how disruptive the other editor has been.

Administrator noticeboards are watched by many and frequented by many more again. Having neutral third parties comment on the case is often more valuable than a conga line of editors showing up to have their whack at the piñata.

There is a good chance that if those other editors have a different but ongoing conflict with the editor in question, they will see your compulsory {{ANI-notice}} on the editor's talk page and will be prompted to offer their thoughts if they feel they have something to contribute.

None of these ideas mitigate the need to notify someone that they are the subject of an administrator's noticeboard discussion. Courteous editors will often also notify those directly involved who aren't the subject in an effort to afford an appropriate right of reply.

There are other times where endorsement of particular cases is required or where specific groups (like

) will need to make contact with all those considered to be involved in a particular issue. This essay does not relate to those instances.