Wikipedia:Casting aspersions
 | This is an information page. It is not an encyclopedic article, nor one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines; rather, its purpose is to explain certain aspects of the Wikipedia:No personal attacks, Wikipedia:Civility, and Wikipedia:Harassment policies. It may reflect differing levels of consensus and vetting. |
 | This page in a nutshell: An editor must not accuse another of misconduct without evidence. |
On Wikipedia, casting aspersions is a situation where an editor accuses another editor or a group of editors of misbehavior without evidence, especially when the accusations are repeated or particularly severe. Because a persistent pattern of false or unsupported allegations can be highly damaging to a collaborative editing environment, such accusations will be collectively considered a personal attack.
Significant concerns about the behavior of other users should be first resolved directly with the users concerned. If this is not possible, they should be addressed with evidence through the appropriate dispute resolution procedures.
Selected examples 2008–2015
The Arbitration Committee passed several principles on the subject of casting aspersions. These principles are an application of the policy against personal attacks. Principles highlight key provisions of policy, procedure, or community practice which are relevant to the dispute under consideration; and, where appropriate, include the committee's interpretation of such provisions in the context of the dispute.
Off-wiki evidence
Accusations made on-wiki but supported by off-wiki evidence can also be aspersions. If an accusation of misconduct involves evidence that cannot be shared onwiki, then the accusation should probably not be made onwiki, because the accused editor has a disadvantage in defending themselves. For serious cases, the evidence should instead be directed to the appropriate private channels, such as paid-en-wp
wikipedia.org for conflict of interest or undisclosed paid editing, or the arbitration committee. A simple statement onwiki that private evidence exists and was submitted may be appropriate, but additional details may not be appropriate.