Wikipedia talk:Arbitration/Requests

cs interwiki request

Please remove cs interwiki cs:Wikipedie:Arbitrážní výbor from the header for WP:RFARB subpage to not connect Wikipedie:Arbitrážní výbor with WP:RFARB here.

There is mess in interwikis in between languages - they are not matching procedural steps in arbitration. Not just english wikipedia has different pages and subpages for individual procedural steps.

This particular header Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Header implements interwikis for request subpage. There is request subpage counterpart in czech Wikipedia (see), but this header (and so the WP:Arbitration/Requests page display it) is now containing interwiki for the main arbitration site (czech counterpart of WP:Arbitration). The interwiki for czech request arbitration page would be suitable here (cs:Wikipedie:Žádost o arbitráž) , however that interwiki is already present at the end of page body of WP:RFARB. It results in two different cs: interwikis being generated in the interwikis list in WP:Arbitration/Requests. From those two iws, the one in header (here) is the wrong one.

Sumed: I ask to remove cs:Wikipedie:Arbitrážní výbor interwiki from here. Or optionally to replace it here with cs:Wikipedie:Žádost o arbitráž (and clean then the ":cs:Wikipedie:Žádost o arbitráž" from WP:RFARB)

Note: It seems to me that the another interwikis here have the same problem, for they all go to the main arbitration sites of respective wikis, but I am not familiar with their overall procedural structure there (they may or may not discriminate between WP:RFARB and WP:ARB like cs and en wikis do). --Reo ⁺ 10:07, 15 June 2011 (UTC)

 Done, your latter option. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 09:25, 16 June 2011 (UTC)

Thank You Martin. So I did follow You and did remove the remaining cs:Wikipedie:Žádost o arbitráž interwiki from WP:RFARB body.

Now I am sure that the :es: interwikis are in the same situation like the cs interwikis were. Here in the header is interwiki pointing to WP:ARB, at the same time the correct one for WP:RFARB is simultaneously at the bottom of the WP:RFARB.

Moreover there are two more iws, the azerbaijany and Russian iw's. They should be here in the header as well. Sorry for bothering again. And thank You. (I just came to solve the cs, but, seeing this, it's better fix all)

So the es: should be replaced here, and other two moved from WP:RFARB to WP:RFARB/Header --Reo ⁺ 14:00, 16 June 2011 (UTC)

You're confusing me. There is already an ru interwiki in the header. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 16:18, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Ha, ha, ha, yes, it is confusing ;) But now it is still much better then before, thank you. Basically the confusion is why we are here. There was quite a mess. The only remaining part, where I can navigate are those two :ru: interwikis. Of those two - the [[ru:Википедия:Арбитражный комитет]] does not belong here, it belongs to WP:ARB.

After some time, it will need some update, becouse we will see what the interwiki robots will do with it on the other sites (as it was this way, there was bot confusion cross-languages, confusion between wp:ARB and wp:RFARB in all languages) Reo ⁺ 18:17, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

I've lowered the protection so you should be able to maintain these interwikis yourself now. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 11:28, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

I will do just few languages per day. It is quite difficult. Going through googletranslate (with and without translations) and I need to follow rather more links coming fromthose pages to verify that I interpreted the meaning of those pages pretty well.

• One note to slowenian case. It seems that they had one before, but due to their internal processes they modified it to mediation process - they renamed the page and deleted the link. Google translation of the deletion log. Reo ⁺ 11:27, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

Archived request

Can I ask why this request was archived before any decision was taken by the arbitrators?--Pokipsy76 (talk) 13:30, 23 June 2008 (UTC)

I archived the case because it was stale - there had been no comments from arbitrators for 3 weeks, and it didn't look like there was going to be a real attempt to create an unban motion. Two arbitrators said no to an unbanning, two were vice versa - but given the lack of further comments, it was archived. Ryan Postlethwaite 15:03, 24 June 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply, but I would like to understand better how these things work. Who had the right to create an "unban motion"?--Pokipsy76 (talk) 15:21, 24 June 2008 (UTC)

It's the arbitrators that do that. Given that the request was open for a long time, with no comments for three weeks, I presume it's because no-one felt strongly enough that an unban was warrented, or perhaps they were just too busy to look at it. You could always request a new clarification and request an unban - maybe more arbitrators would comment on the side of unbanning and choose to take it to voting. Ryan Postlethwaite 15:28, 24 June 2008 (UTC)

Are you sure I can? In the past I have been accused of forum shopping when I tried to re-ask a request which was archived before any formal conclusion was reached (actually there were admins who suggested I could have been punished for that).--Pokipsy76 (talk) 16:10, 24 June 2008 (UTC)

Repeating the exact same request for the third time in what, a month, is pointless. It's clear the Arbs are not ready to unblock him at the current time. If they feel like they want to unblock him before some reasonable amount of time has passed (I suggest three months w/o socking, then unblock with restrictions), I'm sure they will let us know. - Merzbow (talk) 01:30, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

If the arbs are not ready to unblock why didn't they reject the request?--Pokipsy76 (talk) 06:49, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

The new case was rejected. The motion was rejected in the sense that the Arbs chose to take no action on it. This is what happens to many motions. You seem to think they are not aware of SoD's situation. They are, and have said they are discussing it. Badgering them for the nth time about the issue will do no good. Bring it up again in a couple months when the passage of time will have made a material difference, or let them come to a decision internally. - Merzbow (talk) 14:52, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm not supposed to think anything about their awareness or interest about the case, even if a third person say he know what is happening behind the scene. The decision of the arbs are the result of their vote. If there is no vote there is no decision. Why didn't the arbs voted to reject if there was cosnensus on rejecting?--Pokipsy76 (talk) 17:57, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

We generally don't do that -- there's no such thing as a vote to reject -- there's just the absence of, or the impossibility of, a vote to accept. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 01:33, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Ok but I still do not think it is appropriate to speak about "rejection" when a request recieved few comments without a clear consensus: rejection means "I disagree", not "I'm not going to express on this".--Pokipsy76 (talk) 08:12, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee#New_arbitrator

I'd appreicate some comments in the above thread, regards - Ryan Postlethwaite 13:33, 24 June 2008 (UTC)

Question

In Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Privatemusings#Privatemusings_restricted, Privatemusings (talk · contribs) was restricted from editing any BLPs due to apparent past issues, but now in Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration#Statement_by_Privatemusings he has stated that

'm now going to edit BLPs in what I consider an uncontroversial manner - removing unsourced material, adding pic.s etc. - I started doing this shortly after this application, actually, and am glad that it's all working out ok thus far. After a month from today, should all go well, I will post freely to BLP talk pages, and after a further month I will consider myself unrestricted. I hope this works out ok for all.

is an individual really able to overturn an arbcom restriction merely because they think they have changed their own behavior? I'll note that 3 arbitrators seem to agree with continuing the restriction, can someone clue me in as to what is going on here? MBisanz ^talk 00:23, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

I've warned him about editing BLP's. The remedy is still in effect and he can't lift the sanction himself. Hopefully that will be the end of it. Ryan Postlethwaite 01:28, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

I'd tend to agree... PM is a good guy, someone I greatly respect for his perseverance and his attempts to add value in a lot of novel ways, but even PM can't just ignore a ruling/sanction. If no admin chose to enforce the sanction, it would be unenforced, but Ryan has already said he's warned him. I would support a block over this, with some considerable regret. PM, don't do it. Appeal the sanction and ask that it be lifted early, instead. I think you'd get massive support for that. ++Lar: t/c 01:50, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

I was not aware he was violating his restriction (hey, no one can watch every wiki edit ;-). No editor can overturn their own restriction. If he violates again, let one of us know. — Rlevse • Talk • 01:59, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

<- I'm a bit bummed at the way my request for the sanction to be lifted has worked out :-( - I get the impression (for example from Lar above) that some people who might have wanted to comment hadn't noticed it - although I was very grateful for the comments it did receive. I think it was pretty active up until today - maybe it could be restored, allowing the 3 arb.s who've commented to date to respond further, and the other arb.s to comment if they wish...? thoughts and advice most welcome. cheers, Privatemusings (talk) 02:20, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

ps. I certainly won't edit BLPs at all. Privatemusings (talk) 02:20, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

I'd support not archiving it just yet, I suppose. However 3 arbs commented "not yet" to you, more or less. I can recall repeatedly pleading to get some sort of feedback on a matter where I was implementing a ruling that was rather novel/controversial/contentious, and was delighted to get even one arbitrator to comment. So 3 is rather a lot, really. They all said the same thing really. Keep doing what you're doing and the restriction should be lifted. Hopefully soon. ++Lar: t/c 03:16, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Arbitration Committee

At the request of retiring Lawrence Cohen I have moved this page from his user space to Wikipedia namespace and brought it live. I have notified Jimbo Wales of this at his user talk page and invited him to make a statement. Likewise, I encourage the members of the Committee (past and present) who have not yet commented publicly to make a statement. Although it is probably impossible to arrange a comprehensive statement on short notice, a short provisional declaration signed by as many people are available tonight may provide a welcome stabilizing force. The community would like input from the people who know the background on today's developments. A baseline statement would help settle the present confusion. With respect, Durova^Charge! 01:22, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

0/0/0/0

What's the last figure? I think it goes accept/reject/recuse/what? DuncanHill (talk) 22:49, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

accept/reject/recue/comment - the latter is if an arbitrator doesn't make a decision on whether to accept the case, and simply wants to make a comment or ask a question. Ryan Postlethwaite 22:51, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Waiting for further input. — Rlevse • Talk • 22:54, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

(ec) Thanks DuncanHill (talk) 22:54, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Disgrace

To see this within an hour after the case is submitted is a true disgrace. We have two very respected admins here (not without fault like all of us) and certainly stepping back and reflecting on this is useful. Instead, ArbCom members rush to accept the case and produce another drama-grande with no (at this point) sign that this can bring any useful solution for which the price of this drama is going to be paid. While at it, the much bigger drama which puts the very legitimacy of this arbcom caused by one Arbitrator and the sloppiness (in the very least) of the large part of the rest in allowing such thing to happen is still raging and ArbCom members who are under a very urgent moral obligation to clear this up are "too busy" to do that allowing this mess to protract. And instead, they rush to accept another Giano-related matter right when the steam is mostly gone. Call me naive but seeing everything I've seen here, I did not expect this. --Irpen 00:47, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

How do you know it's a disgrace, yet? It could be pretty quick and drama-free, if they just want to quickly clarify their position on wheel warring. The facts of the case are simple enough and already apparent; I doubt much intensive effort would be needed to settle this one. I appreciate the "both admins should accept a trout-slap and move on" sentiment, but if similar things have happened too often before, maybe they want to put a bit more force behind it. Why not give them a chance and see what they do before assuming it'll turn out badly? Friday (talk) 00:55, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Friday, you know this place much better to seriously suggest that this could be "be pretty quick and drama-free". While the other drama is still rocking precisely because they are ducking out hoping it would somehow dissolve, they eagerly rush to accept this instead. --Irpen 00:59, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

I mean, what Arbcom does can be quick and low-drama. What other people do is up to those other people. If there are sanctions, people will howl about those sanctions. If there are not sanctions, different people will howl about there not being sanctions. Whether Arbcom addresses this issue or not won't necessarily cause any more drama. The drama we get is whatever we get. It's already out there. Friday (talk) 01:06, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

While it's rare, I must disagree with Friday on this occasion. Until the commitee demonstrates that it can actually reduce drahma, it needs to stop creating enabling it. See the comments on the request page for links to recent cases where they've made limp-wristed or inneffectual decisions. There is very little in the way of "resolution" coming out of the commitee when dealing with issues of this nature, and the rush to accept here is more of the same, particularly in light of the semi-consensus among non-arbs that this is a non-event. - brenneman 01:12, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

I don't think the purpose of the committee is to reduce drama, which itself is becoming an irritating byword for any points of view people don't like and with which they loudly disagree. Avruch 01:14, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

The purpose of the committe is dispute resolution. How many of the recent dramas (as in "the quality of being arresting or highly emotional") have actually been put to bed by the input of the commitee? - brenneman 01:21, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

That can at least partly be attributed to the intractability of the disputes ArbCom gets and the weakness of the tools at their disposal, not to mention the readiness of the community to challenge any outcome and test any limits. The easy problems don't need the ArbCom, and often the hard problems are beyond their power to resolve. Avruch 01:24, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

The solution to that is different tools, not doing the same thing over and over; one can only hope that some of the alternatives currently under discussion are tried for a change. The same thing goes for administrators, there is a reliance on the "mechanical" tools (blocking, page protection, etc) rather than the softer side of adminning - leading, counselling, and so on. While it does not surprise me that this case is before Arbcom, it is very unfortunate that there was insufficient discussion with the two administrators involved to assist them in seeing that there might have been errors made, for example, and rather than being faced with having to apologise or to correct an action taken, there are now public calls for desysopping. It was unnecessary to escalate this so quickly when other avenues had barely been examined; surely we have more to offer than just big sticks with which to achieve compliance. Risker (talk) 02:02, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Irpen, you've made your utter distaste of ArbCom known for the last couple of days, we hear you. I tend to agree that they are overstepping in some areas, but really WMC needs to be sanctioned this time around. He's managed to stave off a number of RFARs and RFCs, but his conduct to revert Avi's good faith attempt to avoid a wheel war was really bad. That this all happened without a single peep on AN/I was also disturbing. Yes, there had been discussion on AE for the initial block, but subsequent discussion is needed when there is a dispute between administrators. --Dragon695 (talk) 04:19, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

I voted to accept the case based on the fact that it is unacceptable for any of these people, all long-term users, to behave in this way. I think the arbitration committee would be failing in its purpose if we put avoiding drama ahead of doing the right thing. As to warnings, I believe all involved have been warned before, in some cases multiple times.

As to other matters, the committee has agreed that the OrangeMarlin issue need not be handled through arbitration, as he has undertaken to reform and be mentored. We have been vigorously performing an analysis of our communication and our internal procedures as well. Matthew Brown (Morven) (T:C) 04:34, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Dragon, please note that I never condemned the ArbCom in strong terms prior to the events that unfolded recently despite I was greatly displeased by some of its previous actions. I refrained from strong public condemnation of this ArbCom earlier because I thought that despite all its faults, we are better to preserve some degree of respect to the ArbCom as an institution and an all out attack on this arbcom by the long-standing editors may undermine its capability to address the Wikipedia problems in any way at all. However, the ArbCom itself has done just that by allowing this disgraceful incident of a Wikipedian in good standing been tried in some sort of a Gitmo trial with the arbcom acting as an activisti agent, the arbcom member serving a plaintiff, a detective, a prosecutor and a judge all in one (he did not recuse), the accused editor being not even informed, let alone allowed to face the accusation and present his side of the story.

This cannot be a fault of a single arbitrator who organized it as the ArbCom allowed this all to proceed. I asked the arbitrators some very pointed questions to understand how much of this mess is the fault of the ArbCom as a whole body and utter evasiveness of the answers I received convinced me that the matter is not just one arbitrator going rogue but the whole committee being responsible for this shame (even if through incompetence entirely, while this is unlikely to be the only reason.) Arbitrators were begged to provide a straightforward and forthcoming explanation by many editors including those who very rarely agreed with each other. Such an explanation might have helped us to get out from this pity state of affairs with minimal damage and the arbcom that can still function. None of that came out but such excuses as busyness, intensity of discussions they are carrying were involved.

So, we have a grave emergency that endangers the entire dispute resolution at Wikipedia and instead of trying to reduce the damage of this catastrophic fall of its prestige and ability to function, arbcom within an hour accepts another case on Giano-matters. I have reservations about WMC for a long time but none of this warrants an immediate action. Even if he has to be desysopped (I am yet not convinced) Wikipedia will not suffer if this is carried out even a month later.

Even finally acting upon its promise to address the IRC matters at "some later point", made by this ArbCom half a year ago, is more urgent. With so many truly crucial and pressing matters and arbs being "too busy" to address them, arbcom accepts this case on the incident when the situation already cooled down by itself. This is incomprehensibly irresponsible. --Irpen 04:53, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Where is this grave emergency endangering dispute resolution? Suppose I found myself in dispute with somebody right now, what's to stop me resolving it by going off, putting the kettle on, and having a nice cup of tea? Is somebody going to block me for doing that? If not, where is the grave emergency? --Jenny 05:01, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Jenny, I don't know what conflicts were you at, but if this is how you deal with them (kettle, tea and lemon) you are much better-tempered than most editors whose conflicts reach anywhere even close to an arbcom-level. Unfortunately, in most grievous matters editors are not able to act like you. So, we need a legitimate arbcom with some minimum degree of institutional respect from this community for it to be able to function. ArbCom really needs to come clean up its act and come out with a public statement that would explain what happened and why this won't happen again. Instead, Arbcom whose claimed busyness does not allow it to do it, accepts instantaneously yet another case on Giano-matters. This should not be happening. --Irpen 05:11, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, I should have stated that I'm the user you know as Tony Sidaway. --Jenny 05:34, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

My point (and I hope it's not too subtle) is that the primary engine of dispute resolution is the individual editor and the primary dispute resolution methods, which are diverse, include such simple moves as the tea-making maneuver I described above, which I assure you really does work astonishingly well, no doubt due to the magical properties of tea. On the Giano matter, I do tend towards the "nothing to see here, move on" camp, but see my "Red pill, blue pill" suggestion below. I'm probably a bit more phlegmatic than you about the FT2 thing. It looks like a straightforward fuck-up and no harm was done. Time and again I see us causing problems by talking them into existence, and I think this may be one such instance. --Jenny 05:36, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Good to see you. Tony, especially good to see these wise advises coming from you. I do not doubt that stepping aside and letting it go is one of the best methods to deal with conflicts. But let's not allow this triviality as well as the dramatic change you underwent deflect us away from an obvious fact that given the reality on the ground and how Wikipedia may affect the real world, Wikipedia needs an effectively functioning arbcom and for this ArbCom to ever be effective it needs to regain some respect from the rank-and-file editors and admins and come clean from the well it dug itself in. --Irpen 05:46, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Oh I think Arbcom's got enough respect, and there's also a healthy disrespect (there will always be a little bit of trotskyism, jeffersonism or what-have-you bubbling away in any large institution with a visible hierarchy of sorts, and that's a good thing).

A collapse of arbcom, short of being disbanded by Jimmy Wales or disbanding itself by internal consensus, is extremely unlikely, because there is nothing to fill the vacuum that would result, and not even the prospect of something to fill the vacuum. Moreover any serious challenge to arbcom by a community faction is likely to be shortlived. It would be like forbidding the fellow who empties your dustbin to have access to your yard. After a bit, things would start to pong. The challenger would eventually be shouted down by a community that just wants some reasonably wise decision-making in serious disputes.

I do agree with you on the hope that the Committee will soon issue the results of its internal investigations. I also agree that there are plenty of other things for it to be getting on with that may appear at least as urgent as this latest little spat over blocking. On the other hand, it's not likely to require extensive work. The parties are all well known and the conduct issues are not new. It's the kind of case that can be run through like a carwash. --Jenny 06:04, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Few notices from an outsider, far away off big politics and its crowd. I understand ArbCom is a Supreme Court of Wikipedia with Jimmy Wales as a Governor with a power to grant clemency in extreme cases when a ruling of ArbCom sends a certain article or a user to Death Row or to indefinite block. Petty complaints as yours, shouldn't be filed over here, especially not the ones, which are addressed to and against the body of ArbCom. It doesn't make sense, at least not to me. The Arbitration Commitee, as I understand the Wikipedia guidelines, decides if certain verdicts ruled by an administrator are in accordance with the Wikipedia Constitution better known as the Five Pillars, not if such a ruling was justified or not. User Irpen, still with me? Few suggestions. After you have exhausted all your legal procedures to modify, kill or resurect the article in question or its content, before you start complaining about the ArbCom on their page looking for the alliances, make it first on your User Talk Page leaving a note on the article's in question Talk Page, and if you're right on target, all the Wikipedia community will come back to you in flocks. All you need is seven administrators to back you up. Then you can go places. But so far, as I am concerned, you have made lousy job on the article's Talk:Administrative division of Polish territories after partitions. No admin has backed you up so far over there, not to my knowledge, just few non-admin users have expressed some half-assed backing, but to no avail, even their first two RM proposals have failed. greg park avenue (talk) 20:30, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Disgrace (section break)

Greg, I am delighted that you look at my contributions with such interest that you have even followed me to this page. However, I don't see how your bringing our content dispute here is relevant. This is a very small matter at the obscure article's talk and while I welcome more eyes there, let's not clutter this page with off-topic stuff.

Tony, now I recognize you as your last post is more in line with your style. Your analogy with the garbage collector is very apt but it should be put differently. Let's consider the job of Arbcom, which is to help this community deal with Wikipedia problems, as being somewhat similar to the job of a garbage man who helps us deal with refuse. As long as the garbage man does his job properly, it would be pretty stupid to interfere with him. We should be nice to him and even show some small appreciation at the Christmas time.

Suppose, though, he is somewhat sloppy; for example, my garbage man, when he empties the bin, often does it sloppily and while most of the garbage still is taken away, some junk falls on the ground and I have to pick it up and put it back so that he will take it away next time. He also sometimes leaves the garbage can overturned and, especially annoying, on the street where it may get hit by passing cars. Well, I do my cost-benefit analysis and find that even if he screws up a small thing or two once in a while, I am still better off to allow him to do his job. If the Arbcom did a reasonable job overall but slipped up sometimes, we would also accept it as nobody's perfect.

But suppose the garbage man leaves the situation messier than it was before he came. If he regularly came and emptied my bin on my own property and left me to deal with that, I would stop using his service. I would take my refuse to the landfill myself, inconvenient but less than having to pick my own garbage scattered all over my property after his visit. This is what we had lately. When Arbcom was asked to deal with truly difficult Wikipedia problems, it left them worse than they were before its intervention. All the truly complex cases it had that I followed are a worse mess after the Arbcom's intervention (I can elaborate on the big screwups within the last year but this would be a separate discussion.) So, what do I do? I've stopped asking the Arbcom to interfere. However inconvenient it is for the community alone to have to deal with things without an effective judicial body, we avoid the bigger damage of Arbcom intervention this way.

But if the garbage man not only scatters my own garbage on my property but also brings his own garbage and throws it on top of that, I will make an active effort trying to correct the situation. I will try to have him fined, fired and replaced and insist that the city contracts someone else. This is what happened here. Not only did Arbcom fail to help us deal with Wikipedia problems (violations of the letter and the spirit of our policies) but it committed a huge violation on its own by this extra-judicial hearing that blatantly flouts the arbitration policy in so many ways, that we have to take a corrective action as the community.

It is utterly clear that FT2 is responsible for this more than anyone. But it is still not clear whether this happened because the rest of the committee were just sloppy or they were actively involved. FT2 needs to go but the truthful answer to the second question is needed to for us understand how serious things really are. That to this day the arbitrators are actively evasive and contradictory, claiming busyness and other stuff, but still being not too busy to deal with other matters, including this case, suggests that it's not just FT2's fault and they don't intend to be forthcoming. And this is an outrageous state of affairs. --Irpen 21:48, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

You're unhappy and you're casting around for someone to blame. FT2 is there so you blame him. I don't think this is a reasonable approach. I think my approach, which involves being patient, listening to people's explanations, and making the occasional cup of tea, is more likely to work than demanding somebody's head. --Jenny 22:04, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

The ArbCom is always a disgrace if they're sanctioning your friend, but brilliant when they're sanctioning your enemy. Wanting to speedily review something isn't disgraceful at all. Sceptre ^(talk) 22:06, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Sceptre, OM is not my friend. To the contrary, read my original request for clarification. Same can be said about WMC. Please check facts first and don't try to change the subject. This is not me being displeased by ArbCom's sanctioning anyone.

Tony, very pleased to hear that. This so different from Tony I knew! But answering your post, until this incident I refrained from demanding heads and condemning the ArbCom despite I saw its huge shortcomings for a very long time. I did that for these precise reasons you give. I assumed good faith, accounted for a human error, was patient, listened and drank tea. I avoided the broad statements out of considerations for the institutional legitimacy of the Wikipedia arbcom as a body.

However, this incident crossed every possible line. At some point, the malaise cannot be tolerated. I am eager to listen to people's explanations. I even went out of my way to ask for them? So did others. That only evasive statements and no clear explanations came out is an answer of sorts. I would not be surprised that all that would come would also be blurred and evasive. I would love to be wrong about that but I don't have much hope given the past history. --Irpen 22:23, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Red pill, blue pill

You know, a lot of nonsense is talked about the Arbitration Committee. Supposedly it's failing and the place is all falling to bits because it's too heavy-handed, too lenient, too impotent, legislating from the bench, or name your own pet hate. But looking at the cases it's been running lately I'm seeing some pretty good stuff. Article probations handed out, lots of power devolved to administrators, incoming case loads diminishing by the week. At this rate the arbitration committee will have remedied itself out of a job in a couple of years!

I would have advised arbcom not to touch this latest case, except maybe for some aabitrators to clarify wheel warring in some pretty stiffly worded "this is the last chance saloon"-style case rejections, and perhaps some behind-the-scenes work to give everybody that patented Wikipedia "I'm a fluffy bunny and I will make the internet not suck" glow.

But nyah, what do I know? I think it's time for the Committee to revisit wheel warring.

Widely criticised for some reason that isn't clear to me, as "making policy", the BLP special provision (BLPBAN) of the "Footnoted quotes" arbitration case is actually a lovely hybrid of two quite different remedies, the red pill and the blue pill, to be taken both together.

• The red pill component of BLPBAN is a very broad topic probation. Articles containing statements the fall under the BLP are subject to an enhanced focus, and admins are to counsel and warn users not complying, and may take extensive further action, at their discretion, if that fails.

• The blue pill component of BLPBAN cuts in if the red pill starts to kill the patient. Its purpose is to kill incipent wheel wars. Actions under the red pill may be appealed directly to arbcom. Failing that, they can be overturned by community consensus after an appeal on WP:AE. Admins reversing or modifying such an action without a successful appeal face dire consequences.

This is a lovely combination. It gives admins their head to resolve a problem, but makes sure they don't go mad and shag the goldfish.

Perhaps a similar blue pill could be tacked on to Giano's civility restriction in the IRC arbitration. If Wikipedians know they can appeal a bad block under that remedy directly to arbcom I suspect they're far less likely to get itchy trigger fingers and want to reverse or modify the block without consensus. If they really feel that the ban is wrong, an appeal should be all that is needed.

And if they're feeling especially bold, retrospectively add a blue pill to all extant editing restrictions, probations, etc. --Jenny 04:24, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

jpgordon re OrangeMarlin

Given that jpgordon is going to be mentoring OrangeMarlin, the votes of the other arbitrators to reject the case seem reasonable and sensible and as Morven says a new case can always be opened if that doesn't work out. However, in the interest of setting (and then hopefully maintaining) high standards, it does seem that jpgordon's "personal arrangement" with OrangeMarlin should lead to him recusing rather than to voting to reject the case himself. Arbitrators seem eager to urge admins to only act in cases where they're uninvolved and can be seen to be uninvolved. I feel this should apply to arbitrators too for all the same reasons. 87.254.73.129 (talk) 12:10, 2 July 2008 (UTC)