Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2007-03-12/Arbitration report
Arbitration report
The Report on Lengthy Litigation
The Arbitration Committee opened one case this week, and closed four cases.
Closed cases
- WP:NORviolations. As a result of the case, certain named parties were admonished for their behaviour and encouraged to enter into mediation, and the article was placed on article probation.
- Daniel Brandt deletion wheel war: A case, referred to the committee by Jimbo Wales, regarding a wheel war on the Daniel Brandt article. Wales summarily desysopped Yanksox, Geni and Freakofnurture, and referred the case to ArbCom. As a result of the case, Yanksox and Geni were desysopped, and Gaillimh banned for ten days, but Freakofnurture was resysopped. Three other administrators were cautioned regarding repeated deletion/undeletion of pages.
- Philwelch: A case regarding the actions of Philwelch. A number of editors, principally Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington alleged that he has taken "very controversial" sysop actions. Philwelch has since been voluntarily desysopped. The principle that admins who are desysopped under controversial circumstances may have adminship restored only through the regular channels was refined to provide that an administrator who resigns while an arbitration case is pending will be deemed to have done so under circumstances of controversy, unless ArbCom decides otherwise. The committee determined that Philwelch's voluntarily desysopping took place under controversial circumstances and that he must reapply through RfA if he wishes to be considered for adminship again in the future.
- Thatcher131 alleged that Andries repeatedly added a link to an unreliable source to the Robert Priddy article, in violation of a remedy in a prior case on the subject, and that SSS108 had edit warred and exhibited signs of article ownership on the page. Both users denied the allegations. As a result of the case, Andries, Wikisunn, SSS108 and Freelanceresearch were banned from editing the article, and Ekantikwas required to edit under one username only.
New case
- WP:BP, and that he responded agressively to criticism. InShaneee in his statement points to an apology admitting the block was premature, and denying any aggressive response.
Evidence phase
- Falun Gong: A case regarding the conduct of various editors on the Falun Gong article. Olaf Stephanos and Asdfg12345 allege that Samuel Luo has edit-warred in removing pro-Falun Gong material from the article, while Luo, Tomananda and others allege that Stephanos, Asdfg and others have edit-warred (including page blanking) in removing anti-Falun Gong material.
- Dmcdevit, regarding a dispute between Armenian and Azerbaijani editors on a large number of articles.
Voting phase
- Free Republic: A case involving the actions of DeanHinnen, BenBurch and Fairness And Accuracy For All on the Free Republic article and elsewhere. The parties have alleged incivility, personal attacks, and biased editing, among other misconduct. Remedies have been proposed, with the support of three arbitrators, affirming the community ban of BryanFromPalatine, banning Fairness and Accuracy For All for one year, and placing Free Republic and Democratic Underground on article probation.
- AN/I for "posting links to sites that some considered to be attack sites". Various users attempted to assist Ilena, but "This was sabotaged...when Fyslee posted a link to a site that attacked Ilena in a personal manner". The title of the case refers to Barrett v. Rosenthal, a decision of the Supreme Court of California, which ruled that internet users and providers were not liable for the republication of defamatory statements, which some editors believe provides protection for Wikipedia. It has been alleged that some editors were involved in the real-life litigation of the case. Fred Bauder has proposed remedies, which are under consideration, banning Ilena for one year, and prohibiting her and Fyslee from editing the articles in question.
- WP:SPAM, and raised allegations against several other editors, which they have denied. Fred Bauder has proposed a remedy, with the support of SimonP, cautioning Rosencomet "to avoid aggressive editing of articles when there is a question of conflict of interest".
- WP:COIbecause he is one of Prechter's employees. Fred Bauder has proposed a remedy banning Smallbones from editing articles and talk pages relating to Prechter. It has the support of three arbitrators.
Under review
- Waldorf education: In pursuance of a remedy passed in the initial case, Fred Bauder has initiated a review of all parties' behaviour, and has proposed a remedy banning Pete K from this and related articles indefinitely, which has been supported by Matthew Brown.
Discuss this story