User:Nanobear~enwiki/ArbVotes2010

Criteria
I'm mostly looking for candidates who:
 * 1) Are able and willing to spend a lot time in reviewing evidence presented during a case. Too often, arbitrators seem to have no clue of the dispute they are trying to solve. I believe it is lack of time (or even interest) for reviewing evidence has been the main reason for this in the past.
 * 2) Are consistent when making decisions. If two editors have similar track records and block logs, the one should not be given just a 1-month block will the other gets 6 months for a similar violation. Admin decisions are often very inconsistent in general, but an arbitrator should strive for absolute consistency. I believe consistency equals fairness.
 * 3) Place importance on the process in addition to the result. Previous ArbComs often did not care about the process, letting discussions during a case get out of hand and missing several case deadlines.
 * 4) Respect the letter of the law. For example, if a previous sanction says it will be reviewed no earlier than after 1 year, then a good arbitrator will not review it after 6 months even if he feels like doing so. If the ArbCom issues a ruling and then violates it, they have been misleading the community.
 * 5) Are reliable and unlikely to abuse sensitive information.
 * 6) Place emphasis on communicativeness. Previous ArbComs have often been too unresponsive. It can sometimes take weeks to get an answer to a question, even to a simple yes-or-no one.
 * 7) Place emphasis on openness. Too often, decisions are prepared and discussed in secret, leaving the community in the blue and with little information about how and on what basis the decision was made.
 * 8) Base their decision regarding an editor solely on the individual evidence about this editor. A good arb won't just ban an equal number of editors on both "sides" and be done with it. He also will not base his decisions on personal feelings (e.g. "I'm getting annoyed and frustrated because of X, therefore I will do Y") They will also consider all evidence in the same way, regardless of the "status" of the user who presented it.

Summary
The best candidates in order of quality:
 * 1) Sandstein
 * 2) Iridescent
 * 3) Stephen Bain
 * FT2
 * 1) SirFozzie
 * 2) GiacomoReturned
 * 3) Newyorkbrad
 * 4) Elen of the Roads

Candidate chart
Table formatting cribbed from User:Lar/ACE2010.