User:WGFinley/ARBPIA Amendment Workshop

Request to amend prior case: Palestine-Israel Articles
Initiated by  WGFinley (talk) at 14:46, 21 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Case affected : (somewhat WP:CAMERA as well).


 * Clauses to which an amendment is requested
 * 1) Principles: This amendment concerns addition of WP:CANVASS to the principles of the case, especially off-Wiki canvassing.
 * 2) Remedy 1: Specific guidelines or measures admins should take under discretionary sanctions for canvassing are needed or direction that the same discretionary sanctions apply.
 * 3) Remedy 2: Guidance is needed for admins in the case of investigating off-Wiki canvassing as it has the potential for outing.


 * List of users affected by or involved in this amendment
 * (initiator)


 * Confirmation that the above users are aware of this request
 * Username2 (diff of notification of this thread on Username2's talk page)
 * Username3 (repeat above for all parties)

Amendment 1

 * ARBPIA: add CAMERA and CAMERA to WP:ARBPIA.
 * 5) It is apparent that some Wikipedia editors may be working to advance the agenda of various external groups, rather than in adherence with the purposes of the project.  Editors are expected to respond to this in a professional manner.
 * 6) Mere membership by an editor in some external group that has been involved in violations of policy is not actionable without evidence that the editor has some personal involvement in said violations.

Statement by WGFinley
There is a current Arbitration Enforcement Request concerning this matter. In it, evidence of off-wiki canvassing by Jiujitsuguy and Eric1985 was brought to the attention of Tariq. I requested and received copies from Tariq of the evidence. Tariq has taken actions to block both of these users indefinitely based on the evidence submitted. I am not looking to call his decision into question, it just appears the combination of two different Arbcom cases and how to handle these issues are troubling and I felt merited review by Arbcom and possible amendment to ARBPIA.

This is a potentially highly contentious area and is affected by two Arbcom decisions. It seems the two principles found in CAMERA should be added to ARBPIA as this can assist in the handling of such cases by giving admins a direction and standard to maintain. Secondly, it appears further efforts are underway off-Wiki to take similar actions. Groups organizing to protect a viewpoint have garnered media attention: The New York Times, YouTube, and The Guardian and Haaretz. The current media attention could bring a wave of such related editing to Wikipedia and admins who have the tough skin to handle ARBPIA duties are already few and far between.

Finally, action was taken against these two users without any evidence of related editing, other than previous actions taken against them. They were both blocked indefinitely for canvassing off-wiki. It's not clear if this is the direction Arbcom wishes us to take in such matters given the "mere membership" finding in CAMERA.

Statement by other editor
{Other editors are free to comment on this amendment as necessary. Comments here should be directed only at the above proposed amendment.}

Amendment 2

 * Link to principle, finding of fact, or remedy to which this amendment is requested
 * Details of desired modification

Statement by your username (2)
{Statement by editor filing request for amendment. Contained herein should be an explanation and evidence detailing why the amendment is necessary.}

Statement by other editor (2)
{Other editors are free to comment on this amendment as necessary. Comments here should be directed only at the above proposed amendment.}

Further discussion

 * Statements here may address all the amendments, but individual statements under each proposed amendment are preferred. If there is only one proposed amendment, then no statements should be added here.