User talk:Robert McClenon/Long Block Logs

Thoughts
It's interesting, I haven't seen this argument in years, I remember when I became an admin there was a lot of discussion about "long block logs" and sullying a clean block log. I'm not sure if it's just less prevalent an idea, or if I just don't spend that long "on the shop floor" these days.

Anyway, the longest block logs are generally on those individuals who are both blocked and unblocked regularly. What's more, you are right, they are largely around "civility" - and there's a good reason for that. Wikipedia is massively multicultural, even within a single language. It includes passionate individuals, who put in a lot of hard work. So, outbursts happen - outbursts that are perfectly acceptable to some, and well over the line for others. This is why "blocking" is not the solution for civility complaints, pretty much ever, because no two users are likely to see the issue in the same way. Yet, "we" do.

In my mind, if we should not be blocking for civility, then we should not be taking into account those blocks in the block log. Blocks are taken by an individual, based on their understanding. Those that are reversed - either by another individual, or by consensus at a notice board, should not be considered. Until we have a way to either strike blocks or annotate a block log, I find it difficult to take long block logs into account. All they mean is that the individual is controversial - but that in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, nor is it something Arbcom can fix. Don't forget, Arbcom is drawn from the community, and likely to be just as split as the rest of the community on such matters. WormTT(talk) 10:27, 17 November 2020 (UTC)

Presumption
The basic underlying presumption of this essay, as expressed in the nutshell hatnote “ArbCom should sometimes hear cases of editors with long block logs”, is that Arbcom never hears (or never even considers hearing, as expressed in the text body) cases of such editors. Is that even true? ◅ Sebastian 06:22, 19 November 2020 (UTC)