Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2015/Candidates/Rich Farmbrough/Questions

Individual questions
Add your questions below the line using the following markup:

Question from DoggySoup






Questions from Gerda Arendt
Thank you for stepping forward!
 * {| class="wikitable"
 * {| class="wikitable"


 * WTT's close is sound. I might have closed with a simpler "no consensus to remove".  In the case of the lion there was consensus to remove my hand.  However I wanted to remove it from the cage, the lion wanted to remove it from my arm.  Luckily for me I had first mover advantage.
 * }
 * Thank you. History of the case which received attention in an RfA: As soon as infobox opera was introduced in 2013 I replaced the side navbox by a bottom navbox and an infobox, but was reverted. Two years later I tried again ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:17, 11 November 2015 (UTC)


 * --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:48, 8 November 2015 (UTC)
 * {| class="wikitable"
 * {| class="wikitable"

It's important to remember that these are person-person interactions. Consequently we have behave in a way that is concomitant with our own humanity and that of the person we are interacting with.
 * I would have thought a quick reminder that he was straying into murky territory would have been a sufficient first step. All to often the over stringent interpretation of even broadly sensible rules makes fools of us all.  (See Monty Python stoning sketch.)
 * }

Questions from Guerillero
Thank you for running for the hardest and most thankless job on the project. Many of these questions are sourced from actual cases, discussions, and problems over the past year. Enjoy!

Questions from GrammarFascist

 * Follow-up: And not answering is perfectly fine, as I said. I'm confused by your saying you're "not even sure [you] accept some of those categories"; they're all fairly standard demographic classifications with Wikipedia articles explaining what each one means. Could you clarify that comment? — GrammarFascist  contribs talk 21:40, 10 November 2015 (UTC)
 * {| class="wikitable"
 * {| class="wikitable"


 * Gender: is fluid slippery and undefined. Even if we ignore the complexities of biological markers of sex.  Take trousers (pants in the US) - in many western societies the mark of maleness for several centuries - they arose from men displaying their legs (and possibly a little higher) and discarding their skirts.  In other words walking around in their underwear, as sex-objects.  In some parts of the twentieth century, short skirts were use to "display" and trousers (or slacks) were considered modest.  We cannot therefore say "wanting to show one's ankles off is a male trait".
 * Orientation: Kinsey in 1952 described orientation as a continuum rather than a binary. It's clear that a one dimensional approach is limited - it's not just about the gender(s) you are attracted to, other characteristics may also be important, and gender may not.  And that's just scratching the surface.
 * Race: no longer accepted as a "thing".
 * Ethnicity: look at the article and you will see that "ethnicity" means what the user wants it too - it's a Humpty Dumpty word. It's why we have edit wars over Balkan "ethnicities".
 * Where I live - is mostly in my head, or in the Internet. Location is misleading.  Generalised location doubly so, notice the short lived member of it's euphemism  treadmill "Global South".
 * As to disability - what would you include? Short sight, alopecia, depression, the need to use the occasional four letter word?  It's true that some conditions can be considered as "generally disabling" compared with their inverse, but the Deaf World to some extent considers being hearing as a disability, certainly there is a substantial HFA faction that would reject the word "Disability" and not just for "connotations".
 * Social class too is fuzzy and slippery, no-one has ever successfully defined it, the NRS social grade is purely based on occupation.  Some people (most people?) will code-switch effortlessly across a range of social class.
 * Also I subscribe to the theory "Those that mind don't matter, and those that matter don't mind."
 * }
 * Thanks for your thoughtful responses, . (I am aware of and respect the Deaf community's stance on Deafness not being a disability. I identify as hard-of-hearing rather than Deaf, as I hear fine but have problems processing speech for neurological reasons, so I consider the two statuses independent of one another.) — GrammarFascist  contribs talk 00:44, 6 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your thoughtful responses, . (I am aware of and respect the Deaf community's stance on Deafness not being a disability. I identify as hard-of-hearing rather than Deaf, as I hear fine but have problems processing speech for neurological reasons, so I consider the two statuses independent of one another.) — GrammarFascist  contribs talk 00:44, 6 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your thoughtful responses, . (I am aware of and respect the Deaf community's stance on Deafness not being a disability. I identify as hard-of-hearing rather than Deaf, as I hear fine but have problems processing speech for neurological reasons, so I consider the two statuses independent of one another.) — GrammarFascist  contribs talk 00:44, 6 December 2015 (UTC)

Questions from Worm That Turned

 * Cases brought by sitting Arbs are difficult, as the lines become blurred. But I'd rather that, where it's out in the open, than an arb quietly nudging a friend to open a case. As for your "little luck" tease, are you planning to appeal again? You won't have long if you want to do it before the elections are out! WormTT(talk) 09:16, 11 November 2015 (UTC)
 * {| class="wikitable"
 * Cases brought by sitting Arbs are difficult, as the lines become blurred. But I'd rather that, where it's out in the open, than an arb quietly nudging a friend to open a case. As for your "little luck" tease, are you planning to appeal again? You won't have long if you want to do it before the elections are out! WormTT(talk) 09:16, 11 November 2015 (UTC)
 * {| class="wikitable"


 * The request for amendment has been open for over a month, and been positively received, currently there is unanimous support from the community for some relaxation, and near unanimous support for removing the restriction entirely. The arbitrators are a little more conservative with (by my count) two each currently expressing no-change or complete removal, and six or seven being amenable to some kind of relaxation.

Just another fun fact: This month it is five years since my most recent action that is diffed in finding 4.
 * }
 * I completely missed that, I don't follow ARCA these days. I'll have a look :) WormTT(talk) 08:59, 12 November 2015 (UTC)

Question from Brustopher
Hi, and thank you for running for Arbcom. These questions focus on WP:OUTING. For the purposes of these questions please assume the editors' usernames are far more distinct and unique than the ones I have given.

Questions from Catmando999
Thankyou for answering to my question promptly. I hope you succeed and good luck in the election.

Question from User:Fram


Note that the continuation of this discussion has been moved to Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2015/Candidates/Rich Farmbrough. Fram (talk) 07:54, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

Questions from Ryk72
Thank you for stepping forward; your commitment to serving the community is greatly appreciated.

Please accept my apologies for the lateness of these questions.

Many thanks in advance for any answers. - Ryk72 'c.s.n.s.' 15:31, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

Question from Bzuk

 * Wow, some things just have become too bizarre. Good luck on your candidacy; I appreciate the commitment you have made to stand for election. FWiW Bzuk (talk) 01:07, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Wow, some things just have become too bizarre. Good luck on your candidacy; I appreciate the commitment you have made to stand for election. FWiW Bzuk (talk) 01:07, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

Note that the continuation of this discussion has been moved to Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2015/Candidates/Rich Farmbrough. Fram (talk) 07:55, 27 November 2015 (UTC)