Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2022/Candidates/Robert McClenon/Statement

Robert McClenon
I am Robert McClenon, and I am submitting my name as a candidate for ArbCom. For nearly ten years I have been active at the Dispute Resolution Noticeboard, both in mediating disputes, sometimes simple and sometimes complex, and in assessing disputes to determine what the mixture of content and conduct was.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel which is elected to resolve disputes in the English Wikipedia that the community has not been able to resolve in any other manner, typically serious conduct disputes that divide the community. It is my opinion that ArbCom should accept somewhat more cases, and should tacitly encourage the community to submit case requests for issues that divide the community. In particular, some disputes go unresolved too long, and further divide the community, because the community tries unsuccessfully to resolve them, and then the community continues to try unsuccessfully to resolve them. In my opinion, ArbCom should let it be known that it is ready to accept disputes that have either been open at WP:ANI for an excessively long time or have been opened at WP:ANI repeatedly. By the time that a dispute fills multiple pages of full screens on a laptop computer, it may not be feasible for the community to sort out the facts from the opinions; a deliberative quasi-judicial procedure may work better. When editors with page-long block logs are considered by WP:ANI, either on a block review or unblock request, or on a complaint from another editor, it may be time for an evidentiary hearing, both to decide whether the editor is a net positive or a net negative, and to identify other editors who may have been engaged in provocation or taunting. ArbCom should open more cases than it currently does. If that means that ArbCom should reduce its back-office load of invisible appeals, then ArbCom should reduce its back-office load of invisible appeals. If there are questions, I will prepare a more detailed statement about what sorts of cases ArbCom should and should not hear.

I have never edited Wikipedia for pay, and will never edit Wikipedia for pay. I am qualified and ready to sign the agreement for access to sensitive data. In other words, I will sign the non-disclosure agreement if elected. I have signed the non-disclosure agreement for access to sensitive data. I have two alternate accounts, User:McClenon Test and User:McClenon mobile.