Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal/Cases/2006-06-15 Hoover Middle School

Mediation Case: 2006-15-06 Hoover Middle School
Please observe Etiquette and Talk Page Etiquette in disputes. If you submit complaints or insults your edits are likely to be removed by the mediator, any other refactoring of the mediation case by anybody but the mediator is likely to be reverted. If you are not satisfied with the mediation procedure please submit your complaints to Wikipedia talk:Mediation Cabal.

Request Information

 * Request made by: Hooverdude 00:19, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Hooverdude
 * Where is the issue taking place?
 * ...Herbert Hoover Middle School


 * Who's involved?
 * ...User:EronMain, User:Hooverdude


 * What's going on?
 * ...an editor who claims to be both a Canadian and a student at a school near ours constatnly deletes information put on by REAL ACTUAL students of the school who feel that they should edit their own school's site and not some weirdo


 * ''What would you like to change about that?
 * ...have eron main stop deleting our info and stick to his/her own school


 * Would you prefer we work discreetly? If so, how can we reach you?
 * ...email me at my wikie box at hooverdude

Mediator response
Hooverdude, while I understand your position that you would like to edit your own schools page. We can not ask another editor to not edit a page, since Wikipedia is an open encyclopedia editable by all. However maybe we can come to an agreement of what you both want included on the page so we do not have an edit war; and everyone gets to include something. Somitho

I have heard no responce from the complainant, and while this seems to be a weak case for mediation; I hope both parties came come to an amicable agreement to allow both of them to edit the page in a civil manner. The respondent has expressed an interest on his talk page to explain his position, and I have directed him to this page for the proper place to do such. If the complainant does not respond to the discussion here within 7 days I will consider the complaint and request for mediation stale, and close the case to reflect such.

Case closed due to non-activity, please do not re-open, instead start a new case. Somitho 07:43, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Compromise offers
This section is for listing and discussing compromise offers.


 * Include both parties in the edit process by gathering ideas to better the page.

Discussion
I am the other party to this case. I don't really see this as a situation that requires mediation; I think this is a case of an inexperienced editor, Hooverdude, who does not understand Wikipedia policies, notably neutral point of view and what Wikipedia is not. I have no knowledge of Hoover Middle School, and no particular interest in editing that article. My involvement came about through my efforts to ensure that the article remained encyclopedic. To explain, I'll go over my actions with respect to this editor's contributions.

I first came across Hooverdude on 10 December while I was reviewing the Recent Changes page. This edit, with the edit summary "Hoover students demand to edit their own entry," got my attention. I reviewed the edit and found a non-encyclopedic addition which included a personal attack on a previous editor, and which seemed to indicate a sense of ownership of the article. I reverted the edit, and then reviewed the editor's other contributions. I found this user page creation, made as a personal attack on User:138.88.199.50 who had previously edited the Hoover Middle School page to remove an earlier POV contribution by Hooverdude. I deleted the personal attack, and left a personal attack warning (Template:Npa2) on Hooverdude's talk page.

As Hoover Middle School was now on my watchlist, on 12 December I saw this edit, which seemed to be a violation of the neutral point of view. I reverted it, and also added an tag to the article.

On 15 December, I received an email from Hooverdude which read "Why are you as a user in Canada editing the site of a middle school in MD? Why are you deleting information put there by students of the school?" I also noticed that Hooverdude had opened this mediation request, and that he had again edited the Hoover Middle School article to insert POV content. I deleted the POV addition, and contacted the user on his talk page here to explain my actions and point him towards the appropriate Wikipedia policies. That is the last contact I have had with this user or that page.

I think the above makes it clear that there is no need for mediation. I have no dispute with this user and no interest in the content of the Hoover Middle School page, except that as someone who wants to make a better encyclopedia, I have an interest in helping ensure that the content of all Wikipedia pages is neutral and encyclopedic. I think Hooverdude needs to become aware of Wikipedia's purpose and policies, and must learn that the Wikipedia article on his school does not belong to his school. - Eron Talk 03:27, 21 December 2006 (UTC)