Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Copperchair/Evidence

Anyone, whether directly involved or not, may add evidence to this page. Please make a header for your evidence and sign your comments with your name.

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Please make a section for your evidence and add evidence only in your own section. Please limit your evidence to a maximum 1000 words and 100 diffs, a much shorter, concise presentation is more likely to be effective. Please focus on the issues raised in the complaint and answer and on diffs which illustrate behavior which relates to the issues.

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Evidence provided by A Link to the Past
Basically, my evidence will cover everything before September 27th, where A Man In Black's evidence begins. This will cover deceptive edit summaries, labelling good faith edits as vandalism, disruption, vandalism, blanking, reverting despite consensus, etc. The evidence provided are not necessarily against guidelines or policy, but some evidence is included to show the character of the accused.

August 28

 * August 28, 2005
 * Referring to good faith edit as vandalism, Copperchair's first participation in the edit war on the cast dispute.
 * August 28, 2005
 * Removal of cleanup tag.
 * August 28, 2005
 * First edit in the opening scroll dispute.
 * August 28, 2005
 * Referring to good faith edit as vandalism.
 * August 28, 2005
 * Referring to good faith edit as vandalism.
 * August 28, 2005
 * Referring to good faith edit as vandalism.
 * August 28, 2005
 * Continuing to revert cast listing.

August 30

 * August 30, 2005
 * Claims that deleting content without consensus is vandalism.
 * August 30, 2005
 * Reverted back to original form.

September 1

 * September 1, 2005
 * Continued reverting.
 * September 1, 2005
 * Continued reverting.

September 2

 * September 2, 2005
 * Wiped a message that was not bullying in the least, but was rather polite.

September 3

 * September 2, 2005
 * Continued reverting, deceptive edit summary, claimed edit was a minor edit.
 * [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Star_Wars_Episode_VI:_Return_of_the_Jedi&diff=prev&oldid=22457547, September 3, 2005
 * Continued reverting, disrupting Wikipedia to make a point (shortening it to an extremely small size).
 * September 3, 2005
 * Continued reverting, disrupting Wikipedia to make a point.
 * September 3, 2005
 * Continued reverting, disrupting Wikipedia to make a point.
 * September 3, 2005
 * Continued reverting, deceptive edit summary (there was no agreement for adding Chief Jawa, and no agreement to remove Wedge).

September 4

 * September 4, 2005
 * Deletion of message that was not bullying.

September 6

 * September 6, 2005
 * Continued reverting.

September 10

 * September 10, 2005
 * Continued reverting.
 * September 10, 2005
 * Continued reverting.
 * September 10, 2005
 * Continued reverting.
 * September 10, 2005
 * Wiping non-confrontational message from User talk page.
 * September 10, 2005
 * Continued reverting, deceptive edit summary (implies that a consensus was ever reached on removing Wedge, and most people seemed to want him in)

September 11

 * September 11, 2005
 * Continued reverting, deceptive edit summary.

September 14

 * September 14, 2005
 * Continued reverting, deceptive edit summary.
 * September 14, 2005
 * Claiming consensus on the Wedge issue, when none was ever reached (one man's suggestion is not a consensus).
 * September 14, 2005
 * Continued reverting.

September 15

 * September 15, 2005
 * Continued reverting, deceptive edit summary.

September 18

 * September 18, 2005
 * Continued reverting.
 * September 18, 2005
 * Continued reverting.

September 19

 * September 19, 2005
 * Continued reverting, deceptive edit summary.
 * September 19, 2005
 * Continued reverting.

September 21

 * September 21, 2005
 * Continued reverting, demanding that the rest of the cast be included if Wedge is.
 * September 21, 2005
 * Continued reverting, making demands.
 * September 21, 2005
 * Continued reverting.

September 23

 * September 23, 2005
 * Continued reverting.
 * September 23, 2005
 * Continued reverting.
 * September 23, 2005
 * Continued reverting.

September 25

 * September 25, 2005
 * Continued reverting.
 * September 25, 2005
 * Continued reverting.
 * September 25, 2005
 * Continued reverting.

September 26

 * September 26, 2005
 * Continued reverting.
 * September 26, 2005
 * Continued reverting.
 * September 26, 2005
 * Continued reverting.

Evidence presented by A Man In Black
Note that this (as of yet) only includes egregious behavior above and beyond edit warring. I'm not sure I have the stamina to list all of Copperchair's numerous reverts to Star Wars, A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine, Boba Fett, and Darth Vader.

Also, this is a very spotty coverage of the events before Oct. 2, when I became involved. There's some major incivility from before Oct. 2,, including some talk page vandalism, pertaining to some sort of dispute between Copperchair and Chris Lawson over whether Copperchair should be blanking his own talk page or not. - A Man In  Black  (conspire | past ops) 23:50, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

27 September

 * 17:40, September 27, 2005
 * 17:40, September 27, 2005
 * 17:43, September 27, 2005
 * Copperchair threatens to vandalize Chris Lawson's talk page, does so, then reverts himself.

28 September

 * 21:19, September 28, 2005
 * Another threat to vandalize Chris Lawson's talk page (not in the actual edit, but in the edit summary)

29 September

 * 19:30, September 29, 2005
 * Carrying out on his threat, blanking Clawson's talk page in retaliation for restoring blanked sections of Copperchair's talk page.


 * 23:45, September 29, 2005
 * Uncivil edit summary accompanying another blanking of his talk page.

30 September

 * 01:23, October 1, 2005
 * Blanks (admittedly somewhat confrontational) attempts to correspond, as well as valid, non-confrontational attempts to ask him not to edit war and warnings and block notices for vandalizing talk pages. Note the blatantly false edit summary.

1 October
Requests for comment/Copperchair is opened.

2 October

 * 03:19, October 2, 2005
 * Note that this isn't a Copperchair edit; this is my first involvement in the matter. I protect Empire Strikes Back because of the ongoing edit war, and alert Copperchair (and others) of this fact.

3 October

 * 22:23, October 3, 2005
 * Blatantly deceptive edit summary, as part of edit warring over the cast list.


 * 23:29, October 3, 2005
 * Blanking his talk page, including a number of warnings related to this dispute, including warnings from Cool Cat and Ral315 not to vandalize Chris Lawson's userpage.

9 October

 * 21:50, October 9, 2005
 * Reverts Empire Strikes Back, despite having agreed to stop reverting as part of the related RFM. The related RFM (which was not Copperchair vs. Everyone Else, mind; one of the major disputes was over which navbox template should be used, and Copperchair wasn't a party to this dispute) fell apart over what other users saw as Copperchair's bad faith.

12 October

 * 00:19, October 13, 2005
 * Blatantly deceptive edit summary, as part of edit warring over the cast list.

13 October

 * 01:26, October 13, 2005
 * Again, not a Copperchair edit; I block Copperchair for 3RR violation for the first time.

15 October

 * 01:03, October 15, 2005
 * Again not a Copperchair edit; I block Copperchair for 3RR violation again

17 October

 * 21:44, October 17, 2005
 * Deceptive edit summary (note the blanking of the Fan Works header)
 * 21:31, October 17, 2005
 * Deceptive edit summary (note the omission of the Ian McDiarmid credit, a contentious edit)
 * 22:59, October 17, 2005
 * Not a Copperchair edit; Redolf24 blocks Copperchair for 3RR violation

24 October

 * 21:25, October 24, 2005
 * Deceptive edit summary, as this is part of the ongoing cast/credit edit war

30 October

 * 23:02, October 30, 2005
 * Reverts as part of credit dispute as "rv vandalism" - Unncivil and somewhat deceptive
 * 23:02, October 30, 2005
 * Likewise.

4 November
I'm afraid it's going to be impossible for me to list all of Copperchair's reverts; he's edit warring on at least a dozen pages, and has been since at least the beginning of October. I'm going to try to list a couple representative days.

Note that, with all of these reverts in a single day, Copperchair didn't make one single talk page edit (save for a user talk comment as part of an ongoing conversation about the War on Terror and a user talk comment complaining about being blocked for edit warring).


 * 08:34, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring over inclusion/exclusion of info about the cast of the 2004 remakes of the movies in Cast of Star Wars
 * 08:34, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring over an image of Ian McDiarmid in the 2004 version of Empire Strikes Back
 * 08:34, 4 November 2005
 * Not clear what the edit war is about here, but he's clearly reverting to a preferred version; note that he's reinserted the link to Star Wars episodes, which has been a redirect to Star Wars for quite a while now.
 * 09:46, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring in Boba Fett over a mention of a voice actor in the 2004 remakes and over expanded universe quotes
 * 09:46, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring in List of changes in Star Wars re-releases over whether the lack of changes in the Revenge of the Sith DVD should be mentioned, and over a reference to Shadows of the Empire
 * 09:46, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring in Revenge of the Sith over cast list and DVD details. This is clearly a revert to a preferred version; note the reinsertion of a typo ("Kashyyk" is misspelled).
 * 09:46, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring over whether Palpatine appeared in Empire Strikes Back or not.
 * 09:46, 4 November 2005
 * Reverting Wookieepedian's restructuring of the Attack of the Clones article without explanation.
 * 09:46, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring over structure and the cast list in Return of the Jedi
 * 09:46, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring over the cast list in A New Hope
 * 09:46, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring over the arrangement of the cast and headers in Empire Strikes Back. Note that he reverts to a preferred version, reintroducing a typo (which he then corrects in the next edit).
 * 09:47, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring over inclusion/exclusion of info about the cast of the 2004 remakes of the movies in Cast of Star Wars
 * 09:47, 4 November 2005
 * Not clear what the edit war is about in The Phantom Menace, but he's clearly reverting to a preferred version; note that he's reinserted the link to Star Wars episodes, which has been a redirect to Star Wars for quite a while now.
 * 09:47, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring over mentions of Ian McDiarmid in the 2004 version of Empire Strikes Back
 * 13:35, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring over the arrangement of the cast and headers in Empire Strikes Back.
 * 13:31, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring over the "Fan Works" header and an image from the 2004 version of Empire Strikes Back in Star Wars.
 * 13:31, 4 November 2005
 * 13:44, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring over whether Palpatine appeared in Empire Strikes Back or not.
 * 14:16, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring in List of changes in Star Wars re-releases over whether the lack of changes in the Revenge of the Sith DVD should be mentioned, and over a reference to Shadows of the Empire
 * 14:16, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring over inclusion/exclusion of info about the cast of the 2004 remakes of the movies in Cast of Star Wars
 * 14:16, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring over structure and the cast list in Return of the Jedi
 * 14:16, 4 November 2005
 * More apparently pointless edit warring over the structure of Attack of the Clones
 * 14:16, 4 November 2005
 * Not clear what the edit war is about here, but he's clearly reverting to a preferred version; note that he's reinserted the link to Star Wars episodes, which has been a redirect to Star Wars for quite a while now.
 * 14:16, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring in Revenge of the Sith over cast list and DVD details. Note that the large cut of the "rumors" about the removal of a character is not part of this edit war.
 * 14:16, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring in List of changes in Star Wars re-releases over whether the lack of changes in the Revenge of the Sith DVD should be mentioned, and over a reference to Shadows of the Empire
 * 14:16, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring over the cast list in A New Hope
 * 14:16, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring over mentions of Ian McDiarmid in the 2004 version of Empire Strikes Back
 * 14:19, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring in Darth Vader over references to the 2004 version of Return of the Jedi.
 * 14:23, 4 November 2005
 * Edit warring in Boba Fett over a mention of a voice actor in the 2004 remakes and over expanded universe quotes.

Note that, at this point, I blocked Wookieepedian and Copperchair for edit warring.

8 November
After coming back from his 48-hour block, Copperchair goes back to revert warring almost immediately.


 * 02:36, 8 November 2005
 * Uncivil comment, accusing Wookieepedian of being Chris Lawson's servant.
 * 02:37, 8 November 2005
 * Edit warring over inclusion/exclusion of info about the cast of the 2004 remakes of the movies in Cast of Star Wars
 * 02:44, 8 November 2005
 * Edit warring in List of changes in Star Wars re-releases over whether the lack of changes in the Revenge of the Sith DVD should be mentioned, and over a reference to Shadows of the Empire
 * 02:46, 8 November 2005
 * Edit warring over mentions of Ian McDiarmid in the 2004 version of Empire Strikes Back
 * 02:50, 8 November 2005
 * Not clear what the edit war is about in The Phantom Menace, but he's clearly reverting to a preferred version; note that he's pointlessly changed an image's size and reinserted the link to Star Wars episodes, which has been a redirect to Star Wars for quite a while now.

At this point, I blocked him for a week for going straight back into revert warring after being blocked for revert warring.

Evidence presented in response by Copperchair
What I have been doing in my edits is use an objective parameter (the movies' end credits, but limited to those that Coffee suggested in ), while others have used a subjective one (they include the ones they think are important). It is obvious that the filmmakers are the ones who decide who’s important and who’s not in the end credits, and I feel that if Wikipedia is to be accurate, as it should be being it an encyclopedia, we should follow the filmmakers’ decision. No matter how much discussion there is on the subject, the answer is right there in the end credits. I consider consensus on this matter to be irrelevant. As for the format of the articles, I have eliminated abbreviations and sections which I consider not to be proper for an encyclopedia, pointing out why in the edit summaries and/or in the talk pages (see and , for example). Note that in all articles I have kept all the good edits made by others since my last edit, while my edits have most of the times been reverted indiscriminately and called “vandalism”. All my edits have been god faith edits, as my only goal has been to improve Wikipedia. Finally, regarding what A Man In Black calls “talk page vandalism”, I only blanked bulling and false accusations of vandalism for my good faith edits

27 September

 * True, but I did after he reverted my talk page countless times when I blanked bulling accusations of vandalism for my good faith edits, which are backed by the movies’ end credits.

28 September

 * True, but I did after he reverted my talk page countless times when I blanked bulling accusations of vandalism for my good faith edits, which are backed by the movies’ end credits.

29 September

 * True, but I did after he reverted my talk page countless times when I blanked bulling accusations of vandalism for my good faith edits, which are backed by the movies’ end credits.

30 September

 * I did not begin the edit war. I have been keeping the article as it originally was. My edits are backed by the movies end credits. It is not false edit summary, since I consider intrusive edits of my talk page vandalism.

3 October

 * It is not a deceptive edit summary, since I DID correct the spelling of the article as it originally was before the beginning of the edit war over the credits.

9 October

 * The articles should have stayed as they originally were while the RFM was resolved. How is it bad faith to preserve the original format of the article while a decision was made? I am still willing to participate in mediation, if the articles are kept as they originally were as a cautionary measure (protected, if possible).

12 October

 * Again, it is not a deceptive edit summary, since I DID change to italic the text of the article as it originally was before the beginning of the edit war.

17 October

 * Again, it is not a deceptive edit summary, since I made the changes I mentioned, to the text of the article as it originally was before the beginning of the edit war.

24 October

 * Again, it is not a deceptive edit summary, since I made the changes I mentioned, to the text of the article as it originally was before the beginning of the edit war.

30 October

 * It is vandalism to revert grammar edits made to the text of the article as it originally was before the beginning of the edit war.

21 November

 * Copperchair insists he will not stop his current behaviour until the ArbCom hands down a decision. I shall be expanding this section later, but this needed to be brought to the attention of the ArbCom immediately.

21 January
It's entirely possible that another anonymous Costa Rican has begun mass-editing Star Wars-related articles, using the IP address of. I think in light of the editing style and content, however, that our friend is back, in violation of his temporary injunction. The ArbCom should be able to determine if this IP is from a subnet from which Copperchair's previous edits have originated.

November 4, November 7, November 16

 * Copperchair is blocked three consecutive times for over 24 hours due to persistent edit warring for 48 hours, 1 week, and 1 week respectively. After the first two bans he comes back and immediately begins edit warring again, as detailed in below sections:

November 16
A limited listing of edit warring edits follows. There may have been several more edit warring edits: Copperchair habitually makes a vast reversion and, in several small edits, changes everything back except the small issues he's concerned with, making it more difficult to revert his edits. He also mixes legitimate edits with edit warring edits. I may have made some legitimate errors in listing below; Copperchair's editing style seems to make it difficult to isolate his revert warring in particular.


 * Star Wars: ,
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace: ,
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones: ,
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith: ,
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope: ,
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back: ,
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi: ,
 * Palpatine:, ,
 * List of changes in Star Wars re-releases: ,
 * Cast of Star Wars: ,
 * Darth Vader:, , , ,
 * Template:Starwars: ,
 * Ian McDiarmid: ,
 * Prequel trilogy (Star Wars):
 * War on Terrorism: ,

Also, on Talk:Darth Vader, I summarize Copperchair's actions as of late and my response:

November 3

 * After selectively reverting some of Copperchair's new edits and soliciting him to visit the talk page to discuss the issue, I create a new section on Talk:Darth Vader, "Edits by Copperchair", to solicit explanations and discussion of some of Copperchair's edits. Copperchair has yet to respond.

November 24

 * Copperchair deletes from his talk page his agreement to abide by the ArbCom decision. In other edits that took place around the same time, Copperchair deleted other people's comments—however, in this edit, the only change is to remove his agreement to abide by the ArbCom decision. The comment was restored by User:A Link to the Past in the course of reverting Copperchair's other comment removals, and struck out by myself with a link to this diff.