Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2006-10-09/Arbitration report

For the first time in over five months, the Arbitration Committee neither opened nor closed any cases this week.

Evidence phase

 * Jean-Thierry Boisseau: A case, accepted on Sunday, involving the actions of Jean-Thierry Boisseau on List of major opera composers. Various users accuse him of "a course of bullying, personal attacks, and generally making things awful for all contributors".  He strenuously denies the allegations.


 * Rachel Marsden: A case involving the actions of Arthur Ellis, Rachel Marsden, Bucketsofg and others on the Rachel Marsden page.  Marsden and Ellis allege that the page contains inaccurate and libellous material, and that this has been protected on the page by various admins.   In response, others allege that Ellis has engaged in edit warring on the page.


 * Vivaldi: A case involving the actions of Vivaldi on Jack Hyles and related articles. Arbustoo alleges that Vivaldi has removed "cited criticism" from the article, as well as harassment, incivility and edit warring.  However, an anon IP, 205.157.110.11 accuses Arbustoo of removing comments from AfDs.


 * Kven: A case involving the actions of Art Dominique and alleged sockpuppets on the Kven article.

Voting phase

 * Giano: A case involving the actions of Giano, Tony Sidaway and others, in which Sidaway blocked Giano for making "inflammatory" comments regarding the behaviour of the ArbCom and the Wikimedia Foundation. The block was subsequently overturned after discussion on WP:AN/I.  Remedies have been proposed formalising the relinquishing of sysop access by former clerk Tony Sidaway and former arbitrator Kelly Martin, but thanking her for her "long and honourable service", as well as one banning John Reid for one week, and an unprecedented remedy reminding Jdforrester "to maintain decorum appropriate for an arbitrator".  These proposals have the support of between two and five arbitrators.


 * Honda S2000: A case involving the actions of SpinyNorman on List of fastest cars by acceleration. Fred Bauder has proposed remedies placing SpinyNorman on probation, general probation, personal attack and revert parole, as well as limiting him to one account.  These proposals have been supported by Dmcdevit.


 * Kosovo: A case involving the actions of editors on Kosovo, particularly the political status of Kosovo. A temporary injunction has been passed allowing any uninvolved administrator to ban any of the named users from the page.  Various remedies have been proposed, mostly with the support of three arbitrators, applying various bans, warnings, limits and paroles to a number of users.


 * Ackoz: A case involving the actions and community ban of Ackoz, and his later account, Azmoc. The user previously contributed to Wikipedia under the name Ackoz.  He admits to "some trolling" after a three-day block, which led to his ban.  However, he has stated that were he unbanned, he would cease his disruptive behaviour, and would be prepared to undergo mentorship.  Fred Bauder has introduced remedies to unblock Ackoz and place him on probation for one year, leaving open the possibility for a renewed community ban should Ackoz "revert to his previous pattern of sustained trolling", which have been supported by Dmcdevit and Charles Matthews.


 * Marudubshinki: A case involving the actions of Marudubshinki. Snottygobble, I@n and others allege that Marudubshinki has operated an unauthorised bot, and misused his sysop powers by unblocking himself and allowing his bot to delete pages.  A remedy to desysop Marudubshinki has the support of four arbitrators.


 * MONGO: A case involving the actions of MONGO, rootology, and others. The case centers around Encyclopædia damatica, and an article posted on the site portraying MONGO in a negative light.  Remedies proposed by Fred Bauder include indefinitely banning PrivateEditor and Rootology, as well as other remedies, all of which have been supported by Charles Matthews.


 * Ed Poor 2: A case involving Ed Poor. JoshuaZ and Consumed Crustacean have accused Poor of POV pushing and disruption; Poor has not introduced evidence in the case.  Ed Poor was party to two prior cases; the first was closed after Poor resigned his status as a bureaucrat, and the second resulted in his desysopping.  Fred Bauder has proposed a remedy placing him on probation, a modified version of which has attracted the support of four arbitrators.


 * Pat8722: A case involving the actions of Pat8722. BorgHunter has accused Pat8722 of edit-warring.  Pat8722 has requested that the ArbCom stay the case while he pursues 6 pro se cases in the American courts, and has agreed not to edit Wikipedia in the interim.  A motion establishing the principle of a "continuance", and a remedy extending this to Pat8722, are supported by two arbitrators, with two abstaining; a separate motion to place Pat8722 on probation has also been raised by Dmcdevit, and supported by Charles Matthews, but opposed by Fred Bauder and SimonP.

Motion to close

 * Deir Yassin massacre: A case involving the actions of KimvdLinde and Guy Montag on Deir Yassin massacre. KimvdLinde alleges that Montag has violated his probation by rewriting the article, unilaterally moving it to "Battle of Deir Yassin", violating copyright and votestacking.  In return, Montag refuses "to participate in any of these proceedings", and alleges that KimvdLinde has abused her admin tools by exercising them in a dispute in which she is involved.  If closed, Guy Montag would be banned from articles relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, his probation extended for another year, and other users encouraged to enforce Montag's probation.

Upcoming cases

 * GreekWarrior vs. Wikipedia: GreekWarrior, an admitted Greek nationalist extremist, received a community ban for "repeated, blatant ethnic insults and hate speech", but, owing to what Tony Sidaway described as his "great willingness to contribute", has asked that it be lifted or restricted to a finite period.  Three arbitrators have voted to accept the case.

For the first time in over five months, the Arbitration Committee neither opened nor closed any cases this week.

Evidence phase

 * Jean-Thierry Boisseau: A case, accepted on Sunday, involving the actions of Jean-Thierry Boisseau on List of major opera composers. Various users accuse him of "a course of bullying, personal attacks, and generally making things awful for all contributors".  He strenuously denies the allegations.


 * Rachel Marsden: A case involving the actions of Arthur Ellis, Rachel Marsden, Bucketsofg and others on the Rachel Marsden page.  Marsden and Ellis allege that the page contains inaccurate and libellous material, and that this has been protected on the page by various admins.   In response, others allege that Ellis has engaged in edit warring on the page.


 * Vivaldi: A case involving the actions of Vivaldi on Jack Hyles and related articles. Arbustoo alleges that Vivaldi has removed "cited criticism" from the article, as well as harassment, incivility and edit warring.  However, an anon IP, 205.157.110.11 accuses Arbustoo of removing comments from AfDs.


 * Kven: A case involving the actions of Art Dominique and alleged sockpuppets on the Kven article.

Voting phase

 * Giano: A case involving the actions of Giano, Tony Sidaway and others, in which Sidaway blocked Giano for making "inflammatory" comments regarding the behaviour of the ArbCom and the Wikimedia Foundation. The block was subsequently overturned after discussion on WP:AN/I.  Remedies have been proposed formalising the relinquishing of sysop access by former clerk Tony Sidaway and former arbitrator Kelly Martin, but thanking her for her "long and honourable service", as well as one banning John Reid for one week, and an unprecedented remedy reminding Jdforrester "to maintain decorum appropriate for an arbitrator".  These proposals have the support of between two and five arbitrators.


 * Honda S2000: A case involving the actions of SpinyNorman on List of fastest cars by acceleration. Fred Bauder has proposed remedies placing SpinyNorman on probation, general probation, personal attack and revert parole, as well as limiting him to one account.  These proposals have been supported by Dmcdevit.


 * Kosovo: A case involving the actions of editors on Kosovo, particularly the political status of Kosovo. A temporary injunction has been passed allowing any uninvolved administrator to ban any of the named users from the page.  Various remedies have been proposed, mostly with the support of three arbitrators, applying various bans, warnings, limits and paroles to a number of users.


 * Ackoz: A case involving the actions and community ban of Ackoz, and his later account, Azmoc. The user previously contributed to Wikipedia under the name Ackoz.  He admits to "some trolling" after a three-day block, which led to his ban.  However, he has stated that were he unbanned, he would cease his disruptive behaviour, and would be prepared to undergo mentorship.  Fred Bauder has introduced remedies to unblock Ackoz and place him on probation for one year, leaving open the possibility for a renewed community ban should Ackoz "revert to his previous pattern of sustained trolling", which have been supported by Dmcdevit and Charles Matthews.


 * Marudubshinki: A case involving the actions of Marudubshinki. Snottygobble, I@n and others allege that Marudubshinki has operated an unauthorised bot, and misused his sysop powers by unblocking himself and allowing his bot to delete pages.  A remedy to desysop Marudubshinki has the support of four arbitrators.


 * MONGO: A case involving the actions of MONGO, rootology, and others. The case centers around Encyclopædia damatica, and an article posted on the site portraying MONGO in a negative light.  Remedies proposed by Fred Bauder include indefinitely banning PrivateEditor and Rootology, as well as other remedies, all of which have been supported by Charles Matthews.


 * Ed Poor 2: A case involving Ed Poor. JoshuaZ and Consumed Crustacean have accused Poor of POV pushing and disruption; Poor has not introduced evidence in the case.  Ed Poor was party to two prior cases; the first was closed after Poor resigned his status as a bureaucrat, and the second resulted in his desysopping.  Fred Bauder has proposed a remedy placing him on probation, a modified version of which has attracted the support of four arbitrators.


 * Pat8722: A case involving the actions of Pat8722. BorgHunter has accused Pat8722 of edit-warring.  Pat8722 has requested that the ArbCom stay the case while he pursues 6 pro se cases in the American courts, and has agreed not to edit Wikipedia in the interim.  A motion establishing the principle of a "continuance", and a remedy extending this to Pat8722, are supported by two arbitrators, with two abstaining; a separate motion to place Pat8722 on probation has also been raised by Dmcdevit, and supported by Charles Matthews, but opposed by Fred Bauder and SimonP.

Motion to close

 * Deir Yassin massacre: A case involving the actions of KimvdLinde and Guy Montag on Deir Yassin massacre. KimvdLinde alleges that Montag has violated his probation by rewriting the article, unilaterally moving it to "Battle of Deir Yassin", violating copyright and votestacking.  In return, Montag refuses "to participate in any of these proceedings", and alleges that KimvdLinde has abused her admin tools by exercising them in a dispute in which she is involved.  If closed, Guy Montag would be banned from articles relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, his probation extended for another year, and other users encouraged to enforce Montag's probation.

Upcoming cases

 * GreekWarrior vs. Wikipedia: GreekWarrior, an admitted Greek nationalist extremist, received a community ban for "repeated, blatant ethnic insults and hate speech", but, owing to what Tony Sidaway described as his "great willingness to contribute", has asked that it be lifted or restricted to a finite period.  Three arbitrators have voted to accept the case.