Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2006-11-20/Arbitration report

The Arbitration Committee opened three cases this week, and closed one case.

Closed case

 * Jean-Thierry Boisseau: A case 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.  As a result of the case, remedies were enacted banning Boisseau and others attributed with Musik Fabrik from editing articles relating to their work, and placing Boisseau on probation and civility parole.

New cases

 * RPJ: Various users allege that RPJ edits disruptively (although in good faith) on various articles related to conspiracy theories, such as John F. Kennedy Assassination. In response, he denies the allegations, and raised some "practical concerns about arbitration", which seem to regard the legitimacy of the Arbitration Committee bindingly to resolve disputes.


 * Iran-Iraq War: A case referred by the mediation committee regarding a dispute on the Iran-Iraq War page.


 * Konstable: A case involving the actions of Konstable, an administrator who left the project, but then returned and created an alternative account, which some allege was used for disruption. This was then blocked, and he used his sysop tools to unblock it, causing some to call for his desysopping.

Evidence phase

 * Hkelkar: A case involving the actions of Hkelkar, a probable sockpuppet of Subhash bose, on various articles.

Voting phase

 * Elvis: A case involving the actions of Lochdale and Onefortyone on the Elvis Presley article.  Fred Bauder has proposed remedies Lochdale from the article indefinitely, and keeping Onefortyone on probation with respect to articles relating to celebreties.


 * Protecting children's privacy: A case involving a policy proposal on the Protecting children's privacy page. The committee is being asked to make a ruling as to the consensus requirements for the adoption of new policy.  Fred Bauder has proposed remedies establishing the right of children to edit on Wikipedia if they do not disclose their age, but that if they do the information should be deleted.


 * Non-Notability: A case regarding actions on Non-notability (not to be confused with Notability).  Fred Bauder has proposed a remedy, which is supported by SimonP, allowing Fresheneesz to be placed on probation if he "continues to disrupt policy pages".


 * Bowling for Columbine: A case involving the actions of Schrodinger82 and others on the Bowling for Columbine article, and in particular his disputed removal of some criticism of the film. Fred Bauder has proposed a remedy, supported by three other arbitrators, banning him from the article for one year.


 * Pseudoscience: A case involving the actions of ScienceApologist, Ian Tresman and others, involving the insertion and removal of so-called "pseudoscience" on various articles. Fred Bauder has proposed various remedies, most of which were opposed by Dmcdevit and Charles Matthews, but among those supported or not yet voted on are remedies placing Tommysun on probation, and banning Elerner from various articles.


 * 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.  Fred Bauder has proposed remedies, mostly supported by Charles Matthews and SimonP, banning Arthur Ellis for one day, permitting articles relating to Rachel Marsden to be stubbified, as well as other measures.

Upcoming case

 * Waldorf education and related articles: An upcoming case on Rudolf Steiner, Waldorf education and related pages. Three arbitrators have so far voted to accept the case.