Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2006-11-27/Arbitration report

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

Closed case

 * Bowling for Columbine: Closed on Saturday after one month, 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. As a result of the case, he was banned from the article for one year.

Motion to close

 * Rachel Marsden: A case involving the actions of Arthur Ellis, Rachel Marsden, Bucketsofg and others on the Rachel Marsden page.  The arbitration committee has adopted several proposals guiding editing of articles about living persons, and directs that Rachel Marsden may be stubbed if it does not conform to WP:BLP.  Bearcat and Bucketsofg are expected to conform to Biographies of living persons rather than the liberal interpretation they have applied. Arthur Ellis is banned for one month for violating a previous article ban.  The case will close on Tuesday unless an arbitrator objects.

New cases

 * Waldorf education: A case on Rudolf Steiner, Waldorf education and related pages.


 * ScienceApologist: A case brought by User:Asmodeus alleging that User:ScienceApologist and others are harrassing him in regards to Asmodeus' real life identity, as well as biased editing of Christopher Michael Langan and related articles. Several editors have alleged that Asmodeus is an aggressive editor and that Asmodeus and User:DrL have conflicts of interest regarding Christopher Michael Langan and related articles.

Evidence phase

 * 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.


 * Hkelkar: A case involving the actions of Hkelkar, a probable sockpuppet of Subhase bose, on various articles. The case has expanded to consider the behavior of a number of other editors including User:BhaiSaab, User:TerryJ-Ho and User:Bakasuprman. A motion for a continuance until after Hkelkar's exams has been placed into voting but the case in chief remains in the evidence phase.


 * 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.  Fred Bauder has proposed remedies banning Konstable for one month, but allowing him to return under a new name if he wishes.  A motion for Dmcdevit to recuse has been placed into voting, but the case in chief is still in the evidence phase.

Voting phase

 * Elvis: A case involving the actions of Lochdale and Onefortyone on the Elvis Presley article.  Fred Bauder has proposed remedies banning Lochdale from the article indefinitely, and keeping Onefortyone on probation with respect to articles relating to celebreties.  These proposals have been supported by Charles Matthews.


 * 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 principles, supported by Charles Matthews, 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 three other arbitrators, allowing Fresheneesz to be placed on probation if he "continues to disrupt policy pages".


 * 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.