Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2006-12-18/Arbitration report

The Arbitration Committee opened two cases this week, and closed one case, leaving only seven still in arbitration.

Closed case

 * Seabhcan: Various parties, principally MONGO, allege that Seabhcan has engaged in repeated incivility, but he claims that the incidents occurred such a long time ago as to be moot, and that MONGO and others have acted aggressively in the course of the dispute, alleging that "what they want is blood".  As a result of the case, both MONGO and Seabhcan were desysopped, and Seabhcan was placed on personal attack parole.

New cases

 * Midnight Syndicate: A case brought by Durova, involving an edit war on the Midnight Syndicate article.  Dionyseus and Skinny McGee allege that GuardianZ has engaged in sockpuppetry and general disruption on the article.  He denies the allegations, and argues that Dionyseus and Skinny McGee have engaged in similar behaviour.  A temporary injunction has been granted placing Dionyseus, Skinny McGee and GuardianZ on revert parole.


 * Naming Conventions: A case regarding a dispute over whether articles without alternative meanings should be disambiguated for the sake of clarity - for example, Never Kill a Boy on the First Date (Buffy episode). While about 80% of editors said that it should not be disambiguated in a straw poll, both sides allege that editors on the other have behaved disruptively.

Evidence phase

 * Brahma Kumaris: A case involving the actions of avyakt7 and 195.82.106.244 (.244) on the Brahma Kumaris article.  Avyakt alleges that .244 has defamed Brahma Kumaris in the article, but .244 claims that avyakt has misinterpreted the reliable sources policy.


 * Sex Tourism: A case involving a revert war on the Sex tourism article.


 * Iran-Iraq War: A case referred by the mediation committee regarding a dispute on the Iran-Iraq War page. Arbitrator Fred Bauder has proposed a motion dismissing the case for lack of evidence.

Voting phase

 * Waldorf education: A case on Rudolf Steiner, Waldorf education and related pages.  Fred Bauder has proposed a remedy placing the articles on article probation.


 * 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.  Findings of fact have been proposed to the effect that RPJ engages in original research and has few contributions that are not disruptive edits to Kennedy assassination articles, and a one-year ban, to be followed by probation, has been proposed.  These motions have the support of four arbitrators.