Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-08-17/Arbitration report

The Arbitration Committee did not close any cases this week, and opened one new case, leaving two cases open.

Requests for arbitration
A request for arbitration concerning the contents of Jimbo Wales' user page was filed by Drew R. Smith, and then withdrawn after it was discovered that the filing account had been compromised.

Two additional requests for arbitration, concerning Noloop and Lapsed Pacifist, were filed by Abce2 and Steve Crossin, respectively.

Open cases
The 194x144x90x118 case was opened this week. The filing editor, Erik9, alleges that 194x144x90x118 has engaged in a variety of disruptive conduct, despite an RFC on the matter. 194x144x90x118 has so far refused to respond to the allegations. Evidence has been presented by several editors, but no substantial drafting of proposals has taken place. A draft decision, to be written by arbitrator Wizardman, is expected by 24 August.

The Abd-William M. Connolley case has entered its fifth week of deliberations. The case was filed by Abd, who alleged that William M. Connolley had improperly banned him from the cold fusion article; William M. Connolley denied these allegations, and stated that Abd's conduct had been inappropriate. Arbitrator Stephen Bain has prepared a preliminary draft decision on the workshop page; the proposals encompass desysopping and banning William M. Connolley, requiring Abd to enter a mentorship arrangement, and admonishing several other editors. Response to these proposals has been generally negative. The case is expected to move to voting by the end of the week.

Clarifications, amendments, and motions
In response to the request for clarification regarding the Obama articles decision filed by Wikidemon, arbitrator Carcharoth has proposed a motion extending ChildofMidnight's topic ban to include related discussions in all namespaces. The motion currently stands at five arbitrators supporting and one recused, with seven votes necessary for adoption.

A request that the Falun Gong decision be amended was filed by Olaf Stephanos. Olaf argued that the six-month topic ban he had received was unwarranted, and asked the Committee to rescind it. At present, no arbitrators have commented on the substance of the request.

The Committee has enacted a motion in response to Everyking's request to amend the Everyking 3 decision to remove the remaining sanctions against him. The motion denies the request, but provides for the sanctions to automatically expire one year after the date of the motion or of any future appeal, whichever is later.

The motion proposed by arbitrator Newyorkbrad in response to Greg L's request to amend the Date delinking decision appears to have passed, but has not yet been published. The motion reduces the various editing restrictions related to style and editing guidelines imposed by the decision to apply only to topics specifically related to the linking or delinking of dates.

The Committee enacted an open motion clarifying that The Rambling Man's resignation during the Date delinking case did not preclude him from regaining his bureaucrat status on request, and encouraging "any users concerned that the policies and procedures governing restoration of administrator and bureaucrat privileges following a resignation may be unfair or unclear to convene a community discussion on an appropriate policy page and to seek to develop a community-written policy on these matters".

Other announcements
Following the conclusion of the August 2009 CheckUser and Oversight elections, the Committee announced that CheckUser rights would be granted to three editors: and Oversight rights would be granted to nine editors:
 * J.delanoy
 * Hersfold
 * Bjweeks
 * Nishkid64
 * Avraham
 * Thatcher
 * Keegan
 * Howcheng
 * Dweller
 * Mr.Z-man
 * Hmwith
 * Happy-melon

The Ban Appeals Subcommittee announced that it had unbanned Keeblesound, Arindamp, Mrinal Pandey, and Carlisle Rodham as a result of successful appeals.

The Committee announced that, as a consequence of arbitrator travel, Committee business would be conducted at reduced levels between 23 August and 31 August.