Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-09-21/Arbitration report

The Arbitration Committee opened two cases this week, and closed none, leaving five cases open.

Requests for arbitration
An arbitration request regarding administrator Law's unblock of ChildofMidnight, who was blocked by Sandstein pursuant to the Obama articles decision, was filed by Sandstein himself. The Committee, having expressed general agreement with the substance of Sandstein's complaint, appears to be preparing to deal with the request by summary motion.

A request concerning the conduct of Dr90s, filed by Thibbs, is being declined as premature.

Open cases
In an unprecedented move, the Arbitration Committee opened the Eastern European mailing list case by sua sponte motion. The case concerns a set of leaked mailing list archives which are alleged to show an extensive history of conspiracy among numerous editors of Eastern European topics; no official confirmation of the archives' provenance has been made, and several of the accused editors have claimed that the archives have been maliciously altered by the party or parties who publicized them.

As part of the ongoing investigation, the Committee has temporarily removed Piotrus' administrator status, and is considering placing restrictions on various other editors for the duration of the case. A draft decision is to be written by arbitrator Coren, but no date for it has been announced.

The Asmahan case was also opened this week. The filing editor, Supreme Deliciousness, alleges that Arab Cowboy has engaged in a variety of disruptive behavior on the "Asmahan" article; Arab Cowboy denies the allegations, and claims that Supreme Deliciousness is pursuing a disruptive agenda of his own. No drafting of proposals has yet taken place; a draft decision is expected from arbitrator FayssalF, but no date for it has been announced.

The Speed of light case entered its second week of deliberations. The case was filed by Jehochman, who cited concerns about "tendentious editing and disruption" by a large number of editors on the "speed of light" article. Unusually, arbitrator Cool Hand Luke, who is slated to draft the decision in the case, has directly asked the parties "what resolution [they] would like to see from this process, and what (if any) concessions would [they] be willing to give to achieve that end?"; the parties have provided a set of varied responses to this. A draft decision in the case is expected by 30 September.

The Noloop case entered its fifth week of deliberations. The case involves mutual allegations of disruptive conduct by several parties, and is expected to address the conduct of all the editors involved. Evidence has been presented by several editors, and one of the parties, Noloop, has posted a statement that he does not intend to participate in the proceeding, but no drafting of proposals has yet taken place. A draft decision, to be written by arbitrator Carcharoth, was expected by 13 September, but has been delayed.

The Lapsed Pacifist 2 case also entered its fifth week of deliberations. The filing editor, Steve Crossin, alleges that Lapsed Pacifist has engaged in advocacy, original research, and edit warring, as well as various other improprieties, over a wide range of articles. A temporary injunction prohibits Lapsed Pacifist from editing articles related to the Corrib gas project for the duration of the case. Several arbitrators have commented on the evidence or workshop proposals; a draft decision, to be written by arbitrator Wizardman, was expected by 11 September, but has been delayed.

Clarifications, amendments, and motions
Two separate requests to amend certain clauses concerning Scuro in the ADHD decision were filed by Hordaland and Literaturegeek. Most of the Committee has not yet responded to the requests.

The Committee adopted a motion removing Pastor Theo's administrator status and indefinitely blocking him after an investigation determined that he was the same individual who had been community-banned under the name "Ecoleetage".

The Ban Appeal Subcommittee announced that it was granting an appeal by Life, reminding him to "adhere to the guidelines of harmonious editing". The subcommittee also granted an appeal by RMHED, unbanning him with several conditions.

Hersfold, Hmwith, and KnightLago were promoted to full clerks to the Arbitration Committee.