Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2010-08-16/Arbitration report

The Arbitration Committee opened no cases this week, leaving two open.

Open cases

 * Climate change (Week 10): This case, which is technically open, resulted from the merging of several Arbitration requests on the same topic matter into a single case, and the failure of a related request for comment to make headway. Special [ rules of conduct] were put in place when this arbitration commenced. Since the workshop phase was [ closed] on July 19 (four weeks ago), arbitrators have not formally set any specific target date to post a proposed decision. This has sparked a large quantity of [ discussion] among participants, some of which was collapsed as "Extended content". Five days ago, when the three drafters were each asked for an update, Newyorkbrad could not [ "assign a specific date"] to post a proposed decision, but two minutes earlier, Risker [ stated] that arbitrators were looking to post it before 15 August 2010, while Rlevse provided a similar [ response] a few hours later. Shortly after these responses were received, some participants raised general concerns about the handling of the case [] [] []. A proposed decision has still not been posted on-wiki, but currently, a [ proposal to reopen the workshop pages] is being considered.
 * Race and intelligence (Week 11): This case concerns accusations of incivility, disruptive editing, and tag-teaming to control the content on articles related to race and intelligence. Following a number of delays (see Signpost coverage from June 28, July 5, July 12), the case moved to the proposed decision phase. The proposed decision that was drafted by Coren has sparked several concerns among participants and non-participants ([ example]). Other proposals by other arbitrators are being considered.

Other

 * The Committee stepped in to resolve two heavy spam attacks on the English Wikipedia that occurred last month; see the special story in this week's Signpost.

CheckUser/Oversight positions
Last month, the Committee stated that it would release, "on 13 August 2010, the names of all candidates being actively considered for appointment" to CheckUser and Oversight positions on the English Wikipedia. At 21:21, on 13 August 2010 (UTC), it instead announced that "[f]or a variety of reasons, mostly real-life related", it would delay releasing this information on-wiki. The announcement included an apology for inconvenience that the delay may cause.

Today, in an announcement, the Committee has released the names of applicants being actively considered for appointment. The announcement, which did not specify the total number of applications received, also stated that between now and 23:59, on 25 August 2010 (UTC), the Community may comment on candidates. This means that the period in which the Community may comment on candidates has been extended by exactly three days (this is the approximate length of the delay in releasing the names). The announcement also stated that "appointments will come into effect on 1 September 2010".

The candidates being actively considered for CheckUser permissions are:
 * Frank – this user was granted administrator privileges on the English Wikipedia in July 2008.
 * MuZemike – living in Wisconsin, USA, this user was granted administrator privileges on the English Wikipedia in September 2009, and has been a SPI clerk since September 2009. This user was also a candidate in the May 2010 election.
 * Tiptoety – this user was granted administrator privileges on the English Wikipedia in March 2008, and has been a CheckUser clerk/SPI clerk since June 2008 (he, along with a small group of other users created SPI which is now the process for requesting checkuser). This user was also a candidate in the May 2010 election.
 * Tnxman307 – living in Tennessee, USA, this user was granted administrator privileges on the English Wikipedia in March 2009.

The candidates being actively considered for Oversight permissions are:
 * Bastique – living in California, USA, this user was granted administrator privileges on the English Wikipedia in May 2006. Note: as Bastique is currently a staff member of the Wikimedia Foundation, this will only be applicable from December 2010 when he no longer holds that position (see last week's Signpost coverage).
 * Beeblebrox – living in Alaska, USA, this user was granted administrator privileges on the English Wikipedia in August 2009. This user was also a candidate in the May 2010 election.
 * LessHeard vanU – living in Cornwall, UK, this user was granted administrator privileges on the English Wikipedia in May 2007. This user was also a candidate in the May 2010 election.
 * MBisanz – living in or hailing from New York, USA, this user was granted administrator privileges on the English Wikipedia in February 2008. Note: as MBisanz is currently a member of the Audit Subcommittee, this will only be applicable from 10 November 2010 when his term ends.
 * Phantomsteve – living in London, UK, this user was granted administrator privileges on the English Wikipedia in February 2010.