Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-07-04/Arbitration report

The Arbitration Committee opened no new cases. Two cases are currently open.

MickMacNee (Week 3)
(See earlier Signpost coverage for background about this case.) During the week, the evidence which was submitted on-wiki by the filer of the case (now blocked as a sockpuppet of a banned user) was collapsed. Other parties made modifications and additions to their on-wiki evidence.

Tree shaping (Week 10)
(See earlier Signpost coverage for background about this case.) During the week, 11 of the 15 active arbitrators voted on the principles and findings of fact drafted by Elen of the Roads. In the coming week, arbitrators are expected to submit more votes in the remedies section of the proposed decision; currently, proposals concerning three individual editors and a discretionary sanctions scheme are being considered.

Motion
An arbitration case request regarding administrator was declined. Instead, the Committee enacted a motion, which was passed 13 to 1 (with 1 abstention):


 * 1) The Committee reaffirmed its expectation (along with the Community's expectation) that admins will observe all applicable policies, avoid inappropriate edits, and behave with maturity and professionalism throughout their participation on Wikipedia. While admins are not expected to be perfect, severe or repeated violations of policies and Community norms may lead to appropriate sanctions, up to and including desysopping.
 * 2) Nabla's conduct in admittedly making several unproductive edits while editing as an IP has been subject to significant, and justified, criticism. The Committee joined in disapproving of this behavior, but accepted Nabla's assurance that he will not repeat it in the future, even to express good-faith concerns or frustrations regarding aspects of the project.
 * 3) Nabla is aware from the relevant admin noticeboard discussion, as well as the arbitration case request, that some editors' trust in his ability to serve as an effective admin has been eroded, both because of his IP edits and because of his period of inactivity. If Nabla intends to resume active work as an admin, he should first refamiliarize himself with all applicable policies. The Committee recommended that he initially focus on less controversial admin tasks.
 * 4) The Committee noted that to an extent, the recommendations in 3. apply to any admin after a long period of inactivity.
 * 5) Although not directly relevant to Nabla's situation, the Committee expressed its awareness of the ongoing community discussion regarding inactive admin accounts. The Committee indicated that it stands ready to play its part if necessary once consensus has been determined.

Arbitrator resigns

 * The Committee announced that Shell Kinney resigned from her position as an arbitrator. A few hours before the announcement was made official, Shell Kinney put a "retired" tag on her userpage with an edit summary that said "update". Her name was also removed from the list of current members of the Arbitration Committee.
 * The resignation has come at a time where several email threads of arbcom-l, the Committee's non-public mailing list, continue to be leaked on Wikipedia Review. See also last week's Signpost coverage.