Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-01-09/Arbitration report

The Arbitration Committee opened no new cases this week, and closed no cases, leaving four open.

Betacommand 3 (Week 10)
A proposed decision was posted by arbitrator Kirill Lokshin on 3 January. The proposed principles included a discussion of community sanctions and recidivism. A large amount of discussion by arbitrators has centered around the remedy and the restrictions to be imposed on Betacommand. Proposals have ranged from a one year ban to offering Betacommand a clean start. No remedy has received a majority of support as of publication.

Civility enforcement (Week 2)
This open case, which has already attracted a great deal of attention (see previous Signpost coverage), entered its second week of evidence submissions. A total of 39 editors have submitted evidence, totalling more than 270 diffs. Due to the complexity of the case, arbitrator Risker has suggested extending the evidence deadline to 15 January (next Sunday). In parallel with the great deal of evidence, 21 users have offered proposals on the workshop page.

The current date set for the posting of a proposed decision is 26 January.

Muhammad images (Week 3)
This case is moving towards the workshop phase, with the first-ever public posting of an arbitrator's viewpoints during the case itself. Drafter AGK posted this summary which contained his view as to what a final decision should look like. "In the decision", AGK wrote, "we will give some guidance to the disputants for engaging in similar content disputes in the future, and we will sanction a small number of [disruptive] editors." However, he cautioned that a decision on the inclusion (or not) of Muhammad images would remain subject to resolution by "the wider community". A discussion of the summary then began on the workshop talk page.

Wednesday January 11 is the deadline for evidence submissions.

TimidGuy ban appeal (Week 4)
This open case is close to the posting of a proposed decision by one of the drafters. Arbitrator Roger Davies wrote on the workshop talk page that a proposed decision will be posted in the coming days. He indicated that the proposal will eventually be opened for "public comment" before the start of voting.

Other requests and committee action

 * A Request for Amendment, seeking to modify the remedy in the Abortion case, remains pending.
 * The Committee voted (12-0) to desysop User:Malcolm due to disruptive socking.
 * Worm That Turned was named a new trainee Arbitration clerk.