Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2020-03-01/Arbitration report

Two long term administrators, RHaworth and Kudpung, were de-sysopped in February. Both results held individuals to account for their responsibilities to the community, including the norms of communication and special care required in their position. Arbitration Committee member in the Kudpung case suggested a need to dispel a blue wall of silence, while supporting a surprisingly controversial remedy that "the community is reminded that attempting to have a community-wide discussion of problematic behavior early on can prevent unnecessary escalations."

RHaworth desysopped
RHaworth was desysopped For his failure to meet the standards expected of an administrator, including repeated misuse of the deletion tool. He was made an administrator in 2005.

Kudpung desysopped
The Kudpung case closed on February 29. Of the 15 active arbitrators, 5 abstained or recused themselves for this case. This leaves the majority for the case under Arbcom rules as six. The most severe proposed remedy, "Kudpung desysopped", was adopted by the majority. An alternative was a suspended desysopping, under behavioral stipulations to retain the suspension – a novel proposal as far as we know at The Signpost.

The most significant findings of fact centered around thorny reactions generally, and two specific interactions with administrator, checkuser, oversighter, and arbitrator  in particular. Kudpung has occasionally made remarks towards other editors that could be interpreted as personal attacks. In disputes with other editors, he has also made nonspecific threats of retaliating against or "investigating" the other party. The term proud women used by Kudpung was described by Arb as "well over the line".

Administrators' noticeboard (AN) cases prior to the current Arbcom case occurred in 2015, 2017, 2018, (which were closed without action), and the 2020 incident that was closed as resolved after this case request was filed in response. Arbitrators considered whether this constitutes a clean history with respect to prior dispute resolution, and whether absence of AN actions implies absence of cause for Arbcom actions up to and including de-sysopping. Multiple iterations of the "Previous attempts at resolution" section seemed to underline the difficulty in determining exactly what attempts at resolution actually occurred and what they mean now.

Kudpung, who was an administrator since 2011, spearheaded the RFA Reform initiative of 2011 (see previous Signpost coverage) and wrote passionately about the subject for The Signpost (see the Adminship series). He also was the force behind the initiatives leading to the articles for creation process (see previous Signpost coverage). He marked his userpage semi-retired on February 29.

Other issues

 * "Harrassment and wiki-hounding" case was initiated by 27 January 2020; respondent  – Cas Liber among six arbs voting to take the case with rationale has taken place over five years suggest that our current dispute resolution mechanisms are not resolving it nor investigating conduct issues
 * was reinstated as bureaucrat and administrator on February 8, following the former Arbitration Committee member's sudden resignation in October 2019. She did not reply by our deadline to The Signpost's inquiry on whether she intends to return to her former position of ArbCom clerk.
 * was blocked for three months under editor conduct in e-cigs articles discretionary sanctions.