Wikipedia talk:Village pump/Arbitration Committee Feedback

Should have been done before
This is something that should happen every year, at election time. Community confidence check. It cannot be assumed the community is still happy with the decision made several years ago, and there needs to be a simply way of showing this. While it may not be binding, it can be useful to see what community confidence is actually like. I would hope any arbitrator mostly lacking community confidence would do the right thing and resign.  Majorly  talk  02:10, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Polls are evil, and other lame things
Can someone remove the joke heading please? This is a serious poll, and it's being disrupted by a stupid header that seems to magically appear and disrupt ever poll that comes.  Majorly  talk  02:19, 17 December 2008 (UTC)


 * It isn't a joke. People have every right to record their opinion that your poll is invalid, badly advised and unhelpful. I know think otherwise, but we are entitled to opinion and to express it. It seems a number of people agree.--Scott Mac (Doc) 02:31, 17 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Indeed, more people agree with our opinion than any of the opinions opposed to it. Majorly, if you want to start deleting unpopular poll options, start with the ones you're supporting.  -- Cyde Weys  04:03, 17 December 2008 (UTC)


 * What makes you think I used unpopularity as criteria?  Majorly  talk  04:04, 17 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Well, given that the raison d'etre of polls is to measure the opinion of the public by recording a tally of the popularity of each proposed measure, what alternative criterion could you possibly use? -- Cyde Weys  04:06, 17 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I removed it because a point of a poll is to express an opinion on something, not express an opinion on the poll. If you dislike polling, why are you polling on it?  Majorly  talk  04:09, 17 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't think we've had a poll yet on whether it's acceptable to remove poll options without a poll. -- Cyde Weys  05:58, 17 December 2008 (UTC)
 * No, but in lieu of the Wikimedia Foundation fundraiser next year, we are going to impose a poll tax. Newyorkbrad (talk) 06:07, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

A better format
A format you occasionally see for "what can we do better" discussions is to make a "plus delta" list. The "plus" part identifies what outcomes are positive. The "delta" part identifies what outcomes should be changed. This way it's not focused on a particular person, but rather on what the process should be. I would strongly suggest something like this as opposed to votes of no confidence on everyone but Brad. --B (talk) 03:04, 17 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Isn't that what the RFC was? Where'd that take us?--Cube lurker (talk) 03:10, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

A comment from one of the arbitrators

 * I've served for a year now
 * On the Grand Committee
 * Some think my work's highbrow
 * Scott says that it's shitty


 * He wrote on Thanksgiving,
 * "Brad's nice and congenial
 * "But way too forgiving&mdash;
 * "His sin isn't venial!


 * "He writes long decisions
 * "Many paragraphs spanning;
 * "I'd trade those provisions
 * "For one decent banning"


 * After one year of serving
 * I'll get some boos, some cheers
 * But I hope I'm deserving
 * Of another two years
 * Newyorkbrad (talk) 04:33, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Thank you Brad. Conclusive proof that it's actually poems that are evil :-) Joopercoopers (talk) 17:40, 17 December 2008 (UTC)
 * You are very deserving, Brad, as is shown by the poll.  Majorly  talk  17:42, 17 December 2008 (UTC)
 * To be fair to Scott, and I say this with love: I think someone should tell him that Voltaire was employing irony when he described the execution of one admiral to encourage the others. Candide is not to be taken literally. Spoiler alert: it's not really the "best of all possible worlds." MastCell Talk 21:49, 17 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, but I think the admiral in question (can't remember his name off the top of my head), really was executed to encourage the others. DuncanHill (talk) 21:50, 17 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Er, his name was John Byng. His sentence was widely viewed as a miscarriage of justice, even in his own day, and as a rudimentary case of scapegoating by the Admiralty for its own systemic failures. Byng's execution was famously described as "the worst legalistic crime in the nation's annals," which is saying quite a bit. Ironically, Byng refused to break line and close with the French fleet because an earlier British admiral, Thomas Mathews, had been court-martialed for doing just that in an earlier engagement. One might be tempted to conclude that the arbitrary application of severe sanctions, borne of the need to "do something!" and "make a statement", is counterproductive. MastCell Talk 21:59, 17 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I've been inspired to write a haiku!
 * Newyorkbrad does well,
 * Still must put up with crap lots.
 * Life just isn't fair.
 * Heimstern Läufer (talk) 01:55, 18 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Tisk, tisk where's the seasonal reference?. How about:
 * Leaves dies and winter comes,
 * But still Brad does not slumber
 * We need fourteen more.
 * JoshuaZ (talk) 02:26, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Sigh
I am not pleased with how the arbcom is currently comporting itself. Still this is too much. Truly, I feel that there's only one of the arbs listed on this page whom I have lost complete confidence in, and even still, this is not the best forum for such a discussion. It creates an "us versus them" mentality that is not very wiki, and is generally unhealthy amongst a community that must find ways to work together. As such, I will be placing "confidence" !votes in nearly all of the arbs' sections. We need to give the current (well, in three weeks it will be "current" iteration of the arbcom a chance before we attempt to "hang 'em high." SDJ 05:37, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

I've no problem with any of the Arbitrators. GoodDay (talk) 18:41, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Note re this page
this page looks very interesting, simply because I wasn't aware that it was possible to make topical pages as sub-pages of WP:Village Pump. Hm, this seems good to know. thanks! --Sm8900 (talk) 22:58, 11 February 2020 (UTC)