Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2006-10-23/Arbitration report

The Report On Lengthy Litigation

The Arbitration Committee opened three cases this week, and closed five cases.

Honda S2000: A case involving the actions of SpinyNorman on List of fastest cars by acceleration. SpinyNorman was placed on probation, general probation, personal attack and revert parole, and limited to one account.

Kosovo: A case involving the actions of editors on Kosovo, particularly the political status of Kosovo. A temporary injunction has been passed allowing any uninvolved administrator to ban any of the named users from the page. PerfectStorm/C-c-c-c and Bormalagurski were banned for one year, Dardanv for one month, Hipi Zhdripi limited to one account, Kosovo-related articles placed on article probation, and various Kosovo-related article bans, probations, revert paroles and warnings imposed.

MONGO: A case involving the actions of MONGO, rootology, and others. The case centers around Encyclopædia Dramatica, and an article posted on the website portraying MONGO in a negative light. PrivateEditor and Rootology were banned indefinitely, and all links to Encyclopedia Dramatica were banned from Wikipedia.

Marudubshinki: A case involving the actions of Marudubshinki. Hesperian, Moondyne and others allege that Marudubshinki has operated an unauthorised bot, and misused his sysop powers by unblocking himself and allowing his bot to delete pages. Marudubshinki was desysopped and barred from using a bot.

Ackoz: A case involving the actions and community ban of Ackoz, and his later account, Azmoc. The user previously contributed to Wikipedia under the name Ackoz. He admits to "some trolling" after a three-day block, which led to his ban. However, he has stated that were he unbanned, he would cease his disruptive behaviour, and would be prepared to undergo mentorship. He was unblocked and placed on probation.

Gundagai editors: A case involving the actions of several anon IPs (possibly operated by one person), on Gundagai-related pages.

Protecting children's privacy: A case involving a policy proposal on the Wikipedia:Protecting children's privacy page. The committee is being asked to make a ruling as to the consensus requirements for the adoption of new policy.

Ulritz: A case involving the actions of Ulritz and Rex. Rex alleges that Ulritz has engaged in a variety of disruptive behaviour, and shows a strong German nationalist bias. Various other editors allege that Rex has also engaged in a certain amount of disruption, and shows a certain Dutch nationalist bias.

Non-Notability: A case regarding actions on Wikipedia:Non-notability (not to be confused with Wikipedia:Notability).

Pseudoscience: A case involving the actions of ScienceApologist, Ian Tresman and others, involving the insertion and removal of so-called "pseudoscience" on various articles.

Jean-Thierry Boisseau: A case involving the actions of Jean-Thierry Boisseau on List of major opera composers. Various users accuse him of "a course of bullying, personal attacks, and generally making things awful for all contributors". He strenuously denies the allegations.

Rachel Marsden: A case involving the actions of Arthur Ellis, Rachel Marsden, Bucketsofg and others on the Rachel Marsden page. Marsden and Ellis allege that the page contains inaccurate and libellous material, and that this has been protected on the page by various admins. In response, others allege that Ellis has engaged in edit warring on the page. Fred Bauder has proposed remedies banning Arthur Ellis for one day, permitting articles relating to Rachel Marsden to be stubbified, as well as other measures.

GreekWarrior: GreekWarrior, an admitted Greek nationalist extremist, received a community ban for "repeated, blatant ethnic insults and hate speech", but, owing to what Tony Sidaway described as his "great willingness to contribute", has asked that it be lifted or restricted to a finite period. Dmcdevit proposed a remedy suspending GreekWarrior's ban, but this was opposed by Fred Bauder, who made a counter-remedy, that the ban be replaced by three months probation.

Vivaldi: A case involving the actions of Vivaldi on Jack Hyles and related articles. Arbustoo alleges that Vivaldi has removed "cited criticism" from the article, as well as harassment, incivility and edit warring. However, an anon IP, 205.157.110.11 accuses Arbustoo of removing comments from AfDs. Remedies proposed by Fred Bauder, and not yet voted on by other arbitrators, would place various articles edited by Vivaldi and Arbustoo on article probation, with the intention of removing poorly sourced material, and warn both contributors against edit-warring.

Kven: A case involving the actions of Kven-user, the name given to Art Dominique and sockpuppets on the Kven article. Fred Bauder has proposed remedies, supported by Dmcdevit, limiting Kven-user to one account and placing him on probation.

Giano: A case involving the actions of Giano, Tony Sidaway and others, in which Sidaway blocked Giano for making "inflammatory" comments regarding the behaviour of the ArbCom and the Wikimedia Foundation. The block was subsequently overturned after discussion on WP:AN/I. If closed, remedies would come into effect formalising the relinquishing of sysop access by former clerk Tony Sidaway and former arbitrator Kelly Martin, but thanking her for her "long and honourable service", as well as one banning John Reid for one week, and a remedy reminding Jdforrester "to maintain decorum appropriate for an arbitrator". These proposals have the support of four to six arbitrators.

Pat8722: A case involving the actions of Pat8722. BorgHunter has accused Pat8722 of edit-warring. Pat8722 has requested that the ArbCom stay the case while he pursues 6 pro se cases in the American courts, and has agreed not to edit Wikipedia in the interim. If closed, Pat8722 would be placed on probation for one year from when he returns to Wikipedia. A motion establishing the principle of a continuance, and extending it to Pat8722 was proposed by Fred Bauder, but was defeated.