Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2006-08-21/Arbitration report

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The Report On Lengthy Litigation

By Ral315, 21 August 2006

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

Closed cases

  • Irishpunktom: Closed on Monday, a case involving Irishpunktom, Karl Meier, and Dbiv. As a result of the case, Dbiv was desysopped, and Irishpunktom and Dbiv were banned from editing Peter Tatchell for one year, Irishpunktom and Karl Meier were placed on probation for one year, and Irishpunktom was placed on one revert per article per week parole. The dispute involved edit warring on Peter Tatchell. With the case near-closing last month, Dbiv made an IP edit to his case, rewording a resolution. [1].
  • Alienus: Closed on Sunday, a case involving Alienus. As a result, Alienus was banned from editing for one year. Prior to the case, Alienus had been blocked 15 times, and had assumed bad faith, and been warned many times about personal attacks, edit warring, and incivility.
  • Pudgenet: Closed on Wednesday, a case brought against Pudgenet, involving a dispute between Pudgenet and -Barry-. As a result, Barry was banned indefinitely from editing Perl and its talk page, Pudgenet was placed on personal attack parole and probation, and all parties were warned about their actions. The dispute involved pages relating to Perl, as well as Wikipedia:Wikipedians with articles.

New cases

Evidence phase

  • Kehrli: A case involving the actions of Nick Y and Kherli on Mass-to-charge ratio and related articles. Both protagonists accuse each other of POV pushing, adding unsourced information, and adding dispute tags without reason.
  • Deir Yassin massacre: A case involving the actions of KimvdLinde and Guy Montag on Deir Yassin massacre. KimvdLinde alleges that Montag has violated his probation by rewriting the article, unilaterally moving it to "Battle of Deir Yassin", violating copyright and votestacking. In return, Montag refuses "to participate in any of these proceedings", and alleges that KimvdLinde has abused her admin tools by exercising them in a dispute in which she is involved.
  • Warren Kinsella: A case involving the actions of Arthur Ellis, Pete Peters and others on the Warren Kinsella article. Both users accuse the other of disruptive edits on the page, and Peters and others acccuse Ellis of sockpuppetry using anon accounts, while Ellis alleges that administrators dealt inequitably with him and Peters.

Voting phase

  • Intangible: A case involving the actions of Intangible. Cberlet alleges that Intangible has used an "aggressive and confrontational" editing style to push his POV (partly through the wholesale deletion of the term "far right" from numerous pages), making sweeping edits and reverts with little or no discussion, and being "contentious and confrontational" in talk page discussions. Intangible vigorously denies the allegations. A single remedy, supported by Bauder and Sam Korn would place Intangible on probation.
  • CoolKatt number 99999: A case involving the actions of CoolKatt number 99999 on WWOR-TV and related articles, as well as the actions of Crossmr, Kramden4700 and others. A temporary injunction has been enacted, which bans CoolKatt from editing pages other than his own user pages and the arbitration pages for the duration of the case. Remedies banning CoolKatt from U.S. television articles for one year, placing him on probation, and ordering the deletion of all user subpages that violate userpage policies have the support of Bauder and Korn.
  • Ericsaindon2: A case involving the actions of Ericsaindon2, Coolcaesar and Will Beback. Coolcaesar claims that Ericsaindon2 has tried to insert original research, has disrupted Wikipedia, used sockpuppets, uploaded images violating copyright law, and failed to assume good faith. In response, Ericsaindon2 claims that Coolcaesar has contributed equally to the dispute, and that Will Beback has misused admin powers, in particular with incorrect and biased application of the 3RR. Remedies have been proposed limiting Ericsaindon to one account, placing him on probation, and banning him for one year have the support of three arbitrators.
  • Heqong: A case (formerly referred to as Chiang Kai-shek) involving the actions of Heqong (formerly Chiang Kai-shek) on China and Taiwan-related articles. Proposed remedies placing Heqong on personal attack parole and probation, and banning him for one month for personal attacks have the support of three arbitrators.
  • His excellency: A case involving the actions of His excellency. The case involves the actions of His excellency on Islam-related talk pages. Remedies banning His excellency for at least four months, placing him on personal attack parole, and placing His excellency and Timothy Usher on probation have attracted the support of two arbitrators, as has one permitting the use of "traditional Muslim usages" such as "Salam, brother" on talk pages, so long as they do not create a hostile atmosphere for non-Muslims. Consensus has not yet been reached on other proposed remedies.
  • Sathya Sai Baba: A case involving Andries and SSS108's actions on the article Sathya Sai Baba. Both have accused each other of "POV pushing", and violating Wikipedia's policy on original research. Proposed remedies that unsourced or poorly sourced information be removed from these articles, and a complete amnesty for Andries and SSS108 for any unreliable information they may have added in the past have the support of three arbitrators.
  • Eternal Equinox: A case involving Eternal Equinox. Several users complained that Eternal Equinox has been trying to claim ownership of articles with edit wars and abuse directed at those who try to edit them. Eternal Equinox claimed to have left Wikipedia, but the other parties argued that this was not credible because of a number of similar statements made previously. Eternal Equinox has since returned, editing anonymously from several related IP addresses while acknowledging his or her identity. Remedies proposed placing Eternal Equinox on probation and personal attack parole for one year, and cautioning Jim62sch "to avoid teasing or taunting sensitive users" has the support of six arbitrators.
  • Añoranza: A case involving Añoranza. Users asserted that Añoranza had been incivil, and had filed a retaliatory request for comment and request for checkuser. The dispute involves the usage of terms such as "Operation Iraqi Liberation" for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Remedies banning Añoranza for a week for the disruptive way in which he went about bringing the terms to light and encouraging the parties to enter into good-faith negotiations into the matter have the support of five arbitrators; other remedies are split.
  • 8bitJake: A case involving 8bitJake. badlydrawnjeff, the initiator of the arbitration request, has asserted that 8bitJake's editing on political articles was biased, and that 8bitJake was incivil to other editors on the articles. Remedies supported by six arbitrators would place 8bitJake and related editors on probation and ban them from articles relating to the politics of the State of Washington.

Motion to close

  • Hunger: A case involving a dispute about articles related to The Hunger Project. One of the parties, Jcoonrod, identifies himself as John Coonrod, an executive with that organization. The dispute has been in mediation about how and whether to include unflattering material about the organization in the article. If closed, "non-controversial" information from the official website of the Hunger Project can be included unless it is contested in good-faith, in which case a reliable source must be found, and negative material can be removed unless it is adequately sourced.
  • Dionyseus: A case involving Dionyseus and Danny Pi, and their actions on Veselin Topalov, an article on a Bulgarian chess player accused of cheating. Remedies brought by Fred Bauder and supported mostly by three other arbitrators, would ban Danielpi for a week for "discourtesy and personal attacks", and recommend that Dionyseus "consider carefully the suggestions of others regarding punctuation and other matters he is not familiar with".


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