Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal/Suggestions for mediators
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Mediation is a form of dispute resolution that involves coming to some sort of compromise with those involved in a dispute. Not all cases received by the Mediation Cabal require mediation, however. Some cases may simply require giving someone guidance about what they should do in a difficult situation or may involve referring the requester to policy. Mediation is not arbitration, such that you do not impose a solution on the parties involved. Instead, you work on fostering consensus. Besides this page, Wikipedia:Catalysts provides some helpful advice and a potential framework for approaching informal mediation.
Contents |
[edit] General process
- Determine the problem, receive clarification if necessary.
- Figure out a location to deal with the problem. Try just starting on the article talk page without immediately declaring you're a member of the cabal (TINC!). This is the least hard work. If that doesn't work, resort to the following, in roughly the following order:
- In order of mediation power (and escalation) : Article talk page, case page itself, e-mail, irc, skype, the local pub over a glass of beer.
- When using the case page for discussion, putting up an {{ActiveDiscussMC|case page}} notice on the disputed page(s) talk page can be helpful to alert interested users to the mediation. This notice is especially useful when the requestor accidentally leaves out involved parties or a large number of users is potentially interested in the outcome. Do not forget to link the appropriate case page to the template.
- Find out what the parties involved want and what their view on the matter is.
- Find a way to come to some sort of compromise, working with everyone involved.
[edit] Case template
We have implemented a template for cases that specifically allows the bot to do three things - it lists the category, lists the name of the mediator on the case page, and lists the status of the case as how you would like to say it. Here is how it works:
At the top of the page you'll see this:
{{Medcabstatus
|status = new
|article =
|requestor =
|parties =
|mediators =
|comment =
}}
Status There are three options for status: new, open, and closed. These affect the listing of the case - new is in new cases of course, open goes into the open cases section, and closed simply delists the case (we're still not archiving cases yet, so they're hiding in the closed cases category). You should switch the case to open when you offer to act as an informal mediator, and when things are concluded (and if there are no objections from the parties), the case should be set to closed. When closing a case, leave a message in the mediator response section briefly explaining why it was closed, and if there is still a dispute, the requestor or a party can always request for it to be re-opened (or request a new case).
Article Here you can list the name of the article, the source of the dispute. At the moment you just write the name of the article with [[ and ]] around it, so you can list multiple links if needed. This does not affect anything, but just lists the name of the article at the top of the case page.
Requestor, here you can put the name of the requester - once again, it's just to make the top of the page look nice and organized.
Parties, here you list the parties, same as above.
Mediators, the mediators listing shows up on the case list. Preferably you could use the format {{user|username}}, but anything works.
Comment, this also shows up on the case list. If you feel it is necessary, please put a short comment here about the status of the case, such as needs new mediator, or waiting for parties to respond. This is entirely optional, however, though in some cases it is good to signal to other mediators that there may be some help needed.
[edit] What to remember
- Be civil and remind users to assume good faith, refrain from name calling and to observe Wikiquette.
- Remember that you are an informal mediator. What you say isn't necessarily what must go. Your job is to get those involved to come to some sort of agreement, not impose one upon them.
- Asking questions or making suggestions when things get slow or if mediation stalls can often get things on the right track again.
- If people come to the Mediation Cabal asking for something that is not mediation, do not shun them, but instead help them anyway by pointing them to the proper channels.
- Your presence alone brings sanity to the discussion, so don't fret too much about how you're doing things. You will make mistakes, of course, but that's how you learn to mediate.
- Ask for help. If you have a question, don't hesitate to ask another cabalist or anyone else for help for that matter. Mediation involves a community compromise, so other mediators are encouraged to hop on to a discussion.
- Do not impose sanctions, but do kindly ask users to follow Wikipedia policies.
- To stop edit wars you might want to recommend a page for protection.
- Be nice to people, help them cool down, then get them to agree with each other on things. Get them to agree on any things at first (e.g. that they need mediation). Build from there, step by step.
- Some mediation cases do not require knowledge of the topic of the article while others may require expertise. If a mediation case is getting difficult the reference desk may be a help. Once again, don't be afraid to ask for help.
- If your mediation attempt is rejected by some disputants you can try to mediate between the people willing to participate, if that is possible. In case of misconduct you can also place the appropriate warnings on a user's talk page, reminding him or her to be civil. You can also recommend other methods of dispute resolution that appear sensible to solve the given conflict. If a disputant states in advance that he or she will also reject formal mediation by the Mediation_Committee you can advise that this behaviour may lead to arbitration (but don't mean it like a threat!). Especially if the disputant is convinced to be right he or she should try not to bother the Arbitration Committee with a trivial case and explain his or her position to the mediator instead. Other methods of dispute resolution include WP:3O and WP:RFC.
- We can crib some notes from the official mediation process. There is no need to follow that here, but it does have some good ideas about mediation, especially why you might prefer private dispute resolution to public dispute resolution.
- The formal mediation process is the Mediation Committee. As a Mediation Cabal mediator you are just another editor. People are free to ignore your mediation if you are not successful in making them want your mediation and accepting you as a mediator. The Mediation Cabal is an unofficial attempt at dispute resolution and has no authority.
[edit] Arbitration
- Mediation and arbitration have very different goals. Mediation seeks an amicable resolution to a content dispute. A mediator should notice when behavior makes this impossible, and hand things over to the arbitration committee when the conduct needs to be addressed in a binding fashion. There are times when this will benefit Wikipedia much more than trying to work with someone who may be viewed as harmful to Wikipedia, just because you're supposed to be the mediator. However, arbitration is indeed a last resort and you should not be too quick to go to them, and remember that it focuses on behavioral issues, not content disputes. If you have your doubts about a mediation case, ask for help at Wikipedia talk:Mediation Cabal to see what should be done.
[edit] What you should not do
- Do not intimidate those you are trying to help. Remember that you are an editor, just as everyone else is.
[edit] Buddy system
This is a fresh idea that just has been proposed. If you're new at mediation you can pick a mentor from the following list who will quickly look in from time to time. If you have some experience, please enter yourself.
| Mentor | Experience | Interests | Preferred communication | Other comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PhilKnight (talk · contribs) | Medium | Most content disputes | talk page, email, IRC | Suggestions | |
| SebastianHelm (talk · contribs) | Medium (see User:SebastianHelm/Mediation) | Anything but popular culture | phone; e-mail | ||
| Vassyana (talk · contribs) | Medium | Very broad, but especially philosophy and religion | Talk page; e-mail if discretion is preferred | ||
| WJBscribe (talk · contribs) | MedCom member | Doesn't matter - just get in touch if you think I can be of help... | Talkpage, by email, IRC (nick= WJBscribe) | My responsibilities as Chair of MedCom and elsewhere mean I'm pretty busy, please bear with me if it takes a little time to get back to you on non-urgent matters. | |
| Daniel (talk · contribs) | MedCom member | "Anything but popular culture" sums it up well. | Talk page, if it should be via email I'll initiate such a step. | ||
| Phoenix-wiki (talk · contribs) | Medium | Anything | Talk page, email or on IRC | ||
| Kim Bruning (talk · contribs) | O:-) | Really really tricky cases. | Talk page, email or on IRC | I'm actually supposed to be busy IRL, so I may not always have time. :-/ |
