Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2006-09-11/Arbitration report

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The Report On Lengthy Litigation

By Ral315, 11 September 2006

The Arbitration Committee opened two new cases this week, and closed four cases. Motions also passed in two prior cases.

Closed cases

• Sathya Sai Baba: A case closed on Tuesday after nearly three months, involving Andries and SSS108's actions on the article Sathya Sai Baba. Both accused each other of "POV pushing", and violating Wikipedia's policy on original research. Arbitrators ruled 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.

• His excellency: A case closed on September 3 after over two months, involving the actions of His excellency on Islam-related talk pages. His excellency was banned for six months, and placed on probation for one year, and Timothy Usher was placed on probation for one year. An additional remedy permits the use of "traditional Muslim usages", such as "Salam, brother", so long as they do not create a hostile environment for non-Muslims.

• CoolKatt number 99999: A case closed on September 3 after two months, involving the actions of CoolKatt number 99999 on WWOR-TV and related articles. CoolKatt has been banned from U.S. television articles for one year and placed on probation, and all of his user subpages not compliant with WP:USER can be deleted.

• Heqong: A case closed on September 3 after two and a half months, involving the actions of Heqong (formerly Chiang Kai-shek) on China and Taiwan-related articles. Heqong was placed on personal attack parole and probation, and banned for one month for personal attacks.

New cases

• Honda S2000: A case involving the actions of SpinyNorman on List of fastest cars by acceleration.

• Kosovo: A case involving the actions of editors on Kosovo, particularly the political status of Kosovo.

Evidence phase

No other cases are in the evidence phase.

Voting phase

• 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. Fred Bauder has introduced remedies, which have not yet been voted on, to unblock Ackoz and place him on probation for one year, leaving open the possibility for a renewed community ban should Ackoz "revert to his previous pattern of sustained trolling".

• Marudubshinki: A case involving the actions of Marudubshinki. Snottygobble, I@n 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. A remedy to desysop Marudubshinki has the support of two arbitrators.

• MONGO: A case involving the actions of MONGO, rootology, and others. The case centers around Encyclopædia damatica, and an article posted on the site portraying MONGO in a negative light. Remedies proposed by Fred Bauder include indefinitely banning PrivateEditor, as well as other remedies that have not yet been voted on by other arbitrators.

• Ed Poor 2: A case involving Ed Poor. JoshuaZ and Consumed Crustacean have accused Poor of POV pushing and disruption; Poor has not introduced evidence in the case. Ed Poor was party to two prior cases; the first was closed after Poor resigned his status as a bureaucrat, and the second resulted in his desysopping. Fred Bauder has proposed a remedy placing him on probation, but no other arbitrators have yet commented.

• 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. A motion establishing the principle of a "continuance", and a remedy extending this to Pat8722, are supported by two arbitrators; a separate motion to place Pat8722 on probation has also been raised.

• St Christopher: A case involving St Christopher Iba Mar Diop College of Medicine, a school whose accreditation status is in dispute, and in particular the behaviour of ParalelUni on the page. Proposed remedies affirming the community ban of ParalelUni, and banning all single-purpose accounts from editing the article are supported by four arbitrators.

• 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. Proposed remedies banning Kehrli from articles relating to M/z for either one or two years, and from changing the notation m/z where found to any other notation, are being considered.

• Israel-Lebanon: A case involving the actions of AdamKesher, Tasc and others on 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. AdamKesher accuses Tasc of removing relevant external links which satisfy WP:EL, and he denies the allegation. In response, Denis Diderot accuses Kesher of "using Wikipedia as a tool to promote his POV". Proposed remedies to affirm the possibility of using blogs containing "contemporary opinion and observations" about current events have the support of two arbitrators.

• 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. Proposed remedies banning Guy Montag from articles relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, extending his probation for another year, and encouraging users to enforce Montag's probation have the support of five to six arbitrators.

• 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 accuse Ellis of sockpuppetry using anon accounts, while Ellis alleges that administrators dealt inequitably with him and Peters. Proposed remedies banning Ellis from the article indefinitely and limiting Ellis to one account have the support of four to five arbitrators, and an additional remedy placing the article on probation is being considered.

• Zer0faults: A case involving the actions of Zer0faults and Nescio on Template:War on Terrorism, War on Terror and related arguments. Nescio alleges that Zer0faults has engaged in violation of WP:POINT, disruptive editing, and "uncivil remarks". In return, Zer0faults alleges that Nescio has failed to assume good faith, violated WP:POINT and WP:RS, and failed to provide explanations for his reverts. A single remedy placing Zer0faults on probation has the support of five arbitrators, and is opposed by one.

Motion to close

• 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. If closed, Intangible and AaronS would be placed on probation.

Motions in prior cases

• Aucaman: With the support of six arbitrators, and no opposition, Khoikhoi's probation, enacted in May, was rescinded, "in view of good behavior". Dmcdevit, who proposed the motion, noted that Khoikhoi had contributed to a recent featured article, and gave "no signs of the edit warring that caused him to be included in the ruling."

• Freestylefrappe: With the support of six arbitrators, and no opposition, Freestylefrappe was limited to one account, and other accounts Tchadienne, KI, Republitarian and Ya ya ya ya ya ya have been indefinitely blocked. In proposing the motion, Mindspillage noted that "some of [the accounts] have engaged in disruptive editing" and that the limit meant that "admins will have a consistent history of his activities."

Also this week: — Carnildo resysopped — Hungarian Wikipedia — News and notes — Features and admins — Technology report — Arbitration report

The Report On Lengthy Litigation

By Ral315, 11 September 2006

The Arbitration Committee opened two new cases this week, and closed four cases. Motions also passed in two prior cases.

Closed cases

• Sathya Sai Baba: A case closed on Tuesday after nearly three months, involving Andries and SSS108's actions on the article Sathya Sai Baba. Both accused each other of "POV pushing", and violating Wikipedia's policy on original research. Arbitrators ruled 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.

• His excellency: A case closed on September 3 after over two months, involving the actions of His excellency on Islam-related talk pages. His excellency was banned for six months, and placed on probation for one year, and Timothy Usher was placed on probation for one year. An additional remedy permits the use of "traditional Muslim usages", such as "Salam, brother", so long as they do not create a hostile environment for non-Muslims.

• CoolKatt number 99999: A case closed on September 3 after two months, involving the actions of CoolKatt number 99999 on WWOR-TV and related articles. CoolKatt has been banned from U.S. television articles for one year and placed on probation, and all of his user subpages not compliant with WP:USER can be deleted.

• Heqong: A case closed on September 3 after two and a half months, involving the actions of Heqong (formerly Chiang Kai-shek) on China and Taiwan-related articles. Heqong was placed on personal attack parole and probation, and banned for one month for personal attacks.

New cases

• Honda S2000: A case involving the actions of SpinyNorman on List of fastest cars by acceleration.

• Kosovo: A case involving the actions of editors on Kosovo, particularly the political status of Kosovo.

Evidence phase

No other cases are in the evidence phase.

Voting phase

• 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. Fred Bauder has introduced remedies, which have not yet been voted on, to unblock Ackoz and place him on probation for one year, leaving open the possibility for a renewed community ban should Ackoz "revert to his previous pattern of sustained trolling".

• Marudubshinki: A case involving the actions of Marudubshinki. Snottygobble, I@n 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. A remedy to desysop Marudubshinki has the support of two arbitrators.

• MONGO: A case involving the actions of MONGO, rootology, and others. The case centers around Encyclopædia damatica, and an article posted on the site portraying MONGO in a negative light. Remedies proposed by Fred Bauder include indefinitely banning PrivateEditor, as well as other remedies that have not yet been voted on by other arbitrators.

• Ed Poor 2: A case involving Ed Poor. JoshuaZ and Consumed Crustacean have accused Poor of POV pushing and disruption; Poor has not introduced evidence in the case. Ed Poor was party to two prior cases; the first was closed after Poor resigned his status as a bureaucrat, and the second resulted in his desysopping. Fred Bauder has proposed a remedy placing him on probation, but no other arbitrators have yet commented.

• 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. A motion establishing the principle of a "continuance", and a remedy extending this to Pat8722, are supported by two arbitrators; a separate motion to place Pat8722 on probation has also been raised.

• St Christopher: A case involving St Christopher Iba Mar Diop College of Medicine, a school whose accreditation status is in dispute, and in particular the behaviour of ParalelUni on the page. Proposed remedies affirming the community ban of ParalelUni, and banning all single-purpose accounts from editing the article are supported by four arbitrators.

• 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. Proposed remedies banning Kehrli from articles relating to M/z for either one or two years, and from changing the notation m/z where found to any other notation, are being considered.

• Israel-Lebanon: A case involving the actions of AdamKesher, Tasc and others on 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. AdamKesher accuses Tasc of removing relevant external links which satisfy WP:EL, and he denies the allegation. In response, Denis Diderot accuses Kesher of "using Wikipedia as a tool to promote his POV". Proposed remedies to affirm the possibility of using blogs containing "contemporary opinion and observations" about current events have the support of two arbitrators.

• 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. Proposed remedies banning Guy Montag from articles relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, extending his probation for another year, and encouraging users to enforce Montag's probation have the support of five to six arbitrators.

• 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 accuse Ellis of sockpuppetry using anon accounts, while Ellis alleges that administrators dealt inequitably with him and Peters. Proposed remedies banning Ellis from the article indefinitely and limiting Ellis to one account have the support of four to five arbitrators, and an additional remedy placing the article on probation is being considered.

• Zer0faults: A case involving the actions of Zer0faults and Nescio on Template:War on Terrorism, War on Terror and related arguments. Nescio alleges that Zer0faults has engaged in violation of WP:POINT, disruptive editing, and "uncivil remarks". In return, Zer0faults alleges that Nescio has failed to assume good faith, violated WP:POINT and WP:RS, and failed to provide explanations for his reverts. A single remedy placing Zer0faults on probation has the support of five arbitrators, and is opposed by one.

Motion to close

• 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. If closed, Intangible and AaronS would be placed on probation.

Motions in prior cases

• Aucaman: With the support of six arbitrators, and no opposition, Khoikhoi's probation, enacted in May, was rescinded, "in view of good behavior". Dmcdevit, who proposed the motion, noted that Khoikhoi had contributed to a recent featured article, and gave "no signs of the edit warring that caused him to be included in the ruling."

• Freestylefrappe: With the support of six arbitrators, and no opposition, Freestylefrappe was limited to one account, and other accounts Tchadienne, KI, Republitarian and Ya ya ya ya ya ya have been indefinitely blocked. In proposing the motion, Mindspillage noted that "some of [the accounts] have engaged in disruptive editing" and that the limit meant that "admins will have a consistent history of his activities."

Also this week: — Carnildo resysopped — Hungarian Wikipedia — News and notes — Features and admins — Technology report — Arbitration report