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{{Short description|Wikimedia project page}}
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<noinclude>{{pp-protected|small=yes}}{{pp-move-indef}}</noinclude>
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{{/Clarification and Amendment}}
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[[Category:Wikipedia dispute resolution|Requests for arbitration]]
[[Category:Wikipedia requests]]
[[Category:Wikipedia Arbitration Committee]]
[[Category:Wikipedia arbitration]]

[[ar:ويكيبيديا:مجلس التحكيم]]
[[bg:Уикипедия:Арбитражен комитет]]
[[cs:Wikipedie:Arbitrážní výbor]]
[[de:Wikipedia:Schiedsgericht]]
[[es:Wikipedia:Comité de resolución de conflictos]]
[[fr:Wikipédia:Comité d'arbitrage]]
[[nl:Wikipedia:Arbitragecommissie]]
[[ru:Википедия:Арбитражный комитет]]
[[sl:Wikipedija:Arbitražni komite]]
[[fi:Wikipedia:Välityspyynnöt]]
[[sv:Wikipedia:Skiljedomskommitté]]


== Current requests == <!--Add new requests immediately below, before any outstanding requests.-->
<!-- Interwiki links and categories are up at top of page -->
=== Mikkalai ===
'''Initiated by ''' [[User:Ryan Postlethwaite|'''<font color="#000088">Ry<font color="#220066">an<font color="#550044"> P<font color="#770022">os<font color="#aa0000">tl</font>et</font>hw</font>ai</font>te</font>''']] '''at''' 06:21, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

==== Involved parties ====
*{{admin|Mikkalai}}
*{{admin|Ryan Postlethwaite}} (filing party)

;Confirmation that all parties are aware of the request
[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AMikkalai&diff=195068404&oldid=195064247]

;Confirmation that other steps in [[Wikipedia:dispute resolution|dispute resolution]] have been tried
*[[Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents#Mikkalai]]
*[[Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive373#User:Mikkalai]]
*[[Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive371#User:Mikkalai]]

==== Statement by Ryan Postlethwaite ====
I am bringing this straight to ArbCom rather than RfC which I hope you will understand given my statement. Mikkalai has decided to no longer take part in communication on the project. On February 21 Mikkalai placed a note on his talk page stating ” Since wikipedia is full of sickos happy to jump at conclusions, and since the adminship is infested with trigger-happy cowboys, I hereby pledge to not engage in any communication in wikipedia whatsoever.” [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Mikkalai&diff=193096088&oldid=193095726] – Since then he has decided to rollback every single edit made to his talk page. Even though the notice was placed on his talk on the 21st, this has been going on for some time now – If you look at his [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Mikkalai&limit=500&action=history talk history] you will see that this has been going on for a while (even if comments weren’t rolled back, they have gone unanswered). On his talk page he has stated that if you come to discuss this issue with him then “this is a proof that you are a jerk and I am right.” An example of how this behaviour is problematic was his protection of [[Poon]] – he protected this after only one bad faith edit, and when concerns were raised, he [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Mikkalai&diff=prev&oldid=195056793 rolled the talk page message back] and responded on the article main page with the edit summary [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Poon&diff=prev&oldid=195063007 off my watchlist. you wikidrama lovers may keep bullshit off this page yourselves]. This behaviour is completely unbefitting of an administrator – if he acted half as bad as he has been just before his RfA he wouldn’t have stood a chance of passing because the community do not want sysops that are unwilling to communicate. If new users come into contact with him, they will most likely not come back – Admins should act as role models, his behaviour is far from this. I’ve brought this straight here rather than after an RfC because I’m not sure what exactly we’re supposed to gain from an RfC – he’s already stated he’s unwilling to discuss any concerns that are brought up, and has continued to rollback people that have attempted to engage in discussion – an RfC would serve no purpose whatsoever. I ask that you accept this case to thoroughly evaluate Mikkalais’ recent behaviour and decide whether this is acceptable conduct of a sysop.

==== Statement by Marskell ====

On Feb 21 I blocked Mikka for twelve hours after he made this [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents&diff=prev&oldid=193091725 wild comment] on AN/I: "Next time you start policing, please be advised than in some cultures calling someone "ass" will have your throat cut." This occurred in the middle of a thread where Mikka's civility was already being questioned. (The block was overturned by [[User:Maxim]], wrongly IMO, but I am considering that sub-issue [[User talk:Marskell#I apologize|resolved]].) The "solemn pledge of muteness" on his talk page is a petulant attack on his fellow administrators and, basically, anyone who disagrees with him. Mikka is burnt out. Aggressive, defiant, unreasonable, incivil—you name it. Anyone who tries to talk to him, however politely, is a wikilawyer. The defence that's been mounted on his behalf is one that the committee has heard before: he contributes copious material to the mainspace. This does not excuse incivility—both Jimbo and Arbcom have made that clear previously. I agree that an RfC will achieve nothing, as the user will ignore it. Many people have been commenting on AN/I but the community has not come up with a coherent plan to deal with the situation. I urge the committee to take this case and decide whether it is appropriate for Mikka to retain his sysop status. We don't want to lose those mainspace contributions, of course, and I'd also suggest that anyone who's communicated with Mikka privately in the past, try to do so now. [[User:Marskell|Marskell]] ([[User talk:Marskell|talk]]) 09:49, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

'''Addendum'''. JzG suggests help and support. Yes, certainly—but that can't provided if he reverts everyone. The only way this will move in a positive direction, I suspect, is if people who have previously communicated with him off-site do so now. It can end easily: he removes the enflamed wording from his talk and clarifies here that he will be responsive to polite, good faith comments in future. This might be followed by a wikibreak to catch his breath. I'm sure people will give him the benefit of the doubt. [[User:Marskell|Marskell]] ([[User talk:Marskell|talk]]) 16:22, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

==== Statement by [[User talk:JzG|JzG]] ====
Mikka is a long-standing defender of NPOV against relentless attempts to skew content in articles related to Russia and Eastern Europe. As a result, he is mercilessly trolled. Has anyone tried applying help and support here? We really don't need to lose one of our few Russian-speaking admins. <b>[[User Talk:JzG|Guy]]</b> <small>([[User:JzG/help|Help!]])</small> 10:50, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
:The ones who have have been dismissed as out of touch, abusive, etc... '''<font face="Arial">[[Special:Contributions/Maxim|<font color="#FF7133">Maxim</font>]]<sub><small>[[User talk:Maxim|<font color="blue">(talk)</font>]]</small></sub></font>''' 13:07, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

* Re ''run by children'' - I believe college age Americans are the largest demographic, hence the almost hysterical reactions to use of invective. The use of anglo-saxon in everyday speech is not at all uncommon in the UK, and I know several Russians whose command of the coarser parts of English is as comprehensive as mine. Mikka is over 40, as am I, and I reckon that some at least of those Mikka deals with him relish the ability to get under the skin of someone of their parents' generation. <b>[[User Talk:JzG|Guy]]</b> <small>([[User:JzG/help|Help!]])</small> 16:06, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

==== Statement by [[User:EconomicsGuy II|EconomicsGuy]] ====
I'm gonna stand up to be counted here because this is exactly what I've been complaining about for 2 weeks now. This all began with a thread titled Mikka gone mad on AN/I. In usual fashion an astounding number of users decided to offer their 2 cents without much effort to actually solve what was a minor issue. Should Mikka be reminded to consider his choice of words to ensure that the tone does not blur the message? Sure. Do we need an ArbCom case for that to happen? No. There are bigger fish to fry here, they are called POV pushers and are largely allowed to continue their disruption that drives good people like [[User:Valentinian|Valentinian]] away because not enough sysop time is available to deal with them. In other words, this matter has been a waste of valuable sysop time and I urge ArbCom not to encourage that by accepting this case. [[User:EconomicsGuy II|EconomicsGuy]] ([[User talk:EconomicsGuy II|talk]]) 12:04, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

====Statement by [[User:Jehochman|Jehochman]]====
I endorse what Ryan Postelthwaite has said. Blight on Wikipedia is caused by multiple processes. When Mikkalai acts capriciously and refuses to explain or discuss with other users, he contributes to loss of good users by creating the appearance that sysops may do whatever they please, and do not need to answer to ordinary users. Good users are a scalable resource for negating the effects of POV pushers.

One reason Mikkalai may get trolled mercilessly is that he overreacts and violates decorum when trolled. Trolls enjoy emotional reactions and predictably, a sysop who behaves that way will get trolled more frequently. Hardened POV pushers are not scared away by nasty comments. No, that sort of treatment only runs off the good users. [[User:Jehochman|Jehochman]] <sup>[[User_talk:Jehochman|Talk]]</sup> 22:22, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

==== Statement by [[User:Crotalus horridus|Crotalus horridus]] ====
Arbcom has ruled in the past, most notably in the ''[[Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Bluemarine|Bluemarine]]'' case, that being the victim of trolling and harassment is not ''carte blanche'' for incivil behavior. That needs to be applied here. Wikipedia is a collaborative project, and for any user (but especially an administrator) to simply refuse to communicate with other good-faith users is simply not acceptable. [[User talk:Crotalus horridus|<font color="#11A"><b><tt>***&nbsp;Crotalus&nbsp;***</tt></b></font>]] 14:52, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

==== Statement by [[User:Until(1 == 2)|Until(1 == 2)]] ====
While it is true that Mikkalai has been subject to unkind treatment by those who have a POV, it does not excuse incivility or refusal to communicate. What is more is that it is well known that uncivil response to trolls only encourages them. It is called feeding the trolls, and it is a great reason why trolls are no excuse for poor behavior. If those in question are not trolls then the reaction is doubly inappropriate. Being nasty is never the correct reaction to those who disagree with you, if they are trolls, POV pushers or just another user.

It certainly does not excuse the "throat cutting" comment. This issues regarding incivility and refusal to communicate go back a long time with this user. I personally have given civility warnings to this user in the past on multiple occasions receiving responses ranging from "Acknowledged" to being completely ignored. Othesr have also given such warnings only to be rolled back like their attempt to talk was vandalism, no change in behavior results.

It makes Wikipedia seem as though it is ran by children when its admins resort to swearing and insults then refuse to talk. Good contributions are not license to act without civility or a guarantee of impunity.

I too have been harassed here in the past, rather badly and I sympathize with this user. But this has gone a step further where anyone who criticizes his actions is accused of "witch hunting, militant paranoia, kangaroo courts, and wikilawyering". It does not seem to matter how respected the person talking to him, their level of politeness, or how correct they are, he calls lumps them all in the same class and uses his rollback tool. Being harassed does not excuse or even explain why he is lashing out anyone who does not accept his behavior.

An administrator who has refused to discuss their use of the tools has in my opinion effectively resigned. An admin that both uses their tools and refuses to discuss such use has become a liability to Wikipedia, not an asset. [[User:Until(1 == 2)|<small><sub><font color="Red">'''(1&nbsp;==&nbsp;2)'''</font></sub><sup><span style="position: relative; left:-33px; margin-right:-33px;"><font color="Green">'''Until'''</font></span></sup></small>]] 15:17, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

==== Statement by [[User:Coppertwig|Coppertwig]] ====
There are three questions here: What is the minimum tolerated standard of behaviour for (1) a Wikipedian editor, (2) a rollbacker, and (3) an administrator? The third question is the most important. An uncivil editor harms the project, but an uncivil administrator has power to do things others can't undo and more importantly, is seen as being endorsed by the community and can therefore wreak havoc on Wikipedia's reputation and on general standards of behaviour. Others are much more likely to use a bad example as an excuse for their own behaviour if the bad example is set by an administrator.

I see four problems with Mikkalai's behaviour: (1) A "vow of silence" announcement on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Mikkalai&oldid=195056793 talk page] discouraging posts there, (2) Generalized insults on the talk page ("sickos", "jerk" etc.) directed against broad classes of people who might come to visit the talk page, (3) a habit of reverting talk page posts without responding to them, and (4) inappropriate use of admin tools in [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Poon&diff=194910476&oldid=194910310 semi-protecting] the page [[Poon]]. (Just before protecting, Mikkalai reverted the page, violating [[WP:Protection|protection]] policy in my opinion. It appears to me that that [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Poon&diff=194910310&oldid=194898700 reverted] edit, although it mentioned genitalia, was not vandalism, but was part of a content dispute and similar to edits supported by other editors [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Poon&diff=188303693&oldid=178853210] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Poon&action=history] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Poon&diff=157935165&oldid=157935138] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Poon&diff=152869719&oldid=151841361]; such edits had also been [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Poon&diff=160703833&oldid=160700519 reverted by Mikkalai], making it seem less likely that Mikkalai mistakenly thought the last such edit was vandalism. Even if the edit were considered to be vandalism, the amuont of such edits was not such as to justify protecting the page.)

In my opinion, the generalized talk page insults are not tolerable for any Wikipedian editor (per [[WP:NPA|NPA]]) and the user should be required to remove them or stop editing. IMO the deletion of talk page messages without responding may be marginally tolerable for an editor under most or possibly all circumstances; it may depend on what types of situations actually come up; but it is not acceptable for an administrator to do this regularly. Per [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Betacommand#Communication this] Arbcom decision I suppose it is not acceptable for any editor. I haven't checked the whole talk page history, but even if it has no unanswered questions about Mikkalai's admin actions, that proves nothing: the user did carry out admin actions, and users with questions about them may have been discouraged from posting their questions by the "vow of silence" etc. The "vow of silence" is more of a problem, IMO, than simply deleting talk page messages, and is probably unacceptable IMO for an editor who carries out actions such as reverts, and definitely unacceptable for an administrator carrying out actions such as deletion, blocking or page protection. IMO the proection of Poon, unless it can be justified, requires at minimum an admission from Mikkalai that it was a mistake.

I sympathize with Mikkalai, have begun to watchlist the user talk page and am planning to try to help the user. However, the insults and uncommunicative behaviour, if allowed to continue, would tend to spark, in never-ending reverberations and escalations throughout Wikipedia, the same sort of negative behaviour which is presumably the cause of Mikkalai's currrent behaviour. --[[User:Coppertwig|Coppertwig]] ([[User talk:Coppertwig|talk]]) 18:24, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
====Statement by [[User:SqueakBox|SqueakBox]]====
In light of Jpgordon's statement I would support acceptance of a case re admin action issues here but ideally renamed to Rfa/admin responsibilities or something along those line, we've had rfa:The troubles and some kind of naming that doesn't actually mention anyone's name would be appropriate, albeit involving the issues others and Ryan address here. Mikkalai is clearly one of our most experienced editors and admins whom I became aware of as a vandalism fighting newbie when he dropped me a note reminding me to check the contribs of obvious vandals in order to revert all their bad calls (so Mikkalai is more than capable of and has a track record of helping out newbies). I also think we need to be very aware that Mikkalai is not a native English speaker nor has he spent substantial time in an English speaking environment so we need to not read too much into his words (and I say this as someone with experience in this language area). Otherwise I am definitely in agreement with Guy's statement in this case, and endorse what he says above, but re Jpgordon if this was to become a case concerning how admins should behave I would certainly have evidence, and while involving one other particular admin its not that admin who I want to see censored but I would like to see certain issues re admin behaviour clarified by the arbcom, and these issues are here too. I would add that Ryan was right in bringing this here and not to an Rfc. That would have been highly inappropriate in this case and mediation attempts are very evident in Mikkalai's talk history. What I am uncomfotable with is this being a case involving just Ryan amnd Mikkalai and I think the list of involved parties needs greatly expanding, starting with Marskell, perhaps all of us who haven't posted as uninvolved in this section, and that is only a start. Thanks, [[User:SqueakBox|SqueakBox]] 21:17, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

==== Statement by uninvolved [[User:^demon|^demon]] ====
While I think all users (especially administrators) should leave lines of communication open to others. This helps foster collaboration and keeps the atmosphere open and inviting. This being said, under no circumstances should a user be ''required'' to talk with others if they do not wish to do so. If there are issues of abuse of powers, that is for another discussion. <b style="color:#c22">^</b>[[User:^demon|<b style="color:#000">demon</b>]][[User_talk:^demon|<sup style="color:#c22">[omg plz]</sup>]]&nbsp;<em style="font-size:10px;">18:49, 1 March 2008 (UTC)</em>


====Statement by uninvolved Viridae====
Communication is paramount from an admin. Refusal to communicate regarding your actions is a big problem as others have stated. However, it is less of problem, that should arbcom desysop him over this, I am sure they would be happy to grant his tool back at a later stage if he pledges to communicate about his admin actions in the manner expected by the community. [[User:Viridae|Viridae]][[User talk:Viridae|<small><sup>Talk</sup></small>]] 21:23, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

====Statement by uninvolved GRBerry====
The Gustafson RFC followed by RFAR would be the closest precedent - an admin who was repeatedly deleting their talk page without communicating. At ANI, I encouraged going to RFC and then RFAR. Instead we got another ANI thread. Lets use the dispute resolution system... which means going to RFC before coming here. [[User:GRBerry|GRBerry]]

====Statement by uninvolved Wikidemo====
As a non-admin with some interest in administrative matters, I can attest that when administrators act arbitrarily, uncivilly, unpredictably, against policy, without communication, etc., it causes some serious stress, erosion of faith in the project, and a desire to spend time somewhere else. So the harm to the encyclopedia is magnified greatly beyond the weight of the specific administrative action at hand.

We cannot let this one sit. The tools are Wikipedia's to distribute as the community sees fit to help the project, not the property of one administrator to do with as he pleases. Our system is often ineffective for bringing problem administrators into line. It would be a shame if we cannot handle such a simple, obvious case.

I see only two possible resolutions. Either Mikkalai accepts the duties that come as a requirement of using administrative tools, in this case communication, or he does not. If he will not use the tools in the way required by policy he must not use the tools. If he declares that he is never again going to use the tools properly, then after making all reasonable patient efforts to encourage him to change his mind we should take them back. It's his choice. His passive-aggressive reaction to the AN/I case and this Arbcom request so far[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AMikkalai&diff=195160291&oldid=195068404] is not encouraging.

While this case is ongoing there ought to be an injunction that if Mikkalai again uses tools he must respond reasonably to any good faith attempt to communicate on the subject and not act to discourage inquiries. As a resolution that injunction should be made long-term, with the additional proviso that if he breaks the injunction or does not resume normal use of tools after a reasonable period (say one month), he is desysopped without the need for further proceedings.

Mikkalai is (apparenty) a grown man, and we are not baby sitters. It would be swell if a colleague could talk him out of his tree on this, but I think we've gone pretty far as it is. So other than giving it a little time, I don't see the use of making any official offer of compassion part of the formal resolution.

====Statement by partially-involved [[User:Save Us 229]]====
I'm not going to elaborate much here on the requests page with diffs and the such (I will save that for the evidence page if this passes, and it should).

Mikkalai has been an established member of this community for a long time and one and a few when it comes to dealing with trolling editors and NPOV pushers, but his conduct has been hurtful to this project over the last few weeks inparticular. There are multiple threads on [[WP:AN/I]] that have detailed Mikkalai being very incivil with comments going as far as an editor feeling physically threatened by what Mikkalai said. After that incident happened, Mikkalai decided that communication was going to cease between himself and the Wikipedia community, which (next to civility) is the key issue surrounding this case. It was previously decided at the Arbitration that Gustafson was temporarily desysopped for being unresponsive to the community and this is the same principle being applied to this request for arbitration.

A week into his, literal, pledge of muteness, he made controversial actions leading up to another AN/I thread which almost concluded with the consensus of giving Mikkalai a warning that furthuring admin actions and Xfd closures without any discussion, that he will be brought to arbitration. While that discussion was ongoing is when I became partially involved with the editor.

Mikkalai decided to semi-protect the article [[Poon]]. Normally this wouldn't be a problem without communication of some kind, but he semi-protected the article after only one instance of a user adding something strange (the edit by the anonymous IP address should have been removed, but I'm not sure you could even classify it as vandalism). The main reasons protection are added, I felt, were violated since this was a simple, isolated incident (any other kind of request for protection would had been rightfully denied). Not only was it an inappropriate protection, he protected the one minor incident until May 2, 2008 (over 2 months). I felt it was inappropriate and asked him to remove it. His reply was to simply revert my message, as he has done with everyone else's messages to him in the week. The article was unprotected by an uninvolved administrator after he/she determined it was also inappropriate. His reply to myself and the unprotecting administrator in an edit summary was "you wikidrama lovers may keep bullshit off this page yourselves".

I ask the ArbCom to accept this case to review the actions of Mikkalai fully to determine whether or not he should keep his sysop bit. Thank you, — [[User:Save Us 229|<font color="007FFF">Save_Us</font>]] [[User talk:Save Us 229|<font color="000000">†</font>]] 03:29, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

==== Clerk notes ====
:''This area is used for notes by non-recused Clerks.''

==== Arbitrators' opinion on hearing this matter (2/0/0/1) ====
*Comment: I am holding off on voting to accept the case for the present, in the hope that Mikkalai will make a statement indicating that he will change his policy or modify his behavior, and thus make a case less necessary. As attested in some of the statements above, Mikka works hard in some areas where we need more, rather than less, administrator attention, and has done so for a long time, and is entitled to respect for that and to some understanding at times when things grow stressful. Thus, I very much hope that the issues can be worked out soon, short of the further stresses of an arbitration case. But if something doesn't change, then we are going to have to accept either this case or a future one before too much longer, because we really can't have an administrator whose rule is that as a matter of principle he won't communicate with anyone. [[User:Newyorkbrad|Newyorkbrad]] ([[User talk:Newyorkbrad|talk]]) 17:28, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
*Accept. I'm thinking this would be a good opportunity to clarify our expectations regarding the communication responsibilities of admins. Is it OK to clam up? Is it OK to not make email contact available? (Though that's not an issue in this particular case.) --[[User:Jpgordon|jpgordon]]<sup><small>[[User talk:Jpgordon|&#8711;&#8710;&#8711;&#8710;]]</small></sup> 18:29, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
* Accept. [[User:Kirill Lokshin|Kirill]] 03:32, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
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=== Russian apartment Bombings ===
'''Initiated by ''' [[User:Caesar Augustvs|Caesar Augustvs]] ([[User talk:Caesar Augustvs|talk]]) '''at''' 09:03, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

==== Involved parties ====
<!-- use {{admin|username}} if the party is an administrator -->
*{{userlinks|Caesar Augustvs}}, ''filing party''
*{{userlinks|Biophys}} {{userlinks|Malick78}}
<!-- The editor filing the case should be included as a party for purposes of notifications. -->

;Confirmation that all parties are aware of the request
<!-- All parties must be notified that the request has been filed, immediately after it is posted, and confirmation posted here. -->
* 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Russian_apartment_bombings#Arbitration
*

;Confirmation that other steps in [[Wikipedia:dispute resolution|dispute resolution]] have been tried
<!-- Identify prior attempts at dispute resolution here, with links/diffs to the page where the resolution took place. If prior dispute resolution has not been attempted, the reasons for this should be explained in the request for arbitration -->
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Russian_apartment_bombings#Wrong_translation_and_citation_out_of_context
*
==== Statement by Caesar Augustvs ====
Dear commitee, I would like to ask you to help us solving the following problem:
The opponent party is trying to distort the impartial information by describing in the introduction the opinion of the "independent investigation commission" only in parts,
so the impression is given, that if this commission only had access to the documents they inquired they would have accused the FSB as well.
In opposite to this, high ranked member of the commission published the information I wish to include following to the statement they included- but the opponents insist
this information to be not important enough or might have changed (even though never gave any source backing up this suggestion)

kind regards
Maxim

==== Statement by {Party 2} ====

==== Clerk notes ====
:''This area is used for notes by non-recused Clerks.''

==== Arbitrators' opinion on hearing this matter (0/6/0/0) ====
*Decline. This appears to be a two-party content dispute. It should be resolved through ordinary procedures of [[Wikipedia:dispute resolution|dispute resolution]] such as requesting a [[Wikipedia:third opinion|third opinion]], an article-content [[WP:RfC|request for comment]], or if eventually necessary [[Wikipedia:mediation|mediation]]. It does not require the complexities and delays of [[Wikipedia:arbitration|arbitration]], which is the ''last'' step in dispute resolution and generally does not resolve disagreements over content. [[User:Newyorkbrad|Newyorkbrad]] ([[User talk:Newyorkbrad|talk]]) 11:52, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
* Decline per Brad. [[User:Kirill Lokshin|Kirill]] 13:08, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
* Reject. Follow the suggestions of Newyorkbrad to involve more editors and administrators in resolving the dispute. [[User:FloNight|FloNight]][[User talk:FloNight|&#9829;&#9829;&#9829;]] 14:31, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
* Decline. This is a dispute over the content of a small set of articles, which is not appropriate for the Arbitration Committee to hear. I recommend Caesar Augustus takes the courses outlined by Newyorkbrad. [[User:Sam Blacketer|Sam Blacketer]] ([[User talk:Sam Blacketer|talk]]) 21:34, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
* Decline. [[User:Paul August|Paul August]] [[User_talk:Paul August|&#9742;]] 05:26, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
* Decline per the above opinions. -- [[User:FayssalF|<font size="2px" face="Verdana"><font color="DarkSlateBlue">FayssalF</font></font>]] - <small>[[User talk:FayssalF|<font style="background: gold"><sup>''Wiki me up''® </sup></font>]]</small> 01:46, 29 February 2008 (UTC)
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<span name="RFAR/REQUESTS" id="RFAR/REQUESTS" />

==<span id="REQ" />Clarifications and other requests==
{{shortcut | [[WP:RFAR#REQ]]}}
''Place requests related to amendments of prior cases, appeals, and clarifications in this section. If the case is ongoing, please use the relevant talk page. Requests for enforcement of past cases should be made at [[WP:AE|Arbitration enforcement]]. Requests to clarify general Arbitration matters should be made on the [[WT:RFAR|Talk page]]. '''Place new requests at the top'''.''
{{Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/How-to_other_requests}}
<!--Add new requests immediately below this comment, before any outstanding requests.-->
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=== [[Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Everyking_3]] ===
'''Initiated by ''' [[User:Avruch|<strong style="color:#000;background:#fff;border:0px solid #000">Avruch</strong>]][[User talk:Avruch|<sup><strong style="color:#000;background:#fff;border:0px solid #000"> T </strong></sup>]] '''at''' 01:12, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

==== Statement by [[User:Avruch|Avruch]] ====

I would ask the Committee to again reconsider the remedies of the Everyking3 case, including its recently passed motion responding to Everyking's appeal. I've written my concerns to the Committee mailing list, but the message is being held for moderator approval. The two motions considered by the Committee upon revisiting the remedies in this case both enjoyed the support of a majority of the Committee but are clearly contradictory.

Motion 1 eliminates all but one remedy and implies approval of the appeal, while Motion 2 leaves two remedies intact and applies an additional, unconsidered remedy that limits the ability of the subject of this case to file additional appeals and implicitly disapproves of the appeal as filed. The apparent contradiction and the fact that the outcome does not appear to take the requested outside views into account calls into question whether the Committee fully considered the elements of this case before Motion 2 was found to have passed.

With respect, [[User:Avruch|<strong style="color:#000;background:#fff;border:0px solid #000">Avruch</strong>]][[User talk:Avruch|<sup><strong style="color:#000;background:#fff;border:0px solid #000"> T </strong></sup>]] 01:24, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

=====Additional, responding to Arbitrators comments so far=====

Comments so far have focused exclusively on the procedural issue of the motions and the order of passage. I don't disagree that this is partly the source of the confusion - observers not walking through the history to see the votes in progress will see that both motions pass, but only motion 2 is considered in effect. Still, if motion 1 passed second and represents a significant deviation from motion 2, the import of that should be considered.

Even so, the substantive issue appears to be more important to me - aside from which motion should have effect based on Committee procedure, it is clear regardless that both motions had a majority support of the same Committee and largely the same members and yet they clearly contradict eachother in meaning. Why would the same members support in one moment a continuation
of only one remedy and a lifting of all other sanctions and in another moment support continuing two remedies and adding a third? There doesn't appear to be evidence indicating an abuse of the appeal process by Everyking, so what is the unenumerated justification for limiting his ability to appeal? Connections have been drawn to the US Supreme Court, where summary judgments without greater explanation are not uncommon - I think it would be a mistake for the Committee to adopt this habit, because the community of which the Committee is a part requires greater clarity.

Respectfully, [[User:Avruch|<strong style="color:#000;background:#fff;border:0px solid #000">Avruch</strong>]][[User talk:Avruch|<sup><strong style="color:#000;background:#fff;border:0px solid #000"> T </strong></sup>]] 16:32, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

=====Follow up=====

It looks like three participating Arbitrators have expressed a willingness to revote the items of the motions separately, and three have not. What is the next step on this before it gets archived as stale? [[User:Avruch|<strong style="color:#000;background:#fff;border:0px solid #000">Avruch</strong>]][[User talk:Avruch|<sup><strong style="color:#000;background:#fff;border:0px solid #000"> T </strong></sup>]] 14:41, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

==== Statement by Uninvolved User [[User:Jay*Jay|Jay*Jay]] ====

I do not recall ever having edited with [[user:Everyking|Everyking]] and so can make no comment on his actions or the ArbCom sanctions. However, I am greatly concerned by the way the appeal has been handled and want to strongly endorse [[user:Avruch|Avruch's]] request for a reconsideration. My concern is two-fold. Firstly, as Avruch has noted and the related [[WP:AN#Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration.2FEveryking_3|AN discussion]] shows, the imposition of a new restriction on making an appeal appears punitive. The philosophy underling sanctions (bans, blocks, etc) is supposed to be to protect the encyclopedia and to prevent disruption. I fail to see how this restriction pursues either aim, as no suggestion of disruption has been made, and the ArbCom believed the appeal was sufficiently warranted to debate and pass ''two'' separate ammednment motions, both of which reduce the sanctions on Everyking. The situation is akin to a court finding for the plaintiff and then ordering that the plaintiff pay costs for both parties. It is, frankly, bizarre.

My second concern relates to the contradiction which has also been noted elsewhere. [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration&diff=prev&oldid=193287985 This diff] includes the entire appeal case immediately prior to it being archived. I suggest that the summary of the motion presented on the [[Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Everyking_3#Modified_by_open_motion|case page]] and the relating modification is in error, for the following reasons:
# Motions require a majority of 8 to pass, and motion 1 passes 8-2 with 1 abstention - there is no requirement, as I understand it, for a ''net'' vote of 8, merely a simple majority.
# Motion 2 is recorded as passing 11-1. However, this count is only correct if [[user:Newyorkbrad|Newyorkbrad's]] vote is taken as an 'oppose'. His vote actually stated that it "should be counted as an "oppose" if both motions have a majority and the question is which one has more support" - showing that the passing of motion 1 was recognised.
# Four ArbCom members (Newyorkbrad, [[user:FT2|FT2]], [[user:Paul August|Paul August]], and [[user:Sam Blacketer|Sam Blacketer]]) expressly noted a preference for motion 1 over motion 2. Although only Newyorkbrad expressly noted that such a preference means opposition of motion 2 if motion 1 passes, a reasonable interpretation (in light of motion 1's passing) would be that motion 2 actually has 8 supports and 4 neutral/oppose votes.
Possible resolutions: There are several ways in which this contradiction can be resolved. They include:
* Passing only motion 1 as motion 2 has more opposition than does motion 1 - problematic, as it remains the case that both should pass.
* Asking [[user:Deskana|Deskana]], who expressly states that "either is fine", to form a preference, thus supporting only one motion and being neutral or opposing the other - thereby resolving which motion passes.
* Ask for reconsideration by some or all of [[user:Kirill_Lokshin|Kirill]], [[user:FloNight|FloNight]], and [[user:Blnguyen|Blnguyen]], each of whom also supported both motions, to express a preference for a single motion and neutrality or opposition towards the other - which would also resolve which motion passes.
* I do not see any additional clarity is gained by reconsideration by any of the four remaining ArbCom members who voted ([[user:UninvitedCompany|UnivitedCompany]], [[user:Charles Matthews|Charles Matthews]], [[user:thebainer|bainer]], and [[user:jpgordon|jpgordon]]), as each has indicated a clear preference (either in comment or by vote) for motion 2 over motion 1. However, there were (at the time of the appeal) three other active ArbCom members who have noted voted and who could. I am not sure that this would be helpful, as no vote by them could alter the fact that both motions received the support needed to pass.

I strongly believe that the appeal should be reopened, as the present outcome is not only unjust and inequitable (in adding a new appeal restriction), but also seriously flawed by internal contradiction. Two conflicting motions should not ever be passed, and the need for clarity for the community strongly indicates that ArbCom should re-open the appeal to resolve the ambiguity as a matter of urgency. The are obviously other possible appraoches to providing clarity that the Committee could adopt - simply holding a fresh vote on each motion would be one, provided members recognised that supporting both motions is unsatisfactory if suitabke caveats are not noted. I have no stake in what solution is adopted, although believe that the appeal restriction appears punitive and unjustified; however, I implore the Committee members to act to provide clarity. [[User:Jay*Jay|Jay*Jay]] ([[User talk:Jay*Jay|talk]]) 04:34, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

'''Addendum:''' I note that there has also been discussion [[User_talk:Thatcher#Closure_of_appeal|here]] on [[user talk:Thatcher|Thatcher's talk page]] about the closure and the interpretation of two passing motions. That discussion further serves to highlight the unsatisfactory and subjective approach applied in situations such as this. I have absolutely no doubt that [[user:Thatcher|Thatcher]] acted in good faith in trying to resolve the situation, but it is impossible to escape the conclusion that ArbCom passed two contradictory motions. Leaving the interpretation of that action to the discretion of a single Clerk - who in this case chose to disregard a passed motion - is unacceptable. [[user:Wjbscribe|Wjbscribe's]] analysis below shows that the opposite result can be obtained by another reasonable interpretation of passing two motions - actually applying both, in either sequence. The fault here lies squarely with ArbCom, as it was their actions that have created the ambiguity. It is up to ArbCom to resolve this problem. I have proposed several possible approaches. Wjbscribe provides another, in that ArbCom could simply affirm that both motions passed and that both must be applied. Newyorkbrad provides another, in that individual votes could be held on each individual modification. Please, re-open the appeal, and act to fix the problem that you have created. It is reasonable to leave to admin discretion and community interpretation what enforcement might be required for any breach of an ArbCom-imposed sanction, but it is not reasonable to require discretion of a Clerk or anyone else be used in determination of what are those sanctions. ArbCom acts careful to avoid such ambiguity by passing only single and unambiguous sanctions in its cases, and has erred in not acting carefully with respect to the motions in the appeal. Rectifying this error is necessary and urgent, as the present ambiguity is unacceptable. [[User:Jay*Jay|Jay*Jay]] ([[User talk:Jay*Jay|talk]]) 05:43, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

'''Note on Comment from [[user:Thatcher|Thatcher]]:''' The problem is concisely illustrated when Thatcher [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ARequests_for_arbitration&diff=193441251&oldid=193437782 sighes] that the ''two motions were mutually incompatible, they could not both pass''. The problem, of course, is that they ''did'' both pass. The correctness or otherwise of any analysis of conditional votes is irrelevant. Analysis should '''''never''''' be required to interpret whether a binding decision was made, and such analysis cannot alter the unarguable fact that both motions did pass. The fact that the present analysis results in the application of a new restriction on Everyking simply makes the situation worse. The origin of the ambiguity lies in ArbCom passing contradictory motions, and only ArbCom can address the situation. [[User:Jay*Jay|Jay*Jay]] ([[User talk:Jay*Jay|talk]]) 08:10, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

====Statement by WJBscribe====
I emailed the following analysis to ArbCom yesterday:

My understanding of the process is as follows: 8 Arbitrators is a majority. Proposals supported by 8 or more Arbitrators pass.

In this case, two motions were supported by 8 or more Arbitrators, therefore logically both must pass. A majority of Arbitrators have supported lifting the following sanctions against Everyking through their support of motion #1:
# Remedy 5 of EK
# The harassment ban and terms of enforcement in the July 2006 amendment to EK3

It does not seem to matter which motion passed first. If motion #1 passed first, these remedies no longer existed to be "continued" by motion #2. If motion #2 passed first, these remedies were then terminated by the passing of motion #1. The latter scenario seems to have occured here as motion #2 reached a majority first. Motion #1 should not have been ignored simply because motion #2 passed as it too enjoyed a majority. The fact that one motion enjoyed more support than the other does not seem relevant as the criteria for passage is reaching a majority, not the greatest majority. Looked at another way, if motion #1 were voted on now and reached the same level, it would clearly take effect.

In this case, it seems to me that both motions have passed and come into effect by result of being supported by 8 Arbitrators. The only remedy Everyking therefore remains subject to is: Remedy X of EK3 (non-interaction and non-commenting on Snowspinner/Phil Sandifer). And he is (through motion #2) restricted from appealing that remedy more than once a year.

Therefore I believe a further post to AN is required informing the community of the effects of motion #1 passing (that two of the sanctions continued by motion #2 are now terminated), and that Everyking should be notified that the sanctions against him are further reduced by the success of that motion. The present result means that although Everyking gained the support of a majority of the full Committee for lifting those 2 sanctions, he remains subject to them. I do not believe this to be a fair result. <font face="Verdana">[[User:WJBscribe|'''WjB''']][[User talk:WJBscribe|scribe]]</font> 04:45, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

====Comment by [[User:David.Mestel|David Mestel]]====

In my view, the most significant problem here resulted from the fact that the motions were listed as "1" and "2", rather than "1" and "1.1", as is the norm where there are multiple alternative proposals (see, for example, [[Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Matthew_Hoffman/Proposed_decision#Administrators|here]]), and the correct action would have been to renumber them accordingly; perhaps it would be a good idea for the committee to make clear that it is happy for clerks to do this when proposals are clearly incompatible (such as [[Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Ehud_Lesar/Proposed_decision#Ehud_Lesar_unbanned|these]] [[Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Ehud_Lesar/Proposed_decision#Ehud_Lesar_banned|proposals]] in ''Ehud Lesar''), subject obviously to reversion if arbitrators disagree. Notwithstanding this, there is considerable ambiguity as to how alternative proposals should be resolved, and I would respectfully commend to the committee my proposals [[User:David.Mestel/ArbComvoting|here]], subject to rewriting for clarity. I understand and accept Newyorkbrad's point that they are rather complex, but in my submission this should not be too much of a problem, since they are to be applied by clerks who presumably have studied and understood them, and any editors who object to or are puzzled by a result are also likely to have sufficient motivation also to read and understand them, or, alternatively, to ask for explanation. In any event, it is clearly more transparent to have a concrete though somewhat complex set of written procedures, rather than to rely on unwritten practice and individual judgement.

In these particular circumstances, it is my view that, in the absence of concrete guidelines, Thatcher's judgement of arbitrators' preference was correct (although it might perhaps have been preferable to hold off on closing and seek further guidance), and, if the committee shares this view, it is therefore not necessary to re-open the appeal, and the best course of action would be to adopt a summary motion confirming motion 2 in the appeal, or, in the case of the contrary view, one disapproving the outcome and re-opening the appeal. [[User:David.Mestel|David Mestel]]<sup>([[User Talk:David.Mestel|Talk]])</sup> 16:19, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

====Comment from [[User:AGK|AGK]]====
Whilst I rarely make comment on matters in cases out with those I am directly involved in, I feel compelled to make public my feelings on this matter. The underlying problems in this case are somewhat simple, and easily remediable:
*Confusion exists over what the Committee's consensus on this matter is
*Editors involved in the case, as well as uninvolved users, are of the opinion that the decision that has been posted differs from the consensus of the Committee as a whole, as measured as the vote held on the matter

Respectively, these issues can be addressed very simply:
*The Committee ''as a whole'' (rather than individual arbitrators) clarify its intended decision in this matter,
*If the intended decision differs from that which has recently been implemented, then the matter be re-opened and consensus re-gauged through the medium of a vote.

My view on whether re-opening the matter for Committee consideration remains unspecified, as I cannot say for certain what the Committee's consensus is, hence my call for a statement from it as a whole on the matter. I reiterate: a statement representing the consensus of the Arbitrators, and released on behalf of the Committee as a whole is necessary, both to clarify the circumstances once-and-for-all, and to provide a basis by which the decision of whether to reopen (and hence re-consider) the matter can be made. [[User:AGK|'''AGK''']] ([[User:AGK/Contact|contact]]) 18:46, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

==== Clerk notes ====
The two motions were mutually incompatible, they could not both pass. Note that full cases have a motion to close phase with implementation notes, this gives the Arbitrators a chance to adjust their votes so that their intentions are correctly carried out. Open motions do not have separate votes to close and are usually enacted 24 hours after a majority is apparent. The usual method of analyzing conditional votes was applied. Several other approaches are discussed on my talk page. [[User talk:Thatcher|Thatcher]] 06:12, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

==== Arbitrators' views and discussion ====
*'''Comment''': There has been detailed discussion from time to time as to how we should decide which alternative proposal passes when multiple proposals on the same topic receive the required majority. In past instances, there have been a couple of times when it was not at all clear which of two alternatives has been adopted, which have been generally been resolved when one or two arbitrators struck their support from their second choices so that the outcome was clarified. Even now, it's not clear to me whether in a case with a required majority of 7, if proposal 1.1 has 8 supports and no opposes, and alternative proposal 1.2 has 9 supports and no opposes but three of the supports are labelled "second choice," which one is enacted. And if one allows for oppose votes also, then it gets even more complicated. A month or so ago, one of our most senior Clerks wrote a note in userspace about how we might address these situations (see, [[User:David.Mestel/ArbComvoting]]), which would eliminate these ambiguities, but at the time I judged the proposal to be a bit too complicated to recommend adoption. ''(paragraph)'' With respect to these particular motions, a further complication is that the arbitrators felt compelled either to vote for my "motion 1," as a whole, or Jpgordon's alternative motion 2, also as a whole. There were differences not only in the specific sanctions that I thought could be lifted but that Jpg thought should be kept in force, but also in other nuances of the wording (my motion was a narrative with admonitions and observations; Jpg's was just a list, and some arbs might not have cared for my verbosity or my dicta). It's a commonplace in the legal and political science literature that the order of voting and whether issues are voted on jointly and singly can sometimes decide the result of the voting. This has happened in several significant U.S. Supreme Court cases (I've actually been researching a real-world article on the subject; boring details on request; compare also [[Arrow's theorem]]). The fairest thing to do here, if the committee determines that there is a problem here that ought to receive further attention in the interests of fairness or the appearance of fairness, would be to vote on the termination or continuation of each of the sanctions as to which the two motions are in disagreement, individually. [[User:Newyorkbrad|Newyorkbrad]] ([[User talk:Newyorkbrad|talk]]) 04:48, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
*'''Comment'''. The statement 'support as second preference' means that I supported motion 2, but expressed a preference for motion 1 to be adopted if the two emerged with equal approval. In this case they did not have equal approval; motion 1 attracted opposition which was not present for motion 2. In that case the support for motion 2 still stands. The support for either motion was because both took the Everyking case forward by lifting some restrictions, but maintaining some in force; the reason for indicating a preference for motion 1 was because it did not expressly continue a provision which was common sense, would not normally need to be stated, and was difficult to enforce. However a preference for support is not a conditional oppose. Had I intended that meaning, I would have written it explicitly. [[User:Sam Blacketer|Sam Blacketer]] ([[User talk:Sam Blacketer|talk]]) 09:44, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
*'''Comment'''. Though the motion was closed a little faster than I might have preferred (specifically because of this fuss), the result is consistent with ArbCom's methods in the past. When alternate proposals are put forward, and both pass, the one with the most support wins. In this case, it's even simpler. Open motions, in general, are considered passed as soon as they are supported by a majority of arbitrators. Motion 2 thus could have been considered passed and immediately enacted by the clerks after [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration&diff=prev&oldid=192622268 this vote] by Charles Matthews, which made the vote for the first motion 6-2-1 and the vote for the second motion 8-0. The clerks wisely waited, since six and five arbitrators, respectively, had not made their opinions known. In the ensuing three days, the second motion gained four more votes; the first gained two. The consensus of the committee was quite clear and unambiguous at that point; of the two alternate motions, the one with the most support carried. --[[User:Jpgordon|jpgordon]]<sup><small>[[User talk:Jpgordon|&#8711;&#8710;&#8711;&#8710;]]</small></sup> 15:53, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
*:In answer to Avruch: my own interpretation of the meaning of people voting to support both motions is "Either one is exactly fine with me; I'll go along with the consensus of the Committee". This is based on the assumption that all were aware the two were alternates. --[[User:Jpgordon|jpgordon]]<sup><small>[[User talk:Jpgordon|&#8711;&#8710;&#8711;&#8710;]]</small></sup> 18:04, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
*::I think it was pretty clear the two motions were alternates, especially given your comment in opposing my motion that you were offering your own, and the number of references either to "second choice" or "either is fine" or whatever. The fundamental problem may still be, as I observed above, that people were given the choice of voting for your proposal or mine or both or neither, rather than parsing the specifics of each one. Of course any arbitrator could have asked for a [[division of the question]] and no one did, but even so. <small> How can [[division of the question]] be a redlink? Where are our parliamentary law and procedure articles? </small> [[User:Newyorkbrad|Newyorkbrad]] ([[User talk:Newyorkbrad|talk]]) 18:51, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
*:::We have it at [[division (vote)]] :) --[[User:Thebainer|bainer]]&nbsp;([[User_talk:Thebainer|talk]]) 01:17, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
*::::No, no, "division (vote)" or "division of the assembly" refers to the voting process itself, in a legislature or parliamentary body. A request or motion for a "division of the question" (or "to divide the question") is a request that separate, divisible aspects or parts of a main motion be voted on separately. This is definitely going on my wiki-to-do list. [[User:Newyorkbrad|Newyorkbrad]] ([[User talk:Newyorkbrad|talk]]) 04:59, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
*I think the confusion here is that, as David Mestel observes, these alternative wordings were labelled "1" and "2" and not "1" and "1.1", as is commonly the practice. Clearly none of us intended that these should be anything other than alternatives. I vote that Josh goes home and practices his numbers some more :) --[[User:Thebainer|bainer]]&nbsp;([[User_talk:Thebainer|talk]]) 01:17, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
**To exonerate Josh, I will plead guilty to being the person who introduced the complex numeration scheme "1", "2" into this discussion. Per my comment above, everyone understood these motions were alternatives and I don't believe this contributed in any significant way to the situation. [[User:Newyorkbrad|Newyorkbrad]] ([[User talk:Newyorkbrad|talk]]) 04:59, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

Comment - I understood from Josh's comment these were alternatives. I also understood the question behind them to be - certain matters were agreed redundant (or emerged as such by consensus), but a couple of the restrictions were not clearly agreed redundant and the decision was centered around whether those should be continued at this time. This was my reading of the difference between 1 and 2, and I noted more support seemed to coalesce for the view that considered they should continue.

I am happy to see it re-considered if that would help, since a decision must not only be considered, but must visibly be seen to be clear in its decision where possible. In editorial disputes that often means "go and re-check consensus on it", as in last month's rollback RFAR decline. I'm willing to take the same view here as well. [[user:FT2|FT2]]&nbsp;<sup><span style="font-style:italic">([[User_talk:FT2|Talk]]&nbsp;|&nbsp;[[Special:Emailuser/FT2|email]])</span></sup> 19:17, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
:Well, wait a sec. Have any ''arbitrators'' expressed any concern that the result is incorrect or did not reflect our consensus? I mean, we're right here, we're paying attention to this page, it's been brought up on the mailing list, it was brought up on AN/I, and I haven't heard so much as a suggestion from anyone in ArbCom that this was not the appropriate outcome. --[[User:Jpgordon|jpgordon]]<sup><small>[[User talk:Jpgordon|&#8711;&#8710;&#8711;&#8710;]]</small></sup> 00:51, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
::Given that there were two motions, each being considered in toto, the conclusion that motion 2 superseded motion 1 is certainly defensible. However, I can't be sure whether a majority of the continuing restrictions that your motion and mine disagreed on, might have been terminated if the points had been voted on item-by-item. If Everyking were able to come back in a reasonable time and raise the individual items again (and we would re-vote now knowing that it should be done differently), that would be okay. But the last point of your motion also locks him out of making another appeal for another full year, and given the ambiguity of the result on the current appeal, that does bother me. [[User:Newyorkbrad|Newyorkbrad]] ([[User talk:Newyorkbrad|talk]]) 00:56, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
:::Yes that bothers me too. [[User:Paul August|Paul August]] [[User_talk:Paul August|&#9742;]] 05:55, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
:::: There's a lesson here on "block voting" alternatives which are similar but not identical. I'm happy to do it again more "item by item", simply because although I think it was closed according to intent, it's in a way, better to revote it than to have uncertainty. [[user:FT2|FT2]]&nbsp;<sup><span style="font-style:italic">([[User_talk:FT2|Talk]]&nbsp;|&nbsp;[[Special:Emailuser/FT2|email]])</span></sup> 19:44, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

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=== Request for clarification re ''Macedonia'' case ===

We are currently experiencing edit wars, blanking, vandalism, ethnic ranting and various other forms of disruptive editing on a variety of different content items relating to [[Kosovo]], including articles, talk pages, images, templates, categories etc. I'd be grateful if an arbitrator could confirm that the [[WP:SANCTION|general sanction]] concerning Balkans-related articles that was passed in [[Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Macedonia]] applies to all namespaces within the area of conflict, not just to the narrower category of "pages" (the wording used in the sanction). I presume it does but I'd like to have it on the record for clarity's sake. -- [[User:ChrisO|ChrisO]] ([[User talk:ChrisO|talk]]) 20:22, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

==== Statement by [[User:Username|other user]] ====
<!-- Leave this section for others to add additional statements -->

==== Clerk notes ====

==== Arbitrator views and discussion ====
:"Page" (as opposed to the narrower "article") applies to all namespaces. [[User:Kirill Lokshin|Kirill]] 13:42, 21 February 2008 (UTC)
:I agree with Kirill, although the existence of any doubt emphasizes that warnings should be given before restrictions are imposed (which is good practice anyway). [[User:Newyorkbrad|Newyorkbrad]] ([[User talk:Newyorkbrad|talk]]) 20:57, 21 February 2008 (UTC)
: As Kiril and newyorkbrad said. [[user:FT2|FT2]]&nbsp;<sup><span style="font-style:italic">([[User_talk:FT2|Talk]]&nbsp;|&nbsp;[[Special:Emailuser/FT2|email]])</span></sup> 08:51, 22 February 2008 (UTC)
: As per the above and FT2 note below. -- [[User:FayssalF|<font size="2px" face="Verdana"><font color="DarkSlateBlue">FayssalF</font></font>]] - <small>[[User talk:FayssalF|<font style="background: gold"><sup>''Wiki me up''® </sup></font>]]</small> 01:53, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Update -- If no objections are received in 5 days I'd suggest a clerk closes this as "confirmed", and notes this as a standard response applicable to other cases with the same basic question. [[user:FT2|FT2]]&nbsp;<sup><span style="font-style:italic">([[User_talk:FT2|Talk]]&nbsp;|&nbsp;[[Special:Emailuser/FT2|email]])</span></sup> 19:18, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
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=== Request to clarify/expand remedy from [[Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Ferrylodge|Ferrylodge case]] ===

'''Link to original case''': [[Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Ferrylodge]]

'''Notification of involved users:'''
* {{user|Ferrylodge}} [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AFerrylodge&diff=193128230&oldid=192859253]
* {{admin|FeloniousMonk}} [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AFeloniousMonk&diff=193128025&oldid=192485045]
* {{admin|KillerChihuahua}} [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AKillerChihuahua&diff=193128319&oldid=193040316]

====Statement by [[User:MastCell|MastCell]]====
In [[Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Ferrylodge]], {{user|Ferrylodge}} was identified as having "a long history of disruptive editing on topics related to pregnancy and abortion." He was placed under indefinite sanction: "Any uninvolved administrator may ban Ferrylodge from any article which relates to pregnancy or abortion, interpreted broadly, which they disrupt by inappropriate editing."

Recently Ferrylodge has taken what I consider to be a very disruptive tack on [[Talk:Abortion]]. I posted diffs and details [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Arbitration_enforcement&oldid=193124173#User:Ferrylodge here] at [[WP:AE]], because I believe that his behavior represented a continuation of his disruptive and tendentious approach to abortion-related articles sanctioned in the ArbCom case. My filing was reviewed by [[User:GRBerry]], who raised the very sensible issue that the sanction applies to "articles" and likely not to associated talk pages.

[[Talk:Abortion]] and associated pages are contentious under the best of circumstances. Based on the diffs and evidence in [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Arbitration_enforcement&oldid=193124173#User:Ferrylodge my AE report], I believe that Ferrylodge is disrupting these talk pages with tendentious, circular arguments, presumptions of bad faith, extensive wikilawyering, and the like. I'm asking, therefore, that the sanction from his case be amended to read: "Any uninvolved administrator may ban Ferrylodge from any '''page''' which relates to pregnancy or abortion, interpreted broadly, which they disrupt by inappropriate editing." This would include talk pages, WikiProjects, and the like, though presumably somewhat greater latitude would be provided on these pages than in article-space. I believe this extension is justified based on his lengthy history and ongoing behavior. '''[[User:MastCell|MastCell]]'''&nbsp;<sup>[[User Talk:MastCell|Talk]]</sup> 21:52, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

*''Response to GRBerry'': No, there are no previous logged Blocks&Bans. Still, Ferrylodge has constantly been testing the limits of his sanctions. For example, [[Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Arbitration_enforcement/Archive10#Ferrylodge|here]] at [[WP:AE]] 2 admins (AGK and Rlevse) found his conduct disruptive - in fact, AGK banned him from [[Roe v. Wade]] - but he was let off the hook with yet another promise to reform, though his tactics had played a role in [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Severa&diff=prev&oldid=179588988 driving a very valuable contributor off Wikipedia]. That pattern has repeated itself long enough. At some point, a critical mass of disruption is achieved here, and I think we're at that point. '''[[User:MastCell|MastCell]]'''&nbsp;<sup>[[User Talk:MastCell|Talk]]</sup> 22:41, 21 February 2008 (UTC)
*''Response to Ferrylodge'': I'm asking a very specific and straightforward question about an ArbCom case here. I'm not interested in defending myself against your attempts to distract, impugn, or muddy the waters. The reasoning behind my edits is discussed in depth on the relevant article talk pages. If you have a problem with my conduct, then please follow [[WP:DR|dispute resolution]]. '''[[User:MastCell|MastCell]]'''&nbsp;<sup>[[User Talk:MastCell|Talk]]</sup> 02:44, 22 February 2008 (UTC)
*''Response to NCdave'': Since we have [[Wikipedia:Community_sanction_noticeboard/Archive11#NCdave.C2.A0.28talk.C2.A0.C2.B7_contribs.29|a long history of failing to get along well]], I don't think it's constructive to [[WP:STALK|follow me around]] and inject yourself into unrelated disputes. '''[[User:MastCell|MastCell]]'''&nbsp;<sup>[[User Talk:MastCell|Talk]]</sup> 19:15, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

====Statement by [[User:GRBerry|GRBerry]]====
In interpreting the case, I noted that the committee explicitly chose the passed wording over a prior version that said "article or other page". The other difference was that the prior version was "is banned" and the passed version is "uninvolved administrator may ban". I don't know which difference the committee was focusing on.

There has been a prior request for clarification on this issue, which no committee member responded to. It is logged at [[Wikipedia talk:Requests for arbitration/Ferrylodge/Proposed decision#More clarification requested]]. Thatcher then said "The remedy would include any page related to abortion, including article talk pages, user talk pages (if an abortion-related discussion is carried on there), templates, policies, wikiprojects, AfDs, you name it. This has been established in past clarifications of other cases. The point of the remedy is to stop Ferrylodge from being disruptive, wherever it occurs. I personally would allow more freedom on talk pages, but there still will be an actionable level of disruption." I too am certainly going to allow more freedom in discussion venues (talk pages, XfDs, and the like).

I also note Kirill's comment earlier today on the Macedonia case: "'Page' (as opposed to the narrower 'article') applies to all namespaces. [[User:Kirill Lokshin|Kirill]] 13:42, 21 February 2008 (UTC) Since Thatcher (who has more WP:AE experience than I) and I are reading the tea leaves differently, clarification may well be in order even if expansion isn't.

There is currently nothing logged at [[Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Ferrylodge#Log of blocks and bans]]. [[User:GRBerry|GRBerry]] 22:13, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

* Based on the more complete clarification response in the Macedonia case above, the current report was closed out without action. I take no position on whether expansion is in order. [[User:GRBerry|GRBerry]] 21:53, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

====Statement by Ferrylodge====
I’ve responded to Mastcell at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Arbitration_enforcement&oldid=193129586#User:Ferrylodge Arbitration Enforcement proceeding that he initiated], and at [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Abortion&oldid=193060591#A_harmless_little_experiment the pertinent article talk page.]

I hope that any further decision or clarification by ArbCom in this matter will be prospective only (which may be Mastcell’s intent anyway). I also hope that my comments at the pertinent talk page will not be viewed in isolation, but rather ArbCom should be free to review the behavior of all involved people, including "trusted members of the community."

Mastcell does not object to any article edit that I made. He objects to my talk page comments. And Mastcell is not denying that those comments followed up on a false statement that he had inserted into the article text, with an accompanying footnote in which Mastcell cited a POV newspaper editorial that did not even support the false statement that he was inserting into the article text. As far as I know, Mastcell does not deny '''''any''''' of this, but rather he deems all of this context irrelevant. It is very relevant. Unlike Mastcell, I did not disrupt the article text at all, and no one accuses me of having done so.

At the corresponding article talk page, Mastcell made numerous false allegations and personal attacks against me. He falsely accused me of “quote-mining a primary source” and of using “ a series of quotes from primary sources to advance your opinion” and “massag[ing] the primary sources” and “violat[ing] WP:SYN to mine quotes from a primary source” and trying to “set aside WP:NOR.”

I respectfully submit to ArbCom that all of these wiki-lawyering accusations by Mastcell were blatantly false. I do not see how ArbCom could agree to Mastcell’s present request without examining whether those accusations by Mastcell were indeed blatantly false.

It is tendentious for an Admin to make a stream of false accusations at an article talk page, while also inserting false material and POV footnotes into the article text. You may disregard these assertions of mine because Mastcell is a “trusted member of the community.” However, I urge you to please look at the facts. The discussion at the article talk page became heated, and Mastcell was as much a part of the heat as myself, if not more so. I was responding to irresponsible edits by Mastcell (and one other editor in particular) in the article text, and responding to irresponsible accusations against me by Mastcell (and one other editor in particular) at the article talk page. I have tried my best to avoid causing what even the most biased person might consider disruption of any article text covered by the Arbcom decision, and no one accuses me of having done so.[[User:Ferrylodge|Ferrylodge]] ([[User talk:Ferrylodge|talk]]) 22:50, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

*''Response to Mastcell'': The title of the request you made here at this page says that you are interested in "expanding" the remedy in my case. You're requesting that the language of the remedy be amended, and you've supplied ArbCom with more expansive language for them to adopt. So please don't pretend that you are merely asking a "specific and straightforward question" about the meaning of a previous remedy. You are seeking an amended and expanded remedy, and you are relying on a long list of "diffs and details." However, when I mention details that are not on your long list, you now accuse me of trying to play, distract, impugn, and muddy the waters. This is the kind of counterproductive wikilawyering that I referred to in my statement above, and I'm asking you politely to please ease up.[[User:Ferrylodge|Ferrylodge]] ([[User talk:Ferrylodge|talk]]) 03:17, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

*''Note'': A few minutes ago, Mastcell made [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abortion_and_mental_health&diff=193219816&oldid=193219195 this reversion]. I am totally flabbergasted. I do not understand it, see no justification for it, and feel compelled to mention it here. Please judge for yourselves.[[User:Ferrylodge|Ferrylodge]] ([[User talk:Ferrylodge|talk]]) 06:54, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

*''Response to Strider12'': While I appreciate Strider12's kind words, I do want to set the record straight a little bit. As I have explained,[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Abortion_and_mental_health&oldid=194035833#Please_clarify] I have not said that the secondary sources in question (''Science'', ''New York Times'', ''New Scientist'', or ''Washington Monthly'') are "unreliable" or "conflicted with the transcript". I have simply claimed that a quote from the hearing transcript will provide MORE info than is provided in those publications. I still believe that to be true, and still believe (as does Strider12) that the quote from the hearing transcript should clearly not have been removed from this Wikipedia article,[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abortion_and_mental_health&diff=193219816&oldid=193219195] because the quote provides further notable and neutral info, because it narrowly addresses the precise matter discussed by the secondary sources, because it is available for free at a reliable online source, and because it fully complies with Wikipedia rules regarding use of primary sources.[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AAbortion_and_mental_health&diff=193994035&oldid=193992002] Nor do I believe that it involves original research, or synthesis, or quote-mining, or POV, or any of the other nasty things that have been attributed to it.[[User:Ferrylodge|Ferrylodge]] ([[User talk:Ferrylodge|talk]]) 21:37, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

==== Statement by [[User:Zsero|Zsero]] ====
Regardless of whether this specific decision was meant to include talk pages, having looked at the edits to which Mastcell objects, I see nothing disruptive in them. Now I haven't been at all involved in the history of that page, so I don't know how it might seem to someone who is involved, but the essence of Mastcell's complaint seems to be that in making a perfectly valid edit, Ferrylodge cynically assumed that someone would revert it, and got his response in first, so to speak. Mastcell seems to be claiming that this lack of AGF was inherently disruptive, and that Ferrylodge was under an obligation to pretend that he expected his edit to be accepted in good grace, simply because it was true, and only to respond once it was in fact reverted. The fact that his prediction seems to have been fulfilled would seem to me to vindicate him. And in light of his past treatment, especially the lynch mob back in September (my disgust at how he was treated caused me to withdraw from WP for several months), I think he's entitled to anticipate opposition to anything he does on that page, however valid, and to defend his edits as if they had already been challenged. At least that's how it appears to this utterly uninvolved editor (I only knew about this action because I had Ferrylodge's talk page on my watch list from when I made an edit to it way back when). -- [[User:Zsero|Zsero]] ([[User talk:Zsero|talk]]) 23:31, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

==== Statement by [[User:NCdave|NCdave]] ====

Sorry for the late participation; I just noticed this.

Like Zsero, I also can see no evidence at all of disruptive editing by Ferrylodge. I went to Ferrylodge's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Ferrylodge contribs], and read more of his contributions for myself. I did not read them all -- he's been a ''very'' prolific contributor for several years, on many topics. But what I found was consistently careful, well-written, well-sourced information from a thoughtful and careful contributor who obviously knows what he's talking about. Ferrylodge has diligently sought to make constructive contributions, in the face of tendentious POV-pushing by MastCell, IronAngelAlice, and a few others.

Note that MastCell's ally, IronAngelAlice, is a one-topic editor who has a [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:IronAngelAlice&oldid=161865010 history] of abusive behavior using multiple accounts. Her [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Bremskraft previous ID] was permanently blocked for it, and this one was blocked for a week, but she's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/3RR#User:IronAngelAlice_reported_by_User:NCdave_.28Result:_.29 at it again].

MastCell is also [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/Strider12 trying] to get another excellent contributor, [[User:Strider12|Strider12]], banned. Strider12 and Ferrylodge are the two editors who have made the most constructive, well-sourced contributions to the abortion-related articles. I am truly appalled. [[User:NCdave|NCdave]] ([[User talk:NCdave|talk]]) 14:16, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

==== Statement by [[User:Strider12|Strider12]] ====
I'm hesitant to even comment as I'm afraid my "taking sides" will be used by MastCell to further her attacks on me. But, here I go...

I'm fairly new to Wikipedia and don't know any of the history of Ferrylodge or why s/he was banned. As I saw it, Ferrylodge did nothing except point out that the cited sources (from pro-choice leaning publications) conflicted with the transcript and invited others to comment and edit. But apparantly knowing Ferrylodge was under a ban, MastCell was quick to start alleging that he was being disruptive.

I can also say that I had asked on several occasions on the abortion mental health talk page what the full context of the Koop "miniscule" qoute was because it was out of sync with all the other published statements he had made. No one provided the full statement and question until Ferrylodge provided it. Therefore, I consider it a contribution.

But I was also unsurprised by MastCell's wikilawyering to minimize the significance of this proof that the phrase was actually used by Congressman Weiss and misattributed to Koop. In this case Ferrylodge was demonstrating from a primary source (congressional transcripts) that the secondary sources relied upon by MastCell were not reliable regarding this particular fact.

In many similar cases, when I have supplied material from reliable secondary sources, including multiple peer reviewed studies of the highest quality, MastCell and/or others encouraged by MastCell have deleted them with no justification other than that the findings and opinions of experts who disagree with their small set of preferred sources should not be included without their consent..."consensus"...which is never to be given. In my view, this unrelenting pattern of deleting reliable sources is a clear violation of the ArbCom ruling that removal of statements that are pertinent, sourced reliably, and written in a neutral style constitutes disruption [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Hkelkar#Removal_of_sourced_edits_made_in_a_neutral_narrative_is_disruptive 1]. In my view, it is MastCell and his/her cohorts whose deletes s/he defends, who is disruptively deleting material from this article.

It has been my experience that MastCell has a long history of trying to suppress my contributions regarding abortion and mental health, and most of this time there have been no abortion critics participating in the conversation except myself. My take on this complaint is that MastCell is upset that Ferrylodge came in with evidence that supported my concerns and that Ferrylodge appears to be a threat to his/her attempts to portray Srider12 as always wrong.

Fundamentally, this argument is not about editors or contributions, it is about the most contentious issue of the day, abortion, and the belief of some editors that any fact or source that does not contribute to the whitewash of the abortion/mental health effects is suspect and should be dismissed, minimized, or obstructed with demands for "consensus".--[[User:Strider12|Strider12]] ([[User talk:Strider12|talk]]) 21:07, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

==== Statement by [[User:Username|other user]] ====
<!-- Leave this section for others to add additional statements -->

==== Clerk notes ====
*By convention and long practice, the term "articles" in Arbitration cases should be read as "pages" meaning article, talk, wikiproject, template, and any other page. I happen to be otherwise occupied and taking a break from [[WP:AE]] for a while, but I would have no problem applying and enforcing the ban you propose. [[User talk:Thatcher|Thatcher]] 22:09, 21 February 2008 (UTC)
**Did you notice that Kirill said the opposite this morning in a different request for clarification? (Diff in my statement.) [[User:GRBerry|GRBerry]] 22:17, 21 February 2008 (UTC)
***I can probably find diffs that say the opposite, from various Arbitrators over the last 18 months. I can deal with either a broad interpretation or a narrow one, but having both is pretty annoying. If there were two alternative proposals for voting that differentiated between ''page'' and ''article'' that would be definitive, but I rather suspect it is due to imprecise drafting of the proposed decisions. I guess we either need a vote on this case or a general clarification of [[WP:AP|Arbitration policy]]. As far as I am concerned, narrowly limiting probation to ''articles'' invites just this sort of problem. [[User talk:Thatcher|Thatcher]] 22:24, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

==== Arbitrator views and discussion ====
*References to "any article" are generally meant to include talkpages. I will try to make sure that any ambiguity on this score is avoided in future decisions. Not commenting on the other issues as yet. [[User:Newyorkbrad|Newyorkbrad]] ([[User talk:Newyorkbrad|talk]]) 03:55, 22 February 2008 (UTC)
:: In the past, the term "articles" in a restriction has been ambiguously used to mean both mainspace article pages, and "any pages". In general therefore (and since disruption on a mainspace page can often move to disruption on a talk page or other related project page), the Committee is willing to look at replacing the term "any article" by "any page" in a ruling where this may have been the intent, or where it may be a better choice as an extension and clarification. It would usually be reasonable to check first the original evidence to see what type of conduct existed at the time, and whether it was likely to be the then-Arbitrators' intention that a ruling apply to only mainspace. But this is only one factor. Even if that was the decision then, it is open to amendment now. Cases only come to Arbitration if serious, and often therefore rulings have a certain degree of "end of dispute" intention to them. I haven't yet read the original case so this is basic guidance only for now. Basically, "as Newyorkbrad said". [[user:FT2|FT2]]&nbsp;<sup><span style="font-style:italic">([[User_talk:FT2|Talk]]&nbsp;|&nbsp;[[Special:Emailuser/FT2|email]])</span></sup> 19:31, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
----



=== Request for clarification: [[Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Digwuren|Digwuren]]===

==== Statement by [[User:Moreschi|Moreschi]] ====
I'm requesting clarification as regards [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Digwuren#RJ_CG this FoF] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Digwuren#Editors_warned this remedy]. I've just blocked said user, {{user5|RJ CG}} for edit-warring ''yet again''. Time for the "summary bans" bit to be enforced? [[User:Moreschi|Moreschi]] <sup> [[User:Moreschi/If|If you've written a quality article...]]</sup> 23:21, 8 February 2008 (UTC)
:Oh, that reminds me: if an arbitrator/checkuser with knowledge of the Estonian sock stable could figure out who on earth {{user5|84.50.127.105}}, also blocked for his part in the edit-war, actually is, this might be helpful. [[User:Moreschi|Moreschi]] <sup> [[User:Moreschi/If|If you've written a quality article...]]</sup> 23:43, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

==== Statement by [[User:Martintg]] ====
I see that Kirill is wishing to apply additional remedies from [[Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Palestine-Israel_articles]]. What's the scope? I don't think it is necessary in Estonia related articles, there has hardly been any activity, let alone disputes, with only [[User:RJ CG]] popping his head in briefly after a long break before being promptly blocked for two weeks for 3RR. As I said previously, Wikiproject Estonia has been chilled to the bone with most of the editors leaving the project, with no significant articles created or expanded, except for football it seems. I suppose if you are going to turn the screws even tighter, how about also adding:
*The applicable scope: Eastern Europe broadly defined, or just Estonia related articles?
*The definition of uninvolved admin for enforcement from that case as well [[Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Palestine-Israel_articles#Uninvolved_administrators]]
*Lifting of the ban for Digwuren. Nobody from either side wanted year long bans. Given Digwuren only joined around April 2007, had not been previously subjected any other genuine dispute resolution attempts before being taken to ArbCom (obviously Irpen's opinions carry a lot of weight with ArbCom), this newbie certainly has been bitten hard. We need at least ''one'' person from Estonia who can speak the language and ''willing'' to contribute meaningfully to articles.
Thanks. [[User:Martintg|Martintg]] ([[User talk:Martintg|talk]]) 06:18, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

====Statement by [[User:Biophys]] ====
Unlike Israeli-Palestinian conflict, "Eastern European subjects", are not clearly defined. Does this include ''every'' Russia-related topic, like Russia-China relations or Soviet intelligence operations in the United States? If we want to follow the "Israeli-Palestinian" remedy, the "conflict area" should be clearly defined, say "Russian-Polish" or "Russian-Estonian" conflicts. Anything that is not area of conflict (e.g. articles on Russian-Turkish subjects or internal Russian affairs) do not belong there. Could you please clarify which subjects are covered?[[User:Biophys|Biophys]] ([[User talk:Biophys|talk]]) 22:34, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

====Statement by [[User:Vecrumba]]====
I would like to know better what's being defined as the scope of applicability and what, if any, specific history of warnings is being proposed as moving sanctions to the "next level." My concern is that as the scope is expanded, "uninvolved" will also extend to "uninformed"--there has to be substantial awareness of editors' past histories in order to draw an objective judgement. If you just go by who accuses whom in the latest trail, it's quite possible that all that happens is a blanket conviction of the guilty and the innocent--if you come in on a fight, how do you know who started it? The notion that someone who is attacked is just going to sit and smile and assume good faith is only good for one round of edits; if an editor persists in behavior that is taken as an attack, the attacked editor(s) will respond and should not be held equally to blame for any escalation. —[[User:Vecrumba|PētersV]] ([[User talk:Vecrumba|talk]]) 00:35, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

: I would suggest a code of etiquette. I have debated (civilly) paid propaganda pushers by sticking to sources, so I know it is possible not to escalate into conflict. What has worked is...
:* ''Always stick to what a source says''. This is not as simple as it sounds, I've had to buy $150 sources (not even available at the library) just to prove they were being quoted correctly, literally, but being grossly misrepresented to push a patently false POV.
:* Corollary: ''Article content should be based on what sources say, not on what editors interpret sources to say.'' Editors have summarized content coming to different conclusions regarding content in characterizing reputable sources which <u>differ</u> from the <u>authors' own summaries</u> appearing within those self-same materials.
:* Corollary: ''Use the same terminology in the article as in reputable sources.'' For example, neither embellish nor dilute words such as "occupied." That "occupy" can be taken to be "accusatory" is irrelevant, if it is what the reputable source uses, that is what the Wikipedia article uses.
:* Discuss any major changes prior to making them, whether additions, modifications, or deletions. If consensus is not reached, the change is not made. If consensus is reached, then changes are implemented. Delete first, discuss later (in the area of articles where there is significant polarization of position or initial "disapprovals" are lodged by historically known antagonists) is looked upon as an act of bad faith, that is, preemptive removal of content without discussion or consensus is viewed as edit warring. —[[User:Vecrumba|PētersV]] ([[User talk:Vecrumba|talk]]) 22:42, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

====Statement by [[User:Relata refero]]====
I have recently stumbled across [[Denial of the Holodomor]], which I discovered while cleaning up [[Historical revisionism]], and am startled by the level of hostility and accusations of bad faith that seem to be acceptable in this area, even towards those manifestly uninvolved. I would like some firm statements adjuring editors to read and follow [[WP:OR]] and [[WP:AGF]], as well as some sense that adminstrators will be able to evaluate those who are 'involved' accurately, and that there will be some appealing of that judgment. [[User:Relata refero|Relata refero]] ([[User talk:Relata refero|talk]]) 18:12, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
:I'd like to add that I assume that the area of "conflict" is all those articles that have as their subjects the history and current status of the relations between Russia and the former states of the USSR/Warsaw Pact. [[User:Relata refero|Relata refero]] ([[User talk:Relata refero|talk]]) 18:14, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
::I'd mention regarding [[Denial of the Holodomor]] that several editors including myself were reprimanded when Gatoclass made some assertions which led to a degenerating spiral we could not escape from. All participants were "put on the list" by Thatcher. I disagreed with Thatcher's conclusion regarding my personal editorial conduct, however, I still prefer that to the alternative.
::&nbsp;&nbsp;You're only coming to the discussion there on what I think is its third round. I completely agree that the general "divide" is along versions of history which echo Sovietism and versions by the countries formerly subjugated under Sovietism. I say "versions" because basic facts are often in dispute, they are not "views" or "POVs" regarding a common set of facts or circumstances. —[[User:Vecrumba|PētersV]] ([[User talk:Vecrumba|talk]]) 19:49, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
It must be said that "stumbled across [[Denial of the Holodomor]]" consisted of [[User:Relata refero|Relata refero]] initially deleting huge sections of referenced content on February 12th from that article without first discussing the issues or obtaining consensus on the talk page. Not the best way to introduce one self to the other editors of any article, however [[User:Relata refero|Relata refero]]'s edit history only goes back to October 11, 2007, so perhaps it was inexperience. Despite this, the other editors have been exceedingly patient and civil with him/her. [[User:Martintg|Martintg]] ([[User talk:Martintg|talk]]) 20:15, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
:See what I mean?
:Yes, the article's one of the worst imaginable, and I acted on [[WP:BRD]]. About "exceedingly patient and civil"... wow. What a mess EE articles must be if someone thinks that was "exceedingly patient and civil". Strengthens the case for stringent restrictions, I'd say? [[User:Relata refero|Relata refero]] ([[User talk:Relata refero|talk]]) 20:31, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
:: Perhaps we can continue on the article page. It's only the "worst imaginable" partly because (I believe) you believe it is something in scope which it is not, so perhaps we can keep disparaging Q.E.D. remarks to article talk where editors would expect to find them to comment on them. :-) Was there '''bolding''' I missed? [[User:Vecrumba|PētersV]] ([[User talk:Vecrumba|talk]]) 22:02, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
:: <small>(''cross posted'' with additions)</small> Mass deletion of EE content is most typically (historically) associated with "I don't like it" edit wars, so I would ask editors to be sensitive to that and discuss prior to deletion, not delete as an act of improvement and then (appear to deign to) discuss. Because of past experiences, that sort of editorial conduct is looked upon as not acting in good faith. Generally speaking, EE article etiquette is to discuss major changes, additions, and deletions prior; to never impose what is written elsewhere in Wikipedia as a "model" or "standard" but to stick to sources, etc. —[[User:Vecrumba|PētersV]] ([[User talk:Vecrumba|talk]]) 22:26, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
:::<small>Even unreliable ones...
:::We shouldn't make excuses for departures from core Wikipedia policies, but look for ways to enforce them. [[User:Relata refero|Relata refero]] ([[User talk:Relata refero|talk]]) 23:40, 23 February 2008 (UTC)</small>

==== Clerk notes ====

==== Arbitrator views and discussion ====
I have read this but am recusing from commenting due to my involvement in that case. I will ask the others to look over this. --[[User:Deskana|Deskana]] <small>[[User talk:Deskana|(talk)]]</small> 10:44, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

In this case, comment is probably best given in the first instance by arbitrators who were active when that case was being heard. Deferring to othes to clarify the above. [[user:FT2|FT2]]&nbsp;<sup><span style="font-style:italic">([[User_talk:FT2|Talk]]&nbsp;|&nbsp;[[Special:Emailuser/FT2|email]])</span></sup> 23:40, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

:The "summary bans" bit predates some of the more useful methods we've developed since then; I'd prefer not to funnel everything through a bottleneck by having the Committee do everything itself, but rather to take the standard approach we've used for other conflict areas recently. See my motion below. [[User:Kirill Lokshin|Kirill]] 13:55, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

I am recusing myself due to my prior involvement as an administrator. -- [[User:FayssalF|<font size="2px" face="Verdana"><font color="DarkSlateBlue">FayssalF</font></font>]] - <small>[[User talk:FayssalF|<font style="background: gold"><sup>''Wiki me up''® </sup></font>]]</small> 04:30, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

==== Proposed motions and voting ====

Motion:
:The general restriction in the Digwuren case is replaced with the following:
::1) Discretionary sanctions
::Any uninvolved administrator may, on his or her own discretion, impose sanctions on any editor working in the area of conflict if, despite being warned, that editor repeatedly or seriously fails to adhere to the purpose of Wikipedia, any expected standards of behavior, or any normal editorial process. The sanctions imposed may include blocks of up to one year in length; bans from editing any page or set of pages within the area of conflict; bans on any editing related to the topic or its closely related topics; restrictions on reverts or other specified behaviors; or any other measures which the imposing administrator believes are reasonably necessary to ensure the smooth functioning of the project.
::Prior to any sanctions being imposed, the editor in question shall be given a warning with a link to this decision; and, where appropriate, should be counseled on specific steps that he or she can take to improve his or her editing in accordance with relevant policies and guidelines.
::In determining whether to impose sanctions on a given user and which sanctions to impose, administrators should use their judgment and balance the need to [[Wikipedia:Assume good faith|assume good faith]] and [[Wikipedia:Please do not bite the newcomers|avoid biting genuinely inexperienced editors]], and the desire to allow responsible contributors maximum freedom to edit, with the need to reduce edit-warring and misuse of Wikipedia as a battleground, so as to create an acceptable collaborative editing environment even on our most contentious articles. Editors wishing to edit in these areas are advised to edit carefully, to adopt Wikipedia's communal approaches (including appropriate conduct, [[Wikipedia:Dispute resolution|dispute resolution]], [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|neutral point of view]], [[Wikipedia:No original research|no original research]] and [[Wikipedia:Verifiability|verifiability]]) in their editing, and to amend behaviors that are deemed to be of concern by administrators. An editor unable or unwilling to do so may wish to restrict their editing to other topics, in order to avoid sanctions.

::2) Appeal of discretionary sanctions
:: [[#Discretionary sanctions|Discretionary sanctions]] imposed under the provisions of this decision may be appealed to the imposing administrator, the appropriate administrators' noticeboard (currently [[WP:AE]]), or the Committee. Administrators are cautioned not to reverse such sanctions without familiarizing themselves with the full facts of the matter and engaging in extensive discussion and consensus-building at the administrators' noticeboard or another suitable on-wiki venue. The Committee will consider appropriate remedies including suspension or revocation of adminship in the event of violations.

::3) Other provisions
:: This shall not affect any sanctions already imposed under the old remedies. All sanctions imposed under these provisions are to be logged at [[Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Digwuren#Log of blocks and bans.]]
'''Support''':
:# I remain convinced that this is the best solution, at least until the working group develops something more useful. [[User:Kirill Lokshin|Kirill]] 13:55, 21 February 2008 (UTC)
:# Support. This is more helpful to those who find themselves involved in editing disputes over Eastern Europe, whether as participant or administrator. [[User:Sam Blacketer|Sam Blacketer]] ([[User talk:Sam Blacketer|talk]]) 21:15, 22 February 2008 (UTC)
:#: <s>Support</s> so as to conform the rules for discretionary sanctions in this area to the ones we have developed in more recent cases, and without prejudice to any steps we might take later based on recommendations of the working group. [[User:Newyorkbrad|Newyorkbrad]] ([[User talk:Newyorkbrad|talk]]) 17:39, 1 March 2008 (UTC) Marting reminds me on my talk that some of his points from above have not been addressed. Would urge that the motion be clarified to address them. [[User:Newyorkbrad|Newyorkbrad]] ([[User talk:Newyorkbrad|talk]]) 20:41, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
:# --[[User:Jpgordon|jpgordon]]<sup><small>[[User talk:Jpgordon|&#8711;&#8710;&#8711;&#8710;]]</small></sup> 18:20, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

'''Oppose''':
:#

'''Abstain''':
:#

----

Latest revision as of 03:40, 31 January 2023

A request for arbitration is the last step of dispute resolution for conduct disputes on Wikipedia. The Arbitration Committee considers requests to open new cases and review previous decisions. The entire process is governed by the arbitration policy. For information about requesting arbitration, and how cases are accepted and dealt with, please see guide to arbitration.

To request enforcement of previous Arbitration decisions or discretionary sanctions, please do not open a new Arbitration case. Instead, please submit your request to /Requests/Enforcement.

This page transcludes from /Case, /Clarification and Amendment, /Motions, and /Enforcement.

Please make your request in the appropriate section:

Requests for arbitration


Requests for clarification and amendment

Amendment request: Conduct in deletion-related editing

Initiated by Cunard at 05:48, 30 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Case or decision affected
Conduct in deletion-related editing arbitration case (t) (ev / t) (w / t) (pd / t)
Clauses to which an amendment is requested
  1. Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Conduct in deletion-related editing#TenPoundHammer topic banned (1)


List of any users involved or directly affected, and confirmation that all are aware of the request
Confirmation that all parties are aware of the request
Information about amendment request


Statement by Cunard

Previous discussions

This was previously discussed in an amendment request closed on 20 April 2024 and on Wikipedia talk:Arbitration/Requests.

Background

Before the 2 August 2022 deletion topic ban, TenPoundHammer nominated numerous articles for proposed deletion and articles for deletion. He also redirected numerous articles in 2022. This link shows the last 500 redirects he did before the 2 August 2022 topic ban. If you search for the text "Tags: New redirect Reverted" on the page, there are 189 results. At least 189 of the redirects he did between April 2022 and July 2022 were reverted.

TenPoundHammer resumed the actions that led me to create Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive1101#TenPoundHammer: prods and AfDs, which was closed as "This matter has been escalated to the arbitration committee, which has opened a full case at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Conduct in deletion-related editing on this and other related matters" and is cited as "June 2022 ANI" in this finding of fact.

Evidence

I started a talk page discussion with TenPoundHammer on 2 March 2024 about TenPoundHammer's blanking and redirecting of Monkey-ed Movies (link), Skating's Next Star (link), Monkey Life (link), 2 Minute Drill (game show) (link), and Monsters We Met (link) for lacking sources. I was able to find sources for these articles so reverted the redirects and added the sources. I asked TenPoundHammer to stop blanking and redirecting articles as it was leading to notable topics no longer having articles.

TenPoundHammer continued to redirect articles on notable topics. Between 11 March 2024 and 16 March 2024, TenPoundHammer redirected 18 articles. Of those 18 articles, 14 were about television series (a topic I focus on): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14. After spending many hours searching for sources, I reverted all 14 redirects and added sources to all 14 articles. For several of the topics (such as Queer Eye for the Straight Girl and Dice: Undisputed), sources could be easily found with a Google search.

Between 20 March 2024 and 21 March 2024, TenPoundHammer redirected three book articles (another topic I focus on): 1, 2, and 3. I reverted the three redirects and added book reviews.

Between 20 March 2024 and 21 March 2024, TenPoundHammer redirected 33 articles. Almost all of those redirects are in the music topic area which I do not focus on. I am concerned about the large number of redirects of topics that could be notable.

On 12 April 2024, TenPoundHammer redirected the television show Las Vegas Garden of Love with the edit summary "unsourced since 2010, time to lose it". I found sources for the article and reverted the redirect. I found two of the sources (The New York Times and Variety) on the first page of a Google search for "Las Vegas Garden of Love ABC". TenPoundHammer previously prodded this same article in May 2022, and another editor contested that prodding ("contest PROD, nom nominated 200 articles in a single day so it's impossible a BEFORE was done for each").

Analysis

Wikipedia:Fait accompli is an applicable principle. Reviewing this volume of redirects consumes substantial editor time. The redirects are leading to numerous notable topics no longer having articles. The redirects prevent the topics from undergoing community review at AfD, which TenPoundHammer is topic banned from.

Blank-and-redirects get significantly less attention than prods and AfDs. Television-related prods and AfDs are listed at Wikipedia:WikiProject Deletion sorting/Television and Wikipedia:WikiProject Television/Article alerts. But blank-and-redirects are not listed anywhere.

It is unclear to me whether the existing topic ban includes proposing articles for deletion. I recommend that the topic ban be expanded to prohibit both proposing articles for deletion and blanking and redirecting pages since there is previous disruptive editing in both areas where he has prodded or redirected a large number of articles about notable topics. This remedy does something similar for a different editor in the same arbitration case.

Here are quotes from three arbitrators about the topic ban in the 2022 proposed decision regarding the redirects and and proposed deletion:

  1. "... This TBAN also fails to remedy the issues that appear to be evident with the use of redirects (see Artw's evidence for examples)." (link)

    "... Missing PROD was not intentional on my part but that also can be added." (link)

  2. "First choice, and my interpretation is that this should extend to PROD, given the evidence, even though it seems like a stretch to call most PRODs a discussion. ..." (link)
  3. "First choice, extend to PROD." (link)

Cunard (talk) 05:48, 30 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Blank-and-redirects get significantly less attention than prods and AfDs since they are not listed on article alerts or deletion sorting. The suspended topic ban motion would put the onus on editors to frequently review Special:Contributions/TenPoundHammer to determine whether the disruptive blank-and-redirects have continued rather than put the onus on TenPoundHammer to make a convincing appeal in the future that the disruptive blank-and-redirects won't continue. I do not want to frequently review TenPoundHammer's contributions as it is time-consuming and leads to responses like this. The disruptive blank-and-redirects happened in 2022 and continued during TenPoundHammer's topic ban appeal. Redirects continued as recently as 6 May here and here, one with an edit summary ("Obvious") that doesn't make it clear that a blank-and-redirect happened. There is no recognition in TenPoundHammer's response here that the blank-and-redirects have been disruptive.
The motion does not address proposed deletions. TenPoundHammer wrote "I assumed I was already topic-banned from PRODding articles", while an arbitrator wrote in the topic ban appeal, "I can't see that the current restriction applies to CSD or PROD and nor does this one." I hope that this amendment request can address the status of proposed deletions as it would be best not to need an additional clarification request asking about that.
I would prefer a motion that adds blank-and-redirects and proposed deletions to the existing topic ban rather than a suspended topic ban. Cunard (talk) 05:33, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Primefac wrote, "some like Cunard may feel that any BLAR is too much". This is inaccurate as I routinely do blank-and-redirects without prior discussion. BLARs become disruptive when an editor continues doing numerous controversial BLARs despite being asked to stop. The BLARs are controversial because many of the topics are notable and sources can be found on the first page of a Google search.
Regarding "repeatedly asking for the hammer to be dropped until they get their desired response", I raised the conduct issue in the topic ban appeal amendment request, but arbitrators did not substantively discuss it. The discussion at Wikipedia talk:Arbitration/Requests indicated that my filing a new amendment request would not have been considered a duplicate. The arbitrators' responses here generally have not called this a duplicate request. Cunard (talk) 07:53, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by TenPoundHammer

I assumed I was already topic-banned from PRODding articles, so I don't know why that was brought up. (Similarly, I don't know what the ruling is on deprodding but it's historically not been an issue for me, and I personally don't think it would be fair to deny me a chance to say "hey, wait, I can fix this".) Speed has been an issue, as has blunt edit summaries when I redirect something. Lately when I feel there is little to no content to merge, I try to spell out my WP:BEFORE steps in the edit summary when I redirect. I also generally don't unlink the page, to save the hassle if someone like Cunard comes along to revert my redirect and dump in some sources. One reason I don't try to initiate merger discussion is because no matter how hard I try, no one ever seems to respond. Witness Talk:Regis_Philbin#Proposed_merge_of_Joy_Philbin_into_Regis_Philbin, which opened two months ago and has had several reminders, but not a single person has lifted a finger. How long is that discussion going to gather dust? "There is no deadline" doesn't mean "do nothing and hope the problem somehow fixes itself". If I am to be topic-banned from WP:BLARing, then how can I get some action going in merger discussions? Since again, every fucking time I try, nobody acts like I'm even there -- but then two seconds after I give in and finally merge/redirect the damn thing, someone swoops in to revert me. I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. Ten Pound Hammer(What did I screw up now?) 23:29, 4 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Star Mississippi

I am Involved here. TPH and I came up together on this project and occasionally ran into one another on country talk pages although it has been some time since we substantively interacted. I also have the utmost respect for Cunard's research at AfD in that they not only say "sources exist" but find and annotate them for participants to assess. This is especially helpful personally in east Asian language sourcing. That said, Cunard's case here is strong. TPH sees it as their duty to clean up the project, but I don't think their strong feelings are backed by our policies, nor is there a pressing need to remove this content. The project will not collapse and these are mostly not BLPs. If they are, someone else can handle it. I believe TPH's topic ban should be expanded to include BLAR which is a form of deletion. I have no strong feelings on PROD personally. Star Mississippi 01:17, 1 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

S Marshall

Suggest:

  • TPH may not redirect more than one article per day.
  • TPH may not PROD more than one article per day.
  • For the purposes of this restriction a "day" refreshes at midnight UTC.

Statement by Jclemens

  • Support expanding the topic ban to BLARs. I really wanted to not do this, but TPH's comments above are very much in WP:IDHT territory. While editors are absolutely allowed to focus on specific aspects of the encyclopedia and its processes, TPH has been here long enough that using Google to assess for sources per BEFORE and including them (even perfunctorily on the talk page for others to edit into the article) rather than redirecting clearly notable topics is a reasonable expectation. Again, BEFORE-ish behavior is neither required nor expected outside TPH's self-chosen context of encyclopedic cleanup. Because using BLARs for deletion is a semi-end-run around the existing topic ban, expecting BEFORE behavior is not a too-restrictive burden. The fact is, TPH has been found to have used other deletion processes without appropriate discretion, and is now shown to have been doing the same thing using a different process. Again, this is not a novel problem, but a topic-banned user who is skating as close as possible to the topic ban and displaying ongoing problematic behavior. Jclemens (talk) 03:08, 5 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Re: Billed Mammal: This is not a proposal for a general rule. This is a note that TPH has been engaging in less-than-optimal deletion conduct that, had he continued to engage in it over time, could result in a topic ban, in fact did, and TPH has continued to engage in deletion-like behavior within the limits of that topic ban. I'll note that BLAR notes If editors cannot agree, the content issues should be discussed at the relevant talk page, and other methods of dispute resolution should be used, such as restoring the article and nominating the article for Wikipedia:Articles for deletion. Since TPH is topic banned from AfD, nominating contested BLARs for deletion is off the table. Jclemens (talk) 20:31, 5 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by BilledMammal

TPH has been here long enough that using Google to assess for sources per BEFORE and including them (even perfunctorily on the talk page for others to edit into the article) rather than redirecting clearly notable topics is a reasonable expectation.

While a WP:BEFORE search may be a good idea, it isn’t one that there is a consensus to require - and it is one that there shouldn’t be a consensus to require until we place similar requirements, retroactively applying, on the creation of articles.

Wikipedia:Fait accompli is an applicable principle.

If we’re going to apply FAIT to the deletion of articles we need to first - and retroactively - apply it to their creation, otherwise we will have a situation where massive numbers of articles have been created in violation of FAIT but are almost impossible to address.

Further, I’m not convinced this is a FAIT issue; addressing previous FAIT issues is not itself a FAIT violation, even if done at a similar scale and rate.

Statement by Flatscan

The arbitrators may like to consider the itemized wording of another user's topic ban (linked in Cunard's request) or TenPoundHammer topic banned (2) (did not pass). They both call out article redirection explicitly.

Regarding WP:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive974#TenPoundHammer (2018 community topic ban, linked by Maxim), its closing statement does not mention redirects, and the closer clarified them as excluded within a few weeks.

I found four related diffs – none involving redirects – in Special:PageHistory/Wikipedia:Editing restrictions/Placed by the Wikipedia community. They are consistent with WP:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Conduct in deletion-related editing/Evidence#TenPoundHammer has been subject to ANI discussion on multiple occasions.

  1. Enacted January 2018
  2. Exception added February 2018
  3. Reduced/replaced August 2018
  4. Removed October 2019

Redirecting a page is not deletion.

Flatscan (talk) 04:26, 13 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by {other-editor}

Other editors are free to make relevant comments on this request as necessary. Comments here should address why or why not the Committee should accept the amendment request or provide additional information.

Conduct in deletion-related editing: Clerk notes

This area is used for notes by the clerks (including clerk recusals).

Conduct in deletion-related editing: Arbitrator views and discussion

  • I find the examples of WP:BLAR that Cunard presents to be troubling forms of deletion when taken in the full context. Cunard often presents more obscure sources or coverage that can be rather short but that is certainly not the case with several of the examples shown here. As noted in the case WP:BEFORE is not required but considered good practice when the main concern is lack of notability or sources. but for this editor, with this past, the lack of BEFORE when some high quality sourcing was available strikes me as an issue. Barkeep49 (talk) 04:02, 6 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • TenPoundHammer was topic banned because of disruptive behavior in AfD discussions as well as issues around the closing of discussions. While Cunard has presented a not-unreasonable concern that TPH might not be the best at finding sources for articles, I am not seeing any major issues with conduct around the blank-and-redirect issue; redirects that have been reverted tend to stay reverted, without evidence of argument or backlash. These redirects also appear to be made in good faith. In other words, I do not think we are at the point where the BLAR activity by TenPoundHammer has reached a "disruptive editing" or "conduct-unbecoming" level that would require further sanctions. Primefac (talk) 13:19, 6 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • I would support expanding the topic ban --Guerillero Parlez Moi 20:53, 8 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • I'm sympathetic to Primefac's analysis, but I draw a different conclusion. There is an existing topic ban from deletion discussions, and while it is not explicitly "broadly construed", and nor does blanking and redirect truly fall under "discussion", I think there is a reasonable concern raised to do with TenPoundHammer and the deletion process. In a different context, I would be more amenable to treating the situation as not-quite-yet disruptive editing or conduct unbecoming, but considering the existing topic ban, as well as a previous community sanction to ban TenPoundHammer from all deletion activities, I'm in favour of expanding the topic ban, potentially to cover deletion activities similarly to the community sanction. Maxim (talk) 15:22, 12 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Motion: TenPoundHammer suspended topic ban for blank-and-redirecting (BLARing)

TenPoundHammer (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) is indefinitely topic banned from removing all content in an article and replacing it with a redirect (commonly known as a blank-and-redirect, or BLAR). This topic ban will be suspended for a period of 12 months. This topic ban may be unsuspended and imposed onto TenPoundHammer if disruption by BLARing restarts, as determined by any of: (1) a consensus of administrators on WP:AE, (2) at least two arbitrators indicating "support" to unsuspend at WP:ARCA, with no opposition from other arbitrators indicated up to 48 hours after the second support, or (3) a majority of active arbitrators at WP:ARCA if there is opposition as indicated in condition 2. After 12 months, if it has not been imposed, the topic ban will be automatically lifted.

For this motion there are 9 active arbitrators. With 0 arbitrators abstaining, 5 support or oppose votes are a majority.

Support (TenPoundHammer suspended topic ban motion)
  1. No concerns with Barkeep's change in wording. In case it wasn't clear before, I support this motion. Z1720 (talk) 03:58, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Support - I generally don't like complicated sanctions, but the evidence presented does suggest an issue needing resolution, and jumping straight to an active TBAN doesn't seem warranted. - Aoidh (talk) 11:04, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Per my comment below. Moneytrees🏝️(Talk) 02:12, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Per my comments elsewhere in this discussion. Barkeep49 (talk) 15:08, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  5. --Guerillero Parlez Moi 15:44, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose (TenPoundHammer suspended topic ban motion)
Abstain (TenPoundHammer suspended topic ban motion)
General comments (TenPoundHammer suspended topic ban motion)
  • This has been posted here for a long time, and I want to get this moving. TPH seems to have stopped the WP:BLARing behaviour that led to the disruption, as the last instance I can find is May 4. However, I would like to propose a motion to get this closed but also allow for a faster response if this happens again. The idea for this type of motion was suggested by another arbitrator, so I cannot take credit for it:

Other arbitrators feel free to modify the wording or to propose another motion below. Z1720 (talk) 03:58, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I know I said it above but I am not at a point where a sanction is necessary. There is also the issue of deciding what "disruption by BLARing" means; some like Cunardeditors may feel that any BLAR is too much, where editors like myself may find the current non-response to reverted BLARing to be a perfectly acceptable part of the BOLD editing process. I also do not know if we should open the door for someone repeatedly asking for the hammer to be dropped until they get their desired response. Primefac (talk) 14:41, 28 May 2024 (UTC) Updated, unfair to Cunard to call them out like this. Primefac (talk) 08:22, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I've done some wordsmithing here. I think I can live with this restriction on this editor given their track record with deletion and related processes (which I see as including BLAR). Barkeep49 (talk) 15:36, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think this a proportionate sanction and am willing to support it. I think some of the provided examples aren't completely damning-- I have some more expertise in music and I would say the majority of the redirects done for non-notable low charting singles and comps make sense, but there's enough questionable ones all in all to impose this given the history. My advice to TPH would be to practice merging more-- for example, I think that a redirect of Dice: Undisputed-- a minor reality TV series-- to the biography of Clay is reasonable if the cited sources were used to contextualize it within his biography. Moneytrees🏝️(Talk) 04:13, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Amendment request: Article titles and capitalisation

Initiated by HouseBlaster at 02:23, 13 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Case or decision affected
Article titles and capitalisation arbitration case (t) (ev / t) (w / t) (pd / t)
Clauses to which an amendment is requested
  1. § Contentious topic designation


List of any users involved or directly affected, and confirmation that all are aware of the request


Information about amendment request
  • Split into two separate CTOP designations


Statement by HouseBlaster

The Manual of Style and Article title policy are jointly authorized contentious topics. Speaking for myself, I have {{Contentious topics/aware|mos}} on my talk page, because I was (and am) aware that the MOS is a CTOP. I was unaware until earlier today that article titles are also a CTOP bundled with the MOS CTOP, even though I was technically aware of the article title CTOP.

It seems that others are also unaware (in the conventional sense) that article titles are CTOPICs; at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case#Persistent WP:IDONTLIKEIT behavior in WP:NCROY discussions it was about three days and 26KB of discussion before Guerrillero pointed out that article titles are already designated as a CTOP.

The MOS and article titles are related, but distinct, issues. I think they should be split into seperate CTOPs to reflect the fact that they are distinct issues. HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 02:23, 13 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding giv[ing] administrators an awful lot of discretion, I think that is the point of CTOPs: they give a lot of discretion to admins in areas that have historically been problematic. If admins abuse that discretion, that is a separate problem. We already have at least one CTOP (infoboxes) which covers particular discussions about an article rather than the article itself. HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 15:21, 13 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Regarding Barkeep's comment, I should have been aware (in the conventional sense) that I was indicating AWAREness of article titles. That was completely my mistake. However, I still find it strange that this is a double-topic CTOP, and it is weird that I have to notify people who have never interacted with the MOS about its designation as a CTOP because they are involved in a dispute concerning article titles (or vice versa). HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 15:27, 13 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Extraordinary Writ

Splitting the remedy is probably more trouble than it's worth. But while we're here: there hasn't been a logged sanction under this case since 2020, and that's probably because its scope is so narrow that most title- or MOS-related disruption isn't covered. Honestly there's a strong argument for just repealing it altogether, although the timing may not be right for that. An alternative would be to expand it to include RMs and the like (certainly there have been plenty of issues there), but that would give administrators an awful lot of discretion. The status quo of having the CTOP cover just the policy/guideline pages (which are often less contentious than the RMs) doesn't really make sense to me, though, and the lack of use suggests it's not doing much of value. Extraordinary Writ (talk) 03:13, 13 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by SarekOfVulcan

I would oppose splitting them, because the application of the MOS guidelines to the article titles policy was a large part of the controversy that caused me to file the case in the first place. See also Comet Hale–Bopp. --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 18:48, 20 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by {other-editor}

Other editors are free to make relevant comments on this request as necessary. Comments here should address why or why not the Committee should accept the amendment request or provide additional information.

Article titles and capitalisation: Clerk notes

This area is used for notes by the clerks (including clerk recusals).

Article titles and capitalisation: Arbitrator views and discussion

  • FWIW, I'm not actually sure that the sanction from 2020 qualified under the scope of these sanctions. I would ping the admin who placed them but that admin is me (I thought they did at the time but have since come to doubt that). That said I've resisted including these when we've proposed areas to rescind because I know controversey remains. So where that leaves us here, I'm not sure, other than I wouldn't want to split them. In terms of not understanding their scope, the awareness template mentions Manual of Style and Article Topics so I think understanding that scope matters for the person saying their aware? Barkeep49 (talk) 14:44, 13 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • I agree with Extraordinary Writ that splitting this CTOP is more trouble than it is worth. I would be willing to rescind the CTOP for article titles, as MOS pretty much covers the same territory. If there is still controversy in this area as Barkeep suggests, then it seems like the CTOP is not addressing the concerns if it is not being used. Z1720 (talk) 18:43, 20 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • If it's an issue of the wording of the CTOP being ambiguous then that should be clarified, but the MoS and the Wikipedia:Article titles policy both are similar enough that I don't think they need to be split. If there's evidence that the scope isn't working that should be addressed by expanding or narrowing it. - Aoidh (talk) 03:58, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • I agree with what Aoidh has said-- I understand why this was filed and the rationale for splitting them, but I think it might overcomplicate things. I think this is a useful CT regime to have otherwise, but I'm open to amending it if there's evidence of issues with the application/scope. Moneytrees🏝️(Talk) 03:36, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Clarification request: Extended confirmed restriction

There is a consensus among active arbitrators that the close of the conduct discussion was correct given that the initator did not have extended confirmed and the discussion fell with-in an extended confirmed restriction topic area. Barkeep49 (talk) 15:16, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

Initiated by Ivanvector at 13:20, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Case or decision affected
WP:ARBECR

List of any users involved or directly affected, and confirmation that all are aware of the request:

Confirmation that all parties are aware of the request

Statement by Ivanvector

This request concerns the extended confirmed restriction and its applicability to complaints about user conduct within an affected topic.

A few days ago, editor BugGhost initiated a complaint at ANI regarding editor PicturePerfect666's conduct in discussions at Talk:Eurovision Song Contest 2024 (ANI permalink). The complaint was entirely focused on PicturePerfect666's allegedly tendentious conduct with regard to information critical of Israel's participation in the song contest, reflective of real-world criticism and activism regarding Israel's ongoing invasion of Palestine. BugGhost specifically asked that PicturePerfect666 be topic banned. Since BugGhost is not extendedconfirmed, and the complaint entirely concerns conduct within that topic, I advised that the complaint could not proceed, but made no comment on its merit.

My rationale for closing is that non-extendedconfirmed editors are not permitted to edit in topics where ARBECR has been imposed in good faith, other than talk page edit requests, therefore (in my view) since a conduct complaint is not an edit request, it is not permitted for non-extendedconfirmed editors to file them regarding conduct within the topic, nor to comment on them. On this I would like clarification, because I agree with some implicit criticism on my talk page that it is unreasonable.

I have listed Valereee as a party because she added the contentious topics notice to the talk page on 28 December 2023 (diff), but she is not involved at all in the incidents described. PicturePerfect666 and BugGhost should be self-explanatory, and Yoyo360 is an extendedconfirmed editor who asked about "adopting" (my words) BugGhost's complaint.

-- Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 13:20, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Sean.hoyland is referring to an earlier ANI filing which is also related to this same situation. An administrator not named here removed one comment by a non-EC editor from the Eurovision talk page. Seeing this, PicturePerfect666 then took it upon themselves to remove other comments from non-EC editors; Yoyo360 objected to one of their comments being removed, and that led PicturePerfect666 to file the complaint that Sean.hoyland is referring to. At the time that I reviewed that ANI complaint, Yoyo360 had 491 edits on this wiki (and as I mentioned, roughly 25,000 on French Wikipedia) and there were no other issues with their edits besides technically violating ARBECR, so it seemed to me that a reasonable way to resolve the complaint was to grant the clearly experienced editor EC "early". Had I not done so they would have been automatically granted EC by the software with 9 more edits, which they achieved later that day anyway. I don't think that this is relevant to the clarification request. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 20:16, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
BugGhost is very clearly a new user interested in contributing to Wikipedia in good faith, even if we don't assume they are (which is still a policy by the way). We told them that they can't edit the topic they're interested in (a music competition, of all things) until they have 500 edits. They accepted that and went off to find something else to do, and now we're saying "oh, those 500 edits aren't the right kind of edits, do 500 more". And their response to that is still not complaining, they're just asking what they can do better. Well, what is it, then? Or are we just going to let them flail about the project for a while until they ask again and we still say no? How many more edits are we going to demand before we accept that they're here to contribute? How long before their already exemplary patience runs out, and they decide Wikipedia isn't worth the effort? What is the point of this exercise if it's not moving the goalposts just so that a genuinely interested new user can't participate? And for what? ECR is meant to prevent disruption, just like all of our enforcement mechanisms; our rules are not meant to be enforced just because they exist, and no rule should exist in the first place if it's only used to gatekeep portions of the encyclopedia to users we individually approve. This policing of new users' edits isn't teaching anyone anything other than that Wikipedia hates new users, and it's doing far more harm to the project than any newbie with a spellchecker has ever done nor will do.
@Bugghost: I am sorry for my role in this pointless focus on your edit count overshadowing your genuine complaint about an (allegedly) properly disruptive user. You're not the problem here. The Wikipedia that I've given nearly 15 years to is better than this, and it will be there waiting for you on the other side. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 18:39, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Valereee

Statement by PicturePerfect666

Statement by Bugghost

As the newbie here that this request is concerning, I'm not completely certain what kind of comment is expected of me here, so I apologise if anything I say is irrelevant or out of scope.

Before writing the AN/I, I looked at the ARBECR guidelines and didn't see any wording that said that my filing was against the spirit of it. My interpretation was that AN/I wasn't a page related to any specific contentious topic, and the filing I was making was about a specific user's conduct, not about the contentious topic itself, and so it wasn't against the spirit of the restriction. I still stand by that - I made sure that my filing did not in any way weigh in on arguments of the related contentious topic at hand, just the behaviour of the user as shown by their edits. My filing was neutral on the contentious topic itself, without editorialising and without any discussion of assumed motive behind the behaviour - only their edits were brought forward.

A consequence from this closure is that raising an AN/I about someone who is being disruptive on a contentious issue is harder than raising an AN/I about someone who is being disruptive on a non-contentious issue. If PicturePerfect666's disruptive behaviour on the Eurovision page was instead about a different topic (say, the Dutch entrant's surprise disqualification), then an AN/I filing from myself would have gone ahead, because that part of the page is not under the ARBECR. But seeing as they were disruptive about a contentious issue, they have been able to deflect my concerns - which seems counter to the ARBECR's aims of reducing disruption on contentious topics.

I think that the ARBECR is a good idea but can be hard to interpret, and has the ability to dismiss reasonable well intentioned actions. In my view, it can contradict the "assume good faith" mantra, as assumption that I filed the AN/I accurately and in good faith was "trumped" by the fact my edit count being too low. As I said on IvanVector's talk page, I spent a long amount of time compiling a long list of the user's disruptive behaviour for the filing, including very specific diffs to outline each example, and it being dismissed based wholly on my edit count was very demoralising. As backed up by Yoyo360 suggestion to "adopt" it, the AN/I has some merits worth considering. BugGhost🎤 16:07, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

RE: @Bishonen's gaming concerns - I have been doing typo fixing recently, but it's worth noting that I started doing this on the 24th of May (not on the 19th, the day I received the EC notification, as was suggested). After I received the EC notification, I simply stopped interacting with the Eurovision talk page, as was suggested by the admin that posted it, and focused on my editing priorities (mainly the WPF article, as @Novem Linguae mentioned in their comment - which is where I have spent the vast majority of my time as an editor, far more than Eurovision or typo-fixing).
I want to stress that I have been doing these typo changes as a real task and in good faith. It's true that before this I hadn't done any large-scale spelling based changes, but as a relatively new user, I have been doing a lot of "firsts" recently.
I wasn't doing these changes in secret - I added this mission to my userpage, added it to the adopt-a-typo page, have suggested a page with 'pre-determined' in the title to be moved, and gave advice to a new editor who was prone to typos. I was under the impression that this was a regular Wikipedia-editor task, based on the adopt-a-typo page, the wikignome page, and seeing other editors with repeated spell-checking edits in their user contribs.
I know how this will sound given the circumstances, but I actually stopped doing typo changes yesterday (when I was at roughly 450 edits) because I thought if I hit 500 while this situation was happening it would only complicate matters, and went back to slower-paced editing instead in order to not become extended confirmed. I also have no desperate need to hit 500, because PP666 has not been disruptive since the AN/I was filed, and it sounds like Yoyo360 would have "re-raised" my AN/I whether I became EC or not, and overall the Eurovision page is solving the disruption problems without any input from me. I started typo-fixing after the point "gaming the system" would have been useful to me.
Regarding whether "pre-determined" is a typo - I researched it to double check prior to fixing, and found multiple sources implying that it should be unhyphenated as one word [1] [2], and similarly for "pre-suppose", as the rule (as I understand), is that you hyphenate "pre-" only when the following word begins with an E or I sound, or if it's a new compound not itself in the dictionary (eg. "pre-dinner snack"). I do 100% understand Bishonen's concerns though, and seeing as there's questions about my motives, and whether it's even a typo, I won't resume these edits until I get some go-ahead that it's ok to do.
BugGhost🪲👻 15:34, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Yoyo360

I don't have much to add actually. I don't edit much on wiki:en, I'm mostly watching the talk pages of the Eurovision wikiproject to inspire me on the French-language counterpart (which is quasi inactive). I only come in when discussions have relevance for topics I also could add on wiki:fr and I noticed PP666 behaviour in the past weeks. I concur with everything BugGhost noted in their AN/I, they argued the case way better than I ever could. Noticing the topic had been closed due to the extended confirmed restrictions, I put myself forward to push the AN/I to be treated (as I now have the EC status on wiki:en) asking if it could be reopened in my name. I even have a few things to add to it but that's rather minor compared to the rest and off-topic here I think. Yoyo360 (talk) 15:02, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Selfstudier

My rationale for closing is that non-extendedconfirmed editors are not permitted to edit in topics where ARBECR has been imposed in good faith, other than talk page edit requests, therefore (in my view) since a conduct complaint is not an edit request, it is not permitted for non-extendedconfirmed editors to file them regarding conduct within the topic, nor to comment on them That is my experience, see Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive356#Selfstudier "As a non-EC editor, you essentially have no standing to make edits related to the topic. You can make an edit request, but any other editor can remove it, even without providing reason. Further, making a complaint against another editor as a non-EC editor in the WP:ARBPIA area is fully not allowed."· So I would agree, it's only logical. Selfstudier (talk) 14:55, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Sean.hoyland

I think the closing was entirely appropriate and I agree with Selfstudier's statement. However, I think it is fair to say that the situation with respect to Yoyo360 at the time of the complaint posted by PicturePerfect666 at ANI is more complicated than "Yoyo360 is an extendedconfirmed editor". They were granted the privilege early (from an enwiki perspective) because, as the log says, they are a "10-year-old user with over 25,000 edits across all projects". This seems reasonable, pragmatic and it resolved the issue (although I'm sure imaginative people could cite it as yet another example of anti-Israel bias or rewarding complainers etc.), but for me, it's another reminder that none of us really know (based on evidence) the best way to implement/enforce EC restrictions in ARBPIA, how strictly they should be implemented, and that there is a lot of (costly) subjectivity and fuzziness involved at the moment. This is by no means a criticism or an endorsement of anything that happened in that thread by the way. I have no idea how to figure out how EC rules should work in practice to produce the best result. Sean.hoyland (talk) 16:02, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

On gaming, as far as I can tell (in ARBPIA anyway), the notion of gaming to acquire the EC privilege only becomes useful after a person has become extendedconfirmed and you can see what they did with it. Statements about potential gaming before someone has reached 500 edits are usually not verifiable (e.g. unreliable inferences about intent) and not based on agreed methods to reliably distinguish between gaming edits and normal edits (probably because we can't really do that without the benefit of post-EC hindsight). It's true that gaming happens in ARBPIA and that the gaming vs non-gaming signals can sometimes be distinguished, e.g. here, where all of the plots that look like gaming, anonymized ARBPIA editors 2,5,6 and 7, are for editors blocked as sockpuppets. But regardless, I don't think there is much utility in raising gaming questions until after someone becomes extendedconfirmed and there is post-EC activity evidence to look at. To do so asks questions that can't be answered without a lot of handwaving fuzziness about revision size, necessity, constructiveness, gnoming-ness, character witness-like statements etc. AGF until there is a reason not to seems like the best approach to gnoming-like pre-EC edits. Sean.hoyland (talk) 07:33, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'll add some quick responses to Ivanvector's kindness and frustration from a different perspective (as someone only active in ARBPIA nowadays, and not to make content edits).

  • "no rule should exist in the first place if it's only used to gatekeep portions of the encyclopedia to users we individually approve." - WP:SOCK could be considered to be an example of such a rule. Many of the "interested in contributing to Wikipedia"/collateral damage-type arguments used against ARBECR could also be used against SOCK if you only consider the edits and exclude value judgements of the person making the edits. But the SOCK rule is enforced pretty consistently even though it is often much harder to tell whether someone is a sock than whether they are extendedconfirmed or their action complies with ARBECR, and even though it is probably not possible to measure whether blocking socks has a net positive or net negative impact on content etc.
  • "it's doing far more harm to the project than..." This might be true, but I've not seen any evidence that anyone knows how to measure it. I have a more positive view, probably because I'm only active in ARBPIA where the costs of not having or not enforcing the rules are obvious. To me, the benefits seem to outweigh the costs, with the caveat that most of the harm is probably not visible. The rules also introduce new costs because, although 'edit request' points at WP:EDITXY, what constitutes an edit request is, in practice, in the eye of the beholder. This might be bad, or good. Hard to tell.
  • I think ToBeFree's view that "This may be unfair or unreasonable in individual cases without being a general problem" applies to the arbitration remedies for ARBPIA in general.
  • If there are better solutions, they could be proposed and tested. Sean.hoyland (talk) 13:54, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Bishonen

After Bugghost was informed on May 19 about the EC restriction on Eurovision Song Contest 2024 and told they had "nowhere near 500 edits", they have started what looks like an attempt to game the 500 edits restriction by doing a lot of simple spelling corrections and are by this means now rapidly approaching the 500. In many cases the changes aren't even corrections — they changed the form pre-determined to predetermined in hundreds of articles yesterday, even though both forms are acceptable, and similarly changed lots of instances of pre-suppose to presuppose, where also both forms are acceptable. They made no spelling-"correction" edits before they were made aware of the EC rule for the Arab–Israeli conflict. I like to AGF, but this is ridiculous. See WP:GAME. Bishonen | tålk 10:40, 27 May 2024 (UTC).[reply]

Statement by Novem Linguae

Bugghost has been rewriting the article Windows Presentation Foundation over the last week or so. In my mind he is a talented newer editor that is doing good content creation and article cleanup work. In light of the gaming concerns above, I'd like to make sure the positive aspects of this editor are also considered. Thank you. –Novem Linguae (talk) 11:18, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by {other-editor}

Other editors are free to make relevant comments on this request as necessary. Comments here should opine whether and how the Committee should clarify or amend the decision or provide additional information.

Extended confirmed restriction: Clerk notes

This area is used for notes by the clerks (including clerk recusals).

Extended confirmed restriction: Arbitrator views and discussion

  • One of the issues that led to ECR applying the way it does in this topic area were attempts by new accounts to weaponize our enforcement mechanisms. So while Eurovision 2024 as a whole does not, in my opinion, fall into ECR, edits relating to Israel's participation does as it is clearly WP:BROADLY construed in the topic area. As such non-ECR may not make enforcement requests There's also the past precedent of ArbCom granting ECR to people it was permitting to participate in an arbitraton process that would otherwise be ECR. Barkeep49 (talk) 15:52, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Beyond what others have stated, let's not lose eye on the ball here: if there is gaming (and I agree on the whole with the analysis that there is not) it's to edit a particular part of a Eurovision article and not say Israel–Hamas war. I'm not pretending that there is nothing contentious about Israel's participation in Eurovision 2024 but even with a contentious topic area there are differing levels of things. Barkeep49 (talk) 18:54, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • The closure text at [3] appears to be correct. This may be unfair or unreasonable in individual cases without being a general problem to me. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 00:56, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • I agree with my colleagues above: The ECR restriction is to prevent weaponization. It is also to encourage new users to get experience with Wikipedia policies and processes before filing accusations. If someone with ECR wants to adopt it, that is their prerogative, but they will also take responsibility for the filing. I have no concerns with this Ivanvector's close at ANI. I agree that Eurovision 2024 as a whole is not under ARBECR, but topics about Israel/Palestine are. Bugghost I encourage you to return to editing at a quicker pace if you desire, as you obtaining the ECR user right while this is open will not concern me. Z1720 (talk) 16:56, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Concur with the views above; I would just add that as I see it I do entirely agree with Ivanvector's statement that BugGhost is very clearly a new user interested in contributing to Wikipedia in good faith. firefly ( t · c ) 18:43, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • (edit conflict) I also agree with my colleagues, and am concerned as Ivanvector is that participants here are moving the goalposts inappropriately. It was a policy-backed close of an otherwise good-faith report from an editor who is well-meaning but has not yet met the Extended Confirmed level of participation. Primefac (talk) 18:45, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • The way the restriction is currently worded and the way it is handled in practice (for example granting EC so that editors can participate in case requests) is in line with how Ivanvector closed the AN/I report. The first sentence in the report establishes that PIA is a major factor of the AN/I report itself, falling within its scope. - Aoidh (talk) 19:17, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Motions

Requests for enforcement

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Makeandtoss and M.Bitton

This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.
Requests may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs (not counting required information), except by permission of a reviewing administrator.

Request concerning Makeandtoss and M.Bitton

User who is submitting this request for enforcement
BilledMammal (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 02:15, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
User against whom enforcement is requested
Makeandtoss (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Search CT alerts: in user talk history • in system log


M.Bitton (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Search CT alerts: in user talk history • in system log


Sanction or remedy to be enforced
Wikipedia:Arbitration/Index/Palestine-Israel articles
Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it

There has been a long running dispute at Israel-Hamas war, including multiple reverts and discussions (one, two, etc), over the lede's third paragraph; to resolve this I opened an RfC per dispute resolution. A few hours later, after three !votes including mine, Makeandtoss closed it, striking comments in violation of TPO. They had previously been involved in this dispute, in the article (example) and in discussions.

I reverted, but shortly after M.Bitton reclosed it. They weren't involved in the immediate dispute but are generally, including expressing strong opinions on related content. The RfC was necessary and lacked sufficient issues to justify a premature close making closing it generally disruptive, but more so here because of their involvement, locking in a status quo that they both appear to favor.

Previously discussed at ScottishFinnishRadish's talk page and ARCA, where Barkeep49 said they take a dim view of editors preventing this RfC and recommended AE.

M.Bitton declined to self-revert.

Diffs of previous relevant sanctions, if any

Makeandtoss:

  1. 20:45, 14 October 2023 Page blocked from Israel-Hamas war and its talk page for 48 hours, for disingenuous edit summaries, edit warring, and treating Wikipedia as a battleground
  2. 19:38, 26 January 2024 Warned for edit warring, including at Israel-Hamas war

M.Bitton:

  1. No relevant sanctions
If contentious topics restrictions are requested, supply evidence that the user is aware of them (see WP:CTOP#Awareness of contentious topics)

Makeandtoss:

  • Alerted about discretionary sanctions or contentious topics in the area of conflict, on 11:32, 11 July 2017 (see the system log linked to above).

M.Bitton

  • Gave an alert about contentious topics in the area of conflict to another editor, on 16:20, 6 March 2024
Additional comments by editor filing complaint
Extended content
@Black Kite: I always sign with just a timestamp, as permitted by RFCST, because I believe perceptions of the opener can influence perceptions of the RfC and I don't believe that benefits the process. The reverts were because I didn't believe it appropriate for others to insist on full signatures, given RFCST and our restrictions on editing others comments. 14:36, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Seraphimblade: To avoid misunderstanding, I don't intend to start putting my username on RfC's I start, as it is permitted and there are valid reasons not to.
Regarding whether it was premature, the content had been restored and removed many times and heavily discussed:
  1. "Per the Gaza Health Ministry"
  2. Casualty count
  3. Hamas exaggeration in the lead
  4. "Hamas-controlled" attribution
  5. RfC on including casualty template in lede
  6. First para including number of Palestinian children killed
  7. Include number of women killed in lead?
  8. Lede addition suggestion, 20-30% of all Hamas fighters killed so far
  9. 9,000 militants
  10. etc
It may be helpful to clarify whether it is appropriate for editors to add a username to RfC's started by others or if it is a violation of talk page guidelines; perhaps involved editors with concerns about signing with only a timestamp should contact the opener to attempt to resolve them, and if that fails contact an uninvolved admin? 21:42, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
Regarding other disruption, they have engaged in slow-motion edit warring, misleadingly cited BURDEN in edit summaries, and gamed and violated 1RR.
For example, edit warring against attributing casualty figures in the lede - given the low pace it would be less concerning except they closed the RfC intended to resolve the dispute:
  1. 20 May
  2. 29 April (misleadingly cited BURDEN)
  3. 13 April (described as "recently added nonsense")
May I have additional words and diffs to present the others? 18:47, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
@Valereee, ScottishFinnishRadish, and Newyorkbrad: Ping regarding request; 300 words and 20 diffs should be enough? 03:04, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you Newyorkbrad. In response to Nableezy and Makeandtoss, I present these because admins noted no other recent problems had been identified; I understood that as asking whether they existed.
Disingenuous edit summaries
Claiming BURDEN (an inline citation to a reliable source that directly supports the contribution) was not met
  1. 11:36, 20 May - Suggests BURDEN requires non-Israeli sources.
  2. 09:52, 14 May - Reverted 7,797 children and 4,959 women to 15,000 children and 10,000 women. Sourced.
  3. 14:24, 29 April - Removed Gaza Health Ministry attribution. Source says The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said.
  4. 20:31, 17 April - Removed Amnesty International and others have described that use of the term as weaponization of antisemitism. Sourced.
  5. 09:55, 1 April - Removed In an interrogation of Hamas militants, one militant said they were given permission to perform necrophilia. Source said He also said they were given permission to rape the corpse of a girl. Also reintroduced a MOS:ALLEGED violation without explanation.
Restored unsourced content while claiming it was sourced
  1. 14:10, 19 May - restored where thousands ... were massacred by the Israeli military, saying restoring sourced content that was recently removed for no good reason; also clarifying perpetrator. Source contradicts this; the Christian Phalangists who committed the massacre were Israel’s allies in the war.
1RR violations and gaming
Gaming
Israel-Hamas war (Many edit warred over or part of the RfC):
  1. 13:47, 12 May (+00:56)
  2. 12:44 to 12:51, 11 May (+00:03)
  3. 11:16 to 12:41, 10 May
  4. 14:24, 29 April (+00:16)
  5. 14:08, 28 April
  6. 13:08, 14 April (+01:05)
  7. 12:03, 13 April
2024 Iranian strikes against Israel:
  1. 10:52, 26 April (+00:17)
  2. 10:35, 25 April
Al-Shifa Hospital siege:
  1. 10:50, 21 April (+01:29)
  2. 09:21, 20 April
Unreverted violations
Destruction of cultural heritage during the 2023 Israeli invasion of Gaza:
  1. 12:34, 1 May
  2. 11:34, 1 May
Walid Daqqa:
  1. Diffs unavailable (REVDEL)
South Africa's genocide case against Israel:
  1. 10:07, 10 March
  2. 21:09, 9 March
Other examples and issues exist, but were omitted because of diff and word restrictions. 08:20, 26 May 2024 (UTC)
To partially address Makeandtoss' response; the issue was misleading BURDEN allegations. Also citing other guidelines doesn't make those less misleading.
  • BURDEN #3: Source says The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza; it is disingenuous to quote only Hamas-run Gaza and say it isn't attributing to the health ministry.
  • 1RR #1: Five weeks, with minimal activity or views; insufficient for status quo.
  • 1RR #3: 10:07, 10 March reverted 22:23, 9 March, and 21:09, 9 March reverted 19:54, 9 March.
14:41, 26 May 2024 (UTC)
@Makeandtoss: The meaning is unchanged, just reworded for conciseness as I was 600 words over; I believe this is allowed and sometimes required here. FYI, you are 1200 over, so you may also want to reword. 15:05, 26 May 2024 (UTC)
In full context, #2 still says you cited BURDEN disingenuously, #3 still says you restored content lacking a source. I can't find #1 in the former version, sorry. 15:44, 26 May 2024 (UTC)
May I have 200 words? I'm still 100 over; the other 100 to respond to Nableezy. FYI, word counts are out of control, making it difficult to remain within limits - enforcement may be helpful. 16:07, 26 May 2024 (UTC)
Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

Makeandtoss:

M.Bitton:


Discussion concerning Makeandtoss and M.Bitton

Statements must be made in separate sections. They may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator.
Administrators may remove or shorten noncompliant statements. Disruptive contributions may result in blocks.

Statement by Makeandtoss

As evidenced by BilledMammal's own links above, there was no prior in-depth discussion on each of the four points, nor was there any attempt at conflict resolution that are outlined in WP:RFCBEFORE, which considers RFC a last option due to its time-consuming nature.

What I did was simply strike through the RFC, an action that was easily reverted, and I stopped and did not take it further. It would be disingenuous to claim that I had closed it, an irreversible action. Nevertheless, I will ensure to ask an uninvolved administrator to do this in upcoming incidents, which is indeed a better course of action.

That aside, this seems like an attempt to deflect from BilledMammal's own editing behavior, as they created the RFC in non-neutral phrasing without signing it, and then went ahead to vote with a signature, which creates a misleading first impression. Not to mention BilledMammal's edit warring by reverting other editors four times within the course of two hours relating to this incident: [4], [5], [6], [7].

I sincerely hope to see the day when editors are more interested in constructively contributing to Wikipedia than taking editors they disagree with to AE every time something happens. Makeandtoss (talk) 10:36, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I just realized BM has been banned from the article for a week for edit warring, so to add to M.Bitton's statement below, this now worryingly seems more like a Samson's death kind of situation. Makeandtoss (talk) 13:00, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@ScottishFinnishRadish: and @Seraphimblade: First, thanks for the concerns. To add some context in response: I was blocked from that article on 14 October 2023, back when things were heated, and back when I did not completely understand what constitutes 1RR; I also wasn't able to appeal that 48 hour ban because it had passed while I was appealing. As for the second "sanction" on that article, I was warned for "slow motion edit warring" on that article backing in January 2024; because I had edited the same sentence multiple times in the lede over a few months according to developments on the talk page. Since then I have taken immense care to abide strictly by the guidelines at the article and across the topic.

My constructive and collaborative editing at the Israel-Hamas war article almost non-stop over the past seven months is evidenced by the fact that I am the third top editor by # of edits on the article having added 50k bytes and the 5th top editor on the talk page having added 70k bytes. Editing such a high-level and sensitive article while maintaining calm is not an easy task. Of course, striking through that RFC was a trout, which I have already pledged on SFR's talk page that it would not be repeated. The purpose of AE is to remedy behavior and not to punish editors. I really hope that a more balanced view of my editing is taken and that this minor mistake is not taken out of proportion. Makeandtoss (talk) 09:30, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Seraphimblade: Of course, rules indeed apply to everyone, that is why I have tried my best to abide by all the guidelines. I did not know however that striking through an RFC would be a violation, which in that case I would have never done it. Even after being reverted, I let it go and did not pursue it further, as @Valereee: pointed out about the RFC's signing. And immediately after being notified by @ScottishFinnishRadish: on their talk page, who thankfully gave a better alternative of seeking uninvolved administrators' intervention, I pledged there that this mistake not be repeated. Looking back, now that I understand the issues surrounding it, it was definitely a mistake that should not have occurred, and for that I sincerely apologize. I believe that a heavy sanction would only prevent good contributions rather than the noble and very important goal of remedying any bad. Makeandtoss (talk) 13:00, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Newyorkbrad: Thanks for weighing in. My perspective regarding the previous cases can be found above at the 09:30, 15 May 2024 (UTC) comment.[reply]
@Ealdgyth: And thank you as well for weighing in. I only became very involved in this topic area recently, but I spent most of the past ten years editing Jordan-related articles, and I am aware of best editing practices. The whole approach was indeed not ideal, in a controversial article and tricky situation, but I am determined to ensure this never happens again. Makeandtoss (talk) 13:42, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Valereee: I am extremely, deeply and absolutely aware of that. Again, I sincerely apologize for that mistake and vow that it would never be repeated again, and also to do my best to avoid any similar mistakes. You have my word for it. Makeandtoss (talk) 18:41, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Newyorkbrad: I really appreciate the chance to present my perspective, and @ScottishFinnishRadish:'s comment that shows their genuine dedication to handling this request appropriately.

First, note that the Israel-Hamas war article sees dozens of edits every day, and numerous discussions. Over the course of months this accumulates and gets inevitably confusing for everyone, especially as the ideas or edits are sometimes discussed in different phrasings or closely resemble one another.

  • [8] Here I specifically raised doubts about the 9,000 militants killed claim since it did not fully align with the Haaretz source cited. This is different from discussing if the number of killed militants should be included or not in the RFC's second question.
  • [9] This took place on 20 March, two months before the RFC on 6 May; and it related to if the number of women should be included in lede. This is a bit different from the number of both women and children and also how these numbers are presented as the RFC's third question relates to.
  • [10] Indeed, here, it was related to the RFC's third question, but that month-old discussion that I had created on 29 April did not strike me at that moment as being relevant to the overall situation.

The fact that I have created or engaged in these discussions shows my good faith and collaborative approach. In summary, this unfortunate incident took place in a sensitive RFC opened controversially and in a sensitive and highly active article. I accordingly made a hasty decision, to which I apologize about and vow that it would not be repeated. A lot of lessons learnt here: to specifically never strike through or remove any RFC; and more generally, to demonstrate greater patience, to put in greater efforts to examine similar situations, and to never act in haste.

As for the separate older incident with Number57 on 1 January, I did not say in the edit summary that no discussion had taken place, but that the RFC went against WP:RFCBEFORE, which states that if a dispute is between two editors they should seek WP:Third opinion first. After I removed the RFC, another third editor agreed with Number57's edit and disagreed with mine, and I stopped and did not take the issue further. Again, I was only made aware of the issues surrounding removing an RFC only after the recent incident. Makeandtoss (talk) 23:23, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I will gladly answer for whatever is brought here, but I am feeling that this is turning into something other than a request to deal with an issue and now into an open-ended request to sanction a user. In that case, I think the editing behavior of all involved users should be closely examined as well in an open case aside from this venue here. Makeandtoss (talk) 23:08, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]


Responses to extended request

First, thanks to all the admins who are taking a lot of their precious time and effort to diligently examine this extended request as well and the responses.

Regarding the citing of WP:BURDEN:
1. [11] Yes, relying exclusively on 3 Israeli sources for a controversial sentence is a conflict of interest (WP:QS section of WP:BURDEN).
2. [12] Misleading. My edit summary also cited the lack of consensus on talk page as well as the WP:ONUS and WP:BRD guidelines.
3. [13] Yes, according to the "Gaza Health Ministry" is not equal to the source's "Hamas-run Gaza".
4. [14] Misleading. My edit summary stated that there is no need for attribution for Amnesty International, and that editors should seek consensus for this addition, for which there is an ongoing RFC now. Here I actually meant WP:ONUS.
5. [15] Yes, here the controversial sentence was only sourced to an Israeli reference, contravening WP:QS of WP:BURDEN, and in the same edit summary I cited a source saying that these torture confessions were questionable. This removal came immediately after being reinstated following an initial removal by another editor, showing clear lack of consensus.
Alleged violation of WP:BURDEN
1. [16] The sentence that Palestinian refugees were massacred in Sabra and Shatila massacre is a universally sourced fact. I meant to say that the IDF helped facilitate, not perpetrate. After being corrected, I didn't pursue this further and did not restore, which is explicitly mentioned in WP:BURDEN as best practice.
Alleged "Gaming"
As seen in my timecard, my most common edits either take place on 10:00 and 11:00 after having started the day and/or 13:00 and 14:00 after having finished my lunch break, so this is a coincidence on different days with no deliberate editing.
Alleged 1RR violations
1. False. This move is not a revert since the article's name had been stable for 6 weeks.
2. False. I had written most of the Walid Daqqa article and as evident by the still existing (6) edit summaries [17], these reverts were made against non-confirmed users.
3. False. This is not a revert as the content removed had been stable since at least 6 weeks [18].
While I am assuming good faith and I am sure that BilledMammal is nobly seeking all editors comply with Wikipedia's guidelines, it is important to note that they have been warned by AE in 2021 that "groundless or vexatious complaints may result in blocks or other sanctions," with one admin then commenting that "It is time for a more robust pushback against the use of this page to knock-out opponents."
I genuinely hope that this large extended request, which suddenly came after the original request was reaching its conclusion, is not one of these vexatious incidents, as there is clear lack of assumption of good faith, as well as cherrypicking parts of edit summaries and decontextualizing the circumstances behind these edits and away from the talk page, not to mention the multiple false claims made. These are edit disputes which are discussed on talk pages and not violations of guidelines.
I am certain that the experienced admins here are able to identify between editors who spend their time contributing to improve Wikipedia, and editors spending their time tracking others over months to use at AE, in which they inevitably create a harmful culture of battleground. Makeandtoss (talk) 11:27, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@BilledMammal: I kindly request that you promptly revert your recent far-reaching changes to your participation in this discussion by reinstating the original phrasing that both myself and others have relied upon to formulate our arguments. These retroactive changes violate WP:REDACT: "But if anyone has already replied to or quoted your original comment, changing your comment may deprive any replies of their original context, and this should be avoided." I feel that this is an unacceptable behavior and urge administrative intervention to restore respect for everyone's invested time and efforts here. Makeandtoss (talk) 15:00, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
BilledMammal, it seems this is even further misleading to claim that the meaning is "unchanged", given that everything has been changed, and to cite only three examples:
1# "remove WP:BURDEN" => "misleadingly cited WP:BURDEN"
2# "Falsely claiming WP:BURDEN" => "Claiming WP:BURDEN"
3# "Restored content in violation of WP:BURDEN" => "unsourced content"
Below WP:REDACT further elaborates that: "Persistently formatting your comments on a talk page in a non-compliant manner, after friendly notification by other editors, is a mild form of disruption."
@ScottishFinnishRadish: @Valereee: @Newyorkbrad: I respectfully request your kind intervention to remedy this situation. Makeandtoss (talk) 15:35, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by M.Bitton

I already explained the close when asked by ScottishFinnishRadish, so I won't repeat it here. I also wasn't involved in any of the discussions that led to RfC. Frankly, this report raises more questions than answers: if BilledMammal was really interested in SFR's advice, then why did they ignore it and why did they ignore the question that SFR asked them (about how to best formulate the RFC)? Someone who's starting a RfC for the benefit of the project would have no issue with what SFR suggested (working with others), but I guess that wasn't what they were after. Approaching me four days later with an ultimatum doesn't strike me as very constructive, especially considering the fact that I chose not to report them for violating 1RR multiples times. Bringing it to AE after raising it with SFR is just plain forum shopping. M.Bitton (talk) 11:11, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Nableezy

I dont think it was a good idea to shut down the RFC. But on the process, if a user is blocked from a page for edit-warring, are they allowed to pursue dispute resolution related to that page while blocked? Or is that not similar to an editor violating a topic ban by making a report about the topic? nableezy - 13:01, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

less relevant at this point
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
But the edit-warring was on this talk page, and they are blocked from the talk page. But its your world boss. nableezy - 13:25, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Zero, you missed where they also moved a signed comment, which somehow isnt a TPO violation while adding an unsigned template supposedly is. nableezy - 13:58, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Barkeep49 nobody edited the signature, I added an {{unsigned}} template and when that was reverted a note, with my own signature, as to who started the RFC. Who started an RFC shouldnt matter, but when there is a dispute about the neutrality of the prompt then it obviously does matter. And, as WP:TPO says, attributing unsigned comments is perfectly acceptable. nableezy - 15:12, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Barkeep, that is not true, my initial edits were only adding an unsigned template. When that was reverted (twice) I added my own comment. Why exactly is BM moving my comment to place that decontextualized it entirely not a TPO violation? But what that portion of TPO is about is "attributing" comments, which is not simply a date and timestamp but also, obviously, a username. nableezy - 16:19, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
SFR, as far as I can see one editor "edit-warred" over this, not a bunch, unless you want to make the leap that a single revert is now "edit-warring". nableezy - 16:21, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The way I see this is that BM attempted to have basically a first mover's advantage here. He created an RFC that had not had any input from anybody else, he left the prompt unsigned, and then he answered that RFC immediately. Other editors who had differing views would not have been prepared with sources and arguments the way he was to present his view. And given how RFCs attract views from uninvolved users who may not be as familiar with the universe of sources available as the editors involved in the dispute but rather often rely on the RFC arguments to formulate their view, he was giving himself the advantage of both framing the dispute and further presenting his own views unchallenged to any editors who were brought to the RFC through the normal means. The very least that should be done there is to inform others of the fact that the framing and the initial, prepared in advance, argument offered are by the same person. nableezy - 16:40, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think this getting exceedingly unfair, this supposedly was about an RFC being closed out of process. It has now turned to a user being allowed to dig through diffs over literal months in an attempt to sanction another user. That is something more suited to an actual arbitration case than it is to one user presenting a case against another user in a forum where any single administrator can institute a sanction, largely without examining the full context, that is the behavior of all involved. nableezy - 00:26, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The added diffs are largely content disputes, and the characterization of them as disingenuous is, to me at least, quite disingenuous itself. Just looking at this one, the material that was replaced, lowering the number of children killed, was later clarified by the UN to be only about those fatalities who have been fully identified by the Ministry of Health. Many of the others is BilledMammal pretending like a claim by Israel should be treated as fact, such as this one which said In an interrogation of Hamas militants, one militant said they were given permission to perform necrophilia cited to Times of Israel which itself says
Israeli security agencies published video footage Monday from the apparent interrogations
. BM themselves re-added that material, falsely claiming that it was attributed when it was not. If anything is disingenuous it is BM's edit summary there and their description of the edits here. BM took a source that says that an "apparent interrogation" released by a combatant in an armed conflict, a combatant with an established history of engaging in deceit and propaganda, and then simply said that in an interrogation somebody said this. If youre going to start adjudicating content disputes as BM appears to be asking that you do, maybe look at the entire story and not just one user's self-serving characterization of it. All the above is to say this forum is not suited to this type of request, and if anything should be done here it is should be to open an arbitration case where all party's actions may be reviewed. nableezy - 15:54, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Selfstudier

My sole contribution to the RFC was to add the comment "+1. Not signed either." to Makeandtoss rejection of it, the RFCbefore being unspecified as well as a transparent attempt to revisit old arguments that had not produced the desired outcome from the openers perspective, awkwardly lumped together in a single RFC. I sympathize with the frustration that led to its untimely closure and frankly think that complainant should devote some effort to figuring out ways to spend less time at this board. Selfstudier (talk) 13:15, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@ScottishFinnishRadish: Seems it can't be both Well, it can, I speak as someone familiar with the article and its history, what I mean is that those prior discussions were nowhere apparent at the RFC or even on the talk page, it being usual to specify an RFCbefore detailing them. I can try to locate the multiplicity of them in the talk page archives if desired, I assume OP knows where they are? Selfstudier (talk) 14:06, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@ScottishFinnishRadish: does it being in an archive mean it no longer counts as prior discussion? That's the point, it is valid and that's why editors taking part in an RFC need to know about those discussions, generally I would link them as part of an RFC(before) Not all editors are aware of prior discussions of which there may have been several.Selfstudier (talk) 15:46, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@ScottishFinnishRadish: Would a better, less inflammatory way to handle this have been pointing out those earlier discussions in the RFC discussion or bringing up that you believe they should be linked on BMs talk page rather than closing the RM or modifying the RFC statement? From where I'm sitting, which is quite frequently on the opposite side of the table from complainant, that thought is one step removed from what I see as the actual source of the problem, namely the opening of that particular RFC in that particular way in the first instance, then persisting with it when three editors came out strongly against the process. I would not personally have closed out the RFC but I don't disagree with it either, I think complainant should have done so themselves and we wouldn't be here, not for this at any rate. Selfstudier (talk) 18:22, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Since the question was put:
If this is a complete list of topic area closed RFCs then
there were two RFCs opened by complainant in that category, Talk:Self-immolation of Aaron Bushnell#RfC on infobox image on 1 March, plus the current example.
In the current RFC category, taken from here, there is Talk:Israel–Hamas war#RFC: Primary title and alt titles in :the lede opened on 12 April.
The other two were also not signed. Selfstudier (talk) 14:50, 11 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Newimpartial: (and @Seraphimblade:), there is a current discussion about the signing/not signing thing Wikipedia talk:Requests for comment#Signing an RfC Selfstudier (talk) 22:35, 14 May 2024 (UTC)´[reply]
It should not set a precedent, but given all the circumstances, I suggest treating the RFC close as procedural in this particular instance. Selfstudier (talk) 18:36, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@ScottishFinnishRadish: Makeandtoss was imo correct to say that there had been no discussion in the sense of an RFCbefore, the RFC just came out of the blue and did not reference any prior discussions.Selfstudier (talk) 18:56, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There was this RFC, then there are some more diffs and now, here are even more diffs. Was any of this raised at the user talk page at any point? As was done with respect to complainant's editing at User talk:BilledMammal#RSN. Selfstudier (talk) 09:40, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Sigh. Now there are diffs about diffs. Selfstudier (talk) 16:12, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Zero0000

While BM is technically correct that an RfC does not have to be signed, when one of the principle disputants on a topic starts an RfC with their own preferences highlighted it is at least a very bad look if they refuse to have their name on it. And I mean "refuse", since BM twice deleted a signature that was added using {{unsigned}}. If there is a positive explanation for that I didn't manage to think of it. Zerotalk 13:39, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Just saying...WP:Signatures says "Typing five tildes will convert to a date stamp with the current date and time, without adding your signature". So, while it is true that five tildes are permitted in an RfC, it is arguable whether that counts as a signature for the purposes of TPO. Zerotalk 01:24, 11 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Newimpartial

In this instance I am uninvolved in the RfC (and am largely uninvolved in ARBPIA). I wanted to draw attention to BilledMammal's using their own !vote in their own RfC as evidence that it should remain open, which I take to be a rather peculiar argument. Of the other two !votes, one largely resisted the way the RfC was framed, while the other did accept the framing but only answered two of the four RfC questions.

So to me, BM's argument amounts to an assertion that the way it is framed makes sense to them (though others evidently disagree) and that they have voted in it therefore it must stay open. To insist on this, in spite of the lack of RFCBEFORE and quite evident flaws in the RfC's construction, strikes me as an attempted deployment of bureaucratic proceduralism unworthy of BM or of enwiki in general.

To then "seek justice against one's enemies" (Plato, not a wikipedian) in this forum, after having been banned temporarily from the Talk page in question, seems to me like a failure of judgement given the overwhelming lack of support for BM's framing of the RfC in the first place. The only likely outcome of that RfC, given the responses to it on Talk and on SFR's Talk, was a "malformed RfC" outcome, and I don't see how devoting photons and editors' time to hashing out that outcome would have served anything but BURO. Newimpartial (talk) 14:09, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, Ealdgyth - "seek justice against one's enemies" was an allusion to Plato. I'll try refactoring to make this more clear. Newimpartial (talk) 15:29, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
To the uninvolved admin: BilledMammal has now expressed the intention od continuing to create RfCs without signing the RfC (and then presumably to !vote on them with a signature, thus obscuring the relationship between the RfC question and their !vote).
Therefore, to head off future disruption, I would appreciate clearly expressed opinion about whether it is appropriate to do so or whether this choice can be appropriately understood as disruptive. Comments to date have leaned towards BM's no-signature strategy being potentially disruptive (at least by my reading), but it would be great to have some more formal consideration before the next time a related confrontation occurs. Newimpartial (talk) 22:18, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Concerning this edit summary, I have read it several times, and I am unable to interpret it as disingenuous. I read "points" in the summary as meaning "proposals" and I don't see how any of the proposals received an appropriate RFCBEFORE. For any that did, it seems to me that it was up to the person filing the RfC to document the BEFORE, in any case, so the interpretation that "these points/proposals did not receive a prior discussion that satisfies RFCBEFORE" strikes me as entirely reasonable even if others read the situation differently. I certainly don't see anything "disingenuous" about the summary, even though of course nobody INVOLVED ought to he closing anyone's RfC but their own. Newimpartial (talk) 19:03, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Number 57

I don't have a view on this particular situation, but for context, I thought it would be useful to flag up that I have also experienced Makeandtoss shutting down an RfC after others have commented (see here). Number 57 17:13, 11 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Alaexis

Closing an RfP this way seems rather disruptive (per WP:RFC, An RfC should last until enough comment has been received that consensus is reached, or until it is apparent that it won't be). Usually users unhappy with an RfC would !vote Bad RfC and explain their reasoning. Why couldn't it have been done in this case? Alaexis¿question? 21:10, 11 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Iskandar323

It was a complex RFC from the get-go, and seemingly not prompted by sufficiently rigorous prior discussion so as to actually warrant such a complicated RFC (the only linked discussions are a couple that appear to have simply petered out). RFCs are by nature time consuming for the community, and can also hamstring routine discussion and editing but putting a freeze on any topic covered by the RFC until complete. It is not in the project's interest to have a proliferation of badly scripted, overly complex RFCs floating around, and closing such examples down is quite sensible from a WP:NOTBURO perspective. There aren't many other avenues open for nipping bad RFCs in the bud. If everyone just attends and votes "bad RFC" then that's time-consuming participation. Alternatively, editors could try to petition the admin noticeboard for an admin to strictly enforce WP:RFCBEFORE, but if this is a routine action, it's not one that I've observed, even though WP:RFCBEFORE is in principle quite strict and, one might think, enforceable. This close was a no-nonsense attempt to strictly adhere to WP:RFCBEFORE, and perhaps recourse to the admin board would have been a better option, but the intentions appear reasonable. It feels like the best way to deal with an RFC that fails WP:RFCBEFORE is actually a bit of a grey area, and one that perhaps needs better clearing up. Iskandar323 (talk) 02:10, 12 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I would second Makeandtoss' reminder that sanctions are too prevent not punish, and I see little merit in punishing them for this very one-off and unlikely to be repeated episode involving an RFC. It is not clear that anything here forms part of a pattern of abuse, and the dust has now settled on this incident. Iskandar323 (talk) 15:53, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@ScottishFinnishRadish, @Seraphimblade: I would also second Vice Regent's exhortation to consider Makeandtoss' conduct in the context of their total contribution to the project. To sanction them would be punitive and with little merit. I certainly don't see how it would be preventative given both the one-off nature of this particular set of circumstances in this dispute, or given the comparative rarity of their disorderly conduct relative to their output. It would only punish the project. Iskandar323 (talk) 15:38, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Kashmiri

I agree that RFCs shouldn't be closed so early by involved editors. However, on seeing the closure, I was glad it helped us avoid another heated discussion on that very Talk page that was extremely unlikely to produce anything resembling consensus. BilledMammal was right to write that perceptions of the editor who opened the RfC may influence how editors perceive the RfC, and so given their rather contentious editing history in Palestine-related topics, they decided not not to sign their name. Yet we were at it again. When going through the questions, I was disappointed (but not surprised) to find out how POV the structure was – it concerned adding inline attribution to the internationally accepted numbers of Palestinian victims of the Israeli invasion (inline attribution is not normally necessary and suggests an opinion, not a fact – our policy requires it if there is a disagreement between sources) or contrasting these numbers with Israeli-provided numbers of supposedly killed militants, even though the latter are widely considered unreliable and few media carry them. Judging from the past discussion history on that article and the POV split of the most active editors, this RfC was not going to end up in a consensus.

So, as much as the close was procedurally wrong, I'm of the view that it ultimately befitted that article and the wider readership. A trout for everyone, as Valereee wrote, and move on. — kashmīrī TALK 22:32, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Coretheapple

Lots of verbiage above but it's a simple issue. RfCs are not to be closed by involved editors. Involved editors who do so should get sanctioned, for this is a contentious topic area and there needs to be extra efforts made to enforce the rules, and I don't mean "trout slaps." Coretheapple (talk) 22:44, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Vice regent

@ScottishFinnishRadish: and @Seraphimblade: as you consider sanctions, I'd like to add that Makeandtoss is exceptionally productive. They are one of the very few users I see regularly creating new articles or significantly expanding existing ones in the Arab-Israeli conflict area. They have an impressive User:Makeandtoss/DYK record (many of them in the Arab-Israeli conflict topic area), with some DYKs of articles they created still active (eg Killing of David Ben Avraham). They helped promote articles in this topic area to GA status (eg Battle of Karameh, Black September, Hussein of Jordan etc). Just last month, they wrote the entire History of Palestinian journalism article. I've also seen them create useful stubs (eg Mohammad Hyasat of the Jordanian Air Force, who helped defend Israel from Iranian attacks).VR (Please ping on reply) 11:35, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@ScottishFinnishRadish can you clarify the topic you are considering for a ban? Is it "Arab-Israeli conflict broadly construed"? If so, might you please consider something narrower like "Israel-Hamas war broadly construed"? I suggest that because I have not seen any problematic behavior by Makeandtoss when making excellent contributions to Jordanian and Palestinian history, but "Arab-Israeli conflict broadly construed" covers most of the history of those two nations.
I recall in the WP:ARBIRP case, the arbs tailored a topic-ban[19][20] that was narrower than the scope of arbitration to take into account a user's productive edits in the topic.VR (Please ping on reply) 16:41, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (username)

Result concerning Makeandtoss and M.Bitton

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.
  • Although I don't think the RFC formulation is great, based on my experience as a closer, the formulation is not disruptively bad. There has been a significant amount of discussion on some of the points in the RFC, and there's something to be said for just heading to an RFC when it's obvious there will be no consensus through plain discussion. Editors thoroughly involved in a topic area should only be shutting down an RFC, closing discussions, or removing discussions when the material is plainly disruptive or in violation of WP:PAGS. Not following the advice on an information page to the letter, for me, does not meet that threshold. I have been approached by editors on several occasions about closing down RMs/RFCs that are retreading topics, but I'm loath to step in on such discussions because they are part of our formal dispute resolution. Involved editors should be even more reticent to do so. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 12:29, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Nableezy, not like a topic ban. Normally the edit warring is in article space and I'll block just the article so they can only engage on the talk page. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 13:05, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Was there was no prior in-depth discussion on each of the four points or was this a transparent attempt to revisit old arguments. Seems it can't be both. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 13:57, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Selfstudier, what I mean is that those prior discussions, so there was prior in-depth discussion? Those talk pages are fast moving, and the archives are already huge. If the discussion happened a couple months ago, does it being in an archive mean it no longer counts as prior discussion? ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 15:37, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Selfstudier, I don't want to make this seem as if you're on the hook for anything here as you simply made a comment at the RFC, so take this as a hypothetical. Would a better, less inflammatory way to handle this have been pointing out those earlier discussions in the RFC discussion or bringing up that you believe they should be linked on BMs talk page rather than closing the RM or modifying the RFC statement? ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 17:52, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Also, rather than a bunch of involved editors edit warring and violating TPGs over this, why did no one seek to remedy any issues with the RFC on BMs talk page, or ask an uninvolved administrator to do so. User talk:BilledMammal#Talk:Flour massacre#Requested move 28 April 2024, for example, is how this could have played out. To me, this is just more evidence of battleground editing in the topic area. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 15:41, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Nableezy, there were a bunch of involved editors, there was edit warring, and there were WP:TPG violations. All of that could have been avoided, except for involved editors, if not for pervasive battleground behavior. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 17:11, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Vice regent, I wouldn't be opposed to something narrower like the current conflict or post 2000. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 16:50, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    I think the expansion of word limits back and forth was the wrong call, since now we're getting far beyond the original complaint and into arbcase territory. With the battleground editing going on anyone could pick 50 not great diffs of any of the active editors in the topic.
    To restate, I think that the behavior after a block and a warning demonstrates a need for a forced time-out from the topic area. The disruption caused by the battleground editing is evident because it's still causing a disruption, after my talk page and after a trip to ARCA, and now here. However my judgement isn't the final arbiter and I wasn't comfortable taking unilateral action, so here we are.
    Let's try and focus on the report and if the behavior reported, in light of prior sanctions and warnings, requires action.
    If administrators believe this requires Arbcom case level word and diff allowances maybe we should just refer it to Arbcom. If any editor believes that this needs Arbcom intervention they should feel welcome to it. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 23:52, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • I'm a bit concerned about the "trying to avoid scrutiny for the RfC" bit highlighted by Zero0000. BilledMammal, why did you do that (twice)? If I'm submitting an RfC, I want my name on it so that people can discuss it with me. It all seems very ... I don't know, underhand? Black Kite (talk) 13:56, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Newimpartial - did someone say "seek justice against one's enemies" or did you use quotes for some other reason? I'm confused as to why that statement is in quotes - if someone (on either side of the dispute) is saying that about the other side that's not good. If it hasn't been said, it's not really helpful to throw that around like it IS a quote from someone, it just confuses uninvolved admins (like me) and, in my view, just ups the heat in the topic area. I'm going back to looking into this as my time permits ... Ealdgyth (talk) 14:52, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    • Thanks - I was forced to read Plato in university but... I try REALLY hard to forget it. Still reading - I read SFR's plea for help in this area and am trying to formulate something to say that I think might help things (not that I think I'm going to have much luck with this but ... hope springs eternal) Ealdgyth (talk) 15:33, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
      • SFR (and others) sorry I haven't been weighing in here, I've been busy outside wiki and trying to read more about this topic area. I'm good with a time-limited topic ban for Makeandtoss. It's not so much the single edit but the whole approach. Frankly, I think there are a lot of editors who might consider whether or not they should try to edit outside this topic area so that they aren't quite so burned out and fall into really bad battleground behavior. When all you see is one very contentious topic, you're going to think that battleground behavior is the norm on the project, but most non-contentious topic areas are not this filled with bad behavior and habits from editors. Getting outside the topic area would help editors regain some perspective about their own editing behavior and what best editing practices are. Ealdgyth (talk) 13:36, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • I have no intention of weighing in substantively on this request beyond a few thoughts that I had when this was at ARCA. In a talk page like this one which is active and with a lot of peristent editors, a lower threshold for how much discussion is necessary before starting an RfC can, in my judgement, be appropriate. The reason for this can be that there is a local consensus that is at odds with a project wide consensus and so lots of discussion would lead to a false consensus (and even accusations of bad faith RfCs that "relitigate" things already decided in discussions). It strikes me as incredibly important that we are very cautious before closing a major dispute resolution method to an editor, especially one who has demonstrated knowledge of Wikipedia policies, guidelines, and norms. An RfC for information that is in the lead also strikes me as more appropriate than RfC for information in the body of an article precisely because of the visibility/importance of having consensus there for me. Now it can also be true that someone who has repeatedly shown that they are at odds with project consensus about a topic can be disruptive in starting new RfCs. In looking at the last half dozen or so RfCs it did not seem like Billed Mammal fell into this second category but it's entirely possible there is better evidence out there on this front. However, given the evidence as I understand it I continue to take that "dim view" of editors using procedural means to potentially enforce a local consensus and perhaps even to seek sanctions against someone attempting to ascertain what the project consensus is through the written dispute resolution system. As for the signature bit I believe I start all my RfCs with ~~~~~ because who started the RfC should be irrelevant and WP:RFCOPEN explicitly allows it as an equally valid choice to ~~~~ . I have no idea if date/time sig rather than full signature is normal or not for BM and I hope the uninvolved administrators assess that - there are no shortage of RfCs started by BM - before judging the intent. If this was out of practice for BM that clearly signifies trouble but if it's normal for BM to operate that way - as it is for me - that sends a different signal. Now if someone were to change an RfC sig I started from 5 ~ to one that included my name (and I think this has happened once), I wouldn't do anything about that because let's have a sense of perspective about things. But I would be annoyed and I would think it a violation of WP:TPO given that editing of signatures is only allowed If a signature violates the guidelines for signatures, or is an attempt to fake a signature, you may edit the signature to the standard form with correct information and TPO is clear that editors may ...not modify the signature on others' posts for any other reason. Barkeep49 (talk) 14:54, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Nableezy I wasn't going to respond to your ping because I mean it when I say that I want the uninvolved admin to be making the call here. But your this edit to your comment goes too far for me. WP:RFCOPEN explicitly allows for ~~~~~ and so the comment was appropriately signed, based on Wikipedia norms and practices. As such you were not fixing an unsigned signature, but instead (as I understand it) trying to make a point that the RfC was not neutral and were working to have the statements attributed to BilledMammal in order to help advance that point. I have offered no comment on the neutrality or not of the RfC. But trying to raise problems with a non-neutral RfC is not the same as a neutral fixing/improvement as allowed by the talk page guidelines, in my view. Barkeep49 (talk) 15:23, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Nableezy: I'm not commenting on BM's comment move because that wasn't part of my analysis at ARCA and I'm not interested in substantively weighing in things at AE beyond what was discussed at the ARCA given that ArbCom is where the rare AE appeal goes; I expect that other uninvolved administrators will weigh that when determining what sanctions, if any, are appropriate to levy for this incident. Frankly I'm a bit flummoxed why you're continuing to debate with me - and attempting to shift the focus of discussion in this last comment. I have explicitly refrained from saying that your adding the unsigned template was wrong. That too goes beyond the analysis I've done. What I am saying that if it is BM's practice, as they've stated and so far no one has contradicted with evidence, to open RfCs with 5 tildes that this is supported by practice and norms. In that case their action is not a behavioral problem and so you cannot justify your actions based on the talk page guidelines. I have offered no opinion about whether your adding the unsigned template could be supported on other grounds. Barkeep49 (talk) 16:47, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • I think there's plenty not to love here. I am definitely not enamored of "anonymously" starting an RfC—if I'm coming to an RfC, and an editor involved in the discussion is the one who started it, I want to know that. It looks to me like RFCOPEN is more saying that the bot is able to recognize timestamp-only signatures, rather than actually endorsing that as a good practice. In any case, since it's clearly controversial, I would very much prefer not to see that done in the future here, but it's not actually against policy. What is against policy is to start an RfC instead of discussing a matter, rather than after a discussion has been held, and "open discussion on the matter first" should not be considered optional. An RfC is a significant investment of community time and should only be resorted to when absolutely necessary. RfC is often the result of such a discussion reaching an impasse, but if there's a plausible case that the result of the discussion was a "local consensus" that the wider community wouldn't support, it's appropriate to hold an RfC to call in people from the wider community who haven't been involved and I would not criticize that as being "re-litigating" or forum shopping. I think we've all seen cases where a small number of "owners" try to enforce something that the wider community wouldn't approve of, and bringing an RfC is a good way to draw attention to that and put a stop to it. But, whether an RfC is appropriate or inappropriate, involved editors shouldn't be shutting it down. So, I think in this case, trouts all around—the RfC was premature, the "anonymous" nature of it needlessly fanned the controversy, and even with that said, people involved shouldn't have closed it. If lessons can be learned from that without bringing out any bigger sticks, that's of course the optimal solution; if we find the problems reoccurring, then we'd have to evaluate that at that time. Seraphimblade Talk to me 21:05, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    I'm going to pretty much agree with all of this. I don't object to an RfC being unsigned if it's inarguably neutrally worded. This is on the edge for me. I don't object to an RfC being opened in contentious topics possibly slightly early if there's been some discussion. Again on the edge. I do object to edit-warring over signing; once it's been objected to, just let it go. I do object to involved editors closing an RfC early. Trouts all around. Valereee (talk) 21:21, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    It's worth noting that Makeandtoss has already been warned for edit warring in the topic area and blocked from this article for battleground conduct. To me, we're past the level of a trout in this instance. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 22:04, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    I've got no problem with that. Seraphimblade Talk to me 23:25, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    In the interests of moving this along. I know you're generally not a fan of time-limited topic bans, but I think this topic area is one that can benefit from time-limited topic bans, allowing a cool down for an editor, and hopefully a cool down for the real world circumstances. At the least it can allow for some firming up in sources on the issues that are being discussed. Would you be amenable to 90 days in this circumstance? ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 12:18, 20 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    This might be a case where I'd be okay with it. Makeandtoss certainly has provided plenty of positive contribution in the area, but everyone has to follow the same rules, and especially in CT areas. I certainly hope they will return to doing the good work afterwards, minus the downsides. Seraphimblade Talk to me 12:21, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Valereee, you're the only other one who gave any opinion on possible sanctions. Any thoughts on a 90 day topic ban for Makeandtoss, as they've been both blocked and warned for behavior in this topic area recently? ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 12:38, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    A time-limited t-ban...okay, I guess. I don't like them, I think they're both punitive and not very productive. But if that's what you and Seraphimblade think works, I won't object. Valereee (talk) 18:25, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Hold on, hadn't seen NYB's post. Valereee (talk) 18:28, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Unless I am missing something, the complaint against Makeandtoss is based on a single edit, made two weeks ago, of a type he has specifically agreed never to make again. If that is the case, I oppose any topic-ban. Newyorkbrad (talk) 13:03, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    After a partial block from the page for battleground editing and disingenuous edit summaries they closed an RFC on that page out of process, with a disingenuous edit summary. I guess you could call that "one edit" if reviewing the behavior in a vacuum.
    That the report has been here for 10 days, after the behavior was reported soon after the close was made, just demonstrates what I was saying at the request for clarification, AE isn't attended well enough to work. That a report has been open without significant administrator input is the default here, and 2-3 weeks is common for non-obvious cases. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 13:22, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    I'm not negating the prior issues, but no one has identified more than the single problematic edit by this user in, let's say, the past three months. That is what I mean by referring to a single edit. I'm also not sure why you consider the edit summary disingenuous. More than one person above seems to agree that the RfC did not satisfy "RFCBEFORE", even though others feel differently. The edit summary was disputable, maybe even erroneous, but I see no evidence that it was "disingenuous" in the sense of knowingly asserting something one does not actually believe. Newyorkbrad (talk) 17:11, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Now I'm waffling again. @Makeandtoss, do you understand that admins are extremely likely to find anything that comes anywhere near repeating this very unamusing? Valereee (talk) 18:27, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Those threads are just a few from the most recent archive. That is disingenuous. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 18:46, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Given their fullthroated response, I'd be willing to just warn. They sound sincere. Valereee (talk) 18:50, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    If we're considering some kind of final warning here instead, I think we need to be crystal clear that it is very final, and anything else like this is going to mean sanctions. "But they also do good stuff" cannot remain an excuse indefinitely. Seraphimblade Talk to me 21:44, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    @Makeandtoss: Please respond briefly in your section to ScottishFinnishRadish's last post above. Newyorkbrad (talk) 21:56, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    +1 Valereee (talk) 01:38, 22 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    I think it's also worth noting Number 57's diff where Makeandtoss closed another RFC with a third party response after taking part in a discussion. WP:RFCBEFORE doesn't require anything, and doesn't suggest extensive discussion, only that a discussion should take place. If it is obvious that a consensus isn't forthcoming there is no need to continue in circles for a certain number of words. No one involved in a discussion should be closing any but the most malformed RFCs. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 23:14, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • @BilledMammal: The extension request is granted. @Makeandtoss: You are granted an extension of the same length if you wish to respond to what BilledMammal posts. We should try to wrap up this thread within the next couple of days. Newyorkbrad (talk) 07:53, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • (placeholder comment) I'm at a family event today and will review the recent posts and comment here either tonight or in the morning. Newyorkbrad (talk) 18:27, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • I understand ScottishFinnishRadish's view that the extension has allowed this thread to run far afield, though I do think it's helpful to evaluate the edit that led to the thread being opened in the context of the editor's other contributions. I adhere to my view that that original edit, of a type that the editor promised not to make again and indeed has not made again, does not warrant a sanction. With regard to the broader array of diffs cited by BilledMammal, while I do not personally agree with all of those edits or edit summaries, Makeandtoss appears to have a good-faith explanation for them. Given the ongoing disagreements about the facts (let alone causes or implications) of what is happening in Gaza, it is to be expected that editors will disagree about what should be contained in these articles and what the best sources for them might be. I would stress the need for everyone to be on their best behavior in this topic-area (including in edit summaries), difficult though that might be, but I would impose no other sanction at this time. Leaving the thread open, although hopefully not for too much longer, for other admins to comment. Newyorkbrad (talk) 18:28, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    • Also, M.Bitton hasn't even been mentioned in this thread since he responded to the OP, so clearly no action needed against him. Newyorkbrad (talk) 13:20, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Galamore

This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.
Requests may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs (not counting required information), except by permission of a reviewing administrator.

Request concerning Galamore

User who is submitting this request for enforcement
Ecrusized (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 18:20, 13 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
User against whom enforcement is requested
Galamore (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Search CT alerts: in user talk history • in system log


Sanction or remedy to be enforced
Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Palestine-Israel articles 4#ARBPIA General Sanctions
Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it

Removing referenced statements & replacing with original research
Gaza Health Ministry
1. 15:12, 13 May 2024
Rafah offensive
2. 09:55, 9 May 2024

General 1RR violations:

Rafah offensive
1. 09:55, 9 May 2024 - Referenced sentence removed
Palestinian political violence
2. 17:19, 8 May 2024 - User revert
War crimes in the Israel–Hamas war
3. 08.13, 25 April 2024 - Referenced sentence removed
Gaza–Israel conflict
4. 17:56, 24 April 2024 - User revert
Zionism
5. 21:05, 21 April 2024 - User revert
Israel and apartheid
6. 15:38, 21 April 2024 - User revert
Palestinian political violence
7. 14:35, 21 April 2024 - User revert
2024 Israeli strikes on Iran
8. 16:58, 19 April 2024 - User revert
9. 09:25, 19 April 2024 - Reverted to a previous version
10. 08:25, 19 April 2024 - Sentence removed without edit summary

Diffs of previous relevant sanctions, if any
If contentious topics restrictions are requested, supply evidence that the user is aware of them (see WP:CTOP#Awareness of contentious topics)
Additional comments by editor filing complaint

I typically don't mind trivial 1RR violations if they were made in good faith. However, it struck me that the user had made hundreds of copy edits, from 20 to 31 March 2024, spamming categories to articles, in order to pass the 500 edit requirement for extended confirmed protection. Subsequently, they solely began editing controversial ECP articles in an aggressive manner. Additionally, it concerns me that the user was previously blocked for not disclosing their paid editing. Ecrusized (talk) 18:20, 13 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I've added the names of the articles above their diffs, if that is what you meant. User was warned about previous 1RR violations and enforcement. I have not warned them about their latest reverts since those edits have already been undone by other editors. Ecrusized (talk) 19:11, 13 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

11:20, 14 April 2024

Discussion concerning Galamore

Statements must be made in separate sections. They may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator.
Administrators may remove or shorten noncompliant statements. Disruptive contributions may result in blocks.

Statement by Galamore

Hi, everyone My name is Gal, Gal the teacher (in Hebrew with English letters it comes out GALAMORE). I entered Wikipedia because I wanted to write about technology, I wrote the article on Perplexity.ai (which received 568,902 views so far!!), after I wrote about a few more high-tech companies I was temporarily blocked and warned not to engage in business matters probably for fear of receiving money for it. Almost every morning, before I start teaching, I go to Wikipedia to edit and I enjoy it very much. I am Israeli, so the Israel related topics interest me. If it is relevant, politically, in Israel I believe in peace with our neighbors and want an end to wars. When I see something that is biased, I try to balance it and bring sources from both sides. Even if there is an Israeli editor who makes claims that are "in favor of Israel" but are not substantiated, I will correct it - because I truly believe in balanced coverage of topics. I am not obssessive to my edits, I just enjoy adding information and I think it is productive to humanity.

On this occasion, may I ask where and when can I request that the prohibition to write on tech companies be removed? Galamore (talk) 07:21, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by BilledMammal

Regarding the WP:OR concerns:
At Rafah offensive they removed:

In addition, the offensive resulted in the temporary closure of the Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings, further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

In their edit summary they said Kerem Shalom was closed due to the Hamas attacks, and now reopened, this is wrong and outdated.
The first part of their claim appears to be correct; the source provided for the content says:

But Israel closed the Kerem Shalom crossing after a Hamas attack on Sunday killed four soldiers in the area, then mounted an incursion on Tuesday that closed the Rafah crossing along the border with Egypt.

At Gaza Health Ministry they changed the lede from:

The GHM's casualty reports have received significant attention during the course of the Gaza–Israel conflict. GHM's casualty reports are considered credible by two scientific studies published in The Lancet.

To:

The casualty reports issued by the GHM during the Israel–Hamas war have been subject to significant scrutiny. While some advocate for their accuracy, others cast doubt on their reliability.

This change appears defensible based on the body which includes claims that the figures are reliable alongside claims that they are unreliable. BilledMammal (talk) 19:20, 13 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Regarding Warned by another user about 1RR violation on 10:45, 14 April 2024. Did not self-revert.
They appear to have attempted to self revert this violation, with 07:52, 14 April 2024 - however they self-reverted the wrong edit, 07:09, 14 April 2024 rather than 07:36, 14 April 2024. BilledMammal (talk) 19:39, 13 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Since Selfstudier has linked it and it relates to two of the editors involved here, this comment, which was made by Ecrusized, wasn't appropriate in my opinion:

the latest change seems to come from virtually inexperienced editors, Galamore and GidiD with a heavy Israeli bias

It only adds heat to the topic. BilledMammal (talk) 20:38, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Zero0000

OP doesn't seem to know what 1RR means. Zerotalk 09:07, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Selfstudier

For the sake of completeness, see also Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents#User:Galamore, gaming the system Selfstudier (talk) 09:58, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

And the discussion Talk:Israel–Hamas war#UN changes reported casualty figures.Selfstudier (talk) 09:58, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (username)

Result concerning Galamore

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.
  • Ecrusized, can you break the 1RR violations down by article, and have they been warned about or asked to revert any 1RR violations? I don't see any engagement about that on their talk page. No comment yet on possible OR issues. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 18:44, 13 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    @Black Kite and Drmies: just making sure you're aware this thread is here. The reported 1rr violations don't seem to be violations, but I am concerned about the edit warring over content that socks and editors banned and tbanned by Arbcom had been edit warring over. I try not to judge content choices unless there is a clear issue, and the edits to the lead are a summary of parts of the body. I think NPOV is a bit lacking, but it's not flagrant and I'm not sure if that alone is enough for action. Combining that with the history of the content being edit warred over brings me a lot closer to a sanction. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 00:41, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • What I said at the AN/I thread: Speaking as the administrator who a few months ago indeffed Galamore as a suspected UPE, after they wrote several extremely promotional articles about non-notable subjects: this doesn't seem like gaming the system. This seems like somebody -- I despise more than anybody for this to be true, but I must admit it -- editing in good faith, or at least not doing anything visibly wrong, along the rules that we explicitly tell them that they have to follow. If we don't think that "500 edits and one month" is enough for someone to edit CT articles, we shouldn't have thousands of words of policy teling people, repeatedly, in no uncertain terms, that making 500 edits and having an account for a month is required to edit CT articles. jp×g🗯️ 19:38, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    JPxG, are you at all concerned about their continuing an edit war primarily edited on one side by socks and people banned by Arbcom for off-wiki canvassing and proxying? ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 23:13, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    On the issue of the sanctioned topic in its own right, I defer to the judgment of persons such as yourself. jp×g🗯️ 08:10, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    I haven't had the chance to dig into this yet (though I will try to over the next couple of days), but I will say that such guidelines should not be treated like black-letter law which can have "loopholes". We can take an extreme case, say that an editor makes an account, waits thirty days, and then runs a script which adds and then removes a single character from their sandbox 500 times. It is perfectly valid, in such a case, to say "That is not what we meant, and that doesn't count. Make 500 real edits before you start editing in this area." Seraphimblade Talk to me 02:28, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Yeah, if it is literally somebody adding and removing a period from their sandbox that is one thing, but if it's five hundred non-deleted, non-reverted edits that improve the articles they're being made on, we have to accept that this was what we told people to do. jp×g🗯️ 08:07, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    As I mentioned at the AN posting about this, I saw the edits when they started editing in ARBPIA, and they looked constructive enough where I didn't take any action then. Those types of edits combined with immediately leaping into a long-term edit war that has been pushed by a sock, and had been supported by editors banned by Arbcom for off-wiki canvassing/proxying is more concerning, and I think that is where we should focus. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 12:20, 20 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Noting that I have indefinitely topic banned the filer of this report, which doesn't actually clear up my concerns about Galamore. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 12:39, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Seraphimblade, I'm thinking a topic ban of 6 months and 500 edits in this circumstance. That forces more out-of-topic contributions, gives them more experience, and puts them further from any sock/proxy/canvass concerns. I'm also okay with no action if you're not convinced. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 12:24, 20 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    I wouldn't see doing anything time-limited here. If you're going to do any sanction, I think it ought to be indefinite, but very much in the "indefinite need not mean permanent" vein, and that constructive edits in other areas would likely be viewed favorably at a future appeal. I also don't think they've been previously warned, so unless I'm wrong about that, another thing to consider would be a logged warning, with a clear understanding that further issues will all but certainly result in a topic ban. Seraphimblade Talk to me 21:47, 21 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Logged warning for what, though? The NPOV stuff wasn't out of the norm. For me it really comes down to concerns about resuming an edit war where socks and canvased editors were originally taking part. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 00:16, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Then I would think for that? Seraphimblade Talk to me 23:35, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

AtikaAtikawa

Blocked one week for ECR violations. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 11:48, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.
Requests may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs (not counting required information), except by permission of a reviewing administrator.

Request concerning AtikaAtikawa

User who is submitting this request for enforcement
Alalch E. (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 14:30, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
User against whom enforcement is requested
AtikaAtikawa (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Search CT alerts: in user talk history • in system log

Sanction or remedy to be enforced
Wikipedia:Arbitration/Index/Palestine-Israel articles, WP:ECR
Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it

Background evidence: 18 May 2024 AtikaAtikawa knows how to post an edit request

Various comments on Talk:War crimes in the Israel–Hamas war (permalink)

  1. 16:29, 22 May 2024 Left prior to being notified about the extended-confirmed restriction at 16:36, 22 May 2024
  2. 17:29, 22 May 2024 Continues to comment after being notified saying "sadly I can't talk there", but he can not talk on the concerned page either
  3. 23 May 2024 Not an edit request
  4. 23 May 2024 Not an edit request

Creation of Israel–Palestine conflict userboxes

  1. 23 May 2024 Creates "From the river to the sea!" userbox
  2. 23 May 2024 Creates a repugnant userbox equating violent acts against Israel and Israeli population which includes atrocities against the Israeli population to a law of nature (action and reaction), thereby excusing even atrocities as natural, necessary and just
  3. 23 May 2024 Creates a polemical text as an apologia for violence including atrocities against civilians to prop up the repugnant userbox

Polemicizing in MfDs for the aforementioned userboxes:

  1. 25 May 2024 Polemical comment
  2. 25 May 2024 Polemical comment
  3. 25 May 2024 Polemical comment with a dose of wikilawyering
  4. 25 May 2024 Further comment
  5. 25 May 2024 Further comment
Diffs of previous relevant sanctions, if any
If contentious topics restrictions are requested, supply evidence that the user is aware of them (see WP:CTOP#Awareness of contentious topics)
  • Alerted about discretionary sanctions or contentious topics in the area of conflict, at 16:36, 22 May 2024 (see the system log linked to above).
  • Otherwise made edits indicating an awareness of the contentious topic: 17:29, 22 May 2024
Additional comments by editor filing complaint

The editor has eight mainspace edits. All of their mainspace edits have been made between January and September 2020. The editor has 177 total edits, of which 31.1% have been deleted. 69.7% of their live edits have been to userspace. The user is generally inactive as an editor of Wikipedia, but has increased activity probably due to interest in the Arab–Israeli conflict, but instead of resuming normal editorial activity, which would mean making edit requests for a while, the activity has been predominantly polemical. Therefore, seeing all of this user's edits in total, the user is WP:NOTHERE.

Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

Discussion concerning AtikaAtikawa

Statements must be made in separate sections. They may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator.
Administrators may remove or shorten noncompliant statements. Disruptive contributions may result in blocks.

Statement by AtikaAtikawa

As for the comments on Talk:War crimes in the Israel–Hamas war. I acknowledge that I failed at understanding ECR limitations when I made them; A rookie mistake that stems from the fact that I just started having interest in editing Wikipedia, and I'm still familiarising myself with the rules. In fact I was warned and I did obey. Briefly, I acknowledge my mistake here.

As for the userboxes. I hope that you take into consideration my arguments in their MfD entries. Basically, I think that Alalch E. is assuming bad faith since he is accusing me of endorsing violence and deeming atrocities as just with no basis, and I think that I actually clarified that through the documentation that the filer deemed as "apologia for violence including atrocities against civilians" when it is just a statement of a viewpoint, that is against violence from both sides.

As for the polemical comments. They were basically just answers to comments that were polemical themselves rather than referring clearly to policies that I did break. I totally understands that two wrongs don't make a right, but I'm really open to advices that concern how could I have handled this better.

As stated above, I'm well aware that I'm unexperienced, and I hope that my niche interest in the Arab-Israeli conflict will not be somehow held against me, rather I hope for whatever answer I'll get to this to contain referrals to the rules I broke in order to be mindful to them from now on.

I acknowledge that my behaviour was suboptimal, and I acknowledge that it did stem from a potential lack of understanding the rules from my part, and I welcome any decision that comes from your part with the hope that it will serve the noble goal of making me a better editor with a better service to the encyclopedia rather than punishment just for the sake of it.— Yours Truly, ⚑ AtikaAtikawa 15:23, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Selfstudier

Technical picky point, defendant is non EC and not permitted to make statements here (or anywhere, really). An admin could/should deal with this? Selfstudier (talk) 15:22, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

By the power invested in me as an editor (or admin, if you insist), IAR :) theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 07:57, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by The Kip

Seconding Selfstudier here - the defendant is several hundred edits short of XC status anyways, so this should be a fairly textbook warning (or TBAN) for violating the ARBPIA XC restriction rather than a drawn-out AE case. The Kip (contribs) 16:00, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Vice regent

@Alalch E.: can you remove this inflammatory comment? There are AGF interpretations of AtikaAtikawa's userbox, and these were given by Robert McClenon and Chaotic Enby. AtikaAtikawa themself wrote that the userbox doesn't support political violence, yet you still throw words like "pro-terrorism" around, and that raises the temperature.VR (Please ping on reply) 21:48, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (username)

Result concerning AtikaAtikawa

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.
  • Blocked one week for ECR violations. Didn't go with a topic ban because they're already prohibited from editing about the topic except for making constructive edit requests on article talk pages. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 16:16, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • User has managed to land themselves at AE at 183 edits, ~170 which have no effect on mainspace (and of those remaining 13, most are from 2020). That rings some WP:NOTHERE alarm bells for me... theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 07:56, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    I just went with my standard block for ECR violations. I have no objection to further sanctions, or just letting it ride and seeing if their behavior improves. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 00:07, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Afv12e

Per a consensus of uninvolved administrators Afv12e, is indefinitely topic banned from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, broadly construed. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 15:40, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.
Requests may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs (not counting required information), except by permission of a reviewing administrator.

Request concerning Afv12e

User who is submitting this request for enforcement
Vanamonde93 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 20:10, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
User against whom enforcement is requested
Afv12e (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Search CT alerts: in user talk history • in system log


Sanction or remedy to be enforced
Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/India-Pakistan#Contentious_topic_designation
Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it
  1. 27 May 2024 Multiple issues here. Image copyright status isn't clear; immediate source appears to be this instagram post, though a link isn't specified. The content in the caption isn't sourced, failing WP:V.
  2. 21 May 2024 Copyright violation: the modified version of the first sentence is copied word-for-word from this source. It's also an egregious mis-use of the source, which uses that language to describe the Khilafat Movement more broadly, not the Malabar rebellion specifically. The source paints a different, and far more complex, picture of the Malabar rebellion.
  3. 25 May 2024 Inappropriate use of a primary source.
  4. 22 May 2024 The user's entire participation in this discussion demonstrates a lack of competence. They have clearly not read the article they wish to change; they have not provided sources supporting the content they wish to add; they do not understand our policies on verifiability; and they are unable or unwilling to engage constructively in the discussion.
Diffs of previous relevant sanctions, if any
No previous sanctions, but a number of warnings for issues similar to the ones I have highlighted.
If contentious topics restrictions are requested, supply evidence that the user is aware of them (see WP:CTOP#Awareness of contentious topics)
  • Alerted about discretionary sanctions or contentious topics in the area of conflict, on 11 November 2023
  • Alerted again in March 2024.
Additional comments by editor filing complaint

This user has, IMHO, had too much rope: despite numerous warnings, they seem unable or unwilling to learn our PAGs. I would suggest a TBAN, but a normal indefinite block would not go amiss. Vanamonde93 (talk) 20:10, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  • I don't wish to belabor a point, but I want to note the disingenuousness in the statement below; the image in diff 1 (now deleted) was not the one displayed here as Afv12e claims; we can no longer see it, but the instagram source is evidenced by its mention in the commons deletion log. It would not affect the copyright issue in any case. Furthermore, having spent too much time reading this user's talk page contributions of late, I cannot help but believe they have used an LLM to assist with the post below (see, for instance, how their reply misunderstands the primary source issue). Vanamonde93 (talk) 15:36, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested
Notified.

Discussion concerning Afv12e

Statements must be made in separate sections. They may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator.
Administrators may remove or shorten noncompliant statements. Disruptive contributions may result in blocks.

Statement by Afv12e

    • 1. Image Copyright Status (27 May 2024)

I apologize for the oversight regarding the image source. The image was sourced , and the copyright status is provided. I will ensure that all future images have clear and verifiable sources. The caption content was intended to summarize the image and it was taken from here [21]; (the caption reference , added here as the editor pointed out that i took image but to specify that i took reference for captions) however, I recognize the need for proper sourcing and will add references to support the information provided.

    • 2. Copyright Violation and Misuse of Source (21 May 2024)

I acknowledge that the sentence was unintentionally copied. I have rewritten the sentence to better paraphrase the source. The source used describes the broader Khilafat Movement, and I have now included additional sources that specifically discuss the Malabar rebellion to support the content.

    • 3. Inappropriate Use of Primary Source (25 May 2024)

The primary source was used to provide a firsthand account of the events. However, I understand that secondary sources are preferred. I will replace the primary source with Secondary Source to ensure better adherence to Wikipedia's guidelines.

    • 4. Lack of Competence in Discussion (22 May 2024)

I have actively participated in discussions, as seen in [22][23][24]. I admit that there were misunderstandings, but I have since reviewed Wikipedia's policies on verifiability and reliable sourcing. Moving forward, I will ensure all contributions are well-sourced and properly vetted.

    • 5. Previous Sanctions and Warnings

I have taken past warnings seriously and have made significant efforts to improve my editing practices. Recent contributions such as [25] [26] demonstrate my commitment to following Wikipedia's guidelines and making valuable contributions.

  • New User Status

I am a relatively new user on Wikipedia, with around 300 edits and 8 months of experience. I am still learning and navigating Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. I appreciate the feedback and am committed to improving my contributions to the community.


I am committed to learning and adhering to Wikipedia's guidelines. I respectfully request the committee to consider my improvements and my genuine intent to contribute positively to the community. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely, Afv12e

@Bishonen @ScottishFinnishRadish
I would request to go through the talk as a whole and before this is posted here I have requested for a more balanced wordings here [27] Afv12e (talk) 15:08, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Talk which I initiated and actively participated has been resolved and the request has been made finding that my concerns are valid for the article Narendra Modi here [28].
If you look the article lead of Narendra Modi there are only negative things and not even a single positive thing.
So i thought of discussing it in the talk page , which might have provoked non-neutral editors.
I request you NOT TO GIVE ME A TOPIC BAN, because if you look the talk page of article Narendra Modi , editors like @Grabup are non - neutral in the discussion which is evident from here [29].
He is not ready to check even the non reliable sources mentioned . The request has only validated by neutral editors when they noticed this and made the edit request.
So I request you NOT TO GIVE ME A TOPIC BAN , as i'm engaging constructively to edit these articles adhering to wikipedia policies. Afv12e (talk) 17:37, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There is no CIR issue here.
In the article Narendra Modi, it has been written in a biased way, highlighting all those negatives. I tried to add the positive side of his contribution to make the article balanced.
Please don't call it a CIR issue and I agree that i went wrong in the talk adding few words which are considered promotional in wikipedia.
i promise that i'll take care of that in future.
I'm a new editor with 400+ edits trying to improve a big article like Narendra Modi in wikipedia, so please pardon my faults. Afv12e (talk) 17:57, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Vanamonde93 I took the caption reference from the article and not the deleted pic, added here as the editor pointed out that i took image but to specify that i took reference for captions which he alleged against me. Afv12e (talk) 18:01, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by 86.23.109.101

I agree with Vanamonde93 that a topic ban or block is required here. A couple more examples of disruption from the last few days:

  • [30] [31] Using "This is Indian!" type talk page disruption from an IP as justification to make unsourced changes to an article. The section "Protected edit request on 23 January 2024" above on the same talk page is also worth reading.
  • Edit warring [32] to reinsert this edit [33], which misrepresents the content of the cited source. The source mainly consists of interviews with a number of activists and makes the claim that Some South Indians and Tamils don’t feel ‘Desi’ includes them, which is insufficient to support the sweeping, black and white statement added to the article.

This AN thread [34] from a few days ago may be relevant here. 86.23.109.101 (talk) 21:37, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by BlackOrchidd‬

Statement by Abhishek0831996

See Afv12e's edit warring on Malabar rebellion, especially this type of editing and edit summary. He is clearly not serious about what he is editing. This edit particularly confirms that he is editing to impose his agenda. His behavior on a recent WP:AN report was also very bad.[35] I agree Afv12e should be topic banned or blocked. Abhishek0831996 (talk) 06:08, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Grabup

As far as I can see from his edits, I am convinced that he should get a topic ban. Surely, he is promoting an agenda. This Diff confirms he is pomoting an agenda. GrabUp - Talk 07:47, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Here is a request made by this editor on the talk page of PM Modi. The request is entirely promotional, indicating their intention to promote Modi.
He requested to change from : His account of helping his father sell tea at the Vadnagar railway station has not been reliably corroborated. to His account of helping his father sell tea at the Vadnagar railway station highlights his humble beginnings and strong work ethic, although some sources have debated its precise details; “highlights his humble beginnings and strong work ethic” is totally promotional. GrabUp - Talk 13:07, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (username)

Result concerning Afv12e

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.
  • I'm leaning towards a topic ban for nationalistic NPOV issues. If there are no admin comments in the next day or two I'll implement that sanction. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 12:01, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • I think such a topic ban is warranted. Not sure about the wording so I'll leave it to someone else to word. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Doug Weller (talkcontribs) 14:06, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • At least a T-ban is required. The request Grabup quotes above is hair-raising. The question is whether somebody who'd post that (and post it as recently as yesterday, despite their claims above to have improved their practices) should be editing Wikipedia at all. So I'd also be fine with an indefinite block per Vanamonde. Bishonen | tålk 14:54, 28 May 2024 (UTC).[reply]
  • I'm actually wondering if there is a CIR issue here, because they're still pushing their promotional language on the Modi article even with this report open and multiple people telling them why they can't do this [36]. Black Kite (talk) 17:52, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • As Afv12e points out, their clock was IMO correct at least once today. But I'm not going to object to a tban.
Afv12e, you're editing in an area that requires some experience, which you haven't got, and it really does feel as if you've got a POV that you're not showing the capacity to set aside. If you won't voluntarily go edit other subjects until you learn your way around Wikipedia, and if you can't be objective, a topic ban is how we prevent ongoing disruption while still allowing you to contribute in other topics while you learn. Valereee (talk) 18:57, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

BlackOrchidd

Per a consensus of uninvolved administrators BlackOrchidd, is indefinitely topic banned from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, broadly construed. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 15:41, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.
Requests may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs (not counting required information), except by permission of a reviewing administrator.

Request concerning BlackOrchidd

User who is submitting this request for enforcement
Capitals00 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 06:00, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
User against whom enforcement is requested
BlackOrchidd (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Search CT alerts: in user talk history • in system log


Sanction or remedy to be enforced
WP:ARBPAK
Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it
  1. 5 April 2024 - posted a frivolous warning on my talkpage for this accurately described edit.
  2. 11 April 2024‎ - Falsified sources by treating prosecutors' statements as facts
  3. 28 April 2024 - edit warring to replace a proper section title with a misleading section title
  4. 20 May 2024 - Removes entire critical edit, which cited 1 English and 1 non-English WP:RS, by falsely claiming that only English sources are preferred.
  5. 27 May 2024 - Re-added his already reverted edit by falsifying the talk page discussion that was completely against this edit.
  6. 28 May 2024 - Wants people to discuss outright unreliable sources on WP:RSN. See WP:CIR.
  7. 28 May 2024 - Disparaging the above report as "frivolous" to the extent that he went ahead to make a specific edit to disparage the report in the edit summary as well. See WP:BATTLE.

His talk page is full of recent warnings for his misconduct. Capitals00 (talk) 06:02, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Diffs of previous relevant sanctions, if any
If contentious topics restrictions are requested, supply evidence that the user is aware of them (see WP:CTOP#Awareness of contentious topics)
[37]
Additional comments by editor filing complaint
Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested
[38]


Discussion concerning BlackOrchidd

Statements must be made in separate sections. They may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator.
Administrators may remove or shorten noncompliant statements. Disruptive contributions may result in blocks.

Statement by BlackOrchidd

Dear ArbComs

  • I am writing to bring to your kind attention and a serious concern regarding the Narendra Modi page. It appears that Capitals00 and Vanamonde93 are engaged in an apperant coordinated effort to block/censor me and Afv12e from contributing to this page.

Context

  • Narendra Modi : Narendra Modi is a highly popular figure and the Prime Minister of India who is predicted to win a third term on June 04th 2024.
  • Wikipedia’s Bias: There is a perception of bias in the wikipedia platform, against the current ruling political party and the current Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi.
  • Donation appeal by Wikipedia : @Jimbo Wales: frequently make appeals for donations in the Indian subcontinent. The Indian population, particularly the Hindu majority, is dissatisfied with this lack of neutrality on Wikipedia and its anti Hindu bias. As a popular X(Formerly Twitter) user, I am aware that there are calls on the social media for the biasedness of wikipedia and boycott calls [ https://theprint.in/india/biased-anti-hindu-campaign-begins-against-wikipedia-after-it-urges-indians-to-donate/472980/] of donation appeals of Jimbo Wales. There is a significant risks of potential financial implication in particularly India if these boycott calls and hashtag trends grow to significant size.
  • Capitals00 and Vanamonde93 misusing their privileges to maintain a biased perspective. Vanamonde93 has a history of preventing the Narendra Modi page from becoming neutral. They actively obstruct efforts to add positive content and suppress alternative viewpoints, creating a skewed representation of the topic. This abuse of power is unacceptable and detrimental to the integrity of Wikipedia and its WP:PURPOSE.
  • First and foremost, esteemed members of the Arbitration Committee, please accept my sincere apologies for bringing this matter to your attention through this channel. However, I earnestly hope you will recognize the gravity of this situation. This ongoing issue has frustrated many users, editors and potential donors, and it is crucial to address the bias that is currently prevalent on the Narendra Modi page. I request your immediate intervention.

Statement by Grabup

I warned him not to add unreliable sources to a BLP, which appeared to be a blog site and not reliable. I also warned him not to add any type of analytics data or earnings from Socialblade. His response was not to acknowledge his mistake; instead, he said to discuss the reliability at RS.

He has been warned many times for his edits. On one occasion, he was questioned by Admin BlackKite. In an edit summary, he said, “To maintain a neutral point of view (NPOV), we're adjusting this article.” Where he like of misbehaved with him.

He removed well-sourced material because it told the truth about Modi, providing a poor edit summary that said Hindi sources should not be used if English sources are available. I reverted that edit and said that English sources should be cited if available, but Hindi sources can also be used. Later, he had to add that portion back.

I think there is a full team behind this account or accounts. Their edits are not about improving Wikipedia at all; rather, they are promoting an agenda of PM Modi. GrabUp - Talk 08:04, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Black Kite

I'll put myself in this section as I've had a lot of interactions with them. As you can see from the history of Talk:Narendra Modi, especially Archive 21, BlackOrchidd believes that Modi's article does not contain as much positive information about him as it should do, and has repeatedly attempted to insert material that is WP:SYNTH, WP:OR or based on unreliable sources. They do not appear to understand why they cannot insert this information even when it is explained to them in detail, which is an issue of WP:CIR. I am also suspicious (as was mentioned above by Grabup) that this is an account operated by a group to "improve" Modi's article during an election. It would certainly be logical to apply a topic ban here, even if it is a time-limited one until after election - though I suspect a that time they would no longer be interested in it. Black Kite (talk) 13:01, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Vanamonde

In addition to the above concerns, I would note the issues with NPOV here, where they user sources discussing what officials said and present those statements as fact in Wikipedia's voice with no attribution. This is an easy error for a new user to make, but the need for attribution has been explained to them multiple times at Talk:Narendra Modi. And speaking of frivolous warnings, there was this bizarre message to me a little while ago. Vanamonde93 (talk) 15:45, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (username)

Result concerning BlackOrchidd

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.
  • Same as above, I'm leaning towards a topic ban for nationalistic NPOV issues. If there are no admin comments in the next day or two I'll implement that sanction. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 12:01, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • BlackOrchidd's response does not address any of the diffs, and the comments about potential effects on donations are highly inappropriate. Newyorkbrad (talk) 13:15, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • I would prefer a topic ban from the entire IPA area. I don't think they are capable of constructively editing in the area and it appears that they have a considerable CIR problem. I don't think they will understand what is meant by nationalistic NPOV issues. Doug Weller talk 16:03, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • BlackOrchidd's inappropriate use of Wikipedia's voice to praise Modi, per examples given by Vanamonde, is textbook tendentious editing with CIR issues mixed in. They're unwilling or unable to learn from advice and explanations, so I support a topic ban from the IPA area. Absolutely not a time-limited ban! Instead, let them appeal it after six months of constructive editing in other areas. The comments about donations are... are... well, they're amazing. That they put such comments in this kind of discussion speaks volumes. Bishonen | tålk 11:46, 29 May 2024 (UTC).[reply]

Melvintickle16

Indeffed by Bbb23 as a normal admin action. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 15:33, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.
Requests may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs (not counting required information), except by permission of a reviewing administrator.

Request concerning Melvintickle16

User who is submitting this request for enforcement
Air on White (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 01:04, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
User against whom enforcement is requested
Melvintickle16 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Search CT alerts: in user talk history • in system log


Sanction or remedy to be enforced
Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Palestine-Israel articles
Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it
  1. 22:38, May 28 2024 Melvintickle16's first edit to Wikipedia, where they clearly violate ECR, NPOV and V. I reverted using Huggle while fighting vandalism.
  2. 22:51, May 28 2024 Mostly a repeat of the previous edit. I reverted again to enforce ECR.
  3. 23:02, May 28 2024 I informed them of the ARBPIA sanctions.
  4. 23:48, May 28 2024 May 29 2024 An hour later, they made much the same edit in two parts. This clearly violates not only ECR but also 1RR.
Diffs of previous relevant sanctions, if any

None I'm aware of.

If contentious topics restrictions are requested, supply evidence that the user is aware of them (see WP:CTOP#Awareness of contentious topics)
  • Mentioned by name in the Arbitration Committee's Final Decision linked to above.
  • Previously blocked as a discretionary sanction or contentious topic restriction for conduct in the area of conflict, see the block log linked to above.
  • Previously given a discretionary sanction or contentious topic restriction or warned for conduct in the area of conflict on Date by Username (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA).
  • Alerted about discretionary sanctions or contentious topics in the area of conflict, on Date (see the system log linked to above).
  • Gave an alert about contentious topics in the area of conflict to another editor, on Date
  • Participated in process about the area of conflict (such as a request or appeal at AE, AN or an Arbitration Committee process page), on Date.
  • Successfully appealed all their own sanctions relating to the area of conflict, on Date.
  • Placed a {{Contentious topics/aware}} template for the area of conflict on their own talk page.
  • Otherwise made edits indicating an awareness of the contentious topic.
Additional comments by editor filing complaint
Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

01:15, 29 May 2024 I posted a message to their talkpage. Air on White (talk) 01:16, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion concerning Melvintickle16

Statements must be made in separate sections. They may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator.
Administrators may remove or shorten noncompliant statements. Disruptive contributions may result in blocks.

Statement by Melvintickle16

Statement by The Kip

It appears Bbb23 has already indef'd the user in question for disruptive editing, so I think this case can be archived. The Kip (contribs) 02:15, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Result concerning Melvintickle16

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.

Arbitration enforcement action appeal by אקעגן

Procedural notes: The rules governing arbitration enforcement appeals are found here. According to the procedures, a "clear and substantial consensus of uninvolved administrators" is required to overturn an arbitration enforcement action.

To help determine any such consensus, involved editors may make brief statements in separate sections but should not edit the section for discussion among uninvolved editors. Editors are normally considered involved if they are in a current dispute with the sanctioning or sanctioned editor, or have taken part in disputes (if any) related to the contested enforcement action. Administrators having taken administrative actions are not normally considered involved for this reason alone (see WP:UNINVOLVED).

Appealing user
אקעגן (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)אקעגן (talk) 15:26, 31 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Sanction being appealed
1 week block for ECR violations
Administrator imposing the sanction
ScottishFinnishRadish (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)
Notification of that administrator

I'm aware. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 13:51, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by אקעגן

I only made a change to a talk page, which is usually the way I can make my opinions known on a locked or protected page. The notice that it was only for extended confirmed users was on the top of the section, and not on the top of the page, so I missed it. I believe a week block is fairly severe under this circumstance. I have read through CTOP and ARBECR, and will abide by these rules to avoid this in the future.

Statement by ScottishFinnishRadish

I told them You could also read the information that was provided about the WP:CTOP designation on the Arab/Israel conflict and WP:ARBECR and demonstrate that you understand and will abide by the sanctions in the topic area in an unblock request and yet we're still here. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 13:51, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I would like a demonstration that they understand, rather than simply stating they understand. In my experience a lack of demonstration leads to further blocks. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 15:33, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Newyorkbrad, I've read and understand everything. I also didn't read the block message that explains unblock requests. This is why I require a demonstration that they understand. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 15:36, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Starship.paint, actually explain how their edits violated the sanction, what is covered by the sanction, and how they'll avoid future violations. The same general gist we expect of all unblock requests. See WP:GAB which is linked in the block template. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 16:04, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (involved editor 1)

Statement by (involved editor 2)

Discussion among uninvolved editors about the appeal by אקעגן

Statements must be made in separate sections. They may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator.
Administrators may remove or shorten noncompliant statements. Disruptive contributions may result in blocks.

Statement by starship.paint

אקעגן said that they have read through CTOP and ARBECR, and will abide by these rules. I think that's good enough for an unblock. If they abide by these rules, and not WP:GAME ARBECR, we should be fine? Don't make 100+ trivial edits to reach 500 edits. starship.paint (RUN) 14:45, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  • @Selfstudier: - you linked to a complaint at WP:ANI, but this is not a complaint. Editors are allowed to appeal their blocks, even if they have violated WP:ARBECR. In fact ScottishFinnishRadish copied over this appeal from אקעגן talk page, so if it was not allowed, I am pretty sure ScottishFinnishRadish would not have done that. starship.paint (RUN) 15:12, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Selfstudier

Complainant per WP:ARBECR has no standing to even make this complaint and it should be dismissed with prejudice. See, for example see Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive356#Selfstudier "As a non-EC editor, you essentially have no standing to make edits related to the topic. You can make an edit request, but any other editor can remove it, even without providing reason. Further, making a complaint against another editor as a non-EC editor in the WP:ARBPIA area is fully not allowed." Selfstudier (talk) 14:50, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Starship.paint: WP:ARBECR limits editors to edit requests at article talk pages, no exceptions. Blocked for ARBECR breach, complaint not allowed. Selfstudier (talk) 15:09, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Starship.paint: No, because this is merely an ARBECR continuation, the editor has no standing to do anything in relation to the topic area except make edit requests. Selfstudier (talk) 15:17, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Newyorkbrad: I don't object to an editor being permitted to edit in non CT areas, in fact we are trying to encourage that with ECR restrictions. Then, for the future imposed sanctions for ECR breach should be such that no appeal is permitted, time limited tbans? Selfstudier (talk) 15:30, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Sean.hoyland

I have a question for אקעגן. You were notified of the ARBPIA restrictions on 2024-03-20, and by convention, the assumption is that you read it because you removed it. You then made 9 edits to Portal:Current events/2024 to include content unambiguously within scope of the restrictions over a period of a month or so. Why did you think that was okay and what could have prevented it? Sean.hoyland (talk) 15:05, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Selfstudier's reasoning is interesting. Not sure I buy the "this is not a complaint" idea. It is a complaint against something, an admin action, the severity of the action, and it's a block appeal. It can be both. Sean.hoyland (talk) 15:28, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Result of the appeal by אקעגן

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.
  • The ECR violation appears to have resulted from a good-faith misunderstanding, and the appellant indicates he now understands the issue, so I would grant the appeal. It's worth bearing in mind sometimes that ECR is a major change from how Wikipedia usually works, and that the nuances of the rules surrounding it are not inherently obvious to editors who don't spend much of their wikilives on the arbitration pages. @ScottishFinnishRadish: Based on reading the user talkpage, I think the appellant did not understand that your suggestion of "an unblock request" was a different process from an AE or AN appeal, especially since the appeal contains the same substance you suggested for the unblock request. @Selfstudier: The block prevents the editor from editing not just IP topics but Wikipedia as a whole, so there is clearly standing to appeal it. Newyorkbrad (talk) 15:18, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • The original block was clearly justified, but I believe it is now very clear to this editor what is and is not allowed (as to some side discussion above, appealing a sanction is a longstanding exception to being a violation of that or any sanction, so of course blocked or otherwise sanctioned editors are permitted to appeal). So, at this point I would essentially reduce it to "time served". Seraphimblade Talk to me 01:22, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Sentaso

This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.
Requests may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs (not counting required information), except by permission of a reviewing administrator.

Request concerning Sentaso

User who is submitting this request for enforcement
TarnishedPath (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 14:35, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
User against whom enforcement is requested
Sentaso (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Search CT alerts: in user talk history • in system log


Sanction or remedy to be enforced
Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Editing of Biographies of Living Persons
Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it
  1. User_talk:Sentaso#Introduction_to_contentious_topics In this discussion I have advised them of what existing consensus is at Nick McKenzie
  2. 10:31, 1 June 2024 (UTC) Sentaso edits the archives of Talk:Nick McKenzie to insert a thread that never happened in the article talk. In their thread they make accusations that editors have "vandalizing this page" in reference to the talk archive without providing evidence. Additionally they have stated that JML1148, who closed an RFC, broke WP guidelines and again without providing evidence. Finally they have claimed that "It appears several Australian WP editors with possible conflicts of interest re. Mckenzie are attempting to whitewash his WP page". They have not provided any evidence for their claims of bad faith.
  3. 12:31, 1 June 2024 (UTC) Editor stated in a response to myself "You were dishonest with your initial reply stating "Consensus was determined to be that the material should not be covered at all" when the consensus was the opposite"". Editor has not provided any evidence for claims of my bad faith.
  4. 7:15, 2 June 2024 (UTC) Editor has reverted Talk:Nick McKenzie/Archive 1 to reinsert a discussion in there that never happened at Talk:Nick McKenzie
  5. 8:40, 2 June 2024 (UTC) Editor is WP:BADGERING me on my talk page in relation to Talk:Nick McKenzie by repeating to ask a question which I'd previously chosen not to answer because it is aggressive and meaningless.
  6. 8:43, 2 June 2024 (UTC) Editor is casting WP:ASPERSIONs in regards to my editing at Nick McKenzie. Once again evidence is not provided for the claims being made.
  7. 10:49, 2 June 2024 (UTC) Editor has reverted my talk page restoring a post that I archived after I [[Special:Diff/1226872000|specifically told them to never, under any circumstances, post on my talk page again. Post was in regards to Nick McKenzie.
  8. 10:52, 2 June 2024 (UTC) continued to post of my talk in violation of my request to not post on my talk page. Again post was in regards to Nick McKenzie.
If contentious topics restrictions are requested, supply evidence that the user is aware of them (see WP:CTOP#Awareness of contentious topics)
Additional comments by editor filing complaint

Editor had edited Nick McKenzie to insert material which RfC determined should not be in the article. Upon being advised by myself of consensus (as determined by RfC close) and what they could do if disagree with the close, editor has sought to misinterpret WP policy and engaged in casting WP:ASPERSIONS and WP:ABF. Editor appears to be a WP:SPA who is editing to WP:RGW. TarnishedPathtalk 14:35, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I have updated the diffs to include a revert that the editor just performed to re-insert a discussion into Talk:Nick McKenzie's archives which never occurred in the article talk. TarnishedPathtalk 07:38, 2 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Sentaso, I have moved your comment to your section. Please write any comments you have in your section of the notice. TarnishedPathtalk 09:33, 2 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

Special:Diff/1226739756


Discussion concerning Sentaso

Statements must be made in separate sections. They may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator.
Administrators may remove or shorten noncompliant statements. Disruptive contributions may result in blocks.

Statement by Sentaso

2. @TarnishedPath: JML1148 in their own words stated "numerical majority against removing the content" and then claimed there was consensus to remove the content.

- Yes, yourself and others related to this appear to be Australian as per your Wikipedia profiles. Mckenzie is Australian, and there's seems to be a commonality of those in favor of removing content related him are also Australian. Certainly potential for Conflict_of_interest

3. Evidence was in point 2 above re JML1148 comment.

4. I didn't reinsert anything, I don't know why you're making things up that WP history shows to be false. I added to the discussion highlighting it had been prematurely closed. I've also asked who/when the discussion was deemed over and with what authority, which you didn't answer. If yourself and associates had followed WP best practice there would clear sections on the page detailing why the page would be archived. The page has been blasted with text claiming the discussion is closed, but there appears to be no grounds for closure. I've asked you several times if you could source why this page was archived, which you've ignored, likely because you cannot.

5. As per comments on their Talk page (which he keeps removing) it appears TarnishedPath does not understand some aspects of WP:BLP.

A quote of yours from the Mckenzie archive "if McKenzie is not named, then what is the material doing on a WP:BLP about McKenzie? TarnishedPathtalk 00:57, 9 January 2024 (UTC)"

BLPs do not always need to explicitly mention the subject's name as long as the information can be clearly and unambiguously attributed to the subject

6. Duplicate content, see my point 2 above.

7. You don't understand BLP, one should be grateful I highlighted your misunderstanding on your talk page

8. Duplicate content


Sentaso (talk) 09:06, 2 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding comments below, these references to talk pages are a red herring. The real issue is why the Mckenzie discussion page was archived, the sham RFC and why BLP is not being followed correctly for the Mckenzie page. Tarnished Path falsely suggested that BLP need to name the person which is incorrect. I did him a favor by raising this issue on his talk page and he gets aggressive and removes the content. Why not focus on the main issues instead of the number of edits a user has? Unhelpful Sentaso (talk) 13:37, 2 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (username)

Result concerning Sentaso

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.
  • I see one edit to the article, and some snarky discussion that displays they don't understand BLP. If they can demonstrate some understanding of WP:BLP I'd be willing to let this to with a warning. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 21:06, 1 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • I'd suggest that editing Tarnished Path's talk page four times after they'd been asked not to post there, included reverting Tarnished Path's own edits, is suggestive that they don't understand a lot more than BLP. (They've edited the article seven times, incidentally). When you also take into account the insertion into a talk page Archive of a discussion that never happened at that page, together with casting aspersions at other editors of COI and whitewashing (same diff), I'm unconvinced that an editor with 87 edits and this much disruption is a net positive at all. Black Kite (talk) 13:15, 2 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    No, Sentaso, they're not a red herring, they're persistent poor editing behaviour and are a large part of your very limited editing history. Most good-faith editors amass hundreds if not thousands of edits without even one of those issues coming up, let alone multiple ones. He told you to stay off his talk page. You didn't, because you think you know better (" I did him a favor by raising this issue on his talk page"). You don't. What you need to say here is what you're going to do better in the future. Black Kite (talk) 17:15, 2 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    The 87 edits is why I'd let this go with a warning if there was a demonstration that they understand the issue and will remedy it. I'm not opposed to something more substantial, however. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 11:50, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

LokiTheLiar

No issues with the notification to the LGBT Wikiproject. BilledMammal, when you're frequently the target of accusations that you're weaponizing AE maybe don't weaponize AE in this way. You're more than aware of the community consensus around these notifications, as you've been involved in some of the discussions where it has come up. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 11:54, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.
Requests may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs (not counting required information), except by permission of a reviewing administrator.

Request concerning LokiTheLiar

User who is submitting this request for enforcement
BilledMammal (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 08:33, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
User against whom enforcement is requested
LokiTheLiar (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Search CT alerts: in user talk history • in system log


Sanction or remedy to be enforced
Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Gender_and_sexuality#Motion: contentious topic designation (December 2022)
Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it

Notified a partisan forum, violating WP:CANVASS. They were aware of this issue, and the RfC that this is a repeat of raised the same issue, but they rejected it and decided to issue the notification anyway.

That this is canvassing can be seen in the evidence below, which analyses three recent RfC's held at the Village Pump and proves that the WikiProject is non-representative on this topic, with a collective opinion that deviates by a significant margin from that of the broader community. These WP:ARBCOM principles are also relevant (emphasis mine):

Participation:

The determination of proper consensus is vulnerable to unrepresentative participation from the community. Because of the generally limited number of editors likely to participate in any given discussion, an influx of biased or partisan editors is likely to generate an improper illusion of a consensus where none (or a different one) would exist in a wider population.

Canvassing:

While it is acceptable to notify other editors of ongoing discussions, messages that are written to influence the outcome rather than to improve the quality of a discussion may be considered disruptive. In particular, messages to fora mostly populated by a biased or partisan audience — especially when not public — are considered canvassing and disrupt the consensus building process by making participation lopsided.

Note that this only applies to transgender topics. As far as I know the Wikiproject is not partisan on other topics within its area of interest and thus there are no issues with notifying them on those topics.

Extended content
Discussion Group Support Oppose
Count Percent Count Percent
RFC: Names of deceased trans people Members 9 82% 2 18%
Non-members 32 52% 30 48%
Both 41 56% 32 44%
RfC: Proposed addition to MOS:GENDERID - when to include deadnames Members 10 83% 2 17%
Non-members 26 37% 45 63%
Both 36 43% 47 57%
Topic 1: What principal reference? (MOS:GENDERID 1st paragraph) Members 10 100% 0 0%
Non-members 33 69% 15 31%
Both 43 74% 15 26%
Discussion Group Option 1 Option 2 Option 3 Option 4
Count Percent Count Percent Count Percent Count Percent
Topic 2: When to mention deadnames? (MOS:GENDERID 2nd/3rd paragraphs) Members 0 0% 4 29% 10 71% 0 0%
Non-members 5 7% 15 21% 30 43% 20 29%
Both 5 6% 19 22% 40 48% 20 24%
Topic 3: How often to mention deadnames? (MOS:GENDERID 3rd paragraph*) Members 0 0% 1 9% 10 91% 0 0%
Non-members 2 5% 10 25% 13 33% 14 35%
Both 2 4% 11 22% 23 46% 14 28%
"Members" are determined by either being listed on the member list or having made five or more edits to the talk page
For multi-choice RfC's, editors who voted equally for multiple options were placed in both categories. Editors who voted "No" were placed in "No change".

Other issues related to this RfC including misrepresenting sources; they have claimed that the Telegraph promoted the litter boxes in schools hoax about a British school - but none of the articles they provide in support of this claim promotes it, and one of them actually states such claims are a hoax.

Diffs of previous relevant sanctions, if any


If contentious topics restrictions are requested, supply evidence that the user is aware of them (see WP:CTOP#Awareness of contentious topics)
Additional comments by editor filing complaint

There was a consensus in that discussion that notifying Wikiprojects is almost never canvassing; given the number of editors who qualified their comments there wasn’t a consensus that it never is.

Further, this is a contentious topic; editors should stay well clear of violating policy, and notifying a fora that is known to be partisan isn’t doing that, regardless of what you believe consensus at an informal and non-specific discussion says. 12:17, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

@TarnishedPath: APPNOTE is clear that it doesn't create an exception to INAPPNOTE; Do not send inappropriate notices, as defined in the section directly below BilledMammal (talk) 12:43, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@LokitheLiar: Our article on the hoax is about literal litterboxes, and at no point in your !vote do you suggest - even with the close reading Colin suggests - that you are talking about anything other than literal litterboxes.
@Your Friendly Neighborhood Sociologist: I haven’t read the DRV, but I haven't seen the consensus upheld even once in the past month; the VPP per above, while the rest the question was only considered by a couple of editors - and as a general note, why would you want to notify a partisan forum? (And FYI, you mischaracterise FFF’s post) BilledMammal (talk) 22:41, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Colin: What part of In one case, it promoted the litter boxes in schools hoax about a British school every day for a week, and even when the hoax was proven false they didn't retract or correct any of it is them not saying that the telegraph was promoting the litter box in school hoax - a hoax that, I shouldn't need to state, involves litter boxes in schools? Even interpreting it more broadly, on the basis of a couple of examples in the article, to include any hoax related to claimed accommodations for otherkin, doesn't make Loki's claim any more truthful - none of the sources they provided claim any accommodations.
Since I'm commenting, as a general note - editors at the village pump discussion are now saying that this is the correct place to take concerns, when supported by evidence, that notifying a specific WikiProject is a WP:CANVASS violation. BilledMammal (talk) 08:09, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

08:33, 3 June 2024

Discussion concerning LokiTheLiar

Statements must be made in separate sections. They may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator.
Administrators may remove or shorten noncompliant statements. Disruptive contributions may result in blocks.

Statement by LokiTheLiar

I anticipated that this user would make a tendentious report like this based on comments made on previous discussions, which is why I asked the village pump about this situation before I did it.

In short, there is a strong and recent community consensus that notifying all relevant Wikiprojects is not WP:CANVASSING. And I would like to point out to any admins evaluating here that BilledMammal must know this because they participated in the thread. Loki (talk) 11:51, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

If NYB needs it to be satisfied, my response is per Colin: despite the title, a literal litter box is not really the subject of the litter boxes in schools hoax. The actual claim at issue is students identifying at animals with school support, all of which are met by the articles I linked. We even have examples in the article itself with no literal litter box alleged. Loki (talk) 15:06, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I can't deny I'm very sympathetic to YFNS's argument for a WP:BOOMERANG. I think that pursuing this argument at WP:AE days after it was rejected at the village pump is clearly tendentious, and I also think that BM is not going to stop trying to bring people to drama boards for this, some possibly not as well prepared for it. Loki (talk) 20:14, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

A statement by starship.paint

I'm really not sure about this. Is it a surprise that WP:LGBT would be partisan on LGBT issues? No. But is the topic of the coverage of trans issues by the Telegraph related to WP:LGBT? Definitely yes? starship.paint (RUN) 09:36, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Selfstudier

Echoing starship.paint. In AI area, we routinely post to 3 projects, one each on either side and the other theoretically neutral. Here there is no other "side" so presumably editors with an interest in the subject matter camp out at the given project and then we are led to believe there is evidence that this forum is "partisan". Not convinced that this is a sufficient reason to invoke canvassing, though, it's not as if it isn't being done in plain sight and projects are seemingly a natural place to advertise a discussion. Selfstudier (talk) 09:58, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by TarnishedPath

This is a particularly frivolous report that has been brought.
Per WP:APPNOTE:
An editor who may wish to draw a wider range of informed, but uninvolved, editors to a discussion can place a message at any of the following:

  • The talk page or noticeboard of one or more WikiProjects or other Wikipedia collaborations which may have interest in the topic under discussion.

This should be closed with no action. TarnishedPathtalk 12:40, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@BilledMammal, it is clear that the behavioural guideline says one or more WikiProjects. If you contend that the posting was inappropriate per WP:INAPPNOTE then you need to bring specific evidence beyond them posting to only one WikiProjects which is clearly allowed per WP:APPNOTE. The implicit contention of your whole argument is that WikiProject LGBT studies would only have editors of one side and none other. I find your argument extremely lacking. TarnishedPathtalk 13:05, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Colin

Suggest trout for BilledMammal. Wrt "Other issues related to this RfC including misrepresenting sources; they have claimed that the Telegraph promoted the litter boxes in schools hoax about a British school - but none of the articles they provide in support of this claim makes it, and one of them actually states such claims are a hoax.". But reading the opening paragraph makes it clear to any careful reader that Loki is complaining the Telegraph reported that the school let a child identify as a cat, not that they provided litter trays. Loki goes onto say this is an example of "this general style of dubious claim in right wing media" which is discussed at our article on the litter tray hoax. The specifics of this one UK example doesn't include litter trays, but it contains all the other elements including continued coverage of the story after debunking. I admit that in my comments later in the RFC, I referred to it as "the cat litter story", which was my own carelessness. So what Loki claimed is directly supported by the sources (heading: "School that allowed child to identify as cat faces government investigation", "School engulfed in ‘cat gender’ row turns to parents for views on self-identity", "Schools let children identify as horses, dinosaurs... and a moon", etc) One can debate how closely this tracks the cat litter hoax or not, but I don't think Loki misrepresented the source. Multiple other sources have criticised the Telegraph story as an example of something too good to check and patently false so on. So this isn't something Loki just invented themselves. -- Colin°Talk 13:04, 3 June 2024 (UTC) [reply]

I don't think it is helpful for Loki and BilledMammal to argue about the focus/content of our Litter boxes in schools hoax article. The point is that a close reading of Loki's post at the RFC does not in fact say the Telegraph article was about litter boxes, vs about children identifying (and being allowed to) as cats in schools. Which is patent nonsense. Anyone is allowed to make a mistake, but when claiming someone else is egregiously wrong as part of a sanctions request, being told that in fact this mistake is on you demands retraction and perhaps recognition that one is overcooking things. -- Colin°Talk 07:59, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Crap. I was referring to this RSN discussion where Loki wrote what I said he did and in which I participated. Seems there's now a second discussion on the very same page about the same thing. WTF Loki, what a mess. Didn't you RTM about not polling unless there was a clear consensus for your proposal? It was already an uphill battle to convince anyone to deprecate the Telegraph on this matter without you opening with careless comments about the cat litter story and then essentially saying that because they don't accept trans women are women, or have been interviewing The Wrong People, the are actually unreliable vs just believe different things to you. BilledMammal apologies about this. I think part of your latest post here is still wrong, but this isn't the forum to discuss that. Overall, though, I think BilledMammal should withdraw this. Being Wrong on the Internet isn't a crime and hasn't helped Loki's RFC. The notification thing clearly isn't something you've persuaded people here about, so likely is an area that needs some work elsewhere, where it isn't focussing on an individual. Since the RFC is a spectacular failure anyway, couldn't you just have got some popcorn? -- Colin°Talk 12:12, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by -sche

Suggest trout for BilledMammal per Colin and TarnishedPath; notifying relevant wikiprojects (Loki notified the journalism, LGBT and UK projects and the NEWS page) is well- and long-established as fine, and (as pointed out above) was just recently affirmed. That BilledMammal presented his argument so recently in the VPP and consensus was clearly that notifying relevant projects is appropriate makes this filing look...tendentious; I don't know if it's forum-shopping per se, but it comes across as WP:IDHT-y. -sche (talk) 17:57, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Based on the additional context YFNS provided, which I was not aware of, BM's filing looks an awful lot like forum-shopping. I admit to not recalling what the differences in implication between a warning and a trout are (they're both basically telling the user 'you shouldn't've done that', yes? but a trout is friendlier?); may someone apply whichever they deem more appropriate. -sche (talk) 21:11, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Your Friendly Neighborhood Sociologist

BM should recieve a warning, not just a trout, for wasting the community's time for a month over this issue and this ridiculous filing based on WP:IDHT. Some context:

  • April 30 - May 1: BM argues that notifying WT:LGBT of a deletion discussion for WP:No queerphobes is canvassing. It is closed as a keep.
  • May 8: An editor takes the discussion to DRV, arguing it was canvassing - nobody endorses this
  • May 8: FFF tells BM this is not canvassing
  • May 26: BM tries to relitigate "notifying WT:LGBT of LGBT discussions is canvassing" at an RSN discussion. I hat the discussion noting the MFD, DRV, and discussions upholding this consensus from a decade ago.
  • May 26: BM asks me to unhat, I politely decline but say others can unhat, reiterating this is attempting to relitigate a decade old consensus and referring to the MFD and DRV
  • May 27: Loki launches the aforementioned VP discussion on the issue, where there's an overwhelming consensus it is not canvassing. BM participates in the thread
  • June 3, here we are....

BM is attempting to sanction an editor for upholding a consensus that BM is not only aware has existed for a decade, but has been re-affirmed 3 times in the last month. WP:TE and WP:IDHT are obvious. Your Friendly Neighborhood Sociologist ⚧ Ⓐ (talk) 20:04, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Addressing BM's comment: I haven’t read the DRV but I haven't seen the consensus upheld even once in the past month - WP:IDHT even at AE, with threads and diffs linked (which also link to discussions from a decade ago).
Addressing the question bordering on a personal attack: and as a general note, why would you want to notify a partisan forum? - for the love of god will an uninvolved admin warn them about this continued WP:BATTLEGROUND claim and tell them to WP:DROPTHESTICK on it?
Btw, BM, as a sociologist - a friendly note your methodology behind the "evidence" of "partisanship" is self-evidently flawed: you never polled the oppose votes to ask if they were notified via WT:LGBT... Your Friendly Neighborhood Sociologist ⚧ Ⓐ (talk) 23:56, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (username)

Result concerning LokiTheLiar

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.
  • I see a good-faith effort to comply with the canvassing policy, and would find no misconduct with respect to that issue. I ask Loki to respond briefly to the "misrepresenting sources" allegation. Newyorkbrad (talk) 12:41, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • The community has found time after time that these notifications are fine when made with a neutral statement. If NYB hadn't already responded I would have just closed this. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 13:14, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Similar to Newyorkbrad, I'm not seeing any misconduct in the notification. I don't think LokiTheLiar's actions warrant sanctions based on the complaint. That said, there's a secondary question of whether WP:LGBT is actually biased in a way that violates Wikipedia policy and guidelines. I remember conduct issues with ARS, roads, and weather WikiProjects, so it's possible. Only Arbcom is really qualified to investigate that, and I'd note that it would take a lot more evidence than what was presented here. The WordsmithTalk to me 02:35, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

JDiala

This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.
Requests may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs (not counting required information), except by permission of a reviewing administrator.

Request concerning JDiala

User who is submitting this request for enforcement
FortunateSons (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 11:52, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
User against whom enforcement is requested
JDiala (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Search CT alerts: in user talk history • in system log


Sanction or remedy to be enforced
Wikipedia:Arbitration/Index/Palestine-Israel articles
Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it

User has a pattern of edit warring, incivility and NotForum violations, including but not limited to:

  1. 1 January 2024 improper use of Zionist and Soapboxing
  2. 14 February 2024 inappropriate use of “Zionist”, having received multiple warnings on their talk page; also Soapboxing warning by @ScottishFinnishRadish
  3. 28 March 2024 edit warring (most recent example)
  4. 26 April 2024 uses quotes by Yahya Sinwar on user page, removes them after inconclusive AN thread and request by Admin
  5. 27 May 2024 NotForum on Leo Frank, warned by @Acroterion @Doug Weller (see talk page)
  6. 29 May 2024 NotForum and two personal attacks, including against @BilledMammal
  7. 31 May 2024 Improper close followed by incivility
  8. Beans
Diffs of previous relevant sanctions, if any
  1. Blocks 1 day in 2015, 1 Week in 2023 (both for edit warring in I/P area) by @Mike V and @Daniel Case
If contentious topics restrictions are requested, supply evidence that the user is aware of them (see WP:CTOP#Awareness of contentious topics)
  • Alerted about discretionary sanctions or contentious topics in the area of conflict, on [39] by @Doug Weller
  • Previously blocked as a discretionary sanction or contentious topic restriction for conduct in the area of conflict, see the block log linked to above.


Additional comments by editor filing complaint

Issue is generally apparent on topics regarding I/P, with at least one occurrence in topics regarding Judaism. This is my first AE filing, so apologies for any errors.

Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:JDiala&diff=prev&oldid=1227053862


Discussion concerning JDiala

Statements must be made in separate sections. They may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator.
Administrators may remove or shorten noncompliant statements. Disruptive contributions may result in blocks.

Statement by JDiala

More interesting than what the points raised are is what they are not. There is little in the way of discussion on the substance of my edits. Instead, the discussion focuses primarily on subjective feel-based things. Are quotes by controversial figures acceptable on userpages? When is using the word "Zionist" appropriate and when is it inappropriate? Is it "uncivil" to say someone is "out of line" when you perceive their conduct breaches policy?

This is a contentious subject area. Giving one side veto power on "offensiveness" like this is not right.

  1. The issue of the userpage quotes was brought up previously, by FortunateSons, on WP:AN in this thread. The discussion was inconclusive. Two people on that thread arguing against me are proven or suspected sockpuppets (Galamore and ElLuzDelSur). On the balance, excluding suspected sockpuppets, it appeared that far more people than not viewed the complaint as frivolous. Despite the inconclusive result, I voluntarily removed the quotes. Is this not an act of good faith? Is this not indicative of my desire to be cooperative? It is interesting that a matter I was not found guilty of and where I voluntarily chose to accede to my accuser's demands to placate them is used as a cudgel against me.
  2. A note on alleged edit-warring. The 28 March 2024 allegation of edit warring cites an allegation by SelfStudier without corresponding diffs. This is a meritless complaint. I admit there were a few (read: exactly three) 1RR violations in November 2023. This was my first month following a near-decade long WP hiatus. I do not think in recent months 1RR has been an issue for me.
  3. The issue of Leo Frank was an honest mistake where I mistakenly assumed that the sources for a particularly strong claim re: scholarly consensus came from a single CNN piece. The impetus for the interaction was a legitimate desire to improve the article. In the conclusion of the discussion, it is true that I made an offhand remark which falls into NOTFORUM. But if every offhand NOTFORUM remark warranted enforcement, we'd have no editors here.
  4. The discussion on edits prior to 2016 is not fair. From my humble perspective, there needs to be a statute of limitations. Otherwise malicious individuals can rummage through an editor's decades-long editing history to find isolated perceived transgressions, and make a superficially strong AE case on the basis of stitching everything they find together. FWIW I was born in the year 1998. I was a minor during those years.
  5. On the issue of the self-closed RfC, this was an honest mistake, as I repeatedly indicated in the AN discussion. My interpretation of WP:RFCEND was that involved editors can in limited circumstances close RfCs when consensus appears indisputable. But I misunderstood the unstated cultural norm that self-closing RfCs in extremely contentious areas is almost always a no-no. On the subsequent "incivility" on Starship.paint's userpage, note that he appeared to concede that the crux of my complaint was merited. JDiala (talk) 17:53, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Rajoub570

After posting a message on the admin noticeboard regarding this issue, I saw that there is already a discussion here. So reposting it here (shortened): The Israeli–Palestinian conflict, what is known here as ARBPIA, is a very sensitive issue. My personal opinion, as someone that the conflict also concerns his personal life (I am Palestinian :)) One should deal with the issue carefully. I would like to raise the issue of one editor - @JDiala's behavior that, as I see it, not only harm's Wikipedia's objectivity, but also harms the chance of a peaceful life in our area. Here are some examples:

  1. In the past, they featured quotes from Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar (who, no matter how we define him, is probably one of those responsible, along with Netanyahu and the extreme right from Israel, for the ongoing war) on their talk page [link], meant to praise Sinwar [link]. They were removed only after a lengthy discussion on this page.
  2. They currently have a quote on their talk page [link] that can be understood as a justification for the murder of Jews by Palestinians. I think that any quote that starts with "X do not go out to murder Y because they are Y" should not be acceptable on Wikipedia.
  3. A few days ago, they closed an RFC that they themselves opened, which raises a question of integrity [ongoing discussion: link].
  4. Recently, they stated that Israel is a rough state of the same level of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan [link]. In the same message they wrote that "For Israel, war crimes are a sine qua non, a core aspect of its existence", and stated that, unlike Israel, "Other states like China and Russia, while awful, are significantly richer and more interesting societies, with large economies, deep histories.", a weird comment.

I saw that editors have been asking them to moderate their language many times before. [link - 2014], [link - 2015], [link - January 2024], [link - February 2024].

The editor even received a week-long ban in December for violating 1RR. [link]

As a Palestinian, whose life is affected daily by the conflict, with my criticisms of Israel, I find this behavior problematic for Wikipedia. We have to stay objective. I think JDiala should be asked not to deal at all with a topic that clearly arouses their anger. Their edits hurt the project, and ultimately the Palestinians as well.

Please don't add fuel to the fire. Rajoub570 (talk) 15:11, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Sean.hoyland

I think both FortunateSons and JDiala are assets for ARBPIA. Very different kinds of assets with very different tones. This conversation shows how hard it is to build bridges and find common ground in ARBPIA. It would be good if JDiala could find a way to live with and adapt to what they regard as tone policing in the topic area. It's unfortunate that, in my view anyway, ARBCOM constraints accidentally create a selection pressure that give a fitness advantage to quiet, nearly invisible, highly motivated sockpuppets over noisy editors like JDiala.

Regarding "X do not go out to murder Y because they are Y", quotes from award winning Israeli journalists like Amira Hass are normally acceptable on Wikipedia. Sean.hoyland (talk) 03:28, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by kashmiri

While certainly not raising to the level of an immediate block, the continuous low-lewel disruption by JDiala, evidenced above, has been annoying enough to many editors, including to me, that a temporary TBAN feels like an appropriate response. — kashmīrī TALK 17:08, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Zanahary

Very BATTLEGROUND-y in a way that is disruptive. I'd support a TBAN. On the user page quote: though I find the quote disgusting, and my interpretation of its presence on the user page is, to say the least, not positive, I don't believe in trying to interpret editors' views when it comes to making decisions about how to treat them, nor in sanctioning editors for their apparent views—I think sanctions should only be practical, and I think everyone has the right to whatever expressions and whatever impressions they desire (out of article-space). But I understand I'm in a serious minority there (right?). Anyways, that's all irrelevant. This user is disruptive and clearly doesn't edit with the care and spirit of collaboration that this topic area demands. Zanahary (talk) 23:05, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Coffee Crumbs

For the record, I'm at least slightly involved now as I have expressed dislike of JDiala's tone during the current RFC. As Kashmiri notes, it's not vandalism or one big blowup, but tiny bits of pecking away. The RFC close was absolutely atrocious; rather than see an unusually sparsely attended RFC on what is normally a well-attended topic, JDiala took it upon themself to close their own RFC in favor of their own proposal in an extremely contentious area. Between the quotes that ended up at ANI and the constant pushing of the singular subject as far as civility and stretching WP:NPOV like taffy, JDiala's a net negative in this area. Justifying their extreme one-sided behavior towards Israel by saying that there are "other states like China and Russia, while awful, are significantly richer and more interesting societies" and then comparing the idea of having a proper RFC to Israel's response when settlers' war crimes are alleged, is just more gasoline on the fire. Real WP:BATTLEGROUND stuff here. CoffeeCrumbs (talk) 00:14, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by BilledMammal

I do not think in recent months 1RR has been an issue for me isn't accurate. Just glancing through their contributions I see they violated it when trying to implement their close:

  1. 16:56, 25 May 2024 (reverted 09:39, 14 May 2024)
  2. 21:18, 25 May 2024 (reverted 19:53, 25 May 2024, which reverted 16:56, 25 May 2024)

BilledMammal (talk) 01:14, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Wordsmith, the first one is a revert because it undoes BillyPreset's rearrangement of the sentence. BilledMammal (talk) 02:24, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
BillyPreset moved from human rights organizations and United Nations officials from the end of the sentence to the middle; you moved it back to its former position at the end. That is a revert. As reverts go, not overly concerning, but it is a revert - and your second revert, edit warring to try to enforce an out-of-process close, is very concerning.
FYI, vandalism has a very specific definition on Wikipedia. Reverting the implementation of an out-of-process close does not meet this definition. BilledMammal (talk) 02:51, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
(This was in reply to this comment, which JDiala has now removed BilledMammal (talk) 04:01, 4 June 2024 (UTC))[reply]

Statement by The Kip

I've had little to no direct interactions with the user in question prior to today - I believe the closest I've come was voting to overturn the questionable RfC closure on account of it being a self-close in a CTOP. Upon interacting with their talk page (in a notice to move their comments in other users' sections above), I personally don't believe dismissing RSes as wholly unreliable due to being "sourced from Israel," nor referring to above complainants as "opponents," is indicative of one who will contribute constructively and cooperatively in the area over the long term; there certainly seems to be a considerable WP:BATTLEGROUND mindset at play. The Kip (contribs) 05:28, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Red Rock Canyon

I am not involved in this case, but I saw this user's edits on the Leo Frank talk page. [40] is a lie, since even the line in the lead had another source right before the CNN one. It is not credible that they somehow missed it. And this [41] is worse. I see that this editor was already warned for these comments, but I think the warning is insufficient. They should not be allowed to edit any article that has anything to do with Jews. Red Rock Canyon (talk) 11:01, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Result concerning JDiala

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.
  • A few of the diffs presented in the initial complaint seem to be malformed, but I think I get the context. Looking over these issues, they seem to be things that JDiala was already warned or blocked for, so I'm not sure why we're here. Regarding the userpage quotes, I find them distasteful but the community did not find that they were against policy, and the user removed them when asked. It looks like the RFC was already overturned at WP:AN, and there didn't seem to be any real apetite for sanctions based on that.It gives the impression of seeking another bite at the apple. Regarding the diffs presented by BilledMammal, only the second one looks to be an actual revert.
That said, there are definitely issues with tone and civility. I'm not sure a full topic ban is needed here, but a warning to tone down the rhetoric might accomplish the desired goal. The WordsmithTalk to me 02:15, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • This sort of behaviour goes back at least t0 2014 when I warned them over a statement thye made that seemed a breach of the sanctions {"perverse, POV Zionist narrative" which he then struck through}. Looking at that I found this post to an editor who is no longer around.[42] See the whole paragraph starting with "Classic Jewish supremacism." I don't think this will change and would support a TB from the s-i area. Doug Weller talk 11:37, 4 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]