Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Manipulation of BLPs/Evidence

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Anyone, whether directly involved or not, may add evidence to this page. Create your own section and do not edit in anybody else's section. Please limit your evidence to a maximum of 500 words and 50 diffs. Giving a short, concise presentation will be more effective; posting evidence longer than 500 words will not help you make your point. Over-long evidence that is not exceptionally easy to understand (like tables) will be trimmed to size or, in extreme cases, simply removed by the Clerks without warning - this could result in your important points being lost, so don't let it happen. Stay focused on the issues raised in the initial statements and on diffs which illustrate relevant behavior.

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Arbitrators may analyze evidence and other assertions at /Workshop. /Workshop provides for comment by parties and others as well as Arbitrators. After arriving at proposed principles, findings of fact or remedies, Arbitrators vote at /Proposed decision. Only Arbitrators (and clerks, when clarification on votes is needed) may edit the proposed decision page.

Evidence presented by Waalkes

Current word length: 391; diff count: 3.

Overuse of insinuation and anonymous sources

BLP policy discourages the use of insinuation and allegations against living persons attributed to anonymous sources. At Wikipedia:BLP#Avoid gossip and feedback loops it says "Be wary of sources that use weasel words and that attribute material to anonymous sources." Will Beback and SlimVirgin have extensively used this sort of material at Lyndon LaRouche and LaRouche movement, and have defended its use and refused to remove questionable material. For example, at Lyndon LaRouche it says that Frances Piven, a university professor, "was almost pushed down a flight of stairs by someone calling her a fascist and CIA agent." There is no evidence that this has anything to do with LaRouche or members of his movement, but its inclusion in the article implies that it does. When challenged on this point, Will Beback said "The Piven material was discussed extensively with previous HK socks back in February. Talk:Lyndon LaRouche/Archive 23#Sources and structure. Please stop repeating the same complaints." (diff) Following the link in this response, I found only this comment by SlimVirgin: "Once again—they appeared in the Washington Post, they do name LaRouche and his followers, and they're consistent with stories that appeared in many publications, including other high-quality ones." (diff)

At LaRouche movement, there is a very long section entitled "Alleged violence and harassment." It is a list of allegations, many of them from anonymous parties prepared by Will Beback. For example, "While Girvin was being interviewed on a sidewalk by a TV reporter, someone walked behind her and said "Polly, you're going to die" which the reporter said sounded like a threat." The inclusion of this in the article implies, without giving evidence, that this "someone" was a LaRouche movement supporter. As a typical example of an anonymous allegation, there is: "A student who asked a critical question of LaRouche at a rally was reportedly abused verbally by campaign workers and called a "prostitute" by a LaRouche aide." There is an ongoing Request for Comment about the length of the section, in which 9 editors say the section is a problem, and one editor, Will Beback, disagree. I raised the issue of the use of anonymous sources and cited the section of BLP about it. Will's response was to say "It's standard across Wikipedia to use reports in reliable sources, even when those reports use anonymous sources." (diff) Waalkes (talk) 13:16, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Evidence presented by Tryptofish

Current word length: 290; diff count: 0.

Wikipedia needs a guideline to distinguish between disruptive editing aimed at search engine optimization, and good enthusiastic editing.

• See, for example, the discussion at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Wikibombing.

• Note a potential problem with the traditional formulation that the effects of edits matter more than the motivations. Such a supposition, without further clarification, would implicate as a WikiBomber anyone who writes a new article, makes links to it on other pages so it won't be an orphan, and nominates it at DYK.

ArbCom needs to get better at handling requests for recusal.

• User talk:Shell Kinney/Archive 16#Political activism RfAr

• Noting also the e-mails that the Committee has seen, and which were subsequently leaked.

This is directly relevant to this case, because it speaks to the interactions between multiple editors with respect to Cirt's editing of BLPs. Requests that a member of the Committee recuse may sometimes be very legitimate, and should be treated seriously. If the member decides that recusal in not needed, they should explain that to the complainant. If the complainant persists in requesting recusal, the member should quickly disengage from further debate with the complainant, ask the rest of the Committee to evaluate the situation, and, generally, abide by the Committee's consensus. If the Committee agrees that there should be no recusal, there should be a clear statement to that effect, from the Committee as a whole. If, after that, the demands continue, that should be treated as disruptive editing. No single editor, nor small group of editors, should be able to to undermine the will of the community expressed in an election. Please note that the exact same pattern took place for Elen in the Noleander case. (Given that Cirt entered willingly into the e-mail conversations, which occurred off-site, I do not think that sanctions against SV can be justified, but I find the prosecutorial tone directed at Cirt disturbing. Clearly, Shell did nothing to require recusal.)

Evidence presented by Cla68

Jehochman

(Placeholder; I respectfully request that the clerk block anyone but me who edits this section again. It has already happened three times: [1] [2] [3])

Will Beback

(Placeholder)

Prioryman

An editor account called Prioryman was fairly active in the Cirt RfC, mainly focused on attacking, casting aspersions upon, and enthusiastically bollocking other editors; primarily Jayen, but also other editors: [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]

• This and this diff from above are significant, because in them, the person using the Prioryman account appears to outright lie, as later revelations would show.

More to come:

Evidence presented by Jehochman

before using the last evidence template, please make a copy for the next person

Objection

I strongly object to being named by Cla68 on this page. It is abusive. There has been no prior dispute resolution between us whatsoever. I am busy and do not have time to address any evidence or participate in this case. Jehochman ^Talk 04:49, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

{Write your assertion here}

Place argument and diffs which support the second assertion; for example, your second assertion might be "So-and-so makes personal attacks", which should be the title of this section. Here you would show specific edits where So-and-so made personal attacks.