Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Amendment

Arbitration Committee proceedings

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Currently, there are no requests for arbitration.

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Open cases

Case name	Links	Evidence due	Prop. Dec. due
Venezuelan politics	(t) (ev / t) (ws / t) (pd / t)	20 Apr 2024	04 May 2024
Mzajac	(t) (ev / t) (ws / t) (pd / t)	—	Case suspended

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Recently closed cases (Past cases)

Case name	Closed
Conflict of interest management	13 Apr 2024

Clarification and Amendment requests

Currently, no requests for clarification or amendment are open.

Arbitrator motions

No arbitrator motions are currently open.

Requests for amendment

Request to amend prior case: User:Koavf

Initiated by —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ (per User:Shell Kinney) at 03:18, 30 November 2010 (UTC)

Case affected

User:Koavf/Community sanction

Clauses to which an amendment is requested

1. Koavf is limited to editing with a single account.
2. Koavf is prohibited from editing pages relating to Morocco and Western Sahara, broadly construed. This includes talk pages, and other related discussions.
3. Koavf is subject to an editing restriction (probation). Should he make any edits which are judged by an administrator to be disruptive, he may be banned from any affected page or set of pages. The ban will take effect once a notice has been posted on their talk page by the administrator and logged below.

List of users affected by or involved in this amendment

None outstanding, but all users who commented at AN have been notified.

Confirmation that the above users are aware of this request

Note: these will be added after I have submitted this proposal, so that I can post a static diff of this page to the users' talks.

Statement by Koavf

This has a long history and you can go down the rabbit hole following this from ArbCom to AN to user talk pages and back to ArbCom (e.g.), but basically put: I have three editing restrictions noted above and I would like them lifted. My lengthier proposal and rationale from before are copied and pasted:

I am under a community sanction editing restriction with three clauses. I am:

1. Limited to editing with a single account.
2. Prohibited from editing pages relating to Morocco and Western Sahara, broadly construed. This includes talk pages, and other related discussions.
3. Subject to an editing restriction (probation). Should he make any edits which are judged by an administrator to be disruptive, he may be banned from any affected page or set of pages. The ban will take effect once a notice has been posted on their talk page by the administrator and logged below.

While I have had further blocks (including two in the past two years), these criteria have only been invoked once and subsequently overturned through a good-faith appeal. Five prior cases involved 1RR/3RR violations, including ones that were related to Western Sahara only in the broadest possible sense (e.g List of states with limited recognition.) It is possible that I have made some other small edits to articles related to this issue (I have made many edits since then), but I have not made any substantial edits to these topics, nor has any user complained that I have (including blocking admins.)

As I stated in my request for rollback re-institution, I am a reliable editor who has not recently engaged in edit-warring and is constructive in his edits. I have used my roll-back ability (as well as Huggle and Twinkle) to fight vandalism, I have made several thousands constructive edits, I have had articles promoted to FA status through my own work and collaboration with others, and if you speak with users who have known me over the last five years, you will find that I have been an increasingly thoughtful and trusted member of the community. I have helped new users and made several proper posts to AN/I and AN/V to help the community avoid edit-warring and vandalism. I feel like I have reached a level of maturity such that this edit restriction is not necessary in practice or theory; in the three years that it has been in place, I have become a much more sober-headed and constructive editor who is trustworthy. I do have a long block history, but note that there are other editors who have longer ones but have been recognized as reliable and helpful editors who no longer have editing restrictions--including editors who began as vandals.

In regards to the three specific restrictions:

1. I have never edited with another account and I have posted all of my anonymous IP edits on my userpage. The only checkuser investigation on me was closed as inappropriate.
2. I have respected this content restriction and have avoided Western Sahara-related topics with the exception of reverting vandalism and the most tertiary topics (e.g. List of United Nations member states, where I have not edited on the topic of Western Sahara in years.)
3. This restriction could still be placed on me at any time as appropriate, but--as noted above--it has only been invoked once and then rescinded.

I look forward to these restrictions being lifted in part so that I can be recognized as a trusted editor and in part so I can begin to edit Western Sahara-related articles again (the quality of which has generally languished for several years, as I was the only active editor on this topic.) Both my ability to edit and the quality of the encyclopedia will be enhanced by the lifting of these restrictions.

---

Request to amend prior case: Date delinking

Initiated by Gigs (talk) at 20:22, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

Case affected

• Date delinking arbitration case (t) (ev / t) (w / t) (pd / t)
• Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Date delinking#Supplemental motion regarding User Lightmouse

Clauses to which an amendment is requested

1. 7.1) Lightmouse is indefinitely prohibited from using any automation whatsoever on Wikipedia.
2. 8) Lightmouse is limited to using only the account "Lightmouse" to edit.
3. Supplemental motion: "Nonwithstanding remedies #7.1 and #8, Lightmouse (talk · contribs) is permitted to use his Lightbot (talk · contribs) account for a single automation task authorized by the Bot Approvals Group. "Automation" is to be interpreted broadly to refer to any automated or semi-automated tools whatsoever."

List of users affected by or involved in this amendment

• Gigs (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) (initiator)
• Lightmouse (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Confirmation that the above users are aware of this request

• [1]

Amendment 1

• Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Date delinking#Supplemental motion regarding User Lightmouse
• At this point I do not trust Lightmouse to use automated tools and take complaints seriously, and think that his sanction should be extended to an indefinite ban on all automated and semi-automated editing.

Statement by Gigs

Lightmouse has engaged in high speed semi-automated editing without BAG approval in apparent violation of the previous sanctions, such as: [2] [3] [4] [5], as a small sample. These edits drew several complaints as to their accuracy and appropriateness, including feedback from myself of a general nature, before I realized that Lightmouse was under ArbCom sanctions. This is documented at: User_talk:Lightmouse/Archives/2010/October.

There are several currently pending BRFAs:

1. Wikipedia:BRFA#Lightbot_7
2. Wikipedia:BRFA#Lightbot_6
3. Wikipedia:BRFA#Lightmouse
4. Wikipedia:Bots/Requests_for_approval/Lightbot_5

Note that the sanctions limit Lightmouse to a single BAG approved task, so it is unclear to me what action BAG should take regarding these BRFAs. Rlevse approached Lightmouse asking for an explanation of the apparent violation, but now that he is gone, I'm not sure if anyone is following up on this. I am asking for an official response from ArbCom in order to bring clarity and closure to this, regardless of whether my amendment is accepted.

My involvement in this is limited to relatively brief conversations last month on WT:MOSNUM and on Lightmouse's talk page urging him to take complaints about his semi-automatic editing much more seriously. Gigs (talk) 20:22, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

Additional comment by Gigs

To clarify, the sort of dismissive behavior that I observed on WT:MOSNUM and Lightmouse's talk page is what prompted my concerns. (i.e. [6] [7] [8]) This is exactly the same sort of behavior that lead to the sanction in the first place. Editing rates peaking at 5-8 edits per minute on systematically selected alphabetized articles surely does not fall under "manual editing". The editing stopped 2 weeks ago only because Rlevse approached Lightmouse and asked for an explanation of the apparent violation. Gigs (talk) 18:30, 12 November 2010 (UTC) may have been mistaken about causality 23:09, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

I notice that Lightmouse has just opened up two additional BRFAs for Lightbot.

• Wikipedia:BRFA#Lightbot_8
• Wikipedia:BRFA#Lightbot_9

Regardless of the nature of the current requests, Lightmouse disregarded sanctions while carrying out those thousands of AWB edits under the Lightmouse account. The sanctions reflected a general lack of ArbCom faith in Lightmouse to conduct semi-automated and automated operations in a non-disruptive fashion, which is why they were not constructed more narrowly. Lightmouse is effectively asking BAG to assist him in violating those sanctions by filing multiple BRFAs that would violate the sanctions if approved. This does not inspire any more faith in my eyes. Gigs (talk) 02:30, 24 November 2010 (UTC)

Statement by other editor

{Other editors are free to comment on this amendment as necessary. Comments here should be directed only at the above proposed amendment.}

Statement by Ohconfucius

I'm baffled too, but no more so than by this amendment. AFAIK, Lightbot hasn't been in operation for over a month now, BAG has been unresponsive to repeated requests for the bot. Lighmouse himself hasn't edited in two weeks, some 48 hours before Vanished 6551232 (talk · contribs) (aka Rlevse) posted his message on Lightmouse's talk page. Prior to those two weeks, I see nothing "high speed", just some 'normal' (by that, I mean manual) AWB actions at an average rate of 50 edits per hour to remove overlinked common terms (hour!, kilometer!!, minute!!!, ) and some years. --Ohconfucius ^¡digame! 15:29, 12 November 2010 (UTC), amended 02:18, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

In response to Gigs' "additional statement", I combed through Lightmouse's contributions history for the last 2,600+ entries. Therein, I noticed nothing incompatible with the editing speeds achieved for human-supervised AWB usage. I examined in excess of 50 edits, and found that rarely did each edit contain more than one or two changes, such as removing wikilinks to days of the week, years, and other common terms such as 'week', 'day', 'hour', 'second'... which I note is firmly endorsed by WP:Linking. There were occasionally more changes, which included insertion of '{{convert}}'. As for the complaints on LM's talk page... Rifleman complains here that Lightmouse has been systematically removing repeat links, implying that he should be careful not to disturb his misleading piped links notwithstanding; once again WP:Linking is firmly on Lightmouse's side. The diff used above of the post from pdfpdf clearly shows Gigs was aware of the belligerence of pdfpdf, who not only expressed his displeasure of having the {{convert}} foisted upon him in articles he had on his watchlist, calling them "non-consensus changes" (viz: "'If you think square kilometres are confusing, just remove them.' - For heavens sake! We are NOT your mother nor your housemaid nor your servant. YOU made these non-consensus changes. YOU fix them!!"), he repeatedly replaced the message despite its removal by the owner (and by me, a talk-page stalker) insisting it wasn't uncivil – I would actually call it harassment even though LM was firm but always polite with visitors to his talk page. --Ohconfucius ^¡digame! 14:20, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Kingpin13

Speaking somewhat as a member of the Bot Approvals Group, I firstly apologise for the slow progress of BRfA recently, there's only really been about three active BAG members approving bots over the past month. As I understand it, the previous case banned Lightmouse from making any semi- or fully-automated edits from any account. The amendment then permitted him to make some from a single account, Lightbot. The only edits explicitly approved by BAG were 50 trial edits, all of which are listed here, to be made from the Lightbot account, this was approved by Mr.Z-man (talk · contribs) here. The edits linked to by Gigs clearly show Lightmouse using the AutoWikiBrowser (a semi-automated tool) on his main account. This is very clearly disallowed by the ArbCom remedies ([emphasises added] "Lightmouse is indefinitely prohibited from using any automation whatsoever on Wikipedia", where "automation is to be interpreted broadly to refer to any automated or semi-automated tools whatsoever", amended by "Lightmouse (talk · contribs) is permitted to use his Lightbot (talk · contribs) account for a single automation task"), it was made abundantly clear in the amendment that the only account which the ban from using automation was lifted on was the Lightbot account (but the edits Gigs have issue with came from the Lightmouse account). In addition to this problem with the accounts getting muddled, the edit summaries used by the bot and AWB, are in my opinion, not clear enough (for example, the Lightbot edits do not make it clear that they were approved trial edits). Besides which, this clearly was not a dry-run/userspace test - it was a live run, with changes being made to the Wikipedia namespace mainspace. - Kingpin¹³ (talk) 09:39, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

In regard to John's message below. He appears to be misunderstanding what I'm saying. Lightmouse defended the bot edits as a trial. Unapproved bot trials may only be made in the op/bot's userspace. Often (but not in general) it is indeed preferable for trials to be made in mainspace. But only when approved by BAG at BRfA, which provides a review of these edits. As to Paragraph two of his comment, I wasn't referring to the trial approved at Wikipedia:Bots/Requests_for_approval/Lightbot_5, I made clear that that was the only approved trial, and linked to the edits made under that approval (I made this clear because it seems ArbCom wanted an update on what BAG had actually approved). My issue was with "the edits linked to by Gigs". Lightmouse claims these edits were also a trial. However, they were unapproved; without peer review; made in the mainspace; came from the Lightmouse account (this wouldn't generally be a large issue, as they were semi-automated, however this account was banned from making any semi-automated edits by ArbCom (this ban has not been lifted - it's only had an amendment made regarding the Lightbot account). In addition, considering the kind of edits made and the number (see Anomie's link) they should have been performed on a separate account even without the ban in place (see WP:AWB#Rules of use 2)); and in a large quantity - clearly not a suitable trial). Also Anomie makes similar points to mine below, and I agree with his statement. - Kingpin¹³ (talk) 14:03, 19 November 2010 (UTC)

In reply to Kirill below: That is correct, the only edits approved by BAG were 50 trial edits under this BRfA. Per se, any other edits do not have BAG approval, including those listed ([9], [10], [11] [12]) and in-fact any semi/automated edits made from his own account, such as 4853 out of 5000 edits listed here. In addition, BAG wouldn't be able to approve these edits anyway (the AWB edits from Lightmouse's main account), as doing so would be overruling ArbCom - Kingpin¹³ (talk) 06:32, 23 November 2010 (UTC)

In general, it is preferable for trial runs to be made in mainspace, as was done here. [Note: mainspace, where articles reside, is not the same as "Wikipedia namespace".] Mainspace trial edits are preferable simply because they include (obviously) the full complexity of article text. Mistakes in edits in mainspace, if limited in number (as will be the case for trial runs) are easy enough to reverse. It's much better to find mistakes during a trial run, even if a few articles have errors until corrected, than to find errors when a bot goes live and is doing thousands of edits. Moreover, my review of Wikipedia:Bots/Requests_for_approval/Lightbot_5 shows no indication that the trial run was supposed to be done anywhere other than mainspace - in fact, there was some discussion regarding how the fifty articles (for the trial run) would be selected in order to best test the bot. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 13:58, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Anomie

The only mainspace edits approved by BAG are the 50 trial edits for Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Lightbot 5, linked by Kingpin13 above. These 50 edits are not at issue; the issue is with the thousands of AWB edits made from the User:Lightmouse account and the fact that it seems impossible for Lightmouse to perform these edits without engendering controversy. I don't know whether the controversy is due to the edits, Lightmouse, or a combination of the two.

WP:Bot policy also allows for non-disruptive edits to the bot's or operator's userspace, and "limited testing of bot processes without approval, provided that test edits are very low in number and frequency, and are restricted to test pages such as the sandbox". Edits to live articles do not qualify for either of those two exceptions; if it were necessary to test on "the full complexity of article text", articles could be copied to a sandbox for editing or AWB could be run and the diffs viewed without actually saving the edits. And several thousand as a "test" is right out.

I also note that the issue of edit summaries was raised in Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Lightbot 4.

From what I've seen of his actions since Lightmouse's ban expired, I for one do not trust him not to repeat the same behavior that originally led to his ban. Immediately upon expiration of his ban, Lightmouse applied for the exact same approval that caused so much controversy the first time around. And it seemed every attempt to clarify and limit the request was met with an attitude of "I shouldn't have to do this", unclear or overbroad "clarifications", and language that seemed ripe for later wikilawyering. He also took up his task using AWB, despite not receiving approval as directed by ArbCom, and the claim here that Lightmouse thought he could make thousands of edits as normal work around his 50-edit trial on Lightbot 5 that was already completed a month earlier or any of his other requests that have not been approved for trial at all is patently ridiculous. Requests 6 and 7 are much more appropriate in scope, but at this point my AGF is expired. Anomie⚔ 17:48, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Further discussion

As I understand it, the Lightmouse account can be used with automation relating to units of measurement. Coren said the expectation was “it would cover the ‘’normal’’ work around a 'bot’ task: That includes the usual dry runs in user space, the test runs okayed by BAG, and whatever minor tweaks are generally included in a single bot request”. I’ve done tests in accordance with this. BAG has been unable to respond for weeks if not months.

If I've misunderstood the situation, I'd be grateful for more clarity.

I'd like to correct the false impression that "The editing stopped 2 weeks ago only because Rlevse approached Lightmouse and asked for an explanation ...". I was told by one editor quoted in this discussion to "get a life" and sworn at (details not pleasant), well I do have a life outside WP which took priority over WP. I stopped editing articles on 28 Oct. Rlevse wrote a note on my talk page on 30 Oct. The event didn't precede the cause.

I'd like to correct the false allegation that I was 'dismissive'. From time to time, an editor will say that I shouldn't add metric units, in circumstances that aren't documented anywhere on WP guidance. Or they want me to add a different format/unit of their choosing. I always try to be polite. But sometimes the debate becomes circular or is entirely subjective. I may invite editors to take WP style issues to the WP style talk page, or I may take it there on their behalf. That's an attempt to be helpful and inclusive. Where I say that an editor is free to remove a metric unit or change it, I'm not 'dismissive', quite the reverse. I'm trying to collaborate and add calm.

I hope that helps. Lightmouse (talk) 11:44, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

I'm grateful for the comment by BAG. It took two and half months to get approval for a 50 edit trial for the simple task of adding unit conversions using the Lightbot account. We've had a further delay of a month and a half waiting for comment on the trial. The trial edits were a success. The normal course for bot applications is that feedback about a first trial results in another trial. It's pleasing to see that this Arbcom case has given me the feedback that BAG would prefer a different edit summary, I'd be happy to amend that. While waiting for this bot to get approval, I've created more bot applications so that preliminaries can be dealt with now. I know that the workload for BAG and Arbcom is high, here the two entities have to collaborate on a bot application and the delays are inevitably longer. I think I'm being patient on an application that is technically quite simple and (where trialled) has been successful. I'd be grateful if BAG and Arbcom can find a way to move this application forward. Lightmouse (talk) 11:35, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Tony1

Just a few observations:

• It's all very complicated, probably even for experts.
• BAG is seriously understaffed—to the point of being dysfunctional, it seems to me. We need to concentrate on revamping it in 2011.
• As an observer, I found Anomie's contributions at one of those BAG applications by Lightmouse to be a bit negative and almost personal in its tone: I don't understand why.
• Kirril, the diff you have pointed to: I may be wrong, but it's the kind of manual edit I'd make if using automation. Is LM restricted from removing links to years and to items such as "hours" (twice), which presumably were performed manually? Tony (talk) 08:20, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

Clerk notes

This section is for administrative notes by the clerks (including clerk recusals).

Arbitrator views and discussion

• Awaiting statements from Lightmouse and/or BAG; I'd appreciate it if someone could clarify whether Lightmouse has BAG approval for the edits he's making. Kirill ^{[talk] [prof]} 02:34, 12 November 2010 (UTC)
  • Kingpin13: If I understand your statement correctly, the edits cited by Gigs ([13] [14] [15] [16]) were not approved by BAG? Could you please confirm whether my understanding is correct? Kirill ^{[talk] [prof]} 02:13, 23 November 2010 (UTC)
  • Tony: I'm not pointing out the edit as being problematic in and of itself; as you say, it looks like a reasonable thing to do. However, the conditions under which Lightmouse was permitted to resume using automated tools were very clear: whatever he does with them must be approved by BAG beforehand. My concern is that this isn't taking place, and that Lightmouse is essentially using automation without any oversight whatsoever, which is exactly the scenario that led to the original restriction on his editing. Kirill ^{[talk] [prof]} 19:25, 25 November 2010 (UTC)
• Awaiting statements and join in Kirill's request. Newyorkbrad (talk) 14:40, 12 November 2010 (UTC)
  • Thus far, I'm not convinced that action by us is needed, but I'm still open to further input. Newyorkbrad (talk) 00:41, 16 November 2010 (UTC)
• Per Kirill and Brad.  Roger ^talk 08:33, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
• Also not seeing that action is required at this point. Risker (talk) 01:01, 16 November 2010 (UTC)
• Lightmouse, now that Kingpin13 has confirmed that the edits cited by Gigs were not approved by BAG, could you please comment on why those edits do not contradict your ban? Shell ^babelfish 14:22, 23 November 2010 (UTC)
  • It's my understanding that the edits were permitted, as I mentioned in my comment above. I'm not sure if you saw that. I was worried that this wasn't clear enough so I made more than one request for clarity on the point.
  • I'd like to correct the false assertion that the current requests are "exact same approval that caused so much controversy the first time around". The big fuss and Arbcom case was about several editors removing Date links and other editors objecting. Nobody wishes to go through that again. The current BAG application relates to adding conversions to units, a popular task which would be tedious if done by hand and has had consensus throughout.
  • I've been accused of having an attitude of "I shouldn't have to do this", unclear or overbroad "clarifications". I don't have such an attitude. If the crime is failing to understand a question or failing to be understood, then all of us on this page are guilty. If Arbcom and all of us are going re-examine the 6 weeks of questioning prior to a mere 50 edit trial about converting feet and miles, then it will be a waste for all of us.
  • The debate about adding conversions isn't difficult yet has gone on for 4 months now with very little comment from BAG. I know they're busy but I'm at the back of the queue. I'm making a formal request that instead of debating it here at Arbcom, we debate it at BAG.
  • I hope that helps. Lightmouse (talk) 17:50, 23 November 2010 (UTC)
    • Lightmouse, can you please explain how your edits here are related to unit conversions? Kirill ^{[talk] [prof]} 00:38, 24 November 2010 (UTC)
• I have to admit that, in Lightmouse's defense, BAG has been unable or unwilling to handle his requests fairly and reasonably swiftly. This may be due to under-staffing, or understandable (if unadvisable) reluctance to handle a potentially controversial matter; but it does seem to be as though his requests were not handled normally and that his work has stalled because of it. It's not so much that his requests have been declined more than that the goalposts to them being okayed have been moved. — Coren ^(talk) 14:28, 25 November 2010 (UTC)
  • That may be the case, though I'm not clear whether it's a problem only LM's requests are experiencing, or a more general backlog issue. In any case, I'm not sure what we can do here other than perhaps pulling together a group of bot experts to review arbitration-related automation questions separately from the normal BAG process. Kirill ^{[talk] [prof]} 19:25, 25 November 2010 (UTC)
    • In response to Kirill's question above, some detail in edits are manual. Furthermore, the scope is not merely 'unit conversion'. It's just simpler to say 'unit conversions' because that's easier for most people to understand and is mostly what it does. The scope (and activity) has since 2008 explicitly included removal of links to common units. The hour is a plain english term and a common unit. Can we get to an end point in days rather than adding more months of delay? Trying to help. Lightmouse (talk) 13:49, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

---

Request to amend prior case: Russavia-Biophys

Initiated by Biophys (talk) at 15:32, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

Case affected

Russavia-Biophys arbitration case (t) (ev / t) (w / t) (pd / t)

Clauses to which an amendment is requested

• Remedy 3
• Remedy 4

List of users affected by this amendment

• Biophys (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) (initiator)

Amendment 1

• Biophys topic_banned
• Biophys restricted - this is a related remedy that may be enacted after the topic ban

Statement by Biophys

I would like to apologize for contributing to disruption and ask for review and direction at this point, almost six months since the beginning of my topic ban. During this time I was active, edited in allowed areas, avoided conflicts, and tried to deal with problems noted in your findings of fact [17].

What was my problem? I edited 4,000 different articles (and a lot of them are related to my Russian cultural background) and created 250 new pages. Few my edits caused anyone's objections, but I always returned back to the articles where someone reverted my edits to be engaged in prolonged disputes, edit warring and complaints. It came at no surprise that the trouble happened in a difficult area that has been already a subject of numerous sanctions.

To avoid this problem in a future I am going to leave any article to others and edit something else if a dispute can not be quickly resolved by talking and compromising. It is enough to remove an article from my watch list. I did just that during my topic ban. This helped me to make exactly zero reverts that could be interpreted as edit warring during all this time (a few “undo” are fixes of obvious vandalism problems). Here are a few examples of someone recently reverting my edits [18] [19][20],[21],[22], and I walked away from these articles. Yes, I fully realize that every editor had his reason for reverting my edits, even though I happened to disagree with them and explained why [23], [24], [25],[26]. There is nothing wrong with returning later to these articles. The entire point is to avoid creating the conflicts.

Yes, I am fully aware of the still battleground situation in the area. Yes, I was partly responsible for creating this situation. Hence I tried to contribute to reducing the tensions during this time. I did this by not contributing to the battleground myself (I filed no reports or complaints), by expressing notes of caution to users whose behavior was problematic [27] and [28][29][30][31], by supporting users who behave well [32], by providing advise [33], [34], [35], and by politely responding to users who came uninvited to my talk page in distress. Here are a few examples of the latter:

1. Ellol starts discussion of Russian politics [36]. My reply: [37]
2. Russavia tells that he deleted my contributions [38]. My reply:[39]
3. Offliner makes a "peace offer" [40] in a conflict between him and me that does not exist, at least on my part . My reply, after a brief discussion: [41].
4. Petri Krohn gives me a trout [42] and suggests that I am in "a conflict with modern Russia" [43]. My reply [44].

If there is something else I must do, please tell. I could not care less about ethnic and territorial disputes, but I may have a bias related to human rights issues, no matter if the victims were Russian [45], German [46] or Korean [47], except that I know Soviet subjects much better. But my edits usually describe mainstream majority views and are referenced to books by the best experts, as in the diffs above.

In summary, I only wanted to tell that I am ready to contribute positively in this area. If you do not want to see me there, that's fine. No, I do not feel any rush to return back to difficult subjects, but I am ready to make such decisions for myself. I am asking for an amendment mostly because I feel extremely uncomfortable being a subject of indefinite sanctions [48]. I simply want to be a normal editor again and stay as far as possible from all administrative pages. You issued a good preventative topic ban that helped me to spend my time in the project more productively. But it is no longer needed.

Thinking rationally, I do not see any reason why Arbcom can not allow me editing with 1RR restriction in this area. What kind of trouble can I possibly create? Taking into account how many editors with opposing views edit in this area, there is nothing I can do except creating new content on the subjects that do not cause anyone's objections. What's wrong with this?

Response to Offliner

Offliner provides this diff. No, I did not really make such promises since they are not included in the final version of my statement [49]. Still, this is something reasonable and involves three different issues.

(1) Yes, I left EEML mailing list.

(2) With regard to edit warring, I thought it was enough to limit myself mostly to 1RR per article per day. That was a serious error of judgment, and Arbcom made it very clear to me that edit warring is totally unacceptable, no matter how frequently one does it. Hence I changed my behavior and was not involved in a single edit warring incident during last six months. But edit warring is only a symptom. The real root of the problem are serious personal conflicts, which is something very much different from debating content disagreements. The only way to avoid the conflicts in this environment is to leave an article (or a disputed part of the article) to your opponent if you can not come to an agreement. That is something I was doing during these six months and will do in the future. This is a serious commitment. If everyone made such commitment, the conflicts would disappear.

(3) I tried to help by commenting at administrative noticeboards [50] [51], [52], [53], [54][55][56][57](the most recent diffs in reverse chronological order), but it did not really help or changed anything. Probably I should not.

The alleged battleground on my part. Unlike some others, I did not file a single official complaint about others to AE, ANI or other similar places for at least a year. Offliner brings here an episode when Colchicum made an AE request about Russavia still stalking my edits. Yes, I get excited when Jehochman, Petri and Russavia started claiming that it was me who actually violated the ban, despite to clarification by Shell. However, Offliner forget that I striked through my comment as soon as realized that it was indeed inappropriate [58], and I did not object to the non-administrative closure of the AE case by Petri Krohn [59]. I regret about commenting anything at all in this case.

Yes, I left a few comments to Vecrumba, Radek and Martintg [60] and [61] (diffs by Offliner). I reminded to Vecrumba about Russian editor who was indefinitely banned, mostly for contributing in irrelevant discussions. I am telling Radek that "winning" is not the goal, and it might be better for him to loose a dispute or two. Is that an evidence of the "battleground" by me?

Response to Dojarca

This case concerns mostly behavior by sides during first three months of 2010, although there are also long-term problems with behavior of everyone involved. So, I thought that six months might be a reasonable period of time to make corrections if needed.

Response to DonaldDuck

1. "Gaming the system" by moving to other articles and returning back. That's my editing style. I do not like improving articles that are already in a decent condition and prefer moving through a large number of pages to fix most serious problems that can be quickly fixed. As about returning back to the same pages, yes, if this topic ban is lifted, I may return to some of ~1000 articles edited by me in this area and see if they can be improved per NPOV and RS without being engaged in edit warring. If not, I will edit something else.
2. The retirement. Yes, I feel extremely uncomfortable here for a number of reasons, and especially after receiving these sanctions. That's why I ask for amendments.
3. Not being sincere ("What difference does it make..."). Oh, no. I am sincere. I do not want to be a subject of sanctions. Not now, not ever. And I fully realize that any sanctions can be quickly reinstated under the watchful eye of users who edit in this area. Did I do anything on purpose? Yes, I made these comments in "Communist terrorism" article talk page [62][63] [64] to show that I can constructively discuss even the most controversial subjects. But this is just an extreme example. Speaking generally, there is nothing wrong with editing even such articles (if new consensus can be found, that's fine; if not, let's edit something else). Speaking practically, I would certainly avoid any articles in the state of active editorial war [65]. Biophys (talk) 00:15, 14 November 2010 (UTC).

Reply to EdJohnston

Just a few points to clarify the situation.

• This is a review of my editing during last six months, after the topic ban. I had no previous sanctions by Arbcom/AE. I have no interaction ban with Russavia, or at least this is my understanding.
• The problem was not "controversial articles" or "ethnic and territorial disputes". Edit warring had happened in a number of articles on very different subjects, some of which (like Red Banner) are not at all controversial. The problem were my attempts to restore sourced content in a number of articles, no matter what the content. That is what I addressed in my statement (please see above).
• Yes, I have failed with certain controversial subjects (maybe with 2% of all controversial subjects I edited). Can I handle this better? Please see diffs above when someone reverted me during last 6 months (I repeat them: [66] [67][68],[69],[70]). Each of these cases represents a controversy, and I handled all of them quite well. Of course, the best way to handle a controversy is not to be involved in it at the first place. Hence I simply moved to a different subject as soon as discussion became unproductive. But you never know without trying. I saw serious disputes about subjects like Borscht or Russian jokes. If fact, the problem is never the subject but the people.

• I consider EEML case a matter of the past. I unsubscribed and do not have any email or other off-wiki communications with members of the list. Let's put it behind. Yes, I know well all EEML editors and therefore talked with them (diffs by Offliner) and commented about them, just to help them as to any other editor in trouble [71], but especially if I know this editor. If any arbitrator tells that my comments were inappropriate (see diffs provided by me above and more recent comments at AE), I will not make a single comment about any of them in the future, unless this involves me. Please consider this matter resolved.

• My discussion with Piotrus ("I feel extremely uncomfortable...") Sure, this is not the issue that led to the topic ban. This is a reason for me to ask for this amendment, as I said to Piotrus. I am getting really tired thinking which my edit can be regarded as a topic ban violation. I can not quote any Soviet scientist (like Landau), even on the scientific matters, because that would be a violation of the ban. I can not edit politics of 20th century, because most of that may be related to the Soviet Union or post-Soviet republics. And I stopped editing old Russian history after the AE request by Colchicum about Russavia (the article about Chaadayev). This particular topic ban now creates more problems than helps. That is what I am talking about.

• My talk page ([72]). I am not talking with anyone off-wiki about my experience here. This is for a number of reasons. One of them: I do not want to scare scientists who meet today in Italy to discuss if they want to contribute to wikipedia, among other things [73]. No, I am not attending this conference. In fact, my talk page must be deleted for precisely the same reasons (please consider this an official request).Hodja Nasreddin (talk) 15:47, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

Reply to Petri Krohn

Petri, I do not have conflicts with anyone, you including. Yes, I had them in the past, but I do not have them now. Did I say that I have conflicts anywhere? Did I blame anyone of my own problems? No, I am very much ready to forgive and forget whatever had happened in the past, and I hope all others can do the same. No, It was exactly my point that the conflicts must be avoided at any cost (please see above). For example, when I see something like this, I am going to stay away. Biophys (talk) 02:04, 22 November 2010 (UTC)

Reply to Vlad fedorov

Welcome back! If you want to return to editing, I would not mind. As you can see, we came to consensus in the article you are talking about [74] and Mikka completed the dispute as usual [75]. As about my alleged bias, yes, I have it. It is related to human rights issues (see a few examples of my bias in statement above [76], [77], [78]), and the imprisoned journalist with broken spine (Stomakhin) was also from the same area. This is well sourced encyclopedic content. Yes, I am seriously intended not to waste anyone's time anymore. I prepared a strategy how to achieve this goal, I tested this strategy, and it works (see my initial statement). I do not care that much about the defunct state, and only want to return to normal editing process, which is not possible with an indefinite topic ban. Hodja Nasreddin (talk) 23:18, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Offliner

I don't think there is sufficient reason to believe Biophys would not return to his old disruptive ways if the sanction is lifted. He has made several promises before (e.g.[79],[80]), but these never caused him to alter his behaviour (see here). Biophys also continued to participate in battleground discussions during his topic ban, defending certain editors [81][82], while attacking others [83][84][85][86][87]. Biophys' battleground mentality is still here, as clearly evidenced by diffs like this and this. Anyway, the sanction says that the topic ban is to be reviewed no sooner than after one year, not now. The ruling was pretty clear here, and modifying it now would make the original sanction look strange, even misleading. Offliner (talk) 16:21, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Vecrumba and in Response to Offliner

Re: Offliner's reference of an exchange on my talk page here, Offliner's characterization is a complete misrepresentation as I was attempting to work through some conflicts in the topic area in question (and have received positive responses regarding my participation); Biophys' statement was one that I took as asking why I would seek out some area of controversy that is a known battleground (there was a raging Arbcom going on at the time I took interest to the articles in the area of dispute). Observing that there are battlegrounds and offering the observation that an editor might have better places to spend one's time is hardly exhibiting a "battleground mentality." What is a battleground mentality is Offliner always seeming to be the first to show up at these affairs to denounce those who he considers his editorial opposition. I'll spare diffs on his block shopping with regard to myself. PЄTЄRS J VЄСRUМВА ►TALK 20:05, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Dojarca

I think Biophys is not sincere here. He has a long history of gaming the system, virtuously using the Wikipedia's rules against his opponents. Currently he is involved in a dispute in Communist terrorism trying to re-create this article and push material from a highly biased Black Book of Communism. He cited his topic ban as an obstacle for further discussion about this topic.

Also note that the topic ban imposed on Biophys is very narrow. It does not include Eastern Europe and Communism in general, but only the USSR-related topics. I doubt he is able to contribute constructively in this area judging from previous his contributions.

--Dojarca (talk) 17:44, 14 November 2010 (UTC)

Also note the Biophys sanction: Biophys is banned from editing articles about the Soviet Union and former Soviet Republics, and all related articles, broadly construed, for a period of no less than 1 year. At the end of 1 year, Biophys may apply to have the ban reviewed by the arbitration Committee.

So this application should be dismissed based only on the previous decision, because Biophys currently has no right to request the review of the ban.--Dojarca (talk) 07:53, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

Statement by DonaldDuck

As far as I remember from my contacts with Biophys, he was very experienced in gaming the system. One of his tactics was moving from his battleground topic area temporalily, only to avoid sanctions, and restart his battle later. He several times declared retirement from Wikipedia during his arbitration cases (recently he asked to delete his userpage to remove traces of this multiple retirements). This recent comment by Biophys: "Besides, what difference does it make if someone follows the rules because he is now a different person or because he does not want to be a subject of sanctions?" gives reason to suspect that Biophys has not really changed his outlook, and only active sanctions keep him from returning to his battleground activity. --DonaldDuck (talk) 08:41, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Statement by other editor

{Other editors are free to comment on this amendment as necessary. Comments here should be directed only at the above proposed amendment.}

Amendment 2

• Remedy 1

Statement by Martintg

I was involved in the original Russavia-Biophys case, after Russavia continually brought complaints against myself and others forced me to act. Subsequently Russavia was restricted from interacting with former EEML members and this remedy has been remarkably successful, freeing him from the incentive for stalking for violations and allowing us to contribute in a more collegiate environment. This kind of interaction ban does not prevent people from working together on the same topic because it allows for necessary dispute resolution born out of legitimate content dispute, as interpreted by the admins patrolling AE. But it stops the perpetuation of the battleground as it forces people to either work together or ignore each other by taking away the easy option of block shopping. Therefore I request that this interaction restriction be extended to a couple more people.

When User:Offliner accuses Biophys of "battleground mentality", he doesn't come here with clean hands. As I recall, Offliner was previously involved in the harassment and outing of Biophys that was perpetrated by Russavia. Offliner was recently site banned for six months for engaging in the most extreme battleground behavior of posting a link to a freezepage of material he knew to be soon oversighted. Just recently he launched yet another Arbitration enforcement case against Vecrumba [88] in conjunction with User:Petri Krohn. Petri Krohn has also been site banned by both the Committee and the community. Note that Krohn launched a bogus SPI case, and both of them have involved themselves in continuing their battleground having involved themselves in another recent failed AE request against myself[89].

Just as the Committee has grown tired of seeing the same old names over and over again, I am tired of it too. Very tired. We all want to move on. Except that Offliner and Petri Krohn seem to be stuck in the battleground headspace of 2009. Their ugly tactics are not constructive and have no place in Wikipedia. There is absolutely no attempt on their part at building a collegiate environment let alone engage in productive discussion, unlike other editors who have expressed such a willingness to work together. As univolved BorisG stated in regard to Offliner's latest AE case, this needs to stop.

Therefore I ask the ArbCom to amend Remedy 1 to:

• "Russavia (talk · contribs), Offliner (talk · contribs) and Petri Krohn (talk · contribs) are prohibited from commenting on or unnecessarily interacting with editors from the EEML case, except in the case of necessary dispute resolution."

--Martin (talk) 04:46, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

@Shell, sorry perhaps I didn't articulate this clearly above: an associated interaction restriction is related to Biophys' original request. With any relaxation of Biophys' topic ban, as they would not like such an outcome, it is highly likely either Offliner or Petri Krohn would agitate some kind of action or pile on into any future dispute involving Biophys, if their recent track record indicated above is anything to go by. Note that User:Dojarca appears to be associated with Petri Krohn, having proxied for him in the past, I would check his edit history, one of his first edits after an eight month absence was to comment here. Offline co-ordination? --Martin (talk) 23:44, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

• Ed, Biophys has good cause to feel uncomfortable editing something like Pyotr Chaadayev. To any observer this indeed is unambiguously outside the scope of "articles about the Soviet Union and former Soviet Republics", how can anyone seriously argue eighteenth Century Russia is a "former Soviet Republic". Yet we have Petri Krohn arguing precisely that, not only here but back in August on WP:AE when he claimed that Biophys broke his topic ban here and in support to this claim Petri Krohn provided this astonishing argument here. This explemifies why an interaction ban is necessary, boards like WP:AE is the battleground, not the article which just serves as the pretext. This needs to end. --Martin (talk) 00:03, 22 November 2010 (UTC)

Another statement by Biophys

I personally do not have any problems with debating anything at all with Petri, Offliner and Russavia if needed. I would even suggest lifting the interaction ban for Russavia with myself, rather than imposing new bans. Biophys (talk) 17:19, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

Re to Martintg [90]. Just to clarify, I talked only about my topic ban. If I "feel uncomfortable" editing any article, I will not edit it. That's not a problem. Biophys (talk) 00:38, 22 November 2010 (UTC)

Statement by EdJohnston

I'm commenting here as an uninvolved admin. Recently some cases have been filed at WP:AE involving Eastern Europe, so I've had to study the record of some of the EEML editors. Here are my impressions about User:Biophys and on the wisdom of lifting the topic ban imposed on him due to the Russavia-Biophys case in May, 2010.

His multiple retirements are curious. His lack of talk page archiving is a problem for any admin who wants to check out his record. He apparently has a sincere interest in improving Russian articles, but his interests do include a lot of cutting-edge hot-button topics where controversy is inevitable. In many cases he has handled the controversy poorly. (Note the first four blocks in his block log, from early 2007, where he clashed with Vlad Fedorov repeatedly). By joining the EEML mailing list he exhibited bad judgment. Due to the many troubles in Eastern European topics, it would be understandable if Arbcom were to gradually crank up the sanctions in those cases where lighter measures have not stopped the editing problems. The WP:EEML case was closed in December 2009. The submissions in the Russavia-Biophys Arbcom case date from mid-2010 and they don't reflect well on Biophys.

In a recent posting on his talk page BIophys stated "I feel extremely uncomfortable knowing that someone is looking over my shoulder to report me on AE if I quote Landau or Pyotr Chaadaev." He must surely be aware that this is not the type of issue where he got into trouble in the past. He did not get into edit wars for quoting the 18th-century Russian philosopher Pyotr Chaadaev. Since Chadaev did not live in a country called the Soviet Union, he is not included in the topic ban anyway. If Biophys wants to work on culture or science related articles that connect to the Soviet Union, and may be covered by his ban, let him present the list for Arbcom's review here. I'd also suggest that Arbcom request him to set up talk page archiving, though not mandate it . I would not favor lifting the interaction ban between Russavia and Biophys, and suggest that Arbcom limit the present request to matters concerning Biophys. The wider picture would need a separate request. EdJohnston (talk) 21:16, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

I've been negotiating with Biophys at User talk:EdJohnston#Your statement to see if he would agree to a revised ban that would still limit the problems that the Arbs saw previously. Though his good faith is evident, I don't see that he has agreed to anything that would address the problem. I recommend declining this request for amendment. EdJohnston (talk) 18:03, 23 November 2010 (UTC)

Biophys has agreed to automatic archiving of his talk page, and I have set that up. So I struck out that part of my recommendation above EdJohnston (talk) 19:11, 23 November 2010 (UTC) Biophys has gone back to routinely removing posts from his talk page, even innocuous ones. So I gather he is still very concerned that people outside the wiki will be following his activities here. Under these conditions, it's hard to recommend his return to editing contentious articles about the Soviet Union. EdJohnston (talk) 20:24, 24 November 2010 (UTC)

Response to Biophys

You're right about the interaction ban. Russavia is prohibited from "commenting on or unnecessarily interacting with editors from the EEML case.." per WP:ARBRB#Remedies but you are not banned from interacting with him, at the present time. This is because only the editors that were sanctioned by name in WP:EEML were banned from interacting with Russavia. EdJohnston (talk) 17:58, 22 November 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Petri Krohn

The way I read the the decision "Soviet Union and former Soviet Republics" would cover anything to do with Russia. Biophys's areas of conflict seem to be communism and the Putin administration.

I would support a narrowing of the topic ban to exclude pre-revolutionary Russia – including her Empire – and other non-political topics. (Note, that in the Soviet Union everything was political.)

An absolute minimal wording for a topic ban for some EE problem editors would be that they should not introduce "any content (edit, section or article) that describes or tries to describe Soviet rule in the Baltics or Eastern Europe as illegal or oppressive or communism as immoral or criminal." As Biophys clearly has a conflict with modern Russia, this wording would not be sufficient. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 22:22, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

As a result of Martintg's latest comment I am withdrawing my statement. I cannot see any reason why he had to drag my name into this case earlier and yet again make even more accusations. I am in no way involved with Biophys and have only communicated or commented on him in an earlier WP:AE case.

Under the present circumstances I see little other ways out of this than reopening EEML and permabans for its members.

Martintg, I ask you remove or strike out your comment. If you do that, I will strike out this comment and restore the previous one. As for now I am not even going tho comment on the Pyotr Chaadayev / David Satter issue. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 00:50, 22 November 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Vlad_fedorov

Biophys, you know very well that your problem is your bias. The hardest bias I ever seen here in Wikipedia. You are not neutral editor. Nothing has really changed since 2007. Your repeated attempts to game the system failed. Just let's return to Stomakhin. So was he really innocent, dissident, prisoner of conscience? You tried to delete repeatedly his paranoid fascist calls to exterminate all Russians, just to see that phrase return to the article again - Boris Stomakhin. You tried to spam the article with undue weight account of so-called human rights defenders, just to support your personal POV. Just compare the current article with your so highly insisted version after you kicked me out of WP with the help of your "friends". Even without me the article returned to what I wrote about him, and even "worse". What was the point of your holy crusade against me, then? Even now, you, most likely, do not understand the point I try to make. You are blind. You just waisted everyone's time here. That is the point. Vlad fedorov (talk) 21:04, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

Statement by other editor

{Other editors are free to comment on this amendment as necessary. Comments here should be directed only at the above proposed amendment.}

Further discussion

@Kirill, I do not understand why I should be held responsible for problematic actions by others. The problems will probably never go away from controversial areas. If I did something wrong during these six months, please tell what it is, and I will try to fix what I can.Biophys (talk) 04:36, 23 November 2010 (UTC)

Kirill, thank you very much for the explanation. Why are you not convinced? If you do not believe my promise not to be engaged in edit warring, then issue me 1RR restriction, as was initially planned. And if I am not engaged in edit warring, on which grounds someone would bring me again to Arbcom? A lot of editors with "patriotic" views edit in this area. Therefore, there is nothing I can do except creating new content on the subjects that do not cause anyone's objections. What's wrong with this? As you know, I always follow WP:RS in this area. Do you mean that the guys will follow all my edits to revert them all, no matter what I edit? If something like this indeed happens, I will simply edit something else (as I said above), rather than be again a subject of your sanctions. I am not a fool to repeat my own mistake twice, whatever my political views might be.Biophys (talk) 14:39, 23 November 2010 (UTC)

@Shell. I made exactly zero reverts that can be interpreted as edit warring during this time. This is a dramatic change in my editing habits. I provided five examples when someone reverted my edits during this time, which did not cause any problems 1,2,3,4,5. In example 1, I left the article and its talk page, because it became a subject of edit warring between multiple parties. In case 2, a discussion was heated, but an editor finally agreed with my argument and himself made changes suggested by me [91]. In cases 3 and 4, we came to an agreement after a brief discussion (3 - another editor suggested that I go ahead and make the changes [92]; 4 - I agreed that another editor is right after looking at the complicated system of relationships between different pages [93]). In case 5 I decided not to make any changes and stop discussion because it fueled an unnecessary conflict and became a subject of AE inquiry filed by Colchicum. What else I suppose to demonstrate?

@SirFozzie. Yes, I understand and share your sentiment. Please tell what should I do to fix the problems, whatever they are. Should I remain in protective custody forever, or it is me who creates danger for others? I can promise not to talk with anyone who edits in this area about anything except improving the content and purely technical questions/requests. Would that resolve the problems? Then fine, I will do just that. In particular, I am going to leave without answer and remove from my talk page comments like this [94]. The only thing I ever wanted was creation of new content. The conflicts may continue to escalate, but I am not going to be involved. I hope you do not mean that I contribute to conflicts by creating new encyclopedic content? Just to clarify, I would be involved in "robust debates" as Ed Johnson said [95] only about improvement of content and only at talk pages of the corresponding articles. Would that be a possible solution of the problem?

If you do not feel comfortable lifting the ban right now, could you please limit it by one year, and I will never bother you again? One year of topic ban, is not it enough for someone who was never previously a subject of your sanctions and behaved well during first six months of his topic ban? Can you give me a second chance, please?

Needless to say, I would not edit certain subjects from recent Russian history that brought me a trouble, such as apartment bombings article or can focus on scientific, cultural and social subjects, if you tell this helps to resolve the problems and start editing in this area. In addition, if you do not mind, I would like to move/rename my account and have a kind of fresh start (I selected such name to remember that editing suppose to be fun).

• You do not want to see me again, as Kirill said. Yes, I do not want this too. Then the simplest and fastest solution would be the following. You remove all editing restrictions, but with the following clause: if I am found guilty by AE administrators of any violation in this area, the indefinite ban is automatically reinstated, without any your involvement. Then, I do not need to make any promises, and you do not need to trust me. There is only one promise I should make: if anyone brings any new arbitration cases in this area, I will not make a single comment in/about such cases (even if I am included as a party), unless specifically asked to comment by Arbcom. That I can definitely promise.Biophys (talk) 15:57, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

@Newyorkbrad and Risker. Thank you very much. I have no problem waiting another three months to resubmit this request. Perhaps you, SirFozzie and new Arbcom members will look more favorably at my request, although it seems unlikely that Shell will ever change her mind, unless she explains what exactly I must do. What else I must do in addition to conflict-free editing? But once again, my primary motivation for filing this request was returning to normal editing rather than coming back with vengeance to the conflict area. Biophys (talk) 16:40, 26 November 2010 (UTC)

Clerk notes

This section is for administrative notes by the clerks (including clerk recusals).

Arbitrator views and discussion

• Awaiting statements. Newyorkbrad (talk) 17:01, 8 November 2010 (UTC)
  • I think we should probably not take any action at this time, but I would be willing to reconsider this matter in three months' time. Newyorkbrad (talk) 02:58, 26 November 2010 (UTC)
• Same as Brad. Statements if any should focus on this narrow issue only, not the broader topic area. SirFozzie (talk) 18:23, 9 November 2010 (UTC)
  • Disappointed that it came down to the same faces in the same ways. I think that under other circumstances, this would have a broader chance of success, I think the level of conflicts would continue to be escalated if we took action in this request. SirFozzie (talk) 19:11, 24 November 2010 (UTC)
• Is it possible to please get some views from those familiar with Biophys's editing who were not involved in any of the previous cases? Carcharoth (talk) 14:05, 13 November 2010 (UTC)
• This really should stay focused on the amendment made by Biophys; if there are other issues that need to be addressed, please open a separate request. Shell ^babelfish 22:02, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
  • While I don't see anything in the past six months that's incredibly worrisome, I also don't see anything that leaves me feeling that Biophys would be successful returning to this topic area. After two cases where problematic behavior was found, I would like to see clear evidence of a major change in the way Biophys approaches editing in difficult topic areas where he has a strong viewpoint. Shell ^babelfish 14:28, 23 November 2010 (UTC)
• In light of the ongoing problems in this area, I see no reason to modify the sanction on Biophys at this time. Kirill ^{[talk] [prof]} 02:19, 23 November 2010 (UTC)
  • Biophys: I am not convinced that you would be able to edit in this area without becoming involved in conflicts similar to those for which you were originally sanctioned. I have no desire to see you brought before the Committee yet another time. Kirill ^{[talk] [prof]} 13:16, 23 November 2010 (UTC)
• Concur with Newyorkbrad; I am not prepared to move at this time, but would be willing to reconsider in 3 months. Risker (talk) 21:44, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

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