Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Enforcement: Difference between revisions

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* The merits of either view in/side to the dispute over whether the template belongs on the article are of little relevance to a conduct complaint. But it is clear that there are merits to both sides; and therefore that resolving the disagreement by reversion is flat-out edit warring. On a contested topic such as this one, that's not on.<p>So THF and Verbal, who both reverted the template out of or into the article twice or more, are each blocked for two days. If they edit war again, they'll be banned from the topic. John and Jehochman are both in the clear—I class one reversion as bold collaboration, not revert warring. With respect to THF's argument that he was patrolling the article as a neutral party and further to a NPOVN thread: if you care enough to revert the template back in four times over, then you probably aren't uninvolved. Once you were reverted twice, you should have taken it to the talk page or to ANI and gotten some editors to back you up—not reverted a third and then a fourth time.<p>And can we please reach a consensus over whether the "waterboarding is torture" statement violates NPOV or not? Somebody start a discussion or something. This isn't complicated stuff. [[User talk:AGK|AGK]] 00:10, 7 February 2010 (UTC)
* The merits of either view in/side to the dispute over whether the template belongs on the article are of little relevance to a conduct complaint. But it is clear that there are merits to both sides; and therefore that resolving the disagreement by reversion is flat-out edit warring. On a contested topic such as this one, that's not on.<p>So THF and Verbal, who both reverted the template out of or into the article twice or more, are each blocked for two days. If they edit war again, they'll be banned from the topic. John and Jehochman are both in the clear—I class one reversion as bold collaboration, not revert warring. With respect to THF's argument that he was patrolling the article as a neutral party and further to a NPOVN thread: if you care enough to revert the template back in four times over, then you probably aren't uninvolved. Once you were reverted twice, you should have taken it to the talk page or to ANI and gotten some editors to back you up—not reverted a third and then a fourth time.<p>And can we please reach a consensus over whether the "waterboarding is torture" statement violates NPOV or not? Somebody start a discussion or something. This isn't complicated stuff. [[User talk:AGK|AGK]] 00:10, 7 February 2010 (UTC)
*: Your're correct saying that you are unfamiliar with what's going on here. Whether "waterboarding is torture" is an appropriate statement has been discussed to death many times. It's been the subject of an RFC, and there's a subpage of the talk page. Please check the archives. The problem here is one or two editors obstructing the consensus by repeating the same argument that has been rejected many times before. They try to spin it as something new, but it isn't. [[User:Jehochman|Jehochman]] <sup>[[User talk:Jehochman|Brrr]]</sup> 11:54, 7 February 2010 (UTC)


== Nefer Tweety ==
== Nefer Tweety ==

Revision as of 11:54, 7 February 2010

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    Verbal

    No action because the requisite warnings were not issued. Verbal (talk · contribs), Ludwigs2 (talk · contribs) and BullRangifer (talk · contribs) are now warned.
    The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.


    Request concerning Verbal

    User requesting enforcement
    Ludwigs2 22:25, 29 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    User against whom enforcement is requested
    Verbal (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
    Sanction or remedy that this user violated
    Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Homeopathy#Discretionary sanctions
    Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it
    Verbal has been engaged in a tendentious effort to prevent development of the article, using multiple reversions, refactoring of talk page contents, and a general refusal to participate on the talk page. I have made several requests for participation, and asked/warned him about problematic behavior, all to no avail.

    incidences of reverts without explanation:

    1. [1] Verbal - first reversion of article, just to demonstrate that this goes back before my arrival on the page
    2. [2] Verbal - reverted to remove dispute tags
    3. [3] Verbal - reverted to remove dispute tags again
    4. [4] Verbal - reverting content, and removing dispute tags yet again
    5. [5] Verbal - reverting content, and removing dispute tags once more
    6. [6] Verbal - last removal of dispute tags (to date)

    Talk page actions

    1. [7] refactoring my talk page comments
    2. [8] requesting reason for POV tag, which (as you can see) I gave
    3. [9] tendentious and non-productive commentary
    4. [10] re-adding tendentious and non-productive commentary after another editor refactored it
    5. [11] The entirety of Verbal's justification for removing the dispute tag the last time
    Diffs of notifications or of prior warnings against the conduct objected to (if required)
    in edit summaries- these are only the requests I made directly after verbal removed the tags; there are at least two other requests aimed more genearlly or to other editors
    1. [12] warning in edit summary that continued removal of dispute tags would result in enforcement request
    2. [13] warning in edit summary that continued removal of dispute tags would result in enforcement request

    In his talk page

    1. [14] first entry in a talk page conversation where I repeated ly ask him to refrain from reverting changes without engaging in talk page discussion
    2. [15] second entry in a talk page conversation where I repeated ly ask him to refrain from reverting changes without engaging in talk page discussion
    3. [16] third and final entry in a talk page conversation where I repeated ly ask him to refrain from reverting changes without engaging in talk page discussion

    Similar behavior on Atropa Belladonna

    1. [17] undiscussed reversion
    2. [18] second undiscussed reversion

    only contribution to talk page was this:

    1. [19]

    despite the fact that I explicitly requested comment from him here:

    1. [20]
    Enforcement action requested (block, topic ban or other sanction)
    I would like to ask for the following sanctions
    • That verbal be barred from editing Alternative medicine for a period of one month, so that the current content dispute can be resolved in timely and productive fashion.
    • That verbal be generally warned that tendentious editing of this type is unacceptable, with a statement that continuing such behavior will result in stronger punishments.
    • That verbal be specifically warned against the removal of dispute tags without proper discussion.
    Additional comments by editor filing complaint
    There are several editors involved in the current debate on the talk page, and while the process is not entirely smooth, all of the rest of us are participating in talk and moving the process along. only Verbal refuses to participate in that fashion, and the clear pattern of disruptive reversions, refactoring, and other poor editing practices speaks to a specific problem with his attitude.
    Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested
    notification of request

    Discussion concerning Verbal

    Statement by Verbal

    Comments by others about the request concerning Verbal

    Please comment only in your own section.
    Statement by Hipocrite
    Collapsed threaded discussion that does not address the enforcement request.  Sandstein  06:19, 30 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

    Someone wrote somewhere on wikipedia

    OK, I get that the BLP situation has been festering for a long time, and I get the argument that we have an ethical responsibility to cut through the crap and actually do something about material with the potential to cause real-life harm. I was thinking through the implications, and I have a serious question.

    Suppose that I've concluded that our medical articles contain a great deal of material that is incorrect, misleading, and promotional; that presents isolated preliminary studies as if they were conclusive truth; and that presents discredited or unproven treatments in an overly credulous fashion. Suppose I had concrete data indicating that regardless of our hidden disclaimer, Wikipedia is among the most prominent sources of medical information (e.g. PMID 19390105, PMID 19501017, etc).

    A reasonable person could conclude that erroneous or misleading medical information on Wikipedia has at least as much, if not far more, potential for real-life harm than does biographical-article vandalism or the presence of neutral/positive but unsourced statements. Following this train of thought to its logical conclusion, would extreme measures (of the sort envisioned and carried out on BLPs) not be equally or more justified, on the same ethical grounds, in our medical articles? Again, this isn't a trick question - it's a serious train of thought sparked by the recent BLP flap.

    For your consideration. Hipocrite (talk) 22:31, 29 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    What does this have to do with this request for arbitration? stmrlbs|talk 01:38, 30 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    I believe that Hipocrite is saying (in a somewhat indirect fashion) that (1) medical articles (broadly put) should be put to higher standards the way BLPs are, and (2) that Verbal's (to my mind otherwise unjustifiable) behavior is an effort at implementing point 1 unilaterally. Point 1 might be an interesting conversation - I disagree with it (at first sight) for a couple of reasons, but I'd be willing to consider it - but even if point 1 were an accepted standard, Verbal's behavior would not even be close to an appropriate implementation. I've seen BLP edits that were abrupt, but I've never seen any that were tendentious and non-communicative.
    or maybe I'm misreading Hipocrite's intent; I'm sure he'll clarify if so. --Ludwigs2 02:25, 30 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Statement by Sandstein

    I have, as an administrator working at AE, inserted these subheaders to limit threaded discussion. Please consider that AE is not a part of dispute resolution and is not a forum to discuss content disputes or broader philosophical issues. Any statements should be narrowly focused on the contested conduct by Verbal and whether or not administrators should take arbitration enforcement action against him. Other statements may be removed or collapsed by administrators, as I did with Hipocrite's contribution above.  Sandstein  06:19, 30 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Statement by Stmrlbs

    as per Henrik's request for more comments from the other involved editors, I think Ludwigs2 main problem with Verbal is his pattern of reverting without discussion. Then when Verbal does come to discussion, it is in a very "combative" point of view, instead of in a way that is helps to come to some kind of consensus. If you notice, Verbal's first action on the talk page after his reverts was to "refactor" (a nice way to say remove) Ludwigs2's comments [21] - a combative move - and yet Verbal still did not add any comments of his own to the discussion until 2 days later [22]. Verbal has been warned about reverting without discussion (or ignoring discussion) before in other areas [23][24]. The other editors recently involved in editing alternative medicine (including me) did revert each other, but the reverts were followed by discussion. I think the other editors were trying to follow WP:BRD. stmrlbs|talk 00:56, 31 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Statement by BullRangifer

    We're dealing with an editor (Ludwigs2) who has a long block log for doing exactly what they have been doing now.

    This is a case of a pusher of fringe POV (Ludwigs2) refusing to engage in collaborative editing, but instead waging a war on two fronts: (1) continuing to make highly disputed edits after they had been reverted by multiple editors, while (2) carrying on a very unpleasant series of stonewalling discussions. This made reversion the only avenue left by other editors. We couldn't keep up with discussing a number of issues raised by the continued use of the article itself as a battleground. BRD means that contested edits should not be made again, and again, and again. Ludwigs2 seemed to think that carrying on a discussion gave them the right to continue to make controversial edits while the discussions were in progress, even though they weren't finished or any consensus was reached. That is wrong and it was explained to them repeatedly with no success. In fact, at one point Ludwigs2 actually stated "I don't honestly care" if their manner of edit warring had upset me.

    Basically we're dealing with a disruptive editor who is accusing one of those who was attempting to stop an edit war. We tried to simply revert back to the longstanding stable version and get Ludwigs2 to stop edit warring and stick to discussing. Only then could we come up with a consensus version of any changes that might need to be made. Here's how I explained it in this section:

    The key word is "discussing". Discussion is good, but making changes without consensus is counterproductive. Be patient. Making changes to the lead is always a sensitive issue because changes there are supposed to reflect changes to the actual content of the article. Yes, wordings in the lead can be written awkwardly or poorly and can be improved, but substantive changes need a very solid consensus based on changes in the body of the article.
    Have you noticed the references section at the bottom of this talk page? It's there for a reason. It's there so that editors can copy (NOT edit) questioned content from the article and together with editors who hold opposing POV work on revising it here. Only after there is a consensus does the new version get used to replace the old version. That's what's known as collaborative editing. It takes a lot of good faith and the ability to write for the opponent. While that may grate on one's nerves, at least enable it.
    My major objection to this latest debacle has been regarding process rather than content. When consensus gets violated, all hell breaks loose. We need to avoid edit wars. This article has been quite stable for some time until a newbie came along and boldly removed content they didn't like. It was restored and they did it again. That started an edit war and I rebooted the situation so we can start collaborative editing. I'm perfectly willing to discuss changes, but do it here, not by making controversial edits. -- Brangifer (talk) 15:15, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

    and in a reply to User:Gandydancer, whose repeated deletions without discussion started the whole debacle:

    I will commend you for then doing the right thing. You stopped editing and have stuck to discussing. That's the right thing to do, in contrast to Ludwigs2 and Stmrlb. They have continued to edit war, instead of to exclusively discuss. That's very unwikipedian and a blockable offense. Ludwigs2 knows this, as their long block log can attest.
    The existence of a discussion doesn't give a right to make an edit or press forward with a deletion. That violates the BRD cycle. The discussion should proceed until a consensus has been reached before making more edits. This whole thing has been characterized by the idea (applied by Ludwigs2) that making controversial changes is okay as long as a discussion is in process. That's not collaborative editing. That's edit warring. It is only the successful resolution of the discussion, resulting in an agreement, that allows editing to begin again.
    That's why I rebooted back to the pre edit war status and encouraged a discussion on each point of discussion, even providing subsections for doing so. As each point is discussed and a consensus emerges, we can make ONE edit that we can all agree upon and defend and mark that section as "resolved", then move on to the next section. I am very disappointed to see that Ludwigs2 has reverted back to the tactics that led to their numerous blocks for edit warring, and I fear that will have to happen again. I have repeatedly asked for the edit warring to stop and to stick to only discussing things. Only after a consensus emerges should edits be made.
    Rather than arguing about content right now, I want to get a statement from Ludwigs2 as to whether the process I describe is a reasonable one or not. I want a promise from Ludwigs2 that they will stick to discussion and not wage a war on two fronts, one on this talk page and one simultaneously on the article. -- Brangifer 07:39, 29 January 2010 (UTC)

    Ludwigs2 hasn't yet given me such a promise.

    Then Ludwigs2 replied in a very uncollaborative manner:

    Brangifer: I'm sorry that you object to the process we've been using, but I don't honestly care. I suggest that you stop reverting, stop explaining why we can't make changes to the page, and start discussing the changes we are trying to make. the first two are non-productive; the second might get us somewhere. I've made multiple comments on this talk page that you have not yet addressed; do you want to start with those? --Ludwigs2 18:15, 28 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    To which I replied:

    You should care. You aren't the only editor here, and you don't own this article. If you're not willing to care, then stop edit warring, leave the editing table, and find something else to do. I have a real life and it's impossible to fight an edit war on two fronts. You're demanding discussion of controversial edits that should not have been made at all. It's impossible to keep up with such a situation, which necessitates reversion of multiple edits. Since those edits shouldn't have been made, it's proper to do that. Above I'm proposing an alternative to edit warring and I hope you will promise to accept it. It's nothing other than standard practice required by our policies. I'm asking you to abide by them, and I want promises from you. -- Brangifer (talk) 07:39, 29 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    I hope this reveals the "other side of the story" here. This whole complaint is not only frivolous, but an abuse of the proper use of this page. I had already been tempted to file an AN/I complaint about the edit warring by Ludwigs2, but being a patient man, I was hoping that appeals might help. Instead Ludwigs2 made this frivolous complaint. Therefore I will do what I would have done if I had filed the complaint. I request that Ludwigs2 be spanked with a wet noodle and topic banned from alternative medicine topics for a period of time. Ludwigs2 should get the same and greater a "punishment" than they are requesting against Verbal in light of the frivolous nature of their complaint. -- Brangifer (talk) 06:09, 31 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Page protection is a good thing in light of the fact that Ludwigs2 was refusing to stop making very controversial and disputed edits to the article. That article has previously been a war zone and they were rekindling old flames which we were trying to put out. Discussion alone is the way forward, not an endless repetition of disputed edits that violate BRD and BATTLE. -- Brangifer (talk) 06:17, 31 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    I note that Henrik and I share exactly the same POV regarding collaborative editing:
    • " As soon as it was clear that there was opposition to a content change, editing should stop .."[25]
    I had repeatedly tried to get Ludwigs2 to understand this point, but without success. -- Brangifer (talk) 06:53, 31 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Statement by Stmrlbs in reply to BullRangifer

    Just wanted to reply to BullRangifer's statement "That's the right thing to do, in contrast to Ludwigs2 and Stmrlb. They have continued to edit war, instead of to 'exclusively' discuss. That's very unwikipedian and a blockable offense. Ludwigs2 knows this, as their long block log can attest." BullRangifer is criticizing in others what he is guilty of himself. If you look at the History, you will see I made a grand total of 3 changes in January [26]. Of those 3 changes, I made one revert in relation to this disagreement. I reverted Verbal [27] because he was reverting and saying in the change history that Ludwigs2 neede to "take it to talk" when it was plain to see that Ludwigs2 was discussing the changes and Verbal was just reverting with no discussion. The previous 2 changes I made were to delete a comment by an Australian comedian about Alternative medicine as part of a comedy routine[28] - I didn't think this was a valid RS. The other change was minor - to add a couple of words to clarify a statement [29]. 3 changes in total, of which one was a revert. Yet BullRangifer says that I continued to edit war. Now look at his history on Alternative Medicine [30] - from the Jan 25 to the 28, all of BullRangifer's edits were reverts- the last revert going back 4 days from the Jan 28 to Jan 24. Also note that he made these changes [31] [32] in January with no talk page discussion despite his statements that people shouldn't change the article without discussing the changes first. BullRangifer seems to want to set standards for others that he doesn't seem to think he needs to follow himself. stmrlbs|talk 07:57, 31 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Statement by BullRangifer in reply to Stmrlbs

    I never said that NO edits can ever be made without previous discussion. The BRD cycle usually allows initial attempts at making changes to articles, especially when they, as the two examples you noted ([33] [34]), were well-sourced, uncontroversial, and made before any of this debacle. They were good additions which were uncontested and are now part of the article. If they had been reverted, I would have discussed and not restored them. That's what Ludwigs2 wasn't doing. My request that Ludwigs2 stick to discussion until a consensus was reached was well within wiki policies and our way of working. Attempting to force one's version against the opposition of multiple editors isn't proper and is sanctionable. BTW, I still haven't gotten any promise from Ludwigs2 that they will not use that edit warring tactic again. -- Brangifer (talk) 18:03, 31 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Statement by Ludwigs2 in response to BullRangifer

    I feel I need to point out (in response to BullRangifer's rather heated comments above) that my main interest - clearly stated in multiple places, and evidenced by an examination of the diffs - was to retain the dispute tags on the article during discussion. This is also why I filed this enforcement request: dispute tags are both appropriate and necessary where there is material on a page that is questionable (as a warning to the reader, if nothing else). Had Verbal not been so aggressive and tendentious about removing the dispute tags, I would have happily continued to discuss things in talk and seen no need to make further edits in article space.

    BullRangifer is (of course) complicit in removing these tags. I did not extend the enforcement request to him, however, because despite his tendencies towards name-calling ("Pusher of fringe POV" my ass...), he is at least communicative, and shows a willingness to discuss matters.

    I would, however, ask him to refactor the several personal comments he made about me in the above sections, as I find his tone objectionable. Can someone please request he do that? --Ludwigs2 19:58, 31 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Statement by BullRangifer in response to Ludwigs2

    Of the total of four edits I made to the article (Ludwigs2 made 15 with many reverts) after the whole debacle started (by Gandydancer's two edits on 01/24/2010), three were reverts and one other edit was used to restore Ludwigs2's tag (which was inadvertently deleted in a revert) with the edit summary "reinstating your change. Better to tag and discuss, rather than make non-consensus changes", which was a not-so-subtle suggestion to Ludwigs2 that the tag was good, but making non-consensus edits was bad. One of those reverts did not involve any tags and was a revert of a totally non-consensus and radical change, which I reverted per BRD. That accounts for 3 out of 4 of my edits.

    The fourth was made after explaining why I was going to do it. It reverted a number of changes, including a total rewrite of the lead made by DavidOaks which left out some very important elements which were required by agreements made when three articles were merged. It was simplest to restore back to a previous version by Ludwigs2 using this edit summary "per talk am restoring to version by Ludwigs2 of 10:45, January 24, 2010. Now no changes without consensus! The edit warring must stop." That revert restored a version that was reasonably close to the pre edit war status, but a tag(s?) made by Ludwigs2 also got lost in that shuffle.

    Ludwigs2 then reverted me, but not by solely restoring the tag(s?), but by restoring the whole mess, and it really was a mess. The formatting was all screwed up and lots of refs had been lost. Ludwigs2's edit summary accused me of doing it without discussion, but I had at least explained why I was going to do it. Ludwigs2 should have discussed in the place I had made for discussion, rather than once again attempting to force disputed content into the article.

    So two of the four edits actually favored Ludwigs2, a fact which seems to have passed unnoticed in the complaint above. Now that we've each had our say, I see no reason to really discuss this much more. -- Brangifer (talk) 02:59, 1 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Reply to Sandstein by Ludwigs2 - re: warnings

    The linked section says, specifically "Prior to any sanctions being imposed, the editor in question shall be given a warning with a link to this decision by an uninvolved administrator". I believe this is intended for cases where an administrator begins the enforcement action him/herself, to ensure that administrators do not peremptorily impose sanctions without giving the user an opportunity to amend the behavior. I am not an administrator, and have no ability to impose sanctions on my own, and Verbal (a frequent editor on these types of articles and a participant on other homeopathy enforcements) is well aware of the homeopathy restrictions; so I doubt this condition applies. If you examine the diffs, you'll see that I asked Verbal repeatedly to desist from this behavior, which is the most I can do as a normal user, including at least one instance where I stated explicitly that I would resort to arbitration enforcement if the dispute tags were again removed (which they were, and so here we are). If you do not consider that sufficient warning, then I would be satisfied if you now gave Verbal a explicit, direct warning to refrain from removing dispute tags entirely, and to refrain from reverting the article without subsequent substantive discussion in talk (where substantive is defined as discussion aimed at creating consensus, rather than mere attempts at bullying). Given that, I would have no objection to this request being closed, since an explicit warning of that sort would allow me to re-open the request for enforcement with a stronger case if the behavior recurs.

    I have nothing against Verbal personally (though I can't swear that that feeling is mutual), but I see no reason to struggle with any editor who participates in such non-communicative, tendentious fashion. If he wants to work on the page (which apparently he does) he can participate and work towards consensus like any other editor. --Ludwigs2 22:39, 2 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    P.s. having just read your previous comment more fully, I would like to request that this case be handled by a different administrator. I have reason to question your impartiality on this issue. you seem to be talking about imposing sanction solely on me, when my behavior was in no way worse (and in many ways much better) than Verbal's. --Ludwigs2 22:47, 2 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Result concerning Verbal

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

    I am inclined, as a preliminary preventative measure, to block both Verbal and Ludwigs2 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) for the recently ongoing edit-warring on Alternative medicine (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views). If no other admin objects, I'll do so as soon as Verbal has had an opportunity to make a statement above.  Sandstein  06:30, 30 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    I'm not going to insert myself administratively; I see I've edited this article as recently as 18 January. That said, it seems to me that the dispute is more than bilateral - both BullRangifer (talk · contribs) and Stmrlbs (talk · contribs) have also reverted the disputed content in the past day or so - and so page protection might be a better option than individual blocks. But it's your call (or at least, not mine). MastCell Talk 21:38, 30 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    I have currently protected the page to help ensure that none of the involved parties would continue, but without prejudice towards any other measures replacing the protection. I would not be opposed to an action such as Sandstein proposed: protection prevents all editors from editing it, blocks only prevent individual editors. Feel free to unprotect when other measures have been taken. henriktalk 23:23, 30 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Okay, I'm taking a stab at closing (not necessarily resolving) this. The comments by the involved editors above are not very helpful. The principal issue that I can identify is an edit war mainly between Verbal and Ludwigs2, with some involvement of others, at Alternative medicine, which is a topic related to homeopathy and therefore subject to the remedy. Blocks are no longer necessary now that the page has been protected, but to prevent continued edit-warring, I intend to make both Verbal and Ludwigs2 subject to a six month, one revert per week restriction on articles related to homeopathy, and unprotect the page. Should any other involved editors continue the edit-war, they may also be restricted without further warning. Unless other admins disagree, I intend to implement this sanction within a day or so.  Sandstein  21:34, 1 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Hm. I now notice that the request does not contain a diff of a prior warning of the sort required by Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Homeopathy#Discretionary sanctions, second paragraph. I am asking Ludwigs2 to provide a diff of such a warning; if it is not provided; I may not impose discretionary sanctions against Verbal.  Sandstein  21:32, 2 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Because I take [35] to mean that the required warning (see Wikipedia talk:Requests for arbitration/Digwuren#Request for clarification: Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Digwuren) has not been issued to Verbal, and it appears that it has not been issued to Ludwigs2 either, I may not issue discretionary sanctions. The request is therefore closed without action, but a warning is issued to all parties to the edit war, who may be sanctioned without warning the next time they engage in an edit war or other disruptive conduct.  Sandstein  06:01, 3 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Tothwolf

    No action. The alleged action by Tothwolf (talk · contribs) is outside the scope of the relevant arbitration remedy.
    The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.


    Request concerning Tothwolf

    User requesting enforcement
    Theserialcomma (talk) 23:34, 30 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    User against whom enforcement is requested
    Tothwolf (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
    Sanction or remedy that this user violated
    Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Tothwolf/Proposed decision#1.1 "uncivil, personal attacks, or assumptions of bad faith, Tothwolf may be blocked for the duration specified in the enforcement ruling below."
    Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it
    {{{Diffs of edits that violate it, and an explanation how they do so}}}
    Diffs of notifications or of prior warnings against the conduct objected to (if required)
    {{{Diffs of prior warnings}}}
    Enforcement action requested (block, topic ban or other sanction)
    block, and topic ban from ever emailing me via wikipedia again. he doesn't have my email address, so the only way he can contact me is via wikipedia. he should not attempt to email me again.
    Additional comments by editor filing complaint

    Today Tothwolf has contacted me off-wiki via wikipedia email with some sort of paranoid threat, accusing me of being someone named "Toner" and/or "V".

    I'm incapable and unwilling to deal with paranoid/delusional and threatening ideations on or off wiki. The exact quote from Tothwolf to my email is "Toner, (or do you prefer V?) you've been told over and over to leave me alone and I suggest you take their advice and disengage." I am forwarding the email to arbcom and the clerks mailing list right now.

    This is a blatant violation of arbcom's findings. He is not welcome to contact me via wikipedia email to make delusional speculations as to my identity.

    Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested
    The requesting user is asked to notify the user against whom this request is directed of it, and then to replace this text with a diff of that notification. The request will normally not be processed otherwise.

    [[36]]

    Discussion concerning Tothwolf

    Statement by Tothwolf

    Comments by others about the request concerning Tothwolf

    Comment by Sandstein

    I do not believe that this request is actionable. First, Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Tothwolf is not yet closed; this means that its proposed decision is not yet enforceable. Any conduct relevant to that case should be brought to the arbitrators' attention so that they may consider taking it into account in their decision. Second, Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Tothwolf/Proposed decision#Tothwolf restricted reads in relevant part: "Should Tothwolf make any edits which are judged by an administrator to be uncivil, personal attacks, or assumptions of bad faith ...", emphasis mine. An e-mail is not an edit.  Sandstein  07:35, 31 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    actually, the arbcom case is closed, and tothwolf has already been warned on his talk page by the clerk of the decision. if you click the link of the case which you posted, it states "Case Closed on 21:17, 25 January 2010 (UTC)" furthermore, he's now trying to out me on the COI page, based on this report i just filed to enforcement. he has somehow construed this report, where i've called his bizarre and harassing email "delusional", as an admission of my identity(!!!) look at [[37]]. he goes into disturbingly erroneous detail about my supposed identity, and he's invented a COI based on this my alleged identity which he's concocted. this is flat out crazy, an assumption of bad faith, and outing. i have no idea how he came to the decision that i am female blogger, but i would imagine that he's attempted some stalker level research, which somehow led him to the conclusion that i'm a woman. furthermore, in his stalker/outing report, he also accuses me of off-wiki harassment, which is a definite violation of his arbcom restriction.

    Theserialcomma (talk) 07:55, 31 January 2010 (UTC) 07:55, 31 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Yes, the case is closed, sorry; I was confused because you linked to the proposed decision rather than to the final decision. Nonetheless, an e-mail is offsite conduct; it is not an edit and is therefore outside the decision's scope. As to the new edit on COIN, administrators there can decide whether it merits action under the restriction.  Sandstein  08:12, 31 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    i'm not sure what you aer thinking. accusing me off off-wiki harassment in his stalker, outing report, is a direct violation of his restriction. if this isn't the place to get arbcom enforcement against blantant violations, how are COIN admins supposed to know about his restrictions? Theserialcomma (talk) 08:15, 31 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    actually, forget it. i'm sure you know better than i do that tothwolf writing "Theserialcomma's blog and edits to the BLP article, because I have been the victim of both off-wiki and on-wiki harassment from Theserialcomma for months" [[38]] a few days after the arbcom case closed and warned him "Should Tothwolf make any edits which are judged by an administrator to be uncivil, personal attacks, or assumptions of bad faith, Tothwolf may be blocked for the duration specified in the enforcement ruling below."</> is just totally acceptable accusations for him to be making. i'm also sure that him writing "Now that Theserialcomma has effectively "outed" themselves, [39] I would appreciate it if some uninvolved editors and administrators with BLP experience would have a close look at her edits to Tucker Max. Theserialcomma aka 'V' has a long history of bashing Tucker Max on her blog"[[40]] is just totally acceptable behavior. furthermore, the fact that tothwolf has vaguely threatened me via email shouldn't be considered either. i should just wait for the COI admins to figure this one out, cause that makes sense.

    i'm being harassed, dude. i don't know why you don't see it. Theserialcomma (talk) 08:24, 31 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    I have now applied an enforcement block for the COIN edit as described at WP:COIN#User:Theserialcomma and Tucker Max. However, this request is about the alleged e-mail, which is not covered by arbitration enforcement remedies for the reasons explained above.  Sandstein  08:26, 31 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Additional incidents from Blaxthos

    Involved admins may be interested in these accusations, which appear to both (1) make unsubstantiated accusations; and (2) carry the assumption of bad faith. //Blaxthos ( t / c ) 10:04, 31 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Result concerning Tothwolf

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

    Kengiuno

    Kengiuno (talk · contribs) topic-banned for six months from Scientology.
    The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.


    Request concerning Kengiuno

    User requesting enforcement
    Cirt (talk) 21:15, 1 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    User against whom enforcement is requested
    Kengiuno (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
    Sanction or remedy that this user violated
    Wikipedia:ARBSCI#Single purpose accounts with agendas
    Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it
    1. [41] Disruptive editing, on the topic
    2. [42] Adding spam links
    3. [43] Disruptive editing, adding unsourced spam
    4. [44] Disruptive editing, on the topic
    Diffs of notifications or of prior warnings against the conduct objected to (if required)
    1. [45] Warning by Hqb (talk · contribs)
    2. [46] Warning by Hqb (talk · contribs)
    3. [47] Warning by IBen (talk · contribs)
    4. [48] Warning by IBen (talk · contribs)
    Enforcement action requested (block, topic ban or other sanction)
    Please apply Wikipedia:ARBSCI#Single_purpose_accounts_with_agendas to the account. Cirt (talk) 21:15, 1 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Additional comments by editor filing complaint
    Please note per the prior case, COFS, the articles disrupted by the account are also currently under probation. Thank you for your time, Cirt (talk) 21:15, 1 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested
    [49] Cirt (talk) 21:18, 1 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Discussion concerning Kengiuno

    Statement by Kengiuno

    Comments by others about the request concerning Kengiuno

    Result concerning Kengiuno

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

    Awaiting a statement by Kengiuno, but this seems to be a clear-cut case to which this remedy should be applied.  Sandstein  21:36, 1 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Kengiuno topic-banned for six months as a single purpose account with an agenda, per request, and also notified about discretionary topic ban.  Sandstein  19:11, 2 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    THF

    Attention: This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.

    Request concerning THF

    User requesting enforcement
    John (talk) 16:41, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    User against whom enforcement is requested
    THF (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
    Sanction or remedy that this user violated
    Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Waterboarding#Editorial process
    Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it
    1. THF adds {{NPOV}} tag (00:12, 3 February 2010)
    2. THF restores {{NPOV}} tag after I removed it (00:52, 3 February 2010)
    3. THF restores {{NPOV}} tag after Jehochman removed it, Swarm restored it, and Jehochman had removed it again (16:15, 3 February 2010)
    4. THF restores {{NPOV}} tag after Swarm restored it but self-reverted after my warning and request to do so, and after my request to THF to desist.. (03:34, 5 February 2010)
    Diffs of notifications or of prior warnings against the conduct objected to (if required)
    1. Gentle warning by John (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) (02:28, 3 February 2010)
    2. Second warning by John (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) (20:31, 4 February 2010)
    Enforcement action requested (block, topic ban or other sanction)
    Topic ban requested, as it seems like this will be the only way to prevent this user from disrupting the progress of this article. Consideration should be given to a broader topic ban for this editor if that is possible.
    Additional comments by editor filing complaint
    Swarm (talk · contribs · logs) was involved in tag-team reversions with this user also involved in reverting to restore the NPOV tag in breach of seeming consensus at the article talk, but to his credit, seems to have desisted and was good enough to self-revert when I requested that he do so. The two users between them made a total of 7 additions of the NPOV tag over a 51-hour period, in spite of being reverted by a total of 5 other editors, in clear breach of WP:EDITWAR and the article probation linked above. See also Talk:Waterboarding#NPOV where WP:IDHT seems to be in evidence on THF's part. --John (talk) 16:41, 5 February 2010 (UTC)(edited to remove any unhelpful allegation of bad faith) --John (talk) 02:03, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Informed here

    Discussion concerning THF

    Statement by THF

    • I regularly patrol WP:NPOVN. The severe NPOV violation in the lede of Waterboarding was brought to my attention on the NPOVN page. I participated in the discussion, saw no one justify the existing language, and, in good faith, placed an NPOV tag combined with discussion of the problem. The removal of the NPOV tag quite plainly violated WP:NPOVD, which says the tag is not to be removed when placed in good faith until a consensus is reached on the discussion--and as the talk page plainly shows (as well as the discussion on NPOVD), there is no consensus, and the weight of consensus would support the change to the page I seek if editors weren't being intimidated from participating by bogus threats of AE. I've made an argument about why the article violates NPOV and that argument has not been previously addressed in the archives--or, for that matter, on the talk page. Instead, people are trying to cut off discussion by abuse of the AE process to tell people not to discuss the matter on the talk page? I fail to see how discussion on the talk page of an argument not previously made is disruptive. What seems to me to be disruptive is editors threatening people with sanctions for using the talk page the way the talk page is supposed to be used. I've made no substantive edits to the article itself, much less substantive edits against consensus.
    • I note, however, that the current version of the page violates NPOV and BLP, since it falsely implies that living people have definitively committed international war crimes. The POV-pushing in the page is quite evident when one sees diffs like this, where the BLP implications on an innocuous opinion stated about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on the talk page are given more weight than the mainspace BLP implications on respectable members of society.
    • I also object to John, LexCorp, Verbal, and Jehochman's repeated violations of WP:NPA and WP:CIVIL, and John's abuse of jumping to the AE process when there are intermediate steps to dispute resolution possible. I don't know who Swarm is, and I fail to see why I should be penalized for his edits or for a notice placed on his talk page. I note that there is tag-teaming going on here, and it's not by me.
    • Please note that I have not violated 1RR since the so-called "second warning," which I viewed as a bad-faith attempt to preclude reasoned discussion, which is further demonstrated by this AE request and by repeated false accusations of "disruption".
    • John's request reflects a severe problem of WP:KETTLE: Jehochman has violated 1RR and NPOVD multiple times removing a legitimate tag (which merely indicates the existence of a good-faith dispute, and there are at least three editors who have a problem with the current version), and John has violated Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Waterboarding#Dispute_resolution by edit-warring and escalating to AE instead of resorting to normal WP:DR procedures. This is especially disruptive, as Wikipedia is a hobby for me, and wasting time dealing with frivolous AE complaints is distracting me from time I could be using to improve the encyclopedia. THF (talk) 17:18, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    • Verbal has been wikistalking me and reverting legitimate edits across the encyclopedia, and well as WP:CANVASSing editors for five minutes of hate against me. I have no confidence that the resulting process in an encyclopedia where the view of three consecutive U.S. attorneys general is labelled "fringe" to avoid the application of the WP:NPOV rule is going to be remotely fair.
    • I further note that I voluntarily withdrew from the waterboarding article, but User:John persists in his violation of WP:BATTLE and is insisting on wasting a dozen people's time with this vendetta. Whatever. Play this childish game without me. I have real work to do, and if anyone here actually cared about building an encyclopedia rather than treating this as a politicized MMORPG this would be summarily dismissed. I'm not participating further. THF (talk) 12:16, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Statement by Henrik

    I filed the original arbitration request, so I will leave an eventual decision to others. All involved could perhaps be reminded that the standards of editing on disputed or politically charged topics is high. So far, this seems to be a rehash of earlier discussions - while perhaps tedious, occasionally re-examining the merits of the current lede is healthy. This should however be done collegiately, and preferably with arguments backed by new sources. (Side note: There was an extensive collection and evaluation of available sources late 2007, an FAQ was written, and the lede has been stable since. The wording have survived for nearly three years, consensus for the current version is rather robust). henriktalk 18:26, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comments by others about the request concerning THF

    Comments by Simonm223

    [50] This spilled over to the fringe theories noticeboard with THF taking great pains to occlude the specific articles he was concerned about. The concensus of the fringe theories noticeboard posters was that it was an attempt to mis-use the noticeboard. Simonm223 (talk) 19:48, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comment. The problem with US government views being treated as fringe go far beyond this one article: there are literally dozens of others where the problem exists, and I discover new ones every day. My discussion on FRINGE/N of the general issue was a good faith attempt to develop a corollary to basic NPOV principles to avoid WP:MULTI. THF (talk) 19:59, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    The US government had, at times, held the opinion that negros count for 3/5th of a man, that runaway slaves should be deported from free states back to their "owners", and that the mujahedin are valiant freedom fighters. What they did not do, to my knowledge, is issuing an official opinion denying the status of waterboarding as torture. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 10:32, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comment by Seb az86556

    Interesting. I didn't know a mere tag is part of an article's "content" that one could edit-war over. Choyoołʼįįhí:Seb az86556 > haneʼ 20:34, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    • Comment There is a very small but very dedicated group of editors who feel that Wikipedia confirming in the lede that Waterboarding is torture (something supported by the majority of RSes that speak to the matter) represents an undue violation of WP:NPOV because some ultra-conservative sources claim it is not. The vast majority of editors watching the article do not share this view and see the NPOV tag as being inappropriate. That's how this came about. Previously there was edit warring over whether to include "waterboarding is torture" in the article. This is the fallback position. It's basically the same pattern as adopted by Creationists when they went from Creation theory to Intelligent design to teach the controversy to Irreducible complexity. Simonm223 (talk) 22:14, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    • Comment. Can we avoid unproductive and inaccurate terminology like "ultra-conservative" and offensive comparisons to creationists? I'm a lifetime member of the National Center for Science Education, and just because I called a BLP violation a BLP violation doesn't make me an ultra-conservative. THF (talk) 23:10, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Thank you for that explanation, Simonm. No further comments for now. I need to think... Choyoołʼįįhí:Seb az86556 > haneʼ 00:09, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Statement by uninvolved Collect

    The decision referred to supra encompasses civility, edit war, personal attacks and assumptions of bad faith. In particular, however, the "standard article probation" states that NPOV is an important part to be "especially mindful of". The complaint states "tag team" without strong evidence thereof, and fails to demonstrate that THF engaged in any edit war, personal attack, or failure to assume good faith. It is, however, quite improper to assert "tag team" without solid evidence (multiple ArbCom findings in the past). In short, there is no case against THF here, and quite possible a reprimand for John. Collect (talk) 18:49, 5 February 2010 (UTC) (typo fixed )[reply]

    Statement by Verbal

    THF has now moved on to a completely meritless claim that "torture" is a WP:BLP violation, and has tagged the article such (removed by me). He continues to push this line and the already resolved, after much discussion, across many pages, NPOV claims. He has also posted about this issue on many forums where he has failed to gain significant support. This continued disruption is detrimental to the project, and wasting a lot of editors valuable time. Verbal chat 22:17, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    He has also posted about this issue on many forums where he has failed to gain significant support. This is absolutely false. I've only raised it on Talk:Waterboarding and responded to a thread someone else started on WP:NPOVN. What wastes editors' time is false accusations like Verbal's, and there should be sanctions for his violation of WP:BATTLE in lying about an editor. THF (talk) 23:12, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]


    THF has also raised this issue at WP:FTN, slightly disguised and with some other issues. I have also asked THF to notify the parties he has accused of improper behaviour above of those accusations (which are unsupported by evidence), and he has refused. Further, he has threatened me with sanctions (I'm assuming per AGF that this isn't a legal threat) on my talk page for posting here. Verbal chat 10:16, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Statement by Swarm

    I know statements in personal defense naturally carry little weight, but I must strongly object to the accusations of tag teaming. There is absolutely no evidence to support this claim and it is an extremely serious assumption of bad faith. I have absolutely no history with THF, there was no effort whatsoever to coordinate tag teaming, there was no direct communication between THF and myself, aside from one comment in which he asked me to participate at the discussion page, once the already-ongoing dispute had flared up there (it was previously at the NPOVN). While the dispute still active, the POV template was removed multiple times with edit summaries like "remove tendentious tagging", "Nothing new, nothing to see", and "Unnecessary tag". Sorry if, in light of these actions, two of the editors who were actually disputing the neutrality both found these removals inappropriate and assumptions of bad faith. I had intended to leave the NPOV dispute behind me in good faith after I received the advice of uninvolved Lar, but that was before I was accused of tag teaming on AE without even being notified. Swarm(Talk) 01:39, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Statement by Jehochman

    I rather like THF as a person, but cannot condone the WP:BATTLE violations that have been occurring, as explained above by others. It's acceptable to propose changes, but an editor may not continue endless wiki-litigation in an attempt to get their way. Everyone is entitled to their personal opinions, but editors are not entitled to carry their personal opinions so far on Wikipedia. If THF will not respect the overwhelming consensus, then regrettable they would need to be restricted.

    Instead of continuing this dispute, I recommended looking at ways to improve the waterboarding article. It is bloated (>100K), has redundant and irrelevant content, and should be improved. Quibbling over the lede or a NPOV tag are not priorities for improving the article. In fact, the lede should be the last thing written. Once the article is improved, we can circle back and rewrite the lede as a proper summary of what follows. Jehochman Brrr 11:53, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Statement by LexCorp

    I see the NPOV tag revert dispute as secondary. The problem for me is the behaviour of user THF. THF and Swarm raised issues on the waterboarding talkpage that have already been beaten to death previously in multiple ocasions. While both claim to have done so in a novel way. It is my opinion that all arguments expresed by them are sligthly rehashed versions of old discussions that do not bring anything new to the matter. Nevertheless, I and others initially engaged them AGF but it quickly became apparent (to me at least) the lack of novelty or RS to support their arguments. While, Swarm seems to understand that there is little movement consensuswise, user THF engaged in a pointless and disruptive search for support in the Fringe Theories Noticeboard. This clear abuse of an important wikipedia community tool was enough for me to stop AGF from THF. Once the Fringe Theories Noticeboard charade was over user THF came back to the waterboarding Talk Page with again another old argument this time claiming WP:BLP support. It is my understanding (correct me if I am wrong) that raising the same issues again and again on the Talk Page without bringing anything new to the discussion and persisting in doing so even when refered to the Talk Page Archives constitutes a form of disruptive editing expecially when the proposed changes are those that resulted in the page getting a probation.--LexCorp (talk) 18:19, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Statement by Enric Naval

    Talk:Waterboarding/FAQ has stated since april 2008 that a) a "overwhelming majority of sources" agrees that waterbording is torture b) you should provide high quality RS if you want to change it.

    THF has refused to read past discussions[51], and, looking at the talk page, he didn't provide any sources. Note also the battleground mentality[52].

    There has already been many discussions including a RfC, and a long list of sources.

    I'd sat that THF was editing against consensus. --Enric Naval (talk) 11:17, 7 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Result concerning THF

    This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the section above.
    • The merits of either view in/side to the dispute over whether the template belongs on the article are of little relevance to a conduct complaint. But it is clear that there are merits to both sides; and therefore that resolving the disagreement by reversion is flat-out edit warring. On a contested topic such as this one, that's not on.

      So THF and Verbal, who both reverted the template out of or into the article twice or more, are each blocked for two days. If they edit war again, they'll be banned from the topic. John and Jehochman are both in the clear—I class one reversion as bold collaboration, not revert warring. With respect to THF's argument that he was patrolling the article as a neutral party and further to a NPOVN thread: if you care enough to revert the template back in four times over, then you probably aren't uninvolved. Once you were reverted twice, you should have taken it to the talk page or to ANI and gotten some editors to back you up—not reverted a third and then a fourth time.

      And can we please reach a consensus over whether the "waterboarding is torture" statement violates NPOV or not? Somebody start a discussion or something. This isn't complicated stuff. AGK 00:10, 7 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

      Your're correct saying that you are unfamiliar with what's going on here. Whether "waterboarding is torture" is an appropriate statement has been discussed to death many times. It's been the subject of an RFC, and there's a subpage of the talk page. Please check the archives. The problem here is one or two editors obstructing the consensus by repeating the same argument that has been rejected many times before. They try to spin it as something new, but it isn't. Jehochman Brrr 11:54, 7 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Nefer Tweety

    Attention: This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.

    Request concerning Nefer Tweety

    User requesting enforcement
    Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 17:40, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    User against whom enforcement is requested
    Nefer Tweety (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
    Sanction or remedy that this user violated
    [53]
    Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it

    1. [54] - If you take a look at some of the sources posted at the talkpage: [55](showing Omar is of lebanese descent/origin) and even previous discussions half a year ago where an admin mediated: [56] (Conclusion, we must follow what the reliable sources say) Nefer Tweety removes that Sharifs parents are Lebanese and that Sharif is of Lebanese ethnicity while in the edit summary claiming "Sources do not say that Omar himself was of Lebanese ethnicity or that the parents were themselves Lebanese. This is already discussed on the Talk page.", this is a direct violation against the principle of consensus: "such as misrepresenting consensus or poisoning the well, is disruptive."

    Diffs of prior warnings against the conduct objected to (if required by the remedy)
    Not applicable. No warning required, but I want to point out that Nefer Tweety has been warned before about other things related to this:[57] Warning by admin CactusWriter
    Enforcement action requested (block, topic ban or other sanction)
    block or bann.
    Additional comments by editor filing complaint

    Since the case ended december 14th, Nefer Tweety has removed Sharifs background: 1 2 3 4 5 times.

    The findings of facts and scope of the facts say that [58] the dispute is biographies of Middle-Eastern persons who have been described as having more than one ethnicity and/or nationality, with Asmahan being the locus of the dispute, and editor Nefer Tweety being involved. If you take a look at the history of the Sharif article and the evidence presented at the arbitration case, the Omar Sharif article is a part of the case. and has been mentioned as part of the case: for example: [59]

    I would also like to point out that Nefer Tweety has violated principles in the past but the admin decided not to act at that time: [60]

    Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested
    Nefer Tweety is aware [61]

    Discussion concerning Nefer Tweety

    Statement by Nefer Tweety

    Comments by others about the request concerning Nefer Tweety

    Comment by Sandstein

    Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Asmahan#Consensus is not a remedy. Please specify the remedy that you wish to be enforced. In the case of Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Asmahan#Discretionary probation sanctions, you must also provide a diff of a warning as specified in that remedy.  Sandstein  17:44, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    You are correct that its not a remedy, its about a breach of a principle, the text at the top of this page says that "if a user is likely to be acting in breach of the principles and decisions in a closed arbitration case" which no warning is required for (I think because he is involved in the arbitration case), and he has previously got a warning about his behavior. --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 17:50, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    While all parts of Arbitration Committee decisions are binding, only remedies are enforceable by administrators. See Wikipedia:Arbitration policy#Final decision: "Remedies and enforcements, once the case has closed as described below, may be enforced by intervention by administrators, usually in the form of blocks on accounts and IP addresses." I will correct the header of this page accordingly. If no enforceable remedy is linked to, this request may be closed soon.  Sandstein  14:13, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Sandstein, when I asked the drafter of the case wizardman about the principles, he said that nr 1 "technically are to be followed by everybody, and if violated they are usually sanctioned by the community through a block or something else." so if someone violates a principle, specially someone involved in the case, where do I go to bring admin attention to that violation against the principle? --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 17:17, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Statements of principles in arbitration cases are merely restatements of policy. Their violations can conceivably be sanctioned as any other violations of policy, such as violations of WP:NPOV. But in this case, I do not immediately see how the (single?) cited edit violates the principle of consensus-building, or at any rate to such an extent as to warrant a block. This seems to be mainly a content dispute, which AE is not for resolving.  Sandstein  23:14, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Result concerning Nefer Tweety

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

    For the reasons given above, unless another admin objects, I intend to close this request as not actionable in about 24 hours. I'll take a look at the request below separately.  Sandstein  23:16, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comment: This noticeboard is exclusively for enforcing decisions of the Arbitration Committee. Those decisions must take the form of remedies which explicitly prohibit a given behaviour. Principles are not binding, and therefore do not do so. Admittedly, an editor's behaviour, whilst not prohibited by a remedy in a committee decision, may still be disruptive. But i such a case, the matter should be brought to a more general administrator noticeboard—such as AN or ANI—and not to AE. It is imperative, for a couple of reasons (no need to go into them now, as they are obvious), that we only action complaints filed here if they can be actioned within the scope of an arbitration remedy.
    Per Sandstein, this complaint is not covered by any arbitration remedy, and so we cannot action it. If the filing party wishes it to be actioned, he should start a thread at ANI. A closure would also have my backing. AGK 23:35, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Also concur. This noticeboard has a very simple and narrow focus: enforcing existing arbitration remedies, to keep a certain minimum standard of conduct. And if we want to keep it manageable, it should stay that way. More general noticeboards with a wider audience are better places to deal with broader problems. henriktalk 07:35, 7 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Supreme Deliciousness

    User requesting enforcement
    Nefer Tweety (talk) 18:32, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    User against whom enforcement is requested
    Supreme Deliciousness (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
    Sanction or remedy that this user violated

    This one.

    Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it
    1. SD is soliciting a meat puppet to do his editing on Asmahan where he is restrcited by Arbitration case.
    2. SD found guilty of meat puppetry and violating the arbitration restriction.
    3. SD places an open invitation to meat puppetry, again to evade his ban to which no other than Nableezy complies.
    4. Nableezy rushes to peform SD's edits using SD's specific references.
    5. Motion granting SD privilege to edit Talk pages of biographies with respect to ethnicity and nationality is voted down leaving SD with no such privilege.
    Diffs of prior warnings against the conduct objected to (if required by the remedy)
    1. Warning by user:CactusWriter "to stop editing Asmahan while on probation.", yet SD continues to edit Asmahan (3 times) in these diffs.
    2. Warning by user:Lankiveil told SD to stay "far, far, far away from the Asmahan article for the time being, if you don't want this unpleasantness to escalate further", yet SD continues to edit Asmahan (3 times) like this one.
    3. Warning by user:Lankiveil told SD to "avoid making any edits whatsoever that could even remotely be considered to be in violation of your topic ban.", yet SD makes those edits in reference to the nationality and ethnicity of persons: like this one, 3, like this one.
    4. This and this warnings by user:Wizardman Wizardman explained that SD should avoid any possible borderline violations, like this one. SD makes the same sort of edits (3 times) to the Asmahan like this one.
    Enforcement action requested (block, topic ban or other sanction)

    Indefinite Block

    Additional comments by editor filing complaint
    1. Supreme Deliciousness is acting up again. He's filing an arbitration enforcement request against me, when he is clearly the guilty party. He's become too crafty at fooling the arbitrators and the system with his "borderline" violations and endless complaints that are a waste of time for all involved.
    2. On 30 December 2009, User:CactusWriter filed this AN/I report against SD for meat puppetry. SD was soliciting User:Nableezy to edit Asmahan on his behalf as a way around his ban from the Asmahan arbitration case. SD was found to have violated his ban and was blocked very briefly and clearly insufficiently.
    3. SD is now doing the same thing again on Omar Sharif; he is posting an open invitation to meat puppetry that immediately gets accepted by Nableezy. Again, he is posting the references for Nableezy on the Talk page and Nableezy is doing the editing using SD references, again as a way around his ban.
    4. SD is prohibited from influencing the nationality or ethnicity of a biography on Wikipedia. Not only is Omar Sharif a biography, it was also part of the Asmahan case as SD concurs and again, SD is using a meat puppet to do his editing of ethnicity and nationality in violation of his ban.
    5. In spite of all the warnings that SD has received against editing Asmahan, from CactusWriter, Lankiveil, and Wizardman, SD continues to edit Asmahan in a way that influences her ethnicity and nationality. more specifically, he has been the reason for the edit wars on both Asmahan (and now, Omar Sharif), as was pointed out in Cactus's complaint on AN/I.
    6. SD is not permitted to edit the Talk pages of biographies to influence their ethnicity or nationality. This privilege was voted down here. The privilege of editing the Talk pages was taken away from SD and therefore his edits on the Talk page of Omar Sharif were a violation.
    7. It is clear that Nableezy is using SD's specific sources to edit the article for SD, as per SD's original request on Asmahan. SD did not have to repeat the request Nableezy; Nableezy is complying anyway.
    8. It is clear that SD and Nableezy have learned from the meat puppetry lesson of December 2009 when they got caught, and they are now doing it in a more subtle way.
    9. I ask you to please take action, this time to block him indefinitely, since he has been violating his ban so many times.
    Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested
    Supreme Deliciousness is aware [62]

    Statement by <Supreme Deliciousness>

    My only restriction and topic bann can be read here: [63] Everything Nefer Tweety talks about in his enforcement request is made up. I have not gotten any further sanction from any admin that I am not allowed to edit any article or making post at any talkpage.

    I have not made any changes to any article about a person with respect to the ethnicity or nationality. I am not topic banned from any article and I am not topic banned from any talkpage. There is nothing in my topic bann that says that I am not allowed to talk about ethnicity at talkpages. Me making posts at talkpages is not "an open invitation to meat puppetry", I have not asked anyone to be my meatpuppet.

    I once asked a neutral editor to get involved in the Asmahan article and told him that it was totally up to him what he wanted to do, and although I do not agree with the block, I have already received a block for that edit, here: [64]

    If you take a close look at all the diffs he has provided they do not lead to what he is claiming.

    For example:

    In Diffs of prior warnings:

    • nr2, he links to is an edit I made before the arbitration even started.(update, he has now changed that link to another one, that still is not a violation against my topic bann or restriction)
    • nr3, the first link I have already gotten blocked for, the second link was me posting at talkpage that I am allowed to do and the third link is also me posting at talkpage that I am allowed to do.
    • nr4, is not true, Nefer Tweety has presented it as I asked Wizard about a different sentence, nr4 when in fact, this was the one I asked him about as can be seen here: [65] and later when i did an edit that an admin interpretated as a violation of the one I asked about [66] (not the one Nefer Tweety talks about) I already received a block for it. [67]

    In Additional comments by editor filing complaint: nr4 he claims that "SD is prohibited from influencing the nationality or ethnicity of a biography on Wikipedia" having that sentence linking to my topic ban, - that is not what my topic ban says.

    Its just an endless of empty comments from NT, claiming I am behind the latest edit war at Omar Sharif when I haven't made one single edit at that article for several months while Nefer Tweety himself has reverted Sharif background at least 5 time since the case ended. --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 19:18, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comment by Nableezy

    I am not anybody's "meatpuppet". What we have here is an overly nationalistic pair of users. One of them brings sources to show why he right, the other just shouts No. There are a ton of sources saying the Sharif's parents were Lebanese, yet Nefer Tweety continues to remove that information. Such behavior should not be tolerated. nableezy - 19:07, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comment by Sandstein

    Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Asmahan#Consensus is not a remedy. Please specify the remedy that you wish to be enforced. In the case of Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Asmahan#Discretionary probation sanctions, you must also provide a diff of a warning as specified in that remedy. If no enforceable remedy is linked to, this request may be closed soon. Also, please format the request correctly.  Sandstein  14:14, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    I have re-added the above comment which was removed by your recent edit. Please edit more carefully. The request is still not usefully formatted.  Sandstein  16:42, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    The request has again been somewhat chaotically revised and the header structure seems to have been lost. There may be actionable stuff here, including ban violation by proxy, but the request is not yet usefully presented. We still don't have an enforceable remedy cited, and the numerous undated diffs do not provide a clear picture. It's not very clear, for instance, which alleged infringements took place after the most recent enforcement block or other enforcement action. I think I'll pass on this, but if another admin has the time to research this de novo, they're of course welcome.  Sandstein  23:26, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    I'll pass too. It isn't much to ask that the data be presented within the standard template. I note that at least one critical detail—the arbitration remedies that are alleged to have have been violated—has been omitted. I don't mean to be a stickler for procedure, but it really isn't much to ask that things be presented logically and as directed. I'll happily look at this again if the thread is tidied up and if all the information that seems to be absent is submitted. AGK 23:39, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Comment by Arab Cowboy

    This is yet another case where Supreme Deliciousness is igniting edit wars. SD was a primary party to a prolonged discussion on the Talk page of Omar Sharif in which sources of "Lebanese descent" were closely scrutinised by an admin, Sancho, and the conclusion of which was that Omar Sharif could NOT be classified as "of Labenese descent". SD's source that was used by Nableezy to prove Omar Sharif's "Lebanese descent" states, according to SD, "Published book: Encyclopedia of the modern Middle East: "The son of a wealthy merchant of Lebanese descent, Sharif was born Michel Chalhoub". It is clear that the source claims that Omar's parent, the wealthy merchant, was of Lebanese descent, not that Omar himself was of Lebanese descent. Admin Sancho had specifically told SD: "SD, avoid original research. Even the leap from "Sharif's parents were Lebanese", to "Sharif is of Lebanese descent" is going too far in an article about a living person". SD is very well aware of this directive from Sancho, so for SD to rely on the archiving of that directive to ignite yet another edit war on the same issue is indeed disruptive and is indeed in violation of SD's sanction on the editing of nationality and identity of a person.

    Also, the SD/Nableezy collaboration on pushing a "Lebanese descent" on Omar Sharif, a living person who personally denied this alleged association/descent on Egyptian television (Nile Cinema) on 4 September 2009 (information I had added in September 2009 and which was removed by no other than Nableezy), is a serious violation of the principles of editing biographies, and their repeated reverts to this effect is the violation of the Asmahan arbitration remedy in this case. Nefer Tweety's attempts to remove the false allegations of SD/Nableezy was therefore justified. Nefer Tweety seems to be a novice Wikipedia programmer, they are doing their best presenting case, so it would help pointing out to them where the case is not correctly presented. The remedy that is in violation states:

    "===Supreme Deliciousness topic banned===
    3.2) Supreme Deliciousness (talk · contribs) is prohibited from making changes to any article about a person with respect to the ethnicity or nationality of that person for one year. Should this restriction be violated, Supreme Deliciousness may be blocked for the duration specified in the enforcement ruling below.
    Passed 7 to 0 at 19:44, 14 December 2009 (UTC)
    ===Supreme Deliciousness restricted===
    4) Supreme Deliciousness (talk · contribs) is subject to an editing restriction for one year. Supreme Deliciousness is limited to one revert per page per week (except for undisputable vandalism and biographies of living persons violations), and is required to discuss any content reversions on the page's talk page. Should the user exceed this limit or fail to discuss a content reversion, he may be blocked for the duration specified in the enforcement ruling below.
    Passed 6 to 0 (2 abstained) at 19:44, 14 December 2009 (UTC)"

    --Arab Cowboy (talk) 04:42, 7 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Moreover, SD has violated the 1RR clause of the same remedy with these 5 reverts, all done within minutes of each other: 1, 2, 3, 4, as well as 5. SD had previously had no interest at all in Copt or Coptic identity articles, and his reverts of my edits on those articles was another example of harassment, stalking, disruptive editing, and igniting of edit wars. I did not have the time to pursue that matter further, however, after the WP:CLEANSTART account Medjool that I had created (to end SD's harassment and stalking of me) was blocked as a result of SD's yet another complaint, SD pursued the matter further on Arbitration Enforcement seeking additional sanction above and beyond the block, so for SD to claim that he had already been blocked for his meatpuppetry is defeated by his own previous actions.

    As Nefer Tweety correctly points out, SD was found guilty of meatpuppetry on Asmahan, and he is again pursuing meatpuppetry on Omar Sharif. SD distorts the conclusion of the prolonged and very tedious discussion on the Talk page of Omar Sharif that had been had with Admin Sancho, thus igniting yet another edit war between Nefer Tweety and SD's own meatpuppet, Nableezy. SD now has the nerve to file yet another Enforcement complaint against Nefer Tweety! This kind of ongoing disruptive editing and violation of the stated remedy (on both accounts of the 1RR and the ban on editing nationality and ethnicity of a person) cannot be tolerated and the arbitration decision must therefore be enforced.

    SD's main aim is to silence every editor that dares oppose his biased POV and his pushing of a Syrian agenda on Wikipedia.

    --Arab Cowboy (talk) 05:05, 7 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Today, Nableezy removes a perfectly legitimate source from Omar Sharif in favor of another that alleges Lebanese anscestry, in spite of Omar Sharif's own denial of that anscestry. This is destined to ignite yet another edit war on the article.

    --Arab Cowboy (talk) 11:09, 7 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]