Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard

Arbitration​Committee

This noticeboard is for announcements and statements made by the Arbitration Committee. Only members of the Arbitration Committee or the Committee's Clerks may post on this page, but all editors are encouraged to comment on the talk page.

Announcement archives: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7

BASC Statistics

During January 2010 the Ban Appeals Subcomittee (BASC) heard 29 appeals, 3 of which were successful. Of the unsuccessful appeals 16 were an appeal of a formal or informal community ban, 6 were an appeal of an ArbCom ban, 1 was an appeal of a AE ban, 1 was an appeal of an autoblock and 2 were handled by the community while the appeal was under consideration. The successful appeals were DollyD, Shamir1 and SirIsaacBrock.

During February 2010, BASC heard 31 appeals, 2 of which were successful. Of the unsuccessful appeals 24 were an appeal of a formal or informal community ban, 2 were an appeal of an ArbCom ban and 3 were an appeal of ArbCom sanctions. The successful appeals were Mjgm84 and WVBluefield.

During March 2010, BASC heard 16 appeals, none of which were successful. Of the unsuccessful appeals 13 were an appeal of a formal or informal community ban, 2 were an appeal of a short block and 1 was an appeal of a block by ArbCom.

For the Arbitration Committee Shell ^babelfish 02:19, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

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Emergency desysop

Tanthalas39 (talk · contribs) is to be desysopped immediately for wheel warring and unblocking himself, in violation of the policy on sysop tools per the emergency procedures. This desysop is temporary until the entire Committee has had the opportunity to examine the matter and Tanthalas39 is given an opportunity to explain his actions.

In support: Coren, Rlevse, Shell Kinney

— Coren ^(talk), for the Arbitration Committee, 00:59, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

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Follow-up review

(All times are UTC.)

At 00:45 on 4 May 2010, two arbitrators independently notified the rest of the Arbitration Committee that Tanthalas39 (talk · contribs) had unblocked himself at 00:39 following a block of Tanthalas39 that had been carried out at 00:36. After the self-unblock, Tanthalas39 had further proceeded at 00:40 to block the administrator who had blocked him. Since the self-unblock combined with the block of the blocking administrator was a clear case of wheel-warring and misuse of the administrator tools, Level I procedures for expedited temporary desysopping were initiated to prevent further disruptive use of the administrator tools by Tanthalas39.

The required three arbitrators supported the temporary desysopping, as detailed in the procedures, and Tanthalas39 was desysopped at 01:01 with the formal request at the permissions board at Meta made at 01:07. The required announcements and notifications were made, and an earlier question from Tanthalas39 was replied to at 01:10, explaining the options for him to contest the desysopping and make a statement and present evidence.

Following this, the rest of the currently active members of the Arbitration Committee reviewed the situation (as stated in the initial announcement). To date, no communications have been received from Tanthalas39 following the 01:10 4 May 2010 notification. Accordingly, the Committee find that the actions by Tanthalas39 did not constitute acceptable conduct for an administrator, and the temporary desysopping is confirmed.

Tanthalas39 may seek re-instatement of sysop rights by appeal to the Arbitration Committee or by a new request for adminship.

• Support: Carcharoth, Coren, KnightLago, Mailer diablo, Newyorkbrad, Risker, Shell Kinney, SirFozzie
• Not voting: Kirill Lokshin, Rlevse, Roger Davies
• Inactive: Cool Hand Luke, FayssalF, Hersfold, Steve Smith, Wizardman

For the Arbitration Committee, Carcharoth (talk) 01:52, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

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Arbitration motion regarding Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Tang Dynasty

Resolved by motion at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Clarification that:

1) Tenmei (talk · contribs) may edit Wikipedia under the guidance of his self-declared mentors (Nihonjoe (talk · contribs), Kraftlos (talk · contribs), Coppertwig (talk · contribs), Leujohn (talk · contribs), Jmh649 (talk · contribs), McDoobAU93 (talk · contribs)). The period of mentorship will last six months from the date on which this motion passes, although it may be extended with the agreement of Tenmei and one or more mentors. Tenmei is strongly encouraged to seek advice and guidance from his mentors regularly. Should they deem it necessary, Tenmei's mentors may return to the Arbitration Committee for clarification of any editing restrictions or questions with respect to the terms of mentorship. Editors who come into conflict with Tenmei are advised to contact the mentor(s) either publicly or via email.

2) Tenmei is reminded of the remedies from Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Tang Dynasty that apply to him. Specifically:

• Tenmei is topic-banned from Inner Asia during the Tang Dynasty for a period of six months. He is permitted to comment on the talkpage, so long as he does so in a civil fashion. (The six-month period will commence from the date on which this motion passes.)
• Tenmei is instructed not to interact with or comment with regard to Teeninvestor or Caspian blue on any page of Wikipedia, except in the course of legitimate dispute resolution initiated by others.

For the Arbitration Committee, AGK 15:33, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

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Arbitration motion regarding Eastern European mailing list

Per a motion at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Amendment:

The current editing restriction affecting Piotrus (talk · contribs) is to be amended to allow Piotrus to raise issues and discuss improvements to articles otherwise under the ban on the Wikipedia:WikiProject Poland talk page.

On behalf of the Arbitration Committee, ~ Amory (u • t • c) 00:36, 6 May 2010 (UTC)

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Notice of Resignation

When I originally ran for the arbitration committee at the end of 2008, I ran under one promising a reversal of arbcom's slowness and inactivity. I like to believe that I accomplished this as an arb in 2009. However, looking back at what I have done as an arb in 2010, I see that I have done very little, instead working in other areas of Wikipedia. Essentially, I've become the very thing I ran against. As a result, I cannot in good conscience remain an arbitrator, and announce my resignation. Wizardman _{Operation Big Bear} 06:06, 8 May 2010 (UTC)

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Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Alastair Haines 2

This arbitration case has been closed. The following remedies have been enacted:

• User:Alastair Haines is banned from editing Wikipedia for a period of one year, and thereafter pending further direction of the Arbitration Committee under remedy 2.
• Should Alastair Haines wish to return to editing Wikipedia after one year, he shall first communicate with the Arbitration Committee and provide a satisfactory assurance that he will refrain from making any further legal threats against other editors or against the Wikimedia Foundation. Should Alastair Haines, after being permitted to return, again make a legal threat or a statement that may reasonably be construed as a legal threat, he may be blocked for an appropriate period of time by any uninvolved administrator.
• To assist Alastair Haines in disengaging from Wikipedia, the case pages relating to this arbitration and all related pages have been courtesy blanked. As appropriate, other pages reflecting controversies to which Alastair Haines was a party may also be courtesy-blanked, particularly where the discussion is no longer relevant to ongoing editing issues. In addition, if Alastair Haines so requests, his username (and hence the username associated with his edits in page histories) may be changed to another appropriate username other than his real name. Editors who have been in conflict with Alastair Haines are strongly urged to make no further reference to him on-wiki following his departure.

For the Arbitration Committee, ---- Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 12:01, 8 May 2010 (UTC)

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Oversight mailing list moving to OTRS

Beginning 15 May 2010, the English Wikipedia Oversight mailing list will be migrating to the OTRS mail management system hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. The primary purpose of this move is to better track requests as they come in, and to ensure timely and consistent responses. This move comes after the German and French oversight lists moved to OTRS in the past year; both have found that it has assisted them in better responding to requests. Over the next week or so, oversighters who have not used OTRS before will be learning the fine points of that system, but the Oversight team will endeavour to maintain adequate responses to the system. The team has also prepared an introductory manual to assist with the transition, which discusses use of both the OTRS system and the Oversight tools.

The major effect on non-Oversighters will be the change in email address to which requests should be sent. When that change is made, we will widely publish the new email address for everyone's information, and we will encourage regular correspondents, particularly recent change patrollers and new page patrollers, to update their contact lists. The current Oversight-L mailing list will remain accessible for approximately two weeks after the changeover; after that, it will become a closed list where oversighters will discuss complex cases or review best practices.

For the Arbitration Committee and the Oversight team,
Risker (talk) 04:50, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

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Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Gibraltar

This arbitration case has been closed and the final decision is available at the link above. The following is a summary of the remedies enacted:

• Any uninvolved administrator may, in his or her own discretion, impose sanctions on any editor editing Gibraltar or other articles concerning the history, people, or political status of Gibraltar if, after a warning, that editor repeatedly or seriously violates the behavioral standards or editorial processes of Wikipedia in connection with these articles.
• Discretionary sanctions imposed under the provisions of this decision may be appealed to the imposing administrator, the appropriate administrators' noticeboard (currently the Arbitration Enforcement noticeboard) or the Arbitration Committee.
• Gibnews (talk · contribs) is topic-banned from editing the Gibraltar article and other articles concerning the history, people, and political status of Gibraltar, broadly construed, for one year. Should Gibnews return to editing relating to Gibraltar following this period, he is reminded to edit in accordance with the principles discussed in this decision and will be subject to the discretionary sanctions remedy should he fail to do so.
• Gibnews is strongly warned that nationally or ethnically offensive comments are prohibited on Wikipedia and that substantial sanctions, up to a ban from the site, will be imposed without further warning in the event of further violations.
• Justin A Kuntz (talk · contribs) is topic-banned from editing Gibraltar and other articles concerning the history, people, and political status of Gibraltar, broadly construed, for three months. Should Justin A Kuntz return to editing relating to Gibraltar following this period, he is reminded to edit in accordance with the principles discussed in this decision and will be subject to the discretionary sanctions remedy should he fail to do so.
• Ecemaml (talk · contribs) is admonished for having, at times, assumed bad faith and edited tendentiously concerning the history and political status of Gibraltar.
• Editors are reminded that when editing in subject areas of bitter and long-standing real-world conflict, it is all the more important to comply with Wikipedia policies such as assuming good faith of all editors including those on the other side of the real-world dispute, writing with a neutral point of view, remaining civil and avoiding personal attacks, utilizing reliable sources for contentious or disputed assertions, and resorting to dispute resolution where necessary.
• Any editor who is closely associated with a particular source or website relating to the subject of Gibraltar or any other article is reminded to avoid editing that could be seen as an actual or apparent attempt to promote that source or website or to give it undue weight over other sources or website in an article's references or links. To avoid even the appearance of impropriety, it may be best in these circumstances to mention the existence of the source or website on the talkpage, and allow the decision whether to include it in the article to made by others.

For the Arbitration Committee, ---- Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 23:21, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

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Resignation

My activity levels of late have been extremely low, due to obligations related to my employment and college studies. I do not see that this is likely to change significantly during the foreseeable future, and if it does, it is likely to last for only a short period. I do not feel as though my inactivity levels are fair to my colleagues on the Committee, and do not wish to burden them any further. Additionally, I need to be able to focus my attentions more on these real-life areas. As a result, I am announcing my resignation as a member of the Arbitration Committee, effective immediately, and will also be requesting on Meta that my access to the Checkuser and Oversight tools be removed. I wish those remaining with the Committee the best of luck as they continue their work. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 04:33, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

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CheckUser and Oversight election has now opened

The CheckUser and Oversight election has now opened. Any editor who has made at least 150 mainspace edits prior to the first announcement of the election may vote. The voting will close at one minute past 23:59 UTC on 27 May 2010.

Direct link to the voting pages

Discuss the election here

For the Arbitration Committee,
Risker (talk) 05:37, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

BASC Statistics April 2010

During April 2010, the Ban Appeals Subcommittee (BASC) heard 13 appeals none of which were successful. Of the unsuccessful appeals 6 were an appeal of a formal or informal community ban, 1 was an appeal of an ArbCom ban, 2 were an appeal of a AE ban and 4 were appeals of short blocks which were directed to more appropriate block appeal methods. Two of the appeals were closed early due to a community review which rendered the appeal moot.

For the Arbitration Committee Shell ^babelfish 09:48, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

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Motion regarding A Nobody

A Nobody (talk · contribs) is banned indefinitely from Wikipedia. This ban will be lifted and Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/A Nobody opened at such time as A Nobody agrees to participate in that case.

• Support: Cool Hand Luke, Coren, KnightLago, Mailer diablo, Rlevse, Shell Kinney, SirFozzie, Steve Smith
• Oppose: None
• Not voting: Kirill Lokshin, Newyorkbrad, Risker, Roger Davies
• Recuse: Carcharoth

For the Arbitration Committee, Steve Smith (talk) 22:46, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

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