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Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration |
A Request for Arbitration is the last step of dispute resolution on Wikipedia. The Arbitration Committee considers requests to open new cases and review previous decisions. The Arbitration process is governed by the Arbitration policy.
The committee accepts cases related to editors' conduct (including improper editing) where all other routes to agreement have failed, and makes rulings to address problems in the editorial community. However it will not make editorial statements or decisions about how articles should read ("content decisions"). Please do not ask the committee to make these kinds of decisions, as they will not do so.
Requests for Arbitration can also be used to present questions and requests related to previous closed cases. These include clarification of the intent and scope of a decision, appeals of past sanctions, and requests to amend remedies and enforcement measures.
For information about requesting Arbitration, and how cases are accepted and dealt with, please see Wikipedia:Arbitration guide, which contains important information. You may also wish to review the following:
The Committee will generally accept these types of cases without any previous formal dispute resolution measures being followed:
Otherwise, it is expected that other avenues of dispute resolution will have been exhausted before a case is filed—Arbitration is the last resort for conflicts, rather than the first.
| Before requesting arbitration, you should read and familiarize yourself with the Arbitration guide, which covers when cases will be accepted, presenting a case, and what to expect. Then, read the following instructions:
To make a request, please follow these steps:
This is not a page for discussion.
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| Evidence and Workshop | ||||||
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| (•/ t) | (p/ t) | (w/ t) | Cold fusion (t) | 14 Nov 2008 | TZ | |
| Voting | ||||||
| (•/ t) | (e/ t) | (w/ t) | Piotrus 2 (t) | 16 Nov 2008 | RP | |
| Motion to close or dismiss | ||||||
| (•/ t) | (e/ t) | (w/ t) | Kuban Kazak-Hillock65 (t) | 2 Dec 2008 | TZ | |
| Recently closed (see all) | ||||||
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Initials indicate the Clerks involved with the case. See also motions in previous cases. |
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Initiated by -- Evertype·✆ at 19:21, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
And this is just a selection of articles and sections about this issue.
This dispute has been a festering boil on the neck of the Wikipedia for four years now. A hornet's nest of passive-aggressivity, good faith, bad faith, veiled hatred, not-so-veiled hatred, honest attempts at compromise, wilful stonewalling, filibustering, backing and forthing, to-ing and fro-ing, and endless bickering. The frustration level of everyone involved is high, so high that a number of editors—good editors—have threatened to withdraw from editing these articles, and some have retired already. Over the past few weeks, the word "arbitration" has come up again and again. I have made so bold as to file this request for arbitration. I trust that it is in order.
Status quo:
A number of proposed re-arrangements have been made. One which was implemented a few days ago (though reversed today) was this:
Attempts at discussion and consensus lead inevitably to a lack of consensus. Whenever consensus rears its head, others come in saying there is no consensus. My own proposal for compromise was based on negotiation strategy: agree to what you can, even if it's not your preference. Compromise!
The above was 497 words; we are asked to write 500. For the love of Ireland, so that we can work to improve the articles instead of arguing about their names, I ask the Arbitration Committee to agree to hear this case and give us a solution. I have listed below a good selection of those who have been on both sides of the debate. Thank you for your consideration.
I fully endorse the comments by Evertype. There is no way that any agreement will be reached by the editors involved. Old disputes within Ireland are being fought out on these pages, often after they have been resolved in real life. Several of the editors involved are under editing restrictions on other articles connected with Ireland. If this is not subject to some objective arbitration then it will keep coming back again, and again and again. --Snowded TALK 21:02, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
I do not endorse this, while this is somewhat related to one of the key disputes of The Troubles (exactly what the Ireland article should point to, the island, the Republic of Ireland, so on and so forth). There was a Requested Move discussion that is the root of this. You notice that there is no diffs of user conduct in the request for Arbitration, only a demand that ArbCom provide an answer to what the Ireland article should point to. I would recommend that instead of yet again fighting over these issues in Arbitration and attempting to bring it here to win a content dispute by brute (ArbCom) force, that they go back and not come back until they get it right. SirFozzie (talk) 21:47, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
Firstly, an apology in advance - I have just become a father again and so am somewhat busy off-wiki, so I apologise if my responses are slow and for my lack of knowledge of events over the last few days of this ongoing mess. Evertype's summary is a fair and balanced one and I join Snowded in fully endorsing it. I feel I should add a few words about the task force and my own involvement in this sorry tale.
I've been aware, but not involved in, this ongoing situation for quite some time. When User:Matt Lewis set up a task force for interested editors to discuss the usage of the term "Ireland", both within article texts and of course in article titles, I saw this as a very positive step - a central point of discussion, where previously it had taken place on a variety of pages across several namespaces, and a blank sheet of paper with which to start. I had no preferences regarding the article names, but simply decided to keep an eye on procedings - partly out of interest and partly as an admin duty.
The post by User:Ddstretch was one that made perfect sense, as it basically called all editors to follow existing guidelines unless there was a really good reason to ignore all rules. Although much discussion took place after his post, no such reason was forthcoming. The task force then conducted a series of polls, with the outcome in each case reaching broad agreement with DDstretch's original proposal - that Ireland should be a disambiguation page. This broad agreement encompassed editors who had previously and consistently been on oppoisite sides of arguments around the infamous Troubles case, the British Isles naming dispute, etc., so this was enormously encouraging - especially since the initiation of the task force, and notification of these latest discussions and polls, had been clearly signalled on the relevant article talk pages.
I then initiated polls on the article talk pages themselves, to rubber-stamp the agreement that had been accomplished. What happened next is there for all to see - I am utterly baffled that editors who proclaim to feel so strongly about these issues failed to get involved in the task force discussions and to shape the debate until the very last hurdle - the amount of time and effort their behaviour has wasted is immense, and there's still no apparent reason why WP:D should not be implemented in this case other than shear weight of votes (we're a meritocracy not a democracy so that's not a reason as far as I'm concerned). I therefore commend Evertype for making this request as this issue really does need a once-and-for-all ruling that's made to stick and puts and end to the enormous quantities of wasted effort that could be put to better use, and only a body like ArbCom have the authority to do that. waggers (talk) 21:52, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
I too, like Snowded, endorse the the comments by Evertype. We need a solution, or rather a formal decision, on how to take this forwards. My findings are:
I'm not listed as in involved party, but I have dipped my toes in Irish/British geography issues from time-to-time. Again, my main concern is that the debates need to be closed for the good of Wikipedia now. We need a strong, tough decision to be made and respected. --Jza84 | Talk 21:53, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
I was asked to comment here, so here we go. Not sure what Arbcom can do, but I'll give my tuppenceworth:
The most active participants in this matter seem to be part of this, and thus most attempts made by such elements to discuss this matter in reference to wikipedia's policies are to some extent disingenuous. Another admin, advising me on these matters some months ago, told me that the rise in article naming disputes - regarding "Ireland"/"Republic of Ireland" and "British Isles" - was primarily a redirection of ideologue energy because of the decreased possibility of activity on the Troubles-proper articles resulting from the Troubles Arbcom hearing. That observation makes sense when the chronology and evidence is examined.
The issues of contention may be ones that the normal BRD cycle will never, perhaps even in theory, resolve, and which may never viably be tackled by dispute resolution. And while some users eventually end up able to talk and try to negotiate with each other (I've seen hard-core established ideologues get along with each other), newer users come at such a steady rate that the same matters are repeated over and over, something which appears to anger and demoralize longer-term users. Administrators working in the area tend to be constantly harassed with intimidation and false accusations of bias and corruption, which seemingly has had a draining effect as so few are active.
I'm not sure what solutions there are that the ArbCom might be expected to find. But, since this was opened, off the top of my head are the following:
I don't know why I'm named as an "involved" party, especially as number two, just below the person who opened this request, and just above everyone else, who is rightfully named in alphabetical order. I closed a move request. Half of the people -- not unexpectedly -- didn't like that. After barraging my page with comments, they went to ANI and eventually got the move reversed. Okay... I'm not complaining. I have no problem with getting a move overturned that other uninvolved (let me repeat, uninvolved) people generally think was wrong. I believe the current result is more precarious than the one I (unsuccessfully) implemented, but I am not bothered at all by the reversal. So... 'involved' is not appropriate here at all; I have no opinion on the positions in this debate. -- tariqabjotu 22:50, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
Personally, I think the Task Force is the place to resolve this. I think that compromise is possible and that compromise involves any change in the name of the Republic of Ireland article being accompanied by an agreed policy that recognises that Republic of Ireland is a perfectly legitimate and sensible term to use in the text of the many articles where there is a risk of ambiguity. Regarding the Ireland article, I agree with Deacon of Pndapetzim that Ireland should be treated like Korea, China, etc., since the primary meaning of Ireland is for the island and historical social/political entity and not the current state which occupies only part of Ireland. I've no objection to radical changes to the text of that article.
As for whether arbitration will help, I simply don't know. If editors are willing to make what I think is the obvious compromise noted above, there should be no need. Mooretwin (talk) 23:27, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
I don't think ArbCom can, or should, decide which article resides at which title. I do think ArbCom could, perhaps, put some enforceable remedies in place to assist those willing to discuss, negotiate and compromise in good faith, and deter those ideologues, banned editors and agitators who see this as another battleground in the ongoing British/Irish Troubles.
I therefore urge ArbCom to consider hearing this with a view towards issuing a remedy, like the one resulting from the Troubles ArbCom, than will help foster an environment where this can be resolved by good faith editors. Rockpocket 01:59, 3 December 2008 (UTC)
Evertype sums up well but I'd like to add that a lot of the confusion and controversy also stems from the fact that the term "Republic of Ireland" is the legal and proper term for the state of Ireland within the UK. But only within the UK - it is British law. Everywhere else on the planet uses the correct name - Ireland. Plus all the major institutions from EU, NATO, World Bank, Olympic Committee, etc, uses the correct name - Ireland. Mooretwins comments above are flat wrong - this is not the "English Wikipedia", it is the "English-language Wikipedia". This Arbcom case is very necessary. Notwithstanding Rockpocket's comments above, it's also a fact that many admins are involved and are not neutral. The reversals in particular have been performed by an involved admin editor, Deacon of Pndapetzim who opposed changes in the past[14]. Arbcom must take this case, and settle this issue once and for all. Over 4 years of edit warring - every other route has been tried. I do not recommend a ruling like "The Troubles" since this dispute mainly centres around creating a binding resolution on terminology, not POV or content factuality. --HighKing (talk) 02:26, 3 December 2008 (UTC)
Can't we just limit how quickly a new move request may be filed after a previous one was closed, then allow the issue of naming to be revisited as often as some parties like through the normal route (WP:RM)? Discussion about a move that requires the moving of other pages should be centralised at the appropriate article (Talk:Ireland in this case). Starting from the status quo ante recently reinstated by Deacon, we can allow a move request—one move request—to be filed any time now, but impose a limit on how much time must elapse before the issue can be revisited once the latest request has been closed. I think it is perfectly appropriate that the issue be constantly revisited, semper reformanda. It just needs to be allowed to lie fallow for a time, and discussion must be centralised at Talk:Ireland whenever that article is implicated in the move request. This solution is purely procedural. A minimum wait time between moves would only have to be chosen: 3, 6, 12 months, or more. Srnec (talk) 03:04, 3 December 2008 (UTC)
I'm honestly not sure what ArbCom is being asked to arbutrate here. The the article naming scheme here is contentious is not in doubt but not concrete issues of edit-warring or incivility have been cited. Even if an Arb backed "final decision process" was started, I don't see how it could be truly final given the constant turnover of editors who will naturally wonder why whichever scheme we pick deviates from what they consider natural and correct, and the simple fact that consensus can change. ArbCom and the community simple lack the power the bind future communities from making different decisions, though they can counsel against it for reasons of stability. I urge rejection on the gorunds that no usefull remedies can be adopted. If there were a content or naming dispute court of last resort this could be sent there but ArbCom is not the place for it. Eluchil404 (talk) 03:29, 3 December 2008 (UTC)
Place requests related to amendments of prior cases, appeals, and clarifications on this page. If the case is ongoing, please use the relevant talk page. Requests for enforcement of past cases should be made at Arbitration enforcement. Requests to clarify general Arbitration matters should be made on the Talk page. To create a new request for arbitration, please go to Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration. Place new requests at the top.
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How to file a request (please use this format!):
This is not a page for discussion.
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Active Clarifications and other requests (rc • • view)
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| Requests to amend prior cases | ||||||
| (29 November 2008) | PHG | status: Active | ||||
| (23 November 2008) | Alastair Haines | status: Active | ||||
| (16 November 2008) | Jack Merridew | needs Arbs | ||||
| (12 November 2008) | Matthew Hoffman | needs Arbs | ||||
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Listed dates refer to the time at which the thread was filed. "Needs arbs" means "thread needs arbitrator attention". |
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links: Franco-Mongol alliance arbitration case (t) (ev/ t) (w/ t) (p/ t)
List of any users involved or directly affected, and confirmation that all are aware of the request:
Dear all. During the nearly 9 months since the March 2008 Arbcom ruling concerning my case (User:PHG/ Franco-Mongol alliance), various important new facts have come to light, which I believe warrant a review of my case and an official rehabilitation of my contribution to Wikipedia. These new facts relate to the revelation that 1) the secret “Independent verification” decisively used by Arbcom in its ruling against me relies on essentially improper evidence 2) I have continued contributing a very large amount of high-quality material to Wikipedia, continuously displaying high editorial standards 3) I believe the case against me had been improperly orchestrated over a period of several months by a user (User:Elonka), who, I am sorry to say, has since shown to be an extremely controversial editor.
Although I was able through the Arbitration Worshops to properly respond to all accusations made against me (See: Response to Elonka, Response to Shell Kinney etc…) the Arbcom decisively relied for its final ruling on an alleged “Independent verification” of the sources by User:Sam Blacketer acting as scrivener, which only recently finally came to light (See: Report on use of sources by Sam Blacketer). Despite the fact that this reports had been hidden for months, something I believe quite improper in terms of procedure, the reading of it reveals that it is based on either gross misunderstanding of the source material (such as Sam Blacketer, whom I otherwise respect, making a case against me based on his confusion of the French noun "pendant" (=counterpart) with the preposition "pendant" (=meanwhile), or even errors in English vocabulary, claiming that "timing an offensive to coincide with another" would actually mean that these offensives are "coincidental"), or misrepresentation of my contributions, putting into my mouth things I never said or wrote (See: Response by PHG). I strongly dispute any ruling that relies on such inexact analysis of the facts. It is beyond me what the motives of Sam Blacketer would be, except for the fact that he seems to be very close to Elonka, since he privately counselled her during the request for the recall of her Adminship [31]. At the very least, it is a case of some basic misunderstanding of the facts and sources, and it seems quite worrying that an Arbcom ruling could be passed on such wrong premises. All my contributions have always been done in good faith, as recognized by the Arbcom [32], all my references have always shown to be exact and existing (See introductory statement by Sam Blacketer), and beyond the possibility of variations and accidents in the interpretation of the sources by any individual, I do not believe that anything like voluntary misrepresentation of sources on my part has ever been shown.
Secondly, I believe it has become obvious that my contributions are continuously of the highest quality: I have continued making important contributions to Wikipedia, continuously showing great respect for editorial rules. I believe my contributions during these 9 months amply show in a variety of subjects the nature of my editing: detailed contributions on little known subjects of cultural interaction. In spite of what I tend to think are faulty procedures and unfair characterizations, I have managed to overcome my disappointment, and endeavoured to keep providing high quality content to Wikipedia, in the areas I like most: little-known instances of cultural interaction through the ages. I believe my contributions have continuously been some of the best Wikipedia has to offer. I am particularly proud of some of the articles I created or expanded since March 2008, date of this Arbcom ruling:
MY ARTICLE CREATIONS since March 2008:
Wooden cannon Johann Caspar Horner Yanmar 2GM20 Torpedo boat tender Jean-Samuel Pauly Arcadio Huang Michael Shen Fu-Tsung Philippe Couplet Ok-khun Chamnan Kosa Pan France-Thailand relations Siamese revolution (1688) Maria Guyomar de Pinha Sangley rebellion Battle of Zhenhai Siamese method Siege of Bangkok Shanhai Yudi Quantu Wanguo Quantu Cheonhado Template:Foreign relations of Thailand Phan Thanh Gian Nguyen Phuc Canh Capture of Saigon Template:French Indochina Tonkin campaign Template:Sino-French war Le Van Khoi revolt Le Van Khoi Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum Yangwu France-Japan relations (19th century) François de Casembroot Tokugawa Akitake Edward St. John Neale Ansei Treaties Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan Murayama Tōan Japan-Thailand relations Guillaume Courtet Gustave Duchesne de Bellecourt Siméon Bourgeois Battle of Palikao Jean-Baptiste Cécille Guy Tachard Simon de la Loubère General Desfarges Charles Rigault de Genouilly René Charbonneau Pierre d'Espagnac Chevalier de Beauregard Claude Céberet du Boullay Louis Laneau Jean Antoine Théodore de Gudin Henri Nicol Charles de Montigny Sieur de Bruno Chevalier Milard M. Feraud France-Burma relations France-Vietnam relations French assistance to Nguyen Anh Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat Treaty of Versailles (1788) Charles Louis de Fredy de Coubertin Olivier de Puymanel François Pallu Pierre Lambert de la Motte Ignace Cotolendi Compagnie de Chine Joseph Marchand Jacques Vigouroux Duplessis Maupérin Michel-Étienne Turgot Artus de Lionne François-Isidore Gagelin Jean-Charles Cornay Jean-Marie Dayot Philippe Vannier French frigate Némésis (1847) Hyacinthe de Bougainville Jean-Louis Taberd Charles Ragon de Bange Léonard Charner Dominique Lefèbvre Charles Kuwasseg Jacques Duchesne Pierre Henri Dorié De Bange 90mm cannon Lahitolle 95mm cannon Jean-Baptiste Verchère de Reffye Reffye cannon Montigny mitrailleuse Joseph Montigny Claude Etienne Minié Template:Groundbreaking French weapons of the 19th century François Prélat Casimir Lefaucheux Hippolyte Marié-Davy Antoine Treuille de Beaulieu Canon-obusier Canon-obusier de 12 Valée system Jean Maritz Canon de 12 Gribeauval Florent-Jean de Vallière Jean-Ernest Ducos de La Hitte La Hitte system Year XI system Nec pluribus impar Jean-Jacques Keller French weapons in the American Civil War Tamisier
OTHER MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS since March 2008:
Paris Foreign Missions Society Sino-French War Mitrailleuse
I have also contributed hundreds of high-quality images on Commons [33], on a total of about 3,000 I have uploaded so far (most of them photographs taken by me in museums around the world: See: My photographs)
Lastly, I believe the case against me had been orchestrated over a period of several months by a user (User:Elonka) who has since proven to be a very controversial contributor, eventually even refusing to honour a pledge for recall she had made to the community. I do not wish to attack Elonka, whose contributions are not always negative, but I only wish to show the lengths to which she went in attacking me and in trying to misrepresent and discredit my contributions. Further, I challenge the fairness of proceedings of which the main accuser has now revealed herself an extremely controversial editor.
Even before the ruling, I believe I had shown that all of Elonka’s accusations against me were inexact (See: Response to Elonka). The nature of her actions have become ever more noticeable to the community as a whole, prompting a massive movement for the recall of her Administrator status Elonka recall. Finally, she refused to honour her recall pledge, just as she had refused to honour our mediation agreement (to describe the Franco-Mongol alliance as “an alliance, or at least an attempt to an alliance”). This strongly suggests that the actions of Elonka against any user, past and present, should be looked upon with suspicion.
As a matter of fact, between August 2007 to June 2008, I was hurled accusations after accusations almost daily, simply because I would not comply with her own version of the Franco-Mongol alliance (an article I created). She knew very little about the subject, but nonetheless became very aggresive, a pattern which has been repeating itself since then in disputes with other users. Basically, I had been trying to gather as many facts and references as possible on the subject (as many as 400 references at the highest point [34]), whether she insisted on a one-sided short version only describing “attempts towards an alliance”, destroying about 300 proper references in the process ([35]). To gather support for her cause, Elonka relied on on-wiki and off-Wiki canvassing of uninvolved users, a few cases of which randomly came to light (Adam Bishop Folantin Latebird Haukurth Paul Pieniezny), probably only showing the tip of the iceberg: I believe Elonka resorts to extensive off-Wiki canvassing in her disputes, freely misrepresenting her opponents, and that the same group of supporters propping up in every dispute is suggestive of tag-teaming. She makes unfair attacks on opponents through off-Wiki e-mail, a fact that occasionally surfaces (See: User: Mathsci), and something which I suspect she has done extensively in my case. Since the ruling, Elonka’s supporters have been practicing editorial cleansing, for example suppressing perfectly historical mentions of the relations between Europeans and the Mongols, such as