Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 02:59, 10 August 2005

See also Misplaced Pages talk:Bans and blocks#Arbitration committee, Misplaced Pages talk:Mediation Committee, Misplaced Pages:Mediation and Arbitration (proposal), mailing lists, Misplaced Pages talk:Arbitration policy comments

See the archive for past matters.

Ed Poor persistently disruptive on Qur'an abuse page -- surrealistically high number of page moves

Admin -- Uncle Ed (talk) has executed a ridiculously high number of page moves, and has been generally disruptive, at the page currently titled Qur'an desecration by US military.

He has obvious political motivations for the pattern of disruption and title confusion he has sown on this page in recent days. (Check out the titles of his edit summaries on this page if you doubt my assessment of this.) Please. please review the history of this page and consider taking appropriate administrative action. BrandonYusufToropov 02:07, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Here are examples of what I mean:

FROM TALK PAGE HISTORY

• (cur) (last) 14:53, 14 Jun 2005 Ed Poor (Was it desecration? - That's the anti-US point of view, all right. So let's describe as such.)

FROM ARTICLE HISTORY

• (cur) (last) 21:21, 14 Jun 2005 Ed Poor (moved Pentagon "admission" down to 4th paragraph, as intro to "critics continued belief" - could be moved up)

• (cur) (last) 20:06, 27 May 2005 Ed Poor (anti-US POV needs to be labeled. Don't put the argument in the text of the article as if you wanted Misplaced Pages to endorse that reasoning)

... not to mention the avalanche of page moves, resulting in confusion and perpetual redirect challenges for those trying to actually find the article ...

Just bear in mind that the Edit summaries and other references I made to the page title were to the old title of Allegations of Qur'an desecration at Guantánamo Bay (which I moved to Qur'an desecration by US guards and which Brandon helpfully tweaked by moving it to Qur'an desecration by US military). -- Uncle Ed (talk) 02:24, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

I've known Uncle Ed for a good several months, and, on my watch, I can report that all of his decisions, while sometimes dramatic, have been well-thought out and in accord with Misplaced Pages policies.--GordonWattsDotCom 02:20, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Karl Scherer

Hello, it has been suggested that ArbCom make a ruling concerning the behaviour of Karl Scherer -User:Karlscherer3 contribs, who uses IPs

• 202.37.72.100, and
• 210.55.230.17, and
• 210.55.230.18, and
• 210.55.230.20, and
• 213.157.5.222, and
• 219.89.37.58, and
• 222.152.25.248, and
• various unknown sockpuppets with edit histories potentially going back 2 years with probably about 200 edits each (assumption based on editing pattern of above IP addresses).

Over 100 articles (about 200 including the images) created by Karlscherer3 were deleted simultaneously in a single VfD, by a 90% majority (see Misplaced Pages:Votes for deletion/Zillions games). There is also a current VfD at Misplaced Pages:Votes for deletion/MoreKarlScherer concerning an additional 8, and at Misplaced Pages:Votes for deletion/EvenMoreKarlScherer concerning a further two, as well as the related closed VfD at Misplaced Pages:Votes for deletion/Karl Scherer, and two open related ones at Misplaced Pages:Votes for deletion/Fox and geese and Misplaced Pages:Votes for deletion/Zillions of Games.

It was suggested in one of these VfDs that a formal ruling be made about such forms of original research, which was mixed in with extreme amounts of advertising spam. These articles were created over a 2 year period, and where only discovered when I was apparently more suspicious than others about the motives of an editor (Karl Scherer) whose most recent creation appeared in New Pages. The length of time that these edits were not caught appears to have lead to Zillions of Games jumping from 602 non-obvious-wikipedia-mirror hits in google to 60,000. Some sort of formal mechanism for discovering such things sooner is probably wanted. ~~~~ 4 July 2005 18:33 (UTC)

CULTURAL TERRORISM Ongoing on Portuguese section

Please guys,

Brazillian activists have taken control over the Portuguese section. They revert anything that isn't written in their own 'version' of Brazillian Portuguese - that no one else in the world uses and is not officially accepted. They eliminate lots of Portuguese (from Portugal, Europe and world) content. They actively ban and persecute users, lie to the superior Wiki managers, and do all censorship possible to avoid contact from Portuguese (and other countries speaking Portuguese) with the rulers of Wiki. As of now they completely hijacked the Portuguese section of Wiki.

For some unexplainable reason instead of creating a BR section for their own special needs, they insist on hijacking, controlling, and reverting everything in the PT section to their own whims. Most non-Brazilian users have no stopped contributing, enjoying and using Wiki - because what's there, IS NOT Portuguese. It's as if Catalan speakers hijacked the Spanish zone and modified it to their own version claiming it was 'Spanish'.

It should be said, that Brazillian Portuguese is WILDLY different than Portuguese and not simple "minor" changes as they falsely claim!

I do not know if Brazilians are ashamed of being 'Brazilians' and thus insist on hiding behind the 'Portuguese' mask, i find no other explanation for this bizarre insistance.

Brazillian is totaly different from Portuguese. They use a totally different verb tense. Hundreds of words that mean nothing in Portuguese (nor have any linguistic basis) are used. Incorrect - you'd fail in any Portuguese class in any Portuguese speaking country BUT Brazil - Portuguese is used so frequently it makes most articles WIDLY unreadable.

It's not that they used different versions, i'll explain: They started slowly using wrong grammar versions because the people was very poor, and now, because their government has not control over the country, and educations is extremely lacking, they found it 'cheaper' to just maintain the wild grammar errors. Again, the errors are rampant, not minor, at all.

Sirs... this is totally affecting our ability to use the section dedicated to our own language...! THEY IMMIDEATELY REVERT, CANCEL, CENSOR any attempt to use Portuguese!

Entire changes and articles have been already wiped out by them simply because it wasn't in "their" version.

The whole editing section is in places UNREADABLE and completely ununderstandable to non-Brazillian Portuguese speakers - ie, all of them all over the world. They use words that mean nothing in Portuguese, in the Wiki UI, people reading it, from Africa, have no idea what it means!

This is NOT a 50\50 partnership. ALL main pages have now been reverted to Brazillian only, locked, and reverted no matter what minor change \ comment is done. Most Portuguese, or simply outside of Brazil, users have been coimpletely driven out of Wiki, this can't be right.

They've been feeding the impression that Brazillian and Portuguese are as equal as English in the UK and America, THIS IS UTTERLY FALSE! The differences are huge, to the point that ocasionally you can't even understand what they are trying to say \ talking about.

Most weird, is the fact that they seem driven by some internal frustration of the tragedies inside their own country, and are completely using this as some strange form of Nationalistic rabidly jingoistic movement to assert themselves. They are now publishing articles of political activism about Brazilian Nationalism as if they were Wiki definitions... 8O

I do not whish in any way that they don't use their own version. But right now they are stopping us from using ours. Heck, we are the ones which are Portuguese and i can't even understand some of the words in articles claiming to be "Portuguese" here in Misplaced Pages, because they are not Portuguese words at all - nevermind the constant verbal, pronoum differences that occur in _every_ single sentence...

No one seems to do anything about this.

Am i to believe what other Portuguese partners have told me, and to just give up on Misplaced Pages?

Then it's truly sad, because it means Wiki is not a place for cultural exchange, but for cultural terrorism. Maybe they in south America are used to this, but i, absolutely am not.

Most of the threads from Portuguese and non-Brazillian members i checked were outside Wiki, because simply put people no longer ontribute here because they now the Brazillians will be banned, censor, rejected. This is wrong!

There is currently a thread on this subject on the PT section, the admins are all brazillian, the pages are all written in brazillian, the UI is all in brazillian, and every dissenting opinion\article is removed at once. What the heck?

--> ]

The title translated is, "versions of Portuguese language". What versions, if all we see is their own peculiar one? All others are shot down in flames. This truly is nationalistic fascism at play.

Should i just give up and forget the freedom to use and enjoy my language? I have to be honest as is, the brazillian content is totally useless, to me, to most Portuguese i know, and it surely isn't right for a child to get there and see words that to her mean nothing and negate the education she gets in school - not to mention the barrage of grammar errors the brazillian governement, like pretty much everything else, seems impotent to resolve, solve, and educate in its own anarchic country :(, and occur literally in every sentence. It's nearly unreadable and it sure isn't educational. Sad, sad, sad :(

At bare minumum: Seperate these totally different ways of using Portuguese, one is cannibalizing the other.

Tacky

I decided to return to this matter just to say how incredibly tacky and incompetent the Arb Com's handling of this matter has been. I found out that this matter had been dropped (who knows when) after inquiring about it on someone's talk page. I received absolutely no notice. And, to date, neither, apparently, has User:Wareware. This has been a colossal waste of my time and of the people who were kind and concerned enough to render assistance in this matter.

To my way of thinking, the Arb Com dropped the ball -- in more ways than one. At least you didn't require me to reformat the copious info presented in the RfC for this process. The singular good thing is Pharlap's wasted time and effort in compiling an utterly meaningless assemblage of completely unrelated and, again, out-of-context bullcrap -- as if my comments anywhere on this website have anything at all to do with the racist Wareware's Tourette's-like comportment.

I can't say this experience has inspired any confidence or respect on my part for the arbitration process. Frankly, you guys suck. *x* deeceevoice 06:56, 10 July 2005 (UTC)

Wareware left Misplaced Pages months ago, and has not to date returned. What use would it have been to take any action against someone has already left? If he does return at some later date, it can be dealt with then. Ambi 07:11, 10 July 2005 (UTC)

Déjà Vu. El_C 13:43, 10 July 2005 (UTC)

Ambi, are you deliberately missing my point? After several members of the Arb Com voted to consider the matter, no one on the Arb Com ever bothered to notify us that the matter had been dropped. In fact, there still has been no formal notification to that effect posted to Wareware's talk page. I repeat: tacky and utterly incompetent. The Arb Com still sux.deeceevoice 15:02, 10 July 2005 (UTC)

Don't be difficult. If you bring a case against someone who has left, what exactly do you expect? The Committee's job is to fix problems, not "right wrongs".

James F. (talk) 00:37, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

Don't be presumptuous and patronizing -- especially when you don't know what you're talking about. I don't need to be schooled on the function of the Arb Com. The Arb Com voted, then served notice that it was considering the case and asked for submissions of evidence, knowing full well that Wareware was no longer around. When it suddenly reversed itself, it notified no one. The Arb Com in this matter was incompetent and inefficient and lacking in the most rudimentary common courtesy. As far as I'm concerned, it isn't worth squat. *x* deeceevoice 06:41, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

Frankly, I could care less. We're here to deal with users who continue to interfere with the writing of an encyclopedia. Wareware had ceased to do that by ceasing to edit Misplaced Pages, thus we have no reason to continue to intervene. You can be as insulting as you like, and you can act like the guy you're complaining about as much as you like, but I don't think anyone here will be too fussed unless he does return. Ambi 08:01, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

Uh, I think you mean you couldn't care less? :p Well, my dear, that much is evident in the Arb Com's tacky mishandling of the matter -- which is precisely my point. LOL Incompent. Rude. Inefficient. Worthless. Further, calling the Arb Com on its gross mishandling of this matter is hardly on par with stalking someone around the web site, spewing vile, racist venom. Or, did you even bother to read the complaint? (A strictly rhetorical question. Given your comments thus far, I'd hardly trust you to understand the difference even if you had.) deeceevoice 12:19, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

I think you need to step back and examine WP:NPA along with the ArbCom's history and mandate. Once a user has left Misplaced Pages, there is no sense in overly bureaucratizing a point which is moot. Should Wareware return, of course the case should be reopened. But why bother just to make a WP:POINT? --FCYTravis 23:35, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

Then, perhaps the Arb Com should "step back and examine" its actions in this matter. Why, then, did it vote to take the matter under consideration and then ask for evidence? And then why did it not follow through? And when it changed its course of action, why then did it not even bother to notify the involved parties? I repeat: Incompetent. Inefficient. Tacky. deeceevoice 04:53, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

Just to add my 2 cents: Raul's 9th law of wikipedia - Being on the Arbitration Committee is the most thankless job on Misplaced Pages. It is absolutely impossible to do it such that people are happy with you. If you are doing a bad job, people complain; if you are doing a good job, people don't notice (or sometimes even then complain). All of your actions are examined under a microscope. People expect you to be the Oracle of all truth - to work miracles no matter how complicated the case, no matter how how bad the evidence, no matter how hostile and stubborn the disputants. And of course, there are the accusations of cabalism. →Raul654 23:34, July 11, 2005 (UTC)

Excuses. For the record, I expected no such thing. What I did expect was a minimal degree of thoroughness and courtesy, and the Arb Com proved pitiably incapable of delivering either. I mean, how hard is it to drop someone a note? That someone on the Arb Com would even try to defend/excuse such bumbling ineptitude demonstrates just how worthless the Arb Com is. deeceevoice 02:23, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

The point is that people will complain regardless of how well we do our {voluntary, unpleasant, thankless} job - a point you have proven quite thoroughly. →Raul654 02:35, July 14, 2005 (UTC)

No. The point is that people will complain in light of how poorly you do your job -- or, should I say when you fail to do your job? :p deeceevoice 04:49, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

It is not our job to notify anybody but people directly affected by ArbCom rulings of anything other than the opening of cases (and even that is limited to people involved in the case). If you want to track the progress of a particular case, then put the respective case pages on your watchlist and/or add {{ArbComOpenTasks}} to your user page. Now stop bitching. --mav 23:58, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

Resignations

Some of the arbitrators (Delirium, Grunt, Ambi) have indicated that they wish to resign (according to Misplaced Pages:Arbitration Committee), but they are unsure how they would be replaced, or what the mechanism was.

Having thought about this, wouldn't it be the case that the next person (in this case Fennec, Mirv, Cecropia) on the list at Misplaced Pages:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2004 becomes their replacement? ~~~~ 14:18, 10 July 2005 (UTC)

The Arbcom seems to have become very slow because of lack of active members, so they do need to be replaced. However I would be totally against just pulling the highest losers into position (presumably after having checked their continued willingness to serve). We should have a by-election. David | Talk 14:28, 10 July 2005 (UTC)

Is that a Misplaced Pages procedure, or just UK government? ~~~~ 14:46, 10 July 2005 (UTC)

Don't know exactly why you ask the question—but as far as I know there is no set procedure, and I'm making a suggestion. I think the principle should be that users only get to be arbitrators by being elected to the post. David | Talk 15:09, 10 July 2005 (UTC)

• I do believe we should put it up to a vote (i.e. ask who wish to be candidates and vote amongst them). Soon, too - this is important. Radiant_>|< 19:43, July 10, 2005 (UTC)

Suffice it to say, we (the committee) and Jimbo have been discussing this for several weeks and we should have an announcement soon. →Raul654 20:41, July 10, 2005 (UTC)

How soon is soon ? ~~~~ 23:38, 10 July 2005 (UTC)

Not sure -- I had hoped to have an announcement out by July 1, but that's a non issue now. →Raul654 02:03, July 11, 2005 (UTC)

They really need to sort it out ASAP, as the WP:RFAR page is getting swamped, and it looks like there are only 3 arbitrators actually giving initial opinions on whether to hear cases, and it needs 4 to confirm anything. ~~~~ 12:00, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

Yes, it's happening. Ambi 13:20, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

When? ~~~~ 18:46, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

The commitee's position on the matter has been settled more-or-less unanimously for several weeks now, since before July I think. At this point, (whether or not he decides to take our advice) we're waiting for Jimbo to announce it. So to answer your question, "when" is whenever Jimbo is ready to. →Raul654 19:48, July 18, 2005 (UTC)

So is Jimbo going to announce ex cathedra that the committee is being replenished with a group of people suggested to him by the current arbitration committee? A lot of people are going to be not best pleased with that, you know! Pcb21| Pete 20:17, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

We did anticipate that some people would complain about appointments rather than an election. However, given that (A) the last election was a horribly nasty experience that no one wants to repeat more often than necessary (B) we just completed the board election a few days ago, and (C) the arbcom election is a little more than 5 months away, it was decided that appointments would be much better all-around. →Raul654 02:51, July 19, 2005 (UTC)

Well I'll leave it to someone else to run coach and horses through that argument, but suffice there to say there were other options on the spectrum between full-blown elections and hidden behind closed doors, cliquey appointments. Pcb21| Pete 09:05, 19 July 2005 (UTC)

There are appointments and there are appointments. Is this going to be an open process or a 'word of mouth', 'who you know is more important that what you know' process? (I declare an interest in that if asked, I would myself serve, though I doubt I would be asked). David | Talk 14:52, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

I too would serve if asked, but like Dbiv I doubt I would be. I wasn't around for the elections last time, so could someone summarise (or point me in the direction of a summary) of what happened to make them "a horribly nasty experience"? Thryduulf 17:22, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

The biggest problem was that an "endorsements" page was allowed, and some people tried to make use of this to post "disendorsements" of candidates as well. The disendorsements naturally produced some very hostile debates, but by this point the process had gone too far down the path to be undone. --Michael Snow 17:38, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

It is my understanding that Jimbo asked the current arbcom for suggestions of appointees (Jimbo not being so familiar with the day-to-day pedia these days). This was a while ago, so I assume if you are going to be asked, you have been - particularly as Raul indicated that an announcement should already have been now. Now of course the current members are great. However asking them who they'd like to co-opt will inevitably create a narrower "gene pool" of opinions than ideal. Pcb21| Pete 20:38, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

That is why these will be interim appointments that will expire at the end of this year. The next regular ArbCom election will have at least 7 seats open instead of the normal 4. --mav 23:46, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

There's actually only five that I know of at this point - Delirium is one of the four people whose terms would be expiring anyway. Ambi 23:50, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

See below:

Actually, now that Nohat will also be resigning, there will in fact be 7 seats open next election:

Tranche β (term expires 31 Dec 2005; new Tranche β's term will expire 31 Dec 2008)

1. Delirium (resigned)
2. Daniel Mayer
3. Fred Bauder
4. David Gerard

Tranche γ (term expires 31 Dec 2006)

1. David Friedland (resigned)
2. Steven Melenchuk (resigned)

Tranche α (term expires 31 Dec 2007)

1. Ambi (resigned)

I imagine that the top vote getters will get to choose which tranche they occupy. So far, I plan to run and hope Fred and David will as well. --mav 01:03, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

Jimbo has always and will indefinitely be the person to appoint people to the ArbCom. The difference between a regular election and an interim appointment is that people he appoints based on a regular election serve for 3 years while those he appoints for interim posts serve until the next regular election. For these interim posts he asked the current ArbCom who we thought were good choices and he said that he will base his selection on the short list we gave him. He does not, nor ever has, had to go exactly by what either the community at large or the ArbCom says. --mav 23:41, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

Jimbo said he would model the wielding of his ultimate power on the Queen of England. That path is not being followed. Pcb21| Pete 07:20, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

It seems fairly clear that, either because most Wikipedians are people who suddenly become very busy without notice, or they lead very chaotic lives, that the lifespan of many arbitrators is very short. Perhaps this should be considered as the system for recruiting new arbitrators is defined. David | Talk 15:55, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

The Queen of the United Kingdom has the power to dissolve Parliament, yet in practice only does so when asked by the Prime Minister, IIRC. Jimbo has yet to not follow the suggestions of others in that mold. My point is that the whole ArbCom process is an extension of his authority and exists at his consent. All we are talking about are several interim appointments; none of which will last beyond the next regular election. --mav 16:20, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

Without wanting to stretch analogies too much, when MPs resign the Queen doesn't ask the remaining MPs who should fill the gaps... an election is held. Yes Jimbo is boss, but the ArbCom will lose credibility because of this. I think he went the wrong way.

Instead it would've been highly appropriate to hold an election, learning from the experiences of last time, and re-jigging the future election calendar as needed. However it was not possible for me to even make this suggestion in a timely fashion because the "elections cause too many problems" argument (the same argument as that used in 1930s Germany btw :-), oops Mr Godwin do I lose? :-) ) was made behind closed doors. Pcb21| Pete 17:26, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

The unexplained resignations have an impact on RfAr's currently in progress. Please see here, for an example. Paul Beardsell 12:26, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

I just wanted to second Pete's concerns above, and make sure that he and everyone knows that I think that me randomly appointing people midterm is not the proper sustainable way to do this in the long run. On the other hand, I chose people who I think will be mostly uncontroversial, in the hopes that we can have a productive and positive dialog about the appointment process before the next community vote. --Jimbo Wales 18:19, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

Inquiry

User K. contacted me for help with a problem user, IP 71.65.65.165, signing the name User:PastorRussell, but not editing under that name. PastorRussell is claiming that he has exclusive rights to Charles Taze Russell because the arbcom gave him exclusivity to the article. As far as I know there is no such precedent or policy. His claim is bogus isn't it?. -JCarriker 22:10, July 18, 2005 (UTC)

The arbitration committee has never given anyone exclusive control of an article (and, in all likelihood, never will). →Raul654 02:43, July 19, 2005 (UTC)

Ombudsman?

Above it is said that being on the ArbCom is a thankless task. That there will always be complaints. But then this fact is used to seemingly say that all complaints are without merit. Just because some (or many) are without merit does not mean that all are. Yet the ArbCom seemingly never admits it is wrong or that it has made a mistake. It seems to be under the misaprehension that admitting a mistake is a sign of weakness. To the contrary. I think the ArbCom as often as not makes Misplaced Pages look silly. I also think that the existence of the ArbCom allows for some vexatious complaints. I am not sure what the solution is but a tentative suggestion is the appointment of an ombudsman who will be tasked with ensuring that the ArbCom is seen to act reasonably. Appearances count and it all looks a sorry mess right now. Paul Beardsell 00:37, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

We have an ombudsman. Ambi 02:17, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

We do not nor do I believe you really think that. As the article should make plain. Paul Beardsell 14:49, 23 July 2005 (UTC)

New arbitrators

Jimbo recently appointed three new arbitrators, of whom two are rather controversial. Jay's many battles and controversies, as well as his aggressive attitude (he's gotten into attacking me on about a weekly basis now) are presumably well-known by all of us reading here (forcing me to regrettably conclude that Jimbo knowingly did not make a fair judgment in promoting him, although I won't presume to guess exactly what his motive was). Right now I want to point out something about the new arbitrator Fennec. I think most of us would agree that an arbitrator should be an active editor and member of the community. A good way of evaluating this is by looking at one's user contributions. I went to Fennec's contributions just now to check out what he had been up to lately, and was surprised to find there was nothing for me evaluate: in the whole month of July so far, he has made only one edit. In previous months he has edited a little more, maybe 10-15 a month, although I would say this puts him only on the level of a sporadic, occasional contributor, not an active member of the community. (See his contributions here.) Now, of course Fennec is active on IRC, which he rules as something like a fiefdom, banning people (or at least me—am I a special case?) perpetually for criticizing certain privileged (in his eyes) users. But does this count? In fact, for me this counts against him; it tells me that he probably owes his position to behind the scenes IRC communication rather than actual wiki-editing. Everyking 07:27, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

Um, please do a little research before you attack people. The main reason why Fennec's name was raised is because he came so close to being elected in December. He lost to Grunt by one vote - and that was because, IIRC, he voted for Grunt. This was the reason his name was raised - not because of IRC, where he rarely even talks. Ambi 13:24, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

I remember the election perfectly well. In fact, I myself was a candidate. If this is just about votes, why don't we have another vote? Or we should go straight down the line and appoint the next two, who were Mirv and Cecropia. I thought the idea was that uncontroversial people were supposed to be appointed as placeholders until the next election. Everyking 19:08, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

Everyking doesn't like the choice of new arbitrators? Oh no! →Raul654 16:24, July 24, 2005 (UTC)

Let's hope the burnout doesn't stop with those three. Everyking 19:08, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

Best of luck to all new arbitrators. I am sure you will all easily prove why this trust has been placed in you. Pcb21| Pete 20:30, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

Jimbo Wales has publicly announced that he doesn't support democratic elections, and would rather have arbitrators that he is friends with, than those with popular support in elections. He has also, in the announcement, stated that his appointment of (temporary) arbitrators has more to do with his favouring of their judgements in preference to those that might be made by editors such as User:Mirv (the next in line in the prior election).

Hopefully this should provide a satisfactory explanation of why the three new arbitrators were chosen. ~~~~ ( ! | ? | * ) 22:24, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

The above is total conjecture from someone who has no facts to base it on, mixed with a total mischaracterization of Jimbo's statement. The arbitration committee made a short list of people we thought would make good arbitrators (based on our previous experiences with them), and Jimbo took our recommendation and appointed arbitrators from our short list. So no, he did not appoint them because he is friends with them; as Jimbo put it so succintly, he appointed them because we told him we think they would make good arbitrators (and he trust our judgement). →Raul654 22:44, August 4, 2005 (UTC)

Potential admin abuse by Neutrality

While User:Neutrality is certainly a hard working admin, he has made questionable edits, and is headed towards going against consensus reached in http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Talk:Terri_Schiavo&diff=20663757&oldid=20663592#Distinguishing_one_dispute_from_another <-~ that diff ("Revision as of 02:05, 10 August 2005"), as evidenced by this diff on 21:46, 9 August 2005 in the Terri Schiavo page. I fixed the problem (e.g., here), and don't feel he has violated consensus again, yet his past actions, as discussed on the talk page, make me feel it is appropriate to make a formal record of my complaint if he causes trouble again by his POV editing abuse as an admin.--GordonWattsDotCom 02:26, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Update:

I am new to making complaints against admins -I usually get along well with the "powers that be," and as such, I have never actually made a complaint against an admin. I did (1) Try to talk it over with the opposition; and, (2) I did talk it over on the talk page, and, by my count, with six (6) active editors participating, the vote went down 4-2 in favor of the version that I support, and yet Neutrality bucks all consensus and has an attitude (not a good done?).

When you include the agreement by my Chinese and Hispanic colleagues at the other wikis (see the appropriate links in Talk:Terri_Schiavo), and considering one other editor who is not currently active, I think the vote would more accurately be 7-2 in my favor, not even counting the "google.com" meta-analysis I performed.

Neutrality appears to have called my bluff, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Terri_Schiavo&diff=20665553&oldid=20664323

I wonder if he violated consensus, and by proxy and extension, whether he violated Misplaced Pages policy regarding abuse of admin powers. ?? --GordonWattsDotCom 02:59, 10 August 2005 (UTC)