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Requests for arbitration

William M. Connolley (2nd)

Initiated by Abd (talk) at 05:00, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Involved parties

• Abd (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), filing party
• William M. Connolley (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) (WMC)
• Enric Naval (talk · contribs)

Confirmation that all parties are aware of the request

WMC notified.

Confirmation that other steps in dispute resolution have been tried

The statement by Abd documents attempts to resolve, and provides basis for expectation that further attempts below ArbComm are likely to result in fruitless disruption.

Statement by Abd

Summary

• WMC was involved in immediate content dispute and long-term behavioral dispute with me.
• He edited Cold fusion while protected in expectation of controversy over it, and contrary to an expressed consensus.
• Then he declared me banned from the article and its Talk.
• Later, he blocked me for making a self-reverted harmless edit, contrary to his expressed prior opinion about harmless edits under ban.
• In spite of charges of involvement, he insists that he remains the enforcer of an expired community ban, asserting it as indef.

History of prior dispute, mostly over use of tools while involved

• First contact with WMC was in July, 2008, at Misplaced Pages:Requests for comment/GoRight, co-filed by WMC and Raul654, where I criticized the RfC and the incivility and collective edit warring of a subsequently familiar collection of editors, including WMC.
• In July, 2008, I warned WMC over his use of admin tools. His response was vaguely threatening. Full discussion. See also this discussion.
• In July, 2008, I confirmed the issue of appearance of COI with WMC's edits. In the full discussion at AN/I, I noted that opinion supporting WMC acknowledged use of tools while involved.
• In October, 2008, I requested WMC undo an edit under protection while involved; he promptly deleted the request. In the full discussion as deleted by WMC, an administrator expresses despair over WMC's use of tools while involved.
• When, in April, 2009, I filed RfC/JzG 3, WMC fully agreed with a proposal to ban me from the "whole area" (presumably Cold fusion). See also Outside view by Spartaz, which WMC also endorsed.

The present dispute

• WMC edited Cold fusion while under protection, contrary to full consensus, as shown in and for the version of May 31. From the edit summary, WMC expected it would be controversial.
• I objected. (complete discussion)
• WMC page banned me, article and talk, without warning, and without stating cause, through a notice on Talk:Cold fusion, and again showed contempt for expressed consensus ("Polls are boring.") I protested that he was involved, responding in situ, with a promise to observe the ban pending, and also at WMC talk, I offered to compromise with an article ban, talk allowed. (My goal with articles is consensus, so I don't need to edit them directly, or, if permitted, I could edit with self-reversion.)
• WMC deleted my edit, and warned me on my Talk page.
• When asked, WMC indirectly cited TRIFECTA as the reason for the ban. Essentially, IAR.
• For efficiency, I decided that the fastest resolution was to defy the ban, and I notified WMC. WMC denied involvement. I warned WMC about action while involved, and he deleted it. Without a violating edit, the issue was taken to AN/I by an involved editor, "to avoid a total train wreck." As expected, the "familiar" editors piled in to endorse the ban, and, since it was clear that this would not be resolved short of ArbComm, because of this active constellation, I asked for a speedy close. Even though it was not a consensus of uninvolved editors, per WP:BAN, but based on prejudgment, I'd waived contesting it and was now community-banned, which I acknowledged.
• WMC clearly considered harmless edits to not violate bans, he called blocking for them "stupid."
• In the discussions where WMC offered that opinion, I had pointed out that "harmless edits" can complicate ban enforcement, so I suggested self-reversion, which encountered some approval and no opposition. So when I saw a bad reference in Cold fusion, I made a single-character edit, and self-reverted. WMC blocked me for it. Note that I was encouraged to continue involvement with cold fusion in an ongoing mediation, my ban was not a topic ban, and so I did have business reading the article and talk pages.
• Closing admin for the community ban, when asked, specified ban duration at one month, now expired. However, WMC continues to assert authority over my editing. He seeks to maintain a one article/talk page ban, when his concern is blatantly my involvement with policy.

Further considerations

• WMC was found, RfAr/Geogre-William M. Connolley, to have extended a block and wheel-warred "because of "incivility directed at himself." He was contemptuous of the decision.
• There have been a recent incidents where WMC's use of blocks, often in support of favored editors, has been criticized. I believe that his treatment of me has not been unique, nor, even, compared to damage to others, particularly harsh. This is what he does.

Issues to be arbitrated

• Did WMC edit an article under protection while ignoring consensus?
• Was WMC involved in a dispute with me when he declared me banned?
• May he continue to enforce the expired ban?
• Have his actions increased wikidrama though unnecessary bans, blocks, and bluster?
• Are his actions part of a pattern of administrative abuse?
• Absent a specific finding of disruption or harm, are self-reverted edits substantial violations of bans worthy of blocking?
  

--Abd (talk) 05:04, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Response of Abd re Mathsci

I decided not to make this RfAr cover specific Fringe science issues; had I done so, Mathsci would have been a party, along with as many as a dozen others. ArbComm may, however, decide to look at his statement here, and the series of directly false or ABF charges he has made; I suggest, however, avoiding a focus on Fringe science here, it will complicate an otherwise simple case. To correct false statements, my full response is at .

Response of Abd to Bilby

• Because the article had been protected, through willful gaming of protection, into a state that was seriously POV in the lede, I started the first poll in an attempt to quickly measure standing consensus regarding existing versions while avoiding debate. For efficiency, I used Range voting, which allows shades of grey. Hipocrite immediately rejected this and started a new poll. However, no real confusion was created, because the polls, examined together, showed complete consensus on the version of May 31, with the version of May 21 close behind. Later, I added the May 14 version used by WMC to my poll. As I expected, tepid support, clearly both May 21 and May 31 were preferred, as the early results had shown. As I noted on WMC talk, May 14 was indeed an improvement over the version as protected, but WMC defied, explicitly, an expressed consensus on two other later versions, on the excuse of an inadequately discussed suggestion by GoRight. The version of May 14 was, in fact, the result of such serious revert warring by Hipocrite that I had temporarily abandoned efforts to work on the article, I would spend hours researching and writing a section, and it would be baldly reverted even though sourced. On May 21, Hipocrite had finally done, with one section, what he should have done from the beginning, balance text reliably sourced with text from other reliable sources, instead of just reverting reliably sourced text out. Hipocrite did not later challenged this text, it was simply removed by fiat of WMC.
• Yes, Hipocrite had gamed the system, June 1, which was acknowledged by an admin at RfPP. He was edit warring, made a third revert, then, apparently realizing that he was outnumbered, he reverted himself and went to RfPP to request protection. Then, immediately, he made an extensive and highly POV edit to the lede, knowing that protection would come down. He charged at RfPP that I had been edit warring with him, which is preposterous for that day. But it seems Bilby has accepted that. I did, once, insert old text, on that day but only after discussion and no opposition. The text, by the way, was utterly uncontroversial and based firmly in reliable source. Hipocrite reverted it.
• Yes, Hipocrite accepted the page bans. He'd already agreed with me (quickly, when I suggested it) to a voluntary article ban. From his behavior at Cold fusion, which began about May 1, I suspect that his goal, from the beginning, was to bait me into behavior that could result in a ban, and this could be shown, so, of course he accepted the bans, it was his goal from the beginning. Hipocrite, and certain other editors, represent the continuation of editorial behavior that resulted in ScienceApologist being banned from Fringe science articles, and Hipocrite had been highly disruptive previously, filing multiple Arbitration Enforcement requests, including naming me, apparently as part of the ScienceApologist plan to discredit ArbComm by attempting to force admins into unpopular actions. (I was not an opponent of ScienceApologist and have consistently been supportive of his positive efforts, most recently cooperating with him to fix a badly mangled Oppenheimer-Phillips process. But some editors seem to think of everything in terms of factional affiliation.)
• It's correct that I have been unable to receive confirmation of ban expiration, due to the wikibreak. However, previously, that admin had declared that the ban was for one month, so it's expired. The only reason I pinged the admin over it was WMC's continued position claiming right to enforce the ban. It wasn't necessary. However, I have no reason at this point to create disruption by defying the ban, I have plenty of work to do relating to Cold fusion that does not involve editing the article or its talk page, and my policy, in general, is to minimize disruption. I would not be here now, before ArbComm, if the anti-fringe editors had not pursued and insisted on confrontation instead of negotiation. Again, though, I urge ArbComm to keep the focus as narrow as possible, for allowing disputes to broaden rapidly is a formula for endless waste of time. I or others may file a request for clarification or an enforcement case over Fringe science issues, which, in the end, have little to do with whether or not WMC abused his administrative privileges.
• Bilby's response is generally moderate, but shows the overall weighting that I'd expect from his prior history, he is an admin who has preferentially supported the constellation of admins and editors I mention. I agree with him that clarification would be useful.
• --Abd (talk) 15:51, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Statement by Mathsci

I recommend that ArbCom reject this second disruptive request from Abd (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), an account that has regressed to a single purpose account. Abd is now a tendentious fringe POV-pusher. His editing of cold fusion and its talk page openly acknowledged off-wiki contacts with two advocates, Steven B. Krivit and community banned editor User:JedRothwell, neither of them recognized scientists. Abd has shown contempt for any other users with scientific training: the fact that he frequently addresses User:William M. Connolley as "Dr. Connolley" on talk pages was not a sign of respect, in the light of this request, which he has threatened for some time. Abd was page-banned from cold fusion and its talk page by WMC. He has engaged in discussions on the article on user talk pages, but not the mediation page. His misuse of secondary sources has been criticized by a number of experts in chemistry, including EdChem (talk · contribs) and Kirk shanahan (talk · contribs). The page-bans were given community support on WP:ANI. Abd's editing of cold fusion started roughly around the time of the "Fringe science" ArbCom case and was briefly mentioned in the "Abd & JZG" case, when his editing patterns were less clear. In this case, this needless escalation of dispute resolution should probably result in an indefinite community ban for Abd. His timing of this request might be another tactic. He might wish to attract the large circus surrounding the Obama articles. WMC has made some unpopular blocks there; and there is a peanut gallery which might share Abd's personal animosity to experts in science and grudges against WMC. The last ArbCom case directly involving Abd resulted in the disappearance of JzG (talk · contribs): Abd might be trying to do the same now with WMC. Abd's own editing patterns are highly problematic. At the moment there does not seem to be anything positive that Abd is contributing to WP. This long premeditated request is wholly negative. I hope that elsewhere the community can discuss an indefinite ban and that ArbCom reject this case.

Statement by Bilby

Prior to WMC's involvement at Cold fusion, the article had been the subject of an edit war between Abd and User:Hipocrite which resulted in full protection by WMC for one week. After the protection was lifted, the two editors engaged in a second edit war, resulting in the page being protected a second time by Causa sui. This led to an extremely messy situation on the Cold fusion talk page, with two concurrent polls being run on the same changes by the two editors. The first, by Abd, used a non-standard methodology, and was the subject of an AN/I discussion regarding problems with Abd's edits to the poll. The second, by Hipocrite, came slightly later (and was created in response to Abd's poll) but used a standard format. The short version, then, was that it was a mess, with both Abd and Hipocrite very much at the center.

As to the specifics:

• WMC's only content edit while the page was protected was to revert the article back to a state prior to the edit warring, as suggested by GoRight. WMC made no content changes to the article other than this revert. Prior to this Abd had vocally argued against the version that was initially protected, accusing Hipocrite of gaming the system.

• WMC subsequently banned both Abd and Hipocrite from the article and talk page for one month, dependent on their behaviour, and then WMC lifted the page protection. Hipocrite accepted the ban, Abd did not.

• Abd announced that he would defy the ban so that he could appeal any subsequent block, or, if WMC chose not to block him, demonstrate that the ban did not hold. This, he argued, would limit any disruption. In response, Enric Naval raised the issue at AN/I. The resulting discussion endorsed the ban (full disclosure: I !voted to support it), but it was cut short before support emerged for Abd, as Abd asked that the discussion be closed and stated that he would agree to the ban.

• As described, Abd subsequently made a minor edit to Cold fusion, reverted it, and was blocked by WMC. I see no reason not to assume good faith here on Abd's part, but WMC's response should probably be considered in light of prior events.

• WMC later unbanned Hipocrite after Hipocrite made guarantees about his editing. WMC has not chosen to unblock Abd, and Abd has been unable to receive confirmation that the AN/I ban has expired from the closing admin (due to a wikibreak).

In short, WMC banned two problematic editors on opposing sides from the Cold fusion article, although he had no problems with them continuing with mediation on the subject. One accepted the ban, and it was subsequently lifted, the other continued to dispute it. WMC's curt responses didn't help things, and it may well be better to have clarification on when Abd can return to editing the article, but in general I believe that WMC's actions were reasonable.

Bilby (talk) 11:09, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Statement by Enric Naval

Disclaimer: I have edited both Cold fusion and its talk page, and I have very strong disagreements with Abd, although we ocassionally agree on stuff. I also raised the review of Abd's ban at ANI, and I would raise it again.

I think that the community can handle Abd's ban, and I think that Abd refuses to take this to AN/ANI because he knows that there is a very high chance that the continuation of the ban is resoundingly endorsed. This is trying to shorcut the community because he doesn't agree with what it thinks. If this case gets rejected, my first step will be raising the issue at AN where the community can give input on the continuation of the ban. (or start a RFC/U, maybe, I am never sure about these things)

WMC's actions were reasonable, and they protected the editors of the article and the, what was the name, the ambient of peaceful and calm colaboration ambient in the page, which was being disrupted to hell and back by enormous walls of text, refusal to accept consensus, insistance in refusing the input of any actual expert in Physics that gave his input, inserting half a dozen unrelated topics in one long meandering reply, etc. WMC's actions broke that bad atmosphere, and allowed work to continue in the article, so WMC was clearly doing the job that wikipedia admins are supposed to do, using the tools given to him by the community, and this community endorsed his actions in the only occassion when it was asked about it.

As an editor, I have to say that I welcome the tranquility and peace that there is now at Talk:Cold fusion after Abd was banned from the page. I also welcome that Abd's editing is now limited to the cold fusion mediation by Cryptic_C62, where his walls of text can be kept in check, and where Cryptic_C62 can keep the discussion on-topic.

Abd has not stopped wikilawyering about his own ban, Jed's ban and Pcarbonn's ban, saying that "experts" have been banned from the article for POV reasons, while refusing to agree that they were being disruptive, COI'ed, soapboxing and POV pushing. I think that this is just the latest instance of this disruptive behaviour, and that Arbcom should deny him the attention to his disruptive ideas, and let the community handle this.

P.D.: At most, if Arbcom members really thinks that there is disruption here, then they should put a motion to place Cold Fusion under discrectionary sanctions, just like Homeopathy, so we can cut short the recurrent disruption without any intervening admin being always subject to continuous wikilawyering, being dragged to RFCU, Arbcom, until he stops editing, etc (should I place the motion myself?). No wonder that it takes so much effort to get admins to do something about disruptive editors, if those editors are going to make such a circus every time, not to mention the chilling effect if Arbcom actually goes and endorses the circus..... Also, when you consider accepting this case, I ask that you take as precedent the Homeopathy case, where DanaUllman was banned for one year for similar disruption by Arbcom itself, and the article placed under discrectionary sanctions. It's good not to repeat the mistakes of past committees, but you should also consider repeating their correct decisions, eh? --Enric Naval (talk) 13:58, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Clerk notes

This area is used for notes by non-recused Clerks.

Arbitrators' opinion on hearing this matter (0/0/0/1)

• Awaiting further statements. Newyorkbrad (talk) 15:07, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Kosovska Mitrovica naming dispute

Initiated by Interestedinfairness (talk) at 10:34, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Involved parties

• interestedinfairness (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• Dbachmann (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)
• Cinéma_C (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), filing party
• Ev (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• NOAH (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Confirmation that all parties are aware of the request

• Diff. 1 here here here and here
• Diff. 2

Confirmation that other steps in dispute resolution have been tried

• Link 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/Talk:Kosovska_Mitrovica#Article_title
• Link 2 http://en.wikipedia.org/Talk:Kosovska_Mitrovica#Name_2

Statement by interestedinfairness

There has been repeated discussion regarding the correct, and most widely recognized English spelling of the name for the city (currently spelled "Kosovska Mitrovica"). Certain users who were apposed to the renaming the article to "Mitrovica", have since come round to the idea. There remains however, no consensus or will, amongst administrators present in the discussion to take the initiative and rename the article. In fact, even the editors who acknowledge the correct English spelling of the city, have left the page without participating further in discussion after the consensus was reached here. I do not posses the know-how to change the name of the article and the direct, re-directs. Nevertheless, I think this is the correct route to take before any unilaterally actions. Interestedinfairness (talk) 22:24, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Excuse me, who wrote this and presented it as my statement? --Cinéma C 17:35, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

user:Hersfold did (?). Interestedinfairness (talk) 22:24, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Response to dab

This is exactly what I'm talking about. No accountability or willingness to help new users like my self with content dispute or the right procedures to under take. The realities have changed with regards to the Mitrovica page and the old arb com ruling. I have given countless sources as per Misplaced Pages's naming convention and other editors and more worryingly administrators refuse to do anything about it. I agree with dab in the sense that this is not the place to be resolving content dispute however, when administrators are not willing to do anything in light of all the evidence I have provided in the talk page in favor of my proposal, then what am I to do? May I also point out that admin:dab agreed with my proposal before. Interestedinfairness (talk) 12:03, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Response to admins

Thanks for your responses. It should be a clear cut case as Misplaced Pages does offer a set of relatively easy tests to conduct in order to work out the most common English word. I have posted all the findings on the talk page but no one is willing to take it any further even after consensus between two of the most vociferous editors was reached. Its a shame I have to try out another procedure now -- *sighs*. Interestedinfairness (talk) 00:33, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

statement by Dbachmann

My involvement in this is pointing out proper procedure within WP:NAME to discuss arguable naming alternatives. My recommendations did not include "run to arbcom if you do not get your way". I do not have an opinion on which title is "better" and I am not interested in this arbcom case. I do not think that the arbcom should hear this, as it is a pure content dispute, like thousands of other toponymy article titles, there is more than one arguable location for this article, and it is purely a matter of consensus where the article will reside.

There aren't any points of user conduct here other than the more generic problems with tenacious Kosovo-related patriotic trolling. There already is an arbcom ruling on this, putting the topic under "article probation".

Interestedinfairness (talk · contribs) is certainly a candidate for {{User article ban arb}}, but since there is already a ruling on this, the matter would seem to stand to administrative discretion and does not need to take another loop through arbcom. --dab (𒁳) 08:24, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Statement by {Party 3}

Clerk notes

This area is used for notes by non-recused Clerks.

Response to Cinema & interestedinfairness: My apologies, I'd assumed that the first statement would have been Cinema's as they're filed as the filing party above. Sorry for the confusion. Hersfold 02:33, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Arbitrators' opinion on hearing this matter (0/7/0/0)

• Decline: As currently framed, this is a content dispute which is not within ArbCom's bailiwick.  Roger Davies 14:02, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
• Awaiting statements. Please explain why a discussion at Misplaced Pages:Requested moves would not be a satisfactory venue for resolving this dispute. Newyorkbrad (talk) 23:16, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
  • Decline. There seems now to be general agreement that this should be addressed elsewhere. It would be helpful if an uninvolved adminstrator would provide the parties with ongoing guidance as they move toward a resolution of this issue. Newyorkbrad (talk) 22:39, 9 July 2009 (UTC)
• Decline, I think going to WP:MEDCOM or elsewhere would help here. Wizardman 15:18, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
• Decline - even if it weren't a content dispute it would still be premature to reach the arbitration stage. -- FayssalF - 16:18, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
• Decline premature. FloNight♥♥♥ 17:59, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
• Reject. Try a Centralized Discussion as was done in ARBMAC2, Misplaced Pages:Centralized discussion/Macedonia — Rlevse • Talk • 23:00, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
• Decline - premature. This is still a low-level content dispute. Try mediation or get more opinions through a listing at Misplaced Pages:Requested moves. Carcharoth (talk) 23:14, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
• Decline. Premature. Please explore the various dispute resolution options. There are also noticeboards for geopolitical and ethnic disputes; original research, and evaluating source reliability, as well as proper weight and neutral presentation. There's also a content noticeboard for content issues that are not covered by more specific noticeboards. Please take advantage of these forums to garner some outside input and clarify the issues, while pursuing dispute resolution to reach consensus. Any conduct problems can be addressed by administrators, both within "everyday" policy and under the arbitration sanctions on the broader topic area. --Vassyana (talk) 06:47, 8 July 2009 (UTC)
• Decline. Other arbitrators have offered many venues of further discussion and dispute resolution which could be use. John Vandenberg 08:10, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Use of "disputed territories", "occupied territories" and related terminology in the context of the Arab-Israeli dispute

Initiated by Peter cohen (talk) at 12:33, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Involved parties

• Peter cohen (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), filing party
• Nsaum75 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), Invited by Peter cohen
• Supreme Deliciousness (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) named by User:Nsaum75, added also by User:Peter cohen
• Oren0 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• Urban469 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Confirmation that all parties are aware of the request

• User:Supreme Deliciousness -
• User:Oren0

Confirmation that other steps in dispute resolution have been tried

• Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Israel_Palestine_Collaboration/Placename_guidelines#Occupied_territories This is an attempted proposal via IPCOLL where unfortunagtely only two other editors have joined the discussion.
• Talk:Golan_Heights#RfC:_Terminology_in_regards_to_the_Golan_Heights Attempted RFC in one article which generated suggestions during when open of violations of WP:MEAT, WP:SPA and WP:Canvass and a subsequent complaint against the appropriateness of the closing admin. (I also have issues with the conclusion, but will not raise content issues here.)

Statement by Peter cohen

There is a roving content dispute on the use of terminology regarding the Israeli-occupied territories. I have identified 20 threads spread over ten article talk pages where this or related terminology has been disputed this year. There are many older discussions too. (This search contains a high proportion of valid hits.)

I have previously started a thread at WP:IPCOLL to initiate a central discussion on the terminology but the level of participation there has been less than in several of the threads elsewhere. Although there is no currently unaddressed conduct issue in this area, the history of problematic behaviour over similar terminology is such that it is highly likely that things will reach a level where Arbcom intervention will be necessary at some point in the future. Further the related RfC at Talk:Golan Heights generated various accusations and suggestions of misconduct. I am therefore requesting that Arbcom take pre-emptive action and mandate that a centralised solution be created to the content issue along the lines of those being reached regarding the naming of Ireland articles and the use of "Judea and Samaria" etc.

Discussion pages where the "disputed" v "occupied" or related terminology has been discussed this year include:

--Peter cohen (talk) 15:02, 1 July 2009 (UTC), most recent post 00:15, 2 July 2009

As requested below, I have now made a formatted list sorted by last edit and have also added a brand new entry which ahs appeared wince this request was opened.--Peter cohen (talk) 00:57, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

I note the request below and elsewhere for aprties to be added. I was waiting for a reply to my question on the talk page here on whom to add and I have also been away from hte net for 50-60 hours. I've started adding people and will be posting notifications elsewhere tonight (UK time). More will be added tomorrow.--Peter cohen (talk) 21:19, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Statement by Nsaum75

I am the editor who opened the RfC on Golan Heights. The article had been subject to edit warring over terminology related to how the Golan should be described. Editors had been fighting over whether to refer to land area as "disputed" or "occupied" by Israel; there were also edit wars over whether or not to call the settlements established by Israel as "Israeli Settlements", "Jewish Communities" or "Illegal Settlements". In hopes of trying to create some progress in the debate, I felt that the RfC should be opened as to at least establish a consensus as to whether the land area should be referred to as "disputed", "occupied", or some other variation.

During the period of time that the RfC was open, a number of new editors (with little or no edit history) began making posts stating similar positions.

• Examples: ], ], ].

In addition to new editors, a significant number of IP addresses (with little or no edit history) began posting similar positions.

• Examples: , , , , , .

At this point, I became concerned that there may be possible WP:MEAT, WP:SPA or WP:CANVASS involved, so I placed a neutral notice regarding Misplaced Pages's policies at the top of the RfC., . I also approached ANI and requested input regarding my concerns about possible WP:MEAT, SPA and CANVASS.

After the RfC had been posted for a week, I made another post to the AN requesting a neutral, 3rd party administrator check over the RfC and close it. This was met with disatisfaction by some editors, as the closing Admin had userboxes on his page that he was Jewish and supported the existance of an Israeli state.(see: Talk:Golan_Heights#I_do_not_support_the_actions_and_views_of_Oren0_as_3rd_party) It was argued that since the editor was Jewish and supported the existance of Israel, he "can not be considered neutral to this subject, of course he is gonna side with Israel."

The debate degraded to the point where there was an argument over whether or not the Arabic or Hebrew name for the Golan Heights should come first in the lead. (see: Talk:Golan_Heights#Arabic_text_before_Hebrew). There was a further issue raised with one of the main contributors to RfC, User:Supreme_Deliciousness, because of several anti-Israeli and pro-syrian viewpoints expressed on his userpage.

In my opinion, as things currently stand, it has become next to impossible to find a fair and equitable balance between editors and sourced information, on both sides of the issue. Debate is always good, as it helps to improve articles by making sure all information is questioned and researched; and everyone is inherently bias to some extent (even if they do not realize it) however strong nationalistic viewpoints expressed by a several editors have unfortunately made it difficult for a consensus to be reached regarding balanced terminology in this and a number of other Arab-Israeli related articles.

Statement by Oren0

I became involved in this dispute when I responded to an AN post asking for a neutral administrator to close an RfC regarding whether the Golan Heights should be referred to as "occupied", "disputed", or something else. This RfC was flooded by new and anonymous editors, many of whom replied very similarly, starting with "reply to RfC" even if they were in a totally different section ( ). There was very likely some meatpuppetry going on there. I closed this RfC, stating in a nutshell that claims of "occupation" or "dispute" should be mentioned in the context of who is making them (e.g. "Syria considers the land to be illegally occupied by Israel") provided such claims can be reliably sourced, and that Misplaced Pages shouldn't be in the business of making blanket statements regarding the status of lands where sources and nations may disagree (e.g. "the land is occupied"). I stand by this closure as the only WP:NPOV way to handle the matter, and another uninvolved administrator has indicated that he was going to close the RfC the same way but I had beaten him to it.

User:Supreme Deliciousness subsequently opened a talk page section questioning whether I could be considered uninvolved given that I have userboxes on my user page indicating that I am Jewish and that I support the existence of the state of Israel. I find the assertion that a Jew could not fairly close an RfC to be mildly offensive, though I do welcome the question regarding whether my support for the existence of Israel may taint my judgment. My response to this is that the vast majority of the western world supports the existence of the state of Israel. Especially in the United States, the opinion that Israel as a state has no right to exist is considered very rare. I don't believe that holding such a common opinion should disqualify me from being neutral. To the more general point of my involvement in Middle East-related articles, I have done very little editing in this topic area. Looking at my top 100 articles edited, the only two that show up in this field are Golan Heights, all of which occurred subsequent to the RfC closure, and Gaza War (#60, 8 total edits, most recently in February of this year). My talk contributions are similar.

I completely stand by my own neutrality at the time of this closure and maintain that it was really the only way for that discussion to be closed in accordance with WP:NPOV. I believe that read independently of who wrote it my RfC closure was entirely fair and reasonable. As for the larger issue at hand, this is a content dispute that hasn't risen to the level of needing ArbCom involvement IMO. There has been some edit warring and at least one block (User:Supreme Deliciousness for 3RR on a semi-related article) but nothing that requires ArbCom attention. I have also placed a warning on the talk page pointing users towards WP:ARBPIA and I think that's all that needs to be done here. In short, I see no compelling reason for ArbCom to take this case. Oren0 (talk) 22:44, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Comment by uninvolved user Jtrainor

I think it would probably be a good idea for Arbcom to jump on this before it turns into the usual shitstorm that all I/P related arguments end up as. Jtrainor (talk) 15:59, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

Comment by uninvolved user Sm8900

Hi. I am reading this proceeding with interest. i suggest that all parties try to seek a compromise solution. There is no need for this to degenrate into an edit conflict requiring action by ArbCom. I have been an active member of WP:IPCOLL at various intervals. --Steve, Sm8900 (talk) 20:31, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Clerk notes

This area is used for notes by non-recused Clerks.

Arbitrators' opinion on hearing this matter (0/4/1/4)

• Comment I am leaning towards accepting this case, although wondered whether amending the previous West Bank/J&S case would be more helpful to facilitate finding a solution to the naming of the Golan Heights, which is technically not covered by the former case. To clarify, Peter Cohen asked me a couple of days ago for my opinion, and upon looking at the recent RfC was struck by its lack of clarity and structure compared with the soon-to-close Misplaced Pages talk:WikiProject Israel Palestine Collaboration/Placename guidelines. Given there has now been a RfC on the Golan Heights, I suspect this is the port of final call (?) Addendum, depending on other arbs' views on the situation thus far, another outcome might be a motion for one or more neutral admins to chair a new and structured Request for Comment on the disputed naming guidelines on the Golan Heights within a two month time-frame. Casliber (talk · contribs) 14:31, 1 July 2009 (UTC)
• Recuse. Newyorkbrad (talk) 14:47, 1 July 2009 (UTC)
• Query. I clicked on two of those discussions mentioned by Peter, and they were concluded prior to (or as a consequence of) the W&S case closing. I think it would be important to understand how many of those discussions mentioned by Peter occurred after the W&S case, and post W&S discussions are the ones we would want to review more closely. A chronological list, or table with start and end of the threads, would be very helpful. John Vandenberg 15:51, 1 July 2009 (UTC)
  • Decline. I dont see community consensus to open a case, nor do I think that there is an obvious need for one. Another RFC would help, provided it is very well prepared with input from both sides. Formal mediation also would help. If there are user conduct problems preventing resolution, they need to be outlined to us. John Vandenberg 08:45, 8 July 2009 (UTC)
• Questions. Have the content noticeboards been used to draw some outside input? (Specifically, I am considering the NPOV and ethnic conflicts noticeboards.) If not, I suggest noting the disagreement (with discussion links) at both, asking for outside input and the attention of uninvolved administrators. Are there extensive conduct issues involved? If so, can these be handled on the community level? If so, what method would be best? If not, why not? Are you asking for a requirement that certain naming disputes related to the Israel/Palestine topic area be discussed centrally at the IPCOLL page? Or, are you perhaps suggesting that a centralized request for comments be utilized? If not, what exactly are you requesting? On the matter of topic, are you asking that this one specific dispute be bound by such a requirement or that all naming disputes meeting certain criteria be so bound? If the latter, what benchmarks would you suggest? --Vassyana (talk) 10:38, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

• Also noting that the parties involved in this dispute should be notified of this request. --Vassyana (talk) 10:41, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

• Reject. Try a Centralized Discussion as was done in ARBMAC2, Misplaced Pages:Centralized discussion/Macedonia — Rlevse • Talk • 22:59, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

• Comment - agree with Casliber that a good approach would be: "a motion for one or more neutral admins to chair a new and structured Request for Comment on the disputed naming guidelines on the Golan Heights within a two month time-frame". Carcharoth (talk) 23:09, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

• Reject. Not ripe for a case, now. Try again now with a RFC style discussion. I would like to see if the Community can design and run a discussion that will result in a semi-binding result before we get involved. FloNight♥♥♥ 18:48, 8 July 2009 (UTC)
• Decline Wizardman 03:11, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

Motion

The arbitration committee advises that one or more neutral admins chair a new and structured Request for Comment on the disputed naming guidelines on the Golan Heights within a two month time-frame.

Support:

1. Casliber (talk · contribs) 22:29, 11 July 2009 (UTC)
2. John Vandenberg 23:43, 11 July 2009 (UTC)
3. Should be a standard response to protracted naming disputes. But please, don't let's have all the naming disputes rushing to ArbCom. There must be a demonstration that previous attempts have been made to resolve the dispute, and preferably the mediation stages of dispute resolution would have the facilitation of such naming discussions as a standard part of their services. Carcharoth (talk) 00:11, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Oppose:

Abstain:

Recuse:

1. Newyorkbrad (talk) 22:31, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

DreamHost

Initiated by SarekOfVulcan (talk) at 03:36, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Involved parties

• SarekOfVulcan (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA), filing party
• Scjessey (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• Judas278 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• 194x144x90x118 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
• Theserialcomma (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Confirmation that all parties are aware of the request

• 194x144x90x118 notified
• Scjessey notified
• Judas178 notified
• Theserialcomma notified

Confirmation that other steps in dispute resolution have been tried

• SarekOfVulcan requested a 3O on the autoarchive timing
• Scjessey filed a RfC on the "Incidents" section
• Judas278 requested informal mediation, which is ongoing but not very productive

Statement by SarekOfVulcan

The article on web hosting company DreamHost (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) is hopelessly deadlocked between satisfied customers SarekOfVulcan and Scjessey, and ex-customer Judas278 and non-customer 194x144x90x118. Judas and 194x treat any positive information about the company as advertising or a conflict of interest on Sarek and Scjessey's parts. This has resulted in the article being fully protected for most of the past two months, first by SarekOfVulcan and almost immediately after expiration by PhilKnight, the informal mediator. Suggestions for new edits are met with claims of advertisement. Information such as the names of the founders of the company and that they met in college is challenged as controversial and BLP-violating. Civility has occasionally (or frequently) gone out the window on various people's parts. Reducing the auto-archive period from 90 days to 45 days was decried as abusive and disruptive, even though it reduced the talk page from 285K to 80K. There were allegations that Sarek misused his admin bit by removing a sentence and then fully protecting the article.

It is currently undergoingjust underwent an AfD at Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/DreamHost (2nd nomination) that seems quite likely to endwas closed as keep.

I have not filed an RFC/U, because there isn't just one editor with issues here, and I think it's fairer to subject all involved parties to scrutiny.

• Please note 194x's response to my notification: "Beautiful man, you're a goner."--SarekOfVulcan (talk) 12:00, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

• Added Theserialcomma as an involved party, since he's a long-term editor, and just made an edit showing the same problems I mentioned above.--SarekOfVulcan (talk) 23:03, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Current dispute

We currently have a slow-motion edit war over a new section of the article. On June 23, Scjessey added Category:File hosting. On June 30, Bjweeks removed it, but readded it after a query from Scjessey and commented "it might be helpful if the article explained or mentioned why it is in the category". I came up with a short section on the "Files Forever" feature, sourcing it to an Official DreamHost Wiki revision created by the company's founder explaining how it worked, and a Spanish-language blog called "Genbeta", which is listed in Google News and has about 60 pages of results in Google when searching for the name, to show that there was apparently more than just English-language interest in the feature. Judas reverted later that day, with the edit summary "If significant, you could find more than One Spanish language source, and self-published unreliable wiki" TheRealFennShysa reverted, asking for better rationales, and Theserialcomma took it back out, commenting "the file hosting section should be removed. it's not encyclopedic" and "removin the whole section. um, the source is a blog."

On the talkpage, he said "as an admin, i'd hope that you would know how wikipedia feels about blogs in situations like this" and "well, if you don't, i'll just tell you. the spanish language blog is not a good source and should be removed". I responded, "Why is it not a good source? How do you know it's not the Spanish equivalent to TechCrunch?" and pointed him to the RSN. He responded, "how about you prove that it *is* reliable? your spanish must not be as good as mine, because i took one look at it and discovered it's an unreliable blog, which is why i removed it. you added it back without knowing anything about the site, or that it even was a blog" and pointed me at the RSN. Scjessey commented, saying he'd like to see better sourcing added, and Theserialcomma posted, apropos of nothing in Scjessey's comment that I could see, "spanish blogs don't become reliable because you don't speak spanish." After some more sourcing discussion, including Theserialcomma's comment of "but don't listen to me; i only speak spanish and actually understand the site. edit war instead", Judas278 inquired, "Projecting forward, will you want to re-publish their entire marketing and PR campaigns here in this article, since you can find a self-published blog or wiki article by a founder, for each campaign? Is this the purpose of wikipedia.?"

Shortly afterward, 194x commented, "I'm gonna go out on a limb but these repeated attempts to include advertising material by Scjessey can in no way be considered good faith edits since he should be fully aware that this sort of conduct is not acceptable." (This, incidentally, is the metaphoric limb Scjessey was responding to in the diff 194x posted below.) This statement was inaccurate, considering that Scjessey had done nothing to the article since his addition of the category a week and a half previously. After Scjessey's comment, Theserialcomma said, "How exactly do you 'metaphorically' snap someone's limb off and smash them over the head with it", misconstruing the comment.

Earlier today, in a discussion about protecting the article while undergoing arbitration (if we get back to net +4), 194x said "Admission of guilt: It's like this the other day Scjessey suggested something and I responded to it with a *Strong oppose and some explanation but that's not really the way one is supposed to respond to such things, one is rather to try and discuss the matters and such but the thing is with this user Scjessey is that he repeatedly suggest adding advertisement material to the article and such and it has been discussed repeatedly before but he just doesn't take a hint so well one just simply loses his patience with him and doesn't assume good faith like one is mandated to do cause good faith seems so far fetched in his case and instead just tries to save some time by voicing his opposition in the clearest way possible. I also want to state that when it comes to this article that a new attitude simply isn't credible either. There you have it I'm guilty." (What I'm getting out of that is a refusal to assume good faith and an unwillingness to move forward. YMMV.)

Since then, Judas took the section back out with "most discussion disagrees with the addition, so removing" and I restored with "Nothing like a consensus to delete at this point. It's not advertising, and it's not controversial." (For those keeping score at home, that's one addition and two restorations by me, one restoration by TheRealFennShysa, two removals by Judas278, and one removal by Theserialcomma.)

ETA: Since Judas hasn't been able to obtain a clear consensus for his version of the article, he says that "Work to consensus seems gone." He also claims that because DreamHost hasn't answered all the questions that have been added to the Wiki page for the service, it's encyclopedic to say that "numerous unanswered questions remain."--SarekOfVulcan (talk) 12:49, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

ETA^2: I asked for further opinions on COI issues at the WP:COIN. The editor who responded found no COI issues, specifically stating that referral compensation did not create a COI. Judas made various familiar arguments, and was told that he might want to redact at least one of them. His response was that his arguments were plausible, to which the other editor stated that it appeared he was acting out of a personal grudge.--SarekOfVulcan (talk) 16:24, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

Responses

Response to arbitrator Risker

• Actually, I don't think this is a content dispute, because the disputes have been spread over every part of the article and talk page. It seems clear to me that it's a user conduct issue -- I'm just not sure whose conduct is the problem.--SarekOfVulcan (talk) 13:22, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Response to Judas278

• I believe that calling me a liar right in the case illustrates nicely why I consider this a conduct issue, rather than a content dispute.--SarekOfVulcan (talk) 21:18, 2 July 2009 (UTC)
• In this request, you say that you've listened to other editors and modified your behavior. On the talk page, you point to a previous revision calling company sites "advertising" with the comment "told you so". That doesn't sound like learning to me.--SarekOfVulcan (talk) 16:59, 3 July 2009 (UTC)
• You say in your statement that you began editing when you saw tags being removed. I asked you earlier if you had previously edited as Guantanamo247 (talk · contribs): you never answered. Guantanamo's pattern of username, use of language, and allegations of off-wiki activity by Scjessey look a great deal like yours. Did you edit in 2007 under this username?--SarekOfVulcan (talk) 05:22, 4 July 2009 (UTC)
• "I thought this was the place for briefly determining a need for a case, not for arguing the case" -- I agree, which is why my first statement was short and as neutral as I could make it, including personal attacks and questions about misusing the bit. However, Vassyana stated they were open to being convinced there was after all a need for Arbitration, so the only way to do that was to expand on my statement.--SarekOfVulcan (talk) 17:10, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

Response to 194x144x90x118

• Regarding "Let me start by saying that I've acctually only ONCE! edited the article and cosidering that I can not see how I've been responsible for the 'the article being fully protected for most of the past two months'":

1. I didn't say that
2. Reviewing your contribution history to the talkpage:
   • first edit: reverted by Theserialcomma without comment.
   • second edit, essentially the same as the first, plus "BTW if anybody goes ahead and deletes this section of mine again then you'll have a new warrior stepping upto the plate to participate in this little discussion of yours.": reverted by Dayewalker as WP:SOAPBOXing.
   • third edit, essentially the same as the first, plus "Feel free to remove this section and my remarks AGAIN which sparked this whole auto archiving discussion in the first place, I'll just put them right back up and then some.": reverted by Dayewalker as WP:SOAPBOXing.
   • next edit: included "archiving ... is an attempt to bury the evidence by the same people who have so far put a great deal of energy into making the entire article about Dreamhost seem like one big 'Ahhh all normal'."
   • next edit: included "Oh do not attempt to act like you're just being an honest wikipedian out to improve the online encyclopedia.", reverted by Scjessey for soapboxing
   • next edit: restored third edit, reverted by me for discussing subject rather than article.
   • next edit: restored deleted comments, reverted by Theserialcomma.
   • next edit: restored deleted comments, reverted in two chunks by Onorem for discussing subject and me for personal attacks. After a bit more of this, I semi-protected the talk page.
   • Later on, right after full protection on the article had expired: "This article is not protected so anyone is free to edit it at his own discretion.... I won't allow this article to be turned into a nice free biased advertisement for dreamhost." Shortly after this comment, PhilKnight re-protected the article.

So yeah, you have been responsible for a lot of the protection here.--SarekOfVulcan (talk) 06:00, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

Statement by Jehochman

I've been watching 194x144x90x118 (talk · contribs) for a while. Something appears to be not right. Their second edit ever is way too knowledgeable (and snarky) for them to be a new user. I suggest checkuser. Jehochman 13:24, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

• I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the user previously edited as an unregistered account from that IP address, see 194.144.90.118 (talk · contribs · WHOIS). Thatcher 13:40, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
  • Did you check for the involvement of other accounts, or is it just the named account and the IP? I am not sure why this editor has been somewhat caustic from the start. 194, can you say whether somebody mistreated you at some point in your history here? Jehochman 03:59, 1 July 2009 (UTC) Upon quick review it seems that 194 was on the wrong end of a bad sock puppetry permablock. That would tend to make a user feel grumpy. Jehochman 04:33, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

I'm not keen to preempt the Committee, but it might be useful for these matters to be reviewed at WP:COIN or WP:NPOVN. This is the sort of case that those boards routinely process. Jehochman 14:27, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Note to Sjakkalle

I suggest somebody uninvolved give 194x144x90x118 counseling on how to avoid disruptive editing. Should that fail, they can be blocked by any uninvolved administrator. A case is not needed for such routine actions. Jehochman 11:21, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Note to the committee

Per my findings at Misplaced Pages:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard#DreamHost, I am prepared to indefinitely block Judas278 (talk · contribs) as a disruption-only account if they will not agree to refrain from further interaction with Scjessey. Judas278 appears to have used a prior account, Guantanamo247 (talk · contribs) which commenced harassing Scjessey with it's very first edit. The user appears to be here only to bother Scjessey. That is clearly not allowed. Jehochman 17:31, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

Statement by Judas278

I welcome any productive steps. I am not familiar enough with the options to have an opinion on the best route. I believe significant limitation of Scjessey's participation is appropriate. In summary, SarekOfVulcan's statement, “Simon, please take another look at WP:OWN. You're way too close to this article to look at it objectively” was excellent advice, which unfortunately has not been followed.

I do not treat “any positive information” as advertising or COI. I do object to pro-company editors removing well-sourced negative information while adding positive information without using similar standards, or by claiming “non-controversial” exceptions. I am an ex-customer, not a fan, and I previously observed the development of this article. I began editing the article when I saw the COI, NPOV and SELFPUB tags being removed, without significant changes in the article to justify removal. Example: I suggested a positive addition, covering “ceph”, but did not know of sources for it.

Scjessey is much more than a “satisfied customer.” Without listing details, several different editors have said his editing at DreamHost appears biased by pro-DreamHost COI. Also, he is creator of an off-wiki web site intended to influence or discourage participation, including at Misplaced Pages, by “outing” personal information and user name(s). This information was provided privately to Philknight and is available privately on request.

Civility: No question Scjessey regularly “welcomed” new editors at DreamHost with prompt, un-discussed edit reverts and accusations of bad faith. The recent Restrictions as a result of his participation in the Obama articles seems to confirm that problems at DreamHost are not an isolated incident. In my opinion, his talk page activity appears largely argumentative and drives away other editors, rather than working to compromise or consensus. I think 194x got off to a “bad” start on this article because s/he stepped into a bad atmosphere, and the Talk page was soon also semi-blocked as a result, forcing him to register. On the whole I think s/he's been a somewhat moderating influence at DreamHost. I try to take SarekOfVulcan 's involvement with good faith, but I will say he does sometimes seem to use Admin power to excess, to force his desired outcome. His apparent attempts at humor sometimes work, but sometimes inflame or derail discussions. Judas278 (talk) 05:40, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Responses

• Response to SarekOfVulcan adding Theserialcomma: A voice of reason, from whom I learned to improve my interpretations of policies and guidelines. Was it simply disagreement over an edit, or a suggestion causing the addition?

• Response to Jehochman talk page: Is it necessary to cast aspersions and doubts? I have listened to advice from other impartial editors, and modified my actions because of it.

• Additional previous formal dispute resolution step taken: There was also this ANI with no action taken. Judas278 (talk) 01:30, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Response to initiator/admin SarekOfVulcan

I await direction or questions from Arbitrators or impartial authorities. I thought this was the place for briefly determining a need for a case, not for arguing the case or "Long, rambling additions." Judas278 (talk) 12:55, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

Statement by Scjessey

Although still somewhat bruised from my previous encounter with ArbCom, I would be delighted to see the committee accept this case. Broadly-speaking, I concur with the statement made by SarekOfVulcan. DreamHost has very few regular editors, which makes it easy for one or two individuals to disrupt the editing environment - the lack of participants also makes it easy for editors to make ownership claims. Of particular concern, however, is the behavior of a disgruntled ex-customer who has essentially destroyed a peaceful and productive editing atmosphere by attacking the subject, and then the editors, of this article.

Attempts to improve the article are constantly obstructed (again, fairly easy to do with so few editors to help establish consensus) and advice gained from informal mediation, requests for comment and third opinions is essentially being ignored. Suggestions for article improvement are quashed with claims of "advertising" or protracted meta discussion.

It is my hope that rather than taking punitive measures, ArbCom will instead focus on offering guidance to all involved parties (both named and otherwise) as to how to resolve conflict and return to productive editing. I also hope that this might lead to a wider discussion of the problems associated with single-purpose accounts, as I have found that these are a frequent source of disruption across much of Misplaced Pages. -- Scjessey (talk) 15:41, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Update following comments from Arbitrators

I find myself in broad agreement with statements made by arbitrators John Vandenberg and Vassyana. Until John mentioned it, I wasn't even aware of the Content Noticeboard. It seems logical to try to resolve content-related matters there before imposing on ArbCom. Likewise, the matters concerning editor behavior have really evolved from the perception that several parties have some sort of conflict of interest - something which should be resolved at the COI Noticeboard. I'd be more than happy to give those avenues a try, particularly because they would attract the welcome attention of uninvolved administrators. Even if that proves unsuccessful, the least it would do would be to help parties collect their thoughts/evidence, and provide arbitrators with additional material to help with their deliberations. -- Scjessey (talk) 13:43, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Statement by 194x144x90x118

Let me start by saying that I've acctually only ONCE! edited the article and cosidering that I can not see how I've been responsible for the "the article being fully protected for most of the past two months" let me continue by stating that I have not treated all positive information about the company as advertisements Line 930 the third edit.

Let me also state that I OBJECT! to the autoarchiving bot being abused The bots page the text that appears on it: "NOTE: Before setting up automatic archiving on an article's talk page, please establish a consensus that archiving is really needed there." . Bottom line, Don't use the bot unless you first establish a consensus. The acts of Sarekofvulcan and Scjessey were nothing less than gross abuse of the bot repeatedly changing its settings without first respecting the requirement that a consensus needed to be obtained. Something which can be compared to impaling someone with a white flag.

Now lets address the players involved

Theserialcomma

I fail to see how this user has possibly done anything wrong.

Judas

Scjesseys and Sareks complaint in the past regarding this user is that he is an SPA but only being an SPA isn't an offense according to wikipedias rules.

Scjessey

Lets begin with viewing other peoples complaints regarding this user from his very own talkpage:

1!!! Complaint and "I will NEVER make any more donations like I have in the past." by User:Carterwj.

2!!! Complaint regarding personal attacks made by Scjessey, by User:Caspian blue.

3!!! Complaint regarding civility made by User:Bigtimepeace

4!!! Complaint from me regarding repeated personal attacks on the dreamhost talkpage.

5!!! Scjessey calling someone a "worthless coward".

Now lets take a look at the Dreamhost talkpage shall we?

1!!! Scjessey threatening violence or making an inappropriate joke "I swear I'm going to metaphorically snap that limb off and bash somebody over the head with it"

11:06, 11 March 2009 Innapropriate sock claims "I believe the disgruntled drive-by tagger is probably a sock, since the account has a single purpose with a limited history, yet seems able to wikilawyer adeptly."

00:27, 3 April Personal attack by Scjessey "Have you no interested in edititing anything else on Wikipeda, other than this crusade of hate?"

16:31, 4 April 2009 Personal attack by Scjessey "Why don't you go and learn the rules and then come back and try to be a productive Wikipedian, rather than a disruptive SPA?"

20:31, 5 April 2009 "You are being deliberately obtuse and tendentious because you have a grudge against the company. It is a complete waste of time trying to discuss this with you, because you have the red mist of DreamHost rage in your eyes" Personal attack by Scjessey.

01:02, 7 April 2009 Scjessey personal attack "You don't make good faith edits. All your edits are in bad faith, because your sole reason for editing here is to discredit DreamHost"

01:58, 7 April 2009 "Misplaced Pages is not your personal playground of hate."

02:29, 9 April 2009 "Also, since you are just a DreamHost-hating SPA, your "challenge" is essentially meaningless."

02:04, 4 May 2009 Personal attack by Scjessey "Sometimes the senseless outnumber the sensible - that's probably how Bush managed to twice get elected."

02:30, 4 May 2009 "I regard you very much as part of a coalition of the foolish,"

03:59, 20 April 2009 Personal attacks "You are way off base here. Your edits have the sole effect of attacking the company, whereas my edits are for the benefit of the Misplaced Pages project. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who has the conflict of interest."

04:14, 20 April 2009 Threats and personal attacks "If this were any other article I edit on, you would have been blocked long ago for being a disruptive SPA. You have escaped this long only because this is a low-trafficked, low-importance article. Now please stop your misrepresentations."

21:01, 27 May 2009 Personal attacks "If the banhammer doesn't fall upon you, I will simply be ignoring you from now on."

I'd dig up the diffs and show them to you guys but I just don't have more time today and besides all of this can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Talk:DreamHost&oldid=299280215

Scjessey continued

1!!! As this link will show Scjessey has been editing this article disruptively for the past 20! Months or longer.

I'd also like to ask you to take a look at THIS!!! link but it proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Scjessey tried to recruite Meatpuppets to change an AFD.

And HERE! we have a complaint from a user JavierMC regarding Scjessey and article ownership.

I ask: Is it fair to Misplaced Pages users that we wait another 20 months for these matters to be reviewed? --194x144x90x118 (talk) 19:47, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Statement by Sjakkalle

Although my (brief) experience with 194x144x90x118 was not related to the DreamHost dispute, I think consideration of 194x144x90x118's conduct in general is in order. A couple of weeks ago he launched a series of personal attacks (e.g. )) and intimidation (e.g. ) against editors at the chess WikiProject during a content dispute, and the presence of this arbcom request also involving possible disruptive editing from 194x144x90x118 is an indication that this editor's behavior in general may require further scrutiny, possibly sanctions. I don't know about the other editors listed in the request, so I shall not comment on them. Sjakkalle (Check!) 13:31, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Procedural comment by uninvolved user Arakunem

Please note that a discussion has opened on this subject at Misplaced Pages:Conflict_of_interest/Noticeboard#DreamHost, where much of the potential case discussion and evidence is being discussed. I would encourage a final decision as to acceptance or rejection of this Arbitration request be made quickly, so discussion may proceed in the appropriate venue, rather than divided amongst several locations. Arakunem 15:10, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

Statement by Dtobias

I have the distinction of being the one who started the Dreamhost article, years ago, but have not been a significant participant in recent editing, commenting, and squabbling regarding the article. I am a Dreamhost customer, so if that status is ultimately adjudged to be a conflict of interest I'll comply with any conditions placed on editing. I fail to understand what's so important that everybody is fighting so heatedly about it... "Can't we all just get along?" *Dan T.* (talk) 03:38, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

Clerk notes

This area is used for notes by non-recused Clerks.

I'm waiting on direction from the arbitrators about opening this, as we're still missing some statements and three arbitrators still appear to be on the fence for this issue. Hersfold non-admin 21:02, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Please hold on for now. I think a couple of us are waiting to see what might happen over the next couple of days. At the moment the case has fallen below "net 4" anyway, but that might change again. Newyorkbrad (talk) 17:02, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

All users posting here should be aware that personal attacks will not be tolerated here and will be summarily removed by clerks or arbitrators on sight. RFAR has enough drama associated with it already without people insulting one another. Please maintain a basic level of civility and decorum, as you would anywhere else on Misplaced Pages. Thank you. Hersfold 17:02, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

Arbitrators' opinion on hearing this matter (7/8/0/0)

• Accept to consider the conduct of everyone involved in this matter. Kirill  03:55, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
• Decline There is an AFD outstanding, and an informal mediation that is said to be ongoing. Wait for the AFD to close, and then attempt to use formal mediation. You may also want to try the new Misplaced Pages:Content noticeboard out. John Vandenberg 04:26, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
• Awaiting further submissions. I would like to see the AfD to close as well before determining next steps. John Vandenberg's suggestions for alternatives are good. I'm of the impression, however, that this is a content dispute that still has some opportunity for resolution. Risker (talk) 13:12, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

• Decline at this time, in agreement with Vassyana. I recommend that the editors involved make use of the Content noticeboard and take other steps. Consider requests for comment and posting at business-related wikiproject talk pages seeking other opinions. This does not appear to be ripe for arbitration yet, and I would like to see more community involvement tried first. I do urge all involved editors to remain open-minded in reviewing other options here; whether or not one is a "satisfied customer" should be irrelevant to one's edits. Risker (talk) 15:16, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

• Accept to look at the user conduct issues. The Afd's closed one way or the other is not going to fix the problems that I see looking through editing history of some of the involved parties. FloNight♥♥♥ 13:46, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
• Awaiting further statements, including the other named parties' views on whether they see a path to resolving their dispute here short of arbitration. Newyorkbrad (talk) 13:52, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
  • Accept. Frankly, this is not the sort of dispute that should require the high artillery of arbitration, but nothing else is working (and frankly when ADHD closes we'll have no cases pending, so it's not as if we are overloaded at the moment). This case should progress quickly through the evidence stage and to a proposed decision after the one-week evidence period so that we do not artifically protract a relatively confined dispute. Newyorkbrad (talk) 22:43, 9 July 2009 (UTC)
• Waiting for other statements. If other parties are willing to seek dispute resolution then it could be declined. if not it should be accepted. We'll see. Wizardman 23:44, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
  • Change to accept. Wizardman 20:19, 4 July 2009 (UTC)
• Accept; regardless of the AfD results, some poor behavior has occurred around this topic that bear looking into. — Coren  04:29, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

  Accept - AfD now closed as 'keep', conduct needs review. Casliber (talk · contribs) 14:37, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

actually, I think editor conduct and conflict resolution issues can be dealt with by normal community means. thus decline Casliber (talk · contribs) 04:09, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

• Accept:  Roger Davies 03:28, 2 July 2009 (UTC)
• Decline. There are other avenues of dispute resolution left available. As an example noted by Jehochman, there are noticeboards suitable for handling and clarifying aspects of this situation. I'm also inclined to believe that an uninvolved administrator or two can be found to address any remaining concerns. I am open to being convinced that arbitration is necessary here, but I am skeptical to the notion that this dispute cannot be resolved at the community level. ArbCom should not preempt or supplant the community. On a broader note, the community should take note of this dispute. It is repeated throughout a significant portion of our company articles. Noticeboards discussions and other outside input from the community constitute a necessary step in clarifying policy in relation to those areas and (thus) better addressing these disputes. It is infinitely better for the community to establish this context and application. --Vassyana (talk) 10:27, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

• Updated comment. While a better picture of the dispute has been laid out in the expanded comments, no pressing reason is provided to accept this request. That is, this still seems within the community's reach to resolve. --Vassyana (talk) 21:57, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

• Reject at this time. Behavioural issues seem low-level and not beyond ordinary administrator intervention, if any is warranted. The content dispute is the core of this, and there are further dispute resolution options to pursue in relation to that, particularly ones that involve seeking outside opinion (this is especially true if party-internal methods such as mediation are not being productive). The request for comment linked to above seemed to attract only two uninvolved users; consider contacting a relevant WikiProject or advertising a request at a relevant noticeboard (though keeping relevant guidelines in mind). --bainer (talk) 05:04, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

• Accept to look at behavior of parties, not content of article. — Rlevse • Talk • 22:56, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

• Decline - this is borderline, but the conduct and content issues can be handled by the community, with a bit more work. If that fails, please return here for arbitration, but all parties should be aware that poor conduct on both sides will likely be sanctioned, so it would be best for all concerned if they worked together to resolve this. Carcharoth (talk) 23:21, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

• Decline - this is not something the community can't fix. Also, Judas278 has just went retired so opening a case would be moot. -- FayssalF - 13:36, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

• Reject. I don't normally reject due to inadequate prior steps, but I don't understand why this is an unresolvable dispute. Seems like a lame edit war, and with Judas' apparent retirement, I don't see what more we could do. Cool Hand Luke 20:57, 11 July 2009 (UTC)