Once it is determined that administrator intervention may be necessary in a particular dispute, an admin may issue informal warnings, either to specific editors, or on article talkpages to remind editors that they are working in a topic area that is within the scope of a particular ArbCom case's discretionary sanctions
If informal warnings are not working, administrators are to issue formal notifications about the potential of discretionary sanctions
Lastly, administrators may place discretionary sanctions on editors or articles, such as
WP:BANs,
WP:BLOCKs, or other kinds of restrictions such as revert limitations.
Articles where I have used discretionary sanctions
I try to adapt my approach to specific articles or topic areas, since when it comes to discretionary sanctions, it's not one-size-fits-all. Sometimes in the most complex disputes, which involve dozens of editors on a single article, I create a "list of editors" to help provide some structure to the dispute.
Areas where I have used the "list of editors" technique:
Other articles where such a list was not needed, is not being used, or was scrapped after it appeared to be causing more problems than it was intended to solve:
These are editors to whom I issued formal notifications about potential ArbCom sanctions. Note that not all editors warned were ever actually sanctioned, as most chose to voluntarily moderate their own behavior such that further action was not needed.
Implemented consensus decision at AE, modifying Mooretwin's block and probation.
[18][19]
Discretionary sanctions
This section contains data on every discretionary sanction I placed, which went beyond a simple warning to the point of an actual restriction on an editor or article.
Summary of my efforts: Before my arrival in mid-April 2008, there had been edit-warring on dozens of articles, and
dozens of admin board threads, most of which had been ignored because the complaints were too complex. After the intervention of myself and other administrators such as
Shell Kinney (
talk·contribs) and
EdJohnston (
talk·contribs), the topic area was stabilized within a couple months. Multiple sockpuppets were blocked, a special naming guideline had been discussed, the admin noticeboard threads had trickled off, and all editors were either working together constructively, or had moved on to other projects.
Summary of my efforts: By simply implementing two brief bans, the rest of the editors on the
Atropa Belladonna and
Quackwatch articles were able to reach consensus, and the articles were drastically improved.
Atropa belladonna article before I arrived,
[22] Article 10 days later:
[23] Better quality article, tags gone, and edit wars diminished
Quackwatch article before I arrived
[24] Article after restrictions:
[25]
Summary of my efforts: Before my arrival, chronic edit-warring, multiple ANI threads, rapidly scrolling talkpage, extensive incivility. After my participation: Stable article, no more ANI threads, editors apparently content with compromise and have moved on to other projects
June 15, 2008
ChrisO banned from participating at
Talk:Muhammad al-Durrah for one week, and banned from editing the article for 30 days
[26]
Summary of my efforts: Minor. I did start a
thread at WP:AN to request clarification on whether or not
Chiropractic could be administered under the Pseudoscience case (the answer was yes). And I started the
Talk:Chiropractic/Admin log page, where I engaged in discussion with other admins on the best way to proceed. All the actual sanctions though were placed by other administrators such as
Shell Kinney (
talk·contribs), who did the lion's share of the work on stabilizing the article, such as by managing the page at
Talk:Chiropractic/Mediation.
July 11, 2008, ScienceApologist blocked for 12 hours
[33]
Once it is determined that administrator intervention may be necessary in a particular dispute, an admin may issue informal warnings, either to specific editors, or on article talkpages to remind editors that they are working in a topic area that is within the scope of a particular ArbCom case's discretionary sanctions
If informal warnings are not working, administrators are to issue formal notifications about the potential of discretionary sanctions
Lastly, administrators may place discretionary sanctions on editors or articles, such as
WP:BANs,
WP:BLOCKs, or other kinds of restrictions such as revert limitations.
Articles where I have used discretionary sanctions
I try to adapt my approach to specific articles or topic areas, since when it comes to discretionary sanctions, it's not one-size-fits-all. Sometimes in the most complex disputes, which involve dozens of editors on a single article, I create a "list of editors" to help provide some structure to the dispute.
Areas where I have used the "list of editors" technique:
Other articles where such a list was not needed, is not being used, or was scrapped after it appeared to be causing more problems than it was intended to solve:
These are editors to whom I issued formal notifications about potential ArbCom sanctions. Note that not all editors warned were ever actually sanctioned, as most chose to voluntarily moderate their own behavior such that further action was not needed.
Implemented consensus decision at AE, modifying Mooretwin's block and probation.
[18][19]
Discretionary sanctions
This section contains data on every discretionary sanction I placed, which went beyond a simple warning to the point of an actual restriction on an editor or article.
Summary of my efforts: Before my arrival in mid-April 2008, there had been edit-warring on dozens of articles, and
dozens of admin board threads, most of which had been ignored because the complaints were too complex. After the intervention of myself and other administrators such as
Shell Kinney (
talk·contribs) and
EdJohnston (
talk·contribs), the topic area was stabilized within a couple months. Multiple sockpuppets were blocked, a special naming guideline had been discussed, the admin noticeboard threads had trickled off, and all editors were either working together constructively, or had moved on to other projects.
Summary of my efforts: By simply implementing two brief bans, the rest of the editors on the
Atropa Belladonna and
Quackwatch articles were able to reach consensus, and the articles were drastically improved.
Atropa belladonna article before I arrived,
[22] Article 10 days later:
[23] Better quality article, tags gone, and edit wars diminished
Quackwatch article before I arrived
[24] Article after restrictions:
[25]
Summary of my efforts: Before my arrival, chronic edit-warring, multiple ANI threads, rapidly scrolling talkpage, extensive incivility. After my participation: Stable article, no more ANI threads, editors apparently content with compromise and have moved on to other projects
June 15, 2008
ChrisO banned from participating at
Talk:Muhammad al-Durrah for one week, and banned from editing the article for 30 days
[26]
Summary of my efforts: Minor. I did start a
thread at WP:AN to request clarification on whether or not
Chiropractic could be administered under the Pseudoscience case (the answer was yes). And I started the
Talk:Chiropractic/Admin log page, where I engaged in discussion with other admins on the best way to proceed. All the actual sanctions though were placed by other administrators such as
Shell Kinney (
talk·contribs), who did the lion's share of the work on stabilizing the article, such as by managing the page at
Talk:Chiropractic/Mediation.
July 11, 2008, ScienceApologist blocked for 12 hours
[33]