Case clerks: Dreamy Jazz ( Talk) & Amortias ( Talk) & MJL ( Talk) Drafting arbitrators: Barkeep49 ( Talk) & Izno ( Talk) & L235 ( Talk)
Wikipedia Arbitration |
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Track related changes |
The scope of this case is: Editing behavior and potential coordinated editing in skepticism topics. Additional links:
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Case opened on 02:29, 17 January 2022 (UTC)
Case closed on 04:53, 3 March 2022 (UTC)
Case amended by motion on 14:36, 20 April 2024 (UTC)
Case amended by motion at 21:21, June 21, 2024 (UTC)
This case is closed. No edits should be made to this page except by clerks or arbitrators.
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Preliminary statements given in the case request stage may be found at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Skepticism and coordinated editing/Preliminary statements.
All tallies are based the votes at /Proposed decision, where comments and discussion from the voting phase is also available.
1) The Arbitration Committee has jurisdiction only over the behavior of editors on the English Wikipedia. While the Arbitration Committee may take note of off-wiki behavior for the purposes of settling on-wiki disputes and in its remedies, restricting the off-wiki behavior of users is not within its remit.
2) Off-wiki training can help new editors by providing support and guidance to complement what's available onwiki. However, when training is incorrect or insufficient, it can bring those trained into conflict with the community by fostering false confidence, misplaced expectations, and misunderstandings of how Wikipedia works.
3) Behaviour of editors on-wiki and off-wiki are not subject to the same standards. Conduct which may be considered acceptable in the open and transparent atmosphere of Wikipedia (i.e., on-wiki) may be controversial and even unacceptable if made off wiki, due to the lack of transparency. In a similar vein, off-wiki disclosure of personal information does not allow, or excuse, a third party to post it on-wiki.
4) Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons (the "BLP policy") is a fundamental policy requiring, among other things, that all biographical articles must be kept free of unsourced negative or controversial content, unsupported rumors and gossip, defamatory material, undue weight given to minor incidents or to matters irrelevant to the subject's notability, and unwarranted violations of personal privacy.
5) Editors are considered to have a conflict of interest if they contribute to Wikipedia in order to promote their own interests, or those of other individuals or groups, and if advancing those interests is more important to them than advancing the aims of Wikipedia. Editors do not have a conflict of interest merely because they have personal or professional interest or expertise in a topic, nor because they are members of or affiliated with a group of individuals with personal or professional interest or expertise in a topic.
Editors with a conflict of interest are strongly discouraged from editing affected articles directly. While most conflicts of interest relate to the potential for unduly positive editing, the conflict of interest guideline also applies to conflicts that could cause unduly negative editing. Editors should avoid editing in areas where they have a negative conflict of interest, as it undermines public confidence in the project.
6) Wikipedia editors are expected to behave reasonably, calmly, and courteously in their interactions with other editors; to approach even difficult situations in a dignified fashion and with a constructive and collaborative outlook; and to avoid acting in a manner that brings the project into disrepute. Unseemly conduct, such as personal attacks, incivility, assumptions of bad faith, harassment, disruptive point-making, and gaming the system, is prohibited.
7) All Wikipedia articles must be written from a neutral point of view, with all relevant points of view represented in reasonable proportion to their importance and relevance to the subject-matter of the article. Undue weight should not be given to aspects that are peripheral to the topic. Original research and synthesized claims are prohibited. Use of a Wikipedia article for advocacy or promotion, either in favor of or against an individual, institution, or idea that is the subject of the article, is prohibited.
1) Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia (GSoW) is a group founded in 2010 by Susan Gerbic. According to Wired, the group's purpose is to recruit and train editors to write about topics of interest to the Skeptical movement. [1]
2) Sgerbic ( talk · contribs) is Susan Gerbic ( permalink of user page), an activist for scientific skepticism who has a focus on exposing people claiming to be mediums, and who is a columnist for the Skeptical Inquirer ( permalink of her Wikipedia page). She joined Wikipedia in 2010 and has not been previously sanctioned. Because of her work off-wiki, Sgerbic has a conflict of interest with respect to the people and organizations Gerbic is involved with, which notably includes her work in Skeptical Inquirer and the people she has written about therein, and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, where she has been awarded a fellowship and which publishes the Skeptical Inquirer.
3) Susan Gerbic has written articles in Skeptical Inquirer, and has stated an intent of having those articles be used as sources on Wikipedia, especially for biographies of living people. GSoW members have edited BLPs to include negative material sourced to Susan Gerbic's articles. This has created the appearance of collaborative editing to create negative BLPs. ( Bilby evidence, Schazjmd evidence.)
4) Rp2006 ( talk · contribs) is a GSoW member (private evidence) who joined Wikipedia in 2006. He has not been previously sanctioned. Rp2006 has a conflict of interest with respect to the Skeptical Inquirer and the Center for Inquiry (private evidence) and has promoted Susan Gerbic directly ( ScottishFinnishRadish evidence) as well as indirectly by citing her work. ( Schazjmd evidence). Rp2006 has displayed incivility in several discussions (A. C. Santacruz evidence, ScottishFinishRadish evidence) including one pertaining to his conflict of interest, [2] [3] and at least one offwiki instance during this case (private evidence). Rp2006 has edited biographies of living people without appropriately observing neutral point of view, both negatively for individuals associated as fringe topics and positively for individuals associated as skeptics (Schazjmd evidence, ScottishFinnishRadish evidence).
5) Roxy the dog ( talk · contribs) was at times uncollaborative with A. C. Santacruz. This included dismissing content concerns A.C. Santacruz had raised simply because of who was raising the issue [4] [5], attempting to discourage A.C. Santacruz from finding consensus during a content dispute [6] [7], mockery [8], and claims that A.C. Santacruz was "dissembling" [9]. This behavior is not justified by any legitimate issues Roxy the dog raised of A.C. Santacruz's conduct (e.g. [10]).
6) A. C. Santacruz ( talk · contribs) has failed to remain consistently collegial when interacting with Rp2006, and she has engaged in battleground editing when editing the article Sharon A. Hill.
7) Guerilla Skeptics of Wikipedia (GSoW) uses Facebook as a platform for training, communication, and community building (private evidence, Robincantin evidence, Gronk Oz evidence). The Arbitration Committee received no private evidence that any kind of canvassing was done on Facebook, and some evidence was provided suggesting that when discussing events still happening onwiki, members are discouraged from joining in onwiki (Sgerbic's evidence, private evidence).
8) New GSoW members must apply to join the group. Once accepted members participate in a training program for 3-16 weeks (depending on the trainee). The training was developed over several years, with a major redevelopment in 2019 (Sgerbic evidence). Training consists of assignments intended to be hands-on, comprehensive, and accessible for new editors to learn how to write successfully on Wikipedia (private evidence).
9) The Arbitration Committee was provided a portion of GSoW's training materials (private evidence). Of that portion, there is a substantial focus on the technical skills needed to edit Wikipedia articles (e.g., navigating the Wikipedia website and using citation templates). Trainees are given outlines of Wikipedia's core content policies and encouraged to explore project-space on their own. Trainees ask questions in the private Facebook group. The training process concludes with an assignment to rewrite a stub into a comprehensive article (private evidence).
Passing the GSoW training does not appear contingent on any particular demonstrated level of policy knowledge. Public GSoW YouTube videos reflect misunderstandings or oversimplifications of Wikipedia's notability requirements, and in particular a misunderstanding of the differences between notability, reliability, independence, and primary/secondary sources. The Arbitration Committee has not received evidence suggesting that the GSoW training conveys different content regarding Wikipedia's content policies than the public YouTube videos.
10) There currently exists no formal on-wiki presence for the GSoW though some GSoW members participate in WikiProject Skepticism. Consideration was made to listing onwiki all GSoW edited articles but the start of the events that led to this case meant that this was not done (Sgerbic's evidence). Through self-identification, examination of editor contribution histories, and the editor interaction tool some GSoW members and likely members have been identified (e.g. Billed Mammal initial statement and evidence). The lack of a list of members and articles worked on by the GSoW has increased suspicion of GSoW and its members from some editors. Further, it has meaningfully disrupted the ability of the community to use its typical dispute resolution methods to come to a consensus about allegations of canvassing, including vote stacking, point of view pushing, and conflicts of interest (e.g. [11] [12] [13]).
11) Historically the use of the Skeptical Inquirer has received little attention and has been generally viewed favorably by the editors who have commented on its reliability (Alexbrn's evidence). By contrast the most recent discussion in January 2022 attracted a larger number of editors and was quite extensive. In that discussion, there was a general consensus in that discussion that the Skeptical Inquirer is not a self-published source and that columns should be used in a manner similar to other opinion sources. There seemed to be no community consensus on its general reliability. Large parts of the discussion focused on its suitability as a source for biographies of living people and with the lack of coverage by other sources of many fringe topics ( [14]). A formal RfC on the reliability of the Skeptical Inquirer was launched after the proposed decision for this case was posted.
12) Since 2018, a large percentage of links to Skeptical Inquirer articles have been added by editors likely to be GSoW members (BilledMammal evidence). GSoW members report using it occasionally as a reference with no organizational pressure to do so (Gronk oz evidence, Robincantin evidence). Sgerbic has said the GSoW will evaluate its use of it as a source and said it is sometimes the only source available to maintain a parity of sources. (Sgerbic evidence)
Note: All remedies that refer to a period of time, for example to a ban of X months or a revert parole of Y months, are to run concurrently unless otherwise stated.
6) Rp2006 ( talk · contribs) is warned against a battleground mentality and further incivility.
9.1) Rp2006 ( talk · contribs) is indefinitely topic banned from edits related to living people associated with or of interest to scientific skepticism, broadly construed. This topic ban may be appealed after six months have elapsed and every six months thereafter.
10) A. C. Santacruz ( talk · contribs) is reminded to remain collegial in editing and interacting with others.
11.1) Roxy the dog ( talk · contribs) is warned to remain collegial in editing and interacting with others.
12) GSoW is advised that a presence on English Wikipedia, perhaps as its own WikiProject or as a task force of WikiProject Skepticism, will create more transparency and lessen some of the kinds of suspicion and conflict that preceded this case. It could also provide a place for the GSoW to get community feedback about its training which would increase its effectiveness.
13) Editors are reminded that discretionary sanctions for biographies of living people have been authorized since 2014. Editors named in this decision shall be considered aware of these discretionary sanctions under awareness criterion 1.
0) Should any user subject to a restriction in this case violate that restriction, that user may be blocked, initially for up to one month, and then with blocks increasing in duration to a maximum of one year.
0) Appeals and modifications
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This procedure applies to appeals related to, and modifications of, actions taken by administrators to enforce the Committee's remedies. It does not apply to appeals related to the remedies directly enacted by the Committee.
Appeals may be made only by the editor under sanction and only for a currently active sanction. Requests for modification of page restrictions may be made by any editor. The process has three possible stages (see "Important notes" below). The editor may:
No administrator may modify or remove a sanction placed by another administrator without:
Administrators modifying sanctions out of process may at the discretion of the committee be desysopped. Nothing in this section prevents an administrator from replacing an existing sanction issued by another administrator with a new sanction if fresh misconduct has taken place after the existing sanction was applied. Administrators are free to modify sanctions placed by former administrators – that is, editors who do not have the administrator permission enabled (due to a temporary or permanent relinquishment or desysop) – without regard to the requirements of this section. If an administrator modifies a sanction placed by a former administrator, the administrator who made the modification becomes the "enforcing administrator". If a former administrator regains the tools, the provisions of this section again apply to their unmodified enforcement actions. Important notes:
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For violations of their topic ban and for continued editing which violate the conflict of interest guidelines, Rp2006 is blocked for 1 month. This block may be appealed only to the Arbitration Committee.
Passed 6 to 0 by motion at 21:21, June 21, 2024 (UTC)
Any block, restriction, ban, or sanction performed under the authorisation of a remedy for this case must be logged at Wikipedia:Arbitration enforcement log, not here.
Case clerks: Dreamy Jazz ( Talk) & Amortias ( Talk) & MJL ( Talk) Drafting arbitrators: Barkeep49 ( Talk) & Izno ( Talk) & L235 ( Talk)
Wikipedia Arbitration |
---|
|
Track related changes |
The scope of this case is: Editing behavior and potential coordinated editing in skepticism topics. Additional links:
|
Case opened on 02:29, 17 January 2022 (UTC)
Case closed on 04:53, 3 March 2022 (UTC)
Case amended by motion on 14:36, 20 April 2024 (UTC)
Case amended by motion at 21:21, June 21, 2024 (UTC)
This case is closed. No edits should be made to this page except by clerks or arbitrators.
|
Preliminary statements given in the case request stage may be found at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Skepticism and coordinated editing/Preliminary statements.
All tallies are based the votes at /Proposed decision, where comments and discussion from the voting phase is also available.
1) The Arbitration Committee has jurisdiction only over the behavior of editors on the English Wikipedia. While the Arbitration Committee may take note of off-wiki behavior for the purposes of settling on-wiki disputes and in its remedies, restricting the off-wiki behavior of users is not within its remit.
2) Off-wiki training can help new editors by providing support and guidance to complement what's available onwiki. However, when training is incorrect or insufficient, it can bring those trained into conflict with the community by fostering false confidence, misplaced expectations, and misunderstandings of how Wikipedia works.
3) Behaviour of editors on-wiki and off-wiki are not subject to the same standards. Conduct which may be considered acceptable in the open and transparent atmosphere of Wikipedia (i.e., on-wiki) may be controversial and even unacceptable if made off wiki, due to the lack of transparency. In a similar vein, off-wiki disclosure of personal information does not allow, or excuse, a third party to post it on-wiki.
4) Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons (the "BLP policy") is a fundamental policy requiring, among other things, that all biographical articles must be kept free of unsourced negative or controversial content, unsupported rumors and gossip, defamatory material, undue weight given to minor incidents or to matters irrelevant to the subject's notability, and unwarranted violations of personal privacy.
5) Editors are considered to have a conflict of interest if they contribute to Wikipedia in order to promote their own interests, or those of other individuals or groups, and if advancing those interests is more important to them than advancing the aims of Wikipedia. Editors do not have a conflict of interest merely because they have personal or professional interest or expertise in a topic, nor because they are members of or affiliated with a group of individuals with personal or professional interest or expertise in a topic.
Editors with a conflict of interest are strongly discouraged from editing affected articles directly. While most conflicts of interest relate to the potential for unduly positive editing, the conflict of interest guideline also applies to conflicts that could cause unduly negative editing. Editors should avoid editing in areas where they have a negative conflict of interest, as it undermines public confidence in the project.
6) Wikipedia editors are expected to behave reasonably, calmly, and courteously in their interactions with other editors; to approach even difficult situations in a dignified fashion and with a constructive and collaborative outlook; and to avoid acting in a manner that brings the project into disrepute. Unseemly conduct, such as personal attacks, incivility, assumptions of bad faith, harassment, disruptive point-making, and gaming the system, is prohibited.
7) All Wikipedia articles must be written from a neutral point of view, with all relevant points of view represented in reasonable proportion to their importance and relevance to the subject-matter of the article. Undue weight should not be given to aspects that are peripheral to the topic. Original research and synthesized claims are prohibited. Use of a Wikipedia article for advocacy or promotion, either in favor of or against an individual, institution, or idea that is the subject of the article, is prohibited.
1) Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia (GSoW) is a group founded in 2010 by Susan Gerbic. According to Wired, the group's purpose is to recruit and train editors to write about topics of interest to the Skeptical movement. [1]
2) Sgerbic ( talk · contribs) is Susan Gerbic ( permalink of user page), an activist for scientific skepticism who has a focus on exposing people claiming to be mediums, and who is a columnist for the Skeptical Inquirer ( permalink of her Wikipedia page). She joined Wikipedia in 2010 and has not been previously sanctioned. Because of her work off-wiki, Sgerbic has a conflict of interest with respect to the people and organizations Gerbic is involved with, which notably includes her work in Skeptical Inquirer and the people she has written about therein, and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, where she has been awarded a fellowship and which publishes the Skeptical Inquirer.
3) Susan Gerbic has written articles in Skeptical Inquirer, and has stated an intent of having those articles be used as sources on Wikipedia, especially for biographies of living people. GSoW members have edited BLPs to include negative material sourced to Susan Gerbic's articles. This has created the appearance of collaborative editing to create negative BLPs. ( Bilby evidence, Schazjmd evidence.)
4) Rp2006 ( talk · contribs) is a GSoW member (private evidence) who joined Wikipedia in 2006. He has not been previously sanctioned. Rp2006 has a conflict of interest with respect to the Skeptical Inquirer and the Center for Inquiry (private evidence) and has promoted Susan Gerbic directly ( ScottishFinnishRadish evidence) as well as indirectly by citing her work. ( Schazjmd evidence). Rp2006 has displayed incivility in several discussions (A. C. Santacruz evidence, ScottishFinishRadish evidence) including one pertaining to his conflict of interest, [2] [3] and at least one offwiki instance during this case (private evidence). Rp2006 has edited biographies of living people without appropriately observing neutral point of view, both negatively for individuals associated as fringe topics and positively for individuals associated as skeptics (Schazjmd evidence, ScottishFinnishRadish evidence).
5) Roxy the dog ( talk · contribs) was at times uncollaborative with A. C. Santacruz. This included dismissing content concerns A.C. Santacruz had raised simply because of who was raising the issue [4] [5], attempting to discourage A.C. Santacruz from finding consensus during a content dispute [6] [7], mockery [8], and claims that A.C. Santacruz was "dissembling" [9]. This behavior is not justified by any legitimate issues Roxy the dog raised of A.C. Santacruz's conduct (e.g. [10]).
6) A. C. Santacruz ( talk · contribs) has failed to remain consistently collegial when interacting with Rp2006, and she has engaged in battleground editing when editing the article Sharon A. Hill.
7) Guerilla Skeptics of Wikipedia (GSoW) uses Facebook as a platform for training, communication, and community building (private evidence, Robincantin evidence, Gronk Oz evidence). The Arbitration Committee received no private evidence that any kind of canvassing was done on Facebook, and some evidence was provided suggesting that when discussing events still happening onwiki, members are discouraged from joining in onwiki (Sgerbic's evidence, private evidence).
8) New GSoW members must apply to join the group. Once accepted members participate in a training program for 3-16 weeks (depending on the trainee). The training was developed over several years, with a major redevelopment in 2019 (Sgerbic evidence). Training consists of assignments intended to be hands-on, comprehensive, and accessible for new editors to learn how to write successfully on Wikipedia (private evidence).
9) The Arbitration Committee was provided a portion of GSoW's training materials (private evidence). Of that portion, there is a substantial focus on the technical skills needed to edit Wikipedia articles (e.g., navigating the Wikipedia website and using citation templates). Trainees are given outlines of Wikipedia's core content policies and encouraged to explore project-space on their own. Trainees ask questions in the private Facebook group. The training process concludes with an assignment to rewrite a stub into a comprehensive article (private evidence).
Passing the GSoW training does not appear contingent on any particular demonstrated level of policy knowledge. Public GSoW YouTube videos reflect misunderstandings or oversimplifications of Wikipedia's notability requirements, and in particular a misunderstanding of the differences between notability, reliability, independence, and primary/secondary sources. The Arbitration Committee has not received evidence suggesting that the GSoW training conveys different content regarding Wikipedia's content policies than the public YouTube videos.
10) There currently exists no formal on-wiki presence for the GSoW though some GSoW members participate in WikiProject Skepticism. Consideration was made to listing onwiki all GSoW edited articles but the start of the events that led to this case meant that this was not done (Sgerbic's evidence). Through self-identification, examination of editor contribution histories, and the editor interaction tool some GSoW members and likely members have been identified (e.g. Billed Mammal initial statement and evidence). The lack of a list of members and articles worked on by the GSoW has increased suspicion of GSoW and its members from some editors. Further, it has meaningfully disrupted the ability of the community to use its typical dispute resolution methods to come to a consensus about allegations of canvassing, including vote stacking, point of view pushing, and conflicts of interest (e.g. [11] [12] [13]).
11) Historically the use of the Skeptical Inquirer has received little attention and has been generally viewed favorably by the editors who have commented on its reliability (Alexbrn's evidence). By contrast the most recent discussion in January 2022 attracted a larger number of editors and was quite extensive. In that discussion, there was a general consensus in that discussion that the Skeptical Inquirer is not a self-published source and that columns should be used in a manner similar to other opinion sources. There seemed to be no community consensus on its general reliability. Large parts of the discussion focused on its suitability as a source for biographies of living people and with the lack of coverage by other sources of many fringe topics ( [14]). A formal RfC on the reliability of the Skeptical Inquirer was launched after the proposed decision for this case was posted.
12) Since 2018, a large percentage of links to Skeptical Inquirer articles have been added by editors likely to be GSoW members (BilledMammal evidence). GSoW members report using it occasionally as a reference with no organizational pressure to do so (Gronk oz evidence, Robincantin evidence). Sgerbic has said the GSoW will evaluate its use of it as a source and said it is sometimes the only source available to maintain a parity of sources. (Sgerbic evidence)
Note: All remedies that refer to a period of time, for example to a ban of X months or a revert parole of Y months, are to run concurrently unless otherwise stated.
6) Rp2006 ( talk · contribs) is warned against a battleground mentality and further incivility.
9.1) Rp2006 ( talk · contribs) is indefinitely topic banned from edits related to living people associated with or of interest to scientific skepticism, broadly construed. This topic ban may be appealed after six months have elapsed and every six months thereafter.
10) A. C. Santacruz ( talk · contribs) is reminded to remain collegial in editing and interacting with others.
11.1) Roxy the dog ( talk · contribs) is warned to remain collegial in editing and interacting with others.
12) GSoW is advised that a presence on English Wikipedia, perhaps as its own WikiProject or as a task force of WikiProject Skepticism, will create more transparency and lessen some of the kinds of suspicion and conflict that preceded this case. It could also provide a place for the GSoW to get community feedback about its training which would increase its effectiveness.
13) Editors are reminded that discretionary sanctions for biographies of living people have been authorized since 2014. Editors named in this decision shall be considered aware of these discretionary sanctions under awareness criterion 1.
0) Should any user subject to a restriction in this case violate that restriction, that user may be blocked, initially for up to one month, and then with blocks increasing in duration to a maximum of one year.
0) Appeals and modifications
|
---|
This procedure applies to appeals related to, and modifications of, actions taken by administrators to enforce the Committee's remedies. It does not apply to appeals related to the remedies directly enacted by the Committee.
Appeals may be made only by the editor under sanction and only for a currently active sanction. Requests for modification of page restrictions may be made by any editor. The process has three possible stages (see "Important notes" below). The editor may:
No administrator may modify or remove a sanction placed by another administrator without:
Administrators modifying sanctions out of process may at the discretion of the committee be desysopped. Nothing in this section prevents an administrator from replacing an existing sanction issued by another administrator with a new sanction if fresh misconduct has taken place after the existing sanction was applied. Administrators are free to modify sanctions placed by former administrators – that is, editors who do not have the administrator permission enabled (due to a temporary or permanent relinquishment or desysop) – without regard to the requirements of this section. If an administrator modifies a sanction placed by a former administrator, the administrator who made the modification becomes the "enforcing administrator". If a former administrator regains the tools, the provisions of this section again apply to their unmodified enforcement actions. Important notes:
|
For violations of their topic ban and for continued editing which violate the conflict of interest guidelines, Rp2006 is blocked for 1 month. This block may be appealed only to the Arbitration Committee.
Passed 6 to 0 by motion at 21:21, June 21, 2024 (UTC)
Any block, restriction, ban, or sanction performed under the authorisation of a remedy for this case must be logged at Wikipedia:Arbitration enforcement log, not here.