I’ve been an arbitrator for three years. This has been a stimulating and enriching experience, and I’ve learned a lot about the encyclopedia, about my fellow editors, and about myself.
I’ve heard about fifty cases, and have drafted/co-drafted decisions for ten.
I’ve participated in all aspects of the committee's work, including a year’s service on BASC and a four-month stint on AUSC. For three years I’ve been a moderator/administrator of the committee's mailing lists. I helped draft the committee’s CheckUser and Oversight procedural policy, and have supervised several appointment cycles.
I’ve served as coordinating arbitrator since July 2009, with strong emphasis on improving logistics. In April 2011, I gained support for creating internal teams to decentralise coordination, reduce dependence on individual arbitrators, and speed up the committee’s work. I successfully proposed default timetables for cases for quicker case turnaround. Average times have dropped from 60 days in 2009 to 45 days thus far this year.
For the record, I’m opposed to ArbCom becoming GovCom. As a tangible demonstration of this, I was instrumental in working up the arbitration policy, via extensive community consultation over many months for ratification. The new policy places new constitutional restraints on the committee, limiting its ability to make content decisions or create policy. It was formally adopted by the community in June, with 87% support.
Content-wise, I was very active both at Milhist and FAC. I've added significant content to five FAs, and extensively copy-edited another eight (either for or during FAC). The subjects vary from Shakespeare's Hamlet to Welsh rugby to Emily Dickinson to Maximian to the Battle of Arras. Since joining the committee, I've had less time for my first love, article editing, but I've recently re-discovered sourcing and wiki-gnoming, mainly on articles about British lawyers and French lycées.
If re-elected, I will focus on:
Mandatory statements: I have never edited from any account other than Roger Davies and (occasionally) User:Red Dragon, which prior to renaming was called Roger Davies II. As a sitting arbitrator, I am already identified to the WMF and will continue to comply fully with the non-public data policy.
Arbitration Committee Election 2011 candidate:
Roger Davies
|
Candidates are advised to answer each of these questions completely but concisely. Candidates may refuse to answer any questions that they do not wish to, with the understanding, however, that not answering a question may be perceived negatively by the community.
Note that disclosure of your account history, pursuant to the ArbCom selection and appointment policy, must be made in your opening statement, and is not an optional question.
Please ask your individual questions here. While there is no limit on the number of questions that may be asked, please try to keep questions relevant. Try to be as clear and concise as possible, and avoid duplicating questions that have already been asked.
Add your questions below the line using the following markup:
#Question:
#:A:
There is a still open RfC at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Clarification#Request_for_clarification:_Arbcom-unblocked_editors. As evidenced at this request, there are numerous admins and editors who have serious doubts over the Committee's unblocking of what is suspected, with a high level of good faith and WP:DUCK evidence, to be a banned disruptive sockpuppet. Do you think it is appropriate that after nearly a month and a half:
The last question is especially important as there are numerous uninvolved admins and admins who have previously dealt with the user in question, who are too "afraid" of going over the Committee's head, even in the face of evidence; if one assumes ownership of a problem as the current Committee has, then surely the current Committee must also assume ownership of their actual ownership of the problem possibly being part of said problem. If one looks at the answers thus far given at the request from arbiters closely, one can see that there seems to be a theme amongst arbs to suggest that the Community block the editor for other current issues; all the while the Committee avoids answering Community concerns at the actual clarification request. However, the other issues have only strengthened the opinion of sockpuppetry amongst other members of the Community.
As an arbiter who is seeking re-election, I would also request a response to the following:
I use the answers to these questions to write my election guide; thus, not answering specific questions will affect my recommendation. Also, I may be asking about specific things outside the scope of ArbCom; your answers would be appreciated regardless.
The questions are similar to those I asked in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010; if you've already answered them, feel free to borrow from those. Please note that question 3 has drastically changed from what it was in past years, though.
The first 9 questions are short answer questions. The last question is a bit open-ended.
Thank you. Rs chen 7754 23:59, 11 November 2011 (UTC)
Looking over ArbCom cases from the past few years, it is clear to me that many times, editors involved in the dispute being heard in a particular case use the Workshop page as a platform to continue their disputes. These Workshop posts tend to take the form of 'finding of facts that the people on the other side of the dispute have committed heinous acts, heavy sanctions for the people on the other side of the dispute, and people on my side of the dispute get off without even a warning' (it's usually less transparent than that, but barely).
Restraining aggrieved parties in emotionally charged scenarios is central to the Committee’s role, and arbitrators are in principle exposed to legal action by those parties in a real-world jurisdiction. It matters little whether an action is launched or merely threatened, and whether it is unreasonable: the costs for an individual arb to forestall a default judgment in a foreign court would be considerable (and I believe it’s not hard to transfer an order to the courts in one’s local jurisdiction). The risk is greater because as volunteers we can’t be expected to provide professional mediation as an intermediary between wiki and real-world judicial processes—mediation that might head off litigation in the first place.
Given the WMF's annual income of some $20M, what is your view on whether the Foundation should:
Note: I'm asking this question of all candidates, but I think you've alluded to the matter in your statement (bullets at the bottom) ... Also, I seem to remember you've a record of content writing before your service as an arb, but it's absent from your statement; could you reassure us of your experience in this respect? Tony (talk) 13:07, 22 November 2011 (UTC)
I would like to apologize for the late questions, I've only just gotten the time to write them. If you see a question that you've already answered or one that is similar, please proceed to answer it, you may think of a new way to explain your idea/answer. Please answer all of these questions, they will weigh in heavily when I vote.
Thank you, JoeGazz ♂ 22:06, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
If an editor creates multiple accounts to edit articles in different subject areas, not realising that this is in breach of WP:SOCK, how should he or she be dealt with? Thanks. Martinevans123 ( talk) 20:33, 9 December 2011 (UTC)
I’ve been an arbitrator for three years. This has been a stimulating and enriching experience, and I’ve learned a lot about the encyclopedia, about my fellow editors, and about myself.
I’ve heard about fifty cases, and have drafted/co-drafted decisions for ten.
I’ve participated in all aspects of the committee's work, including a year’s service on BASC and a four-month stint on AUSC. For three years I’ve been a moderator/administrator of the committee's mailing lists. I helped draft the committee’s CheckUser and Oversight procedural policy, and have supervised several appointment cycles.
I’ve served as coordinating arbitrator since July 2009, with strong emphasis on improving logistics. In April 2011, I gained support for creating internal teams to decentralise coordination, reduce dependence on individual arbitrators, and speed up the committee’s work. I successfully proposed default timetables for cases for quicker case turnaround. Average times have dropped from 60 days in 2009 to 45 days thus far this year.
For the record, I’m opposed to ArbCom becoming GovCom. As a tangible demonstration of this, I was instrumental in working up the arbitration policy, via extensive community consultation over many months for ratification. The new policy places new constitutional restraints on the committee, limiting its ability to make content decisions or create policy. It was formally adopted by the community in June, with 87% support.
Content-wise, I was very active both at Milhist and FAC. I've added significant content to five FAs, and extensively copy-edited another eight (either for or during FAC). The subjects vary from Shakespeare's Hamlet to Welsh rugby to Emily Dickinson to Maximian to the Battle of Arras. Since joining the committee, I've had less time for my first love, article editing, but I've recently re-discovered sourcing and wiki-gnoming, mainly on articles about British lawyers and French lycées.
If re-elected, I will focus on:
Mandatory statements: I have never edited from any account other than Roger Davies and (occasionally) User:Red Dragon, which prior to renaming was called Roger Davies II. As a sitting arbitrator, I am already identified to the WMF and will continue to comply fully with the non-public data policy.
Arbitration Committee Election 2011 candidate:
Roger Davies
|
Candidates are advised to answer each of these questions completely but concisely. Candidates may refuse to answer any questions that they do not wish to, with the understanding, however, that not answering a question may be perceived negatively by the community.
Note that disclosure of your account history, pursuant to the ArbCom selection and appointment policy, must be made in your opening statement, and is not an optional question.
Please ask your individual questions here. While there is no limit on the number of questions that may be asked, please try to keep questions relevant. Try to be as clear and concise as possible, and avoid duplicating questions that have already been asked.
Add your questions below the line using the following markup:
#Question:
#:A:
There is a still open RfC at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Clarification#Request_for_clarification:_Arbcom-unblocked_editors. As evidenced at this request, there are numerous admins and editors who have serious doubts over the Committee's unblocking of what is suspected, with a high level of good faith and WP:DUCK evidence, to be a banned disruptive sockpuppet. Do you think it is appropriate that after nearly a month and a half:
The last question is especially important as there are numerous uninvolved admins and admins who have previously dealt with the user in question, who are too "afraid" of going over the Committee's head, even in the face of evidence; if one assumes ownership of a problem as the current Committee has, then surely the current Committee must also assume ownership of their actual ownership of the problem possibly being part of said problem. If one looks at the answers thus far given at the request from arbiters closely, one can see that there seems to be a theme amongst arbs to suggest that the Community block the editor for other current issues; all the while the Committee avoids answering Community concerns at the actual clarification request. However, the other issues have only strengthened the opinion of sockpuppetry amongst other members of the Community.
As an arbiter who is seeking re-election, I would also request a response to the following:
I use the answers to these questions to write my election guide; thus, not answering specific questions will affect my recommendation. Also, I may be asking about specific things outside the scope of ArbCom; your answers would be appreciated regardless.
The questions are similar to those I asked in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010; if you've already answered them, feel free to borrow from those. Please note that question 3 has drastically changed from what it was in past years, though.
The first 9 questions are short answer questions. The last question is a bit open-ended.
Thank you. Rs chen 7754 23:59, 11 November 2011 (UTC)
Looking over ArbCom cases from the past few years, it is clear to me that many times, editors involved in the dispute being heard in a particular case use the Workshop page as a platform to continue their disputes. These Workshop posts tend to take the form of 'finding of facts that the people on the other side of the dispute have committed heinous acts, heavy sanctions for the people on the other side of the dispute, and people on my side of the dispute get off without even a warning' (it's usually less transparent than that, but barely).
Restraining aggrieved parties in emotionally charged scenarios is central to the Committee’s role, and arbitrators are in principle exposed to legal action by those parties in a real-world jurisdiction. It matters little whether an action is launched or merely threatened, and whether it is unreasonable: the costs for an individual arb to forestall a default judgment in a foreign court would be considerable (and I believe it’s not hard to transfer an order to the courts in one’s local jurisdiction). The risk is greater because as volunteers we can’t be expected to provide professional mediation as an intermediary between wiki and real-world judicial processes—mediation that might head off litigation in the first place.
Given the WMF's annual income of some $20M, what is your view on whether the Foundation should:
Note: I'm asking this question of all candidates, but I think you've alluded to the matter in your statement (bullets at the bottom) ... Also, I seem to remember you've a record of content writing before your service as an arb, but it's absent from your statement; could you reassure us of your experience in this respect? Tony (talk) 13:07, 22 November 2011 (UTC)
I would like to apologize for the late questions, I've only just gotten the time to write them. If you see a question that you've already answered or one that is similar, please proceed to answer it, you may think of a new way to explain your idea/answer. Please answer all of these questions, they will weigh in heavily when I vote.
Thank you, JoeGazz ♂ 22:06, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
If an editor creates multiple accounts to edit articles in different subject areas, not realising that this is in breach of WP:SOCK, how should he or she be dealt with? Thanks. Martinevans123 ( talk) 20:33, 9 December 2011 (UTC)