Case Opened on 15:30, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
Case Closed on 12:20, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
Case amended (by motion) on 18:25, 14 July 2011 (UTC)
Please do not edit this page directly unless you are either 1) an Arbitrator, 2) an Arbitration Clerk, or 3) adding yourself to this case. Statements on this page are original comments provided at arbitration request and serve as opening statements. As such, they should not be altered. All further changes to comments should go on /Evidence subpage.
Arbitrators, the parties, and other editors may suggest proposed principles, findings, and remedies at /Workshop. That page may also be used for general comments on the evidence. Arbitrators will then vote on a final decision in the case at /Proposed decision.
Once the case is closed, editors may add to the #Log of blocks and bans as needed, but this page should not be edited otherwise. Please raise any questions at Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration#Requests for clarification, and report violations of remedies at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Arbitration enforcement.
Image:Assume good faith lolcat.jpg: We're sadly lacking this, thus there is the need for arbitration.
This is a reasonably complex case involving numerous issues. Betacommand runs a bot, named BetacommandBot whose tasks include fair-use tagging. Betacommand has used his bot to tag thousands of images per policy, Non-free content crteria. The policy was made after a board resolution on March 23 2007 gave a year to fix non-free media. Unfortunately, the communication between Betacommand and users who wholeheatedly agree with these activities and users who are opposed to it has been less than stellar. This is a very heated conflict, as Betacommand is constantly subject to abuse and trolling, and he feels a bit alienated by this. I urge the Abritration Committee to look at the behaviour of users in this debate, possibly rule on the application on the policy, and basically, help resolve this conflict over fair use policy and the resulting incivility and mess that has ensued with it.
I think there are a number of problems in this area, but I'm not sure which of them can really be addressed through Arbitration. Maxim didn't really make a case for this above - more like, here's a problem, fix it! I'm not sure the remit of ArbCom is broad enough to allow them to take this case on their own initiative - i.e., without an explanation of why they should. It should be noted, also, that slow and painful progress on the Betacommand/BetacommandBot issues is being made, particularly with the brand new creation of a separate bot account to allow three other users the ability to perform BCBot functions. This wasn't without its own controversy, but it will fade with time and there will be one less BC associated problem to deal with.
Anyway - the problems here aren't that amenable to ArbCom intervention. The issues of Betacommand's conduct have been dealt with when extremes are hit, and that will continue to happen. Conduct by other individuals is not really at the ArbCom level. The policy issue is still a problem, but the time for an ArbCom determination has passed as the tagging work is largely complete. Plus - this isn't Requests for arbitration/10C. Avruch T 00:30, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
Response to Crotalus horridus:
I don't think there's much that ArbCom can do at this point. Progress is being made, as has been noted by others. It's slow, but it's happening. The situation, as it currently stands, is still very heated on both sides. Many criticize Betacommand's civility, or lack there of, but it's not one sided, nor is this request for Betacommand. Focusing on the bot, this is premature as the deadline is quickly approaching and much of the drama surrounding this bot will fall silent once there are only new uploads being tagged. As I recommended to MBisanz when he asked for my opinion on making his request, this would be better postponed until a month after the deadline, if issues continue past that point. Lara ❤ Love 06:25, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
I apologise for submitting a rather long statement - I hope that the complexity of the issues and (hopefully) the clarity of presentation will justify the length.
My position is that User:Betacommand's non-free image work with User:BetacommandBot performs a much needed role of helping the en-Wikipedia community comply with the Wikimedia Foundation's licensing policy. It is, however, only a very small part of the work needed. It acts as one of several initial barriers (such as using the right copyright tag) that people have to overcome if they want to use non-free images, and those barriers are right and proper for a free-content encyclopedia. Much more work is needed though to bring en-Wikipedia's non-free images into line with our Exemption Doctrine Policy ( our non-free content criteria), particularly as most of these criteria can only be assessed by humans, not bots. To that end, using my experience from several months of working in the area of non-free image policy (see the policy talk page and its archives), I have been working on, and trying to get others to help with, Wikipedia:Non-free content criteria compliance. I would appreciate it if people could take the time to read that and comment on it.
In other words, I too support the principle of the work BetacommandBot (or its newly created clone User:Non-Free Content Compliance Bot) does on non-free images. I have, however, consistently criticised the way in which this work has been done, and made criticisms on other matters, and supported criticisms made by others when I thought they were valid. This has been difficult for several reasons: (1) Some people attack Betacommand and his work due to failure to understand our policy - this creates a lot of background noise. (2) Some people uncritically support Betacommand and his work and attack his critics - this too adds to the background noise. (3) Those that fall between these two extremes are not all saying the same thing at the same time (there is a wide spectrum of opinion and a large number of issues). This results in long, heated discussions, and very little progress. An added distraction is Betacommand's incivility in response to criticism, and his disruption in other areas, which, when it involves his bot, proves (or did prove) difficult to separate from his non-free image work.
Several other points I would like the committee to consider:
Overall, my position remains that which I have been taking in the last few days (when the idea of an arbitration case has been floating around): not to file a request or open a case at this point in time. I think the community should instead focus its efforts on ensuring that by 23 March 2008 en-Wikipedia is at least WP:NFCC#10c compliant (sorry for the jargon there) as far as bot scanning goes (of course, many images will still not be NFCC#10c compliant, as the bot does not detect the presence of a rationale, but only the absence of one of the requirements of a rationale - namely the name of the article the image is used in). The community should also be focusing its efforts on what the deadline means (will the image deletion policy need changing?) and what to do after the deadline (how to continue to ensure compliance of non-free images with policy).
Only if the behaviour issues continue after these issues have been dealt with, or only if the behaviour issues impede discussion and resolution of these issues, will an arbitration case be needed. As can be seen above, I think that the behaviour issues and the resulting community furore are coming close to impeding work on these issues, but I think that progress is still slowly being made. In addition, I would urge people reading this to help out with current work on non-free images, and to make productive contributions to discussions on how to move forward after the 23 March 2008 deadline. Carcharoth ( talk) 07:52, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
First, I must say that I find this RfAr to be very premature, and have stated as much on the ANI/B page. BCBot has some important functions he needs to perform in advance of 23 March, and allowing him to finish these functions would have also cooled down the tempers of all parties on all sides. With that said, as succinctly as possible, my view of the issue is this:
Well, that's my view of the situation. I think #1, #2, and #6 are the actionable points, in my opinion, and thus (even though it's not the timetable I would have chosen) this case should be accepted.
I waited to see what others would say, partly through interest, partly because of being blocked for daring to question betacommand anyway, and I see from the above comments I have been vindicated. It is obvious from the above evidence that I was not carrying out a campaign against betacommand. My evidence against betacommand is more than covered above, if arbcom don't choose to proceed on the basis of the above diffs, then frankly they are not worth the web page they written on. It is laughable that the creation of a separate but entirely subordinate bot is being heralded as a start to solve all the problems, that pathetic attitude is merely indicative of the entire problem, betacommand is untouchable on wikpedia, his hobby programming is more important than any other policy, and it is frankly not worth questioning any aspect of his existence, its pointless, editors must accept he is untouchable, lest you be vandalised or banned for the most ridiculous of reasons, or, as have some very experienced yet completely pissed off admins have already done, leave. A total joke. MickMacNee ( talk) 19:54, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
With regret, I urge Arbcom to take on this case, to examine at least some of these three related issues, which I list in descending order of priority:
I have some serious criticisms to make of Betacommand (BC), but I first want to stress that I have considerable sympathy for the situation in which BC finds himself, at the receiving end of a barrage of unjustified abuse from editors who object to image tagging. I have written a longer commentary on the situation, but the underlying problem is that the image-tagging process has been badly designed and badly handled. It appears to have been designed primarily as a technical task, with far too little provision for the huge social impact of attaching deletion warnings to hundreds of thousands of images, such as the ability of the bot operator to withstand the inevitable abuse, and the lack of any visible mechanism to extract from the torrent of reactions any aspects of the process which might benefit from tweaking. The process has also been overly dependent on BC, with several adverse consequences.
The unpleasantness of the attacks on BC has unsurprisingly led to some well-intentioned editors setting themselves up as his protectors, fending off all criticism. Unfortunately, while there have been some perma-critics of BC, some of the defenders also appear to be defending BC and BCbot regardless of anything he does, which has impeded efforts to resolve any problems which occur.
The problems which should be considered include:
The attacks on BC neither excuse nor justify this behaviour. In any other bot editor, this sort of behaviour would long ago have led to an escalating series of blocks, and certainly to the removal of his bot flag. Now that the main task of tagging the backlog of non-free images is complete, it is time for BCbot to be stood down from NFCC image-tagging, and for BC to concentrate on programming an NFCC bot for others to use. So far as I am aware, all BCbot's other tasks are either duplicates of the functions of other bots or are non-critical. Given the ongoing problems with his bot, the bot flag should be withdrawn from BCbot, unless there is a significant improvement both in the conduct of Betacommand and the operation of his bot.
Many of the issues have been well-documented in other submissions, so I will expand only on one aspect of it this stage (more detailed evidence if case accepted).
The problems here are long-standing, but I will focus on one case: categories. Wikipedia:Bots/Requests_for_approval/BetacommandBot shows that BCbot is authorised for " Removing or renaming categories per the decisions of WP:CFD". That is an exact quote from the text at Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/BetacommandBot#Approval status of BetacommandBot as of April 2007.
That's very precise: "per the decisions of WP:CFD". Unfortunately, BC set the bot to work removing redlinked categories, and when challenged said that this was part of that task (see User_talk:Betacommand/20080301#Removal_of_redlinked_categories).
Leave aside for now the question of whether this was a good idea (I think it's not). The deletion were nothing to do with WP:CFD, yet BC repeatedly claimed that it was authorised. We have two possibilities here: either BC ignores his bot's task limits, or he doesn't understand them, and neither is acceptable in the operator of a bot, particularly one running at such speed on the toolserver. BC claimed that done this before without complaint, but failed to offer any evidence of that.
It doesn't stop there. Having used the bot to made some 2,500 unauthorised edits, BC ignored repeated calls from many editors to revert the damage, leaving others to do so manually. The rollback happened only after I blocked BCbot when it resumed work on a different task, without an effort being made BC to repair the damage as required by WP:BOT, nor any offer to do so. BC now claims that this was a bad block because I was in a "content dispute" with him [2], and which seems crazy: if blocking a bot which fails to revert unauthorised edits is a "content dispute", then no-one can stop such a bot (because any admin who objects to the unauthorised edits would be labelled as "involved").
I have no previous history of dispute with BC, and first engaged him over the removal of redlinked categories. From that episode, it appears to BC accepts no restraints on the use of his bot, and the Bot Approvals Group seems uninterested in taking action about the breaches, and sees itself purely a technical assessment mechanism.
Meanwhile, the community is deadlocked between the permacritics of BC/BCbot and the die-hard defenders of the bot ... with the result that no resolution is possible of the genuine problems which do occur, unless arbcom sets some parameters, either by directly placing restraints on BC and BCbot (such as requiring logging and documentation of tasks and setting standards for addressing problems) or by requiring the Bot Approvals Group to proactively enforce WP:BOT and to work with BC to improve the bot's operations.
BCbot performs a huge number of edits, which inevitably magnifies any deficiencies. Unless such a hyperactive bot follows very high standards, the resulting problems are magnified by the sheer scale of the work done, causing massive community disruption. The community has shown itself unable to resolve the problem, and the lengthy threads at WP:ANI/BC are testament to the extent to which a significant chunk of the community which strongly suupports the NFCC process has nonetheless lost confidence in BCbot. Everything else has been tried; only arbcom can resolve this mess. -- BrownHairedGirl (talk) • ( contribs) 01:07, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
It allows editors to out of receiving notices from BCbot, and warns editors in return that opting out removes any right to complain about "deletions, reversions, etc. because you were "not notified" about them".
That's fair enough, but the next bit is not: "You also lose the right to complain about the bots themselves or the issues they raise".
This is an unfair bundling of terms. If an editor opts out of receiving notices about NFCC images, why should they be debarred from objecting if the bot does something which they find problematic in relation to categories or wikiproject tags? Those tasks do not usually involve notifications to individual editors, and I can see no valid reason to link the two, and the ignore-all-communications clause seems to ignore Wikipedia:BOT#Dealing_with_issues.
Attempts to raise this with BC at User talk:Betacommand/20081201#Consensus_on_proposal have had the response "Dont like it? tough". That dismissive incivility bodes ill for the arbitrators hopes that the problems can be resolved without arbcom accepting a case. -- BrownHairedGirl (talk) • ( contribs) 04:56, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
I suppose it's time for me to make a statement, as the request will now certainly be accepted. First, allow me to respond to Nick in regards to my being added to the case. I stand by the protection of that bot approval request, as I am not interested in seeing that forum being swamped by argument about BetacommandBot when not necessary. In my opinion, the initial speedy approval should have stood because it is a clone of an existing bot. The only legitimate concerns (that did not also apply to BetacommandBot) were those about the bot being a role account, and that is why the approval was pushed through. Perceived attempts at disruption and argument-mongering after the closing resulted in the protection of the approval page. It is not standard practice to protect these, but it isn't every day that a BRFA gets that much negative attention.
Now I must address three more things: BetacommandBot, specifically the opt-out arguments and its blocks, the proposed bot, and the attitude of various users throughout this. BetacommandBot performs a necessary task, enforcement of our non-free content policy. No one debates this. People do argue that it performs too many tasks. This is obviously being worked on, with the new bot approval. Some actually argue that since it can't assess every point of WP:NFCC, it shouldn't be allowed to operate at all. I hope the arbitrators can see the fallacy in that argument. People have requested to be opted out, and up until Beta's recent changes, he allowed anyone to request opting out, as long as they had a valid reason (something beyond "it's annoying me"). The recent opt-out system he created has been met with resistance because it tries to circumvent policy or something like that. It's VOLUNTARY. As for the blocks, well, it feels to me that most of the blocks are by admins who really don't understand what the problem is and are so anxious to block such a high-profile bot as this and gain access to the elite club of admins against BCBot that they don't consider the reasons for blocking and they don't attempt to get consensus for a block. There have been blocks of this bot over a single error, where my bot, which is much less well known, has made similar errors without being blocked.
The proposed bot is going to be programmed by beta but operated by the members of BAG. There are complaints about it being a role account, however it has been stated that a log will be kept so people know which operator has run a specific task. Since it is only a clone of an existing bot, it is receiving far too much controversy for something that should have been speedily approved and immediately transitioned to.
Even after endless discussion, many of us, including myself, have become frustrated at users who do not appear to be paying attention to our statements who we feel are wasting our time. We may snap at them, ignore them, or unleash bots against them. Sometimes these are intended as non-disruptive ways to illustrate a point. (That's probably usually the case.) While a little more research and consideration may be desired of the anti-BCBot people, I think it's clear that most of the people listed above as parties have been responsible for brushes with the line of WP:CIVIL. Arbitrators may understand the feeling of frustration when one is trying to volunteer with Wikipedia and is met with resistance, uncivil comments, personal attacks, and in general the immaturity of the community. While there are true newbies who do not understand policy and need to be helped, our ability to do so is being diminished by assaults by those who refuse to understand policy, as demonstrated in the Abu bahali case mentioned by NYB in his comments below. While arbitration will help in this manner, the best solution would most likely be one which is implemented quickly. Now that the Arbitration Committee has agreed to take on this case, I hope they do so in a prompt manner and take into account the feelings I have expressed in this last paragraph along with the policy side of the matter. -- uǝʌǝs ʎʇɹnoɟ ʇs(st47) 23:41, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
All numbering based on /Proposed decision, where vote counts and comments are also available.
1) The purpose of Wikipedia is to create a high-quality, free-content encyclopedia in an atmosphere of camaraderie and mutual respect among contributors.
2) Contributors to Wikipedia may benefit the project by participating in a variety of ways. Good-faith participation is welcome whether it comes in the form of editorial contributions, image contributions, wikignoming, bot and script writing and operation, policy design and implementation, or the performance of administrative tasks. Editors making any or all of these types of contributions are welcome. The project and progress toward our goals are diminished if we drive away or demoralize a good-faith editor who contributes or has the potential to contribute, while complying with Wikipedia policies, in any or all of these areas.
3) Wikipedia users are expected to behave reasonably, calmly, and courteously in their interactions with other users; 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, trolling, harassment, disruptive point-making, and gaming the system, is prohibited.
4) Perfection is not expected from editors, it being understood that everyone will occasionally make mistakes or misjudgments. However, an overall record of compliance with site policies and norms is expected, especially from regular contributors. Editors are expected to adhere to policy regardless of the behavior of those they are in disputes with. Inappropriate behavior by other editors does not legitimize one's own misconduct, though it may be considered as a mitigating factor in some circumstances. Moreover, users who have been justifiably criticized or formally sanctioned for improper conduct are expected to avoid repeating that conduct.
5) The English Wikipedia, like other Wikimedia Foundation projects, is primarily based upon free content. Free content includes text and media that are either in the public domain or are licensed under a policy-compliant free license. Images and other media that do not meet these requirements may only be used in accordance with the non-free content criteria ("NFCC", formerly "fair use criteria" or "FUC").
6) Wikipedia:Non-free content, key elements of which are policy, stipulates that non-free images and other media may be used only under certain specific circumstances. The source of the image, the provision under which it is used, and the article where it appears must be documented. This policy serves as the project-specific implementation of the Wikimedia Foundation resolution on licensing policy.
7) Images and other media that do not meet the requirements described by the non-free content criteria should be tagged to show how they are lacking and the uploader(s) should be notified. Unless the non-compliance with policy is blatant and cannot be fixed, the uploader or any other interested editor should be provided with a reasonable amount of time (generally seven days under current policy) within which to address the problem with the image. If the discrepancies are not resolved after a suitable time period the media may be deleted. Similarly, a non-free image may be removed from a particular page if it does not satisfy the NFCC with respect to its being used on that page.
8) Editors who review images uploaded to Wikipedia and identify those that fail to satisfy the NFCC or are missing the necessary documentation play an important role in safeguarding the free nature of the project and avoiding potential legal exposure. However, image-tagging rules are necessarily complex, are sometimes subject to varying interpretations, and can be particularly confusing to new editors. Therefore, it is essential that editors performing this valued role should remain civil at all times, avoid biting the newcomers who are the foundation of the project's future growth, and respond patiently and accurately to questions from the editors whose images they have challenged or ensure that those questions are answered by others.
9) An editor whose image's licensing or fair-use status is questioned, or any other editor who believes the image should be retained, should address the matter promptly and civilly. In doing so, it is best to bear in mind that having and adhering to policies in this area is essential for both ethical and often legal reasons, even though the precise parameters of the policy may be debatable or unclear. Disagreeing with the concerns raised, disputing the interpretation of policy as applied to a specific image, and/or requesting a third opinion are often legitimate responses, but personal attacks on the user raising the question are never appropriate.
10) Bots are processes that modify Wikipedia content in a fully or partially automated fashion. Scripts are also computer algorithms utilized to automate or semi-automate certain types of editing. These tools are extremely valuable for the purpose of facilitating the making of multiple edits that would be unduly time-consuming or tedious for a human editor to perform manually. Approval from the Bot Approvals Group is generally required before an editor may use a bot for automatic or high-speed edits.
11.1) Like administrators and other editors in positions of trust, bot operators have a heightened responsibility to the community. Bot operators are expected to respond reasonably to questions or concerns about the operation of their bot. An editor who (even in good faith) misuses automated editing tools such as bots and scripts, or fails to respond appropriately to concerns from the community about their use over a period of time, may lose the privilege of using such tools or may have such privilege restricted.
1) Betacommand ( talk · contribs) is an experienced contributor who has edited Wikipedia since November 2005, through his regular user account and through bot accounts including BetacommandBot ( talk · contribs). In addition to other interests, Betacommand has devoted a substantial portion of his editing, directly and through the bots, to enforcement of the non-free content criteria through image-tagging.
2) In Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Betacommand, decided May 3, 2007, this Committee unanimously found that Betacommand, who was then an administrator, had committed a series of errors and misjudgments. Among other concerns were issues relating to the deletion of images, the misuse of automated tools and related communication issues, and incidents of alleged disruption to prove a point. Betacommand was desysopped, but was not otherwise sanctioned.
3) Since the prior Arbitration decision, Betacommand has continued to edit with an emphasis on bot-programming and image-tagging work. During this period, Betacommand and BetacommandBot have played an extremely significant role in enforcing the non-free content criteria and policies with respect to tens of thousands of actually or allegedly non-compliant images and media. In carrying out this role, Betacommand becomes a de facto voice of the project to editors, frequently including new editors, whose images he has challenged. Responses to Betacommand's work from affected editors have ranged from praise and numerous barnstars listed here, to legitimate questions and criticisms, to unacceptable expressions of overt hostility and harassment.
4) Although much of Betacommand's continued work since the prior case is commendable, several aspects of his user conduct over the past year have been problematic, including the following:
5) The issues concerning Betacommand's and BetacommandBot's conduct, coupled with overreactions on the part of some other editors and related disputes, have resulted in a series of disputes and disruptions. The level of disruption has been well beyond what a collaborative project should be expected to accept even in a contentious area such as fair-use policy and image-tagging, and must be brought to an end either via dramatically improved user conduct or via sanctions imposed by this committee.
1) Betacommand is thanked for his contributions to the project but is instructed:
2) Betacommand is urged to be significantly more responsive to good-faith questions from users whose images he tags and either to respond directly to such questions, to seek to have others do so, or to refer users to another appropriate location where their questions can be addressed. Participation by other editors in this process will be a valuable contribution toward addressing the overall situation reflected in the record of this case. Betacommand is also urged to establish an "opt-out" list for BetacommandBot without imposing any unnecessary conditions on the right to decline to receive notifications.
3) Editors are advised that periodic review of images and other media to ensure their compliance with the non-free content criteria may be necessary for policy, ethical, and sometimes legal reasons. Editors are invited to participate in policy discussions concerning this and related areas, and are also welcome to challenge the application of policies and criteria in individual cases, but are cautioned not to be abusive toward or make personal attacks against participants, including bot operators, engaged in this work.
4) The community, particularly including users with experience in image compliance and tagging work and those knowledgeable about bots and scripts, is urged to re-examine our policies and practices for reviewing, tagging, and where necessary deleting images in light of experience gained since the policies and practices were previously developed, including the disputes underlying this case. The review should attempt to ensure:
In addition, the Bot Approvals Group and interested members of the community are urged to assess whether any changes to or updating of the BAG's operations and procedures may be warranted in light of issues raised in this case.
5.1) The Committee expects that the disputes and disruption underlying this case will cease as a result of this decision. In the event of non-compliance or a continued pattern of disputes, further review by the Committee may be sought after a reasonable time. In such a review, the Committee may impose appropriate sanctions including but not limited to the revocation of any user's privilege to use automated tools such as bots and scripts, revocation of other privileges, topic bans, civility restrictions, or any other remedies needed to end the disruption. Nothing in this paragraph restricts the authority of administrators to take appropriate action to deal with any disruptive incidents that may occur.
Log any block, restriction, ban or extension under any remedy in this decision here. Minimum information includes name of administrator, date and time, what was done and the basis for doing it.
Discussion located here.
Pursuant to the provisions of Remedy 5.1, and mindful of the recent and current disputes surrounding this user in many fora, the committee by motion indefinitely topic-bans Δ (formerly known as Betacommand) from making any edit enforcing the non-free content criteria, broadly construed. User:Δ is also formally reminded of the civility restriction and other terms to which they are still subject as a condition of the provisional suspension of their community ban.
Case Opened on 15:30, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
Case Closed on 12:20, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
Case amended (by motion) on 18:25, 14 July 2011 (UTC)
Please do not edit this page directly unless you are either 1) an Arbitrator, 2) an Arbitration Clerk, or 3) adding yourself to this case. Statements on this page are original comments provided at arbitration request and serve as opening statements. As such, they should not be altered. All further changes to comments should go on /Evidence subpage.
Arbitrators, the parties, and other editors may suggest proposed principles, findings, and remedies at /Workshop. That page may also be used for general comments on the evidence. Arbitrators will then vote on a final decision in the case at /Proposed decision.
Once the case is closed, editors may add to the #Log of blocks and bans as needed, but this page should not be edited otherwise. Please raise any questions at Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration#Requests for clarification, and report violations of remedies at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Arbitration enforcement.
Image:Assume good faith lolcat.jpg: We're sadly lacking this, thus there is the need for arbitration.
This is a reasonably complex case involving numerous issues. Betacommand runs a bot, named BetacommandBot whose tasks include fair-use tagging. Betacommand has used his bot to tag thousands of images per policy, Non-free content crteria. The policy was made after a board resolution on March 23 2007 gave a year to fix non-free media. Unfortunately, the communication between Betacommand and users who wholeheatedly agree with these activities and users who are opposed to it has been less than stellar. This is a very heated conflict, as Betacommand is constantly subject to abuse and trolling, and he feels a bit alienated by this. I urge the Abritration Committee to look at the behaviour of users in this debate, possibly rule on the application on the policy, and basically, help resolve this conflict over fair use policy and the resulting incivility and mess that has ensued with it.
I think there are a number of problems in this area, but I'm not sure which of them can really be addressed through Arbitration. Maxim didn't really make a case for this above - more like, here's a problem, fix it! I'm not sure the remit of ArbCom is broad enough to allow them to take this case on their own initiative - i.e., without an explanation of why they should. It should be noted, also, that slow and painful progress on the Betacommand/BetacommandBot issues is being made, particularly with the brand new creation of a separate bot account to allow three other users the ability to perform BCBot functions. This wasn't without its own controversy, but it will fade with time and there will be one less BC associated problem to deal with.
Anyway - the problems here aren't that amenable to ArbCom intervention. The issues of Betacommand's conduct have been dealt with when extremes are hit, and that will continue to happen. Conduct by other individuals is not really at the ArbCom level. The policy issue is still a problem, but the time for an ArbCom determination has passed as the tagging work is largely complete. Plus - this isn't Requests for arbitration/10C. Avruch T 00:30, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
Response to Crotalus horridus:
I don't think there's much that ArbCom can do at this point. Progress is being made, as has been noted by others. It's slow, but it's happening. The situation, as it currently stands, is still very heated on both sides. Many criticize Betacommand's civility, or lack there of, but it's not one sided, nor is this request for Betacommand. Focusing on the bot, this is premature as the deadline is quickly approaching and much of the drama surrounding this bot will fall silent once there are only new uploads being tagged. As I recommended to MBisanz when he asked for my opinion on making his request, this would be better postponed until a month after the deadline, if issues continue past that point. Lara ❤ Love 06:25, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
I apologise for submitting a rather long statement - I hope that the complexity of the issues and (hopefully) the clarity of presentation will justify the length.
My position is that User:Betacommand's non-free image work with User:BetacommandBot performs a much needed role of helping the en-Wikipedia community comply with the Wikimedia Foundation's licensing policy. It is, however, only a very small part of the work needed. It acts as one of several initial barriers (such as using the right copyright tag) that people have to overcome if they want to use non-free images, and those barriers are right and proper for a free-content encyclopedia. Much more work is needed though to bring en-Wikipedia's non-free images into line with our Exemption Doctrine Policy ( our non-free content criteria), particularly as most of these criteria can only be assessed by humans, not bots. To that end, using my experience from several months of working in the area of non-free image policy (see the policy talk page and its archives), I have been working on, and trying to get others to help with, Wikipedia:Non-free content criteria compliance. I would appreciate it if people could take the time to read that and comment on it.
In other words, I too support the principle of the work BetacommandBot (or its newly created clone User:Non-Free Content Compliance Bot) does on non-free images. I have, however, consistently criticised the way in which this work has been done, and made criticisms on other matters, and supported criticisms made by others when I thought they were valid. This has been difficult for several reasons: (1) Some people attack Betacommand and his work due to failure to understand our policy - this creates a lot of background noise. (2) Some people uncritically support Betacommand and his work and attack his critics - this too adds to the background noise. (3) Those that fall between these two extremes are not all saying the same thing at the same time (there is a wide spectrum of opinion and a large number of issues). This results in long, heated discussions, and very little progress. An added distraction is Betacommand's incivility in response to criticism, and his disruption in other areas, which, when it involves his bot, proves (or did prove) difficult to separate from his non-free image work.
Several other points I would like the committee to consider:
Overall, my position remains that which I have been taking in the last few days (when the idea of an arbitration case has been floating around): not to file a request or open a case at this point in time. I think the community should instead focus its efforts on ensuring that by 23 March 2008 en-Wikipedia is at least WP:NFCC#10c compliant (sorry for the jargon there) as far as bot scanning goes (of course, many images will still not be NFCC#10c compliant, as the bot does not detect the presence of a rationale, but only the absence of one of the requirements of a rationale - namely the name of the article the image is used in). The community should also be focusing its efforts on what the deadline means (will the image deletion policy need changing?) and what to do after the deadline (how to continue to ensure compliance of non-free images with policy).
Only if the behaviour issues continue after these issues have been dealt with, or only if the behaviour issues impede discussion and resolution of these issues, will an arbitration case be needed. As can be seen above, I think that the behaviour issues and the resulting community furore are coming close to impeding work on these issues, but I think that progress is still slowly being made. In addition, I would urge people reading this to help out with current work on non-free images, and to make productive contributions to discussions on how to move forward after the 23 March 2008 deadline. Carcharoth ( talk) 07:52, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
First, I must say that I find this RfAr to be very premature, and have stated as much on the ANI/B page. BCBot has some important functions he needs to perform in advance of 23 March, and allowing him to finish these functions would have also cooled down the tempers of all parties on all sides. With that said, as succinctly as possible, my view of the issue is this:
Well, that's my view of the situation. I think #1, #2, and #6 are the actionable points, in my opinion, and thus (even though it's not the timetable I would have chosen) this case should be accepted.
I waited to see what others would say, partly through interest, partly because of being blocked for daring to question betacommand anyway, and I see from the above comments I have been vindicated. It is obvious from the above evidence that I was not carrying out a campaign against betacommand. My evidence against betacommand is more than covered above, if arbcom don't choose to proceed on the basis of the above diffs, then frankly they are not worth the web page they written on. It is laughable that the creation of a separate but entirely subordinate bot is being heralded as a start to solve all the problems, that pathetic attitude is merely indicative of the entire problem, betacommand is untouchable on wikpedia, his hobby programming is more important than any other policy, and it is frankly not worth questioning any aspect of his existence, its pointless, editors must accept he is untouchable, lest you be vandalised or banned for the most ridiculous of reasons, or, as have some very experienced yet completely pissed off admins have already done, leave. A total joke. MickMacNee ( talk) 19:54, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
With regret, I urge Arbcom to take on this case, to examine at least some of these three related issues, which I list in descending order of priority:
I have some serious criticisms to make of Betacommand (BC), but I first want to stress that I have considerable sympathy for the situation in which BC finds himself, at the receiving end of a barrage of unjustified abuse from editors who object to image tagging. I have written a longer commentary on the situation, but the underlying problem is that the image-tagging process has been badly designed and badly handled. It appears to have been designed primarily as a technical task, with far too little provision for the huge social impact of attaching deletion warnings to hundreds of thousands of images, such as the ability of the bot operator to withstand the inevitable abuse, and the lack of any visible mechanism to extract from the torrent of reactions any aspects of the process which might benefit from tweaking. The process has also been overly dependent on BC, with several adverse consequences.
The unpleasantness of the attacks on BC has unsurprisingly led to some well-intentioned editors setting themselves up as his protectors, fending off all criticism. Unfortunately, while there have been some perma-critics of BC, some of the defenders also appear to be defending BC and BCbot regardless of anything he does, which has impeded efforts to resolve any problems which occur.
The problems which should be considered include:
The attacks on BC neither excuse nor justify this behaviour. In any other bot editor, this sort of behaviour would long ago have led to an escalating series of blocks, and certainly to the removal of his bot flag. Now that the main task of tagging the backlog of non-free images is complete, it is time for BCbot to be stood down from NFCC image-tagging, and for BC to concentrate on programming an NFCC bot for others to use. So far as I am aware, all BCbot's other tasks are either duplicates of the functions of other bots or are non-critical. Given the ongoing problems with his bot, the bot flag should be withdrawn from BCbot, unless there is a significant improvement both in the conduct of Betacommand and the operation of his bot.
Many of the issues have been well-documented in other submissions, so I will expand only on one aspect of it this stage (more detailed evidence if case accepted).
The problems here are long-standing, but I will focus on one case: categories. Wikipedia:Bots/Requests_for_approval/BetacommandBot shows that BCbot is authorised for " Removing or renaming categories per the decisions of WP:CFD". That is an exact quote from the text at Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/BetacommandBot#Approval status of BetacommandBot as of April 2007.
That's very precise: "per the decisions of WP:CFD". Unfortunately, BC set the bot to work removing redlinked categories, and when challenged said that this was part of that task (see User_talk:Betacommand/20080301#Removal_of_redlinked_categories).
Leave aside for now the question of whether this was a good idea (I think it's not). The deletion were nothing to do with WP:CFD, yet BC repeatedly claimed that it was authorised. We have two possibilities here: either BC ignores his bot's task limits, or he doesn't understand them, and neither is acceptable in the operator of a bot, particularly one running at such speed on the toolserver. BC claimed that done this before without complaint, but failed to offer any evidence of that.
It doesn't stop there. Having used the bot to made some 2,500 unauthorised edits, BC ignored repeated calls from many editors to revert the damage, leaving others to do so manually. The rollback happened only after I blocked BCbot when it resumed work on a different task, without an effort being made BC to repair the damage as required by WP:BOT, nor any offer to do so. BC now claims that this was a bad block because I was in a "content dispute" with him [2], and which seems crazy: if blocking a bot which fails to revert unauthorised edits is a "content dispute", then no-one can stop such a bot (because any admin who objects to the unauthorised edits would be labelled as "involved").
I have no previous history of dispute with BC, and first engaged him over the removal of redlinked categories. From that episode, it appears to BC accepts no restraints on the use of his bot, and the Bot Approvals Group seems uninterested in taking action about the breaches, and sees itself purely a technical assessment mechanism.
Meanwhile, the community is deadlocked between the permacritics of BC/BCbot and the die-hard defenders of the bot ... with the result that no resolution is possible of the genuine problems which do occur, unless arbcom sets some parameters, either by directly placing restraints on BC and BCbot (such as requiring logging and documentation of tasks and setting standards for addressing problems) or by requiring the Bot Approvals Group to proactively enforce WP:BOT and to work with BC to improve the bot's operations.
BCbot performs a huge number of edits, which inevitably magnifies any deficiencies. Unless such a hyperactive bot follows very high standards, the resulting problems are magnified by the sheer scale of the work done, causing massive community disruption. The community has shown itself unable to resolve the problem, and the lengthy threads at WP:ANI/BC are testament to the extent to which a significant chunk of the community which strongly suupports the NFCC process has nonetheless lost confidence in BCbot. Everything else has been tried; only arbcom can resolve this mess. -- BrownHairedGirl (talk) • ( contribs) 01:07, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
It allows editors to out of receiving notices from BCbot, and warns editors in return that opting out removes any right to complain about "deletions, reversions, etc. because you were "not notified" about them".
That's fair enough, but the next bit is not: "You also lose the right to complain about the bots themselves or the issues they raise".
This is an unfair bundling of terms. If an editor opts out of receiving notices about NFCC images, why should they be debarred from objecting if the bot does something which they find problematic in relation to categories or wikiproject tags? Those tasks do not usually involve notifications to individual editors, and I can see no valid reason to link the two, and the ignore-all-communications clause seems to ignore Wikipedia:BOT#Dealing_with_issues.
Attempts to raise this with BC at User talk:Betacommand/20081201#Consensus_on_proposal have had the response "Dont like it? tough". That dismissive incivility bodes ill for the arbitrators hopes that the problems can be resolved without arbcom accepting a case. -- BrownHairedGirl (talk) • ( contribs) 04:56, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
I suppose it's time for me to make a statement, as the request will now certainly be accepted. First, allow me to respond to Nick in regards to my being added to the case. I stand by the protection of that bot approval request, as I am not interested in seeing that forum being swamped by argument about BetacommandBot when not necessary. In my opinion, the initial speedy approval should have stood because it is a clone of an existing bot. The only legitimate concerns (that did not also apply to BetacommandBot) were those about the bot being a role account, and that is why the approval was pushed through. Perceived attempts at disruption and argument-mongering after the closing resulted in the protection of the approval page. It is not standard practice to protect these, but it isn't every day that a BRFA gets that much negative attention.
Now I must address three more things: BetacommandBot, specifically the opt-out arguments and its blocks, the proposed bot, and the attitude of various users throughout this. BetacommandBot performs a necessary task, enforcement of our non-free content policy. No one debates this. People do argue that it performs too many tasks. This is obviously being worked on, with the new bot approval. Some actually argue that since it can't assess every point of WP:NFCC, it shouldn't be allowed to operate at all. I hope the arbitrators can see the fallacy in that argument. People have requested to be opted out, and up until Beta's recent changes, he allowed anyone to request opting out, as long as they had a valid reason (something beyond "it's annoying me"). The recent opt-out system he created has been met with resistance because it tries to circumvent policy or something like that. It's VOLUNTARY. As for the blocks, well, it feels to me that most of the blocks are by admins who really don't understand what the problem is and are so anxious to block such a high-profile bot as this and gain access to the elite club of admins against BCBot that they don't consider the reasons for blocking and they don't attempt to get consensus for a block. There have been blocks of this bot over a single error, where my bot, which is much less well known, has made similar errors without being blocked.
The proposed bot is going to be programmed by beta but operated by the members of BAG. There are complaints about it being a role account, however it has been stated that a log will be kept so people know which operator has run a specific task. Since it is only a clone of an existing bot, it is receiving far too much controversy for something that should have been speedily approved and immediately transitioned to.
Even after endless discussion, many of us, including myself, have become frustrated at users who do not appear to be paying attention to our statements who we feel are wasting our time. We may snap at them, ignore them, or unleash bots against them. Sometimes these are intended as non-disruptive ways to illustrate a point. (That's probably usually the case.) While a little more research and consideration may be desired of the anti-BCBot people, I think it's clear that most of the people listed above as parties have been responsible for brushes with the line of WP:CIVIL. Arbitrators may understand the feeling of frustration when one is trying to volunteer with Wikipedia and is met with resistance, uncivil comments, personal attacks, and in general the immaturity of the community. While there are true newbies who do not understand policy and need to be helped, our ability to do so is being diminished by assaults by those who refuse to understand policy, as demonstrated in the Abu bahali case mentioned by NYB in his comments below. While arbitration will help in this manner, the best solution would most likely be one which is implemented quickly. Now that the Arbitration Committee has agreed to take on this case, I hope they do so in a prompt manner and take into account the feelings I have expressed in this last paragraph along with the policy side of the matter. -- uǝʌǝs ʎʇɹnoɟ ʇs(st47) 23:41, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
All numbering based on /Proposed decision, where vote counts and comments are also available.
1) The purpose of Wikipedia is to create a high-quality, free-content encyclopedia in an atmosphere of camaraderie and mutual respect among contributors.
2) Contributors to Wikipedia may benefit the project by participating in a variety of ways. Good-faith participation is welcome whether it comes in the form of editorial contributions, image contributions, wikignoming, bot and script writing and operation, policy design and implementation, or the performance of administrative tasks. Editors making any or all of these types of contributions are welcome. The project and progress toward our goals are diminished if we drive away or demoralize a good-faith editor who contributes or has the potential to contribute, while complying with Wikipedia policies, in any or all of these areas.
3) Wikipedia users are expected to behave reasonably, calmly, and courteously in their interactions with other users; 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, trolling, harassment, disruptive point-making, and gaming the system, is prohibited.
4) Perfection is not expected from editors, it being understood that everyone will occasionally make mistakes or misjudgments. However, an overall record of compliance with site policies and norms is expected, especially from regular contributors. Editors are expected to adhere to policy regardless of the behavior of those they are in disputes with. Inappropriate behavior by other editors does not legitimize one's own misconduct, though it may be considered as a mitigating factor in some circumstances. Moreover, users who have been justifiably criticized or formally sanctioned for improper conduct are expected to avoid repeating that conduct.
5) The English Wikipedia, like other Wikimedia Foundation projects, is primarily based upon free content. Free content includes text and media that are either in the public domain or are licensed under a policy-compliant free license. Images and other media that do not meet these requirements may only be used in accordance with the non-free content criteria ("NFCC", formerly "fair use criteria" or "FUC").
6) Wikipedia:Non-free content, key elements of which are policy, stipulates that non-free images and other media may be used only under certain specific circumstances. The source of the image, the provision under which it is used, and the article where it appears must be documented. This policy serves as the project-specific implementation of the Wikimedia Foundation resolution on licensing policy.
7) Images and other media that do not meet the requirements described by the non-free content criteria should be tagged to show how they are lacking and the uploader(s) should be notified. Unless the non-compliance with policy is blatant and cannot be fixed, the uploader or any other interested editor should be provided with a reasonable amount of time (generally seven days under current policy) within which to address the problem with the image. If the discrepancies are not resolved after a suitable time period the media may be deleted. Similarly, a non-free image may be removed from a particular page if it does not satisfy the NFCC with respect to its being used on that page.
8) Editors who review images uploaded to Wikipedia and identify those that fail to satisfy the NFCC or are missing the necessary documentation play an important role in safeguarding the free nature of the project and avoiding potential legal exposure. However, image-tagging rules are necessarily complex, are sometimes subject to varying interpretations, and can be particularly confusing to new editors. Therefore, it is essential that editors performing this valued role should remain civil at all times, avoid biting the newcomers who are the foundation of the project's future growth, and respond patiently and accurately to questions from the editors whose images they have challenged or ensure that those questions are answered by others.
9) An editor whose image's licensing or fair-use status is questioned, or any other editor who believes the image should be retained, should address the matter promptly and civilly. In doing so, it is best to bear in mind that having and adhering to policies in this area is essential for both ethical and often legal reasons, even though the precise parameters of the policy may be debatable or unclear. Disagreeing with the concerns raised, disputing the interpretation of policy as applied to a specific image, and/or requesting a third opinion are often legitimate responses, but personal attacks on the user raising the question are never appropriate.
10) Bots are processes that modify Wikipedia content in a fully or partially automated fashion. Scripts are also computer algorithms utilized to automate or semi-automate certain types of editing. These tools are extremely valuable for the purpose of facilitating the making of multiple edits that would be unduly time-consuming or tedious for a human editor to perform manually. Approval from the Bot Approvals Group is generally required before an editor may use a bot for automatic or high-speed edits.
11.1) Like administrators and other editors in positions of trust, bot operators have a heightened responsibility to the community. Bot operators are expected to respond reasonably to questions or concerns about the operation of their bot. An editor who (even in good faith) misuses automated editing tools such as bots and scripts, or fails to respond appropriately to concerns from the community about their use over a period of time, may lose the privilege of using such tools or may have such privilege restricted.
1) Betacommand ( talk · contribs) is an experienced contributor who has edited Wikipedia since November 2005, through his regular user account and through bot accounts including BetacommandBot ( talk · contribs). In addition to other interests, Betacommand has devoted a substantial portion of his editing, directly and through the bots, to enforcement of the non-free content criteria through image-tagging.
2) In Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Betacommand, decided May 3, 2007, this Committee unanimously found that Betacommand, who was then an administrator, had committed a series of errors and misjudgments. Among other concerns were issues relating to the deletion of images, the misuse of automated tools and related communication issues, and incidents of alleged disruption to prove a point. Betacommand was desysopped, but was not otherwise sanctioned.
3) Since the prior Arbitration decision, Betacommand has continued to edit with an emphasis on bot-programming and image-tagging work. During this period, Betacommand and BetacommandBot have played an extremely significant role in enforcing the non-free content criteria and policies with respect to tens of thousands of actually or allegedly non-compliant images and media. In carrying out this role, Betacommand becomes a de facto voice of the project to editors, frequently including new editors, whose images he has challenged. Responses to Betacommand's work from affected editors have ranged from praise and numerous barnstars listed here, to legitimate questions and criticisms, to unacceptable expressions of overt hostility and harassment.
4) Although much of Betacommand's continued work since the prior case is commendable, several aspects of his user conduct over the past year have been problematic, including the following:
5) The issues concerning Betacommand's and BetacommandBot's conduct, coupled with overreactions on the part of some other editors and related disputes, have resulted in a series of disputes and disruptions. The level of disruption has been well beyond what a collaborative project should be expected to accept even in a contentious area such as fair-use policy and image-tagging, and must be brought to an end either via dramatically improved user conduct or via sanctions imposed by this committee.
1) Betacommand is thanked for his contributions to the project but is instructed:
2) Betacommand is urged to be significantly more responsive to good-faith questions from users whose images he tags and either to respond directly to such questions, to seek to have others do so, or to refer users to another appropriate location where their questions can be addressed. Participation by other editors in this process will be a valuable contribution toward addressing the overall situation reflected in the record of this case. Betacommand is also urged to establish an "opt-out" list for BetacommandBot without imposing any unnecessary conditions on the right to decline to receive notifications.
3) Editors are advised that periodic review of images and other media to ensure their compliance with the non-free content criteria may be necessary for policy, ethical, and sometimes legal reasons. Editors are invited to participate in policy discussions concerning this and related areas, and are also welcome to challenge the application of policies and criteria in individual cases, but are cautioned not to be abusive toward or make personal attacks against participants, including bot operators, engaged in this work.
4) The community, particularly including users with experience in image compliance and tagging work and those knowledgeable about bots and scripts, is urged to re-examine our policies and practices for reviewing, tagging, and where necessary deleting images in light of experience gained since the policies and practices were previously developed, including the disputes underlying this case. The review should attempt to ensure:
In addition, the Bot Approvals Group and interested members of the community are urged to assess whether any changes to or updating of the BAG's operations and procedures may be warranted in light of issues raised in this case.
5.1) The Committee expects that the disputes and disruption underlying this case will cease as a result of this decision. In the event of non-compliance or a continued pattern of disputes, further review by the Committee may be sought after a reasonable time. In such a review, the Committee may impose appropriate sanctions including but not limited to the revocation of any user's privilege to use automated tools such as bots and scripts, revocation of other privileges, topic bans, civility restrictions, or any other remedies needed to end the disruption. Nothing in this paragraph restricts the authority of administrators to take appropriate action to deal with any disruptive incidents that may occur.
Log any block, restriction, ban or extension under any remedy in this decision here. Minimum information includes name of administrator, date and time, what was done and the basis for doing it.
Discussion located here.
Pursuant to the provisions of Remedy 5.1, and mindful of the recent and current disputes surrounding this user in many fora, the committee by motion indefinitely topic-bans Δ (formerly known as Betacommand) from making any edit enforcing the non-free content criteria, broadly construed. User:Δ is also formally reminded of the civility restriction and other terms to which they are still subject as a condition of the provisional suspension of their community ban.