Case clerk: Cameron11598 ( Talk) Drafting arbitrators: BU Rob13 ( Talk) & KrakatoaKatie ( Talk)
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Case opened on 18:43, 16 November 2018 (UTC)
Case closed on 07:47, 6 December 2018 (UTC)
This case is closed. No edits should be made to this page except by clerks or arbitrators.
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I've desysoped Fred Bauder per WP:IAR in light of two self-unblocks today. As it's a Sunday and frankly we (or most of us) have lives, it is not clear when Arbcom would formally motion to desysop, and it is not unreasonable to assume that Fred Bauder may unblock himself again. Committee members, how you want to proceed here is your call, whether it is to do a level I/II desysop after-the-fact and dismiss this case, or whether you prefer to do a separate motion altogether. Or whether you want to trout me for my application of IAR. Point being, I'm not here seeking specific relief but more putting my actions on the record. Maxim(talk) 19:20, 11 November 2018 (UTC)
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If Maxim had relied in good faith on an emergency request from an administrator, any such request should be honored without requiring a thorough investigation. It could have been an actual emergency. Although, a glance at my contributions history might have helped.
"Removal is protective, intended to prevent harm to the encyclopedia while investigations take place, and the advanced permissions will normally be reinstated once a satisfactory explanation is provided or the issues are satisfactorily resolved. If the editor in question requests it, or if the Committee determines that a routine reinstatement of permissions is not appropriate, normal arbitration proceedings shall be opened to examine the removal of permissions and any surrounding circumstances."
If you wish me to continue to do some administrative work, I will do so, if you reinstate me. I should have read the election instructions and had enough good faith that the election committee might have helped me with the problems I was having with the question page. As it was, I, inappropriately, felt that if anything was going to be done, I would have to do it myself. User:Fred Bauder Talk 08:00, 13 November 2018 (UTC)
With the exception of Maxim, who has corrected my initial impression that he was acting on a reported emergency, the blocking administrators, Boing! said Zebedee and Iridescent ( 00:40, November 8, 2018 Iridescent (talk | contribs) . . (16,552 bytes) (+293) . . (→Questions from Eric Corbett: If that helps jog your memory) and [1]), were either involved in posting negative comments on the page in question, or had very strong feelings about me, Future Perfect at Sunrise. If Maxim did look at the nature of the page affected and the nature of what I was trying to do, it hard to see why he thought de-syopping was necessary. Although, indeed, I might have unblocked myself again. After all I was the subject of several discussions I might have participated in. The ban discussion was particularly nasty, as I was not even notified of it. User:Fred Bauder Talk 14:49, 13 November 2018 (UTC)
Several users used the questions page not to ask questions but to make comments opposing my candidacy for one reason or another. Some who did ask questions did so in an aggressive nasty way, "When are you going to stop beating your wife?" Bottom line, the page was rendered useless other than as negative commentary. I was trying to improve the situation by editing it. I tried several templates first but they didn't work. Then hit on moving tendentious material to the talk page.
Please look at what I did to the questions page: https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee_Elections_December_2018/Candidates/Fred_Bauder/Questions&oldid=868337075 What is the emergency. Why couldn't Boing! said Zebedee, who repeatedly reverted this page, themselves address the elections committee rather than repeatedly reverting it and even blocking me because I resisted their actions? There was no emergency, merely a dispute, which they resolved by force rather than discussion. User:Fred Bauder Talk 15:44, 13 November 2018 (UTC)
User:KTC and the other members of the Electoral Commission, failed to monitor the candidate pages, thus when my question page was overwhelmed with negative spam, nothing was done. User:Fred Bauder Talk 20:45, 13 November 2018 (UTC)
I was aware I could not be elected arbitrator. A candidate who even hints at addressing the problem of systemic, and generally tolerated, incivility, let alone has a history of actively opposing it, has no chance whatever of being elected using the current system. All I did was set the stage, dramatic, even eye-popping, performances followed. That said, I would serve if elected, and would do some administrative work if reinstated. User:Fred Bauder Talk 16:41, 15 November 2018 (UTC)
Adding myself as a party pro forma in light of the fact that I'm the one who performed the reblock which Fred Bauder reversed—i.e. when the issue changed from a violation of WP:NEVERUNBLOCK to a violation of WP:WHEEL—and as the editor who proposed that Fred Bauder be formally sanctioned in addition to the desysop element. Unless anyone has any specific question, I doubt I have anything to add that hasn't been said at the ANI thread. ‑ Iridescent 19:26, 11 November 2018 (UTC)
Maxim's desysop action was well within the bounds of reasonable discretion, and I think it was the right thing to do at the time and it should be endorsed. The subject of my block has come up here wrt WP:Involved. I blocked as an "any reasonable admin" action and then immediately took it to ANI for review, which I think is perfectly acceptable. In the discussion there's one "Good block" comment and one "Strongly admonish" (the admonish comment suggested I had misused rollback, but I did not use rollback). Nobody else out of the many who contributed saw fit comment on my action that I can see (and I don't think I missed any), so I don't see that it comes anywhere near ArbCom business. All ArbCom has to do here, I think, is decide how to proceed with Maxim's desysop action - uphold it, reverse it, elevate it to a formal desysop, whatever, and I'm happy to leave that to ArbCom without offering any personal opinion. There is clearly no community consensus for a ban on Fred, so that's another thing that ArbCom does not need to rule on. If anyone has any questions for me, I will answer as quickly as I can. Boing! said Zebedee ( talk) 07:34, 12 November 2018 (UTC)
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So somebody added me to this case page? But I’m in no way involved here: neither were my admin actions on 11 November "involved" in any sense, nor do I consider myself a party to the case. When I became aware of the situation with Fred Bauder around 15:30 UTC on 11 November, the edit war on the questions page was essentially over: the main culprit (Fred) had been blocked, so there was no further content dispute to be expected. However, I found the page in the state after Fred’s final revert (his 4th, which he had made after his first self-unblock at 15:22). This final revert had been essentially an act of block evasion: Fred had circumvented his first block in order to continue edit-warring. (It makes no difference what he technically did to achieve that, self-unblocking as he did here, or creating sock puppets as most others would have). Therefore, this final edit could and should be treated just as any edit by a block- or ban-evading sockpuppeter. In this situation, my reversion at 15:39 was not an act of joining the edit war but pure administrative cleanup: reinstating the legitimate WP:Stable version, just as I would have if I was going to protect the page (which I could have, but didn't in the end). Nothing in this made me “involved”, and thus neither did my next action, of re-blocking Fred after his second self-unblock. Finally, there is no contradiction at all between me taking these straightforward administrative actions, as a completely uninvolved onlooker, and me also subseequently forming my personal opinions about the situation, which I then expressed in the ANI discussion. I see that Fred, in his statement above, claims I had "very strong feelings about him". I wonder how he gained that insight into my brain? I have no "feelings" about him at all. Before these events, beyond some vague recollection that I used to consider his performance as an arbitrator somewhat erratic ten years ago, I had nothing against Fred at all; I had been giving the current nomination process very little attention and was barely aware he was running. Whatever negative opinions I have about him and his candidacy now wasn't preconceived but formed during and after that half hour of events. Fut.Perf. ☼ 22:49, 15 November 2018 (UTC)
Clearly you don’t need yet another user telling you this but what the hell: take the case and resolve it by motion. I think that is the obvious path, Fred crossed a bright line, twice, so there’s no need to debate his other actions. The committtee has held in the past that doing so is not ok regardless of whether or not the initial block was justified. The community can decide what other remedies may or may not be needed, but only you guys can do the desysop which is mandated both by policy and very strong consensus of the community. And Maxim obviously did the right thing here in preventing the very real risk of further wheel warring, something that must be nipped in the bud ASAP. Beeblebrox ( talk) 22:53, 11 November 2018 (UTC)
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Vote key: (Accept/decline/recuse)
I'm on board for level 2, don't see the point of level 1 (in this specific instance or in general), and that was taken as an "objection" (fair enough, though it was more of a discussion point than a formal Process; I did also say we should move quickly and would probably have been persuadable to use the faster process despite my general preference for slow-and-steady). So there you go, no need for a case about that. As for the actual issue, the core facts here are obvious and not in dispute - Fred unblocked himself under contentious circumstances, that's clearly a misuse of admin tools, Fred should be desysopped. But what has happened is that we're all tripping over ourselves in the hurry hurry rush rush to Do Something and we've repeatedly escalated what is at root a very manageable situation. I am going to stand by the point that "emergency" procedures should be for emergencies. Yes, there's "multiple accounts actively wheel-warring", but that has to mean they are causing harm. In most genuine emergencies - compromised accounts and the like - arb procedures are basically redundant and I am totally on board with IAR desysoppings to stop active damage. In fact I would prefer that the procedure turn that into the R. The "emergency" here was "well, Fred might unblock himself again". Well, yes, he might. The original edit war was about some material on his candidate questions page that he apparently found distressing. Would the wiki have fallen if we waited for another couple of hours to settle that apparently very pressing issue? Erm, no. The key thing about emergency procedures is that they should stabilize the situation pending further review. So - thanks to Maxim for making an honest effort at doing that, but I don't think this was really a necessary escalation; the underlying problem wasn't something that couldn't wait a bit. (I'll push back a little on the "it's Sunday" thing, too - in my book that's an argument to sit on your hands and be patient, not to escalate further.) As for the disposition of the case - IMO it's best to just handle it by the motion we were already going to do as a level 2 procedure anyway, but by the letter of level 2 the affected user can request a full case, so I'd be willing to go that route if Fred requests it. While I'm up on my soapbox here, I'll comment briefly on the original dispute - if you don't want someone to be elected, or are skeptical of their platform, fine, but everybody who puts themselves forward is volunteering for a hard job; while we obviously can't have candidates curating their own questions, this seems like it would have been solved with far less drama by stopping immediately after Fred's first revert and asking the election commissioners to review the situation. Opabinia regalis ( talk) 21:02, 11 November 2018 (UTC)
*Recuse Whether or not he's a candidate (and he is now), I'm also recusing.
Doug Weller
talk 17:17, 12 November 2018 (UTC)
The request for a case is accepted to consider all aspects of the matter. The following timetable shall apply: evidence phase from case opening to November 27; workshop phase (overlapping with evidence) from November 23 to 30; proposed decision due by December 4. The information contained in the statements already presented will be considered in deciding the case, and does not need to be presented again on the evidence page. The revocation of Fred Bauder's administrator rights shall continue in effect, without prejudice, until the case is decided or until otherwise directed by this Committee.
1) The purpose of Wikipedia is to create a high-quality, free-content encyclopedia in an atmosphere of camaraderie and mutual respect among contributors. Contributors whose actions are detrimental to that goal may be asked to refrain from them, even when these actions are undertaken in good faith; and good faith actions, where disruptive, may still result in sanctions.
2) 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, disruptive point-making, and gaming the system, is prohibited.
3) Administrators are expected to lead by example and to behave in a respectful, civil manner in their interactions with others. Administrators are expected to follow Wikipedia policies and to perform their duties to the best of their abilities. Occasional mistakes are entirely compatible with adminship; administrators are not expected to be perfect. However, sustained or serious disruption of Wikipedia is incompatible with the status of administrator, and consistently or egregiously poor judgment may result in the removal of administrator status. Administrators who have been blocked for purported violations should not remove the block themselves even if they believe it was clearly improper. See Wikipedia:Unblocking#Unblocking.
4) With few exceptions, editors are expected to not act as administrators in cases where, to a neutral observer, they could reasonably appear involved. Involvement is generally construed very broadly by the community, to include current or past conflicts with an editor (or editors), and disputes on topics, regardless of the nature, age, or outcome of the dispute.
While there will always be borderline cases, best practices suggest that, whenever in doubt, an administrator should draw the situation to the attention of fellow sysops, such as by posting on an appropriate noticeboard, so that other sysops can provide help.
5) In a non-emergency situation, administrators are expected to refrain from undoing each others' administrative actions without first attempting to resolve the dispute by means of discussion.
6) An editor who is harassed and attacked by others – or who genuinely perceives themselves to be harassed or attacked – whether on Wikipedia or off, should not see that harassment as an excuse for fighting back and attacking those who are criticising them. Editors should report on-wiki harassment to administrators and off-wiki harassment by email to the Arbitration Committee. Administrators should be sensitive in dealing with harassed editors who have themselves breached acceptable standards.
7) From the earliest days of Wikipedia, one of the project's central tenets has been " Ignore all rules: If a rule prevents you from improving or maintaining Wikipedia, ignore it." Because "IAR" actions are, by definition, taken outside the ordinary policies and guidelines, it is impossible to state in advance when they will be appropriate. However, ignoring all rules is most likely to be warranted when dealing with an unanticipated or emergency situation. Conversely, taking an action based on IAR is less likely to be warranted when there has been a consensus that that sort of action should not be allowed.
1) This case focuses on the behavior of Fred Bauder ( talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) and others on and about the page dedicated to community questions about his candidacy for the Arbitration Committee, and subsequent related actions by editors, administrators, and bureaucrats.
2) The community runs Arbitration Elections independently of the Arbitration Committee. The Electoral Commission, whose members are selected by the community, has the community mandate to settle any disputes that may arise.
3) On November 11, Fred Bauder moved several questions from the candidate questions page to the candidate questions talk page, and continued to do so despite being reverted by Winged Blades of Godric ( talk · contribs) and Boing! said Zebedee ( talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA). ( Risker's evidence).
4) Fred Bauder used rollback to perform two of these reverts. ( Jytdog's evidence)
5) At 15:10 (UTC), Boing! said Zebedee blocked Fred Bauder, with whom he was actively engaged in an edit war. ( block log)
6) Fred Bauder unblocked himself at 15:22 (UTC) and again at 15:37 (UTC). ( block log)
7) After Fred Bauder unblocked himself for the first time, Iridescent ( talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) blocked Fred Bauder for 24 hours at 15:34 (UTC). ( block log)
8) After Fred Bauder unblocked himself for the second time, Future Perfect at Sunrise ( talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) blocked Fred Bauder indefinitely at 15:47 (UTC). block log
9) Citing WP:IAR, Maxim ( talk · contribs · rights · renames) desysopped Fred Bauder at 19:08 (UTC), over three hours after the latest related administrative action. The Arbitration Committee had not authorized Maxim to do so, nor did Maxim attempt to contact the Arbitration Committee prior to removing the sysop flag. ( User rights log)
10) The 2011 RFC on bureaucratic removal of administrative permissions states that bureaucrats may remove permissions upon request of the administrator involved, at the request of the Arbitration Committee, or due to inactivity. There was no consensus to allow bureaucrats to remove administrative permissions in emergency situations.
11) The Electoral Commission for the Arbitration Committee Election was not consulted at any point during these events. ( Cyberpower678's statement, KTC's comment, SQL's comment)
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.
1) Fred Bauder ( talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) is admonished for engaging in an edit war on his candidate's questions page. Future edit-warring or disruptive behavior may result in further sanctions.
2) For multiple self-unblocks, wheel-warring, and abuse of rollback, Fred Bauder is desysopped. He may regain the administrative tools at any time via a successful request for adminship.
3.2) Boing! said Zebedee is cautioned for blocking Fred Bauder while actively involved in an edit war with him at the time. He is further cautioned to avoid edit-warring, even in cases where the other editor is editing disruptively.
6) Editors should seek assistance from the Electoral Commission for issues that arise on pages related to the Arbitration Committee Elections that cannot be easily resolved (excluding, for example, obvious vandalism). The Arbitration Committee reaffirms that the Electoral Commission has been tasked with the independent oversight of the Arbitration Committee Elections. Matters which are of a private nature should be referred to the Arbitration Committee or functionaries team as normal.
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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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 clerk: Cameron11598 ( Talk) Drafting arbitrators: BU Rob13 ( Talk) & KrakatoaKatie ( Talk)
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Track related changes |
Case opened on 18:43, 16 November 2018 (UTC)
Case closed on 07:47, 6 December 2018 (UTC)
This case is closed. No edits should be made to this page except by clerks or arbitrators.
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I've desysoped Fred Bauder per WP:IAR in light of two self-unblocks today. As it's a Sunday and frankly we (or most of us) have lives, it is not clear when Arbcom would formally motion to desysop, and it is not unreasonable to assume that Fred Bauder may unblock himself again. Committee members, how you want to proceed here is your call, whether it is to do a level I/II desysop after-the-fact and dismiss this case, or whether you prefer to do a separate motion altogether. Or whether you want to trout me for my application of IAR. Point being, I'm not here seeking specific relief but more putting my actions on the record. Maxim(talk) 19:20, 11 November 2018 (UTC)
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If Maxim had relied in good faith on an emergency request from an administrator, any such request should be honored without requiring a thorough investigation. It could have been an actual emergency. Although, a glance at my contributions history might have helped.
"Removal is protective, intended to prevent harm to the encyclopedia while investigations take place, and the advanced permissions will normally be reinstated once a satisfactory explanation is provided or the issues are satisfactorily resolved. If the editor in question requests it, or if the Committee determines that a routine reinstatement of permissions is not appropriate, normal arbitration proceedings shall be opened to examine the removal of permissions and any surrounding circumstances."
If you wish me to continue to do some administrative work, I will do so, if you reinstate me. I should have read the election instructions and had enough good faith that the election committee might have helped me with the problems I was having with the question page. As it was, I, inappropriately, felt that if anything was going to be done, I would have to do it myself. User:Fred Bauder Talk 08:00, 13 November 2018 (UTC)
With the exception of Maxim, who has corrected my initial impression that he was acting on a reported emergency, the blocking administrators, Boing! said Zebedee and Iridescent ( 00:40, November 8, 2018 Iridescent (talk | contribs) . . (16,552 bytes) (+293) . . (→Questions from Eric Corbett: If that helps jog your memory) and [1]), were either involved in posting negative comments on the page in question, or had very strong feelings about me, Future Perfect at Sunrise. If Maxim did look at the nature of the page affected and the nature of what I was trying to do, it hard to see why he thought de-syopping was necessary. Although, indeed, I might have unblocked myself again. After all I was the subject of several discussions I might have participated in. The ban discussion was particularly nasty, as I was not even notified of it. User:Fred Bauder Talk 14:49, 13 November 2018 (UTC)
Several users used the questions page not to ask questions but to make comments opposing my candidacy for one reason or another. Some who did ask questions did so in an aggressive nasty way, "When are you going to stop beating your wife?" Bottom line, the page was rendered useless other than as negative commentary. I was trying to improve the situation by editing it. I tried several templates first but they didn't work. Then hit on moving tendentious material to the talk page.
Please look at what I did to the questions page: https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee_Elections_December_2018/Candidates/Fred_Bauder/Questions&oldid=868337075 What is the emergency. Why couldn't Boing! said Zebedee, who repeatedly reverted this page, themselves address the elections committee rather than repeatedly reverting it and even blocking me because I resisted their actions? There was no emergency, merely a dispute, which they resolved by force rather than discussion. User:Fred Bauder Talk 15:44, 13 November 2018 (UTC)
User:KTC and the other members of the Electoral Commission, failed to monitor the candidate pages, thus when my question page was overwhelmed with negative spam, nothing was done. User:Fred Bauder Talk 20:45, 13 November 2018 (UTC)
I was aware I could not be elected arbitrator. A candidate who even hints at addressing the problem of systemic, and generally tolerated, incivility, let alone has a history of actively opposing it, has no chance whatever of being elected using the current system. All I did was set the stage, dramatic, even eye-popping, performances followed. That said, I would serve if elected, and would do some administrative work if reinstated. User:Fred Bauder Talk 16:41, 15 November 2018 (UTC)
Adding myself as a party pro forma in light of the fact that I'm the one who performed the reblock which Fred Bauder reversed—i.e. when the issue changed from a violation of WP:NEVERUNBLOCK to a violation of WP:WHEEL—and as the editor who proposed that Fred Bauder be formally sanctioned in addition to the desysop element. Unless anyone has any specific question, I doubt I have anything to add that hasn't been said at the ANI thread. ‑ Iridescent 19:26, 11 November 2018 (UTC)
Maxim's desysop action was well within the bounds of reasonable discretion, and I think it was the right thing to do at the time and it should be endorsed. The subject of my block has come up here wrt WP:Involved. I blocked as an "any reasonable admin" action and then immediately took it to ANI for review, which I think is perfectly acceptable. In the discussion there's one "Good block" comment and one "Strongly admonish" (the admonish comment suggested I had misused rollback, but I did not use rollback). Nobody else out of the many who contributed saw fit comment on my action that I can see (and I don't think I missed any), so I don't see that it comes anywhere near ArbCom business. All ArbCom has to do here, I think, is decide how to proceed with Maxim's desysop action - uphold it, reverse it, elevate it to a formal desysop, whatever, and I'm happy to leave that to ArbCom without offering any personal opinion. There is clearly no community consensus for a ban on Fred, so that's another thing that ArbCom does not need to rule on. If anyone has any questions for me, I will answer as quickly as I can. Boing! said Zebedee ( talk) 07:34, 12 November 2018 (UTC)
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So somebody added me to this case page? But I’m in no way involved here: neither were my admin actions on 11 November "involved" in any sense, nor do I consider myself a party to the case. When I became aware of the situation with Fred Bauder around 15:30 UTC on 11 November, the edit war on the questions page was essentially over: the main culprit (Fred) had been blocked, so there was no further content dispute to be expected. However, I found the page in the state after Fred’s final revert (his 4th, which he had made after his first self-unblock at 15:22). This final revert had been essentially an act of block evasion: Fred had circumvented his first block in order to continue edit-warring. (It makes no difference what he technically did to achieve that, self-unblocking as he did here, or creating sock puppets as most others would have). Therefore, this final edit could and should be treated just as any edit by a block- or ban-evading sockpuppeter. In this situation, my reversion at 15:39 was not an act of joining the edit war but pure administrative cleanup: reinstating the legitimate WP:Stable version, just as I would have if I was going to protect the page (which I could have, but didn't in the end). Nothing in this made me “involved”, and thus neither did my next action, of re-blocking Fred after his second self-unblock. Finally, there is no contradiction at all between me taking these straightforward administrative actions, as a completely uninvolved onlooker, and me also subseequently forming my personal opinions about the situation, which I then expressed in the ANI discussion. I see that Fred, in his statement above, claims I had "very strong feelings about him". I wonder how he gained that insight into my brain? I have no "feelings" about him at all. Before these events, beyond some vague recollection that I used to consider his performance as an arbitrator somewhat erratic ten years ago, I had nothing against Fred at all; I had been giving the current nomination process very little attention and was barely aware he was running. Whatever negative opinions I have about him and his candidacy now wasn't preconceived but formed during and after that half hour of events. Fut.Perf. ☼ 22:49, 15 November 2018 (UTC)
Clearly you don’t need yet another user telling you this but what the hell: take the case and resolve it by motion. I think that is the obvious path, Fred crossed a bright line, twice, so there’s no need to debate his other actions. The committtee has held in the past that doing so is not ok regardless of whether or not the initial block was justified. The community can decide what other remedies may or may not be needed, but only you guys can do the desysop which is mandated both by policy and very strong consensus of the community. And Maxim obviously did the right thing here in preventing the very real risk of further wheel warring, something that must be nipped in the bud ASAP. Beeblebrox ( talk) 22:53, 11 November 2018 (UTC)
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Vote key: (Accept/decline/recuse)
I'm on board for level 2, don't see the point of level 1 (in this specific instance or in general), and that was taken as an "objection" (fair enough, though it was more of a discussion point than a formal Process; I did also say we should move quickly and would probably have been persuadable to use the faster process despite my general preference for slow-and-steady). So there you go, no need for a case about that. As for the actual issue, the core facts here are obvious and not in dispute - Fred unblocked himself under contentious circumstances, that's clearly a misuse of admin tools, Fred should be desysopped. But what has happened is that we're all tripping over ourselves in the hurry hurry rush rush to Do Something and we've repeatedly escalated what is at root a very manageable situation. I am going to stand by the point that "emergency" procedures should be for emergencies. Yes, there's "multiple accounts actively wheel-warring", but that has to mean they are causing harm. In most genuine emergencies - compromised accounts and the like - arb procedures are basically redundant and I am totally on board with IAR desysoppings to stop active damage. In fact I would prefer that the procedure turn that into the R. The "emergency" here was "well, Fred might unblock himself again". Well, yes, he might. The original edit war was about some material on his candidate questions page that he apparently found distressing. Would the wiki have fallen if we waited for another couple of hours to settle that apparently very pressing issue? Erm, no. The key thing about emergency procedures is that they should stabilize the situation pending further review. So - thanks to Maxim for making an honest effort at doing that, but I don't think this was really a necessary escalation; the underlying problem wasn't something that couldn't wait a bit. (I'll push back a little on the "it's Sunday" thing, too - in my book that's an argument to sit on your hands and be patient, not to escalate further.) As for the disposition of the case - IMO it's best to just handle it by the motion we were already going to do as a level 2 procedure anyway, but by the letter of level 2 the affected user can request a full case, so I'd be willing to go that route if Fred requests it. While I'm up on my soapbox here, I'll comment briefly on the original dispute - if you don't want someone to be elected, or are skeptical of their platform, fine, but everybody who puts themselves forward is volunteering for a hard job; while we obviously can't have candidates curating their own questions, this seems like it would have been solved with far less drama by stopping immediately after Fred's first revert and asking the election commissioners to review the situation. Opabinia regalis ( talk) 21:02, 11 November 2018 (UTC)
*Recuse Whether or not he's a candidate (and he is now), I'm also recusing.
Doug Weller
talk 17:17, 12 November 2018 (UTC)
The request for a case is accepted to consider all aspects of the matter. The following timetable shall apply: evidence phase from case opening to November 27; workshop phase (overlapping with evidence) from November 23 to 30; proposed decision due by December 4. The information contained in the statements already presented will be considered in deciding the case, and does not need to be presented again on the evidence page. The revocation of Fred Bauder's administrator rights shall continue in effect, without prejudice, until the case is decided or until otherwise directed by this Committee.
1) The purpose of Wikipedia is to create a high-quality, free-content encyclopedia in an atmosphere of camaraderie and mutual respect among contributors. Contributors whose actions are detrimental to that goal may be asked to refrain from them, even when these actions are undertaken in good faith; and good faith actions, where disruptive, may still result in sanctions.
2) 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, disruptive point-making, and gaming the system, is prohibited.
3) Administrators are expected to lead by example and to behave in a respectful, civil manner in their interactions with others. Administrators are expected to follow Wikipedia policies and to perform their duties to the best of their abilities. Occasional mistakes are entirely compatible with adminship; administrators are not expected to be perfect. However, sustained or serious disruption of Wikipedia is incompatible with the status of administrator, and consistently or egregiously poor judgment may result in the removal of administrator status. Administrators who have been blocked for purported violations should not remove the block themselves even if they believe it was clearly improper. See Wikipedia:Unblocking#Unblocking.
4) With few exceptions, editors are expected to not act as administrators in cases where, to a neutral observer, they could reasonably appear involved. Involvement is generally construed very broadly by the community, to include current or past conflicts with an editor (or editors), and disputes on topics, regardless of the nature, age, or outcome of the dispute.
While there will always be borderline cases, best practices suggest that, whenever in doubt, an administrator should draw the situation to the attention of fellow sysops, such as by posting on an appropriate noticeboard, so that other sysops can provide help.
5) In a non-emergency situation, administrators are expected to refrain from undoing each others' administrative actions without first attempting to resolve the dispute by means of discussion.
6) An editor who is harassed and attacked by others – or who genuinely perceives themselves to be harassed or attacked – whether on Wikipedia or off, should not see that harassment as an excuse for fighting back and attacking those who are criticising them. Editors should report on-wiki harassment to administrators and off-wiki harassment by email to the Arbitration Committee. Administrators should be sensitive in dealing with harassed editors who have themselves breached acceptable standards.
7) From the earliest days of Wikipedia, one of the project's central tenets has been " Ignore all rules: If a rule prevents you from improving or maintaining Wikipedia, ignore it." Because "IAR" actions are, by definition, taken outside the ordinary policies and guidelines, it is impossible to state in advance when they will be appropriate. However, ignoring all rules is most likely to be warranted when dealing with an unanticipated or emergency situation. Conversely, taking an action based on IAR is less likely to be warranted when there has been a consensus that that sort of action should not be allowed.
1) This case focuses on the behavior of Fred Bauder ( talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) and others on and about the page dedicated to community questions about his candidacy for the Arbitration Committee, and subsequent related actions by editors, administrators, and bureaucrats.
2) The community runs Arbitration Elections independently of the Arbitration Committee. The Electoral Commission, whose members are selected by the community, has the community mandate to settle any disputes that may arise.
3) On November 11, Fred Bauder moved several questions from the candidate questions page to the candidate questions talk page, and continued to do so despite being reverted by Winged Blades of Godric ( talk · contribs) and Boing! said Zebedee ( talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA). ( Risker's evidence).
4) Fred Bauder used rollback to perform two of these reverts. ( Jytdog's evidence)
5) At 15:10 (UTC), Boing! said Zebedee blocked Fred Bauder, with whom he was actively engaged in an edit war. ( block log)
6) Fred Bauder unblocked himself at 15:22 (UTC) and again at 15:37 (UTC). ( block log)
7) After Fred Bauder unblocked himself for the first time, Iridescent ( talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) blocked Fred Bauder for 24 hours at 15:34 (UTC). ( block log)
8) After Fred Bauder unblocked himself for the second time, Future Perfect at Sunrise ( talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) blocked Fred Bauder indefinitely at 15:47 (UTC). block log
9) Citing WP:IAR, Maxim ( talk · contribs · rights · renames) desysopped Fred Bauder at 19:08 (UTC), over three hours after the latest related administrative action. The Arbitration Committee had not authorized Maxim to do so, nor did Maxim attempt to contact the Arbitration Committee prior to removing the sysop flag. ( User rights log)
10) The 2011 RFC on bureaucratic removal of administrative permissions states that bureaucrats may remove permissions upon request of the administrator involved, at the request of the Arbitration Committee, or due to inactivity. There was no consensus to allow bureaucrats to remove administrative permissions in emergency situations.
11) The Electoral Commission for the Arbitration Committee Election was not consulted at any point during these events. ( Cyberpower678's statement, KTC's comment, SQL's comment)
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.
1) Fred Bauder ( talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) is admonished for engaging in an edit war on his candidate's questions page. Future edit-warring or disruptive behavior may result in further sanctions.
2) For multiple self-unblocks, wheel-warring, and abuse of rollback, Fred Bauder is desysopped. He may regain the administrative tools at any time via a successful request for adminship.
3.2) Boing! said Zebedee is cautioned for blocking Fred Bauder while actively involved in an edit war with him at the time. He is further cautioned to avoid edit-warring, even in cases where the other editor is editing disruptively.
6) Editors should seek assistance from the Electoral Commission for issues that arise on pages related to the Arbitration Committee Elections that cannot be easily resolved (excluding, for example, obvious vandalism). The Arbitration Committee reaffirms that the Electoral Commission has been tasked with the independent oversight of the Arbitration Committee Elections. Matters which are of a private nature should be referred to the Arbitration Committee or functionaries team as normal.
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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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.