Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2007-03-20/Arbitration report

Arbitration report

The Report on Lengthy Litigation

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The Arbitration Committee opened one case this week, and closed no cases.

Lukas19-LSLM: A case involving the conduct of Lukas19 and LSLM. Both parties allege incivility.

Falun Gong: A case regarding the conduct of various editors on the Falun Gong article. Olaf Stephanos and Asdfg12345 allege that Samuel Luo has edit-warred in removing pro-Falun Gong material from the article, while Luo, Tomananda and others allege that Stephanos, Asdfg and others have edit-warred (including page blanking) in removing anti-Falun Gong material.

Armenia-Azerbaijan: A case, brought by ex-arbitrator Dmcdevit, regarding a dispute between Armenian and Azerbaijani editors on a large number of articles.

InShaneee: A case involving the actions of Inshaneee. 81.179.115.188 (formerly Worldtraveller) alleges that InShaneee inappropriately blocked him in a dispute in which he was involved in violation of WP:BP, and that he responded agressively to criticism. InShaneee in his statement points to an apology admitting the block was premature, and denying any aggressive response. Paul August has proposed a remedy admonishing InShaneee, which has a majority of five to two, and another desysopping him is split at 3-3.

Free Republic: A case involving the actions of DeanHinnen, BenBurch and Fairness And Accuracy For All on the Free Republic article and elsewhere. The parties have alleged incivility, personal attacks, and biased editing, among other misconduct. Remedies have been proposed, with the support of five arbitrators, affirming the community ban of BryanFromPalatine, banning Fairness And Accuracy For All for one year, and placing Free Republic and Democratic Underground on article probation.

Barrett v. Rosenthal: A case brought by Peter M. Dodge involving the actions of Ilena and Fyslee. According to Dodge, Ilena was initially reported to AN/I for "posting links to sites that some considered to be attack sites". Various users attempted to assist Ilena, but "This was sabotaged...when Fyslee posted a link to a site that attacked Ilena in a personal manner". The title of the case refers to Barrett v. Rosenthal, a decision of the Supreme Court of California, which ruled that internet users and providers were not liable for the republication of defamatory statements, which some editors believe provides protection for Wikipedia. It has been alleged that some editors were involved in the real-life litigation of the case. Fred Bauder has proposed remedies banning Ilena for one year (with the support of nine arbitrators), and prohibiting her and Fyslee (9-6) from editing the articles in question.

Starwood: A case involving links to Starwood Festival-related articles from various pages. Paul Pigman, who brought the case, alleges that Rosencomet "persistently and systematically" added these links, perhaps to an extent that violates WP:SPAM, and raised allegations against several other editors, which they have denied. If closed, Rosencomet would be cautioned "to avoid aggressive editing of articles when there is a question of conflict of interest".

Waldorf education: In pursuance of a remedy passed in the initial case, Fred Bauder initiated a review of all parties' behaviour. Following the review, Pete K was banned from editing Waldorf education and related articles indefinitely.