Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee
Any private material intended for the Committee's attention should be sent to arbcom-l lists.wikimedia.org.Please see Communications and privacy below. |
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The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.
In addition to its role in dispute resolution, the Committee determines which editors have access to CheckUser and Oversight permissions, and considers certain matters where exceptional factors such as privacy preclude a public hearing.
Arbitrators are neither Wikimedia Foundation employees or agents, nor Wikipedia executives. They are volunteer users—usually experienced editors and administrators—whom the community of editors at large elects to resolve the most complex or intractable disputes that may arise within the community, and to oversee the few areas where access to non-public information is a prerequisite.
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Members
The current members of the Arbitration Committee are listed below. Arbitrators may be active or inactive. The inactive designation includes members who are on wikibreak, who have not participated in arbitration within the past week, or who have indicated their absence. The term "pro tempore arbitrators" refers to arbitrators whose regular terms have expired, but who remain active on one or more pending cases that commenced while they were still active arbitrators; they are permitted to remain active on those cases until they are closed. The following list is accurate as of 27 January 2012:
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- Active arbitrators
- AGK (talk · contribs)
- Casliber (talk · contribs)
- Courcelles (talk · contribs)
- David Fuchs (talk · contribs)
- Elen of the Roads (talk · contribs)
- Hersfold (talk · contribs)
- Jclemens (talk · contribs)
- Kirill Lokshin (talk · contribs)
- Newyorkbrad (talk · contribs)
- PhilKnight (talk · contribs)
- Risker (talk · contribs)
- Roger Davies (talk · contribs)
- SilkTork (talk · contribs)
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- Pro tempore arbitrators
- Coren (talk · contribs)
- John Vandenberg (talk · contribs)
- Mailer diablo (talk · contribs)
The Arbitration Committee does not have a chair, but may designate one arbitrator to coordinate timely performance of tasks. The current coordinating arbitrator is Roger Davies, with Kirill Lokshin as his deputy.
Subcommittees
Audit Subcommittee
The Audit Subcommittee (AUSC) investigates complaints concerning the use of CheckUser and Oversight privileges. It consists of three arbitrators (currently AGK, David Fuchs, and Jclemens) and three additional community members (however at present there is only a single at-large member, Keegan). Risker is the subcommittee coordinator.
Ban Appeals Subcommittee
The Ban Appeals Subcommittee (BASC) considers appeals from banned or blocked users, generally when all other avenues of appeal have been exhausted. It consists of three arbitrators (currently Elen of the Roads, Hersfold, and PhilKnight). David Fuchs is the subcommittee coordinator.
All requests or other material intended for the Ban Appeals Subcommittee should be sent to arbcom-llists.wikimedia.org. Please see the ban appeals procedures before contacting the subcommittee.
Internal teams
To help ensure that all matters brought before the Arbitration Committee are addressed appropriately, certain arbitrators have volunteered to assume responsibility for various specific functions. A list of these arbitrators and the relevant areas is provided below for information purposes. Please note that, except for the formal subcommittees (WP:AUSC and WP:BASC), these assignments are informal and simply for purposes of internal coordination. Routine day-to-day changes will not necessarily be publicly announced. Coordination assignments are not exclusive and, except for recusals or inactive periods, all arbitrators may participate equally in all aspects of the Committee's work.
Incoming mail team
- Role: Expediting mail handling by providing initial responses; and triage of incoming mail.
- Team members: David Fuchs, Elen of the Roads, Jclemens, PhilKnight, Roger Davies
Case management team
- Role: Overseeing requests for arbitration, opened cases, requests for clarification and amendment; monitoring Arbitration Enforcement.
- Team members: AGK, Courcelles, Elen of the Roads, Kirill Lokshin, Newyorkbrad, Roger Davies
Ban Appeals support team
- Role: assisting the Ban Appeals Subcommittee, with administration, statistics and correspondence.
- Team members: AGK, David Fuchs, SilkTork
Higher permissions team
- Role: coordination in selection of Oversighters, CheckUsers, and community AUSC representatives; working with the Audit Subcommittee; liaising with holders of higher permissions.
- Team members: Casliber, Courcelles, Jclemens, Risker, Xeno
Technical team
- Role: technical issues with the mailing list, the ArbCom private wiki, and related matters.
- Team members: Jclemens, Xeno
Clerks
The Committee's clerk team assists the Committee with procedural tasks, such as opening and closing cases, maintaining arbitration pages, and issuing notifications of decisions. Parties with questions about the arbitration process are encouraged to consult a clerk for assistance.
Contacting the Committee
The arbcom-l mailing list is the primary venue for internal Arbitration Committee discussion on all matters under the Committee's remit. It can also be used by any user as a means of contacting the Committee privately (but see Email and privacy below). The mailing list address is arbcom-llists.wikimedia.org. It may also be reached through the "Email this user" feature at "User:Arbitration Committee". All current arbitrators are subscribed to this list, as is project founder Jimbo Wales.
Mailing lists
In addition to the arbcom-l list, the Committee operates several other official mailing lists:
| Mailing list | Description |
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| functionaries-en | The functionaries-en mailing list is used for general discussion among current Arbitration Committee members, former members in good standing, advanced permission (CheckUser and/or Oversight) operators, and other editors with official Wikimedia Foundation status. Please see the functionary page for more details and a list of subscribers. |
| arbcom-audit-en | The arbcom-audit-en mailing list is used for internal discussion by the Audit Subcommittee. Please see the subcommittee page for more details and a list of subscribers. |
| clerks-l | The clerks-l mailing list is used for coordination by the Committee's clerk team. Please see the clerk page for more details and a list of subscribers. |
Individual arbitrators
Some individual arbitrators have published their personal email addresses. These should be used sparingly as material intended for the Committee as a whole should instead be sent to arbcom-l at arbcom-llists.wikimedia.org.
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Communications and privacy
Arbitrators usually seek to treat your communications, including emails, as private when possible. We however cannot guarantee against public disclosure for a number of reasons, including potential security limitations. Accordingly, you should not disclose sensitive personal information in your communications with us.
Once received, your communications may be shared with committee members and, in some limited cases, with third parties to assist in resolving issues or other purposes. Your communications may be kept for an undetermined period of time for archival or other reasons.
You should also know that even your return email address may lead to revealing your real life identity. Many people create anonymized email accounts – for example <your username>@gmail.com, <username>@hotmail.com and so on – specially for Wikipedia use. Further information about safeguarding your privacy can be found at Wikipedia:On privacy, confidentiality and discretion and Wikipedia:How to not get outed on Wikipedia.
