Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Ban Appeals Subcommittee
 | This page is currently inactive and is retained for historical reference. The Ban Appeals Subcommittee was disbanded by motion of the Arbitration Committee on 15 November 2015. The Arbitration Committee will directly hear appeals (i) from editors who are subject to an {{OversightBlock}} or a {{Checkuserblock}}; (ii) from editors who are blocked for reasons that are unsuitable for public discussion; and (iii) from editors blocked or banned by Arbitration and Arbitration Enforcement decisions. |
The Ban Appeals Subcommittee (BASC) was formed by the Arbitration Committee to hear appeals, by email, from users who are banned or blocked by community processes. BASC is a last resort, available only if other means of appeal are exhausted.
If you:
- are community banned from Wikipedia entirely, or you are blocked indefinitely; and
- have appealed your block using {{unblock}} on your talk page and using the UTRS interface,
then you may submit an appeal to BASC. Please read Wikipedia:Appealing a block and the next section of this page before doing so. The status box above indicates how long your appeal is likely to take if submitted now.
BASC does not hear appeals of topic bans, namespace or single-account restrictions, or appeals of block of short duration. Appeals of remedies imposed by the Arbitration Committee must be appealed directly to the committee itself, not to BASC.
Procedure[edit]
This section contains important information about appealing to the subcommittee.
To appeal your block or ban, send an e-mail to the subcommittee through Special:EmailUser/Ban Appeals Subcommittee.
What should I write in this e-mail?
- Specify your Wikipedia username and any other usernames you have used on Wikipedia in the past two years.
- Explain clearly but succinctly why your ban or block should be overturned – such as what lessons you have learned from the block or ban, how you would conduct yourself differently if unblocked or unbanned, or why you believe the block or ban was unfair or erroneous. Please remember that multiple appeals on the same grounds may be summarily dismissed.
- Link to on-wiki discussions (and the reference number for all UTRS unblock requests, if applicable) relevant to your block or ban.
- Set out briefly anything else you wish us to consider during your appeal (lengthy statements may delay your appeal or lead us to request a shorter statement).
What if I am asking for another chance?
- Editors who accept their block or ban was valid, but wish to receive a second chance, should familiarise themselves with Wikipedia's standard offer, the principles of which we apply to most appeals. We expect you not to have tried evading your block or ban in the recent past. Please also specify what topics or articles you would edit if unblocked or unbanned.
- We take recent, productive contributions to other Wikimedia Foundation projects into account. Please specify in your appeal what other projects you have edited, if any, and link to the user page for the relevant account. Contributions to non-WMF wikis are not considered.
Can I appeal to the subcommittee?
The subcommittee is concerned only with bans and long blocks of long-term contributors on the English Wikipedia. Blocks and bans are distinct. The subcommittee is a body of final appeal. Blocked editors may only use BASC once they have exhausted the usual process of Wikipedia block appeals (talk page appeals and UTRS appeals). Banned editors may only use BASC if they were banned more than six months ago. Premature, inappropriate, ineligible, or incomplete appeals may be summarily declined.
Separately from the above, blocks for sockpuppetry or blocks based on checkuser evidence may, in any case, be appealed directly to us. Please specify in your appeal if you are appealing a "checkuser" or "sock" block – you can ascertain whether you are by clicking the "block log" link at this page.
To send this e-mail, use the Wikipedia EmailUser system by clicking here.
If (and only if) you are unable to use the EmailUser system, you may e-mail us directly at arbcom-appeals-en
lists.wikimedia.org.
Feel free to contact a member of the subcommittee if you have any questions.
About the subcommittee[edit]
More information on the subcommittee as a body is available at /About. However, this information is not strictly relevant if you are actually appealing a block; if you are, please see #Procedure, above, for instructions.