Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal/suggestions

The Mediation Cabal
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	This user is a volunteer mediator in the Mediation Cabal.

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A mediator is a neutral third party who helps foster consensus with editors in a dispute. Some cases may simply require giving guidance about what should be done in a difficult situation or may involve explaining a policy to the requester. Other cases may require helping the parties reach a compromise.

Feel free to join our IRC channel or make inquiries on the talk page for any advice whatsoever. MedCab is informal, so remember that "there are no stupid questions": Our goal is to be peacemakers, and that's probably why you're reading this. So never worry.

Recommended mediator qualifications

There are no qualifications for becoming a mediator, but the Cabal has some recommendations concerning the experience and commitment which are useful for a mediator:

• Commitment: The willingness and courtesy to see a mediation through:

• The willingness not to accept a mediation unless you're willing to see it through. If when the going gets tough you're going to the beach, don't mediate; if you've got things coming up in the real world which could prevent you from taking part, don't mediate.
• The courtesy not to just disappear, but instead to notify the parties on the mediation talk page and to drop a note at the MedCab talk page asking for someone to replace you if you cannot complete a mediation or you find yourself in over your depth.

• Dispute resolution experience: At least 5 fully completed cases as a neutral at Third Opinion, Dispute Resolution Noticeboard, and/or Wikiquette Assistance. These don't have to be successful cases (though that would be nice), but should at least be completed. A similar quantity of work as a neutral at other dispute-focused noticeboards can be used, as well.
• Willingness to work within the system: No blocks, topic or site bans, or community bans or restrictions which have been imposed, have expired, or have been active within the last 6 months.
• Toughness: While mediations generally emphasize peaceful coming to consensus, sometimes the best way to deal with the situation is to set the parties down and read them the riot act; if you're such a peaceful person that you cannot do that then this might not be your place.

Again, none of these are requirements but they are highly recommended. If you are interested in mediating a case and don't meet these recommendations you might consider asking for an experienced mediator to watch over the case or co-mediate it with you. Just put a note on the talk page.

Being accepted for a case

After changing the case status to active and listing yourself as a mediator, it is best practice to offer yourself as a mediator on the mediation page, allowing the involved parties to determine whether they will accept you as a mediator (feel free to set a deadline for responses, allow 72 hours, and to indicate that silence will be deemed as acceptance). It is recommended that you leave a note on the talk pages of the involved parties with a link to the mediation page, as they may not even be aware that mediation was requested. As the purpose of mediation is to help the process reach consensus, the absence of an involved party or conflict over the mediation process itself can critically damage the possibility of success. Therefore, if any party rejects you as a mediator, it is best practise to withdraw your offer of mediation, remove your name as mediator and return the case status to open to attract another mediator.

Case statuses

At the top of the edit page for a case you'll see the template medcabstatus. It has various options depending on the status of the case, and can be changed as the case proceeds:

• New cases will be listed as |status=New
• Open cases will be listed as |status=Active
• Cases that have had no input or discussion in the past two weeks will be listed as |status=Inactive
• Cases that have had no discussion or input in the last three weeks will be listed as |status=Closing
• Cases that have either had no discussion or input in a month will be closed. Additionally, cases that have been resolved will also be closed, and are listed as |status=closed

What to remember, and what helps

If...

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth...

Rudyard Kipling, "If—"

• Note: Most editors either don't watchlist their request or forget to check in on it. If a case is older than 1 week, it's best to inform the parties.
• Your presence alone brings sanity to a discussion.
• In contentious disputes, creating ground rules that all parties must agree to may help structure the discussion. An example of these can be found here.
• Ask questions and make suggestions.
• Encourage the parties to calmly discuss the dispute.
• Ask for help with your case. It's a horrible cliche, but: "There is no such thing as a stupid question".
• Get to know the people in the dispute. Talk with them at first, give them your opinions. Treat everyone with respect. Don't steer a conversation until you know who you're riding with.
• Some mediation cases do not require knowledge of the topic of the article while others may require some expertise. If a mediation case is getting difficult the reference desk can be of help.
• Some editors start to believe that they will never agree with each other, so get folks to agree on little things first and over time their sense of camaraderie will improve, as well as their collaboration. Getting them to work on drafts together can help with this, an ideal layout for such a method can be found here
• Clearly define the dispute that instigated the mediation request. Make sure that everyone agrees to the details of the dispute. If they don't, then that misunderstanding may be the heart of the problem.
• We can crib some notes from the official mediation process used by the mediation committee. It is highly recommended that you check out MeatBall wiki.
• You'll make mistakes: a mediator learns to turn mistakes into triumphs. Experiment.

It can be easy to assume that there is such a thing as a truly neutral version. Remember that neutrality is an ideal, not a reality: Wikipedia is made up of opinionated people and what makes up a neutral article is itself an opinion. Remember that you too are opinionated. Don't allow your opinions to cloud your open-mindedness. This is important, because it is possible to become hard in your views about neutrality, and at that point it can probably be said that you are no longer mediating.

Policy, essays, and links

• Wikipedia:Policy trifecta
• Catalysts
• Wikipedia:Consensus statement
• Wikipedia:Silence and consensus
• Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not about winning
• MeatballWiki - the wiki on online social conflict.