Wikipedia:Requests for mediation/Guide

This guide is a supplementary document to the policy for formal mediation. Major changes require the prior agreement of the Mediation Committee. Only formal mediation provided by the Mediation Committee is dealt with by this guide.

Dispute resolution
Tips for dispute resolution
Use etiquette Assume good faith Be civilised in discussions Be open to compromise Ask for editor assistance
Negotiation
Discuss on talk pages Get a third opinion (⇒) Request comments (⇒) Dispute resolution noticeboard Wikiquette assistance (⇒) Request informal mediation
Formal Mediation
Request formal mediation Guide to formal mediation Mediation Committee Formal mediation policy
Arbitration
Request arbitration Arbitration Committee
Remedies
Administrator assistance Arbitration enforcement Editing restrictions General sanctions

Preamble

This guide discusses all aspects of the formal mediation process, and in particular how to request mediation. It is intended as a complement to Wikipedia:Mediation Committee/Policy and as an explanatory document for editors who are requesting formal mediation for the first time.

This guide deals only with formal mediation, as provided by the Mediation Committeee, and not with informal mediation, which is provided by any Wikipedia editor and usually by the Mediation Cabal. The difference between formal and informal mediation is discussed at Wikipedia:Mediation.

Request phase

The first stage of the formal mediation process is to submit a request for mediation.

Preconditions

For a request for mediation to be accepted, the following conditions must be satisfied:

1. The dispute must relate only to the content of one or more Wikipedia articles;
2. The dispute must not relate to the behaviour of a Wikipedia contributor (which is the purview of Arbitration, not Mediation);
3. Some attempt at utilising the other components of the content-dispute resolution process must have been made, for instance an unsuccessful informal mediation case or a requests for comment that failed to resolve the dispute;
4. All involved editors are disputing the relevant article content in good faith; and
5. No involved editor is unwilling to engage meaningfully in mediator-directed discussion or to genuinely consider compromise and concession.

See also: Wikipedia:Mediation Committee/Policy#Prerequisites of mediation.

Procedure

The procedure for requesting formal mediation of a dispute is as follows:

1. Open Wikipedia:Requests for mediation/File in a new tab and follow the initial instructions on that page;
2. Beneath "Users involved in dispute" (in section 1), add, using the {{user}} template, the username of every editor involved in the dispute;
3. Immediately below, at Articles concerned in this dispute, add a link to every article (or page) concerned in the dispute;
4. Immediately below again, at Other steps of dispute resolution, link to all prior attempts at dispute resolution (such as article talk page discussions, RFCs, or previous formal and informal mediation cases);
5. Under Primary issues (in section 2), concisely explain what content of the articles has in dispute, and what variations of this content have been proposed;
6. Please change nothing else. Now save the page.

MediationBot will then list your case at Wikipedia:Requests for mediation/Pending and notify the parties you listed to the dispute that the request has been filed.

When the parties are notified that the request has been filed, they will also be invited to indicate on the case page that they agree to participate in mediation. If the filing party wishes to withdraw a request for mediation, he or she should strike their initial agreement to mediate (as the editor who submits the request, it would be automatically added at "Parties' agreement to mediate"). The "Accept" comment and your signature, once stricken, should be followed by "Withdraw request", an explanation if possible, and a new dated signature. The next member of the Mediation Committee to review the request would then close the request as withdrawn.

Naming

The naming of the case is important and should accurately reflect the scope of the disagreement of which mediation is being requested.

1. If there is one article involved in the dispute, that should be the name you use in the request-creation box.
2. If there is more than one article involved, use either the central article or an appropriate, more general name.

If this is not the first Mediation Committee case relating to the article, you should use numbering to distinguish your case from prior ones (so if there had already been an Example and Example 2 case, you would use the title Example 3 when submitting your request for mediation). Numbering is unnecessary if a request was previously filed but was declined by the Committee: old requests that were not accepted and opened as a case are deleted monthly. If the rejected request was submitted recently and has not yet been deleted, you should, however, use numbering to distinguish between the cases—or, if possible, contact the Chairman to have the case deleted first.

Outcomes

The Mediation Committee will respond to the request either after all the parties have responded to the request or after seven days have elapsed (whichever comes first). The Committee will respond to your request in three ways:

1. Accept request: The dispute can proceed to formal mediation;
2. Reject/decline request: The dispute cannot proceed to formal mediation;
3. Suspend request: The request can be suspended, for instance if a request for arbitration is filed whilst the mediation request is pending. Suspended requests will be re-evaluated at a later time.

The Committee can also, as an interim action, extend the seven day deadline, for instance to allow the parties more time to respond to the request. Accepted requests enter the next phase of formal mediation (see next section).

Rejected requests

Requests which are rejected will not proceed to formal mediation. Requests can be rejected for failing to satisfy the conditions of mediation (see #Preconditions above and Wikipedia:Mediation Committee/Policy#Prerequisites of mediation). The mediator who processes your request may give a reason for the rejection, but is not obligated to. The mediator can suggest what stage of dispute resolution be pursued in lieu of formal mediation, and in special cases can defer the matter directly there. Common reasons for the rejection of mediation requests are listed below:

1. Parties did not agree to mediation: Mediation is a voluntary process that relies entirely on the willingness of the parties to participate; if not all parties agree to mediate, then mediation cannot occur. If one party refuses to participate in mediation, then it is impossible to mediate the dispute.
2. Parties did not respond to request: All parties must explicitly indicate that they agree to have the dispute mediated. The committee will reject a request if one or more parties have not indicated their agreement on the request page by signing under "Parties' agreement to mediate", usually within seven days of a mediator having given them a notification of the request. The seven day notice period can be extended, but usually is not.
3. Malformatted request: The committee uses a standard format for all requests for mediation, to ensure that we are given all information we require. If your request deviates from the format in such a way that it is difficult to evaluate, your request will probably be delisted as malformatted; and if it is not promptly remedied, the request will be declined. Requests which use the required format but do not provide all the required information are also considered malformatted.
4. Unclear issues: Set out clearly and plainly the issues over which there is disagreement between the parties to the request. If you do not, we cannot evaluate whether mediation will be of use to your dispute, and we will have to decline your request.
5. Issues not appropriate for mediation: Only disagreements over the content of an article will be mediated. Complaints about an editor's conduct or behaviour are the remit of the Arbitration Committee. Requests such as "please stop this editor from making POV edits," "a mediator is needed to convince this editor he is wrong," "you need to mediate this issue before I have to take him before the ArbCom," and others of this nature are not appropriate issues for mediation. All parties must come to mediation with the understanding that both sides will have to compromise to reach an agreement, and that neither side will "win."
6. Not a good-faith request: The MedCom only takes on disputes that its presence and services will be of benefit to. Do not request mediation if you do not honestly want to resolve the content problems at hand. That is a waste of your time, and ours.

Case phase

When a request for mediation is accepted, the request becomes a case and is in the first place listed as unassigned.

Unassigned cases

Cases will be initially listed as unassigned, and will remain so until a Committee mediator becomes available. Mediators will periodically review the Committee's unassigned cases and will take on a case when and if they wish to. No mediator is obligated to take on a case, and cases are not assigned to mediators by the Chair.

Parties are encouraged to seek out a mediator and proactively ask mediators to take on their case. Where a case is listed as unassigned for longer than two weeks, the parties should request an update at Wikipedia talk:Requests for mediation, at which point the Chair should then query individual mediators and ask (but not instruct) them to take on the case.

Assigned cases

When a mediator becomes available, the case is listed as assigned and control of the cases passes to the mediator. The features of an actual mediation are dealt with by Wikipedia:Mediation Committee/Policy#Mediation process, but are summarised below:

• Confidential mediation: The page on which mediation will take place is almost always the talk page of the mediation case. Mediation can with the consent of the Committee be hosted off-wiki, for instance by e-mail, but usually may not take place on another on-wiki page (such as the article talk page)
• Assigned mediator: A mediator will be assigned to a case within two weeks of the Chairman accepting the associated request. Parties can object to the mediator who is assigned by the method described at Wikipedia:Mediation Committee/Procedures#Requests for change of mediator.
• What is actually involved in formal mediation: The involvement of a neutral third-party, the mediator, is specifically requested. When granted, that mediator will host a discussion of the disagreement on the MedCom's own pages. As part of that discussion, the specific aspects of content over which there is disagreement will be clarified, the opinions of each party on each aspect will be clarified, and potential compromises between each party's opinion, for each stance, will be explored. See also Wikipedia:Mediation, Wikipedia:Mediation Committee#Preface, and Wikipedia:Mediation Committee#Definition and description
• The privileged nature of mediation: All communications during mediation are privileged. In the interests of facilitating open communication between parties, the Mediation Committee pledges to protect any and all communications made during mediation, and in particular will attempt to prevent such communications being used as evidence in other dispute resolution or similar discussions, including (but not limited to) arbitration and requests for comment.
• Blocking parties during Mediation: Parties are reminded that while mediators generally do not issue blocks regarding conduct in a case they are mediating, other mediators (or any uninvolved admin, for that matter) may take action if they deem it appropriate. Any administrator (including an uninvolved mediator) who opts to take blocking action based on conduct observed in or out of ongoing mediation is strongly encouraged to consult privately with the mediator before taking said action. Administrators should feel free to take action as normal on conduct of edits made outside of the mediation pages, and that do not relate to mediation or the dispute.

Closure phase

The goal of every mediation is to work towards a solution that is acceptable to all parties. The mediator will make every effort to see that all parties are heard and that a reasonable solution is adopted. Parties are not obligated to accept any proposed solution, and are encouraged to make counter-proposals.

Reasons for closure

• Referral to arbitration: Mediators are empowered to end a mediation at any point if in their opinion further mediation would prove fruitless. If the mediation is terminated, the matter may be referred to the Arbitration Committee by any involved party or by Mediation Committee.
• Stale: Where a mediator has taken on a case, but the parties have not participated or the request is otherwise inactive, it may be closed as stale after a period of time. In most cases, the Committee Chair will ask the mediator and/or the parties for a status update, and if none is forthcoming, will close the request without prejudice to reactivation.

  If a mediator takes on a case but does not proceed with it, the parties may contact the Committee Chair and request a status update. Parties are encouraged to avoid requesting a new mediator, but are encouraged to ask for a status update where the mediator has not been active. If the Chair feels the mediation has been abandoned, it will be relisted as unassigned, and the parties may seek a new mediator for the matter. The assigned mediator will always be contacted before a case is reassigned.

• Successful: If the parties are able to come to a solution, then the case will be closed successfully after the solution has been set out and the parties have indicated their agreement. The solution is as binding as the parties wish it to be. Any party can withdraw from the agreement at any time, but doing so may require the dispute to be resolved by other means, including Arbitration.
• Unsuccessful: If the parties are unable to come to a solution in a reasonable time, the mediator notifies them that the mediation has failed, and encourages them to consider other dispute resolution options. In extreme cases, the Committee may refer a matter to Arbitration. In most cases, the parties will be encouraged to pursue other forms of dispute resolution, and the case closed as unsuccessful.

Binding mediation

Formal mediation is as binding as the parties make it. Whilst the mediator will often have the parties sign their agreement to whatever compromises are reached in the course of mediation, this is not an obligating or binding agreement and the parties cannot be punished for later breaking with these compromises. For that reason, all parties are strongly encouraged to only consent to compromises that they are fully satisfied: it is a waste of time to say one agrees with a compromise when one will most probably decide otherwise three or four months later, and thus drag the dispute back to square one.

Repeating mediation

Mediation can be re-requested if the dispute is not fully resolved and problems emerge at a later date. It is recommended that if a mediator closes a case as stale or unsuccessful, that the parties disengage from the actual article for some months and that mediation of the dispute not be re-requested for at least three months.