Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/DreamGuy 2

Case Opened on 20:28, 29 August 2007 (UTC) (UTC)

Watchlist all case pages: 1, 2, 3, 4

Please do not edit this page directly unless you wish to become a participant in this case. (All participants are subject to Arbitration Committee decisions, and the ArbCom will consider each participant's role in the dispute.) Comments are very welcome on the Talk page, and will be read, in full. Evidence, no matter who can provide it, is very welcome at /Evidence. Evidence is more useful than comments.

Arbitrators, the parties, and other editors may suggest proposed principles, findings, and remedies at /Workshop. That page may also be used for general comments on the evidence. Arbitrators will then vote on a final decision in the case at /Proposed decision.

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Involved parties

• Dicklyon (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) (bringing the case)
• DreamGuy (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) (person whose conduct and attitude are being complained about)
• Cool Blue (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) (mediator of failed/closed case, receiving end of many messages from DreamGuy)

Requests for comment

• Wikipedia:Requests for comment/DreamGuy
• Wikipedia:Requests for comment/DreamGuy 2

Statement by User:Dicklyon

The currently open conduct RFC (Wikipedia:Requests for comment/DreamGuy 2) is the best description of the conduct problem. Through continual incivility, DreamGuy manages to alienate every editor that he comes into the slightest conflict with. He has convinced himself that his position is always right, and therefore the others are just "problem editors", justifying his conduct. His statements indicate that he is in denial that any part of his problem with "problem editors" is due to his conduct.

At the end of the talk page there, he firmly rejects our last attempt at content mediation as well, involving a long-running dispute about the use of the term "photoshopping" for photo editing, which he started on March 9, 2007 by blanking the photoshopping article and redirecting it to Adobe Photoshop. All other editors of those articles have converged on a redirect to a small section in photo editing, but there he insists on removing the referenced content and replacing it with a statement that photoshopping simply means using Adobe Photoshop.

Many others who signed on to the conduct RFC had similar complaints about his involvement in articles they care about. I am willing to stipulate that he was sometimes on the "right" side of disputes, in that a final consensus was reached that agreed pretty much with his position. However, his incivil involvement appears to have always made it harder to get there, not easier. On the photoshopping question, however, he is clearly in a minority of one against a number of editors who have made good faith efforts to understand and study his policy concerns (undue weight, neologism, reliable source, etc.) and his position, and to a mediate and reach a consensus. His participation in such processes seems to be a simple rejection, calling everyone names for disagreeing and going about it all wrong. Few editors have yet found a way to work with him, other than to give in and let him have his way. Numerous complaints, three conduct RFCs, several AN/I complaints, etc. have not led to anything like resolution or progress.

DreamGuy also likes to "ban" people from his talk page, claiming "harassment" when they try to discuss things with him, or when they warn him that they're going to file a complaint, etc. He routinely removes talk comments with no response other than an abusive or dismissive edit summary. His User talk:DreamGuy page states his bad-faith attitude clearly: "Note: If you are here to leave personal attacks, false accusations of vandalism, a long tirade about why your cat photo or article about yourself should be left alone as you and only you wanted, nonsensical rationalizations of why vampires, ancient astronauts, werewolves, "creation science" and so on should be treated as completely real and so forth, do not bother, as I'll either just remove them right away or simply point you to the appropriate Wikipedia policy which you should have read in the first place."

This kind of conduct costs wikipedia tremendously in terms of the time, effort, and good will of good editors who deal with DreamGuy. His mode of interaction needs to be changed or stopped.

What I would like this arbitration case to achieve if accepted?

1. DreamGuy should as a minimum agree (and be held under penalty of blocking) to stop being incivil, to stop asserting a consensus when he's alone against a majority, to carry on dispute discussions on talk pages (including his own) instead of in edit summaries, and to respond as if other editor's actions are in good faith.
2. DreamGuy should be compelled to remove the blatant assertion of his own assumptions of bad faith from his user talk page. Hopefully, a genuine assumption of good faith can be found to underlie these conduct changes.
3. DreamGuy should agree to mediation of the photoshopping/photo editing/Adobe Photoshop dispute, pending finding a mediator who knows nothing of him or his history. With respect to this and other content disputes, he must stop asserting that the mediation process is worse than the deadlock that it is intended to help solve, or that other editors don't respect policies.

Statement by User:DreamGuy

(he has not been heard from since Aug. 24, so maybe there's no longer an issue)

Statement by User:Cool Blue

Incivility has been an ongoing issue with DreamGuy. This conduct has been going on for quite sometime.

I'd like to point out specifically March 9, 2007, where DreamGuy deliberating redirected a page to Adobe Photoshop without any consensus or discussion. Any topic that he finds the least bit undesirable, he takes some kind of extraordinary means to, in someways get rid of it; see here. The issue with Photoshopping has been going on for quite sometime now.

I've did a little bit of mediation work with the Mediation Cabal, and was looking for a case to mediate at Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal/Cases when I accepted a case at Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal/Cases/2007-08-17 Photo editing. I have had negative interactions with DreamGuy in the past, but could not recall any details, and did not recall the negative interactions until DreamGuy objected, so I accepted the case anyways. I had started doing some preliminary work with two other editors, and reviewed an alternative version, when I received a message from DreamGuy stating he objected to me as mediator, and the Mediation Cabal system alike. Normally, that's how the process works, but he came forward, without any recent, previous confrontation here. I'd like to point out one passage "The ide that you can go to my talk page, ask if I want to be a party, and if not you'll remove my name and make a decision anyway is a complete misrepresentation of how mediation is supposed to work. As you seem more interested in forging ahead to a solution with or without my input, I question your ability (or perhaps willingness) to act as a fair and uninvolved mediator here. You should remove yourself as a mediator, as you cannot go forward without this being completely a sham process. Considering that it's also been clear from the start that I think "Mediation Cabal" protocols (when they are actually followed, which you did not do) are contrary to the standard rules of Wikipedia (one individual person with no background shows up and tries to determine consensus on his own? that's nonsense), the people involved *know* this and the mediation attempt was clearly made in bad faith. But, hey, thanks to your screw up in not following the mediation rules, you've only gone to prove my point on why I don't trust it." It's only a myth that the mediator needs to ask all parties before-hand, as proved here. When I explained this to DreamGuy he responded "If you intend to try to mediate in the future, you should read up on the basics of mediation. "Mediation is purely voluntary. All interested parties must be willing to accept mediation. If any interested party does not accept mediation, we cannot help." is just a starter. The mediation process here is flawed and full of people who have no business pretending to be mediators, but at least most of them read the rules before jumping in." I am aware of that, and when DreamGuy didn't want to participate I closed the case, following all guidelines of the Mediation Cabal.

As per Dicklyon above, I also feel that the message on his talkpage is unnecessary.

His attitude needs to change. Period.

Preliminary decisions

Arbitrators' opinion on hearing this matter (4/0/0/0)

• Accept. Kirill 18:06, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
• Accept. James F. (talk)
• Accept. Fred Bauder 21:36, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
• Accept. Matthew Brown (Morven) (T:C) 03:46, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Final decision (none yet)

All numbering based on /Proposed decision (vote counts and comments are there as well)

Remedies

Note: All remedies that refer to a period of time, for example to a ban of X months or a revert parole of Y months, are to run concurrently unless otherwise stated.

Log of blocks and bans

Log any block, ban or extension under any remedy in this decision here. Minimum information includes name of administrator, date and time, what was done and the basis for doing it.