Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case

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Case requests

Request name	Motions	Initiated	Votes
Horn of Africa disruption	Motions	25 November 2020	0/0/0

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Backlash to diversity and inclusion	(t) (ev / t) (ws / t) (pd / t)	10 Oct 2024	24 Oct 2024

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Horn of Africa disruption

Initiated by TomStar81 (Talk) at 23:18, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

Involved parties

• TomStar81 (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA), filing party

Confirmation that all parties are aware of the request

Confirmation that other steps in dispute resolution have been tried

• Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/IncidentArchive977#Multi-user_edit_war_at_Somalis
• Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/Archive302#Proposal_to_adopt_Community_Approved_General_Sanctions_for_Horn_of_Africa_Articles_(Broadly_Construed)
• User:TomStar81/Horn of Africa disruption

Statement by TomStar81

I come before this board at wit's end. Repeatedly we have sought community assistance (to include community authorized general sanctions) to deal with the ever increasing amount of disruption on and around the Horn of Africa region and have been left wanting. The region's instability has fueled massive sock farms, multiple ANI complaints, and for better or worse has resulted in many familiar with the region to take a hair trigger approach when dealing with contributors whose MO matches known disruptive editors - many of them already blocked - and this carpet bombing has taken many of us (myself include) to the brittle edge of ipso facto assuming bad faith. I am asking the committee to take up this issue to gain a community perspective of the problem and judge for themselves what actions should be taken to help the situation. TomStar81 (Talk) 23:18, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

• @Newyorkbrad: I've been thinking about that myself since its a large request likely to involve a number of people interested in or involved with the region and thus subject to the case. The most useful areas would be WP:AN and WP:AN/I, so as to draw attention to the matter with those who end up cleaning up messes made by those working in the region. There are a total of seven wikiprojects that lay claim in some way, shape, or form to the Horn of Africa region, and there are likely to be more when considering regional race and ethnic groups, sexually based wikiprojects (those that focus on LBGTQ editing and Women in general and so forth in that manner), religious groups (Islam and Christianity in particular), and those interested in historical time frames for both regions and nations in regions. Notifying each project would be difficult and likely counterproductive, so I would consider excluding notifications to these projects except in cases where a project has an active coordinator group, in which case I may make the coordinators aware of the case. Notifying the checkuser corps would be of use, since these editors can look "under the hood" as it were they may be able to offer insight into this matter and connect dots for the committee to gain a fuller understanding of the problem. A handful of editors ought to be contacted specifically, to include @TomStar81, Robert McClenon, Cordless Larry, Buckshot06, Drmies, Nick-D, Kzl55, and AcidSnow:, as these editors have dealt with the offending editors repeatedly, while @Ben MacDui, Wadaad, and EvergreenFir: have dealt with socks in this editing region in the past and may be able to offer supportive evidence in favor of a case. In addition to Drmies, @Sro23, Sir Sputnik, Oshwah, TheSandDoctor, JJMC89, Callanecc, GeneralNotability, and Zzuuzz: have rendered opinions in favor of or against blocking the two most prolific accounts that are often listed at SPI, and should be consulted here. Additionally, as much as this board doesn't want to hear it, all necessary and reasonable efforts must be made to get in touch with Bbb23 (talk · contribs), as the checkuser who was arguably the most familiar with both case pages his input here is priceless and precious beyond all measure. I understand if he doesn't want to log back in to participate, but if his email address is still enabled reaching out to him on this matter would be eye opening. TomStar81 (Talk) 11:48, 26 November 2020 (UTC)
• @Maxim: In regards to your bullet points, I provide the following answers

• On both occasions when general sanctions were attempted, the community failed to respond in a positive way to the issues presented. Similarly, discussions on the possibility of an LTA page was deemed a bad idea and shot down. Given the numerous failures of the community to address the underlying issues, and the fact that the region could be argued to come under arbcom sanctions (broadly interpreted) from the existing cases Race and Intelligence (tribal-specific promotional edits and genetic based edits of who came from where) and Palestine-Israel articles (Arab league includes nations in the Horn of Africa region), I though it may be prudent to finally let ARBCOM weigh in on the matter and decide what should be done here.
• This is largely sockpuppetry, a well coordinated offline effort to effect the articles we have online. A non-exhaustive list of people who could be said to be party to the dispute could be found at User:TomStar81/Horn_of_Africa_disruption#Questionable_editors, but most of these accounts are behaved enough or have been exposed and blocked that this is request would not directly undermine them. I note that the answer I give is shaped by the fact that I am usually requested to look at the two largest known sockpuppet farms, and that I do most of my contributing to on or related to articles that are related to the United States and Naval Warfare, so I am not the best person to speak for specific editors within the topic that should be reviewed. Others who have been pinged may be more active in this region and may be better equipped to answer this question, should they elect to leave a statement.
• The scope here is difficult to determine, but is generally limited to articles on tribes, regions, nations, and genetic groups from the region. One of the reasons for the consistent failure of community requested general sanctions is over the term "broadly construed", as I have no idea what the accounts may do if abruptly restricted I include the phrase to allow enough leeway for us to pivot as needed to address what future issues we may have from the accounts, but the community appears to interpret this is blanket restrictions for everything instantly and eternally, and that in turn tends to dissuade them from supporting. As this is decentralized, I would be loath to place limits on this until we can see what happens next. As for long term semi-protection or extended confirmation protection, the accounts in question are patient and willing to wait to clear the thresholds for editing. Long term protection of this nature then would be of some use in forcing otherwise annonomous or ISP-based contributing accounts to register, which in turn would make it easier for the SPI people to block accounts instead of ISP ranges, however it would likely not be enough for us to settle the area down in any meaningful way. TomStar81 (Talk) 20:01, 26 November 2020 (UTC)

• @Maxim: Its already included, its the 977 link, you just need to scroll down a little (Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/IncidentArchive977#Proposal_to_adopt_general_sanctions_for_all_articles_on_or_related_to_the_Horn_of_Africa_(broadly_construed)). In September, following another flair up, I again moved for the implementation of general sanctions - this time at the admin noticeboard instead of the admin incident noticeboard - and it too failed (Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/Archive302#Proposal_to_adopt_Community_Approved_General_Sanctions_for_Horn_of_Africa_Articles_(Broadly_Construed)). Other proposals for topic bans, SPIs, etc have also been made, hence the reason for that third link (User:TomStar81/Horn of Africa disruption), it is in essence a very consolidated look at both how long this has been going on and the number of times we have tried and failed to do something about it. TomStar81 (Talk) 20:36, 26 November 2020 (UTC)
• @KrakatoaKatie: The bad actors who are socking won't participate here, as Beeblebrox notes, leaving us with only the conduct of (probable) good-faith editors to review. For the record, one already has, as GoldenDragonHorn is believed to be a sock of Middayexpress, something both me and Kzl55 believe since their behavior matches just about every barometer we have for measuring similarities at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Middayexpress. In that sense then, the (currently alleged) sock accounts have already put in their two cents. TomStar81 (Talk) 19:12, 28 November 2020 (UTC)

Statement by Robert McClenon (Horn of Africa)

Some subject areas, which are areas of the Earth, are the subject of battleground editing because they have a history of having been actual battlegrounds. ArbCom has typically dealt with these areas by imposing ArbCom discretionary sanctions. The most difficult area may be the lands disputed between Israel and Palestine, where the history consists of low-level conflict interspersed with open wars, for which ArbCom has authorized the most detailed regime of discretionary sanctions. Other areas of battleground editing due to a history of battles include India and Pakistan, the Balkans, where World War One started, and Eastern Europe, where World War Two started.

The Horn of Africa region has been an area of battleground editing because it has had a history of battles for millennia. It is the meeting place between three distinct civilizations with very different histories: North Africa, which is part of the Greater Middle East that is the core of historic Islamic civilization; Ethiopia, which is a distinctive civilization with its own history; and East Africa, which has the longest prehistory of anywhere on the Earth because it is the original homeland of Homo sapiens.

I have repeatedly observed battleground editing and sockpuppetry in disputes involving Horn of Africa articles. I urge ArbCom to impose discretionary sanctions by preliminary injunction and then open a full evidentiary case to determine whether any further remedies are needed.

I note that User:Cordless Larry has tried in the past to be a reasonable editor in an area with unreasonable editors, and I suggest that he make a statement.

ArbCom should accept a case. Robert McClenon (talk) 05:22, 26 November 2020 (UTC)

Statement by Cordless Larry

Posting here by request (in Robert McClenon's statement above). I've long agreed that we need greater attention to this area of editing (cultural and political issues relating to Somalia, and therefore likely the broader region). There are several sock farms apparently operating in relation to the topic, most prominently the one documented at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Middayexpress/Archive. We know that Middayexpress has used external forums to "recruit" POV editors and there's possibly meatpuppetry going on too. I've also been told that the SomaliPN group on Facebook is being used for co-ordination of editing, but I don't use Facebook myself so haven't been able to investigate that further. This has all dragged on for years (see Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive887#WP:NPA breech following NPOV, THIRDPARTY breeches and Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive888#Middayexpress's external canvassing, although the problem behaviour had existed long before then). There's now a situation where new editors frequently show up in this topic area and if they appear to share a similar POV to Middayexpress or another sock master and some clue about how Wikipedia works, they find themselves suspected of sockpuppetry. In many cases, this may be unfair. However, there's also the danger of socks slipping through the net, and what often unfolds is editing warring and the accumulation of significant damage across multiple articles that then needs to be worked out and undone if they later get blocked. Buckshot06, Nick-D and Drmies might also want to chip in on some of this, given previous discussions. Cordless Larry (talk) 08:15, 26 November 2020 (UTC)

Statement by Buckshot06

I support and strongly endorse TomStar81's request, also endorsed by Robert McClenon and Cordless Larry. I often have to deal with biased and distorted information repeatedly introduced into Somali articles to denigrate or bolster the reputation of one or another clan. An example is the back-and-forth at Gedo. I have grown tired of repeatedly having to scan and recheck my introductions of good basic material like population figures which are then altered for political reasons. In some ways I've given up. This would allow consistent action in this regard. Buckshot06 (talk) 09:15, 26 November 2020 (UTC)
(clerk note: moved the below from the arbitrators section. This was in reply to David Fuchs. In sectioned discussion editors should reply in their own section. Thanks. Dreamy Jazz ^{talk to me | my contributions} 00:09, 28 November 2020 (UTC))

• • We just have to keep reverting and blocking people. At Gedo, Sholi22 turned out to be a sockpuppet. But if AcidSnow is still around, I would greatly appreciate a detailed investigation of his conduct. Buckshot06 (talk) 23:31, 27 November 2020 (UTC)

Statement by Kzl55

I whole heartedly endorse TomStar81's request. It is justifiable after enduring the onslaught of wave after wave of socks and other disruptive editors to finally request something is done about it. The Horn of Africa projects have been the subject of persistent long-term disruption for quite some time. Ordinary procedures to combat said disruption are proving ineffective in the face of a determined sock farm. A cursory reading of Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations/Middayexpress/Archive, being just one example, shows a consistent (and continues) flow of disruption ongoing since 2018. There is a clear organised nature to this disruption, with many cases of sleeper accounts and many other methods employed to evade scrutiny. The cause of this disruption lies in the fact that the region has been engulfed in a state of constant war over the past 30 years. And so, like other hot-spot areas on Wikipedia, this becomes a platform for ultra-nationalist agenda, as seen in much of Middayexpress' rhetoric. This is especially potent in a region like the Horn of Africa with many different ethnicities, clans, administrations, religions, foreign actors all fuelling this constant state of strife. What is alarming is that recently new waves of socks are proving more sophisticated, and with clear confidence in ability to evade technical scrutiny. External canvassing as CordlessLarry touched upon is also a serious concern. I can completely understand and sympathise with Buckshot06's comment regarding "giving up" in the face of such overwhelming level of constant disruption, it would indeed drive most people to just do so. I urge the committee to consider this, seeing as the disruption is along similar lines to what is happening in Israel-Palestine and other problem areas. It is so difficult to go through normal sock-puppetry procedures when the sockmaster does not really care about losing the socking account. Middayexpress and other sockmasters would not be as hard to deal with if additional sanctions were in place, given the level of disruption they have caused. Imposing ArbCom discretionary sanctions would be the first step in curbing these activities. --Kzl55 (talk) 20:36, 26 November 2020 (UTC)

• In addition to sock farms discussed by editors above, and off-wiki recruitments on forums and Facebook, there are also clear signs of social media being recruiting grounds for Middayexpress and co. Below is evidence of ongoing recruitment of socks on Twitter, the tweets are saved both as images as well as Archive.org links in case they are deleted:

- Example of open recruitment: tweet saved as an image. Please note the same nationalist tone observed in most socks as well as a call out to "all writers/editors, historians, activists" to send this account a direct message and join this "quest" [to coordinate disruption etc].

Link to tweet. Archive.org copy in case they delete it (they have a habit of deleting tweets as we will see below).

- Tweet saved as an image: "I'm an editor at Wikipedia and trying to compete with the nonsense of the anti-Somalis and secessionist propaganda, it's a struggle but I'm not giving up. What we need are an organised unionists group to be effective at this." Again, identical language of "anti-Somali" as observed in Middayexpress socks.

Link to tweet, please read the comments supporting their activity. Archive.org link in case tweet is deleted.

- They have deleted some of their tweets, but luckily they were saved on Archive.org link. Again, note the "not under our watch" as well as "However, we've got another 828 articles" and "the unionists and I...". Archive.org link.

- This one is really important. They are giving socks instructions on how to effectively evade detection: "Be smart about it. 1st edit a few dozen unrelated Somali articles about your interests like football, films, etc then move to something more related to Somalia and then start cleaning up. This way they can't ban you on sight. Also later on join the WikiProject Somalia. Tactics", Image link. Link to tweet. Of the three accounts in this conversation, one has deleted their tweet, whilst the other is suspended, but a copy has been saved via Archive.org which is where I got the screenshot from: link.

It is worth noting that majority of new suspected socks followed the above advice, from making edits unrelated to the Somali project to joining the WikiProject Somalia. As an example, GoldenDragonHorn's first ever Wikipedia edit was to add their name to WikiProject Somalia [1], they also made a point to make a couple of edits out-with the project as advised e.g. [2], [3]. Soon after GoldenDragonHorn edited WikiProject Somalia, editor Ragnimo followed as well: [4]. Looking at the editing history of WikiProject Somalia, quite a few disruptive editors as well as confirmed socks appear in the last few months: e.g. MahamedHaashi (later checkuser blocked), Gashaamo (later ArbCom blocked), EELagoon (later checkuser blocked). We also have editors who have added their names in the same manner but not yet engaged in obvious disruptive editing, like MrMidnimo (Midnimo meaning "Somali unity").

- Other examples of Twitter accounts requesting to join the private direct messaging discussion to "stop this misinformation in Wikipedia" image of tweet. Link to tweet (since the first tweet has been deleted I got the screenshot via Archive.org link). Some other replies are not visible due to the account being currently restricted/suspended, but can be viewed using a direct link. Archive [https://web.archive.org/web/20200825225129/https://twitter.com/KarbashNina/status/1298392402709839876 link). Note: walal means brother/sister.

Obviously this is just the small snippets of off-wiki collusion that escapes their private groups, and much of the disruptive planning as well as recruitment is hidden from us, but I wanted to share this to give the community an idea of how far-reaching this disruption is. Best regards --Kzl55 (talk) 18:41, 29 November 2020 (UTC)

Statement by GeneralNotability

I was recently introduced to this contentious area through SPI. I do not have an opinion on whether a case should be opened at this time, but I would like to provide some relevant information from SPI for informational purposes. I am aware of two major sockpuppeteers in this topic area:

• Middayexpress - I'd call their POV "Somali nationalist"
• MustafaO - similar POV to Middayexpress, was originally suspected to be Middayexpress before being split out of that case.

There are also a handful of lesser sock groups:

• Mazi99 - quiet for the past decade, but has been referenced in recent SPIs
• Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Brunodam/Archive - long-term, seems mostly interested in Italian-occupied Ethiopia
• Siciid Cabdi Cismaan (Siciid Africa) - interestingly, this group was reported by a Middayexpress sock
• Sccsiciidafrica - looking at this SPI, I'll bet this is the same person as the above SPI based on the name.

I've spent the past hour reviewing the first two SPIs since they're more relevant to this case request. The checkuser findings in the first two cases tend to be pretty clear ( Confirmed/ Likely vs  Unrelated), though some unrelated editors were subsequently blocked anyway on behavior and a handful of editors were linked to multiple accounts but not to those sockmasters. Between that and comments in the archives about off-wiki forums being used for coordination, I think that there is pretty clearly intentional disruption and coordination going on here, but these SPIs have also become dumping grounds for "people with Somali nationalist viewpoints". There have also been strange cases of people showing up at these SPIs to comment despite not being related to the SPI and having no apparent reason to show up there.

Regarding adding other parties, it is hard to identify specific editors on the "other" side of this case since so many of the prolific editors in this topic area have been blocked for socking. GeneralNotability (talk) 23:12, 26 November 2020 (UTC)

Regarding the proposed DS - I suggest explicitly mentioning both the countries and the people. Per TomStar81's comment above: The scope here is difficult to determine, but is generally limited to articles on tribes, regions, nations, and genetic groups from the region - that might be too specific, but I think the DS covering "countries in the HoA" is obvious whereas "clans and genetic groups of the HoA" is less obvious. GeneralNotability (talk) 16:35, 29 November 2020 (UTC)

Statement by GoldenDragonHorn

Fresh pairs of eyes joining the Horn of Africa country projects would be very beneficial to the region as a whole, both for added objectivity and maintaining accountability for all parties involved. The issue I currently have is that there are no safeguards to protect new editors with an interest in the region. They are literally ‘carpet-bombed’, as TomStar81 pointed out above, just to capture two banned individuals who have been active for decades, when some of us were still watching Saturday cartoons. I have been here for two months, and my integrity as a respectable contributor has already been trashed several times. This has happened to a dozen other Somali contributors, the vast majority of which have left the project in frustration.

The WikiProject Somalia as a result is now dormant, despite countless articles being in a terrible state. Scanning through the above SPI threads and the contributions of the most frequent filer of these cases, Kzl55. I have come to the terrible conclusion that there is also a strong case of advocacy at play that fuels the 'carpet-bombing'. Mr Kzl55, is a staunch advocate for an independent Somaliland[5], while the majority of the individuals tagged as sock-puppets that were proven innocent, either had a editorial disagreement with Kzl55, or have a history of asserting Somalia’s de-jure rights on an encyclopedia.

Another issue is seeing every editor from the region through a MiddayExpress/MustafaI lense to the point where we are now walking on egg-shells, because these individuals have touched 10 out of every 10 articles on the region, and if your POV is anything close to theirs, then you're on the chopping block. An entire group of present and future editors now run the risk of being tagged a sock-puppet solely based on the past contributions of banned individuals, which can make Wikipedia one of the most toxic environments I've been in. This pre-judged lense means editors such as myself also can’t collaborate with valuable Somali contributors on this platform without being accused of off-site coordination because the above banned individuals were known to canvas off-site. Though I have a more elaborate email to the ArbCom pending that point out a few more problematic issues of systematic bias I have encountered, the questions I currently have are:

• What assurances are there that any editor with an interest to create neutral-POV articles worthy of an encyclopedia aren’t branded ‘disruptive’ because their edits might not sync with the advocacy of more established editors?
• What assurances are there that new powers aren’t abused, if the reputations of innocent editors are already being caught in the cross-fire, with no apologies in the aftermath?
• What safeguards are there to protect new editors with an interests in this region from being carpet-bombed to point they lose their confidence in editing?
• What consequential measures will be taken against individuals that repeatedly file SPI cases against innocent editors, knowing how destructive this has already been to the WPSomalia?

Thanks in advance --GoldenDragonHorn (talk) 19:34, 27 November 2020 (UTC)

• @Kzl55, my first edits are all Somali related, so that wall of text of yours is just another example of you chasing some kind of global conspiracy that isn't there. You can find similar discussions about Wikipedia on any country if you go looking for it on social media, especially if there is a conflict involved. It doesn't you mean you now have the right to start hitting every new editor with a hammer. Unfortunately, you are so involved in protecting your secessionist advocacy that you can no longer see the forest from the trees.
• @TomStar81, you are meant to assume Good faith. I hope you will apologize when a CU checks my history, background, ip-contribs for the 3rd time and shows I have no socks. And for your information I would respect any decision made by ArbCom. This is getting exhausting.--GoldenDragonHorn (talk) 19:26, 29 November 2020 (UTC)

Statement by power~enwiki

Apart from possibly China-Taiwan disputes, this is the most heated real-life geopolitical dispute where articles are not under Discretionary Sanctions. The area is certainly one with POV editing; I note Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Visa policy of Somaliland as a recent AFD with several highly-suspicious accounts pushing a POV, and Tigrayans as an article with a lot of IP edits and SPAs, regularly edit-warring over whether there are any Tigrayans in Eritrea. I'm not sure whether DS will help or the area just needs more non-POV editors. power~enwiki (π, ν) 22:45, 27 November 2020 (UTC)

Statement by {Non-party}

Other editors are free to make relevant comments on this request as necessary. Comments here should address why or why not the Committee should accept the case request or provide additional information.

Horn of Africa disruption: Clerk notes

This area is used for notes by the clerks (including clerk recusals).

Horn of Africa disruption: Arbitrators' opinion on hearing this matter <0/0/0>

Vote key: (Accept/decline/recuse)

• Awaiting statements. @TomStar81: How or where do you suggest notifying interested editors of this request? Newyorkbrad (talk) 02:45, 26 November 2020 (UTC)
• I'd also like to hear statements from both sides. I would like to hear the answer to NYB's question, too. Worm^TT(talk) 09:43, 26 November 2020 (UTC)
• I have many initial thoughts here. In no particular order:

• The request for general sections at ANI is from 2018 and was sparsely attended. If the issues from 2018 still persist today, why has another proposal for general sanctions not been attempted again?
• Usually cases like these, which involve disputes along ethnic or similar lines (which I'll call "advocacy" cases), tend to come with a reasonably exhaustive list of involved parties. TomStar81, you have pinged a plethora of editors, but these would seem only involved in cleaning up the mess. My question is as follows: are there any established editors who are disputants in this topic area whose conduct you consider worthy of review, or is poor conduct more exemplified by sockpuppetry?
• How well defined is the scope of affected pages? Are we looking at a few key pages (e.g. Somali) or is the disruption more decentralized? If it's more centralized, has long-term to indefinite semi- or ec-protection been attempted? Maxim_(talk) 19:15, 26 November 2020 (UTC)

• TomStar81, you mention two attempts to impose general sections. There is the thread from September 2018 under previous attempts; could you please add the second attempt there too? Maxim_(talk) 20:21, 26 November 2020 (UTC)

• I like the idea of imposing DS by motion and possibly having it time-limited so that we can review whether it helped. Maxim_(talk) 02:27, 28 November 2020 (UTC)

• Worth seeing what other statements we get here, but if the concern is lack of flexibility and the overall issue is off-wiki coordination of accounts, I think it makes more sense to just apply DS (perhaps time-limited to be reevaluated) rather than going through a full case. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs ^talk 15:36, 27 November 2020 (UTC)
• I am also leaning towards handling this by a motion rather than a full case. My impression is that a large part of the problem is users who would not participate in a case or respect any decision such a case would make so our primary responsibility is to shield good-faith editors from those people with whatever tools we have at our disposal. Beeblebrox (talk) 02:17, 28 November 2020 (UTC)
• Like the others, I'm not seeing the benefit of a full case here when we could handle it by motion. The bad actors who are socking won't participate here, as Beeblebrox notes, leaving us with only the conduct of (probable) good-faith editors to review. Let's not put them through a full case if we don't have to. Katie^talk 15:40, 28 November 2020 (UTC)
• I agree with my colleagues who think discretionary sanctions could go a long way here, and that it could be handled by motion. GorillaWarfare (talk) 21:48, 28 November 2020 (UTC)
• I also agree with the idea of resolving this by motion. I also like the idea of a time limit but I think the limit should be on when we have to re-evaluate it, not on the DS themselves, so they don't end prematurely while we are busy discussing whether to make them permanent. I have proposed a motion below. Regards SoWhy 09:52, 29 November 2020 (UTC)

Proposed motion: Horn of Africa disruption

The case request is accepted under the title Horn of Africa and resolved by motion as follows.

Standard discretionary sanctions are authorized for all pages relating to Horn of Africa, broadly construed, including but not limited to articles about countries in this region and their sub-articles. After a period of six months the Committee will evaluate whether further action, including a full case, is required.

Support

1. As proposer per above. Regards SoWhy 09:52, 29 November 2020 (UTC)
2. Support, though I think "and their sub-articles" could use clarification/wordsmithing. GorillaWarfare (talk) 13:35, 29 November 2020 (UTC)

Oppose

Abstain

Comments

• I'm happy with the spirit of the motion, but I have a few procedure-related thoughts. Do we want something where we will initiate review (we open a request for clarification or amendment sua sponte?) or would we rather have a sunset clause which would need the community to file a request to make the DS permanent? There's a herding-cats hazard for the first option. Alternatively we could vote to open a case with a temporary injunction as above, while suspending the case for six months. Maxim_(talk) 15:16, 29 November 2020 (UTC)

• I would suggest going the sua sponte route and starting an ARCA to gather feedback. A sunset clause might lead to the DS disappearing because no one thought of filing a request. As it appears now, authorizing DS should be sufficient to get a handle on thew problems, so opening and suspending a case when we expect that a case is not required, seems unnecessary. @GorillaWarfare: Wordsmith away Regards SoWhy 16:20, 29 November 2020 (UTC)