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Case clerk: AGK (Talk) Drafting arbitrators: Coren (Talk) & Newyorkbrad (Talk)

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Involved parties

Communicat (talk · contribs), filing party
Habap (talk · contribs)
Edward321 (talk · contribs)
Hohum (talk · contribs)
Nick-D (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)
Georgewilliamherbert (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)

Party statements

Statement by Communicat

My earlier request for arbitration was declined more than three weeks ago as premature, with the proviso that I could reapply within 10 days if Rfc/community-level involvement failed to resolve the dispute. Uninvolved administrator Georgewilliamherbert undertook to lodge the Rfc. A draft Rfc was opened for comment, resulting in further conflict between parties. To date the Rfc has not been formally opened.

The dispute essentially concerns NPOV and content issues. Editors at military history project consistently obstruct, disrupt, harrass and/or launch personal attacks on me whenever I attempt to introduce military history which they evidently construe as depicting the West in an unfavourable light. The World War II article, for example, relies on nearly 400 references from Western orthodox / conservative sources, to the total exclusion of non-Western and/or Western revisionist or significant-minority Western positions. I believe such bias through ommission violates WP:NPOV, WP:UNDUE and other Wikipedia policy rules.

Whenever I have attempted to resolve these matters, the essential NPOV/content issues are consistently evaded, deviated from and obscured by the parties concerned. This evasion, obscurantism and deviation from the central issues is invariably in the form of allegations of behavioural misconduct being directed at me, to the extent that the NPOV/content issue becomes buried and forgotten, and remains unaddressed.

I respectfully request the arbitration committee to focus specifically and exclusively on a review of what I contend is the systematic violation NPOV/content at the military history project, and not be sidetracked by diversionary allegations of my misconduct to the extent that sight is lost of the specific NPOV/content dispute at at hand. There has been no user conduct Rfc lodged against me, and my conduct is therefore not directly relevant to this request for arbitration. Questions of my alleged past misconduct have recently and comprehensively been replied to by myself at this thread.

I further request the arbitration committee not to allow separate and prejudical lobbying by involved parties on the respective user pages of individual committee members, as is known to have taken place during the course of my earlier request for arbitration. Communicat (talk) 21:59, 28 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Clerk note: Communicat's full statement, including responses made during the request for arbitration phase to the statements of other parties, is viewable on the talk page. AGK 13:11, 30 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Nick-D

In my view this is an editor conduct matter, with Communicat continuing to push his or her POV in articles (backed by faked or miss-represented sources on occasion), not engage with dispute resolution and insult other editors (which recently led to a one week block with an extension for sock puppetry) while claiming that there's some kind of conspiracy which just about every editor involved in articles he or she has worked on is a member of. Communicat has been warned for this conduct and blocked for insulting other editors on several occasions. As such, I'd suggest that sanctions against Communicat would be the simplest solution and ArbCom involvement isn't really needed. I attempted to progress this via a post at WP:ANI, but it didn't go ahead as Georgewilliamherbert offered to start a RfC/U regarding Communicat, which unfortunately he did not complete or certify. I note that this is the third time Communicat has lodged a RfArb with these allegations without first engaging in dispute resolution, despite being advised to do so in the previous cases. ArbCom involvement would be helpful in finally resolving this matter, but I think that it would be overkill. Nick-D (talk) 01:05, 29 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Habap

Let me start by naming others with whom Communicat has had similar negative interactions, as the Committee may wish to either involve them or review the interactions: Arnoutf, Parsecboy, Binksternet, Paul Siebert, Moxy, and White Shadows. Those interactions have not been universally negative, though mostly so.

In my opinion, there are four areas of behaviour that Communicat has engaged in that are troubling: WP:NPA, WP:OWN, failures in understanding, and incomplete sourcing.

WP:NPA: as noted above, Communicat has been blocked multiple times for personal attacks. The attacks on me for which he was blocked involved him referring to me as incoherent [1] and boring [2], with the further statement that I was among "those who seem to do the least actual editing". None of that is particularly distressing (I am boring, though neither of the other comments is true). On the other hand, he has alleged pro-American/Anti-Soviet bias [3], which does bother me somewhat. I also found his argument of bias through ommission[4] troubling. I tried explaining to him when he made offensive statements or used a condescending tone that it was problematic [5] and [6]. Nonetheless, his behaviour has continued.
WP:OWN: Communicat also tends to exhibit ownership issues in articles he edits [7] [8], including in his most recent unblock request when he requested that he be unblocked so that he could delete two sentences in the Aftermath article.
Failures in understanding: There have been a number of issues in which it appears that Communicat failed to understand what was written by others. As Edward321 noted above, he mis-identified a compliment from Novickas as coming from Tony Judt, bragging how that endorsement by Professor Judt trumped any comments by anyone in the WPMilHist project. There are a vast array of similar mis-understanding, in which Communicat seems to fail to understand what another editor has written. Diffs can be provided, though most are only minor issues themselves, but which do establish a pattern.
Incomplete sourcing: Over the past few months, many books which Communicat has quoted from contradict his cherry-picked quotations in other parts of the book. Sometimes, his quotes do not accurately reflect the wording of the source. He has acknowledged in the past that he did not actually read some of those books (Wigfall Green and, apparent, Stephen Ambrose). Diffs can be provided on request.

So, I think Communicat's poor behaviour is doing far more harm than the alleged anti-Soviet bias. If he can learn to behave in a more collegial manner, remembering WP:TINC, then I think his work can provide some balance to these articles. If he cannot change his behaviour, I think he will return to ArbCom with a different set of editors in a month or a year. --Habap (talk) 16:26, 29 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

A little research on Edward321's "past alleged actions that have served to bring wikipedia into disrepute" reveals that the creator of those articles was User:G.-M. Cupertino, who is currently blocked for sock-puppetry and other behavioural problems. More information on the set of incidents can be found at Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/G.-M. Cupertino. Edward321's actions occurred a week before the Jonathan Goldman's comment was posted to Rich Tehrani's article, leading me to wonder if the comment is part of that dispute. I've not heard of TMCNet.com, but wonder if it is a popular website, since the article was written in 2005 and the flurry of comments started on 7 August 2009. --Habap (talk) 21:05, 29 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Edward321

The two previous rejected RfARs Communicat filed [9][10] evidence was provided against Communicat. Communicat repeatedly said that he would provide evidence if the RfAr was accepted. Wikipedia:No personal attacks says that “Accusations about personal behavior that lack evidence” are personal attacks. Communicat has now been blocked 4 times for personal attacks.[11] The last block was extended when an IP which admitted to being Communicat [12] edited around the block to accuse the blocking Admin of “authoritarianism and rank buffoonery”.[13]

Looking at Communicat’s actions since the last RfAr was rejected we see:

At Wikipedia talk:Requests for comment/Communicat he makes personal attacks against Nick-D, Habap and myself, such as “Edward321 has a long and well documented history of bringing wiki into disrepute through his actions, omissions and personal agenda.”
Made personal attacks bordering on legal threats on my talk page.[14]
Blind reverted Habap.[15][16]
At Wikipedia:Neutral point of view/Noticeboard#Aftermath of World War II – Operation Dropshot made personal attacks against Habap, Georgewilliamherbert, and myself; called me an “accomplice” and refused to strike the attack when VsevolodKrolikov asked him to; misrepresented my comments on another talk page and when caught on that quoted half a sentence out of context.
In edit summaries, dismissed other editors comments as “hot air”, [17] “silly remarks”,[18], and made the insult that got him blocked.[19]
Tried to get Habap blocked.[20]
Falsely claimed that Tony Judt had endorsed his edits.[21] Edward321 (talk) 03:12, 29 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

So Communicat’s evidence is a couple drive-by comments made 4 years after some guy tossed an anti-Wikipedia rant on the web?[22] Note that User:Corvus cornix, User:Deor, User:Starblind, and User talk:Barneca are also accused at that site. If Arbcom accepts this as proof against me, it is also proof against them and they should be brought into this RfAr. I was one of several editors who spent months dealing with a persistent hoaxer. See User:Barneca/watch/Barbaro – when another batch of Barbaro hoaxer socks are blocked, some more complaints appear on the site Communicat linked. Edward321 (talk) 00:56, 30 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Hohum

I don't see any specific diffs showing POV bias or NPA attributed to me, so I'm not sure what kind of statement to make regarding these vague accusations. If something more solid is presented, I'll respond more solidly - either to involved parties or Arbitrators. Hopefully arbitration can identify and resolve the problem, since nothing else has.

As Communicat appears to impugn the entire military history project, perhaps its coordinators, or lead coordinator should be involved. (Hohum ^@) 18:37, 29 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Response to Communicat statement: So it seems I was listed, not because of specific actions, but because of a position I was incorrectly thought to hold. Incredible. I think I'll be commenting on the case, when active, whether I'm listed or not. For Communicats information, the coordinators and their responsibilities are listed at the bottom right of the main WP:MILHIST page. (Hohum ^@) 01:19, 30 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Preliminary decisions

Arbitrators' opinions on hearing this matter (7/0/2/0)

Recuse. I will be presenting evidence if this request is accepted. Kirill ^{[talk] [prof]} 23:12, 28 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Accept (unless this is resolved through other means in the next few days). Any case would, as always, include review of the filing party's conduct. I think this is a case that, if accepted, could do well with a reasonably short schedule, since the scope is relatively narrow and much of the evidence seems to have been compiled already. Newyorkbrad (talk) 23:24, 28 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Accept per Newyorkbrad. Risker (talk) 03:41, 29 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Accept since the attempts by the community to resolve seem to have stalled. Shell ^babelfish 03:47, 29 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Accept; there are behavioral problems, there, and the community didn't manage to resolve them. — Coren ^(talk) 03:54, 29 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Accept; We waited to see if things will get better, and they didn't. SirFozzie (talk) 04:04, 29 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Recuse Roger ^talk 04:05, 29 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Accept. Would normally wait for some statement about why the community processes broke down here, but that can be made as part of the case if needed. No need to send this one back a second time, so accept now, with the standard proviso that the conduct of all will be examined in light of the evidence presented. Not sure if the rapid accepts here and the prior request warrant waiving the various minimum times for a request. Would suggest that a minimum of 24 hours is given for all arbitrators to see the request and comment if they want to do so. Carcharoth (talk) 04:26, 29 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Accept - KnightLago (talk) 01:26, 30 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Temporary injunction (none)

Final decision (none yet)

All numbering based on /Proposed decision, where vote counts and comments are also available.

Principles

Findings of fact

Remedies

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Enforcement

Log of blocks, bans, and restrictions

Log any block, restriction, 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.