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Please use this page only to:

request administrative action against editors violating a remedy (not merely a principle) or an injunction in an Arbitration Committee decision, or a contentious topic restriction imposed by an administrator,
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Only autoconfirmed users may file enforcement requests here; requests filed by IPs or accounts less than four days old or with less than 10 edits will be removed. All users are welcome to comment on requests except where doing so would violate an active restriction (such as an extended-confirmed restriction). If you make an enforcement request or comment on a request, your own conduct may be examined as well, and you may be sanctioned for it. Enforcement requests and statements in response to them may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator. (Word Count Tool) Statements must be made in separate sections. Non-compliant contributions may be removed or shortened by administrators. Disruptive contributions such as personal attacks, or groundless or vexatious complaints, may result in blocks or other sanctions.

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Appeals and administrator modifications of contentious topics restrictions

The Arbitration Committee procedures relating to modifications of contentious topic restrictions state the following:

All contentious topic restrictions (and logged warnings) may be appealed. Only the restricted editor may appeal an editor restriction. Any editor may appeal a page restriction.

The appeal process has three possible stages. An editor appealing a restriction may:

ask the administrator who first made the contentious topic restrictions (the "enforcing administrator") to reconsider their original decision;
request review at the arbitration enforcement noticeboard ("AE") or at the administrators' noticeboard ("AN"); and
submit a request for amendment ("ARCA"). If the editor is blocked, the appeal may be made by email.

Appeals submitted at AE or AN must be submitted using the applicable template.

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Changing or revoking a contentious topic restriction

An administrator may only modify or revoke a contentious topic restriction if a formal appeal is successful or if one of the following exceptions applies:

The administrator who originally imposed the contentious topic restriction (the "enforcing administrator") affirmatively consents to the change,^[a] or is no longer an administrator;^[b] or
The contentious topic restriction was imposed (or last renewed) more than a year ago and:
- the restriction was imposed by a single administrator, or
- the restriction was an indefinite block.

A formal appeal is successful only if one of the following agrees with revoking or changing the contentious topic restriction:

a clear consensus of uninvolved administrators at AE,
a clear consensus of uninvolved editors at AN,
a majority of the Arbitration Committee, acting through a motion at ARCA.

Any administrator who revokes or changes a contentious topic restriction out of process (i.e. without the above conditions being met) may, at the discretion of the Arbitration Committee, be desysopped.

Standard of review
On community review

Uninvolved administrators at the arbitration enforcement noticeboard ("AE") and uninvolved editors at the administrators' noticeboard ("AN") should revoke or modify a contentious topic restriction on appeal if:

the action was inconsistent with the contentious topics procedure or applicable policy (i.e. the action was out of process),
the action was not reasonably necessary to prevent damage or disruption when first imposed, or
the action is no longer reasonably necessary to prevent damage or disruption.

On Arbitration Committee review

Arbitrators hearing an appeal at a request for amendment ("ARCA") will generally overturn a contentious topic restriction only if:

the action was inconsistent with the contentious topics procedure or applicable policy (i.e. the action was out of process),
the action represents an unreasonable exercise of administrative enforcement discretion, or
compelling circumstances warrant the full Committee's action.

^ The administrator may indicate consent at any time before, during, or after imposition of the restriction.
^ This criterion does not apply if the original action was imposed as a result of rough consensus at the arbitration enforcement noticeboard, as there would be no single enforcing administrator.

Appeals and administrator modifications of non-contentious topics sanctions

The Arbitration Committee procedures relating to modifications and appeals state:

Appeals by sanctioned editors

Appeals may be made only by the editor under sanction and only for a currently active sanction. Requests for modification of page restrictions may be made by any editor. The process has three possible stages (see "Important notes" below). The editor may:

ask the enforcing administrator to reconsider their original decision;
request review at the arbitration enforcement noticeboard ("AE") or at the administrators’ noticeboard ("AN"); and
submit a request for amendment at the amendment requests page ("ARCA"). If the editor is blocked, the appeal may be made by email through Special:EmailUser/Arbitration Committee (or, if email access is revoked, to arbcom-enwikimedia.org).

Modifications by administrators

No administrator may modify or remove a sanction placed by another administrator without:

the explicit prior affirmative consent of the enforcing administrator; or
prior affirmative agreement for the modification at (a) AE or (b) AN or (c) ARCA (see "Important notes" below).

Administrators modifying sanctions out of process may at the discretion of the committee be desysopped.

Nothing in this section prevents an administrator from replacing an existing sanction issued by another administrator with a new sanction if fresh misconduct has taken place after the existing sanction was applied.

Administrators are free to modify sanctions placed by former administrators – that is, editors who do not have the administrator permission enabled (due to a temporary or permanent relinquishment or desysop) – without regard to the requirements of this section. If an administrator modifies a sanction placed by a former administrator, the administrator who made the modification becomes the "enforcing administrator". If a former administrator regains the tools, the provisions of this section again apply to their unmodified enforcement actions.

Important notes:

For a request to succeed, either

(i) the clear and substantial consensus of (a) uninvolved administrators at AE or (b) uninvolved editors at AN or

(ii) a passing motion of arbitrators at ARCA

is required. If consensus at AE or AN is unclear, the status quo prevails.

While asking the enforcing administrator and seeking reviews at AN or AE are not mandatory prior to seeking a decision from the committee, once the committee has reviewed a request, further substantive review at any forum is barred. The sole exception is editors under an active sanction who may still request an easing or removal of the sanction on the grounds that said sanction is no longer needed, but such requests may only be made once every six months, or whatever longer period the committee may specify.
These provisions apply only to contentious topic restrictions placed by administrators and to blocks placed by administrators to enforce arbitration case decisions. They do not apply to sanctions directly authorized by the committee, and enacted either by arbitrators or by arbitration clerks, or to special functionary blocks of whatever nature.
All actions designated as arbitration enforcement actions, including those alleged to be out of process or against existing policy, must first be appealed following arbitration enforcement procedures to establish if such enforcement is inappropriate before the action may be reversed or formally discussed at another venue.

Information for administrators processing requests

Thank you for participating in this area. AE works best if there are a variety of admins bringing their expertise to each case. There is no expectation to comment on every case, and the Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) thanks all admins for whatever time they can give.

A couple of reminders:

Before commenting, please familiarise yourself with the referenced ArbCom case. Please also read all the evidence (including diffs) presented in the AE request.
When a request widens to include editors beyond the initial request, these editors must be notified and the notifications recorded in the same way as for the initial editor against whom sanctions were requested. Where some part of the outcome is clear, a partial close may be implemented and noted as "Result concerning X".
Enforcement measures in arbitration cases should be construed liberally to protect Wikipedia and keep it running efficiently. Some of the behaviour described in an enforcement request might not be restricted by ArbCom. However, it may violate other Wikipedia policies and guidelines; you may use administrative discretion to resolve it.
More than one side in a dispute may have ArbCom conduct rulings applicable to them. Please ensure these are investigated.

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Once an issue is resolved, enclose it between {{hat}} and {{hab}} tags. A bot should archive it in 7 days.
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Arbitration enforcement action appeal by A Quest For Knowledge

Topic ban has expired. Gamaliel (talk) 17:12, 16 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

Procedural notes: The rules governing arbitration enforcement appeals are found here. According to the procedures, a "clear, substantial, and active consensus of uninvolved editors" is required to overturn an arbitration enforcement action.

To help determine any such consensus, involved editors may make brief statements in separate sections but should not edit the section for discussion among uninvolved editors. Editors are normally considered involved if they are in a current dispute with the sanctioning or sanctioned editor, or have taken part in disputes (if any) related to the contested enforcement action. Administrators having taken administrative actions are not normally considered involved for this reason alone (see WP:UNINVOLVED).

Appealing user: A Quest For Knowledge (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) – A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 05:11, 6 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Sanction being appealed: Topic ban from Climate change denial

Article ban from Anthony Watts (blogger)

Administrator imposing the sanction: Penwhale (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)

Notification of that administrator: [1]

Statement by A Quest For Knowledge

I'm appealing the first part of the sanction on the grounds that I have not edited this article for at least 5 years,[2][3], nor was a single diff presented in the original WP:AE request demonstrating any problematic conduct on this topic.

I'm appealing the second part of the sanction on the grounds I edit-warred to remove negative, contentious WP:BLP content. As everyone knows, it takes at least two to edit war. Indeed, numerous editors had also edit-warred on this article yet, many of whom edit-warred to include contentious WP:BLP material, yet I was the only one sanctioned.

Akhilleus[4][5]
ArtifexMayhem[6][7][8]
Capitalismojo[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]
DHeyward[19][20][21]
Gnncmac[22][23]
Joel B. Lewis[24][25][26][27][28]
JzG[29][30]
Mann jess[31][32][33][34][35]
Nomoskedasticity[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]
Peter Gulutzan[49][50][51][52][53][54]
PeterTheFourth[55][56]
Stephan Schulz[57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64]
Tillman[65][66][67][68][69][70][71]
Ubikwit[72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82]

My "crime" was to remove negative, contentious WP:BLP content, not the other way around. Wikipedia policies and guidelines provide exemptions for those who remove contentious BLP content. There are no exemptions as far as I know for those who edit-war to include contentious BLP content into articles. Further, I'd also like to state that I'm not even a BLP Nazi. But when we start sanctioning editors for removing contentious BLP content while looking the other way at editors who edit-war the same content into an article, something is seriously wrong with the project.

@Zero0000: I interpreted the the topic ban to be on the topic in general, not the article specifically. But since I rarely, if ever, edit anything related to the article or the topic, I think the distinction is mute. There was no evidence presented in the original WP:AE request which demonstrated any problematic conduct on the article in specific or the topic in general. The actual dispute centered upon the issue about whether it was acceptable to edit-war contentious negative WP:BLP information into an article. I believe that the community supports my position that edit-warring contentious negative content into a BLP is not acceptable conduct. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 12:25, 6 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Gamaliel: I'm not going to make any apologies for defending WP:BLP. If you can point to any specific problematic behavior, I'm more than willing to re-examine my conduct, and improve upon it. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 13:29, 6 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@EdJohnston: If an editor raises a good faith concern regarding a WP:BLP violation, under no circumstance should editors edit-war to include WP:BLP violations back into the article. Discussion should continue on the article talk page, WP:BLPN or some other appropriate venue. I am not aware of any policy, guideline or even an essay which advocates edit-warring contentious BLP content into articles. EdJohnston, I think you're one of the more level headed AE admins, and I will continue to support you regardless of the outcome of my appeal, but what I am saying is that edit-warring to include contentious negative content on a BLP is not acceptable behavior. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 23:24, 6 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Nomoskedasticity: I am (or at least was) a frequent patroller of WP:BLPN so I understand WP:BLP perfectly well. Even now, there's a glaring BLP violation in the very first sentence of Anthony Watts (blogger). Per WP:LABEL, we are not allowed to use value-laden labels such as denier unless widely used by reliable sources to describe the subject. Further, WP:BLP requires that the burden of proof lies on those restoring the BLP violations, not the ones removing the BLP violations. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 23:45, 6 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Zero: This has nothing to do with climate change. The issue here is whether it is acceptable to edit-war WP:BLP violations into an article (or whether it is acceptable to edit-war contentious, negative BLP content into an article).

I state the following:

It is not acceptable conduct to edit-war WP:BLP violations into a Wikipedia article.
It is not acceptable conduct to edit-war contentious negative WP:BLP content into a Wikipedia article.
Either way, the burden of evidence rests with the editor who adds or restores material.

Does anyone here seriously disagree that edit-warring WP:BLP violations and/or contentious negative WP:BLP content isn't acceptable conduct? A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 01:43, 16 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@JzG: Ummm....no. WP:BLP doesn't say that BLP applies to all topic spaces except climate change. BLP applies to all of Wikipedia. We cannot simply throw out the rules just because of one's own personal opinions about a topic. In fact, your post helps illustrate the core of the problem. Wikipedia is a not a WP:BATTLEGROUND for editors to carry on ideological battles. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 09:05, 16 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Penwhale

@Zero0000: No, the sanction I applied was TBAN from both Anthony Watts (blogger) and Climate change denial; the latter was not intended to be for the page itself only. - Penwhale | ^{dance in the air and follow his steps} 13:51, 7 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Nomoskedasticity

AQFK appears to have a significant misunderstanding of BLP. What it actually says is not that someone may edit-war to remove "contentious BLP content" -- rather, it is "contentious material about living persons ... that is unsourced or poorly sourced" that must be removed. The difficulty for AQFK is that the material he was edit-warring over (and hey, at least he admits it) was properly sourced. It strikes me as important to know (in connection with this request) whether this misrepresentation of BLP policy is deliberate or simply incompetent. Either way, I get the sense that AQFK's main goal in making this request is to get a green light to resume edit-warring over this material; note also that he hasn't really done any editing on other topics since the topic ban was imposed. As for the list of other editors who restored the material AQFK deleted -- what that list really shows is the extent of consensus regarding the way the article should be edited. So let's hope my prediction proves to be wrong. Nomoskedasticity (talk) 21:24, 6 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

This edit is quite revealing of AQFK's difficulty and indicates an on-going problem re working in a collaborative editing environment. I'm really quite curious to see what will happen now that the sanction has expired, i.e., will we soon see a resumption of the behavior that led to the sanction. Nomoskedasticity (talk) 08:58, 16 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by User:Akhilleus

I don't edit much in the climate change area, but I see I'm listed first on AQFK's list of edit warriors on Anthony Watts (blogger). So I guess I'm "involved." Anyway, AQFK seems to find no fault with the behavior that led to his temporary ban from climate change articles; is there any change that the topic ban could be extended? Because otherwise I think that he will continue the problematic behavior, and we'll be back here soon. --Akhilleus (talk) 21:27, 6 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Short Brigade Harvester Boris

According to their statement User:Penwhale apparently meant "climate change denial" in a broad sense, but linked to the article Climate change denial when writing up the result. This apparently led to confusion. If this is correct it would obviate the first part of AQFK's appeal (and the record should be clarified accordingly). In any event both restrictions will expire a week from Wednesday and so the appeal seems almost-but-not-quite pointless given the usual pace at which requests here are decided. Short Brigade Harvester Boris (talk) 14:27, 7 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by JzG

It's time to start closing down the climate denial apologia on that article. The fiction that reality-based criticism is "negative material" has been used as a magic talisman for too long. We do not need warriors for truth whose truth runs counter to the scientific consensus, and since AQFK seems to think he never edits in this area I fail to see why the appeal was lodged in the first place.

We have reliable mainstream sources that describe Watts and especially his blog as part of the climate change denialist movement. I have yet to see a single reliable source that credibly identifies those who accept anthropogenic climate change as denialists of anything. The science is overwhelming: the climate is changing (virtually nobody qualified to venture an opinion disputes this at all any more), it's largely due to atmospheric CO₂ (ditto) and we are the dominant cause (wcih view has vanishingly few credentialled dissenters). Climate change "skepticism" became pseudoskepticism a while back and is, by now, simply denial. We need to get past the stupid attempts to deny the science - largely a US issue anyway, most countries are over this - and focus on the things where reasonable people can differ, such as what to do about it and how soon. Guy (Help!) 21:31, 14 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by MONGO

As this is a BLP issue and we are supposedly an encyclopedia we don't have to reiterate exact words used about persons made by those person's scientific opponents. We should avoid such hotbutton terms especially if the subject of the BLP has claimed that that descriptive is not true or accurate. My take on Watts is he is not a denialist but is adversarial to the mainstream view on climate change in terms of its severity or future prospects for doom and that he disagrees that humans are the sole cause of this phenomenon. Watts has stated he believes climate change is fact...his disagreement is with the alarmist stance. The term "denialist" is a poor comparative analogy to Holocaust Denial....and is misused to silence any discussion inappropriately. Much like the suffix "gate" is misused to compare relatively minor issues to the notorious Watergate Scandal, it's simply not necessary to refute Watts in our encyclopedia in the same manner his detractors do. Would also appreciate if some of the condescending comments about the U.S. cease. With that said, edit warring is unacceptable and sadly if the concensus is that we should misuse this website to call someone something they themselves deny, then that's a shame, but that's the way it goes I suppose. For the record, the opening and title of the article Climate change denialism really is lousy. If you want science them all these scientists can help me with my slow update of the FA Retreat of glaciers since 1850...and stop fretting about labelling a skeptic as a denialist.--MONGO 09:59, 16 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Peter Gulutzan

MONGO is correct to refute JzG but there is no consensus to misuse the article. That being the case, A Quest For Knowledge was right to point out that the majority of known reliable sources say skeptic not denier, and to oppose those who insist on inserting denier in the lead and removing skeptic. Peter Gulutzan (talk) 15:54, 16 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by DHeyward

Topic ban is over, correct? That said, the pejorative "denier" is a political term, it's negative, not widely used and the source for it is not a political expert. JzG accurately states the scientific consensus. What he doesn't seem to understand is expressing the understanding as he did is a "denier" position. "Most" in IPCC terms means "more than half." (IPCC is 95% confident that of the 0.8C of observed warming, at least 0.4C is attributable to humans). However, Mann and others believe virtually all the observed warming is attributable to humans. They believe natural causes, such as volcanoes, have lessened the footprint. If, like Watts and JzG, a person doesn't attribute all the observed warming to human activity, instead of "most", they are "deniers" per Mann and others. The label is purely political and it is at odds with consensus when it can be applied so broadly that it would include IPCC's own statement. We should not be advocates for a political position and this sourcing for "denier" is not from science, it's from political advocacy by someone that is a political advocate. --DHeyward (talk) 16:37, 16 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion among uninvolved editors about the appeal by A Quest For Knowledge

The original AE was here. I won't vote on the appeal since I participated in the original ban discussion. But the case for lifting appears weak. See the Statement by NewsAndEventsGuy. Over a period of two months, AQFK removed the same quotation from the article on Anthony Watts (blogger) 22 times. This is a pattern of long-term edit warring. In the domain of ARBCC there are few examples of good behavior, and the 'denier' terminology should raise our eyebrows. But AQFK's behavior was (in my opinion) disruptive. EdJohnston (talk) 19:10, 6 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Result of the appeal by A Quest For Knowledge

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.

The original case: WP:Arbitration/Requests/Enforcement/Archive176#A_Quest_For_Knowledge. The admin consensus in the case discussion seems to have been for a TBAN on the topic of climate change denial, but the notice put on Quest's talk page by Penwale appears to refer to the particular article climate change denial. Can this be clarified please? Zero^talk 07:46, 6 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sure lots of other editors have engaged in problematic behavior in this topic area, that's why we have the sanctions in place. But your appeal should address your behavior, and does not appear to beyond the statement "My "crime" was to remove negative, contentious WP:BLP content". It should also address the concerns raised in the initial request which resulted in the sanction. At that request (where I participated, for the record, though I don't remember it - it's been a long summer) other admins raised concerns about your "battleground approach" and stated that you have "engaged in long-term edit warring". Gamaliel (talk) 13:11, 6 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I have only one question here; since the TBAN expires in ten days' time (16 September), surely it would be far less of a waste of everyone's time to simply wait until then? Black Kite (talk) 13:21, 6 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I have reopened this discussion. AQFK has expressed a desire to clear his name, and he should have that opportunity. Gamaliel (talk) 17:12, 6 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I'm trying to understand the BLP argument. In the "climate debate" world, the epithet "denier" is something of a dirty word. The mainstream and the fringe sides use it against each other to imply that the other is merely refusing to admit the truth, rather than being "skeptical" as good scientists are supposed to be. This essay now featured on Watts' site shows it used against the mainstream. In this climate (oops) I don't believe that Wikipedia should use the label in its own voice. However what is being debated is inclusion of an attributed opinion that appeared in a "reliable source". That is not a BLP violation. On the other hand, since it is a negative opinion that the target doesn't accept, it should continue with something like "though Watts contests that description". If Quest was fighting for that, rather than deleting the whole sentence multiple times as if it accuses Watts of murdering his mother, I'd have more sympathy. Zero^talk 01:01, 7 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

PraetorianFury

PraetorianFury is topic banned from participating at any article, page or discussion that concerns the topic of "same sex marriage" for an indefinite period of time. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 00:37, 15 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.
Requests may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs (not counting required information), except by permission of a reviewing administrator.

Request concerning PraetorianFury

User who is submitting this request for enforcement: John Carter (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 18:52, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

User against whom enforcement is requested: PraetorianFury (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
Search CT alerts: in user talk history • in system log

Sanction or remedy to be enforced: Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/American politics 2#Discretionary sanctions (1932 cutoff) :

Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it

September 8 Indicating that including material regarding the biograph of the subject not directly related to the current events is somehow original research as per WP:OR, as stated on the talk page at Talk:Kim Davis (county clerk)#Original research. It is worth noting that the individual's oft-repeated flawed assertion that she is notable for a single event seems to include the refusal to issue licenses, the legal review of her actions, her subsequent jailing, and release from jailing, all of which have been covered in the media as separate events, somehow still constitutes a single event, which seems to be a rather obvious flaw in thinking.
September 9 Disruptive and tendentious edit warring over an argument that inclusion of material not relevant to the ongoing legal matter is in some way OR as per WP:OR
September 8 Instituting a transparently biased and prejudicial RfC on the topic.
September 9, September 9 Numerous comments on the article talk page, including several not linked to here but clearly visible on the article talk page, disparaging of the actions, competence and motivations of others.

Diffs of previous relevant sanctions, if any

If discretionary sanctions are requested, supply evidence that the user is aware of them (see WP:AC/DS#Awareness and alerts)

Notified of discretionary sanctions regarding the field of American politics on his user talk page here on September 8.

Additional comments by editor filing complaint

First, my apologies for the possibly inadequate nature of this filing. I'm not sure how many, if any, I've every filed before and I'm obviously not very good at it. ;)

Given this individual's inability to demonstrably understand WP:OR, which he has repeatedly cited as his excuse for not including verifiable material about the previous activities or professional characteristics of the subject, and his repeated assertion that inclusion of information about her pay or private life somehow constitutes attacks making this article an "attack page," I believe that there is no good reason to believe he will ever be able to edit constructively on this topic, given his oft-stated opinion that only items relevant to the ongoing discussion of recent events can be included in this biography. On that basis, I would suggest that the AE admins at least strong consider a topic ban from this limited topic, or, perhaps, from the broader topic of same-sex marriage and the law in the United States.

And this individual's actions regarding this article can also be found at this time at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Edit warring, in the section entitled "User:PraetorianFury reported by User:MrX". John Carter (talk) 18:52, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I have in no way misunderstood PraetorianFury's point, it is simply that, despite his insistent demanding otherwise, his point is flatly wrong. This individual is at this point noted for several events, including, as of this writing, denying marriage licenses to gays, being jailed for that, being released from jail, with very likely more later. All that makes the insistent demand that the wrong guideline be followed both an rather obvious case of WP:CIR and, considering that there has been repeated discussion regarding this matter on the article talk page, rather tendentious and disruptive refusal to get to the point on his part. His inability to understand how his own deeply-held view is flawed makes his very competence in this matter open to very serious question. John Carter (talk) 19:21, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I believe that PF has added his responses to others in the sections of those others, here, and here, including, in clear violation of the rules of this page, as stated at the top of the section, that section reserved for uninvolved administrators, goes even further to demonstrate that there may be very real competency issues with this editor. On that basis, I think that some sort of topic ban is probably the best way to go. They can always be lifted later if the individual displays a greater degree of understanding of the standards of conduct than he has demonstrated on either that page or this one, but right now his inability to follow even the printed rules of the sections he edits demonstrates serious competency issues. John Carter (talk) 22:07, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

here

Discussion concerning PraetorianFury

Statements must be made in separate sections. They may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator.
Administrators may remove or shorten noncompliant statements. Disruptive contributions may result in blocks.

Statement by PraetorianFury

User:John_Carter has consistently refused to understand the point I've explained to him multiple times, and in great detail. The relevant policy for Kim Davis is WP:BIO1E, and I am not the only one who thinks that an excess of information has been included in the article. Information about her salary is particularly offensive as it has nothing to do with the issue for which she is known, marriage licenses, but it is included in trashy political attack pieces now that she has achieved some infamy. Not surprisingly, no WP:RSs were provided for that information, only an article from 2011 that glancingly refers to Davis while actually covering her mother. This is not encyclopedic.

As for my behavior, it is well within guidelines. All questions have received explanations, and comments have been on content and actions, not editors. PraetorianFury (talk) 19:14, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

(r to Mandruss) I'll let my statements speak for themselves. Especially considering posting editor actually did include the word "incompetent", while I've never said it to the contrary of the mischaracterizations of my comments above. PraetorianFury (talk) 21:02, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

(r to Dennis Brown) "his POV is blinding him". The irony is that I am a liberal democrat. Check my user page, hasn't been touched in years. But even I can recognize attempts to delegitimize a person's arguments by including details from their personal life. Wikipedia has always had a liberal slant due to WP:Systemic_bias, but I had no idea it had gotten so bad that we write articles that look like a more professional version of /r/politics. Should we go through the yearbook of Michael Brown to look for something to portray him in a negative light? No, that would be completely inappropriate. We should only include information that was written about him in the context of the event for which he is known, and that is how that article is written. Why are we allowed to include anything that was ever written in any public record anywhere about Kim Davis when there are a number of policies that specifically say to not do that? PraetorianFury (talk) 22:03, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

(r to MrX) Adding Wiki-stalking to the list of intimidatory tactics MrX has used. Just about anything other than actually contributing to the encyclopedia.

The list of reverts is fallacious, most are umambiguously not reverts at all. Look for yourself.
He calls creating an RFC and posting to multiple noticeboards "forum shopping". Seeking more collaborators is kind of one of the key tenets of collaboration, if I'm not mistaken.
MrX templated me and I templated him right back. He seems far more interested in my editing history than I am in his, so I don't know what his excuse is for not knowing about my years of experience.
I've commented on behavior as I've seen it. He calls that "failing to assume good faith". Says something about his edits.
I was mistaken about Davis not being included in the first source, but not that it was from 2011, and not that it didn't mention the controversy. There is nothing wrong about the 3rd comment in his last bullet.

PraetorianFury (talk) 21:47, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Excuse me? The source you are mentioning is from 2011 and unrelated to the current controversy. Kite, I just explained this to you a moment ago here. And I never said straight people's opinions don't matter, wtf? I figured as the people most impacted by her actions, they LGBTs would be the first to issue the complaints that Carter had elaborated, and thus reliable sources would be available, in the context of the event, to support the material's inclusion in the article. But yeah, go ahead and imply incompetence and infer I'm discriminating against straight people from an off-the-cuff, one sentence reply. Great. PraetorianFury (talk) 23:05, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Dennis Brown: What exactly about my behavior crossed the line? Did I break 3RR? Did I fail to use the talk page? Did I ignore the questions of other editors? Did I use personal attacks against them? Why is it my comments are seen as uncivil when comments about "competence", even from administrators, seem to be directed at me? PraetorianFury (talk) 23:16, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Mandruss

I planned to be a spectator here until I saw this: As for my behavior, it is well within guidelines. All questions have received explanations, and comments have been on content and actions, not editors. I don't know, was any of the following about editors?

~~[83] - WP:AGF violations~~
[84] - Other editor(s) are "childish"
[85] - Other editors are incompetent and WP:OWN
[86] - (WP:NORN) AGF violation, other editors are incompetent
[87] - (WP:BLPN) AGF violations
[88] - Accusation of meat puppetry
[89] - "childish" again
[90] - AGF violations
[91] - Accusation of WP:OWN and canvassing - and my nomination for 2015 Understatement of the Year, "I'm not here to make friends"
[92] - AGF violation
―Mandruss ☎ 20:41, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Struck one after a second look. ―Mandruss ☎ 05:57, 10 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by MrX

PraetorianFury, previously known as AzureFury (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), seems to have a troubled history. It's the history of the past 24 or so hours that concerns me most. Kim Davis is a very visible article, having received 74,391 page views in less than a week. Yesterday, PraetorianFury started editing this controversial subject by deleting material with an edit summary that read "Textbook WP:OR. Find a source that mentions this or we can't.". But right there, in the very source that they removed, is the "mention" in clear, obvious detail. There was no original research at all. When pressed to show the original research, PraetorianFury's claimed that "The source is from 2011. It is unrelated to the current controversy in 2015. It is therefore WP:OR to include it."[93].

In no particular order, this was followed by:

Edit warring: [94], [95], [96], [97], [98] including reverts after being warned
Forum shopping: [99] [100] [101] ← Note the very improper RfC wording in this last diff.
Pointy editing: [102] ← Note: A level three warning posted after I placed an edit warring warning on PraetorianFury's talk page.
Assumptions of bad faith: [103] [104] [105] [106] [107] [108] ← This last one is especially vile.
False claims: [109] [110] [111] ← I'm not sure whether this due to not understanding our policies and guidelines, untruthfulness, or some other reason.

PraetorianFury insists that they know our policies and guidelines, but edits like someone who doesn't understand them very well. [112]

PraetorianFury seems uninterested in collaborative editing, which I believe is a toxic attitude when approaching a controversial subject. "Derp. I don't owe you anything except the minimum amount of cooperation required by the encyclopedia, and that is what you will receive."

99 editors have collaborated on this article and overwhelmingly most have contributed constructively. Exceptionally, PraetorianFury has disrupted this ongoing collaboration to such a extent that I believe, at minimum, a topic ban is needed. - Mr X 21:13, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Penwhale: I don't see how your suggestion would solve the issue of personal attacks, disruption, and fostering an unpleasant editing environment on the talk page. In other words, your solution would be great if this were only an edit warring issue. Editors shouldn't have to waste their time proving that something is actually in a source, or repeatedly refuting claims of original research. Editors shouldn't have to trudge through a non-neutrally worded five part RfC. We shouldn't have to be beat over the heads with policies that we correctly apply on a daily basis.

As I understand from the Arbcom case, "Wikipedia editors are expected to behave reasonably, calmly, and courteously in their interactions with other editors; to approach even difficult situations in a dignified fashion and with a constructive and collaborative outlook; and to avoid acting in a manner that brings the project into disrepute. Unseemly conduct, such as personal attacks, incivility, assumptions of bad faith, harassment, disruptive point-making, and gaming the system, is prohibited." Is there a single principle here that PraetorianFury has not violated? Does their comment, "I don't owe you anything except the minimum amount of cooperation required by the encyclopedia, and that is what you will receive." suggest that shunting the problem to the talk page will achieve the desired result? - Mr X 18:53, 11 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Gaijin42

Minimally involved in the article. BLP1E is an argument to delete this article all together, and perhaps replace it with an event article. However, if the BLP article itself exists, restricting coverage to the one incident is not within policy. Compare with James_Eagan_Holmes who certainly is only notable for one event, but his BLP does cover the rest of his life.

This dispute I just described is not an issue, such disputes are the way of life on wiki. The issue is the way the dispute is being conducted and it seems like there may be an issue therein. Gaijin42 (talk) 21:59, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (username)

Result concerning PraetorianFury

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.

Note that this issue is also ongoing at WP:AN3, where I've suggested that Praetorian Fury self-revert his most recent edit. Black Kite (talk) 19:03, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I've closed that report given that this one is ongoing. Black Kite (talk) 21:21, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

There are some logical arguments in some of the things he says, but I do see reason to think his POV is blinding him, and causing misery for good faith editors. I do wonder if the article should be named after the controversy rather than her, but that is beyond the scope of AE. As to the article, I see a lot of differing opinions on the talk page but I don't see any drama over the differences, except with PF. I'm trying to figure a solution that isn't banning him from that topic, but coming up short on ideas. Unquestionably, he is more of a hinderance than a help there and his behavior is unacceptable. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 21:47, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I'm a little concerned by this, as well. A newspaper report mentioned that some local citizens complained about Davis's pay, amongst other things. PF's reply is to tell editors that they can only include that if they find evidence that some LGBT people complained about her pay. That's pushing the boundaries of WP:CIR, to be honest. Black Kite (talk) 22:38, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The idea that straight people's opinions don't matter, I find it hard to believe that even he believes that, and he is simply being obstructionist in his tactics. I think we are moving closer to a topic ban for Kim Davis (county clerk) and anything related to her or the controversy, broadly construed. I don't think kicking this can down the road is going to help. I hate it, but I don't see an alternative. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 22:50, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

PraetorianFury not every source used must be related to the controversy. It is currently a biography, so sources are judged by the reliability of the source, and the information is judged on the relevance to the topic. The issue here isn't whether you are wrong or right, it is how you behaved, and the likelihood of future disruption. And please put your comments in your section only, this is a formal board. This section is for admins only. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 23:12, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
PraetorianFury, I'm not going to give a blow by blow. Actually, several others have already done so for you, my interpretation is just that. The more I read, the more I'm convinced a topic ban is the solution, and I now fully support it. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 01:21, 10 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
PraetorianFury raises some excellent points in his comments about how to properly document BLPs. But there seem to be many more problematic comments, such as the list posted by Mandruss. Gamaliel (talk) 01:46, 10 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
As an alternative to TBAN, what about this restriction: that his edits to the area must be discussed on the talk page prior while removing all exceptions except the *extremely obvious vandalism* caveat? - Penwhale | ^{dance in the air and follow his steps} 18:16, 11 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Talk page behavior seems to be the problem here, though. Gamaliel (talk) 21:20, 12 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I would support an indefinite ban from the topic of same-sex marriage and the law in the United States. This is one of the options suggested by the author of this complaint, User:John Carter. I agree with User:Black Kite that WP:CIR is a concern, after seeing a comment like this one. He has added arguments to this AE which are rather far-fetched and suggest a problem with editing neutrally on topics where he has a personal POV. This would agree with the suggestion of Dennis Brown that 'his POV is blinding him.' EdJohnston (talk) 20:11, 14 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
It seems like we're heading to a topic ban, and I concur with that. Can't think of another solution given that the problem is overheated interactions in this one topic area. Gamaliel (talk) 21:16, 14 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Per my previous comments, I agree. I don't think there is another solution that cleanly deals with the problem. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 21:38, 14 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Arbitration enforcement action appeal by Soham321

Procedural notes: The rules governing arbitration enforcement appeals are found here. According to the procedures, a "clear, substantial, and active consensus of uninvolved editors" is required to overturn an arbitration enforcement action.

To help determine any such consensus, involved editors may make brief statements in separate sections but should not edit the section for discussion among uninvolved editors. Editors are normally considered involved if they are in a current dispute with the sanctioning or sanctioned editor, or have taken part in disputes (if any) related to the contested enforcement action. Administrators having taken administrative actions are not normally considered involved for this reason alone (see WP:UNINVOLVED).

Appealing user: Soham321 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Sanction being appealed: Six months' topic ban from all pages related to India

Administrator imposing the sanction: Bishonen (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)

Notification of that administrator: [113]

Statement by Soham321

I wish to continue participating in a debate with another editor in the talk page of Voltaire. In doing so i would like to make use of quotations about races and "racism" of Voltaire that have been given in secondary sources. Since these quote or quotes also make a reference to India and Indians i would like a free pass on the talk page of Voltaire and also on the main article of Voltaire about mentioning India and Indians with specific reference to Voltaire's views on races and his alleged "racism". My objective is to defend Voltaire from the racism claim; however i am not going to be dogmatic about it. I will lay out the evidence and i am prepared to listen to the evidence which says Voltaire was a "racist". This kind of a discussion on the talk page of Voltaire would also be useful for future editors of the WP page. For this purpose i am invoking a WP guideline, whose name i forget, which says that any action which leads to the betterment/improvement of Wikipedia trumps all other rules. Soham321 (talk) 17:26, 14 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Dear EdJohnston, many things were said in that Arb discussion and there were editors supporting me also, claiming i had been provoked and claiming that i had been behaving like a "saint" when interacting with a senior editor who has a reputation of being cantankerous. Let us not cherry pick what one person said in that discussion. It is true though that i ought to have been more cool both before and during that Arb discussion. My defense in this connection is that i was (and still am) going through a divorce proceeding. But do please consider giving me some respect in view of the fact that i have been a content creator on WP; take a look at the new WP pages i have created in the recent past: Paradox of the Actor, On the interpretation of Nature, Letter on the Deaf and Dumb,Philosophical Thoughts, and Dialogues: Rousseau, Judge of Jean-Jacques Soham321 (talk) 20:21, 14 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

This is a reply to Future Perfect at Sunrise: Please see diff3 with respect to Future Perfect at Sunrise's accusation that "in a rather stunning display of Wikilawyering, he seems to be first lambasting the author of a secondary source for not providing direct citations to primary sources for a statement he makes, and then accuses a fellow editor of OR because that editor showed, with his own citations on the talkpage, that the secondary author's statement actually did agree with the primary sources he talked about." I stand by the note i placed since i examined the source, the exact page of the book, and i did not see any reference to either Voltaire's writing or to any other authority (any secondary source) when Cohen made the following claim: ""More commonly polygenists argued, as did Voltaire, that blacks, because they were separately created did not fully share in the common humanity of whites". I was stating something factual in my note; i was not drawing any inferences. Consequently in my opinion what i did does not constitute OR. Soham321 (talk) 20:36, 14 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

In view of Future Perfect's claim that my editing has been of poor quality (an allegation also made by Abecedare on the talk page of Voltaire) i would like to add a general comment about my editing by giving a link showing what some other editors think of it. link Ghatus writes that "I do not know about Soham's offence. But, I saw his edits in Maharana Pratap on 12th and 13th June,2015. It was of high class." Twobells writes "All his work has been of the highest class, albeit wordy". Mohanbhan writes "Most, if not all, of your disputes concerned the use of certain writers who were (and are) being systematically excluded from wikipedia. Since ArbCom was not engaging with the subject (they traditionally don't, and perhaps can't, since they have a lot of other responsibilities) and were only looking at whether your interactions were "friendly" nothing that we said about the real nature of the dispute mattered to them. Content disputes should be settled by subject-experts IMO, and content disputes should not be turned into conduct disputes." Soham321 (talk) 21:16, 14 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

In view of what i said in my original statement: "My objective is to defend Voltaire from the racism claim; however i am not going to be dogmatic about it. I will lay out the evidence and i am prepared to listen to the evidence which says Voltaire was a "racist". This kind of a discussion on the talk page of Voltaire would also be useful for future editors of the WP page." i am not sure why Gamaliel should think that i have some kind of agenda. I have reached certain conclusions based on my reading which i wish to share on the talk page. And i clearly state that i have an open mind and will not be dogmatic about my conclusions. I only wish to share my knowledge on the talk page but for some reason which i can't understand that is being perceived as being unacceptable. In my opinion if i am not permitted to share my knowledge of Voltaire vis a vis his alleged racism, it would be WP's loss and violative of the WP guideline which says that anything that improves wikipedia trumps all other rules. And i am only asking for the waiver on the Voltaire page, not on any other page. Soham321 (talk) 21:29, 14 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

This is a response to Dennis Brown who apparently thinks i am guilty of ad hominem attacks on the talk page of Voltaire. Dennis, i went to dictionary.reference.com to obtain the meaning of "ad hominem". I got two results:

appealing to one's prejudices, emotions, or special interests rather than to one's intellect or reason.
attacking an opponent's character rather than answering his argument.

I do not believe i am guilty of any of the two meanings of the term as defined by dictionary.reference.com. I did not make any personal attack or make any emotional appeal either when interacting with Abecedare or when interacting with Carlstak. Dennis, if you disagree please give me an instance of when i made any ad hominem attack on the Voltaire talk page (where the meaning of "ad hominem" is defined by dictionary.reference.com or any other dictionary.) Soham321 (talk) 21:00, 15 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Reply to JzG: Just so that we are clear i am not asking for a lifting of the topic ban. I am only asking for a waiver on the Voltaire page for reasons already stated. Voltaire was a contemporary of Diderot and Rousseau and i have made many contributions to pages about and related to the French Enlightenment thinkers. One can ascertain from my contributions that i have something to contribute to the discussion. I fail to see why i am not being permitted to freely discuss Voltaire's alleged "racism" on the Voltaire talk page. Is this not a violation of WP:NORULES? Recently i have been involved in an ongoing Requested Move discussion: here, here, and here. I would like an uninvolved Admin to decide whether i have been "rude" or cordial in this discussion. Finally, I am not a single purpose account; earlier, prior to my topic ban, i was primarily editing WP pages related to India. Soham321 (talk) 15:01, 16 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Bishonen

Since Soham321 hasn't mentioned his appeal to me on my page today, with my replies declining that appeal, I'll link to our conversation: [114]. There are interesting comments by other people there too. I think I responded fully at that link, and won't repeat myself here on AE. Bishonen | talk 19:48, 14 September 2015 (UTC).[reply]

Statement by (involved editor 1)

Statement by (involved editor 2)

Discussion among uninvolved editors about the appeal by Soham321

This is a very curious matter. I am not cognisant of the original cause of the topic ban. However it seems that this request, on its face, reasonable, is in danger of being turned down not on the basis that it will lead to issues based on the reasons for the original ban, but on a general dislike of Soham's modus operandi.

If it is contended that Soham, due to their manner of conducting themselves, is, or should be, persona non grata then that is a matter for blocking, AN/I or an arb case. To refuse an otherwise reasonable request, merely because one does not like the cut of the appellant's gib does not seem like due process.

All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 22:07, 16 September 2015 (UTC).[reply]

Result of the appeal by Soham321

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.

After reading Bishonen's original ban notice as well as User:Soham321's talk page, my opinion is that the topic ban should remain in force. You were lucky to get off with only a six-month ban. You already took the original ban to Arbcom (July 2015), where one of the arbitrators said "Soham321's response to the topic ban (to fight it tooth and nail in any available venue, and to argue from the outset that the problem lies with other editors) is for me ample indication that this was a sensible call by Bishonen." If you were hoping to impress us with your good behavior, you have a long way to go. So I would decline this appeal, which gives no convincing reason why an exception is needed. Your statement above includes no evidence that your editing of Wikipedia has become more cooperative since the ban was imposed. EdJohnston (talk) 19:48, 14 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
At first sight, and without knowing much about the backstory, I would have said that the topic of Voltaire is sufficiently far from the intended scope of the topic ban that a cursory connection between them made in the course of a talkpage discussion there wouldn't bother me too much. And seriously, just how relevant could a discussion related to India possibly be to the topic under discussion (Voltaire's apparently well-documented negative views on Africans)? So, my first gut reaction was, good for Soham for playing it safe and asking here for this limited exception, before doing something that could have been seen as "testing the boundaries" even though in itself it would likely have been harmless. On a closer look at the actual context of the Voltaire discussion, however, I am distinctly underwhelmed by the quality both of Soham's article editing there (see this [115] rather bad instance of tendentious OR) and his behaviour on the talkpage (where, in a rather stunning display of Wikilawyering, he seems to be first lambasting the author of a secondary source for not providing direct citations to primary sources for a statement he makes, and then accuses a fellow editor of OR because that editor showed, with his own citations on the talkpage, that the secondary author's statement actually did agree with the primary sources he talked about.) As I am left with the impression that Soham's editing in this field displays many of the same problems he was topic-banned for in the India topic area, I'd have to say now that the Voltaire page will probably be better off with less rather than more importing of India-related argument by Soha§m321. Fut.Perf. ☼ 20:22, 14 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not impressed with what I see of Soham321's behavior on Talk:Voltaire and this editor has a self-admitted agenda "to defend Voltaire from the racism claim". While I agree with FPaS that it was commendable that Soham321 seek an exception instead of going ahead and just doing it, I don't think their behavior thus far in this area is otherwise commendable. I also agree with FPaS that the article is probably best left alone by Soham321. Gamaliel (talk) 21:14, 14 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I see too much ad hominem and such on the talk page of Voltaire to be comfortable extending an exception here. The risk of problems outweigh the benefits. Dennis Brown - 2¢ 19:11, 15 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I fail to see why we should lift a topic ban in order to allow Soham321 to engage in arguments that so clearly lie outside policy. If anything this underscores the problem that led tot he restriction. Guy (Help!) 08:44, 16 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

[1] The administrator may indicate consent at any time before, during, or after imposition of the restriction.

[2] This criterion does not apply if the original action was imposed as a result of rough consensus at the arbitration enforcement noticeboard, as there would be no single enforcing administrator.

[a]

[b]

@@ Line 274: / Line 274: @@
 ===Discussion among uninvolved editors about the appeal by Soham321===
 * This is a very curious matter.   I am not cognisant of the original cause of the topic ban.  However it seems that this request, on its face, reasonable, is in danger of being turned down not on the basis that it will lead to issues based on the reasons for the original ban, but on a general dislike of Soham's ''modus operandi''.
-:If it is contended that Soham, due to their manner of conducting themselves, is, or should be ''persona non grata'' then that is a matter for blocking, AN/I or an arb case.  To refuse an otherwise reasonable request, merely because one does not like the cut of the appellant's gib does not seem like due process.
+:If it is contended that Soham, due to their manner of conducting themselves, is, or should be, ''persona non grata'' then that is a matter for blocking, AN/I or an arb case.  To refuse an otherwise reasonable request, merely because one does not like the cut of the appellant's gib does not seem like due process.
 :All&nbsp;the&nbsp;best: ''[[User:Rich Farmbrough|Rich]]&nbsp;[[User talk:Rich Farmbrough|Farmbrough]]'',<small> 22:07, 16 September 2015 (UTC).</small><br />

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