Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Enforcement

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Sandstein (talk | contribs) at 14:35, 23 July 2010 (→‎Result concerning Tuscumbia: both topic-banned). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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    Bdell555

    Breach thought proven, but no sanction applied primarily due to request turning stale.
    The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

    Attention: This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.

    Request concerning Bdell555

    User requesting enforcement
    O Fenian (talk) 08:28, 7 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    User against whom enforcement is requested
    Bdell555 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
    Sanction or remedy that this user violated
    Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/The Troubles#Final remedies for AE case
    Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it
    1. [1] First revert on Michelle Gildernew
    2. [2] Second revert on Michelle Gildernew, within 24 hours of the first
    3. [3] Partial first revert on Corporals killings
    4. [4] Second revert on Corporals killings, within 24 hours of the first
    Diffs of notifications or of prior warnings against the conduct objected to (if required)
    1. [5] Warning by RepublicanJacobite (talk · contribs)
    Enforcement action requested (block, topic ban or other sanction)
    Block
    Additional comments by editor filing complaint
    In my opinion the text being added to Michelle Gildernew ("In 2009 it was reported that although she billed UK taxpayers just 300 pounds in travel expenses, she claimed a 21 000 pound London housing allowance", note the highly biased word "just") is a violation of BLP, as it insinuates wrongdoing. Due to the United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal the expenses of MPs were gone over with a fine toothcomb, and Michelle Gildernew received a "clean bill of health". The editor has also been making highly tendentious edits to another Troubles related article about a living person, I will be happy to provide evidence and an explanation about that if needed. Thank you. O Fenian (talk) 08:28, 7 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    "The Guardian did not see the relevance of the other material Mr Fenian refers to, and it would accordingly take WP:OR to make it relevant" has to one of the most hiliarous comments I have ever read. The Guardian report is dated 8 April 2009 and the Telegraph report is dated 15 October 2009. Considering there was an inquiry made into expenses, it is a terribly bad argument to suggest that it is original research to include the results of that inquiry as it does not appear in news reports before it took place, even ignoring that the results of the inquiry negate any need for inclusion. All I see is extreme wikilawyering over the meaning of 1RR and bizarre claims about OR. O Fenian (talk) 09:26, 7 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested
    [6]

    Discussion concerning Bdell555

    Statement by Bdell555

    Convention was "per day". If it is 24 hours then describe as "per 24 hours". This isn't a 3RR case. In any case, re the substance of the Michelle Gildernew article, I am adding a fact cited to a WP:RS, namely the Guardian, and if the Guardian found the fact WP:NOTABLE, it is presumptively notable for Wikipedia and does not warrant deletion. The Guardian did not see the relevance of the other material Mr Fenian refers to, and it would accordingly take WP:OR to make it relevant. If calling attention to material in a major UK daily concerning a politician constitutes a WP:BLP violation if it so much as raises the slightest question about the propriety of what that politician has done (what happened to WP:WELLKNOWN?), then the triumph of WP:BLP over WP:NPOV is truly complete!Bdell555 (talk) 08:50, 7 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comments by others about the request concerning Bdell555

    Comments by PhilKnight

    The Guardian article says "McGuinness did not want to be drawn on Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP colleague Michelle Gildernew, who claimed £21,000 for housing allowance in London but only £300 in travel expenses – suggesting few visits to the capital", so the implication was contained in the source. Perhaps it would've been better to phrase this differently, attributing the suggestion to The Guardian, but I don't consider this to be blockable. PhilKnight (talk) 14:32, 9 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Result concerning Bdell555

    This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the section above.
    • The suggestion that the 1RR per day should be construed as referring to a calendar day is tenuous at best. It was linked to WP:1RR which makes it clear that the restriction is per 24 hours. The suggestion that because the material is cited it is exempt from the revert restriction is utterly unsupportable. The fact that this request has remained untouched for 11 days is lamentable, but very few admins come within a wide radius of this noticeboard. The effect of all this is that imposing a block at this stage would, all told, be less preferable than taking no action. The result of all this is that Bdell555 gets the Probation Act. Stifle (talk) 13:57, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    • I am going to file a request for clarification at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Clarification to confirm that the restriction should be construed as per 24 hours. Stifle (talk) 14:44, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
      • It's clearly a violation of the 1RR (day has always meant 24 hour period and not calendar day), but it is also two weeks stale. I don't think we can do anything here. NW (Talk) 17:10, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    • Agree with Stifle and NW. T. Canens (talk) 18:03, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Brandmeister

    NOTE: Previously, the conclusion was: Request suspended because of the unclear status of Brandmeister's account; may be resubmitted if editing resumes. Having resumed the same reverts, I file back this, as is in its original form (with the original filer) adding the three new reverts with his new account user:Twilight Chill on the same Karabakh Khanate article [7], [8], [9], [10]. And as seen below the admin wrote: in that case the diffs submitted here should be considered as though they were recent edits.

    Request concerning Brandmeister

    User requesting enforcement
    Aregakn (talk) 11:28, 12 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    User against whom enforcement is requested
    Brandmeister (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
    Sanction or remedy that this user violated
    Armenia-Azerbaijan 2

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

    Karabakh Khanate

    New reverts on Karabakh Khanate

    The diffs contain evidences of disruptive editing, violation of 1RR rule, thought technically the majority of reverts were not violating the 3RR as well but the RVs from 9 to 11 do, permanent deletion of referenced information which might be considered edits not in good faith; the article was blocked due to edit-wars until the 3rd of June for a consensus to be reached and just after the ublock Brandmeister jumped into editing it in the same manner without having consensus. According to WP:TE it's a clear pattern of Tendentious Editing.

    Others include but are not limited to

    Khojaly Massacre

    Besides the reverts as such, Bradmaster jumped again into edit-warring right after the temporary block was lifted from this article as well.

    Nagorno-Karabakh War

    Is a featured article.

    • Here he taged some controversial edits as minor and then adds a new section, which includes five claims all supported by the same business newspaper which had only reprinted what Azeri side had been reporting. Ionidasz revert with a long edit summary
    • Brandmeister revets back having again violated several remedies of AA2.
    Diffs of notifications or of prior warnings against the conduct objected to

    Brandmeister was first placed under restriction and then topic banned for 6 months because it was not sufficient [11] and he clearly knows the rules. Some attempts to discuss and warn were also made as described in the "Additional comments".

    Additional comments by editor filing complaint

    1. Several attempts were made on his talk-page to let him see his problematic behavior but he disregarded or system-gamed [12], [13]. The many calls for discussion and consensus on the articles' talk-pages were disregarded as well.
    2. Although quite active on other WP projects for the last days, he refuses to discuss issues on the subject articles when they are blocked showing no interest in positive contribution.
    3. Together with the previous bans and his current behavior it is more than obvious Brandmeister's goals are different from contributing information and are strongly tendentious towards the picky articles of AA2.
    Re Grandmaster

    Grandmaster and Brandmeister are together with a bunch of editors (about 24 more) involved in quite a huge-scandalous Arbitration request on Ru.WP including canvassing and harassment of editors (also active on En.WP) in real life. I'd like to exclude any of those being able to participate in any formal processes (besides those concerning them directly) against any of the members of the group until the final decision of ArbCom. The notification of it has been made on the ArbCom talk on En.WP. Aregakn (talk) 18:06, 13 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Re the IP message

    If what the IP user said is true, he could participate in discussions and other activities by his IP anyway, as he did interestingly notice the AE. This only confirms that Brandmeister was/is not interested in consensus and discussions and the content of Wikipedia but has other goals. I'd also like to request all the IPs that Brandmeister used be checked and the result of this AE to be on those too. I'll add the latter to the sanction request. Aregakn (talk) 18:16, 13 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Enforcement action requested (block, topic ban or other sanction)

    Topic ban: Formally placed on 1RR, then topic banned for 6 months. The editor showed clear pattern of Disruptive and Tendentious Editing with refusal of Consensus.

    Additional note for the requested action: If what the IP presented is right, I would like to ask the result of this AE to be enforced on all the IPs (including the IP presenting himself as Brandmeister) Brandmeister used to log in with, or a direction how it can be achieved given. Aregakn (talk) 18:29, 13 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

    User informed. Aregakn (talk) 11:43, 12 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Discussion concerning Brandmeister

    Statement by Brandmeister

    First of all, I would note that since June 9 I have no access to my account, probably because it is compromised now. I have already wrote to stewards and Wikipedia functionaries about that. Regarding the request, I follow the bold, revert, discuss cycle. However, the Karabakh Khanate (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) in particular suffered from repeated and obvious source distortion: at least three registered users and some IPs have been modifying the lead text to push systemic bias and I was ultimately forced to request a semi-protection. As for Khojaly Massacre, there was no "jumping again into edit-warring" there and I explained that to Aregakn on my talk page. There is no policy, which prohibits editing after protection has expired. As for Nagorno-Karabakh War, I would encourage Aregakn to discuss the sources at talk, this venue is not for dispute resolution. 213.154.5.92 (talk) 07:28, 13 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Regarding my recent Karabakh khanate edits, there is an ongoing source distortion by multiple users to push a certain POV. The refs are instantly verifiable as being from Google Books and even the excerpts from associated pages have been provided, nonetheless the distortion continues. That has been already discussed at the article's talkpage, but unsuccesfully and so far the article requires a {{Cite check}} template. In such a situation I was thinking of bringing that issue to WP:ANI. Twilightchill t 22:21, 11 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Statment by Ionidasz

    It's the nth time Brandmeister accuse other editors of distorting, which is plain incivil. 17 reverts in the same article in a short period of time speaks volume. Just check the talkpage to see what is the problem with sherry picking. Ionidasz (talk) 00:36, 12 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comments by others about the request concerning Brandmeister

    From what I see, many of reverts were on SPA IPs, which were used to edit war in this article. Some of reverts by IPs were accompanied by incivil comments, accusing others of vandalism, etc. Eventually the article was semi-protected to stop the IP disruption. Grandmaster 04:59, 13 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    I would just like to point out that it's misleading to say that Brandmeister was reverting IPs, when 9 out of the 13 reverts in that article were reverts against registered users and that only the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th were against IPs. Note that on Khojaly, that the main user with whom he was reverting was sanctioned, but not Brandmeister. I can provide further examples of disruption, if the above are deemed insufficient.--Marshal Bagramyan (talk) 21:29, 13 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Result concerning Brandmeister

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

    To resolve this request, we need to determine whether Brandmeister's account is indeed compromised, as is being claimed by the IP above. If yes, it should probably be blocked on these grounds, and the request is moot. I'm asking a checkuser whether they can help determine this.  Sandstein  21:00, 15 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Brandmeister's account has not performed any checkuser-logged action since 18:34 UTC on 9 June 2010. J.delanoygabsadds 22:59, 15 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    I.e. after the date the IP claims the account was compromised? Grandmaster 05:49, 16 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Because of the unclear status of Brandmeister's account at this time, this request is suspended. It can be submitted again as soon as Brandmeister (under that or any other account or IP) resumes making controversial edits in the topic area; in that case the diffs submitted here should be considered as though they were recent edits.  Sandstein  06:08, 16 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Shuki

    Attention: This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.

    Request concerning Shuki

    User requesting enforcement
    nableezy - 19:24, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    User against whom enforcement is requested
    Shuki (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
    Sanction or remedy that this user violated
    Wikipedia:ARBPIA#Discretionary sanctions
    Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it
    1. [14] Removes reliablly sourced material because it conflict's with the user's own personal view
    2. [15] again
    3. [16] again
    4. [17] again
    5. [18] again
    6. [19] again
    Diffs of notifications or of prior warnings against the conduct objected to (if required)
    1. Notified of the case
    Enforcement action requested (block, topic ban or other sanction)
    Topic ban
    Additional comments by editor filing complaint
    Shuki has been filibustering any mention of the status of these settlements in international law. Originally Shuki has complained that the sources did not specifically say that a certain settlement is illegal. Since sources have been provided that specify for each of the settlements listed that they are illegal under international law Shuki has now changed tactics and insisted that the source "prove" that the specific settlement is illegal. The issue here is not the one or two reverts Shuki has made in each of the articles or the content being reverted. The issue is that Shuki has obstinately filibustered what reliable sources have reported and demanded proof beyond the requirements of WP:V and WP:RS. The arbitration case specifically says that editors should be editing within the policies of the website, including NPOV, RS, and V. Here, Shuki is violating all three; NPOV by refusing to allow a super-majority view to be represented in the article, RS by demanding that a RS is not sufficient "proof" on Wikipedia, V by repeatedly removing material cited to verifiable reliable sources.

    Reply to Shuki's statement: The RFC had nothing to do with the legal status of the settlements or how that should be covered. And it is not an exceptional claim that Israeli settlements are illegal, and even if it were reliable sources were provided. The text is not discussing Israeli law but international law, so Israel's High Court's rulings on the legality under Israeli law is immaterial. None of this addresses the issue though, that you have repeatedly filibustered the inclusion of reliably sourced material for pure POV reasons. nableezy - 19:54, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Re Gatoclass: How much emphasis should be put on the material is certainly something that is strictly a content dispute, but Shuki has not been simply moving this information from the lead into the body, Shuki has been filibustering the content from appearing anywhere in the article. Is edit-warring the only thing that is actionable under ARBPIA? Is a systematic campaign to violate core policies of this website not actionable? Is everything that is not edit-warring a "content dispute"? nableezy - 04:12, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Gatoclass, each of those diffs is of Shuki completely removing the content on legality, claiming that because the source does not "prove" it is illegal it is not acceptable. The only reason there are not more diffs is because I have not made any other edits as I would rather not have edits to the 200 or so articles on Israeli settlements be reverted without cause. Shuki is demanding that a source provide "proof" that the settlement is illegal, that it must reference a specific court decision that says that specific settlement is illegal (see [20], [21] where that argument is made). Shuki is completely disregarding what RS says and removing content that says "X is illegal" and the source that says "X is illegal". But if this simply a "content dispute" then there is not really much of a point of any of this. If a user can simply just say no and block what reliable sources say from appearing in an article then this whole system is ****ed. We have had lengthy topic bans for making too many reverts, but things like this just get brushed away as "content disputes", which lead to, guess what, more reverts. nableezy - 05:17, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    And Gatoclass, not only has Shuki rejected sources that say all Israeli settlements are illegal, he or she has further rejected sources that say specific settlements are illegal if that source does not provide "proof" that the settlement is illegal. Each of the edits listed above are removals of sources that say the specific settlement is illegal. nableezy - 05:37, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    I am not going to respond to many of the comments below. It is understandable that people come to the aid of what they perceive to be an ally. I'll just note that many of these same editors also came to the defense of the sock of a banned editor at a recent SPI, claiming that I was attempting to remove an opposing editor. That may well be the end result, but my purpose here is simple. Shuki's edits have violated a number of core policies of this website in contravention of ARBPIA. If there are editors that wish to show how that is not true they should make that case. Making this about me does not help anything. nableezy - 06:48, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Stifle: I understand it is easier to say "a pox on both your houses", but if you do so you are effectively saying that it is more important that there is an appearance of an equal application of the rules than it is to actually have an equal application of the rules. I have added well-sourced material about these settlements. The material I added is not "POV", it contains both the majority POV and Israel's by saying that they are illegal under international law though Israel disputes this. The material is both notable and verifiable, in fact every BBC story about a settlement contains that very same information. Shuki has removed notable, relevant, reliably sourced material from a number of articles and has done so by twisting policy such as RS and V or by giving no policy based reason for such removals. Regardless of Shuki's and Ynhockey's absurd comments about this material being "REDFLAG", there are countless reliable sources that flat out say that all Israeli settlements are illegal under international law; to record that in supposed "encyclopedia" articles cannot be seen as disruptive unless "disruption" is defined as anything the extreme right-wing of the Israeli political spectrum does not like. I understand that you all are not supposed to adjudicate "content disputes", but that does not mean you cannot actually look at the content. The material I added is backed by literally hundreds of reliable sources. Shuki removed that material on the most specious of reasons and has done so repeatedly. If people are free to simply remove whatever information they like without regard to how well sourced it is then this place truly is a complete waste of time and fails its goal of providing an educational resource. If you or any other admin is actually serious about creating an "encyclopedia" then you should not, no cannot, tolerate such behavior as repeatedly removing well-sourced content. Our "sins" are not all equal here. You have on hand a user adding well-sourced content. You have another user twisting policy and filibustering the inclusion of that well-sourced material. Shuki has in the past removed sources that say all Israeli settlements are illegal because they dont say that specific settlement is illegal. Now, the removals are of sources that say that the specific settlement is illegal because the source does not supposedly "prove" that and does not cite a specific court case saying that the specific settlement is illegal. That is plainly an absurd reason. If you want to treat both the person adding well-sourced material and the person removing it for absurd, ideological reasons then topic-ban us both. If, however, you want to ensure that our articles follow the policies of this website then I invite you to take a closer look at the circumstances. We are not guilty of the same sins here, and treating us as though we were may be easy but is without justification. nableezy - 14:39, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested
    [22]

    Discussion concerning Shuki

    Statement by Shuki

    Nableezy has never shown any attempt to collaborate and make reasonable efforts with other editors. Nableezy also forgot to mention that he is violating the closure of Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Israeli settlements. Since he 'lost' that RfC he started, he has wasted no time in opening a new front with his typical and documented battleground mentality. Nableezy is one of the most negative editor I have met on WP and has nothing good to say on articles. It is not 'fun' to edit with people who hold this attitude for long. Most people mellow out and learn to work with editors with opposing POVs, Nableezy simply cannot. I wish I could say he was pro-Palestinian, but even a superficial glance at his contributions show that he has nothing positive to say on Palestinian pages, and is merely a general SPA for including controversial negative material into Israeli articles. Until now, there was no 'BLP' for geographical places, and because of him, I think there should be one. Nableezy, blocked numerous times for problematic behavior, is himself in violation of AE with his insertion of negative boilerplate WP:REDFLAG material. Specifically, his latest non-consensus solo effort, is to find any mention of a locality that also says that it is illegal. No proof of any court action specifically declaring this and definitely in contrast to many court cases with the Israeli Supreme Court that has decided whether a place is illegal (part of Amona that was in fact torn down) or not (Revava won a libel case against Peace Now for making false claims of its 'illegality').

    I have certainly not changed any tactics, thanks for pre-empting me here with what I had just accused Nableezy on another page, I have always demanded that sources specifically mention the locality and not just in passing. There is no such thing as 'super-majority' and the RfC Nableezy filed failed to approve that peculiar non-existent policy. --Shuki (talk) 19:51, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Reply to Nableezy, your RfC was not clear from the beginning, and I'll say that is the reason it failed, and failed to go anywhere constructive and why I (and most anyone not in your POV) was reluctant to take part for so long. --Shuki (talk) 20:36, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]


    Reply to Stifle and others including Nableezy. Peculiar the accusations and follow-up accusations as well. One only needs to look at what both of us do simultaneously to see who collaborates with others and improve WP, and who is merely here to get blood to push his interests. On 18 July at 19:19, at the same time that Nableezy is putting the final touches on this repeat AE against me filed 5 minutes later (and sadly against himself as well - People who live in glass houses should not throw stones), I can be found collaborating with an 'opposing' editor here.

    2nd reply, to Stifle, to 'topic-ban us both' Nableezy, and 'take one for the team' RomaC. I certainly do not believe in WP suicide, but we know that Nableezy is ready for martyrdom with many uncivil remarks made and threatened retirement when he was blocked and then surprisingly weirdly unblocked early at the beginning of the year. Frankly, I know that most 'Israeli cities, villages, towns, and more in the West Bank / Judea and Samaria Area' articles are not on the watchlists of many, if at all, and no one has been contributing to the topic of 'Israeli settlements' articles as much as me though I wish I had more help. I admit to the kneejerk reaction to what I saw Nableezy doing (evidently and his admitted flooding of articles with tendentious boilerplate one liners, contrary to Sandstein's closing RfC recommendation to deal with each issue on a case-by-case basis) was to quickly make those reverts, and hopefully merely temporarily freeze him on his admitted conquest to add it to all 200+ articles, so that perhaps the WP community could handle this much better with, hold on, collaboration and consensus. I was not going to follow him around on each page to put it in another section, given that some editors have an issue with that too - something that calm consensus should decide. I cannot recall too many instances in which we have seen a reasonable and rational Nableezy, wanting to accomplish anything except to get is POV included and he only bothers to behave if others are watching too. To his credit, and perhaps the exception that proves the rule, he did start the RfC. Unfortunately, he did not bother to pursue further dispute resolution given his failure with the RfC.

    3rd, to Stifle, I do not see how a three month topic ban is proportional to merely reverting six articles once and with my long-term record which is centred primarily around creating, improving and maintaining Israeli geography articles. Since coming out of my single 1RR 'topic ban', I have managed to keep that 1RR behaviour intact except for a repeat SPA anon who was/is repeatedly just making a mess on three articles and has been reverted by others as well. On the other hand, comparing me with Nableezy who was;

    1. topic banned for two months
    2. blocked and topic 1RR and violates it leading to
    3. 2month topic ban and then
    4. comes out of his most recent two WP:ARBPIA topic ban swinging to which I alerted the collaboration project and
    5. a very SPECIAL MENTION making blanket reverts not unlike what he is accusing me of doing scroll to bottom to the edit comments sources call this place a Palestinian village (?!)

    and his repeated use of AE for the hunt (of me), even though warned only a month ago from making non-actionable claims

    The proper thing to do would have been for Nableezy to make another RfC, or use other dispute resolution mechanism to engage editors in this issue, or perhaps get other advice from a mentor, or like-minded but mature editor or admin. I am not interested in 'taking anyone down with me' and frankly, I don't care to see Nableezy topic banned either (and I have tried unsuccessfully in the past to suggest he make positive contributions instead of only the negative edits that he characterizes him). Peace, here on WP and in Israel, will not be made by one side attacking the other but by each side wanting to progress and improve. If I could sanction Nableezy, it would be to A) get him to join Wikipedia:Palestine, and B1) improve above stub status 200 Palestinian locality articles (in contrast to the 200 Israeli articles he was beginning to edit), or alternatively B2) create 100 new 'pro'-Arab/Palestinian articles starting with the requested ones on WP:Palestine (not anti-Israel ones) or alternatively B3) work on getting GA status for five Arab/Palestinian articles of his choice (preferably ones that promote Arab issues, and do not include anything about 'international law', warfare and blood). Instead, until then, I see this as another frivolous attempt ato bully me and scare others as well. Many have come to support me here (surprisingly, thank you and I have not emailed or canvassed anyone either) and few have come to back Nableezy up, and there is no shortage of editors who are on 'his side'. It is a fact that the six accused edits mentioned are definitely not 'an attempt by me at filibustering', that while my accuser prefers otherwise, even if I have shown to accept inserting material my personal POV would rather not have included and I collaborate. --Shuki (talk) 00:48, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comments by others about the request concerning Shuki

    Comment by Malik Shabazz

    Shuki, where does WP:V or WP:RS require that a source "not just [mention the locality] in passing"? I seem to remember you made the opposite argument in the past. — Malik Shabazz Talk/Stalk 20:22, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    WP:REDFLAG --Shuki (talk) 20:32, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    The assertion that Israeli settlements are illegal under the Geneva conventions is an "exceptional claim"? Wow. Just wow.
    I'm sorry, Shuki, but REDFLAG doesn't say what you think it says, and you don't get to set your own bar for which sources are acceptable and which aren't. — Malik Shabazz Talk/Stalk 18:41, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Comments by Mbz1

    The issues raised in this request are issues related to the contested content of a few articles, and should be discussed on the articles talk pages as such. IMO the request should be closed as non actionable because Shuki has never violated any policy.--Mbz1 (talk) 21:14, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    On a side note I am surprised that Nableezy while filing the request about Shuki has no problems with IP, who inserts unsourced POV to the same articles with the edit summaries like this one for example: "an illegal settlement built on a stolen and occupied land is NOT a villeinage!!!! stop promoting lies violating wikipedias terms and the international law!!!!". --Mbz1 (talk) 22:00, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Response to Gatoclass question about Shuki editing against consensus. No, they did not, just the opposite. Please take a look at one of the articles in question talk page's discussion. Nableezy started it just few hours before he filed this AE, and there's no consensus there. As user:Noon put it:
    Israeli settlement is the FIRST descriptor of this locality in this article. Click it and you'll get all arguments regarding settlements. No need to repeat it again and again. This is what links are for in wiki article, unless you wish to make a non neutral point.
    I am not going to discuss the fairness and/or correctness of user:Noon's statement because it does not belong to AE. It is a content dispute, which cannot be resolved through arbitration enforcement. --Mbz1 (talk) 05:47, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]


    I really liked Shuki's proposal about sanctions for Nableezy. In general I believe that topic bans should be imposed rarely, if there's absolutely no other choice. I believe uninvolved admins should be more creative in the sanctioning of the involved editors. I actually liked how Tznkai topic banned Supreme_Deliciousness:

    "This topic ban will run for 30 days from 00:31, 1 May 2010 (UTC) or until I see one of the following: A comprehensive and good faith proposal for a neutral standard on naming conventions, to be submitted for the consideration of Wikipedia:WikiProject Israel Palestine Collaboration|The Israel Palestine Collaboration WikiProject; a comprehensive and good faith proposal for a neutral standard on how images are chosen for Levant cuisine, to be submitted for the consideration of Wikipedia:WikiProject Israel Palestine Collaboration|The Israel Palestine Collaboration WikiProject; or a 3000 word essay on the meaning and importance of assuming good faith and avoiding battleground behavior."[reply]

    So I concur with Shuki proposal about sanctions for Nableezy. It will help Nableezy to avoid being anti-Israeli single purpose account, and it is always the right thing to do. --Mbz1 (talk) 02:59, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    To the closing administrator. I would like to stress out three important points provided by me and others as a small summary:


    1. Nableezy filed this AE at 19:24, 18 July 2010 less than 4 hours after he started the discussion on the issue at the article's talk page, and failed to get consensus. It is not the way to proceed. It was neither an emergency, nor BLP, nor something else extraordinary that could not have waited for a few days. This request created unwanted wiki drama, that could have been avoided by a simple discussion.
    1. Every article in question, except one, is linked to Israeli settlement. Israeli settlement article provides all information about Israeli settlements therefore there's no need to repeat it in every article. As somebody has written ""International law" is a tricky thing that people claim to know, but there has been no binding court case on the matter, and considerable legal debate. The Israeli settlement article discusses the complex legal issues at length", and it is the place to learn about it. The one that is not linked to Israeli settlement is linked to Community settlement (Israel), and I am not sure how it got to Nableezy's request in a first place.

    According to the above this AE against Shuki should be closed as non actionable. Thanks.--Mbz1 (talk) 01:04, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    To the closing uninvolved admins, I am not going to jump into your space as very much involved Gatoclass did, but I do agree with him: banned editors should know what they are banned for. Shuki has done absolutely nothing wrong at all. The issue of the request is a content dispute, which could not and should not be enforced by AE. Nableezy did not make nearly enough efforts to resolve the issue at the article talk pages before bringing the matter up to AE. He demonstrated a battleground behavior, and it is not first time he files non actionable, time-wasting AE. That's why IMO Nableezy should be given 2 weeks symbolic ban on AE just to make him give it another thought before he files another AE. Thanks.--Mbz1 (talk) 13:47, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]


    Comment by Gatoclass

    While I certainly agree that the status of all such settlements in international law should be outlined somewhere in the relevant articles, it doesn't strike me as imperative that this status be noted in the intro, unless perhaps the intro is long and/or the settlement a particular source of friction. IMO, it's sufficient that the status of such settlements be referred to somewhere in the body of the article. In any case, this looks to me like a run-of-the-mill content dispute, and I don't see anything actionable under ARBPIA. Gatoclass (talk) 03:57, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Re Nableezy's questions - firstly, your diffs do not demonstrate that Shuki has been "filibustering the content from appearing anywhere in the article". If he has done so, that may be an issue worth addressing, but I think you would need a pretty strong case, ie lots of diffs, to demonstrate that and you haven't provided any. In regards to your other question: Is a systematic campaign to violate core policies of this website not actionable? I would say it is, or should be, actionable, but again it would have to be clearly demonstrated. Perhaps, say, if you could demonstrate a persistent defying of consensus across multiple pages, that could be considered disruptive. But ultimately a lot will depend on the view of the closing admin. Gatoclass (talk) 05:02, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Having just read Shuki's comments above, I am obliged to amend my position. I consider Shuki's statement that "I have always demanded that sources specifically mention the locality and not just in passing" to be an absurdity, as it's clear that if a reliable source states that all Israeli settlements in area x are illegal, one does not need to find a source which specifically mentions that settlement y in area x is illegal. If Shuki has been reverting based on such specious reasoning, that could certainly in my view be considered disruptive and thereby sanctionable under ARBPIA. Gatoclass (talk) 05:34, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    an Israeli organization .... was forced to pay damages and issue a public apology to settlers after falsely claiming that a particular settlement was built illegally on private Palestinian land - Ynhockey.

    Well, fine, but that is quite irrelevant to this discussion. Sources can always be wrong, we knew that. The issue here is that Shuki is demanding a higher burden of proof for the inclusion of material than is required by WP:RS. He is demanding that sources specifically state that a given settlement is "illegal", when logically it is only necessary to demonstrate that a settlement is in the occupied territories to demonstrate its illegality. A source could of course be wrong in making either statement, so that's an entirely separate issue. Gatoclass (talk) 11:15, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    People need to stop making arguments for their take on the content dispute since that it not the scope of these requests - Cptnono.

    Cptnono, there is a difference between a content dispute and sheer illogic. If someone holds a position that is plainly logically fallacious, and maintains that position even after having its erroneous nature pointed out to him, that has ceased to be a mere content dispute and become disruption. In this case, Shuki's position is rendered untenable by simple logical deduction:

    1. All Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal under international law.
    2. This is an Israeli settlement in the occupied territories.
    3. This is an illegal Israeli settlement.

    There can therefore be no justification for Shuki's claim that Nableezy is required to produce sources that state a particular settlement is illegal. Nableezy only needs to produce a source which states that the settlement is in the occupied territories, because its illegality is a function of its location. If Shuki is prepared to acknowledge his error and agree to stop reverting on those grounds, perhaps there is no need for further action here. If however he is going to insist on maintaining his current view, I think that would be grounds for imposing further sanctions. Gatoclass (talk) 10:29, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comment by Ynhockey

    While it pains me to say so, I have to agree with Shuki's assessment of Nableezy's general editing practices (although I disapprove of the specific terms used). It is unfortunate that Nableezy has chosen not to make constructive contributions to articles about settlements, but rather to go out of his way to "prove" that they are illegal. Even if, theoretically, ample sources could be provided and the significance of this statement could be proven, it still seems like a WP:BATTLE action to just go around articles about settlements saying they're illegal and adding no other content. This WP:AE request seems like yet another piece of WikiDrama to get an editor from "the other side" banned and thus have a certain version of the article say. If Nableezy continues to edit settlement-related articles, I sincerely hope that he invests more resources into improving sections about the history, geography and culture of settlements. —Ynhockey (Talk) 04:40, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Just a relevant note, although this might not belong at WP:AE, but I thought it more appropriate to post it here than on user talk: As Shuki noted, an Israeli organization (Peace Now) was forced to pay damages and issue a public apology to settlers after falsely claiming that a particular settlement was built illegally on private Palestinian land (Hebrew article). What I am saying is that this is an extremely sensitive issue that is essentially similar to WP:BLP (which was created, in part, to avoid legal action against WMF), and it is important that each settlement is examined on a case-by-case basis. —Ynhockey (Talk) 16:05, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Note to Stifle: I will respect any decision you make, but ask you to look at what each editor has done for the articles in question. In fact, as far as I can tell, Shuki has singlehandedly written most of the content in settlement-related articles. As I noted above, Nableezy has unfortunately failed to make any contributions to these articles. I ask that this is taken into account in any decision you make. —Ynhockey (Talk) 18:38, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    What do you mean? nableezy was contributing to the settlement articles by adding the entire worldview with reliable sources. And the sourced worldview was removed by Shuki. Who is the one that has been trying to contribute to the articles here? and who is the one who has been tampering the articles here? --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 09:14, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Comment by Cptnono

    I hope that any request for enforcement against Nableezy will not look like reprisal since it has been coming for some time now.

    The RfC closure set a very good chance to do some case by case basis with a firm reminder not to start any shenanigans. This should have been handled better and Shuki should not be shouldering the brunt of the blame.Cptnono (talk) 06:04, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    I think Gilsa makes a point that the wording and the sources have been questioned. Editors continuing to stick them in on a mad spree after a contentious RfC is not the way to go about doing things. Shuki was reverting what he saw as contentious edits inserted on multiple articles and now he gets an AE for being a POV pusher essentially. Bad form and Shuki shouldn;t have even been brought here. A little bit of talk page would be better but unfortunately that hardly stops the wackiness going on in this topic area.Cptnono (talk) 06:40, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    People need to stop making arguments for their take on the content dispute since that it not the scope of these requests.Cptnono (talk) 06:55, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Stop discussing content here, Gatoclass. Not everyone agrees with it so it is therefore contentious. Methods used to include or removed that contentious material are the concern. Maybe editors feeling so strongly that their edits can be defended with assertions such as shear logic is the problem since their are channels in place for content disputes which should not be ignored. Unless of course the purpose is to set a precedent (Shuki was wrong therefore everything must be mentioned as "occupied"). Basically what I am saying is that Shuki is allowed to revert bold edits. Nableezy is free to seek other channels to include it if that is done. There is not an overuse of the revert function and Shuki is not alone so why make such sweeping changes when there is an ongoing dispute? And I agree that AE needs to get a little tougher on editors who have repeatedly been blocked or received sanctions if it is shown that they have crossed the line. Cptnono (talk) 04:33, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Comment by Gilisa
    Yes, the removed material was sourced. However, the wording was far from being neutral. The international status of Ma'ale Adumim is far more complicated than these sources show. The USA discussed with Israel many times the possibility of acknowledging such cities as regular part of Israel, in fact, it's also discussed between Israel and the palestinian representatives.

    Also, these sources are all from Guardian and BBC. While they are usually RS, they are not considered impartial in their attitude through Israel. Infact, once Israel submitted official complaint against the BBC for being biased against it. The BBC then was forced to establish a committee that scrutinized these complaints. They never published the committee's conclusions. If you search the web for it, you will find many reliable sources heavily doubt the neutrality of British media sources like the BBC and the Guardian about the I-P conflict. When it comes to settlements thing then no one is argue that the BBC came up with MA being considered as a settlement by the UN. But it does not represent the entire issue and the wording by itself is harsh and not neutral still.--Gilisa (talk) 06:24, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comment by Jiujitsuguy
    Funny how Nableezy’s name keeps popping up on these boards, over and over again, either as a complainant or respondent. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. It seems to me that he comes into this with soiled hands, edit warring while mastering the art of tag-teaming. Nableezy has adopted the Lord of the Flies approach to editing Wikipedia, reverting endlessly, baiting others into edit wars, tag-teaming and initiating harassing enforcement actions when things don’t quite go his way. The admin who rules on this case should also note that Nableezy has been indeffed (for threatening legal action, later lifted when withdrawn) has been blocked and subjected to lengthy topic bans. This is not exactly your model editor. As for the substantive issues involved, this is a content dispute in which Shuki has provided ample and cogent reasoning for his edits. If anyone should be sactioned, it is Nableezy who continuously uses these enforcement actions as tools of fear to silence his opposition.--Jiujitsuguy (talk) 06:40, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Comment by Sean.hoyland

    This is about policy compliance. We can't have people removing sourced information because the information isn't wearing a hijab or whatever the nothing-to-do-with-policy reason was here. Editors are obliged to edit according to policy. If they are upset by reliable sources saying that Israeli settlements are illegal and editors adding that information to articles there are plenty of other subjects for them to work on. What would happen I wonder if, rather than topic bans and such like, editors who find it difficult to comply with the discretionary sanctions were simply restricted from removing sourced material from articles ? They could add sourced material, reword existing material but not remove it altogether without calmly proceeding to the talk page and making their case. Sean.hoyland - talk 07:27, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Another alternative to the standard and clearly ineffective methods currently employed to deal with neutrality-challenged editors might be to require them to swop to 'the other side' of the conflict for a period. This is something I would really like to see happen personally. If an editor wants to blatantly ignore WP:COI, blatantly ignore the 'Editors counseled' section of the sanctions and consistently advocate for a side in a conflict as so many do then maybe there should be a cost to the editor. Perhaps they should have to advocate for 'the other side' too and the benefit should accrue to Wikipedia in the form of improved content and a general reduction in silliness. If an editor is genuinely here to build a better encyclopedia they shouldn't mind adding policy compliant material for a period even if it comes from sources they don't like such as..um..the BBC and even if it makes 'their side' look bad in their eyes. Sean.hoyland - talk 11:14, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comment by Epeefleche

    When we have highly disruptive editors (as in, those who have been blocked three times already this year) elevating their content disputes to non-actionable complaints, in apparent efforts to further their own POV, we have a wasteful time-suck. Perhaps it's time to consider ways to slow down our most disruptive editors; especially those who gravitate towards controversial areas such as the I-P area. Something that slows down those editors who have already been blocked 3 times in 2010, say, from taking any of various steps that lead to wastes of time for the community at large (ARE, AfD, etc., in the I-P area). In the U.S., felons are prohibited from voting in many elections. And at wikipedia, when articles are controversial, we limit editing to certain editors who we view as more trustworthy -- such as non-IPs. Extending those concepts here might prove beneficial.--Epeefleche (talk) 08:54, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comment by Misarxist

    Just over a week ago Shuki came of a 3 month 1r restriction (AE result) this doesn't appear to have sunk in as since then:

    He just doesn't seem to be here to edit collaboratively and probably requires a topic ban rather than another revert restriction. Misarxist (talk) 12:35, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    I am sorry to get into your space I will move my comment, if you'd like me to, but did you notice by any chance that in first three examples of so called edit warring you provided, Shuki reverted IP vandal, who was reverted by quite a few other editors, me including, as well. Thanks.--Mbz1 (talk) 13:36, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Re the admin comments about 'content dispute', obviously there is disagreement about the content, but the complaint is about straight-foward multiple reverts of sourced content without discussion. As I noted above (even with Mbz1's note, yes that's not as simple as I claimed, but the 3r example is undeniable) we are talking about an a know tendentious edit-warrior. There doesn't seem to be any real argument about Shuki being sanctioned again. But the complaints about Nableezey's record (the bulk of the responses here) are not relevant to that. And if Nableezey's conduct is at fault there's going to to need to be evidence cited, the fact that he's in a dispute with a tendentious nationalist editor isn't good enough in itself. Also while the underlying and widespread dispute does need to be dealt with, this simply isn't the right venue. Misarxist (talk) 12:44, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comment by AMuseo.

    Since the status of all land that has been conquered in a defensive war is a complex matter and the status of the West Bank finds no consensus among international legal experts, it is POV pushing to write the kind of statement that User:Nableezy is defending. I do not see nableezy questioning the status of the Western Sahara, or of Tibet, or criticizing the recent genocidal attack on the Tamil. He writes on behalf of a political cause dear to his heart. This does not make him a useful colleague. You can, after all, always find newspaper articles making flat assertions about just about anything. this is not scholarship. A simple statement that there is no consensus regarding the legal status of the West Bank would be better and could be well-supported. But I do not expect scholarship or balance from Nableezy. He is a highly contentions editor, the kind that drives moderate, informed editors from Wikipedia. Actually, I have come to believe that it is his goal to make editing so unpleasant that moderate people will go away, leaving the field open to him to use Wikipedia as a battleground to wage a Palestinian proxy war.AMuseo (talk) 20:33, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comment by Fandriampahalamana

    Although I wasn't involved in the articles mentioned above, I do feel it necessary to decry Nableezy's disruptive edit habits and intimidation of editors. On the Helen Thomas article while I explained every move I made, he vandalized my edits without any explanation, or with meaningless ones which is even worse. Once, it could have been explained away, but not a pattern of them. Then he had the gall to try to intimidate me by pretending that he is an administrator and admonishing me (for doing what is right) when he should have admonished himself for editing in bad faith. On one edit on July 13 (not pertaining to me) seeing that he can’t have it his way, he then made another controversial edit slanting the lead and explaining it with "all right, you want specifics add specifics, not just one part of the story." He seems to be using Wikipedia to tell the story the way he wants it to be told, as he actually admitted in a moment of truth and exasperation, of if you're getting it your way then I'll get it also my way. He sees everything as "your way" or "my way". I think he is unhelpful and a drain on controversial articles. Fandriampahalamana (talk) 21:22, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comment by Peter Cohen

    It's unfortunate that this request is following the usual pattern of people's views on Shuki's conduct being 100% corfrelated with their views on the IP dispute. I regret that I'm conforming to that pattern. Looking at the last edits listed by Nableezy, I see that theis effect is to remove any mention of the status of these settlements under international law. It has to be a notable effect about these places that they are considered illegal by major international institutions that pronounce on and enforce international law. The major institutions I have in mind are such organs ases of the UNSC, the high-contracting parties to the Geneva Conventions, the ICC, ICJ etc. When all those that pronounce on the matter say the settlements are illegal and none dissents, then the fact has to be mentioned in the articles. To remove any such mention is a clear violation of WP:NPOV.--Peter cohen (talk) 11:12, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Reply to Noon: I'm surprised by your reasoning. The quote from Nableezy indicates that there are a number of banned or permanently blocked editors who persist in creating sockpuppets in order to carry on distorting Wikipedia in favour of their political position. Persistent sockpuppeteers are damaging to Wikipedia. They increase the appearance of conflict between legitimate editors and anyone who uses SPI/CU to root out these users is to be praised. Accusations by the likes of Stellarkid who was a puppet of a user banned for participating in a drive by an external organisation to distort the content of Wikipedia have a wholly deleterious effect on the project. The fact that they have edit-warring and the reporting of legitimate users to the various admin boards as weapons is just evidence that thre is an organised effort to malign political opponents. One of those opponents should not be criticised for pointing this out. That certain editors leap to the defence of such sockpuppeteers also raises the question as to whether they are here to improve Wikipedia or whether they are themselves part of the effort to disrupt the project.--Peter cohen (talk) 16:21, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Comment by Brewcrewer

    As this is apparently the place to hang out these days, I feel obliged to chime in lest people forget my existence. Unlike some other editors here who feel this is an content related dispute and should be closed as unactionable, I'm of the position that some action should take place as a result of this report.

    The editor who filed the report insists that the first three words of any article on an Israeli entity beyond the '48 border should be "illegal settlement". This position has resulted in lots of edit warring. Numerous editors and a RFC later (linked above) have revealed a consensus that although the argument for illegality should clearly be included in an article, it should not be the first three words, per WP:NPOV.

    Nevertheless, Nableezy still insists that "illegal" be in the opening sentence and any position taken to the contrary is "stupid". Not only is it "stupid", arguing that it does not belong in the first sentence is an ARBCOM violation.

    Nableezy claims that Shuki wants to remove any mention of illegality of article, but that's blatantly false. Each article linked by Nableezy mentions the illegality issue, some even have an entire section discussing the illegality argument.

    Thus, what we have here is a blatantly frivolous AE report filed by one of the most prolific AE filers, who should know better. Some sort of action should be taken so that this huge waste of time does not reoccur. Perhaps an AE ban? --brewcrewer (yada, yada) 14:36, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Brewcrewer, sorry for placing this statement here, but that is simply not true. Nowhere did the RFC say that the words "illegal settlement" should be used as the first three words, legality was not even the topic of the RFC (which, oh by the way, certainly did not result in the consensus that you claim). And nowhere in the articles Ofra, Ariel (city), Amona, or Immanuel (town) is the legal status discussed. Kindly do not misrepresent what I have written or the RFC or the content of the articles. nableezy - 14:40, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    The first two links you brought as the basis for your claim have entire sections catered to the illegality issue.[29][30] I don't plan on spending more time litigating and word playing. This has wasted enough time already.--brewcrewer (yada, yada) 14:53, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    And the rest of them? You wrote "Each article linked by Nableezy mentions the illegality issue". Is that or is that not true? And you did not address the gross misrepresentation of the RFC. I guess that is "word playing". nableezy - 14:55, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Comment by RomaC

    Concur with Peter Cohen above on all points. See many examples of Israel saying A and the rest of the world saying B, and some editors pushing A first, then a mention of B, then a rebuttal per A as "neutral." As for the admin suggestion below re: possible concurrent 3-month blocks, excuse my cynicism but I imagine Shuki might agree to "take one for the team" and be blocked if Nableezy were also taken out. There are few topic areas with nearly as much concerted partisan activity as Israel-Palestine. Yes, Nableezy may be biased, but he's also badly outnumbered which makes him sort of stick out in these content disputes. Respectfully, RomaC TALK 14:47, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comment by Noon

    As I understand the AE regarding the I-P articles, one of its purposes was to facilitate a reasonable editing atmosphere in this contentious area. Contributors who exhibited "battleground" mentality and aggressive behaviour were banned or were blocked for a long period of time. In contrast to this purpose, the filing party of this request is engaged for a long time in trying to get the upper hand in content disputes by making considarable efforts to ban his opponents or block them indefinitely. Just one sample illustration of his "battleground mentality" may be found here, where he says: "There were three people who had pushed for my first topic ban. One of those was later blocked as a sock of NoCal100, the one who filed the complaint has now been blocked as a sock of Dajudem/Tundrabuggy, and the last is still taking aim at me." WP is not a battleground nor a venue for shooting ducks as done in Luna Parks. It looks as if the filing party spends most of his energy either to make small controversial edits to push his political views, while violating the fundamental WP:NPOV policy, or in targetting disruptively his opponents, espacially those who dare criticizing or reporting him, until they get out of his way. Content should adhere WP:NPOV not only in the facts and refs, but also in the tone of what is written, and how and where the facts are presented (ie. either in the lead, or as a link to the relevant article where all POVs are presented, or in a separate section in the same article where more views can be presented). accordingly, and for the huge waste of time dealing with this unwarranted request, it seems that the filing party fails to adhere to the purpose of building an encyclopedia, and the I-P AE penalty guidelines may apply to him. Noon (talk) 16:03, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Yes, I noticed this "and the last is still taking aim at me" too, and I agree it is yet another example of a battleground behavior by user:Nableezy--Mbz1 (talk) 16:22, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    @ Peter Cohen regarding this quote: Please listen to the music, imagine the moving targets, listen to the 'shootings', listen to the happy victory shouts, imagine the sniper tracing and targetting his 'enemies' above earth and in war tunnels, look at the sparkling eyes of this sniper when he realizes that some 'enemy troops' are still there hiding disguised somewhere or trying to sneak away... don't you hear real sounds of WAR here in Wikipedia? and this is just one example I've found in few minutes.
    In my opinion this battlefield mentality is what the Arbitration Committee tried to stop, or, at least, significantely reduce, in their harsh sanctions in the I-P case and its subsequent AE mechanism.
    There is no place for such a war mentality when trying to build a useful and accurate encyclopedia. Noon (talk) 19:59, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Statement by Supreme Deliciousness

    Stifle, Nableezy has not done anything wrong here, while Shuki has been removing sourced information. Please look at the real issue instead of what other people say here at this enforcement. Every time there is a pro-Israeli editor up for enforcement, the same group of people show up in defense of that editor. Please look at the real issue here instead. --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 16:07, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Stifle, please think about what you are saying, you are talking about a sanction on a user for adding the entire international view with a reliable source into an article. This is not a content dispute, when someone removes the entire worldview that is sourced with a reliable source - that's censorship, you can not impose some kind of "collective punishment" here. Also agree with Gatoclass, please explain your comments about this in more detail, "each side is at fault" is vague. --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 13:45, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Additional comment by Jiujitsuguy

    When evaluating sanctions, prior disciplinary history should be factored in. A look at Shuki’s record reveals two relatively short blocks, the last of which occurred more than a year ago This is an indication that Shuki is adhering to wiki policy and guidelines. By contrast, Nableezy’s block history is a mess, full of lengthy blocks and topic bans[31] In fact, Nableezy has just come off a topic ban. In addition, Nableezy has previously been indefinitely blocked for threatening legal action against Wikipedia. It was lifted when he withdrew his threat but it shows that he has lost sight of reality and can not distinguish between the real and virtual worlds. It is clear from his prior sanction history that this is an editor who takes a WP:BATTLEGROUND approach to editing with a “take no prisoners” mentality. Clearly, under the totality of circumstances, the person who deserves to be permanently banned from the topic area is Nableezy.--Jiujitsuguy (talk) 17:24, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    You forgot Shukis recent 3 month 1rvpd restriction [32] --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 18:16, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    When you are a recidivist, like Nableezy, when your block log history reads like a lengthy rap sheet, like Nableezy’s when you find yourself on these boards on a daily basis, either as a respondent or complainant, like Nableezy, When you come into every I-A article with a WP:BATTLEGROUND mentality, like Nableezy, when an editor loses his grip on reality and threatens to sue Wikipedia, as Nableezy has, it’s time to ask; Is this a productive editor or a disruptive one? I leave it to the admins to decide.--Jiujitsuguy (talk) 19:34, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Statement by Pantherskin

    I have not encountered Shuki in the past, although it is clear from the diffs provided that he has a strong POV which is reflected in his edits. On the other side, he is prolific content contributor in the Israel content area, and most of his edits clearly improve the enyclopedia. Regarding Nableezy I have encountered him and again it is clear that his edits reflect his strong POV. That in itself is not necessarily a problem (although usually it is), but when coupled with incivility and combative language ([33], [34] - some recent example, but from cases clearly a pattern), speculations and accusations about the ulterior motives of other editors ([35], [36]) it becomes a problem as it makes collaborative editing difficult to impossible. I am ignoring here the partisan editing of Nableezy and presumably Shuki - it would probably be beyond the scope and my take on it is that we probably need a fully fledged arbcom case to deal with the current detoriation in the Israel-Palestine topic area.

    Nableezys comment "Go away" was to a blocked sockpuppet who had repeatedly disrupted the Golan heights article. --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 10:08, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    No, it was directed against an IP address that was temporarily blocked and tried to start a discussion on the talk page (at last). I do not know where you get the sockpuppet part from, as there is no indication on the IPs talk page and no sockpuppet investigation. Pantherskin (talk) 10:20, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    The IP was blocked [37] and then he used another way to edit the talkpage while his other IP was blocked, that's block evasion. --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 10:37, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Comment by Tariqabjotu

    This isn't about Shuki specifically, but the prevalence of arbitration enforcement requests and posts on AN3, ANI, and RFPP, especially as of late, regarding Israel-Palestine articles and articles that only mention something Israel-Palestine-related suggests that it's high time for another ARBCOM case. Either that, or admins need to be more willing to exact serious sanctions against editors that have been shown to be disruptive on these articles. We see the same editors being reported again and again (and the same editors doing the reporting again and again). This is one of today's most persistent and divisive conflicts, and while I appreciate people's willingness to give editors second, third, and fourth chances, the fact of the matter is, those people who edit disruptively in this arena will almost certainly always edit disruptively in this arena. This method of moderate sanctions and warnings that never get followed up on is not working. It's clear that a certain set of editors are testing the community's patience, and if they can't voluntarily move to an area in which they can more constructively edit, they should be forced to do so post-haste. -- tariqabjotu 12:28, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comment - Agree with Tariqabjotu. However the administrators who regularly "manage" these areas are just as much at fault for the disruption as those who some consider "problematic" editors. The admins have become unwilling pawns of so called "battlefield warriors" and are therefore are unable to be non-bias, uninvolved parties themselves. Part of the solution, I feel, to defusing this situation (in addition to a new/clarified ARBCOM case) is to remove the administrators who regularly "enforce" actions on this board. I'm not suggesting revoking their admin status, only that since there is gross failure on their part to effectively administer IP-related disputes on ANI/AE (as evident by the level of REPEATED drama that regularly appears here), they should no longer be making binding decisions on editors whose action is brought to ANI/AE. --nsaum75¡שיחת! 19:42, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    I don't think it's entirely fair to blame the administrators here. The problem is not so much the administrators, as the AE system itself, which is still remarkably undefined and arbitrary. What this project needs more than anything in my view, is a simple, streamlined, transparent and predictable process for dealing with content disputes, which is what most disputation is ultimately about. We have got to stop throwing the content dispute dilemma into the too hard basket, and come up with a method of dealing with such disputes that doesn't compromise the Wikipedia commitment to NPOV. Gatoclass (talk) 03:46, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    The administrators who regularly handle the tag-team "game" that AE has become have ignored concerns stated by others about the process and summarily ignored or dismissed those who question their neutrality. They have allowed themselves to become pawns of those who use Wikipedia as a battleground and therefore have ceased to become "neutral" "uninvolved" parties. Therefore, they do indeed share in the blame. True, the current AE system has been greatly abused and become a tool with which to "do battle", but you cannot ignore the fact that this "three ring circus" has been allowed to carry on as long as it has -- and to the extent that it has. There are other remedies for abuse of wikipedia processes themselves, completely separate from IP Arbcom regulations, but no one seems to be interested in taking advantage of them. Instead, the destructive, abusive, and disruptive behavior is allowed to continue unabated, with editors gaming the system knowing full well that the worst that will happen is a slap on the wrist. --nsaum75¡שיחת! 04:45, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Actually, my concern is that remedies are often too drastic rather than too lenient. But it can go either way. That's why I think this process is unduly arbitrary - it's usually left up to a single admin to decide upon a remedy, and depending on who he is or how he sees it, it might end up being anything from a 24-hour block to an indef ban. It's kind of like Russian roulette, you just never know what the outcome will be. We ought to be able to do better than that. Gatoclass (talk) 06:21, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Comment by ZScarpia

    Unlike the Israeli legal position, which is irrelevant to it, the overwhelming international viewpoint, as embodied in such organisations as the UN, is very staightforward: the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories (including East Jerusalem) have been established in breach of international law (see the article on Israeli settlements, such documents as the text of UN Human Rights Council Resolution 7/18 and newspaper articles such as this one from Le Monde Diplomatique).

    The Wikipedia rules require, as stated by Nableezy, that articles should present the all significant viewpoints and in a proportionate manner. Those on Israeli settlements and outposts, particularly major ones such as Ma'ale_Adumim and Ariel, should reflect the main global point of interest in them (as shown by the context in which they normally appear in sources), their status as illegal settlements in occupied territory and their role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Trying to minimise or suppress the proportionate representation of that viewpoint amounts to point-of-view pushing. That is particularly true when reasons given for reverting edits, rather than being based on the Wikipedia rules, are, as they have been here, where a reason given for reverting was that the status of the settlements is uncertain because it has never been examined in a law court, is based in a particular viewpoint (from the international point of view, the settlements are illegal because that is the ruling of the bodies responsible for making those judgements).

    The reliablitly of the BBC as a source has been mentioned above. The BBC is far from infallible, but its duty as a public service broadcaster to report neutrally means that its reports are subject to more than normal editorial oversight, which, in Wikipedia terms, is an indication of greater reliability. In 2006, the report produced at the end of an independent review commissioned by the corporation's board of governors was, unlike the internally-produced Balen report, published. The review suggested that the BBC's reporting, if anything, favoured the Israeli side. The review panel recommended that the BBC should make public an abbreviated version of the Israel and Palestine part of its journalists' guide to facts and terminology. In light of the conversation going on here, perhaps the guideline which says, "when writing a story about settlements we can aim, where relevant, to include context to the effect that 'all settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this," which is very similar to the text that Nableezy was trying to introduce, might be seen as of interest.

        ←   ZScarpia   21:28, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Did you comment on the RfC? That comment would have been better there. Anyway, so what you are saying is that the articles should start - Ariel is a city in the West Bank....established...with x population. Ariel is an Israeli settlement. That would satisfy what you suggested. --Shuki (talk) 22:29, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    That is a very revealing comment from Shuki. Even at the end of an enforcement case against him, in which he faces a possible topic ban, he still cannot bring himself to concede that the illegality of these settlements should be mentioned in the settlement articles. Shuki's lack of objectivity in this topic area could scarcely be made more apparent. Is it any wonder that other users become frustrated? Judging by the comments he has made at this AE case, it appears to me that it's time for Shuki to find some other topic area in which to contribute. Gatoclass (talk) 03:23, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Once again it is a content dispute, which should be decided individually in every situation at the articles talk pages, and it could not and should not be enforced by AE. It is not as black and white as some try to present it here. And no, it is not an enforcement case against Shuki, or at least it is as much against Shuki as it is against Nableezy. --Mbz1 (talk) 03:41, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Removing the entire worldview from articles that is sourced from reliable sources is not a content dispute, its embarking on an article in a harmful manner. --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 09:15, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Nobody has demonstrated any wrongdoing by Nableezy in this case. Everything that's been said about Nableezy has been in the form of either vague generalities or dredging up of old disputes. I've seen no evidence of current misbehaviour, and I might add that I think his past record of alleged misbehaviour is also overblown. But that of course is another issue. Gatoclass (talk) 03:57, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    You obviously did not read my comments above in which I show specifically that Nableezy has done exactly what I have and much more, and given that his record is problematic, while mine is significantly better. There is nothing 'revealing' here, and as an admin you should know to discuss the AE here against me (and consequently Nableezy for bringing the spotlight on himself as well) and relative to other accepted/tolerated behaviour on WP, not content. --Shuki (talk) 08:21, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    You are correct that I did not previously read all your comments, per WP:TLDR. However, I have now read them per your request and stand by my previous comment. Moreover, on closer examination of your arguments I find the following:
    Nableezy, blocked numerous times for problematic behavior, is himself in violation of AE with his insertion of negative boilerplate WP:REDFLAG material. Specifically, his latest non-consensus solo effort, is to find any mention of a locality that also says that it is illegal. No proof of any court action specifically declaring this and definitely in contrast to many court cases with the Israeli Supreme Court that has decided whether a place is illegal...
    Here, you are characterizing the position of every major international legal body that the settlements are illegal as an exceptional claim per WP:REDFLAG. As Malik noted above, that is simply a preposterous claim. Not only that, but you are conflating Israeli law regarding the legality of settlements with international law, when they are entirely separate entities.
    I don't want to speculate on what might motivate you to try and defend these indefensible positions, but the fact that you are continuing to try rings very loud alarm bells for me. I'm not in a position to judge your overall contribution to the project, but if this is typical of your approach to disputes, then I'm sorry to say that I think you are editing in the wrong topic area and need to look for an area that is less emotionally charged for you. Gatoclass (talk) 11:12, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    {Reply to the comment addressed to me by Shuki at 22:29 (UTC) on 21 July 2010} Ideally every involved editor should be co-operating to produce a less single-perspective article. If the lead section were to be written by me, it would start something like:

    Ariel is a city in the West Bank which was founded as an Israeli settlement in 1978. It is now the mother settlement of 26 others in its vicinity. Together, these comprise the Ariel settlement bloc. Like all settlements in the West Bank, the international community views these as illegal, though Israel disputes this. After the one at Ma'ale Adumim, the Ariel settlement bloc is the largest Israeli settlement in the West Bank.

        ←   ZScarpia   20:55, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    In regard to court judgements on the legality of the settlements, in its role as the principal judicial organ of the UN, the International Court of Justice stated the following in an advisory opinion given to the UN General Assembly on the 9 July 2004:

    (page 9 of the summary) ... the Court considers that the Fourth Geneva Convention is applicable in the Palestinian territories which before the 1967 conflict lay to the east of the Green Line and which, during that conflict, were occupied by Israel ...
    (page 10 of the summary) The information provided to the Court shows that, since 1977, Israel has conducted a policy and developed practices involving the establishment of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, contrary to the terms of Article 49, paragraph 6, of the Fourth Geneva Convention which provides: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” The Security Council has taken the view that such policy and practices “have no legal validity” and constitute a “flagrant violation” of the Convention. The Court concludes that the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (including East Jerusalem) have been established in breach of international law.

        ←   ZScarpia   02:52, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]


    Comment by Hope&Act3!

    it is the first time that I express my views in such a setting and being inexperienced I will probably be clumsy, please be indulgent. Some have already said things I agree with, no need to repeat them


    I don't contribute much since I have been busy reading kilometers of Talk pages, exclusively in the I-P domain, (which is the most vicious battleground in wp despite every guide line,) trying to understand where the grip is and hoping to come up with a proposition to fix it. In my following comment I will adopt the 'they' and 'us' 'pro-I' and 'pro-P' style although it's not my vision of the I-P in real life it only represents the actual situation in wp:en
    (1) the context
    it's obvious to everyone I think that this endless bickering is a waste both of time and energy, - war is not appealing to most editors so they avoid taking part in it and in consequence don't contribute and that ends being wp's loss
    (2) the actors
    I won't address directly Nableezy's accusations, the root of the problem is beyond that.
    Did you notice that Shuki is the main 'pro-Israel' contributor in these so called discussions? so much so that seeing all the 'pro-Israel' on this page is amazing since they (like myself) don't figure so much there. That's the way it is, only Shuki managed to bear with Nableezy's uncompromising atitude: Nableezy won't ever be ready to give up until he has achieved his goal: occupation is illegal must be mentioned every 3 words at least so that nobody can forget the unforgivable wrong doings of the Zionists... (don't read it literally, it's a caricature, just to make the point of how it feels discussing with him)


    I admire Shuki's patience and fortitude for Nableezy is a relentless attacker, if Shuki did fail in anyway it is because he has been pushed unto that intended breaking point.


    Nableezy, which might be a pleasant person, is a victim of his blind hatred of the State of Israel and Zionism, and through that is easily manipulated by the 'pro-Palestinian' party: he is the willing spearhead which will eventually take the fall and that did happen many times already as we know
    (3) my personnal experience
    as soon as I started to grasp the depth of the war -consider that Jiujitsuguy added 'Jewish' before Gamla and SD could not take it: no such word is to be written in any place on the Golan which is Syrian, was Syrian, and will be forever Syrian.... Gamla was Jewish and many RS exist , so when I understood that I refrained from editing and as I said above read and read and read .... and I specially decided not to engage Nableezy in any dispute -not even about the 'stupid things' attack- and let it go since I consider that to be a futile exercise in nothingness and due to lead to frustration and possibly even anger hence my admiration for Shuki.
    once in a while I did edit but that brought upon me a tentative of intimidation by RomaC for 'vandalism and warring' (I was waiting a few days before filing a complaint)
    out of that I got the message that 'they' want to have a free rein in the I-P editing -as said Ynhockey, AMuseo, Noon - and will try to discourage anybody 'pro-Israel' bold enough to dare come and play in 'their' courtyard -since I am a genuine account 'they' had no chance to oust me for sockpupettery which is 'their' regular feat so 'they' have to find different ways. one must not forget: it's WAR! ('their' opinion)
    (4) solution?
    - quit this war state of mind (as many advocated)
    - blocking editors doesn't work, it's brutal and when they come back, well it's back to square 1 (remember the last return of Nableezy -sorry, I don't mean to target you but this the only example I can think of presently- )
    - I too thought like Sean.hoyland of this technique used in conflict resolution groups when everyone has to bring up the other side's position but I figured that in a workshop setting the participants will stay in situ and collaborate, here those which don't want to will simply stay away for the time of the exercise and then... resume the same game


    - I will plead not to ban either Shuki or Nableezy -it should be both, albeit not identically, or none- for (see Mbz1) a ban is cruel since it hurts and doesn't reform and in the long term it's bound to be counterproductive, just demand a monitored* cease fire in litigation and pov push and instead of the inumerable rfc et al a serious brainstorming with everyone interested to come up with a friendly solution (not just the administrators), as oppose to the big stick policy which has failed so far -that at least is clear to me-. Violence breeds violence and is to be avoided. I believe that with a lot of good will from everyone we can pull it up, it won't be easy but there is really no choice, carrying on the present way is a dead end. Guide lines are just that, they must not be blindly -and foolishly- enforced but with flexibility to meet both parties' wishes, unless we intend to institute once again the good old Pax Romana
    - if you still think that only a firm hand will bring results and do want to break their back, I will suggest a very radical measure: a topic ban of ALL the editors and hopefully the new batch will be wiser (I very much doubt that though)


    *should be very closely monitored in order to avoid the type of policy SD -which is not the subject here- adopted so that s.o. else would fight his battles (re Tznkai /topic ban)


    :@RomaC: There are few topic areas with nearly as much concerted partisan activity as Israel-Palestine. uh! if it's how you see it that does explain a lot regarding the failure in reaching balance! that is a point to clarify then. Nableezy may be biased, but he's also badly outnumbered which makes him sort of stick out in these content disputes. I disagree, as I said Shuki was mainly left on his own to face endless days of lines of over and over the same words and arguments, are you saying that Nableezy believed he was alone holding the fort? I felt under attack myself I guess that I do not think that I only can save the world where he felt desperately obligated to fight to the end, was it so? that also is to be discussed . On another wiki I read an essay: 'Nobody is irremplacable' (fortunately) still each one of us is unique, ok?
    I read again the comments and I saw a lot of a militantist attitude, I hope this is not the tone which will prevail
    @Stifle: thanks for offering your help, Hope&Act3! (talk) 14:06, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Additional Comment by Pantherskin

    One of the most destructive tactics to use on Wikipedia is the introduction of hoaxes into articles, and the use of made-up sources. At the Syria article both Nableezy and Supreme Deliciousness wanted to include the sentence "...to defend itself against Israeli shellings into Syria. According to the UN office in Jerusalem from 1955 until 1967 65 of the 69 border flare-ups between Syria and Israel were initiated by Israelis." in the article, cited to "Kamrava, Mehran, The Modern Middle East: A Political History since the First World War, University of California Press; 1 edition, p. 48". I checked the source in the library, neither on this page nor anywhere else in the book is there anything even remotely. You can even check it on Google Books, [38] For me page 48 does not show, but it is clear that this chapters is about the pre-World War I era. You can also search for the numbers 67 and 69, the numbers 67 or 69 are not mentioned anywhere in the book. In short, these editors used a made-up source to bolster their claims and only after being caught red-handed did Supreme Deliciousness remove the fake source (see [39] and [40]). I do not know how one can work collaboratively on this projekt or have trust in Wikipedia articles if we cannot trust our editors to be honest about their sources. This is even more important than civility and conforming to NPOV.

    I did not "want to include the sentence" I reverted an edit that you made that removed something that I did want to include and you never once raised any concern about the other material. Perhaps I should have checked the first part of the edit but as you never once said one word about the material or the source I did not. Kindly do not misrepresent my actions here. nableezy - 21:10, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    We even discussed this section on the talk page and on the NPOV noticeboard, and I made it clear that the claims of Israel having shelled Syria are in conflict with what virtually all other sources say. I even quoted the first part, the part with the made-up source Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view/Noticeboard#Syria, so how you manage to be completely oblivious to this is beyond me. Either way I do not know how one can trust you as an editor when one has to double-check the sources you use. Pantherskin (talk) 21:23, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    You never once said one word about this source. If you had either removed just this and the material it was sourcing or if you raised the issue on the talk page I would have checked the source. But you did not, you just kept removed it with the Dayan quote. The reason I reverted that is because of the Dayan quote, of which there is no doubt of the authenticity or relevance. I dont particularly care what you think of me because, well, I dont think too highly of you. If you want to pretend that this was the issue you can, but anybody who looks at the discussion page can see that it was focused on the Dayan quote and you never once raised a question about this source. nableezy - 21:27, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    That sentence has been in the article since November 2008. It isn't unreasonable for Supreme Deliciousness and nableezy to assume good faith that the source supported the sentence. — Malik Shabazz Talk/Stalk 21:33, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    The comments here above from Pantherskin is clearly Assumption of Bad faith. That text was in the article and looked to me as well sourced, Panterskin removed it together with a well sourced Dayan quote and did not say anything about that the Jerusalem office text had a false source. As soon as it was pointed out to me that that specific part about the Jerusalem office had a false source, I removed it myself. --Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 21:46, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comment by unomi

    To me it seems clear that what we have before us is not a content dispute. The dispute may be grounded in the content, but the enforcement request is solidly regarding policy violations.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Hkelkar#Removal_of_sourced_edits_made_in_a_neutral_narrative_is_disruptive

    We have had a number of public discussions regarding how sources deal with the illegal settlements; at IPCOLL wikiproject, and across a multitude of talkpages. While there are sources which dispute the 'illegal settlement' moniker, the majority of quality sources support it. For a light primer see fx Daniel C. Kurtzer's article in Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs reprinted here:

    Secretary of State Cyrus Vance made this clear in Congressional testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, March

    21, 1980: US policy toward the establishment of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories is unequivocal and has long been a matter of public record. We consider it to be contrary to international law and an impediment to the successful conclusion of the Middle East peace process...Article 49, paragraph 6, of the Fourth Geneva Convention is, in my judgment, and has been in the judgment of each of the legal advisers of the State Department for many, many years, to be. . .that [settlements] are illegal and that [the Convention] applies to the territories.

    Vance's view was based on longstanding US policy. For example, in March 1976, Ambassador William Scranton told the United Nations Security Council: Substantial resettlement of the Israeli civilian population in occupied territories, including East Jerusalem, is illegal under the convention and cannot be considered to have prejudged the outcome of future negotiations between the parties on the locations of the borders of states by the Middle East. Indeed, the presence of these settlements is seen by my government as an obstacle to the success of the negotiations for a just and final peace between Israel and its neighbors.

    Scranton's statement was based on the position expressed by Ambassador Charles Yost, who told the UN Security Council in July 1969:

    Among the provisions of international law which bind Israel, as they would bind any occupier, are the provisions that the occupier has no right to make changes in laws or in administration other than those which are temporarily necessitated by his security interests, and that an occupier may not confiscate or destroy private property. The pattern of behavior authorized under the Geneva Convention and international law is clear: the occupier must maintain the occupied area as intact and unaltered as possible, without interfering with the customary life of the area, and any changes must be necessitated by the immediate needs of the occupation.

    I think it is fair to say that these are not fringe views, and they are supported by ECJ and ICJ publications. In light of the supermajority of sources which support the wording that Shuki tendentiously edited to remove I find Nableezys enforcement request entirely reasonable. Unomi (talk) 22:33, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Result concerning Shuki

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

    I invite Shuki and Nableezy to show cause why they should not both be topic-banned for 3 months from articles about towns, cities, settlements, and other places or locations in Israel and neighbouring countries. And I request in advance that all comments relating to this request are added here, not at my talk page. Stifle (talk) 14:13, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    For clarification, "here" means "on this page". Stifle (talk) 18:07, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Just a note that I have read all the submissions and am analyzing the evidence. In a couple of days I intend to propose a final sanction and invite admin comment on same. I am reading the diffs and other details provided and will not be jumping to conclusions. Stifle (talk) 18:17, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    I have read and reviewed all the submissions and diffs and remain convinced that each side is at fault. There is a possibility that one party is more at fault than the other, but that is neither here nor there. I am still minded to impose a topic ban on both parties, although I will shorten the duration to the end of August. I invite comment from other uninvolved administrators here (i.e. this section) as to whether this appears appropriate. Stifle (talk) 11:06, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Sounds reasonable. This is a content dispute which the people involved can't resolve in a collegial manner. I considered proposing limiting the scope to Israeli settlements, but that's probably too open to gaming and disagreement.  Sandstein  11:28, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    You are entitled to your conclusion of course Stifle, but I think the parties to the dispute are also entitled to know what precisely they are being convicted of, and on what evidence. "I remain convinced that each side is at fault" is not exactly forthcoming. Gatoclass (talk) 11:47, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    MrSimmonds

    Attention: This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.

    Request concerning MrSimmonds

    User requesting enforcement
    -- Cirt (talk) 02:10, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    User against whom enforcement is requested
    MrSimmonds (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
    Sanction or remedy that this user violated
    Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Scientology#Single_purpose_accounts_with_agendas
    Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it
    1. 01:02, 21 July 2010 - Uploads very poorly sourced attack image of WP:BLP, of person, Mark Rathbun.
    2. 01:09, 21 July 2010 - Adds poorly sourced info to WP:BLP, Mark Rathbun, sourced only to attack website.
    Diffs of notifications or of prior warnings against the conduct objected to (if required)
    1. Prior warnings not (yet) given. Due to grave nature of adding negative info to a WP:BLP page, sourced only to a blatant attack website, urgent action is necessary here. -- Cirt (talk) 02:10, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Enforcement action requested (block, topic ban or other sanction)
    Topic ban. -- Cirt (talk) 02:10, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Additional comments by editor filing complaint
    Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

    Discussion concerning MrSimmonds

    Statement by MrSimmonds

    Comments by others about the request concerning MrSimmonds

    Result concerning MrSimmonds

    This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the section above.
    I'm not going to close this one, but I will comment that I have deleted the image. I've no opinion on whether it's an attack image, since I'm not familiar with the context here, but the image was of documentation that contains non-public information. I would suggest that it's forwarded to oversight once this thread has been closed. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 02:16, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    I'm not sure that this account is "clearly engaged in promoting an identifiable agenda" as per the decision. The edits at issue may be the result of bad judgement and ignorance of our policies, and the account's other edits are not obviously problematic.  Sandstein  20:00, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    First edit by account in 2007 is to create a one-line-userpage [41]. No edits for two years, then some edits to a Scientology-front-group article page. No edits whatsoever, for a full year, then shows up 21 July 2010, with edit adding to a WP:BLP page, a link to attack website, "www.markrathbunisasquirrel.com", to article Mark Rathbun. Certainly seems like account is "clearly engaged in promoting an identifiable agenda". -- Cirt (talk) 01:41, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Perhaps so, but as for the other case, I think a warning must be given before action can be taken at AE. If the user persists in adding poorly sourced material after the warning, you can of course raise the matter again.
    BTW, it's not altogether necessary to bring such questions here in any case, as this kind of problem can also be dealt with under WP:BLP. Gatoclass (talk) 02:52, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    It is requested that, at the very least, a warning be given to the user. Agree with Gatoclass, that due to the egregious nature of the edits adding an attack website to a page of a living person, that WP:BLP can be used here. -- Cirt (talk) 02:56, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    You don't need to request that a warning be given. You can give the warning yourself, anyone can warn a user of the existence of AE sanctions. Gatoclass (talk) 03:10, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    It is best that the warning come from an uninvolved administrator. -- Cirt (talk) 03:13, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Not at all. It can come from anyone. In fact the warning is already there, on every talk page of every article subject to AE sanctions. Indeed, "warning" is really a misnomer - it's just a notification. Personally notifying someone of the existence of special sanctions is just to ensure they are not unfairly victimized by having sanctions imposed before they were aware of their existence. Gatoclass (talk) 03:40, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Hmmm, now that you mention it, I note that the standard notification template states that only admins can give a notification, and PhilKnight has recently added the word "uninvolved". This has never been my understanding of the situation at AE and I suspect this may be a requirement more honoured in the breach than the observance. In any case, it strikes me a something of a catch-22 to only allow admins, and uninvolved admins at that, to hand out notifications, because one cannot start an AE case until the notification has been given, which means one would have to request a notification at some other venue, like AN/I. This doesn't strike me as a very logical approach. Gatoclass (talk) 04:40, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Johnalexwood

    Johnalexwood (talk · contribs) warned about possible topic ban.
    The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

    Request concerning Johnalexwood

    User requesting enforcement
    -- Cirt (talk) 02:29, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    User against whom enforcement is requested
    Johnalexwood (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
    Sanction or remedy that this user violated
    Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Scientology#Discretionary_topic_ban
    Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it
    1. 18:14, 19 July 2010 - Adds poorly sourced info to WP:BLP page of a former Scientology executive, Mark Rathbun. In addition to sourcing issues, adds in POV-pushing phrases on the BLP page, including "apostate", and POV interpretation of events injected into text, "despite..." etc.
    2. 19:57, 19 July 2010 - At same WP:BLP page, Mark Rathbun, adds blatant attack website to the page, for sourcing regarding negative material about the BLP.
    3. 20:08, 19 July 2010 - Again at WP:BLP page, Mark Rathbun, adds poorly-sourced info from another attack website, hit-piece article from source that fails WP:RS, to the BLP page.
    Diffs of notifications or of prior warnings against the conduct objected to (if required)
    1. 21:05, 28 August 2008 Blocked by Fox (talk · contribs), for "Repeated addition of non-reliable sources into BLP articles."
    2. 21:07, 28 August 2008 - Explanation posted to user's talk page, by blocking admin, with comment, "Due to your repeated ignorance of the rules on reliable sources and the strict biographical article policy you have been blocked for 24 hours to stop the abuse. Please do not continue to add these links to these articles in the future."
    Enforcement action requested (block, topic ban or other sanction)
    Additional comments by editor filing complaint
    Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

    Discussion concerning Johnalexwood

    Statement by Johnalexwood

    Comments by others about the request concerning Johnalexwood

    Result concerning Johnalexwood

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

    The requested sanction under Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Scientology#Discretionary topic ban does not appear to be possible at this point, because that remedy requires "a message on the editor's talk page, linking to this paragraph, warning the editor that a topic ban is contemplated and outlining the behaviours for which it is contemplated". No diff of such a warning is provided in the request.  Sandstein  20:03, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Nod, then such a specific warning is requested. -- Cirt (talk) 01:38, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Okay, user warned, case closed for now.  Sandstein  06:10, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Russavia

    Attention: This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.

    Request concerning Russavia

    User requesting enforcement
    Russavia I'm chanting as we speak 19:35, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    User against whom enforcement is requested
    Russavia (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
    Sanction or remedy that this user violated
    Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Russavia-Biophys#Russavia_restricted

    ag

    Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it
    1. [42] - here Russavia comments on Miacek, and attempts to bait Miacek into discussion, possibly in order to get Miacek to break Wikipedia:EEML#Editors_restricted. Russavia also mentions the EEML case.
    2. [43] - here Russavia comments on Miacek, and attempts to bait Miacek into discussion, possibly in order to get Miacek to break Wikipedia:EEML#Editors_restricted.
    3. [44] - here Russavia posts on Miacek's talk page, and attempts to bait Miacek in discussion, possibly in order to get Miacek to break Wikipedia:EEML#Editors_restricted. And he succeeds!!! [45]
    4. [46] - here Russavia again posts on Miacek's talk page, and attempts to bait Miacek in discussion.
    Diffs of notifications or of prior warnings against the conduct objected to (if required)
    1. No
    Enforcement action requested (block, topic ban or other sanction)
    Lengthy block
    Additional comments by editor filing complaint
    On at least two occasions in the diffs above, Russavia has thumbed his nose at the restriction placed upon him by the Arbcom, and has clearly stated his intention to ignore it and continue to engage with Miacek. Therefore, a lengthy block is clearly in order, as it will only be coercive to get him to abide by the Arbcom decisions. --Russavia I'm chanting as we speak 19:35, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested
    The requesting user is asked to notify the user against whom this request is directed of it, and then to replace this text with a diff of that notification. The request will normally not be processed otherwise.

    Discussion concerning Russavia

    Statement by Russavia

    Comments by others about the request concerning Russavia

    Russavia, please explain why you request arbitration enforcement against yourself.  Sandstein  19:56, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Result concerning Russavia

    This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the section above.
    • I agree that this request appears to be a WP:POINT violation, but – since it is then not a part of necessary dispute resolution – it is itself a violation of the interaction ban with Miacek and would, as such, warrant sanctions.  Sandstein  11:31, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    • I read this request as a statement of intent by Russavia to act disruptively. The implication of this request is that, if it is simply ignored, we should expect to see another such request in a short time. I don't think dismissing with no action is an option here. CIreland (talk) 11:40, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    • Of course, the "point violation" here is that Russavia is making the point that nobody, including the person he was "interacting with", seemed to have been bothered by his edits and that they are not objectively disruptive. As a matter of principle, in an issue like a no-interaction ban, I'd go by the principle of nemo iudex sine actore: sanctions are warranted only if the person who the sanction was supposedly meant to protect has actually complained, or at least there is indication they felt offended/annoyed or whatever. Fut.Perf. 11:45, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Tuscumbia

    Attention: This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.

    Request concerning Tuscumbia

    User requesting enforcement
    Marshal Bagramyan (talk) 04:22, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    User against whom enforcement is requested
    Tuscumbia (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
    Sanction or remedy that this user violated
    Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Armenia-Azerbaijan 2
    Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it
    1. [47], 1st revert.
    2. [48], 2nd revert, however, with minor additions.
    3. [49], 3rd revert, again, with minor revisions.
    Diffs of notifications or of prior warnings against the conduct objected to (if required)
    1. [50] Warning by AGK (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)
    Enforcement action requested (block, topic ban or other sanction)
    Left to the discretion of the administrators.
    Additional comments by editor filing complaint
    According to administrator AGK, who imposed a one month topic ban upon Tuscumbia on May 19 this year, Tuscumbia is not allowed to make more than one (1) revert per week on articles relating to Armenia and Azerbaijan for a period of four months (that is, four months from May 19). However, he has violated that provision and has already reverted me three times on the Khosrov bey Sultanov article over the past day, despite my best efforts to invite to leave it alone temporarily and to discuss everything on the article's talk page. Unfortunately, what has passed off as a "discussion" on the talk page has bore little fruit. Rather than commenting on the content, he has resorted to making comments regarding my ethnic heritage and his other comments have otherwise been quite acerbic and relatively hostile in tone. I largely ignored it, but did give a stern warning on the perils of turning a conversation into an ethnic battleground, but instead received [51] another hostile and defensive response. In addition to failing to justify the "dubious" tags to the sources I am using on the article, he has now proceeded to make unilateral edits, that is, without even consulting them on the talk page. When I raised this matter with him, he flat out dismissed my concerns and alleged that my concerns are merely because they fail to "fit your agenda". Editing in this kind of acrimonious environment is extremely difficult, and like I informed Tuscumbia, exasperating.
    In light of the revert violations and his uncivil comments, I am hoping the administrators will be able to take some sort of action so that this sort of behavior is discouraged. According to AGK, if such violations should continue, Tuscumbia's restrictions on his "sanctions will be reset and may be extended, and you may also be blocked from editing."--Marshal Bagramyan (talk) 04:22, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

    [52]

    Discussion concerning Tuscumbia

    Statement by Tuscumbia

    First of all, I am aware of my restrictions and there was only one revert I made after MarshallBagramyan, asking for additional sources [53] due to the fact that the source he provided and selectively chose the text from comes from an Armenian author presenting a POV. The problem is that the text from source he claimed as reliable was not supplemented by any other 3rd party source. Neither did he present any text indicating the other side of the story. All he put out there was the information about alleged pogroms and hostility from Azerbaijani army towards Armenians failing to mention a word about the fact that Armenians revolted first. The other subsequent edits [54] [55] [56] by me were made during the course of discussion while working out our differences. I would search, find and add sources/sourced information, while at the same time he never looked for any other source and moreover did not and still has not provided the correct information about the book I marked as dubious. Here [57] he claims that he provided the source (Hovannisian, Richard G. (1996) The Republic of Armenia: From London to Sevres, February - August 1920, Vol. 3. Berkley: University of California Press, p. 132. ISBN 0-5200-8803-4) and that I am wrong about marking some of the text dubious however, he still fails to see that the above mentioned source is source No. 7 in the the article, never marked as dubious by me. What I did mark as dubious is his source Hovannisian. Republic of Armenia (No. 17, 20, 21) which have nothing but just a book name (unavailable to be found online) and which has no mentioning of ISBN number whatsoever. I asked him on the talk page to provide the correct information about the book [58] but what he came up with is only The Republic of Armenia: From London to Sevres, February - August 1920, Vol. 3. Berkley which differs from the title marked as dubious by me. In the meantime I found another book by the same other Hovannisian, Richard G. (1992). The Republic of Armenia: The first year, 1918-1919. Los Angeles, California: University of Califronia which I added to the article but the text was promptly removed Davo88 because it had a mere mentioning of hostility of Armenians towards the native Muslim population of Zangezur. MarshallBagramyan claims he invited me for discussion. Not true. 'I reverted him and I asked to discuss the source on the talk page. Before any consensus was reached he went on reverting me even though I left his text and never removed it. I only added the dubious tags for the time being while the issue was being discussed. See here [59]. Speaking of ethnic heritage, I never made any insults about the editor's comments (See here [60]). All I told him was that being an Armenian and being selective about choosing the ethnic Armenian author as a source is understandable. Nothing else was said about his heritage and any attempt to present is as some kind of insults about ethnicity is inappropriate and fruitless. In the meantime, please see [61] MarshallBagramyan's "welcoming" message when I started discussion on the talk page. All he starts off with is his derogatory tone with depreciatory word like "absurd questions", "cheap way", "stinky argument", "frivolous complaints" dismissing me not only as an editor but as a human being. This is a pretty hostile, sarcastic and unfriendly attitude which hampers all editor work. Tuscumbia (talk) 13:45, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

    Comments by others about the request concerning Tuscumbia

    Result concerning Tuscumbia

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

    The request has merit. The three edits given as evidence are reverts as defined at WP:3RR because they undo the work of others. Taking into account that this revert restriction violation occurs soon after a one month topic ban in May 2010, a more substantial sanction is needed to deter Tuscumbia from future disruption. Consequently, per Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Armenia-Azerbaijan 2#Amended Remedies and Enforcement, Tuscumbia is topic-banned for three months from pages or edits related to Armenia or Azerbaijan.

    But while Tuscumbia's response dwells mainly on content disputes for which WP:AE is not the proper forum, it highlights this comment by MarshallBagramyan. I find the following statement problematic: "Falsely alleging POV is a cheap way to discredit someone. It's a stinky argument and one which has been vainly used by the Azerbaijanis time and time again." This is not only incivil (one may disagree with an argument, but calling it "stinky" is unacceptable), but also misuses Wikipedia as an ethnic battleground, in that it casts an editing dispute between Wikipedians as a dispute between "the Azerbaijanis" and other people. Because MarshallBagramyan has been previously sanctioned (one year 1RR and 1 month topic ban, see WP:ARBAA2#Log of blocks and bans), a longer topic ban is now needed. Therefore, per Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Armenia-Azerbaijan 2#Amended Remedies and Enforcement, MarshallBagramyan is also topic-banned for three months from pages or edits related to Armenia or Azerbaijan.  Sandstein  14:35, 23 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]