User:John Vandenberg/recusal
Note: I consider "recuse" to mean any usage of tools, not just "recuse" from the role of arbitrator in an arbcom cases. This includes CU, OS and use of admin tools in controversial situations.
Speaking broadly, these are the situations that I can think of where I would be very inclined to recuse. In these cases, I would not recuse if it was clear that all parties involved were desiring my involvement.
- AA: Any case related to Armenia-Azerbaijan, in which I have been accused of having a bias towards Azerbaijan.
- AU: Any case that involves members of the Wikimedia Australia chapter, as I am the president.
- WS: Any case that involves admins of English Wikisource, my "home" project.
- AJ: Any case that involves the Academic Journals project which I established, or heavily involves the principle members of the project, namely:
user:Bduke (WMAU committee member), user:Carcharoth (Arb), user:DGG, David Eppstein, user:Espresso Addict and user:JayHenry. - AC: Any case where I have been involved in arbitration with the parties prior to being appointed to the committee, including as a clerk.
- Middle East and Caucasus
- This is a topical area which interests me a lot, and I would rather be an editor in these topical areas rather than an arbitrator.
It is necessary that I also provide a clear description of when I would recuse from arbitration in the broader regions of Middle East and Caucasus-related topics and articles.
To be clear, I have no history, real-life association, conflict of interest, or undue relations with anybody from these regions. However I do accept that I have done a lot of editing and a little administration in this controversial topical area of the project, and understand that there are concerns by some editors that I am biased. I will roundly reject any attempt to suggest that I have a conflict of interest or agenda. I do not. It is that simple. I have zero conflict of interest with anything to do with that region of the world. The only regions that I have any association with are Australia and the Netherlands. This can be confirmed by many respected community members, including current Arbitrators.
However I have long known that the Armenians have grown to especially distrust me, and so I am very keen to dispel concerns that I will meddle in their affairs as an arbitrator. If any other ethnic or national cohort of editors grows to dislike me as an editor of the related topical pages, I would not like to arbitrate over their disputes either. That is common sense, but it needs to be clearly stated in this case. Arbitration works when the person is uninvolved.
These are the situations where I will recuse from arbitrating on disputes that focus on the broader region of the Middle East and Caucasus, again interpreted broadly:
- SI: A party is an editor who I have had significant interaction with while editing these articles.
- NI: If the topic of a proposed case intersects significantly with national interests of countries in this region, and any party asks me to recuse within 24 hours of the case being opened.
- Earlier statements