Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2021-12-28/Arbitration report
A new crew for '22
In the previous issue, we covered the 2020 elections, so in this one it's only fitting that we cover the 2021 elections. From November 22 to December 6, 2021, elections were again held for Tranche Beta of the English Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee, and the results were formally announced on the 20th. There were a total of eleven candidates (Beeblebrox, Cabayi, Donald Albury, Enterprisey, Izno, Opabinia regalis, Worm That Turned, Wugapodes, Guerillero, Thryduulf and Banedon). A total of 1,633 ballots were cast, including 63 duplicates; out of the 1,572 votes, two were invalidated by scrutineers, leaving 1,570 votes. While ten of the eleven candidates met the 60% approval threshold for a two-year term, there were only eight open seats to be filled, so only the top eight were appointed:
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There were three additional editors in the election who we thank for their candidacy: (Guerillero, Thryduulf and Banedon).
Of the eight selected, three had been arbitrators at some time in the past: Opabinia regalis (2016–17 and 2018–19), Beeblebrox (2014), and Worm That Turned (2013–14 and 2018–19). The latter two also served on the previous Tranche Beta in 2020–21.
The new arbitrators' terms are to begin on January 1. On the same day, the terms of five current Tranche Beta arbitrators are to end: Casliber, David Fuchs, KrakatoaKatie, Newyorkbrad and SoWhy.
Situations and circumstances
- Renaming, Deadnaming, Blocks, UCoC, Policy, the Universe and Everything
- A clarification request was made on December 1, related to some implications of a global rename request made by a former English Wikipedia administrator banned by the Arbitration Committee in 2013. The user's original request for a rename of the blocked account had been declined, after which they challenged the decision. This eventually made it over to Meta-Wiki. Ultimately, the Committee decided that the issue was outside of their bailiwick, that no action from the English Wikipedia ArbCom was necessary in this issue, and the account ended up globally renamed to El Sandifer.
- Keeping a close eye on Horny editors
- On November 29, WP:ARBHORN was amended after a clarification request regarding remedies in the Horn of Africa case was closed; the Committee declined to open a full case, but ruled for discretionary sanctions in that area to be made permanent.
- Épine unblocked, checkuser issue forgiven
- On December 10, the user Épine was unblocked following an appeal to the Committee. Épine is to be restricted to the use of one account. Some discussion at the talk page followed, in which arbitrator Maxim said: "this is isn't a case of someone creating a bunch of obvious inappropriate accounts, as most appeals of Checkuser blocks are, but just one other account, and this result is very much 'please don't do this again and stick to one account in the future'". Here's hoping we can all get along.
- Open-mic night cancelled on the functionary email list
- On December 11, a "review of current practices involving email lists" led the Committee to conclude that the functionaries email list would no longer accept incoming email from any rando who dropped it a line; only list members and WMF staff will be allowed to post to it, whereas other senders will get a message directing them to send to the normal ArbCom list. Functionary TonyBallioni said on the talk page there "wasn't a huge volume, but it's been a while since I've seen a useful email come through to the list from a non-member". We are left to speculate about whose lunch pics were the final straw.
- Former admin El Sandifer unbanned
- El Sandifer, whose username was changed earlier in the month, submitted an appeal of her 2013 ban and desysop for publishing material that revealed "non-public personal information about a Wikipedia editor with whom [Sandifer had] been in dispute on-wiki." The decision, posted on December 17, was supported by eight arbitrators and opposed by six. Bradv said: "I have no interest in re-litigating anything that happened in the past and I look forward to my skepticism being proven unfounded".
- We flattened the curve, no new cases!
- Not a single new case was listed for December 2021. Keep washing your hands and maintaining a six-foot distance, folks!
- Denied requests
- Two arbitration requests were denied: "One sided fight with Huldra" (removed as premature on December 1) and "LGBT parenting" (removed as premature and its filer blocked on December 11). An amendment and clarification request concerning "all past cases regarding ethnic feuds" was declined on December 26.
38 enforcement actions taken since our last report
- American politics 2: 5 actions
- Armenia and Azerbaijan 2: 1 action
- Biographies of living persons: 3 actions
- COVID-19: 2 actions and 2 page protections
- Eastern Europe: 1 action
- Gender and sexuality: 1 action
- Horn of Africa: 2 actions
- India, Pakistan and Afghanistan: 5 actions
- Palestine and Israel: 4 actions and 9 extended confirmed protections applied
- Race and intelligence: 2 actions
Enforcement requests
Six enforcement requests have been closed since the last arbitration report:
- "AmirahBreen 2" (December 05): AmirahBreen was blocked for a week, and banned from the article Gaza flotilla raid for a month.
- "Inf-in MD" (December 10): Inf-in MD was blocked as a sockpuppet of NoCal100.
- "Nableezy" (December 12): Filer Bob drobbs was topic-banned from Palestine/Israel content for six months.
- "Bringtar" (December 18): Closed as not actionable.
- "The History Wizard of Cambridge" (December 18): The History Wizard of Cambridge was blocked for 1 week.
- "Barecode" (December 24): Barecode was indefinitely topic banned from the area of post-1992 American politics.
As of press time, there are two open enforcement requests: "Maneesh" and "Rapid-onset gender dysphoria controversy", both covered under remedies of the Gender and sexuality case from February 2021.
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