Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-03-04/Arbitration report

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• Hi HJ Mitchell, wanted to point out a technicality: the Eastern Europe ARCA didn't actually overturn the block; it simply removed AE status from it, allowing any admin to modify (block was later removed as a normal admin action). Modify (or not) as you see fit :) Thanks, --L235 (t / c / ping in reply) 21:31, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
  • You're right, thanks for pointing it out. I suppose it was the invocation of discretionary sanctions that was overturned, but I'm not sure that's not a little bit too nuanced, especially for a brief roundup. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 22:21, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

• Most users, indeed most editors, will never know what ARBCOM does, and most that do know would just like to avoid it. For doing countless thankless tasks that needed doing for so long and so well, NYB deserves a thousand thanks. Jonathunder (talk) 22:17, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
  • Indeed. I'm very grateful to him for his willingness to take part in this and hopefully shed some light on ArbCom's work. I know that they do an awful lot of things we never see, and we owe them a debt of gratitude for that—I'm sure most of us are very happy that there is a body to do those things and we can get on with the business of writing an encyclopaedia. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 22:21, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

• Interesting interview although some specificity would have greatly helped us ARBCOM-watchers put its history and past cases into proper perspective. I read a lot of old ARBCOM cases and decisions (though not often all of the evidence and workshop pages) and I remain in the dark about which cases were considered, in hindsight, to be bad decisions and which were considered to be on the mark. We have the community's response to decisions and, in almost all cases, it is the discontented editors who speak the loudest and not those who are satisfied with decisions. And editors have no ability to know how a case was talked about on the email list or what information the committee had that was not shared and was kept private so I find it impossible to pass judgment on decisions because we are not privy to all evidence or the entire decision-making process.

Without access to this kind of specific information, I think it would be "challenging" for anyone but those arbitrators who were involved to go back through old cases and decide whether particular case decisions had a positive or negative impact on both the culture of Wikipedia as well as admin relations and content disputes. I also realize that there will probably never come a time when a current or former arbitrator will feel free to speak with absolute candor about the give and take of how individual cases were decided as well as (what I've been interested in), what mix of personalities and abilities makes up the most balanced committee.

It truly has been eye-opening though to go back to the earliest days of the committee and see what cases were taken, what decisions were made. One element I was most surprised by was that it often took only 4 "Accept"s to take on a case because years ago, some arbitrators seem to disappear for long periods of time and the number of active arbs wasn't that great. I don't think that happens any more!

Thanks for a nice interview and I hope this is just Part 1! Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 22:30, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

My sense has always been that Brad has been a very diligent, level-headed and knowledgeable arbitrator. From the interview above, it sounds like he thinks the current system basically works. Thanks, Brad, for all your good work over the years! -- Ssilvers (talk) 19:59, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

• Very good job all around. Personally, I would love to see Brad maybe commenting somewhere in the Signpost regarding any particular proposed policy changes and any legal impact they might or might not have as well. John Carter (talk) 21:19, 7 March 2015 (UTC)