Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Enforcement

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

Standard of review
On community review

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

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

On Arbitration Committee review

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

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

Appeals and administrator modifications of non-contentious topics sanctions

The Arbitration Committee procedures relating to modifications and appeals state:

Appeals by sanctioned editors

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

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

Modifications by administrators

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the explicit prior affirmative consent of the enforcing administrator; or
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Administrators modifying sanctions out of process may at the discretion of the committee be desysopped.

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

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

Important notes:

For a request to succeed, either

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

(ii) a passing motion of arbitrators at ARCA

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

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

Information for administrators processing requests

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

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Before commenting, please familiarise yourself with the referenced ArbCom case. Please also read all the evidence (including diffs) presented in the AE request.
When a request widens to include editors beyond the initial request, these editors must be notified and the notifications recorded in the same way as for the initial editor against whom sanctions were requested. Where some part of the outcome is clear, a partial close may be implemented and noted as "Result concerning X".
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E.M.Gregory

Closing with no action, though E.M.Gregory is reminded to ensure that they avoid personal attacks no matter the circumstances. Nominations at AfD will take care of any articles which don't comply with policy. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 11:57, 2 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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

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

Request concerning E.M.Gregory

User who is submitting this request for enforcement: Kingsindian (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 16:49, 12 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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

Sanction or remedy to be enforced: WP:ARBPIA :

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

12 Oct WP:NPA, WP:BATTLE
9 Oct WP:NPA, WP:BATTLE
4 Oct Article creation, see explanation below
Sometime in Sep/Oct Article creation, see explanation below
17 September Article creation, see explanation below
21 July Article creation, see explanation below

(and many more in this vein - see this for the articles created by this editor)

Diffs of previous relevant sanctions, if any

None

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

Alerted about discretionary sanctions in the area of conflict in the last twelve months, see the system log linked to above.

Additional comments by editor filing complaint

Let me state at the outset that the editor might be acting in good faith, probably due to some personal experience and I dislike prosecuting people, but this can no longer be ignored. I am not asking for any harsh sanctions.

The editor creates a spate of articles on rock-throwing in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Obviously only one side uses rocks, the other side uses bullets. When this was pointed out here and here, the user gave this answer (ignore the WP:BATTLE in the edit summary for the moment): "I make articles about rock throwing regardless of ethnicity", which is patently ridiculous. Their justification is not tenable because they also create a spate of WP:MEMORIAL and WP:NOTNEWS articles - not involving stone throwing - on one side of the conflict (see diffs above for examples - many more can be found by their article creation link).

When I again point out the WP:NPOV problem this creates here, the user dismisses my point and accuses me of whitewashing murder. Now, I don't mind any insult thrown at me (I have a pretty thick skin), but the repeated behaviour through article creation and behaviour at WP:AfDs is becoming unmanageable (see the first diff). Moreover, other people are posting messages on their talk page asking if they are going create more articles. WP:AE should clarify whether it is permissible to create one-sided articles like this based on skewed sampling. This is an endemic problem in this area (see this POV travesty for instance - not created by EMG), and something needs to be done here. Kingsindian ♝♚ 16:49, 12 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Hatting to reduce WP:TLDR

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

@Rhoark: I will note that categories, in contrast to statements inside a single article, do not require even a reference. For instance, as noted on the AfD page, Category:2005_murders_in_Jersey_City contains a single article (not created by EMG - but being vigorously defended at AfD by them) which was largely a WP:COATRACK article (permalink) insinuating Muslim attack on Coptics. Compare the POV travesty: it is entitled Israeli-Palestinian conflict (2015) - while all it contains are stabbings and attacks by Palestinians. Is that allowed? If not, why is creating a bunch of separate articles doing the same thing allowed? Finally the articles themselves are not WP:NPOV: they quote little or no Palestinian sources or even what happens to them. For instance, the Lion's Gate stabbing article: one of the people accused - Fadi Alloun - was himself killed in disputed circumstances - nothing at all is mentioned there. The article contained no background of the recent Al-Aqsa troubles and so on. There are a hundred POV violations, blatant and subtle, in the article - which is unavoidable because of the way the articles are created using skewed sampling. Kingsindian ♝♚ 19:51, 12 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Gaijin42:: many of the articles are not being kept at AfD's. Many are "no consensus", many are being deleted/redirected. But that is not the point: AfDs are notoriously capricious and equally notoriously disrupted by sockpuppets - see (this for instance). As to "eventualism", that is an essay, while WP:NPOV is policy. According to Gaijin42's logic, it would be ok to create the POV travesty linked by me above, because someone will eventually come around and add deaths on the Palestinian side and the needed context. That is absurd. Kingsindian ♝♚ 19:51, 12 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

To clarify, the case Nishidani mentions is here. Note the disagreement even between administrators there. I can't say it has gotten worse, but the issues remain. Kingsindian ♝♚ 05:41, 13 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

My very best wishes' method of counting has a simple flaw: "no consensus" at AfD typically results in the article being kept, in contrast to WP:ONUS inside articles, where no consensus results in content being removed. Kingsindian ♝♚ 01:30, 14 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

My very best wishes But who is arguing about his 122 articles? - in fact Nishidani explicitly states below their work in other areas is good. EMG does not only create articles in this area. Not sure why you are throwing around irrelevant numbers. Kingsindian ♝♚ 02:30, 14 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@My very best wishes: I am sorry, the counting is still wrong, not your fault though. Firstly, Shvut Rachel shooting was "no consensus" after an army of socks disrupted the AfD (I am not accusing EMG of anything). Secondly, you have missed the deleted List_of_deaths_and_critical_injuries_by_Palestinian_stone-throwing, the redirected article and the deleted Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Shooting_of_Danny_Gonen (can someone tell me why the last one is not shown in the articles stats?). Lastly, I have not asked for any particular sanctions, in particular, banning them from WP:ARBPIA. That is for WP:AE to determine. I just want the flood of WP:MEMORIAL articles about one side in the conflict to stop. Kingsindian ♝♚ 03:41, 14 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Callanecc: Firstly, I am not sure how this edit which accuses me of whitewashing murder is not a personal attack. But, as I said, I care little for insults. Secondly, tell me, how does one go about demonstrating one-sided editing here? Last I checked, WP:NPOV is a policy here. It states: "Editors, while naturally having their own points of view, should strive in good faith to provide complete information, and not to promote one particular point of view over another." Tell me, how do the articles created satisfy this in any way? Firstly, they are all WP:MEMORIAL articles about how Palestinians are terrorists. Secondly, I already gave three examples where these articles have been deleted/redirected. Thirdly, Palestinians are not even quoted, let alone discussed. Pretty much the only Palestinian news organization Ma'an News Agency is objected to for inclusion (see Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Noticeboard#Lions.27_Gate_stabbings). One of the people accused in the stabbing (Fadi Alloun) for instance, was determined by Amnesty International to be extrajudicially killed, with no mention in the article, of course. Kingsindian ♝♚ 08:52, 18 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

There has been another article Beersheva bus station shooting in the same vein. Can we get some closure on this case? I will nominate it for deletion sooner or later in any case, but it would be good to see where the WP:ARBPIA stands regarding the continued creation of such articles. If the editor is going to create a WP:MEMORIAL article on every attack in Israel, is this OK? Kingsindian ♝♚ 15:03, 21 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

And now the editor has recreated an article which was deleted/redirected earlier at WP:AfD, claiming that it is notable because it was the first in the unrest. Keep in mind that now there already exists a main article Israeli-Palestinian conflict (2015) which is a comprehensive and more balanced article - though still lacking many things. EMG just wants to keep creating WP:EVENT articles and will latch on to any justification. Obviously the other articles created, like the Beersheva bus station shooting is not the first in the unrest. Can someone at least weigh in whether this sort of thing is allowed? If WP:AE refuses to act, I will pursue this through normal WP:AfD channels. Kingsindian ♝♚ 08:20, 24 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

Notification

Discussion concerning E.M.Gregory

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

Statement by E.M.Gregory

The accusation does not merit a response, as my editing record will bear out.E.M.Gregory (talk) 16:58, 12 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Revisiting this, the one thing I wish to add for the record is that it is routine on Wikipedia for editors to create articles on deadly terrorist attacks (such as: 2015 Parramatta shooting) and dramatic crimes (such as:Death of Chris Currie) that draw significant, sustained media attention. Terror attacks that are instant international headlines routinely have articles started when the news breaks. And are very rarely deleted. It is distinctly odd to be brought to this board on charges of creating such a a routine type of article.E.M.Gregory (talk) 14:17, 19 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Rhoark

As long as the articles themselves adhere to NPOV, there is no requirement to balance article creation between pro- and anti- sides of any issue. Wikipedia is not mandatory. Rhoark (talk) 18:39, 12 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Nishidani

These articles will continue because the criteria of WP:NOTABILITY, WP:EVENT, WP:NOTNEWS, are never taken seriously in the AfDs. The larger point is WP:NPOV, as an editorial obligation. I can remember Sandstein stating, some years back, that this means editors in the I/P area are under an obligation to contribute neutrally. I expect that means that we are obliged to ensure an article is constantly monitored for balance, and (b) more saliently here, that article creation by an editor cannot harp on one POV. Since you like creating these articles, E. M. Gregory, why is it they deal exclusively with Israeli victims of terror or stone throwing? I would expect that if you write an article like Death of Binyamin Meisner because of a horror of death from stoning, then it would surely tempt you to write a parallel one, The Death of Edward Ghanem. The Palestinian Christian boy after all was killed in exactly the same manner as the soldier Binyamin Meisner. A block of concrete was dumped on his head, falling from an Israeli outpost. That would be evidence that you contribute with encyclopedic neutrality, and not to abuse wiki for a set of articles as a political statement.(I should add that I don't think this kind of article be it for Meisner or Ghanem, should be written)Nishidani (talk) 18:47, 12 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Gaijin/Roark. All of these articles start out as POV messes, remain so unless someone steps in and starts to fix them. I've had to do this on dozens of such articles, since the editors themselves either do not understand WP:NPOV or don't care to edit towards NPOV. So this kind of article always translates into a Fix it obligation on external editors who would like myself prefer to do something genuinely useful for an encyclopedia round here (e.g.Qos (deity) ). The sources say the Bennetts lived in a West Bank settlement. This doesn't interest Gregory. The sources provide a contradictory set of descriptions of the event. Gregory gives just one version. The sources tell a much more complicated background than just the version Gregory cherrypicks (Palestinians started it by barricading Al-Aqsa etc) If you search Bennett at List of violent incidents in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, July–December 2015 you'll get everything you get in here. Why try to make an encyclopedic article when the story is summable in a paragraph. Why persist in jerryrigging articles that scream for editors to fix them per NPOVNishidani (talk) 19:15, 12 October 2015 (UTC)?[reply]

Gaijin, showing NPOV violations would just spin out into a content dispute argument. I have tried to solve this chronic obsession with rushing to create dozens of independent Israeli victim articles (User:ShulMaven did several in a similar period of killings last year, and now one can expect a surge this time round. All that is needed is to create a list of all incidents, succinctly and neutrally listed, covering all incidents reported in the mainstream press (List of violent incidents in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, January–June 2015 and List of violent incidents in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, July–December 2015). That aspires, precisely, to meet encyclopedic balance per WP:NPOV, as opposed to the numerous (13) articles we have on Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel where one side's violence is listed, without any mention whatsoever of the violence related to these events from the other side. When I did that, what was the reaction. No collaborative effort to improve the balance, which fell to me, but merely insistent drive by POV tagging! This may not be an AE problem but it is certainly an issue ARBPIA ought to look at, perhaps by clarifying for us peons whether we can ignore the other version in any article, or whether WP:NPOV does impose on us a non-negotiable policy of covering both sides in this endless, stupid conflict.Nishidani (talk) 20:05, 12 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

E. M. Gregory. Your 'editing record' bears out many things. Generally it is excellent outside the I/P area, but there you intrude on what was a remark by me on a 3rd editor's page suggesting he has compledely misread and reverted one of my edits, and the intrusion was simply to make the usual personal attack and egg on admiringly the other editor's 'taking me on' or 'facing me down'. That is a battlefield attitude where allies are encouraged and the common enemy identified.I.e.

Now you are quite entitled to these views about me. I get them too regularly to worry about them. What you should not be doing is interrupting an attempt at clarification on a user's page between me and that person, regarding editing issues, to attack me, with no consideration of the merits of the contended edit. Nishidani (talk) 10:27, 13 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Do I have to make a formal complaint about what is going on here? I noted above User:E.M.Gregory applauding User:No More Mr Nice Guy for going at me. I also see that, as mentioned en passant, ~~NMMNG is now egging on User:Igorp lj to edit in a way that NMMGG appears to think would annoy me.~~

proffering advice to a third party to use videos on an article I edit, while making a personal attack. The impression I get is of both a WP:AGF issue and WP:Canvass, to use User:Igorp lj as a proxy or meatpuppet to make an edit NMMGG appears to think would be vexatious to the main editor, myself, at List of violent incidents in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, July–December 2015 bordering on WP:HOUNDING. That is 3 editors in this area opening making personal attacks, and explicitly endorsing a collective solidarity against an editor they dislike.Nishidani (talk) 16:53, 13 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I have struck out the above for a technical reason. NMMGG cannot respond per an AE ban to claims/accusations/ against him here, and thus this evidence places him in an unfair position. Of course, this ethical issue, though I think obligatory at least on my part, creates its own ironies. If an editor is banned from appearing on the AE board, and ethics disallows one from accusing a person who cannot reply, it translates out as an immunity from AE complaints. I'll never cease to be amazed at this place.Nishidani (talk) 10:26, 14 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

My very best wishes. I started Jewish Israeli stone throwing after problems including that matter on the Palestinian stone throwing page, which itself began as an attack page created by User:ShulMaven and which to bring back into perspective I had to write up from 10 to 100,000kb just to get the practice into multiple academic RS perspective. JST should be incorporated of course in the latter article in some generic Stone throwing in the IP conflict, because most of these pages only begin as attempts to screw one side. There is a general concord by the P of I/ P articles, repeatedly made at AdFs, not to write up victim articles of the kind we see here, which would easy outnumber the Israeli-victim articles by sheer weight of numbers of civilians killed in dubious circumstances. It would be extremely easy to do articles like The Death of Hadeel al-Hashlamon, for example, who was shot at a distance of 2-3 metres as she apparently backed away from 2 soldiers from whom she was separated by a metal barrier, or on any number of recent cases which Amnesty International has defined as "extrajudicial killings". There's unanimity not to do this, and to relegate these instances to general articles. The I side doesn't follow this, but puts WP:MEMORIAL, WP:NOTNEWS, WP:NOTABILITY repeatedly to the test. Gregory's articles on this always start out as attack articles on Palestinian terrorists, as the language used, and the selective bias in source use shows to those that follow this stuff. So what you have here is a divide between editors with one POV wanting victim articles, and editors with the opposite POV saying this violates our protocols. And the latter position is not grounded in 'fear' that these victim articles make Palestinians look bad, as I suspect many sceptics here might be tempted to think, for the reason given: if one wanted to play that victim game, by numbers, an activist pro-Palestinian mentality driven editor or set of editors would win hands down.Nishidani (talk) 20:35, 14 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

'Complaining about creation of new pages shows a serious bias by people who brought this complaint.'

That's a serious insinuation, and I failed to address it. Article creation of news even ts have elementary criteria, to observe both WP:NOTABILITY and WP:NOTNEWS. When one of these is lacking (see the closing judgement at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Armanious family massacre) technical deletion is the proper course. At AfDs, however, WP:EVENT and WP:NOTABILITY are ignored, though cited, and articles are conserved or deleted according to the consensus of votes. The problem is not in bias: the problem is in the irrational, random citation of policies and their application, Death of Alexander Levlovich andBeersheva bus station shooting both fail these criteria, but no doubt they will pass muster if the usual mood voters roll up. I couldn't give a fuck one way or another, though it is abundantly clear the selection of victims from one side of the conflict to make victim articles is programmatically in violation of NPOV obligations, and the rules are not being applied consistently.Nishidani (talk) 09:36, 24 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Gaijin42

This appears to be a cross-article content dispute, where the complaintants do not like the articles being created. There is little to no behavioral evidence of a problem, and the community can adequately handle article creation issues unless they are massive and frequent disruption. Indeed, per Nishidani's statement, the articles are being KEPT at AFD. NPOV across articles (tit for tat) is not required, and would any case be WP:FALSEBALANCE Suggest this be declined, with a boomerang trout. Gaijin42 (talk) 18:56, 12 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Nishidani - if you want to claim NPOV violations that are actionable, then you would need to show concrete examples of them to be evaluated. But in general articles are edited under WP:EVENTUALISM. That he puts in some information, and you put in other, is the way things are supposed to work. It only becomes an (actionable) NPOV issue if he is somehow preventing your ability to provide balance, or if he is grossly misrepresenting sources Gaijin42 (talk) 19:27, 12 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Samtar

To further Gaijin42's above comments, I believe that while E.M.Gregory can be seen as a little abrasive at times, he is acting in good faith. samtar ^(msg) 19:21, 12 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by My very best wishes

I agree with Rhoark. In addition, the list of pages created by E.M.Gregory does not look problematic; only 3 of them have been deleted. Everyone who creates legitimate pages on any subject must be encouraged, not punished. Complaining about creation of new pages shows a serious bias by people who brought this complaint. A couple of comments by E.M.Gregory (diffs #1 and #2) seem to be problematic, however his refusal to continue making such claims on this page may be seen as an argument in his favor. My very best wishes (talk) 20:33, 13 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Kingsindian. E.M.Gregory created 122 pages (3 deleted). They are sourced and seem to satisfy our notability guidelines. I have seen a lot worse. This is not a case when someone makes BLPs of non-notable individuals or creates pages to disrupt the project. My very best wishes (talk) 02:08, 14 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Kingsindian. Pages created by him in ARBPIA area, e.g. Lions' Gate stabbings, 2003 Route 60 Hamas ambush, Saleh al-Arouri, 2015 Shvut Rachel shooting, Interstate 80 rock throwing, Death of Adele Biton and Death of Binyamin Meisner are well sourced, legit and in good condition. Hence removing this user from ARBPIA could negatively affect creation of new content. This user seem to have a particular interest in Criminal rock throwing (another good page crated by him; see also Darmstadt American rock-throwing incident in Germany). That's fine. Who cares? My very best wishes (talk) 02:56, 14 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

P.S. I do not see any proof that articles in this subject area are generally biased toward Israel. For example, we have page Jewish Israeli stone throwing created by user Nishidani [1]. My very best wishes (talk) 18:25, 14 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Huldra. Contrary to your statement here [2], E.M.Gregory was one of several contributors who voted to keep this page (please see the closing remark by Sandstein). Regardless, I do not think anyone can be sanctioned for voting to "keep" or "delete".My very best wishes (talk) 02:37, 15 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Igorp lj

@Nishidani: "NMMNG is now egging on User:Igorp lj", "to use User:Igorp lj as a proxy or meatpuppet" (16:53, 13 October 2015)

It's Nishidani and his method of "cooperation" with those colleagues who does not share his "Only Correct Opinion" (OCO) (:(

FYI: I do not need any one (including NMMGG), to repeat what I've already said you many times, before No More Mr Nice Guy appeared at my Talk page:
your not-wp:NPOV and wp:DIS edits disgrace Wiki and harm its reliability:

All what I've written in Palestine-Israel_articles_3/Evidence (NPA, NPOV / DISRUPT / EDITWAR, RS) is about your such a way & edits (Sept 2015).
About your favorite, but foul-smelling sources, what you permanently try "to sell" to Wiki, rejecting (unjustifiably dirtying) those ones what you do not like ("Unfortunately, for some editors, such words as ...") (Sep 2015).
And this is what I've answered to NMMGG at 11 October 2015, just after his 1st appearance there:

"2. I have another proposal :)

"It seems me a reasonable to initiate their ("POV disaster" articles according to someone's definition :( - (Jan 2015--)) removing at all, as it's done for such their sisters as List of deaths and critical injuries caused by Palestinian stone-throwing & List of Palestinians killed and injured by Israelis in connection with stone or Molotov cocktail throwing ". - Igorp_lj"

Btw, are all those whom Huldra's offered: "to coordinate on a Talk page who will make a next revert in an article" - the same someone's "meatpuppets" (@Nishidani)?
(unlike you, I'd not remind about regular meetings at your Talk pages, for me it's a legal way to offer RS, to ask & notify about someone's suspicious edits, etc.)

Resume: I demand an immediate apology for your next personal attack and libel right here. --Igorp_lj (talk) 22:48, 13 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Huldra

We recently had two AfDs (both were deleted):

From what I can see, E.M.Gregory was the only editor who voted Keep, on one article, (the first one), while voting Delete on the other. I wrote on that AfD, that “anyone who votes "keep" for this article, while voting delete, or not at all, on the other article .., or vice versa, has, IMO, made a very strong application for a topic ban from the I/P area.”

And other editors agreed Huldra (talk) 20:38, 14 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Brustopher

I'll note that editors actually have been penalised for article creation in the past such as during Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Wifione. But as that was a case of SEO this may be a different kind of situation. I don't really think much can be done about people selectively making articles on a topic they're passionate about. Huldra raises an interesting point about AfD biases though. If E.M.Gregory is systematically !voting to delete articles that make Israelis look bad, and keep articles that make Palestinians look bad then that would be a problem. Brustopher (talk) 12:38, 18 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The record will show that I have done no such thing.E.M.Gregory (talk) 02:23, 19 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by IRISZOOM

As Kingsindian mentions, WP:MEMORIAL articles is a problem and it keeps going on. Some background on the issue can be read on Wikipedia: All murdered Israeli children are murdered by… Arabs by Wikipediocracy.

The perhaps biggest issue is what E.M.Gregory did to the article Saleh al-Arouri. I wrote about this on that article's talk page 1,5 months ago and just updated the article.

The horrible war in Gaza last year was triggered by attacks like 2014 kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers, which Israel accused Hamas of being responsible for and Hamas denied that. This was a central point so to only write that "Al-Arouri was responsible for the 2014 kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers" is not true and honest.

It should have been impossible to miss Hamas' denial and also that al-Arouri's claim was doubted by experts. It is of course in the lead of the main article (2014 kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers) but lets forget about that for now. Just look at the six sources E.M.Gregory added. Three of the sources (http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.611676, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/21/hamas-kidnapping-three-israeli-teenagers-saleh-al-arouri-qassam-brigades and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/11048705/Hamas-kidnapped-three-teenagers-leading-figure-says.html) contain doubts and there is much in the two British sources. From the listed articles:

"So far Hamas has refrained from taking responsibility for the abduction and murder, even though it had expressed support for the attack", "Arouri's name came up as a possible key player in the abduction shortly after it had transpired. Nevertheless, Hamas may have chosen to claim responsibility at this point to leverage its position" - Haaretz

"Claim by Saleh al-Arouri, a founder of Hamas's military wing, is doubted by experts and not supported by other Hamas sources", "His claim has not been supported by any other member of Hamas", "Hamas has so far refused to confirm or deny its involvement, and a spokesman could not be reached for comment on Thursday", "Hugh Lovatt, Israel and Palestine coordinator at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that while al-Arouri was a significant Hamas figure – serving as the group's most prominent representative in Turkey – the former militant could have an ulterior motive for making his claim" and he continues - The Guardian

"His remarks marked a departure from the non-committal public statements of other Hamas leaders, who have praised the abductions while stopping short of admitting responsibility", "Haaretz newspaper questioned the timing of Mr al-Aruri's comments, suggesting they may have been designed to strengthen Hamas' position at a time when hostilities with Israel in Gaza have resumed following this week's collapse of ceasefire talks", "Mitchell Plitnick, a former US director of B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, dismissed Mr al-Aruri's comments in a blog post, pointing out that Israeli investigators had already identified members of the al-Kawasmeh family - a well-known Hebron clan - as being responsible: "The Kawasmehs are connected with Hamas' military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades," he wrote. "So all al-Aruri said was what we already knew: the Kawasmehs carried out the act"" - The Telegraph

So how was all of that just described as "Al-Arouri was responsible for the 2014 kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers"? This what we don't want on Wikipedia, namely WP:CHERRYPICKING. --IRISZOOM (talk) 18:36, 25 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Result concerning E.M.Gregory

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

I'm not seeing a problem here. While E.M.Gregory's responses may not be ideal there's nothing which shows me that action is needed (and I can't see the personal attacks Kingsindian refers to. This seems primarily to be a content dispute where the editors involved need to discuss this, which it appears they are. If the article creation becomes a problem (for example, a vast majority are being deleted) then we can deal with it. However, with the evidence presented so far I'm not seeing a reason to sanction. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 07:37, 18 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Clearly a content dispute. Whereas the behavior of E.M.Gregory can not be commended, I do not see here anything actionable. I recommend to close this ASAP, it stays open for way too long and is getting into a mud-throwing contest.--Ymblanter (talk) 01:59, 29 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I agree that this request should be closed with no action. While some of the diffs raise concern, the AfD process is expected to be able to deal with articles that should not exist. In principle we should be prepared to sanction an editor if they always add material to favor one side, but a complaint needs to be well-focussed to be persuasive. This request ranges over a large area and sweeps too much material into one complaint. Most of the individual items are in a gray area; there is no smoking gun. EdJohnston (talk) 00:43, 30 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

HistoneSebas

Since there haven't been any reverts in a couple days I'm opting for full protection for a week (as normal admin action) to ensure that it's stopped. Any other admin should feel free to block either party if they feel it's needed. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 12:01, 2 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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

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

Request concerning HistoneSebas

User who is submitting this request for enforcement: Makeandtoss (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 17:49, 27 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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

Sanction or remedy to be enforced: Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Palestine-Israel articles

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

October 26, 2015 User violated 1RR
October 27, 2015 User violated 1RR again, even after I notified him that he had already violated 1RR on the previous day through his talk page User talk:HistoneSebas
Date Explanation
Date Explanation

Diffs of previous relevant sanctions, if any

Date Explanation
Date Explanation

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

Alerted about discretionary sanctions in the area of conflict in the last twelve months, see the system log linked to above.

Additional comments by editor filing complaint

The user failed to respond to discussion on article talk page and his own, to violate 1RR twice.

No! This is not a reversion for my preferred version, there has been a discussion regarding the content on the article on the article's talk page, which the user failed to participate in. --Makeandtoss (talk) 08:28, 29 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

That's false. You haven't made a single comment on the talk page of the article to explain your multiple reverts of sourced content!! You only opened a discussion for the infobox result (for the line "both sides claimed victory"... nothing to do with casualties). And stop leaving me aggressive messages on my user page.--HistoneSebas (talk) 13:46, 29 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AHistoneSebas&type=revision&diff=687777168&oldid=687776947

Ugh, why isn't anyone bothering to check the battles talk page where I provided TENS of sources saying Israel was repelled.--Makeandtoss (talk) 09:11, 30 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion concerning HistoneSebas

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

Statement by HistoneSebas

Statement by Rhoark

I'm not convinced of a 1RR violation from the diffs provided. An edit that makes a good-faith attempt to incorporate feedback is not a reversion. Rhoark (talk) 23:10, 28 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Kingsindian

EdJohnston's comment here is not accurate, since Makeandtoss did give many sources for "repelled". The destruction of the Karameh camp was only part of the Israeli war aims. However, there has been no dialogue between HistoneSebas and Makeandtoss on the article talk page. This is the kind of stuff which results when people try to argue complex historical matters through edit summaries.

In the larger context, this supports my belief, frequently expressed, the "result" section in the infoboxes should simply be deleted. It is a magnet for POV pushers and vandals, and serves no purpose at all. Actually, infoboxes should burn in hell. Kingsindian ♝♚ 14:31, 30 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (username)

Result concerning HistoneSebas

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

I'm not seeing this as a full on 1RR violation. It's borderline but Rhoark's above point stands. On the other hand I'm a little concerned that this filing is being used to protect a preferred version of content. Besides that as far as I can see Makeandtoss actually did break 1RR themselves: revert 1 17:34 26 October 2015 and revert 2 16:50 27 October 2015 - that's two reverts (both restoring the same content) in 23 hours. WP:KETTLE?--Cailil ^talk 00:21, 29 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
One option would be to block both parties for edit warring. The editors seem to be reverting back and forth on two questions: whether Israel lost 27 tanks or 4, and whether the Israelis were 'repelled.' The assertion the Israelis were 'repelled' looks a bit like promotional editing for the Jordanian/PLO side, since the sources agree that the Karameh PLO camp was destroyed. What did the supposed 'repelling' keep the Israelis from doing that they actually wanted to do? In lieu of blocking both parties, I'd suggest full protection of the article for at least five days. Sources do suggest that the Israelis encountered more resistance than they expected and you can imagine that the Jordanians would feel they put up a good showing. EdJohnston (talk) 01:30, 30 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Anticyclone à banias

Since there haven't been any more edits by Anticyclone à banias for a few days I'm closing with no further action (though I'll note that Anticyclone à banias has since been alerted to DS). Other admins should feel free to take action as needed. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 12:05, 2 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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

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

Request concerning Anticyclone à banias

User who is submitting this request for enforcement: RolandR (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 21:41, 29 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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

Sanction or remedy to be enforced: Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Palestine-Israel_articles :

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

07:50, 29 October 2015 First revert
20:53, 29 October 2015 Second revert

Diffs of previous relevant sanctions, if any

Date Explanation
Date Explanation

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

Another new account edit-warring on Gaza Strip

Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

[3]

Discussion concerning Anticyclone à banias

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

Statement by Anticyclone à banias

Statement by Rhoark

Interestingly, the question of whether this violated WP:1RR hinges on whether ClueBot NG (talk · contribs) is to be considered an editor. Rhoark (talk) 22:46, 29 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The user seems to have been discussing this matter on the French pedia[4] where it's determined they made a good faith error adding information from an outdated CIA factbook. Rhoark (talk) 00:37, 30 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@RolandR: This sort of due diligence I think ought to be done before filing. Rhoark (talk) 00:39, 30 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Kingsindian

Regardless of the merits of the complaint, I dislike the notion of bringing this to WP:AE before discussing it on the talk page. Kingsindian ♝♚ 23:28, 29 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (username)

Result concerning Anticyclone à banias

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

I've asked User:Anticyclone à banias to agree to stop warring at Gaza strip and wait for consensus. If there is no adequate response a block should be considered. EdJohnston (talk) 02:36, 30 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Nocturnalnow

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

Request concerning Nocturnalnow

User who is submitting this request for enforcement: NorthBySouthBaranof (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 06:27, 2 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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

Sanction or remedy to be enforced: Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee/Discretionary_sanctions#Placing_sanctions_and_page_restrictions : Biographies of Living Persons discretionary sanctions with regard to the biography of Huma Abedin.

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

3 October 2015 Removes long-standing, well-sourced description of fringe, highly-derogatory claims as a "conspiracy theory."
6 October 2015 Uses a partisan primary source for negative comments about the subject.
6 October 2015 Reverts negative partisan primary source into the article after it was removed.
7 October 2015 Again reverts the negative partisan primary source into the article.
11 October 2015 Adds more negative material, despite talk page concerns that it is unduly weighted and a coatrack.
12 October 2015 Reverts the above material back into the article against talk page consensus.
13 October 2015 Again removes the long-standing description of negative, discredited allegations as a conspiracy theory.
14 October 2015 Removes a reliable source, falsely claiming that it was written by the subject's husband.
17 October 2015 Inserts a partisan primary source and an unreliable partisan source (Breitbart) to source negative claims about the subject.
17 October 2015 Inserts a link to a partisan primary source into the External Links section, violating WP:BLPEL.
18 October 2015 Reverts the material back into the article after it was removed as not meeting quality and sourcing standards for content about living people.
18 October 2015 Once again reinserts those unacceptable sources.
18 October 2015 Yet again reinserts those same unacceptable sources.
18 October 2015 Reverts the link to the partisan primary source after it was removed as not an acceptable external link for a biography.
18 October 2015 Again reverts the above link.
30 October 2015 Makes personal attacks against the article subject and her spouse on the article talk page.
31 October 2015 Again removes consensus description of widely-discredited partisan attacks against her as being discredited, giving undue weight to a fringe theory which has been widely rejected by mainstream sources.

Edit-wars the {{NPOV}} tag into the article despite clear consensus that it doesn't apply:

Diffs of previous relevant sanctions, if any

Date Explanation
Date Explanation

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

Notified of the sanctions by Gamaliel here.

Additional comments by editor filing complaint

This user is essentially a single-purpose account; out of fewer than 200 total edits to the encyclopedia, nearly 140 of them are to this biography or to its talk page. Effectively all of the edits and discussion have been highly negative toward the subject or have sought the inclusion of negative material about the subject, indicating that this user is not here to build an encyclopedic article about Abedin but rather to grind an ax against her and/or her husband. This is neatly demonstrated by this talk page comment which makes personal attacks on the subject and the subject's spouse. They have consistently edit-warred against clear talk page consensus to include negative material out of proportion to its prominence in reliable sources, to treat fringe allegations and claims with undue weight, to use poor and partisan sources and to cast aspersions on Abedin. Biographies of living people should not be edited by people with axes to grind against the article subject and I believe this editor should be encouraged to edit something else. NorthBySouthBaranof (talk) 06:27, 2 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Re: D.Creish, as the reliable sources in the section discuss, the fringe claims about Abedin and the Muslim Brotherhood are widely condemned and rejected by reliable sources and commentators ranging from The Washington Post to the Anti-Defamation League to Senator John McCain, have frequently been described as conspiracy theories and have been supported only by a small fringe minority of right-wing extremists. The single source you quote in "defense" only proves my case — you have linked nothing but an opinion blog post by Andrew C. McCarthy, a conservative columnist writing for a conservative publication. That these sort of partisan outlets are the only sources you can find to defend the claims is exactly the point — they are rejected by the mainstream. Describing the claims in the language used by the broad majority of mainstream sources - discredited, conspiracy theory, rejected, partisan, paranoid, dishonest, meritless, reprehensible, etc. - is the very definition of how we write encyclopedically and neutrally. Referring to them in any other way gives those fringe and highly-defamatory claims undue weight and violates fundamental policy. NPOV does not mean we give all "sides" of an issue "equal time" or equal credence. Fringe, discredited and meritless attacks on a living person must be treated as such.

I would also note that this user is a brand-new account which recently showed up to edit Abedin's biography in a negative manner. NorthBySouthBaranof (talk) 08:29, 2 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Rhoark raises a red herring by mentioning the fact that the highly-defamatory and widely-discredited claims about Abedin are made by "congressional representatives." Members of Congress are not themselves reliable sources, and their opinions and claims about living people hold no more and no less weight than any other person's opinions and claims in this encyclopedia. As with anyone else, the weight to be given to these claims in Wikipedia is governed by how reliable sources treat them. It is indisputable that the overwhelming weight of mainstream reliable sources consider these claims, regardless of their source, to be scurrilous, baseless and meritless. Those mainstream sources which have commented on them all but universally dismiss them as politically-motivated paranoia on the order of McCarthyism. The only support to be found for them is among right-wing sources, and even then, they are defended only by a small minority of conservatives. They are, in short, fringe theories, and highly-defamatory fringe theories at that. The biographies of living persons policy demands that we treat defamatory claims about living people with extreme sensitivity, and not give fringe negative claims undue weight or "equal credence" within biographical articles. This is a textbook example of why that policy is in place. Calling these highly-defamatory claims "allegations" without immediately mentioning the mainstream view of the allegations as discredited unfairly depicts the issue as one with "two equal sides," as opposed to what it is: a partisan fringe leveling politically-motivated attacks which have been widely rejected by virtually everyone else across the political spectrum. Policy demands that these claims must be depicted as what mainstream sources say they are — baseless nonsense. NorthBySouthBaranof (talk) 06:36, 3 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested: Notified here

Discussion concerning Nocturnalnow

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

Statement by D.Creish

Based on edits since my involvement in this article I question the filer's neutrality.

They have several edits to the article so I'll confine my evidence to this one example: They insist on title-ing one particular section "Conspiracy theories" despite the lack of majority support for that statement and that those who allege the theories are living congresspeople, so BLP applies.

They've reverted a number of editors to retain this heading: [5] [6] [7] [8]

On the talk page they misrepresent sources to support the "conspiracy theory" heading:

"Well, no. The reliable sources on this matter are unanimous in describing these allegations as scurrilous, unfounded conspiracy theories." NorthBySouthBaranof (talk) 02:44, 17 September 2014

This is misleading. Only some do, a fact acknowledged in the opening sentence of the section:The claims in the letter were widely rejected and condemned, and were sometimes labeled as conspiracy theories.[9]

"I suggest you read the reliable sources which universally declare the claims to be baseless, scurrilous partisan personal attacks." NorthBySouthBaranof (talk) 05:50, 2 November 2015 (UTC)

Again, a misrepresentation. The National Review article, a reliable source cited in that same section, describes her mother (Saleha Abedin) as "closely tied to the Muslim Brotherhood" - the claim here is supported [10]

Their last edit to this heading [11] relented somewhat in titling it "Discredited partisan attacks", which I believe is still not sufficiently neutral or supported. The heading they reverted from was my (more neutral, I believe) attempt at a compromise: "Security clearance controversy"

I also believe the filer has violated rules against canvassing. He notified an editor who frequently agrees with his edits of this filing [12] but failed to notify me despite my involvement just yesterday in a disagreement involving myself, the filter and Nocturnalnow where Nocturnalnow and I agreed. I only discovered this filing after seeing his latest revert and "stalking" his contribs.

I believe more editors on the article and talk page, and a focus on neutral language throughout would be beneficial. D.Creish (talk) 08:17, 2 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Re: NorthBySouthBaranoff, I take issue with the claim that I've edited the article in a "negative manner." I've made 3 effective edits to the article:

One was to change the sentence: In June 2011, Abedin's husband became embroiled in the Twitter photo scandal, which was poorly written - "the" is confusing and ambiguous - to an earlier version: In June 2011, Abedin became the subject of widespread media attention amid her husband's Twitter photo scandal for which I provided additional sources to satisfy an earlier objection.[13]

The second was the heading change, which I describe above.

The third [14] was to correct a sub heading Reactions to the letter which made reference to a "letter" without context. In fact, the sub heading I replaced it with Backlash [15] is arguably more favorable to the subject and less favorable to the group to whom you refer as "conspiracy theorists."

I believe my edits to the article speak for themselves. D.Creish (talk) 08:48, 2 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Nocturnalnow

With regard to the a single-purpose account assertion, I tried to show the Filer yesterday that I have a long history of editing going back to 2007, albeit under 4 different User names as I have forgotten my password several times after a rest from editing. I have always had a notification and linkage of that fact on my talk and or User page. I always figured the edits are what's important, rather than the name of the Editor, but in respect of other opinions, I have now written down my password and put the piece of paper in a drawer.

With regard to the other complaints, I think that any objective and thorough analysis of my editing history of the article will show a reasonable person that my accepted edits have dramatically improved the BLP even as it currently stands, and at least some of the non-allowed edits would have improved it even more. Nocturnalnow (talk) 03:37, 3 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I am absolutely willing to stop editing the Abedin BLP, however, when I announced such an intention awhile back, an Editor who in my view has been also trying to improve the content expressed his disappointment with my leaving the BLP. That, plus my own reluctance to abandon what I thought is a non-NPOV BLP, led me to conclude I should continue editing Huma Abedin.

However, I also am accepting the constructive comments here by Gamaliel and others about me needing to read more about and practice more of our editing process and policies re: BLPs; so, I will be doing that regardless of the outcome of this enforcement request. Nocturnalnow (talk) 15:09, 3 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Muboshgu

I'll comment a bit later. For now, World Series! – Muboshgu (talk) 06:37, 2 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Johnuniq

The Huma Abedin article needs some serious protection and topic bans. The subject is closely associated with Hillary Clinton's campaign and hence is receiving special attention, primarily focused on WP:UNDUE mention of Abedin's husband's sexting scandal, and claims that Abedin had "immediate family connections to foreign extremist organizations" (claims where one ref states "Sen. John McCain denounced the allegations").

As an example of the "NPOV" editing on this BLP, it appears this edit at 07:27, 13 October 2015 changed the accurate "Conspiracy theory allegations" heading to the smear "Allegations regarding family members". That edit was by 119.81.31.4 which is now blocked for three years!

D.Creish (talk · contribs) has a total of 24 edits, six to Huma Abedin: two highlight a scandal regarding the subject's husband (1 + 2); two repeat the removal of the "Conspiracy theories" heading (3 + 4); and two are minor adjustments. An article like this should not be getting attention from blocked-for-three-years IPs and perfectly formed new accounts and Nocturnalnow who has a total of 203 edits including 67 to Huma Abedin and 79 to its talk. Johnuniq (talk) 09:42, 2 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Gamaliel

This editor should be encouraged to use some less contentious articles to learn about Wikipedia policies like BLP, PRIMARY. UNDUE, RS, etc. and return to this article after the election. I believe they want to improve the article but they appear to have a strong viewpoint and a less than ideal grasp of current BLP practice. Gamaliel (talk) 04:00, 3 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I think that Rhoark's excellent review of the diffs illustrates the situation well. Nocturnalnow is not quite up to speed on how to properly handle BLP issues, and so a lot of time is wasted explaining basic policy and dealing with minor conflicts. Other editors are getting frustrated, as is Nocturnalnow because perhaps they feel that the resistance they are getting is obstructionist and not policy-based. Nocturnalnow should realize that the incident is already covered in the article - nobody is advocating shoving it down the memory hole - and so they should be satisfied even if it is not described in the exact language and manner they would prefer. Wikipedia is often about compromise.

I"m not sure how to handle this, but I think the best thing would be for Nocturnalnow to practice with these issues in a less contentious article that they do not have such strong opinions about. Gamaliel (talk) 14:28, 3 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Callanecc: SInce many people (including myself) on one side of the argument are saying some of these edits violate BLP, a 0RR restriction would essentially only apply to one side of the dispute, or it would at least encourage the other side to invoke BLP as a justification for evading the 0RR. Gamaliel (talk) 14:12, 7 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Rhoark

Review of diffs

Changes heading "Conspiracy theory allegations" to "Muslim Brotherhood allegations". Even if the label of "conspiracy theory" were sourced well enough to WP:ASSERT (debatable), this edit narrows the specificity, averts WP:POVFUNNEL, and adheres to the advice of WP:POVSTRUCTURE. Good edit.
These are primary sources as the complainant states; however, I would criticize this edit primarily on grounds of being coatracked, and also out of date. Results of Judicial Watch's inquiry are covered by the NYT.[16] On balance, I'd say it's not an edit that deserved to stand on the page, but neither is it enforcement-worthy by any stretch.
first revert to reinclude the above, with the comment "This information is also in the Hillary Clinton email controversy article and relates directly to the Subject of this blp"
second revert, with the same comment.
Adds factual statements about an FBI investigation, sourced to Fox News. I concur that it is a coatrack; however, I see no talk page concerns until a message by the complainant 6 days later.
revert to restore the above, with the comment "Please read the content. Abedin is specifically mentioned and the email article you refer to is relating to Clinton, NOT Abedin"
Changes heading "Conspiracy theory allegations" to "Allegations Regarding Family Members". Good edit, per no. 1, though it doesn't follow MOS for capitalization.
Removes a source based on good-faith belief that it was written by the subject's husband. It was actually a category tag positioned to look very much like a byline, as resolved on the talk page. Trout-worthy.
Adds further information on the Judicial Watch inquiry, sourced to Breitbart, which is generally considered unacceptable for contentious BLP claims.
Adds an external link to a FOIA response.
revert to restore Breitbart-sourced content with comment "Well sourced. Please do not keep reverting content you do not like. Please get a consensus on the talk page before reverting yet again." NBSB had in fact opened a talk page section a few hours prior.
Goes for a hat-trick, restoring the Breitbart source, the FOIA EL, and also changing heading "Discredited allegations against family members" to "Controversal allegations regarding security clearance"
Restores the Breitbart section again with an additional citation to the Daily Mail (also not sufficient for contentious BLP)
Restores the FOIA EL with the comment "I see no prohibition against this link in the policy you reference. Please advise which section/part of the policy you think applies on the talk page."
Restores the EL again with the comment "Get Consensus on Talk before removing this again". At this point he apparently actually looks at the talk, responding to NBSB's thread from the day before with "Its certainly not intentional on my part. Is there a list of generally acceptable Reliable Sources anywhere? I thought the Daily Mail was just as good as the Guardian."
Describes controversies related to the subject with respect to due weighting considerations. This is not a personal attack.
Changes heading "Discredited allegations against family members" to "Allegations that Abedin might be a security risk".

Further edit warring over the NPOV banner, whose wording tends to encourage such behavior.

Nocturnalnow does not seem to have a firm grasp on evaluating the reliability of sources. He also needs to be reminded that the "discuss" part of BRD is a two-way street. The claimed history of accounts seems plausible, as they seem to have similar linguistic patterns and a recurrent interest in American political scandals. I would not call that interest so narrow as to be a SPA, though. I suggest Nocturnalnow be placed under 0RR for BLP articles / claims to avoid similar disruptions.

Although Nocturnalnow's behavior is not acceptable, the filer should be admonished that NPOV does not read "representing fairly, proportionately, and, as far as possible, without bias, all of the significant views except conservative ones." While sources can be found who unleash all sorts of invective about the Muslim Brotherhood allegations, it is a claim that was supported by five congressional representatives, and many respectable news organizations chose to criticize Bachmann only by proxy of John McCain.[17][18][19][20] That is the profile of a minority view, not a fringe one. There are some very good sources to draw on to criticize the allegations[21][22], but it is simply indefensible to do so through such prejudicial section titles. This is an encyclopedia. Rhoark (talk) 04:54, 3 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The wording of the NPOV banner is a persistent contributor to edit warring across the 'pedia. I've opened a discussion on that at Template_talk:POV#Please_do_not_remove_this_message_until_the_dispute_is_resolved. Rhoark (talk) 16:19, 3 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Cla68

After looking at the diffs, it appears that both NorthbySouthBaranoff's and Nocturnalnow's edits are partisan. Both editors could be interpreted as engaging in BATTLEFIELD behavior. Cla68 (talk) 04:34, 3 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

By the way, saying something like this could be interpreted as not being a very welcoming or congenial reception to a new editor. Cla68 (talk) 05:07, 3 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Professor JR

I don't normally participate in Dispute Page or TalkPage discussions, but have decided to here, as I must agree with Cla68 -- User:NorthBySouthBaranof's edits certainly qualify as partisan, or in violation of POV, as well, if Nocturnalnow's can be adjudged to be so; and, upon my review, it appears to me that Nocturnalnow's have not been, and that this filing is unwarranted. Clearly there is also no basis for the assertion by the filer that Nocturnalnow is a single-purpose account(!), and the filer's neutrality is quite apparently and obviously in question (check NorthBySouthBaranof's contributions history) as pointed out by D.Creish. It might be advisable, and to the benefit of all Wiki users and readers, if NorthBySouthBaranof were to take a brief respite from editing the Abedin article, or any other article relating to Hillary Clinton; and this comment by another editor was also entirely out of line and uncalled for. --- Professor JR (talk) 13:31, 3 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Ryk72

Regarding the 500/30 restriction, referred to by EdJohnston below, and also independently here and at ArbCom Palestine Israel 3 here; I again urge the community to formalise this measure by amendment of WP:Protection policy and through the use of a similar technical implementation to Semi-protection. - Ryk72 ^'c.s.n.s.' 04:11, 7 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (username)

Result concerning Nocturnalnow

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

Noting that I've fully protected the article. Also Johnuniq if you wish to submit evidence regarding other (ie not Nocturnalnow) could you please submit a separate AE request, thanks. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 12:11, 2 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The full protection seems like a good idea. What to do when protection expires is a harder question. Editors might be required to get approval from an RfC for any further negative material. But it's not easy to word such a restriction. *If* this article were under a 500/30 restriction like the Gamergate controversy article, neither Nocturnalnow (talk · contribs) nor D.Creish (talk · contribs) would be allowed to edit (neither user has reached 500 edits). For now, I'd suggest that User:Callanecc extend the full protection for another three weeks. If we see any useful discussion on the talk page during that time it may give some ideas for what to do in the future. When protection expires, if there is a steady stream of people wanting this article to be more negative (who aren't willing to negotiate patiently over the wording) then article bans or a 500/30 restriction might be considered. EdJohnston (talk) 02:15, 7 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I'd actually be tempted to put them both (or at least Nocturnalnow) under 0RR on this article and see what happens then. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 11:21, 7 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Alternatively 0RR on the article (with normal exceptions so vandalism and obvious BLP stuff can be removed). Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 11:35, 7 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Justlettersandnumbers

Not an arbitration enforcement issue (not related to any specific active arbitration remedies). Issues with copyright permissions can be resolved by following the processes outlined at WP:COPYREQ to grant permission to reuse third party content. Noting however that granting a permission doesn't equate to demands of inclusion. All other aspects related to the content of the article should be discussed at its talk page. Finally, shooting the messenger is rarely a productive approach. MLauba ^(Talk) 18:52, 2 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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

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

Request concerning Justlettersandnumbers

User who is submitting this request for enforcement: Endidro (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 11:51, 2 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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

Sanction or remedy to be enforced: Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/CASENAME#SECTION :

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

Date In 2013 disputes were resolved concerning notability of the page "Barony of Blackhall; for the past two years the site has functioned peacefully. Now an editor Justlettersandnumbers has decided to attack the site once more. The editor appears to be a specialist in Italian livestock farming and is not a specialist in Scottish history. Without attemting to understand his or her motives, the personal and subjective nature of the editor's repeated attacks on the contributor of the page would disqualify this person from continuing to attempt to bring change to this page.
Date Explanation
Date Explanation
Date Explanation

Diffs of previous relevant sanctions, if any

Date Explanation
Date Explanation

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

Mentioned by name in the Arbitration Committee's Final Decision linked to above.
Previously blocked as a discretionary sanction for conduct in the area of conflict, see the block log linked to above.
Previously given a discretionary sanction for conduct in the area of conflict on Date by Username (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA).
Alerted about discretionary sanctions in the area of conflict in the last twelve months, see the system log linked to above.
Gave an alert about discretionary sanctions in the area of conflict in the last twelve months, on Date
Participated in an arbitration request or enforcement procedure about the area of conflict in the last twelve months, on Date.
Successfully appealed all their own sanctions relating to the area of conflict in the last twelve months, on Date.

Additional comments by editor filing complaint

The pge contributor is williing to work with and editor who knows about Scottihs history and genealogy to improve the page

Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

"I have launched an arbitration request to request your removal from eidting this site." left on Justletersandnumbers talk page

Discussion concerning Justlettersandnumbers

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

Statement by Justlettersandnumbers

In case anyone wants to look at whether there is any merit in this complaint, my relevant edits are:

my comment on a heavily-watched user talk page
edit to Barony of Blackhall
copyright blanking of Barony of Blackhall
reporting the same on that user talk page
comment on Talk:Barony of Blackhall, where among other things I asked new user Endidro how he or she was aware of events in 2013 after only a few hours on the project, and also asked that editor to beware of sockpuppetry. I believe the situation here is quite clear, but I don't have much luck with SPI requests. Please ping me if any further input from me is needed. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 16:18, 2 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by 2601:188:0:ABE6:65F5:930C:B0B2:CD63 (talk) 16:51, 2 November 2015 (UTC)

This has emanated in part from my citing the article for copyright violations, and for my edit here: [23], removing unsourced or poorly sourced content about the current baron. This appears to be a long-running effort by WP:COI accounts to retain an entry on this person--whose encyclopedic notability has never been established--on Wikipedia. The above report is a WP:BOOMERANG. 2601:188:0:ABE6:65F5:930C:B0B2:CD63 (talk) 16:51, 2 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Result concerning Justlettersandnumbers

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

Appeal of discretionary sanction topic ban violation block of HughD

Appealing user: HughD (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) – Hugh (talk) 17:05, 4 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Sanction being appealed: Block imposed at User_talk:HughD#One week block for violation of topic ban; logged at WP:DSLOG#2015
Administrator imposing the sanction: Ricky81682 (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)

Notification of that administrator: Notification here.

Statement by HughD

The block notice cited "deliberate violation" of the topic ban. No violation of the topic ban, intentional or otherwise, took place. The topic ban is an administrator action under discretionary sanctions under WP:ARBTPM. The scope of topic ban is "...any articles involving the Tea Party movement broadly, including but not limited to anything at all related to Americans for Prosperity, Koch Industries, the Koch brothers..."

The block notice and discretionary sanctions log entry cited an edit to Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity is not within scope of the topic ban. The demonstrated consensus of our community is that no reliable sources support a relationship between the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity and the Tea Party movement or the Kochs. Evidence that Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity is not within scope of the topic ban includes, most significantly, an explicit ruling from the banning/blocking admin that Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity is not within scope of the topic ban User talk:Ricky81682#Question on scope of ban: "I don't see a connection at all, directly or from Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity...There should be leeway to edit there..." Additionally, Wikipedia article space, edit history 18:35 10 July 2013, 17:13 6 March 2015. and talk page discussion clearly demonstrates community consensus that the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity is not related to the Kochs.

The block notice stated reason is "...adding content related to Donors Trust which is directly related to Tea party politics and to the Kochs..." Article Donors Trust was not edited. Donors Trust is not directly related to the Tea Party movement. Koch family foundations have contributed to Donors Trust. Donors Trust is a donor advised fund, the whole point of which is that no relationship may be inferred between a specific grantor and a specific grantee. Donors Trust is a donor advised fund; contributors to Donors Trust describe/specify/recommend the ultimate grantee. Funds generally must disclose their transfers to Donors Trust, and Donors Trust must disclose their grantees, but only very, very occasionally can we reliably state that a given donor contributed to a given org via Donors Trust. A connection grantor -> Donors Trust -> grantee is extraordinary difficult to document. See Searle Freedom Trust for an exception that proves the rule: as required by law, Searle disclosed that they contributed to Donors Trust, but also chose to disclose that their contribution was earmarked to fund a court challenge to affirmative action; a noteworthy, reliable, secondary source wrote about it, and we included it in our project. The topic-banning admin extended the topic ban to all organizations funded by Donors Trust, without consensus and without notice and without logging, and then blocked retroactively for violation of the extended topic ban.

In discussion of some of these issues subsequent to the block notice, the banning/blocking admin advanced various alternative justifications for the block, including suspected use of a role account, socking, and ownership behavior, which charges can be addressed upon request if necessary.

Respectfully request community discussion by uninvolved administrators regarding several related issues raised by this block:

Is an explicit ruling from the topic-banning administrator a reasonable basis for a topic banned editor to consider in determining the scope of a topic ban?
Is the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity reasonably considered within the scope of a Tea Party movement or Koch brothers topic ban?
Is the Donors Trust reasonably considered within the scope of a Tea Party movement or Koch brothers topic ban?
Are all grantees of Donors Trust reasonably considered within scope of a Tea Party movement or Koch brothers topic ban?
Is added a source to an article that mentions a banned topic a violation of a topic ban, even if the article is not within scope of the topic ban, and even if the content added to the article text does not violate the topic ban, and even if the source is not primary about the banned topic?

Respectfully request repeal of block, strike-through of the block notice and strike-through of the block in the discretionary sanctions log. The block was not necessary to prevent disruption of our project. I am appealing this block in order to clear my name and clarify the scope of the topic ban. Thank you. Hugh (talk) 17:58, 5 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I embrace my responsibility to recognize the boundaries of the topic ban. Without appealing the the previous AE report linked to by the banning/blocking administrator, WP:TBAN clearly authorizes conscientious editors to contribute to our project to articles which include content in scope of a topic ban, just not the parts of the articles related to the topic ban. Previously, I acknowledged possible mistakes in judgement with regard to the boundaries of the topic ban, but this is not one of them. My point here is that in my due diligence here, all evidence supported the position that the edited article Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity was not in scope, evidence including an explicit ruling from the banning/blocking administrator, Wikipedia article space, Wikipedia edit history, and Wikipedia talk page discussion. My objection to this block is not based on my intention, which is unverifiable, but on this evidence. The evidence is more than a reasonable person might find necessary for a good faith determination that the edited article Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity was not in scope. Respectfully request community discussion by uninvolved administrators of the banning/blocking administrator's role in this block, which the banning/blocking administrator admits below was a mistake; this mistake has the form if not the intent of entrapment. The banning/blocking administrator's novel extension of WP:TBAN to encompass so-called "second level links" is not included in the ban notice or in WP:TBAN. The banning/blocking administrator's claim that the edited article Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity is related to the Kochs via Donors Trust is counter-factual. Does the community endorse the ability of an topic banning administrator to explicitly rule an article out-of-scope, then reverse the ruling without notice, and then block? Hugh (talk) 16:13, 6 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Topic bans work when editors and administrators understand policy and act reasonably. Policy is clear. Our articles Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity and Donors Trust very clearly "as a whole have little or nothing to do with" the Tea Party movement or the Kochs. Editing the parts of these articles unrelated to the Tea Party movement or the Kochs is specifically permitted by WP:TBAN, and articles which merely wikilink to these articles, so-called "second-level links," are certainly out of scope. The block was objectively unreasonable and deserves redress from the community. Thank you. Hugh (talk) 19:55, 6 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Respectfully request uninvolved administrators participating in this discussion, if you believe that a topic ban violation occurred, kindly cite a specific edit of concern, kindly indicate whether you believe the violation was with respect to the Tea Party movement or the Kochs or both, and kindly cite a specific clause of WP:TBAN which you believe most closely describes the topic ban violation. Thank you. Hugh (talk) 11:31, 7 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Our project's article Donors Trust is comprised of seven sections, 16 paragraphs, and some 23,000 bytes. One paragraph, in the "Donors" section, describes the well-documented financial support of the Kochs. As per WP:TBAN, this paragraph is in scope to a Koch topic ban, but the article as a whole is out of scope. Our project's article Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity describes the financial support of Donors Trust. This is not grounds for a reasonable person to consider Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, in whole or in part, to be in scope to a Koch topic ban. Hugh (talk) 11:51, 7 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Guy Macon Thank you for attempting to bring new sources to our project's article Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. Whenever we incorporate new reliable sources and new significant points of view into our project we improve our project. Your suggestions are appropriate at article talk. May I respectfully suggest you pursue your conviction that an obvious relationship exists between the Franklin Center and the Kochs in article space where it will benefit our readers WP:READERSFIRST. Let us know how that goes. Your 1st and 3rd refs, NBC is the publisher and CPI is the agency; this ref has been part of our article Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity since 3 October 2014 and serves as part of our sourcing for the Donors Trust funding; however, numerous attempts to draw further from this source and others to include an alleged Koch connection have been consistently reverted, for various reasons, see for example 10 July 2013 "WP:SYNTH" and 6 March 2015 "non-neutral reference to Koch bros, readers are free to click through, unsourced association between Franklin and Koch is WP:SYNTH and BLP violation." SourceWatch has never successfully been added to an article of our project on a conservative organization, as an editor experienced in this area I am not sure how you are not aware of this. Your last suggested source is a letter to the editor, as I know you to be an experienced editor I am not sure why you would bring this source forward at this time at AE. The consensus text of our project's article, its edit history, talk page discussion, and an explicit ruling from the topic banning administrator, all very clearly reflect our project's consensus that there is no noteworthy, reliably sourced relationship between the Franklin Center and the Kochs. Thank you again. Hugh (talk) 18:09, 7 November 2015 (UTC) In a recent essay cross-posted at ANI and article talk you argued that the funding of political causes by billionaires is not notable, so while I am not surprised to see you pile on here, I am surprise to see you argue in favor of a significant Koch connection here. Hugh (talk) 21:15, 7 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Respectfully request strike-through of the block notice and in the DS log. Respectfully request uninvolved administrators declining this request, kindly cite a specific edit of concern, kindly indicate whether you believe the topic ban violation was with respect to the Tea Party movement or the Kochs or both, and kindly cite a specific clause of WP:TBAN which you believe most closely describes the topic ban violation. Respectfully request this appeal remain open for wider community discussion of the issues raised in good faith above WP:NODEADLINE. Thank you. Hugh (talk) 20:47, 8 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Ricky81682

First, the topic ban is for any articles involving the Tea Party movement broadly, including but not limited to anything at all related to Americans for Prosperity, Koch Industries, the Koch brothers, for one year. Second, this last AE argument already had repeated violations with the same argument of a lack of intent. I don't believe intent to violate the topic ban is required. It's a bizarre and impossible argument to prove. To summarize the extensive arguments I provided at User talk:HughD, I was asked at User_talk:Ricky81682#Question_on_scope_of_ban asked about Watchdog.org (related to another edit warring issue) which had no mention of the Koch brothers there and mentioned the Franklin as one of a number of in-linked articles (with a possible tenuous connection). Prior to HughD's involvement, this was what the Franklin Center looked like, which does include a reference to Donor's Trust which directly refers to the Koch family foundations and the like. I missed it and probably should have told HughD that the second level links are directly related but I did not inform him of that. However, whether or not that was an oversight on HughD's part is less likely to me when you examine this edit of HughD's which includes a citation to this article which clearly states that the Franklin center is tied to the Koch brothers. The point is, this shouldn't be a game where HughD asks me to examine article after article and I have to solve the tenuous connections that may or may not be there when HughD knows full well that they exist and even makes it my fault that I missed the connection so HughD should be allowed to edit freely on the topic. This is a complete waste of my time and energy to police someone else like this. I considered the ban description pretty obvious but seeing as how no one else has been banned under that sanction and HughD's insistence of playing this game, I suggest we provide HughD with a broader more definite topic ban so that it's clear. -- Ricky81682 (talk) 20:04, 5 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@EdJohnston: No, I think I'm just annoyed with this. It's a fairly concrete topic ban and the punishment is the week-long bock, it shouldn't be a block and further expansion of the ban. If the ban is incomprehensible to HughD given the alleged size and scope of the Kochtopus or whatever, then HughD can suggest a different scope. -- Ricky81682 (talk) 03:39, 7 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement (involved editor 1)

HughD is right. Guy Macon is a hypocrite here as is Ricky81682. The topic ban is completely i possible to follow given the millions of potential topics. Why should HughD have to make sure he doesn't violate a ban he didn't even come up with?

Statement by (involved editor 2)

This is classic entrapment. HughD was told this wasn't related to the topic and once he edited there, the trap was sprung and he was punished.

Discussion among uninvolved editors about the appeal by HughD

One detail of peripheral interest here. HughD mentions the administrator’s "novel concept of "second level links." This isn't, in fact, a particularly novel concept, at least not among hypertext researchers. Nodes reachable within N links of a starting point are clearly interesting and have been studied both in terms of technical and rhetorical strategies. I’ve used the term neighborhood for the concept; more mathematically-inclined researchers would simply say "the subgraph of diameter N from node V" or something like that. The Information Architecture people use "clicks" as a shorthand: "Koch Industries are just two clicks from the Franklin Center." So it’s not an outré invention. MarkBernstein (talk) 16:34, 6 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Guy Macon

The following sources:

appear to refute the claim that "No evidence supports a relationship between the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity and the Tea Party movement or the Kochs". --Guy Macon (talk) 14:25, 7 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I am concerned that HughD claimed that "No evidence supports a relationship between the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity and the Tea Party movement or the Kochs" when a simple Google search turned up lots of evidence for such a relationship (see my statement above). Are we going to have to repeat this exercise again and again as HughD seeks out new and innovative ways to write about the Koch brothers? --Guy Macon (talk) 14:32, 7 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

HughD, there is a huge difference between your first claim ("no evidence supports a relationship between the Franklin Center for Government and ... the Kochs") and your second claim ("no noteworthy, reliably sourced relationship between the Franklin Center and the Kochs.") WP:RS does not apply when deciding whether a topic is within the scope of your topic ban. If a Google search turns up lots of unreliable sources say that the Koch brothers fund the Franklin Center for Government, you need to stay away, even if the sourcing isn't up to Wikipedia's standards for inclusion in an article.

HughD, Re: "you argued that the funding of political causes by billionaires is not notable, so while I am not surprised to see you pile on here, I am surprise to see you argue in favor of a significant Koch connection here." you have once again completely misunderstood my position. What I previously argued was that Wikipedia has dozens and dozens of articles on billionaires, and in the vast majority of those articles nobody has found relatively small (for a billionaire) political contributions by those billionaires to be notable unless they happened to be named Koch. This is easily verified. Again, I have zero interest in politics, political contributions, or billionaires, but I do care about Wikipedia being NPOV even when talking about people who have unpopular political views. --Guy Macon (talk) 04:28, 8 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Result of the appeal by HughD

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

It's HughD's responsibility to adhere to the topic ban, not Ricky81682's responsibility to research each topic on behalf of HughD to verify if it is or isn't in compliance. HughD can appeal the original ban or suggest a narrower restriction or exemption. Failing that, there are five million articles on Australian shrubs and the like to edit which are not related to the relatively narrow topic ban. Gamaliel (talk) 21:48, 5 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Topic bans work for those who understand them and are willing to follow them. It appears that no amount of words will be enough to convince HughD where the exact, precise limits of his ban lie. Per the header of this report, HughD is appealing a one-week block which has already expired. I recommend this appeal be closed as moot. EdJohnston (talk) 17:22, 6 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Ricky81682: If you want to widen the ban to simplify enforcement, can you propose a new version? EdJohnston (talk) 02:25, 7 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Just to clarify one thing, my warning rather than block which Ricky linked to wasn't directly related to intent but instead that Hugh seemed to recognise the problem and assured that it wouldn't happen again. That's a one chance thing so this block (on a topic which was covered by the TBAN is completely appropriate). Even if it wasn't the block has now expired so I also agree/recommend that this can be closed. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 11:28, 7 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]
This strikes me as boundary-pushing behavior. Suggest a trouting now and an expansion to the American Politics 2 topic ban should this reoccur. Gamaliel (talk) 18:40, 7 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Close? - Three admins have responded, besides the original banning admin User:Ricky81682. Among the three admin reviewers, nobody proposes to grant this appeal so I suggest it be closed. EdJohnston (talk) 17:58, 8 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Richard Arthur Norton (1958- )

I've sent this to ArbCom for clarification of whether it is covered or not given the grey area regarding redirects and articles. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 06:38, 9 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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

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

Request concerning Richard Arthur Norton (1958- )

User who is submitting this request for enforcement: Beyond My Ken (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 05:33, 8 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

User against whom enforcement is requested: Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
Search CT alerts: in user talk history • in system log

Sanction or remedy to be enforced: Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Richard Arthur Norton (1958- )#October 2015 :

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

7 November 2015 Replacement of an existing redirect with an article, violating his ban on the creation of articles

Additional comments by editor filing complaint

On October 16, 2015, after a request for clarification requested by me, Section 2.3 of the case involving Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) ("RAN") was amended to say:

2.3) Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) ("RAN") is indefinitely prohibited from:

Creating any articles or draft articles in any namespace.
Moving any page into the article namespace from any other namespace.

Other editors may move pages created or substantially edited by RAN, but only if they explicitly take responsibility for any copyright violations on that page.

This remedy may be appealed after the later of 6 months and when all draft articles he has authored, in his userspace and in the draft namespace, have been verified free of copyright violations and moved to the article namespace by other editors or deleted. In order for appeals of this remedy to be considered, he shall be required to submit evidence of substantial work on his part towards resolving the Contributor Copyright Investigations (CCI) filed against him, most particularly the one focused on his text contributions.

Any article or draft article created contrary to this restriction will result in a block, initially of at least one month and then proceeding per the enforcement provisions. The article or draft article may be speedily deleted under criterion G5 by any administrator.

Any page moves made contrary to this restriction may be enforced by blocks per the enforcement provisions. The page move may be reversed by any editor able to do so.

Today, RAN converted an existing redirect at William Sloane Coffin, Sr. into an article with the edit noted above, and then expanded the article with an additional 9 edits.

I would contend that a redirect is not an article. This is not merely a technical distinction: a redirect has none of the attributes of an article, except a title. A redirect is, instead, an automated pointer to an article, not an article in and of itself. This distinction is recognized at, for instance, Wikipedia:Redirects in the section How to edit a redirect or convert it into an article; the word "convert" is a clear indication that a redirect is not an article, but must be changed in some fundamental way in order to become one. The distinction between redirects and articles can also be seen in Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion, in which there are different rules for the deletion of articles and for the deletion of redirects. It is recognized in the distinction between Wikipedia:Articles for deletion and Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion.

The fact that articles and redirects are different things is simple common sense.

By converting a redirect into an article, RAN has, in effect, created an article that did not exist before, which I believe is a violation of his ban from creating articles as outlined in section 2.3 quoted above. Such "pushing the boundaries" of his various sanctions is par for the course with RAN, and indeed has led to a number of Arbitration proceedings both before and after the full case he was the subject of.

If the admins here agree with my argument, I have no recommendation for what kind of response is appropriate. I will say that the article itself is not problematic, and should be retained. BMK (talk) 05:33, 8 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Let me also say that I have not been monitoring RAN's activities in any way since the conclusion of the Clarification request. This came to my attention because I created the redirect at William Sloane Coffin, Sr., and it was therefore on my watchlist. Nor is my report prompted by the replacement of my redirect with an article; as I said above, I'm perfectly happy to have the article there instead of the redirect. The problem here is not the content involved, it's solely in the behavior of RAN and his apparent inability to adhere to his sanctions, or, perhaps, to perceive what his sanctions mean or what their boundaries are. BMK (talk) 05:41, 8 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Andreas Philopater: Sure, a clarification from ArbCom would be peachy, I guess, even though they just did that. Besides, I'm not sure why clarification would be necessary. Before yesterday, if you typed "William Sloane Coffin, Sr." in the search box, you would end up in the article MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens Historic District because there was no article titled "William Sloane Coffin, Sr.". Today, if you typed that in to the search box, you'll end up at the article William Sloane Coffin, Sr., because that article now exists. That didn't happen miraculously by spontaneous generation, it happened because RAN made it happen, even though he is explicitly banned from creating articles in any namespace on Wikipedia. If that's not "creating an article", I'm completely boggled about what one would call it. There was no article, now there is an article, RAN is the one who did it - that's pretty cut-and-dried, and does not really need clarification. BMK (talk) 04:35, 9 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Alansohn: Unfortunately for your argument, I created no article, I created a redirect: the automated edit summary says "(←Redirected page to MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens Historic District)". Contrast that with the automated edited summary for an article I actually created Naughty but Nice (1939 film), which says "(←Created page with '{{inuse}} {{Infobox film | name = Naughty But Nice | image = Naughty But Nice 1939 poster.jpg | image_size = 225px | caption = thea...')". The first I "redirected", the second I "created". Both articles and redirects are pages, but they are not the same thing.

As I said, I do agree that the article should stay, and I don't deny that it improves the encyclopedia, but that's really not relevant here: RAN's ban doesn't say that he can't create an article "unless it improves the encycylopeda", it says that he cannot create an article, period. As for creation, as I said above, absent Divine Intervention, for an article to not exist one moment and then exist the next means that someone had to create it. That someone was not me, it was RAN. BMK (talk) 05:11, 9 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, Alan, but you're entirely wrong. I created a page. That page was a redirect, which is not an article. I've created a number of articles and certainly know the difference, as do you. All of those articles were pages as well, as is this one I'm typing on right now, but it is not an article either. Talk pages are pages, File info pages are pages, Articles are pages, Redirects are pages, but all of them being pages does not mean they are the same thing. I did, indeed, create a redirect where there had been nothing, so I "created" a redirect. RAN then made an article where there had been a redirect, thus creating an article. I don't know how to make it any simpler for you. BMK (talk) 05:36, 9 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Kingsindian: "Petty"? Perhaps, but note that I am not calling for any specific sanctions against RAN. If the admins reviewing this complaint feel that a warning is sufficient, that's fine with me - at least until the next time RAN attempts to push the boundaries of his bans, which he has does constantly over the years. BMK (talk) 05:28, 9 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

One last thing: I contend that a redirect is not an article, and that in converting my redirect into an article, RAN created an article, violating his ban. Alansohn, on the other hand, says that I created an article when I made the redirect. If Alansohn is correct that creating a redirect is the essential act of creating an article, then RAN has violated his ban by creating redirects here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and in most of the rest of these. (He also violated his ban on page moves here. You can't have it both ways. Either my definition of the creation of an article is right, or yours is, but either way he has violated his ban. BMK (talk) 05:48, 9 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Alansohn: If you believe I'm harassing RAN in some way because I filed a Request for Clarification and this Arbitration Enforcement Request, please feel free to file a report at AN/I -- but be sure to include specific incidents supported by diffs. If you believe -- as it seems you do -- that I am in some way connected with User:Javert, (who I have never neard of, but who was apparently indef blocked in 2009 because the account was no longer in use [?]), then I invite you to file an SPI with the behavioral evidence you feel supports that contention. If you aren't planning on following through with either of these suggestions, I would appreciate your not making unsupported allegations again. BMK (talk) 06:13, 9 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

Notification to RAN

Discussion concerning Richard Arthur Norton (1958- )

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

Statement by Richard Arthur Norton (1958- )

Statement by Andreas Philopater

I would suggest that clarification by the committee as to whether or not this breaches the ban is the only desirable outcome here. The article itself should be retained; no further sanctions should be applied. --Andreas Philopater (talk) 17:17, 8 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Alansohn

On October 16, 2015, after a request for clarification requested by User:Beyond My Ken, Section 2.3 of the case involving Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) ("RAN") was amended to say:

2.3) Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) ("RAN") is indefinitely prohibited from:

Creating any articles or draft articles in any namespace.
Moving any page into the article namespace from any other namespace.

RAN did not move an article into article namespace. Nor, did RAN create an article. BMK was the one who created the article in this edit. Both RAN and BMK worked collaboratively to expand the article. The term "create" -- to bring (something) into existence -- has not been met here.

As there was no violation of any aspect of this enforcement action and as the encyclopedia has been unequivocally improved by the collaboration between both BMK and RAN, I move that there is no justification for any enforcement action to be taken here. Alansohn (talk) 04:46, 9 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Beyond My Ken, the article you created was, is and will remain an article. Your initial edit created an article ex nihilo titled William Sloane Coffin, Sr. Check the history of that article, which shows that it was created, by you, at 15:51, 3 July 2011‎, more than four years ago. The day before it didn't exist; For the 1,600 days since, it has existed as an article, and that article has been expanded. In pursuing an enforcement action here, where none is justified, you are again creating something out of nothing. Alansohn (talk) 05:26, 9 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Sadly, Beyond My Ken / Javert, has over the course of his editing history, demonstrated that he is obsessively concerned with the pursuit and punishment of RAN. There is nothing productive here other than a desire to exact his ounce of flesh for some imagined slight that some other editor has committed . The article that BMK has created, and that RAN has expanded, is one that even BMK acknowledges is unequivocally encyclopedic and should be retained.

It's time to end this once and for all and close this misguided and self-destructive pursuit of justice. Alansohn (talk) 05:59, 9 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Kingsindian

Having followed slightly the RAN drama for some time, I am amazed by the pettiness of some of the stuff brought against them. BMK states that the article should be retained, and there was no disruption to the project. Why then are we here? This seems to be the triumph of WP:BURO thinking. At most, there should be a clarification on whether the topic ban was breached, in which case, perhaps WP:ARCA might be a better venue. Kingsindian ♝♚ 05:17, 9 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Drmies

A redirect is not an article. That's clear. I don't know if that really needs clarification, but there's all kinds of places in which we count them separately, for instance. I can't see the NYT obituary on which RAN's version was based so I can't see if there was a copyvio (I assume there wasn't, AGF and all--and common sense). I understand that Tim (Carrite) has been ferrying content in a way allowed by ArbCom (thanks for doing that, Tim) and don't know why RAN didn't go that route here; I can't help but think that RAN was trying to skirt the decision here a bit. Personally I don't see the point in a block or something like that, but I suppose it's a good idea for ArbCom to at least speak out on the matter in order to admonish/clarify. Drmies (talk) 05:48, 9 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (username)

Result concerning Richard Arthur Norton (1958- )

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

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

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

[a]

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