Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard

This noticeboard is for announcements and statements made by the Arbitration Committee. Only members of the Arbitration Committee or the Committee's Clerks may post on this page, but all editors are encouraged to comment on the talk page.

Announcement archives:

0 (2008-12 – 2009-01)
1 (to 2009-02)
2 (to 2009-05)
3 (to 2009-06)
4 (to 2009-07)
5 (to 2009-12)
6 (to 2010-12)
7 (to 2011-12)
8 (to 2012-12)
9 (to 2013-12)
10 (to 2015-12)
11 (to 2018-04)
12 (to 2020-08)
13 (to 2023-03)
14 (to present)

Rich Farmbrough case amended

The committee has resolved by motion that:

Remedy 2 of the Rich Farmbrough case shall not apply in Rich Farmbrough's user space, his user talk space, or any subpage of Wikipedia:Database reports. Subject to the normal bot policy Rich Farmbrough may use automation in these exempted areas.

For the Arbitration Committee, Mdann52 (talk) 09:03, 27 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Archived discussion at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard/Archive 30#Rich Farmbrough case amended

2016 Arbitration Committee

The committee welcomes the following arbitrators following their election by the community. Their term formally begins on 01 January 2016:

All of the above will be issued with the checkuser and oversight permissions except where noted and pre-existing rights holders. We also thank our outgoing colleagues whose term ends on 31 December 2015:

AGK
Euryalus (retaining CU and OS)
LFaraone (retaining CU and OS)
NativeForeigner (retaining CU and OS)
Roger Davies (retaining CU and OS)
Seraphimblade
Thryduulf (retaining OS)

The stewards are asked to remove both CU and OS from all of the outgoing arbitrators on 01 January except where explicitly noted above. Outgoing arbitrators are eligible to remain active on cases opened before their term ended; this will be clarified at the proposed decision talk page of affected cases. By their request, all of the outgoing arbitrators (i), except AGK, are remaining on the functionaries' mailing list and (ii), except AGK, are staying on after 31 December to conclude existing business.

For the Arbitration Committee, Guerillero | Parlez Moi 19:34, 27 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Archived discussion at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard/Archive 30#2016 Arbitration Committee

Catflap08 and Hijiri88 case closed

This arbitration case has been closed and the final decision is available at the link above. The following remedies have been enacted:

1) Catflap08 (talk · contribs) is indefinitely topic-banned from all pages relating to Nichiren Buddhism and its adherents, broadly construed. Appeals of this ban may be requested no earlier than twelve months since the date the case closed.

2.1) Subject to the usual exceptions, Catflap08 is prohibited from making any more than one revert on any one page in any 24-hour period. This applies for all pages on the English Wikipedia, except Catflap08's own user space. This restriction may be appealed to the Committee only after 12 months have elapsed from the closing of this case.

3) Hijiri88 (talk · contribs) is indefinitely topic-banned from all pages relating to Nichiren Buddhism and its adherents, broadly construed. Appeals of this ban may be requested no earlier than twelve months since the date the case closed.

4) Hijiri88 is indefinitely topic-banned from all pages relating to Japanese culture. Appeals of this ban may be requested no earlier than twelve months since the date the case closed.

5) Subject to the usual exceptions, Hijiri88 is prohibited from making any more than one revert on any one page in any 24-hour period. This applies for all pages on the English Wikipedia, except Hijiri88's own user space. This restriction may be appealed to the Committee only after 12 months have elapsed from the closing of this case.

6.1) TH1980 (talk · contribs) and Hijiri88 are indefinitely prohibited from interacting with, or commenting on, each other anywhere on Wikipedia (subject to the ordinary exceptions).

For the Arbitration Committee, Miniapolis 23:07, 29 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Archived discussion at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard/Archive 30#Catflap08 and Hijiri88 case closed

Soap desysopped and banned

~~For off-wiki harassment, the administrator permissions of Soap are revoked. Additionally, he is indefinitely banned from the English Wikipedia.~~

Support: Courcelles, DGG, Guerillero, Euryalus, Doug Weller, GorillaWarfare, Salvio giuliano, LFaraone, Roger Davies, Seraphimblade

Oppose: DeltaQuad

Abstain: Thryduulf

For the Arbitration Committee;

Courcelles (talk) 01:31, 30 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Discuss this at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard#Soap desysopped and banned

In response to community feedback regarding ban announcements, the text of the preceding announcement (permalink to original) is hereby replaced with the following:

The Arbitration Committee has been provided evidence that administrator Soap has been engaged in conduct that violates the Wikipedia Harassment Policy. These actions occurred outside of the English Wikipedia. The evidence was provided to the Arbitration committee in confidence; therefore, in compliance with the WMF Privacy Policy and the Access to nonpublic information policy, the Arbitration Committee is unable to reveal additional information regarding the nature of the policy violation(s).

As a result, the administrator permissions of Soap are revoked. Additionally, Soap is indefinitely banned from the English Wikipedia. He may request reconsideration of the ban six months after the original motion was announced, and every six months thereafter. Upon successful appeal of this ban, Soap may only regain his administrative tools following approval from the Arbitration Committee, and a successful Request for Adminship.

Revised text posted by Opabinia regalis (talk) 07:54, 13 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Return of checkuser and oversight permissions to User:DoRD

The Arbitration Committee is pleased to announce that DoRD is regranted the checkuser and oversight permissions that he resigned earlier this year.

Support: Courcelles, GorillaWarfare, Seraphimblade, Euryalus, Salvio giuliano, Guerillero, LFaraone, DeltaQuad

For the Arbitration Committee,

Courcelles (talk) 01:48, 30 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Discuss this at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard#Return of checkuser and oversight permissions to User:DoRD

The Devil's Advocate banned

In remedy 8.5 of the GamerGate case, The Devil's Advocate was 'strongly warned that should future misconduct occur in any topic area, he may be banned from the English Wikipedia by motion of the Arbitration Committee.' Accordingly, for continuing harassment of other editors, The Devil's Advocate is banned indefinitely from the English Wikipedia. He may request reconsideration of the ban six months after this motion passes, and every six months thereafter.

Support: DGG, Courcelles, Guerillero, Keilana, Opabinia regalis, Doug Weller, Kirill Lokshin

Recuse: GorillaWarfare, Gamaliel

For the Arbitration Committee,

Keilana (talk) 02:50, 1 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Discuss this at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard#The Devil's Advocate banned

In response to community feedback regarding ban announcements, the text of the preceding announcement (permalink to original) is hereby replaced with the following:

In remedy 8.5 of the GamerGate case, The Devil's Advocate was strongly warned that should future misconduct occur in any topic area, he may be banned from the English Wikipedia by motion of the Arbitration Committee. In a separate incident occurring since this remedy was enacted, it was found that The Devil's Advocate has engaged in conduct that violates the Wikipedia Harassment Policy. This policy violation arose during a block, and used means outside of Wikipedia. In compliance with the WMF Privacy Policy and the Access to nonpublic information policy, the Arbitration Committee is unable to reveal additional information regarding the nature of the policy violation(s).

As a result, the Devil's Advocate is indefinitely banned from the English Wikipedia. He may request reconsideration of the ban six months after the original motion was announced, and every six months thereafter.

Revised text posted by Opabinia regalis (talk) 07:56, 13 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Palestine-Israel articles case modified

The committee has resolved Palestine-Israel articles 1RR by motion that:

(1) The General 1RR restriction that is part of the Palestine-Israel articles case is rescinded including all modifications of the remedy.
(2) In its place, the following remedy is enacted: Editors are limited to one revert per page per day on any page that could be reasonably construed as being related to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Reverts made to enforce the General Prohibition are exempt from this limit. Also, the normal exemptions apply. Editors who violate this restriction may be blocked without warning by any uninvolved administrator, even on a first offense.

Passed 10 to 0 by motion on 7:30, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

For the Arbitration Committee, Mdann52 (talk) 08:13, 6 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Discuss this at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard#Palestine-Israel articles case modified

Genetically modified organisms case modified

DrChrissy's topic ban which currently states that "DrChrissy (talk · contribs) is indefinitely topic-banned from all pages relating to genetically modified plants and agricultural chemicals, broadly interpreted; appeals of this ban may be requested no earlier than twelve months since the date the case closed" is replaced with "DrChrissy is indefinitely topic-banned from all pages relating to genetically modified organisms, commercially produced agricultural chemicals, and the companies that produce them, broadly interpreted; appeals of this ban may be requested no earlier than twelve months since the date the case closed."

For the Arbitration Committee Amortias (T)(C) 23:05, 6 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Discuss this at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard#Genetically modified organisms case modified

The Arbitration Committee Audit Subcommittee (AUSC) disbanded

The Arbitration Committee Audit Subcommittee (AUSC) is hereby disbanded. Any complaints related to misuse of the advanced permissions CheckUser or Oversight (suppression) will henceforth be investigated by the Arbitration Committee as a whole. Complaints can be forwarded to the Arbitration Committee via the Arbitration Committee mailing list (arbcom-l). In the event of a committee member being the subject of the complaint, the complaint may be forwarded to any individual committee member. That committee member will initiate a discussion on one of the alternate mailing lists, with the committee member who is the subject of the complaint unsubscribed from the list for the duration of the discussion. Over the course of the investigation, the Arbitration Committee may draw upon the experience of members of the functionaries team to aid in the investigation.

Support: kelapstick, Doug Weller, Keilana, Drmies, GorillaWarfare, DGG, Opabinia regalis, Kirill Lokshin, Salvio giuliano, Courcelles, Guerillero, Callanecc, Cas Liber

For the Arbitration Committee, Doug Weller talk 16:49, 14 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Discuss this at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard#The Arbitration Committee Audit Subcommittee (AUSC) disbanded

Removal of CU/OS tools from the community members of AUSC whose terms have expired

AUSC community members who do not hold CU and OS tools in their own right are given them during their period on AUSC. As their terms have now expired, the checkuser permissions of:

MBisanz (talk · contribs)
Joe Decker (talk · contribs)

and the oversight permission of:

Joe Decker (talk · contribs)

are removed. The committee thanks them for their service.

Support: Doug Weller, DGG, Kelapstick, Callanecc, Opabinia regalis, Drmies, Gamaliel, Guerillero, Salvio giuliano

For the Arbitration Committee, Doug Weller talk 16:49, 14 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Discuss this at: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee#Removal of CU/OS tools from the community members of AUSC whose terms have expired