Wikipedia talk:Summary motion regarding biographies of living people deletions

Documentation

This page is intended to document the arb-com ruling resulting in critical changes to WP:BLPDEL ▒ Wirεłεşş ▒ Fidεłitұ ▒ Ćłâşş ▒ Θnε ▒ _―Œ ^{♣Łεâvε Ξ мεşşâgε♣} 18:17, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

Has the motion passed yet? –Juliancolton | ^Talk 21:47, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

No. Presuming it does pass, that won't happen until sometime tomorrow, at least 10 hours from now, maybe longer. Dougweller (talk) 21:54, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

Page title

I'm not a huge fan of the current page title ("Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Ruling (BLP Deletions)"). It's a bit awkward, uses an initialism, and could probably be stuck somewhere as a subpage. Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Motions/Biographies of living people deletions? Thoughts? --MZMcBride (talk) 22:51, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

Your call. Change it to whatever you might think is alright. I named it just the way it ought to be to assist future editors in deleting unsourced BLPs without going through unwanted rigmarole procs. ▒ Wirεłεşş ▒ Fidεłitұ ▒ Ćłâşş ▒ Θnε ▒ _―Œ ^{♣Łεâvε Ξ мεşşâgε♣} 06:30, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Introduction

I do not think that the introduction, which reads

This is a summary of a ruling by the Arbitration Committee that clarified that certain administrators, who mass-deleted unsourced biographies of living people, were to be commended,

is entirely accurate.

When one reads the statement,

The administrators who carried out these actions are commended for their efforts to enforce policy and uphold the quality of the encyclopedia, but are urged to conduct future activities in a less chaotic manner, [Italics added]

it seems to both commend and condemn. That is, on the one hand it commends those editors for their efforts and dedication to the quality of the project. On the other hand, it condemns them for the chaotic manner in which they handled the matter. One can only draw the inference from urging them “to conduct future activities in a less chaotic manner,” that the manner in which this issue was dealt with was flawed and that a better, less chaotic, method be developed (a process that is underway at various places in Wikipedia).

My point is that the introduction to this essay only focuses on the commendation and ignores the condemnation, no matter how subtle the latter may have been. — SpikeToronto 06:31, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Go ahead! Change it! ▒ Wirεłεşş ▒ Fidεłitұ ▒ Ćłâşş ▒ Θnε ▒ _―Œ ^{♣Łεâvε Ξ мεşşâgε♣} 07:07, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Okay! I’ll work on it. I wasn’t sure, since this dealt with ArbCom “stuff”, if just anybody could edit the project page. Thanks! — SpikeToronto 07:10, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

A fellow editor pared the introduction down to the point where it no longer satisfied WP:LEAD inasmuch as it no longer “define[d] the topic and summarize[d] the body of the article with appropriate weight.” The rationale for this should be discussed here. I have reverted it until we can arrive at a consensus as to whether we should have such a minimal introduction. — SpikeToronto 19:18, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

Guideline status

An IP tagged this as a {{guideline}}, but since there was no consensus to do so as far as I can see, I've reverted. –Juliancolton | ^Talk 21:29, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Do you object to the tag? --MZMcBride (talk) 21:41, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

I, with all due respect, object to the tag. The mass deletions, until consensus is reached are outside policy. And, ArbCom does not make policy, it settles disputes. It arbitrates, hence its name. In this case, they merely voted not to sanction anyone, to amnesty their actions. So how can their summary decision on this matter have resulted in a guideline? — SpikeToronto 22:47, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

ArbCom has the remit to set policy, however. Sceptre ^(talk) 19:19, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

How can it be a guideline? As Coren has said today, "The motion certainly permits nothing, simply noted that deletion of unsourced BLPs in the absence of a proper procedure to do so was a reasonable step at the time. Now that productive discussion is ongoing about how to go about this, further actions outside of consensus is, at best, ill-advised since it can actually harm the chances of solving this properly.". Dougweller (talk) 19:50, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

I'm just saying that ArbCom does have a remit to set policy, though. I'm not arguing this page's status, though. Sceptre ^(talk) 22:15, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

Sceptre, would you mind pointing me to where it says that ArbCom has the authority to set policy? I am not challenging you; it’s just that I’ve heard so many Administrators say that ArbCom is not so empowered. So, if there is some wikilink that you could provide that would certainly clear it up for me. Thanks! — SpikeToronto 22:46, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

ArbCom decisions are understood to be binding on the community, and thus decisions enjoy the status of policy in the situations they apply to. Sceptre ^(talk) 23:01, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

Essentially, ArbCom is our “Supreme Court,” if you will. It is our last stage in the dispute resolution process. Their decisions are binding only inasmuch as “[i]t has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors.” (WP:ARBCOM) Further, ArbCom “primarily investigate interpersonal disputes.” (WP:AP) They are a juridical body, not a legislative or executive body, both of which set policy and legislation. A juridical panel’s decisions as to disputes are made based on the policies/guidelines/laws/etc. set out by the other two bodies.

In the case of Wikipedia, it is the community of Wikipedians at large that acts as the legislature and it is the community that sets policy. Arbcom, as our juridical branch, makes binding decisions based on the set of policies and guidelines set by the community. It does not hand policy down to us, we hand policy up to it. (However, ArbCom does set its own procedures.) Their binding decisions are made in the context of policies and guidelines that we, the Wikipeida community, have constructed through our process of consensus.

Thus, in the context of the unsourced BLP deletions, ArbCom is/was weighing in on the interpersonal dispute between two bodies of Administrators and their concomitant behavior. It is not attempting to formulate policy. That would not be within its remit. It would, however, be within its remit to determine what interpretation of policy is correct and what behavior made concomitant to that interpretation is acceptable. Thanks! — SpikeToronto 06:19, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Amnesty

Since, by definition, an amnesty is retroactive and not prospective, then that would mean that any Administrators that continue in the manner in which this all began would not be covered by it. This is all the more so since the language of ArbCom is written in the (conditional) past tense. Is that interpretation correct? Thanks! — SpikeToronto 22:49, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

Well, <ahem>, read the motion... Arbcom thinks deleting unsourced BLPs is brilliant, commendable, and should be continued in the future. Or am I synthesizing words? ▒ Wirεłεşş ▒ Fidεłitұ ▒ Ćłâşş ▒ Θnε ▒ _―Œ ^{♣Łεâvε Ξ мεşşâgε♣} 09:18, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Look at comments by Arbs on the current case request Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case, eg " the message needs to get across that the amnesty recently passed was for the actions taken that led to this current sprawling discussion (which needed to happen). However, any actions taken after that point are not covered by the amnesty, and anyone continuing to try and force things through will be removed from the discussions (with or without any tools they have) to allow calmer heads to prevail." and "The motion certainly permits nothing, simply noted that deletion of unsourced BLPs in the absence of a proper procedure to do so was a reasonable step at the time. Now that productive discussion is ongoing about how to go about this, further actions outside of consensus is, at best, ill-advised since it can actually harm the chances of solving this properly." That seems pretty clear to me. Dougweller (talk) 09:31, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Converting this essay into a guideline

I suggest, given the motion (read it pl), we convert this page into a guideline (rather than a supplemental essay). In case Rfds and other discussions on other forums result in this motion of Arbcom being minimalised, we convert this page back to a supplemental essay. Any issues? ▒ Wirεłεşş ▒ Fidεłitұ ▒ Ćłâşş ▒ Θnε ▒ _―Œ ^{♣Łεâvε Ξ мεşşâgε♣} 09:21, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

We are already discussing this 2 sections above. It's not a guideline. Dougweller (talk) 09:33, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Wifione, please see Guideline status section above. Thanks! — SpikeToronto 09:46, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Thanks ▒ Wirεłεşş ▒ Fidεłitұ ▒ Ćłâşş ▒ Θnε ▒ _―Œ ^{♣Łεâvε Ξ мεşşâgε♣} 06:10, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Badlydrawnjeff case

I presume that means Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Badlydrawnjeff? It took me about an hour to find that and I'm fairly resourceful! Could it be linked from the essay somewhere for the less-resourceful newer editors? Thanks --Jubilee♫clipman 00:09, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

 ▒ ♪ ♫ Wifione ♫ ♪ ▒ _―Œ ^{♣Łeave Ξ мessage♣} 04:57, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, Wifione --Jubilee♫clipman 15:02, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

Moved/removed

The page was moved out of arb com umbrella due to the additions on the page beyond what the summary motion had given. So have had to delete all external references and keep the page focussed on the arb com ruling. Per discussions [Wikipedia_talk:Arbitration_Committee/Noticeboard#Duplicate_BLP_motion discussions here]. Thanks ♪ ♫ Wifione ♫ ♪ _―Œ ^{♣Łeave Ξ мessage♣} 06:48, 26 March 2010 (UTC)

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

Request for clarification: Summary out-of-process deletions

Initiated by Maurreen (talk) at 08:27, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

List of any users involved or directly affected, and confirmation that all are aware of the request:

• Maurreen (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) (initiator)
• Kevin (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA), and anyone who follows his example with such out-of-process deletions -- notification

Statement by Maurreen

As a minimum, I ask the committee to prevent any out-of-process deletions while it considers these issues with more information and deliberation than involved in the orginal case.

In short:

• The committe said, "The administrators who carried out these actions are commended for their efforts to enforce policy and uphold the quality of the encyclopedia, but are urged to conduct future activities in a less chaotic manner." And "Everyone is asked to continue working together to improve and uphold the goals of our project." (Emphasis added.)
  • User:Kevin recently wrote that I intend to pick up where I left off in January].
  • There is indication that other people have done similar deletions since the ArbCom's decision. But this deserves further research before I name names here.
• "The Committee recommends, in particular, that a request for comments be opened to centralize discussion on the most efficient way to proceed with the effective enforcement of the policy on biographies of living people."
  • That RFC has progressed.
  • WP:BLPs are being rapidly sourced.

I might or might not add more to my statement. That depends on factors on- and -off wiki. Maurreen (talk) 08:27, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Reply to Doc -- About why this is at arbitration: Mainly because Kevin recently wrote that "I intend to pick up where I left off in January."

I agree that the consensus is reasonable, one that most people on both sides of the issue can live with. I think that we ought not let outliers on either side work against that consensus. Maurreen (talk) 15:38, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

If ArbCom agrees with SirFozzie about looking dimly "on attempts to force the issue on either side" -- I think that firmly clarifying that position should efficiently address the immediate matter at hand. Maurreen (talk) 05:09, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Reply to Steve Smith -- We agree that the *issue* is contentious. That is not the same as saying that any given article, the specific articles that have been deleted, or unsourced BLPs in general are contentious. Maurreen (talk) 18:09, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

One motivating factor for those supporting the out-of-process deletions seems to be the perceived urgent need for such unilateral action, with no oversight or clear record. For the moment, putting aside whether these should be deleted or not -- If they deserve delection, they should go through our standard processes. Why do something drastic and contentious, when a routine method is available? Maurreen (talk) 18:47, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Administrators have special tools, not special authority.

If deletion of BLPs for the sole reason of having no sourcing was supported by the community, there would be many more of them at WP:PROD. There are very few at WP:PROD. Here is a list of Prod'd articles, with the justification. I expect that a sole rationale of "unsourced BLP" is used less than an average of once a day. Maurreen (talk) 19:23, 8 March 2010 (UTC) (Added two sentences, forgot sig earlier.)

A little elaboration on Baloonman's suggestion of how ArbCom might handle this efficiently -- In a nutshell, the result of the RFC is:

1. The community supports sticky prods for new unsourced BLPs.
2. In general, the deletion side is willing to wait a few months to see if they believe further action is necessary.

I believe that people on both side will agree that this is the result of the RFC, regardless of how much they like it.

Work on the sticky prods is proceeding apace. Maurreen (talk) 21:02, 8 March 2010 (UTC) (Forgot sig earlier.)

During the RFC, Doc (from the "deletion" side) suggested a compromise. That compromise included "Do nothing for three months, so see if the recent falls in the backlog continue," and "If the progress stalls and the backlog stops falling at the current rate, then in three months we may need to start discussing deadlines."

To the best of my knowledge, no one from the deletion side objected to the suggested three-month wait-and-see period for old unreferenced BLPs.

Especially given that they did not object during the RFC, I see no justification for unilateral contentious behavior, or to condone it, implicitly or explicitly. Maurreen (talk) 21:02, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

No evidence has been given that unsourced BLPs are otherwise more problematic than sourced BLPs. Limited evidence is available that there is no correlation between sourcing and other aspects. For one external example -- The On Wikipedia blog has been researching WP. Of 15 BLPs, the BLP subjects were roughly evenly divided as to their opinions on how accurate, complete and unbiased the pages were. At the bottom of the page, in a comment responding to me, the blogger said the sourcing in all articles was poor.

The focus whether the article has *a source* is misplaced. If *a correct source* was added to all our articles overnight, that wouldn't make the articles more accurate or less biased. It would only mean *a source* had been added. This focus whitewashes true problems.

I've read sometimes that the community brought this on itself, because it did not rectify "the problem." But the community is all of us. Destructive measures should be a last resort. They should not be used unless substantive productive methods have clearly failed. As just one example, what notice was given for deleting said articles? Did the deleters either publicly warn the community or directly warn the specific article editors? Maurreen (talk) 05:06, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

And do the deleters source any of these articles, or do they think they have to destroy the village in order to save it? Maurreen (talk) 09:00, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

If ArbCom allows out-of-process deletions, either explicitly or implicitly, after the committee's original motion, that can significantly decrease incentive for people "to continue working together" (as encouraged by the committee's original motion) whether on addressing any BLP problems or in whether and how they contribute to encyclopedia more generally. Maurreen (talk) 06:05, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

Some people are trying to work together. Some people on both sides push boundaries.

User:Coffee has re-prodded articles after the tag has been removed. Coffee has changed the instructions on some WP:PROD tags to indicate that the tag is to stay on until references are given. Neely Tucker and P. Paul Verma

This is explicitly against instructions at WP:PROD, which say: "If anyone, including the article creator, removes a prod tag from an article, do not replace it, even if the tag was apparently removed in bad faith. This excludes removals that are clearly not an objection to deletion, such as page blanking or obvious vandalism. If you still believe that the article needs to be deleted, or that the article should be deleted but with discussion, list it on Wikipedia:Articles for deletion."

I would like to clarify to ArbCom that the purpose of my request for clarification is not to support either side.

I am asking the committee to firmly support the middle ground -- the compromise by the community found in the result of the RFC. Maurreen (talk) 16:46, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

Related

A number of issues are related to the larger "BLP problem."

We could be working on more-effective steps than just adding a source.

A number of options have come up in other discussions. One of those possibilities is this template. The details of the template and any views on it are not my point here. My point here is that:

1. The positive effect of just adding a source is minimal at best.
2. The community is distracted from working on more-effective solutions while it focuses on whether BLPs have a source.
3. The occurrence or threat of summary deletions is discouraging. Maurreen (talk) 17:02, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Scott or anyone -- I keep hearing that "the community failed."

I had been away from WP for a few years. I would be interested in learning of what steps, if any, were tried and failed before the mass deletions. Maurreen (talk) 17:15, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Reply to Carcharoth

Your response is confusing to me.

By "It will be difficult to get something that has wide-ranging agreement," were you referring to agreement within ArbCom or agreement within the community?

About "What would help, I think, is some set deadlines here" -- Point 4 of Part 2 of Balloonman's proposal in the RFC set goals to reduce old unsourced BLPs to zero within a year. That was accepted by the community, with !votes of 52 to 33.

Some of your statements concerning out-of-process deletions seem to go back and forth.

Should the following be understood to best represent your view on out-of-process deletions?

"BUT, the preceding would only apply if all other options had been exhausted. As others have said, the removal of contentious material applies to article text, not to entire articles. There is no visible consensus to extend such removal to entire articles (though stubbing BLPs appears to be less controversial than it was). We are nowhere near the stage yet where those pushing for this should feel able to engage in out-of-process deletions, and people should still be actively trying to shape consensus on these matters and continue to reduce backlogs."

If so, thank you.

About "If there are deadlines in place regarding achieving consensus in the discussions, and there are people actively working towards those deadlines, could that be explicitly stated" -- There are no deadlines. I think deadlines would not serve consensus or the community. Please correct me if I'm misunderstanding. But any deadlines for discussion suggests that "If you don't decide this by x date, we will."

That seems like a threat. And I can't fathom how you expect to encourage people by using a threat.

If ArbCom is going to take over Wikipedia talk:Sticky Prod workshop, it might be better to do that sooner rather than later. That way, the rest of us won't waste our time.

It also sounds like a demand. Please remember that this is not a job. We have lives outside of WP. Not only is this volunteering, it is trying to achieve consensus among a group of people with diverse views and schedules and commitments who have been through a very divisive time on the general issue.

You asked, "Would there be any volunteers to oversee the discussions or are there people already unofficially doing this?" -- For whatever it's worth, I and a few others have been trying to keep things on track in a way that gets the most acceptance from the most people.

We are making progress. Our progress is probably slower han anyone would like. But there's nothing good that can be done about that. As far as I can tell, we're doing the best that is possible under the circumstances.

Those of us working to build the encyclopedia, whether through the Wikipedia talk:Sticky Prod workshop or by sourcing the BLPs, would be encouraged by substantive support from ArbCom.

By "substantive support," I mean a clear declaration against the out-of-process deletions. Maurreen (talk) 08:42, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

Reply to Balloonman

OK, point taken, majority but no consensus about deadlines to reduce number of old unsourced BLPs to zero within a year. Maurreen (talk) 22:26, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

Housekeeping update

For various reasons, I am taking an indefinite break from the sticky prod workshop. Maurreen (talk) 04:14, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

About any facilitation of the discussion to develop sticky prods

The short answer is that it might be best to get help from one or more impartial moderators.

As I mentioned earlier, a few of us had been working to keep the discussion on track and get the most acceptance from the most people. But such major housekeeping can be perceived negatively. That perception can be magnified by the fact that the housekeepers are involved in the discussion and apparently are on the same side in the "fix vs. delete" debate.

If appointing any moderator(s) is pursued, I encourage that to be done with consultation of at least one vocal editor from each "side." That should help encourage harmony all around. Maurreen (talk) 17:57, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

Proposed motion

I propose the following draft. Maurreen (talk) 09:02, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

The Committee has examined this matter. In light of the following considerations:

• The community has well-established procedures for deletion.
• Out-of-process deletions have led to divisiveness in the community.
• In Phase I of the RFC suggested by ArbCom to address unsourced biographies of living people, a proposal to delete on sight "any biography that is poorly referenced or completely unreferenced" was rejected by the community, 157 to 54.
• In Phase II of the same RFC, Scott Mac (Doc) suggested a compromise.
• The suggested compromise led to a formal proposal by Balloonman.
• The community has significantly reduced the number of unsourced BLPs.
• The community is developing a system to delete new unsourced BLPs.

The Committee has determined that:

• The community is progressing in addressing the issue of unsourced BLPs.
• The community should start a review of that progress in June.
• The community should strive to meet the goals outlined by Scott Mac (Doc) and Balloonman.
• Whatever justification that might have existed earlier for out-of-process deletion based solely on lack of sourcing, that justification does not currently exist.

Reply to Carcharoth

Will do. Thank you. Maurreen (talk) 05:59, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

I've put a note at the sticky prod pages and the RFC talk page. Also put notes on the talk pages of Kevin, Mr. Z-man, Balloonman, and Kudpung. Should I notify all the people who have commented here? I'm not sure of the ArbCom-related customs. Maurreen (talk) 06:58, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

I also notified Coffee. Maurreen (talk) 07:53, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Reply to Coffee

People keep bringing up policy and the foundation. Where do either support deletion for the sole reason of lack of sourcing? Maurreen (talk) 15:34, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Reply to Scott

One way that the motion is helpful is that it gives encouragement to those working on the problem that their work is not in vain. For example, it is discouraging to work on a compromise if summary deletions continue regardless. Maurreen (talk) 15:34, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Clarifying -- it is discouraging to work on a compromise when summary deletions have taken place after the original mass deletions that started this kertuffle.

Those deletions have been indicated elsewhere on this page. Maurreen (talk) 15:42, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

And knowing about any further such deletions might require either happenstance or an inordinate amount of detective work. Maurreen (talk) 16:02, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Reply to anyone who disagrees with my proposed motion

I am open to moderate suggestions. Specifics could be helpful.

The motion is intended to get the most acceptance from the most people. Thus, it essentially endorses the compromise suggested by Scott Mac (Doc), formalized by Balloonman, and supported by a large segment of the community. I note here that Scott Mac (Doc) and Balloonman are on opposite sides of the "fix vs. delete" debate. Maurreen (talk) 15:34, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

A lot is being done to address unsourced BLPs. This motion primarily addresses summary deletions. Thus, concerns of both "sides" are given consideration. Maurreen (talk) 16:33, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Closure

I agree that if nothing is going to happen here, this might as well close. Maurreen (talk) 02:49, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Balloonman

Should an admin unilaterally decide that an active RfC did not reach the conclusions that said admin desired, and started acting contrary to the consensus (or lack thereof) of the community, then said individual should be stripped of his/her adminship. The threatened action, if carried out, will be a willful premeditated action that could not be tolerated.---Balloonman ^{NO! I'm Spartacus!} 08:56, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Lar, there is nothing in WP:BLP or WP:CSD that says that a BLP article without sources is a candidate for speedy deletion. The only way that it is acceptable to speedy delete said article is if it is an attack page or copy vio... an argument could be made for articles about people who are known for breaking the rules/laws. The notion of speedy deleting BLP articles solely because they do not have sources has been universally rejected everytime it has been brought before the wider community.---Balloonman ^{NO! I'm Spartacus!} 20:29, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Steve Smith---your statement fails to address a key factor... just because a biography is unsourced does not mean that it is contentious. Kevin et al are not talking about limiting their deletion activities to just contentious materials, but intend to redefine the definition to cover any BLP that lacks sources.---Balloonman ^{NO! I'm Spartacus!} 15:21, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Steve, what is contentious is the careless deletion of unsourced BLPs, not the articles themselves. The "Contetntious Materials" in the policy deals with questionable material within the article itself. An article can be 100% accurate, factual, and neutral without citing a source. These articles are not by definition contentious except for a small minority of the community whose position was rejected in the recent RfCs. If you review the RfC's, you'll see several threads wherein the notion that an unsourced BLPs equates to a bad/POV articles has been rejected. You would be hard pressed to find any consensus to support the stance that the mere lack of sources makes an article contentious enough to warrant speedy deletion. This is a position held by a small minority of people who contributed to the RfCs. In fact, the reason why Kevin has made this threat, is because the community has roundly rejected that notion, and frankly if you can't see that in the threads, I have to question your objectivity on this subject! In order to be a good judge/arbitrator, you need to be able to put your personal position aside. If you can't do that, then you need to recluse yourself from this case. The fact that you see the RfC as supporting a notion which it clearly doesn't distresses me.---Balloonman ^{NO! I'm Spartacus!} 18:34, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

A couple of ArbCOM members have asked what actions can they take as a preventitive before creating a whole new slew of ArbCOM cases/issues. Simple. Make it clear that in your previous motion you referred the issue to an RfC, the RfC has happened, and all parties are expected to adhere to the outcome. Not everybody will be happy with it, but everybody needs to adhere to it. Sir Fozzie's statement would be a good foundation for such a clarification.---Balloonman ^{NO! I'm Spartacus!} 18:53, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

• @Cofee---we elected the members of ArbCOM because we trusted them to serve the community and to enforce policeis and guidelines as defined by the community. We did not elect them to override the communities wishes when the community explicitly wants something else. The community has spoken loudly and in several different forums, at the current time, it does not want or support the use of CSD to handle articles simply because they are unsourced. THAT is the position held by the minority of people. It is not ArbCOMs job to dictate policy... members of ArbCOM are free to use their reasoning/rationale as long as it reflects the will of the community. When a member of ArbCOM holds a personal view that is contrary to the community, I expect them to temper their personal position with those of the communities or to recluse themselves if they cannot. When a few members of ArbCOM start to dictate policies, then we get resolutions such as we did in the first phase of the RfC where there was a strong rebuke of ArbCOM's actions. ArbCOM's role is not to supercede that of the community and write policy. You may think that policy is on your side and you may think that this is a justifiable case for IAR, but the community thinks otherwise.---Balloonman ^{NO! I'm Spartacus!} 23:30, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

PS I must compliment those people who personally want CSD to be applied to unsourced BLPs (Z-Man, JClemens, Collect, et al) but respect the voice of the community. My stance here is not based upon my person stance, but rather upon the notion that when the community explicitly and repeatedly states something, the we have to adhere to those wishes until we can convince them that consensus has changed or an edict from Jimbo/WMF comes down. I think they realize that too.---Balloonman ^{NO! I'm Spartacus!} 23:35, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

@Maureen---I would not consider a 61% support to be a sign that consensus has been achieved. A majority yes, but the opposition provided strong rationale reasons for opposing my second proposal that I would not say it is consensus.---Balloonman ^{NO! I'm Spartacus!} 20:06, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

In response to Maureens request on my talk page, which was done at a request here, I do believe ArbCOM needs to make some sort of statement affirming the RfC. In its previous motion, ArbCOM opened a can of worms by praising and condoning the out-of-process deletions. While the subject of deleting unsourced BLP's is a conetntious one, the articles generally are not. In its previous motion, ArbCOM referred the issue to the community. The community has repeatedly rejected the notion of wholesales deletions for the sole reason that they are unsourced. This position came through in spades at the RfC, yet we still have people who have threated and/or implied that they intend to do so anyways (including one member of ArbCOM who supports doing so!) The first time, we can say, "OK, this get the ball rolling." But when the community speaks in a loud clear voice, ArbCOM needs to support that position. It doesn't matter what your personal views are on the subject are, the role of ArbCOM is not to override clear community consensus. It doesn't matter if ArbCOM hoped for/expected a different result, you referred the issue to RfC. In doing so, you acknowledged that the issue was beyond the scope of the few members of ArbCOM, and subjected your position to the will of the community. The RfC made certain issues very clear (namely no out of process deletions) now you (ArbCOM) have to support that position (until the community and/or Foundation say otherwise.) If you don't, then it will only be a matter of time before somebody decides to follow-up on Kevin's threat.---Balloonman ^{NO! I'm Spartacus!} 14:05, 18 March 2010 (UTC) @Carcharoth: I came across a BLP today that had not been tagged in any way whatsoever, so that area still needs attention. I think that is a large part of the reason why people are reluctant to accept a firm timeline as I proposed. We really don't know how big the issue is. Furthermore, I've seen some evidence since the RfC that some people want to have BLP-CREEP enter the fray. EG define BLPs to include organization, clubs, activities, events, etc using the logic that if there is a negative reference to the subject, then we are ultimately inditing the living people who might be involved with said subject! If that position goes through, then virtually every article on WP could be subject to BLP!---Balloonman ^{NO! I'm Spartacus!} 16:46, 18 March 2010 (UTC) I have to agree with Lar, if the committee isn't going to address the mess they helped create, then we might as well close it now---it's pretty obvious that the committee is unable or unwilling to act.---Balloonman ^{NO! I'm Spartacus!} 22:40, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Tarc

Reject this as patent nonsense, please. Nothing in the RfC precludes administrators from doing their job, which is to uphold WP:BLP, whether it be deleting unsourced contentious articles, tagging, PRODding, and so on. There is still this ridiculous attitude of "let's wait and leave the articles be, someone, sometime will get to them eventually." Enough, already. Tarc (talk) 12:25, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by WereSpielChequers

wp:BLP can be upheld without disruptive editing or disruptive use of admin tools. Now would be a good time for Arbcom to remind all editors to inform the creator and other substantial contributors when prodding or otherwise tagging articles for deletion, and to remind editors "When nominating due to sourcing or notability concerns, make a good-faith attempt to confirm that such sources don't exist". I think that the BLP RFC is very close to getting consensus for a major change to BLP policy that would make an exception to the latter, and it would be a great shame if that was derailed by another out of process deletion spree. ϢereSpielChequers 13:06, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Peter cohen

The RfC has reached a conclusion. Some of us are prepared to live with it even though we did not like it. Others have issued threats to start the deletion spree again against consensus and then [agreed with their mates to do so]. The contempt shown by certain admins for process and consensus makes them unfit to hold the tools that they abuse. Firm action is required of arbcom rather than the previous wishy-washy motion which has made the offenders feel they can get away with more of the same.--Peter cohen (talk) 13:57, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

• Reply to Kirill. This is not something that ahs not happenned yet. User:Scott MacDonald, for example, has deleted Stephanie Sanders this month with the explanation "unreferenced BLP for 2 1/2 years, no one seems able to source. I will undelete if anyone willing)" How people were expected to notice unless they checked for evidence of his carryign out his thrats, I do not know. MacDonald is well aware that the number of labelled unreferenced BLPs has declined by roughly a quarter so far this year. However, rather than working in a collaborative manner, he is acting in an extremely disruptibve and WP:POINTy manner which demonstrates him to be someone who should not be trusted with his sysop tools. This needs firm action by arbcom rather than vaascillation.--Peter cohen (talk) 20:10, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
  • Reply to several arbiters below. Your first attempt at dealing with this matter attracted well-deserved derision from many well-established Wikipedians. You are going the same way with your response to this request. Several of you are maintaining that you are being faced with a hypothetical situation when both I and others have given you examples of speedy deletes of long existent articles earlier this month. If you are demonstrating that youy have not read properly the evidence with which you are presented, then how can you expect your judgment to be respected?--Peter cohen (talk) 13:19, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Scott MacDonald

Speedy deletion isn't ideal here. We need a robust alternative that effectively deals with unrefereced BLPs. Speedy deletion is, however, preferable to continuing with a failed policy of evantualism.

In effect, those of us using speedy deletion agreed a voluntary moratorium to allow the community to develop an alternative. In my opinion, there seemed to be an adequate way forward with "sticky prod" for new BLPs and some deadlined for clearing the backlog. If the current rate of sourcing continues, then no deletions might be necessary. If not, then some level of sticky-prodding might be. I think there was some consensus around this.

Unfortunately, as the weeks have gone on, there seems to have been a tendency either to talk this to death (see fillibuster), or to add a WP:BEFORE requirement - which effectively switches the burden back on to the person proposing deletion: if no-one is willing to look for sources, then the article remains (that's the failed eventualist policy again).

There certainly should be no immediate return to systematic speedy deletion. However, given that it was the initiative of speedy deletion that was the catalyst to the current discussions, I'd strongly suggest that any ban on deletions would allow continued delay and inertia.

We hope for an alternative to speedy, but the clock is ticking and patience shows some signs of running out. Perhaps those bringing this case would do better spend their time better seeking a working alternative pretty damn soon.

I'm not sure we're not talking at cross-purposes here. The consensus I thought there was (sticky-prod for new BLPs, a one-year deadline for the backlog, with a review in 3months to see if we are "on target) is certainly one I can live with. The problem is that the RFC pages have become so convoluted and there appear to have been numerous attempts to summarise an close, that I've no idea what it is that I'm supposed not to be content with. Can someone actually tell us where this is at, and why a sticky prod isn't running yet? People are speaking about admins not getting their own way, but I've absolutely no idea whether there's a problem or not, the pages just confuse me. There may be no problem here at all. Why is this even at arbitration?--Scott Mac (Doc) 15:23, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

It is perfectly reasonable for admins to issue reminders that moratoria dealing with BLP problems don't last for ever, and that this one will soon expire. As Lar has said, get the alternatives up and running, and the problem goes away.--Scott Mac (Doc) 17:18, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Comment on Maureen's motion This is unhelpful. Firstly, on the "out of process deletions" issue, there is no problem to be solved. There have been no such deletions, and there won't be any if those involved stop wasting time at arbcom and get their act together. There is a consensus for "sticky prod" but, frankly, weeks turn to months, and we have no sticky prod. What could have been a simple solution "prod tags may not be removed from unsourced BLPs unless a source is added" has been frustrated because after the community agreed the principle, most users thought the job was done, and an extremely small group of users (many of whom don't like the basic idea) have spent weeks either disputing the underlying principle or quibbling on the warning tag wording. They wore me down - so I've now withdrawn. The biggest threat to the peace is this process dragging on for any longer. To those who want to avoid irregular deletions, make this process happen NOW - and note how those of us involved in those deletions have a) stopped deleting (months ago) to let this happen b) already indicated that there will be no resumption when this is up and running.

Why is this at arbitration? I have no idea. But the statement that "Whatever justification that might have existed earlier for out-of-process deletion based solely on lack of sourcing, that justification does not currently exist" - has been true for weeks and no one has said otherwise. However, the "does not currently" is, for me, predicated on the consensus outlined by Maureen being actualised. That's beginning to look like a problem. Arbcom will make this worse if they rule against the threat of resumed deletions whilst not preventing further delays in the agreed alternative. Carcharoth's comments simply confuse me - leaders are not the problem, the problem is filibustering.--Scott Mac (Doc) 09:06, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

• @Maureen. You say "it is discouraging to work on a compromise if summary deletions continue regardless." Yes, but summary deletions have ceased months ago, and have not continued, precisely on the basis that we had a better way forward. The problem here is the failure to implement consensus which was not to use summary deletions because we had an agreed way forward. The problem is that the agreement has failed to be implemented. The solution is to implement it, not to look to bar hypotheticals predicated on what happens if consensus is not implemented - or continues to be obstructed by prevarication. --Scott Mac (Doc) 15:44, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Point of order

The non-threaded nature of this page is not a successful mechanism for continuing this discussion. We've now got comments from various people, on various topics, arbs comments, and a cycle of disordered responses "@" someone, all over a period of a week or so. I'm thoroughly confused and don't know who or what I'm responding to, or how to correct some misleading statements of what's happened. I'd strongly suggest that this isn't a discussion that can be handled as a "clarification" or by motion. Arbcom should either reject this, since no current userconduct issues are raised, or (if they must) open a full case. I'm unwatching now, because this is giving me a headache (and that's not a reflection on anyone's good faith).--Scott Mac (Doc) 17:31, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Collect

"Isn't ideal"?

The use of this threat of speedy deletion goes specifically against the ArbCom motion as elucidated, and against the letter and spirit of WP policies and guidelines at this point.

It is clear, moreover, that the RfCs had definitely reached consensus on many issues. That it was not the precise consensus desired by some admins is not a mark of a problem with the process, it is a mark of the use of the ArbCom motion as a rationale to avoid facing the real and proper results of the actions of such admins who do not accept consensus which is the problem. Impose the penalties apparently sought by such admins. Collect (talk) 14:51, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Appending: Maurreens's proposed motion ought to be well considered by the Committee, and adopted. It is provided within the tradional WP processes and procedures, and has strong community support as far as I can determine. It reflects carefully the results of the RfCs held, and seeks to restore the rule of WP consensus being the basis for WP policies and guidelines. My earlier comments in this and other actions apply with full force and vigor. Collect (talk) 12:38, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Okip

The reason that disruptive editors such as Kevin continue to delete articles against our rules is because arbitrration gave them a free pass. We have already been here, this is the third time. First their was the amnesty of disruptive administrators Scott Macdonald, Kevin and Lar, then there was the arbitration request for disruptive wheel warring editor Coffee, and now this.

Arbitration has sent a clear message to the community: If administrators blatantly disrupt and break wikipedia rules, having "utter contempt" for "community consensus" (deleted from talk page with a rationale for behavior)[1] it is okay as long as the majority of the arbitration committee supports their disruption.

I have absolutely no faith that the arbitration committee will do the right thing here and accept the case, because the arbitration committee and Mr. Wales himself[2][3] have already shown complete contempt for our established rules and established consensus with these bullying editors before. Okip 17:22, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Response to Lar, one of the three original rule breaking administrators who received amnesty by the arbitration committee:

Deleting full unsourced articles is not within policy, such as you did Lar: [4] that is why an amnesty was necessary Lar, amnesty is defined as "a period during which offenders are exempt from punishment" you were an offender who the arbitration committee exempted from punishment. I grow extremely tired of these disruptive administrators[5] who, if there was actually any fairness and equality on wikipedia would have lost there adminiship a month ago, instead of continually trying to silence editors and rewrite the history of their extreme contemptible rule breaking behavior. Okip 17:32, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Lar continues to attempt to silence me with threats,[6] yet more threats from the same group of disruptive bullying administrators. I am so disgusted that the arbitration committee has emboldened these disruptive editors to continue to threaten, bully, and silence other editors.

I strongly encourage them to take this case, instead of giving these disruptive administrators continued amnesty for their disruption. Okip 18:03, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

In Lar's continued threats, he pointed out something I was not aware of, that the arbitration committee found that

"The Committee has found that Lar's actions during the BLP deletion incident were entirely supported by policy." [7]

The same arbitration committee which gave Lar amnesty, now ignores the community's rules and states that Lar broke no rules. I strongly disagree with this arbitration decision. Okip 18:07, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Lar

Deletion of unsourced material is entirely within policy. Admins are empowered to use whatever tools are available to do so. If some group wants a particular process used, get the process done so it can be used instead of frittering away time on endless prevarication. Get sticky prod up and running, instead of wasting everyone's time with requests like this one. I urge ArbCom to reject this request for clarification with a clear statement that the matter is not open to further debate, either develop a process, or get out of the way. ++Lar: t/c 17:12, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

To Okip... You are confused about who is violating what, or to whom amnesty was granted. ArbCom was specifically asked to comment on (among other matters)

The allegation that Lar has violated English Wikipedia policy and ignored consensus (except in cases where consensus is trumped by Foundation directives) regarding deletion of Biographies of Living Persons.

Their reply was

The Committee has found that Lar's actions during the BLP deletion incident were entirely supported by policy.

In other words, I didn't need an amnesty since I violated no policy. Sorry if that's "arrogant" of me to point out, but you're so confused on this point that it merits direct refutation. You should stop ranting. It's really rather unbecoming. I am minded to ask ArbCom for a sanction on your actions since you continue to make unfounded and scurrilous allegations even after being repeatedly warned about it. ++Lar: t/c 17:45, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

If I may be so bold I would like to suggest that the Committee come to grips with what to do here, even if it is "close no action" or "await further developments in process X" or what have you, as this has been sitting a while now. ++Lar: t/c 16:37, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Calliopejen1

Even if summary deletion were an appropriate action at one time, it has now been rejected by the community (see Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Biographies of living people/Phase I#View by MZMcBride). This supersedes whatever policy clarification (or whatever you want to call it) issued by arbcom in its past motion (see Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Biographies of living people/Phase I#View by Sandstein). The problem of summary deletions is not merely theoretical at this time. User:Buckshot06 speedy-deleted John Murphy (techncial analyst) on March 6 on the grounds that it was an unreferenced BLP. The arbcom's vague motion in the prior case has created confusion and encouraged administrators to violate consensus whenever their views of policy differ from the community's. I encourage the committee to take this case because it would prevent drama-causing deletions and allow the community to develop appropriate consensus-backed policies without the threat of rogue administrative action. Calliopejen1 (talk) 18:45, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

To respond to arbitrators' misconceptions:

• This is not a matter of "something that hasn't happened yet". As I showed above, at least one administrator speedy deleted an uncontentious unsourced BLP as recently as March 6. Furthermore, it is impossible to compromise when one side holds over the other side's head the threat of not abiding by consensus.
• This is not a dispute about "contentious material", as Steve Smith writes. This is a dispute about uncontentious BLPs being deleted simply because they are unsourced. (No, not everything unsourced is contentious--see Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Biographies of living people/Content.) And what on earth is Steve Smith trying to convey when he says "WP:IAR should never override WP:BLP"? I don't think anyone has ever invoked WP:IAR to override WP:BLP. This seems like a total strawman. Calliopejen1 (talk) 12:46, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Pohick2

i resurrected the article John Murphy (techncial analyst) with references. i would say marginal keep, but process circumvented. i note some earlier examples: a macarthur winner getting proded, [8]; president of vassar geting Proded [9]; a guggenheim getting a speedy [10]; a guggenheim getting prod'ed [11] it would seem there is a process problem. Pohick2 (talk) 19:23, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

i agree a process is needed to review BLP's, delete the non-notable and keep the notable. references are part of it. i am concerned that there is a lack of common sense, where clearly notable, but without references are thrown out with the bathwater. a ticking time bomb is not a solution; editing is. Pohick2 (talk) 04:27, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Jclemens

One thing that seems to have been missing in this discussion is the fact that the out-of-process deletions were held to be more disruptive and harmful than the simple existence of unsourced (vs. contentious/negative unsourced) BLPs. Consensus has quite thoroughly pointed out that the emperor has no clothes: IAR involves improving Wikipedia, yet there is a consensus that widespread, out-of-process deletions of unsourced BLP material do no such thing. There is no CSD for "unreferenced BLP", newly created or preexisting, nor will there likely ever be, based on the RFC's consensus. Absent consensus to add a speedy criterion, and absent agreement that deleting unreferenced BLPs out of process is improving the encyclopedia, there is absolutely no justification for further out of process deletions. While the amnesty may indeed have been the right way to deal with prior rash actions, the RFC consensus is clear: the community does not support out of process deletions as a remedy, the participants know this, and any future actions taken against consensus are incompatible with assuming good faith. Jclemens (talk) 22:52, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Response to Steve Smith: There's no objection to deletion of unsourced article content, nor has there been. This request for clarification focuses solely on the deletion (specifically, ongoing and threatened future deletion) of entire articles using criteria that do not exist as part of CSD, and that have been specifically rejected by the community. WP:BURDEN does not allow for the speedy deletion of articles, and CSD criteria G10 and A7 allow speedy deletion of BLPs only in certain limited cases. Jclemens (talk) 19:55, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Kevin

I had hoped that my actions would spur on some real change, even just a sign that Wikipedia had turned a corner and was now ready to act in a responsible manner toward BLP subjects. Deletion of the unsourced BLPs is of course only a small step, but it would have been one that showed that change was taking place.

Rather than force ARBCOM to once again deal with this, I shall withdraw from the project desist from deletions in line with Scott. Kevin (talk) 22:11, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Casliber

Two things - (1) as a staunch inclusionist, I can now admit I can live with mass deletion of unsourced BLPs as long as there is some register or list, so folks can readily review, source and re-add articles. (2) we need to aggressively ensure that a collaborative environment is enforced. Giving one side a free pass and excusing their incivility is extremely bad for morale. Leaders need to be unifiers. Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:40, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Kudpung

I thoroughly support Casliber's statement above.
This comment is clearly not a threat. If anything, it is a perfectly justifiable warning about extremists and what they might do. The BLP RfC was exceptionally confusing, because it tried to address too many BLP issues in one discussion, making any one consensus extrememly difficult to identify. The RfC has been closed. The consensus has something in it to satisfy all but the most intransigent of extremists of either leaning. Most of us will probably live with the decision and act accordingly although it may be necessary to occasionally politely remind those who go OTT :

• Stricter controls over what gets published in BLP are needed - without interpreting Mr Wales's recent comments comments on it too liberally.
• Mass, arbitrary, or out-of-process deletions of a backlog are not a solution.
• Speedy deletion should be used with extreme discretion and only in non contentious cases (spam, hoax, vandalism, etc).
• Liberal tolerance of what gets published is definitely counter productive to the making of an encyclopedia.
• WP:BEFORE is a policy that is extremely difficult to enforce, but there are plenty of clear cut examples where many taggers do not even read the first line of the lead. Some form of policy action is required against such taggers.
• A sticky PROD will both educate and encourage new users to provide sources and continue editing.
• Some positive action has been done, such as the creation of workshops to address the separate issues.

--Kudpung (talk) 00:59, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

• Reply to Carcharoth
• Deadlines: Yes, setting deadlines is essential, but lets us not forget that most of us have full-times occupations as well.
• Natural leaders: Nice in principle, but in this entire saga there have already been too may chiefs and not enough Indians. So who would lead the leaders? Finally, as only FIVE people signed up for the task force, and one has given up in exasperation already, do we need a leader for such a small group?

--Kudpung (talk) 09:39, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by DGG

I can not accept the mass deletion of anything that is not proven to be harmful, and I do not think there was every any evidence that the unsourced BLP articles were even potentially harmful in any way more than the rest of Wikipedia. We have serious content problems, but they to a considerable extent are inseparable from the inherent problems of any project like ours that operates without editorial control: the need for truly competent referencing, for understandable writing, for balance in coverage between and among articles, for avoiding promotionalism of people's individual viewpoints, and, more especially, the need to update every article in Wikipedia in a regular and reliable manner. Certainly we must be careful of what we say, and this applies to every article in the encyclopedia. This is artificially generated hysteria, and the only explanation I can come to is that this is the unthinking reaction of people who recognize they have no hope of dealing with the real issues, and who are over-focussed on the mistakes they made in the past that permitted the out of control situation to develop. It's right that our founder and the other long-term Wikipedians who started a project that had inadequate standards should regret they did not insist on sourcing from the beginning--but their reaction is typical of those who try by harshness to make up for the sins of their childhood. What I think is truly harmful is anything that discourages new editors: the entire thrust of Wikipedia policy should be devoted to the encouragement of new people, , and the development of them into active and well-qualified editors, to replace the ones who will inevitably be leaving. This is done by helping the articles they write become good content. The proper reaction to an unsourced article is to source it, ideally by teaching the author how to do so, and impressing on them the need to do this in the future. What does not help is to remove it without doing everything feasible to see if it can be sourced, and if it can be considered important enough for the encyclopedia. In particular, the following are wrong:

• the idea that maintain a list of articles deleted will help--for how can someone who sees the bare names know what they might be qualified to work on. What will help is keeping the articles until they are properly worked on.
• time limits so short they prevent adequate sourcing. Some of those who argue in favor of mass deletions are insistent also on the quality of the sourcing, and they are right to do so, but they then have proposed extending mass deletion to anything that does not meet their standard. And some of them do so without in the least being prepared to do any actual work on them.
• the view that WP:BEFORE is unworkable. Making a cursory search in the googles is not difficult, and everybody who works here should be capable of it. the thought that we would want to remove what we have not looked at is about as rational as removing every tenth article from the encyclopedia blindly, on the grounds that something is probably wrong with them. There are easy ways to enforce it--one is to do delist any deletion request that does not include a search. those who want articles deleted will then search, as they ought to.
• the attitude that other people should do the work of improving Wikipedia. For someone to say, all I want to do is mark articles to delete, and I don't care whether they ought to be deleted. Let other people figure that out is irresponsible and unconstructive and uncooperative. Those people who care that articles should be sourced, should want to source them. To say that I want article to be sourced, and you others go source them, is insolent, and against the egalitarian principles of the project. It's the statement of a boss, of a dictator, of a policeman: let the plebeians do the work, and we will judge it. Rather, the only people qualified to judge are those who are prepared themselves to work, and thus prove they understand what is wanted.
• the view that "liberal tolerance" of what gets published is counterproductive. It's exactly the opposite. We need liberal tolerance of what gets started , in order that we may improve it. It's the only productive course for making as wide-ranging encyclopedia as we are aiming at.
• the view expressed by one of the arbitrators that because the existence of apparently innocuous unsourced material is challenged, it must be removed. I could remove half the encyclopedia that way. Contentious material means material which is contended to be harmful or incorrect in good faith , on the basis of reason., not blind assertion.
• the previous decision of the arbitrators to commend those who removed material without looking at it. This will lead to the tyranny of whatever group among the arbitrators is in the majority among arb com. Arb com has essentially said, do whatever you like, as long as we agree with it. What is called for now is for them to repudiate that view. I hope they pronounced it because they did not realize the consequences.

I joined Wikipedia to improve its quality. i recognized it would be a slow process. It does not surprise me that it is not faster, and I thus have no reason to get angry because I had misjudged he difficulty. I am , however, beginning to get exasperated at those who would prevent me and the others from improving it. I am probably a little unrealistic to get angry at those in authority who have no better idea than to abet them, for it should not really have surprised me that such is the nature of authority. I have tried not to use names. Too many people are at fault. It would be wrong to criticize only those who have made the most noise about it. DGG ( talk ) 04:42, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

• • Response to Steve Smith: I join with the others who are of the opinion that your view that all unsourced BLP articles are inherently contentious is unsupported by evidence, by consensus, by logic, by any special meaning of words as used at Wikipedia, by the ordinary meaning of words as used in the English language in general, or by anything except your own personal idiosyncratic view. I see that view as so extreme and so extraordinary that you should recuse yourself from this and any future discussions of the general issue.
  • Response to NYBrad: not only is there widespread but not universal consensus " that mass-deletion without the exercise of discretion about each specific article is not the way to go" but that there is similar consensus that any speedy deletions outside of established reasons for deletion is not the way to go. I have never seen nor can I easily imagine an article that would actually need speedy deletion for the sake of the encyclopedia that would not be not covered by existing rationales. DGG ( talk ) 22:53, 20 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Fences and windows

In another voting statement, Steve Smith says that "Rules either mean something or they do not." In this case it seems that rules mean whatever Steve Smith wants them to mean. There is a clear community consensus against speedy or summary deletion of unsourced BLPs, and the wording of the BLP policy (i.e. "contentious") was never intended to give carte blanche to delete all unsourced BLPs. ArbCom members siding with a minority interpretation to force a change in policy is disturbing. As we elect ArbCom to decide on behavioural disputes and enforce policy rather than set policy (something only Jimmy and the WMF can do by fiat) it would seem proper that any ArbCom member who uses their position to force a change in policy should be subject to recall. Fences&Windows 14:18, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Resolute

With all due respect Steve, ArbCom specifically invoked WP:IAR to overrule WP:BLP as a means to justify that asinine motion. You can't make sacred today what ArbCom trampled yesterday. Resolute 14:55, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

To add: I find the attitude of both Scott MacDonald and Lar utterly disgusting, disruptive and detrimental to the present and future of this project. Honestly, who does Scott think he is to be threatening the community as he does in his comments? I'm sorry, but Scott does not own Wikipedia, no matter that he has deluded himself into believing otherwise. The unsourced BLP backlog is down twenty-five percent, and the discussions on getting the sticky-PROD idea are ongoing. His comments make it patently obvious that he is not interested in working with the community, but rather believes he is above it and has no issues with ignoring consensus and violating any policy he wishes to make his point. The committee may choose not to address the disruption these editors promise to create now, but we all know that we will be right back here when their attitude of "sod the community" once again reasserts itself.

You've been running away throughout, but you can't hide from this mess forever, ArbCom. The only question is how much damage are you willing to permit before you actually take the time to mediate a resolution to this, to deal with your terribly short-sighted motion, to decide if you with to further corrupt the purpose of ArbCom itself and to decide if you are willing to respect the voice of the Wikipedia community. Resolute 02:39, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by The-Pope

This isn't about the RFC, the future of BLPs, how contentious information in BLPs may be, nor hypothetical situations. This is a request for clarification whether or not administrators who have either deleted articles or are threatening to delete articles, without using any of the normal AfD, PROD or CSD processes, specifically if they use "unreferenced BLP" as the primary deletion reason, should still be subject to the amnesty of the previous motion or allowed by a selective interpretation of the WP:BLP policy? Or should they be either strongly reminded, or actually held accountable to the existing provisions of the policy of WP:BLPDEL and the almost 3-to-1 rejection of MZMcBride's proposal of immediate deletion in the WP:BLPRFC? The-Pope (talk) 18:04, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Mr.Z-man

I agree with Balloonman, if ArbCom needs to do anything here, it should be to state that people should abide by the results (few as they may be) from the RFC, as there are still people working on Wikipedia talk:Sticky Prod workshop to prevent the sticky PROD process from accomplishing its goal by restricting its use to only unverifiable articles. Mr.Z-man 04:54, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

With regard to the motion, I agree with some of the comments by Scott and Coffee. The biggest issue now is a small minority taking advantage of their increased influence in the smaller discussions for the implementation details to try to create compromises on things that aren't really necessary, delaying the implementation, or people trying to force in things that there was no consensus for in the RFC. I refer to to my comment above for what a motion should include. Mr.Z-man 15:04, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Coffee

I would like to remind everyone that ArbCom is an administrative role, that exists to ensure that the rules (and Foundation standards) are followed and enforced, and to solve any issues that the community at large can't seem to fix (such as BLPs). Any motions they make (including the BLP one) are not an indication of some view point (the very idea of forcing BLPs to be sourced as a "view point", is laughable as is) but are an action to ensure the proper maintenance of this site, and were a result of what the ArbCom thinks is best to resolve the problems they are presented.

To insinuate that the Arbitration Committee has in any way violated their seat is trolling in it's finest, and is an attempt to force the view that enforcing our policies using strict measures, is somehow a minority POV that is dangerous to the site. The only thing dangerous going on, is the way that some members of the community are trying to create a new way to scare other editors, into thinking that deleting articles to maintain the site, is somehow a rouge attempt to overthrow Wikipedia policies.

The Arbitration Committee is doing their jobs, while the only thing some of you commenting here are doing, is attempting to thwart the possibility of stricter enforcement of WP:BLP. Baseless threats like those from Fences & Windows, only show some of the ignorance from that crowd. The community elected these ArbCom members, that means the community thought they could do their damn job. If you don't like their decisions, then that's just too bad, as you and those around you, were not elected to the committee.

@Maurreen: A motion such as that is attempting to say that the administrative actions taken are not administrative but are instead a view point... which is quite maddening. There are quite a few issues I have with your idea of a motion, so let me list them all:

The community has well-established procedures for deletion.

Yes, but admins aren't being allowed to use said procedures simply because some people favor the possibility of notability over verifiability.

Out-of-process deletions have led to divisiveness in the community.

There are quite a few problems with this statement. First, "out-of-process" has many different meanings and interpretations, and different people have assessed that different ways. Secondly, "Out-of-process" suggests that the BLP policy, or the Foundation's stance on this issue is in some way contrary to removing unsourced and potentially contentious information from this encyclopedia. Third, that "divisiveness" was only caused because the idea of verifiability > possible-notability made several people worry what the future of article acceptance would be.

In Phase I of the RFC suggested by ArbCom to address unsourced biographies of living people, a proposal to delete on sight "any biography that is poorly referenced or completely unreferenced" was rejected by the community, 157 to 54.

Correct, most people don't want mass deletions of articles (the mass deletions were a way to get people's attention). However the more important thing that came out of that RFC was the consensus for a sticky PROD, and any motion or other finding of consensus that does not mention that most vital point outright, isn't placing weight in the right places.

In Phase II of the same RFC, Scott Mac (Doc) suggested a compromise. - The suggested compromise led to a formal proposal by Balloonman.

Motions don't typically state a timetable to show what has been decided, whereas just mentioning Balloonman's proposal would have been just fine. However, the only thing that matters is the closure of that RFC... individual proposals carry no weight in ArbCom motions.

The community has significantly reduced the number of unsourced BLPs.

Another disputable claim; we neither can confirm that the 9,000 articles that were removed from the unsourced log, were actually sourced nor if that number has declined from deletions. The other important aspect of this is the brewing thunderstorm of the possibly tens of thousands of articles, that are neither tagged as BLPs or tagged as unsourced, or even more important: articles that aren't sourced properly.

The community is developing a system to delete new unsourced BLPs.

This may be the only note that is actually important to an "in light of the following considerations" section, and/or uncontroversial.

The community is progressing in addressing the issue of unsourced BLPs.

Again, this is open to individual interpretation, and in my opinion isn't entirely accurate. The community has once again met at the stalemate that we've run into a billion times before while trying to enforce the standards on BLPs, and that stalemate has prevented any real "addressing" of the BLP issue, and has instead just created loads of circular discussion that leads to nowhere.

The community should start a review of that progress in June.

What progress? Start another review? One is highly inaccurate, the other is highly ridiculous. As I mentioned above, the amount of progress on this can be counted in the amount of words of discussion that we've had, no more no less; and having another discussion to see if the previous two discussions did anything, is just a bucket of nails dumped on the road to fixing the BLP issue.

The community should strive to meet the goals outlined by Scott Mac (Doc) and Balloonman.

I'm sorry, but what motion has ever dictated something like this? If I recall correctly, the previous motion regarding BLPs merely stated that the enforcement of our polices should not be thwarted by over-process. To require people to do something not implemented whatsoever in any policy, is ridiculous.

Whatever justification that might have existed earlier for out-of-process deletion based solely on lack of sourcing, that justification does not currently exist.

Does someone care to tell me exactly how a justification for an issue, that has only been slightly dented by article work, somehow disappears because a motion says so? It doesn't. The justification was that nothing was happening to bring those articles to meet the standard. That justification doesn't stop becoming a justification until the problem with every single article is fixed.

In summary: This motion is not necessary, and is just an attempt to make the Arbitration Committee backtrack on their previous motion. It is not the ArbCom's job to rule on community consensus when there is no need for them to do so. The only thing the community has accomplished, is a discussion on how to add more adhesive to patch an already corrosive band-aid; and this motion does nothing more than add fuel to the fire of conflict between the two sides in this debate. — Coffee // have a cup // essay // 09:01, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

@Scott: I couldn't agree more. The main problem with the BLP issue right now is the filibustering going on to prevent the sticky prod process from being a simple easy PROD tag that can't be removed unless the article is sourced. And that filibustering isn't likely to ever be handled by a motion that does nothing but further some editors' ability to filibuster. — Coffee // have a cup // essay // 09:26, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Comment by Birgitte SB

I think asking Arbcom to clarify this motion is very unlikely way to resolve anything. The motion was a messy to begin with and I find it very unlikely to be clarified because doing so would require bringing forward issues that it seems to me Arbcom has taken pains to avoid addressing head-on. The best way that I can see to bring clarity to the issue of whether such deletions are appropriate or not is as follows: Figure out which admin is currently using the most extreme interpretation of speedy deletion. Compile a list of several recent, clear-cut examples of their deletion with an outlier interpretation of policy. Ask them to act more conservatively on their talkpage. If they defend their interpretation as correct and appropriate, have others who also find it inappropriate try and politely convince them to compromise. Then wait and see if they continue to actually delete in a similar manner. If they do continue start a user RFC, determine whether consensus finds their interpretation of BLP and speedy deletion appropriate or not. This is a much narrower question than the BLP RFC and clear consensus should be achievable. Everyone should realize however that this is true question, consensus could go either way. And if consensus finds it appropriate, this will not be wrong. And if consensus finds it inappropriate, this will not be wrong. What it will be is resolved. And resolution in either direction is good. It will mean that we all have accurate expectations of what will happen, and we can all make plans to mitigate the surrounding issues with greater confidence and less stress. --BirgitteSB 18:09, 12 March 2010 (UTC) Side note: I recommend people involved in this issue read the following If I could give a single piece of advice to the new administrators out there, it would be to pay less attention to what you decide, and more to who gets to decide. And remember that speed kills. If a process is actually a process, then any reasonable person has to be open to the possibility that he could have input, and still lose. That’s not impossible. . . Losing isn’t proof that your input was disregarded. It may well have been taken seriously. It just didn’t win. And I highly recommend Arbcom members study this one Learning Not to Answer.--BirgitteSB 18:41, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

Comment by Ohms law

Most of what needs to be said here is being said already, so I'm not going to add a huge statement here. All I'd really like to say is that the committee is obviously largely unaware of what brought this here, based on the comments about not being able to "rule preemptively". There would be nothing preemptive about a ruling on the threats made my some, on behalf of the committee itself (through it's earlier ruling), in public and to people who have been largely uninvolved in most of this mess (which, incidentally, was created by same said people...).
— V = IR (Talk • Contribs) 05:22, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

I agree with User:DGG's last comment, above.
— V = IR (Talk • Contribs) 07:37, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

Comment by GRuban

I worry about SteveSmith's second comment below. He seems to be saying that since the people who want to delete unsourced BLP articles say that all unsourced BLP material should be deleted, then all unsourced BLP material is automatically contentious. That makes the "contentious" qualifier in WP:BLP meaningless. I'm sure that wasn't the intent when it was added to the policy. --GRuban (talk) 15:41, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Comment by Septentrionalis

Maureen is asking ArbCom for four Findings of Fact of the sort ArbCom routinely makes: in this case, that four things are consensus. I believe they are true and consensus:

• We are making progress, both in decreasing the number of unreferenced BLPs and in coming up with measures to deal with any future problem.
• There is agreement to review this progress "in three months" which would mean late May or June
• Balloonman's and Scotty's proposals are the basis of the present discussions. There is some dispute over one hypothetical point (whether to proceed with sticky prod if the review in June finds the problem has been dealt with without one), but I don't think ArbCom is being asked to decide that.
• The fourth point deals only with out-of-process actions by admins; I should hope that ArbCom would have no problem dealing with those. The discussants most determined to deal with unreferenced BLPs have also written that such actions should be severely dealt with (Scotty has said so repeatedly, but there are others.)

I regret Steve Smith's comments below. That is not policy; BLP reads, as it long has, Remove any contentious material that is unsourced or poorly sourced; that is a conjectural interpretation of a source (see Wikipedia:No original research); or that relies on self-published sources (unless written by the subject of the BLP; see below) or sources that otherwise fail to comply with Wikipedia:Verifiability.

Members of ArbCom have a duty to distinguish their positions as Arbitrators from their advocacy as members of the community. Risker did this in closing the first phase of the RfC on this subject, and I expect to see Risker recuse on this question. Other Arbitrators should do the same. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 06:50, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Comment by Jubileeclipman

My very first thought is that the "the Badlydrawnjeff case" in the present version of Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Motion regarding biographies of living people deletions needs to be linked to the actual "case". (Presumeably Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Badlydrawnjeff? It took me an age to figure out what was being referenced.)

Second. Maurreen's proposal seems sensible as it is a very useful summary of events, proposals/counter-proposals and followups.

Third. Regarding the "Sticky PROD"/"BLP-PROD", I don't believe for one second that anyone is "filibustering" or "insisting on delay". There are obviously several very sensitive issues to deal with: libel, newbie-biting, policy procedures, technical issues, etc. These are being debated as we speak on both WT:STICKY and WT:STICKY POLICY.

Fourth. It might be useful to remind editors of the BLP project. They are doing fantastic work at the other end of the spectrum while also catching several new articles in the process.

Hope my thoughts help. --Jubilee♫clipman 00:34, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

Comment by JoshuaZ

With all due respect to Steven Smith, there's nothing in policy that says that. The overwhelming community consensus in the last RfC was against speedy deletions in this context. There's nothing in the wording of BLP that supports your argument. You seem to be engaging in some sort of meta-reasoning under which someone claiming something is contentious makes it contentious. Under that logic, everything in the universe is potentially contentious if a user who happens to say so. That's clearly wrong. Your argument is not supported by the community, by the wording of policy, or by logic. JoshuaZ (talk) 16:57, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

Statement by Tony Sidaway

The best clarification that can be given here is to remind the community that, until a formal process is agreed, the overriding interests represented in the BLP still justify the summary deletion of unsourced biographical articles. To get this discussion to an end, feet may have to be held to the fire. Those still harboring hopes that Wikipedia may be returned, if enough time elapses without agreement, to the feckless, harmful ways of old, should be reminded that this isn't going to happen. Tasty monster (=TS ) 17:31, 23 March 2010 (UTC)

Suggestion by Durova

This request has been open nearly three weeks and has been quiet for days. In light of what's happened at RFAR during the last two(ish) months,[12][13][14] perhaps a community-based solution would be more effective if actual problems arise in future. The community could resolve further disruption (not threatened, but actual) via either conduct RfC or topic banning disruptive individuals from BLPs. Durova⁴¹² 21:36, 26 March 2010 (UTC)

Clerk notes

Arbitrator views and discussion

• I almost forgot that I was recused on this motion. - Mailer Diablo 16:12, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
• We cannot really rule on the propriety of something that hasn't happened yet, I think. Beyond that, I would urge everyone involved to work together in pursuit of a generally acceptable path forward, and to avoid comments that might unnecessarily inflame matters. Kirill ^{[talk] [prof]} 18:02, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
• I'm not going to pre-emptively decide this.. but I stand by what I said previously. A) We need to find a way to deal with the BLP problem going forward. Applying band-aids are not a solution (the problem's too big for that), but B) I'd look dimly personally on attempts to force the issue on either side. SirFozzie (talk) 22:16, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
• Deletion of unsourced (not unsourceable) contentious material in BLPs is policy. It is desireable for the community to develop a process by which this policy can be fulfilled, but the absence of consensus on such a process does not mean that the unsourced stuff gets to stay; WP:IAR should never override WP:BLP. Steve Smith (talk) 06:57, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

• Response to Balloonman, Calliopejen: I am not sure how it is possible to have followed the recent discussions on this subject, in the RFCs and elsewhere, and conclude that this material is anything but contentious. With respect to Calliopejen's question about IAR and BLP, I cannot see the suggestion that this contentious unsourced material should be allowed to remain as anything but an invocation of IAR. Steve Smith (talk) 17:32, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

• While we are not constrained against advisory opinions, I think it would be unwise of us to try to determine the propriety or not of an hypothetical without the actual context surrounding it. — Coren ^(talk) 17:23, 8 March 2010 (UTC)
• Agree with Kirill. It will be difficult to get something that has wide-ranging agreement, but I think progress is being made. What would help, I think, is some set deadlines here, and some people being appointed to oversee the progress of the discussions (it is all too easy for discussions to peter out or get bogged down by volume). Would there be any volunteers to oversee the discussions or are there people already unofficially doing this? In passing, I would like to endorse what DGG and Birgitte say above, the only thing I disagree with is that a list of anything that gets deleted is essential. Trying to work out from deletion logs what was deleted out-of-process is a nightmare. Even if out-of-process deletions do occur, one thing I would be looking for is whether those doing deletions kept a list, or just deleted and didn't bother to organise the way they were doing this, or justify themselves when asked. i.e. are they being disruptive or are they allowing their actions to be tracked and assessed (a standard log entry would probably be sufficient)? BUT, the preceding would only apply if all other options had been exhausted. As others have said, the removal of contentious material applies to article text, not to entire articles. There is no visible consensus to extend such removal to entire articles (though stubbing BLPs appears to be less controversial than it was). We are nowhere near the stage yet where those pushing for this should feel able to engage in out-of-process deletions, and people should still be actively trying to shape consensus on these matters and continue to reduce backlogs. If there are deadlines in place regarding achieving consensus in the discussions, and there are people actively working towards those deadlines, could that be explicitly stated. If not, that is a priority, and such deadlines are something I think ArbCom could set to help the process along, along with appointing people to oversee the discussions (though I would prefer that such 'leaders' emerge naturally and are accepted by those engaging in the discussions). Carcharoth (talk) 13:23, 13 March 2010 (UTC)
  • Maurreen, thanks for the proposed motion. I have pointed it out to my colleagues. Do you think you could ask those involved in these discussions to comment on whether they think a motion such as you have proposed is needed, especially those you have mentioned in it? As I said elsewhere, proposing ArbCom motions to help move such discussions forward is very slow. The question is whether it is slower than community discussions to the same end. If participation in the discussions is declining, that is usually a sign that the discussions should be moved to the next stage or even implemented (if things are clear). To get more participation, consider publicising the discussions in the appropriate venues. The key things seem to be to ensure continued reduction of the backlog (if activity tails off there, that would need to be addressed), and to ensure that the work on the backlog isn't undone by the addition of new unsourced BLPs. As an aside, I came across a BLP today that had not been tagged in any way whatsoever, so that area still needs attention. Carcharoth (talk) 02:57, 18 March 2010 (UTC)
• Noting Scott MacDonald's most recent comment above [15], to the effect that because of the way ArbCom pages are structured and the length of time this request has been open, the back-and-forth has become very difficult to follow. In any event, I am not convinced that action by this Committee is needed at this time. I believe there is a widespread, though not universal, consensus at this time that progress toward better sourcing and quality control is essential but that mass-deletion without the exercise of discretion about each specific article is not the way to go, certainly not at this time, and hopefully progress will continue to be made so it will not be necessary at any time. Continued progress on all BLP related issues (lack of sourcing is but one of these, and probably not the most important one) is essential. Newyorkbrad (talk) 17:55, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

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The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.