Hi all,
In recent weeks, I have contributed to several discussions on the Problem
user page and I now have come to the conclusion that it is a thoroughly
unsuitable mechanism for resolving issues between users. Whatever its
original purpose was (dealing with vandalism I guess), it is now (also)
used for airing complex grievances with other users about lack of
neutrality, breaches of Wikiquette and so on. Repeatedly, I've seen
heated, sometimes acrimonious discussions take place, cooler heads try to
prevail, some kind of ad hoc truce settles, and *nothing is solved*. Last
night, a veteran sysop announced he was "arbitrarily" removing a
discussion involving a user who repeatedly got involved in edit-wars over
ever-contentious Mother Teresa. I disagreed with this action, but at the
same time, I also realized that leaving the discussion on the page
likewise served no purpose at all. Hence, I have come to the conclusion
that participating in discussions on that page is a complete waste of time
and have removed it from my Watchlist. For the time being, if I have a
problem with another user, I will leave a note on the talk page of someone
I trust and ask them to help out.
The fact remains: Wikipedia has evolved reasonably effective mechanisms
and procedures for dealing with vandalism, but it is sorely lacking in a
process for resolving serious problems between "real" users regarding
things like neutrality and Wikiquette. I realize that this will be
difficult and take much time to establish. As a first step, I would argue
for immediately banishing the unhealthy spirit of Problem users by
renaming it New arrivals or Temporary disturbances or something and
dedicating it exclusively to dealing with vandalism and mischief. Then, we
*urgently* need to establish some kind of procedure where mediation or
arbitration can be arranged to deal with substantial conflicts, in a
similar way to which Brian is now trying to settle the conflicts
surrounding the "2003 Guajarat violence" article.
I realize that this issue of conflict resolution has been discussed here
earlier, but I didn't read every message in the thread and I don't know
what it led to.
V.