[WikiEN-l] Wrapping up (not-sees)

Mon Aug 29 04:07:37 UTC 2005

It's easy enough to point  to --and stray in-- inward-looking
abstractions and generalities when there is nothing concrete to fall
back on but conjecture. Let us humble ourselves before this truism.

>I think the Arbcom should accomodate a separate "case-review"
facility, and that the Arbcom should grow to accomodate the growing
need for clear and documented review.

What would that entail, slightly more concretely? I think an
intermidatory process may work more efficiently. If there is a need
for immediate review of administrative action, there is, in addition
to the normal channels of DR, [[WP:AN]], [[WP:AN/I]] ([[WP:3RR]] when
applicable), and [[WP:PE]]. Is there a great need for, not simply more
arbitrators, but a specific admin review mechanism? (an open question)
What benefits are there from a separate format, according to this (at
this juncture, very vague) proposal? I remain very much open to
persuasion (either way) on that front.

A cursory reading of
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Stevertigo/Evidence
, to use a totally non-random example, reveals excelent editorial
skills but very poor admin descision-making, in any fair venue, I
would argue. So, platform-wise, I think it's important to keep in mind
that admin actions and editorial preferences are or are alleged to be
almost always the decisive factor behind administrative abuse, that it
dosen't take place in a vaccum. As a rogue admin who has for long
escaped sanctions (but my time will come again, sooner than I may
expect, too). For example, I have purposfully chose not to rollback
vandalism off of (legitimate) Wikipedia accounts held by Nazis, and I
have rollbacked vandlism off of a Nazi account without knowing it was
one at the time, and regretted having done so. Lacking the moral
highground is, indeed, a harsh mistress.

But I digress. Again, there needs to be policy proposals of far more
concrete (or at least, illustrative as per specific examples) nature
in order for us to much more safely speculate and guage on what is
likely to translate into a worthwhile advance.

El_C