[WikiEN-l] ArbCom - too attached to "equal treatment"?

Wed Mar 2 17:22:10 UTC 2005

Recently a Wikipedia editor e-mailed me regarding concerns she had about the 
ArbCom process.  In particular, she was looking at an ArbCom case brought up 
against an editor who (aside from a couple of articles) has added little in 
the way of actual content, copyedits, or housekeeping to the project, but 
who has long been noted for personal attacks, trolling, edit-warring, and 
who has been temp-banned more than once.  As seems to be typical in these 
cases, the person being brought before ArbCom created a "counter 
arbitration" defense against one complainant in particular  (a long time 
contributer of much valued content, though perhaps given to getting a little 
personal in disputes).  As a matter of policy, the behaviour of those who 
were bringing the complaint was examined with equal intensity.  As the 
person e-mailing me put it

"It looks like the arbcom is going to put them both on POV parole, which is 
silly; they have this thing about equal treatment. It's like if I report 
someone to the police for a theft, the police first of all have to 
investigate whether I've committed theft too, because if they charge one, 
they have to charge both."

Is this a valid concern?

Jay.