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

Wed Mar 2 19:13:37 UTC 2005

On Wed, Mar 02, 2005 at 05:40:55PM -0000, Tony Sidaway wrote:
> JAY JG said:
> > "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?
> >
> I don't think so.  Arbitration is part of dispute resolution.  The
> arbitrators must examine the behavior of all parties to the dispute in
> order to arrive at factual findings and remedies that will stick.

It would be unfortunate if people became afraid to report real abuses
because they did not want to be forced to defend themselves from unfair
or untrue accusations by the abuser.

If we're concerned about abusive users "gaming the system" with regards
to 3RR and other rules, it seems we should also be concerned about
abusive users perverting arbitration into a way of attacking those who
are trying to stop a problem.

Fairness doesn't mean that everyone gets treated the same.  It means
that everyone has to follow the same rules -- and that people who choose
to break the rules *don't* get treated the same as people who don't.

-- 
Karl A. Krueger <kkrueger at whoi.edu>