Karl A. Krueger said:
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.
I don't buy that for one second. The whole point about an arbitration
case is that the thing has reached a point where some kind of executive
action is required. Unfair and untrue accusations are, by their very
nature, not going to get anywhere with an evidence-based, proactive
arbcom, and there are advocates and a right of appeal.
Well, I wasn't actually discussing the issue of untrue accusations, but
rather the concern about bringing an obvious policy violator before ArbCom
for fear of being put under investigative microscope yourself. The
difference between the system here and that in the real world is that here
the person making the accusation is also automatically both the prosecuting
attorney and the defendant in an inevitable counter-suit; this is a heavy
burden, and a serious disincentive to "get involved".
Jay.