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

Wed Mar 2 21:35:50 UTC 2005

On Wed, 2 Mar 2005 17:40:55 -0000 (GMT), Tony Sidaway
<minorityreport at bluebottle.com> wrote:
> JAY JG said:
> 
> > 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?
> >
> 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.

Theft is an inappropriate metaphor in this case. If you were reporting
copyvio, it'd be OK, but in this instance, assault is closer to the
mark, where of course the cops investigate the behaviour of both.

Theft has a clear seperation between wronged and wrongdoer, but in a
brawl, it's sometimes hard to tell who is in the right, as any parent
will tell you.

-- 
Peter in Canberra