Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Enforcement

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Appeals and administrator modifications of contentious topics restrictions

The Arbitration Committee procedures relating to modifications of contentious topic restrictions state the following:

All contentious topic restrictions (and logged warnings) may be appealed. Only the restricted editor may appeal an editor restriction. Any editor may appeal a page restriction.

The appeal process has three possible stages. An editor appealing a restriction may:

ask the administrator who first made the contentious topic restrictions (the "enforcing administrator") to reconsider their original decision;
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submit a request for amendment ("ARCA"). If the editor is blocked, the appeal may be made by email.

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Changing or revoking a contentious topic restriction

An administrator may only modify or revoke a contentious topic restriction if a formal appeal is successful or if one of the following exceptions applies:

The administrator who originally imposed the contentious topic restriction (the "enforcing administrator") affirmatively consents to the change,^[a] or is no longer an administrator;^[b] or
The contentious topic restriction was imposed (or last renewed) more than a year ago and:
- the restriction was imposed by a single administrator, or
- the restriction was an indefinite block.

A formal appeal is successful only if one of the following agrees with revoking or changing the contentious topic restriction:

a clear consensus of uninvolved administrators at AE,
a clear consensus of uninvolved editors at AN,
a majority of the Arbitration Committee, acting through a motion at ARCA.

Any administrator who revokes or changes a contentious topic restriction out of process (i.e. without the above conditions being met) may, at the discretion of the Arbitration Committee, be desysopped.

Standard of review
On community review

Uninvolved administrators at the arbitration enforcement noticeboard ("AE") and uninvolved editors at the administrators' noticeboard ("AN") should revoke or modify a contentious topic restriction on appeal if:

the action was inconsistent with the contentious topics procedure or applicable policy (i.e. the action was out of process),
the action was not reasonably necessary to prevent damage or disruption when first imposed, or
the action is no longer reasonably necessary to prevent damage or disruption.

On Arbitration Committee review

Arbitrators hearing an appeal at a request for amendment ("ARCA") will generally overturn a contentious topic restriction only if:

the action was inconsistent with the contentious topics procedure or applicable policy (i.e. the action was out of process),
the action represents an unreasonable exercise of administrative enforcement discretion, or
compelling circumstances warrant the full Committee's action.

^ The administrator may indicate consent at any time before, during, or after imposition of the restriction.
^ This criterion does not apply if the original action was imposed as a result of rough consensus at the arbitration enforcement noticeboard, as there would be no single enforcing administrator.

Appeals and administrator modifications of non-contentious topics sanctions

The Arbitration Committee procedures relating to modifications and appeals state:

Appeals by sanctioned editors

Appeals may be made only by the editor under sanction and only for a currently active sanction. Requests for modification of page restrictions may be made by any editor. The process has three possible stages (see "Important notes" below). The editor may:

ask the enforcing administrator to reconsider their original decision;
request review at the arbitration enforcement noticeboard ("AE") or at the administrators’ noticeboard ("AN"); and
submit a request for amendment at the amendment requests page ("ARCA"). If the editor is blocked, the appeal may be made by email through Special:EmailUser/Arbitration Committee (or, if email access is revoked, to arbcom-enwikimedia.org).

Modifications by administrators

No administrator may modify or remove a sanction placed by another administrator without:

the explicit prior affirmative consent of the enforcing administrator; or
prior affirmative agreement for the modification at (a) AE or (b) AN or (c) ARCA (see "Important notes" below).

Administrators modifying sanctions out of process may at the discretion of the committee be desysopped.

Nothing in this section prevents an administrator from replacing an existing sanction issued by another administrator with a new sanction if fresh misconduct has taken place after the existing sanction was applied.

Administrators are free to modify sanctions placed by former administrators – that is, editors who do not have the administrator permission enabled (due to a temporary or permanent relinquishment or desysop) – without regard to the requirements of this section. If an administrator modifies a sanction placed by a former administrator, the administrator who made the modification becomes the "enforcing administrator". If a former administrator regains the tools, the provisions of this section again apply to their unmodified enforcement actions.

Important notes:

For a request to succeed, either

(i) the clear and substantial consensus of (a) uninvolved administrators at AE or (b) uninvolved editors at AN or

(ii) a passing motion of arbitrators at ARCA

is required. If consensus at AE or AN is unclear, the status quo prevails.

While asking the enforcing administrator and seeking reviews at AN or AE are not mandatory prior to seeking a decision from the committee, once the committee has reviewed a request, further substantive review at any forum is barred. The sole exception is editors under an active sanction who may still request an easing or removal of the sanction on the grounds that said sanction is no longer needed, but such requests may only be made once every six months, or whatever longer period the committee may specify.
These provisions apply only to contentious topic restrictions placed by administrators and to blocks placed by administrators to enforce arbitration case decisions. They do not apply to sanctions directly authorized by the committee, and enacted either by arbitrators or by arbitration clerks, or to special functionary blocks of whatever nature.
All actions designated as arbitration enforcement actions, including those alleged to be out of process or against existing policy, must first be appealed following arbitration enforcement procedures to establish if such enforcement is inappropriate before the action may be reversed or formally discussed at another venue.

Information for administrators processing requests

Thank you for participating in this area. AE works best if there are a variety of admins bringing their expertise to each case. There is no expectation to comment on every case, and the Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) thanks all admins for whatever time they can give.

A couple of reminders:

Before commenting, please familiarise yourself with the referenced ArbCom case. Please also read all the evidence (including diffs) presented in the AE request.
When a request widens to include editors beyond the initial request, these editors must be notified and the notifications recorded in the same way as for the initial editor against whom sanctions were requested. Where some part of the outcome is clear, a partial close may be implemented and noted as "Result concerning X".
Enforcement measures in arbitration cases should be construed liberally to protect Wikipedia and keep it running efficiently. Some of the behaviour described in an enforcement request might not be restricted by ArbCom. However, it may violate other Wikipedia policies and guidelines; you may use administrative discretion to resolve it.
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Once an issue is resolved, enclose it between {{hat}} and {{hab}} tags. A bot should archive it in 7 days.
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SaintAviator

Closed with no action, SaintAviator is reminded to be more careful with their comments referring to other editors, and particularly that they think twice about making inappropriate comments about living persons. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 00:35, 24 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.
Requests may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs (not counting required information), except by permission of a reviewing administrator.

Request concerning SaintAviator

User who is submitting this request for enforcement: Volunteer Marek (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 23:49, 21 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

User against whom enforcement is requested: SaintAviator (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
Search CT alerts: in user talk history • in system log

Sanction or remedy to be enforced: Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/American_politics_2#Discretionary_sanctions_.281932_cutoff.29 and WP:ARBEE

Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it

12/21/16 WP:BLP violation, WP:BATTLEGROUND, references to "loser Hillary"
12/21/16 WP:BLP (down at the bottom), WP:BATTLEGROUND and casting WP:ASPERSIONS, discussing editors rather than content
12/21/16 personal attacks. Yes, I know it's on his talk page which usually gets more leeway, but I still don't appreciate him lying about me ([1] also this)
12/21/16 personal attacks, aspersions, battleground, the whole enchilada in one comment. Probably some BLP violation in there too.
11/14/16 non-constructive comments, battleground
11/14/16 battleground, gratuitous insults, non-constructive comments, pretty clear case of WP:NOTHERE
11/14/16 "Man up generation snowflake" - more insults and battleground, WP:NOTHERE
11/13/16 posting links to far-right websites "for discussion" (the linked website is ran by a guy who also runs https://openrevolt.info/newresistance/ this crap.
11/13/16 taunting, non-constructive, battleground (I hadn't edited that page for weeks so the only reason to bring my name up is to act like a jerk)
11/13/16 - not a violation but shows the user's mindset - that what we consider reliable sources "lie" and that we should use "alt" sources. Not a violation but it does raise the question of why is this user here?
11/13/16 personal attacks
[2] basically more of the same

... and so on. I could keep going further back but it's pretty much the same thing. Note that the above diffs are like 95% of the users contributions since 11/13/16. Insulting others, taunting, making BLP violating remarks is pretty much all they do. You go back to earlier edits it's the same thing as noted by numerous warnings on their talk page.

again, I could go back further in time and find several more warnings from a wide variety of users. SaintAviator has been given plenty of leeway in the past and plenty of rope already.

If discretionary sanctions are requested, supply evidence that the user is aware of them (see WP:AC/DS#Awareness and alerts)

[3] For US politicis
[4] For EE

Additional comments by editor filing complaint

Another clear indication of WP:BATTLEGROUND and WP:NOTHERE is this section on their talk page they created [5]

"Loser Hillary" comment was clearly a BLP violation. "Loser Hillary" /= "Hillary, who lost the election". Also obvious in context of all the other comments made by the users. He's jeering.

@User:Lipsquid - 1) diff 150 is clearly labeled as warning from Timothyjosephwood. He just commented in a section you happened to start. I did not say you warned Saint Aviator. 2) don't take things SaintAviator says at face value, much less put your trust in it. 3) these are far from minor infractions as has been noted by several users. And they also establish a long running pattern. Pretty much all that SaintAviator does on Wikipedia is make taunting comments on talk or personal attacks.Volunteer Marek (talk) 02:00, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@User:Peacemaker67, he's talking about the WP:EEML arb com case from... seven years ago. And no I didn't start it nor was I on it for most of its existence. The fact that he's bringing up something from seven years ago possibly suggests this isn't a new user, but who knows.Volunteer Marek (talk) 02:52, 22 December 2016 (UTC) Add: Not interested in relitigating a 7 year old case. ArbCom made its decisions that case is over. I do wish to note however that Etienne Dolet's description is full of bull. The fact that he's even trying to bring it up (what's he doing here anyway?) just shows his own battleground attitude. Oh, and might note [6] that as early as Dec 2009, shortly after case closed, AE administrator User:Tznkai basically said that he was going to start banning people who tried to invoked "EEML!" as an excuse for their own disruptive behavior [7]. Like ED and SaintAviator are doing here.[reply]

User:Peacemaker67, can you also look at the diffs from 11/14? I know they're older but they show that these aren't isolated incidents (and also that when he said "loser Hillary" it was most likely meant as an insult not just a statement of fact as is being pretended right).

(2)

Can someone explain to me what the hell a "pro-Western slant" is suppose to be? And can someone explain to me why all of sudden we've got two or three editors using the exact same strange phrasing? Volunteer Marek (talk) 17:34, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Previous warnings

[8] Previous block for basically the same thing
[9] warning about plagiarism by User:Nomoskedasticity
[10] warning about inappropriate talk page comments by User:MrX
[11] warning by User:Timothyjosephwood, who also notes the user is WP:NOTHERE
[12]
[13] Another one by User:Wikidemon noting both BLP and COPYVIO violations

Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

[14]

Discussion concerning SaintAviator

Statements must be made in separate sections. They may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator.
Administrators may remove or shorten noncompliant statements. Disruptive contributions may result in blocks.

Statement by SaintAviator

VM sees me as someone who sees his real agenda in his edits on a few pages like Putin. He thus feels threatened. He will deny this. IMHO for personal or other reasons his agenda is to make some pages anti, like Putins article, making it anti Putin. His drive is to make Putin look bad / guilty / suspect. He and his fellows do not ever deviate from this. Once on an Arb board under WP:EEML VM's (formerly Radeksz) past came out regarding a back channel email group who colluded to influence wikipedia. He was outed. Is he still doing it? Does the same crowd follow him round? Complaints, like this one, are a tactic to attempt to limit people like myself who see whats going on. Whats his motive in making a certain sway of articles anti? I dont know, it could be anything. Most articles that get the anti treatment are Russian. Its quite a disease these days being anti Russian. Its not good editing. Im Australian BTW, not Russian. I like knowledge. I like encyclopedias. I dislike the biased POV editing full of insinuations VM does on certain sites. So I call it like I see it. And a lot of editors over the past few years who have come and gone disagreed with his edits too. They come and go but VM and a core group dont change. Why is this? This is the kind of situation where non anonymous editing would be beneficial. SaintAviator lets talk 04:42, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

BTW Of course Im here to build an encyclopedia. Anyone going far enough back will see I have edited articles at a higher level in the past than recent times. Ive been busy with other things lately. Its the holidays down under. Short of time, positive editing also involves talk pages where surveys are and discussion casts light on particular biases which are non encyclopedic and long standing. I remember the day I ran into the VM MVBW duo. I knew then that WP had problems. Some people have the wrong end of the stick here. Its people like me and Étienne Dolet and many many others who make WP good by resisting the NPOV pro western (correction, pro Neo Con) agenda of people like VM and MVBWs. SaintAviator lets talk 06:05, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Example of VM MVBWs obfuscation. SOHR, VM then MVBW delete criticism section. Long running delay tactics by them blocking return. Like its a joke. No one hardly agrees with them [15]. Today after months of wasted time, its back up. SOHR is a one man bedsit anti Syrian Govt pro Western (correction, pro Neo Con ) spin blogger. VM liked to quote him. SaintAviator lets talk 09:12, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

PS Re Loser McCain comment. Clarification of my comment required. Like H Clinton McCain also lost presidential bid [16]

Re MVBWs comments below. You're cherry picking my quotes. Heres my full quote. 'Its people like me and Étienne Dolet and many many others who make WP good by resisting the NPOV pro western (correction, pro Neo Con) agenda of people like VM and MVBWs'. BTW how did you know about this board when I didnt live link your name? Its uncanny how you always turn up when VM complains or edits Eastern European articles. SaintAviator lets talk 22:54, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by EtienneDolet

Firstly, I don't see how these concerns raised by the OP are confined to WP:ARBAP2, bearing in mind that all these diffs (and I mean it when I say all) are found on talk page discussions, and that there are no diffs that present a disruptive editing patterns when it comes to main space editing in the topic area. If anything, these concerns should be brought up at WP:ANI. And in regards to the concerns themselves, some of them are half-truths in the way the OP has chosen to describe them. For example, the reference to "loser Hillary" was merely signifying that she lost the election. This was reaffirmed by SaintAviator when I myself was concerned over that language and requested a clarification from him. Some of the other comments by SaintAviator appear to be harmless (i.e. the non-constructive ones). Since this user rarely edits main space, I suggest that at most he receive a formal warning and be reminded to keep discussions less personal and more content driven. Étienne Dolet (talk) 00:17, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Volunteer Marek: by the way, I suggest adding diffs to prove as to whether SaintAviator is aware of these sanctions (both AP2 and EE). Admins may ask for that. Étienne Dolet (talk) 00:51, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Lipsquid: and @Peacemaker67: SaintAviator is most likely referring to WP:EEML, an infamous off-wiki e-mailing list that has placed a permanent stain on Wikipedia's history (surprised y'all haven't heard about it). When one thinks of ArbCom, they think of WP:EEML, and Volunteer Marek (formerly Radeksz) was not only a member (members didn't get sanctioned), but an active participant in the manipulation of Wikipedia procedures which included canvassing, tag-team edit-warring, gaming, and vote-stacking in the EE topic area in order to further their (pro-western) POV and oppose and block anyone in their way. Since this has become a Wikipedia case (under WP:EEML), I don't think SaintAviator, or any other user for that matter, should be restricted from speaking about it. It should be treated as any other ArbCom case. Étienne Dolet (talk) 04:36, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

To answer VM's question: I'm here because I've known SaintAviator for quite some time and have been involved in many discussions with him over the past year. Also, I wanted to provide more information regarding the "loser Hillary" incident since I told him to clarify those remarks as to whether he meant "loser" as in someone who lost an election or something else. Étienne Dolet (talk) 05:29, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I've stricken my comment regarding the seven year old Arb case, which was apparently a thing back in the day. I am ignoring the Hillary "loser" edit, as it is a blunt statement of fact, nothing more. It is the McCain BLP comment I am focusing on. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 08:43, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Lipsquid

First, edit 150 above is mine and I do not consider it a warning and I never said SaintAviator is WP:NOTHERE. Second, the notification on SaintAviator's page is improper Third, these infractions over the last few days are very minor and not worthy of any enforcement action, except this edit: ^[1]. It really troubles me. It is either true, not true or somewhere in the middle. Someone has to own it... Lipsquid (talk) 01:54, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Regardless of SaintAviator's behavior, which I tried to calm down on his talk page and obviously do not feel is entirely constructive, the whole WP:EEML thing disgusts me. Why is VM getting a pass to continue editing Eastern European political articles with a pro-West slant? In fact why is he allowed to edit Eastern European political articles at all? He obviously has extreme biases that go beyond what a normal person would hold and he aggressively pushes his POV on these articles. To top it off, he mentioned regarding SaintAviator and EEML "I still don't appreciate him lying about me" when he is in fact not being truthful. I find VM's involvement with a dispute about John McCain on Putin's page hugely troubling. Much more troubling than any of SaintAviator's comments. I can let bygones be bygones and I said things about my positive experiences working with VM on other articles, and I meant it. But a topic about McCain and Putin should be off limits, if I was involved in a mess like that and I truly cared about Wikipedia and not my own agenda, I would steer completely clear of those topics for the good of WP, VM has not done that. This is a giant mess especially since the discussion was leaning toward excluding McCain's comments and then this is filed over minor issues on a talk page. Lipsquid (talk) 17:32, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:SaintAviator&oldid=756076525

Statement by Sagecandor

The evidence presented by Volunteer Marek shows violations of site policies by SaintAviator (talk · contribs). These include: WP:BLP, WP:NPA, and demonstrate WP:NOTHERE. Example problems [17] [18] [19]. The account in question appears to only exist for WP:BATTLEGROUND behavior, and not to improve content on the encyclopedia. Sagecandor (talk) 04:11, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by DHeyward

These seem rather tedentious complaints given the election is over and they are comments in talk space. The very first complaint is about a reference to Hillary Clinton. Clinton was the loser in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. If such a characterization is disturbing to editors, they should probably not be editing political articles as there seems to be a rather high emotional attachment if they view being characterized as "losing" as a BLP violation. I realize the next argument is that the term "loser" was used to invoke a response but I submit it is exposing the raw emotion of the complainant rather than any actionable BLP violation. Clinton being the loser in the election is in no way a BLP violation as she conceded the race on election night. Close this with trouts all around and let the election and its emotions fade away. --DHeyward (talk) 08:15, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Just for clarification, I'm ignoring the Clinton diff as a potential BLP violation, it appears to be a blunt statement of fact. It is the McCain BLP violation I am referring to. Cheers, Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 08:25, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by My very best wishes

As someone who interacted with SA in the project, I must tell that he is not helping. First of all, he intentionally uses broken English and creates unbearable atmosphere on article talk pages with comments like that [20],[21],[22],[23],[24]. Secondly, he edit war on the same pages [25],[26], [27],[28],[29]. I think his response on AE was also clearly a WP:Battle. This is "us against them". For example, he tells: "its people like me and Étienne Dolet" are "resisting" "agenda" of [other users].

@SA. I commented here only because you already mentioned me in your response, even though I am a 3-rd party in this request. My very best wishes (talk) 15:24, 23 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Timothyjosephwood

Close with a clear warning that off-topic comments are not welcome, and BLP violations will not be tolerated, since warnings from lesser mortals like myself have had apparently little impact. TimothyJosephWood 15:30, 23 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (username)

Result concerning SaintAviator

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.

Having had a look at the diffs, and SaintAviator's recent editing history, it is apparent that nearly all of SaintAviator's recent editing has been in talkspace, and although there hasn't been a hell of lot of edits, I'm not sure if they are actually interested in building an encyclopaedia, or just trolling talkpages, like diffs #6 & 7. There is a BLP violation against McCain here. There certainly appears to be a tendency towards battleground language, including taunting/baiting, being displayed, which is behaviour that falls under AP2 and EE, IMO. SaintAviator has received a AP2 warning and commented on an EE Arb case, so the warnings are good as far as I am concerned. There are also the diff #3 claims about VM forming a cabal off-wiki, which is a rather serious accusation of meatpuppetry, even if made on SaintAviator's own talk page. I haven't seen anywhere that evidence of this has been brought to ANI, so SaintAviator needs to either point to the place where that was found to have occurred, submit a detailed report citing evidence so the claim can be tested, or withdraw those allegations and not repeat them. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 02:43, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I've struck the cabal comments, as this apparently has some basis in a seven year old Arb case. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 04:05, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Some of User:SaintAviator's talk page comments put him in a bad light. Our task here is to say whether it constitutes talk page disruption. He does not edit the related articles very much, so it's only a talk page problem. I predict that if he keeps on trying to shoot himself in the foot, he will eventually succeed. For now I would say that he hasn't reached the point of needing a sanction, so I would close this with no action. The comments in this request about the seven year old WP:EEML case have little relevance, since sanctions under that case have expired long ago. EdJohnston (talk) 03:48, 23 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Agree. Not enough here. I suggest SaintAviator be more careful with their comments referring to other editors, and particularly that they think twice about making off-the-cuff inappropriate comments about living persons, such as the one they made about McCain at diff #2. I'll close this with no action if no-one else chimes in with a dissenting view. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 04:07, 23 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Arbitration enforcement action appeal by Mooretwin

User:Mooretwin's topic ban from the Troubles is lifted on appeal. EdJohnston (talk) 04:46, 25 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

Appealing user: Mooretwin (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) – Mooretwin (talk) 14:54, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Sanction being appealed: Indefinite topic ban on articles, discussions, and other content related to The Troubles, the Ulster banner and British baronets, imposed here on 10 February 2012. The decision allowed for an appeal after six months and every six months thereafter.

Administrator imposing the sanction: T. Canens (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)

Notification of that administrator: notified here.

Statement by Mooretwin

I have abided by this topic ban for four years and ten months. I believe I have appealed it on three previous occasions (though unfortunately I am unable to find the logs). The last appeal I would estimate was over a year ago. I come again humbly to appeal for a fourth time, as I believe that I have more than served my time (almost five years now). In this near-five-year period I have not engaged in edit wars, I have not been sanctioned, I have 'behaved'. I found myself involved in one dispute, which I sought to resolve through dispute resolution. I have done a lot of work in improving rugby league articles, which earned me a nice compliment on my Talk Page. I undertake to continue to edit constructively and to avoid edit-warring.

Statement by T. Canens

I'm not opposed to a trial lifting. T. Canens (talk) 08:58, 23 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (involved editor 1)

Statement by (involved editor 2)

Statement by uninvolved GoodDay

Mooretwin has shown outstanding behavior, concerning the topic-in-question. IMHO, After (nearly) 5 years, this topic-ban has morphed from a preventative measure to a punitive one. It's time to lift the topic ban. GoodDay (talk) 15:21, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion among uninvolved editors about the appeal by Mooretwin

Result of the appeal by Mooretwin

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.

In your December 2014 appeal, you were advised to demonstrate that you can contribute on other (non-Troubles) controversial articles and negotiate with others on difficult subjects before applying again to have the ban lifted. You were also directed to the result section of your 2013 AE appeal and to try to follow the advice there. Can you point to your work on controversial articles or how you have followed the road map outlined in the result of your 2013 appeal? Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 03:45, 23 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I've looked back as far as August and can't see anything to be concerned about, although he rarely is involved in talk space. He did behave pretty well in the RfC discussion, and T. Canens appears to be ok with a lift of the TBAN. I expect we'll see him back here if he can't play well on the Troubles articles, but for now I think we can play out some more rope. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 09:13, 23 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

We are looking around to see if Mooretwin has been able to negotiate properly elsewhere. See the football-related RfC at Demerger proposal: should this be one article or two?, closed in October 2016. This RfC was opened by Mooretwin. Though his opinion did not prevail, it seems he behaved well in the discussion. So I propose we consider lifting the Troubles ban. I was one of the admins who favored keeping the ban last time around, in WP:Arbitration/Requests/Enforcement/Archive159#Arbitration enforcement action appeal by Mooretwin and I now see enough reason to lift the ban. EdJohnston (talk) 04:20, 23 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I would like to get the perspective of T. Canens (who originally imposed the block), but assuming that he has no objection I would favor lifting the ban. Neutrality^talk 04:25, 23 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Closing. User:Peacemaker67, User:Neutrality and myself are OK with lifting the ban, and User:Timotheus Canens does not object. The ban is lifted. EdJohnston (talk) 04:36, 25 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

INeverCry

This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.
Requests may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs (not counting required information), except by permission of a reviewing administrator.

Request concerning INeverCry

User who is submitting this request for enforcement: Volunteer Marek (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 18:16, 26 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

User against whom enforcement is requested: INeverCry (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
Search CT alerts: in user talk history • in system log

Sanction or remedy to be enforced: WP:ARBEE:

Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it

12/26 Personal attack and insult
12/26 Personal attack and insult
12/26 Personal attack and insult
12/26 Marking non-minor edits as minor, obviously on purpose
[30] Personal attack and insult

If discretionary sanctions are requested, supply evidence that the user is aware of them (see WP:AC/DS#Awareness and alerts)

[31]

Additional comments by editor filing complaint

This is one of those things that needs to be nipped in the bud before it gets worse, since INeverCry basically just opened up a discussion with personal attacks and insults. You start off by insulting people, chances are the discussion won't get better.

I do want to note that I find being called "anti-Russian" very insulting. It's basically like calling somebody racist. And it's total nonsense. So yeah, it's an egregious personal attack. (Note that the original text in the article was added not by me but by User:Snooganssnoogans) (3)

@TheTimes - your comments are not related to this AE. INEverCry participated in the discussions on those other articles. If you want to file an AE request against me (and yes, you're misrepresenting the situation) go for it. Otherwise please stop trying to derail this request or deflect attention from the subject's violations.

And SPECIFICO is exactly right. Filling a AE is a pain in the ass.

The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

It takes awhile to gather up all the diffs (though not in this case) and write it up, then a bunch of editors with an axe to grind show up and attack you, then admins take weeks to pontificate while the disruption continues, and then, even in the presence of solid evidence, the editor is let off with a warning. Then that same editor usually starts following your edits around, reverts you on sight and jumps into any disagreement you're in, and tries to get some payback, which is an additional headache. So basically it's often not worth it. So instead you start ignoring the personal attacks and insults, "no skin off my back" and all. And you tolerate these disruptive editors for a couple weeks or months (I can specifically name a couple) till finally it's too much so you DO file a report, or it winds up in front of the ArbCom. And then everyone says "oh, gee, why didn't you go to AE when this happened? These diffs are stale now!". Because I knew how it was gonna play out, that's why. So you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

Oh ffs Peacemaker, I was blocked once by User:Drmies just for saying that someone was "POV pushing" on an article, and that was after a long and exhausting discussion. Here the editor in question immediately starts of with insults, accuses me of being "anti-Russian", which aside from the fact that it's a total load of shit, IS in fact an accusation of bigotry (note I said "like" calling somebody racist) and then persists in their insults after having been asked to stop. I'm sorry but if these aren't block worthy personal attacks on a DS covered article I don't know what is.

And care to explain how in the world we're suppose to "work this out civilly" when the editor in question IMMEDIATELY starts of with insults? That's sort of unlikely to happen.

As far as the content goes, are you serious about suggesting DS? This involves somebody removing text from the article because they think the freakin The Guardian is an unreliable source (because they don't like what the newspaper wrote)! And you know, what? There's been a ton of that lately. Editors running around removing reliable sources because they think "mainstream media is full of lies" and other nonsense like that. And given how the past year has played out, you're gonna get a lot more of that. Oh maybe I should start an RfC? Right, so that the reliability of sources can get decided by the little tag team gangs that have been popping all over the place? That's gonna work out well. What you're basically doing is dropping the ball, big time, and forcing those of us who actually work on content and edit these articles to keep them half sane, to put up with this crap over and over and over again.

So no, this isn't "edit-warring over a content dispute". It's ONE user reverting solid, reliably sourced, text by citing bullshit excuses ("the Guardian is not reliable") then edit warring to enforce their view, and when approached for a discussion immediately launching into insults and personal attacks. That's pretty much THE definition of disruptive behavior.

Ok, so please explain to me, exactly how the following statements are NOT personal attacks:

The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

" Volunteer Marek is a long-time anti-Russian POV-pusher though, so I don't doubt this will have to be taken to a drama board, somewhere Marek is very comfortable unfortunately" - no, not a personal attack at all. Discusses the content doesn't it?
" Wikipedia would be a better place with you banned" - oh yeah, not a personal attack. Again, a sophisticated analysis of content issues involved.
"You're the one edit-warring to defame a BLP and push your anti-Russian agenda" - well at least this one at least admits that there is a content issue
"You're a shameless POV pusher - you know it and I know it. You've been one for years. You're definitely anti-Russian. BTW, The truth isn't a personal attack." - yawn, I think I made my point.

How are these different from, say, this, which led to a block by User:Bishonen and a tban based on this AE? Volunteer Marek (talk) 04:22, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

What did I say about this getting out of hand? And that it needed to get nipped in the bud? See here. User:92slim has now jumped into the edit war, even though they've NEVER edited that article best I can tell, and even though they haven't bothered to join the discussion on talk. What is he doing there? Well, he tried to revert me on one article, but that was a violation of 1RR, so after I politely reminded him of it [32] (he removed the reminder, and also he had broken 1RR on the same article a week or so ago [33]) he went over to another article I edited, Battle of Aleppo and tried to revert me there. But his revert was done by User:Iryna Harpy. So he went to yet another article I recently edit, the Julian Assange one, and jumped in to edit war. He's stalking and revenge reverting and spoiling for a fight. This is WP:BATTLEGROUND plain and simple. And User:Peacemaker67 you're not exactly helping to put out the flames here.

This is all part of the same problem. Should I file a WP:AE report, is this enough, or should I just not bother? Volunteer Marek (talk) 06:15, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Oh gee, another editor that I've hardly interacted with that's bringing up a seven year old ArbCom case. You think someone might be emailing them or coordinating off wiki? Naaaahhhhhhhhhh, couldn't be.Volunteer Marek (talk) 15:48, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@LaserBrain, you write as if there are personal attacks on BOTH sides. There aren't. I haven't made any. It's all INeverCry (and now another user). That is the whole freakin' point of this AE. It is impossible to "work stuff out" with someone who only engages in personal attacks! I would hope that at least that part would be obvious.Volunteer Marek (talk) 16:50, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

[34]

Discussion concerning INeverCry

Statements must be made in separate sections. They may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator.
Administrators may remove or shorten noncompliant statements. Disruptive contributions may result in blocks.

Statement by INeverCry

Statement by TheTimesAreAChanging

Volunteer Marek has been the single most aggressive advocate for including the following quote from John McCain in the WP:BLP Vladimir Putin: "Vladimir Putin is a thug and a murderer and a killer and a KGB agent. He had Boris Nemtsov murdered in the shadow of the Kremlin. He has dismembered the Ukraine. He has now precision strikes by Russian aircraft on hospitals in Aleppo." Several days after the ongoing RfC on the McCain quote opened, Volunteer Marek precipitated another RfC at 2016 United States election interference by Russia by declaring Putin's own December 23 response to allegations that he personally supervised the DNC and Podesta email hacks to boost Trump (in an article with no other statements from Putin) "wp:undue." Perhaps this adds some context to INeverCry's allegations against Volunteer Marek. (Obviously, barring evidence of actual misconduct INeverCry should not have made those comments, because we all have our own points of view—some, perhaps, more prominently than others.) TheTimesAreAChanging (talk) 19:52, 26 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Given the underlying context, I disagree with Volunteer Marek's contention that INeverCry's reference to his alleged "anti-Russian agenda" is "basically like calling somebody racist."TheTimesAreAChanging (talk) 00:07, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@MVBW: Of course it is not misconduct to change one's interpretation of WP:DUE depending on whether or not one likes the material in question, but doing so may attract unwanted attention from other users. In fact, since Volunteer Marek's conduct can be scrutinized here as well, it may be worth noting that he recently dedicated an entire subsection—titled "It's EtienneDolet June 2016 vs EtienneDolet December 2016"—at Talk:Battle of Aleppo (2012–16) to criticizing User:EtienneDolet. In that section, Volunteer Marek wrote:

So, can you provide a coherent explanation for why in April you fanatically tried to remove SOHR from one article, and now you insist on it being in this one? ... I said this was funny. It's actually not. It's sad and disruptive and pretty clear evidence of simple WP:POVPUSH and WP:ADVOCACY. ... I'm asking you to provide an explanation for how you edit content, which doesn't lead to conclusion that your editing is just a WP:ADVOCACY and WP:POVPUSH. Because, as I've laid it out very clearly above, right now it's sort of hard to escape that conclusion. ... Criticisms [sic] is not a personal attack.

Since we're on the subject of double standards, I'll just let that quote speak for itself.TheTimesAreAChanging (talk) 04:31, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Even if we were to concede that EtienneDolet is guilty as charged of POV editing, the necessity of language like "fanatically," "funny," or "sad" would not be established. More importantly, Volunteer Marek's contention that his conduct is qualitatively different from INeverCry's because "it was supported by a ton of diffs" conceals more than it reveals: In both cases, the complaints against named editors should have been made to an appropriate noticeboard—not posted on an article's talk page as a thinly veiled personal attack.TheTimesAreAChanging (talk) 05:12, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Beyond My Ken

My experience is that Volunteer Marek has a firm and apparent anti-Putin POV which comes through clearly in his editing, working very hard to insure that any information which throws a bad light on Putin will remain in articles, despite the obvious BLP problems. However, I have not seen any similar "anti-Russian" POV. Putin is not Russia and someday (we can hope) he will not be Russia's leader. Beyond My Ken (talk) 00:41, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

And yes, "anti-Russian" does not necessarily equate to "racist", unless "anti-Russian ethnicity" is meant, but the most obvious meaning for "anti-Russian" is "anti-the country of Russia and its policies or citizens", which is not racism by any definition. Beyond My Ken (talk) 01:25, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Timothyjosephwood

This would be absolutely laughed out of ANI. They called me a POV pusher. TimothyJosephWood 01:25, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by My very best wishes

Repeatedly telling to someone without evidence that "you are anti-Russian/anti-Polish/anti-whatever" and that Wikipedia would be a better place with you banned [35] is completely inappropriate. Any user who does it on article talk pages must apologize and promise never do it again. If anyone has a legitimate concern that someone was actually a POV-pusher and that indeed "Wikipedia would be a better place with him banned", this should be brought with evidence on an appropriate noticeboard, instead of openly violating WP:NPA on article talk pages. As an editor with significant experience, INeverCry knows it very well. My very best wishes (talk) 02:44, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@TTAAC. Whatever your personal opinion, this is a legitimate RfC, with many people arguing both ways. Bringing this as a "proof" of wrongdoing is highly problematic. Yes, some contributors made inappropriate comments during this discussions ("I would ban you immediately" [36]), but that was not contributor you are talking about. My very best wishes (talk) 03:17, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

One thing is certain: diffs 1,2,3,5 were not content dispute, but personal comments about another contributor made on a wrong page and without any obvious reason. And on the top of it, he tells: "The truth isn't a personal attack." That might be understandable for a newbie, but not for a former admin. This is very strange. INeverCry is usually polite and does good content work [37]. My very best wishes (talk) 05:11, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Thucydides411. No, this has nothing to do with a content dispute on page Julian Assange. VM occasionally edited this page before, but INeverCry did not. Moreover, I did not see these two contributors ever interacting before on any pages. This is something else, quite obviously. But yes, it is entirely possible that INeverCry intentionally chose this Wikileaks-related page to make such personal comments, and that yes, the comments by INeverCry are indeed related to the previous history of VM on this site. My very best wishes (talk) 14:56, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Thucydides411

This complaint stems from a conflict at the page for Julian Assange. On that page, Volunteer Marek and a number of others are trying to use a single Guardian article (which as I explained on the talk page for Julian Assange, grossly misrepresents an interview in La Repubblica) to insinuate that Assange is some sort of Russian agent. This is UNDUE, because it cherry picks one particular article (of poor journalistic quality, I might add) out of the many thousands that must have been written about Assange over the years to create an entirely new subsection. It's also a serious BLP issue, as the Guardian article it relies on seriously misrepresents what Assange actually said in the interview. Volunteer Marek's response has been that the Guardian is a reliable source, but I think that when it comes to a BLP, a bit more discretion is warranted. Even otherwise reliable newspapers sometimes publish articles of poor journalistic quality, or even hack pieces against a particular person. And seizing on one such article to write an entirely new subsection about a highly notable public figure is completely inappropriate.

Unfortunately, this falls into a pattern that I've become familiar with when editing pages alongside Volunteer Marek. This user's open warrior mentality when editing articles related to Russia is all too apparent, and incredibly frustrating to deal with as a fellow editor. Finding a middle ground seems impossible in the face of the scorched-earth tactics I've experienced with Volunteer Marek. This is just my experience with this editor - take it how you will. -Thucydides411 (talk) 06:54, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Just for some further background on this issue, two users insisting on inserting the contentious material into the Julian Assange article were in the famous Eastern European Mailing List (EEML): Volunteer Marek and My very best wishes. So they have a bit of a history on Wikipedia, especially when it comes to Eastern-Europe related issues. -Thucydides411 (talk) 07:38, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (username)

Result concerning INeverCry

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.

Firstly, the contention that Julian Assange falls under EE on face value is questionable. These edits do, but diff #1 was before the EE warning was given, so it isn't relevant to AE. The rest consist of one editor essentially calling another a POV warrior. I see no evidence of racist behaviour. What is mostly going on is edit-warring over a content dispute, with both sides sailing close to a block. 3RR isn't a bright line. I've placed a warning on the talk page. Work it out there in a civil manner, or use DR. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 00:55, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

VM, redact your report to 500 words or I will. And keep your comments on topic, which is INeverCry's actions, and don't get distracted by off-topic comments by others. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 05:22, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

TTAAC, your comments are over 500 too. Redact the off-topic material. No-one is interested in the "other stuff" comments. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 05:24, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I'm of a mind to just close this. If these two can't sort out the conflict on the article Talk page without edit warring and personal attacks, they should just receive standard blocks to prevent further disruption. Hopefully the warning should suffice. I agree for the record that putting this article under EE is questionable. Also, the edit that's listed as a deliberate misuse of the "minor" edit is actually a misuse of the rollback function. @INeverCry: You will lose access to the rollback function if you use it to revert non-vandalism, especially in a content dispute. --Laser brain (talk) 16:16, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Volunteer Marek: My statement wasn't meant to imply guilt on either or both of your parts. To be more clear: I would favor the use of standard blocks as appropriate to prevent disruption, rather an DS. --Laser brain (talk) 17:01, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I'll echo the part about rollback, at the very least. INC, rollback is for vandalism, not content disputes, and you've been around long enough to know that. I won't revoke it due to one mistake, but if using it in content disputes becomes a habit, expect that to happen. Other than that, this looks like a content dispute that needs the tenor of the discussion toned down several notches by all involved. Focus on the edits, not the editors, and use dispute resolution if need be. I think putting it under EE is a pretty big stretch, but edit warring and attacking other editors is blockable behavior, DS or not. Let's see that stop please, and hopefully there won't be any need for that. Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 10:33, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I'm mostly offline ATM, big storm, power outages. I agree this and the other one should just be closed with a warning. Some people spend too much of their time here making complaints. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 01:12, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Volunteer Marek

This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.
Requests may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs (not counting required information), except by permission of a reviewing administrator.

Request concerning Volunteer Marek

User who is submitting this request for enforcement: EtienneDolet (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 07:28, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

User against whom enforcement is requested: Volunteer Marek (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
Search CT alerts: in user talk history • in system log

Sanction or remedy to be enforced: WP:ARBEE (WP:GS/SCW)

Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it

VM is pushing a strong anti-Russian/anti-Syrian government POV articles related to the Syrian Civil War, especially at Battle of Aleppo (2012-2016), and other articles as well for some time. His behavior has become particularly disruptive since the capture of Aleppo by the Syrian government in recent days.

Edit warring/Gaming 1RR

Has been steadily reverting once every 24 hours at the 1RR Battle of Aleppo (2012-2016) article for the last week or so (aside from a pause around Christmas). Note that there's a clear consensus at the TP to NOT include the alleged massacres in the lede. The consensus was pretty clear by 19 December (though that didn't stop him). It is now at 14-2; the 2 being himself and My very best wishes.

13 December (rv of this)
14 December (rv of this)
15 December (rv of this)
18 December (rv of this)
19 December (rv of this)
22 December (rv of this)
23 December (rv of this and this)
24 December (rv of this)
26 December (rv of this)
27 December (rv of this)

There are other troubling incidents: when VM got reverted and did not get his way with his version of the lead, he went a couple hours later to the similar Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016) article (which is so identical that it probably needs to get merged) and inserted the same material about the alleged civilian massacres to the lead of that article, then doubles down to maintain his insertion.

More 1RR gaming

Meanwhile, when VM did not get the consensus he wanted at the TP, he employed the "same-wine-different-bottle-to-get-around-1RR" tactic. The material is similar to material that VM previously edit-warred over, but since he used up his 1R for the day, he inserts something slightly different, so that the gist is the same but without it being a revert. Examples include:

12:16 22 December - His addition is reverted
18:23 22 December - Adds a statement by Merkel and Kerry over the same massacres of civilians. Meanwhile, what's more troubling is that VM doubles down the next day and not only restores his addition about the alleged massacre, but also Kerry and Merkel's comments.

But when that gets reverted altogether, VM does the following:

23:15 23 December - Adds another statement, this time by Samantha Powers, over the same allegations of massacre.

Dishonesty

16 December - "Stop it, it’s sourced", but he is actually removing sourced material in the process.
19 December - While reverting the removal of material he wants included, he ALSO removes sourced material without any explanation either in the edit summary or the TP (under the guise of "reorder text for better flow.") He also removed "To prevent civilian casualties, the Russian and Syrian governments…", which fits into his POV of portraying said governments in as negative light as possible.
22 December - Same deal here. No explanation given for this edit.
23 December - Mischaracterizing other’s edits to make them seem unreasonable. No he's not trying to delete anything, the RfC is whether the "Aleppo massacre" stuff belongs in the lede of Battle of Aleppo, nothing more. VM’s allegations of "trying to bypass AfD" are gross mischaracterizations.
23 December - Same idea
26 December - Edit-warring over RfC closure, falsely claiming only an admin can close it. He then doubles down even when told that wasn't the case.
27 December - Claims there's no discussion over the reliability of the source. When there is, and he participated in it.

POV-pushing

15 October - comparing the Russian and Syrian governments to the Nazis. While VM is entitled to his views, this diff shows just how "extreme" these views are.
20 December - He removes the sourced denial of the atrocities by the Syrian government, and restores POV wording (e.g. “catastrophic”), without ANY explanation. He finds ONE source that uses a particular wording he likes, and then insists on using that wording verbatim because “reliable sources” says so, never mind the fact that it is just a single source, and we are bound by NPOV while sources are not.
23 December - "Syria's Kurds also protested against the Syrian Army's disregard for civilians in its attack on the city." The article shows all of 10-15 people "demonstrating" – in Iraqi Kurdistan, not Syria. Yet VM sees no problem writing "Syria's Kurds protested..." in Wikipedia’s voice, thereby clearly attempting to create a false impression for our readers.
26 December - This looks like an attempt at poisoning the well. There is a separate section for government atrocities. Doubles down when challenged.

TP disruption (i.e. incivility/trying to get under his opponent’s skin/TP edit-warring)

22 December - Telling an experienced user "you have a pretty fundamental misunderstanding of how an encyclopedia works". Comments like these are designed to get under his opponent’s skin to the maximum degree possible while avoiding outright name calling (VM is too experienced for that).
22 December - "So why are you even making ridiculous proposals like this?" Again, same idea. What a user did was present a reliable source not to his liking. This is the response.
22 December - "If you're not gonna be willing to follow reliable sources then you're WP:NOTHERE for the purposes of building an encyclopedia. Are you? *cricket noises*"
23 December - "go edit some other place on internet."
23 December - "sort of illustrates your bias here. Can you at least try to hide it a bit more? It's sort of embarrassing to watch."
23 December - "Also it appears your math skills could use some work." He also grossly mischaracterizes a user's comments and edits. The user never said the "bus burnings" belonged in the lead or that SOHR is reliable.
23 December - VM seems to enjoy attempts at mocking and humiliating those he disagrees with. Note how he included my name in the header, a major WP:TALK no-no. His post is redolent with sarcasm and mockery. He continues the discussion lashing out on my editing pattern which under WP:NPA guidelines (comment on content, not editor), would be considered nothing short of a personal attack. The whole discussion is an attempt to humiliate and to top it all off says he's "helping me become a better editor." Grant it, he did concede to change the section title when I told him so. But the discussion, which is the most disruptive part, remains. When I tried hatting the discussion, he then reverted that too. I find such behavior extremely counterproductive towards consensus building: A user that is mocked and humiliated in this fashion is far less likely to be willing to compromise (he's done this before too). This is clearly not the behavior of someone 1) interested in maintain a collegial editing environment and 2) worried about sanctions. Because he gets away with it.
26 December - Edit-warring over the closure of an RfC, when the results of the RfC are overwhelmingly in his disfavor (13-2). Doubles down.
28 December - "But this is not fucking dishonesty you little ..." When I removed it per RPA, the response I get is "how about you leave my comments alone?" This is not good-natured conduct, much less someone who finds it appropriate to engage in WP:CIVIL dialogue.
28 December - "Showing up to AE with a bullshit report, accusing someone of "dishonesty" then lying your ass off about what the diffs you include as "evidence" contain." Same idea.

If discretionary sanctions are requested, supply evidence that the user is aware of them (see WP:AC/DS#Awareness and alerts)

Gave an alert about discretionary sanctions in the area of conflict in the last twelve months, on 1 March 2016. Made comment that specified warning was for Syria here.
Alerted about discretionary sanctions by Erlbaeko
Filed a report requesting WP:ARBEE sanction.

Additional comments by editor filing complaint

Frankly, I've interacted with Volunteer Marek for quite some time now, and I must say that this is the most disruptive I've seen him thus far. The diffs (with the exception of a couple) are all from the past 10 days. I must say, however, that the underlying POV push here is anti-Russian, and whoever is on good terms with Russia (i.e. Assad, Trump, Assange) pays a hefty price.

Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

[38]

Discussion concerning Volunteer Marek

Statements must be made in separate sections. They may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator.
Administrators may remove or shorten noncompliant statements. Disruptive contributions may result in blocks.

Statement by Volunteer Marek

(Note: yes, I know this is long. That's cuz there's a buttload of accusations in this battleground report. So please don't tell me to "keep it under 500 words". You know that can't be done)

First, even EtienneDolet's own diffs clearly show that it's simply false that "(Volunteer Marek) Has been steadily reverting once every 24 hours at the 1RR". There's 11 edits there (not all of them reverts) which span Dec 13 to Dec 27, which is two weeks. So that's not even one "revert" per day. It's just normal editing of the article.

Specifically, the edits on the 13th and the 14th, restored a long standing version of the article which was altered by several brand new accounts. In particular, This is NOT a revert of this.

The edit on the 15th is a revert but it's part of BRD - especially since the info was removed per WP:IDONTLIKEIT. The subsequent edits, in the cases where they are reverts concern different aspects of the article. For example this edit and this edit are about unrelated content.

So you can't claim "consensus on talk page" when you're talking about completely different issues. At best, consensus was only for ONE issue, which is not to have the number of killed civilians in the lede. And even that's debatable as several other users supported inclusion of the text. I have no idea what "same-wine-different-bottle-to-get-around-1RR" is suppose to mean. It sounds like EtienneDolet is just offended that I've been able to edit the article at all. This is his usual (and he has done this several times in the past) "oh noes! Volunteer Marek won't let me push my POV in peace! Please ban him!". This is exactly what EtienneDolet does - he and his buddies go in, revert blindly and then when their edits are challenged they run off to drama boards to try and get those who disagree with them banned. EtienneDolet has in fact been warned and threatened with sanctions for exactly this kind of behavior previously. See previous AE reports (I'll dig it out later).

Ok, now the "Dishonesty" charge. That's pretty damn serious. So he better have something here or I'm gonna be pissed. And I want a freakin' BOOMERANG.

This edit. EtienneDolet says ""Stop it, it’s sourced", but he is actually removing sourced material in the process."

First note I'm reverting to a version by admin User:Drmies. This is restoring the words "pro-Assad", "catastrophic" and "thousands", all of which, are indeed sourced. I am removing the word "alleged" because "alleged" is not in the source and the user inserted it because he claimed the text wasn't supported by sources (false). There does appear to be a sentence there sourced to Daily Beast (not a reliable source) which got caught up in the restoration of Drmies' version. But this is not fucking dishonesty ... it's just something getting caught up in restoring a version.

This edit. EtienneDolet says " While reverting the removal of material he wants included, he ALSO removes sourced material without any explanation either in the edit summary or the TP"

Bullshit. This is restoring a previous version. The rationale for removing this "sourced material" was ALREADY PROVIDED here.

This edit. EtienneDoelt says: "Same deal here. No explanation given for this edit."

Bullshit. There's the freakin' edit summary right there which explains it, which says "restore well sourced material. Apparently a few buses being burned is more important for the lede than a massacre of civilians".

And at this point. Let's pause and think about what is going on here. EtienneDolet and a couple of his buddies are busy trying to remove any mention of murdered civilians from the lede of the article. Because, they say, it's "UNDUE". At the same time, he is trying to add information about some buses being freakin' burnt to the lede. That's right. EtienneDolet thinks that a massacre of civilians is "UNDUE" but buses being burned is crucial info for the lede. That kind of mentality speaks for itself.

And yes, I did start a talk page discussion about it [39]

This edit. EtienneDolet says: "Mischaracterizing other’s edits to make them seem unreasonable. ...VM’s allegations of "trying to bypass AfD" are gross mischaracterizations."

The person being dishonest here is ED. ANOTHER USER (see comment right above mine in the diff) used the word "bizarrely". I agreed with them. Because the situation on the talk page was indeed bizarre. I'm not mischaracterizing anything. The same editors who were voting to "merge" this material from the article Aleppo Massacre to Battle of Aleppo where busy trying to REMOVE it from the Battle of Aleppo one. How does that work? How can you "merge" something when you are actually removing it? The answer is, it doesn't. It's just a trick (it's actually a very old old trick on Wikipedia). You say "merge" and then remove it from the target and that way you get to delete it without actually doing AfD. Because you know that if you took the actual article to AfD, the vote would be keep.

Man, I'm tired of this crap already. It's obvious EtienneDolet has been working on this for the past few days, probably with some help - especially given Athenean's comments in the RfC where he keeps threatening that he'll go to AE.

This edit. EtienneDolet says "Same idea".

Can someone please explain to me what the hell is suppose to be wrong with that comment??? What exactly is the problem? How is this dishonest? Where does EtienneDolet get off accusing me of lying? I am making a relevant goddamn analogy.

EtiennDolet is basically just taking every single one of my edits to this article and my comments on the talk page and pretending really really hard that there's something "bad" about them. There's not. He's full of it. He's the one that's lying and being dishonest. His description of every single one of those diffs is a big stinking lie.

More quickly - nothing wrong with this comment, if you're doing original research, then yeah you have a misunderstanding of how Wikipedia works. Nothing wrong with this comment, it address content, specifically sources.

Oh, this one's funny - [40]. EtienneDolet quotes me as saying: ""If you're not gonna be willing to follow reliable sources then you're WP:NOTHERE for the purposes of building an encyclopedia. Are you? *cricket noises*""

First, if you refuse to follow reliable sources, then yeah, Wikipedia isn't for you. I guess it's the "cricket noises" that are the issue, huh? That's like, uncivil or something, to say "cricket noises" to someone? Right? Oh but wait, wait, what is this comment responding to? Just look right above it to EtienneDolet's comment:

" The underlining question here is most important: were/are there independent observers in Eastern Aleppo? *cricket noises*".

And see the part which he left out: "Um, the way it usually works is that after you ask a question you give a chance to respond, THEN you start in with the "cricket noises". Not "howabouthequestioCRICKETNOISES!". And anyway, that's not the question. The question is what reliable sources say" (that's me, in case you're losing track)

This edit. EtienneDolet quotes me as saying "go edit some other place on internet." What he leaves out is the first part of that sentence "If you don't care to follow Wikipedia policy on reliable sources". Which is about right. IF you're not gonna follow one of our five pillars then other internet forums are a better match for you.

This one I believe was already brought up by ED's tag-team buddy Athenean on User:Drmies talk page right here. Please read Drmies response.

This one. EtienneDolet says: "The user never said the "bus burnings" belonged in the lead or that SOHR is reliable." Yeah and I never said that "the user" (that would be Athenean) said that. This was a general comment on the discussion in the section. So it's really ED who is "grossly mischarecterizing" my comments.

The closure of the RfC. Yes, a non-admin tried to close the RfC after just a couple of days. I reverted it because it's the holiday season and we should give more time for editors who are busy with holiday stuff. That user then actually said they were fine with the closure being undone. What's more, another, actually uninvolved User:Lemongirl942, also asked the user to hold off on closing RfCs. Then yet another User:Iryna Harpy undid another attempt at closure by another involved user, 92slim (recently blocked for incivility for this comment, also a buddy of ED)

So all you got here is just EtienneDolet presenting a bunch of diffs and then appending his own FALSE little description of what they SUPPOSEDLY contain. He's hoping that admins, understandably since it's time consuming, check the actual context and verify all of his claim. This is just the standard WP:BATTLEGROUND tactic of diff-padding.

Ok I'm gonna make a break here.

Because then we come to the real reason why EtienneDolet is filing this AE report, This diff from Dec 23.

First, just to get something straight, as soon as ED asked me to remove his name from the sub-sub-section heading, I was happy to do so [41] (he actually didn't bring it up for awhile)

Now, is this a "personal attack" meant to "humiliate" EtienneDolet? No. It's not. But it does make him look really bad, which is why he's pissed enough to file this baseless WP:AE report. But the reason it makes him look bad, is because he behaved badly.

Here is the diff again [42]. Read it. Then read the discussion it is referring to here.

The situation outlined in those two diffs vividly illustrates just what a WP:TENDENTIOUS editor EtienneDolet is, and how completely unconcerned with Wikipedia policies of WP:NPOV and WP:RS he is in pursuit of his BATTLEGROUND. And it does this with his own words. It's not a personal attack because it really just quotes him.

To recap. Back in April, on the page Russian military intervention in Syria, EtienneDolet insisted that SOHR (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights) was NOT a reliable source. He was adamant about it. He was inflexible about it. Uncompromising. He called it a "total joke". A "tool of Western propaganda", And worse. He wasted a shit load of my time arguing that it wasn't reliable. Even that discussion by itself was really problematic. First, he misrepresented what users at WP:RSN said (this RfC was actually an instance of FORUM shopping but nevermind), until one of them showed up and corrected him. Then he claimed that there were "academic sources" that proved SOHR wasn't reliable (April 1 10:16). When I asked him to provide these "academic sources" he evaded and kept repeating the claim without actually presenting them. Finally, when pressed he linked to... a conspiracy website, and a far-right online fake-"magazine" that publishes anti-Semitic drivel. When the nature of these links was pointed out to him, he kept on freakin' insisting that these were, honest to god, "academic sources".

Those are the quotes from him I provided in the diff he brings up (here it is again [43])

Yeah, he looks bad in those, but that's all on him.

So why is this relevant to the Battle of Aleppo article? I mean aside from the fact that "Russian military intervention in Syria" and "Battle of Aleppo" are related. Well.... because now EtienneDolet decided he wanted to USE the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as a source himself. Nothing changed in the meantime. It's still the same outfit. There's been no new info about it. In fact, ED didn't even say he changed his mind. The only difference was that in April, SOHR was being used to source something which was "anti-Assad", but in December he wanted to use it to source something which was "pro-Assad".

So all of sudden, this source that he spend pages and pages arguing was unreliable, "a total joke", a "tool of Western propaganda", all of sudden, now, it was perfectly fine to use. Because HEJUSTLIKEDIT.

Seriously. Read this discussion first. Look at this edit. Keep in mind that he restored this source several times. Then read my comment (here it is again) and tell me that there isn't something seriously wrong with EtienneDolet's approach to editing Wikipedia.

I've been here since 2005. I've seen TONS of TENDENTIOUS editors. But this is pretty much top of the list. Definitely top three. To be so totally brazen in one's disregard for Wikipedia policies and goals in pursuit of WP:BATTLEGROUND behavior, as EtienneDolet is, even I'm surprised, and I've seen a lot of shenanigans here over the years.

And I haven't even brought up the strange phenomenon in the Aleppo RfC, where six editors, none of whom have ever edited the article before, but all of whom are EtienneDolet's buddies from the whole Armenia vs. Turkey and Armenia vs. Azerbaijan topic area/battleground, somehow all showed up to vote in his (well, Athenean's, little difference) RfC in quick succession, all in the same way, with exactly the same "rationale".

This is a load of crap and I'm tired. I guess now is when all the grudge holders, haters and opportunistic battleground warriors show up and turn this into a circus... Volunteer Marek (talk) 09:11, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Oh yeah, please give me some time to dig out old WP:AE reports, including the failed ones that ED already tried to file against me, and some WP:ANI reports (also failed) in which he was warned about using WP:AE and WP:ANI to pursue WP:BATTLEGROUND fights. They're there if you look and I'll get them soon enough.Volunteer Marek (talk) 09:21, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Tiptoe, you're confusing me with someone else.Volunteer Marek (talk) 16:57, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@TTAAC, that info had been in the article for several days and nobody objected. So actually, it was your removal of it which was a violation of discretionary sanctions.Volunteer Marek (talk) 01:18, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Re ED's [44] - you know what's "not good-natured conduct"? Showing up to AE with a bullshit report, accusing someone of "dishonesty" then lying your ass off about what the diffs you include as "evidence" contain. THAT IS what is not "conducive to civil conduct". Oh, and messing with the comments made by your intended victim. Which appears to be just an attempt to provoke and humiliate them ("I can edit your comments cuz you're such a bad person!"). The fact that ED immediately edited this page again to include my reverting of his changes to my comment is just more illustration that this is nothing but WP:BATTLEGROUND and WP:TENDENTIOUS behavior on their part, combined with a bunch of WP:POINTY attempts to provoke someone so that he can have "diffs" to add to his report. Like I said, I have not seen many users on Wikipedia that were this cynical and backhanded in their editing and pursuit of grudges.Volunteer Marek (talk) 01:26, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hey User:Bishonen, think about it this way - at least you're an outside observer and you only have to or choose to observe this. You're not actually being attacked and slandered and have your character and good intentions constantly called into question and have every single person you've ever pissed off on Wikipedia cuz you didn't let them add some nonsense to some article you can't even remember show up and pontificate about all the horrible things you are and have done and muse out loud about what kind of nasty things should be done to you. So as much I sympathize - and I do, really really do - you're being cast in the easier role in this theatrical production.Volunteer Marek (talk) 01:34, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Tiptoethrutheminefield

Is there any point in this? VM has always been a full-time pov editor, ceaseless and tireless if not always effective. Everyone knows this, countless cases over the years have revealed it, but nothing is done. Only the now greatly increased subject range of articles affected may change that. What started as eastern European post-Cold-War related articles has expanded into any subject that VM believes contains some hidden Russian manipulations or hidden pro-Russia end goal, so it is now just about anything to do with the middle east and anything to do with domestic or foreign policy American politics. VM surely genuinely believes he is trying to save saving the world from a tidal wave of Russian malevolence. However, when VM arrives at an article, everyone just groans, knowing they are going to be faced with his ceaseless persistence that his position must be followed and everyone else is wrong regardless of arguments presented or consensus. The Battle of Aleppo RfC [45] is typical - he just goes on and on and on, his tenacity is awesome. Tiptoethrutheminefield (talk) 15:09, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Volunteer Marek writes "I've been here since 2005. I've seen TONS of TENDENTIOUS editors. But this is pretty much top of the list. Definitely top three. To be so totally brazen in one's disregard for Wikipedia policies and goals in pursuit of WP:BATTLEGROUND behavior, as EtienneDolet is, even I'm surprised, and I've seen a lot of shenanigans here over the years". Volunteer Marek has actually been here since 2004 [46], and if VM is going to have the brazen audacity to accuse ED of being in the top three ranking of Wikipedia's most tendentious editors, he should acknowledge his own editing history makes him the likely number one. Or he should stop making such clearly over-the-top accusations. Tiptoethrutheminefield (talk) 15:32, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by My very best wishes

I am not sure this should be considered on WP:AE because all most recent diffs are related to the Syrian war, which is covered by community sanctions. This is yet another attempt by ED and supporters to sanction VM, or at least to make his life on WP unbearable. What ED and some others actually do? They collect a large number of completely legitimate edits by VM and bring them here as a proof of something. However, all or most of these edits actually improve the content or represent legitimate discussions. That's why all their previous attempts on this noticeboard did not succeed. But they continue doing the same in this request. I think this should stop by banning ED and Tiptoe from bringing new complaints on AE, unless admins want the same to continue to infinity. My very best wishes (talk) 04:05, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Lipsquid

Here we are again, every AE or ANI about VM has a magically appearing MVBW in support of VM. Amazing coincidence how often these two cross paths. Lipsquid (talk) 21:07, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Iryna Harpy

Firstly, let me qualify why I am here: I've actually been pinged in by VM both here and in the above case involving INeverCry, and am not one of the 'I hate VM, and Mvbw is a sock/meat/cabal-member/jocks and a pair of pantyhose' groupies who have to get their 2¢ worth in every time a thread is opened involving VM anywhere on wp. Currently, the latest infection being spread is the significance of EEML. It's become so ludicrous that Tiptoethrutheminefield has apparently already written his own op-ed (WP:OR) history of Wikipedia in which grubbing through the mud is justified because he, himself, is not one of the harshest and hard headed editors around (erhem!... and please read through the entire thread on Thucydides411's talk page as it's good for a depressing laff). As an aside, I've worked with Tiptoethrutheminefield collaboratively despite what other editors may think of him, or his editing history. If I were to keep dredging up past indiscretions and editing by the GRUDGE credo, there'd barely be an editor I would trust isn't communicating with other active and blocked editors off-wiki. Why should I? AGF? Pshaw! As you've intimated, Bishonen, the underlying problem is how tedious this board has become. Editors are so consumed by everything other than the calibre of the content, and flexing their Alpha male muscles that no one with a jot of sense would do anything but lurk around the articles (or put 'em their watchlist as I have). In conclusion, I thoroughly endorse your recommendation.

Statement by TheTimesAreAChanging

It may be worth noting that both @Volunteer Marek: and @BullRangifer: appear to have flagrantly violated the American Politics discretionary sanctions pertaining to the restoration of contentious material just a few days ago at 2016 United States election interference by Russia: [47], [48], [49], [50].TheTimesAreAChanging (talk) 00:32, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by BullRangifer

I got pinged and see that I apparently did violate the sanction. I can assure you that it was an accident and won't occur again. I just dropped by and saw what appeared to be a ridiculous deletion of properly sourced content (which I usually consider to be a form of vandalism), not realizing it was being contested on the talk page. I hadn't checked the history of that content. My bad. Very sorry for any consternation my restoration caused. I now see it was corrected later. -- BullRangifer (talk) 03:53, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Result concerning Volunteer Marek

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.

Looking at this request and the one above, how about we close down the AE board and mark it as historical? The discretionary sanctions system is supposed to make admins' and constructive users' lives better, not worse. We probably need a board for appeals against AE sanctions, but for requesting admin action, AE seems to have outlived its usefulness. I would guess the ArbCom that invented ds envisaged that single admin discretion would be applied most of the time, rather than the fifth circle of hell that the barren and wearisome debates on this page have become. Whether the committee did or not, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a single admin sanctioning a properly alerted user per their own admin discretion. How would that work, then? Well, frustrated users can request sanctions by turning to single admins, and admins for their part can keep an eye on contentious talkpages and on ANI complaints involving ds areas, and sometimes decide to act on them with a topic ban. As regards the Volunteer Marek — INeverCry — EtienneDolet snafu, I haven't formed an opinion yet, with Christmas etc, but User:Laser brain's suggestion above regarding the first request, "I'm of a mind to just close this", certainly sounds attractive. For both requests. Bishonen | talk 17:07, 28 December 2016 (UTC).[reply]

Ms Sarah Welch

This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.
Requests may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs (not counting required information), except by permission of a reviewing administrator.

Request concerning Ms Sarah Welch

User who is submitting this request for enforcement: Soham321 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 18:05, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

User against whom enforcement is requested: Ms Sarah Welch (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
Search CT alerts: in user talk history • in system log

Sanction or remedy to be enforced: WP:ARBIND

Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it

27 December and 27 December Brings up my 6 month topic ban (which expired more than an year ago) in the middle of a content dispute. Refuses to accept that this violates WP:STICK.
28 December and 28 December. One of my contentions is that Sarah is introducing edits into the article which are not supported by the sourced material. My position has been endorsed by Js82, and opposed by Kautilya3. Introducing unsupported edits (giving the illusion that they are being sourced) fall in the realm of behavioral misconduct in my opinion. It is easy to verify who is right here since the reference is available online and only requires minimal reading for the verification.
27 December I filed an RfC about disputed content in Sati.
28 December Sarah continues making changes to the disputed content after I filed the RfC
28 December My request to Sarah to revert the changes she made to the disputed content after the RfC had been filed since that is not permissible under WP policy is met with a refusal to revert and a questioning of my understanding of WP policy.

If discretionary sanctions are requested, supply evidence that the user is aware of them (see WP:AC/DS#Awareness and alerts)

diff

Additional comments by editor filing complaint

I have explained here why I did not attempt to engage in an extended dialogue with Sarah prior to filing the RfC.

I would like Admins adjudicating this case to scrutinize the extensive interaction history of Ms Sarah Welch and Joshua Jonathan on WP before mulling over Joshua's comments in this section. Joshua has given Sarah multiple barnstars and i have yet to come across any instance of him ever expressing disagreement with her about anything. Meanwhile, Sarah's continual proclivity to misrepresent the source material continues on the Charles James Napier page, yet again in material related to Sati. See my edit summaries in diff1 and diff2 to know the errors Sarah had introduced into the article. Soham321 (talk) 20:00, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

With respect to Js82's charge of canvassing and tag-teaming by Sarah Welch, Joshua Jonathan, and Kautilya3, my suggestion is to ask all three of them whether they have ever exchanged emails with each other. WP Admins will of course be able to determine whether any email communication between these three was ever initiated through their WP accounts. If these three have never exchanged emails with one another I would assume AGF and put their mutual agreement with each other on multiple articles (and even their defense of each other) down to ideological affinity.Soham321 (talk) 20:07, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I just read the diffs given by Js82 and i am convinced that they reveal violations of WP:CANVASS. I think it is now important for Ms Sarah Welch, Joshua Jonathan, and Kautilya3 to disclose to the community whether they have been in email communication with each other for the sake of transparency. Soham321 (talk) 21:03, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Joshua Jonathan, WP:ASPERSIONS does not apply if the accusation is based on truth as is the case with the multiple violations of WP:CANVASS involving you and Sarah, evidence for which has been presented by Js82 Soham321 (talk) 21:10, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I will let an Admin correct what is an obvious misunderstanding and misinterpretation of WP:CANVASS by Joshua Jonathan. Bottomline is that per WP:CANVASS you can't notify only a like minded editor(s) about a pending discussion because that results in a biased consensus. I note Joshua's usage of the term "stubbornness" for me and Js82; i request him not to continue using unpleasant adjectives for me and Js82 because that would violate WP:ASPERSIONS and WP:NPA. Soham321 (talk) 22:00, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

RegentsPark's lack of understanding of WP policy is shocking for an Admin. Bottomline is that you cannot continue making changes to disputed content once the disputed content has been put up for an RfC. I know this to be a fact because this was what i saw first hand in the Donald Trump sexual misconduct allegations page in which certain disputed content had been put up for an RfC and it was not being allowed to be inserted into the main article while the RfC was ongoing. My warning and request to revert(on her talk page), after Sarah continued making changes to the disputed content after i filed the RfC, was ignored by Sarah and in fact she questioned my knowledge of WP policy. What else am i supposed to do besides file an AE case since this is an Arb protected article? I could have gone to an individual Admin, but i believe nothing prevented me from approaching AE and there was no violation of WP:RULES on my part. Additionally, there was little point in arguing with Sarah when we had a fundamental disagreement: my position was that she was misrepresenting the source material in the edits she was making in her main article. Whether AE should be shut down, as RegentsPark comments, is not relevant to this case; he and other like minded Admin(s) can take this up with ArbCom.

I also find it curious that RegentsPark completely disregards the patently obvious violations of WP:CANVASS presented by Js82. Soham321 (talk) 23:04, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

With respect to Ms Sarah Welch's claim that i was canvassing when i left messages on the talk pages of Mohanbhan and Kenfyre it reveals Sarah's lack of understanding of WP:CANVASS. First, both these editors are currently inactive on WP. Second, i posted on their talk pages before i filed this AE case and before i even filed the RfC. Third, i posted a completely neutral message on their talk page. Soham321 (talk) 23:27, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

RegentsPark, as long as i am following WP:RULES i cannot be sanctioned. In the the Donald Trump sexual misconduct allegations, an RfC had been initiated about disputed content pertaining to the rape allegation against Trump. Refer to this Guardian article to see what i am talking about. This RfC, initiated just before the US Presidential elections, ensured that this material was not included in the main article. Anyone attempting to include this material in the main article was told that there is an ongoing RfC about this content and so it cannot be included. That RfC was closed long after the US Presidential Elections were over. There were editors who complained that this is gaming, but there was nothing they could do since WP policy with respect to RfC was being followed. This is the RfC i am talking about: Link

In the present case, I filed this AE after Sarah Welch continued to making changes to the disputed content in the main article after the RfC had been filed. The sanctity of the RfC would have been severely disrupted (it would have been impossible to comment on the existing content) if Sarah kept making changes to the disputed content while the RfC was ongoing. And note that she refused my request on her talk page to revert her changes to the disputed content made after the RfC had been filed.Soham321 (talk) 00:30, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

RegentsPark, One difference between the sati article and the Trump article is that the Trump article was being monitored by several editors and Admins who would swiftly ensure that no violations pertaining to the addition of the disputed content occurred in the main article while the RfC was ongoing. For an example of what I am talking about, read this edit summary. The edit summary in the diff says: "rm Jane Doe content per ArbCom restrictions - Doe content is under RfC and must stay out pending consensus to include, and that reasonably includes any reference to it."Soham321 (talk) 00:51, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Js82 has made an excellent rejoinder to RegentsPark. I allowed Sarah Welch's disputed edit to remain in the article and did not attempt to revert it before starting the RfC. So RegentsPark's concern that gaming can take place through an RfC (to keep out content for the duration of the RfC) is clearly not applicable to me. (Given the Trump article example, i do not believe i could have been sanctioned even if i would have reverted her disputed edit before filing the RfC.) This AE case was filed after Sarah continued making changes to the disputed content in the article after the RfC had been filed and refused to revert these changes after being requested to do so.Soham321 (talk) 02:20, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Another aspect of Ms Sarah Welch's behavior: giving frivolous threats. Sati was never a part of Sikhism and has nothing to do with Sikhs. And yet because Js82 is currently topic banned from Sikhism, she wants him to stop commenting on Sati, frivolously bringing up his topic ban from Sikhism in a dispute involving Sati. Soham321 (talk) 09:36, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

Link

Discussion concerning Ms Sarah Welch

Statements must be made in separate sections. They may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator.
Administrators may remove or shorten noncompliant statements. Disruptive contributions may result in blocks.

Statement by Ms Sarah Welch

The numbering below refers to the numbering in the complaint.

1. [a] Alleges: "Brings up my 6 month topic ban in the middle of a content dispute". Answer: Not really. My first post explained why I reverted. @Soham321 first reply started with forum-y statements such as "This also deserves inclusion in the main article since Akbar is widely considered by non-Hindutva historians as one of the greatest..." and "Since the Charles Napier quote revealed that the British used extremely harsh force (rightfully so) in stopping the barbaric ..."; it also cast aspersions with "Essentially what we are seeing, thanks to you now, is a politicized...". No WP:RS were provided by @Soham321, nor diffs for the aspersions cast. This is just old behavior of @Soham321. To be constructive, we need to focus on the content in the article, back up comments and suggestions with reliable sources, and discuss improvements without casting aspersions. @Soham321 did the opposite in their first reply.

1. [b] Alleges: "Refuses to accept that this violates WP:STICK." Answer: Does not apply, because calling out a repetitive issue is not WP:Stick. We can’t spend hours afresh with the same thing/behavior, as if the past did not happen. It is also not WP:Stick by the standards @Soham321 has argued, against @Bishonen and other admins, for example here. @Soham321 wrote, "Ponyo, I thought about whether i am guilty of not dropping the stick. In my opinion i would have been guilty of not dropping the stick if i had taken Bishonen to ANI or AN (...)". This suggests @Soham321 seems to interpret the same guideline differently, one way for themselves, and another way for most others editors and admins.

[2] As noted by @Joshua Jonathan, and this, the content is supported. We are discussing whether it is due and if it belongs in the article.

[3], [4] and [5] Did not change the content in dispute. I expanded the section with additional content for NPOV, within the WP:RFC and wikipedia guidelines. FWIW, @Soham321 rushed six RfCs, which @DIY Editor and others have questioned with, "What exactly is the problem; (...) You are asking for comments on 1 day of editing?"

FWIW, @Soham321 has been canvassing in last 24 hours, see this, and this. Then to ignore one’s own behavior, to flip, to cast aspersions on @Joshua Jonathan, @Kautilya3; to allege "canvassing and tag-teaming" when they are just volunteering, is puzzling and unfair. Ms Sarah Welch (talk) 22:28, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Joshua Jonathan

Let me try to get this clear: you're asking for AE, because

MSW asks you to "Please quit the WP:FORUM-y posturing on talk page", and reminds you that "you were sanctioned for in part, in past, before your last full retirement from wikipedia."
She thinks that you "You misunderstand WP:STICK."
You're of the opinion that MSW mis-represents a source. That is, the two of you differ on Talk:Sati (practice)#Banerjee, in concreto P. Banerjee (2016), Burning Women: Widows, Witches, and Early Modern European Travelers in India, Springer Verlag. Why don't you refer to this section of the talkpage, and the publication in question? Instead, you refer to the opinion of Js82, who is notorious for his misrepresenting of sources (MSW did not write "led into Sati by bearded men who are Mughal courtiers", but wrote "the costumes and dresses of those shown in the painting suggest she being led into Sati by bearded men who are Mughal courtiers"), though you do note that Kautilya3 agrees with MSW. That's a judgment by an editor who's got a lot more credit here. NB: the source is not easily accesible; I can't acces it.
According to you MSW made changes to the disputed content after you posted a RfC; according to you, she shouldn't have done this when there is an open RfC. As far as I can see, she added additional info, and did not change the content in dispute.

So, you're seriously requesting AE because you disagree with another editor, while the editor in question is engage the discussion, while you state that you don't want to "engage in an extended dialogue with Sarah prior to filing the RfC" because you are "not prepared to argue with an editor who insists on inserting into an article edits which are not supported by the reference they are using"? Joshua Jonathan -Let's talk! 19:00, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding Js82's problems with accurately representing the statements of other editors: see my comments at User talk:RegentsPark#Indian subcontinent, "collaborating" with Ms Sarah Welch for some examples of Js82's 'notorious misrepresentations'. Regarding the accusations of WP:TAGTEAM: this is not a matter of "ideological affinity," but of competence and command of sources. These are serious WP:ASPERSIONS. Unfortunately, Js82 has repeatedly resorted to this kind of behavior, as also mentioned at User talk:RegentsPark#Indian subcontinent, "collaborating" with Ms Sarah Welch. Joshua Jonathan -Let's talk! 20:49, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Js82: I think tht you understand perfectly well that the point here is misrepresentation. Let me correct it to "misrepresenting texts c.q. statements," if that helps you. Regarding WP:CANVASSING, the first line there is:

"In general, it is perfectly acceptable to notify other editors of ongoing discussions, provided that it be done with the intent to improve the quality of the discussion by broadening participation to more fully achieve consensus."

In the case of the two of you, such broadening is definitely necessary, given your shared stubbornness. See also WP:APPNOTE:

"An editor who may wish to draw a wider range of informed, but uninvolved, editors to a discussion can place a message at any of the following:

[...]

On the user talk pages of concerned editors. Examples include:

Editors who have made substantial edits to the topic or article
Editors who have participated in previous discussions on the same topic (or closely related topics)
Editors known for expertise in the field

Self-explanatory, I'd say. Joshua Jonathan -Let's talk! 21:51, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Js82

Absolute Support.

There is an awful lot to say, but let me quickly start off by saying that we can safely ignore Joshua Jonathan's allegation on "Js82 being notorious for misrepresenting sources" ? This is a new one, and I guess that's why there are no edit diffs to support. FWIW, Kautilya3, whose judgement Mr. Jonathan finds more creditable, has already changed his stance (after actually "looking at the source") and now supports Mr. Soham321. So there go away the baseless aspersions which Mr. Jonathan tried to cast on me.

Coming to Ms Welch, I echo every bit of what Mr Soham has felt here. Wikipedia editing is nothing short of a nightmare when "collaborating" with Ms Welch. What we see here is nothing new, and has been the editing pattern of Ms Welch for as long as I can remember. First, they misrepresent the source, then they make personal attacks and relentlessly invoke years old matters to sidestep the current content disputes, and in the middle of all this, they freely keep changing the disputed content, without waiting for any hint of consensus. Every bit of such disruptive editing pattern is visible in this case, as listed by Mr. Soham above. (FWIW, this is the first time I even came across Mr. Soham and their edits, but the issues they faced resonate completely.) I fully support their decision to file the RFC and this AE request.

I also appeal that any support for Ms Welch coming from Mr Joshua Jonathan be completely disregarded. I submit that Ms Welch, Mr Jonathan (and in-part Mr Kautilya) operate as a group, canvassing for each other's support when they run into tense content disputes. Here are some examples:

* Ms Welch "invites" Mr Jonathan after some tense exchanges with an editor [51]

* Mr Jonathan "invites" Ms Welch [52]

* Ms Welch "invites" to Mr Jonathan and Mr Kautilya [53]

Js82 (talk) 19:58, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

So now that Mr Kautilya's stated credibility has inadvertently turned out to go against their own case, Mr Jonatahn has come back with this User talk:RegentsPark#Indian subcontinent, "collaborating" with Ms Sarah Welch as evidence of Js82's misrepresentation of sources. Actually, it seems now they are claiming misrepresentation of quotes by other editors, dodging the earlier accusation of misrepresentation of sources. They should first decide what they are accusing me of, rather than wasting time. It's ironical to see such flip-flopping when they are actually accusing others of not being precise ? I have always had doubts regarding Mr. Jonathan's competence to edit WP, and this just reinforces those. FWIW, in the same thread that Mr. Jonathan is referencing, they had stated that they could not even follow my complete post, which casts serious doubts on what, if anything, they even understood. In good faith, I had just left it at that, requesting them to actually read and understand it.

Regarding the team-tagging and canvassing evidence I shared between Ms Welch, Mr Jonathan and Mr Kautilya above: As I stated, this is the first time I have come across Mr Soham and their edits, but it's no coincidence that even they made an argument (in parallel to mine --- within two minutes of my statement) appealing the admins to carefully scrutinize the history of association between Ms Welch and Mr Jonathan (given the numerous exchanged barnstars etc) before giving any importance to Mr Jonathan's support of Ms Welch.

Js82 (talk) 21:40, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I can see where RegentsPark is coming from, but I beg to differ with their opinion here. I have carefully analyzed the evolving discussions in this case, and have no doubt in endorsing Mr Soham. The entire point is that this is not just one-off, it keeps happening again and again with Ms Welch, and one of these occurrences does have to be the final time when you actually go ahead and request a sanction. To elaborate on this particular case, in [54] edit, Mr Soham clearly and patiently explains the misrepresentation of the source by Ms Welch. In response to this, Ms Welch only states "On Banerjee source about the painting, you seem to be misreading it (see pages 80-82).", and also personally attacks Mr Soham and brings up some long gone-by issues. Soon after, without any resolution of the dispute on the talk page, Ms Welch goes ahead makes an edit on the disputed material, under the garb of a copy-edit (c/e). Mr Soham is obviously justified in feeling let down by this "collaboration", and states as such "Ms Sarah Welch has now made another change to (one of) the disputed section(s) after the discussion above. Note that she freely reverts me, and then freely keeps making whatever changes she wants to the disputed section". Unfortunately, this is a repeat behavior every single time from Ms Welch, and not only drains the time of other editors, but makes it a nightmare to work with Ms Welch. I can cite examples of my own interactions with Ms Welch showing precisely this behavior, if needed. In the face of consistent repetitions of such misconduct and disruption, I am not sure how we can pass off on this appeal without due evaluation. Like I said, there has to be one final time.

Js82 (talk) 00:16, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Quick addition to address RegentsPark 2nd concern: RegentsPark stated that "...then anyone can file an RfC to ensure that their preferred edits remain on the article page - at least during the duration of the RfC itself. That's called gaming the system." While I am certain this was a generic statement (not directed to Mr Soham), but just to clarify, in this scenario, the status of the disputed content in the article at the time when Mr Soham filed the RFC was actually not what they had been arguing for. It was actually the other way around, with this devious "copy-edit" from Ms Welch being the last edit before the Rfc was filed.

Js82 (talk) 01:45, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by Kautilya3

There is no case here. I suggest that it be closed promptly before it wastes more of people's time. -- Kautilya3 (talk) 22:49, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by NewsAndEventsGuy

In reply to RegentsPark (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) (below), to me AE's most frustrating dysfunction is how loathe admins are to insist on clean hands before people post here. If we could magically make admins demand clean hands, and sanction dirty ones right out of the gate, over the first year or two we'd

Teach the teachable troublemakers not to run here with lame complaints,
Purge the hopeless troublemakers through longer and longer blocks.

Eventually, the only cases to be filed here would be brought by reasonably level headed eds who have reached wits' end. A side benefit of no small proportions is that the two bullet points would go a long way to making this place more attractive to a wider diversity of editors. NewsAndEventsGuy (talk) 23:41, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by My very best wishes

The complaints on AE may have three different general outcomes:

The complaint had a merit and the editor was sanctioned.
The complaint had some merit/reason, but no one was sanctioned
The complaint had no merit.

In the case of outcome #3 the contributor who brought unsubstantiated complaints should be warned do not bring such complaints on AE again. If she/he does it second time, they should be automatically banned from bringing new complaints to AE or commenting on AE as a 3rd party.

That would make your life a lot easier. My very best wishes (talk) 04:42, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Statement by (username)

Result concerning Ms Sarah Welch

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.

I think @Bishonen: (above, Volunteer Marek request) has the right idea. If AE is going to become the forum of first resort as it apparently is in this case, it's obviously not working and should be shut down. Here, I see an RfC started after minimal discussion and no recourse to any other means of dispute resolution, followed immediately by a demand for Arb enforcement when the filer is getting hardly any support for their viewpoint. If this sort of thing goes on, we might as well give up on content and become a website for determining sanctions rather than an attempting to build an online encyclopedia. My suggestion, if enforcement is being demanded, we should sanction Soham321, with topic bans perhaps if their focus has been on a concentrated set of topics, or from filing RfCs and AE requests. --regentspark (comment) 22:31, 28 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Soham321, you're missing the point. You can't bypass normal DRN channels, file an RfC, and then not expect other editors to change the article. If that were the norm, then anyone can file an RfC to ensure that their preferred edits remain on the article page - at least during the duration of the RfC itself. That's called gaming the system. Also, do note that RfC is a process not a policy and while it is expected that editors follow the suggestions laid down in WP:RFC, they are not policy requirements that absolutely must be followed. You have an ongoing RfC with active discussion in process and this enforcement request gives the appearance that you're trying to browbeat other editors by threatening arb action. That should be actively discouraged. Preferably through sanctions of some sort. --regentspark (comment) 00:13, 29 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

[1] The administrator may indicate consent at any time before, during, or after imposition of the restriction.

[2] This criterion does not apply if the original action was imposed as a result of rough consensus at the arbitration enforcement noticeboard, as there would be no single enforcing administrator.

[3] ttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:SaintAviator&oldid=756076525

[a]

[b]

[1]

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