The Report on Lengthy Litigation

The Arbitration Committee opened one case this week, and closed none, leaving five cases open.

The Socionics case was opened this week. The case was filed by rmcnew, who alleged that Tcaudilllg has engaged in edit-warring and personal attacks. Tcaudilllg has denied the allegations, calling them "ad hominem attacks on [his] character". No significant drafting has yet taken place; a draft decision, to be written by arbitrator Carcharoth, is expected by 20 October.

The Eastern European mailing list case has entered its fourth week of deliberations. The case concerns a set of leaked mailing list archives which are alleged to show an extensive history of collusion among numerous editors of Eastern European topics. Standard workshop procedures have been suspended for the case, so normal drafting of proposals by the parties and other editors is not taking place; a draft decision, to be written by arbitrators Coren and Newyorkbrad, was expected by 11 October.

The Asmahan case has also entered its fourth week of deliberations. The filing editor, Supreme Deliciousness, alleges that Arab Cowboy has engaged in a variety of disruptive behavior on the "Asmahan" article; Arab Cowboy denies the allegations, and claims that Supreme Deliciousness is pursuing a disruptive agenda of his own. No drafting of proposals has yet taken place; a draft decision is expected from arbitrator FayssalF by 20 October.

The Speed of light case has entered its sixth week of deliberations. The case was filed by Jehochman, who cited concerns about "tendentious editing and disruption" by a large number of editors on the "speed of light" article. Unusually, arbitrator Cool Hand Luke, who is slated to draft the decision in the case, has directly asked the parties "what resolution [they] would like to see from this process, and what (if any) concessions would [they] be willing to give to achieve that end?"; the parties have provided a set of varied responses to this. Workshop proposals have been made by a number of editors, including Cool Hand Luke and fellow arbitrator Vassyana. A draft decision in the case is expected by 16 October.

The Lapsed Pacifist 2 case has entered its eight week of deliberations, as well as its third week of voting. The filing editor, Steve Crossin, alleges that Lapsed Pacifist has engaged in advocacy, original research, and edit warring, as well as various other improprieties, over a wide range of articles. A temporary injunction prohibits Lapsed Pacifist from editing articles related to the Corrib gas project for the duration of the case. The proposed decision, written by arbitrator Casliber, would place all articles related to the Corrib gas controversy and Shell to Sea under article probation, as well as imposing revert restrictions on Lapsed Pacifist and GainLine and issuing a series of admonishments and reminders. An alternative proposal by arbitrator Rlevse would ban Lapsed Pacifist from the topic area indefinitely.

The Committee adopted a series of motions to resolve the various matters arising from the sockpuppetry scandal which unfolded last week. Notably:

• Law/the_undertow was banned for six months.
• GlassCobra had his administrator status removed;
• Jennavecia resigned as an administrator "under controversial circumstances" before voting could complete, at a point when a motion for removal of administrator status had already passed a majority. An alternate motion in lieu required request for adminship or Arbitration Committee agreement before resuming adminship; and
• GlassCobra, Jayron32, and Jennavecia were admonished for their role in the affair.

The Committee announced that the first elections for community members of the Audit Subcommittee will take place starting 30 October. Three seats will be open, and applications must be submitted by 22 October; more details are available on the election page. Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-10-12/Humour