Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections January 2006/Candidate statements/Netoholic

Statement

Arbitration, in the context of law, is a form of alternative dispute resolution — specifically, a legal alternative to litigation whereby the parties to a dispute agree to submit their respective positions (through agreement or hearing) to a neutral third party (the arbitrator(s) or arbiter(s)) for resolution.

Unfortunately, the present "Arbitration" process has become increasingly legalistic and punitive - more like a criminal court. Re-establishing the proper focus is the compass by which I will measure my work as an Arbitrator.

I will reject all requests for arbitration which are made to the Committee by persons who are not directly involved in the dispute. The proliferation of "district attorney"-type requestors will end.

I will expect that all parties entering into arbitration will accept the binding outcome. If any party chooses not to enter arbitration or chooses to defy the binding outcome, then other processes, like mediation or adminstrator action, should be employed.

I will accept all complaints of misuse of adminstrator rights, so long as the prima facia case seems solid. I fully endorse granting our administrators greater privilege in neutrally resolving conflicts, but likewise want to reassure the community that admins can come under review, as well.

This last platform item is probably the most controversial, so I'll expand on it and show how it works with the others. If someone feels they are unduly restricted by an admin, they can appeal to the Arbitration process. If they do so, they and the administrator (implicitely) must accept the binding decision. In this way, a troublesome user can be handled by administrator consensus alone -- so many of the past and present cases could have been handled this way and gave us better results. Admins who are neutral and explain their reasoning will have the support of the community and the ArbCom. A troublesome user can either accept that adminstrator's ruling, or appeal and possibly face more stern restrictions. On the other hand, if someone is being treated unfairly, then ArbCom review of that admin becomes much more accessible. In short, I seek to give more responsibility to the good administrators, while protect against the bad ones. -- Netoholic @ 22:35, 4 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Questions/Comments

I welcome your questions and comments. If you're asking multiple questions, please number them so I can reply more easily. -- Netoholic @ 22:35, 4 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]