ArbCom case Gamaliel and others concludes
For this week in the arbitration report: the Gamaliel and others case concludes. We will be covering the findings of fact and remedies.
- Findings of fact
On 4 June, the case involving Gamaliel and others (DHeyward, JzG, Arkon) concluded. In the findings of fact, seven addressed Gamaliel. These included that Gamaliel "worked on the GamerGate topic area to such an extent that he has painted many opponents with the same brush, leading to an erosion of confidence in his objectivity", his withdrawal from enforcement of the topic area, the creation of and subsequent edit-warring over a satirical Signpost news report related to Donald Trump, the creation of a userbox continuing the dispute, casting aspersions, his resignation from the arbitration committee and his edit-warring in an ANI discussion about him.
Other findings of fact included that JzG's "close of the ANI discussion indicates a standard of conduct below that expected of an administrator", that Arkon reverted Gamaliel's and JzG's attempts to close the ANI discussion he himself had started, and that DHeyward had acted in an incivil manner towards Gamaliel and made personal attacks.
- Remedies
The following remedies were enacted:
- Gamaliel is admonished for multiple breaches of Wikipedia policies and guidelines, including disrupting Wikipedia to make a point, removing a speedy deletion notice from a page he created, casting aspersions, and perpetuating what other editors believed to be a BLP violation.
- DHeyward and Gamaliel are indefinitely prohibited from interacting with or discussing each other anywhere on Wikipedia, subject to the usual exemptions.
- DHeyward is admonished for engaging in incivility and personal attacks on other editors. He is reminded that all editors are expected to engage respectfully and civilly with each other and to avoid making personal attacks.
- For conduct which was below the standard expected of an administrator — namely making an incivil and inflammatory close summary on ANI, in which he perpetuated the perceived BLP violation and failed to adequately summarise the discussion — JzG is admonished.
- Arkon is reminded that edit warring, even if exempt, is rarely an alternative to discussing the dispute with involved editors, as suggested at WP:CLOSECHALLENGE.
- The community is encouraged to hold an RfC to supplement the existing WP:BLPTALK policy by developing further guidance on managing disputes about material involving living persons when that material appears outside of article space and is not directly related to article-content decisions.
- The community is encouraged to hold an RfC regarding whether the leniency for April Fools' Day jokes should be continued and if so, what should be allowed.
Along with his resignation from the arbitration committee, Gamaliel has also stepped down as editor-in-chief of the Signpost and has retired from Wikipedia.
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