As we move into month 7 of the WP:OFFICE action on the [[Pacific Western
University]] article, I'd like to raise this issue again.
My from-the-trenches suggestions:
1. Impartial admin(s) assigned to each OFFICEd article at the time it is
protected (preferably someone with no edits to the article prior to
WP:OFFICE and no strong POV about the topics it covers).
2. Perhaps they could be randomly chosen from an existing pool of volunteers
with good track records on controversial issues who could confirm no WP:COI
issues for the article in question, kind of like ArbCom.
3. That person would be listed on the talk page as the coordinator and would
check back in each day and respond to proposed changes.
I like to work on controversial topics, but the current setup makes any
attempts at resolution, especially by non-admins, an exercise in futility.
In this case, it's never been clearly explained what the problem is, though
most who have looked at it believe it has to do with distinguishing the
Hawaii corporation from entities in other states. It appears they may also
want something changed based on accreditation information that has yet to
appear in a reliable published source.
At any rate, half a year under lockdown seems to indicate a significant
problem that needs to be addressed. I believe this and the unilateral speedy
deletion of controversial articles by admins are the two most serious
procedural issues Wikipedia faces right now. Both waste a lot of time, cause
a lot of animosity and generally drive away well-intentioned editors trying
to help.
These edgy issues almost always end up shaping policy, so we should address
these problems sooner than later.
Jokestress