On 28/12/2007, Ned Scott ned@nedscott.com wrote:
It's really not fair to say that such users are unable to work together. TTN, everyone, and myself, have continued to follow advice about making more time for discussion and trying to help users understand why these articles are being removed, rather than just forcing the issue. This is one reason I didn't think the case needed to be accepted. The real reason this was an arbcom case was because of the very large amount of articles that were being redirected, and that resulting in a lot of different people getting mad. That's very different than trying different means of resolving the dispute. This situation is far from hopeless, and despite the impressions you might have gotten, no one wants to be at each other's throats.
Yeah. The reason the AC has historically avoided content issues is because they are not and cannot be experts on everything, and really can't tell when someone's wrong or right in the general case; only their behaviour.
The other issue is good faith: everyone warring, at each others' throats, is almost certainly honestly doing their best for an encyclopedia. It's almost certain no-one is in fact aiming to do evil.
Sometimes, throwing it back is the least worst they can do. The ArbCom is not your mother, even when you want them to be.
- d.