I agree with every word of Erik's post, except for the sarcastic part about kicking out pathological lying Chechen Republicans chased by foxes with warped cores in their breeches. And he says /I/ have a strange sense of humor...
This is basically the same idea as my Harmonious Editing Club, only expressed with more eloquence ;-) -- all we have to do now is nominate some more people; then figure out what they should do and how to request their help.
Criteria for nomination should include anyone who has ever:
* Worded an article so eloqently/fairly/neutrally that an edit war suddenly evaporated into thin air
* Successfully defused a tangle between contributors
** Like the hero who got Nico and Szopen to "kiss and make up" (was that Viajero?)
To call in a mediator, just leave a note at their user talk page, or more generally post in the ==Request for mediaton== section of [[Wikipedia:Mediators]].
Uncle Ed