On Wed, 2 Mar 2005 17:40:55 -0000 (GMT), Tony Sidaway minorityreport@bluebottle.com wrote:
JAY JG said:
As the person e-mailing me put it
"It looks like the arbcom is going to put them both on POV parole, which is silly; they have this thing about equal treatment. It's like if I report someone to the police for a theft, the police first of all have to investigate whether I've committed theft too, because if they charge one, they have to charge both."
Is this a valid concern?
I don't think so. Arbitration is part of dispute resolution. The arbitrators must examine the behavior of all parties to the dispute in order to arrive at factual findings and remedies that will stick.
Theft is an inappropriate metaphor in this case. If you were reporting copyvio, it'd be OK, but in this instance, assault is closer to the mark, where of course the cops investigate the behaviour of both.
Theft has a clear seperation between wronged and wrongdoer, but in a brawl, it's sometimes hard to tell who is in the right, as any parent will tell you.