I am writing this here because I don't know where else to write it -- perhaps [[Wikipedia talk:Mediation Committee]] would be preferable, but judging from the situation I am about to describe, the page doesn't seem to be particularly closely watched at present. The MC is currently in an apparent standstill: there are several requests for mediation that have evidently gone without response from a mediator for weeks, half the committee has left for the AC, and the committee's chair (Bcorr, a fine contributor and mediator) is seemingly on indefinite leave (certainly he's been away from mediation for a number of weeks, and I haven't seen an anticipated return date). To remedy this situation, which was obviously critical as long as a month ago, several users (myself included) presented ourselves as candidates in mid- to late December. Several of us have, as yet, received nothing but support votes from the MC and outside voters. No action, however, has been taken to promote us....I suspect it is because there is no Chair active to declare decisions final. I am, of course, very hesitant to say anything about this for fear of sounding as though I am grasping for a role on the MC -- I don't want anyone to have the impression I'm desperate for power (frankly, the break following the AC elections has been wonderful). But mediation needs to be fixed and soon, especially because AC cases have been refused for not following dispute resolution steps -- not having an active MC makes dispute resolution extremely difficult. I am hoping this note sparks someone's attention to get the ball rolling. Obviously, as a candidate, I can't really "be bold" and promote a bunch of us, and if mediation is alive and well (presumably on a page other than Wikipedia:Requests for mediation), I hope someone will tell me. But something needs to be done before we have too many users (who are apparently open to mediation) who get entrenched in opposition to each other because a window of opportunity is lost. Sorry to be alarmist. Best wishes to all, James R. en:User:Jwrosenzweig __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 250MB free storage. Do more. Manage less. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250