This thing has really gotten out of hand. Wikipedia has grown so large that it is no longer possible to rely on so-called soft security. A small community like Ward's Wiki (which is chiefly about software development) or MeatBall (which is about creating online communities) which has a HIGH RATIO of readers to writers, can rely on soft security. Every change is read by dozens of Recent Changes junkies. The days when a single admin (like Maveric in his heyday) could be "on duty" for several hours at a time and single-handedly hold back the tide of vandalism -- well these days are forever gone, my friends. Sorry, but we are the victims of our own success. And it takes the full attention of a dozen admins to counter one determined troublemaker. The arbitration committee was created, not for vandals and troublemakers, but for long-running personality conflicts or style/content disputes. But when there's a troll loose in the dungeon, we need to the authority to act quickly and quarantine the problem. I did not plan to be the one to force the issue; I had hoped to avoid even the slightest hint of "unilateral action", but todays' crisis seemed to call for what we might call "citizen's arrest". Responding to repeated calls for help, I blocked a user and all his known puppet accounts. This action requires immediate review by the Arbitration Committee. If the committee wants to unblock him before making a decision, that's fine. That's what Fred and all them are supposed to do: figure out how to handle a case where everyone else has given up. If they want to keep the block in place while they investigate and make up their minds, that's fine too. Ed Poor