[WikiEN-l] We need a policy against vote-stacking

[Guy Chapman aka JzG]

On Wed, 03 May 2006 20:32:12 -0400, you wrote:

>I recently came across a very contentious Afd having to deal with the
>movement to impeach George W. Bush.  The discussion was overwhelmed with
>vote-stacking.  I caught two users doing it and temporarily blocked
>them, but was reverted by an admin who says it's "not in policy" that we
>can block for that.  I've also since discovered a third person who was
>vote-stacking.

It is wrong per policy, it is disruption.  If done off Wikipedia it is
meatpuppetry.  On the whole it is good to attract more people to a
debate, but bad to select only those people who are known in advance
to support your view.

Also, no admin should revert the actions of another admin without
discussion, preferably at the noticeboards.  On the other hand using
admin tools - whether to block or to revert blocks - in disputes where
you are involved is a Bad Thing.  And yes, I have done it too, we are
but human.

If a particular debate is becoming a cesspit it may be better to close
it and get all parties involved to a dispute resolution process.  You
are right that in many cases personal preference is allowed to trump
policy.  And in some cases the Google hit count is taken in lieu of
reliable sources.  But AfD is not a vote, and the closing admin has
some discretion in weighing the arguments.

Guy (JzG)
-- 
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JzG