Navou is correct that a simple absence doesn't entail desyssoping. But failing to respond to repeated attempts to engage for the purpose of an ArbCom hearing most definitely has resulted in indef blocks, if not desyssoping.
On 8/27/07, NavouWiki navouwiki@gmail.com wrote:
He does not have to explain his absence.
Regarding adminship, the current practice is not to remove the bit for periods of in activity.
Meta already addresses periods of inactivity http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Checkuser#Removal_of_access here.
Please keep in mind, this is a volunteer project.
Regarding the other issues; Anyone is of course welcome to request arbitration on wiki. I don't think there is much we can do on this list.
Regards, Navou
-----Original Message----- From: wikien-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikien-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Frank Bellowes Sent: Monday, August 27, 2007 12:53 PM To: English Wikipedia Subject: [WikiEN-l] Jayjg is AWOL
User:Jayjg has apparently been missing from Wikipedia since August 4th http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Jayjg, shortly before an ArbComm in which he is named as a party formally opened.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Allegations_ of_apartheid Perhaps also not coincidentally, one of the other editors named in the case, User:Urthogie, has also disappeared without a trace. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Urthogie
Unlike Urthogie, Jayjg is a trusted user and admin who has access to tools such as Oversight and Checkuser and is also on the ArbComm mailing list as a former member of that body. He's well aware of the custom of announcing when you are on "Wikibreak" or "Wikiholiday" but has not posted any such announcement.
Further, he is also now at the center of a very serious allegation that he misused his Oversight tools in order to coverup an old incident of abusive sockpuppetry by one of his friends
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Inciden tArchive290#SlimVirgin.27s_sockpuppet.28s.29
The Sockpuppet case is old and evidently occurred when SV was still a new editor though, given that she used an "alternate account" to support her main account on various pages including "double voting" in the instance of a Featured Article nomination, it would have been nice had she simply publicly admitted her mistake and apologized. Instead, she has sent out private emails explaining away the "alternate account" by saying wikipedia was different then, she was new and her double voting was simply a "mistake". I think we can excuse an old mistake but a bit of contrition would have been nice.
In any case, the real problem is not SV's sockpuppetry but Jayjg's agreement, in the past year, to coverup any evidence of this by oversighting various edits.
Several respected editors have expressed concern about Jay's behavior in the ANI discussion:
Gmaxwell: "Except it's already been before Arbcom and it appears that they failed us. When oversight was first introduced the logs were public. I noticed Jayjg's mass over-sighting of seemingly harmless edits like spelling corrections with an summary of "pi". I brought the issue up with Brion, who thought it looked odd so he temporally removed oversight from Jayjg. [23]. Arbcom looked at the issue, and apparently decided that it was all okay. Jay's access was restored, the revisions stayed oversighted, and he continued mass over-sighting old edits like these. I trusted then. Having seen the evidence I think it would be unwise to extend the same trust again. --Gmaxwell 03:03, 25 August 2007 (UTC)"
"Although Sarah's actions are old enough to be uninteresting, as Dan pointed out above, the possible appearance of coverup is very interesting and important and should be fully resolved." (Gmaxwell)
Thatcher131: "Overly aggressive use of oversight by Jayjg was brought up privately as an issue when oversight was first instituted, but the concerns were apparently dismissed. This should be looked into again."
Jayjg really needs to explain himself but he has evidently decided to abandon wikipedia, at least for the period of the ArbCom case against him. Apart from an initial post opposing the ArbComm taking on the case he has made no contribution to the ArbComm case, not to the Workshop or Evidence page. In the past admins who have failed to participate in an ArbComm case involving them have been desysopped.
Given Jayjg's unexplained absence, his failure to respond to one ArbCom case against him, the serious questions that exist considering his use of Oversight in another matter and the possibility that an account that has quite a number of tools attached has been abandoned and may be usurped by a hacker I'm wondering whether anything will be done? Will Jayjg be desysopped and have his tools removed (and be unsubscribed from ArbComm-L) at least as a precaution until he returns and explains himself? Will he be deemed to have abdicated his responsibilities by refusing to respond to an ArbComm case against him and refusing to explain the Oversight situation?
At the very least Jimbo should direct the ArbComm to examine Jay's possible abuse of his Oversight tools and investigate other possible abuses. The dereliction of duty by a senior admin is a serious problem which should not be swept under the carpet or overlooked. Doing so only further damages Wikipedia's credibility in a year in which we have taken a number of serious blows.
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