[Wikimedia-l] Will Beback, Arbcom and Community oversight

[James Heilman]

This case partly pertains to how we see as the Wikimedia Movement see
the interactions between Jimmy Wales, the Wikipedia community and
Arbcom. It would be interesting to get the perspectives of other
language versions of Wikipedia.

James Heilman

On Sat, Mar 23, 2013 at 8:54 PM, James Heilman <jmh649 at gmail.com> wrote:
> So why did I not notify the arbcom list? I am sure all the arbcoms are
> watching this one so I did not see it as necessary.
>
> I am also not appealing arbcom's decision to arbcom. I am appealing
> arbcom's decision to the editing community at large. I guess I lack
> faith in the functioning of arbcom as a whole especially in light of
> the recent resignation of a couple of arbcom members and the persons
> attacks against me from members of that group. I do not agree with the
> secrecy that surround the majority of the deliberations of this
> committee. I believe that conversation should be open / public as much
> as possible. Thus I have elected for an open conversation.
>
> To add to this the arb who drafted the case in question has agreed
> that Will Beback never outed anyone on Wikipedia. The evidence for
> "outing" was a private email sent to the arbitration committee itself
> among a few others. So yes I will keep my conversations public. I do
> not wish private email to the arbitration committee to be used for my
> own banning.
>
> Per Will "I have honored the ban for more than one year, during which
> time I have neither engaged in any ban evasion nor in off-wiki
> campaigning. I have apologized to TimidGuy, expressed my remorse for
> my errors, and promised to avoid repeating them. In my appeal, I did
> challenge some of the findings in the case, which I believe were based
> on insufficient evidence or misinterpretation of policy. Apparently
> banned users are not allowed to argue for their innocence and can only
> admit to total guilt and beg for mercy. The appeal was rejected
> without explanation, and without even telling me who voted for or
> against it. I am not sure how the ArbCom processes these appeals,
> which is done entirely in secret. I have been a constructive editor in
> the past, and believe that I can be again."
>
> With respect to "very good show of trying to insinuate that Will
> Beback was banned in relation to conflict of interest" I am just
> quoting the evidence arbcom has provided. The rest of the evidence is
> equally poor IMO but others are free to look and judge for themselves.
>
> --
> James Heilman
> MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
>
> The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
> www.opentextbookofmedicine.com



-- 
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian

The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
www.opentextbookofmedicine.com