Official link: Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2008

List or arbiters whose terms expire:
1. Blnguyen
2. Charles Matthews
3. James F.
4. Morven
5. Thebainer

Expiring arbiters who have said they will not seek re-election:
(Please reply with others who have said as much, I'll update this top level post)
1. Morven (here)

Expiring arbiters who have previously won re-election:
(Please reply with others who have pulled this off, I'll update this top level post)
1. ?

Number of open seats (normal): 5, plus one extra open one since Paul August retired, for 6 total. Paul's spot is only good to December 2009, when he would have expired anyway. The others are currently set to be the normal 3 years.

What pleasant news that we shall finally we shall be rid of this intolerably corrupt cronyist.

I can already think of who will be running, and I can already see the opposes I will write. Goody!

(Well, I never got very far supporting everything, so I don't have much to lose...)

Surely none of them could be re-elected, and I hope they'll save us the trouble by simply not running. I want to see someone run on a platform of holding meaningful votes on public proposals during ArbCom cases, to facilitate quick and transparent decision-making, instead of this secretive elitist business of reaching a consensus behind closed doors (even if that takes six months). Even better--a candidate who announces that they will not participate on the ArbCom mailing list at all, or only when sensitive, privacy related issues need to be discussed, and will instead do all of their discussion on-wiki.

Who all are eligible?

Of those ending their terms, I'd probably only be able to support Charles Matthews with confidence. The rest are either too busy elsewhere, or unsuitable.

I wouldn't support any if those if they did decide to run - CM may be the best of a bad bunch, but in this case, that's not saying anything.

James F., Morven and Thebainer will certainly not be missed for even a millisecond.

I could vote for Thebainer, but definitely not for James F or Charles. Does Blnguyen even participate in Arbcom anymore?

He was never overly excessive in arbitration (spends his time writing articles... zomg).

I would have thought it was fairly evident that he won't run again...

I have met Charles and James in real life, and think both of them would be fine. However, James is way too busy with other stuff to get my vote.

Gee, I didn't realize Paul August was to expire in December 2009!

Since when can Election Stewards predict death?

Charles Matthews was of course responsible for Poetlister's first unblock.

I nominate Morven's wife Alana Brown to take his place on ArbCom:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/morven/sets/371552/


This is interesting. Can you share a link?

22:55, 31 January 2006 Charles Matthews (Talk | contribs) unblocked "Poetlister (Talk | contribs)" ‎ (try again; discussed with blocking admin David Gerard by email)

Can we please not have random nasty pot shots at completely uninvolved and unrelated people?

UninvitedCompany has been inactive for several months. His seat will probably be replaced as was done with Flcelloguy.

I am thinking of running. I can't do worse than last time.

I will wait and see who else runs, though, as if there's some good candidates I won't bother.

LOL @ the opposes. "You must be this tall to ride the Hitler mobile". Priceless.

I predict WJBScribe and AGK will run, as well as maybe Rlevse. I'm looking forward to seeing who the obvious fail candidates are going to be.

Ryan Postlethwaite will be running, I believe.

Particularly after his RFB failed, Ryan has been getting more involved in the Mediation Committee, ramped up his attempts to be involved in making community proposals (such as the latest Betacommand one), and has been advocating various changes to how candidates are selected on the 2008 elections discussion page.

The defeat of WJBscribe should be priority number one to anyone who'd like to see a clean Wikipedia.


http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=19025
http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=15343
http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=17490

Of course, my comment should not necessarily be taken as supportive of any of the people I mentioned. My speculation is based on the fact that people who run for bureaucrat and succeed tend to do well in elections (like Essjay and Deskana). Anyone who has been promoted to bureaucrat recently has a good chance of succeeding.

It's all academic really, as the arbitration committee are an inherently corrupt, incompetent and useless institution that could be replaced by a computer that randomly generates decisions (and it'd probably make a better job of it). What can I say, it's fun to watch.



God, not again. He nominates himself for everything. I wish he'd get the picture already

I don't think it quite academic: while ArbCom is manifestly incapable of performing its supposed function of dispute resolution, it succeeds in harassing its enemies (e.g. Giano) while protecting its friends (e.g. JzG, Elonka.)

I was going to ask if you would run. But I think it takes a degree of superiority complex to be an arb, and some of the people who might stand will probably have The Edge on you when it comes to that. You need to work harder at projecting Unwarranted Self- Importance



Will the panties have "Nonvocalscream for Arbcom' on them this year?

What do people think of Jehochman as an arb?

I don't know him that well but he comes from some sort of legal background, and contributes under his real name.

It does at least speak to the notion of "Could you imagine an Encyclopedia Britannica editor taking someone sporting this level of personal character to the company holiday dinner?"

There is a huge difference between the interests (Pokemon, hogtie, Harry Potter, etc.) and outward "I'm here to be me, not to conform to any boring standards of Western civilization" attitudes that pervade Wikipedia, and the traditional professional interests (13th century philosophy, the Congress of Vienna, quasars, General Cable Corporation, etc.), meticulousness, and conformist attitudes that would pervade any PUBLISHED general encyclopedia.

I'm just sayin'...

I'm sure that he'll get Durova's vote!

(that said, he wouldn't be a bad choice, considering....)

I'll be very surprised if Moreschi doesn't throw his hat in this time, since he's been so active in various cases involving "fringe theories"....

He doesn't sound very legally-oriented to me at all.

+++++++++++++++

Jonathan Hochman
A graduate of Yale University with two degrees in Computer Science, Hochman's credentials include:

Qualified Google Advertising Professional
Yahoo Search Marketing Ambassador
Microsoft adExcellence Member
Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO) member firm
Search Engine Marketing New England (SEMNE) member firm
Search Engine Strategies conference speaker
Search Marketing Expo conference speaker
High Rankings SEO Forum moderator
Organization of Independent Software Vendors member

In 1990 Hochman set up a consulting practice in New York City, focusing on international business development. For more than a decade he represented Russian clients in both import and export transactions with the United States, Europe and Asia. He also built web sites for clients . In 2004 he launched Hochman Consultants, a firm that specializes in Internet marketing, search engine optimization, and pay-per-click advertising.

+++++++++++++++

One time, though, when he saw that I posted something here about something that Orbitz was trying to do on Wikipedia, he jumped to conclusions and announced on Wikipedia that I was "deeply involved" with my supposed "client", Orbitz. To his credit, I was able to rein in his hyperactive imagination with just one phone call.

Overall, I think he's an okay guy, but I do wonder about how his business stays successful, what with all his Wikipediaing all the time.

Yes, way too busy being an absent monarch on IRC and not running Wikimedia UK into the ground. He's a power seeker. Wikipedia should cut him loose and let him dedicate his time to seeking the level of his incompetency within Her Majesty's Government.

Did you just answer your own question there?

So you know absolutely nothing about the history of Poetlister and her blocks?


I'm surprised and pleased to see you say that; I thought you agreed with him on a few things.


What's wrong with hogties?

No, it really doesn't...

It's just mean busting on people that don't look like the fake middle-America Abercrombie & Fitch-look that society seems to hold to be true for this country. Who cares what people look like? Society as a whole absolutely is NOT defined by the mores and values of white middle America and thankfully never ever will be.





Can Mods please aggressively police this thread by splitting off stuff whenever it gets into pointless sniping about people's appearances of all things, and the inevitable "Free Poetlister" history lessons (sorry, Taxwoman)

Yeah, Postlethwaite will be running. It is impossible to believe otherwise. If there were a public vote on his checkuser application where he got slaughtered he might not, but it is private so he will not know (and if he is approved, then definitely).

I am pretty sure MBisanz will too, he has been pretty clearly powermongering.

I am not sure who else. Kmweber, probably, although Kurt can be a realist, so maybe not.

I would vote for Jehochman. Absolutely. He is not, as far as I can tell, anyone's bitch. But I would probably vote for Durova, so my opinion may not be reflective of anything.

Actually Neil, I'm not even considering running. I don't think I'd be that good at it, and I don't think I'd be able to give it the time it requires. I haven't stepped up my participation in MedCom - I've been active in it since I joined last September.

Yes, that's what I said. More involved in MedCom. I thought you were a cert to run. That's too bad.

I also find this particularly surprising. Ryan's actions have all suggested he would do such a thing.

I heard a rumor that Bishzilla is running.

From what I know of professors etc these days, they're very liberal and get upto all sorts in their spare time. They might not always flaunt it, but nowadays I doubt anyone's sexual or subcultural proclivities would get them kicked out of academia, unless they're illegal.

And some of my knowledge is of a Classics department

Bish in any format of grammar has infinitely more clue than half the Arbitration Committee and it's founder COMBINED. Sadly, since she's also prone to speaking her mind clearly, I'm sure some/most useless trolls will see her as 1) an uppity woman; 2) an uppity editor; 3) clearly incompatible with being an Arb because she's willing to do the right things.

I'd vote for her in a heartbeat.

I was just going on what he mentioned in passing on his talk page to someone.

diff
"Observers will draw their own conclusions. (Note: I did attend law school, (wikilink:Columbia_Law_School) and am familiar with the concepts."

Looking forward to her candidates statement.

Exactly. How people dress and what they do in their "extracurriculars" is utterly irrelevant to life and business in 99% of the cases out there. I'm sure if you're director level or higher at some multinational or plain large corporations, it may play a role, but 99% of the world is not that. Bucking the trends of society and being contrary to society is always that should be lauded, not lambasted. Nearly all the great thinkers, leaders, and people that worked to change society for the better were "different" and "contrary".

Let's see.... Jesus, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Elvis, the American Revolutionaries, Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Warhol...



Jon is an extremely multi-talented individual who I would also support in a moment's notice. He came off as a cabalist at first, a bit, but when push came to shove so far from what I've seen he's consistently tried it looks to do the right things, and doesn't appear to be afraid to stick a big middle finger of dissent up when it needs to be done. Yes, he was on the wrong side in some things (bits of that Durova/!! mess), but let's be honest: even Durova in some areas has mellowed out and started to be a bold one.

Me too. Ironically in the circumstances, I think she is human. Arbs in recent times have not appeared human. If she were to win, the arbcom would be being honest about the fact that some of them are illuminati reptilian humanoids.

God knows why, but I enjoy getting involved with community proposals. I don't think I'm that far off the mark with the proposals I make, but if anyone expressed concern about them I'd happily step away from it. I also enjoy being part of MedCom - it can be quite fulfilling sitting down with a bunch of users who obviously have issues about each other and leading the discussion so they agree on a suitable compromise.

I don't really thing that activity in mediation is a good marker for someone wanting to be on ArbCom. Arbitrators and mediators need very different skills and whilst some are transferable, the key ones (arbitrators rule on conduct, mediatiors take neutral side throughout) are very much different. Some have made the change successfully, but I don't think it's easy for everyone.

In my opinion, the best arbitrators are the ones that have stayed out of the politics completely, and have instead shown good judgement in their article editing and background discussion work.

Surprisingly enough, I think this is more or less correct.

Of course, those who are wise enough to stay out of politics are probably wise enough not to run for Arbcom.

Or at least lack the requisite interest in being a social director to run for ArbCom. This is actually part of the motivation behind my jury proposal from however long back; there are a good supply of people who have the necessary intellect and skills to make good decisions on such disputes, but are not asked to make them because they simply don't show an interest in doing. I suspect many of them would, if asked to do so from time to time, be quite competent at rendering beneficial decisions -- but if you asked them to do it all the time would run screaming for the hills.

Time? What time? How much time does it take to make a non-decision decision? Not much, surely. Besides, you should have any number of "clerks" (i.e., wiki-slaves) to help you out with the details.

Or maybe it isn't an issue of time. Maybe more of an issue of seeming "humble" or "reluctant", a la Octavian. The gods prosper you, O Wiki-Caesar!

The ArbCom elections shouldn't be as important as they seem to be currently. The ArbCom should be only one of several committees involved in governing Wikipedia, along with a policy committee and a final content-decision body.

I think a jury system for user conduct issues, as Kelly suggests, could work. I've suggested using the same kind of system for RfA's so that they can't be tainted by cabalism, but I think I got that idea from Kelly's blog.

About 95% of employers, for one.

Look, your appendix is inflamed, it will rupture in the next 4 minutes, but at least you're in the Emergency Room. Two doctors walk in your room. One looks like me. The other looks like Alana Brown. They say, in unison, "Rootology, you must choose which of us two shall perform your appendectomy."

Who do you choose?

95% of employers in what area? Back down to that city vs. country bit, again, that you and I keep poking each other about. But that's apples and oranges and won't get settled.

Assuming they're both doctors, I'd go with Alana (I have no idea who this is but I assume she's punk rock based on a few searches) based on the fact that she would be more likely to be daring enough to take a risk to save my life if things went south. I'd generally prefer to bet on the creative driven types, if I had to choose. But that's me.

Yeah, it is the same when you have to chose between a man and a women for the same job - it is the only time you have consider that hiring the one with the biggest tits might not be the best method.