Case Opened on 01:39, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
Case Closed on 03:36, 22 August 2008 (UTC)
Please do not edit this page directly unless you are either 1) an Arbitrator, 2) an Arbitration Clerk, or 3) adding yourself to this case. Statements on this page are original comments provided at arbitration request and serve as opening statements. As such, they should not be altered. Any evidence you wish to provide to the Arbitrators should go on the /Evidence subpage.
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Recently, Giano II (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) was blocked by William M. Connolley (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) for three hours for a violation of his civility parole (placed on him from the IRC Arbitration case). [1] was the comment by Giano that led to the block.
notification of block by William M. Connolley
Giano did not respond well to the notice that he was blocked, and amongst the edits he made after this block, was this comment, [2], which William M. Connolley then extended his own block from 3 hours to 24 hours.
At this point, Giano told William exactly what he thought of him [3], at which point, William extended the block to 48 hours. [4].
To try to give some cool down time, MZMcBride (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) full protected Giano's talk page. [5].
At this point, Geogre (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) came in and made things exponentially worse. Without consensus, discussion, or even a notification, he undid the page protection with an incindary attack [6] and unblocked Giano (claiming to change the duration in his unblock message, but saying "Block overturned" on Giano's talk page)
[7] Geogre's announcing that he overturned the block.
16:06, 1 July 2008 Geogre (Talk | contribs | block) unblocked "Giano II (Talk | contribs)" (unblock to change duration)
Another user changed the duration to 1 hour (since two of the three hours had expired on the original block)
At 16:21, William M Connoley then reblocked Giano for the original 48 hours (turning it into a 50 hour block, and announced he had done so on Giano's talk page [8]
At this point, I am calling for both Geogre (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) and William M. Connolley (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) to either resign their status as administrators, or to have their administrator status removed by the Arbitration Committee for gross misjudgements and abuse of their administrative tools.
William M. Connolley repeatedly blocked Giano for incivility, which is an option, but the way he did it was HIGHLY aggressive. (Block someone, wait for them to reply incivilly as you know they will, and then announce that the block has been extended). The last block, for incivility, was particularly egregious, as the rules are that you never block for incivility aimed at yourself.
To make things worse, William M. Connolley wheel-warred the block back in after having it removed, without discussion or consensus. No matter how egregious the behavior of Geogre (which I will get to shortly), you do NOT get full rights to wheel-war because someone undid your actions.
Geogre came into a situation that was already bad, thanks to the vicious circle established by the three blocks in less then an hour's time by William M Connolley, and made things worse. While the progressive blocks by Connolley were bad, they were not so egregious that a unilateral unblock should be made by ANYONE without discussion at all, ESPECIALLY by someone who is generally known to be friends with Giano. This is the 2nd time that Geogre has unilaterally undone a block on Giano.
From Giano's block log:
09:40, 16 June 2007 Thebainer (Talk | contribs | block) blocked "Giano II (Talk | contribs)" (account creation blocked) with an expiry time of 24 hours (incivility, despite exhortations to avoid being uncivil)
09:53, 16 June 2007 Geogre (Talk | contribs | block) unblocked "Giano II (Talk | contribs)" (No "exhortations" anywhere and not "incivil" comment, either)
Also, to undo the protection of the page in this case by a neutral administrator who was trying to lessen, or at least postpone the inevitable drama to try to let cooler heads prevail was a spectacularly unhelpful move.
I call on the Arbitration Committee to immediately remove the adminstrator status of Geogre (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) and William M. Connolley (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA), or at least open a case involving these two administrators, and suspend their administrator status until such time as the case is resolved. SirFozzie (talk) 23:18, 1 July 2008 (UTC)
I can understand why folks want the ArbCom to focus on current issues instead of this, which is why I hesitated to file this. But there is a bright line here, almost biblical "Thou shalt not wheel-war". The only reason Giano is a party, is because he is the fulcrum that this whole issue revolves around (his blocks and unblocks, protection/unprotection of his page, etcetera). Ok, let's make things clear. Giano has been incivil. But I am not placing him as an involved party because I think he deserves further sanctions/restrictions (I don't). I am listing him as an involved party, because, yes, he was an involved party in this whole thing. He was the planet that the moons (WMC, Geogre) revolved around. The first (short) block had consensus on WP:AE, the escalation/wheel-war blocks were not discussed to the best of my knowledge, except on Giano's page.
I also note that just because ArbCom is going through a period of upheaval, that does not mean that various misbehaviors, such as the ones detailed in this statement should be allowed to stand. SirFozzie (talk) 00:05, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
All this (and I mean, this and the arbcomm workload and priorities) seems pretty weird to me. Important cases are left sitting on the shelf gaining little attention (do I need to name them?); you have the FT2 mess to sort out; but people can find time to vote on accepting/rejecting this before I even get a chance to make a statement in reply. You are in too much of a hurry and your priorities are wrong, folks (well, some of you). But Guettarda has already said that.
TenOfAllTrades has noticed some subtleties missed by others in the rush.
But people may miss them, so here is my timeline: G's original block was for simple incivility. After that, A complained it was too short and pointed me to the restrictions. I read the ANI close, and said ah well its too late now. Then I reviewed G's talk and discovered further gross incivility - several examples - directed at A (not me). So I extended the block to 24 h (whether that was under the parole or not is moot; the block would have been justified regardless). To which G went mad, and I extended the block further. I don't think its acceptable to be grossly rude on "your" own talk page. Apart from anything else (all together now...) its *not* your talk page; they are all wiki pages. As to wheel warring; Ge unblocked, I re-blocked. That seems like a very short wheel war to me, and its over. Is that worth the arbcomms time? If you had a clear slate, maybe. But you don't, you have a backlog.
It seems clear to me that G has a great many friends who will condone almost any level of rudeness on his part. "Condone" in the sense of do their best to overturn any sanctions imposed; naturally, they will say "ah he shouldn't do that"; but that is hollow.
William M. Connolley (talk) 07:43, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
1) For the duration of this proceeding, Giano II (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) is not to be blocked, or unblocked, by any administrator, other than by consent of a member of the Arbitration Committee.
All numbering based on /Proposed decision, where vote counts and comments are also available.
1) Administrators are trusted members of the community and are expected to follow Wikipedia policies. They are expected to pursue their duties to the best of their abilities. Occasional mistakes are entirely compatible with this; administrators are not expected to be perfect. However, consistently or egregiously poor judgment may result in the removal of administrator status.
2) In a non-emergency situation, administrators are expected to refrain from undoing each others' administrative actions without first attempting to resolve the dispute by means of discussion.
3) Administrative tools may not be used to further the administrator's own position in a dispute.
4) In non-emergency situations, administrators should not issue blocks in response to personal attacks or incivility directed at themselves.
5) Wikipedia users are expected to behave reasonably, calmly, and courteously in their interactions with other users; to approach even difficult situations in a dignified fashion and with a constructive and collaborative outlook; and to avoid acting in a manner that brings the project into disrepute. Unseemly conduct, such as personal attacks, incivility, assumptions of bad faith, trolling, harassment, disruptive point-making, and gaming the system, is prohibited.
6) As Wikipedia and its editorial community continue to grow, it is inevitable that philosophical differences among the participants will result in disputes over questions regarding project policy and governance. Editors are encouraged to engage in frank discussion of matters affecting the project, and are encouraged to share even those facts and opinions which demonstrate the shortcomings of the project, its policies, its decision making structure, and its leaders.
Nevertheless, the purpose of Wikipedia is to create a high-quality, free-content encyclopedia in an atmosphere of camaraderie and mutual respect among contributors. Discourse is limited by the expectation that even difficult situations will be resolved in a dignified fashion. Editors who have genuine grievances against others are expected to avail themselves of the dispute resolution mechanism rather than engaging in unbridled criticism across all available forums. It is unacceptable for editors to engage in vituperative rhetoric and public attacks in order to harass perceived adversaries.
1) On 1 July, William M. Connolley (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) inappropriately extended a block that he had made, because of incivility directed at himself. Connolley later inappropriately reapplied his block after it was reversed by Geogre.
2) On 1 July, Geogre (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) reversed a block placed by William M. Connolley, without first discussing the block either with William M. Connolley or other administrators, instead merely announcing that he disagreed with the block. Geogre also reversed page protection applied by MZMcBride (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) apparently intended to cool the dispute, without first discussing the protection either with MZMcBride or other administrators.
3) Giano II (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) has been the subject of several remedies passed by the Committee:
4) Giano II (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) has repeatedly engaged in public attacks against fellow editors—chiefly administrators, participants in IRC, and members of the Committee—whom he considers to be his adversaries:
Note: All remedies that refer to a period of time, for example to a ban of X months or a revert parole of Y months, are to run concurrently unless otherwise stated.
1) Both William M. Connolley (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) & Geogre (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) are indefinitely prohibited from taking any administrative action with respect to Giano II (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), or edit wars in which Giano II is an involved party.