A
very large announcement was made regarding a number of very old
discretionary sanctions, which the Committee began a
process to review last month. The beginning of this process was covered in last month's arbitration report; its conclusion will be covered in this one. Essentially, a number of sanctions were lifted in areas where they hadn't been relevant for years, or in some cases, over a decade. The full list of sanctions lifted are:
Timwi, an administrator who
gained the bit in 2003, was the subject of a case this month regarding the use of administrator tools in content disputes; a lengthy arbitration request with statements from many parties concluded with a
February 11 motion warning him that "the use of the administrator toolset must conform to the policies set by the community". The Committee further said that it would consider "any further misuse of the toolset within a two-year period to be immediate cause for opening de-sysop proceedings".
Another
case was opened, this one regarding Jonathunder. It bore strong similarities to the Timwi case – a user who had been an administrator for nearly two decades (in this case
since 2006) was accused of inappropriate tool use during a content dispute. While the Committee accepted the case request, Jonathunder's lack of response to the proceedings caused it to be
suspended on the 26th. During this time, Jonathunder was temporarily desysopped, pending the outcome of the case. The case will automatically close in six months with a permanent desysop if Jonathunder does not return to Wikipedia and request the case to be resumed.
Following a period of inactivity, the
checkuser and
oversight rights of Callanecc were
removed on February 2. On behalf of the Committee, Maxim thanked Callanecc for his service as a functionary.
The Committee made a
general comment, in which it was clarified that the granting of an appeal regarding sanctions "does not necessarily mean that the initial decision that resulted in the sanction was incorrect at the time, unless the appeal announcement specifically says so". Moreover, the Committee said that they would "continue to consult with the community, or to have appeals posted for review by the community, in appropriate cases".
Grandmaster, on February 18, closed with Grandmaster being indefinitely topic-banned from the Armenia–Azerbaijan topic area.
Iskandar323, on February 18, was closed without action, and with the filer cautioned against filing arbitration enforcement requests without having attempted prior venues of dispute resolution.
Venkat TL, closed on February 18 with no action taken and a reminder issued to involved parties to "moderate their tone, and to refrain from edit warring".
Mzajac, February 19, was closed as an issue beyond the remit of arbitration enforcement (namely, an accusation of administrator misconduct).
Hemantha was closed without action on February 22, with an exhortation to exhaust other means of dispute resolution before requesting arbitration enforcement.
Kautilya3, February 22, was withdrawn by the filer.
ObtuseAngles, February 26, was closed after the user in question was blocked as a sock.
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