Incubator escapee wiki:Arbitration Committee

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The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

In addition to its role in dispute resolution, the Committee determines which editors have access to CheckUser and Oversight permissions, and considers certain matters where exceptional factors such as privacy preclude a public hearing.

Arbitrators are volunteer users—usually experienced editors and administrators—whom the community of editors at large elects to resolve the most complex or intractable disputes that may arise within the community, and to oversee the few areas where access to non-public information is a prerequisite. Template:Dispute-resolution Incubator escapee wiki:Arbitration Committee/Members

Clerks

The Committee's clerk team assists the Committee with procedural tasks, such as opening and closing cases, maintaining arbitration pages, and issuing notifications of decisions. Parties with questions about the arbitration process are encouraged to consult a clerk for assistance.

Contacting the Committee

The arbcom-en mailing list is the primary venue for internal Arbitration Committee discussion on all matters under the Committee's remit. It can also be used by any user as a means of contacting the Committee privately (but see Communications and privacy below). The mailing list address is Template:NonSpamEmail. It may also be reached through the "Email this user" feature at "User:Arbitration Committee". All current arbitrators are subscribed to this list.

Mailing lists

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In addition to the arbcom-en list, the Committee operates several other official mailing lists:

Mailing list	Description
Template:Nowrap	The functionaries-en mailing list is used for general discussion among current Arbitration Committee members, former members in good standing, advanced permission (CheckUser and/or Oversight) operators, and other editors with official Wikimedia Foundation status. Please see the functionary page for more details and a list of subscribers.
Template:Nowrap	The clerks-l mailing list is used for coordination by the Committee's clerk team. Please see the clerk page for more details and a list of subscribers.
Template:Nowrap and Template:Nowrap	The arbcom-en-b and arbcom-en-c mailing lists are secondary mailing lists used instead of arbcom-en "solely for discussions involving (i) the conduct of an arbcom-en subscriber or (ii) cases, broadly defined, to which an arbcom-en subscriber is a party" per Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard/Archive 5#Motion to establish secondary ArbCom mailing list. They are also used for CheckUser and Oversight applications, and may be used when one or more arbitrators recuse on a case. All arbitrators potentially have access to the archives of these mailing lists upon conclusion of the incident that either list was used for.

What happens to incoming ArbCom email?

The committee is not necessarily the most appropriate body for every matter we are contacted about. Therefore, emails are shared with other trusted permissions holders on Wikipedia when, in an arbitrator's judgement, they cannot or must not be handled by the committee alone.

• Spam: Almost all incoming email is spam that is deleted at moderation. Please include an informative subject line to avoid deletion. Messages are normally acknowledged by an arbitrator within 48 hours.
• Child protection / child pornography: Reports should be made to WMF Legal. Template:Nospam.
• Content change requests: Referred to VRT, either by forwarding or by an arbitrator writing back to recommend you send to there.
• Suppression requests: Normally forwarded to the Oversight team, unless immediately actioned by an arbitrator.
• Requests for checkuser/sockpuppetry investigations: Normally referred either to the Functionaries mailing list or to an individual checkuser.
• Legal matters outside ArbCom's scope: Referred to the WMF Legal and Community Liaison.
• Threats of harm to self or to others: Referred to the WMF emergency address, Template:Nospam.
• Appeals of blocks or bans directly related to ArbCom decisions or Arbitration Enforcement: Discussed and decided by the full committee.
• Requests about "checkuser" or "oversighter" blocks or bans: Appeals reviewed by the committee or forwarded to the Functionaries.
• Requests to review actions of checkusers or oversighters: Discussed and decided by the full committee.
• Emails about currently open arbitration cases: Handled according to the arbitration policy.
• Emails relating to closed cases: Normally referred to Arbitration Enforcement unless private or non-public personal information is involved.
• Other: Handled on a case-by-case basis, according to applicable policy and convention.

Communications and privacy

<section begin="Communications and privacy" /> Arbitrators usually seek to treat communications with the committee, including emails, as confidential. That said, we cannot guarantee against public disclosure for a number of reasons, including potential security limitations. Accordingly, you should not disclose sensitive personal information in your communications with us.

Once received, your communications may be shared with committee members and – in some limited cases – with third parties as deemed appropriate. Your communications may be archived indefinitely and made available to future members of the committee.

Your email address may contain personal information that could reveal your real-life identity. Many people create email accounts specifically for Wikipedia use. Further information about safeguarding your privacy may be found at On privacy and How to not get outed on Wikipedia. <section end="Communications and privacy" /> Template:Wikipedia accounts