Wikipedia:Arbitration
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The arbitration process imposes binding solutions to Wikipedia conduct disputes that neither community discussion nor administrators have successfully resolved. Arbitration on the English Wikipedia is conducted by a panel of experienced users on the Arbitration Committee (ArbCom), which is elected annually by the community and governed by the arbitration policy (ARBPOL). The Committee also resolves issues which must be considered in private. It has significant autonomy to address unresolvable issues among the community. However, it does not exist to subvert community consensus, to adjudicate matters of article content (Wikipedia has no "content committee"), or to decide matters of editorial or site policy. This Arbitration Committee's jurisdiction extends only to the English Wikipedia, although some other Wikimedia projects have their own committees.
Selection and appointment
Elections are conducted annually. Nominations usually open in November; successful candidates are typically long-term, experienced editors of Wikipedia. There is no prohibition against non-administrators running, but historically, successful candidates have been administrators.
Scope of arbitration
The Committee accepts cases related to editors' conduct. Arbitration is a last resort, only to be employed when other dispute resolution has failed or there is very good cause to believe they will not help. The Arbitration Committee only deals with the most serious, entrenched, or persistent disputes and cases of rule-breaking, where all other reasonable means have failed. It will not make editorial statements or decisions about how articles should read ("content decisions").
Requesting arbitration
Please read Wikipedia:Arbitration/Guide to arbitration before requesting arbitration. Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests transcludes the following pages:
- Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case: Use this page to request a new arbitration case.
- Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Clarification and Amendment: To request clarification or amendment of an existing closed case. This includes requests to lift sanctions previously imposed.
- Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Motions: Arbitrator-initiated motions, not specific to a current open request. Only arbitrators may propose or vote on motions on this page. However, you may add your own statement to the motion, and threaded discussion is allowed in the section titled "Community comments".
- Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Enforcement: Violations of existing arbitration decisions are referred to the Committee's enforcement process. Although enforcement is within the jurisdiction of ArbCom, the actual process is staffed by Wikipedia administrators. Further instructions on requesting enforcement of an arbitration decision are on that page.
Active sanctions
The Arbitration Committee may impose restrictions on particular topic areas or particular editors. These usually are indefinite, but can be appealed after a given time period.
A list of active sanctions imposed by the Arbitration Committee is at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Active sanctions. It partially transcludes from the following pages:
- Wikipedia:General sanctions: Lists general sanctions on all editors working in a particular topic area, imposed by the Arbitration Committee and the Wikipedia community. It also lists the various general sanctions available.
- Wikipedia:Editing restrictions: Lists particular editors subject to restrictions placed by the Arbitration Committee and the Wikipedia community. It also lists the various types of editor restrictions.
General sanctions to topic areas may include a contentious topic designation, which are listed at Wikipedia:Contentious topics. Contentious topics are specially-designated topics that have attracted more persistent disruptive editing than the rest of the project. There is a log of enforcement at Wikipedia:Arbitration enforcement log. Other general sanctions include the extended-confirmed restriction and a one revert rule.
Prior dispute resolution
The Committee usually expects editors to have exhausted the previous steps in the dispute resolution process before proceeding to arbitration. Exceptions include cases:
- Where the case involves allegations of administrator misconduct or an unusually divisive dispute among administrators;
- Where there has already been extensive discussion with wide community participation; or
- Where there is good reason to believe that engaging in the earlier steps of the dispute resolution process would not be productive.
Further information
For information about requesting arbitration, and how cases are accepted and dealt with, please see Wikipedia:Arbitration/Guide to arbitration. You may also wish to review the following:
- Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard: Noticeboard of general announcements related to the Arbitration Committee's business.
- Wikipedia:Arbitration/Current: Open and recently closed proceedings of the Arbitration Committee.
- Wikipedia:Arbitration/Index: Archive of closed proceedings of the Arbitration Committee.
The current members of the Arbitration Committee, and more information on the Committee itself, is at Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee. Contact details are at User:Arbitration Committee. Information on the panel of clerks appointed by the Committee to administrate the arbitration process is at Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Clerks. History of the Arbitration Committee is at Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/History.
The arbitration policy is at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Policy. Procedures based on this policy are listed at Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Procedures. The internal procedures of the arbitration clerks are at Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Clerks/Procedures.