Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2005-10-10/Breaking news
BREAKING NEWS: Two new arbitrators appointed
A chat with the elected Arbitrators
6 February 2006
Jimbo Wales appoints 11 arbitrators, increases committee size
23 January 2006
Arbitration Committee elections continue; ArbCom member resigns
16 January 2006
ArbCom candidates (part two)
9 January 2006
ArbCom candidates
2 January 2006
Straw poll closes
19 December 2005
Jimbo starts new poll regarding election
5 December 2005
Last chance to run for ArbCom
28 November 2005
ArbCom voting process
14 November 2005
ArbCom duties and requirements
7 November 2005
A closer look: the calls for reform of the ArbCom
31 October 2005
A look back: the 2004 ArbCom elections
24 October 2005
Current ArbCom members
17 October 2005
Criticism of the ArbCom
10 October 2005
About the Arbitration process
3 October 2005
The history of the Arbitration Committee
26 September 2005
Introduction to a special series: A look at the upcoming Arbitration Committee elections
19 September 2005
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A chat with the elected Arbitrators |
In a mailing list post today, Jimbo Wales appointed two users to the Arbitration Committee: Mindspillage (a.k.a. Kat Walsh), and Kelly Martin (a.k.a. karynn).
Mindspillage made her first edit in June 2004, and was made an admin in April 2005. Kelly Martin first contributed in December 2004, becoming an administrator in June 2005. Jimbo referred to both users as "highly recommended".
Some users expressed dismay at the use of temporary appointments. Talrias, a candidate for the December ArbCom elections, said "I disagree with the principle of Jimbo appointing people to the arbitration committee rather than having elections. The Committee was originally set up with the idea that arbitrators would be elected by the community - in fact, there was a special election when two original members resigned." Jguk agreed, but said "The reason for an appointment is that it is temporary, will only last for two and a half months, and is easier at present...really, we need rules in place to provide for what we do with vacancies."
Most users, however, were decidedly in support of the appointments. Hamster Sandwich said, "I agree with the process of appointing ArbCom members. It ensures a higher standard of accountability to the editing community at large, in that appointees can be revoked with out a complicated process if they act in bad faith or contrary to the letter and spirit of WP process."
Both Mindspillage and Kelly Martin's terms will expire on 31 December, 2005. Neither have officially announced their candidacy for another term.
In other news, Jimbo announced that plans are in the works for "a new election process for the arbcom which I hope will deal, in some small way at least, with the unpleasantness of last year's process." No further details are yet available.
Also announced in the post was the appointment of James Forrester to the position of Chief Research Officer, replacing Erik Möller, who resigned on 17 August (see archived story).
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