Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/2006-12-26/Arbitration series

All the Best!

I wish All the best to all new and existing members of the ArbCom. Season's greetings to them all. --Bhadani 14:37, 27 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Why Even Have The Election?

If Jimbo chooses them anyway, what's the point of voting? Does he just pick the ones at the top to avoid people bothering him later on? It seems useless. Just H 01:26, 28 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's a safety valve to make sure that popularity doesn't put a bad arbitrator in office. In practice, Jimbo has picked mainly from the top. But for example, in last year's elections, Jimbo expanded the Committee from 12 to 15 arbitrators. Instead of taking the next three off the list, he took three incumbent arbitrators who had received significant support, but not ranked highly enough to win numerically. His intent was to ensure that the Committee did not turn over too significantly. Ral315 (talk) 12:53, 28 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]