Wikipedia:Mediation Committee
The Wikipedia Mediation Committee was set up, along with the Arbitration Committee, in January 2004 by Jimmy Wales to assist in resolving disputes between users. It is part of the formal dispute resolution process on Wikipedia. Requests for a mediator to assist in a dispute are made at Wikipedia:Requests for mediation.
The role of the Mediation Committee is explicitly to try to resolve disputes, especially those involving content, to the mutual satisfaction of all. Mediation must be an honest attempt on the part of all parties to resolve disputes; parties to mediations should understand that they will be given the opportunity to express any concerns they have, but mediation is not a court hearing, and mediators do not issue binding decisions. The decision to mediate, and to abide by the result of mediation, is voluntary.
If you wish to contact the Mediation Committee via email, please do so by following this link while logged into your account. All emails will be then automatically forwarded to the Committee's internal mailing list for viewing and discussion.
Contents |
Members
- A sortable table listing all Committee Members is available at Wikipedia:Mediation Committee/Members.
Active Mediators
As of August 27, 2008.
(actively mediating and/or contributing to Mediation-en-l) |
(on a known and/or temporary absence)
|
Mediators Emeriti
These members are the emeriti of the Mediation Committee; in practical terms, this means they are inactive on Committee activities, including mediations. Many are inactive having gone on to other duties, including the Arbitration Committee or the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Mediators emeriti are welcome to re-list themselves as active at any time, and resume mediation of cases and other duties. Emeriti are often active on the Committee mailing list, and in other "behind-the-scenes" operations of the Mediation Committee, such as commenting on current nominations; they may choose to do this while inactive, as they wish.
Active Committee members who are taking a temporary leave of absence, including wikibreaks, may choose to list themselves as away instead of emeritus. Information on all Committee members, and their general activities, is available here.
Click [show] to display the complete list of Emeriti Mediators
|
|||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Chair
The current Chair of the Mediation Committee is WJBscribe.
The role of the Chair is one of coordination, facilitation, and administration, rather than oversight or supervision. The role does not involve a hierarchy or authority within the Committee; instead, it provides a recognized spokesperson for the Committee's decisions and a designated individual to maintain Committee processes. Election of the Chair is held as needed on the Committee's internal mailing list.
The Chair will often initiate discussion on the mailing list in the event of an important or controversial decision, rather than immediately acting as the representative of the Committee as he or she does normally. Furthermore, cases are not assigned to mediators by the Chair; rather, mediators are independent in their choice of which cases they mediate, and how they conduct their mediations.
The typical tasks of the Chair, also carried out by other members of the Committee when the Chair is unavailable, include those listed here. Former Chairs have been: Daniel, ^demon, Essjay, Redwolf24, MacGyverMagic, Jwrosenzweig, Danny, Bcorr, Sannse and TUF-KAT.
Click [show] to display the timeline of Mediation Committee Chairs
|
---|
|
MediationBot
- Further information: User:MediationBot1
MediationBot1 (talk • contribs • tasks • flag log • actions log • block log • other logs • count) is an automated Wikipedia bot used by the Mediation Committee to perform case management and other tasks as needed. As an official project of the Mediation Committee, MediationBot is only used for official Mediation Committee business.
The original bot, put online in July 2006, was the product of efforts by Tangotango, Misza13 and Pgk. ST47 kindly offered to rewrite the bot in November 2007 as the old bot was becoming slightly unreliable, and the new bot was written and put into action during late 2007. The Mediation Committee expresses sincere thanks to all these users for their efforts in developing and producing the bot.
If you have any comments, concerns or suggestions about this bot, please feel free to leave a message at Wikipedia talk:Mediation Committee. If you are forced to block this bot due to it malfunctioning, please also leave a note on the Committee's talk page so the problem can be fixed and the bot unblocked; you may also wish to contact the mailing list.
Membership and selection procedure
Members are selected by consensus of the Mediation Committee as a whole; nominations generally last between two weeks and one month, and are open to comment from both Committee members and non-Committee members. Emeritus members of the Mediation Committee retain the option to participate in nomination discussions as regular (active) Committee members. Non-Committee members are invited to comment and provide advice to the Committee about candidates and their suitability.
There is not a strict minimum amount of support necessary for a nomination to be promoted. However, the Committee does enforce a "two oppose rule"; the Committee has determined that any nomination opposed by two or more members of the Committee cannot be promoted. Final approval lies with Jimmy Wales, though he rarely comments on nominations. Promoted candidates are requested to join the Committee's internal mailing list.
There are no set standards for Committee members, though certain trends have developed over time. Appointment to the Mediation Committee is an appointment to an official Wikipedia committee, and requires a certain level of community trust. Involvement in the Wikipedia community is also a key factor, as is experience in Wikipedia dispute resolution; nominees should be able to demonstrate a strong history of resolving disputes on Wikipedia and interacting positively with the community. Self-nominations from prospective mediators are always welcome and current Committee members are often on the lookout for strong candidates to nominate. Interested candidates should read and follow the procedure outlined at Wikipedia:Mediation Committee/Nominations/Procedure to submit their nomination.
Current nominations
- Old nominations are archived at Wikipedia:Mediation Committee/Nominations.
See also
- Wikipedia:Mediation, the Mediation policy by which the Committee operates.
- Wikipedia:Requests for mediation, the page on which requests for the Committee to mediate a dispute are presented.
- Wikipedia:Resolving disputes, Wikipedia's page describing the process by which disputes are to be resolved on-wiki.
- Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal, a "gathering area" where informal mediators are invited to take cases. It provides informal mediation.
- Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee, the MedCom's sister Committee. The ArbCom handles user conduct issues, as opposed to content disputes.