Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2010-11-01/Arbitration report
{{Wikipedia:Signpost/Template:Signpost-article-start|Arb resignation during plagiarism discussion; election RfC closing in 2 days|By Ncmvocalist and Tilman Bayer|November 1, 2010}}
The Arbitration Committee opened no cases this week, leaving none open.
=Arbitrator resigns=
Yesterday, after Rlevse blanked his user page and put up a "retired" tag, with an [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Rlevse&diff=393956984&oldid=392445532 edit summary] that said "you guys want it you got it", his name was [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee/Current_members&diff=393992470&oldid=390853091 removed] from the list of current members of the Arbitration Committee.
Rlevse retired while copyright and plagiarism concerns were being examined at an administrators' noticeboard discussion. On behalf of Rlevse, arbitrator SirFozzie confirmed that Rlevse has [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3ARlevse&action=historysubmit&diff=394019435&oldid=394018692 scrambled his passwords in addition to turning in his CheckUser, Oversight and ArbCom permissions]. It is [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee_Elections_December_2010&curid=29156991&diff=393995016&oldid=393535184 expected] that his vacant position will be filled by one of the successful candidates of this year's ArbCom elections.
;"Today's featured article" pulled from main page
The copyright and plagiarism concerns were about DYK articles by other editors, and after 3 days had come to extend to Sunday's featured article, Grace Sherwood (on a historical witch-hunt, in accordance with the Halloween theme), which had been co-authored and nominated for FA by Rlevse. Not long after the article had appeared on the main page, the first concern about possible plagiarism from a USA Today article was [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Grace_Sherwood&diff=393899708&oldid=391537469 voiced] by an anonymous editor. After 3 minutes, the concern was [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Grace_Sherwood&diff=next&oldid=393899861 dismissed] by Rlevse, and another 7 minutes later, the IP was [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&page=User:205.175.113.16 blocked] for "block evasion" by a checkuser. However, further investigation found that an [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grace_Sherwood&diff=prev&oldid=383735476 edit] by Rlevse in September had (according to a [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/Incidents/Plagiarism_and_copyright_concerns_on_the_main_page&diff=prev&oldid=393973040 summary] by Hans Adler)
{{cquote|No less than 8 consecutive sentences plagiarised (and in most cases obviously copied) from a passage consisting of 9 consecutive sentences in a single source, in the same order.
Only a minimal amount of added information.
The only source given for this passage is a website where the text did not originate.}}
(The third concern does not seem to apply to subsequent article versions, as Rlevse had corrected the reference 27 minutes later in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grace_Sherwood&diff=383739505&oldid=383735476 following edit]. And in [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/Incidents&diff=prev&oldid=393956230 one of his last comments], 7 minutes before his retirement, he defended himself against the plagiarism concerns by stating that the "passage is marked with a ref".)
Raul654, the Featured Article Director, was [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Raul654&diff=prev&oldid=393956892 alerted] of these concerns at 11:15 (UTC), and at 12:28 (UTC), [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Today's_featured_article/October_31,_2010&diff=prev&oldid=393965525 replaced] the article, after it had spent more than twelve hours on the main page.
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents&diff=next&oldid=393890911 concern] was also raised that Rlevse was making unseemly responses (examples: [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Rlevse&diff=next&oldid=393955626] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents&diff=prev&oldid=393956523] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents&diff=prev&oldid=393890514]).
Rlevse was contacted for this story, but declined to comment.
;Other questions and allegations
Several other questions and allegations were raised in relation to plagiarism and copyright violations. It was asked whether Wikipedia should avoid using the present form of the DYK process, and instead, adopt [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents/Plagiarism_and_copyright_concerns_on_the_main_page&oldid=394004986#Time_to_scrap_DYK.3F different incentives]. Arbitrator Risker [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum&diff=prev&oldid=393961577 alleged] that Wikipedia’s FAC process is at fault. Other editors [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AMalleus_Fatuorum&action=historysubmit&diff=393974915&oldid=393973316 stated] that editors were responsible for what they write, and that the process isn’t to blame for the issues. Some users discussed the differences between plagiarism, copyright violations and close paraphrasing. At the time of writing, the discussion continues at the noticeboard.
See also last year's Signpost dispatch on plagiarism.
=RfC on ArbCom election voting procedure=
Wikipedia:Requests for comment/2010 ArbCom election voting procedure is a request for comment: what procedure should the Community use this year to elect the 2011 Arbitration Committee? The Signpost reminds its readers that the RfC is likely to close in two days.