This is very true. The problem is that when you move to the slightly more formalised process operated by the arbcom, it's all in secret. So you have the choice between a public lynching by the sort of creatures who hang about the drama boards, or slightly more civilised private version of the same.neved wrote:I do agree with your description of the arbcom discussions, but most so called community ban discussions are hardly any better. Here's why:everyking wrote:You're more likely to get a "fair" outcome from the community than the ArbCom. Community discussions are always transparent, after all, and usually involve a healthy exchange of views. The ArbCom's decisions are normally political and never transparent. You don't see an exchange of views, and you don't know why or how the decisions were reached; very often you have to conclude the decisions were badly informed, or made for the wrong reasons.
1. There's no such thing as the Wikipedia community. There are few users who regularly take part in such discussions, but there are thousands of Wikipedians who have never heard about drama boards.
2. Transparency is good, when a discussed person is allowed to participate in the discussion. I was not, not even at my own talk page. Involved bullies lied about me, but I was able only to watch their lies and half-truths silently.
3.There's absolutely nothing healthy in community bans. In the most situations they are used to silence critics and/or to retaliate to content opponents.
When I went through those arbcom threads about me again, it was depressing. Nearly all of it was on the level of a personal attack with all kinds of speculation about my personal motives, all of it incorrect. My original complaint, namely that I had been publicly accused of lying by a senior member of the administration, was entirely ignored.
Of course it's not meant to be fair, but the question is why Brad, who works as a lawyer and has considerable experience of 'legal process' wants to contaminate himself by his involvement with this 'project'.