Wikipedia talk:Requests for arbitration/Alkivar

message: I was the one who suggested that this should be brought here. If that makes me involved (does it?) I proably should be listed, but I had no part in the dispute leading up to this, until I saw the ANI posting. I will also admit I was unaware of the previous RFC; it just seemed to me his behavior in this incident alone, both in his behavior and in his dismissal (incidentally using the rollback tool) of other users' attempts to engage in discussion, was so egregious that something should be done. As for the dispute itself, I don't really care about pop culture sections, and I don't think it's relevant here. —Random832 22:02, 9 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Brief statement by [[user:Random832|Random832]] 

message: There are three administrative actions that are points of contention.  All three have now been undone:
* Protection of  (undone by B)
* Block of  (undone by Nishkid64)
* Protection of  (undone by Edokter)
There are several other administrative actions I have noticed on a cursory glance of Alkivar's logs that, on the surface, appear questionable and should be explained:
* Protection of User talk:Phil Sandifer (logs) with the message "if i cant have my banner... you cant have your protection... how's them apples?"
* Two-week block of , apparently in response to .  The user has since left Wikipedia.
* Protection of Talk:Demonoid (logs) - as far as I can tell, there was only one IP vandal, who simply could have been blocked rather than protecting the page.  In any event, indef protecting talk pages is usually a bad idea.
* Deletion of Wikipedia:What would Jack do? (logs)
I don't claim that the above is an exhaustive list, and it should be noted that the vast majority of Alkivar's admin actions are unquestionably correct and positive for the encyclopedia.  This is merely what I saw on a brief glance that convinced me that it is appropriate for this action to go forward. Respectfully submitted, B 00:32, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Statement by [[User:B]] 

message: Earlier I suggested at WP:AN/I that concerned individuals file an admin conduct RfC concerning Alkivar's actions ([ diff 1] [ diff 2]).  Problem is, as others pointed out, Alkivar is uncommunicative.  [ This section] of his talk page is an example of that.  At any rate, I recommend that the Arbitration Committee consider this case, as otherwise it does not seem Alkivar will respond.  --Iamunknown 00:48, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Comment by uninvolved User:Iamunknown 

message: I have previously crossed paths with Alkivar peripherally through his relationship with User:Burntsauce, a user whose recent actions have subsequently lead to this arbitration case due to Alkivar's actions during it. Many months ago Burntsauce was in the habit of blanking professional wrestler biographical articles, citing WP:A, which at the time cause controversy as it was seen as vandalism rather than cleaning as the resulting articles often resulted in stating "X is/was a professional wrestler" and nothing more (references to this can be found here: .)
A pattern developed in which Burntsauce would remove most of an article, someone would revert, Burntsauce would revert to his version and Alkivar would fully protect the article on Burntsauce's version. This can be seen in the logs of articles such as Chris Candido, Orville Brown, Bob Saget and Rodney Anoa'i among others, usually Alkivar protecting due to an "edit war" consisting of one revert (see here: )
However the favouritism that Alkivar has for Burntsauce goes beyond this to when he overturned a block, with unanimous support on ANI, of Burntsauce's due to Burntsauce constantly ignoring warnings that prodding articles without edit summaries was damaging to wikipedia (see here:).  It was shown that Alkivar had come online only so that he could unblock Burntsauce and immediately logged off again, even though the block was fully supported by all. Alkivar did not reply to requests as to why he unblocked Burntsauce in this situation leaving only his original unblock reason "ten of all trades should remember that blocks must be placed according to blocking policy".
The relationship between Alkivar and Burntsauce, and how Alkivar uses his admin tools to support this particular user specifically, is one I've had an issue with for some time and feel should be more closely looked at. –– Lid(Talk) 12:00, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Statement by uninvolved [[User:Lid]]

message: I had no direct confrontation with Alkivar.  It started when User:Burntsauce, an editor I had never heard of, deleted "popular culture" sections from a couple pages on my watchlist, giving the cheeky edit summary "popculturectomy."  That seemed presumptuous but I thought "no harm done" and went about my business.  A little later I ran across User:Baseball Bugs' AN/I notice on User:Alkivar, here.  It dawned on me that my two "popculturectomies" were among hundreds of other near-simultaneous deletions, and that Alkivar and others were following behind Burntsauce to re-delete those that people saw fit to restore.  
In one instance  Alkivar deleted a harmless piece of trivia from a sparsely edited article then immediately semi-protected it with the admonition "next person to readd the trivia section gets a boot upside the head." In another  here, Burntsauce had done a "popculturectomy" to the Palatine uvula article.  Baseball Bugs disagreed and reverted.  Alkivar re-deleted and, having done so, immediately protected the article.  That seemed weird.  The section arguably falls under WP:TRIVIA, a guideline that says it should be left and integrated into the article rather than deleted.  The palatine uvula is the subject of a lot of classic American cartoon imagery, and one can make a case that a discussion of that imagery is encyclopedic - it's that wobbling pink thing at the back of your throat  you see in close-up in the Buggs Bunny cartoons when someone is screaming.
We're not here to talk content.  I'm simply establishing that Baseball Bugs' restoring section is supportable and part of normal WP:CONSENSUS process.  There was no problem with behavior, no edit war, nothing to justify taking the article out of the hands of editors.  You use short-term page protection when an article is suffering an edit war or extreme vandalism, giving parties a chance to return to the talk page for consensus.  That's why Alkivar's indefinite page protection is so surprising.  His edit summary reveals his purpose: "...since idiots seem inclined to continuously readd pop trivia to ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLES."  He wasn't trying to help this article (other than locking-in his preferred version).  Instead, he was making the larger WP:POINT that trivia is bad.  That may or may not be true but administrators are acting as editors, not administrators, when they take sides in a content dispute.  They are no more important than anyone else, and have no special rights and powers.  But here he used his power to game an outcome.  Alkizar then deleted four successive complaints by Basebal Buggs on the matter, and a fifth complaint by User:Random832 that he was being uncivil.
I posted my summary on AN/I  here, concluding that Alkivar should be counseled or sent back to admin school.  If he wants to be an admin he needs to learn what admin tools are for and how he should present himself when using them.  After that I got swept up in yesterday's incident against my better judgment.  An hour after I posted my summary, Alkivar escalated things by blocking User:Equazcion, who was in process of rolling back Burntsauce's many deletions.  Equazcion initially thought the block was an innocent overreaction.  I pointed out that Alkivar had been warned numerous times on his talk page, and already had an AN/I report on his behavior by the time of the block. I don't know whether or not Alkivar was aware of the full debate on WP:TRIVIA or WP:AN/I at the time, but that's not the point.  He should have been aware of the situation before he acted.  Blocking shouldn't be done lightly or without having all the facts.  I was appalled that two administrators and an editor who apparently had some kind of tool were contentiously deleting and simultaneously edit warring on 300 articles at a time.  I warned Burntsauce to quit, and when he didn't I filed an AN/I report.  I warned User:Alkivar about the user block.  I participated in the WP:TRIVIA discussion on the matter.  I butted heads with the other administrator, User:Neil, who blindsided me when he decided to block me for opposing him.
It looks like he Alkivar abused the block privilege for the same reason he abused the page protection feature, to have his way on a content issue.  He was thoroughly involved in the dispute for which he blocked Equazcion.  I don't know what the arbitration body's current thinking is, but using the block powers against a user simply for contradicting an admin on a valid content dispute is the kind of unambiguous abuse of privilege for which people could lose their adminship on first offense.  There's no innocent explanation or excuse for the behavior.  
-- Wikidemo 16:41, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Statement by uninvolved [[User:Wikidemo]]

message: Alkivar has a history of borderline conduct and questionable admin actions, a quick look through his logs reveals this, this, this, not to forget the mass (out of process) BJAODN deletion, and now he blocked a valued good-faith contributor whom he disagrees with indefinitely. This has gone too far, and I think it would be good if arbcom could look into this. Melsaran (talk) 18:43, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Statement by uninvolved [[User:Melsaran|Melsaran]]

message: I think it is pretty clear from the evidence given above that Alkivar is and has been abusing admin tools. Another example of where he abused admin tools is here. He speedy deleted a subpage within a userspace, despite the fact that there were no votes for delete. Also, Alkivar indef blocked the user just two months earlier , so speedy deleting the page, despite a consensus not to just further heated the argument. In this particular discussion, it is pretty clear that Alkivar is only using admin tools to his clear advantage over other users who are not administrators. Whenever something begins to tremble out of hand, Alkivar has to for no reason resort to admin tools that are not exactly necessary at that point of time (page protection, blocks, image deletions etc.) Personally, I think Alkivar should be punished for his actions; if he isn't then other adminstrators might unfortunately resort to Alkivar's petty decisions. However, saying that, the discussion over at ANI concerning the trivia sections got very heated, and I feel that some of this could of been easily avoided if we co-operated with one another.
Alkivar needs to learn how to use admin tools properly and efficiently, not to abuse that at every moment, like he has been doing. Thanks, Davnel03 19:29, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Except that the admin in question refuses to participate in the "D" part of BRD. And why should one side "give in" to the other, as you suggest they do? Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? 19:54, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Understood. Except that the other editors' edit war is peripheral to the issue in question, namely that the admin took sides in the edit war and used admin tools to accomplish that. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? 20:12, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Statement by uninvolved [[User:Davnel03|Davnel03]]

message: I have had problems with Alkivar several times in the past. The first time was earlier this year when he indef banned me for supposedly willfully ignoring WP:BLP (regarding him letting Burntsause misinterpret BLP by deleting all unsourced info rather than just controversial info). The banning came just 5 minutes after I went through and sourced the entire Brian Adams (wrestler) article. Since I had not violated BLP and had just sourced a article, the ban was overturned a few hours later. The second big incident came a couple of months ago when I got in trouble and my fate was being discussed at WP:ANI, right in the middle of the discussion (where the general consensus looked like it would be a temporary banning followed by probation), he decided to ignore the discussion and indef block me again. Finally, just last week he went ahead and speedy deleted a user subpage I had by claiming it was all OR (ignoring the fact that OR is not a reason to speedy delete a subpage and the page had already survived a previous MFD, meaning it shouldn't have been speedy deleted for that reason either). That deletion was quickly overturned with him admitting he shouldn't have speedy deleted it. TJ Spyke 20:30, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Brief statement by uninvolved [[User:TJ Spyke|TJ Spyke]] 

message: To add to TJ's statement, every single incident after the first indef block was in violation of WP:COI. After the second block, Alkivar protected TJ's talk page citing a "continual removal of block templates", when TJ only removed one of them twice because he thought that more than one wasn't necessary. This on its own is perfectly understandable, but with the addition of his later revocation of TJ's email rights due to apocryphal abuse of the function, it becomes apparent that Alkivar had every intention of effectively banning TJ, which was in direct contradiction of community consensus being determined at WP:CSN (not ANI until much later on), and outside of his jurisdiction as an admin. Even if he didn't have a COI before this incident, he certainly had a COI when he came and deleted TJ's subpage outside of due process for illegitimate reasons. Alkivar is a good admin for the most part, of course, but those who get on his bad side need to be prayed for. The Hybrid T/C 03:23, 15 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Statement by uninvolved [[User:The Hybrid|The Hybrid]] 

message: This discussion on WP:ANI led to the RFC.  The ANI discussion contains a lot of accusations that are troubling at best.  It led me to believe an ArbCom case was coming even sooner than this.  Criticism from Jimbo Wales was removed as part of "worthless crap" and an editor was told not to involve himself in Alkivar's affairs until he is an administrator. —Wknight94 (talk) 21:56, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Even briefer statement by even less involved [[User:Wknight94|Wknight94]] 

message: For the record, the "worthless crap" edit removed all of Alkivar's "recent" messages, not just anyone in particular. Although this is traversing levels of wikilawyering, such an action probably doesn't merit a personal attack towards one user (Wknight94 cited it as the removal of Jimmy Wales' message above), but rather this was a sweeping removal of all messages on his talk page as is his prerogative. Whether Alkivar could have been more civil in doing so, or in general, will probably be discussed if/when this case opens. Daniel 23:41, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Clarification of Wknight94's statement by [[User:Daniel|Daniel]] 

message: Stumbled upon the issue at WP:ANI and was amazed really. So, we have an admin who edit wars over the content. Unhappy with the opponent disagreeing with his version, he indef-blocks a good-standing contributor and protects the article. Can anyone imagine a more text-book example of the abuse of buttons? That is setting aside lack of communication later. 
It is a sad sight that such a blatant abuse cannot be dealt quickly and decisively by efficient means. Blatant editing abuse gets quickly addressed by blocking the wrongdoers but blatant admin abuse (much more potentially dangerous) requires putting together an ArbCom case, waiting for a week or two  for it to get accepted and waiting for two months or so to get decided. The process is deeply in trouble because Wikipedia does not have an efficient way to deal with rogue admins. I urge arbitrators to decide this on the spot without procedural delays of going through a full-blown case and recommend the community to hammer out the community deadmninng process safe from troll-abuse but efficient. --Irpen 22:04, 11 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Statement by totally uninvolved [[User:Irpen|Irpen]] 

message: For the most part, Alkivar is an efficient administrator. A look through his admin logs shows that he does very decent work, especially with images. Unfortunately, mixed in with that work, there's also a bit of incivility, possible out-of-process deletions, and also unnecessary e-mail blocks. I strongly suggest that Alkivar re-familiarize himself with certain policies and advice, such as WP:CIVIL and WP:ADMIN, possibly even WP:WAIN; and be more careful with, and put more thinking into, his admin actions in future (such as not using them in disputes). Better explanations of his actions would be helpful as well. Acalamari 23:07, 11 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Statement by non-involved [[User:Acalamari|Acalamari]]

message: Remember, please, that very few people are actively bad during every edit they make. So please don't do something like "oh, well we would give him a sanction, but since he sometimes does the right thing we won't". -Amarkov moo! 23:11, 11 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Statement by relatively uninvolved [[User:Amarkov|Amarkov]]

message: I note User:B, above, lists Alkivar's deletion of Wikipedia:What would Jack do? as "questionable". I, too, had concerns over Alkivar's use of the tools on that occasion. This is an essay that was mostly my work, and I noted it had been deleted by Alkivar without any justification in the deletion summary. Puzzled, I politely asked him on his talk page if he would mind explaining his reasoning. Five days later Alkivar deleted my request without providing an answer, his edit summary was nothing in this section is needed anymore. I could find no community discussion on why the essay should be deleted, and since no CSD criterion was provided and the deleting editor declined to justify the deletion, I decided to restore the essay. Alkivar's use of the deletion button appears be a somewhere beyond our accepted process, and it was compounded by the refusal to engage when asked for clarification. Normally I would have let it go with a shrug, except from the statements provided here it appears it is not a one-off incident. Perhaps its time ArbCom took a look. Rockpocket 00:44, 12 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Statement by uninvolved [[User:Rockpocket|Rockpocket]]

message: My first interaction with Alkivar came shortly after I completed an investigation in which I concluded that Burntsauce was a sockpuppet or meatpuppet of JB196, one of the site's most destructive vandals.  I invited concerned Wikipedians to contact me offline for the evidence - I didn't want to teach a prolific sockpuppeteer how to become better at what he did.  Roughly half a dozen Wikipedians did request that evidence and support for the indef was unanimous until Alkivar overturned it without looking at the investigation.  In order to avoid a wheel war I avoided intervention afterward.  At Alkivar's RFC I commented to this effect and withdrew the comments in good faith after Alkivar claimed not to have received my earlier offer to present evidence and discuss it.  At the time when I struck through my RFC comments I expected Alkivar to answer my concerns.  He never did.  It appears to me that Alkivar has been overusing the tools to protect someone who, in all likelihood, has already been banned from editing on another account.  For several months I've regarded this arbitration proposal as inevitable and I urge the Committee to accept it.  Community based solutions aren't feasible under these circumstances. DurovaCharge! 15:00, 13 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Statement by [[User:Durova|Durova]]

message: This is a clear case of a sysop abusing the extra buttons.  I am puzzled at what appears to be reluctance by members of the arbitration committee in taking up this matter.  It has been 4 days since the case was filed and only one has voted to accept.  Inaction or 'slow-action' by the Arbcom has far-reaching consequences, including an increased threshold for approval of new admins at RfA (imo).  I urge the arbitration committee to take on and resolve this complaint.  R. Baley 22:13, 13 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Statement by uninvolved [[User:R. Baley|R.Baley]]

message: As much as I believe Alkivar has repeatedly abused his admin tools, I choose not to get involved until he wheel warred today over the block of . Alkivar has deleted dozens of images within hours of their upload, rather than giving editors the prescribed 7 days or 48 hours after notification, as expected. He then blocked G2bambino without explanation. I unblocked the user, explained to them the situation, and how to avoid image problems in the future. Alkivar has now re-blocked G2bambino, without discussion. Alkivar has repeatedly abused the tools granted to him, and I fully support them being taken away. Despicable. - auburnpilot talk 19:39, 15 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Statement by uninvolved AuburnPilot

message: I've been watching this unfold for the past week. Alkivar does valuable work, of course, but he has made many questionable actions. Today, when I looked over AN/I, I felt his actions were completely inappropriate. He abused his blocking powers, and he proceeded to wheel war. I feel that he has betrayed the community's trust, and it would be best if Alkivar were no longer an administrator. Also, I suggest adding G2bambino to the case parties, as he quite involved, in my opinion, with the proceeding of this case. Thank you. Maxim(talk) (contributions) 20:17, 15 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Statement by uninvolved Maxim

message: I apologize that I don't have the time to read this entire page, so I hope I'm not addressing any problem that is already being addressed.  But I'd just like to say that I was completely offended by this edit.  I am a frequent contributor, I know and understand the policies, and I felt that this user acted completely out of line.  I consulted a co-editor of the page in question, and we decided not to do anything about it.  But now that I see that this sort of thing is still going on, I'd just like to bring it to light.  Hope this helps in your decision. tiZom(2¢) 08:02, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Statement by uninvolved [[User:Tomtheman5|tiZom]]

message: Given the exact same history of edits and dealing with conflict on Wikipedia that he currently has, if Alkivar were to apply for adminship today, do you think he would be trusted with the tools and be passed at RfA? Just some food for thought. Ponder it for a while and I think we'll all realise therein lies the answer. Zunaid©® 13:18, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: That isn't really a great standard, though.  An active admin who deletes lots of images will annoy people who hold views that don't conform with our non-free content policy.  But that doesn't mean they should be desysopped. The question is whether Alkivar abused the tools, not whether or not he is popular. --B 13:56, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: <sarcasm> Good grief, so you're saying that RfA is just a popularity contest? What, so it's not decided by the editor's contributions, behaviour, ability to deal with conflict in a courteous manner and whether or not they're likely to abuse the tools given their history? </sarcasm> (hmmm...I wonder how I'd do in RfA?) Zunaid©® 15:51, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

text: He just barely passed his RfA in the first place, meeting concerns about -- you guessed it -- civility. Enough users were convinced that he "wouldn't do it again" that he passed. If he was up for RfA now, he would fail because it would be perfectly clear that he would keep being uncivil again, and again, and again. rspeer / ɹəədsɹ  18:57, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rhetorical question by completely uninvolved [[User:Zunaid]]