Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Clerks
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The Clerks of the Arbitration Committee were created to aid the Arbitration Committee in coming to its decisions. The position of Clerk was created in January 2006 by unanimous agreement of the Committee.
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[edit] Tasks
The clerks assist the Arbitration Committee by opening and closing cases which have the required number of votes, publishing final decisions, and keeping the main Requests for arbitration page organized. Clerks may also be asked to review and summarize evidence submitted on evidence pages and to help write decisions. However, in practice, this has rarely happened. To carry out these tasks clerks are granted write-access to the Arbitration Committee mailing list and permission to edit proposed and final decision pages. Clerks are not granted any other privileges, including votes. Former clerks do not retain these privileges. The procedure for these tasks is set out on the procedures page.
[edit] Participation and recusal
Like all editors, clerks may participate in arbitration cases by making proposals or commenting on the Evidence talk, Workshop and Workshop talk pages. However, Clerks do not have special authority on these pages. Clerks should not add evidence to Evidence pages unless they recuse themselves from the case. Clerks should recuse themselves from cases in which they have been involved, or when they have had significant prior negative interactions with any of the parties.
[edit] Organization
Clerks are appointed by the Arbitration Committee. There is no Chair or Head Clerk. Activities of the clerks are coordinated through the Clerks' Noticeboard. Further organizational details are administered by the clerks as needed through consensus.
[edit] Helping out
We encourage informal help. Because the clerks are the appointed representatives of the arbitration committee, there are some things that only the full-time clerks and trainees under direct supervision should do:
- Close cases involving user or article blocks and bans
- Remove threaded comments from the main RFAR page (but helpers may move comments into the section of the person making the comments)
- Remove or shorten excessively long presentations on the main page
- Remove rejected cases from main page within the 10 day period for consideration (a clerk or arbitrator may remove a case that has been listed for less than 10 days if there is a clear majority to reject and no chance of acceptance; helpers should only remove rejected cases after the ten day consideration period)
- Remove or shorten overlong evidence page sections
- Edit the /Proposed decision subpages, except for minor edits like typos and such
- Make policy-like statements (such as announcing the procedure for handling the changeover of arbcom members [1] [2])
In general, helpers should also avoid dealing with "touchy" participants (you'll know it when you see it).
Informal helpers are otherwise encouraged to participate by performing any other needed tasks, including maintaining the main page, opening cases and closing cases that do not involve blocks or bans. For questions and coordination, use the Clerks' Noticeboard.
[edit] Becoming a clerk
- We currently have enough full time clerks and are not actively seeking more; informal help is always appreciated (see above)
There is no formal application process for becoming an arbitration clerk. When new full-time clerks are needed, the current clerks will select candidates from the active helpers. After some additional experience handling complicated cases, and if you are willing to make a small but steady commitment of your time, the clerks will submit your name to the arbitration committee for consideration of a formal appointment.
[edit] Current Clerks
- Clerks
- Clerks not currently active
(Pending applications - for historical interest only)
