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A note from your candidate: I'm assuming this page is mostly for people to talk about me. I'll do my best to let you do that without intervening. If you have questions, it would be natural to add them to the "questions" page. If you have minor questions too trivial for there, then my talk page is open William M. Connolley (talk) 18:49, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

William M. Connolley

Assuming I am just allowed to add comments here, allow me to remark that I think that good arbitration is about being fair, being conscientious and perhaps being logical. There should be no requirement to be well liked or popular. We should not vote for or against WMC based on our like or dislike of him but out of respect for his fairness. The greatest strength of WMC as an Arbcom candidate is that as well as being eye-wateringly fair, and careful with details he does not much seek the approval of other people. The huge percentage of "grunt work" he has done on WP:3RR reflects fairness and not seeking approval. He takes on things in the knowledge that someone will dislike him for it but because it needs to be done. I do not think he would be a very good emperor but he would be excellent sitting as one of a set of judges. As I understand the proper role of Arbcom (arbitration) it is very hard to think of anyone better suited to the role. As with the mop, Arbcom membership is a duty not an honour and perhaps we should regard him serving a term there as community service in penance for being just a little bit too polemic over faults with the current Arbcom. --BozMo talk 10:56, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

• Sorry. Ignoring appeals for help with edit warring until it is stale and then shifting blame is not a sign of fairness or good judgement. Ikip has listed some examples of what has been characterized as poor judgement here. Quite frankly this user should be before Arbcom, not sitting on it. Unomi (talk) 14:09, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

  For full disclosure, a number of these issues of "poor judgement" were blocks of confirmed sockpuppets... maybe they hadn't been chekusered at the time of their blocks, but if one lives in the cesspool of Wiki-climate, Scibaby socks are often very easy to spot. Also, User:Spotfixer, who is quoted as talking about Connolley's bad behavior, is has been indefed for some time now... I can't speak to the other issues that Unomi brought up as I don't know about those, but I feel it's necessary to point out that this is far from black-and-white. I happen to agree with BozMo, for the record. Awickert (talk) 18:29, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

"Eye-wateringly fair" is not the first phrase that comes to mind with respect to WMC. The ArbCom case that closed in September found that he "misused his administrator tools by acting while involved...on a number of occasions." This finding added credence to longstanding (as in years long) complaints by numerous editors (including many fellow admins) that WMC regularly used the tools improperly, e.g. blocking editors with whom he was edit warring, editing pages after protecting them, etc. As a result of the finding in the ArbCom case WMC was of course desysopped and also admonished not to edit war. WMC clearly did a lot of great work as an admin, but he also apparently had significant difficulty at times determining whether or not he was too involved to take administrative action, and in general exhibited rather poor judgment on a number of occasions. Obviously those are major concerns with respect to a prospective arbitrator. Being "a little bit too polemic over faults with the current Arbcom" may or may not be an issue, but questions about WMC's judgment and fairness clearly are, at least for many editors (and obviously WMC has a number of strong supporters as well). I only point all this out in reply to BozMo's comment which, while certainly expressing a perfectly valid opinion, rather screamed for a counterpoint in my view. --Bigtimepeace | talk | contribs 20:03, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

• Re Unomi: Apparently all administrators on Misplaced Pages have ignored your edit warring report. Picking on the one (unpaid volunteer) who eventually did process it seems not particularly fair. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 22:33, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

  It is certainly true that no other admin did intervene, but at the time WMC was quite active on the 3rr board and would have been hard pressed to not have seen it, it could be that due to the fact that OM and verbal were downplaying it WMC thought it best to leave it alone. Regardless, closing it with 'Fault is with U, who is lucky that this report is now stale' etc to a new editor without any attempt at pointing in the right direction does nothing to help the project. Unomi (talk) 01:34, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

  As I said, eye-wateringly fair. --BozMo talk 06:38, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

• Comment I must admit, the prospect of an ArbCom member who has previously been sanctioned by ArbCom appeals to my sense of mischief, and one who lists as his principal credential editing frequently on a subject while holding strong viewpoints and an arguably professional conflict of interest is particularly noteworthy. I think WMC will need to explain, at length, why he considers these strengths rather than weaknesses to his candidacy. Ray 20:54, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

I guess we do not want to turn this into a referendum on the rather shoddy treatment of WMC by Arbcom. I suspect if we did, he might get elected rather easily... at least if people could be bothered to read through the history properly. Not that he was without blame too of course, being right and being seen to be right are two different things and he should have cared more about the latter. However the professional conflict of interest you mention is very hard to argue. Aside from having previously been a tenured academic (and therefore de facto neutral) AFAIK WMC currently works for a software house with no relationship at all to the subjects where he has the highest number of edits? --BozMo talk 21:45, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

Oh, I don't regard these as insurmountable. His Arbcom issues were long ago, and I'm willing to listen to any argument he wants to make about actions by Arbcoms long before I joined that may be inappropriate in the light of time. Conflict of interest is a tricky thing - it raises a flag, but the flag is not red for me, but yellow - I need to know what was going on. Especially on academic matters, the distinctions can be very fine, and depend very much on the case - we should most definitely welcome academics writing on research in their area (and, in some cases, even their own). But if they're writing about academic controversies where they have a stake, then things start becoming murkier (for instance, to use a completely counterfactual hypothetical, if Misplaced Pages existed in the 1920s-1930s, everybody should welcome having Niels Bohr writing about the hydrogen atom and quantum mechanics. But things become a lot murkier if he starts addressing philosophical discussions against his preferred interpretation of quantum mechanics, or anything in what was a grade-A dispute in the science of the day). Since WMC chose to raise it, I think I need to hear his position on what he was doing, and why, and where he thinks he might have brushed up against the line, and what he learned from the experience. Ray 23:01, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

I agree on getting WMC to provide some answers at some point. But I am looking forward to the vote cos I do not know how it will go. On Bohr I thought WP existed to represent consensus rather than be correct? Correct as an aim would invite any amount of OR but consensus has to bow to experts even though (as with the millenium bug) many of them turn out to be jokers. --BozMo talk 23:24, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

I'm happy to answer questions, though not at length, but if you think that His Arbcom issues were long ago you need to do your research properly William M. Connolley (talk) 23:00, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

• CommentI would like to raise my concerns about this candidate: Whilst Mr Connolley, is a very enthusiastic editor and has made valuable contributions particularly on climate articles, he simply cannot see "the another side"... that people can quite legitimately differ in their views and that both sides of a public debate must be documented in Misplaced Pages. To be blunt, he has no concept of "NPOV" and having seen his antics over a number of years there is no doubt in my mind that he will abuse any position of authority to push his own POV. (Sorry William, it has to be said, the world is a better place because of single-minded enthusiasm like yours, but that single mindedness makes you the wrong person for this role). (I would also like to point out that this statement was removed from his candidate statement with absolutely no communication - I admit that I was mistaken to put it there - I misunderstood what "via" that site meant - this kind of unwikipedia behaviour just encapsulates my concern about this candidate.)Isonomia (talk) 19:06, 23 November 2009 (UTC)
• Sometimes comments about other editors tell you more about the commentator than the editor they are commenting on. Verbal chat 19:17, 23 November 2009 (UTC)
  • Verbal, it does me no credit to say these things, and if I had the time and enthusiasm of William, I've no doubt it would carry much more weight and to be honest I've been lazy, and not put in the effort to help William tackle his problem, however dispite my own failings which are many and despite my dislike of personal attacks, in this case it had to be said. Isonomia (talk) 21:30, 23 November 2009 (UTC)
• Is this a joke? --This guy is a POV-warrior, who has been reported for 3RR twice this week!

--Duchamps_comb MFA 07:08, 27 November 2009 (UTC)A user currently blocked for disruptive editing--BozMo talk 20:37, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

• It is less the reports, more the results that count. The first ended with "Result: No Violation, WP:BLP clearly applies" - it is unclear why you think defending wiki against gross BLP violations is a bad idea. The second ended in me being trouted, which I think was fair enough. This is all about Climatic Research Unit e-mail hacking incident, which is under constant attack from POV warriors. Like you; you've broken 3RR there yourself William M. Connolley (talk) 11:29, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

A vote for WMC is a vote for a person who cares about content, and the integrity of Misplaced Pages as an encyclopedia above all else. Mostlyharmless (talk) 11:34, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

• I have nothing against Connolley, and I often have much sympathy with him in all the disagreements he gets into. But we don't want an arbitrator who has constant arguments with people. Connolley is also one of the editors you meet who are always certain that they are right and everyone else is wrong. Arbitrators should be unusually cool-headed, open-minded people. This is the wrong job for WMC. Sorry. -- Ssilvers (talk) 15:39, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

except of course that almost all the time he is right per WP:DUCK, and prepared to take on the argumentative and vexacious souls whom the rest of us quietly ignore. Not always though, the recent 3RR was well trouted. If not WMC then who? There don't seem to be any ideal candidates at all in Arbcom this time though. Why is the field so poor? Have all the serious editors decided it is too much stress and decided to leave it to people of more limited capacities? --BozMo talk 16:59, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

I've decided I do not have the time to make a decent job of it, especially not with the current ArbCom style, where the general approach seems to be to wait for continental drift to build mountains, the erosion of which will then cover the problem. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 17:59, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Comment - Does "read the f*ck*ng diff" represent the kind of temperament we want in an arbitrator? I don't think so. ATren (talk) 00:15, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

• Removal of talk page comment - This edit, from today, is the latest in a long pattern of WMC removing other editors' comments from article talk pages. He does it mainly on the Global Warming related articles, where he has an unquestioned POV. There is absolutely nothing abusive about the edit he removed, and it is from an editor in good standing. This kind of aggressive, partisan behavior is exactly not what is needed on a committee whose purpose is to resolve disputes, not escalate them. ATren (talk) 15:37, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

  ...and now he's edit warring to remove it. ATren (talk) 16:09, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

• Far too many editors have got into the habit of using article talk pages for chatter or to work off their humours or make barbed comments at other editors. Article talk pages are for discussions about improving the articles. Comments that fail this should be removed William M. Connolley (talk) 19:08, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Removing talk page comments should be reserved to those comments which are clearly abusive. There was nothing abusive about what you removed, not even by the most stringent talk page standard. And it's made worse by the fact that the editor is someone whom is in opposition to your own POV on those pages. What this reveals is that you are unwilling or incapable of restraining yourself in situations where restraint is the best approach -- indeed, you have a long history of such aggressiveness. Not even your desysopping, which itself was the direct result of your inability to show restraint as an admin, has changed your behavior; you instead chose to lash out at the committee for handing down what most consider to be a non-controversial decision. If you can't even show restraint as a named party in an arbcom case, or even when running for arbcom, is there any reason to believe you will develop that restraint if you are elected? I don't think so. ATren (talk) 20:35, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Removing talk page comments should be reserved to those comments which are clearly abusive - no. That is incorrect. As I said: comments that are nothing to do with improving the article can and should be removed, abusive or not. I don't claim to be entirely consistent about this; on non-controversial or low-traffic articles a little light relief does no harm. But irrelevance on high traffic pages disrupts important discussion; adding (or worse, re-adding) such stuff is disruptive William M. Connolley (talk) 21:54, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

In this case, the editor in question was simply comparing the relative tone of two articles in the same subject area -- an entirely valid content concern. His comment was short and to the point, and another editor responded in good faith. Your pattern of removing such relevant comments (always from editors with an opposing POV) is invariably much more disruptive than the original edits. Your attitude and behavior escalates conflicts and creates drama, which makes you entirely unqualified to serve on a committee whose role is to resolve conflicts. ATren (talk) 22:19, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

WMC is a hard POV warrior. He is pretending to care about the quality of articles but in reality he pushes his POV. --BernhardMeyer (talk) 20:46, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I am enjoying these contributions hugely, please let us have some more? I haven't seen UBer here yet for example, and there other litigants WMC has had to block too. E e cummings said in Maggie and Milly and Molly and May "For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) it's always ourselves we find in the sea". Here too we learn a lot about the frustrations of other angry editors but of course not so much about WMC.--BozMo talk 20:48, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

• Another quote from today: "If you really think that makes any sense, then you simply haven't got a clue... do you realise how little you know about this stuff?" ATren (talk) 20:57, 1 December 2009 (UTC)
• Over diagnosis of Dunning–Kruger effect perhaps :). --BozMo talk 21:00, 1 December 2009 (UTC)
• Yes, WMC has an overdosis of Dunning–Kruger: He overestimates his ability to act as an arbitrator. In this job impartiality is necessary, and an arbitrator has to be accepted by both sides of a dispute. --BernhardMeyer (talk) 21:12, 1 December 2009 (UTC)
• WMC is undoubtedly highly competent, much more so than most or perhaps all of his vocal critics. But he does not make allowance in all circumstances for the fact that other people may not have the cognitive ability to recognise his superiority. Occupational hazard I guess, and his greatest weakness. --BozMo talk 21:18, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think what you're saying here is WMC is unable or unwilling to suffer fools gladly. Yet that is probably the most important skill for an arbitrator to have. Couple that with WMC's habit of applying the "incompetent" label to everyone who disagrees with him, and he's even less fit to serve in that role. ATren (talk) 21:53, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Well you said I should correct you if you were wrong... but I am inclined to agree that WMC is unwilling to suffer fools gladly. But I am a grumpy old man and so, in my view, that is an enormous strength in his candidacy to be arbitrator. There are too many admins and on Arbcom who appear to desperately want to be loved and do all sorts of anti-project things (like desysoping WMC) in order to try to appeal to teenage community members of marginal net contribution. You remember the rather sad school teachers who want to be hip and in with the teenagers... are some of the current Arbcom members are very reminiscent of them? Arbcom should very specifically restrict itself to disputes where there are admins ranged on both sides and this very specifically requires a high degree of analysis and care to judge them correctly. Hip lazy and not too bright is not good for the project. Arbcom members should not be MPs with weekly surgeries or try to out admin admins, or super welcome newbies. They do not need to suffer fools gladly at all. --BozMo talk 22:04, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I believe the primary role of the committee is to resolve conflicts. WMC's style and attitude escalates conflicts, which is why I believe he is unfit. And regarding his desysop - he blocked the opposing party in an active case! Such a block is practically the definition of What Not To Do As An Administrator, and I find it astounding that WMC and his supporters continue to treat this like a crucifixion. ATren (talk) 22:35, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Per above, and Bentley, you finding something astounding is not really anyone else's problem, is it? --BozMo talk 22:45, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Edit Analysis

A detailed analysis of this candidate's edits in article, user and project space can be found at User:Franamax/Ucontribs-2009/William_M._Connolley. Franamax (talk) 07:18, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

Page Blanking

I encountered this editor since yesterday, in relation to Climate Change articles, after my limited experiences, I am left with the impression that he didn't assume good faith ... he blanked my articles with sources ... and he may be pushing a POV. Folks can be off at times, for now I can grant him the benefit of the doubt in my assumptions. However, the experience makes me not want to vote for him as an arbitrator. I am not left with a sense of fairness. Zulu Papa 5 ☆ (talk) 15:02, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

The incident above appears to have involved the creation of an article by a WP:copyvio and has been deleted as such. Vsmith (talk) 16:51, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Characterizing Uncertainty in Climate Assessment, for anyone wondering William M. Connolley (talk) 16:58, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Appearances can be deceiving. Although realistic, the concern for copyright was not brought to my attention by William M. Connolley, the article was speadly deleated, and I am investigating an apeal, becasue I didn't have fair notice or time to comment. I have been accused of a personal attack for commenting on this editors POV. (Admit, I felt harassed elsewhere by the editor.) In all, the absence of a sense of fairness, seems to be validated now. My instincts tell me this editor will be facing the Arb Com comitte one day again. I pray not, and not by me. Zulu Papa 5 ☆ (talk) 05:18, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Ideals

WMC, do you agree or disagree with the paragraph quoted here? I ask because your opposition to privacy here was striking and unlike you, I thought. Have the climate change trenches made you too quick to perceive enmity? 99.56.137.239 (talk) 07:32, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm struggling to see the connection between your two links. Also anons are not eligible to vote, or ask questions. Sorry William M. Connolley (talk) 19:04, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Stereotyping editors by one edit. No AGF

• Do we want arbs stereotyping editors by one edit, with not even a nod in the direction of AGF? I hope not. See this. Ling.Nut (talk) 12:30, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

No

WMC is one of the most problematic editors I have had the mispleasure to run across here on Misplaced Pages. He is rude, disruptive, ignores his many WP:COI’s and his gratuitous use of uncivil edit summaries would have paved the way for a very long mandatory vacation had he been a less well connected editor (or conversely if there were more administrators with backbone around here).

It would be a tragedy and an outrage if he were to be allowed to wield such power and influence as he would have in Arbcom. WVBluefield (talk) 16:50, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

For those watching: if you're wondering what this is about, WVB is a global warming skeptic who doesn't like the current state of wiki's articles on same; I'm a convenient target. This is probably a good place to mention, if I haven't already, that I'd need to recuse on strongly GW-related article disputes William M. Connolley (talk) 18:59, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Yet you can't even contain yourself during these elections, edit warring to remove non-abusive comments from a global warming skeptic on an article talk page. You've never shown any sign that you are willing to curb your aggressive editing on GW articles, not even today as voting begins. There's no reason to believe you will suddenly change if elected. ATren (talk) 20:44, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

This is indeed a quite fascinating comment, but not quite so fascinating as to make it twice - I think the version in the section above, to which I've replied, should suffice William M. Connolley (talk) 21:51, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

• ATren and WVBluefield, I very strongly agree with you --BernhardMeyer (talk) 20:50, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm afraid my experience of working with William on a recent GW related page makes me nervous about his ability to maintain sufficient NPOV and civility in this role. I'm sure he means well, but he's just too bound up in the issues, and personally too abrasive in style. Jonathan A Jones (talk) 11:46, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Of course, the campaign slogan the Cabal came up with for William is "No Bullshit". No wonder some people are quivering in their boots... --Stephan Schulz (talk) 21:46, 1 December 2009 (UTC)