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regarding nominations must go onto the nomination page). As a group of experienced users, the mediators may also use the mailing list to discuss
Wikimedia issues that relate to dispute resolution, because ultimately these may affect the formal mediation process. E-mails between members of the Committee sent through the mailing list are confidential, and no non-member is authorised to access these e-mails. However, current members must remember that future appointees to the Committee are always given full access to the mailing list (and therefore to its archives, which are a full and complete record of mailing list threads and which cannot be deleted).
42:
442:, or additional talk page discussion) a dispute which would benefit from additional work at lower levels of the dispute resolution process. Refusals or referrals of this nature may be made if so decided by the Committee chairperson or by two other active members of the Committee, and may be overruled by a majority vote of the active mediators.
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The
Chairperson is elected on the mailing list, and must have the support of a majority of those mediators who choose to vote in the Chairperson elections. The term of the Chairperson will not exceed six months. At the end of a Chairperson's term, a new election will be held. No limit is imposed upon
612:
Members may be expelled from the
Mediation Committee by a vote of the mediators if that vote has the (a) support of a supermajority (two-thirds) of those who vote and (b) participation of a number of mediators equal to at least two thirds of the number of active mediators. Inactive mediators may vote
465:
One editor (the "filing party") will submit the request for mediation, in the required format and providing any information about the dispute that the committee requests. The other parties to the dispute will be notified of the request for mediation upon its submission, and must then indicate whether
158:
This policy outlines the operations of the
Mediation Committee (which oversees and provides formal mediation) and its members, the process for requesting mediation, and the common aspects and required elements of the mediation process (although each mediator has their own approach to mediating). This
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The
Mediation Committee may designate one member to be its Chairperson. The role of Chairperson is to speak on behalf of the Mediation Committee and to represent its interests to the wider community; the Chairperson speaks on behalf of the committee, not for it, and usually designates actions of his
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Protecting the integrity of mediation does not extend to protecting users who deliberately subvert the mediation process. Therefore, if a party engages in disruptive or bad-faith conduct during mediation, and that conduct later becomes the subject of
Knowledge disciplinary proceedings, the Mediation
307:
While the purpose of mediation is to discern common interests, the committee will not allow proposals that result in illegitimate positions on content. Views may be illegitimate because they contravene site policy, obvious fact, or common sense. If a case cannot proceed without allowing illegitimate
647:
Objections to the mediator who is assigned to your case, if raised at the beginning of proceedings and at the time the mediator is assigned, are separate from complaints about the actual conduct of a mediator. Parties who wish to object to the mediator assigned to their case may do so in writing to
528:
To encourage participants to speak candidly, Knowledge has adopted the policy that statements made during mediation cannot be used against the participants in subsequent dispute resolution proceedings. This protection is called "privilege" or "the privileged nature of mediation". All communications
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Parties may decline to participate in off-wiki mediation even if they have agreed to on-wiki mediation. No party is compelled to participate in off-wiki discussions, just as no party is compelled to participate in mediation at all. Parties who decline off-wiki mediation need not give any reason and
609:) of the mediators who choose to opine on their candidacy. Mediation requires a unique and nuanced set of skills. Therefore, only members of the committee may vote in nominations. The mediators welcome community statements or comments and will take them into account, but will not be bound by them.
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For disputes that the
Committee directly refers to arbitration, this committee's involvement will end once the arbitration request concerning the dispute is accepted, and will not extend beyond the submission of a balanced summary of the dispute at the "requests for arbitration" stage. No evidence
482:
Mediation will primarily take place on the "Knowledge talk:" page of the mediation case information page and its subpages, and not elsewhere on the project. Limited discussion about the case may take place outside of
Knowledge at the mediator's sole discretion, but mediation proceedings must only
258:
Any agreement achieved through mediation is not permanently binding. If consensus is achieved in a mediation case, the parties are expected by the community to honour the result. However, the consensus does not apply to articles outside the scope of the mediation, nor is it necessarily permanent.
146:
Formal mediation addresses a dispute over article content by providing a dedicated page (for consensus-making discussion) and a third party (to lead this discussion). This discussion establishes a consensus about the disputed content. This third party, the mediator, co-ordinates the discussion by
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The
Mediation Committee exists only to provide a recognisable body of users who are authorised to be mediators in disputes brought to formal mediation. The Mediation Committee is not an editorial adjudicator nor a Knowledge governance body. The Mediation Committee will have jurisdiction over its
639:
On occasion, a party must question the actions, attendance, or competence of the mediator assigned to his or her case. In order to ensure that such questions do not detract from the timely, effective conduct of an open case, the
Mediation Committee only accepts complaints about the actions of a
314:
All parties must abide by Knowledge's standards of conduct. Whilst mediators may use soft tactics (like removing or redacting argumentative or insulting remarks) to maintain focus during proceedings, they will not consistently enforce decorum or civility. If a mediator repeatedly has to enforce
469:
The Mediation Committee will decide whether the request should be accepted or declined. The request will be accepted only if the prerequisites listed above are satisfied. If a request is accepted, a mediator (or multiple mediators) will be assigned to the case and will then be responsible for
668:
successful nominees. The Chairperson is also solely responsible for accepting or declining requests for mediation (which are evaluated against this policy), or making temporary decisions as set down in the committee's procedures. However, other members of the committee may act in lieu of the
595:
The mailing list exists for co-ordination, mutual support among mediators, and to provide a venue for mediators to obtain feedback and second opinions on their cases. Limited discussion about other issues, like open nominations, may take place on the mailing list (though ultimately decisions
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during mediation are privileged. The Mediation Committee will protect all interactions made as part of the mediation proceedings, and will prevent such communication being used as evidence in other dispute resolution proceedings, including (but not limited to) arbitration.
355:" is the result and the mediation is unsuccessful. If there are several issues and an agreement is reached in respect of some but not all issues, the mediation is "partly successful". If agreement is reached in respect of every issue, the mediation is "successful".
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Expelled members lose the ability to mediate cases for the Mediation Committee (as well as the right to perform any tasks exclusive to formal mediators). Expelled members are not emeriti members. Emeriti members are simply inactive, and are not expelled.
361:
While mediation is not binding, mediators are authorised to ask each party to explicitly indicate their consent to the result of the case. Parties should not expect an agreement that accords precisely with their own preferences: consensus
586:
The Mediation Committee does not vote on the outcome of its cases, because its mediators do not adjudicate disputed content. Instead, resolutions to open cases are achieved by discussion and consensus-building among the named parties.
300:
Mediation proceedings are privileged and cannot be used as evidence in an arbitration case or community user-conduct proceedings. Mediation fails when used as a stepping-stone to arbitration and to "victory" over the other disputants.
200:
of the Mediation Committee are appointed through the nominations process. These terms are synonymous in this policy. (The Mediation Committee can assign a non-member to an open case if that non-member is a credible nominee. This is a
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The Mediation Committee was originally appointed by Jimmy Wales and is self-perpetuating. Users may only be admitted to the committee through submission of a "nomination" or "candidacy" and with the consent of a majority (with
613:
and will count towards this "number of mediators". The mediator whose expulsion is being proposed may not vote. Expulsion votes will last no longer than five days. The result of expulsion votes will default to unsuccessful.
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of the participants in a dispute. Forced participation is incompatible with the nature of the mediation process, so we cannot compel a party to participate in mediation. However, editors who refuse to take part in mediation
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Minor procedural matters that relate to the proper administration of the committee's processes do not require ratification on this Policy, and are codified on the Procedures page from historical practice and convention.
491:
will continue to be able to play a full and equal part in the mediation process through the normal Knowledge editing process. Declining off-wiki mediation will not be considered disruptive to the mediation process.
369:
While mediators do not enforce conduct, they may establish standards of conduct at the beginning of proceedings, and they may ask that the parties read (or explicitly sign their agreement to) these standards.
328:
Mediation is a structured discussion about Knowledge content, guided by an impartial editor (the mediator). Mediation has no prescribed structure, but common features of mediation proceedings are:
225:, as in internal decision-making, is when the number of votes in support of a resolution is greater than 50% of the total number of mediators who have voted in that decision. All decisions have a
430:
Although disputes that satisfy the first eight prerequisites may be mediated by the Committee, the Committee has the discretion to refuse or refer back to other dispute resolution venues (e.g.
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Mediation has the same difficulties as regular editorial debate and discussion, in that it cannot be successful without a shared receptiveness to finding common interests among the disputants.
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positions to influence the proceedings, the mediator or the Mediation Committee will close the case and may refer the parties with illegitimate positions to an appropriate user conduct venue.
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Mediators guide a dispute, using discussion, to a sensible conclusion. The aim of mediation is to produce a solution to which all the disputants consent. Mediators do not adjudicate disputes.
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mediator outside of the case proceedings. Do not make such complaints on the mediation case or case talk pages; to do so will be considered disruptive. The Mediation Committee has adopted
411:
The parties must have first engaged in extensive discussion of the matter in dispute at the article talk page and discussion only through edit summaries will not suffice;
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Sensible alternatives between each arguments will be proposed (including sandboxing or producing multiple "drafts" of the article(s) or section(s) which are disputed);
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is a general process on Knowledge, and refers to the involvement of an impartial third party in a dispute. Mediation in the general sense has a separate policy at
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decorum, the committee or mediator may summarily close the case and refer the matter to an administrator, the community, or the Arbitration Committee.
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exploring arguments and suggesting alternatives that participants may agree with. In formal mediation, the mediator must be an appointed member of the
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474:, so editors with concerns that a mediator is inactive or performing inadequately should refer to that page for the relevant, current procedure.
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This policy was ratified in September 2012 by a majority vote of the active mediators of the Mediation Committee. That vote is preserved on the
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conducting proceedings on the talk page. Complaints about the timely or competent conduct of a mediation case are a matter for the Committee's
351:
If there is support for this final alternative, that agreement is implemented. If no agreement can be formed in regards to any issue, then "
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Only members of the Mediation Committee may act as a mediator in formal mediation proceedings, except for authorised trial mediations.
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for submitting a complaint about the conduct of a mediator in an open case; you must use these procedures to submit your complaint.
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Any agreement formed through mediation will be presumed to have a current consensus and can therefore be implemented by any editor.
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refuse to properly discuss their position on content may be edit warring or disruptively editing, to which the response is usually
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take place on the case talk pages. Communications outside of Knowledge is subject to all rules governing off-wiki communication,
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The arguments for and against each position will be set out, where possible discerning the common interests of participants;
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is mediation provided by the Mediation Committee. "Formal mediation" and "mediation" are used synonymously in this policy.
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prohibits the content of mediation proceedings from being used as arbitration evidence without this committee's consent.
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Mediation aims to settle a question about Knowledge content through guided discussion. Its result therefore requires the
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Chairperson in the event of the Chairperson's absence or as part of pre-arranged cover of the Chairperson's duties.
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The Mediation Committee, through its Chairperson, is responsible for deciding the result of requests for mediation.
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Concerns that the privileged nature of a mediation case could be violated should be brought to the attention of the
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pages (any Knowledge, talk, and Category pages relating to Requests for mediation or the Mediation Committee).
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Among the parties who have consented to mediation, every major viewpoint concerning the dispute is represented;
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The Mediation Committee's individual members will decide nominations by non-members to join the committee.
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Mediation is subject to several overarching principles, most of which mirror the principles which apply to
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consideration of all viewpoints but not necessarily unanimity; consensus is the objective of mediation.
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is a member of the committee elected to act or speak on behalf of the committee in certain situations.
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page. Drafting of the current policy took place, variously, on the ratification subpage and at
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system to help implement that principle. This policy regulates this formal mediation system.
574:(iii) Referring mediation cases that are closed as unsuccessful to a more appropriate venue.
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Committee will decline to protect the privileged nature of that party's communications.
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568:(i) Providing an adequate mediation service to disputants whose requests are accepted;
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626:(c) No longer serve the interests of the encyclopedia by retaining their membership.
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and other editorial policies, the following principles apply to formal mediation:
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The dispute relates to the content of a Knowledge article or other content page;
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No related dispute resolution proceedings are active in other Knowledge forums.
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Requests for mediation may only be accepted if these conditions are satisfied:
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The Chairperson decides the result of open nominations, and will promptly
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The dispute is not exclusively about the behaviour of a Knowledge editor;
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Acceptance of the request will benefit both the article and Knowledge;
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In chronological order, the previous versions of this policy are:
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571:(ii) Deciding complaints about the performance of a mediator; and
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how often one mediator may be Chairperson, even consecutively.
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Arguments for and against each alternative will be set out; and
623:(b) Perform as a mediator to a grossly inadequate standard; or
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Common reasons for rejection of mediation requests are listed
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A majority of the parties to the dispute consent to mediation;
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or not they wish to participate in mediation of the dispute.
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The positions with regards to each issue will be established;
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The preceding version of this policy has been stored on the
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is the Mediation Committee. Where this policy refers to the
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or hers that are on behalf of the committee with the text "
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The Mediation Committee has been disbanded as a result of
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will be submitted by this Committee or its members. The
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The Mediation Committee as a whole is responsible for:
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A core principle of Knowledge is to make decisions by
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by an administrator or sanctioning by the community.
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The issue or issues in dispute will be established;
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298:Mediation is not a stepping stone to arbitration.
159:policy is controlled by the Mediation Committee.
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458:Mediation of a dispute may be requested at the
347:A final agreed-on alternative will be selected.
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26:"WP:MP" redirects here. For the Main Page, see
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364:requires
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223:Majority
92:Requests
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707:/Draft
666:induct
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213:MedCom
102:Policy
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
