Wikipedia:Mediation Committee/Nominations/Snowspinner

The following discussion is preserved as an archive of an unsuccessful nomination to join the Mediation Committee. Please do not modify it.

[edit] Snowspinner

Let me start be acknowledging the most obvious objection here, which is that I have been more than a little aggressive at times against people I have felt are trolls, and that I at times interpret policy as giving admins more leeway than other people do. That said, I am not especially interested in mediation about admin conduct or editing habits. If asked to mediate in one of these cases I would still be willing to, but I don't think many people would suggest me as a mediator for that, and I don't think that I would jump up and volunteer in those cases.

What I would like to mediate are content disputes, particularly NPOV disputes. I've done a number of these before, most notably and successfully on Lyndon LaRouche, but also on Micronation. In each of these cases, the disputes were long-running disputes that had led to multiple page protections and arbitration requests. I feel like this was some of the best work I've done on Wikipedia, and I would like to do more work of this sort. Snowspinner 19:02, Nov 19, 2004 (UTC)

I'd just like to note one substantial change of opinion on my part since I made this request. Although I stand by my mediation on Lyndon LaRouche at the time, I think that the situation has changed substantially in the three months since I tried to help there, and that it has changed in a way that would not make the mediation that I did three months ago work a second time. Specifically, I think the atmosphere on that article has become excessively poisonous following (Though not necessarily due to) the arrival of User:CBerlet, and that the bulk of the users currently working on it are no longer editing in good faith, but rather editing out of fear of the alleged POV pushing of others, and, in doing so, tending to POV push themselves. Since the matter is complicated by the disagreements on the legitimacy of LaRouche-penned sources, I would, at this point, support arbitration rather than mediation, particularly to, for once and for all, get a ruling on the status of LaRouche sources, and whether they should be treated like pseudo-scientific and non-peer reviewed sources. Snowspinner 21:40, Jan 22, 2005 (UTC)

Mediation committee:

Abstain. While I respect much of Snowspinner's work elsewhere, I have serious concerns about his attempts at mediation, particularly on Lyndon LaRouche. Nevertheless, I refuse to veto anyone's application (as the instructions seem to demand unanimous support from the mediation committee), so I'm abstaining. Ambi 01:07, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Although Snowspinner has been controversial in the past, I think he has the ability to be a good mediator, especially in disputes in which he is not persoanlly involved. Angela. 05:05, Dec 20, 2004 (UTC)

Support. Neutrality^talk 00:54, Dec 25, 2004 (UTC)

I'll support. Andre (talk) 08:46, Dec 27, 2004 (UTC)

Support. Danny 20:56, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Outside opinions:

I'll make a general statement that applies to each of the current candidates (other than Habbit, who's too much of an unknown). I've observed each of them involved to varying degrees in disputes and controversies. Each has a unique approach, and while I might not want to imitate their styles exactly myself, they are not wrong and each tries sincerely to solve problems. There is no one right way to do mediation; it takes a variety of styles and chances for success depend partly on getting the right kind of mediator for the specific situation. If their services are used in the right way, all of these users can be an asset to the Mediation Committee, and I support their applications. --Michael Snow 22:31, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I have concerns about Snowspinner's style of interaction. He is, of course, a valuable contributor, but I'm not convinced that mediator is the right role for him. I'm afraid I have to oppose -- sannse (talk) 16:56, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Sadly have to agree with sannse. It's not that Snowspinner's bad, just that he ruffles feathers far too easily. Johnleemk | Talk 14:19, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Withdrawn by Snowspinner Feb 24, 2005: Removed nomination - upon reflection, I can best serve Wikipedia by being one of only a few people to reliably submit cases to the AC.

The above nomination to join the Mediation Committee is preserved as an archive of the discussion. Please do not modify it.