Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests

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A request for arbitration is the last step of dispute resolution for conduct disputes on Wikipedia. The Arbitration Committee considers requests to open new cases and review previous decisions. The entire process is governed by the arbitration policy. For information about requesting arbitration, and how cases are accepted and dealt with, please see guide to arbitration.

To request enforcement of previous Arbitration decisions or discretionary sanctions, please do not open a new Arbitration case. Instead, please submit your request to /Requests/Enforcement.

This page transcludes from /Case, /Clarification and Amendment, /Motions, and /Enforcement.

Please make your request in the appropriate section:

Requests for arbitration


North Africa

Initiated by asilvering (talk) at 02:59, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

Proposed parties

Confirmation that all parties are aware of the request
Confirmation that other steps in dispute resolution have been tried

Statement by asilvering

  asilvering's statement contains 445 words and complies with the 500-word limit.

There is a long-term pattern of tendentious editing in this topic area that inhibits the normal consensus-building processes and drives out newcomers. In particular, this pattern is centred around two editors, M.Bitton and Skitash, who edit so closely together that WP:3O is impossible and edit wars inevitably end in their favour as they can "force" a WP:3RR violation on the opposing party. This pattern has resulted in several sockpuppetry reports about the pair. The two accounts are, in my view, extremely unlikely to be operated by the same person, but the editor interaction tool illustrates the problem nicely: . I don't believe I have ever seen such extensive overlap between two accounts.

I've picked these AN/ANI links as prior attempts at resolution because a) they demonstrate that normal admin/community processes have been unable to handle this and b) because ignoring these processes is part of the problem (see for example - M.Bitton has never, not once, showed up to dispute resolution). In addition, I believe arbcom is better equipped to handle fact-finding and discussion of this case because its processes mitigate the stonewalling and sealioning that characterize many of these prior disputes. POV-pushing is also heavily involved.

I am filing this case request following the no-action archiving of the February ANI thread linked above. Accordingly, Bananakingler and R3YBOl have been added as parties; R3YBO1 was also accused of co-ordinated editing with M.Bitton and Skitash, and Bananakingler was the "opponent" in the dispute.

You will notice that Bananakingler stands out among the parties as having significantly less experience. M.Bitton and Skitash are typically able to get their opponents, who have much less experience with Wikipedia processes than they have, sanctioned at WP:ANEW and WP:ANI. Other discussions break down because of stonewalling, or because they are seen as content disputes. Counter-accusations of off-wiki co-ordination, such as this one, are common. As an experienced editor who has obviously not come here via a content dispute, Reddit, or wherever else, I have decided to bring the case myself. I have never, to my recollection, been involved in a content dispute with M.Bitton or Skitash, though in the interests of full disclosure, I was LEvalyn's sanity check in the shakshouka dispute, which still strikes me as some of the most absurd stonewalling I have ever seen in my time on Wikipedia. I have responded to, but not taken action in, the ANI discussion that led to this case, because I was the most recent admin to sanction M.Bitton.

Ah, there's "baseless accusations", only one comment later than I'd expected. LEvalyn's observations are neither baseless nor accusations, and I plan to demonstrate as much in the evidence phase. -- asilvering (talk) 02:04, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by Bananakingler

  M.Bananakingler's statement contains 466 words and complies with the 500-word limit.

I'm busy with personal things for the next 7-9 days but I'll try to respond to direct questions.

Due to the overwhelming evidence already delivered by other editors, my lack of experience here and my current personal life (or how one user funnylie called it: the meat space) I for now will disengage. I will only say that in my experience all three users: m.bitton, skitash as well as R3yboy have an unhealthy relationship with each other and towards the editing in general. I was hounded multiple times by them with reasons like „unhelpful“ or „not an improvement“. Due them being almost the only one who revert me, I thought that this kind of communication would be normal here. But when I reverted skitash with the reason „unhelpful“ he tried to frame me as rude and used it against me in the last ANI, despite me learning this kind of language from them.

They tried everything to get me blocked and to reduce the visibility of Amazigh content even after consensus on the talk page. After they understood that they will not get away with deleting it, they hired it in a comment instead. But of course only the Amazigh name, not the Arabic one.

At one time every edit I did gave me an adneraline rush cause every time I was worried of getting again accused of doing some kind of offense. They even started bullying me on their talk page after I commented something on a threat where they discussed how to get me banned , , . When they reverted edits of me they also reverted the last 5 or edits I did, even on topics they didn’t show interest before and obviously without even reading them. (they admited on ANI that they deleted on accident the addition of the Olympian medalist I added)

Please consider that i this is not the full extent my answer. I saw multiple users expecting my response so I provided a quick one with not all of the problems.

Ping me if you need anything from me.

Please take in mind that R3YBOY helps skitash and m.bitton „win“ fights, for example by edit warring and alligns with them against the inclusion of anything Berber related. He also participated in the shenanigans where I ask for a third opinion on a discussion with skitash where he stops responding, by giving one single answer, alligns with skitash or m.bitton and never responds again.

So yeah he knows what he is doing…

One last thing: m.bitton is known for emailing users to do edits for him, even when banned.

M.bitton came back to edit war over Tunisian food and give our warning for users he disagrees with

Statement by M.Bitton

  M.Bitton's statement contains 459 words and complies with the 500-word limit.

Since I can't prove the negative of people's beliefs, I'll keep it simple.

  • I sincerely hope that I'm not expected to explain why some editors share my interests. The interaction tool doesn't say much: this, for instance, is my interaction with someone who shares a small part of my interests in North Africa, and this is my interaction with someone I share no interests with.

Looking at the list that was provided by Asilvering:

  • 1, 2 and 3 have nothing to do with me.
  • 4 and 5 are about the same thing: an old dispute involving multiple editors (summarised in this comment). I will also note that the only scholarly sources in that article have been found and shared by me and the last two reverts (Special:Diff/1328642314 and Special:Diff/1328816364) are part of what I do (while others count my reverts). Even though I have no wish to go down memory lane, I will happily explain any part that you deem appropriate.
  • 6, 7, 8 and 9 have nothing to do with me.
  • 10 speaks for itself (disruptive editing, LLM use, assumption of bad faith, referring to Reddit threads about me, etc.)
  • 11 has nothing to do with me.
  • 12 Daseyn (someone that I have never ever interacted with before) included me in a 2025 report because of what I said to a sock in 2023. Go figure!
  • 12 Bananakingler, an editor with whom I interacted once (after I rightly reverted their misrepresentation of a source) accused me of all kind of things. How is that normal? The mudslinging in that report is what led to this one.

The way I see it, preventing vandalism and POV pushing comes at a price: those who want you out of the way will piggyback on each other's hollow reports to make you look as the problem, and since admins don't have the time to do details, they could easily fall for it. M.Bitton (talk) 17:04, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

  • @CaptainEek: LEvalyn's accusations are totally baseless. For context, I think you ought to read this and this (I know it's old, but they brought it up). M.Bitton (talk) 01:57, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
  • Please note that Jacobolus has been canvassed to this case. M.Bitton (talk) 19:08, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
    @M.Bitton: Forwarding a courtesy ping isn't inherently canvassing. Could you please substantiate or strike that allegation? theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 19:11, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
    @Theleekycauldron: They left a comment on their talk page. If that's not canvassing, then I will strike it. M.Bitton (talk) 19:15, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
    @M.Bitton, per the lead of WP:CANVASS: Canvassing is notification done with the intention of influencing the outcome of a discussion in a particular way, and is considered inappropriate. theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 19:17, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
    That's the way I saw it (given their comment here), but since you don't appear to share my concerns, I will strike it. M.Bitton (talk) 19:22, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
  • @Clicriffhard: the only editors that I threatened to take to ANI were those who were violating the BLP (anyone who agrees with them shouldn't edit a BLP). M.Bitton (talk) 20:57, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by R3YBOl

Out of all of the reports that @Asilvering listed, only two are related to me. one that took place in April 2025 (almost a year ago) I was reported for canvassing, I did do canvassing by telling Skitash to revert someone on a page. I was not aware of canvassing policy at that time. The second report that got partially involved in the last ANI that Asilvering mentioned in the list, which I got accused coordinating and never disagreeing with any of these editors (Skitash or M.Bitton), I have suggested about including an information in the infobox and then it turned into a disagreement with M.Bitton, one of the editors I am being alleged to coordinate with (he suggested removing the information from the infobox). Kowal said that it is possible that I could be looking for fights. I think that this is a personal attack, a WP:ASPERSION. It is hurtful to imply that I "find disputes they're in and help them 'win'." I just simply give my opinion regarding a discussion or a dispute and that's it. I support the idea of designating North Africa as contentious topic, as Many IPs and newer users that I did have disputes with them before are hard to deal with. As they sometimes add unreliable sources, false info, or they cite sources that do not verify their claims. Therefore, I support designating North Africa as a contentious topic. R3YBOl (🌲) 17:43, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by Skitash

  Skitash's statement contains 488 words and complies with the 500-word limit.

@Asilvering: I understand why you may see it this way. We do share many similar topics on our watchlists and are in similar time zones which naturally leads to overlapping editing patterns. But that is simply normal collaboration among editors who agree on certain things. Me and M.Bitton obviously had disagreements before, and the same goes for R3YBOI and M.Bitton. Moreover, there are many other editors with whom my interests overlap and who I have rarely (or never) disagreed with. As was discussed in the recently archived ANI report, and as @TarnishedPath has pointed out, the allegations appear to rest primarily on speculation by editors who "cannot say yes with certainty" rather than concrete evidence. As for claims of driving out newcomers and inhibiting consensus, I tend to explain all of my edits and reverts substantively in edit summaries and talk pages to support open discussion rather than obstructing it or WP:STONEWALLING (i.e. reverting without policy-based rationale). Skitash (talk) 17:35, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

@Robert McClenon I agree that designating North Africa a contentious topic would be a good idea. An admin has suggested this in the past, and many editors are aware that there's a large off-wiki presence of people aiming to disrupt the encyclopedia, similar to what happened with Azerbaijan, Assyrians, and Kurds. Just today, a new account (Noiselvatici) was created, which immediately began edit warring on Burnous and forcing massive undiscussed changes there, before posting about it on Reddit. In that post (where their Wikipedia username is visible), the user named me directly, used derogatory language, and encouraged others to join. And I see that many in the replies are threatening to doxx me. I reported the matter to ANI, but the links were redacted there, so I'm unsure whether I'm permitted to share them here. I was told to bring this matter to ARB. Skitash (talk) 18:04, 15 March 2026 (UTC)
@CaptainEek For sure. The edits in question tend to be varied and span various topics. That said, off-wiki individuals, especially in Reddit communities, like to portray me (and others) as "pro-Arab" or "anti-Berber" purely because I, along with many other editors, tend to revert additions of Tifinagh names due to many content policy-related issues. These would include WP:OR and verifiability (hard to confirm the exact spellings online or RS), relevance (per Template:Infobox settlement and MOS:FOREIGNEQUIV), and existing consensus (e.g. the RfC in Algeria, keeping Berber names in the body rather than the infobox, as no official Berber script is chosen by the state).
Bananakingler tends to share that perspective, placing a strong emphasis on Berber/Tifinagh elements in most of their contributions so far, in addition to what they alleged about me and others. I don't want to speculate, but Bananakingler's account was created shortly after one such post (regarding Oriental (Morocco)). These off-wiki discussions go beyond criticism, actively canvassing members to coordinate Wikipedia edits, framing disputes in racial/ethnic terms ("Arabization" vs "indigeneity"), and include harassment and doxxing threats. Skitash (talk) 02:03, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by Super Goku V

  Super Goku V's statement contains 496 words and complies with the 500-word limit.

Given my participation in that last discussion, I should probably post the comment that I didn't finish, but was working on. I am going to wait on an extension request given that the unfinished version was nearing 1,000 words. In the meantime, I will mention that during the latest ANI discussion, I felt that the Maghreb region should likely be viewed as a contentious topic, which would be the Committee's jurisdiction. --Super Goku V (talk) 09:02, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

I apologize, Guerillero. It seems that I did not keep the meaning consistent between my message here and my message to the clerks. I failed to note here that I was trimming it as best as I could, but I have only been able to get it to about 650 words or so with quotes excluded. In any case, I will consider both what was said to me from my email and what was said here. --Super Goku V (talk) 03:44, 15 March 2026 (UTC)
I have thought about it and have decided thank to advice given from my email to the clerks that it is likely best to save said comment for the evidence page. The comment is primarily focused on what happened at both Shakshouka and Talk:Shakshouka leading into the three times there was an ANI discussion as a result. --Super Goku V (talk) 08:30, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

@CaptainEek: My understanding has been that this has been a Maghreb issue involving those who are pro-Maghreb and those who are not, but it seems that Skitash might disagree there. (At the least, I can say that M.Bitton has reverted multiple editors who have suggested that Shakshouka is not just a Maghreb dish. Diff/1076934061 & Diff/1219123309) In any case, I am willing to look into this over the week. --Super Goku V (talk) 09:27, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

@Bananakingler: Could you please make a statement if you are going to continue editing? +Skitash: Could you both attempt to work together if you both are going to be editing the same articles during this case? Additionally, I don't think the warnings to each other during this case are helpful. (Specifically, Diff/1343639898 & Diff/1343642264.) --Super Goku V (talk) 09:27, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

@M.Bitton: You can be annoyed with reverts being counted, but it is a fact that you said years ago Most of the issues have recently been resolved. The problem that remains is over a specific claim that is made by a dictionary. (Special:Diff/1231757790) Nearly two years later and there has been an additional 83 edits reverted with nearly every one of your edits to Shakshouka in that time period being a revert. To me, that sounds like continuing problems, not resolved ones. (And to add, the only user who has come close in that time period seems to be Skitash with 12 reverts in all 12 edits since June 2024.) --Super Goku V (talk) 09:27, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Additionally, your complaint about LEvalyn is odd to me. The two edits you linked to are from the only user who agreed with you at the third ANI discussion and your reply to me at the same discussion. The first feel odd as everyone else could be described as neutral to opposed to your opinions of the situation. The second feels off because it was where you made accusations about LEvalyn without diffs (even when asked to provide them) while failing to discuss why you fully reverted LEvalyn in this edit. (Diff/1219627318) You might want to review your examples and potentially consider different ones. --Super Goku V (talk) 09:42, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by Kowal2701

  Kowal2701's statement contains 328 words and complies with the 500-word limit.

Thanks to Asilvering for taking this on, seconding the need for a case here per my comments at the ANI thread . FTR I've commented in a couple of their disputes, usually ones that become RfCs. The community has been hopeless at dealing with this. While M.Bitton's battleground conduct isn't limited to North African topics nor newbies ( , these sort of comments illustrate that nicely), it's the driving away of newbies from already quiet topics through baiting and weaponisation of conduct noticeboards that is particularly antithetical to Wikipedia's ethos and goal. It's extraordinary how admins have turned a blind eye to this. Following his last block, an editor commented "this particular user, M.Bitton, while prickly, is one of the important barriers against nationalist POV pushing in multiple topics", and it appears this is widely and uncritically accepted, despite it being possible for someone with only cursory knowledge on the topic to perceive his own editing as "nationalist POV pushing". IIRC, I first became aware of Skitash after participating in an RM to move a page they created away from "Sunni Arab genocide in Iraq", which didn't have a single source supporting the genocide label. I refer to conduct in other areas so arbs don't assume misconduct is limited to North African topics. I'd recommend arbs do a bit of reading up on Maghrebi politics and nationalisms, only so that they can recognise possible biases, if they are to accept this. Kowal2701 (talk, contribs) 09:07, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

CaptainEek, tbh I think this is inappropriate and it would've been best to ask other arbs off-wiki, but basically Algerian nationalist, so pro-Arab, anti-Berberist (slanted article btw, see abstract), anti-Morocco and pro-SADR (basically Morocco has been colonising Western Sahara). See king of the hill (game). Other POVs are typically Moroccan, Berberist, or NPOV. Disputes surrounding cultural items are pretty good signs of tendentious editing, as ethnicities try to claim ownership/origins of a particular dish or piece of clothing. Kowal2701 (talk, contribs) 07:44, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by Robert McClenon

I thank the filing editor for having searched for DRN filings involving M. Bitton, an editor who has a history of being asked to take part in discussion at DRN, and erases the notice of the noticeboard filings. Participation in DRN is voluntary, and erasing the notice is a valid way of declining to participate. However, there have been 20 such filings. That is a long history of conflict. I see the issue as not so much their choice not to participate in dispute resolution, which is voluntary, as being involved in 20 disputes about which other editors requested dispute resolution. An editor who is 20 times asked to take part in discussions at DRN is an editor who gets into a lot of conflicts, largely about North Africa. The two most recent such cases were Wikipedia:Dispute_resolution_noticeboard/Archive_270#Morocco and Wikipedia:Dispute_resolution_noticeboard/Archive_265#Algiers, the latter case also involving Skitash.

ArbCom should open a case and consider at least two issues:

I may add to this statement in the near future. Robert McClenon (talk) 03:43, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

Some editors have raised issues about the editing of mathematical articles by M. Bitton that may be only marginally about North Africa or the Maghreb. It may be wise for ArbCom to leave the scope of the case open during the evidence phase along with the identification of the parties. It will be less complicated to have a case with a bifurcated scope than to split the case into two cases.

Some regions of the world are contentious topics because the regions are divided between different nationalities or cultures. The Maghreb is such a region because it is a meeting place (and sometimes a clashing place) for at least three different cultures and ethnic groups that arrived in different millennia: the indigenous Amazigh or Berber culture; the Arabs who conquered the region in the first century of the Islamic era (seventh century CE); and the Europeans, mainly French, who were the colonial power in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries CE.

S Marshall says that admonitions to editors to be more patient, collegial, and collaborative usually do not work. That is unfortunately true. What ArbCom must do instead is to decide what sanctions are needed to minimize disruption from editors who think that they are always right, including editors who divide the community for whatever reason, including that they agree with some members of the community and disagree with others.

I urge ArbCom to accept this case, define a contentious topic, and decide what sanctions are needed for editors who have shown that they are often not collaborative. Robert McClenon (talk) 00:05, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

User:DanielRigal - There is an allegation of tag teaming. The primary allegation is stonewalling by both M. Bitton and Skitash. Robert McClenon (talk) 01:32, 20 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by Samuelshraga

  Samuelshraga's statement contains 388 words and complies with the 500-word limit.

I contributed several pieces of evidence to the most recent ANI thread, as well as pointing to disruption ongoing during the ANI thread from some of the parties. I was also the editor who reported M.Bitton last Spring that led to their last block (by Asilvering). I agree with Asilvering's view of the issue, and think a case needs to be opened as ANI failed to take action even as numerous uninvolved editors saw the problem Asilvering is pointing to.

I'll add that Robert McClenon is right to bring up the prospect of North Africa being designated a contentious topic. Part of the issue here is the long-term tendentious editing pointed to by Asilvering's case request, but another is that there is genuinely plenty of sockpuppetry and nationalistic POV-pushing the other way. An evidence phase may be useful, though I think the problems will be fairly easy to demonstrate.

Lastly I'd just suggest that while I agree fully with the text of Asilvering's case request, the other arbs should probably change the title. WP:Tagteaming in the sense of explicit off-wiki co-ordination is basically impossible to prove (though some explicit on-wiki co-ordination was exposed at ANI). The other behavioural aspects of this case are extremely easy to substantiate. I would suggest that arbs agree to hear evidence about behaviour in North African topics or the Maghreb generally. Unfortunately I don't see a more specific framing that will work - disrupted topics include languages, localities, BLPs, national and international politics and minority ethnic groups. Samuelshraga (talk) 08:10, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

CaptainEek This is not a case just about Maghrebi cuisine. Disrupted pages/talk pages include Geography, North Africa, Imane Khelif, Kabyles hadra, History of the Jews in Algeria, Marinid dynasty and dozens others. Kowal is also right to say that conduct issues do extend outside the North Africa/Maghreb topic area, but the examples here are all within it. Samuelshraga (talk) 08:16, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
Yamla you received information (I'm assuming privately) about attempted block evasion and meatpuppetry by M.Bitton - using email - last year. Given that co-ordination is one of the issues this case was requested to address, I would think that whatever information you received should be passed on to the committee (presumably also privately, unless that's not necessary). That evidence like this exists is also a reason for the committee to accept the case. Samuelshraga (talk) 22:06, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by LEvalyn

Asilvering mentioned being a spectator to a messy series of disputes I was involved in at shakshouka; I strongly endorse their filing. I would also add: I am perplexed by the priorities of someone who can make 110 edits to tagine while leaving many unsourced paragraphs. As SuperGoku said at shakshouka, It is clear that there is currently a problem here over something. ArbCom's strict word limits strike me as uniquely well-suited to resolving the particular kinds of problematic editing I have seen from M.Bitton. ~ le 🌸 valyn (talk) 01:20, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

@CaptainEek: Taking your invitation to be explicit, I would say that Skitash and M.Bitton share a strongly pro-Algerian POV, often with a pro-Arab flavour. I've mentioned food because those are the articles I have touched (on these articles, M.Bitton's POV leads him to describe foods as "Maghrebi" rather than allowing them to be identified with non-Algeria countries), but I also see reason for concern around the use of Berber languages in articles, Algeria's claims to the Western Sahara, and the Algerian boxer Imane Khelif. One core reason it feels like a "POV" rather than a more benign "area of interest" is that I see Skitash and M.Bitton evaluate evidence and policy differently case-by-case depending on what presents Algerian Arabs in the best light. I am by no means an expert on this geopolitical topic either, and so I consider it symptomatic of the underlying problem that I am nonetheless quite confident in identifying pro-Algerian-Arab as the POV of concern. ~ le 🌸 valyn (talk) 01:47, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
@EasternShah I'm not an ArbCom regular and was under the impression that diffs were primarily desired in the evidence phase. I can certainly provide some if the committee wishes. ~ le 🌸 valyn (talk) 02:10, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by Vanamonde

I recommend ARBCOM accept this case. I was hesitant when I first saw it, because I don't believe the volume of evidence is beyond the community's ability to handle. But the topic is niche, and the principal actors have a tendency to bludgeon everyone else out of the discussion (see AN/ANI threads above). AE could likely handle this but we're not in an area covered by arbitration remedies for the most part. I will note that M. Bitton in particular has been warned for their conduct multiple times at AE in the PIA area (I will supply evidence if it is needed), suggesting there are general problems with their approach to disputed topics. Vanamonde93 (talk) 15:58, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by Mdm.Bla

  Mdm.Bla's statement contains 444 words and complies with the 500-word limit.

I am uninvolved in this dispute, but I was vaguely aware of its existence from being summoned to an RfC on North Africa. I'll add to the point asilvering made about [getting] their opponents, who have much less experience with Wikipedia processes than they have, sanctioned that the filer of that RfC, Axiom Theory, is another inexperienced user (145 edits at the time of writing) who has been reported twice at AN3 by M.Bitton for their edits on North Africa. I will be expanding on this later today, but the tl;dr is that Axiom Theory, like Bananakingler, is a new user who has been subjected to substandard conduct by M.Bitton and Skitash while having engaged in less-than-perfect conduct themself. If this case is accepted, arbs should consider examining the apparent pattern of biting in this topic area, if the problem is more widespread than it appears, and how it can be prevented in the future. mdm.bla 16:13, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

In the first report, Axiom Theory had reverted two edits of M.Bitton and Skitash each; they were pageblocked by Acroterion for bright-line edit-warring in the middle of an RfC. The second report resulted in both users being warned by EvergreenFir; M.Bitton only presented two reversions. As to whether or not North Africa/the Maghreb should be designated as a CTOP, the fact that both of these reports led to North Africa (i.e. the main page for this topic) being fully protected for the second and third times this year ( ) suggests that, at the very least, CTOP designation should be on the table. mdm.bla 16:40, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
Skitash has twice strongly warned Axiom Theory (1st, 2nd) after a single revert of M.Bitton's edits at separate pages (1st, 2nd). The three users have engaged in a back-and-forth of adding and removing warning templates for DE, harassment, etc. (see their talk page histories). Axiom Theory hasn't edited since March 1, but I suspect they would have been brought to ANI if this conflict had continued. What I see here is Axiom Theory being bitten by two editors who disagree with them on the content and responding as one might expect. While Axiom Theory's behavior is not great, M.Bitton and Skitash should know better. Being right is not enough and does not excuse their conduct; I say that as someone who agreed with them at the aforementioned RfC. mdm.bla 17:30, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
Looking into Jacobolus's statement, I'm unconvinced that the dispute extends into mathematics; it looks like that disruption stems from being an article where mathematics and the Maghreb intersect. See also Special:Contributions/109.107.227.242 and Special:Contributions/109.107.227.188, who pushed a similar POV as M.Bitton on Arabic numerals before being blocked at ANI. As for the title, I would suggest Maghreb or, as I haven't seen any disruption concerning other Maghrebi countries, History of Algeria and Morocco. mdm.bla 00:41, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by EasternShah

LEvalyn, you've said all of that without an diffs to back anything up (even a vague gesturing at any of their edits). I'm not very experienced in this part of Wikipedia, but to me that seems like an aspersion, lack of good faith and personal attack. Also note that Algeria has never claimed Western Sahara, but they have backed the Polisario front against Moroccan (and formerly Mauritanian) actions. Sahib-e-Qiran, EasternShah 01:57, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
Bananakingler it is very strange to call the removal of unsourced content editwarring, please strike this accusation. Sahib-e-Qiran, EasternShah 16:59, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

WP:3RRNO does not exempt all removal of unsourced content. Bananakingler does not need to strike that accusation. HouseBlaster (talk • he/they) 17:08, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
4. Reverting obvious vandalism—edits that any well-intentioned user would agree constitute vandalism, such as page blanking and adding offensive language. Its pretty obvious that nationalistic POV-pushing by removing sourced content is vandalism in my opinion. I do not think that any well-intentioned user would disagree Sahib-e-Qiran, EasternShah 17:38, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
This is not the place to get into an extended back-and-forth, but understanding vandalism is important. WP:VAND says that [e]ven if misguided, willfully against consensus, or disruptive, any good faith effort to improve the encyclopedia is not vandalism. NPOV contraventions are on the list of things which are not vandalism. Therefore, I disagree that it is vandalism. Best, HouseBlaster (talk • he/they) 18:09, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by Uhoj

Some of the parties have treated lower venues not as opportunities to amicably resolve disputes, but as tools for winning. They have engaged in a multi-party pattern of behavior that discourages dispassionate contributions.

Skitash has subverted WP:3O numerous times.

10 December

  1. An editor in a dispute with only M.Bitton posted a request at 3O
  2. Skitash closed the request "I'll take this"
  3. Skitash commented in the dispute with support for M.Bitton and ridicule for the requester
  4. The requester said that Skitash was improper in taking the 3O request
  5. The requester relisted at 3O
  6. Skitash closed it again "This venue is strictly for disputes involving only two editors" in apparent reference to their own involvement

14 December

  1. An editor in a dispute with only M.Bitton requested 3O
  2. Skitash commented in the dispute
  3. Less than a minute later Skitash closed the request apparently using their own involvement as justification

17 December

  1. Bananakingler in a dispute with only Skitash requested 3O
  2. Another editor commented
  3. Skitash closed the 3O request, despite being involved
  4. Bananakingler twice tried to reach a resolution with Skitash over the course of eight days, but received no reply.

18 December

  1. An editor in a dispute with only Skitash requested 3O
  2. M.Bitton commented
  3. Skitash closed the 3O request

Four more instances of Skitash helping M.Bitton win by subverting 3O occurred on 10 October and 25 November 2025. Uhoj (talk) 04:19, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

M.Bitton's approach is exemplified by "I didn't come to this board to persuade you (we're past that)."

  • Uses the word "garbage" when reverting
  • Frequently "bans" editors:
    • “Go waste someone else's time with that garbage”
    • "Take a hike!"
    • “You're not welcome here”
    • “Stay away from my talk page”
    • “Get lost!”
  • Questionable pursuit of sanctions Uhoj (talk) 03:46, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by AirshipJungleman29

@HouseBlaster and Izno:, I'd suggest Maghreb as a case title or at least the primary identifier. "North Africa" traditionally includes Egypt and Sudan, whereas these disputes are firmly centered on Algeria, with overlap into Tunisia and Morocco. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 13:25, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by GiftedIceCream

In adition to @RobertMcClenon, the Committee should also consider IBANs esp. because they were brought up in the latest ANI thre . GiftedIceCream 14:08, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

@BananaKingler can you post here? We are waiting for your pov and opinions. GiftedIceCream 14:41, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by JayBeeEll

The phrase which ... strikes me as some of the most absurd stonewalling I have ever seen in my time on Wikipedia in the opening statement reminded me of discussions that have taken place at Talk:Arabic numerals and Talk:Hindu–Arabic numeral system over the last 2–3 years (currently on the talk-pages there). The stonewalling by M.Bitton in those discussions (which did not involve me or any other named parties, AFAIK) is IMO quite shocking. (The issue in question is whether or to what extent those articles should ascribe ownership of the modern decimal & numeral system to the Arabic or Hindu worlds; see for example this post by jacobolus, a frustrated mathematics-focused editor who has been heavily involved in the discussions there.) While this does not mostly involve North Africa, it is clearly related. --JBL (talk) 18:14, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

With respect to the assertion that my notification of Jacobolus constitutes canvassing, the section WP:CANVASS#Appropriate notification states that [a]n editor ... can place a message ... [o]n the talk pages of a user mentioned in the discussion (particularly if the discussion concerns complaints about user behavior). In my opinion it would be highly uncourteous to quote someone by name here without notifying them, but in any case it is clearly permissible. --JBL (talk) 17:39, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by Jacobolus

  Jacobolus's statement contains 498 words and complies with the 500-word limit.

Edited statement: I don't really know how Arbcom pages work, sorry for any procedural faux pas.

I don't have experience with North Africa articles, but discussions about mathematical topics with M.Bitton have been extraordinarily frustrating (demoralizing, demotivating) because the reverts fly fast with little explanation, the constant focus afterward is on wikilawyering and (rudely expressed) arguments about politeness rather than content or substantive criticisms, direct substantive questions are ignored, there is little effort to refer claims back to reliable sources, and the goal seems to be enforcing one person's somewhat mystifying personal preference rather than seeking consensus or truth.

The result is a constellation of very poor articles which have been blocked from substantive improvement for many years, with most editors who tried to contribute quickly giving up. Making even marginal and uncontroversial improvements feels like pulling teeth.

To elaborate: The title Arabic numerals is a very common wikilink and common search target, and the page gets high traffic (much higher than related titles). As commonly understood (as can be seen from e.g. examining the context of wikilinks to that title), the phrase refers to the predominant written number sytem and its structure and use.

M.Bitton and a few other editors have for years closely minded the article. They decided that the scope should be limited to the shape of the specific "modern" digit symbols 0123456789, with particular attention on the detail that the symbol forms proximately descended from some which were used in the Maghreb or Al-Andalus. Information about the use of the same number system in other parts of the Islamic world is deflected to Eastern Arabic numerals, and mention that this number system was transmitted to the Islamic world from India is minimized. Formerly they completely suppressed links to Hindu–Arabic numeral system and History of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system, but after an extended fight those are included. They essentially treat the article as part of a taxonomic tree of articles about symbol shapes, like an article about a biological clade; the specific scope chosen for the base of the clade at Arabic numerals is the numbers used in North Africa c. 900 AD, and anything outside that scope is treated as, at best, historical background. Any effort to describe the nature or purpose of the number system is removed.

The effect is to park a (in my opinion) slightly off-topic, confusingly organized, very underdeveloped, and somewhat misleading article at a high-traffic title. I still can't quite figure out what M.Bitton's motivation is, and I was never able to get a clear explanation of their vision or preferences for the page(s) in question, despite repeated requests – such substantive questions are invariably deflected with accusations about "aspersions" – but can only speculate based on the pattern of their reactions (such as revert summaries).

At some point I'll hopefully muster up the motivation to do something more about it. –jacobolus (t) 18:14, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

  • I edited my comments. Does that help? I have limited experience with this forum. –jacobolus (t) 18:30, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by The Bushranger

@AirshipJungleman29:, @Izno:, @HouseBlaster:: If I may opine I would agree with 'Maghreb' as the case/potential CTOP scope, as it includes Mauretania, which is not traditionally part of 'North Africa' yet is more closely involved culturally, politically, and editorially with the conflict area than Egypt and Sudan are. - The Bushranger One ping only 19:07, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by Katzrockso

I would also urge ArbCom to accept this case. I have little familiarity with this topic area, but have come across some of these disputes via the WP:3O process, as well as some of the WP:ANI discussions. At Talk:Kabyles hadra, it become very quickly clear to me that there was some POV-pushing going on, where sources are being twisted (or sometimes no sourcing whatsoever) to support contentious (to put it lightly) claims about ethnic groups.Katzrockso (talk) 04:22, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
@DanielRigal: - I would suggest that the locus of the disputes is not "North Africa" in the very broadest sense, but more specifically when it involves North African/Maghreb-related controversies that relate to ethnicity, culture, language, history or politics. Perhaps M Bitton is involved more broadly in other North African articles, as seen by their participation in the Imane Khelif article, but this is not the locus of the actual disruption.Katzrockso (talk) 02:26, 20 March 2026 (UTC)

S Marshall

Arbcom can instruct editors to be more patient and collegial and collaborative, and tries this fairly often. It doesn't work.

If someone's starting point is that they're right and everyone else is a timewasting fool, then them suddenly becoming patient, collegial and collaborative isn't going to happen.—S Marshall T/C 10:17, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

  • If any bright line rules were being broken here, the community could have dealt with it. They aren't.
Instead these editors stay scrupulously within the rules, but they're efficient and effective in how to apply them. Attempts to change an article these editors are watching are met with a terse, low-effort response. Voluntary dispute resolution processes are ignored. Mandatory ones are curtly answered. No interest whatsoever is taken in other editors' thoughts or points.
Arbcom should take the case, please.
The minimum way Arbcom could respond is to designate a CT and give it to AE admins to make the calls. But a better way would be to give clear and specific directions about exactly how named editors should change their behaviour, so AE admins get easier decisions and everyone's expectations are set correctly. I hope that's the outcome.—S Marshall T/C 12:08, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
  • We're a collaboratively written encyclopaedia. Someone who's unwilling to collaborate is someone we can't work with. We're often very patient with people who have lots of edits. Let's not be too patient.—S Marshall T/C 12:14, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by Clicriffhard

  Clicriffhard's statement contains 420 words and complies with the 500-word limit.

Similarly to others, I've found M.Bitton's approach to the Imane Khelif article and its talk page frustrating for some time. Clearly it's an article that attracts strong views and disagreements, but there are plenty of editors on all "sides" of the disagreements who have managed to put their arguments in comprehensible, constructive, and broadly respectful ways (no, really). By contrast, M.Bitton's participation has included:

  1. Near-constant threats to take editors that they disagree with to a "board", often based on vague and improbable accusations of policy violations that they're unable or unwilling to substantiate;
  2. Frequent suggestions that editors that they disagree with should take them to a "board", as if constructive disagreement were not an option;
  3. Avoiding every attempt that anyone ever makes at conflict resolution on their talk page, often deleting those attempts with a hostile or dismissive edit summary;
  4. Long one-against-many arguments - with editors including those with whom they are broadly aligned on content - some of which have appeared so persistently unreasonable that it becomes difficult to maintain the assumption of good faith;
  5. Fairly extreme talk page bludgeoning in general;
  6. Seemingly indiscriminate reversions of article edits, even when those edits were doing self-evidently reasonable things like removing an unsourced statement from a BLP;
  7. A total absence - as far as I can recall - of even the slightest concession to the arguments of others, or indeed anything else that might suggest that they're willing to engage with countervailing arguments or critically examine their own.

I'm under no illusions that M.Bitton is the only editor who has participated on that article or its talk page in a disruptive way, but I honestly couldn't name one other editor who has presented as much of an obstacle to calm and respectful disagreement, let alone constructive collaboration.

Needless to say that I have no way of knowing whether M.Bitton's conduct relates to Khelif's Algerian nationality, but the patterns of behaviour described by others above suggest to me that it plausibly could. If you accept a case, and if the article for an Algerian boxer is deemed to be in scope, then I'll try to detail some of the above with diffs and you can make up your own minds. Clicriffhard (talk) 19:55, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

For what it's worth, I agree with DanielRigal that there's no obvious reason to suspect collusion on the Khelif article. The relevance of the article depends entirely on the scope of the case, i.e. is it collusion specifically, or something broader in relation to conduct issues in the topic area? Clicriffhard (talk) 22:48, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by DanielRigal

What's the actual accusation here? Meatpuppetry of some sort? Is there any actual evidence for this?

Anyway, I'm not active in articles about North Africa much but one place related to a North African where I see M.Bitton is at Talk:Imane Khelif. You know who I don't see there? Skitash. If they really were joined at the hip, at least on everything North African, then I would expect to see them both there. Now maybe one lack of a swallow does not a winter make but what I am not seeing here is anything that proves collusion. I am seeing people who find M.Bitton annoying complaining about various other things. --DanielRigal (talk) 21:51, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by GrayStorm

Probably not important in the grand scheme of things, but it's bugging me a little, and idk if I'm allowed to edit it, so just puting it here to be safe: There are currently 8 accepts, not 7.
1. HouseBlaster
2. Eli
3. theleekycauldron
4. Izno (not bolded, which might be where the confusion is coming from)
5. HJ Mitchell
6. Aoidh
7. ScottishFinnishRaddish
8. SilverLocust
GrayStorm(Talk to me|My Contribs.) 01:04, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

Putting this here in case anyone new comes to this page and is confused by this, the count was off but has now been fixed by HouseBlaster. GrayStorm(Talk to me|My Contribs.) 17:07, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by {Non-party}

Other editors are free to make relevant comments on this request as necessary. Comments here should address why or why not the Committee should accept the case request or provide additional information.

North Africa: Clerk notes

This area is used for notes by the clerks (including clerk recusals).
  • @Jacobolus: Your statement is currently over the word limit, at 612 words. Please trim your statement to the limit of 500 words. If you would like to request an extension, you are free to do so either through the use of the {{@ArbComClerks}} template, or by emailing the clerks-l list, depending on the manner you would prefer. EggRoll97 (talk) 00:09, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
  • @Jacobolus: Yes, your statement is now in compliance with the word limit. Thank you for trimming your statement. EggRoll97 (talk) 23:38, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

North Africa: Arbitrators' opinion on hearing this matter <8/0/1>

Vote key: (Accept/decline/recuse)

  • Recuse, obviously. -- asilvering (talk) 03:02, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
  • Waiting for statements. @Super Goku V: a 1k word statement is rarely helpful at this stage, especially when it is effectively a part of a previous discussion. Please try to provide a focused statement on if we should accept a case or not. The rest may be useful at the evidence stage. My guide to arbitration may be useful. --Guerillero Parlez Moi 19:22, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
  • I expect to support accepting this case—a dispute with lots of unsuccessful, attempted resolution is a prime candidate for arbitration—though I also want to hear statements before doing so. I am particularly interested in hearing from M.Bitton. Best, HouseBlaster (talk • he/they) 23:27, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
    • +1. I also want to hear from the parties, but I'll note that R3YBOl is actively editing and hasn't posted, and M.Bitton may have a newfound passion for the meatspace. theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 01:52, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
    • I'll stop beating around the bush. There is a chronic issue, and Skitash wants to present off-wiki evidence. Therefore, this is squarely our responsibility. Accept, titled North Africa (WP:ARBNA), accepting private evidence, and using the b-list. I think the recent trend of accepting new party submissions during the first week of the evidence phase would work nicely here; we can start with the five proposed parties. Best, HouseBlaster (talk • he/they) 18:14, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
  • Similar to those above, I'm interested in hearing from M.Bitton and inclined towards hearing this case. Elli (talk | contribs) 14:58, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
  • Looks like there are good reasons to get involved relating to our public and private roles – accept per HouseBlaster. theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 18:17, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
  • Can someone give a primer on the geopolitics here? I feel like I'm missing something. I know that food is culturally important and can lead to much drama. I remember a guy getting blocked about the Cuban sandwich. But are the worst examples here really about shakshouka and tagine? That appears to be how this issue came to attention, but could folks lay out perhaps a broader picture of the issue? I don't know enough about the geopolitics to know at a glance what POV the parties are being accused of pushing. Are M. Bitton/Skitash pro-Maghreb? Anti-Arab? Are we afraid to say lest we cast aspersions? I'll go to bat for whoever tells me, in plain and direct language, what the potential POV's are, and how folks think the parties fit into that, and how that is causing or not causing issues. CaptainEek Edits Ho Cap'n! 00:58, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
  • Accept. I am not convinced about the suggested name above, and I disfavor the retitling as done since this was opened. Let's leave that to the scope work that comes post-accept. Izno (talk) 02:21, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
    I don't particularly care what name we go with. I care greatly that we spend a collective maximum of, let's say, 15 editor minutes on picking a name. Pick a neutral, concise name and call it a day. HouseBlaster (talk • he/they) 03:29, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
    Concision matters less than precision; so far as we know, the topic is not in fact North Africa. Izno (talk) 03:34, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
  • Accept. M.Bitton's conduct certainly seems to have been discussed extensively, we have accusations of coordinated editing preventing consensus from forming, and there is evidence of obstruction of dispute-resolution processes. I'm happy with "Maghreb" or similar as a scope as long as it's not too restrictive; we need to be able to examine evidence of broader problems and the comments about mathematics articles warrant examination. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 21:31, 17 March 2026 (UTC)
  • Accept. The drafters can discuss the name and its implications for the scope, but the underlying issues seem to warrant a case. - Aoidh (talk) 20:00, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
  • Accept. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 22:08, 18 March 2026 (UTC)
  • Accept. For scope I'm happy with either of Maghreb or North Africa, and would like to allow evidence of similar behavior of named parties outside the topic area. ~ Jenson (SilverLocust 💬) 00:51, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

Requests for clarification and amendment

Clarification request: Palestine-Israel articles 5

Amendment request: Indian military history

Initiated by EarthDude at 08:32, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

Case or decision affected
Indian military history arbitration case (t) (ev / t) (w / t) (pd / t)
Clauses to which an amendment is requested
  1. 2) The topic of Indian military history is placed under the extended-confirmed restriction.
List of any users involved or directly affected, and confirmation that all are aware of the request
Information about amendment request

Statement by EarthDude

The inclusion of the term "broadly construed" here would align with the August 2025 ARCA request regarding scope of IMH. According to the linked request, IMH is already supposed to apply in a "broadly construed" manner. With WP:CT/CASTE now including the term, it would only be confusing and misleading for editors if the other subtopic is also applied as broadly construed in practice, but not stated as such. — EarthDude (Talk) 08:32, 13 March 2026 (UTC)

I would like to comment that the main reason I bring this up is due to the discrepancy regarding the usage of the term "broadly construed" when it comes to CTs. For instance, as @45dogs has highlighted, many CTs include the terms "broadly construed" or a variant of it, as is the case with WP:CT/PIA and WP:CT/CF. Out of the 23 contentious topics (including the two subtopics of WP:CT/SA), 17 explicitly state either "broadly construed" or the aforementioned variation. If such a practice is widespread but not uniform, then new coming editors or editors who don't fully know the workings of CTs are bound to misled over the scope of many of these, such as IMH as I've brought here. — EarthDude (Talk) 17:13, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by 45dogs

This does seem to be a larger discrepancy than just IMH. The list of CTOPs that don't specify broadly construed are:

PIA and CF are unique in that they specify broadly interpreted, rather than broadly construed. From my check, all the other CTOPs specify broadly construed. 45dogs (they/them) (talk page) (contributions) 07:14, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by {other-editor}

Other editors are free to make relevant comments on this request as necessary. Comments here should address why or why not the Committee should accept the amendment request or provide additional information.

Indian military history: Clerk notes

This area is used for notes by the clerks (including clerk recusals).

Indian military history: Arbitrator views and discussion

  • aren't CTs broadly construed unless otherwise specified? I'd be fine clarifying that explicitly if there's a discrepancy, but I would default to saying it's broadly construed anyway. theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 15:12, 13 March 2026 (UTC)
    They are, per Wikipedia:Contentious topics#Contentious topic restrictions, and there's nothing about this CTOP that specifies otherwise. - Aoidh (talk) 16:30, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
    Indeed. -- asilvering (talk) 16:09, 15 March 2026 (UTC)
    WP:ECR is a separate restriction from WP:CT, but ECR likewise notes that it "applies to all edits and pages related to the topic area, broadly construed". (But yes, it is a tad confusing that one ECR subtopic of WP:CT/SA now says it is broadly construed while the other is silent.) ~ Jenson (SilverLocust 💬) 08:28, 17 March 2026 (UTC)

Motions

Requests for enforcement


Quick enforcement requests

This section may be used for short requests for enforcement intended to be answered by a single administrator. This can include requests for page restrictions or requests to revert violations of a restriction, but should not be used to request that an editor be blocked, banned, or given other editor restrictions – for those, file a long-form enforcement thread.
To add a quick request, copy the following text box, click to edit this section, paste in the copied text at the bottom, and replace "Heading", "Page title", "Requested action", and "Short explanation (including the contentious topic or the remedy that was violated)" to describe the request. For how a quick request should look when properly formatted, see this example request.
=== Heading ===
* {{pagelinks|Page title}}
'''Requested action''': Short explanation (including the contentious topic or the remedy that was violated). ~~~~

Permission gaming.

More information Permission removed. Arcticocean ■ 15:08, 10 March 2026 (UTC) ...
Close

Talk:List of Palestinians

More information This has already been handled. If there are further problems related to a quick request, it's obviously not a "quick request" anymore and should be handled in another manner. asilvering (talk) 18:57, 16 February 2026 (UTC) ...
Close

Melat Kiros

More information This is not the place to request CSD. asilvering (talk) 18:55, 16 February 2026 (UTC) ...
Close

Violations of WP:ARBECR

More information PP done by ToBeFree; request to strike non-EC comments not done by Sennecaster. Arcticocean ■ 09:51, 3 March 2026 (UTC) ...
Close

Yet another Gaza Genocide move request

Page protection for high risk article

Page protection: This is an article currently displayed on the main page about a hospital being airstriked leading to mass civilian casualties, and it's part of a conflict taking place in a region designated as a contentious topic area (WP:CT/SA). If this isn't high risk I'm not sure what is. ―Maltazarian (talkinvestigate) 09:51, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

  • I've got it watchlisted but it actually seems to be fine at the moment. We can always revisit this if there are serious issues. Black Kite (talk) 09:53, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
    Sounds good, as long as someone is monitoring it. ―Maltazarian (talkinvestigate) 10:11, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

Riposte97

Comments in this thread are restricted because an administrator has placed this enforcement request under an Arbitration Enforcement participation restriction (AEPR). Comments violating the restriction may be moderated or removed and may result in sanction of the commenting user. Further information on the scope of the restriction is available at WP:AEPR.

This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.
Requests may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs (not counting required information), except by permission of a reviewing administrator.

Request concerning Riposte97

User who is submitting this request for enforcement
Snokalok (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 02:23, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
User against whom enforcement is requested
Riposte97 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Search CT alerts: in user talk history  in system log


Sanction or remedy to be enforced
GENSEX
Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it

There's a discussion on the Donald Trump talk page regarding whether the Persecution of transgender people under the second Trump administration can *really* be called persecution in wikivoice. I am on that page arguing yes. Riposte has taken the opposite stance, saying that it is extremely bad taste to compare the same measures against other minority groups throughout history (wrt to the appropriate use of the word "persecution") to the actions being discussed here. Not because of the stance he has taken, but in the course of his discussion of that stance and more widely in the GENSEX topic area, Riposte's conduct since his last GENSEX AE thread two weeks ago has been subpar.

I would have waited for more severe conduct before filing this, however @Tamzin previously said to please bring GENSEX AE cases much more often. Kindly give him the trout or something?

  1. Mar 1, 2026 Personal attack
  2. Feb 18, 2026 Aspersions on a talk page discussion about Imane Khelif
  3. Feb 18, 2026 Personal attack on the Imane Khelif page

Previous edits raised in the last thread by various users:

  1. Feb 6, 2026 Editing the Imane Khelif page without sourcing for the purpose of, per theleekycauldron, casting doubt on Khelif being cisgender
  2. Dec 28, 2025 OR to a similar effect


Diffs of previous relevant sanctions, if any
  1. Feb 14, 2026 Just two weeks ago, he was warned for GENSEX conduct.
  2. June 22, 2024 BRD warning on Hunter Biden. Not relevant to GENSEX, but the jump from the Hunter Biden page to the Donald Trump page is not a far one.
  3. TBan from indigenous peoples of North America for conduct raised at ANI
If contentious topics restrictions are requested, supply evidence that the user is aware of them (see WP:CTOP#Awareness of contentious topics)
  1. Feb 14, 2026 Being warned for GENSEX conduct two weeks ago.


Additional comments by editor filing complaint
  1. Has a userbar calling himself a member of the God Emperor's Inquisition. I trust we're all nerds enough here to recognize the connotation.


Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

Discussion concerning Riposte97

Statements must be made in separate sections. They may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs, except by permission of a reviewing administrator.
Administrators may remove or shorten noncompliant statements. Disruptive contributions may result in blocks.

Statement by Riposte97

Riposte97's statement contains 677 words and exceeds the 500-word limit.

Bruh. Riposte97 (talk) 02:53, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

@TarnishedPath are you saying Americans are a race? Be serious. In any case, we’re both Australian, and you know as well as I do that yank is not used as an insult. Riposte97 (talk) 03:48, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
@Theleekycauldron re the two edits of 18 Feb, I was trying to be tongue-in-cheek. My detractors have failed to mention that I apologised once it was made clear to me that it was coming across wrong.
The comment today was the gentlest possible rebuke to somebody appearing to indirectly suggest that I would support the holocaust. Riposte97 (talk) 04:13, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
I see we’re getting the band back together. Well, I’ve no interest in responding to everyone point-by-point. Uninvolved admins can assess the strength of those arguments. I still find bizarre the hand-wave that Imane Khelif, an Algerian Arab, is ‘basically black’ because…why? She’s from Africa? That is actual racism, not just an accusation that can be weaponised in a petty online crusade. Riposte97 (talk) 21:41, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
As a side note, she is not an ‘indigenous Algerian’ either, as far as I can tell. That term in a domestic context does not mean what it means in the West, and would seem to imply she is a Berber. Riposte97 (talk) 21:49, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
@Simonm223 read the sentence after the one you selectively quoted. Riposte97 (talk) 12:42, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
@Newslinger, I stand by that comment, and if that means I fall on my sword, so be it. Simonm223 said Riposte97 has asked the lead to introduce doubt as to whether Khelif is a woman (emphasis mine), quoting me as saying "stating unequivocally that she is female is, in my view, no longer responsible". In the very next sentence, I say, "It would be more responsible to say that Khelif was born a woman." I don't believe it is battleground behaviour to call our that kind of selective quotation. Riposte97 (talk) 23:42, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
@Arcticocean Could you please tell me exactly what I've said that violated content rules severely enough to merit a ban? Or is the rule that if enough mud is thrown at someone, some has to stick? Riposte97 (talk) 09:57, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
@MjolnirPants I doubt you'll need to retire to your fainting couch, particularly considering that just since the start of February, and just on that page, you have attacked fellow editors again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again. Riposte97 (talk) 00:58, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
...and again and again and gearing up for some gravedancing re this very thread here. Riposte97 (talk) 00:06, 11 March 2026 (UTC)

I'm probably close to the word limit, so I will content myself with one final observation: something that is hugley disruptive to this project is when a brigade comes together to systematically pursue someone with a different opinion on noticeboards. It wastes an unbeliveable amount of editor time, and when successful, is a large contributor to the systemic bias of this website, weakening the experience for readers. Riposte97 (talk) 00:30, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

As the Alans, Goths, and Vandals continue to circle the borders, I'd like to request a modest word extension to defend any other points that emerge. Riposte97 (talk) 01:04, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
@Theleekycauldron I'm not alleging a coordinated conspiracy, just making what I think is a pretty obvious observations about how noticeboard discussions operate. They are far more likely to be an extension of a content disagreement than some kind of neutral community assessment of behaviour. The person filing this complaint freely owned (with commendable honesty) that we had a content disagreement. Some of my other accusers in this thread have said far more objectionable things in GENSEX from an objective standpoint, but decided to lay the boot into me, I assume because our disagreements trump consistency. Riposte97 (talk) 04:22, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
As a sidenote, are delusions of grandeur not permitted? Apologies, I was unaware. I will restrict self-comparisons to the Mughal Empire and smaller. Riposte97 (talk) 04:27, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by TarnishedPath

Noting that the two comments towards Simonm223 at Talk:Imane Khelif (Special:Diff/1339082921 and Special:Diff/1339091605) aren't just personal attacks, they're also explicit acts of racism. TarnishedPathtalk 03:15, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

@Riposte97, you and I both know that tone and usage are large parts of whether terms like that are meant as insults. Telling someone to stop acting like a yank, after they've told you that they aren't a yank is unambiguously using the term in an insulting and racist manner. TarnishedPathtalk 03:55, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
@ErnestKrause, writes the following:
Editing on Political pages can often be a heightened and contested area to start with, and it seems that some added latitude should be allowed in the cases where Politically centered questions are disputed (my emphasis). This is entirely incorrect. The exact opposite is expected in CTOP areas. Refer to Wikipedia:Contentious topics#General provisions. TarnishedPathtalk 22:11, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by Simonm223

I'm commenting here because I was mentioned. I wasn't personally very offended by Riposte97 erroneously calling me a "Yank". People forgetting Canada is a sovereign country with people who are influenced by but distinct from the United States is, frankly, kind of normal online. I was even willing to extend the AGF that they didn't intend the expression as an insult. But I do have some racism related concerns with Riposte97's comment that I think are more serious. And that's to do with the real thrust of their comment here: she isn't black. Khelif is an indigenous Algerian and Algeria is a north-African country with a recent history of severe colonialism. My comment was to situate the culture war furor which has made managing that page difficult for two years in the context of intersectional marginalization. "Black" was effectively used as short hand for North-African woman of colour. Attempting to suggest there is some specifically American thing about recognizing how her ethnicity was impactful upon the media circus seems almost willfully obtuse. I've had concerns with Riposte97 and race issues long before I encountered them on gender issues. This was present in their disruptive editing of Canadian Indian residential school gravesites of which this diff is a good example and their contributions to the Grooming gangs scandal talk page such as this . I was unaware of the dispute about Donald Trump and his patently obvious oppression of trans people because I don't watch the Donald Trump page very closely but I would say there is a consistent pattern to Riposte97's editing across political topics. Simonm223 (talk) 12:59, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

These diffs from this morning are also pertinent to this discussion as Riposte97 has asked the lead to introduce doubt as to whether Khelif is a woman, saying stating unequivocally that she is female is, in my view, no longer responsible: . Simonm223 (talk) 12:33, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by MjolnirPants

  MjolnirPants's statement contains 395 words and complies with the 500-word limit.

I don't have a whole lot of experience interacting with Riposte. In fact, most of my interactions with them consisted of them apparently fishing for a reaction that they could use to get me removed from this topic.

The result of those efforts was a narrow escape from a boomarang. Which, of course did not seem to register, as no sooner was that thread shut down, they decided to cast more aspersions on editors who disagree with them.

See specifically this comment of mine in the above-linked ANI discussion, where I lay out some problematic diffs I'd found with a look at just part of the first page of their edit history. ᛗᛁᛟᛚᚾᛁᚱPants Tell me all about it. 15:13, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

  • The argument that Riposte is deliberately provoking other editors in an effort to get them sanctioned may also warrant investigation.
@Toadspike:, see the statement by M. Bitton, who observed the same behavior. I would note that I can be a sort of lightning rod for this sort of nonsense, as I'm generally unafraid of using sarcasm, foul language and colorful euphemisms in my communications, and that creates the impression of a hotter head than I actually have. Also, being the author of WP:NONAZIS doesn't help. So it's not surprising that efforts to the same end directed elsewhere weren't followed through as far as they were with me. ᛗᛁᛟᛚᚾᛁᚱPants Tell me all about it. 13:20, 6 March 2026 (UTC)
  • I woke up today to find that Riposte is still engaged in the exact same type of behavior that almost caused their WP:BOOMARANG back at AN. They decided to cast some aspersions again. For context, the comment they are replying to was one in which I said that the transvestigation of a successful female athlete was motivated by "hate", and in which I implied a distinction between the editors here and those engaged in pushing this narrative. It's quite telling that they would take an attack on a minority belief as a personal attack. ᛗᛁᛟᛚᚾᛁᚱPants Tell me all about it. 15:02, 9 March 2026 (UTC)
  • Many of the diffs of mine Riposte just posted were previously posted in the ANI thread they started about me. I've documented how that went, above. This one in particular illustrates how bad-faith Riposte's attack is: I'm literally directly answering a question without providing any commentary or interpretation. Just a factual answer to a direct question.
(Apologies if I have exceeded my word count. I will not post here again unless asked a question.) ᛗᛁᛟᛚᚾᛁᚱPants Tell me all about it. 13:05, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by Black Kite

I note that Riposte97 is still trying to bend the edges of WP:BLP at Talk:Imane_Khelif#Lead:_Transvestigation_and_Genetic_Sex. Just read that opening comment and ask yourself what the motivations are of someone who thinks this is important. Black Kite (talk) 15:04, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by ErnestKrause

I'm not a participant in the topic discussion under question here and am responding mainly to the conduct issues being raised against Riposte97. The comment from Toadspike below needs to be taken seriously as to whether the high bar of conduct issues has in some way been breeched, which Toadspike states does not appear to be the case here. Editing on Political pages can often be a heightened and contested area to start with, and it seems that some added latitude should be allowed in the cases where Politically centered questions are disputed. Siding with Toadspike seems to be a good path to take here, with emphasis that care should be taken when Political issues are being disputed. Going with Toadspike on this. ErnestKrause (talk) 15:40, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by M.Bitton

I second what Black Kite said. Claims such as The second issue with the above phrase is that is asserts that claims Khelif is biologically male (again, nothing to do with her gender identity) are false. I simply do not believe we can make that assertion anymore, given the weight of sourcing that go so far as to say she is male. can only mean one thing and one thing only.

As for them deliberately provoking other editors, I will quote what Tamzin said in a previous report: "Riposte decided who their allies are, and who their enemies are, and are treating users accordingly":

Statement by Valereee

Commenting here because I am involved w/re:GENSEX at Imane Khelif. IMO that talk page needs to be ECR'd. It's bad enough when multiple experienced editors are being disruptive in ways that are just not quite disruptive enough to get them pblocked from it, but the talk also gets heavy attention from newer-but-AC editors drawn there by every bit of breaking news sparking outrage in social media. This is a BLP, and things being posted at that talk are overwhelming for well-intentioned editors there. Valereee (talk) 12:49, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

@Fiveby, discussion among/between non-party commenters here is almost never helpful and causes more work for workers here. If you disagree with something another commenter has said, it's generally more helpful to express that to the workers here rather than starting a discussion with that commenter. Happy to discuss at my talk, though. Valereee (talk) 15:00, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

Toadspike has invited me to point out he probably should have mentioned here that he was asked by Kingsindian to respond to AO's intention to close. Valereee (talk) 14:56, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by fiveby

Valereee, if as you say "multiple experienced editors are being disruptive" then why is the solution ECR? Can you demonstrate that these newer editors are not "well-intentioned"? fiveby(zero) 14:02, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by Kingsindian

I will begin with a disclosure: I voted in the recent RfC on the Imane Khelif article, and I have written about this matter on Wikipediocracy. I have not edited the article itself. I note that none of the other participants in this discussion appear to have made the equivalent disclosure, despite the requirement that Editors participating in enforcement cases must disclose fully their involvement with parties (if any). That omission is worth noting, given that most of the commenters here are in active content disputes with Riposte97, including on the RfC above, which did not go their way.

The original filing contained three diffs showing talk page comments, for which Riposte97 has already apologized and which Toadspike has found not sanctionable -- noting that the first diff came in response to another editor comparing a viewpoint to failure to condemn the Holocaust. In my view, the original filing was thin. What followed was a series of additional allegations made by several parties. The current approach -- assessing each charge in turn and moving on when it proves unactionable -- is procedurally inadequate, because it provides no disincentive whatsoever to bad-faith filing. It structurally rewards a "throw mud and see what sticks" strategy, whether or not that is anyone's intention here. From the perspective of someone casting a wide net, the downside is zero.

The racism allegation illustrates this problem directly. Toadspike has found it unactionable, stating that the evidence is not clear enough to be sanctionable. But that finding raises a follow-up question this discussion has so far avoided: does making an unsubstantiated allegation of racism against a fellow editor constitute casting aspersions? That is explicitly prohibited in enforcement discussions: Insults and personal attacks, soapboxing and casting aspersions are as unacceptable in enforcement discussions as elsewhere on Wikipedia. "Not actionable against the subject" and "appropriate to have said" are not the same standard, and treating them as equivalent lets the conduct pass without examination.

These are experienced editors familiar with AE procedures. They should be aware that The scope of a discussion is limited to the conduct of two parties: the filer and the user being reported. If they believe there is a genuine case, they should file their own focused request with specific evidence, with the understanding that their own conduct would then be in scope. The current proceeding, as conducted, rewards exactly the behavior the policy is designed to deter. Kingsindian   11:39, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by Emeraldflames

I don't know the particulars of every one of Riposte97's comments, but I looked through a sampling and the ones I have seen did not seem to cross a line. Some of the interpretations of certain things he has said do not appear to be at all reasonable to me.

I would also like to 100% support his point that a number of the individuals commenting here have, themselves, come across quite aggressively and WP:Incivil. Far, far more aggressive and incivil than anything I have ever seen him comment on the Imane Khelif page. The most egregious example is MjolnirPants.

Very recent examples: Example 1 Example 2 Example 3

For him to be here commenting on civility is actually quite remarkable. And this is rather typical of the attitudes of a certain bloc of editors on Wikipedia.

I would also *completely* agree that there is the appearance of a brigade here with a very similar WP:POV, very similar interests, etc. It absolutely is a large contributor to the systemic bias, which, unfortunately, as per the previous examples is actually both blatant and rampant on Wikipedia.

This is a very serious issue and existential threat to the goals of Wikipedia and I hope there are admins that understand and will act to remedy this.  Preceding unsigned comment added by Emeraldflames (talkcontribs) 18:38, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by GoodDay

I looked over Riposte97's userpage. I don't see any "God Emperor's Inquistion" membership bar. GoodDay (talk) 18:43, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

Result concerning Riposte97

This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the sections above.
  • Riposte, regardless of what -isms those comments might be described as, can you explain what your thought process was in deciding that those comments were constructive before posting them? (From Feb. 18 onward, to be clear. The other edits have already been considered.) theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 03:56, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
    @Riposte97: It's certainly one of the bolder strategies i've seen to – at an AE where you're accused of being incivil to people you disagree with – accuse every editor who disagrees with you of being in a conspiracy against you in which you compare yourself to the Roman Empire and do not provide evidence. and, re the word extension: no, you are not getting one preemptively, and even if you did have actual text to respond to, I'm not exactly inclined to have you contribute more to the discourse in considering what your contributions have been so far. I still think that the edits from previous AEs aren't live controversies, but I agree with Arcticocean that they should be examined here as part of the pattern of conduct. theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 03:46, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
  • While Riposte97's edits before 18 February were reviewed in the previous AE report, the edits are still relevant now. Enforcing admins previously (including me) then regarded the breaches of decorum as trivial, but the breaches are continuing to mount up. With the benefit of a longer period of analysis, I think it is also becoming apparent that the breaches are invariably directed at users with opposing editorial views and taking place within live discussions of BLP controversy. I think this is rising to the level of topic ban to prevent further disruption. I'd like to hear the view of other enforcing admins. Arcticocean  09:49, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
    Repeated warnings are highly unusual and not generally encouraged under CTOP. In my view, another warning would be an inappropriate outcome from this enforcement request. Enforcing admins have broadly agreed that there has been misconduct and battleground editing. Unless another admins objects or raises a new concern, I will impose a topic ban as the enforcement request outcome. Arcticocean  22:20, 13 March 2026 (UTC)
    As Toadspike has now objected, I am going to wait a few days for further comment from other admins. We don't by any means require unanimity here, and indeed only one admin appears to think a warning is the maximum justified sanction, but leaving more time for admin discussion cannot hurt. Arcticocean  17:16, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
  • The first diff was not really an appropriate response to what came before it, but considering what came before it was a comment comparing another editor's views to failure to condemn the Holocaust followed by a frustrated rant, I don't think Riposte is responsible for derailing that conversation. The comments on nationality (diffs 2 and 3) were in poor taste, especially the second one (diff 3). However, since Riposte apologized for these and struck the offending term, and since Simon says he "wasn't personally very offended", I don't think any action is warranted.
In my view, the evidence supporting the accusations of racism is not clear enough to be sanctionable, and similarly the two diffs linked in Simon's first reply do not seem sanctionable. To sanction an editor for expressing a point of view, that point of view must be so extreme that it is disruptive. The points of view expressed here have not, in my view, reached that high bar.
MjolnirPants's first diff shows Riposte speculating on other editors' motivations, which is basically never appropriate and might warrant a warning about personal attacks. I have not reviewed all the diffs linked in MjolnirPants's ANI comment , which argues that there is a broader pattern of disruptive talk page conduct. That ANI thread was closed with a recommendation to take complaints against Riposte to AE, but it doesn't look like that was done or that these diffs have been reviewed here, so we may want to review them. The argument that Riposte is deliberately provoking other editors in an effort to get them sanctioned may also warrant investigation. Toadspike [Talk] 14:34, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
After reviewing the comments made by my colleagues' and others since my last post, I remain undecided. Riposte's behavior has not been exemplary, but neither has the behavior of several others here, not least the repeated and in my view spurious accusations of racism in this very thread. I fear hewing strictly to the two-party rule and letting a lot of concerning behavior slide will be seen as an endorsement of that behavior and will not be the best outcome we can get for the project. Toadspike [Talk] 00:20, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
@Toadspike: I think you're right that there's more to do here, but it might make more sense to start with a fresh thread on one or more of the people we also want to look at. Doesn't have to be a super-detailed filing, just "follow-up on this thread, concerns that were raised include x y z". This thread is already pretty big and I worry that expanding the scope now would be unwieldy. theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 06:35, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
I've reviewed all the diffs in the ANI comment linked by MjolnirPants, as well as the others they linked. The only two I found possibly actionable are and . The former seems to be implying that Naomi Klein's political views make her book unreliable for a sentence on Trump's communication style, which was also supported by other sources. The latter is just a really insensitive statement to make. I'm not impressed by how many of the MjolnirPants's descriptions of diffs in their ANI comment are inaccurate at best. I also don't like how many of them are effectively arguing that an editor expressing their opinion on a talk page is some kind of behavioral violation. Users are allowed to express their opinion about sources and blocks, even if those opinions are wrong.
Riposte has since dumped three dozen diffs of alleged personal attacks by MjolnirPants. Several of these are obviously not personal attacks, which reflects poorly on him. Many may be, but that is out of the scope of this thread and should be reviewed in a separate filing. As an aside, I strongly recommend that MjolnirPants stop threatening other editors with admin action; it is generally sufficient and more polite to call out misbehavior without explicitly spelling out the potential consequences.
Reviewing M.Bitton's comment, the only parts that seem actionable are Riposte's speculation on other editors' motivations (e.g. "People feel their personal credibility is at stake"), which I already covered in my first comment.
I think that covers most of the evidence here. I would support a warning for Riposte97, primarily on grounds of civility. I oppose a topic ban as the previous warning was for different issues ("Riposte97 is warned to be more mindful of WP:BLP and WP:NPOV" ) and I do not see the violations here as sufficient to justify a topic ban, especially in relation to the vast quantity and severity of accusations made. More broadly, we should not refuse to issue a second warning simply because we have issued a previous warning in the same topic area. Toadspike [Talk] 13:04, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
@Toadspike: To issue a warning at AE, I think we have to conclude that either 'no actual violation occurred' or 'exceptional circumstances are present, which would make the imposition of a sanction inappropriate'. If I may ask, are you viewing the receipt of a previous warning for disrupting the topic area as an exceptional circumstance? Or is it the possible tit-for-tat conduct that you regard as exceptional? Arcticocean  13:29, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
That's not how I understand the quoted bit. A logged warning is an editing restriction. We are allowed to issue warnings even if a violation occurred.
Re: "tit-for-tat" – the high proportion of irrelevant diffs and unsupported accusations here makes clear to me that we have two camps of editors here going after each other primarily because of their content disputes. In CTOPs this is not "exceptional", but on the project as a whole it is. I took this into consideration as I don't want to reward this kind of behavior. Toadspike [Talk] 13:56, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
I understand your position better now. Thanks for responding. Arcticocean  17:13, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
  • I support a logged warning of Riposte97 for persistent battleground conduct (including violations of the policy against personal attacks), which would be Riposte97's second logged warning in the WP:CT/GG (gender-related disputes or controversies or people associated with them) contentious topic. It is already rare for an editor to receive two logged warnings for the same topic area instead of a topic ban, so if Riposte97 does not improve their conduct in this contentious topic, their next reported policy violation in WP:CT/GG is likely to result in a topic ban (instead of a third logged warning) even if it is of similar severity to the ones reported here. — Newslinger talk 12:10, 9 March 2026 (UTC); edited to strike superseded position 11:41, 11 March 2026 (UTC)
    If you are thinking about a second warning, you should probably bite the bullet and issue a topic ban instead -- Guerillero Parlez Moi 07:05, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
    That is certainly one of the rules of thumb that have been used on this noticeboard. With Riposte97 continuing to engage in battleground editing in this enforcement request itself (e.g. Special:Diff/1341588355), I would not support closing this enforcement request without some kind of action for Riposte97, and I am looking for a remedy that would curb this conduct issue in a proportionate manner. Riposte97 appears to apply different behavioral standards for other editors than they do for themself, as seen in the list of diffs they allege to be personal attacks in Special:Diff/1342638113, which suggests that Riposte97 is behaving in the WP:CT/GG contentious topic in a manner that they already understand to be below Wikipedia's conduct standards. — Newslinger talk 13:00, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
    @Riposte97: Speculating about another editor's motivations based on what you assumed their nationality is (Special:Diff/1339082921) and then telling the editor that they should stop acting like a person of that nationality after they stated their nationality is different than what you had assumed (Special:Diff/1339091605) are both instances of battleground conduct. Unless an editor cites their own nationality in the discussion, there is no valid justification for bringing it into the conversation as part of your argument. While Simonm223 did not take serious offense, that does not make your comments about their nationality acceptable.
    Please note that you have exceeded your word limit here to post additional accusations against editors who are not even within the scope of this enforcement request ("the conduct of two parties: the filer and the user being reported"), despite having been denied a word extension due to the quality of your participation here, which is yet another example of battleground conduct.
    Based on Riposte97's behavior in this enforcement request and the fact that Riposte97 had already received a logged warning in WP:CT/GG, I agree with Guerillero that a logged warning for Riposte97 would be insufficient, and I would support an indefinite topic ban of Riposte97 from WP:CT/GG for persistent battleground conduct, although I would also support a lesser remedy if there is one that can adequately moderate Riposte97's talk page behavior. — Newslinger talk 10:53, 11 March 2026 (UTC); edited to add missing word 14:03, 11 March 2026 (UTC)
  • I have applied the AE participation restriction to this enforcement request, as editors are continuing to make arguments that are outside the scope of this request ("the conduct of two parties: the filer and the user being reported"). Anyone who wants to post a complaint about any other editor's conduct may file a new report. — Newslinger talk 11:13, 11 March 2026 (UTC)
    In an attempt to unstall this; @Theleekycauldron, do you have any opinions on how to close this report? I believe Arcticocean and Newslinger are in favor of topic banning from CT/GG (unclear on PIA) and spike is in favor of logged warning - I presume to be more civil? Just trying to figure out where to go here. Sennecaster (Chat) 03:08, 20 March 2026 (UTC)
    Gah. I've had this one in the back of my head for a while, and I was initially kind of planning to write something like "I'm not actually convinced that Riposte is a net positive in this area, but Toadspike is right that this filing doesn't demonstrate the opposite, either" – but the more I look at this, the more I think a topic ban is warranted.
    Going back to the original diffs here – I feel like we dismissed them too quickly. For example, I have a very hard time believing – considering the tone of both messages – that Riposte didn't intend "yank" as a derogatory. I don't think it's racism, but I don't see how it can be a miscommunication, either – for that, there would have to be some plausible alternative meaning, and I don't see any. I don't know what "acting like [a yank]" could be if not exactly what Riposte said it was two comments earlier – forcing issues through a culture war lens even when it doesn't fit, the way a stereotypical uneducated American might. And if you follow that line of reasoning, Riposte doing the old "I'm sorry you feel hurt" (to paraphrase) and calling that an apology is frankly very hard to stomach.
    As for "I think you spend too much time on the internet", that was not, as Riposte claims, "the gentlest possible rebuke". It was personal. It was nothing but personal and made no attempt at engaging with the actual argument. Even if Riposte felt that Snokalok said nothing reasonable to rebut, well, if you don't have anything nice to say, etc.
    Combine that with a previous logged warning and their otherwise completely nonconciliatory (and at times bordering on hypocritical, as Toadspike points out) participation here, and I think there's enough evidence to say that them staying in this area wouldn't be a net positive. Still, this makes me queasy. I wouldn't believe for a second that they are the only hardened partisan above the admin section header; honestly, I'm upset and annoyed that AE is being used as a battleground where admins are the pawns. I can't say I have the energy to make this happen myself, but Toadspike is right (he seems to do that a lot) that it would be unfair to just close this without looking at anyone else's behavior. (And even in saying that I know that the evidence partially comes from Riposte, who might just be trying to take someone else down with them – to riposte, if you will – but, y'know, even if the heavens fall. Ugh.) theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 04:28, 20 March 2026 (UTC)

Rejoy2003

This request may be declined without further action if insufficient or unclear information is provided in the "Request" section below.
Requests may not exceed 500 words and 20 diffs (not counting required information), except by permission of a reviewing administrator.

Request concerning Rejoy2003

User who is submitting this request for enforcement
SerChevalerie (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) 07:26, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
User against whom enforcement is requested
Rejoy2003 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Search CT alerts: in user talk history  in system log

Sanction or remedy to be enforced
Wikipedia:Arbitration enforcement log#User sanctions (CT/SA)
Diffs of edits that violate this sanction or remedy, and an explanation how these edits violate it
  1. 17 March 2026 Added "Citizenship: Indian (from 1961)" on Premanand Lotlikar, in direct violation of their sanction to not add "Indian and/or Portuguese nationality designations". Note that this is WP:OR.
  2. 18 March 2026 Same behaviour on M. Boyer
  3. 16 March 2026 Same behaviour on Maestro Josinho
  4. 15 March 2026 Same behaviour on Krishna Moyo
  5. 11 March 2026 Added info on Portuguese citizenship at JoeGoaUk
Diffs of previous relevant sanctions, if any
  1. Special:Diff/1326739812 User has an active sanction against them
If contentious topics restrictions are requested, supply evidence that the user is aware of them (see WP:CTOP#Awareness of contentious topics)
Additional comments by editor filing complaint
  SerChevalerie's statement contains 618 words and complies with the 718-word limit.
Green tickY Extension granted to 718 words.

User has been warned multiple times of this behaviour. I was hoping that this would stop after the sanctions, but this has unfortunately continued. I am also concerned about WP:BLP issues at JoeGoaUk, previously discussed at Talk:JoeGoaUk/Archive 1.

I understand that the timing of this may seem so but this is an issue that I have previously brought up with the user multiple times on each respective page, to which they have never responded positively. I had hoped that this behaviour would improve after the sanctions but here we are, and my main concern here is the WP:OR. Rest assured, I am here to build an encyclopedia and do not intend any further action against the user if they keep away from the nationality/citizenship edits in this topic area as suggested. I would be even happier if they simply understand where they are going wrong and maybe even get the sanctions reverted. SerChevalerie (talk) 19:29, 19 March 2026 (UTC) Please comment in your own section. Valereee (talk) 19:45, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
@Asilvering, @Black Kite and @Rosguill, I do not wish for an IBAN since we are both active editors of WP:GOA, which is already very small. As stated above, I am willing to settle my differences with the user. As previously discussed at Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/IncidentArchive1179#Constantly_being_stalked_by_User:SerChevalerie, this was not the user's first attempt at getting me banned, and we were both told that we cannot get the other editor banned from the WikiProject. However, I am willing to offer an olive branch here to continue our respective work in this small topic area. SerChevalerie (talk) 20:29, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
Hi @Asilvering, my olive branch is simple: I am tired of every edit of mine being assumed to be in bad faith, leading to a retaliation and another forum complaint. @Rejoy2003 and I are both interested in a topic area and all I ask is that they are willing to accept that we both are here to build an encyclopedia and follow what advice has been given to them by not just me but others (on this AE thread and the above linked ANI thread). Why the WP:COI complaints were a shock to me is because both of us were actively editing pages like that of Frederick Noronha, our mentor in this common Wikipedia user group, before one-sided evidence was submitted that only I have the COI. As was pointed out at ANI, we are the only two editors on the project, but not every disagreement must lead to an escalation, and I am willing to coordinate on the Talk page of every such article in case of a disagreement. From my end I have always maintained that they have contributed in the creation of a large number of pages on Wikipedia and am willing to hear them out about their concerns with my editing and work upon those. SerChevalerie (talk) 04:59, 20 March 2026 (UTC)
Hi @Rejoy2003, I am now presenting an olive branch: I definitely do not want either of us to get blocked, and I am willing to fix my past problematic behaviour. I made my comments because getting another editor from the project banned is acting in bad faith, but I'm willing to move past this. Thanks. SerChevalerie (talk) 07:08, 20 March 2026 (UTC)
Hi @Asilvering, I am at my word limit here. May I request for a word limit increase? SerChevalerie (talk) 07:41, 20 March 2026 (UTC)
Notification of the user against whom enforcement is requested

Special:Diff/1344250631

Discussion concerning Rejoy2003

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Statement by Rejoy2003

Rejoy2003's statement contains 709 words and exceeds the 500-word limit.

In my defense, the sanction was placed because I advocated for Portuguese nationality at Bhau Daji in its lead section. And the sanction explicitly states "from Indian and/or Portuguese nationality designations". Emphasis should be made on "Nationality designations". The OP has plainly manipulated with the above examples wherein I simply stated the obvious there which was "citizenship" of the subject's country of birth as can be seen at Premanand Lotlikar and in no means advocated for pushed for Portuguese nationality which was a violation of WP:OR, which I completely understand now.Rejoy2003(talk) 10:56, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

  • @Black Kite I am a little confused here. At first when I had pushed for Portuguese nationality on Goans born and dead before 1961 it was deemed as textbook OR, which I was completely unaware of. But how can we ignore when multiple reliable sources for example Lotlikar literally say he is "Indian". I haven't added anything new from my side, it was simply in coordination with Indian nationality law which states Goans were designated as Indians as soon as the annexation took place in 1961. Or is it still WP:OR despite not advocating for other nationalities here? Rejoy2003(talk) 11:40, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
    Black Kite I agree with what you have said, if source says Indian he is Indian. I didn't do these edits in bad faith, if you were to ask why what's the motive for it? I merely used the same reference to Mahatma Gandhi. Now I know the "nationality" parameters have been depreciated if I am not wrong it must be after my sanction was placed last year in December. If you had seen on Gandhi's article it said in the citizenship parameter British Raj (until 1947), Dominion of India (from 1947). Now how sure are we that there were references that actually said that? because the last time I checked it was unreferenced. And the topic ban was made mainly because I pushed for Portuguese nationality confused about how WP:OR works around these corners. And I would be happy to learn more because I have more questions regarding nationality and Goans. I know I should had atleast asked an admin before adding the years but I am willing to fix this problem. I tried to appeal before but still had questions with how these nationalities work on Wikipedia , but unfortunately this editor didn't wanted to answer more of my questions. Until later when I was busy in this to which this Arb request was filed in the first place as a reaction. I am open to learning more on these nationality and citizenship issues and editing constructively, perhaps you could help me with this?Rejoy2003(talk) 12:10, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
    Black Kite I really want to learn more about this to be really honest as many of my questions have been unanswered. But at this point, like you have said I think I should clearly stay away from any aspects of nationality and citizenship areas and I would like to do that so. Speaking about SerChevalerie, as many of us are aware this is a retributive filing taken as a revenge to which the filler was blocked. I completely disagree to the statements made by them. Frederick Noronha did NOT serve as my mentor nor have I ever met this person in real life nor do I know much about him. The same goes with SerChevalerie, I never met this person as well. The Wikipedians Goa User Group they are talking about is actually about a whatsapp group I was part of something along the lines of "Wikipedians of Goa". I never met anyone from there nor do I know anyone personally. Well SC statements above may seem "peaceful", I rather believe it is to save face for a re-block. I would also like to mention he has advocated to kick me out of WP:GOA also showing WP:OWN behavior as evident here where he stated I have "acted in bad faith against other editors." The same can be seen here where he passed personal attacks on me stating "I cannot be trusted and actually been working against the interests of our group". He then retracted his statements later . SerChevalerie passing such statements within hours of him getting unblocked is clearly seems like for revenge against me. I find this actions to be deeply disturbing when I have given my heart and soul to WP:GOA. I just cant let such personal attacks slide.Rejoy2003(talk) 06:21, 20 March 2026 (UTC)

Statement by (username)

Result concerning Rejoy2003

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Well, that appears to be a very obvious breach of the sanction imposed. I'd be interested to see the rationale for it. Black Kite (talk) 09:59, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

  • Rejoy2003 There are a number of issues here. Firstly, your sanction was "broadly construed" and I am sure that most people would agree that this would include citizenship designations. Secondly, part of the issue for which you were sanctioned was adding this material without any sources, and I see this is still happening in some of these cases. Thirdly, I'm looking at the example Premanand Lotlikar who was 7 years old when India invaded Goa. I think we'd need a source to say he immediately became an Indian citizen at this precise moment? Black Kite (talk) 11:33, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
  • If multiple reliable sources say that Lotlikar has Indian citizenship then it shouldn't be difficult to add them. But the main issue here is that you shouldn't be messing with these descriptors, that was the whole point of the topic ban. Black Kite (talk) 11:48, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
  • Rejoy2003 I think you just need to agree to stay away from nationality/citizenship edits in this topic area. This does not bar you from other edits about Goa and its people. Black Kite (talk) 19:06, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
  • This is very clearly a retributive filing and I am contemplating reblocking the filer. We may need to set a two-way iban here. -- asilvering (talk) 16:54, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
  • Indeed it is, but it is not without merit. I have suggested to Rejoy2003 above that they just need to keep away from the area and we'll be good. Pinging Rosguill as the admin that performed the original topic ban. Black Kite (talk) 19:04, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
    This looks like a clear topic ban violation to me. I don't immediately see the basis for calling the filing retributive, asilvering, Black Kite, what's leading you to that conclusion? signed, Rosguill talk 19:22, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
  • I am assuming it is because of this edit which led to the filer's COI block. Black Kite (talk) 19:56, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
    Ah, thanks. I think particularly the exchange of 1, 2, followed by this filing is pretty clear-cut retaliation, although Rejoy2003's response vis-a-vis the COI concern also seems excessively rude, so I feel a bit more sympathetic to SerChevalerie given the circumstances. If there is an IBAN to be imposed, two-way does seem appropriate. Beyond that, Rejoy2003's argument that citizenship is somehow distinct from nationality falls flat--while they're not synonymous, they are definitely related, and thus covered by the topic ban's broadly construed provision. Taken together with their recent attempt to appeal their sanction to me, which quickly devolved into wikilawyering and failing to get the point, I'm left favoring a block and/or a broadening of the sanction, as the current scope is clearly not sufficient for addressing disruption related to nationality. signed, Rosguill talk 20:18, 19 March 2026 (UTC)
@SerChevalerie, I agree that a mutual iban would be quite difficult. This EIA is huge: . But to my understanding, this dispute between you has been going on for some time. You were trading COI notices more than a year ago already. What would this olive branch look like? Why would @Rejoy2003 accept it? And what olive branch would you need from them? -- asilvering (talk) 01:55, 20 March 2026 (UTC)
@SerChevalerie, can you give us a bit more context about I made my comments because getting another editor from the project banned is acting in bad faith, please? -- asilvering (talk) 07:29, 20 March 2026 (UTC)

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