> Philip Cross has engaged in a personalized, public, off-wiki dispute with George Galloway while simultaneously making significant content edits to George Galloway’s article over an extended period of time.
> Philip Cross has demonstrated a conflict of interest with respect to George Galloway and certain other individuals in the area of post-1978 British politics.
But also:
> There is no evidence to indicate that Philip Cross has used alternate accounts or sockpuppets to edit or support his views on-wiki, nor that he has coordinated with any other editors, outside individuals, or organizations in his editing.
ArbCom took a very dim view of Galloway's, and another Wikipedian's, attempts to "out" Cross's identity.
Ultimately, ArbCom banned Cross from doing _any_ editing on "post-1978 British politics, broadly construed". That is an enormously wide topic ban.
You can also see from his user contributions and the block log that he has been banned by admins for repeatedly defying his topic ban. A 1-week ban in August 2018, a 1-month ban in November 2021, a 3-month ban in July 2022... and now he has a PERMANENT ban since last month. He can't appeal for at least a year.
It doesn't seem like a shadowy cabal to me, it sounds like one person who does nothing but edit all day. Wikipedia has quite a few such users, and that's why there's a big list of contentious topics which are more heavily patrolled and restricted than the rest of Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:General_sanctions#Ac...
> Philip Cross has engaged in a personalized, public, off-wiki dispute with George Galloway while simultaneously making significant content edits to George Galloway’s article over an extended period of time.
> Philip Cross has demonstrated a conflict of interest with respect to George Galloway and certain other individuals in the area of post-1978 British politics.
But also:
> There is no evidence to indicate that Philip Cross has used alternate accounts or sockpuppets to edit or support his views on-wiki, nor that he has coordinated with any other editors, outside individuals, or organizations in his editing.
ArbCom took a very dim view of Galloway's, and another Wikipedian's, attempts to "out" Cross's identity.
Ultimately, ArbCom banned Cross from doing _any_ editing on "post-1978 British politics, broadly construed". That is an enormously wide topic ban.
You can also see from his user contributions and the block log that he has been banned by admins for repeatedly defying his topic ban. A 1-week ban in August 2018, a 1-month ban in November 2021, a 3-month ban in July 2022... and now he has a PERMANENT ban since last month. He can't appeal for at least a year.
It doesn't seem like a shadowy cabal to me, it sounds like one person who does nothing but edit all day. Wikipedia has quite a few such users, and that's why there's a big list of contentious topics which are more heavily patrolled and restricted than the rest of Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:General_sanctions#Ac...