FamilySearch Wiki:Mediation Committee

This policy governs the Mediation Committee. Where this policy refers to mediation, it means formal mediation.

Scope
The responsibility of the Mediation Committee is to resolve good-faith disputes about article content by mediation, where the dispute satisfies the preconditions of mediation.

Membership
The Mediation Committee comprised of a representative of the Community Council, the initial members as appointed by the Community Council, and subsequently by those contributors whose nomination was successful.

Contributors can join the committee by submitting a nomination in the format prescribed at Wiki:Mediation Committee. Nominees to the Mediation Committee must be: (i) trusted by the Wiki community; (ii) experienced contributors to the Wiki; and (iii) have the temperament and skills to resolve disputes.

Nominees must have the support of a majority of the mediators who vote in the nomination, and be opposed by no more than one member. In addition, the nominee is subject to veto by the Wiki Community Council.

The Mediation Committee can solicit applications for new mediators, by posting a neutral message to appropriate community pages.

Conduct of mediators
Mediators must:


 * 1) Act with integrity and good faith at all times;
 * 2) Respond promptly to questions from other mediators, or from parties to their mediation cases, or from the community, about conduct which appears to conflict with their role(s) as a mediator;
 * 3) Participate conscientiously in the Committee's activities, advising the Chair of upcoming inactivity if that inactivity will affect their cases, and to promptly notify the Chair when they intend to stop all mediation activity for an extended period of time;
 * 4) Abide by the principles the Mediation Committee's policy on mediation at all times when acting as a mediator, including those which govern the neutrality of a mediator.

Any mediator who repeatedly or grossly fails to meet these expectations can be suspended or removed by the Community Council.

Assignment of mediators
The Chair of the Mediation Committee will ensure that a mediator is assigned promptly to all accepted requests for mediation. No mediator is obligated to take a case, and a mediator may decline to be assigned to a case (with or without a stated explanation).

Recusal and de-assignment of mediators
Members of the Mediation Committee must recuse themselves from a case in which they are not impartial. If they do not, the parties to the case can ask the Community Council to de-assign (remove) the mediator by dictum. The Community Council can also remove a mediator from a case summarily, without an accompanying request from a party to the case.

Standards for recusal
Any mediator can specifically recuse himself from mediating a case, with or without a stated explanation. Mediators must recuse themselves from any case in which they have a significant conflict of interest - including, but not limited to, prior personal involvement with the dispute, or a significant personal involvement with one of the parties to the case. Previous formal mediation activity is not usually grounds for recusal, but previous administrator interaction with a party would be.

Petitions for removal of a mediator
Parties to a dispute can petition for the removal of a mediator from a case if the mediator:


 * 1) Is not impartial with relation to the case;
 * 2) Has not been adequately active in the proceedings; or
 * 3) Has mediated incompetently.

Petitions will not be accepted on any grounds other than bias, inactivity, or incompetence. Petitions on the grounds of bias or incompetence must be substantiated with clear evidence. Petitions for the removal of a mediator must be specify the grounds for the request, and must be sent in writing, by e-mail, to the Chair of the Mediation Committee. The Chair will promptly rule on the merits of the petition.

Before making a petition for removal on the grounds of non-impartiality, a contributor must first post a message on the mediator's talk page asking that mediator to recuse himself, and giving reasons.

The Chair of the Mediation Committee will undertake reasonable supervision of active mediation proceedings, and will reassign a case if a mediator is not satisfactorily active. The Community Council can also remove a mediator from a case at its discretion for reasons other than inactivity. The Community Council can refer the entire dispute to the Governance Board for binding resolution or can summarily close a case.

Procedures and roles
The Committee may create or modify its procedures, provided they are consistent with its scope.

The Community Council will designate an individual to be the Chairman of the Committee. The role of the Chairman is one of co-ordination of Committee processes and representation of the consensus of the Committee, for example, in announcing selection of new members of the Committee.

Forms of proceeding
In order to fulfill its role, the Mediation Committee administers three two types of proceedings:

Requests for mediation
Contributors will request formal mediation through the requests for mediation process, which is maintained by the Chairman of the Committee.

Nominations
New members of the Committee are appointed through the nominations process, which is governed by the Selection and appointment section of this policy.