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. See Mediation to see the required steps to resolve the problem before a request is made for mediation by the Mediation Committee.

Membership
The Mediation Committee is comprised of a representative of the Community Council and members as appointed by the Community Council.

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

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.

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).

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.

Requests for mediation
Contributors will request formal mediation through the requests for mediation process, which will be determined by the committee and will be maintained by the Chairman of the Committee.