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I now feel somewhat honoured by this disgrace

I would like to thank all those who intervened, and feel somewhat embarrassed. Still I take my wise young mentor, (the oxymoron is justified) Bendono's words to heart, and will withdraw for some time. One needs to reflect on experience at a distance, at times, per tirare le somme if one is to be more effective in what one does. Best regards and best wishes to you all, editorial adversaries included.Nishidani 16:08, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

Sir, it has been an honor to us to have you as a colleague. I know personally that the effort here has been substantially improved by your presence. Take as long away as you want, however. I simply hope that when you do return, and I hope you will, that you will strive for accuracy and objectivity like you have before, Informed parties on some of these obscure, contentious issues are few and far between, and I hope we don't wind up losing one of the few we have here. John Carter (talk) 00:11, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Absolutely, JC has said exactly what I was going to say. Thank you, and I wish you well. --NSH001 (talk) 09:14, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Me three, Nishidani. Warm wishes are also returned to you from your friend in Nazareth. As we roast chestnuts over the fire this Christmas, I won't forget to raise my glass to you. Tiamut 20:33, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Lehi (group)

Thank you for your comments. I'm sorry to read that you're leaving Misplaced Pages, and I hope that you choose to come back, fully refreshed from your break. — Malik Shabazz (talk · contribs) 22:32, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Eilabun massacre

You added book citations--can you give publisher, year, etc. for those books so that they can have full bibliographies? Thanks. gren グレン 04:09, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Norman Finkelstein

.. please check the WP:LEDE. Thanks. Ling.Nut (talk) 18:36, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Your block, and etc.

Nishidani - if I had noticed your block, I would also have reported it to AN/I with a particular focus on scrutinizing the obvious lack of a review on the part of SWATJester. Admins reviewing unblock requests are obliged to provide a full review of the circumstances of the block and its reasoning, and 'You insulted me so no unblock for you' is not a considered review. I feel some responsibility for this, since I reported the seemingly escalating revert war in the Finkelstein page to WP:RPP, to which Cavalry responded. I did not intend you to be caught up, however.

On another question: Perhaps you might help with this - I'm trying to translate the phrase "I view self nominations as prima facie evidence of a hunger for power" into Latin. Is that something you can do? Thanks for your help if you are able, and hope to see you editing regularly again soon either way - Avruch 23:30, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

Avruch, Nishidani's last edit was on the 6th and he indicated that he will be taking some time off. In the meantime, perhaps Misplaced Pages:Reference desk/Language may be of assistance. Regards, Bendono (talk) 23:40, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Bendono. I'm not in a rush, and I value Nishidani's expertise. Avruch 18:42, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

User:Avruch. I apologize. I suffered from a broken internet connection from 10-27th of December, due to a server problem. I noted your request, and did translate more meo the sentence, and asked a childhood friend, with a chair in classics, to check it. The problem, apart from my limited competence, is that the phrase has to be rethought in classical terms in order to come out nicely in Latin. He said he'd check it. If he does approve of my version or provides me with a more fluent phrasing, I'll pass it on. Regards Nishidani (talk) 12:12, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Systematic faults and bias

Nishidani is/was exactly the kind of editor that Misplaced Pages needs and that all believers in the project should be trying to encourage. "Neutral" administrators would be slapping down most of the (sometimes barely literate) "editors" who have systematically obstructed his (her?) efforts. "Neutral" administrators would be seeking indef-blockings of many of them.

Nishidani has actually identified something I've never bothered mentioning - that many of us now live in heavily militarised cultures, where even participation in "known" war-crimes and massacres has become either respectable or apparently admirable. (I'm not applying this tag to all who have served in Iraq, but, under the circumstances, all who've been there should be considered under suspicion).

Before people express surprise, let me point them to this, the work of one of the (the?) foremost poet/authors of the British Empire. Societies obviously have to look after their ex-servicemen, but on no account would we rate highly their opinions (or even tolerate their presence) in discussions relating to war-crimes (the subject of this particular article is highly notable for protesting these kinds of things, amongst others).

When the encyclopedia (or multiple agents of the encyclopedia) act as if German soldiers returning from Poland should be treated as perfectly respectable citizens again, entitled to refuse to answer questions, and even to white-wash strongly suspected crimes, then it ceases to be acting for general good, and becomes an agent of oppression and obstruction of justice. PR 15:24, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Is open to editing again, as the issue of "occupied" vs. "disputed" has been solved in a way I think you would agree with. Would be nice to see you there again! Cheers, pedro gonnet - talk - 19.12.2007 17:13

Agreed. thanks for spreading the word, Pedro. nice work. see you. --Steve, Sm8900 (talk) 20:43, 25 December 2007 (UTC)

Request for Arbitration might interest you.

Dear Nishidani. Your scholarship is much missed. Even if you're not planning to come back to editing, there is an RfA you might be interested in here. PR 11:30, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Weizmann quote

Hi Nishidani, great pleasure to see you back. Can you tell me which particular book you're refering to with this diff? Thankyou. PR 11:09, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Not back. Only updating my file, and occasionally checking around. But if you wish to know where the Weizmann quote comes from in that diff, it's Lenni Brenner Zionism in the Age of the Dictators, Croom Helm, London 1983 p.37. The book is on the net in a free downloadable version. Best wishes Nishidani (talk) 11:20, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, jolly well hurry back! The project urgently needs scholarship, and it urgently needs ideas from some of these people on how to make the environment friendly for you lot and unfriendly for the other kind! Present your analysis and ideas to the top management at the ArbCom (when you're ready, of course).

You once told us you regretted not enabling your e-mail - but you've still not done so. I'm sure you don't want to hear peremptory demands from the peanut gallery, but it would still be useful. PR 11:32, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I'm worried that this is not a very good example of what you want to prove, or that proving it is worth doing. PR 12:40, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

I have nothing to hide, and nothing to fear, and in any case am only making a few edits, without any desire to return to work on articles. I seriously doubt this process will do anything more than add a few more dozen pages to the infinite archives of Misplaced Pages disputes. That dispute mechanism is defective, even if fascinating. Metaphorically, one has to seek a consensus before saying the world is round, and if someone disagrees with you, you go higher up, argue the casem, get input from flatearthers and others, and then perhaps a sanction against one flatearther advising him not to revert for more than once a day for six months. In the normal world, you do not get pulled into endless trials of justification for having reverted, say, an editor who refuses to accept that the International Court of Justice's rulings on law are to be taken as definitive, and those of Shmuel Katz are just trite personal opinions, worthy at most of a brief footnote.

It looks as though it is shaping up as a witch-hunt, and I have no intention of joining substantially in the fray. My single remark about Jayjg, which breaks a rule I have always obeyed of always withholding any personal complaint I might have with an adversary from formal arbitration, is justified because I noted late last night that he seemed, while very many good editors are lined up for scrutiny on both sides, to be singled out as above scrutiny merely because a fellow administrator preferred him not to be included.

I think it wrong to engage editors in a reciprocal McCarthyist witch-hunt, and that is what is occurring. However deep my disputes have been with several editors, the fact remains that the abuses both I and they complain of are intrinsic to the system of rules governing editing. This area is one involving a notorious case of systemic bias, the problem is the systemic bias, that the history of Palestinians is in the hands of editors predominantly affiliated with the nation that, in international law, occupies them. Since, despite it being a recognized problem with Wiki, systemic bias will not be touched on, the procedures underway will be inconclusive. Take care, and, if I may proffer a word of advice, review what you intend to post with different eyes, the eyes of someone you imagine to be honest, but who might happen to disagree with you. Nishidani (talk) 13:54, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/Palestine-Israel articles

An Arbitration case in which you commented has been opened, and is located here. Please add any evidence you may wish the Arbitrators to consider to the evidence sub-page, Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/Palestine-Israel articles/Evidence. Please submit your evidence within one week, if possible. You may also contribute to the case on the workshop sub-page, Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/Palestine-Israel articles/Workshop.

On behalf of the Arbitration Committee, — Rlevse • Talk • 22:25, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Reflection on the issues raised by the Arbcom review underway

Though I have formally withdrawn from editing, I am following the recent attempt to review the incessant conflictuality of the Israel/Palestine area articles with considerable interest, and, while tempted to make a few remarks there, think my style of writing inappropriate for a venue where administrators, harassed by numerous requests for intervention, prefer sweetly succinct contributions. The few contributions I have made look awkward there, and, furthermore, since I have serious doubts that the way things are being set up to review the crisis can grasp the irritable nettles of contention and devise solutions less prickly than those which have long been in place, I am considering using this page to reflect, undisturbed, and undisturbingly, on my own experience of editing this sector of Misplaced Pages. In particular, in looks like measures are to be taken to strengthen punitive sanctions, and to isolate, by an examination of individual records, a number of editors who are, or are deemed to be, disruptive. I share Gatoclass's view, that to invite pimping and denunciations of 'adversaries' is a parlous, and rather unfruitful approach. The fundamental problems, as I perceive them, are those of (a) systemic bias, (b) a rulebook so unwieldy in its byzantine complexities it allows for far too much pretextual editing, gamesmanship and cunctator tactics by partisan editors, and (c) a complex set of appeal processes and review tribunals which are dilatory, invite manipulation by stacking, and are themselves, often, time-consuming devices that encourage whining and politicking, things distractive of time better spent on editing, or sorting out one's difficulties on talk pages.

In this last regard, a simple suggestion. Where edit warring occurs of a 3RR type, for example, a simple rule would suffice to relieve administrators of some of the burden here. On any page where a violation occurs, the plaintiff should simple post the evidence on the talk-page, avert all recent editors of that page of the violation, and have them (obligatory) visit the talk-page, and check the evidence. If the 3RR rule has been broken (no ifs or buts) all editors, independent of partisan interests, should undersign the verdict. A non-negotiable 24-hour block on the guilty party should be imposed, for a first offence. But all those who turn up should then be obliged (those who do not should forfeit automatically posting rights on that page for a week or a month) to dedicate time on the talk page to resolving rapidly the point over which the 3RR rule was violated, within 24 hours. If an impasse occurs between the parties, an ombudsman with an impeccable record for neutrality, should be available on call to adjudicate the point on the strength of the evidence and arguments given by the disputing parties within that 24 hours period. No one foreign to the recent edit history of that page (period to be determined: 6 months if not busy, 2 months if busy?) should be allowed to turn up in the resolutory debate.

I can see of course problems, as I do in any proposal, but a self-monitoring procedure, with an obligatory character on all those who have edited a page, to work quickly and fairly on dispute-resolution among themselves, would save immense time both for editors and administrators. It would also oblige partisans to undersign a violation made by someone who they view as 'on their side'. An ombudsman of this type could even, on exceptional occasions, be invested with the power to endorse the text which the violator of the 3RR principle reinserted, or endorse the erasure, if the evidence suggests that the 3RR violation occurred on rational grounds (reinstating technically impeccable evidence from quality sources that has been systematically removed by a coalition of tag-team posters) etc.

I'm jumping the gun however. In what will follow, desultorily, as the mood takes me, I will make a series of initial reflections on the root casus belli and the way it affects the problems infesting this area of Misplaced Pages.Nishidani (talk) 15:54, 12 January 2008 (UTC)