Wikipedia:Dispute resolution noticeboard/Volunteering

This is an informal guide. It is not a Wikipedia policy, and it is not binding in any way.

Hello, and thank you for showing an interest at the dispute resolution noticeboard. This is a guide for people who are thinking of volunteering to help resolve disputes as neutral third parties. There are no formal requirements for helping, so feel free to get stuck in! Often in disputes it is better to have many opinions, so your input is greatly encouraged. Don't be afraid if there is already another comment on a dispute; go ahead and give your two cents.

Things to bear in mind

Here are some things you might want to bear in mind when commenting:

Editors who discuss disputes at this board may be distressed or emotional. Try to use language that calms down disputes, rather than language that escalates them.
Resolving disputes on Wikipedia centers around forming a consensus. Try to break down a dispute into smaller chunks, and resolve the issues one by one, starting with the least contentious issues at first, and moving onto the more difficult ones later. Parties will sometimes be more open to compromise on larger issues if they've worked together on the little ones.
Keep your answers focused on Wikipedia policy and how it affects the dispute. Disputes can often be solved by gently clarifying policies to editors who haven't yet fully grasped their intricacies.
Address the content issues that editors are disputing before addressing conduct. When editors realize that their content issues are being dealt with thoughtfully and respectfully, conduct issues often disappear.
This noticeboard is a gateway into Wikipedia's dispute resolution system; we don't have to solve every dispute here. If there is a better venue for a dispute, then suggest it.
There needs to be discussion on a talk page about a dispute before it can be brought here. If there hasn't been any discussion, point this out politely to the participants, and close the thread.
If there's an improperly filed thread, don't just close it! Try to fix it and help the editor because they may not be familiar with the dispute resolution noticeboard.
That's it!

The guidelines above should be enough to resolve 99 percent of the disputes that arrive at the noticeboard. For anything else you can ask for advice at the noticeboard talk page. Also, if you are really keen, you can read up on some advanced techniques courtesy of the Mediation Cabal.

Keeping track of the thread

It can be difficult for other volunteers, as well as disputants, to keep track of a dispute. DIscussions can get long and complicated, and it makes things difficult for new volunteers to know if a thread needs assistance. To remedy this a status template has been created. It's located at Template:DR case status.

Closing discussions

When the discussion comes to an obvious conclusion, it is time to close the thread. This could be because you have found a resolution, because there is a better venue for the dispute, because there was no talk page discussion, or because the discussion has grown stale. Use this template {{subst:DRN status|<reason for closure - i.e. no discussion, no dispute, resolved>}} at the bottom of the thread as a courtesy notice to the parties for any remaining issues that may have been missed, it also serves as a 24-hour grace period before closure. Once 24 hours has passed and there are no new posts to the thread, you can close the thread by putting {{DRN archive top|reason=<reason for closure> ~~~~}} at the top of the section, underneath the section title, and {{DRN archive bottom}} at the bottom. You should also remove the HTML comment at the top that says  so that the thread can be archived automatically. If you have a long closing comment to make you can put it in a new section at the bottom and just leave a brief message at the top. Beware of closing discussions too early, as it tends to annoy editors who think their disputes have not been fully considered. Err on the side of fully discussing the issues.

Template series

Here are some useful templates that you can use if you'd like to participate as a volunteer at the noticeboard!

{{DRN}}—For use on article talk page to notify editors of active DRN discussion
{{DRN archive bottom}} and {{DRN archive top}}—To close and archive DRN discussions
{{DRN status}}—For use on DRN threads to provide involved disputants a 24-hour grace period and notice before closure to iron out any remaining issues (should always be subst:)
{{DRN-notice}}—For use on user talk pages to notify involved editors of active DRN discussion

Participation

If you volunteer at the noticeboard, even only for a short period of time, consider adding yourself to the list of volunteers below. Note, however, that you don't need to list yourself here to comment on a dispute. You can also add the {{User DRN}} userbox to your user page, or alternatively add Category:Wikipedians who assist at the dispute resolution noticeboard to your user page if userboxes aren't your thing. Your support is very much appreciated!