A dispute on Laboratory Wiki is any disagreement between two or more editors that cannot be resolved without admin attention. In general, editors should endeavor to find common ground, and to reach a consensus or compromise without petitioning administrative action. However, because situations often arise in which misinterpretations and misunderstandings precipitate conflict between editors, there exist provisions for dealing with such a contingency.
Reporting Disputes[]
A dispute can and should be reported by any editor. The dispute is logged on the Dispute Page by linking to the discussion page and appropriate heading on which the dispute has been occurring. Each dispute should be logged on the page under the last entry, with the following code:
*[[Talk:Article Name#Heading Name]]
The dispute page is frequently patrolled, and individual disputes are handled by the appropriate administrators:
Resolving Disputes[]
Dispute resolution is of prime importance on this wiki, as all decisions are the result of a consensus between interested editors. Decisions cannot be made without a consensus, and oftentimes, a consensus cannot be reached without involving admin.
Supervisor Intervention[]
In situations where neither consensus nor compromise can be reached, a Supervisor should be contacted, who will work with editors involved in the discussion to try and reach a consensus or a compromise. All editors who feel they cannot "get past" the conflict they are having with another editor (regardless of who they feel is "right" or "wrong") should defer to the judgment of the Supervisor, and try to work with him/her to achieve resolution.
Manager Intervention[]
If a situation proves difficult or impossible for a Supervisor to deal with, a Manager may step in. Managers possess full administrative priveleges on this wiki, and can make any necessary steps toward conflict resolution. This includes deleting, moving, and protecting articles, reverting edits, and blocking users. Managers should only be contacted in extreme situations where a conflict has escalated to the point of necessitating such measures, and where Supervisors may be involved in the conflict. In general, this should be considered as a "last resort".
ED Intervention[]
In the extremely rare case where Managers are unable to resolve a conflict, an Executive Director (ED) will step in. EDs have the ultimate authority on this wiki, and wield final decision-making power. In general, petitioning ED attention is only to be used in extreme cases of highly escalated ("out-of-hand") disputes that may include Managers and/or Supervisors.