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Adminship?

Hi there Tryptofish. I just had this crazy idea that you might want to think about. I was wondering if you'd ever be interested in being an admin. You seem experienced and clueful enough. Unless you've got any hidden skeletons, I'd be happy to nominate you if you'd like. Let me know if you're interested. AD 23:12, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

Hi Aiken, and thank you so very much! I am very flattered by what you said. I'm going to say "no thank you", for the time being, while leaving the door open for later on, like maybe a year from now. In brief, I personally do not feel ready for it yet, and I'm at a stage in real life when I temporarily cannot offer the project the additional time that this would take. I can explain all of that at greater length if you'd like, but that's the WP:KISS version. But sometime later: who knows. Thank you again for the very kind words. Best, --Tryptofish (talk) 00:05, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

Even though I've archived subsequent talk threads, I'm intentionally leaving this thread at the top of my talk page. --Tryptofish (talk) 19:51, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

Personal Question

It says you have a Doctorate of Philosophy in Biochemistry. Did I read that right? How do philosophy and biochemistry intersect? It sounds like a subject matter I'd be very interested in.Jasonnewyork (talk) 18:53, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

Actually, they don't. A Doctor of Philosophy or Ph.D. degree (which see) simply means that it's a doctoral degree in what I guess one could call basic studies, as opposed to a Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Law, or other "professional" doctorates. It doesn't mean study of philosophy at all. My field of study was biochemistry, cell biology, and molecular biology. In my later academic career, I've specialized in neuroscience. If you are interested, I know that there are various programs in the history of science, and one can also study philosophy of science, which focuses on how it applies to science, though not necessarily to biochemistry. --Tryptofish (talk) 22:24, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

I was thinking that might be the case. It's good to know a good neuroscientist. I used to read Scientific Mind on a regular basis, but I'd forgotten about it lately. I'll have to check it out again. Any other good sites for layman-esque-level articles on neuroscience?Jasonnewyork (talk) 17:35, 5 June 2012 (UTC)

One that comes to mind is this: Brainfacts.org. --Tryptofish (talk) 22:33, 5 June 2012 (UTC)

Cool site. I'll check it out. thanks.Jasonnewyork (talk) 04:56, 7 June 2012 (UTC)

Notification

Your question

Please see: Misplaced Pages talk:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Fæ/Evidence#A question, and User talk:Lord Roem#Hatting. --Tryptofish (talk) 20:40, 14 June 2012 (UTC)

There's two angles I'd point you to; first, that people on WR/Wikipediocracy have been carrying out a campaign to get Wikimedia UK stripped of its charitable status. Fae is, of course, a big cheese in WMUK. The other angle that seems relevant to me is the one alluded to by Tarc; WR/Wikipediocracy seems to have become a hub for anti-sex campaigners like our very own Jayen466. Fae has become a target for the anti-sex mob due some of his previous editing and his defence of sexual content on Misplaced Pages. Are you aware that Jayen has teamed up with a banned user to lobby Parliament in person against WMUK and Fae in particular? Prioryman (talk) 20:18, 14 June 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for this information, and no, I wasn't aware of all of it. But I'm really not asking merely for my personal interest, but because I think that the Arbs need to see the answers, including but not limited to what you are telling me here. And that is why I am very unhappy with the clerk having pre-empted the discussion where it ought to be. --Tryptofish (talk) 20:21, 14 June 2012 (UTC)

Drop me an email, Trypto, and I'll give you some links. Prioryman (talk) 20:54, 14 June 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the offer, but I never do e-mail here, if for no other reason than I don't want to become the target of people who want to know who I am in real life. My position continues as I said it just above. I'm not interested in taking a "side" in this case (nor in criticizing other users), so I won't be of any use to you with respect to those links. What I want is for the Arbitrators to see the facts. --Tryptofish (talk) 20:57, 14 June 2012 (UTC)

I'll repeat here my question that got cut off, for all comers to answer if they wish. It appears that the anger at Fae comes from the so-called "Commons porn problem". As I said in the hatted discussion, I can understand why people would disagree about sexually-explicit material on Wikimedia sites, but why get permanently angry over it? --Tryptofish (talk) 21:07, 14 June 2012 (UTC)

Even in my real-world social circles (which are fairly polite and well-manners) no one would bat an eye if something nasty is said about Sally Kern. If my church friends were also my friends on Misplaced Pages and the topic of conversation turned to something Kern had said, comments entirely inappropriate for Misplaced Pages could easily slip into the conversation because the external atmosphere could easily be imported. The environment was entirely more toxic at WR (I can't speak to Wikipediocracy, since I have not ventured over there) driven not only by online culture, but also by the personalities the site attracted - people who were both disenchanted with Misplaced Pages and (especially among banned users) people who felt disenfranchised. Given the baseline culture, once someone picks and promotes and enemy, the demonisation creates a positive feedback loop. Since many of those people are active over here and are interacting on this issue, there's no surprise in seeing a part of that atmosphere imported over here. And with enough people repeating the slur, it ceases to be a slur and instead becomes part of the conversational norm, even over here.

Or that's (definitely not unbiased) read on the situation. Guettarda (talk) 21:24, 14 June 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, that makes sense. But I question how Fae/Ash's conduct on-Wiki really resembles that of Sally Kern in real life, although I also make note of Hullabaloo's observation at the other page, which may also make sense. --Tryptofish (talk) 21:29, 14 June 2012 (UTC)

Guettarda's explanation of the social dynamics does indeed make sense but there is also a political dynamic at work. The background to all of this does indeed seem to be the sexual content issue. From my reading, it seems that various people on WR/Wikipediocracy have identified sexual content as the Achilles heel of the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia UK. Some of the banned users appear to have harboured fantasies that they could overthrow the WMF and WMUK by "exposing" the sexual content. The strategy seems to have evolved since then. There was an exchange on WR back in March that's worth noting:

Fae has, of course, been involved with writing or uploading sexuality-related content to Misplaced Pages or Commons, and has been a leading figure in WMUK. The focus on Fae in the off-wiki campaign seems to have been inextricably linked with the bid to undermine or overthrow WKUK. Cla68 called the briefing against Fae "great stuff. Peter's submission exposes Fae as a charlatan." Prioryman (talk) 21:53, 14 June 2012 (UTC)

Nothing personal, really, but I hatted (irony duly noted!) the dialog from an external website. I'm not looking to cast aspersions on other users here. I think we've gone far enough down this branch of the road. So let me ask, then, what about the observations by Hullaballoo W. at the other page? They, also, seem reasonable to me. --Tryptofish (talk) 22:02, 14 June 2012 (UTC)

(edit conflict) And that's how trouble gets started...there's an obvious (in-group) joke to make in response to that question which would, in Misplaced Pages, get me in serious trouble. But the more serious answer, I think, is that there doesn't need to be any similarity. I could speculate, of course...starting with the way that heterosexual-identifying males tend to react to gay porn...but that would add very little to what has been said already. Being a gay man is a strike against you. Interests in bondage and gay porn are additional strikes. Now that doesn't mean that Fae is blameless, simply that these act as modifiers or intensifiers for many people. Couple it with the "men's locker room" atmosphere of a place like WR, and you very quickly end up with the sort of reaction you observed.

While what I'm saying is, in my mind, a plausible explanation, that doesn't mean that it's the correct explanation. The outcome may have been the same without any of these intensifiers. I have no way to test my hypothesis. Guettarda (talk) 21:57, 14 June 2012 (UTC)

Fair enough, and sorry about those edit conflicts – this is the busiest my talk has been in ages! That leads me back again to what I just re-asked above: what about the observations by Hullaballoo W. at the other page? They, also, seem reasonable to me. --Tryptofish (talk) 22:05, 14 June 2012 (UTC)

I don't think there's any doubt that Fae hasn't helped his cause with some of his comments. HW's comments do have some basis in fact. But if you look at where all this started, chronologically, first there was a controversy over Ash's editing of gay porn BLPs following which there was a long period of quiet while Fae gained a very solid reputation as an outstanding editor and real-world evangelist for Misplaced Pages. He got his adminship with an overwhelming majority (something like 87% of votes in favour). But what kicked off the current controversy? A post by Delicious carbuncle on WR that highlighted Fae's election to a position at Wikimedia UK. Politics again. Prioryman (talk) 22:15, 14 June 2012 (UTC)