| Revision as of 02:18, 17 January 2006 editNetoholic (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users39,916 edits →Bullying← Previous edit | Revision as of 02:19, 17 January 2006 edit undoRandom account 47 (talk | contribs)2,175 editsNo edit summaryNext edit → | ||
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| #] 01:40, 17 January 2006 (UTC) | #] 01:40, 17 January 2006 (UTC) | ||
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| ''It might also be a good idea to have the signatures e-mailed to Mr. Wales, rather than posted on his talk page with the petition to prevent bullies from finding new targets. E-mail me with your signature if you are concerned. Already one bully, ], has came to try to sabotage the petition.'' --] 02:19, 17 January 2006 (UTC) | |||
| '''We, the undersigned, believe the author of this petition needs to stop worrying and get back to writing an encyclopedia.''' | |||
| # ] ] 02:18, 17 January 2006 (UTC) | |||
Revision as of 02:19, 17 January 2006
This is a petition I am going to send to Jimbo Wales, owner of Misplaced Pages. If you have any changes you want to suggest, discuss them on the discussion page. I will definitely consider things anyone wants to add or change--especially if you do not want to sign it for one reason or another, but it is my petition. If people edit it to their liking then maybe I won't want to sign it and then there won't be much point in me making a petition anymore :P. So, please discuss on the talk page.
- www.bullyonline.org has some good references if you want to learn more about bullying, or to help refine ideas for changes that you might have.
Bullying
Mr. Wales, there is a lot of bullying going on in Misplaced Pages. It makes for a very toxic social environment and should be one of your top concerns.
The sheer number of administrators means it is very likely that there are not just several administrators who are bullies on Misplaced Pages, but several gangs of bullies. A school of 1000 is likely to have several groups of bullies, and there is no reason why Misplaced Pages would be an exception. Misplaced Pages is the perfect environment for a bully, even better than a school. The bully can assume a position of power by becoming an administrator quite quickly and easily, especially considering the apparent willingness to promote nearly every user who is nominated. Reverting vandals and correcting spelling and grammar mistakes can provide a long list of edits. After creating a few articles and winning a few easily winnable arguments to establish their competence, the bully can and will try to become an administrator. Bullies who are administrators can also recruit and enable the promotion of sycophants--and this has likely been happening since the very first bully became an administrator. Further, volunteers are often targets of bullies, as bullies see a willingness to give of oneself as a vulnerability. While a school or workplace--even a volunteer workplace--has a static hiearchy, Misplaced Pages has a dynamic hierarchy. Misplaced Pages's noteriety--the number one result in Google for hundreds of topics--and a dictation of all knowledge, is a magnet for those not interested in creating an encylopedia, but in wielding power: bullies, narcissists, and sociopaths. It is evident from places like Usenet that this occurs. Misplaced Pages is no different, and by its nature and stature is actually many, many, times more enticing to those kinds of people. Even the least competent of bullies can become administrators.
Given that these groups can use regular Wikipedians (as opposed to other administrators with equal power) as their targets, and that other administrators have other concerns, this can reach (and I believe has reached) epidemic proportions. Bullies can avoid being caught by focusing on certain articles and targets and relying on other administrators to act as ambivalent bystanders in the event they are caught. Gangs and groups can congregate in IRC, away from the eyes of other administrators--though they are often not looking in the first place. There are already clear hiearchies within certain groups of administrators, with one administrator acting as leader (the head bully). The ad hoc voting system encourages the recruitment of attention-seekers who act as the lead bully does in order to seek and obtain approval from the head bully. This also results in mobbing of individuals.
I am asking you to act on this very grave problem which could--with no exaggeration--destroy Misplaced Pages. This is a serious problem you must address now. You may disagree it is at the point of an epidemic, but refusal to face the fact that there are bullies on Misplaced Pages, in all levels of the Misplaced Pages bureaucracy, and that there are users being bullied right now just by virtue of the size of the community, can and will lead to the disaster that Usenet has become.
We, the undersigned, believe that bullying is currently a grave problem on Misplaced Pages and has reached, or, without intervention, will reach, epidemic proportions. Bullying is injurious to your users and threatens the future of Misplaced Pages. We demand this issue be addressed.
- Ben 01:40, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
It might also be a good idea to have the signatures e-mailed to Mr. Wales, rather than posted on his talk page with the petition to prevent bullies from finding new targets. E-mail me with your signature if you are concerned. Already one bully, User:Netoholic, has came to try to sabotage the petition. --Ben 02:19, 17 January 2006 (UTC)