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Revision as of 10:11, 29 April 2009 editProtonk (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers24,727 edits User:TruthIIPower← Previous edit Revision as of 10:19, 29 April 2009 edit undoViriditas (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers169,146 edits More edit-warring by Badagnani: +Next edit →
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:: From what I've seen he just repeats his point of view, and reverts any changes against as "massive blanking", or has his MO changed? ] <small>]</small> 10:07, 29 April 2009 (UTC) :: From what I've seen he just repeats his point of view, and reverts any changes against as "massive blanking", or has his MO changed? ] <small>]</small> 10:07, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
:::That is certainly ''one way'' of looking at it, but there are multiple perspectives on it. I'm coming from a different POV. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that Misplaced Pages has many different personalities, and it takes a certain kind of person to use this site for any period of time. Some people have strengths in one area, and serious weakness in another. Badagnani does a great deal of good work here, but when it comes to dealing with anyone who disagrees with him, he has problems. As others have mentioned in previous/onging discussions, Badagnani needs a mentor. I've found that he is open to reason, but it takes some effort to get there, and some editors find it easier to edit war. Simply saying that "he repeats his POV and reverts any changes" could apply to many editors here. Looking at my discussion with him on ], I think Badagnani makes some really good points, but the chasm between the ''way'' he goes about doing things and general policy and guidelines is very wide. All I'm saying is let's at least try to bridge that gap with more discussion. After some discussion, Badagnani does get around to compromising, but we all need to work towards that goal together. ] (]) 10:19, 29 April 2009 (UTC)


== Block threats from Admin ] == == Block threats from Admin ] ==

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    WP:RM Backlog

    Resolved – Wrong place... --Rschen7754 (T C) 08:39, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    Requested moves is in a pretty good backlog. If an admin or two could take a look, it would be appreciated. - NeutralHomerTalk • April 22, 2009 @ 02:11

    This is for AN, not ANI. fahadsadah (talk,contribs) 16:08, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    User:Gimmebot removing transclusions of GA reviews

    Resolved – Time to move on. Gimmetrow has agreed not to remove the transclusions (with the caveat that he is no longer processing GAs at all). --Rschen7754 (T C) 21:16, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    User:Gimmebot is removing transclusions of GA reviews from pages. There is no consensus to do so. Having the reviews on talk pages allows one to easily see the information related to the state of the article. I have contacted the bot operator, but he refuses to rectify the situation. --Rschen7754 (T C) 20:42, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

    The review is link in the article history. Why does it need to be transcluded as well? Grsz 20:46, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
    This way, people can easily check to see why the GA was passed (if it was a drive-by review, or if it was legitimate). Also, the bot operator should not have done this without the consensus of the Misplaced Pages community at BRFA. --Rschen7754 (T C) 20:50, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
    The link is still available in the {{articlehistory}} template; if there's a problem locating the GA info, that is an artefact of the GA process, not the bot. If you can't find that info, that problem needs to be rectified within the GA process, or the GA process should simply no longer be part of articlehistory. Articlehistory was originally built to handle FAs, and it works perfectly for them; blocking the bot will stall the FA process. Rather than stop the bot, the options should be to correct the underlying problems at GA, or remove GAs from articlehistory, which will create a whole lot of talk page clutter. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 15:40, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    I would tend to agree, once the review is done and over with I don't see what the advantage of transcluding it as well is. The review is still easily reachable. henriktalk 20:53, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
    I think many GA reviewers remove the transclusion once the review is over. I know that I do anyway; it's in the article history for anyone who's interested. The motivation behind transclusion is to involve as many editors as possible in the review, without depending on them becoming aware of a separate page. Once the review is over there's no point. --Malleus Fatuorum 20:58, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
    I also agree with the removal, though there may be procedural questions to be raised with regard to WP:BRFA/WP:WGA. Skomorokh 21:22, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

    Maybe I'm not understanding Rschen7754's request. The link to the review is in the bottom center of the ArticleHistory template at the very top of the talk page - isn't that usually how it's done once the actual review is over? I've only been through few, a couple Norton reviews, and a Tim Richmond BLP review, but that's the way it was once everything was said and done. — Ched :  ?  21:29, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

    I don't see that job in any of the bot's requests for approval. I would also object to removing the transcluded reviews automatically, but I can see how someone could easily reach the conclusion that removing those reviews was uncontroversial. Hopefully the bot operator will stop the bot from doing that particular task until it gets approved. Give him/her some time to respond to your request and to this thread. Protonk (talk) 22:10, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

    I'm not familiar with bots to be perfectly honest, but I did want to mention something that came to mind here. I remember a conversation about WP:SIG somewhere - in that conversation it was mentioned that transclusion does play a factor in server performance. I realize that 1 GA transclusion on a talk page does not equate to 50 or 100 sigs that do that, but I did want to mention it. I don't know if that has any bearing on this conversation, but I thought it may be something to consider. — Ched :  ?  22:16, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
    The operator has refused to do so - see the above link. --Rschen7754 (T C) 23:59, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
    It might be better to bring this up at the Misplaced Pages:Bot owners' noticeboard instead, where bot-operators and bot-approvers are more likely to see it, and it will be more clear what consensus is about it. – Quadell 02:03, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

    I agree with above that once the GA Review is over there is no need to keep the transclusion - it is linked in {{ArticleHistory}} prominently at the very top of the talk page and can be easily found there. Cirt (talk) 02:24, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

    Misplaced Pages:Bots/Requests for approval/GimmeBot 2 seems to be the task that allows the bot to work on the article review top business, in non-specific terms. I left a note at WT:GA. –xeno 02:31, 23 April 2009 (UTC)
    I might be too parsimonious, but I read that and didn't come away with the impression that removing transclusions was authorized in that request. TBH I didn't look at the first contributions to see what the authorization may have been based on. Protonk (talk) 03:17, 23 April 2009 (UTC)
    yea, it's a liberal interpretation of the task. –xeno 13:21, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

    Removing the transclusion after a review is largely a matter of taste and there is no prescription - as long as the review is linked e.g. from ArticleHistory. However, keeping the review transclusion on the talk page after a review maintains high visibility for article editors wishing to improve an article in response to the review. I don't see any benefit for the encyclopedia in automatically removing the review when article editors may wish otherwise. This should be left to individual editors and reviewers, not a bot. Geometry guy 08:18, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

    The question is, what is to be done? The bot operator does not seem interested in rectifying the situation. --Rschen7754 (T C) 19:49, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

    The rub

    We have two issues here which are getting clouded. One issue is whether or not it is kosher to remove review transclusions. I'm going to go out on a limb (not much of one) and suggest that it is kosher to do so, just given the responses here. The other is whether or not a bot is allowed to do so without an authorization. We aren't a bureaucracy and we shouldn't let admittedly minor quibbles stymie editor participation, but we look rather a lot like a bureaucracy when bot-ops are concerned. We have policy and practice which reflects a community consensus to restrain bot edits prior to authorization rather than to bless those not reverted as good (in english, BOLD is for people, not bots). So I'm prepared to say that we should just open up another BRFA for the explicit task of removing transclusions. It will probably be a quick up and down approval.

    In the absence of such an approval I'm going to ask that the bot operator stop removing GA review transclusions from pages. If they don't stop in 24 hours or start the process of getting approval in 24 hours I'll block the bot. Protonk (talk) 20:08, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

    GimmeBot has been processing all FA process tranclusions into articlehistory for well over two years, and GAs almost all long. The transclusions are not removed; they are linked in to articlehistory. If this isn't working correctly at GA, that is an artefact of the GA process, not the bot. In the FA process, it's clear; perhaps the GA process needs to address the root problems, whatever they may be. But blocking a bot based on inaccurate information about the problem will not help the FA process, which depends on the bot. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 15:16, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    I think Geometry guy has it about right. Whether or not to remove the transcluded review is a decision for the reviewer and/or interested editors, not one that a bot ought to be making. So I agree with your blocking proposal. --Malleus Fatuorum 00:10, 24 April 2009 (UTC)
    "BOLD is for people, not bots.". That's a good line to remember when discussing 'bot behavior. --John Nagle (talk) 01:40, 24 April 2009 (UTC)
    It sounds like there's an issue at GA, that it's not clear when a review is finished. In the FA process, it is clear; this is an artefact of the GA process that needs to be addressed, and not by blaming the bot operator. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 15:18, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    On the contrary, it's very clear when a review has finished. If it were not, then Gimmetrow's bot wouldn't be able to delete the transcluded review. --Malleus Fatuorum 23:15, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • When did the bot start removing the GA review transclusions from talk pages? Titoxd 01:33, 25 April 2009 (UTC)
      • It was pretty recent - unfortunately, the only way to definitely know may be looking through the diffs. --Rschen7754 (T C) 01:37, 25 April 2009 (UTC)
        • I am not sure if this is what you are talking about. When the bot puts the GA review in article history, it is no longer is clickable. That is, clicking on GA reiew and date in the article history no longer brings up the GA review. This is confusing, as in the past a click would bring up the GA review just as it does the FAC review. Also, it this problem related to the fact that the GAN backlog report is no longer being updated? —Mattisse (Talk) 14:33, 25 April 2009 (UTC)
          The latter issue is completely independent (a different bot and bot operator). Geometry guy 21:13, 25 April 2009 (UTC)
          It is not true that reviews are no longer clickable; the link is in articlehistory. If links become unclickable, that is an arteface of the GA process, not the botification into articlehistory. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 15:12, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Based on the additional comments above, I agree that the bot should not resume editing until these concerns are addressed. (I do note that neither the bot nor its op have edited recently, so a block may be unnecessary.) –xeno 21:08, 25 April 2009 (UTC)
    Gimmetrow runs the bot a couple of times a week, I believe. It does a lot of work for FAC, as well as doing article history and GA updates. Geometry guy 21:13, 25 April 2009 (UTC)
    If the bot isn't editing, then I have to consult with others as to whether they are available to help with the manual work so that I can promote/archive FAC today as planned. This is another example of the unfortunate effects of illformed opinions at AN/I from editors who aren't familiar with the processes. I don't look forward to closing and botifying all of today's FA promotions and archivals myself. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 15:32, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    The way I understand it, bot runs can continue for FAC, as long as Gimmetrow is willing. --Rschen7754 (T C) 19:15, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Well this is a wonderful waste of time and effort. If you really think it necessary to fill out the brfa forms in triplicate for this task, you could have done so yourselves. I do not agree that bot policy requires it, but if you do, you might want to do something about certain editors doing controversial jobs in article space. (However, I would suggest that some of the admins who've commented above should read the bot policy again before they consider enforcing it.) I've been removing these transclusions for about a year as part of tidying up banners and talk pages. At some point, months ago (at least before January 2009), I added it to the code to avoid making two edits. I've been for the last two years now maintaining various parts of the GA process, including fixing all sorts of problems these transclusions cause. Commonly, they are not linked properly in the {{GA}} template, and when an article is moved, the transclusions sometimes become redlinks. Given the unending problems that nobody else seems interested in fixing, and the nothing-but-grief I get for doing this, the solution here is obvious. I'll keep doing FAC, and everyone can thank Rschen7754 for volunteering to do all other talk page template and related work from now on. Gimmetrow 00:30, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Stupendous: your attention is needed to continuing to build articlehistories (as you've been doing for well over two years now) and is appreciated at FAC and FAR. Of course it's troubling that few people commenting on the issue seem to have clue about everything the bot does, and the need for it, in terms of building templates into articlehistory to eliminate talk page clutter, without losing anything. Does this mean that when a FAC is botified into articlehistory, GA will no longer be included in articlehistory? Or that articlehistory errors will increase when non-bot editors now go back to try to retroactively add them? Unfortunate. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 03:47, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    I can't keep doing this forever. Good a time as any to stop. Gimmetrow 04:08, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Probably about time for you to stop, as you appear unwilling to listen to reason. --Malleus Fatuorum 04:13, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Thank you so much for contributing to a hostile environment. It is in part because of comments like these. which you have been making for months, that I have no incentive to help you. Some might even construe your comments as personal attacks, perhaps? I wonder how ethical it was for you to support a block based on a faulty argument, and without disclosing past history? Gimmetrow 10:36, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    This entire thread highlights the insidious damage caused by AN and AN/I forums: editors commenting who have no background or understanding of the issues, costing Misplaced Pages a valuable resource, partly because of ignorance and misinformation about the process. If the solution is that GAs are no longer considered part of {{Articlehistory}} because there is no one to do the task, then that could work, except that I suspect that what will happen is that now other editors will try to add GAs to articlehistory, causing the error category to go bonkers and rendering *all* articlehistories a mess, after more than two years of work has gone in to building them correctly (thanks to Gimmetrow). It would be helpful to hear some voices of reason and moderation in here, from people who understand the issues, because this destruction of articlehistories will also affect FAs. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 15:09, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Comment: I agree with Gimmetrow (talk · contribs) and SandyGeorgia (talk · contribs) on this one and quite frankly don't know why others are making such a big deal about it. When a GA Review finishes on an article I am working on, I generally remove the transclusion myself, and change it to a subsection on the talk page that has a link to the GA Review subpage with a note like "This article recently had a GA Review, which resulted in blah. You can read the GA Review at ." It really is not that hard. For all of the tremendous work that Gimmetrow (talk · contribs) does for this project and the {{ArticleHistory}} process, editors should cut him some slack, and more than that, be grateful for his help. Cirt (talk) 15:14, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    There's an ill-defined problem here which seems to be related to the way the GA process is handled. In FAs, it's clear when a review is finished, and a human being tells GimmeBot when to botify it into articlehistory. If the process isn't well defined at GA, that should be cleared up within the GA process, not by shooting the bot operator. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 15:26, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    I asked the bot operator if there was any consensus for this. He indicated there wasn't any. I asked him to stop. He refused. ... --Rschen7754 (T C) 19:12, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Holy mother of pearl. An AN/I discussion about removing transcluded GA reviews from talk pages. Seriously? Was this such a big deal that it needed to be brought up? I think that everyone's time here could be better spent on reviewing FACs. —Ed 17 16:00, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    This didn't have to go to ANI. Gimmetrow could have simply fixed his bot. --Rschen7754 (T C) 20:42, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Surely this thread is an example of moaning for the sake of moaning? The bot is doing a perfectly acceptable task, so why create issues when there are none? Jenuk1985 | Talk 21:44, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    You miss the point - the GA transclusions are being removed from the talk pages. This was never agreed upon by anybody. This was never approved by BAG or the community. I do not oppose GimmeBot's work on FAC or even the rest of the things it does for GA - I just requested that the transclusions of the review pages be left in place. The operator refused to do so, and I thus brought it to ANI. --Rschen7754 (T C) 22:01, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    No, Jenuk is not the one missing the point. The transclusions are being linked in Articlehistory. If there's a problem with the links, that should be solved at the GA level-- this process works perfectly with FAs. This is a most unfortunate assault on a much useful bot and hard-working bot owner, who isn't thanked often enough. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 22:43, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    However, that makes it more difficult for somebody to look at the reasons why the article was passed. As for "most unfortunate assault" - you seem to miss the point that I asked him to stop doing this. The only reason this is at ANI is because of his refusal. --Rschen7754 (T C) 22:48, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    In other words, this is at ANI because an editor did not cave to your demands.... Gimmetrow 01:12, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    Don't you think that's rather inflammatory language Gimmetrow? This is at ANI because you modified your bot without discussion, consensus, or authorisation, to remove transcluded GA reviews from article talk pages. In other words you have brought this on yourself, and the resolution is clear. Stop doing it. Simple. --Malleus Fatuorum 23:11, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    What a mess

    If I could go back in time, I would change some things about this thread's development. Since I can't, I'll try to salvage what is left (the issue is probably resolved so barring some new flare up another editor can archive this after a little while).

    This is, as people have noted, a pretty minor issue. One whose core may not have been too contentious to many of us. The path that it took was unfortunate. Gimmie and Rschenn could have agreed to disagree, resolved their differences personally, or called in someone from the bot noticeboard to attempt to figure a low scale solution. They didn't. We can't change that. For whatever reason, when faced with a resounding "no", Rschenn chose to come here. Those of us who lurk on these boards (or make it known quite publicly that they do not lurk here) tend to see that move as a rash escalation or a declaration of war. We have to remember that for 90% of the folks on wikipedia, this is the place you come to when there is a dispute which needs to be resolved. Never mind that it is labeled "not dispute resolution" and has a litany of signs and a small fellow with semaphores waving editors off to RS/N, WQA and what-not. People find themselves in a seemingly intractable situation and they come here for some help. Outcomes may allow us to judge that a poor choice but it doesn't seem to feed back that way.

    TL;DR for the last paragraph: the issue is here now, so we had two options. Punt it or deal with it. I had hoped that my decision to push off the actual decision on transclusion (which seems to the narrowly in favor) and focus on the issue of bot approval would give us an easy out (just get a BRFA for the job) and not send the complainant packing. Evidently that's not how it was interpreted.

    What I don't like is paragraph after paragraph of invective and bile directed at any editor who either frequents these pages or who doesn't display sufficient deference to featured content work. SG, you and gimmie and ED and all you folks who promote, watch over and copy edit FAs have contributed more to this place than I ever will. But that doesn't give any of you the right to belittle editors and it certainly doesn't give you a whole lot of ammunition to claim that Rschenn is damaging content by staking out a position. So please don't. Protonk (talk) 02:52, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    Blocked Ikip for canvassing

    {{Resolved}} Blocking admin recused, no consensus that Ikip had violated canvassing rules, Ikip unblocked. --Abd (talk) 15:06, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Block review

    Resolved – Unblocked; see next section.

    This discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
    The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

    I've blocked Ikip (talk · contribs) for AFD canvassing, most recently in Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/Virginia Lewis (10th Kingdom). I invite review. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 10:22, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Where was he canvasing at? Aren't you suppose to post a few links to prove your point? Dream Focus 10:27, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Was it just that one area? Where he mentioned something was at the AFD, at two other articles on characters from the series that were up for deletion as well recently? When delitionists make their rounds, nominating everything from a particular series at once, those involved in one should be made aware of the similar debates, since its basically the same thing usually anyway. In this case character articles from a series were all nominated for deletion. Dream Focus 10:38, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Ikip has long made a practice of pushing the boundaries of WP:CANVASS, and makes a regular practice of linking AFDs to favorable venues. His article talk contributions speak for themselves. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 10:39, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    And another related article was up for AFD three months ago, but other than that only the one article was on AFD. That's not "character articles from a series all nominated for deletion" or "delitionists mak their rounds". - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 10:52, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    AMiB - as a deletion-minded editor you are not unimpartial and not uninvolved. You shouldn't be the blocking party here. Ikip should be unblocked immediately by you and discussion and consensus achieved. Okay, you didn't comment in this AfD but your views are pretty obvious on the matter. Casliber (talk · contribs) 10:43, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    This attitude is disturbing to me. It gives anyone who villifies their opposition a shield against criticism or censure by that opposition, because obviously that villification is the only reason they'd act, right? Ikip has been warned and warned and warned, by a variety of editors and admins, about various probes of the limit of WP:CANVASS, and continues to constantly advertise AFDs, policy discussions, and many other discussions to favorable venues. My stance here has been consistent. The canvassing is a problem. It needs to stop. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 10:52, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Use of such shields amount to attempts to change the subject off the problematic behaviour. In many case it should be view as gaming the system. Cheers, Jack Merridew 11:01, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • Were the rules of WP:canvassing broken? Was it not a Friendly notice, which is allowed? There was Limited posting AND it was Neutral in the announcement, AND Nonpartisan, AND had Open transparency. If you believe someone has violated a rule, then you should discuss it here with others, and let the editor defend himself, before taking such an action. Dream Focus 10:46, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    (ecx2)I'm missing something here. This is the only edit (of two in total by Ikip) to that deletion discussion, which appears to come firmly under the heading of Misplaced Pages:CANVASS#Friendly_notices (if even that, since WP:CANVASS is more relevant to user talkpage edits than article talkpages). I also see you didn't get round to placing any warning that you'd blocked Ikip, nor did you mention on their talkpage the existence of this thread (I've now rectified that omission). Tonywalton  10:52, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    I can only do so much at once. I left a note at his talk page regarding the block immediately after blocking, then invited ANI review, then replied to DF at the same time you put a notice on his talk. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 10:55, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Your edit says nothing about a block. Tonywalton  11:00, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    I don't think it was going to be unclear that he was blocked, what with the big "You have been blocked!" thing whenever he tries to edit. However people end up feeling about the block, hairsplitting about the wording of a block notice doesn't particularly interest me. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 11:08, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    I'm afraid I don't see it as tangential. Blocking someone unilaterally, without any apparent consensus, failing to warn them of it in a polite (or indeed any) manner previously, then taking it here without having the courtesy to mention it to them are what I might call unacceptable behaviour rather than hairsplitting, and do interest me. This is hardly conduct likely to encourage editor to modify their behaviour. I agree with others here; this is not a good block. Tonywalton  11:49, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Two issues here. First, this pattern of canvassing isn't new. He's been warned about it both here and on his talk page, most recently over the whole WP:ARS recruitment fiasco and similar "FYI" posts for WT:FICT. Second, I was busy considering my first reply here when you linked the ANI thread on his talk page; I didn't even get a chance. I am done discussing the latter point, but invite review of the former. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 12:32, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Whilst we obviously have major issues with canvassing and votestacking on AfD and the Article Rescue Squadron, this isn't really a good block. Not so much because you're involved, but he hasn't really caused mass disruption. If he'd spammed a lot of editors with a partisan message then fine, block away, but a few editors (even if it's known they'll probably contribute in a certain way) with a "FYI" message? A stiff warning would've been better here. However, AMIB is absolutely right that the disruption emanating from certain quarters of the ARS (which has now moved into projectspace) needs to stop. Black Kite 10:55, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Agree with above. Testing the limits of WP:CANVASS is not forbidden, breaking it is. If your only reason for blocking him is that he did not in fact break the rules, then the block was wrong. As this discussion shows, there is no such consensus that his actions were block-worthy and you should have considered proposing a block here rather than just doing it. Even if you are not biased against this editor, your past history and your actions may be seen as such - something you should have avoided by allowing the community to make that decision. There was no need for any rush in blocking ikip and thus there was none for you to do it. Regards SoWhy 10:57, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    I want to avoid making this into a whole ARS versus the world mess. I still believe in the basic good work of WP:ARS. I don't want blocking Ikip to be used by anyone as "This is an example of the disruption WP:ARS is causing!" nor do I want to see unblocking him used as vindication of misuse of that project. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 11:32, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    The point is not what you want but how people will react. You have to admit that you were involved with this editor in the past and that you occupy a philosophy on the other end of the spectrum. Both is not forbidden but both will definitely lead to such associations, whether you like it or not. The point is this: If you know about those things and there is no real need for a block to stop current disruption, you should always bring it here before blocking, not afterwards. Even the (unfounded) suspicion that an admin might use his/her tools to sanction an editor who they have difficulties with is very damaging for the trust the community has for their admins. Again, noone is saying you did it because of that but some comments below (like Cameron Scott's) prove that this is definitely how some people will view this and you should have considered this before taking action against ikip. Regards SoWhy 15:59, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    AMIB's issue seems to be with the following diffs . But these were postings related article talk pages, which are acceptable and in fact encouraged by AfD guidelines. Quote: "Place a notification on significant pages that link to your nomination, to enable those with related knowledge to participate in the debate." The notifications were neutral, and could have been picked up by editors wanting to help merge just as much as !vote keep. Ikip also informed users on the AfD of his notices as encouraged by guidelines. It seems abundantly clear to me that Ikip should not have been blocked, and certainly not unilaterally by AMIB. the wub "?!" 10:58, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    I support the block for the reasons given by AMIB. Verbal chat 11:09, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    No real comment about this particular block (no time to look into it), but I had email about Ikip and canvassing this morning as well as seeing this on my watchlist. Which is just to say that there is at least one other situation going on right now where he's been accused of inappropriately canvassing. This might be worth having a peek at as well, at least according to one of the people who have contacted me with concern about this issue. --SB_Johnny | 11:53, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    What if the nominator did not inform anybody of the AfD discussion? It is suggested in WP:BEFORE / WP:AFDHOWTO to contact other editors or projects. Can someone be blocked for doing what the nominator should have done as part of the nomination? --Avant-garde a clue-hexaChord 12:22, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • Support block for inappropriate canvassing, per original arguments and additional citations given. I see someone brought up the "deletionist" bullshit already; so early! seicer | talk | contribs 13:09, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • Support the block since some seem to be trying to divert the attention to AMIB's role in the action rather than why it was done. David D. (Talk) 13:23, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • Oppose, so long as we're !voting. 1) WP:AFDHOWTO explicitly states "Do not message editors about AfD nominations because they support your view on the topic. This can be seen as votestacking. See Misplaced Pages:Canvassing for guidelines. But if you are proposing deletion of an article, you can send a friendly notice to those who contributed significantly to it and therefore might disagree with you.". The ONLY diffs I've yet to see cited, (it seems the blocking admin either cannot or will not provide any of his/her own) consist entirely of "FYI" and a sig. Seems perfectly in-line with stated policy. I also note, with some interest, that there is no block notice on Ikip's page. Is AMIB ashamed of letting non-cabal members of his actions here for some reason...? Snarfies (talk) 13:54, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
      I was the one who brought this to a wider noticeboard for review. Give me a break. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 14:09, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Does anybody know already why Ikip has been blocked? Not that it would change anything, but at least it would light up things a bit... --Avant-garde a clue-hexaChord 13:31, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    My main objection is that AMiB has used admin tools in a dispute where he has been an involved party. See Misplaced Pages:UNINVOLVED#UNINVOLVED - this is not good. AMiB, how do you define that you are an uninvolved admin in this situation? Casliber (talk · contribs) 13:35, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    How am I involved? I've outlined a pattern of problematic behavior, each time ending up in a general warning to Not Do This Again. To my knowledge Ikip hasn't canvassed any discussion I've had a large part of except WP:FICT, where he was canvassing editors who agreed with me that it was a bad idea.
    The only involvement I have with Ikip that wasn't chiefly in agreement with him is saying "Stop canvassing, dude" and being attacked for it. The idea that attacking an admin who warns you to stop doing something disruptive "involves" them to the degree that they cannot act to stop you from persisting in that disruptive conduct is baffling to me. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 14:09, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    I think Casliber has an obligation to define exactly how he believes A Man In Black is an involved admin. Certainly it wouldn't be reasonable to argue that admins are only permitted to act against editors that share their personal philosophy about exclusionism/inclusionism. I'm not a big fan of this particular block, as I've shared on AMIB's talk page. Not being a fan of this block doesn't mean I think that AMIB has violated WP:INVOLVED, though.—Kww(talk) 14:19, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    This diff merits discussion. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 14:12, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    It seems the definition of whether people think you are involved or not depends on whether they agree with you. AMIB actions were correct, this is gaming and canvassing and should be stopped. This whole involved/univolved thing is tedious. AMIB brought it here for discussion, so attacks against him should stop. Verbal chat 14:36, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • AMIB failed to provide evidence supporting the block. Editors should not have to guess. If AMIB doesn't have time to to a block properly, AMIB shouldn't do it.
    • The notices we guessed were the basis were proper, allowed, or even encouraged. Ikip was not violating WP:CANVASS.
    • AMIB was acting outside community consensus here, and that some editors seem eager to support this block goes to show....
    • Because concerns were raised about action while involved, AMIB should have immediately recused, allowing any other admin to unblock, if AMIB wasn't willing to unblock directly.
    • Because there is clearly no consensus for block, and blocks should represent consensus, and because there has been adequate discussion here to make this clear, User:Ikip should be immediately unblocked by any neutral admin who comes across this discussion. --Abd (talk) 14:15, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
      On the fourth point, isn't that what coming here for review means? I don't much interact with the bureaucracy of blocking. If I need to say so outright, then any admin can reverse my administrative actions if they feel that they are improper. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 14:34, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Thank you, AMIB, that makes it very clear, and could avoid further disruption. --Abd (talk) 14:43, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • As for reversing it myself, I'm torn; the opposition is "This was not a good reason to block," the support is "Despite that this user is obnoxious and this just happens to be on the inside of the technical line." - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 14:22, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
      • You have no obligation to unblock, unless you conclude that the block was in error. Let me suggest that it was, because the actions Ikip took that you considered canvassing were actions that are routinely accepted as proper or even desirable, even if the effect might be some differential participation at the AfD. He wasn't just "on the inside of the technical line," he was doing what is allowed or even suggested. If you unblock, this resolves this whole disruptive dispute, in one stroke. Hence it would be laudable. --Abd (talk) 14:56, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • Oppose: I've looked at the diff's and I don't see what's the problem with Ikip's notifications. The notices were neutral in content and at related talk pages. Canvassing is allowed and "votestacking" seems to be thrown around a lot without any evidence. Like Casliber, I'm troubled that the admin my not be completely uninvolved in these articles. With that kind of power, AMIB should have deferred to another neutral admin for review or at least solicited comment before taking unilateral action. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mattnad (talkcontribs) 14:15, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • Oppose Improper due to the previous involvement of User:A Man In Black who has been stirring up trouble about this for days now. There was no breach of WP:CANVASS and a block is not an appropriate response in any case as blocks are not supposed to be punitive. Colonel Warden (talk) 14:30, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
      I've criticized Banjeboi for proposing the modification of a template to solicit people directly to a deletion discussion when it was originally intended for something else. I don't recall Ikip even being involved in that discussion.
      If you mean questioning whether Ikip's canvassing of various discussions strictly to favorable audiences is a good idea, well, you caught me. Damn me for asking for input first. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 14:34, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • As an utterly neutral and uninvolved party, I am very troubled by the way this discussion is going about, which is more like a witch-hunt than anything else. I would like to review the unblock and cannot support an unblock until things calm down so that the evidence can be reviewed properly. If you make a claim that an admin is involved, you need to provide diffs first - asking the admin to prove how he is uninvolved first is absolutely unreasonable. Interim support. Ncmvocalist (talk) 14:32, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    The possible problem with involvement has been resolved by AMIB through his explicit recusal, so it is moot, leaving only the issue with the block itself. NCMV, your comment criticized the "witch-hunt" against AMIB, but then supported (interim) the block without giving a reason. Given that the stated reason for the block was defective, as there was no canvassing, but only quite proper, even desirable neutral notice to articles under AfD, I'd think you could agree that unblocking is appropriate now. --Abd (talk) 14:50, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    In striking my vote, I neither endorse or oppose the unblock as I am still asking questions to both administrators to satisfy my concerns over how this was handled broadly; this includes questions over the initial block. But this does not detract from you inappropriately closing this in the absence of allowing discussion of the subsequent unblock; I note that the unblocking admin appropriately reverted your closing. Ncmvocalist (talk) 15:49, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    I have to support what Ncmvocalist has said. We should review the block, not who made the block. A decision is either right or wrong, it does not change depending on who made it. Chillum 14:38, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    • AMIB is an involved admin deep in the inclusionist/deletionist wars, and involved admins are explicitly forbidden from using their tools. AMIB at this point has no more standing to use his tools to process AFDs, or anything related to them. He needs to respect that, or the next time he's probably on a short train to RFC and then Arbcom. rootology (C)(T) 14:48, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
      Exceptional claims require exceptional justification. Either take this to the arbcom to have my admin bit removed over this, or strike it. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 15:28, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Like I said, we are reviewing the block, not the admin. Either the block was correct or incorrect, who made it is not going to change that. I will not accept the idea that the same decision can be correct when one person makes it and incorrect when another makes it. Either it is a correct decision or it is not. Chillum 14:56, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    (edit conflict)Hear hear. I agree. Re the ARS: If there are problems with the ARS (and there may be, or with a subset) then that is a separate matter and should be brought up elsewhere. Verbal chat 14:44, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Ikip has made a practice of pushing the limits of WP:CANVASSING. At every opportunity, he advertises any contentious discussion with which he is involved to any sympathetic party (most infamously here, advertising an otherwise-neutral project on hundreds of article talk pages of people with "inclusionist" userboxes), not respecting any requests that he desist save when they are enforced, and following only the letter of the rules. When anyone calls him on this, he goes on the attack, describing them as deletionists or devoted to destroying article content. However, he's aware that soliciting only those who agree with him is wrong (criticizing Ryan4314 for it here), but continues to walk the line any way he can.

    I blocked him because I do not feel that Ikip will respect any sanction that is not enforced. I respect that the reason I blocked him in this case may have been within the letter of the rules; the wording of the rules shifts often enough that I'm not always 100% up to date. Nevertheless, I feel that this is a pattern of disruptive behavior that needs addressing.

    Diffs forthcoming. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 14:47, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    • What diffs? http://en.wikipedia.org/Special:Contributions/Ikip
    • That's all we need. How long ago was this blockable canvassing? Also, read my note to Chillum. You as an admin have zero standing or authority to levy this block as one of the deepest "deletionist" partisans on this site, just as anyone deeply involved in the squadron would have zero standing or authority to undo it. You must undo this block and not do such a thing again, or you will not be long for your tools once the Arbitration Committee sees what you're about. All that aside, blocks are preventative. Note: that's preventative for Misplaced Pages's protection, not your political inclinations. You pretty much missed the goal as far right as you can on this one, for being involved. rootology (C)(T) 14:50, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
      Edit conflicting with me trying to edit them in isn't gonna get them here any faster. Also, I'm adding diffs for my assertions; are you? - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 14:54, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • Unblock. There is hardly ANY canvassing here, and cross-posting a note that is just the AFD itself plus the text "FYI" to a tiny handful of talk pages is not canvassing or disruptive to the AFD process, which already has too few people looking at it. I would unblock myself, but I don't think I'm a totally uninvolved editor in regards to Ikip. In regards to inclusionism/deletionism, I'm 100% uninvolved (just look at how many AFDs I've begun and I believe I'm about 66% delete, the last time I looked at the stats). rootology (C)(T) 14:48, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • The more I think about it, I am uninvolved with this editor. We just used to chat back in 2006, and then he literally leaped down my throat and went off on me, on the worst terms imaginable with zero faith in me back then, and then basically said "Welcome back, congratulations," last year. Based on the zero evidence preceeding the block (involvement aside, we do NOT block for long-past or even days-past actions) in Ikip's contributions, I have unblocked. Any uninvolved admin may reblock that's not one of these people in the fights if required. rootology (C)(T) 14:55, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • I think you need to carefully justify the accusations you have made against AMIB. Being an exclusionist doesn't render him impotent when dealing with inclusionist editors, just as being an inclusionist doesn't render one impotent when dealing with exclusionists. If you believe that AMIB is so deeply involved with Ikip that his behaviour is skirting with Arbcom sanctions, I suggest that you provide evidence to support that belief.—Kww(talk) 15:08, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • Support block - we give far, far too much leeway to those who game the system, and should look particularly dimly upon those who have been warned multiple times before to stop doing it. We should also look extremely dimly upon those who show up to these sorts of discussions only to throw around ad hominem 'deletionist' or 'inclusionist' insults--for make no mistake, when one editor calls another either of those things, it is almost always intended as an insult. //roux   15:03, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • Oppose block 3 friendly neutral notices, placed exactly where and how they are supposed to be as per guideline, do not constitute canvassing. Had there neen 20 notices, there might be a case. But 3?? No consensus over the 3 edits was asked for or reached. Due process was not followed. Pique over perceptions of past edits or edit history do not justify lack of process in this one instance. Although Ikip might have pushed the guidelines a bit in the past, in this case he did no such thing... only upset an editor who does not agree with his editing style. Bad form. Schmidt, 16:33, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Rationale for my unblock

    1st:

    • Ikib blocked by AMiB on 10:18, April 26, 2009. AMiB for starters has no authority or right to block for anything related to the Article Rescue Squad, Deletionism, or Inclusionism, or anything like that, barring vandalism, as one of the major players on the "Deletionist" side. This would be like User:DGG or another user widely perceived to be on the 'other' side doing likewise. We don't allow politics in the use of admin tools, and I encourage AMiB to never do this sort of thing again, as it's a short road to RFAR and losing his bit.

    2nd:

    1. Misplaced Pages space: Nothing for 72+ hours.
    2. Article talk: Nothing for 72+ hours.
    3. User talk by Ikip: Nothing for 72+ hours.
    4. Misplaced Pages talk by Ikip: Nothing for 72+ hours.

    Again, any demonstratably uninvolved admin can freely reverse my unblock, I waive all wheel warriness, etc rootology (C)(T) 15:12, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    I'm disappointed that you didn't address any of my comments to Casliber on this subject while still accusing me of being involved, but I respect unblocking due to a lack of a pressing issue to prevent. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 15:21, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    The first part of your argument is a real stretch, and it's part of the reason why disruptive inclusionists and exclusionists seem to operate under a protective shield. Admins on the same side aren't inclined to block, admins on the opposite side use an extreme interpretation of WP:INVOLVED to justify inaction, and admins uninvolved in the issue at all are so tired of the mess that they don't poke their nose into it. AMIB has not participated in the discussion in question, and seems not to be involved with Ikip except for repeated warnings about canvassing and near-canvassing. Your second argument is that after having been warned by an admin multiple times about behaviour, the editor does it again, and the admin didn't catch it fast enough? I think arguments against the block based on Ikip not having technically violated the canvassing rules warrant discussion, and I can respect those. Arguing that no exclusionist can ever block an inclusionist or vice versa means that we might as well give up and split the project in two.—Kww(talk) 15:23, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Not at all--just report the issues here, and the uninvolved folks can sort it out. The same as anything else. :) rootology (C)(T) 15:25, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Nice theory ... in practice, they just turn into squabbles that people tune out, like this one: giant squabblefests with one group of admins afraid to act, another group uninclined to act, and everyone so eager to blame it on inclusionism/exclusionism that they don't evaluate the situation and judge whether the underlying behaviour of either party warrants action.—Kww(talk) 15:40, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    It wouldn't be the first time I've been accused of being overly idealistic. rootology (C)(T) 15:47, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Probably 90% of active admin are uninvolved in fiction, and at least half do other things than participate in deletion/inclusion debates at all. But they're willing to help out in other areas as neutrals, just as I ewill comment here on things i don't otherwise actively work on. I don't primarily hunt down vandals or copyvio or BLP violations (unless I happen to come across them) but if there's a dispute about it, I can look. That's what this board is for. DGG (talk) 18:52, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    But that's not what happens on this board. Hell, we are on AN/I right now and look what is happening. Admins and editors are sorting neatly into groups based on their preferences and those without preferences are either ignoring the issue or clucking their tongues at what a shame it is to have disputes like this. At what point are we allowed to just say that treating wikipedia like a battleground is OK as long as your area of advocacy is notability of fictional subjects? Because that's what it looks like from here. Protonk (talk) 23:03, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    No accusation was made, Root. He just said that in practice the model doesn't work. Most of the cases do tend to fall right along the lines that Kww mentioned. Protonk (talk) 22:59, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    'Nuff said

    I don't think A Man In Black blocked for political reasons or out of bad faith, but perhaps he should have sought community opinion before the fact, rather than after the fact. I don't think Rootology should have been the one to do the unblocking since he is to some extent involved, but I don't think he unblocked in bad faith either.

    FWIW, I would have unblocked if Ikip had requested unblocking via template. The fact that he didn't is rather odd, but that's neither here nor there. Both admins involved here were a bit quick to hit the buttons, but I don't see any reason to think that either were being quick out of malice or without a belief that they were taking correct action. --SB_Johnny | 16:40, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Pattern of problematic adminship?

    This is not the first time A Man In Black has blocked someone with whom he was involved and which garnered the community's scrutiny. See also Misplaced Pages:Administrators'_noticeboard/IncidentArchive489#Review_of_A_Man_In_Black.27s_block_of_Jtrainor. Given this admin's extensive block log for edit warring as well, I strongly urge the community to consider to what extent adminship has been abused by this editor when dealing with opponents per WP:INVOLVED. After all, don't we as a community occasionally consider desysopping after two bad blocks? We have at least two questionable blocks as well as a long history of edit warring. Sincerely, --A Nobody 17:18, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Indeed. A block that ended a long-running case of brinksmanship over copyright is a clear example of a a pattern of inappropriate blocks. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 17:30, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    I've seen nothign wrong with AMiB's actions as an admin, and I've been on the wrong side of it before. Knock it off. One dubious block in which the major opposition is a direct attack on AMiB's 'wikipolitics' is hardly anything, and another lbock which was reviewed is also not enough. ThuranX (talk) 17:27, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    No, desysopping is only handled by Jimbo Wales and Arbcom, and if the administrator elects it, WP:RECALL (which AMiB does not), so either User talk:Jimbo Wales or WP:RFAR. MBisanz 17:30, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    AMIB has a history of edit warring, and then blocking people to get his way. I can't say I'm terribly surprised he would misuse his tools in other venues as well. Jtrainor (talk) 21:35, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Jtrainor was invited to rehash his six-month-old dispute over copyright with me by Ikip here. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 21:37, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Which is irrelevant, as I regularly browse and comment on WP:ANI (as my contrib history will show) and thus would've noticed this eventually anyways. Ikip just sped the process up a bit. Jtrainor (talk) 21:47, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    No. Ikip leaving a note regarding this ANI post on the talk page of an editor favorable to his particular position isn't relevant at all. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 21:53, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Having likewise been blocked over opinions of content issues during a dispute, I likewise believe that A Man In Black has gone above and beyond his station in certain instances. Perhaps not material for an RFAR, but nevertheless Jtrainor should not be singled out as a unique "problematic" case - this has happened before and to other people. MalikCarr (talk) 22:03, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    For example, MalikCarr, at the same time and for the same cause as Jtrainor, also here rehashing that same six-month-old dispute. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 22:06, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Ikip didn't leave a note on Malik's page, however. Anyways, saying "it's old" is irrelevant when one is attempting to display a pattern of inappropriate behaviour. Jtrainor (talk) 22:13, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    In addition to involved or at least questionable blocks of Jtrainor, MalikCarr, and Ikip, at least one other has come under scrutiny as seen at Misplaced Pages:Administrators'_noticeboard/IncidentArchive475#Edit_War_at_Now_Museum.2C_Now_You_Don.27t_.26_Request_for_review_of_actions. The revert warring mentioned there has actually occurred on SIX articles and not just the one discussed at ANI (I am surprised that hadn't been brought up yet at ANI): , , , , , and . Sincerely, --A Nobody 03:19, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    This discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
    The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

    The only problem I see here is a bunch of editors with a vendetta. Such witch hunts look worse for the hunters than the so called witches. David D. (Talk) 22:15, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    • When fully half of your entire edits to Misplaced Pages have been reverting content disputes with an admin, and three-quarters of your blocks from that same admin, you tend to take on a rather jaded perspective to the whole project. Incidentally, he's not referring to a dispute six months ago, but rather to a dispute that lasted six months, went through RFC and ARB, and still didn't really produce any firm conclusions. I'd argue that the recourse from that isn't a vendetta, rather simply seeking returns on great inequities. MalikCarr (talk) 22:29, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • Self evident? Are you joking? No really, please provide some evidence for your sweeping claims. Protonk (talk) 22:34, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • Read the whole thread here. A request for block review is brought here. It is was undone. There was no argument other than an agree to disagree conclusion. That should have been the end of the discussion but the whole thread goes off on mulitple tangents. Focus on the the big picture and keep content dispute to the article talk pages. David D. (Talk) 22:46, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • I have read the whole thread. I don't see how this condenses to a content dispute and I don't see how going off on "tangents" offers evidence for your accusation that editors/admins here have been motivated by a vendetta. Perhaps you'd like to retract that accusation. Protonk (talk) 22:56, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • My main problem is the fact that editors are intent on abandoning AGF without any great cause to do so. I would hope that if you think AMiB is acting on a vendetta that you provide some evidence--evidence beyond the fact that he has brought Ikip's conduct here before and beyond vague hints at wikistance. I'm also well aware that this thread isn't just about the block in question. That's part of the problem. Protonk (talk) 23:05, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • Actually I'm still waiting for the diffs that resulted in the block of Ikip in the first place. Did AMiB already provide them? --Avant-garde a clue-hexaChord 23:09, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Man, I need a scorecard or something, this thread is turning into allusions to implications to veiled accusations of implied misdoing... - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 22:59, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Man, you need to just shut your damn yap and stop replying to every accusation :-). Just sayin. --SB_Johnny | 23:04, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    A question

    To get things straight, is there now some sort of more expansive standard for involvement that I don't see in WP:UNINVOLVED applied to admins on one side or the other of a wikistance dispute--or more accurately, admins who have been characterized by third parties as being on one side or the other? Because if there is it better be written in policy that has some community consensus and if there isn't we better stop reversing blocks without speaking to the blocking administrator on the basis of this imagined new "recusal" framework.

    More to the point, when we find this new raft of administrators who are neutral in every respect on every issue and who also have an interest in wading into these periodic shitstorms, please let me know. Protonk (talk) 18:16, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    first step is to ask here, not assume there isn't anybody. DGG (talk) 18:59, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    There is noone who is neutral on every issue but that's not needed anyway. You just need an admin who is neutral on the issue at hand and there are plenty of those. As DGG says, ask here before assuming that there is noone. Regards SoWhy 19:29, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    If I could speak for Protonk, I think his point was that if the standard for being uninvolved comes down to whether the community views you as inclusionist or deletionist, we're in for trouble. Does the community see me as inclusionist or deletionist? I have no idea, nor do I really care. Could you find three editors who see me as deletionist? You bet -- I could probably even give you a list. Could you find three who see me as an inclusionist? Yes, absolutely. But if that means I could never block an editor over misbehavior at AfD, then I doubt you'll find any admin who could.--Fabrictramp | talk to me 19:51, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    I'm not being clear. I understand that help can and should be found on the admin boards. I'm just wondering why this apparent new standard for neutrality isn't written in policy anywhere. Protonk (talk) 19:39, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    (just woke up - need coffee but this important) There is no new standard here. We have a policiy on uninvolved and AMiB is way involved as a common player in the trenches at AfD on the opposing side to Ikip. This is patently obvious. Also it is especially important in greyer areas like the neutral wording of three notes to other uses. Rootology summed it up well above after I went to sleep last night. This is in no way a borderline case. Can you imagine if I blocked a deletionist for incivility? People would (rightly) point out my nonimpartial position. Casliber (talk · contribs) 20:16, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    You're an inclusionist? - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 20:26, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Damn straight. yep. Unless on misinformation, then no. Casliber (talk · contribs) 20:57, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Cool. Do you send me the membership of the mailing list, then, so I know who I'm too involved to censure?
    I generally leave such labeling nonsense to the people who actually care about it. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops)
    In any event. WP:UNINVOLVED is about keeping administrators from using the tools to gain the upper hand in a dispute, I thought. I'm not actually in dispute with Ikip over anything, except that his conduct is inappropriate. I don't think I could honestly say that I agree with him on all points, or that I intend to go out drinking with him, but no block I could possibly make (save possibly an indefinite one) would ever silence his advocacy for article inclusion, nor would I want it to, nor would I meaningfully benefit from it.
    If you genuinely thought that someone was being uncivil, then yeah, block them, be they deletionist, Republican, or Modovian separatist. Now, if you suspect that your evaluation is tainted by your personal feelings, sure, don't act, but administrators are trusted to use their judgement to evaluate a situation dispassionately.
    Aren't they? - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 20:46, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    But unfortunately an admin's judgment of being impartial can differ from what other users will see in a situation. As Casliber pointed out, this is probably not anything about deletionists vs. inclusionists but about your contributions which include a track record of debates on the opposite side to ikip. If any deletionist had made the block, I doubt we would have most of this discussion, it's just what happens if someone makes an administrative decision when they previously were in a content dispute with the same user. As a rule, I think admins should avoid taking administrative action against users who they were previously involved in a content discussion, even if they are not involved in the dispute which was reason for the action at hand. It would help avoid such accusations, at least a bit. Regards SoWhy 20:52, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Um, yeah. AMiB and dispassionate. I certainly wouldn't have thought of that adjective in describing some of your exchanges. OK, you weren't on opposite sides in this particular AfD, but there have been many of these exchanges - I have had them with you myself there. "I don't think I could honestly say that I agree with him on all points" is rather an understatement don't you think? Casliber (talk · contribs) 20:55, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    That's nice that you picked on that aside, but you still haven't ascribed to me an ulterior motive that makes sense. Posit that I'm a complete blackguard, willing to do whatever I can to accomplish...something. It can't be to shut Ikip up, because he's going to be back in two days to argue to keep articles, just like before. It can't be to make him less convicted to prevent articles from deletion, because any persecution will only galvanize him. It can't be to strike some greater blow against article inclusion, since a fair few passionate self-declared inclusionists keep Ikip at arm's length. So whatever it is Villainous AMIB is out to do, he's doing it pretty badly by blocking Ikip and coming to ANI for review.
    I'm not so much offended by the accusation of bad faith (I'm not so naïve as to expect that in a sufficiently large group that nobody will see evidence of bad faith) so much as I'm offended by the implicit accusation that I'm a villain and I suck at it. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 21:34, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Your words not mine (re 'villain'). You are the one who has had some heated exchanges at AfD and has argued to delete in many. I am pointing out that you shouldn't use admin tools in AfD debates with someone on the opposite side. Casliber (talk · contribs) 23:53, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    The whole uninvolved admin bit is to keep admins from using the tools to gain some sort of advantage. The advantage I gain by blocking Ikip is... - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 00:18, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    ...temporarily silencing someone of an opposing viewpoint whom you once proposed User:A Man In Black/Let's tape Ikip up in a box and mail him to the moon. Sincerely, --A Nobody 02:04, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    Silencing him from where? (And that was a joke about the silliness of citing clearly ridiculous proposals and essays. Clearly, "Note to self: Buy more stamps" was part of my plan to silence opposition.) - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 02:06, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    Wait a second. So I'm trying to silence my opposition, based on a three-month-old, now-closed RFC where Ikip agreed with me? - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 01:11, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Fabric hits the nail on the head. The problem with this nebulous, untwritten standard for involvement is that anyone can declare someone too partisan to render a decision. this isn't as simple as (as AMiB puts it) determining whether or not an admin has given him or herself the upper hand in a dispute with the tools. we are inventing some "meta-dispute" between "inclusionists" and "deletionists" whereby any admin who has expressed an opinion about content in any fashion can be ginned up to be party to this "meta-dispute". After someone has announced that said admin is party to the dispute, who are we to argue with them? AMiB has voted to delete things in the past and has (Gasp!) pulled the trigger and deleted things. But in the absence of some actual meta-dispute (note the lack of scare quotes) we have to be convinced that AMiB is so tainted by his prejudice that he will use the tools inappropriately.

    so what is it? Is there some dispute on wikipedia that I am party to, despite not having voted in or closed and AfD for months? Where do I fit on the scale? who am I not allowed to block based on their stance? Because I want to know. apparently it is some community standard, long held, that I'm ignorant of. So clue me in. Protonk (talk) 20:58, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Yes, I am convinced AMiBs participation here was wrong and gives the strong appearance of prejudice (regardless of motive). Casliber (talk · contribs) 23:53, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    I'll leave aside sundry issues with that declaration and press on my key point. Who may take action? I note that you haven't pressed particularly hard to state that Ikip was on the straight and narrow. Presuming that he wasn't, who is allowed to block? Who is allowed to block and ask for review (as AMiB did here)? Who is allowed to block only after seeking review? Where is all of this written? Protonk (talk) 23:59, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    OK, my opinion on the action (neutrally worded notes on 3 editor's pages), is that it was in a grey area. I note that alot of deleters will spend more time at AfD than alot of content editors and keepers, but that is a bigger-picture thing. Bakc to process - if I saw an editor which whom I was concerned there might be the perception of me being non-impartial, then I would ask here whether other admins thought it block-worthy. This happens fairly regularly here. If an action is genuinely blockable, other admins will concur and might do it themselves or give me the green light to do so. If it was an absolute no-brainer, eg editor is revelaed to be sock of banned editor, it is not such a big a deal as these grey areas above. Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:08, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    "I note that alot of deleters will spend more time at AfD than alot of content editors and keepers, but that is a bigger-picture thing."strikes me as unrelated, but ok. Where is this standard for admin action written down? where, if I were just learning how to be an admin, would I look for guidance on the subject? I just want to answer that. Here I'm deliberately avoiding discussing the presumption that a meta-debate constitutes an involvement just as an actual article debate would. I'll concede that for the sake of argument. Protonk (talk) 00:37, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    I think it's fairly simple. Have you and I been in content and/or policy disputes and/or DR escalations vs each other? If so, you and I have zero business or right using the tools on each other. There's a reason we have a thousand admins. If one of has been naughty, any one of them similarly uninvolved can take action if required. That's my standard, and I think that of most people. rootology (C)(T) 01:02, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    I don't want to be rude, but I think it is even simpler. We have a standard for admin involvement at WP:INVOLVED. If no one here can point to some policy suggesting that the standard is much higher then we don't get to act as though it is. I mean, I agree with you that the ideal state is the invervening admin be neutral in all respects. But I'm not going out on a limb when I say that community practice doesn't being to approach this state as we have applied it here. To pick on two people, Stifle and Fut Perf both have clear, announced views on non-free image use. They have been involved in RfCs, content discussions, deletion debates, deletion reviews and so forth. Under this standard you propose, they would be unable to close an image deletion debate or block someone for uploading copyrighted material. How is that workable? what happens when the only people interested in working the trenches have a POV on the subject? Protonk (talk) 01:11, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    Yes, there will be borderline cases. This isn't borderline. I admit I'm surprised to see it, for I regard AMIB as one of the most level headed among the strong opponents of Ikip's position--AMIB and I have had useful discussions over the issues involved, on my talk p. and elsewhere. DGG (talk) 00:11, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    I think that we should dredge up the fact that being a fooist doesn't say anything about behaviour (for example, DGG and Cas are really nice chaps despite the fact I disagree with them sometimes) and being a barist doesn't automatically make you involved. That said, as much as Ikip irritates me, this block was more punitive rather than preventative. As rootology pointed out, he was dormant for two days prior. Sceptre 00:41, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    Personally, my heart is inclusionist and my head is deletionist, so I am always looking for processes that will help editors to create notable articles. As far as I can assess from my lurking, A Man In Black (talk · contribs) seems to have a mission at the "heart" level that's incompatible with modern views of adminship neutrality. His September 2005 RfA was very light touch compared with the ordeal by fire that today's candidates have to endure, and few of his 2005 supporters seem to be active nowadays. I would feel more comfortable if he went through RfA again, perhaps after a tranche of coaching from Casliber if he is willing. - Pointillist (talk) 00:49, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    Pointillist might be on to something. Why not have admins go through the RfA process every couple years (kinda like an election for lack of a better term)...so the RfA isn't a one time only deal. I think that AMIB should go back through RfA and some coaching. - NeutralHomerTalk • April 27, 2009 @ 00:52
    @Neutral, see Misplaced Pages:Perennial_proposals#Reconfirm_administrators. Unless AMiB submits to it, an ANI consensus could not force him to take a reconfirmation RfA just as it couldn't desysop him. All that can/should really be discussed here is the appropriateness of this block and whether it represents a pattern of nonconstructive behavior. If people believe strongly that it does and that action against him is required, then WP:RFAR is the place to go. Trying to push for outcomes that cannot happen here is a waste of time IMO. Oren0 (talk) 00:56, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    You can't force any admin to do a recall unless there is wide consensus to make recall mandatory for all admins. Good luck on that windwill... rootology (C)(T) 01:03, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    What Oren0 (talk · contribs) says is technically correct. However, editors' acceptance of admin actions is to some extent voluntary, and for the time being A Man In Black (talk · contribs) is discredited. Bear in mind that current RfA processes ask a lot of searching questions about dispute criteria, neutrality, self-abnegation etc., none of which A Man In Black had to respond to in 2005, so a period of coaching followed by voluntary RfA would help restore his lost credibility. - Pointillist (talk) 01:13, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    Is this what prompted your strange refactoring of an innocuous comment? Protonk (talk) 01:36, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    Uh, discredited is typically = desysopped, or confirmed bad socking, that sort of thing. I'm chalking this up to a momentary lapse and/or error, myself. Shit happens, we're human. rootology (C)(T) 01:37, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    "Shit Happens" I would normally agree with, but when "shit happens" over and over and over again and it only happens when it is people who disagree with AMIB, it isn't "shit happening" anymore and it is intentional....and something needs to be done. - NeutralHomerTalk • April 27, 2009 @ 01:49
    Assume the presence of a belly-button. –Juliancolton |  03:27, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    Ack, regular resysopping would be a massive timesink. Arbcom is the place for review of misuse of admin tools, and I suggest this has been the most underutilised piece in teh admin jigsaw puzzle in recent years. And yes I would recuse from arbitrating on folks I have been in conflict with or semblance of conflict. Casliber (talk · contribs) 02:07, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    I note that you have not responded to Protonk's point earlier. Ncmvocalist (talk) 14:17, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    Which is that? There is no new standard of neutrality. Casliber (talk · contribs) 22:41, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    Which is that you and root both claim that some standard of neutrality exists which isn't written in INVOLVED. Are we appealing to the spirit of the rules, or an interpretation of the spirit that constrains admin action? Are we appealing to a policy that neither me nor AMiB are aware of? Or, as I suspect, do we have heterogeneous feelings about admin neutrality? Perhaps that heterogeneity makes it hard for us to match our 'feel' for what involvement constitutes and the policy as written. So what is it? Your response makes clear that there isn't a new standard of neutrality, so I should at least know what present policy gives us the inspiration for your interpretation. Protonk (talk) 02:32, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Casliber, this, and Protonk's most recent response to you before that (above). Would you like me to reword it for you? Ncmvocalist (talk) 06:22, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    • I tried to close this damn thing way back up there, way above the top edge of my monitor, way above my roof, somewhere in the clouds. I consider Ikip a friend who might sometimes need a little reminder. As to AMIB, okay, suppose he was involved, let's try this inclusionist/deletionist T-shirt on for size, and he saw what he believed was canvassing. What does he do? Remember, canvassing can warp an AfD. I happen to think we should allow canvassing, totally (though not spamming), and then actually follow preponderance of the arguments, with a closing admin perhaps getting a tad irritated at having to wade through useless me-too arguments, which would then naturally stop, but that's not the consensus at the moment. So, given the consensus, canvassing can waste a lot of time, as an AfD gets shut down for damage from canvassing and restarted, just saw that happen a few days ago. It's an emergency, must stop immediately. So he blocks, but, wait, he's involved. Does he unblock? No, he goes to AN and reports what he did, which is exactly what someone with an involvement seeing an emergency should do. He should have immediately disclosed a possible involvement, but, apparently, he didn't think of it that way. He should possibly have recused immediately from opposing unblock, and, in fact, as soon as I commented that he ought to do this, because of the appearance of involvement, if nothing else, he did. AMIB's behavior here was quite proper, and the only error was, I believe, in viewing neutral notices on article Talk pages to be canvassing. And admins get to make mistakes; hopefully, they learn from them. 'Nuff said; where this discussion has raised other issues, they should be sectioned as such and discussed as such, or moved to an appropriate page where some conclusion might be made, or we end up with the bane of Misplaced Pages discussions: endless rant mixed with useful comment that is wasted because it goes nowhere. None of this should be viewed as disagreement with the myriad opinions expressed above. --Abd (talk) 16:57, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
      This is to me an acceptable summary of what happened. I don't feel that I was involved in some larger meta-dispute with Ikip (I cannot see any personal gain I make by blocking him, and nobody was able to show one to me), but I brought it here in the interest of having greater input on my actions (which turned out to have been in error, due to changes in guidelines). As for recusal, where do I sign up for the "I know better than to wheel war guys, seriously" certification? I wouldn't reblock Ikip (or anyone, for that matter) without clear evidence of a compromised admin account or something. - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 02:41, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    • Disagreement over narrow (acting to gain an advantage in a specific dispute) versus loose (disagreement on a broad topic or general antipathy) interpretation of WP:UNINVOLVED is not new. If I remember correctly, a narrow violation is actionable, while a loose one may receive a warning. Of course, editors are free to express their opinions in either case. Flatscan (talk) 03:27, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    I have sat out of this argument for several days, in an effort to lessen the peity drama.
    I have a definitive answer.
    Arbitrators have continued to explain what an "Uninvolved admin" is:
    "...an administrator will be considered "uninvolved" if he or she has not previously participated in any content disputes on articles in the area of conflict."
    Under this defintion, A Man In Black is a very involved editor. Although he did not participate in the AFD in question, he has been deeply involved in policy around deletion and Article Rescue Squadron, in which we have had several heated arguments.
    A Man In Black continues to disengeniously claim that he is not involved with me. That is false, and I appreciate he retract this incredibly misleading statment. I can provide edit difference of all the arguments we have been involved in together, if necessary. Ikip (talk) 14:18, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    I would say this is an ex-parrot. You've not convinced members of ArbCom that your standards of 'uninvolved' are reasonable.The Hand That Feeds You: 22:07, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    1) These "standards" ("...an administrator will be considered "uninvolved" if he or she has not previously participated in any content disputes on articles in the area of conflict.") are not the Ikip's ones: they have been written and subscribed by arbitrators
    2) You didn't quote "the arbcom", you just quoted an arbitrator who seems to be saying that the definition given by the arbocm to the term "uninvolved" is "insane".
    --Pokipsy76 (talk) 10:11, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Notifications at related articles

    I started a discussion at WT:Canvassing#AfD notifications at related articles. One may note that I used notifications that I posted as the example. Flatscan (talk) 03:33, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    User:Markacohen disruptive editing and forum shopping

    Markacohen is a SPA whose main purpose is to add links to Holocaust denial sites into a range of articles. He claims to be an anti-Nazi and that he only wants to add them to "expose them as pseudo-science" and "shine the light of truths" into dark corners. He has come into conflict with a number of editors, has been blocked once for edit warring, and is now forum-shopping around Misplaced Pages, trying to sell a fairly creative interpretation of events. Methinks he does complain to much. This edit leads me to lay aside WP:AGF and assume that he is indeed a Neo-Nazi in disguise. I'd suggest a last warning or an immediate block. Input from other admins would be appreciated. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 15:05, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    I genuinely apologize for the edit warring and personal attacks I made initially, and was blocked for 2 days to think about it - which I did. During those 2 days, I apologized to everyone numerous times, and pledged to work within the system to resolve issues in a civil manner. During those 2 days I began reading the policies and procedures on how to properly overcome disputes. It is my genuine and honest desire to bring resolution to some issues which seem very ambigious, I am genuinely asking for help in these regards.

    I am asking in good faith and with genuine honesty:

    1. What is the proper way to seek resolution or help over the problem of Dougweller editing, deleting and modifying my discussion posts, which I believe are preventing a civil and neutral discussion of some very sensitive, taboo and controversial subjects?

    2. Can someone please help me get accurate understanding of the rules and regulations on linking to hate sites from a hate article? I understand Holocaust Denial is a very sensitive subject, so please tell me how to properly, get resolution over someone deleting a reference link to the Leuchter Report, from the Leuchter Report article.

    3. What does this mean, Misplaced Pages is not a collection of links? Whenever I post some external links in a hate article about the very hate article, I had WilliamH delete the links saying Misplaced Pages is not a hate collection of links.

    4. What is a SPA?

    I am asking in good faith, honesty and with genuine purpose for help in these regards. I do not want to fight, I make no personal attacks, I am criticizing certain behaviors that I believe are making open debate difficult in the discussion area. I know this articles are very sensitive subjects, i'm seeking how to work within the system for resolution, which is why I went to these various places asking for help.

    Please help me or tell me, how I can reword my language or questions, so they are not adversarial or causing problems.

    I apologize for anyones feelings I hurt, in anything I said. I am genuinely want to be a productive member of wikipedia.

    Sincerely, Markacohen (talk) 15:30, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    An SPA is a single-purpose account. The accusation is that you're here to make some sort of point or prove some sort of truth. (I haven't gotten involved in this to know what's going on, just clarifying the terms.) - A Man In Bl♟ck (conspire - past ops) 15:32, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Hey, thanks for helping me out here. I genuinely would like to be here for the long run, not just on controversial areas. I have been reading Misplaced Pages for more years than I can count (love it to death!), and to be part of this project is an honor and a privilege for me. My interest isn't only in Holocaust Denial / Genocide Denial, I have many other interests as well. Although, right now I have gotten into some heated discussion regarding the Holocaust Denial areas and seeking resolution. If the Administrators want, I will voluntarily resign from Misplaced Pages or simply no longer contribute to areas concerning taboo or controversial subjects. It would make me sad beyond belief if I was banned and banished from Misplaced Pages. I am humbly asking to please not kick me out of this community, I genuinely believe I can be a valuable asset here once I learn the rules for resolving issues.

    Sincerely, Markacohen (talk) 15:47, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    You've accused me today of stopping links to the Leuchter report without mentioning that I was one of 4 editors reverting you, or that there has been a link to it (albeit not to the hate sites you are trying to add) since the 23rd. You've tried to add similar links to Germar Rudolf and complained on the talk page about me and another editor, despite the fact that your rationale is that people need to read what he wrote, and we already link to what he wrote. So all your links would do is add links to hate sites. You say you want to "make sure the proper and accurate keyword(s) Pseudo Science or Pseudo History" but you seem to do nothing about that. Your links are all to hate sites, it is other people who (since you started this) have added links to debunking sites. You get reverted by 4 other editors and won't accept that there is a consensus against you but go around complaing and asking for someone to help, although during your block you were given the link to dispute resolution.
    Full disclosure - Markacohen has complained about me at Witiquette Alert because when after being reverted he added the links to the talk page and I removed the 'http://' bits. Everyone involved knew what the links were. Dougweller (talk) 16:38, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Didn't we just do this like a week ago? //roux   16:40, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Hmm, Stephan Schulz may be on to something here, but I'll continue to assume good faith for now and wouldn't endorse a sanction at this stage. Markacohen, I strongly advise you to drop this and edit something else entirely. Per WP:RS and for other reasons, we are extremely reluctant to include external links to extremist and similarly problematic websites, except where the sites themselves are the subject of the article. Each such link (like any other article text) needs editorial consensus, and the links you want to insert currently have not. You will be taken much more seriously in any discussion about this issue if you dedicate a few months to making useful contributions to entirely uncontroversial subjects, in order to demonstrate that you are serious about contributing to Misplaced Pages and not a throwaway account with some disruptive agenda.  Sandstein  16:46, 26 April 2009 (UTC) (Note: the preceding comment was added in parallel to those of Dougweller and Roux above, but for some reason there was no edit conflict.  Sandstein  16:49, 26 April 2009 (UTC))
    I'd strongly recommend not to assume good faith anymore. What makes me think that "Mark A Cohen" (why would someone "mark a cohen", actually?) is at best a kind of agent provocateur is his claim Leuchter is an "engineer" (), a claim that has been debunked several times in court and elsewhere and is held up only by fellow Holocaust deniers (). Cheers, --RCS (talk) 17:17, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    This issue has been at WP:EAR for the past few days too. --AndrewHowse (talk) 18:28, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    FYI I closed the thread at WP:WQA to avoid forum shopping. Beeblebrox (talk) 20:05, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Is this discussion closed here? or are we still able to discuss things? After watching Mr. Death on google video, there is no doubt in my mind Fred Leuchter is an engineer. You don't have to have a degree in engineering to be an engineer, it is possible to become an engineer through real life experience. I personally abhor Fred Leuchter. I abhor the message of the Leuchter Report. Just because someone is a Holocaust Denier, it does not make them not an engineer. Fred Leuchter being a bad man doesn't take away the fact he is a skilled engineer in execution technology. Please stop with the personal attacks calling me Agent Provocateur and other insulting personal attacks.

    Please stop with the personal attacks and stop trying to change the subject about the lack of substance and merit in your arguments. Can we please consolidate this discussion in one area? so I do not have to go all over the place to follow up?

    Markacohen (talk) 11:57, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    The diff brought forward by Stephan Schulz and the inclination to refer to Leuchter as an engineer when he isn't one in this context, even by his own written admission lead me to believe that we are not dealing with a good faith contributor. Furthermore, I have not reverted any of Mark Cohen's links on the basis that they are hate sites, but on the basis that Mark keeps adding them so that the reader can "come to their own opinion" - about a matter which is not a matter of opinion.
    This is a flagrant violation of WP:FRINGE, and a completely nonsensical position if Mark opposes Holocaust denial as he says he does - yet another reason why I'm inclined to believe that User:Markacohen is a SPA/Holocaust denier trying to proliferate Holocaust denial material. I would endorse an indefinite block. WilliamH (talk) 13:47, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    Hi WilliamH,

    The whole basis of me linking to the Leuchter Report, from the Leuchter Report articles is because if you are going to properly write an article about the Leuchter Report you should link to the original source. I did so on this basis:

    Extremist and fringe sources Further information: Misplaced Pages:Verifiability#Questionable sources, Misplaced Pages:Fringe theories, and Misplaced Pages:PSCI

    Organizations and individuals that express views that are widely acknowledged by reliable sources as fringe, pseudo-academic, or extremist may be used as sources of information about those organisations or individuals, especially in articles about those organisations or individuals, without the requirement that they be published experts in the field, so long as:

      1. it is not unduly self-serving;
      2. it does not involve claims about third parties;
      3. it does not involve claims about events not directly related to the subject;
      4. there is no reason to doubt its authenticity;
      5. the article is not based primarily on such sources;
    

    An individual extremist or fringe source may be entirely excluded if there is no independent evidence that it is prominent enough for mention. Fringe and extremist sources must not be used to obscure or describe the mainstream view, nor used to indicate a fringe theory's level of acceptance.

    I am more than happy to have all those hate documents put on www.Archive.org so that we do not promote all those hate sites, which if this would be the best solution to stop the revert wars and the personal attacks against me. I would rather promote neutral sites, then hate sites. However, if there are no Neutral web sites I think it is reasonable under the guidelines I posted above to link to a hate site from an article about that same very hate. I would infinitely prefer we link to a neutral site than a hate site.

    What do we do in situations where, there isn't a neutral site to link to, but only a hate site? Even though its legitimate to link to hate sites if the article is about hate, I don't want to upset you, RCS, DougWeller, jpgordon and anyone else who I consider to be on the Light side of the force if you know what I mean.

    WilliamH, I want to work with you, not be adversaries. I don't think you realize we are on the same team, we both hate Holocaust Deniers, Haters, Extremists and Racists. However, i think we should put our sensitive and personal feelings aside and work towards making wikipedia neutral and keep our own political biases out of it. Can we burry the hatchet and work together to make Misplaced Pages an even better place? I forgive you for and anyone else that made personal attacks against me, even if they are sometimes couched.

    Lets please try to work together and not fight.

    Markacohen (talk) 16:01, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    Please stop with the personal attacks.

    We finally came to consensus on Leuchter Report and found a way to link to the specific and relevant reference without linking to a hate site. You should be happy we came to Consensus, not turn this into an opportunity to make personal attacks. I am a good faith contributor, I worked within the system and we achieved consensus. Today is a great day!

    Markacohen (talk) 17:01, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    Sorry, but will you PLEASE stop making flat out wrong claims? We did not "finally find a way" - the link has been in the article for 4 days, and this has been pointed out to you over and over again. It's just that you suffer from an incredible case of WP:IDIDNTHEARTHAT. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 17:49, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    I say leave the man alone, I don't agree with that Link being in place on the Leucther Report article but well they want it there and I don't really think that all of them are Neo-Nazis so fine they can have their link and this guy Markachoen isn't doing anything worse than anyone else around.--194x144x90x118 (talk) 20:24, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    I always think it's considerate when sockpuppets report themselves at ANI and save us the trouble... -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 20:29, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    I agree with William–some things do not add up here, and with the sockpuppetry above, I'd support a block. PeterSymonds (talk) 22:14, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    What's a sock puppet or sock puppetry? Markacohen (talk) 01:12, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    See Sock puppet & WP:SOCK. — The Hand That Feeds You: 17:43, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    Main page featured article semiprotection

    Hey, I need a little help here. Ocee (talk · contribs) has taken it upon himself to semiprotect the past few TFAs, which goes against the currently accepted practice, despite my pleas to stop. Today's TFA, Operation Passage to Freedom, was semiprotected despite barely being touched, and I counted two IP edits that were positive contributions. While his idea is not completely without merit, I don't think that a unilateral decision to semiprotect accurately reflects the will of the community or the spirit of the project. --Bongwarrior (talk) 20:59, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    I've removed the semi. The edits in the history do not amount to relentless or extreme vandalism, which is the threshold for a TFA prot, and I've left a note to that effect in the log. I'm not about to go full-on guns blazing, however. If he prots again, I'm not going to sustain a wheelwar. -Jeremy 21:10, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    I agree with Bongwarrior. "This page is currently protected, and can be edited only by autoconfirmed users ... that anyone can edit!" –Juliancolton |  21:15, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    If it were true that "anyone can edit", there would be no such thing as an indefinite block. Baseball Bugs carrots 21:52, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Given the persistence of some sock farms, apparently there isn't any such thing. ;-) --Fabrictramp | talk to me 22:54, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Excellent point. Baseball Bugs carrots 23:43, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    • TFA semi protection is A Bad Thing™, and just because a guideline "hasn't been discussed in a while" doesn't mean it has lost the support of the community. –xeno 01:06, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    Semi-protecting the main page featured article is actually Doing the Right Thing™ hehe. I'm not suggesting that the guideline has lost total support from the community, I just don't think there is any sort of mandate not to semi-protect the article. I've gone into some depth on my rationale on my talk page, so feel free to take a peek if you're interested, and I'd be happy to elaborate if anyone would like. ocee 21:26, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    I am on your side, ocee, especially since the TFA's I've contributed to happen to be niche topics that don't garner many eyes to revert vandalism. But doing it as a preventative measure when it's possible good contributions might arise isn't a good idea. Unless people are having trouble keeping down the vandals, we should aim for a lighter touch. --Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs 00:23, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    The thinking on this is, there are so many eyes watching an MPFA while it's up, vandalism gets handled very swiftly, making protection of articles transcluded to the main page seldom if ever needed. Gwen Gale (talk) 00:29, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Again on the current TFA. –Juliancolton |  01:48, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Hi all, thank you for spending some of your time dropping a line and making your views known about semi-protecting the main page featured article. All the comments are much appreciated. While I do feel that I was acting in the best interests of the project and that there are good reasons to semi-protect the main page featured article, I can definitely see the benefits of leaving it unprotected, and it appears that the majority of the handful of people that have commented here see the English Misplaced Pages benefitting more from leaving the main page featured article unprotected. I hope you'll understand that I was acting in good faith, and while I stand by my rationale for protecting the featured article of the day, I certainly recognise and respect that I'm in the minority on this issue.
    With regards to the "wheel warring" hullaballoo below, I spoke with Julian before reverting him and he was fine with it, so no worries on that end. With regards to Clreland's and Deskana's suspicions, I apologise if anything seems amiss, but I do have the best interests of the project in mind. You can see my activity during 2007 here, so while I obviously took some time away from the project, the break was more like from the end of 2007 / beginning of 2008, as opposed to the end of 2006. Again, apologies for any confusion and for my boldish actions, but at least now we know (or I know, at least, it seems as if most of you were already on the bus, hehe) that semi-protecting the main page featured article might not be the best thing to do, at least not without proper discussion first. Cheers ocee 06:31, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Was this discussion with Julian off-wiki? Since it isn't obvious, you may want to note something like that in your summary next time to avoid confusion. --OnoremDil 12:21, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    We did indeed discuss the matter off-wiki, though in all fairness, my comment was along the lines of "Go ahead, I'm not going to wheel war over it". –Juliancolton |  22:12, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    That is not exactly the same as Ocee (talk · contribs)'s assertion above: With regards to the "wheel warring" hullaballoo below, I spoke with Julian before reverting him and he was fine with it. Cirt (talk) 22:19, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    Unprotect the TFA

    I think this is matter of semi protection warring now. Unless there is persistent vandalism it should not be protected. Is Ocee an actual admin on the Misplaced Pages? Their user page does not designate them as such and questions the legitimacy of the actions. JasonHockeyGuy (talk) 04:04, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    I recommend WP:POPUPS - hovering on the redlink shows s/he indeed is an admin and has been editing since 2006 Agathoclea (talk) 04:12, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    • I agree with this request. If someone thinks that premature protection is for some reason now necessary on all TFAs, they should start a discussion to see if the community agrees. --OnoremDil 04:10, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    I agree as well. Let's have a discussion instead. Would anyone disagree if I was to remove the semi-editing protection? Icestorm815Talk 04:16, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    I've removed the semi-protection and added a little note to not re-protect. Hopefully this doesn't escalate. Icestorm815Talk 04:26, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    Wheel warring by admin Ocee

    Unless I am mistaken, it looks like admin Ocee (talk · contribs) is now wheel warring at today's featured article, here: . Different admins may have different views on this, but unless there is extremely strong community-wide consensus for semi-protection of the TFA, there is certainly no justification for wheel warring. Cirt (talk) 04:24, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    I made a request at the talk page of Ocee (talk · contribs) for the admin to undo the last protection . Cirt (talk) 04:26, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Was, not is.--Tznkai (talk) 04:48, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Hopefully Ocee (talk · contribs) nor another admin will add it back... Cirt (talk) 04:50, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Ocee has committed two sins here in re Kit (assoc. football) - Protting the TFA without there being extreme vandalism, and issuing preemptive protection (which the prot-pol explicitly forbids, TFA or otherwise). I would be wise and not stir the pot any further; the prot is certainly wrong for a TFA and wrong for a standard article. -Jeremy 05:36, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    Routine TFA semi-protection

    Even before the wheel-warring incident, Ocee had semi-protected the TFA for six days running, in two cases within an hour of it going live. Much the same edit summary each time.

    1. 16:13, 26 April 2009 Ocee (talk | contribs | block) changed protection level for "Operation Passage to Freedom" (expires 00:00, 27 April 2009 (UTC)) (expires 00:00, 27 April 2009 (UTC)) ‎ (page has been "vandalised" several times since appearing on the main page, and little useful content has been added by the affected users) (hist | change)
    2. 00:26, 25 April 2009 Ocee (talk | contribs | block) changed protection level for "Hurricane Ismael" (expires 00:00, 26 April 2009 (UTC)) (expires 00:00, 26 April 2009 (UTC)) ‎ (page has been "vandalised" several since appearing on the main page, and little useful content has been added by the affected users - see http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=User_talk:Ocee&diff=285933745&oldid=285801103 for further explanation) (hist | change)
    3. 00:58, 24 April 2009 Ocee (talk | contribs | block) changed protection level for "Learned Hand" (expires 00:00, 25 April 2009 (UTC)) (expires 00:00, 25 April 2009 (UTC)) ‎ (page has been "vandalised" dozens of times since appearing on the main page, and little useful content has been added by the affected users) (hist | change)
    4. 18:47, 23 April 2009 Ocee (talk | contribs | block) changed protection level for "SkyTrain (Vancouver)" (expires 00:00, 24 April 2009 (UTC)) (expires 00:00, 24 April 2009 (UTC)) ‎ (page has been "vandalised" dozens of times since appearing on the main page, and little useful content has been added by the affected users) (hist | change)
    5. 20:54, 22 April 2009 Ocee (talk | contribs | block) changed protection level for "William IV of the United Kingdom" (expires 00:00, 23 April 2009 (UTC)) (expires 00:00, 23 April 2009 (UTC)) ‎ (page has been "vandalised" dozens of times since appearing on the main page, and little useful content has been added by the affected users) (hist | change)
    6. 19:27, 21 April 2009 Ocee (talk | contribs | block) changed protection level for "Alleyway" (expires 01:27, 22 April 2009 (UTC)) (expires 00:00, 22 April 2009 (UTC)) ‎ (page has been "vandalised" dozens of times since appearing on the main page, and little useful content has been added by the affected users) (hist | change)

    What is going on here? Hesperian 01:25, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Ocee's belief in this matter was that the TFA did not deserve any special treatment as far as protection was concerned. In the Operation Passage to Freedom article, at least (the other five I did not examine) there was indeed vandalism, but nothing above and beyond what a TFA generally gets. In fact, I'll be bold and say that that article suffered *less* than the normal amount of vandalism for a TFA. -Jeremy 02:42, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Fake GA Reviews

    New editor End of yarn just registered for an account, and passed Quark as a good article, without seeming to give it any real review from his passing "summary" and his incorrect method of trying to pass it. He's also claimed to be reviewing Prevailing winds. See Special:Contributions/End_of_yarn. I reverted these and left him a note explaining why, AGFing that he was just a new user who didn't understand the GA process. He reverted this as "trolling" sending up some red-flags in my mind. Any one else want to keep an eye on him? Have there been any sock issues at GA of late? -- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 21:40, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    What???? I read that article like 10 times and is there any sane editor here who wouldn't pass it? I don't really see the problem here. I saw the reversal as a bit hostile in my mind. End of yarn (talk) 21:42, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Yes, any sane editor would refrain from passing it as is. It fails the GA criteria. -- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 21:45, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    ... FAILS the GA criteria? End of yarn's review might not have been a real review, but there's no need to make up things about the state of the quark article. Headbomb {κοντριβς – WP Physics} 00:07, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    I'm not. It has some unsourced parts and some MoS issues. Could easily pass with a little clean up, but in its exact state at the time he passed it, it was not GA quality. -- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 00:13, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    All sections are extremely well-referenced and it's MoS compliant. Don't throw generic oppositions because you've placed your foot in your mouth. The article more than meets the GA criteria, this is an FA quality or very near-FA quality article. If you have specific comments to make, voice them at talk:quark. Headbomb {κοντριβς – WP Physics} 01:21, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    I have not placed my foot in my mouth, nor it is FA quality. There are several statements that have no references, probably just misplaced. There is no reason at all to attack me, or to take things so personally. It needs minor fixes, nothing major. You don't have to go all defensive over that. Very few articles sent to GAN are absolutely perfect for passing right then and there. Gesh. I don't see you attacking the person who made a very length post on the article talk page noting minor fixes needed. -- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 01:30, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    This is not a matter of being defensive or offensive, this is a matter of you depicting the article as something it is not, and this, to me, raises a ref flag about what you're saying about End of yarn. All statements are referenced, the article is MoS compliant, and Markus Poessel's comments are mostly about possible style issues, ways to phrases things etc. Two things stand out as needing correction (so indeed, it should not be a GA yet, but not because of referencing or of MoS compliance), but you could not have picked those up unless you already knew something about quarks and group theory and read the article in details, which, judging from your background and the timing of your edits, is not the case.
    I've said my piece about your argument against End of Yarn's edits. I don't care much about what happens to him/her, but let's not hang him/her on fallacious grounds. I'm now unwatching this page, those who want to say something about the quark article are invited to discuss on talk:quark. I can be reached on my talk page for anything else. Headbomb {κοντριβς – WP Physics} 02:22, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    Note: will decline to leave an AN/I notice since he found this within minutes of me posting it anyway. -- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 21:44, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Even though WP:GAN states that Articles can be nominated by anyone, and reviewed by any registered user who has not contributed significantly to the article, I smell something fishy, as well. MuZemike 21:57, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

    Or ducky. Baseball Bugs carrots 23:42, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    The recently-indef'd sock farmer ItsLassieTime (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) admitted to being a GA junkie and some wondered if that user had used fake support win some GA's, but I don't think that angle was investigated - nor does that case necessarily have anything to do with this case. Baseball Bugs carrots 23:45, 26 April 2009 (UTC)
    Meh, doesn't sound or look like a duck, quite yet. Keep in mind the articles ILT was working on. Jumping from 1950s/1960s television shows to a high level of physics is not quite convincing of skull-duckery. No one has heard a single peep, either; that is, claiming to be an 80-year-old from a retirement home or a "socker mom" trying to protect her daughter. MuZemike 04:35, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    While ILT did intimate that there are socks remaining in the drawer (there was a reference to a "fictitious Harvard student", for instance) and EoY's original talkpage has a certain faint quackiness to it I don't think we're ordering the orange sauce just yet. Bear in mind also that the IP ILT habitually used was blocked for 6 months, as well (and still is blocked, expiring on 8th October 2009). Tonywalton  15:29, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    Question: Was there a review page? I can't find one. Diderot's dreams (talk) 17:16, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    Nope, he just threw a short comment on the talk page then updated the GA template. -- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 17:31, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    Well, then there was no review and the article cannot be passed without it. Maybe this is just a new form of vandalism (vandals are getting more creative these days) and needs admin attention. On the other hand, several hours passed between EndofYarn taking the review at GAN and passing the article, so that is not inconsistent with going over the article multiple times, as claimed. But there must be a written review done. Period. And if anyone disagrees with it they can challenge the review at Good Article Reassessment.
    Maybe the best way to proceed is for EndofYarn to post a review, explaining how the article meets each of the GA criteria. If they really applied the criteria this shouldn't take long. We could proceed from there.
    I see one shortcoming to the article had at the time of the debated review. This edit, made subsequent to the article being passed for GA, changed the term 'mass' to 'rest mass' which means the article had at least one problem with factual accuracy at the time it was approved. Diderot's dreams (talk) 19:52, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    This user hostilely reverted every single one of my edits and called my legitimate effort to review this article fake. It is in my opinion that this thread is here because the user is mad that they were called a troll.

    Now, if no one has anything else to say I would like to give this article a "real" review End of yarn (talk) 22:08, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    "Every one of your edits"? You had made all of eight edits, nor were they all reverted. Your passing articles as GA without giving them a proper assessment was reverted, as is appropriate. A new editor suddenly passing GA articles would throw up red flags with ANY experienced GA reviewer and I'm sure if I hadn't reverted, someone else would have. You have no visible experience here, yet are suddenly passing random articles in a topic that is one of the most difficult to evaluate and has its own special criteria is cause for concern. I left you a note, assuming in good faith, that you meant well, yet you responded in a hostile fashion, causing me to wonder if my assumption of good faith was wrong and thus seek outside opinions. You are the only one responding in a hostile here, and I can't help but wonder why? And why a new editors first actions would be to start doing good article reviews, or how you even know about them, as few new users are aware of that area. I could care less if you call me a troll, though it was uncivil. -- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 22:29, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    I like to WP:AGF for a split second here Collectonian, as much as I understand your overall concern ... maybe Yarn was previously someone else who exercised their right to vanish and has returned. After all, in ALL of Misplaced Pages, we're not judged by the number of our edits, but the quality of a few of them. (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 22:36, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    RTV is not a right to "start fresh". So if he did exercise RTV, he would be violating it: "Vanished users have no right to silently return under a new identity." -- Collectonian (talk · contribs) 23:12, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    Ok, then maybe they have an alternate account...that's not sockpuppetry according to the rules. Maybe they're a PhD in English and Journalism who has been reading GA's in Misplaced Pages for 4 years, and finally decided that they felt like reviewing them, so they created a userid. Then again, you may be right, they may be disruptive. We just don't know, do we, so we need to WP:AGF,and not judge based merely on # of edits. (talk→ BWilkins ←track)

    I am no one's "sockpuppet". As you said, I have been reading Misplaced Pages articles for a while, I noticed the FA/GA icons and I felt like reviewing them. End of yarn (talk) 23:25, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    Update: An extensive list of comments and suggestions for improvement have been listed on the article's talk page by an uninvolved editor, and the article was subsequently removed from nomination by the nominator. Diderot's dreams (talk) 22:48, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    Totally baffled...

    Abuse

    Re Edit War Shami Chakrabati I have no recollection of making the post about being a social worker. When I examined the origin of this it appears that the post was made by someone else using my wikipedia name on 19 April 2009 at 14:47 but signing it with my name at 08:19 I have aroused some controversy with my views on the BNP talk page amongst an explicitly racist sub section of the wiki community and I assume that this is a result of that, particularly as 86.143.99.30 (talk) has no proper identifier. This is particularly heinous abuse and what can I do about it?----Streona (talk) 16:37, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    The offending edit is this one, and it was done by 86.143.99.97 (talk · contribs) --Enric Naval (talk) 19:26, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

    I now find that my user page has been edited by someone impersonating me who has deleted my being an anti fascist and anti racist to say that I am ignorant and for some reason that "King Kong ain't got shit on me". I do not object to reasoned debate. I can cope even with the kind of low rent hysterical abuse that characterises these kind of people- by which I mean self-admitted racists and BNP supporters who are almost always anonymous- but I object to being impersonated. The offender is 87.114.2.30 Can the be blocked ? Although they will undobtedly sock puppet again on false IP as ever.--Streona (talk) 09:11, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    I've requested page protection for the Shami Chakrabarti, but it looks like Streona's account has been compromised (contributions here) so semi-pp wouldn't stop it.Chris (talk) 09:46, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    The "King Kong" bit is from a sketch on Robot Chicken. Sounds like some kid with too much time on their hands. — The Hand That Feeds You: 12:44, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    wikihounding IPs

    79.132.204.188 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log), only edits so far have been to revert edits made by me, suspect sockpuppet of user:Shir-e-Iran (this IP has already been added to the sock investigation, but I consider the wikistalking to be a separate issue). Wuhwuzdat (talk) 18:56, 27 April 2009 (UTC)


    Who are the service providers of all these IPs? Are these open proxies? C.U.T.K.D 09:15, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    User mass-changing categories

    Uranepu (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) is changing categories on dinosaur articles, despite my requests on his/her talk page to seek consensus before proceeding further. The new categories are redundant and haven't been well thought out. Need a second opinion from uninvolved users. Firsfron of Ronchester 00:56, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    If the user refuses to discuss it upon another talk page measure, I would take preventative measures for pure lack of willingness to engage. It is highly important that editors be on hand to explain their actions, and not doing so whilst continuing the action is either complete disregard, or a situation which stretches AGF. — neuro 01:52, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    User was still mass-recategorizing without any sign of discussion, so I've implemented a three-hour block. Firsfron of Ronchester 02:09, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Personally I think they can consider themselves extremely lucky. I just hope they desist once the block expires. C.U.T.K.D 09:13, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    Self-identification of a minor

    DVDfan12 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · page moves · block user · block log) is a self-identified minor who repeatedly adds personally identifying information to their user page. While I know that this type of information is generally acceptable on user pages, in the case of WP:CHILD, I'm not sure this is the case. The information was oversighted at least once previously (or at least hidden) so I'll ping here. Yngvarr (t) (c) 11:32, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    A 12 year old Mormon from Portugal? Baseball Bugs carrots 11:39, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    I've deleted the identifying info again, but I'm sure it will soon be back. I'm not sure about protecting a user page from the user, but it may become necessary. Kevin (talk) 11:48, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Then he'll just put it on his talk page. Note that he's got various issues. A short-term block (but longer than the previous one) is probably called for, to get that dude's attention. Baseball Bugs carrots 12:17, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    Logging of active sanctions

    Currently, this is the system for logging active sanctions.

    The individual editing restrictions here and general sanction schemes on areas here are on separate pages to account for whether a sanction is on an editor or an area. Each page has two sections: one assigned to sanctions imposed by the community (either here or WP:AN or another community venue), and another assigned to sanctions imposed by ArbCom at a decision or via motion.

    ArbCom decided that it was going to merge these pages, and put them under Misplaced Pages:Arbitration Committee/Active Sanctions. However, putting it here would (imo) create all sorts of confusion and headaches (eg; in terms of restrictions superseding one another, there being no central log of active sanctions, etc.) I also think that given sanction discussions from the community and sanction discussions from arbcom, already occur in different venues, we need to have a central log of the final outcomes. This concern could be satisfied if everything was merged to Misplaced Pages:Active sanctions. But on the issue of merging, an arbitrator has suggested that because the community has not raised any concerns, the merge should be made. I don't believe many members of the community are aware of this proposal to begin with, so I've brought it here for input by the users who help the community impose sanctions where necessary or oppose them where they are not. Ncmvocalist (talk) 15:49, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    Proposals on logging active sanctions

    Please indicate preferences.

    (1) A merge is NOT necessary/preferred by the community; this is fine as it is. This system centralises arb and community sanctions, but has separate pages to distinguish between whether the sanction is on an editor or an area of the encyclopedia.
    (2) A merge IS necessary/preferred by the community; everything should be merged to Misplaced Pages:Active sanctions. This proposed system centralises arb and community sanctions, but does not have separate pages to distinguish between whether the sanction is on an editor or an area of the encyclopedia.
    (3) A merge IS necessary/preferred by the community; community sanctions should be merged to Misplaced Pages:Active Sanctions, while ArbCom sanctions should be merged to Misplaced Pages:Arbitration Committee/Active Sanctions. This proposed system does not centralise arb and community sanctions, and does not have separate pages to distinguish between whether the sanction is on an editor or an area of the encyclopedia.

    Can you please move this discussion to the village pump or one of the arbitration pages? This is a decision for the "community", yes, not the "administrator community". Thanks, Skomorokh 18:38, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    It's a central venue for where users impose sanctions, and it's administrators who enforce these sanctions; they (or users reviewing if a sanction needs to be enforced) are the ones that need to be able to check if the sanction exists within a few clicks upon a complaint being filed. Ncmvocalist (talk) 04:54, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    User:Wikireader41

    Resolved – Filing IP blocked for evading ban. Ncmvocalist (talk) 06:01, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

    These are edits by a highly anti pakistani and islamophobic editor with a obvious pov he has so far escaped punishment mainly due to admins of indian heritage actively supporting his racist attacks i appeal to non hindu and non indian admins to block him 86.151.123.149 (talk) 18:26, 28 April 2009 (UTC) Apart from kashmir he has now engaged in attacking British Pakistanis by adding contentious comments about terrorism and disability i responded by adding info about british indians which irked him and he soon ran to nishkid a indian admin who manipulated the sentence of mine and toned it down to make it less evident while wikireader is free to attack and deface and when i revert his pov pushing the article is protected indefinately by the one and only nishkid please consider demoting him or atleast reverting wikireader41 edits in british pakistanis 86.151.123.149 (talk) 18:31, 28 April 2009 (UTC) Comments by ban-evading user struck. Ncmvocalist (talk) 06:01, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Uh... where to begin. Some of the diffs above are fixing typos and formatting, but some would raise eyebrows at Wikiquette Alerts if posted there. All in all, this is hardly an emergency requiring admin intervention, particularly since Nishkid64 has issed a final warning to... wikireader41 - hardly the sign of a biased admin. Meanwhile, the above IP has been blocked for abusing multiple accounts. Show's over, I think. SHEFFIELDSTEEL 18:53, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    this post is by a banned wikivandal Nangparbat who has a long history of attacking and provoking editors with any kind of connection to India and vandalizing India and Pakistan related articles. he has repeatedly been in conflict with multiple editors and administrators and has been banned from wikipedia for more than 6 months but refuses to stop vandalizing. please ignore his rants.Wikireader41 (talk) 19:08, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Editor opened similar complaint in WP:WQA, which I have closed as NWQA due to "Opened at WP:ANI afterwards, and since complainant doesn't think warnings will help, that is the proper forum" (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 20:55, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

    History of Jennifer Fitzgerald

    Unresolved – Further discussion: Talk:Jennifer Fitzgerald#BLP vios in history?

    For some reason, my account is credited with creating this article; I did not, and my edits built upon a version of the article created by others. Can someone fix this GFDL violation? I don't want to take credit for another's work, however problematic. Thanks, Skomorokh 18:46, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    Restored the history. See User talk:Icestorm815#Jennifer Fitzgerald. –xeno 18:49, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Muchas gracias, xeno. Skomorokh 18:57, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    It may be worthwhile to initiate a discussion somewhere on how to handle sitautions like this. You clearly build your 4/20 stub version on the previous content, yes? So the history is required for proper GFDL attribution, but the concern is that the history still contains much of the potentially WP:BLP-violating material. –xeno
    This does seem to be a bit of a dilemma. One option would be to do a mass oversighting. It retains the GDFL attribution but removes the BLP concerns. However I'd much rather prefer something less drastic if possible. Any other possible ideas? Icestorm815Talk 00:00, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    perhaps make a revision with the edit summary "see Talk:JF/GFDL for contribution history of article prior to this revision", then delete everything prior? –xeno 01:08, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Multiplyperfect

    Can somebody take a close look at the contributions of Multiplyperfect (talk · contribs) and possibly take action in light of Obama article probation. There aren't many so it shouldn't be too hard, but the user has been given warnings and still continues. Thanks, Grsz 19:25, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    As far as I'm concerned, he knows he's on his last chance. If another admin feels that he's gone too far, I will support any reasonable sanction. Note that this is essentially an SPA so a block and ban would be roughly synonymous. SHEFFIELDSTEEL 19:33, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Indeed in this case the editor has been warned a number of times. I do wonder, however, if experienced editors should be more careful when dealing with new SPAs who exhibit troll-like behavior. The potential is high that accounts like this are just socks, or editors here just to pull our leg. But assuming good faith, it may well be a young or inexperienced editor who simply has a fascination for negative Obama trivia and wants to explore that here on Misplaced Pages. If you have a fascination however unhealthy with antique steam engines or species of extinct insects, and you add a whole bunch of little snippets about that to the encyclopedia, you're welcomed and gently guided to the appropriate style guidelines, content policies, and behavior rules. An editor whose fascination happens to be conservative politics gets much rougher treatment. My fear is that these people may be well meaning, just misguided. Calling them trolls on the talk page, cursing at them, taunting, insulting, etc., may well be a self-fulfilling accusation because it may sour them on the project and fuel any paranoia they may have about Misplaced Pages being a censorship cabal. Just a thought. We'll probably deal with this question in more depth in the arbcom hearing. Meanwhile, can I ask for some courtesy and decorum even when dealing with trouble? Wikidemon (talk) 20:01, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    An editor who posts "little snippets" about antique steam engines that are factually incorrect or intended to "pull our leg" would be dealt with in exactly the same way, and rightfully so. Nothing to do with politics or "decorum", everything to do with maintaining the accuracy and reliability of the reference resource we're supposedly building here. Ed Fitzgerald t / c 20:23, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    That's the ideal for sure. But (1) we can't presume bad faith - my concern regards the possibility that some are misguided newbies, not intentionally misbehaving, and (2) even in the worst case scenario, it does more harm than good to harangue trolls on an article talk page. Wikidemon (talk) 20:39, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    To be honest, I'd expect a good faith newbie to react in some way to policy/guideline links and explanations being posted on their user talk page. In this case, the user just seems to keep on going. SHEFFIELDSTEEL 20:50, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    User is clearly not here to contribute constructively. Time to show them the door. Mike R (talk) 20:56, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    The user has been adequately warned, and indeed SheffieldSteel bent over backwards to explain the situation. I think we are easily at the point where the next talk page note along the lines of this one will mean an indef block and I would certainly implement that myself. I don't think we need to stress about this because it will be over one way or another shortly, though I do want to echo the gist of what Wikidemon said above about assuming good faith on these articles, hard as that may be at times. --Bigtimepeace | talk | contribs 23:01, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    Requesting block of User:Drittes Reich 1940, deletion of userpage

    Resolved – User blocked, userpage deleted. –xeno 22:45, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    Drittes Reich 1940: That is, Third Reich 1940. Some highlights from the user's userpage:

    • "This user is proud to be a Nazi"
    • "This user thinks British people are the main cause of problems in the world" (accompanied by the Nazi-era Reichsadler)
    • "This user is strongly in favor of dropping a nuclear bomb over Britain to get rid of vicious trouble makers" (accompanied by File:Nagasakibomb.jpg)

    --Rrburke 21:28, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    This is a sock of User:NeMiStIeRs. Blocked by User:John Carter before I could do so. SHEFFIELDSTEEL 21:46, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    It was a softblock. You should reblock if you are sure of this. I've deleted the UP. –xeno 21:50, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    The subject didn't take kindly to being blocked, and added some obscenities to my user page twice, showing true subtlety by signing himself as Drittes Reich 1940. I blocked the IP indefinitely. I may have been hasty, please feel free to modify as desired. John Carter (talk) 22:32, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    I've set an expiry (1mo). –xeno 22:35, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Block looks good. Cirt (talk) 22:39, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    More edit-warring by Badagnani

    Same old story as documented in his RfC/U, the many 3RR reports on him, and most recently, Misplaced Pages:Administrators'_noticeboard/IncidentArchive532#User:Badagnani.

    This time he reverts 17 edits made by three editors (myself, Quiddity, and Gwalla) , then reverts Quiddity's attempt to restore the material: .

    His contribution to the talk page between these two edits, and only recent comment even vaguely relevant to his reverts, is one about working together: --Ronz (talk) 21:52, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    I've been involved in several disputes with Badagnani. I'm currently involved in one now with him, on Talk:Buddha's delight. But the way I approach the issue with him, is much different than how others do it. I use the discussion page and wait a bit. My experience tells me that Badagnani has only the best intentions for Misplaced Pages, but his method is somewhat eccentric. It seems that he expects other editors to understand and agree with his POV without much fuss, as if we were all inside his head along with him. This perspective often leads to edit wars because frustration levels rise on both sides. I think if we all calmly use the talk page with Badagnani, things will work themselves out and everyone will be happy. I would like Badagnani to make an effort to put himself in the minds of others for once, and in this example, I would like to see him try to understand where Ronz is coming from. Far too often, Badagnani puts us in his head, and that isn't reasonable. Viriditas (talk) 09:54, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    From what I've seen he just repeats his point of view, and reverts any changes against as "massive blanking", or has his MO changed? Verbal chat 10:07, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    That is certainly one way of looking at it, but there are multiple perspectives on it. I'm coming from a different POV. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that Misplaced Pages has many different personalities, and it takes a certain kind of person to use this site for any period of time. Some people have strengths in one area, and serious weakness in another. Badagnani does a great deal of good work here, but when it comes to dealing with anyone who disagrees with him, he has problems. As others have mentioned in previous/onging discussions, Badagnani needs a mentor. I've found that he is open to reason, but it takes some effort to get there, and some editors find it easier to edit war. Simply saying that "he repeats his POV and reverts any changes" could apply to many editors here. Looking at my discussion with him on Talk:Buddha's delight, I think Badagnani makes some really good points, but the chasm between the way he goes about doing things and general policy and guidelines is very wide. All I'm saying is let's at least try to bridge that gap with more discussion. After some discussion, Badagnani does get around to compromising, but we all need to work towards that goal together. Viriditas (talk) 10:19, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Block threats from Admin User:OhNoitsJamie

    Please note User_talk:Mbhiii#WP:POINT posted by Admin User:OhNoitsJamie. I edited 5 articles he had recently. Each one of my edits (Monsanto-Rottweiler) was for good cause. He didn't like it and threatens to block me. This is the second time I've brought him to the attention of other Admins. The first was over his repeated, inappropriate blocking on March 19-20th. Please, straighten him out, again. Thanks, MBHiii (talk) 22:03, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    See Misplaced Pages:Sockpuppet investigations/Mbhiii. Looie496 (talk) 22:10, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    I disagree that your edits were "good cause"; you replaced unsourced material without citing a source, merely expressing most optimistically that "someone can find a source". Please see WP:BURDEN on that one. The congruence of articles tends me towards a certain opinion, and that is that you should WP:DISENGAGE and edit some different articles, and citing sources. I can't disagree with his message on your Talk page, but another admin should apply the block. Only time will tell if, when, and who that will be. Rodhullandemu 22:12, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    I have reviewed both Mbhiii's recent edits and Ohnoitsjamie's recent edits - I agree with Jamie that Mbhiii is editing disruptively at the moment. I have warned Mbhiii that further disruption will result in a block. Also notifying Jamie about this thread... Georgewilliamherbert (talk) 22:16, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    I don't even recall your first "report" about me...I don't see any edits from your account on March 19-20th relating to an ANI report. It's clear that your recent reverts were "retaliatory" edits because I'd declined your sixth or seventh unblock request. OhNoitsJamie 22:26, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Question. Is this user contributing such benefit through her constructive edits that it outweighs the amount of disruption she's causing? -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 22:45, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Which user are you referring to? I only ask because you specifically used "she" (which I am not, but commonly assumed to be). OhNoitsJamie 23:31, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    I was referring to User:Mbhiii; I have a habit of just assuming that everyone is female until I learn otherwise. In my opinion, the benefit provided to the encylopedia by User:Ohnoitsjamie does indeed outweigh the amount of annoyance he causes. :) -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 01:19, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Whew, glad to hear that. I'll do my best to keep the scales tipped in that direction. ;)OhNoitsJamie 02:19, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Edokter edit-warring, gaming the system, incivility

    Edokter (talk · contribs) is growing somewhat prickly in the Daybreak (Battlestar Galactica) article. This is much the same sort of argument that was brought to light a few weeks ago, and the arguments are essentially the same. After it was decided that opinions as to inclusion or exclusion of certain info in the article, most of us decided to participate in mediation to get a neutral voice into the discussion, and help solve the issue. I am not going to go into it, as its a content issue.

    After Edokter decided to participate in the mediation, he expressed his opinion (along with the rest of us). However, his opinions, which included singling me out for specific personal attacks, started again, increasing in intensity until it boiled over a little while ago. Despite the fact that mediation and discussion is ongoing in article talk, Edokter suddenly and unilaterally decided that discussion over and has repeatedly added the same information into the article, complete with veiled threats in the edit summaries of these additions. Again, I am not discussing the content of these edits, but it bears mentioning in addition to seeking to end-run the mediation without anything approximating a consensus, the information he is adding doesn't match the citations.

    This has happened a few times before, and at least once before in this article that I am aware of. I am unsure how to proceed, as Edokter's tone in the discussion has gone from unpleasant to hostile. If he doesn't want to mediate, he shouldn't sign up for it.

    Lastly, I am reporting this here because Edokter has a history of blocking those editors with whom he disagrees with in article discussion. I'd prefer to not be subjected to that again. - Arcayne () 23:01, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    • Page has been protected for 1 week. I don't have a comment on the behavioral issues. Would you mind posting a few diffs which exemplify the behavior (I've read the two you linked)? Also, have you informed him of this thread? Protonk (talk) 23:10, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    I did, moments after posting here. - Arcayne () 06:03, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Ok, figured I would ask. Protonk (talk) 07:44, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    History of blocking? Incivility? Really... Put the evidence on the table or shut up! Let's see what is happening here. Arcayne has an opinion, and needs 1,208,465 posts to meake his position clear, even though is is going completely against consensus. Yet he keeps beating the dead horse and declares all other opinions 'against policy'... at least his interpretation of it.
    This is a content dispute, and the mediator hasn't chimed in yet, yet Arcayne removes the infomrmation anyway. Pot, meet kettle. Arcayne, you need to stop it. I invite all available administrators to go to Talk:Daybreak (Battlestar Galactica), see the entire discussion, then finally see the complete and utter nonsense that Arcayne has been poisoning the talk page with. And deal with it this time! Seriously folks, had I been an uninvolved party, I would have blocked Arcayne indeed. I want closure now. — EdokterTalk23:29, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Dude, you blocked me over a content dispute you were actively involved in with me less than 6 months ago, and were universally lambasted. Are you saying you do not recall? Have you already forgotten that this exact same uncivil, attacking behavior less than 3 weeks ago fueled the last ANI complaint? In the very same article. Did you forget that you threw a tantrum over edits not going your way and sent the article for AfD? And this is just your interaction with me.
    This complaint is not over a content dispute. I am interacting with others who disagree, and yet they haven't decided to get muddy, yet you have. Twice in this article alone. This is behavior I have seen in you in at least three different articles, and not just directed at me. I am no angel, but I've been polite, professional and civil here. You haven't.
    You decided you were done discussing, and said so. After you made your third revert, adding information that was specifically the subject of the mediation. Since the mediator - as you said - hasn't chimed in, you were fully aware that the edits were disruptive. We block editors for that sort of crap, Edokter. That you are an admin and doing this is disturbing. That you have to be told this repeatedly is more so. - Arcayne () 06:03, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    User:Eye of the Lion

    Resolved – Indef'd

    Eye of the Lion (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

    User's primary purpose seems to be attacking other editors. He also vandalized the AIV page, deleting this posting before an admin could evaluate it. I put it back there. Posting it here also, for whoever sees it first. Baseball Bugs carrots 23:20, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

    Blocked indef for disruptive editing, but if anyone thinks that this is too harsh and sees signs of a potential productive editor emerging, feel free to reduce or remove the block. Bencherlite 23:27, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
    Given his comments post-block, I entirely agree. Rodhullandemu 00:09, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Unlike the user who was the subject of Lion's attacks, I hardly ever get threats of violence. Maybe my crocodile farm is the deterrent. Baseball Bugs carrots 00:13, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Block User:CommonsDelinker - negative non-obvious bot powered contributions detrimental to the project.

    Can someone block this stupid thing? This edit was entirely counter-productive. Sure it removed the link to the deleted image on commons but spectacularly failed to notice there was a previous perfectly good image used before leaving the article with no image, and no redlink to the deleted image to alert a HUMAN editor to the problem so they could check the article history. The only reason it was picked up was I had visited the article recently and knew there was a perfectly good freely licensed image there at that point and went digging to see where it had gone.

    This is a net NEGATIVE to the project - we shouldn't tolerate edits that degrade the encyclopedia from a bot account that doesn't conform to our naming conventions on bots, isn't mantained on the english wikipedia by anyone and requires running off to commons if there's a problem. Block immediately and permanently. Exxolon (talk) 00:46, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    • Oppose and disagree with the evaluation. The deleted image is in copyvio, so the bot is doing its job properly. --Caspian blue 00:49, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
      • No it's NOT. It's making it harder to correct problems where a freely licensed image is replaced by a copyvio. That's then correctly deleted as one but this thing then deletes all references to the change to it so you end up with NO image and NO clue that there was ever one there. Exxolon (talk) 00:52, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    An edit that fixes broken syntax is "entirely counter-productive"? The inability of a bot to detect the existence of a suitable alternative image is a "spectacular failure"? A broken page is a better notification of an image problem than an informative edit summary? Hesperian 01:06, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Damn straight. Check - this is the version of the page the bot left - no image, no indication there ever was any image, no clues, no nothing. The redlink is better left unremoved - this can alert a HUMAN editor to a problem, they can then check the history and fix the issue. Exxolon (talk) 01:12, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Exxolon, I can understand your frustration, but I don't think there's much alternative. I don't even want to think about writing a bot that would search the history of an article looking for the last time there was a valid image. At the same time, we can't very well have red link images scattered about. Get mad at the person who put the bad image on the article in the first place, and get mad that not enough people are watching the article and familiar enough with it to know that images are available. Wknight94 01:13, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    I agree with those above who find that this particular bot is doing nothing wrong. However, we have a bot that goes and "rescues" citations from previous versions of a page. How about either making a new bot, or adjusting this bot, to drop a note on the talk page if there was a commons or other still-available image removed from the page and reflected in its history, prior to the more recent copyvio removal? bd2412 T 01:22, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    (edit conflict) Redlinks to files are never helpful, as files typically have either cryptic or highly specific names which don't help anything. I see this as a case where the system worked. The bot made an edit removing a bad image link. You, a watchful editor, added a good image in place of its absence. —/Mendaliv//Δ's/ 01:23, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    • Note: this bot also produces some broken syntax on en-wiki. Recent example: . Gimmetrow 01:24, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
      • I'm going to ask a template guy, but I think that syntax breaking is the fault of the template not failing gracefully when no image is present. Protonk (talk) 01:36, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
        • I was looking into it, and I think it may be a bug in ParserFunctions. There is simply no reason why that if clause should be invoked when the logo argument is blank. Hesperian 01:40, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
          • The problem is that the field contains the character U+200e, the left-to-right mark. Presumably it was inserted by someone's copy-paste when they inserted the image filename. The bot should be able to easily detect that the field after image removal consists only of that character and handle the situation, but to date the operator has not done so. Anomie 01:48, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Exxolon, I can understand your frustration.... Not me; I have no idea what you're carrying on about. Judging by your edit summary in response to that bot edit, I'd say you need to go have a lie down. Hesperian 01:28, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    • The bot removes deleted images. Often, however, an image that gets deleted replaced another image, and the bot doesn't restore that other image. The effect of the bot, in many cases, is to hide the removal of good images from articles. I think that's what Exxolon is frustrated about. Gimmetrow 01:31, 29 April 2009 (UTC)


    I believe that this version after the bot edit is preferable to this version before. As a bot operator and member of the Bot Approvals Group, I do not believe that a bot can reliably determine whether an acceptable image was recently replaced with a version that was deleted from Commons. I'll go on record saying I'd approve this bot if it were up for approval today to do just what Exxolon is complaining about. On the other hand, the unrelated bug Gimmetrow mentions is legitimate, if relatively minor. – Quadell 01:36, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    No, I don't think the unrelated bug is legitimate. Templates should be able to handle empty parameters robustly. Strangely, both the implementation of this template and its documentation suggests that it can handle empty parameters. I think Gimmetrow may have found a ParserFunctions bug. Hesperian 01:42, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    It's not an empty parameter. There is an invisible unicode character (see above) in the field. Gimmetrow 01:55, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    So to sum up, for those following along at home: Exxolon's original complaint (removing redlinks) is not valid. Gimmetrow's secondary complaint (failing to remove invisible characters when removing images) is valid. It's a subtle bug, and no one holds it against the bot-op that he didn't catch it. However, he's been unresponsive in fixing it once it was brought to his attention, and that's a problem. – Quadell 02:39, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    ...and per BD2412's comment, someone may want to request a bot that would attempt to rescue good images that were replaced by bad images. Wknight94 02:51, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Why doesn't this bot just leave a note on the article talk page to mention what it did? And, preferably, why the image was deleted? ▫ JohnnyMrNinja 04:39, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    • It could leave a note, I guess. Ask the bot operator on his talk page if he is willing to write and get approval for that change. As for why the image was deleted, who knows? It was commons, so I guess the history there would show a deletion decision or discussion. Protonk (talk) 07:43, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    It's probably a Bad Idea to have this account flagged as a bot. I agree that its work is generally necessary and improves the immediate appearance of articles, but it would be beneficial if we could actually see easily what it's doing and when it needs to be 'followed-up' on. This would address the legitimate complaint that it can constitute a subtle removal of images. Happymelon 09:42, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Does anyone have strong objections to me archiving this section? Protonk (talk) 07:43, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Before you do so, would you run an ad for m:Free Image Search Tool and WikiProject Check Misplaced Pages's Template with Unicode control characters report? -- User:Docu 09:53, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Block request for User:Erniebelmonte

    Requesting a block of Erniebelmonte for repeatedly recreating deleted pages with copyvio. ~Pesco 02:11, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    User had already been warned not to do that repeatedly, was given a final warning, and then 15 min later went and did it again. I have indef blocked. If they come back and agree to abide by our copyright policy, and indicate that they understand it properly, I have no objection to any admin unblocking however. Georgewilliamherbert (talk) 02:23, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Given that his first edit was the creation of another copyvio article (Becky Dixon, just deleted after I tagged it), as well as this cute edit, I'd recommend that an admin think twice about unblocking. Someone may want to take a look at the categories he created, too; there may be nothing wrong with them per se, but he's been adding them to some articles where the text doesn't support the categorization. Deor (talk) 02:47, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    User:TruthIIPower

    TruthIIPower (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)
    The user, whose first edit was a month ago, appears to be on a crusade of some kind, specifically to take ownership of abortion-related articles to remove any hint of what he considers to be "bias". That in itself may not be a bad thing, but his constant insults leveled at anyone he disagrees with are getting a tad irritating. It's also been implied that he's a sock, but no one has investigated that so far. Baseball Bugs carrots 04:04, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    I should probably mention that this dishonest and insulting summary comes from a guy who's been adding bias to abortion articles so that they support his personal views. I've been working to keep articles in compliance with the neutrality requirement. If that's an "incident", then I'm glad to be guilty. As for incivility, I freely admit that I have been subject to plenty of it. Wouldn't it be great if you came into this with clean hands? TruthIIPower (talk) 04:15, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    I have not actually made any edits to the article in question (Religion and abortion), and if I've ever edited another abortion article, it must have been a long time ago. Baseball Bugs carrots 04:39, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    See also WP:WQA#TruthIIPower and WP:WQA#TruthIIPower 2. Looie496 (talk) 04:22, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    (outdent)Washes hands extra long to make sure they're clean and free of infectious diseases. Was just reading those wikiquette alerts. It's not a good sign when two different WQAs get filed within an editor's first month, and to see this diff after the second WQA had been open for three days is an indication that TruthIIPower isn't catching on. Nor is it edifying to read TruthIIPower's presupposition regarding third party responses to this thread:

    To be frank, only if they're stupid and hasty. If they actually read carefully and think about what they're reading, it should be obvious that any apparent aggression on my part is a response to blatant abuse. TruthIIPower (talk) 04:24, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Well what I happen to see at User talk:TruthIIPower is Philosopher, Andrew c, GTBacchus, and Tznkai (all administrators) and several other experienced users politely explaining policies and site standards, and receiving hostile and dismissive replies. Toward the latter part of the talk page a couple of posters are beginning to lose patience. If anything is unusual here, it is that an user who has been involved in three formal dispute resolution requests in such a short time (here's the third) has not yet received a single formal block warning. Strongly recommend TruthIIPower review a relevant policy and bear in mind that Usenet standards of interaction are not welcome here. A preference for hot button religion and politics articles necessitates more tact at this website no matter what viewpoint one happens to have; ideally one's personal stance on a subject should not even be detectable. Our site mission is to inform the public, not to sway its views. Whether right or wrong on the merits of a subject, editors whose interactions are consistently combative tend to get ejected from the discussion. Please take this to heart. Durova 05:00, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Just noticed the link. It is, oddly enough, entirely accurate to call it ritual cannibalism. According to Catholicism, they are in some way eating the flesh of Jesus. If it is a breach of civility to state this fact, I suggest you ban me forever. TruthIIPower (talk) 06:08, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Accuracy and courtesy are separate concepts. I devoured portions of a dead animal corpse this evening for dinner, but polite society prefers to call it steak. ;) Durova 06:11, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    If I were to bring up this ritual cannibalism thing for no good reason, then perhaps it would be out of place and therefore discourteous. However, I brought it up when it was entirely relevant, since the issue at hand was whether we can call a wafer a wafer. I'm sorry, but there's just no incivility in that quote, no matter how deeply you search for it. TruthIIPower (talk) 06:18, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    (OD)Saying that Transubstantiation is equal to canibalism, and demanding that everyone else acknowledge your analogy as the truth is a bit much to ask for without discussion. I'd suggest you find a reliable source stating that before trying to add it. T2P, you seem bound and determined to make it impossible to side with you, even for people who would agree with you on the issues. Dayewalker (talk) 06:19, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    If you google "transubstantiation cannibalism", you get 12,000 links. Among those links would be http://en.wikipedia.org/Transubstantiation, which brings up the topic and does not dismiss it as absurd. Clearly, this is not original research on my part, and if it's so horribly offensive then perhaps you need to immediately censor Transubstantiation. I repeat; there is no incivity in the statement I made. I know I'm supposed to admit to my sins and act contrite so you can forgive me and leave me alone, but I have an unhealthy amount of integrity, so this is not an option. 06:24, 29 April 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by TruthIIPower (talkcontribs)
    Hmm, and do you see anything odd about the context of these conflicts? TruthIIPower (talk) 05:42, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Yes, we all do. Dayewalker (talk) 05:45, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Somehow, I'm not sure that we're talking about the same thing. TruthIIPower (talk) 05:50, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    I'll drop a hint with a leading question: How do I treat people who treat me reasonably? How do I treat people who outright insult me? How do you account for the difference? Partial credit given, but only if you show your work. TruthIIPower (talk) 06:08, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    If you expect others to welcome your presence and relish the opportunity of collaborating with you, you might do well to make the prospect seem more inviting. I see and appreciate the fact you've made a number of good edits, but I also encourage you to bear in mind that at its core, Misplaced Pages is and will always be a cooperative endeavor. – Luna Santin (talk) 06:32, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Per Luna Santin. Ncmvocalist (talk) 06:38, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    (edit conflict) Before you take the 'Universe vs me' stance, try to think if your own behaviour is not the root to this 'insult' problem you mention. To me (as an independent observer who has had nothing to do with editing the related articles or even in this discussion so far) it seems as if you are taking every comment addressed to you as an 'insult' and then respond aggressively. You have acted in this manner to even Durova, who has just tried to make things clear. Making sarcastic and heated comments is not going to help you and will not make anyone turn to your views. Chamal 06:43, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    I proposed a topic ban to the user, which was rejected. No comment yet on the rest of this thread. Protonk (talk) 08:05, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    This should be no surprise. It was a highly unreasonable offer. If you want to fix things, fix things. I suggest you start by restoring neutrality on Religion and abortion, then permanently blocking Schrandit. Anything else is just playing games. TruthIIPower (talk) 08:13, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    How about I propose a topic ban of the user? If he wants to play soapbox, that's fine, just go somewhere else. Whatever points he has, he sure doesn't care if he's effective about them. Why do I see MPOV as the problem? -- Ricky81682 (talk) 08:56, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    That proposal has been rejected, so you'd be wasting your time. I will not accept a topic ban. You can kill me but you can't silence me. TruthIIPower (talk) 09:40, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Oh yes we can. 1 month for the second paragraph in this edit. yandman 09:51, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Oh, not really. I keep a link to the good and gentle folk at WR on my userpage to remind me that there is always a place less useful than AN/I. No real harm in mentioning it on his user talk page in itself. Protonk (talk) 10:11, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    He was alluding to simply enacting a topic ban without your consent, rather than asking you to abide by one. Protonk (talk) 09:57, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    4chan hacked admin account

    webcite watch the main page and WP:TFA --

    Not safe for work. Hesperian 04:40, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Well, we'll figure it out soon enough. I just hope a bureaucrat is available. -- Ricky81682 (talk) 04:24, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Until we know which account it is - which we will the instant he does anything as all admin actions show up on the RecentChanges list - we can't do anything because we don't know which account's been compromised. -Jeremy 04:26, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    For what it's worth, bureaucrats wouldn't be able to do anything. –Juliancolton |  04:28, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    The 4chan page shows that he made an attempt to delete 4chan, which failed because it has too many revisions, if that's useful. Looie496 (talk) 04:31, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    I'm getting on IRC to contact the stewards so that we can quickly desysop the account when we find out who got compromised. -Jeremy 04:35, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Won't blocking it be the easier and faster thing to do than de-sysopping? I thought any admin can block even admin accounts? The account obviously has to be blocked even if it is no longer an admin account. Chamal 04:41, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    He can unblock himself unless he's desysopped first. -Jeremy 04:42, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    How do we know this is real and not just a troll? If we're to believe the crap posted on /b/, he's gonna redirect the homepage to atheism, so I guess look for that? Most likely outcome: nothing ever comes of this. Oren0 (talk) 04:58, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    The 4chan thread contains images of pages that only admins can access. If it's a trick, some labor has gone into it. Looie496 (talk) 05:01, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    He's being inundated, from what I can see from the webcite link, with all sorts of different suggestions. Even if nothing comes of this, if he has compromised an account, it needs to be desysopped, blocked, and CU'd. -Jeremy 05:02, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    They seem to have rather overestimated the capabilities of an admin account, judging by some of the comments there :D Oh, and they're following this discussion too, apparently. Chamal 05:03, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    (RI) They can follow it all they want. I'm already idling in the stewards channel and watching RecentChanges, so if they try anything, I'll tell the stewards which account to desysop. -Jeremy 05:05, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Do you guys really think it'd be that hard to get a screenshot of the block page? Doesn't prove anything. Oren0 (talk) 05:07, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Looks like they have taken the thread down off 4chan...probably just moved it. - NeutralHomerTalk • April 29, 2009 @ 05:08
    And WebCite is saying "DB Connection failed". We have slashdotted WebCite? :-) John Vandenberg 05:13, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    @Oren0: Doesn't hurt to be careful, does it? While it is probably a bluff, we can just as well be a little alert right now. Chamal 05:21, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    No reason to be less vigilant, certainly. But more than anything those /b/ers want us to get all paranoid about this. It's not like people aren't watching the main page anyway. I'm just applying WP:DFTT and WP:RBI to the situation. The minute we let this turn into a big deal, whether it's true or not, the /b/ers win. Oren0 (talk) 07:18, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    Just as a quick note the IP that posted here, keeps removing its signature and has been reverted at least three times now. Not sure if there is a valid reason for that or not? It is making it look like Hesperian started the thread, so should we at least have an "unsigned" there or something? Sincerely, --A Nobody 05:17, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    (EC)To be on the safeside, I would do a checkuser on who seems intent on not have his "personal dox" listed on Misplaced Pages and keeps removing the Sinebot added sig at the top. - NeutralHomerTalk • April 29, 2009 @ 05:18

    (edit conflict)OrenO - well, I know how I could fake it, so I'm sure there's at least one 4channer who could do the same - but there are details of the screenshot that say "recent Misplaced Pages screen capture" to me (forgive me for not being explicit), so I'd say it's best to treat it as genuine - if the admins end up looking foolish, they'll at least be a better class of fools than the ones who would let such threats go. — Gavia immer (talk) 05:24, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    (EC)My contact with the IP user on his talk page is that he is scared that Anonymous will come after him for reporting. - NeutralHomerTalk • April 29, 2009 @ 05:26
    My advice, assuming this is true: locate the hacker and give him a real admin account as punishment. 24 hours of having to deal with people like himself should cure him of any future troublemaking. --Ludwigs2 08:10, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    What's next?

    This issue is taking place on 2 different articles dealing with the same content issue. Balloftwine (talk · contribs), a new user and apparenly a single purpos account as no other edits have been made, keeps removing the fact that Dr. Frances Lucas is the first ever female president of Millsaps College from the Frances Lucas and Millsaps College articles, saying this isn't relevant and other things like "Lucas info too self-promoting", "ideologically promotes the controversial idea that a female in leadership position is rare or noteworthy. This is a controversial assumption and should be stricken.", "Remain concerned that "first ever female" is ideological and has no place in the history of Millsaps." and "Clearly other editors are radical feminists demanding that femaleness be privileged on wikipedia." It is, of course, sourced. Considering that Millsaps College is a 100+ year old institution and she is the first female to ever lead it and only became such in February 2000, I find the content highly appropriate and notable. To me, the user has revealed his/her true motive in that since Dr Lucas has resigned from Millsaps due to faculty being unhappy with her, we shouldn't be saying anything positive about her (per this edit on the Millsaps College talkpage). I took the issue to WP:3O (also see Millsaps College#3O) but feel this is something where an admin needs to weigh in. This is the kind of issue where it's pointless to go WP:3O, Mediation, Rfc, Arbcom when it's obvious the user isn't interested in anyone else's opinion and continues to engage in edit warring. Thoughts? Ideas? Questions? -ALLST☆R 08:09, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Since this source regards her being the first female president of Millsaps College notable enough to mention in its headline, I'd say it's certainly notable enough for us to reproduce. My suggestion is to restore the removed content and explicitly cite it to the above source; I've left Balloftwine a note. EyeSerene 09:08, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

    Personal attack at http://en.wikipedia.org/Darko_Trifunovic

    Dear all,

    I have problem with article http://en.wikipedia.org/Darko_Trifunovic since it is clear violation of Misplaced Pages roles referring BLP and Vandalism. You can see history of the article and you can find that old article were move because of lies and nonsense. It looks like that again same individuals relating to Misplaced Pages are trying to repeat the same. So need help from someone.Darko 08:26, 29 April 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Darko Trifunovic (talkcontribs)

    Reverting your addition of your resume isn't vandalism. All the material on the page is backed up by reliable sources. This is an editorial dispute between yourself and the other editors on the page. I see no need for administrator intervention. yandman 09:19, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    But since we're here, I see no OTRS # to confirm this identity in any case. Unless I'm missing something, we're working on blind faith? Franamax (talk) 09:34, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
    (ec) It's not a particularly good biographical article - focusing as it does on the report controversy unbalances its coverage to the point where it verges on WP:COATRACK, but the current content is sourced and neither should the article be a mere resume. Perhaps (bearing in mind our conflict of interest policy) you could work with the other editors on the talk-page to create a fuller, more rounded article? EyeSerene 09:35, 29 April 2009 (UTC)
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