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NW, do you understand why it isn't appropriate to ask editors personal questions like this about their religious, philosophical, or lifestyle beliefs? For one reason among several, because we address the edits, not the editor. Also, it's the kind of atmosphere this creates in what is supposed to be a collaborative project. If you edit the Catholic Church article in a way that someone disagrees with, do you think it's appropriate for them or an admin to come to your talk page and ask you if you are a follower of the Catholic religion? Cla68 (talk) 22:44, 1 September 2011 (UTC)

That analogy is a bit off, Cla68. Olive has explicitly stated before that he or she is on the faculty of the primary TM university in America; I would just like olive to clarify what exactly that entails. NW (Talk) 00:16, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

If she has said that, then why are you asking her questions for which you claim to already know the answer? More importantly, what does it matter as far as Misplaced Pages is concerned? How about the Intelligent Design article? Should I be asking the participants there if they belong to atheist or agnostic organizations, if they believe in God, if they are Christian Sunday School teachers, if they have ever been "card-carrying" members of the Discovery Institute, etc? It's inappropriate. Address the edits. Does Olive revert war? Does she misrepresent sources? Does she insult or belittle other editors on the article talk pages? Does she abuse BLP articles? Does she remove sourced information without discussion? Those are the issues to address if they exist. Cla68 (talk) 00:31, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

As a matter of fact, Cla68, that editor does engage in many of those behaviors. Those are bad enough, but they're worse when compounded with conflicts of interest. See Misplaced Pages:Activist.   Will Beback  talk  00:49, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

If an editor is not engaging in any of those behaviors, i.e. not violating any polices, then would it matter if they have a COI, which is a behavioral guideline by the way, not a policy? If not, then why would it matter either way? Either an editor is following the rules (policies) or they aren't. The ACTIVIST essay's entire premise is that activist editors don't follow the rules. Will, didn't you help edit that essay? Cla68 (talk) 01:06, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Because all (I think) I know right now is that Olive is or was a faculty member of Maharishi University of Management. I have no idea if that means Olive did real analysis research, taught Advanced Transcendental Meditation theory courses, or worked in the PR department. Of those, only the last one would concern me, but only as a compounding factor. Your position that only the edits matter is interesting, but not something that I think is widely accepted. If an editor ran a website attacking a subject of a BLP, for example, and then edited inappropriately on that article but not to an extent that would normally get them sanctioned, do you not think we should take that into account?

And yes, I would ask similar questions if someone who was editing Discovery Institute in a similar fashion that stated that they were affiliated with the National Center for Science Education but didn't say anything further. NW (Talk) 01:47, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

• I guess I shouldn't be surprised that an experienced admin who supported an arbitration warning against me for making one strongly worded (not uncivil) statement, who uses every chance he can get to muddy my reputation, who as I see on Kbob's page will even stoop to off-line and online intimidation and bullying creating as much noise as he can on the sidelines of his RfC, should once again create more myth and narrative in his ongoing efforts to remove me.

• Nuclear Warfare. Any information you have about my past personal life was removed with an admin action. For you to know that information was there is to know that it was removed, and to then repeat it is deliberately outing me. For you not to know it is there means someone gave you the information. I was harassed off Misplaced Pages and the information was removed. The arbitrators were made privately aware of the information. Now it is left to me to decide what to do about being outed.(olive (talk) 01:44, 2 September 2011 (UTC))

• NW, is this true? Is the information on Olive you mentioned above supposed to have been admin deleted? Cla68 (talk) 01:52, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

• Nope, it's available in the COIN archives. I also see the same material in littleolive oil's deleted userpage, which isn't oversighted. If you intend for it to be, olive, you should probably contact the oversight team. NW (Talk) 01:54, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

• Personal information on her deleted userpage shouldn't be discussed publicly if she doesn't want it to be, NW. Cla68 (talk) 01:59, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

• Indeed. Which is why I am not relying on any of it. NW (Talk) 02:32, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

Whether or not disclosures are made, WP:COI should be followed. WP:NOTADVOCATE is a policy. Some editors have consistently added positive material on TM-related topics and removed negative material, which in some cases amounts to promotion of expensive therapies and techniques. That's a problem.   Will Beback  talk  02:07, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

We are here because you, Will Beback have a propensity for creating narratives that reinforce your position. If you want to discuss my editing please take it to arbitration. (olive (talk) 02:29, 2 September 2011 (UTC))

To you Nuclear Warfare ... I have no idea what to say to an admin and clerk who trots out personal hidden information in this kind of situation and defends that action. (olive (talk) 02:45, 2 September 2011 (UTC))

You personally have made non-deleted statements on other users' talk pages that you have a terminal degree and I understand from posts that have been made to WP:COIN that you are affiliated with MUM. From that I thought it was reasonable to conclude that you were employed by the university, perhaps as a faculty member and perhaps in another position. No non-deleted information was used at all. If you don't wish to answer the questions I posed, fine. You could have just gone and said that. NW (Talk) 03:18, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

NW, from what I've observed, editors involved in the TM topic area have been oft-subjected to this kind of inquiry, and they're understandably sensitive about it. They perhaps reasonably perceive it as attempted intimidation, because the source of much of it is an editor and admin who often disagrees with them in content debates. Then, when another admin suddenly comes along and starts asking them personal questions about it on their user talk pages, how are they supposed to feel? Again, address the edits, not the editor, and these kind of situations can be avoided. Cla68 (talk) 03:44, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

Outing: NW you have attempted to out me: You took a comment about a degree, and a statement someone made on the COIN then guessed at personal information, and posted it here? In the meantime you employed Inquisition type questions on my user page in further attempts to get information? Its hard to know what to say.(olive (talk) 14:11, 2 September 2011 (UTC))