User:Phaedriel/Openletter

Dear Mr. Brandt

Dear Mr. Brandt, or Daniel,

You and I have never met, and most likely we never will. Only once I dared to voice my opinion at this article, and was enough for you to consider me part of the "Hive Mind" forever. Right or wrong, I'm not to argue about that; I'm even willing to concede that my statement on that occasion, made in my "wiki-youth", may have been out of place, and I have no excuse for it. Most likely you would have never heard of me again, since it is in my nature to understand where I'm not welcome, and if my presence cannot help to solve anything, I prefer to move on.

Your recent move, however, has made me change my mind about you completely. While it is almost certain that I will never drop by this article again since I'd rather employ my time in productive things, not in fussing and clashing in futile arguments, for the first time I really wanted you to talk to you.

You may have your reasons to hate Wikipedia. No one denies the many flaws this project has, some of them very serious. You may even hold a particular dislike of certain editors over specific matters; I'm not about to discuss with you these personal issues. However, with your actions against Katefan0, you've finally confirmed that, such is your hatred of Wikipedia, that it doesn't matter who you hurt or why you hurt her, as long as that "who" is a member of WP. Moreover, you've singled out an exemplary admin who:

• has never, in any way, attacked nor libeled you or anyone else;
• has never pursued a personal agenda;
• has never abused her position;
• has never unfairly blocked another user;
• has always respected in her dealings with WP the privacy of every human being, be it a member of this project, the object of an article she has been involved in, or an occasional editor;
• has never broken the ethical rules of her professional activity.

Yet, you chose to go after her anyway. Why? To win a personal victory over the community of Wikipedia? You admit yourself that "...it's not a question of whether her specific edits on Wikipedia were harmless (they probably were harmless -- I haven't studied them). It's more an issue of how she could have made them harmful if she was inclined to do so at some point in the future." So is a weapon in the hands of a soldier or a police officer, who has been granted by the authorities the right to use it in a responsible manner; or so is a judge and his prerogative to rule in legal matters. Katefan0 never crossed that line, for she knew exactly the limits - even when she, according to you, could have done it easily.

You advocate at your website that your goal is to expose "abusive admins" and discourage "irresponsible editors" from applying for adminship. So where is the logic in attacking a truly exceptional admin, who represents exactly the opposite of the very standards you claim to fight, and who would have without a doubt kept a cool head if she had ever been involved in your article? Unless you're ready to admit that it is your current objective to see Wikipedia offline forever, its members scattered, all its admins discredited and humiliated, I beg your forgiveness, but I see none.

I want you to know that today, because of your actions, everyone has lost, including you. Even more: specially you. It saddens me that an evidently bright person like you, who fought for the basic rights of every human being once, and who had the courage to stand against the establishment, can't look into yourself and understand that it is not a heartless "hive mind" you've attacked, but a person, with feelings, thoughts, fears and concerns; a person who never held any grudges against you, and who, even now, continues to hold none, when most people in her position definitely would. Whatever your personal issues with Wikipedia are, I wish you could for once stop for a moment and realize that many people within this community are capable, serious and sensible people who want nothing but to share their knowledge, to learn, and in good will get to meet others to exchange their thoughts. Editors who try to work for the better of this place, who may not even have heard of you before, and for whom this project means much, much more than your entry. Real people, like Katefan0, whom you have hurt deeply for no reason other than being an admin at Wikipedia. In a very real sense, I pity you, Daniel; but I cling to the hope that this incident may serve you to think at least for a moment before sending another inocent into the flames without a reason. Think whatever you want about me; I just want to believe that you are better than those you fought in your youth. Yours truly, Phaedriel ♥ tell me - 02:20, 28 May 2006 (UTC)