User:Giano/Why we are here.
IRC#admins and me[edit]
Why we write for Wikipedia? is a good question, and I can only answer for myself. I actually like creating pages, I like seeing them grow, I like watching them become comprehensive, yeah, and I like thinking I did that, and I like people telling me how clever I am. Hopefully they also give some free enlightenment to someone and further the aims of a project in which I believe 100%. Editing though is not easy, we have all had pages edited by the stupid, the ignorant, the pretentious, and sometimes by people whose opinions do coincide with our own - we have to accept that as part of the "If you don't want your writing to be edited mercilessly or redistributed for profit by others, do not submit it." philosophy.
What we don't have to accept is being treated as a lowly serf by ignorant power-seeking admins who themselves contribute nothing of value to the encyclopedia. Those of us who do not chose to be admins, but spend most of our time writing the encyclopedia, are the equal of any other editor here, and we deserve to be treated as such. In my view, we are not.
Last night having uttered the terrible, I thought jocular, phrase [1] "Ah my little gnome-like stalker how are you?" to an editor who had been contradicting almost every comment I made on Wikipedia for the last God knows how long, (checking his edit's today , I see his far from a wiki-gnome) I signed off for the night "with gone to bed" or something similar, as I often do, turned off the email but before turning off the computer decided to add one last mammoth edit to the category I am writing, as I pressed save "You are blocked" the entire edit lost (yes, I should write in word processor, but as my spelling proves I don't) what has happened I thought? Well, what happened was something that happens all too frequently on Wikipedia, the humourless little Admin, had sent one of his mates round from IRC to "sort me." Of course what he actually did was lose the encyclopedia a mammoth edit and inconvenience me, I know it caused great rejoicing and mirth on IRC, but what was really the point?
From the moment that Admin breezed into #admins with the comment: "sigh, I just got called a stalker [2]" his intentions and the ultimate outcome were never in any doubt. The Arb, FT2, called that a sanity check, I call it something quite different. All the little Admins there began to squeak excitedly, and as they squeaked, and Howcheng quoted the Arbcom ruling, our heroic admin said "but as the recipient of the insult, it is perhaps better left to others to determine." and then just to cover his tracks warned: "just don't use the reason "'per irc"" and mindful of those instructions, and muttering "OK", off into the night slunk KWSN to perform the act, and indeed he did not say: "per IRC." Now, of course we all know the truth and can form our own opinions.
What I found most interesting, however, was the reaction on IRC#admins after the deed was done. In the presence of an Arb (who I don't think was there when the block was conspired), the place was mayhem, like a mad-house, to the background noise of one of them screaming repeatedly "Kunta Kinte - fucking Kinte" and "You made a personal attack! You fucking skunk!" our esteemed admins discussed the block. when the possibility of discussing the matter on the Admins Notice board was mentioned by the Arb, another of our admins screamed "I hate AN/I - Hate, hate, hate."
The Arb later said "I have to say, if I didn't know the roster, I would find it hard to believe sometimes that this is the administrators' channel." Oddly enough FT2 has reviewed the log, and found nothing concerning. Perhaps you reading this, also find nothing concerning. I find the fact that this is how the rulers, of what is supposed to be a reputable encyclopedia read by millions, behave in secret more than concerning, I think it has to stop.
So to return to why are we here? It's a good question isn't it? Many of us have invested hours of our time writing for the project, and want to see the pages on which we have worked maintained, reading the above it is obvious the admins are incapable of doing so, let me emphasise that not all Admins are bad, but the IRC clique, the ungovernable rabble now have the upper hand, basically as the silent Arb in that channel proved yesterday, the Arbs are frightened to address the issue. It is easier, and safer for them, to see editors driven off in droves than risk their own popularity in the mad house.
Within moments of beginning to document the above, intimidation from Admins started, a warning of yet another block arrived as I was in mid flow [3] - this leads me to ask, what are they frightened of? Not one word above is untrue, distorted or exaggerated. A block was wrongfully conspired in IRC, they were caught, and suddenly a mad panic to protect themselves was launched. Most amusingly a scripted little conversation took place in IRC to try and re-write history and was even posted on my page as proof [4].
- <kwsn> I love how he says "there's the truth"
+ *<Dragonfly6-7> what? + *<kwsn> as to what happened + *<kwsn> he says I did it based on other people's comments + *<Dragonfly6-7> but he got the sequence wrong + *<Dragonfly6-7> you did it based solely on the arbcom decision, correct? + *<kwsn> Yes + *<kwsn> otherwise I would have warned + *<Dragonfly6-7> and then you came on the channel and talked about it + *<Dragonfly6-7> and someone made a snarky comment, + *<Dragonfly6-7> right? + *<kwsn> yup + *<Dragonfly6-7> Tell him that's what happened, and say that you're sorry if his feelings are hurt. + *<kwsn> I can't + *<kwsn> remember? + *<Dragonfly6-7> No + *<Dragonfly6-7> Clarify. + *<kwsn> blocked myself for a week + *<Dragonfly6-7> Ah + *<Dragonfly6-7> at his request? + *<kwsn> and the way it seems, he won't accept anything less than me handing in my bit + *<kwsn> no, my own will + *<Dragonfly6-7> Are you okay with me giving him a log of what you and I have just discussed? + *<kwsn> yes + *<Dragonfly6-7> thank you + + It had nothing to do with what was discussed on IRC. DS (talk) 01:24, 16 April 2008 (UTC) + + + *<Dragonfly6-7> wait, wait + *<Dragonfly6-7> were you okay with me providing the information on Giano's talkpage? + *<kwsn> if you wanna cross post it to the ANI thread, you can + *<kwsn> in otherwords + *<kwsn> yes, it can be posted on WP + *<Dragonfly6-7> kwsn - I posted it on Giano's talkpage, and it was reverted + *<Dragonfly6-7> my point is that Giano is often very concerned about information not being public + *<Dragonfly6-7> so I want this to be where everyone can see it + *<Dragonfly6-7> which is why I didn't e-mail it + *<Dragonfly6-7> is that reasonable? + *<kwsn> yes + + (okay) DS
Now who was that supposed to fool? have they all beedn to finishing school suddenly, They knew I would not fall for it. No, the intended victim was the rank and file editor. lets have a look at at what Dragonfly6-7 and KWSN were saying when the block was being discussed. well when the block was proposed Dragon Fly said: "kill" (quite what that refers to is anyone's guess.) and KWSN was most certainly there. He even replied "OK" to another editors sarcastic comment "Howcheng, no need to say "per irc."
The future though does have some promising signs, not many, but some. people are waking up and beginning to wonder why I'm blocked so often, and why I'm saying the things I do, I was very encouraged by this edit yesterday from an editor I don't know [5] people are starting to say "what exactly is going on here?"