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Centralized discussion
  • Proposal to standardize the use of {{reflist}} and deprecate <references />.
  • RFC on new watchlist feature
  • Straw poll on which awards, if any, should be excluded when assessing the notability of pornographic actors.
  • RFC on amending notability guidelines for Mixed Martial Arts events.
  • Proposal to change guideline on how big a Talk page should be before archiving.
  • Proposal to establish a closure review on move requests.
  • Proposal to enable Reference Tooltips by default
Requests for Comment on User Conduct

Candidate pages


Certified pages

Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Agent00f - Significant conduct issues

General
See also
  • Protection log
  • Subpages of this page



Requests for closure

This section is transcluded from Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Requests for closure.


Talk:Anti-Pakistan_sentiment#Request_for_comment

Would someone be so kind as to close out this RFC? [1] Darkness Shines (talk) 09:57, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

RFC at Talk:Extrinsic_extensor_muscles_of_the_hand#RFC_on_reversion_of_merge

Would an uninvolved admin please close and summarize the RFC at Talk:Extrinsic_extensor_muscles_of_the_hand#RFC_on_reversion_of_merge?--Taylornate (talk) 00:11, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)#Ban April Fools pranks

Would an admin close and summarize Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)#Ban April Fools pranks? Thanks, Cunard (talk) 00:08, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Article Rescue Squadron

Would an admin close and summarize Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Article Rescue Squadron? Thanks, Cunard (talk) 00:08, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/User's archive of deleted articles and other MfDs

Would an admin (or admins) close:

  1. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Notability (fiction) YesY Closed. Jafeluv (talk) 06:43, 16 May 2012 (UTC)
  2. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/User:Wtshymanski/Griping
  3. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/User:PuppyOnTheRadio/score thing2
  4. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:WikiProject Wimpy Kid (2nd nomination) - YesY Closed by TenPoundHammer (talk · contribs). Armbrust, B.Ed. WrestleMania XXVIII The Undertaker 20–0 23:17, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
  5. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Chemical ASCII-art - YesY Closed by Timotheus Canens (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights). Armbrust, B.Ed. WrestleMania XXVIII The Undertaker 20–0 12:03, 12 May 2012 (UTC)
  6. Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/User's archive of deleted articles - YesY Closed by Timotheus Canens (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights). Armbrust, B.Ed. WrestleMania XXVIII The Undertaker 20–0 12:03, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, Cunard (talk) 00:08, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

Talk:Big Bang#RfC: Which draft should be selected?

Please close Talk:Big Bang#RfC: Which draft should be selected?, thanks!! – Lionel (talk) 08:01, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

N Not done, thirty days have not yet elapsed, and the latest comment is only four days old.  Sandstein  09:06, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

Nation of Islam RfC

Could an uninvolved administrator close the RfC at Talk:Nation of Islam#RfC. Thank you. — Malik Shabazz Talk/Stalk 13:40, 15 May 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Deletion review/Log/2012 April 30#The Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade (Export) (1966)

This is archived but there is still one DRV open. Beeblebrox (talk) 17:23, 16 May 2012 (UTC)

Reposting this as it was removed under the mistaken assumption that it was the same DRV from another post. Beeblebrox (talk) 00:39, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Talk:Jennifer Hudson#Splitting "Family murders"?

It's been eight days since the original post. What is the result of this discussion? --George Ho (talk) 09:12, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Fæ

Would an admin summarize Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Fæ? A close was requested at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Requests for closure/Archive 1#Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Fæ, and the RfC was delisted due to inactivity but was not summarized. A summary will allow the subject and participants to have a third-party list the RfC's findings.

When I saw http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard&oldid=493621214#User:Fae at WP:AN, I reviewed the RfC/U and found that unlike the most recent RfC/Us at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/User conduct/Archive it had not been summarized.

Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Philip Baird Shearer#Summary and Wikipedia:Requests for comment/GoodDay are two excellent examples of how complex RfC/Us are summarized. Cunard (talk) 07:14, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Discussion originally closed by Nobody Ent (talk · contribs). Left a note for him. Armbrust, B.Ed. WrestleMania XXVIII The Undertaker 20–0 10:12, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
No consensus was reached. I closed it per iar as no one else seemed willing to it. My more personal summary may be found here. Nobody Ent 20:27, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
Added a note to the top of the page pointing to the summary of the RFC/U [2], and I think this can be marked as {{done}}. Armbrust, B.Ed. WrestleMania XXVIII The Undertaker 20–0 21:25, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
Your close was (correctly) reverted by another editor because the close merely linked to WT:Requests for comment/Fæ#summary which is a very sarcastic (but accurate) summary of the situation. Johnuniq (talk) 02:25, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Umm, no, it's not correct to revert in such a situation. It's fine to disagree but not to unilaterally overturn it. Prioryman (talk) 07:56, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
BTW it's not even my close, I just linked to the closer's summary. Armbrust, B.Ed. WrestleMania XXVIII The Undertaker 20–0 08:27, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Whether it was meant to be sarcastic or serious or a mixture of both, a comment that refers to other editors as "a bunch of homophobes" should have been stricken from the RfC's talk page entirely, not propped up as an honest evaluation of the matter. Tarc (talk) 13:45, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
  • I would have thought it obvious that "a bunch of homophobes" was Nobody Ent's (admittedly sarcastic) summary of one of the arguments put forward in the RfC/U. It's very obvious from the context and tone of his summary that he's attempting to reflect the various arguments in a relatively lighthearted fashion. I'm sure that some will be upset that he's declined to take the outcome of the RfC/U seriously, which is quite understandable given what a circus it was and what a thorough mess it ended up being. Prioryman (talk) 19:22, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Regarding "reading comprehension needed?", I would say that our comprehension is working just fine, thanks. I addressed the possibility of sarcasm in my comment here earlier, but wil note again that even if it was intended was sarcasm, it was still inappropriate. It would be preferable if someone else provided a mature and serious summation of the RfC. Tarc (talk) 19:35, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Talk:Super_Tuesday,_2012#Merge

Discussion was open for more than one month is inactive since 26 April 2012. Armbrust, B.Ed. WrestleMania XXVIII The Undertaker 20–0 15:48, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Another request for closure

Moved from AN. Jafeluv (talk) 19:18, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

I would like someone to look at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Agent00f; there is a "view" subscribed to by a large enough number of editors at Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/Agent00f#View_by_Drmies and a move to close at Wikipedia_talk:Requests_for_comment/Agent00f#Move_to_close. Editor in question has had ample opportunity to show a dedication to cease disruptive editing (in this case, filibustering and stalling) and has not seized that opportunity. This has been running since 12 May. Thank you in advance. Drmies (talk) 15:04, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Request close of quadruple RM

Moved from AN. Jafeluv (talk) 19:18, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

(I hope this is the right place to make a request of this type. If not, please let me know.)

Namely:

It's been at the backlog for nearly a month and is quite stale at this point, I believe. Both sides had good points, and I wish we could have gotten a wider range of input. There is no clear consensus at the moment, however, and it doesn't look as though one is going to develop any time soon. Evanh2008 (talk) (contribs) 18:12, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

The actual discussion can be found at Talk:Books_of_Chronicles#Requested_move. Armbrust, B.Ed. WrestleMania XXVIII The Undertaker 20–0 21:28, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
YesY Closed - jc37 12:26, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

RfC on Deaths in 2012

An RfC concerning reference style that was opened on April 12. Danger! High voltage! 22:44, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

CfD

WP:CFD is backlogged. Any help closing some of these would be welcome. - jc37 00:36, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#Site xuarez.comoj.com and other requests

MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist has a severe backlog; the oldest entries date from January. Would an admin (or admins) review:

  1. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#Site xuarez.comoj.com
  2. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#A History of Broadcasting in the Philippines From World War II to the Birth of Philippine Television
  3. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#Let Me Google That For You
  4. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#Two Village Residents in Swedish Lapland, Where The Train Stops
  5. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#www.opposingviews.com/i/society/gay-issues/did-airman-randy-phillips-err-posting-video-coming-out-dad
  6. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#s14.invisionfree.com/Conchologist_Forum/ar/t2125.htm
  7. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#backupurl.com/zo9cxt
  8. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#Calendar Published by AIP on lulu.com
  9. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#Statsheet
  10. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#Clipmarks
  11. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#cbronline: 26 April 1992 article
  12. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#http://www.examiner.com/classic-movie-in-new-york/nancy-s-story
  13. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#Request for edit on Denver
  14. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#www.justjaredjr.com/2012/04/01/taylor-swift-kids-choice-awards-2012 on article Taylor Swift
  15. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#bit.ly/wlafghan2
  16. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#www.fort-kochi.com
  17. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#outrate.net
  18. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#Traditio-ru.org
  19. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#examiner.com on Terry Riley
  20. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#z4.invisionfree.com
  21. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#uservoice.com
  22. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#UKMIX page
  23. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#Online-Scratch-Card
  24. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#Uncensored Interviews interview with Poni Hoax
  25. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#Bad 25 Release Details PDF
  26. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#LMGTFY.com on article RTFM
  27. MediaWiki talk:Spam-whitelist#ehow.com/how_4621475_almond-jelly-dessert.html

After reviewing an entry, please post a comment on the requester's talk page because the requester may no longer be watching the page after such a lengthy period of time. MediaWiki:Spam-whitelist/Indicators may be useful. Thank you, Cunard (talk) 02:33, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Proposed topic ban of User:DeknMike

Community Ban Proposal for editor Horizontal Law

Community ban proposal for editor Echigo mole

Nobody Ent 02:14, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Fellow Wikipedians, It is time that I now propose a community ban proposal for Echigo mole (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · edit filter log · block user · block log). Since 2011, he's been repeatedly creating sockpuppets as per here to evade his block over a 1 year period, and It appears that he's just egregiously trolling, disrupting lots of Arbcom cases, and to many, he's just another disruptive troll and nuisance on this project. Now I believe the community needs to step up and collectively say "you're done here" through establishing consensus for a full ban on him. Khvalamde :   Argue, Scream, Chat, Yell or Shout   01:06, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

  • Support: Due to the nominator of this ban.
  • Support on procedural grounds. Dennis Brown - © 01:30, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Maybe I'm missing something, but Echigo has been indeffed. As I understand it, an indefinite block is more "effective" than a ban. See WP:BP.--Bbb23 (talk) 01:19, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

  • You are, but that's ok :) Banning doesn't change the fact that he is indef blocked as well. Banning means the person is no longer part of the community (indef blocked people still are). See WP:BANBLOCKDIFF. Unofficially, banning offers more teeth in reverting and dealing with the user. A single admin can't undo a ban, only a block. And there is the statement part of it. Dennis Brown - © 01:30, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Just to let you know, this is the seventh time I am reporting an editor on ANI to get them banned. Khvalamde :   Argue, Scream, Chat, Yell or Shout   01:42, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • This is nuts, these constant ban votes for editors that have been indef blocked forever are 100% pointless. And no, it isn't that I don't understand the difference, it is that banning Echo-whoever, and all the other trolls and puppeteers and vandals, isn't going to change one single thing for anyone. No admin was ever going to unblock him unilaterally. No one was ever going to get nailed for reverting him because he wasn't banned. No one considered him part of the community. We're not making any "statement" whatsoever. The only conceivable benefit is the warm glow in the belly from a good 2 minute hate, and we shouldn't be encouraging that. Khvalamde, I will pay you $5, a barnstar, and one free pass to say a rude word to someone here without getting blocked (or, if you are blocked by someone else, I'll unblock you immediately) if you just promise to never bring another ban discussion to this board. Please, I am begging. Stop this ridiculousness. --Floquenbeam (talk) 02:32, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
    • Ah, thank you Buick Century Driver, that's an obvious one I forgot to list. There is no chance that the ban is going to convince them to go away. If anything, it might make them want to stick around to prove the ban is toothless. --Floquenbeam (talk) 02:38, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
This is a somewhat odd statement to make, offering to reward a user with a barnstar to stop making frivolous proposals. While I sympathize with your suffering I question the reasoning of giving community rewards to stop a user from making frivolous proposals. --98.220.198.49 (talk) 03:54, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
      • Personally I have nothing to gain from this. I surmise that Khvalamde was personally involded and this could be a last resort, but I could care less if Echigo mole comes back and makes good edits. Of course if the activity is vandalisim the best way to stop them is to protect the page they're targeting. Once they know they can't edit the page, they'll probably give up on what they were doing. –BuickCenturyDriver 02:54, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
        • To make sure I'm being clear, I'm not saying that we shouldn't ban them because they might become rehabilitated. Semi-protection isn't going to work on serial sockpuppeteers, it would be useless. But so is community banning them. We shouldn't have these votes all the time because they make no difference except to waste time and give a false sense of security. Echo-whatsis (along with the other VFB's here recently) is already defacto banned; there is no benefit to making it a formal ban. --Floquenbeam (talk) 03:04, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Though I'm not one to participate in these discussions, I seriously doubt this is going to keep this person away from the site. If efforts were made to steer this person away from his or her disruptive behaviour and they ignored, then there is nothing I can do to avert this person's fate. If not, then I strongly suggest we mitigate the block for 1 year and suggest he or she can return in the future. I also strongly belive that bans should be handled by the arbcom. They're experts in policy and usually wind up giving a fair sanction. Often these bans lead to nothing more than an endless game of cat and mouse with the user and the time it takes to keep them off could have been used to improve articles. –BuickCenturyDriver 02:34, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Support - I see absolutley no harm in converting a de facto ban into a concrete one. If there's even a scintilla of a possible benefit in doing so, then it's a good thing. These are people for whom the collective good faith has totally run out, and I see value in the community affirming that -- or, if the proposed ban fails, in the community's realization that there is still some perceived value in keeping the possibility of the editor returning alive. Beyond My Ken (talk) 02:42, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
    • BMK, what scintilla of a possible benefit would that be? What possible benefit is there? I think it's far more likely that being banned gives them more incentive to mess with us. If anything, there is a scintilla of possible harm. The only benefit this thread will bring is the small joy I get from typing the fun not-used-often-enough word "scintilla" multiple times. --Floquenbeam (talk) 02:50, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
      • Floquenbeam: One benefit is that the edits of banned editors can be removed on sight, which is not true of the edits of block-evading indef-blocked users. As for incentive, given his record, Echigo mole already has sufficient incentive to mess with us, ignoring him isn't going to change that, nor is banning him. -- I think Mathsci can confirm that. Beyond My Ken (talk) 03:58, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
        • Also, banning isn't a death sentence, things can change, community bans can be removed by the community, should there be a change of heart and a sincere demonstration of having turned over a new leaf. There's no particular reason to avoid an appropriate ban simply because it's a more restrive sanction than an indef block. Beyond My Ken (talk) 04:02, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
An indef blocked editor can't make edits, so what good does the revert on sight protocol do?Nobody Ent 09:54, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
Easier to enforce - editors do not need to spend quite as much time dealing with the disruption caused. As a one-off thing, it's no significant difference, but when it happens often, it can be worthwhile. Ncmvocalist (talk) 11:31, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Oppose – Floquenbeam has a good point. Why have a ban or block when said user can very easily step around that? See User:Grundle2600, User:CentristFiasco, and User:Ryan kirkpatrick for good examples of that. --MuZemike 07:00, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Oppose per WP:BANBLOCKDIFF -- user is already banned (defacto) and Floequenbeam's point is spot on. Nobody Ent 10:00, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Oppose, not the ban, but the process of seeking a formal confirmation for it just for form's sake. We have a perfectly adequate policy on this: per WP:BAN, users who get themselves indef-blocked and then continue with a persistent pattern of block-evading sock disruption, already are considered de facto banned. The recent fashion of bringing up all these cases for formal reconfirmation of the ban has the effect of watering down this good old rule and spreading the myth that the old principle of "a banned user is any user who no admin would ever want to unblock" somehow is no longer valid. There is no difference between a formally enacted ban and a de facto ban of this sort, except that theoretically the threshold for an admin to try to override it and unblock a user would be lower for the latter type. But in most cases this possibility is remote and any unblock would quickly be overturned with a massive troutslap, so it doesn't really matter. For this reason I basically agree with Floquenbeam. Fut.Perf. 10:09, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Personally, I think the opposes are less than convincing as to the merits of whether or not Echigo is considered banned. I am a little more than appalled at the logic that we shouldn't ban or block an user just because they can find a way around it; why bother having useful edits made to the encyclopedia if all the work are inevitably going to be damaged by vandals, tendentious editors, and other users who should not be editing Wikipedia? While I appreciate the frustration regarding why should we necessarily confirm a ban from so long ago just because of some recent socking, that does not really warrant an oppose to this ban because it does nothing more than confuse/complicate matters - an oppose would mean there is some willingness to unblock the user (so a ban is not warranted), while your rationales apparently contradict that as there is no clear support from you regarding the ban itself. If you are getting annoyed with an user unnecessarily bringing up ban discussions on an ongoing basis regarding indef blocked users where official bans are not necessary (in light of the defacto bans), comment on their talk. Ncmvocalist (talk) 11:28, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
    • Support - when too much editor time is unnecessarily being wasted on cleaning up, I am not going to oppose efforts to cut down on that - purely because some admins fail to appreciate the difference this will have on other editors who do not have the luxury of extra buttons. I also don't agree that this is the appropriate discussion for "watering down our normal practices", so I am changing my comment to clarify my support for the ban. Ncmvocalist (talk) 14:15, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Oppose. I tend to think "what's it going to hurt to have a formal confirmation", but FPaS' point about this watering down our normal practices is convincing — this ban won't have a practical benefit and is part of a pattern that's not going in a good direction. Community ban proposals should be for people who aren't already (1) blocked indefinitely, and (2) obviously blocked permanently. Nyttend (talk) 12:53, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Support ban due to abusive sockpuppetry. And as sick as some people are of seeing ban discussions I'm equally as sick of seeing them endlessly bitching about it. It's been discussed a million times. A community ban requires the consensus of the community to reverse, not just promises to be good to a single administrator. And the entire "de facto" bollocks is an utter debacle as I knew it would be. Every time there is a ban proposal there is this endless bullshit about "de facto this" and "indef is fine, nothing changes with a ban" that. Clearly it is different or there would be no such thing as a "ban", admins would just block people and leave it at that. The fact that ban proposals repeatedly come up indicates that you're not going to get your way and ban proposals will not stop unless you either eliminate the concept of a community ban or you change the way Wikipedia works, namely via discussion and consensus. If you don't want to participate in ban discussions nobody is holding your feet to the fire. But quit derailing every ban discussion with this endless bitching and griping, it is FAR MORE DISRUPTIVE than any ban discussion has ever been. - Burpelson AFB 20:11, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Oppose. Per Floquenbeam. Thanks, Dennis, for the explanation and pointer. Could we make it any more complicated?--Bbb23 (talk) 00:14, 19 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Oppose What this section fails to address is why the ban was so merited in the first place to result in further measures. To me this seems a case of Double Jeopardy in wanting to provide additional punishments after the fact. And if that is to occur, then in my opinion there should be at least a token analysis of the original discipline so we can assure ourselves that (a) it was warranted, and (b) all possible measures need to be instituted to stop the user. A glance at the diffs provided shows little more than an affinity for Grunsky Matrices (whatever those are). For me to assume more discipline is required I would need to feel assured the original discipline itself was warranted, let alone that more is necessary. To my mind that proof has yet to be presented and without it this would be a hasty, premature, and careless rush to judgment which I will not support. --98.220.198.49 (talk) 03:16, 21 May 2012 (UTC) Block-evading sockpuppet's comments struck. Ncmvocalist (talk) 16:04, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Break

  • Strong support for community ban of Echigo mole/A.K.Nole Echigo mole started out life as A.K.Nole. He has wikihounded me since 2009 first as A.K.Nole and then using the account Quotient group. (On Wikipedia Review, he had the account Greg, if I remember rightly.) At that stage he was unwilling to admit to being an alternative account, but Shell Kinney interceded in 2010, corresponding with him by email, and he admitted to being an alternative account of A.K.Nole and agreed to stop wikihounding me. That promise did not last. He subsequently edited as:
  • Taciki Wym (talk • • contribs • deleted contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log • SUL • checkuser (log))
  • Holding Ray (talk • • contribs • deleted contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log • SUL • checkuser (log))
  • Julian Birdbath (talk • • contribs • deleted contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log • SUL • checkuser (log))
  • Zarboublian (talk • • contribs • deleted contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log • SUL • checkuser (log))

He trolled on arbcom pages using ipsocks in the range 212.183.1.1/16. The edits he made relating to me are catalogued here:

That editing was clarified by the arbitration committee in January 2011, when it was unclear whether these edits were by A.K.Nole or Mikemikev. Elen of the Roads informed me that they were by A.K.Nole and the ip range was blocked for 3 months by Shell Kinney along with the above named sockpuppets. The other sockpuppet accounts can be found on the investigation page and include the following accounts:

  • Echigo mole (talk • • contribs • deleted contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log • SUL • checkuser (log))
  • Krod Mandoon (talk • • contribs • deleted contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log • SUL • checkuser (log))
  • A.B.C.Hawkes (talk • • contribs • deleted contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log • SUL • checkuser (log))
  • Glenbow Goat (talk • • contribs • deleted contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log • SUL • checkuser (log))
  • Laura Timmins (talk • • contribs • deleted contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log • SUL • checkuser (log))
  • Old Crobuzon (talk • • contribs • deleted contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log • SUL • checkuser (log))
  • Reginald Fortune (talk • • contribs • deleted contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log • SUL • checkuser (log))
  • Tryphaena (talk • • contribs • deleted contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log • SUL • checkuser (log))
  • William Hickey (talk • • contribs • deleted contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log • SUL • checkuser (log))
  • Ansatz (talk • • contribs • deleted contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log • SUL • checkuser (log))
  • Southend sofa (talk • • contribs • deleted contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log • SUL • checkuser (log))
  • The Wozbongulator (talk • • contribs • deleted contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log • SUL • checkuser (log))

Since December 2011 they switched from vodaphone to the ip ranges 94.196.1.1/16 and 94.197.1.1/16. The diffs of all the edits related to me were described during the current arbcom review. That information was gathered up to 13 April, but there have been about 30 edits since then and several ipsocks blocked by either arbitrators or administrators.

This person follows my edits and pretends to have expert mathematical knowledge (they are barely at a second year undergraduate level in mathematics, probably only have done a course in computer science, and are generally clueless about any mathematics that is graduate level or beyond). They troll on arb com pages, arbcom clerk talk pages and arbitrator talk pages. Instead of disrupting wikipedia to prove a point, MuZemike could have attended to the outstanding checkuser case (Krod Mandoon) which Courcelles dealt with by indefinitely blocking the account and removing his trolling edits on the Requests for amendment page. This user has worked out my real life identity and has attempted to out me in various places. Amalthea has suggested that a Long Term Abuse file be prepared for this editor. It would not look very different from the above, but I would be cautious in describing the way in which this wikihounder goes about outing me. I have to be continually vigilant. Having said I would support a community ban, the LTA is more helpful. I do know of one community banned editor who is editing through another account. At the moment it is not worth reporting, since his editing patterns are not disruptive (he has started university in a new location and that I would guess is more suited to his personality). Mathsci (talk) 07:54, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Echigo mole/A.K.Nole has now started to troll here (what a surprise).[69][70] But all his edits repeat themselves ad nauseam, each one claiming to be from a new person. Wikipedia does not work like that. The edits are instantly recognizable because of the standard IP ranges used and their dreary repetitive content. WP:DUCK and WP:DENY apply in this case. Mathsci (talk) 15:27, 20 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Strongly support. The user's record is appalling. We don't need this kind of disruption. Prioryman (talk) 09:14, 20 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Oppose. I looked at the diffs and user's edits[71] briefly and couldn't understand what the issue was. Perhaps you could show more clearly which edits they made originally that were so objectionable? All I saw was a potentially unhealthy interest in discussing esoteric mathematical subjects with you. To convince me the original ban itself was warranted, let alone that more discipline is required, I will need to see specifics as to how they acted rudely. I did not even see where you asked them to stop talking to you, which to me would show this was stalking as you claim. This long list of diffs needs to more concisely pinpoint where abuse occurred for me to acknowledge the original ban was even necessary, let alone a more stringent action. Clearly discipline isn't deterring them anyway so we might as well make sure the original decision was correct rather than making a careless judgment which will only encourage them further to oppose it by suggesting careless injustice. --98.220.198.49 (talk) 03:49, 21 May 2012 (UTC) Block-evading sockpuppet's comments struck. Ncmvocalist (talk) 16:04, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Question. This [72] appears to be by DWaterson (talk · contribs), who registered in 2005. Is Mathsci quite sure that this is another sockpuppet User:Echigo mole? Could we see the SPI please? 94.197.77.227 (talk) 16:15, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Treatment of de-facto-banned users

Perhaps we should look for a more general solution to this issue of de-facto-banned users. As the thread above shows, there is, on the one hand, the long-standing practice, enshrined in WP:BAN, of treating indef-blocked users with persistent disruptive sock habits as de facto banned. On the other hand, there is perhaps a legitimate feeling of insecurity among some users confronted with the ugly task of cleaning up after such users, because without a formal ban decision they don't feel confident they can safely invoke the 3RR exemption while dealing with the socks, or they feel they might less easily find admin support for getting them blocked, etc. However, as Floq's comment shows, some of us have misgivings about the trend of having a growing number of such cases brought up here for confirmation merely for form's sake.

Maybe we should think of a simpler alternative to solve both problems? How about we add a "de facto" section to the official list of banned users at WP:BANNED? Any admin could add a user name there if (a) the user has been indef-blocked for a longish period; (b) there has been a significant, persistent pattern of disruptive block evasion; (c) the reasons for the block are such that the block appears likely to remain permanent. On adding a name to the list, the admin would merely give a brief notification to WP:AN, without the need for a formal confirmation through a !vote (but an AN discussion about the user's status could of course be held if there are objections). The listing would serve the purpose of giving other editors a formal assurance that socks of this user can be treated with full "banned means banned" force, and it would also be a signal to other admins asking them not to consider unblocks lightly and without prior consensus. Fut.Perf. 14:49, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

  • Support as a good solution to the issue (although this solution is far too logical and practical for me to expect it to be implemented by this community). Sven Manguard Wha? 15:29, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Can someone give me an example of an editor getting in trouble for reverting a de facto banned but not de jure banned vandal, puppeteer, or troll? I have never seen this happen. We remove the edits of block-evading indef-blocked but not-officially-banned users all the time. Who has ever tried to revert Echigo mole, for example, and been stymied or threatened because someone said "Echigo mole isn't banned"?

    If that happens, then de jure banning makes sense; but I don't think it happens. The only time banning makes a difference for reverting all edits is when someone who is indef blocked is making edits that some people want to be able to revert, and others don't. But that is not the case with de facto banned vandals, socks, and trolls that get brought up in votes for banning so frequently.

    If the fear of a 3RR block for reverting a de facto banned editor is driving this, wouldn't it be much simpler to just change the wording of WP:EW to say that reverts of de facto banned editors is exempt too? That would certainly match current practice, anyway. Better than another process, IMHO. --Floquenbeam (talk) 15:31, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

(edit conflict)What's to change? WP:NOT3RR already lists "indefinitely blocked accounts." Nobody Ent 15:48, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
Oh. (pause) Nevermind. I don't think it used to say that. Then yes, I don't see a need for anything more. --Floquenbeam (talk) 15:55, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Support per Sven Manguard; this proposal does seem to sort out a large chunk of the problem. As to the alternative "change the wording of EW" proposal suggested after that, imho, the same problem would exist: there is too much of a grey line as to whether (and the point at which) editors can actually consider certain users as de-facto banned - with admin support. Ncmvocalist (talk) 15:51, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
What's gray? Open the users block log -- if they're indef'd as a sock they're de-facto banned and their edits can be reverted. Nobody Ent 15:52, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
For a start, that understanding is not quite right. An indefinite block for being a sock does not automatically mean the user is defacto banned, at least from my reading of sockpuppetry, blocking, banning and administrator policies. Ncmvocalist (talk) 15:58, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
Also, although you have made this change to sockpuppetry policy since my comment, I don't think that quite cuts it either. I can see a situation where an editor (who evades a particular block made by a certain admin) proceeds to make constructive edits; in that case, even though the blocked user should theoretically wait for the official unblock to be granted, it does not mean that a reversion of the constructive edits is permitted by default. In fact, a flawed original block may be what led the user to appeal in that misguided way. The distinction between that user, and a banned user, is that only after careful consideration, the community have deemed that the unconstructive edits of the banned user outweigh the positive contributions the banned user may/will produce - which is why any edits by that user may be reverted on the spot. I am of the view that enacting Fut Perf's proposal may produce a more meaningful outcome in terms of settling this issue. Ncmvocalist (talk) 16:54, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Comment - I have reservations about using something like "de facto" banning as acceptable, because there is always the unlikely but possible chance that, for instance, someone who is apparently a new sockpuppet isn't a sockpuppet. The legal system had similar problems with executing people who were later found innocent, for example. Having said that, I do think that it makes sense to have some sort of confirmation of "de facto" banned users. Maybe a rather unfortunately legalistic vote to formally ban a list of "de facto" banned editors on a somewhat regular basis, like every three months, might work best. This would give individuals who are not sockpuppets a chance to maybe build up a case before the axe falls on them. At the same time, it would help admins who hesitate to perhaps go beyond what they see as being clear in policy regarding "de facto" banned users have the question cleared up for them. John Carter (talk) 17:37, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Sorta support in that it reduces, but does not eliminate the problem. The problem can be eliminated by not bothering to have these discussions about such obvious cases, but OK, fine, if someone wants to create a list, as long as the list contains a phrase which says that not being on the list doesn't mean anything, than fine. In other words, the existance of a list of de-facto banned users does not mean that a person not on the list is not also de facto banned. That is, disruptive users who continue to be a disruptive force continue to be treated exactly like every other banned user regardless of any discussion or placement on a list or anything else. The list is fine, and if it can reduce these discussions, fine, but that doesn't mean that we should suddenly stop reverting disruptive users on sight merely because some pointless bureaucratic event has not occured first. --Jayron32 17:39, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Oppose - The "De Facto" crap needs to be destroyed with fire. As long as it exists, people will spend endles kb arguing over what it means, who can tag as "de facto" banned, etc. And "De Facto" banned is nothing different from an indef block meaning any admin can come along and unblock them while a community or arbcom ban can only be overturned by community consensus or via Arbcom. - Burpelson AFB 20:14, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • If a user who is blocked is evading the block, they can and should be treated as a de facto banned user. To take any other approach is to encourage block evasion. Rather than creating a new list or having these long discussions again and agin, we should just make this clear in the policy so we don't need to do either of those things. Beeblebrox (talk) 20:49, 18 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Oppose Burpelson's point is a very good one: when a single admin can undo a "de facto" ban, and the boundaries of what is and isn't a de facto ban can be endlessly argued about, the community ban provides a straightforward statement of the editor's staus, one that can't be argued away, can't be undone by a single admin having a bad judgment day (it does happen occasionally), and requires the voice of the community to overturn. Along with the increased latitutde to revert edits, these are concrete benefits to continuing the institution of the community ban, and not undercutting it by refusing to implement it for reasons that have nothing whatsoever to do with the actions and behavior of the subject editor. Beyond My Ken (talk) 21:07, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Viriditas

I don't like personal attacks ([73], [74], [75], [76]). I have warned him three times by now (1 text, two Twinkle-tags) ([77], [78], [79]). But rereading his talkpage, he in fact said that he wanted to battle it out if I dared to report him. In fact, I took that as a threat and request to report him and so here is the report.

By now, Viriditas is also warned about his behaviour by two other Wikipedians. It seems that his passion for "Template:American cuisine" is going out of hand. Night of the Big Wind talk 22:31, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

I'll gladly take your fishy bait. Those diffs show responses to your personal attacks and your repeated trolling of the template talk page. To date, you made 11 contributions to the discussion over at Template talk:American cuisine.[80] You trolled the talk page in your second edit, when you proposed adding an image of lard to represent all American cuisine.[81] Then, you attacked me personally in your third edit.[82] You demanded I prove a negative (typical trolling behavior) in your sixth edit,[83] made a fallacious appeal to the majority and to non-existent, anecdotal evidence in your eighth edit,[84] avoided answering a simple, direct question (and replied with a trollish accusation) in your tenth edit, and directly contradicted yourself and a previous edit you made (indicating you were trolling) in your eleventh edit.[85] After discovering you weren't getting the "bites" you were after by trying to start an uber-trollish America vs. The World dispute, like the kind we find on external forum sites, you then proceeded to visit my user talk page, where you spent the next hour template bombing and harassing me to bait me even further.[86][87][88] Please use an external website for flame wars about Americans vs. other nations, because this is the wrong site for it. Viriditas (talk) 01:52, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
    • Interesting, but I can see the Belgian article without any subscription and with a clear picture of a hamburger in it: De Standaard. Besides that. I am not the only requesting you to stop your attacks. Night of the Big Wind talk 08:22, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
      • Please stop the trolling; that isn't a reliable source for anything on Wikipedia. Finally, you need to stop the stalking and blanket reverting of my edits on pages you've never edited before. Viriditas (talk) 09:08, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
        • Aha, another unsubstantiated attack. May I point on the fact that I reverted only 7 of the 13 templates you altered. And that you reverted all 7 without any comment? Night of the Big Wind talk 09:16, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
          • You're trolling, again. You stalked and hounded me on articles you've never edited before for no reason other than to blanket revert my edits and harass me. Further, you haven't participated in the discussion about these edits, so accusing me of not commenting on your reverts is just more trolling on your end. Viriditas (talk) 09:21, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
            • So what? I don't see any edits of you at the templates about Canadian Cuisine, Japanese cuisine, Korean cuisine, Serbian cuisine, Turkish cuisine, Pakistani cuisine, Moroccan cuisine, Italian cuisine, Algerian cuisine, Indian cuisine, Chinese cuisine, British cuisine and Argentine cuisine, before you removed the picture. But if you read the history properly (what you clearly didn't do), you can see edits of me on the templates about Turkish cuisine and Serbian cuisine (where I didn't revert you). Why you deny me the right to edit those articles is an absolute mystery to me. Night of the Big Wind talk 09:40, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
                • The real mystery is why you are hounding me and blanket reverting my edits without any known reason for your reverts. It is a mystery is why you keep avoiding the argument and attacking other editors. The mystery of your continual disruption is the issue. Viriditas (talk) 20:00, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
                  • Do you have any real arguments or do you only have PAs and false accusations available? Night of the Big Wind talk 21:52, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Comment Use of the term xenophobe by Viriditas did come off a bit extreme until hearing his side of the story. Night of the Big Wind wanting pictures of lard shown as representative of American cuisine, and suggesting Viriditas is ignorant for not being abroad more, is somewhat inflammatory. Perhaps there is room for agreement by having a section on "Global perceptions of American cuisine" which could provide sourcing for what views outside American are concerning its cuisine. Viriditas is right though that it needs to rely on sources and that this is more a 'culture war' than any attempt to resort to personal attacks. I think there might be a little too much sensitivity here and hopefully there is room for compromise where both sides are presented. --98.220.198.49 (talk) 02:57, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Comment - Viriditas has not been on his best behavior in the discussion, he openly violated WP:3R by reverting the article to the state he wanted it to be in. He ignored WP:BRD at first, insisting that his was the proper way to have the template configured. The main issue I have with him is that he ignored one of the baser protocols when arguing a point - Argue your points and point out the deficiencies in the arguments other commentators, but do not point out percieved deficiencies of the other commentators themselves. He made several snide comments regarding myself and others in his attempt to argue his point. These actions were a bit over the top for someone with his time and experience he on WP.
I took Night's comment for what it was, a joke made in an attempt to lighten the tone of the conversation. We as Americans have a problem with obesity and he was poking fun at that. --Jeremy (blah blah • I did it!) 04:07, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Comment: Ah... So refreshing to see Viriditas name at WP:AN. I don't think a site ban is sufficient in this case. Do we have a sanction more severe than that? Can we ban him from the Internet? Lacking a total and complete irrevocable biometric Internet ban for life--and any reincarnated personages--perhaps this should be moved to WP:WQA. On the serious side, V was definitely edit warring--and his justification doesn't hold water. – Lionel (talk) 04:59, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
By now, mr. Viriditas started altering 13 other navboxes relating to foreign cuisine. Out of those 13 cases, I reverted 7, as not being irrelavant, as he claimed. Only effect was a unexplained revert by mr. Viriditas. Arguments he used to remove the images were Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Images (what says nothing about navigationboxes but is about images in the lead of an article), Wikipedia:LAYIM (about the layout and size of images, no word specifically about navboxes), Wikipedia:Navigation templates (what shoes that images are allowed) and Wikipedia:Categories, lists, and navigation templates/Wikipedia:NAVBOX (what says nothing about images). And last, he uses Wikipedia:IRELEV to remove the images, what means saying that a picture of spaghetti is irrelevant to Italian Cuisine.
With reporting mr. Viriditas here, I am not trying to get him blocked or banned. I would be good enough for me when he stops editing articles and templates about food. Night of the Big Wind talk 09:13, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
You're a troll. I properly notified the discussion of edits to 13 other articles.[89] That discussion, over at Template_talk:American_cuisine#Anna's sense, has support for my edits. If you don't support those edits, you are welcome at any time to use the discussion page and make your case, however, you can't and you won't because you are just trolling for attention. Your entire purpose here is to attack and harass other users, and that's at odds with the goals of the encyclopedia. Viriditas (talk) 09:19, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
And the next attack. Can you explain to me why editwarring and personal attacks is beneficial to Wikipedia? Night of the Big Wind talk 09:44, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
You're the one who needs to start explaining why you've been following my contributions and reverting my edits for no reason. How did your reverts improve Wikipedia? How did any of your contributions to the discussion improve Wikipedia? Viriditas (talk) 20:04, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
I only looked up the 13 templates you announced to have changed. And instead of blanked reverts, I only reverted half of them, with an explanation. That was rather different with your unexplained reverts only minutes later on all templates I had changed. Secondly, I have a proven track record on articles and templates to food and drink related subjects. You are an experienced editor, with an even longer tour of duty then I have, so you should know better then the way your are acting now. Night of the Big Wind talk 08:08, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

V, could you please stop with making these changes based on very little discussion and your own personal opinions. Changes such as these should really be made via discussion and consensus, not capricious, wholes scale removal. Again you are violating WP:3R, WP:BRD and no you are engaging in WP:Pointy behavior. Ongoing personal attacks add to this spate of awful behavior and are not productive. --Jeremy (blah blah • I did it!) 14:34, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Please stop making things up. The changes I've made have support on the talk page, and there's been a massive amount of discussion on the topic, with primary objections consisting of "I own the template", "I don't like it", "me too", and "Americans are fat". Your stalking, hounding and blanket reversions without reason, and continual stream of false allegations and accusations are noted. Your attempt to engage in the "I lost the discussion so let's play the civility card" tactic is noted. Viriditas (talk) 17:45, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
So if I summerize it correctly, everybody, including Jimbo and the Queen of Engeland, was behaving badly, with the notable exception of mr. Viriditas? Night of the Big Wind talk 19:29, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
This began with you making personal attacks, followed by you trolling the talk page, harassing me on my user talk page, and finally, hounding me on other articles and blanket reverting me because you lost the argument. You're here, along with Jeremy, because when you can't attack the argument, you're best bet is to attack the contributor, hoping nobody will actually spend the time to look at the diffs. Good luck with that. Viriditas (talk) 19:41, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
Strange, but that is just exactly what you are doing by calling me a troll and calling some of my remarks xenofobic! Night of the Big Wind talk 21:48, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
(edit conflict) Viriditas, no matter what the situation at the article, it has not been my experience that another editor's behavior is improved by calling him a troll. If you need help at that article, then get help.
(Does he really think lard is typical of American cooking? The average American eats less than 15 grams of lard each week (ISBN 9780824767822 p. 341). A single serving of British Lardy cake or Spanish Manteca colorá will have more than that.) WhatamIdoing (talk) 19:38, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
He doesn't think that. He is trying to start a flame war, and failing. His entire argument consists of "Americans are fat and stupid", which is perfectly fine with me, but that's not what we at discussing on the talk page, and he keeps trying to change the subject from arguments to editors. Viriditas (talk) 19:48, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
Interesting, I can't remember to have said that anywhere in the discussion. Do you have proof of that? What I did say is that in my experiences in The Netherlands and Ireland (=just my experiences, not universal), most people identify "American Cuisine" with hamburgers. Night of the Big Wind talk 21:48, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Comment Night of the Big Wind is not a troll. To me it looks like a classic use of WP:BOOMERANG to quell criticism. As long as Viriditas can, in some way, any way, make his accuser look equally culpable, then he gets off scot free. Because the Admins are going to say, well, both sides misbehaved, end of story, next case please. The fact is, without the 3RR violations, ownership, and refusal seek consensus, there wouldn't have ever been any tit for tat. Viriditas caused that. All over a fairly insignificant navbox picture which by its very nature couldn't be expected to please everybody. Why go to war over that? --Dennis Bratland (talk) 21:31, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
    • The sound of your axe grinding is so loud, reports are coming in from Alpha Centauri. . How about providing some diffs, starting with this alleged 3rr you speak of? This should be interesting. Viriditas (talk) 22:59, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
      • Yes, I kind of saw that coming. Ad hominem is your M.O. First attack Night of the Big Wind, then attack anybody else who doesn't side with you. Always attack, attack, attack, and that will drag everyone else down into the muck, and muddy the waters so badly that there will be no consequences. Guys who have been editing Wikipedia many years seem to grasp that tactic quite well. And you'll probably get away with it, as usual, so why pay attention to someone like me? You know your business. I see someone else has said Night of the Big Wind is not a troll. Better run and attack them now. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 05:17, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
        • Translation, you don't have any diffs because you're just making stuff up. Quick, what's a 12 letter word for someone who does that? Viriditas (talk) 06:48, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Comment- I won't comment on whether pictures of hamburgers and lard are representative of American cuisine, but from the rest of the diffs provided it does not look like NOTBW is trolling or anything like that. It looks more to me as though Viriditas is overreacting and trying to interpret NOTBW's edits in the worst possible way. Reyk YO! 23:12, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Comment This is a real discussion? I would say a cup of tea Coke is called for here. There is no single image which would exemplify all of US cuisine, so that cavil is useless. Maine lobster, Gulf shrimp, Colorado beef, Hamburgers and brats, apple pie and pecan pie , sourdough bread, and lots more are all part of American cuisine, and since we can not put everything into a grand stew in a single picture, it makes sense to not even try to cover everything. My own suggestion? an ice cream cone - certified American from about 1904. Chocolate. Collect (talk) 23:36, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
    • I have offered to rework a picture with frybread, a Native American type of bread with a history far older then all other cooking styles in the United States. And secondly, bread is, as far as I know, used in every style of kitchen mentioned in the template and so neutral. Night of the Big Wind talk 07:41, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Comment No strong opinion the the content dispute above, but I think both editors went too far at times with each other. Some clearly unacceptable stuff, and we should all try to avoid it in the future. Agreed? Arkon (talk) 02:16, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
    • I didn't disrupt the discussion and attack the user for being Dutch and then proceed to make fun of his cuisine. I didn't argue that Wikipedia should promote stereotypes of Dutch people and refer to them as uncouth simpletons. I wasn't the one who then proceeded to template bomb a regular and make accusations on their talk page. What I did do, was call a spade a spade. Viriditas (talk) 06:57, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
      • You started off with an editwar, my friend. That is clearly disruptive behaviour. And secondly, I never made fun of the American kitchen. I just told you that the view on American Cuisine outside the United States might be totally different then your view. As WP is supposed to be neutral, that is an opinion that must be taken into account. And clearly not brushed away as being an xenofobic, as you did. Night of the Big Wind talk 07:41, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
        • I started nothing of the sort; I've now withdrawn from the discussion and I have no intent on ever returning. Please continue your "fishing" expedition...without me, as I have no patience for it. Viriditas (talk) 08:22, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I don't see any reason why this is on AN. WP:WQA is thataway. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 12:28, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Exactly. While an interesting content dispute, the meat of this is q content dispute, which some harsh language thrown in for seasoning. Please take it elsewhere.--SPhilbrick(Talk) 13:31, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
  • To me the most American of cuisine is sweet pomegranite salad with also chopped walnuts, apples, raisins, mixed w whipped cream (must use home-grown, sweet, soft-seeded Eversweet strain of "pommers," not the standard, tart, Spanish Ruby).

    W rgd user Veriditas: Everybody knows that no-one is ever sanctioned for personal attacks on Wikipedia. So, ignore that and simply address eg the charge of 3R, which should have been accompanied w diffs.--Hodgdon's secret garden (talk) 14:54, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Topic ban discussion, Hrafn

Hrafn (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · edit filter log · block user · block log)

Users being notified of this discussion: User_talk:Goo2you, User_talk:Maiorem, User_talk:Mthoodhood, User_talk:John_lilburne, User_talk:Kenatipo, User_talk:John_J._Bulten, User:Hrafn. Unscintillating (talk) 00:59, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Arbcom decision

Unscintillating (talk) 00:59, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Evidence

  • Evidence of lack of respect for another editor, at Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons/Noticeboard/Archive133#William Lane Craig,

    Most notable is user User:Hrafn who began his involvement in this article since 26 May 2011, and has repeatedly deleted important information from the article with such reasons given as "Rm: WP:OR that is NOT IN THE CITED SOURCES!" despite not being familiar with the source in question; "UTTERLY worthless sources on UTTERLY unimportant website"...00:25, 16 September 2011

WP:Complete bollocks!..."Turns out that you actually do know that..." John lilburne is misrepresenting me again....Hrafn...12:06, 5 February 2011

  • Diff showing that there is a well-known and long-standing problem.


Personal attacks or evidence of personal attacks on Unscintillating:

  • Accusations and uncivil behavior at Talk:John F. Ashton:
    • ...'''BLATANTLY OBVIOUS''' that Ashton is a YEC, and [[WP:DE|disrupt]] the article...Hrafn...06:18, 15 May 2012 (UTC)
    • ...claim that we do not know that Ashton is a YEC is decidedly [[WP:POINT]]...Hrafn...09:59, 15 May 2012 (UTC)
    • And here's a quote of where I MET THE FRACKING BURDEN! ...Hrafn...04:53, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

      Diff:
  • Talk:Mark Dalbey, diff,

    This comment tells me nothing whatsoever of any validity about the facts, but everything about the character and general trustworthiness of its author. Relevant pages to describe your comment would appear to be WP:TE & WP:CB. I didn't have a high opinion of you previously, and rather thought that your nick was somewhat of an understatement. I now see that you are a perfect antonym of wikt:scintillating. Such extreme, blatant and fallacious WP:Synthesis of what the sources actually state would fail to 'scintillate' even the village idiot...Hrafn...12:27, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

    Unscintillating (talk) 00:59, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Move to strike

  • To use the language of the courtroom (though cognizant that Wikipedia is not a court of law), the 'accused' moves that this purported 'evidence' be stricken, as being based repeatedly on (i) hearsay (what other users accuse me of having done), including one wild accusation from a long-banned sockpuppet (User:Goo2you), or (ii) quotation out of context -- including the egregious example where I am accused of "Commenting on the contributor, not the contribution" where the quotation conveniently omits my comments on the 'contribution' and only includes my "haven't got a leg to stand on" conclusion. HrafnTalkStalk(P) 11:33, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
Strike-through has been added to evidence not written by Hrafn.  Unscintillating (talk) 23:35, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Analysis

  • User Hrafn's contributions show a pattern that he/she is either challenged by or chooses to bounds-test our civility policy and talk page guidelines.  This is not a new problem.
  • Hrafn's personal attacks on Talk:John F. Ashton cannot be dealt with on that page without drawing attention to the editor rather than the contributions.  Therefore, I am effectively barred from further contributions on that page because Hrafn has accused me of disruption.
  • Violations of the Arbcom ruling are listed as:

Unscintillating (talk) 00:59, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Proposed resolution

IPs tagged as (suspected) sockpuppets

There are hundreds (thousands?) of IP addresses tagged as sockpuppets, suspected sockpuppets, or sockmasters. However, according to the policy Wikipedia:Sock puppetry (and specifically the linked Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/SPI/Administrators instructions#Blocking and tagging, registerd accounts should be tagged, but IP addresses shouldn't be tagged.

This is done for a number of reason, including the protection of privacy and the fact that an IP which has been tagged as a sockpuppet may now be used by someone completely unrelated to the problem.

Therefor, I propose to remove all sock and suspected sock tags from IP addresses; in the case were different registered accounts are tagged as socks of an IP address, to tag one of the registered accounts as the master instead; and to nominate for speedy deletion all categories which become empty due to the removal of said tags.

This is a rather drastic action which may raise some eyebrows if started without prior discussion, so please raise all objections and discuss any improvements. Fram (talk) 07:53, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

There's nothing wrong with tagging IP talk pages, which is what the Blocking and tagging instructions used to say before someone changed it. Doc talk 08:00, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Tagging IPs is actually rather important to tracking IP-hopping block evaders (who tend to operate from a limited range of addresses), and blanket removal of these tags would be really unhelpful for admins and editors who are trying to stop active block evaders. Instead of doing so, I'd suggest removing all the tags which are more than (say) six months old, or whatever the Checkuser criterion for the IP being "stale" is if it's a shorter duration. Nick-D (talk) 08:04, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
For prolific ones, it's necessary to listify if we're going to remove the tags. e.g. Nangaparbat has been inactive for a year but came back again after that. Most of the people who've been tackling NP are currently inactive, so this will prevent any action. Same with Dewan357, if just a couple of editors aren't around and the IPs used list isn't available, then preventing further disruption is almost impossible. —SpacemanSpiff 08:08, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
When was that changed? I have to agree with Doc through Spiff when they say that Fram's proposal would substantially hamper SPIs. Nyttend (talk) 11:34, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Not disagreeing Nyttend, just saying that if this proposal is accepted, then we need an alternative to manage the resulting troubles.—SpacemanSpiff 12:45, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Agree with Doc & Nyttend - I've tagged IPs recently with 'suspected' and a CU has been unable to confirm due to not enough edits. Should the editor of an IP change from Mr X to Mrs Y, then we can remove the tag at that point - but I've oly seen it happen once in my 6+ years here. GiantSnowman 11:41, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Here was the change. It didn't seem to cause much of stir at the time, but I don't understand why IP talk pages shouldn't be tagged if need be. Doc talk 11:42, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
What is the point of connecting User talk:58.69.10.203 with Category:Suspected Wikipedia sockpuppets of 112.205.231.17? They have made one common edit, i.e. the second making a vandal edit, and the first making a (valid) correction in it 7 hours later, which makes it rather dubious that these are actual socks of each other. Fram (talk) 12:11, 22 May 2012 (UTC
Tagging errors, or overzealous tagging, by individual editors shouldn't necessarily mean that the entire concept of tagging an IP should be abandoned (and I have informed DeltaQuad of this thread, naturally). I have always agreed that IP's pages don't need to be tagged, and haven't tagged any since I learned what the policy said at one time; but tagging their talk pages is far less of a concern, as I see it. Doc talk 12:24, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
The individual instance doesn't really interest me, it's just an example, the fact is that while GiantSnwoman may have seen only one problematic instance in 6 years, it isn't hard to find a lot more in the actual existing categories. Fram (talk) 12:31, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
I did make that internal edit to SPI documentation. It was just what the clerks actively did at the time, which I also personally agree with. I'll make more comment below. -- DQ (ʞlɐʇ) 13:15, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
There is no way to tell whether User:202.56.7.138 is still in any way connected to User:119.30.39.37 and/or User:Azpayel (who hasn't edited in three years anyway). Never mind that the only IP address in Category:Suspected Wikipedia sockpuppets of 203.202.70.202 is User:203.202.70.202 itself. The talk page indicates that probably User:203.171.92.36 was intended, who made one edit in 2006. User talk:195.195.190.4, a school IP, is linked to Category:Suspected Wikipedia sockpuppets of Abdi342, who made three edits in 2008. The point of this sock tag and this category at this point in time is? Fram (talk) 11:59, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
(edit conflict)Aren't the IP's normally included in the archives of the SPI anyway? E.g. for User:Dewan357, you can find a (partial) list of his IP socks through Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Dewan357/Archive, which seems to contain more (and other) IP addresses than Category:Suspected Wikipedia sockpuppets of Dewan357 does. The ranges are the important aspect here, not the actual addresses, as far as I can see. Fram (talk) 12:11, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Should my initial proposal be restricted to "after 6 months or older" and/or "only for small-scale sockfarms, i.e. 2 or 3 adresses at most"? Fram (talk) 11:59, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Even with that change, I would oppose. Not seeing any real benefit from it. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 12:34, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Privacy? Plus, just imagine that you start editing (as an IP), and you turn out to be already tagged as a "suspected sockpuppet". Not really the welcoming atmosphere we try to create for new editors. The actual benefit of such IP sock cats is (certainly after a few months or a year) largely negligible, except perhaps for a few persistent IP-hopping socks to establish ranges and so on. But we shouldn't have many (now) useless and potentially harmful cats for the sake of a few useful ones. Fram (talk) 12:46, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
You're going to have to clarify. I don't see how this is a privacy issue at all. As to "welcoming," it's not welcoming for a person to get rolled into a dynamic IP that has vandalism notices or is blocked, either. Most IPs who've run into this aren't upset when they get an explanation. I don't this as compelling either. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 22:24, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Editor's should not be tagged except as a result of an SPI per good faith. Nobody Ent 12:35, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

In really, ridiculously obvious WP:DUCK cases, there needs to be no SPI before they are tagged. In fact, SPI would come to a complete standstill if they did. Doc talk 12:42, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
  • But take Nangparbat, since someone mentioned him. While I've been watching he's edited from four dozen BT IP addresses. The only information to note is that his ISP is BT - his IP address changes every 48 hours. What on earth is the point of tagging all the IPs - by now the first one probably belongs to Mavis Minnow, who just wants to make a few edits to pages on slugs, and discovers she's being accused as a sock of Nangparbat. Elen of the Roads (talk) 13:18, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Anyways, would it be possible to have sockpuppet tags on IP user(talk)pages to have an expiry date? That would quickly empty the categories and then empty sock-categories could be deleted and/or would not need creation. --Dirk Beetstra T C 13:32, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

  • So, for IP pages, have a bot change {{sock}} (should be used on named accounts only) to {{ipsock}} (should be used on IP accounts only) (and vice versa) - and have for {{ipsock}} have an expiry date set (1 month or 6 months, or possibly custom, whatever we agree on). After expiry the tag changes appearance, is not categorised anymore, and the page can be blanked (alike Wikipedia:Old IP talk pages). Empty categories can be deleted then (if they were created). --Dirk Beetstra T C 13:47, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
    • If feasible, such a solution is fine by me as well of course. Fram (talk) 13:52, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
      • Isn't something like this programmed into {{prod}} (though that is substituted - but if it works there, it should be easy with parameters to the template as well). --Dirk Beetstra T C 13:56, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Oppose - Doesn't help anything, creates a lot of unnecessary work. - Burpelson AFB 16:50, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
    To that I agree, Burpelson AFB - but people are saying here that invalid tags (and their resultant categories) are unnecessarily accusing and should be removed. Who needs a problem if you have a solution? --Dirk Beetstra T C 16:59, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

When tagging IPs as socks, a couple things need to be considered:

  1. How static is the IP?
  2. Privacy concerns: Is the blocked user clearly evading block from said IP?

As far as #1 is concerned, obviously if an IP is static enough and is known to have been used long enough by a blocked user, then by all means tag it. For dynamic IPs, it depends. I have seen users tag groups of IPs that form an entire IP range. I would personally prefer to find the range and then tag the user page of that IP range itself, but the other way is also fine, if it's useful. There are cases in which people evade block by using any means, meaning that IPs will be all over the place; in that case, it may not be useful to tag such IPs.

For #2, a user who openly edits or evades block through IPs are not afforded the same privacy expectations as those users who, for instance, accidentally edit while logged out. To elaborate, that user takes responsibility for whatever happens if he/she intentionally chooses to use an IP to evade a block, scrutiny, etc. Moreover, while CheckUsers do not publicly make connections between registered accounts and IPs via technical evidence, that does not stop anyone from making that connection publicly with behavioral evidence and editing patterns. --MuZemike 21:24, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

  • One point that appears to have been missed in the discussion is that the main benefit of tagging the IP is to be able to see the past contributions to compare with. For many of our prolific sockmasters, CU data is stale, so almost everything is based on behavioral evidence. Removing the IPsock tag is fine if there's another trail maintained to review contribution history for every sock farm. —SpacemanSpiff 01:37, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
  • In a way regarding point 1 of MuZemike, tagging very volatile IPs - at least a good handful of them (which may happen before one realises that the editor has the access to many IPs) does show that the sockmaster is all around the place. To go with SpacemanSpiff, maybe then a 'for the record' SPI should be created, linking all (or at least the ones detected) a user has used, after which the tagging from the individual IP pages can be blanked. --Dirk Beetstra T C 03:52, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
  • I have to agree with Dirk and MuZemike that "for-the-record" SPIs are better than tagging each individual one. In some cases though, where a prolific sock such as Nangparbat, that is not a good idea because he can regenerate a new IP in less than 24 hours. So if it's got enough contributions that would be a good behavoiral comparison, then i'd consider filing an SPI, or if it's not dynamic, maybe tagging it, but I rarely tag IPs usually as the block log speaks for itself enough with the SPI. -- DQ (ʞlɐʇ) 13:15, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
    @DeltaQuad - I meant to use the 'for the record' SPI's for the obvious WP:DUCK cases which normally do not go through SPI/CU. Most sock-farms have an SPI, but for some an SPI is not filed, just the obvious socks are tagged (and blocked). I would suggest that for those, instead of continuing tagging, a 'for the record' SPI is created later tying the master to the socks, and then most (if not all) of the tags on the actual socks can be blanked. --Dirk Beetstra T C 13:21, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
  • There are issues with tagging suspected IP socks per DUCK without the formality of an SPI or the support of a Checkuser. It will be recalled that in December 2010 the community banned Mikemikev (talk · contribs) on the strength of edits made in the IP range 212.183.140.* (Vodafone). The community was vehemently assured by Mathsci that those edits were unmistakably the work of Mikemikev albeit editing from a different geographical location and computer. No SPI was filed and so no checkuser was done on the range (although an SPI was filed on User:BT35 who turned out to be unrelated and was blocked for "racism enabling") The Vodafone range IPs were duly tagged as Mikemikev. A few months later, apparantly on the instructions of ArbComm, those tags were quietly replaced and assigned to another user. So presumably the community banned the wrong person. Why mention this now? By a strange coincidence, the user who was so vehement that the Vodafone IPs were Mikemikv is now asserting with equal vehemence that they belong to another of his opponents, User:A.K.Nole, in the section on User:Echigo mole above (where his unsupported assertions appear to be, once again, the only evidence on-wiki). Conclusion? There's a reason for doing the SPI and the Checkuser: sometimes a duck-billed creature is a platypus after all. 94.197.5.197 (talk) 16:01, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Block review requested for Historiographer

Historiographer (talk · contribs)

WP:ANI#Personal attack by User: Historiographer

The user has been blocked after a complaint at ANI, I ask for clarification regarding consideration of the phrase "Please, Don't mind too." which has not been referred to by the original complainant or the blocking admin. It appears to have been overlooked, despite it's significance, which changes entirely what appeared as a npa into very wise advice. Penyulap 16:21, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Whatever it is you're doing, you're not helping the user; posting unblock-requests on someone else's talkpage knowing full well they will be declined isn't good. Historiographer now has two declined unblock-request on his page, neither of which were even made by him/her. I suggest someone remove these so it won't give the wrong impression when giving just a quick glance. Choyoołʼįįhí:Seb az86556 > haneʼ 17:34, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
It looks to me like someone with limited English skills (thought their English is far better than my Korean or Japanese) attempting to show empathy, by recounting some unfair postings that the individual has learned to ignore, and is giving similar advice. If I'm reading correctly, the proper response isn't a block, but some wikilove.--SPhilbrick(Talk) 17:43, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
I highly agree, has the blocking admin been contacted? Ryan Vesey Review me! 17:46, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
There's a lot more to this than one comment - heck, just look at his remarks after being mentioned on ANI. Too bad at English to contribute to discussion imo, so even if block removed he should only be doing edits that don't require discussion (whatever they may be). Egg Centric 17:51, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
(ec)Actually, the block is for more than just some NPA-slip; this user has a history of edit-warring, attacks and other stuff. So it's not like it's made to look; there's more. Choyoołʼįįhí:Seb az86556 > haneʼ 17:52, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
The last edit war block was over a year ago. Ryan Vesey Review me! 17:54, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
hm. I didn't know you had the right to edit-war once a year. Choyoołʼįįhí:Seb az86556 > haneʼ 18:20, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
The point is that it is not relevant to the current case, which appears to not be a case at all and just a mistake on the blocking admin's part. SilverserenC 18:26, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
I was going to make the same point, but Silver Seren beat me to it. Ryan Vesey Review me! 18:27, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
No, it is not a mistake. Why is this split across the two noticeboards? I commented on the thread at WP:ANI. Fut.Perf. 18:30, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
I don't know why it's split between two discussions, you might want to merge them. However, i've read your statement over there and I very much disagree with you. This block is significantly out of proportion. The next logical step, if a block was warranted, would be to go to 1 week, after the last block a year ago of 72 hours. But a block is not warranted here, a warning is. SilverserenC 18:39, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
I think this is split across two notice boards because a request for a block is viewed as an incident requiring quick action, and belonging on the incident page, while a review of a block is less urgent and belongs on the AN page. That said, the page instruction leave a lot to be desired. I've figured out what goes where mostly by osmosis.--SPhilbrick(Talk) 19:01, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Moving my earlier response here from WP:ANI:

@Penyulap: I am at a loss to understand why you would think the "Please, Don't mind too" part of Historiographer's edit [98] is relevant to the block reasons. That bit is of course harmless. What's not harmless is the fact that he was calling Japanese users Jjokbaries (a racist slur) and was describing them wholesale as disruptive social misfits who enjoyed damaging Wikipedia articles. If that was not the expression of a deeply entrenched battleground attitude, I don't know what is. Moreover, the block was also based on a review of his previous pattern of contributions (although these are mostly some months back; he's been inactive of late except for today's talk page post). Historiographer obviously knows too little English to interact with other editors in a meaningful, constructive way when dealing with complex POV disputes, and that means that his editing has been mostly restricted to blanket reverts of other users accompanied with edit summaries in broken, almost incomprehensible English. Such behaviour, even if done in good faith, is disruptive especially when it happens in a highly charged, contentious topic area such as this. WP:COMPETENCE is required.
This is not to say that other users in the field may not also be deserving of similar blocks, or even more so. Historiographer's outburst against Japanese editors who "feels ecstasy when they bothering Koreans", while unacceptable in the way he expressed it, may partly be a sign of an understandable frustration, because, frankly, we have had a couple of Japanese users in the past to whom this description more or less applied. I don't know how many of them are currently on the loose. Fut.Perf. 18:00, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

And more responses to the comments above:

  • @SPhilbrick and others: I also cannot follow you at all in describing this posting as "attempting to show empathy, by recounting some unfair postings that the individual has learned to ignore, and is giving similar advice". I'll give you my own translation of the original post into proper English, staying as close as possible to what Historiographer apparently meant to say:
    Japanese users such as Kusunose, who restrict themselves to Korea-related articles, have always been annoying like this. I used to confront these troublesome jjokbaris [i.e. Japanese bastards] just like you are doing now. However, there is no definite solution to this problem, because anti-Korean Japanese users are otaku [i.e. obsessed] hikikomori [i.e. loners] and get their greatest joy out of annoying Koreans. Please ignore them. Truth will prevail on Wikipedia regardless of Japanese lies.
    There is no reasonable way of reading this posting according to which Historiographer isn't:
    1. calling Japanese editors "bastards/scum" ("jjokbari") – this is not within the scope of what he "used to do" but "is no longer doing"; he is clearly saying now that these people actually are scum;
    2. describing Japanese editors as socially impaired (roughly: "obsessed basement-dwelling nerds");
    3. attributing to Japanese editors a fundamental desire to harm Wikipedia;
    4. describing the disputes between Korean and Japanese editors as a matter of "truth" versus "lies" ("hoaxes");
    5. reenforcing the other editor's (a newbie's) description of Japanese editors as "vandals" (rather than trying to dissuade him of that mistake, as any reasonable experienced editor should).
  • @Silverseren: I don't take kindly to baseless insinuations of "involved" admin misuse; please retract that because I regard it as an insult. Fut.Perf. 19:29, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
I read it differently.
I read it, using a very generous translation, as saying" "I can sympathize with your feelings. There are some (not all) editors who have been very annoying. So annoying I viewed them as bastards, but I now realize they are simply obsessed, and are just acting like trolls to annoy you. Don't fall for it; ignore them, and you will be better off."
Good advice, if accompanied by stronger language than necessary. Worth a trip to WQA? Probably. Worth a three month block? Not IMO.--SPhilbrick(Talk) 19:36, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Sorry, but you are misreading it. This is definitely not what he was saying. Fut.Perf. 19:45, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
I agree that the block was much stronger than necessary. There were some racist personal attacks there, but I think anything more than a week is completely unreasonable and I'm not entirely sure a block was absolutely necessary prior to a full ANI discussion. Ryan Vesey Review me! 19:43, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
After seeing this edit I am fully supportive of the block. I still think 3 months becomes punitive rather than preventative. Ryan Vesey Review me! 19:46, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Okay, but you were the one who blocked him twice before. Don't you think that makes you biased in terms of this user, especially when others are pointing out that it seems too much? SilverserenC 19:39, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Not too involved, 3rr blocks are fairly cut and dry and don't generally equate to "involvement" Ryan Vesey Review me! 19:46, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
(ec) No, it doesn't. Since when does being acquainted with a user's disruptive pattern from an administrator's perspective make an administrator automatically biased? Fut.Perf. 19:45, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
When a future block of the user seems overdone. A week would have been defensible, not three months. SilverserenC 19:58, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
My only possibly bias in this area is that I am of the opinion we should treat all disruptive editors in the Korea-Japan hotspot areas, on both sides, with extra harshness. Having followed disputes in this domain from a distance for several years, I have come to the opinion that the whole field is so overrun with hopelessly unproductive editors that in order to restore sanity we would have to kick out about 80% of them. Fut.Perf. 20:09, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
  • I thoroughly agree with Future Perfect at Sunrise's interpretation of the above screed, and my only complaint is that this block isn't indef. But I suppose this is a good compromise; if you really, seriously cannot see the problem with referring to Japanese people as jjokbaris (which is sort of like calling them Japs or slant-eyes in English), I can't help you (despite my signature, I can assure you that I'm white and don't have any personal reason to be offended). I don't think we'd tolerate an American editor complaining about wetbacks or a Polish editor complaining about krauts, so I don't see why we should do anything different here. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 20:06, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Future Perfect at Sunrise, it is policy itself that the English server is shared amongst all editors with different variants of English. They do not ask any special treatment that you take sufficient care to understand their variant of the english language, it is policy that you must. You describe the editors summaries as "broken, almost incomprehensible English." they may be so to you, however, do you not see that there are people who do have a clear understanding of the editors remarks ? How does this fit in with your mention of WP:COMPETENCE in your ability to cope with judging the editors remarks ? Penyulap 20:24, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Broken English is not a "variant" of English. It's just broken. Yes, one can generally figure out what he means, with some effort. That doesn't change the fact that the presence of English at this poor level is disruptive to the smooth working of the project. As, incidentally, can be seen from the fact that in this particular instance some observers here obviously could not figure out what he was saying, even when they tried. Fut.Perf. 20:30, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
i are agree to sun, the wonderful at dawn. the english which smashed not understanding the english themselves, who are confused. Egg Centric

(edit conflict)

The Blade of the Northern Lights, I do agree with you about the harshness required for dealing with racial trolling, however there are two separate issues here and as best I can see Future Perfect at Sunrise is unaware of the clear interpretation of the phrase "Please, Don't mind too." which was overlooked and left out of the original complaint. It reverses the statement. It is significant.
Once that mistake is recognised and dealt with, yes of course you deal with the secondary issue of mentioning such things in conversation masked as good advice as inflammatory in itself, and determine if that was the intention. Overt attack is the reasoning behind the block, and an overt attack it is not. Penyulap 20:41, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
What on earth are you talking about? How does "Please, Don't mind too" "reverse the statement"? It does not. The phrase meant "please ignore what those Japanese editors are doing". What on earth did you think it meant? Fut.Perf. 20:50, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
I feel I understood it, and that was that. It was wise advice from one editor to another, it DID NOT name any other editor, was sympathetic and intended to ease tensions rather than inflame them. If we are going to sit and search for a fault with any editor there are more likely candidates than this one. The finer interpretation of hidden dynamics, I feel should not be handled by an admin who describes that editors variant as incomprehensible.
SPhilbrick seems to have translated into a more familiar to you ? variant. So if you want to know what "reverse the statement" means, leave the italicised words out of his translation. "I can sympathize with your feelings. There are some (not all) editors who have been very annoying. So annoying I viewed them as bastards, but I now realize they are simply obsessed, and are just acting like trolls to annoy you. Don't fall for it; ignore them, and you will be better off." although, I think the original editor said it better himself in his own language. "Please, Don't mind too." is not open to ambiguity. Penyulap 21:05, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
You are misreading this in such an absurd fashion I really have nothing more to say. Except for this: if this guy's English is so poor that he could be misunderstood by a competent speaker of English, like you, in such an utterly absurd way, that's all the more grounds for keeping him blocked. Fut.Perf. 21:11, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Righteous block Nobody Ent 21:27, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

English speakers by percentage within European Union countries, everything in grey is not EU, so percentages there aren't shown. The lightest shade of green (bottom right) means less than 20% can speak English. This is just Europe and just the EU, then there is Asia, including Indian, before you reach across to Japan and Korea and the rest of east Asia
Certainly if I were the only person who 'misunderstood' the editors comments I may doubt myself and review several times more until I could see my misinterpretation, however I see that I am not alone. I find that I am endlessly quoting and linking to this policy page in articles, and once before at ANI I posted up the image I will repost here. Whilst I can understand that you find other variants of English disruptive in themselves, I don't think it proper to interpret policy in a way that places your own sub-demographic above all others.
If language is a reason to block, we need to update policy to decide which variant to use. Penyulap 21:41, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Does that mean we can block all the British editors? Because British English is confusing, imo. SilverserenC 21:59, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Eenie, meenie, minee, MO! which way shall we GO ? I'm sure you know there are like 250 million people in America, but did you know there are 80 million Nigerians who speak English ? Maybe they can run scams on the 125,000,000 people in India who can speak English, you know using the call centres, and there are 90 million English speakers in the phillipines, sweet, so, who do we ban pre-emptively first ? Personally I think it should be the whistleblower, that would be me, I'll return as a sock and help you ban all these variant speakers shall I? Yep, I'm losing it, time for me to get something to eat I guess, or play a computergame. Penyulap 22:04, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Clearly, the easiest method is to ban everyone who isn't American. SilverserenC 22:19, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I'm going with Blade on this one: resorting to racist slurs should result in an indef. Full stop, no exceptions. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 22:33, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

What about Blades similar use of slurs, he said "I don't think we'd tolerate an American editor complaining about wetbacks or a Polish editor complaining about krauts, so I don't see why we should do anything different here." I count two slurs right there, we should indef him, and omg I just repeated them, so indef me as well. And the Americans, Canadians, omg lets go SOPA for a day and block everyone to teach them all a lesson.
But seriously, which interpretation are you going on HandThatFeeds ? the overt one, the covert one, or are you aware there is a difference ? Penyulap 22:51, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Oh, quit being so melodramatic. You know damn well what I'm talking about. Your hyperbole and incessant need to go over-the-top is not helping these discussions. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 11:35, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Template use prohibition

Seems like other than the blocked editor posting the unblock template is confusing and disruptive... does this happen frequently enough to make discussion of a formal prohibition worthwhile? Nobody Ent 21:27, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

certainly it is, looking over the unblock pages and guides it says nothing whatsoever about third parties, I would gladly help with some feedback :) Penyulap 21:41, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
The documentation for the template says "The following should be placed on your talk page:"Nobody Ent 21:47, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Yeah, I didn't think of just how funny it would have been if I did it that way, rats! Penyulap 22:04, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Hmm, well I placed it on my userpage, I have no idea how it looks there, if it is humorous or not, see for yourself now would someone please move this little section or start a suggestion somewhere that the docs for the template are inadequate or something ? way I see it at the moment, if you want to unblock someone, use an unblock template, if there is some other way to do it, lets not keep it a secret any longer, as for me, I'll go on using the template as is, it's good enough for me. Whatever happens, it's not relevant to this discussion, imho, sorry Nobody Ent. Penyulap 22:26, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Uh, Penyulap, it's phrased that way because the template is only supposed to be used by the blocked party. Therefore, it is posted on their talkpage. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 22:38, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
That's where I put it. on their talkpage, but it goes on my talkpage doesn't it? Penyulap 22:46, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
No, you don't use it at all. The blocked editor may use it if they want to be unblocked. It is not appropriate for another user to request unblocking through those templates. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 11:40, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
Of note, this is his response: "Ha Ha Ha, don't be such an ass! Whatever you are saying, I'm not interested"[99]
Obviously not interested in help, and does not care about the block. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 22:37, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Glad you can join us halfway through, were now going in the same direction, it's just that little bit faster now. Penyulap 22:46, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
I don't think we're going in the same direction at all. The user was offensive and does not care that he was blocked. There's nothing further to do here. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 11:40, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

"Ha Ha Ha, don't be such an ass! Whatever you are saying, I'm not interested" actually means "I deeply care about my being blocked and promise I will never engage in such behavior again. Please unblock me." Remember, the user has limited knowledge of the English language. WP:AGF. Choyoołʼįįhí:Seb az86556 > haneʼ 22:49, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

(illistration using some sarcasm, basically asking what do you expect?)Hmm I think they should be more like "Omg I am so sorry that I am upset that you have incorrectly blocked me in a biased manner, I so sorry, I not speak enwish, you aways right because wikipwedia is american, please block me some more because I not happy with your mistake" anything less should go indef. Penyulap 22:55, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
On a serious note, this has NOTHING whatsoever to do with AGF which is not policy, this has to do with an admin with by his own admission little or no understanding of the editors variant blocking that editor based on his interpretation of that editors English. That IS against policy. (is there a policy along the lines of don't close your eyes and fire a gun randomly?) Penyulap 22:58, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
Am I alone in thinking that Penyulap is now simply trolling? This is just getting too bizarre. Fut.Perf. 23:02, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
I wonder if Penyulap realizes that the user called him an ass. In light of the rest of the information that came about here, I wouldn't be opposed to indef block, no talk page access, rather than the 3 month block in existence now (Contrary to my earlier comments). Ryan Vesey Review me! 23:10, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

You may call me a troll, you may call me an ass, or you may indeed call me a troll's ass for good measure, I do not mind, I prefer the third. I see the same systemic problem that I saw with AndytheGrump recently, where the accused does his best to undermine wikipedia by refocusing the discussion upon his accuser.

I would suggest that, (using your own language and phrasing so you can understand with ease)

  • You "obviously know too little English" to place blocks upon other editors in a meaningful, constructive way when dealing with complex language issues. You found an editor upon whom you placed a block as having "broken, almost incomprehensible English." and yet still resisted any advice on the matter from many other editors and admins.
  • You've said "I am at a loss to understand why you would think the Please, Don't mind too part of Historiographer's edit is relevant to the block reasons." and resist any attempt by many people to help you understand why it IS relevant.
  • You've said "some observers here obviously could not figure out what he was saying, even when they tried." and don't want to take advice from the people who can understand with some ease.
  • You've said "Having followed disputes in this domain from a distance for several years, I have come to the opinion that the whole field is so overrun with hopelessly unproductive editors that in order to restore sanity we would have to kick out about 80% of them."
  • You suggest that if an editor is capable of being misunderstood by someone else, they should be blocked

I'm fast coming to the conclusion that it is not the block which requires review, but your adminship that requires review. Penyulap 00:44, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Drop the stick, please. I'm no particular friend of FPaS, but you're way off base here, and doing yourself harm by continuing. Beyond My Ken (talk) 01:41, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
Yeah, this has become a complete WP:BOOMERANG. Pen, you've made it clear you like to engage in some devil's advocacy and humor, but you never seem to know when to quit. You're really pushing people's patience with this act. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 11:40, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
This seems to be a current issue with Penyulap - inserting themself into situations where they are 100% policy unaware, and thus inflame the situation - often by encouraging the other editor to speak out more loudly and improperly. A couple of months ago we had another editor who got their wrist slapped for posted unblocks "on behalf of" editors - I'm going to have to go back and find out who it was (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 11:48, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
Bwilkins, please be kind enough to keep your personal attack 100 % to yourself. Penyulap 14:05, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
What personal attack? Where? Choyoołʼįįhí:Seb az86556 > haneʼ 14:21, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
Glad to see I'm not the only person who finds Penyulap's behaviour peculiar. Somehow the quality of the trolling reminds me of Archtransit (talk · contribs) and socks. Fut.Perf. 14:45, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Redirects with non-breaking spaces (or strange accents?)

At Redirects for creation, redirects from the pinyin spellings Bù​liǎo​ qíng and Bù​ liǎo​ qíng to Bu liao qing were requested. The request seemed reasonable to me, but I cannot create them because the titles supposedly contain "a non-breaking space or other unusual space character" (presumably it's the accented "a" that's the problem; for all I can tell the space is just an ordinary space). The error message said I should raise the issue at this noticeboard. Could an admin create the redirects? Huon (talk) 12:34, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

YesY Done -- Ed (Edgar181) 13:37, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
(edit conflict) Yes, both of those do contain disallowed characters and should not be created. I can create redirects without the invalid characters for you. 28bytes (talk) 13:38, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
I've moved these redirects to Bùliǎo qíng and Bù liǎo qíng, respectively. These look identical to the ones requested, but do not contain the hidden embedded characters that no one is likely to type. For future reference, if you see %E2%80%8B anyplace in the address bar, that's the blacklisted character; remove that and you should be able to create the redirect without admin assistance. 28bytes (talk) 13:46, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
Thanks for catching that and fixing it. I thought it was simply the diacritics that were causing the problem, and didn't notice the hidden characters.  :/ -- Ed (Edgar181) 14:00, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
No problem. I wouldn't have noticed myself if I hadn't stumbled across this list a while back. 28bytes (talk) 14:04, 23 May 2012 (UTC)
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