The following two links I have stumbled across in the last few days, oddly
enough, seem to have some relevance to a couple of topics discussed here
lately. I pass them along for consideration & discussion by the rest of
you:
1. The NYT has been discussing the problems of using "unidentified sources"
& the effect it has on credibility. The memo at the link below reminded
me of the perenniel problem of quoting one's sources, & avoiding weasel
words of the form ``Some people believe"
http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2004/11/11/siegal_mem.…
2. Groklaw has a review of the book _The Wisdom of Crowds_ by James Surowiecki,
wherein he argues that when used intelligently a group of more-or-less average
people can produce more accurate results than a team of experts -- much like
a Wiki
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20041107180408325
Geoff
There is one very crucial problem with the 3RR, which needs to be taken
into consideration by the sysop who is banning.
Sometimes particular articles attract several edit warriors, and often it's
two or three against one. If that one person "uses up" his three reverts,
the others still have several to go before they are also banned.
How can we avoid an unequality like this from happening? I otherwise warmly
endorse the 3RR.
Jfdwolff
>From: Fred Bauder <fredbaud(a)ctelco.net>
>Reply-To: English Wikipedia <wikien-l(a)Wikipedia.org>
>To: English Wikipedia <wikien-l(a)Wikipedia.org>
>Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] Re: 3RR policy change
>Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 05:58:16 -0700
>
>Never hurts to correct a typo while reverting, but its still a revert.
>
>Fred
>
> > From: "JAY JG" <jayjg(a)hotmail.com>
> > Reply-To: English Wikipedia <wikien-l(a)Wikipedia.org>
> > Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 07:26:32 -0500
> > To: wikien-l(a)Wikipedia.org
> > Subject: RE: [WikiEN-l] Re: 3RR policy change
> >
> > My question is, what about editors who revert while simultaneously (and
> > deliberately) making non-trivial changes, so they can claim their edits
>were
> > not a delete at all?
> >
> > Jay.
The issue that I'm talking about is when an editor does a significant
re-work of part of an article (say, re-wording or adding a number of
sentences) while simultaneously reverting other parts of the article, in
order to do a revert while being able to claim that they are doing
substantive edits.
Jay.
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Hash: SHA1
I SENT THIS WITH MY ORIGINAL MESSAGE but it didn't arrive so here
it is now:
FURTHER He's blocked me, and 350 other computers, for a month with
no
justification whatsoever. SEE BELOW. I want to make a formal
complaint
to The Wikipedia Foundation about him and to formally apply to have
the
viscious abuser "Neutrality" booted off The Wikipedia permanently;
for
mis-using his position, and the $50,000 donated, and therefore
(officially acting as The Wikipedia Foundation's agent) breaking a
Federal law due to his corruptly mis-using these funds.
"Wikipedia, the "free" encyclopedia.
21:28, 13 Nov 2004, Neutrality blocked #11140 (expires 21:28, 14
Nov
2004) (Autoblocked because your IP address has been recently used
by
"[[User:WikiUser|WikiUser]]". The reason given for WikiUser's block
is:
"'''Maliciously acting in bad faith to disrupt Wikipedia'''".)
editing in bad faith, personal attacks)
20:22, 13 Nov 2004, Neutrality blocked WikiUser (expires 20:22, 13
Dec
2004) (contribs) (Maliciously acting in bad faith to disrupt
Wikipedia)"
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Get your free encrypted email at http://www.cyber-rights.net
(From "The Hound of the Baskervilles," one of the Sherlock Holmes
novels by Arthur Conan Doyle)
"Mr. Frankland, of Lafter Hall ... is an elderly man, red-faced,
white-haired, and choleric. His passion is for the British law, and he
has spent a large fortune in litigation. He fights for the mere
pleasure of fighting and is equally ready to take up either side of a
question, so that it is no wonder that he has found it a costly
amusement. Sometimes he will shut up a right of way and defy the
parish to make him open it. At others he will with his own hands tear
down some other man's gate and declare that a path has existed there
from time immemorial, defying the owner to prosecute him for trespass.
He is learned in old manorial and communal rights, and he applies his
knowledge sometimes in favour of the villagers of Fernworthy and
sometimes against them, so that he is periodically either carried in
triumph down the village street or else burned in effigy, according to
his latest exploit. He is said to have about seven lawsuits upon his
hands at present, which will probably swallow up the remainder of his
fortune and so draw his sting and leave him harmless for the future....
"It is a great day for me, sir--one of the red-letter days of my life,"
he cried with many chuckles. "I have brought off a double event. I
mean to teach them in these parts that law is law, and that there is a
man here who does not fear to invoke it. I have established a right of
way through the centre of old Middleton's park, slap across it, sir,
within a hundred yards of his own front door. What do you think of
that? We'll teach these magnates that they cannot ride roughshod over
the rights of the commoners, confound them! And I've closed the wood
where the Fernworthy folk used to picnic. These infernal people seem
to think that there are no rights of property, and that they can swarm
where they like with their papers and their bottles. Both cases
decided Dr. Watson, and both in my favour. I haven't had such a day
since I had Sir John Morland for trespass because he shot in his own
warren."
"How on earth did you do that?"
"Look it up in the books, sir. It will repay reading--Frankland v.
Morland, Court of Queen's Bench. It cost me 200 pounds, but I got my
verdict."
"Did it do you any good?"
"None, sir, none. I am proud to say that I had no interest in the
matter. I act entirely from a sense of public duty. I have no doubt,
for example, that the Fernworthy people will burn me in effigy tonight.
I told the police last time they did it that they should stop these
disgraceful exhibitions. The County Constabulary is in a scandalous
state, sir, and it has not afforded me the protection to which I am
entitled. The case of Frankland v. Regina will bring the matter before
the attention of the public. I told them that they would have occasion
to regret their treatment of me, and already my words have come true."
--
Daniel P. B. Smith, dpbsmith(a)verizon.net
"Elinor Goulding Smith's Great Big Messy Book" is now back in print!
Sample chapter at http://world.std.com/~dpbsmith/messy.html
Buy it at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1403314063/
User is blocked
>From Wikipedia, the "free" encyclopedia.
You have attempted to edit a page, either by clicking the "edit
this page" tab or by following a red link.
Your user name or IP address has been blocked by Neutrality.
The reason given is this:
Maliciously acting in bad faith to disrupt Wikipedia
You can email Neutrality or one of the other administrators to
discuss the block. If you believe that our blocking policy was
violated, you may discuss the block publicly on the WikiEN-L
mailing list
(http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l).
If you would like to know when the block will expire, please see
the block list.
If you need to see the wiki text of an article, you may wish to
use the Export pages feature.
[edit]
Re the above - user Neutrality has blocked me with the lie
above, because he has a personal grudge against me. Also because
I gave two users who's efforts I admire Barnstars for their
endless patience. And because I corrected racist abuse against
my country and dared to list its name on The Wikipedia. He's
been mis-using his position as an Administrator from almost the
moment he got it. As others including Admins have complained.
It's a dirty lie that I have been "Maliciously acting in bad
faith to disrupt Wikipedia". I haven't disrupted anything in any
way. I've just spent about an hour sending a message of thanks,
ignoring "stalking etc." abuse from one of user Neutrality's
friends. And making responsible edits along with helpful
explanations as I always do.
This is a corrupt mis-use of the $50,000 that people so
generously donated recently in 10 days. I'll be writing about it
in the submission I'm giving to a Georgia University research
study about The Wikipedia and publicising user Neutrality's
dirty anti-American misuse of The Wikipedia on notice boards
around the world, (BBC's board etc.). The Wikipedia doesn't
deserve people to give their time and trouble to it with abusers
like "Neutrality" using it as their personal property to abuse
people. No wonder so many people have complained and left it in
disgust.
>From "blocked" "users" page:
"21:09, 13 Nov 2004, [1]Neutrality blocked #11140 (expires
21:09, 14 Nov 2004) (Autoblocked because your IP address has
been recently used by "[[User:WikiUser|WikiUser]]". The reason
given for WikiUser's block is: "'''Maliciously acting in bad
faith to disrupt Wikipedia'''".) "
References
1. file://localhost/wiki/User:Neutrality
Although there's been some concern about whether enough qualified
candidates would come forward, those of us helping to plan this election
have decided that it is time to start the process officially. Rather
than decide how many positions we're electing, we have decided to open
the election for candidates to declare themselves. We should soon be
able to tell if there are good candidates capable of filling all of the
vacant seats.
Information about the election is at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee_Elections_Dece…
Anyone planning to run should announce their candidacy by posting a
statement to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee_Elections_Dece…
The current timetable is for the election to be held from the 1st to the
15th of December. Candidates should declare themselves before November
30th, but we strongly encourage interested candidates to declare as
early as possible so we can make a sensible decision about how many
positions we plan to fill via this election.
We also still need somebody to serve as election inspector and run the
election. Danny did this last time - is he interested in doing it again?
Somebody else could too, or more than one person. The conditions, I
believe, are that you not vote or be a candidate in the election yourself.
--Michael Snow
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>>If Neutrality blocked you, it appears to me that he has every
reason to have done so. Making edits with summaries such as "_//
Opposed nazi
censorship and anti-semitism of users here//_" and "Answered nazi
abuser" as well as extremely controversial edits to articles such
as
[[England]] which are opposed by community consensus and continuing
to
make them agaist consensus - in addition to opnely supporting
Rex071404
and Irismeister, users against whom extensive arbcom cases have
been
made for repeated violations of Wikipedia's civility and "no
personal
attacks" policies, for reasons on which a consensus has been
reached as
to their invalidity - generally do not reflect well on a person and
his
ability to work with Wikipedia (all of the above can be found in
WikiUser's contribution list) and can rightfully be interpreted as "
bad
faith" and "disruptive". I've never encountered you before, so if
you
would like to explain the reasoning behind some of these edits you'
ve
made, please do, but until then I think it can safely be said that
Neutrality's actions were in the interests of Wikipedia as a whole.
I await your defence to the above with interest.
~Grunt (Steven Melenchuk)>>
No you don't. You only wish to abuse me and order me around. You
clearly haven't even read the relevant material and familiarised
yourself with the case before lecturing me and sounding off.
Don't lie and accuse me of: ""bad
faith" and "disruptive". I've never encountered you before, so if
you " it's against the wikipedia guidelines. And I formally
complain of THE WIKIPEDIA user Steven Melenchuk Maliciously acting
in bad faith to disrupt Wikipedia in abusing the WIKI MAILING LIST
to abuse me in this way.
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Get your free encrypted email at http://www.cyber-rights.net
My question is, what about editors who revert while simultaneously (and
deliberately) making non-trivial changes, so they can claim their edits were
not a delete at all?
Jay.
It is utterly unfair to keep this USA Today reference
(and therefrom other-derived references) to Vancouver
University without acknowledging that USA Today
subsequently published a retraction letter.
Likuan Tham
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