daniwo59@aol.com wrote:
Actually, Eric, I disagree.
Trolling is a form of vandalism. This could justly be interpretted as trolling. (I am reminded of the constant edit wars with Helga, which cost Wikipedia quite a lot in terms of time and people who were disgusted and left)
I think, though, that Erik's point is important. There is what I have in the past called "simple vandalism", which is behavior that is outrageous and makes no pretension to be helpful, and which doesn't really require anything in the way of "due process". If someone writes "fart fart fart" on a page, then it's best if any sysop just deals with it immediately, and that's that.
Cases like Helga are more complex. You're right of course that it *is* vandalism in a sense, but we are trying to reserve 'vandalism' as a technical term of art, with a specific meaning within the context of wikipedia.
Given the situation with Lir/.Vera Cruz/Susan Mason as well as Michael/Weezer and 172, perhaps its time sysops took more steps to limit trolling and not just the "George Washington had big balls" kind of vandalism. I open that for discussion.
I think it's a valid subject of discussion.
The problem is that we want to avoid the situation in which sysops run roughshod over other contributors for political reasons. This is one reason why I almost never edit. That way, I can stay out of the "heat of the fight" for the cases when I have to step in and make a final judgment.
--Jimbo