From: wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org [mailto:wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org] On Behalf Of Mark Gallagher
G'day Pete,
I was doing some research on ArbCom admonitions against personal attacks, and I came across a photograph on a user page where the subject of the photograph states that he is the creator.
I refer to
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PICT4101.JPG] which was
clearly not taken by the subject, nor by using a tripod or other support such as a wall.
Okay, you have a point, but given your history I find it hard to believe you found these particular images during harmless "research".
Research is what I was doing, Mark. I'm not asleep until October. Like you, I keep an eye on what people are saying about me and this [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AXtra&diff=53458305... did=52631183] came up during a search on my name. I also noticed reference on the same page to the same person being blocked for making personal attacks. And swiftly unblocked. Working out what was going on was research, and I think you can understand why I'd take an interest.
As you know, the thrust of my ArbCom case was that this particular user was singling me out for abuse. I got a month in the cooler and he got a slap on the wrist - an admonition from the ArbCom to be more civil in future. Yet he's still making savage personal attacks against other editors. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Elections_in_Cuba&diff=pr... ldid=51652019 and http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Aidan_Work&diff=prev... id=31166859 are subjects for recent discussion on WP:ANI. He's always done it and given that he ignores ArbCom rulings, he always will.
Do you understand how outrageous this is? Do you understand why I have limited respect for the internal "justice system"? I'll take my hat off to this user for a lot of the edit work he does, but his behaviour is dead against wikipolicy. He is a revert warrior, he pursues vendettas, he abuses other editors, and when he gets in a jam, he whistles up some friendly admins. No wonder people talk about cliques and cabals.
My question about the ethics of claiming a photograph taken by someone else as your own is a legitimate one. It applies to a great many photographs on user pages. How I got to this particular is really immaterial, and I mentioned research in case someone like you wondered why I chose this user as an example.
--Peter (Skyring)