Peter Bartlett wrote:
Dear list,
This user has been starting or contributing to articles relating to pataphysics, which is a movement that parodies things that are pretentiously highbrow (as I understand it, pataphysics is to science and the arts, as Mornington Crescent (the game show) was to chess commentary.) Unfortunately Harry, instead of writing NPOV articles on the subject has been writing articles about pataphysics in the style of a pataphysican. this is to say in a deliberately obscure , obtuse and POV way. Moreover these articles are in fact generally copied from other websites with no sign of permission being sought. Harry has brushed this last problem with a claim that pataphysicans are anti-copyright and so it doesn't matter.
I never heard of Mornington Crescent, so that allusion is obscure to me. It would seem hard to define NPOV in an absurdist context where empirical sense does not have a significant role to start with. It may be sufficient to offer a warning to those readers inclined to take the subject seriously that what follows is parody, and that if they are seriously looking for medical help they should consult a psychiatrist.
The copyright issue may not matter because of the anti-copyright stand. If the pataphysicians (or pataphyphysicists?) have left the impression that they are releasing their own writings into the public domain, so be it. What they really are doing should be carefully checked.
One example is the page [[Anthony_Hancock_Paintings_and_Sculptures:_A_Retrospective_Exhibition]] . NB Anthony Hancock is a character in the film The Rebel played by, perhaps confusingly, Tony Hancock. Knowing that Anthony Hancock is/was not a real person makes it easier to understand why this article is rubbish.
Tony Hancock WAS a real person!!! His radio comedy ranks right up there with "The Goon Show" and "Monty Python". Whether the "The Rebel" or the retrospective are accurate representations of Hancock, or parodies is quite another question. When absurdists think outside the box they also abandon the safety of keeping the box in view.
I have tried to engage in a debate with Harry (see Votes For Deletion), but as a relative newbie, I do not how to handle him and persuade to conform to our rules if he wants to contribute to the Wikipedia. For the first time having been on the 'net for years I fear I have been properly trolled.
[[Votes for Deletion]] may simply be the wrong place for the discussion. There is absolutely nothing on the talk page for [[Pataphysics]].