I would be interested in hearing what Adam considers
defacing my User page repeatedly in the span of one
evening, if it is not vandalism.
Zoe
--- Christopher Mahan <chris_mahan(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
--- Adam von [name omitted for privacy reasons] <cddvdlenscleaner(a)yahoo.com>
wrote:
I have apoligized, on numerous occasions and via
numerous channels
of communication. I have apoligized both publicly
and privately. I
have apoligized both to the general community and
to specific
individuals.
The number of apologies is not a quantifier to true
apology.
Sincerity is. Sincerity in apology is demonstrated
by change in
behavior. One apology should have been enough.
I have even apoligized for specific behaviour
which I felt was
inappropriate but which the general community
does
not view as
bannable behavior and which nobody has ever
attacked me for and
that several sysops frequently enage in without
any condemnation;
for example, swearing.
Swearing is part of the human language for a reason,
and it allows
for a fuller range of expression of human emotion.
Swearing in a
contextual, constructive and meaningful way is
generally never
frowned upon.
It would be appropriate, for those who argue that
I am a vandal, to
stop stating that I have refused to abide by wiki
guidelines, that
I have refused to apoligize, or that I have
refused to admit that
my behavior was inappropriate.
It is inappropriate to tell other people what to do
when you yourself
do not want other people telling you what to do.
I would like to further note, that while my
opponents my claim I am
a vandal for referring to the people of
"Minoa"
(an allegedly
fictitous empire), engaging in an edit war over
the name of
Christopher Columbus, referring to the Queen of
England as Ms.
Bowes-Lyon, and insisting that regime is a POV
term...I must note,
I have NEVER taken paragraphs of text inserted by
any user and
deleted them - the worst I have done is taken
paragraphs of text
and moved them.
I can take paragraphs of text and reorganize them to
mean something
completely different than what was intended by the
author. If
original meaning is retained, then that is fine. If
original meaning
is altered, then it would have been better had those
paragraphs been
cut out altogether.
Nor have I ever entered swearwords into an
article
or changed
dates, names, people, places, or any other
information in such a
way as to render the article clearly fallacious.
The closest
allegation of this sort which was made against me
was, "I don't see
anything factually wrong with Lir's
additions; but
I'm certain
there is some hidden POV which we will find upon
further
investigation."
Except of course the names of the aforementioned
Christopher Columbus
and Queen of England.
Truth and lies are not so much in what is written,
but rather in what
is left unwritten. To have wholesomeness, a subject
matter must be
complete.
I was banned for 1 week because when other users
deleted my
additions, leading to an edit war, I started
swearing at them and
making personal attacks. That was a very very
long
time ago, at a
point in time where I was suffering from a
nicotine addiction.
A very long time ago? This project will still be
here in 10 years.
(with a lot more articles). You'll be around. You
may have a
completely different attitude about life then.
Your suffering from a nicotine addiction is not an
excuse to engage
in belligerent behavior. We are not your counselors
or medical
professionals. I would suggest that you specifically
not engage in
working on the W until your personal issues have
been resolved
satisfactorily.
Please do not interpret my last comment to mean that
I am condemning
you for your ailments. We all face challenges of
many sorts in our
life, from day-to-day stress to difficult childhoods
to insufferable
co-workers (arrgghhh--Wew, feeling better already).
It is my wish
that you would find healing and restfulness and
clarity of thought
for yourself in your life. It is for that reason
that I recommend you
lay off the Wiki since in and of itself it can cause
stress and
confrontation and addictive behavior (we have a page
about that
somewhere), and it may not be the best thing for you
at this stage in
your life.
It is true that I violated my ban, first with one
account and then
another, but during all that time and all those
thousands and
thousands and thousands of edits, did I ever
vandalize an article?
Did I ever swear at anybody? In all those
thousands of edits, did I
ever do anything wrong besides being me,
admitting
to being me,
writing on topics which only I have been working
on, and use an
identifiable OS/browser/IP?
The fact that we could not trust the author meant
that the articles
had to be scrutinized, and that means extra work and
irritation and
often frustration. I am looking forward to the day
when I see A. v.
[name omitted for privacy reasons] next to an edit and say to myself "Nothing
to see here; must
be solid edit; moving on down the recent changes
list."
Adam,
I have tried in the past to work with you, and I
have often been at a
loss of what to feel about you. I am sure this
emotion is echoed by
many of the people who make up this remarkable
community.
I don't care a great deal about policies, etiquette
and formalities.
What I do care about is people. I respect people,
lend my ear to
their complaints and praise (it happened once, you
know), and try to
get along.
It hasn't always been easy. I've had it rough in my
life, and the
chip on my shoulder was always a sizeable boulder.
But I made a
decision that even if people were not nice to me, I
would be nice to
them. This was purely selfish, if you must know. I
just felt better
when I wasn't blaming and hating and scheming and
backstabbing. I
just did it for me. The end-result, though, is that
the people that
now gather around me are nicer, friendlier,
supportive, and
forgiving. (end of sermon)
I like this community. Zoe's quirky, Mav's ranting,
Jimbo
non-committal, and Ed, well, he's Ed. And sometimes
I read all the
post on the mailing list, and sometimes I just
delete them all. And
sometimes I don't even go to the W for a few weeks.
But all in all, I
like the people and the place.
So, now that you know where I'm coming from, here's
my advice:
Take a break off the W, like 3 months. Rent some
movies. Go to the
park and walk. Take photos of trees.
When you come back, talk to Jimbo. Tell him you'll
behave and that
you want another shot. If he says no, respect his
decision.
If he says yes, then act in a kind, courteous manner
at all times.
Reference all material, maintain detachment, and
think like a
historian.
=====
Christopher Mahan
chris_mahan(a)yahoo.com
818.943.1850 cell
http://www.christophermahan.com/
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