On 11/27/07, Jimmy Wales jwales@wikia.com wrote:
Alec is just not in possession of the facts. He should stop posting until he finds out what the truth is.
Well, understand-- I'm really not out to cause drama. If I was confidence silence would have led the community to the truth, I'd greatly prefer that. But seriously-- my concerns are valid, and widespread. An admin justified a block based on secret evidence submitted to a secret list-- secret at least to the vast majority of us. That's bound to raise lots of questions. If the manner in which I raise them is inappropriate, forgive me-- I don't mean to offend or upset.
It's just that this "anti-troll" crusade has gone on for far too long, and has hurt too many people. Personal attacks are slung, I can't get them stopped. Edit wars are waged, I can't get warnings issues. Every other message devolves to ad hominem. There seems to be clear consensus from the community that the there's a problem here, but yet the problem continues month after month after month. How many friends you have is often more important than evidence. Clown proposals that make a mockery of NPOV. Blatantly inappropriate behavior may be ignored if the troublemakers are popular enough, and all you get in exchange for the time you took to help is a string of personal attacks.
I'm not saying all that his what is really going on-- but that's been my emotional experience of being an advocate for various community consensuses that are unpopular with the popular people.
And to then open up your browser and see a ban for secret evidence. A secret list none of us regular users were allowed to know about. Hearing allegations that even good admins are being angrily discussed as if they were . "Leaked Evidence" that is purged from wikipedia based on copyright claims. And then, to see the actual evidence, and have it be what it was....
It's enough to give anyone a crisis of faith about Wikipedia.
Alec