Charles Matthews wrote:
I'd like to draw attention to the behaviour of
[[User:Toby Bartels]], in
using [[Talk:Lubos Motl]] to pursue an agenda I have no sympathy with.
Lubos Motl as [[User:Lumidek]] has been posting highly competent string
theory articles; he is a high-flying academic in the field. Toby obviously
has some beefs to do with off-WP matters that I really think are quite
irrelevant. I have been pursuing private email with Lubos and Toby, in an
attempt to make Lubos the Wikipedian feel less unwelcome, in the context
that Toby the long-established Wikipedian has written some fairly nasty
stuff about him (in ignorance, it is true, but it is hardly excusable
behaviour anyway).
Any long-time participant in Usenet discussion will have developed
a pretty thick skin; I'll hazard a guess that all this bothers you
more than it does Lubos himself. There are plenty of articles that
discuss Usenet goings-on and some of the people that have become
(in)famous for their activities; but there's not much of an
established standard for how to describe these neutrally, and looks
like Toby made an imperfect attempt in good faith. Including a mention
of Usenet flamewars seems less relevant than our many bios of historical
scientists that quote some of the nasty things they said about each
other!
With each passing month, there are going to be more and more people
who discover that they have bios in WP, with varying degrees of
accuracy and impartiality. Might be worth pinging them proactively,
give them an opportunity to address problems that we might be
propagating from poor sources (still insisting on verifiability and
neutrality of course).
Stan