I think RickK will be back. RickK was truly dedicated in a unique way. He actually went out of his way to be an asshole. He didn't shy away when the situation warranted, and even when the situation didn't warrant it, he was there to offer an officious, dismissive snide remark. Only in Wikipedia is someone's foulness so celebrated and allowed to truly shine. This was truly his place, his home. He will be back. He has nowhere else to go. Nobody else will put up with him, even the worst customer service call center would have fired him on day one. This was his support group. With few exceptions, you people are the pettiest tyrants I've ever known, much worse than college RAs. He'll be back. He needs you to validate him. What a colossal clusterfuck Wikipedia is. All this effort put into an encyclopedia that will never be finished, will never make any money, will never have any credibility. Outy. _________________________________________________________________ Don’t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/

On 7/9/05, Tony Sidaway <minorityreport(a)bluebottle.com> wrote: If you read back, you will find that I did not refer to RickK as unstable, because I think that would be quite an overstatement of certain personality traits. I want to make sure that no one mistakes that for my comment. The accusations that he deleted pages are not mine, either. However, to leave in a huff twice over perceived insults indicates a certain degree of impulsiveness that could be described in other, less neutral ways depending on one's perception and past interaction with him. Between RickK and another admin, I was almost driven from Wikipedia within days of registering my user name because I perceived this as a place that was, behind the scenes, not very attractive. Tony Sidaway was actually instrumental in keeping me from obsessing over some of the interpersonal conflicts and directing me toward my current, much more zen-like attitude toward Wikipedia. Keeping in mind that administrators are the day-to-day face of Wikipedia to the general public and the editors at large, especially new users who arrive every day, I stand by my comments quoted above regarding my preference of unstable persons leaving rather than being promoted to adminship. -- Michael Turley User:Unfocused

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: RIPEMD160 Tony Sidaway wrote: Yes it is. I'm sorry I wrote that. I know, it was in the context of the previous posts. A very poor choice of words on my part. I think discussion after the event has proved otherwise - for the same reason that people are encouraged to archive their talk pages instead of just blanking them (or at least providing links to diffs before blanking). Deleting his user and talk pages was felt by at least some to be innappropriate. Again, it was in the context of previous discussion. I have absolutely no idea what RickK did as an admin; but from what I saw of him on Wikipedia, you didn't want to get on the wrong side of him. Feel free to block me, moderate me on the mailing list, revert every contrib I have ever made, delete my user page, launch an RFAr, etc. I have offended TEH 1337 CABAL, and should be punished. - -- Alphax OpenPGP key: 0xF874C613 - http://tinyurl.com/cc9up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Alphax There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'All right, then, have it your way.' - C. S. Lewis

Tony Sidaway wrote: RickK is sometimes controversial, but people should understand why -- he has the stomach to deal with some of the worst trolls and vandals around. At least once a month, I have gotten a long and tortured email about some alleged abuse by RickK, and each time I would dutifully investigate what he had done. And each time, I was amazed at how patient and thorough he was in dealing with some very difficult people. Has he at times been sharp with people? Of course, but keep in mind the types he deals with on a regular basis. It is very easy to sit back and second guess various judgment calls -- and much harder to be out there on the front lines making those judgment calls. Thank you, RickK. --Jimbo