I'm not one who was part of the Lir/Vera/Susan dispute, & I'll
admit that I'm ignorant of many of the more subtle & minor details
of this issue, but there are 3 very important points here that
means the person who is Lir/Vera/Susan will remain banned from
Wikipedia for the foreseeable future:
1) Jimmy Wales has stated that Lir/Vera/Susan is banned. And despite
what the rest of us may think, as long as Jimmy is paying for the
server & the bandwidth, he calls the rules. If you don't like that
fact, then come up with enough money so that Wikipedia won't
come to a sudden end if Jimmy decides to (literally) pull the plug &
spend his money on something he finds more rewarding.
(And I must needs add here that Jimmy is far more laid back &
understanding than I would ever be in his situation. One does not
accidentally piss off Jimmy -- one must make a concerted effort to
do so.)
2) There have been a number of efforts to get Lir/Vera/Susan to
discuss his/her reasons for his/her actions or opinions. The one
that made the most definite impression on me was when Ed Poor,
who had been in private discussion with Lir/Vera/Susan, tried to
get him/her to discuss his/her viewpoint with the peopel on this
mailling list. And Lir/Vera/Susan abruptly decided to be silent.
Now I'll admit that sometimes I'm struck dumb when I want to provide
a defense for my actions, but this was one of those ``put up or shut
up" moments: either Lir/Vera/Susan offered some kind of explanation
for his/her acts, or stopped entirely, out of shame or embarassment
for being unable to justify them. Lir/Vera/Susan has done neither.
3) Lastly, there are a lot of people here on Wikipedia who, frankly
speaking, consider Lir/Vera/Susan to be an asshole. Why would anyone
want to hang around a group of people who think she/he is an asshole?
Wikipedia is not the only game in town: there's the everything2
& the h2g2 projects. Lir/Vera/Susan could join either of
those, & prove he/she has reformed & is capable of making valuable
contributions there.
Now comes Zoe with her question:
> How many freaking times do we have to go over
this?
Unfortunately, as many times as Lir/Vera/Susan returns to Wikipedia
with a new name, & as many times as we have new contributors. Perhaps
we need an FAQ or similar document to help reduce the number of questions
about this unique individual.
Geoff