THANKS. INFORMATIVE. EDUCATIVE. ALL CAN'T BE SAME. EVERYTHING CAN'T HAPPEN AS WE THINK OR PLAN. SOMETHING HAS TO HAPPEN. AS IT HAPPENS, SO IS THE RESULT. AS YOU SOW, SO YOU REAP. IT'S LIVING.

YOURS, DANIEL RAY DANIELRAY@REDIFFMAIL.COM

27/06/05 MONDAY +

On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 James Gibbon wrote :

Hello,

This is my first mail to the list; I've been a contributor to Wikipedia for only five days. However, I've taken part in a wide range of discussion fora on the Internet over the last 9 years or so.

But I was amazed to read a long-winded and detailed reply to a comment I'd made in a vote for deletion page (for the "Division_Street" article). In it, its author, who doesn't appear to be a member but uses the IP address 65.182.172.95, alleges that I am engaged in "wilful incomprehension" and "dirty net politics, a petty act of revenge that has come in response to the fact that I made a few of your friends look foolish elsewhere on this site, and did so without being apologetic about it". He goes on to say: "This is a power play on your faction's part, a brave little shoveback to reclaim a little online turf and make yourselves look like big men". He ends by commenting "rest assured, buddy, I will never let this one go", and signs himself "the noneditor".

The comment which to which this was a response was a fairly innocuous and genuinely sincere remark on my part, to the effect that I was unable to establish the notability of the subject of his article. It's perfectly true that the author represents in the piece that it is notable, but I'm afraid I have already seen more than one article which makes this claim falsely; I just don't have the cultural background to judge this. My comment was not even a vote for deletion, only a note to say that the article should be rewritten if it was indeed notable, otherwise it should be deleted.

In fact, contrary to the author's claim, I have no idea who he is and have no knowlege whatever of anything he might have been involved in at Wikipedia or anywhere else. I cannot claim to have established any friends in the brief time I've taken part, and I certainly do not belong to a "faction". I have no knowledge of any event which might prompt an "act of revenge". I find the idea of turf wars between rival gangs at an online encyclopaedia pretty unedifying, and would not wish to take part in one.

Anyway the VfD page is obviously still there for anyone who's interested to see it. When the software upgrade is complete and the page is unlocked, I will respond as calmly and unemotionally as possible.

A couple of questions, then: can anyone tell me who this person is? Does he have a history of this sort of thing? It does smell more than faintly of paranoia, I have to say. Is this sort of behaviour common in general at Wikipedia?

It's been a bit of an eye-opener!

Thanks and regards from the middle of England, James

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