New subject: The more I think about my ban from Wikipedia, the more I realize how wrong it was.

5 Sep 2007


      Let's start out with a general explanation. I am http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Flameviper . I had been contributing since May 2005 or so, with numerous crapstacles. I had been banned/unbanned about 3 times, etc, etc.
I had been editing pages and such for about 3 months since unbanning when I saw a comment from the user Elaragirl. I went to her talk page to respond, and read the linked document EL:TEACUP, which (if I recall correctly) is still linked to from her talk page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Elaragirl).
Anyways, I said something to the effect of "you're either going to be my friend or a pain in the ass, I hope for both our sakes it will be the former". Of course, both Elaragirl and I (as later cleared up via email) understood the point of the message and neither of us were offended (I asked her). However, I was banned per the personal attack policy.
On AN/I, Ryanpostlewait (sorry if I spelled it wrong Ryan) posted an e-mail from me (which I thought had been private) which said something along the lines of me being a troll and trying to be good and not get banned. Of course, I meant to say something completely different, but nobody asked me about it again, and I was summarily banned.
A couple months later, I came back with another account named Two-Sixteen. This time, however, I was friendly (perhaps overly so) to everyone I saw. I made great (perhaps overly exaggerated) efforts to not offend anyone, and I got along fine with the general Wikipedia population. I edited pages, I categorized things, I didn't really do anything spectacular.
One day, someone raised the issue of the account Flameviper being unblocked (maybe it was me, I don't remember). I didn't have a crusade for Flameviper to be unblocked, I simply suggested the idea and left the discussion alone (although I said "I agree" on the noticeboard).
It was generally agreed that Flameviper had not done anything wrong in the first place, and so that account was unblocked. At this point, "Flameviper" was unblocked (although the account's past was still suspicious) and Two-Sixteen had never received so much as a warning for anything.
The next day, I logged on and found that Jpgordon had performed a checkuser (although without any type of process, even though I remember a lengthy process to approve requests for checkuser) and found that Flameviper and Two-Sixteen were the same person.
Two-Sixteen was indef-blocked immediately for being "disruptive" (although the account in question had never disrupted anything).
Flameviper was indef-blocked immediately for "using a sockpuppet to manipulate an unblock" (which is odd, since the administrator unblocked on his own judgement).
Now here is my opinion of the entire incident.
My statement in the e-mail to Ryan (which was something along the lines of "I enjoy Internet
 drama" was somehow twisted into "I like to create Internet drama" and
 that was further bastardized into "I am a troll". And when whoever it was
 offered to be my mentor or whatever, I accepted the offer, which was
 somehow twisted into "I decline the offer". And again, TROLL. I
 *personally* find being banned offensive to me, but I at least realize that by
 banning me the admins aren't trying to be offensive and that they're
 just doing what they think is right. And I respect your right to have
 your own opinion and not sugar-coat everything you say so it won't be
 construed as a "PERSONAL ATTACK OH MY GOD". Because furthermore, what I
 said on Elaragirl's talk page was more along the lines of "When I meet
 someone with a similar personality to mine, we either agree on everything
 and it's a blast, or we have a massive conflict because we have
 differing opinions and we both have the rock-colid attitude that nothing is
 going to change our minds, and most of our decisions will conflict with
 one another's, and we'll end up hating each other. I hope for both of
 our sakes that we can learn to get along". But instead of saying that, I
 contracted it to "You're either going to be my friend or a pain in the
 ass, I hope it's going to be the first one". And because I didn't
 carefully sugarcoat all the pointy phrasings of my comment, it was taken as
 a "personal attack" by people who it wasn't even directed at (nobody
 even asked Elaragirl if she was offended or not), and I was banned. I'm
 sick of talking for an entire damn paragraph when I could say the same
 thing in three words, and although I realize the policies on "trolling"
 and "personal attacks" were intended to protect innocent users from
 actual trolls and flamers, they're becoming utterly ridiculous and a
 nuisance to everyone involved.
I joined Wikipedia to write an encyclopedia, not to have a damn soap
 opera every time I say something.
---------------------------------
Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with Yahoo! FareChase.