Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikipedia charity chairman resigns after pornography row

can someone shut this guy up? Thanks, GerardM On 11 January 2015 at 07:37, Toby Dollmann <toby.dollmann(a)gmail.com>

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> > Wikipedia charity chairman resigns after pornography row > > The chairman of the charity responsible for promoting Wikipedia in > Britain has resigned after he was banned from editing the online > encyclopaedia, following rows about the inclusion of pornography. > > By Christopher Williams, Technology Correspondent > 3:55PM BST 02 Aug 2012 > > Ashley van Haeften resigned as chairman of Wikimedia UK today, citing > concerns the controversy over his ban could cause divisions among > Wikipedia supporters. > > “I have discussed this matter with [Mr van Haeften] this morning,” > said Jon Davies, the chief executive of the charity, which distributes > £1m of donations from Wikipedia supporters annually. > > “He is keen that there should be no division in the Wikimedia UK > community over his role as Chair, especially at a time when so many > great things are being achieved. > > “He has therefore resigned as Chair.” > > The Telegraph reported this week how Mr van Haeften had been banned > indefinitely from contributing to the English version of Wikipedia by > ArbCom, an elected committee of senior editors. > > > > ArbCom applied the sanction after finding he mounted personal attacks > on people with concerns about explicit material on Wikipedia, > including about material he had posted. He was criticised for > including a “highly inappropriate” link to pornography in the > biography of a living person. > > Wikipedia carries a large quantity of explicit material, despite > promoting itself as an educational website suitable for > schoolchildren. Critics such as Larry Sanger, a co-founder of the > website, and people attacked by Mr van Haeften, have argued for > filters or age controls to be introduced. > > Mr van Haeften, who works as an IT project manager, was also found by > ArbCom to have violated a series of editing rules, including by using > multiple accounts to change pages after he had asked for a “clean > start”. > > His resignation follows a call by members of Wikimedia UK for an > Extraordinary General Meeting to discuss the controversy. They said > the decision of the charity’s board to keep Mr van Haeften on as > chairman despite his ban from contributing to Wikipedia “not a > sufficient response to this situation”. > > An EGM could still go ahead, however, as the call was for a vote on a > resolution “to remove Ashley Van Haeften from the Board of Trustees of > Wikimedia UK”, not only to strip him of the chairmanship. > > “By not resigning as chair immediately after the ArbCom decision was > announced I am afraid that [Mr van Haeften] made an error which can > now only be corrected by his resignation from the board altogether,” > said one Wikimedia UK member. > > Mr van Haeften remains on the Wikimedia UK board. A new chairman will > be elected at a meeting this evening.