Wikimedia,
I am writing this because I am more than a little tired of the antics on Wikipedia.
I was notified several weeks ago someone from Wikipedia called an OEM vendor who sells hardware for Wolf Mountain Group and Omega 8 attempting to obtain personal information about me, and then harassed the owner of this computer equipment supplier on the phone for editing on Wikipedia. This person claimed to be with the English Wikipedia. I reviewed the site today after receiving emails from people on the site to the effect a witch court of some sort has convened and banned me.
Well, who cares. Wikipedia is nothing more than an internet ant farm scam and I never could care less. What is disturbing to me if people are calling on the phone myself and apparently other users and harassing them.
I want it stopped -- and I mean it.
This is your final warning.
Jeff
Jeff,
I think you overestimate the power anyone on Wikipedia has over anyone else.
There simply is no mechanism to stop some unnamed and unidentifiable individual from calling someone on the phone. If the phone call or other behavior constitutes harassment in your jurisdiction, you should report it to the police or relevant authority.
Nathan
On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 1:51 AM, jmerkey@wolfmountaingroup.com wrote:
Wikimedia,
I am writing this because I am more than a little tired of the antics on Wikipedia.
I was notified several weeks ago someone from Wikipedia called an OEM vendor who sells hardware for Wolf Mountain Group and Omega 8 attempting to obtain personal information about me, and then harassed the owner of this computer equipment supplier on the phone for editing on Wikipedia. This person claimed to be with the English Wikipedia. I reviewed the site today after receiving emails from people on the site to the effect a witch court of some sort has convened and banned me.
Well, who cares. Wikipedia is nothing more than an internet ant farm scam and I never could care less. What is disturbing to me if people are calling on the phone myself and apparently other users and harassing them.
I want it stopped -- and I mean it.
This is your final warning.
Jeff
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I think it'd be good to add that most of us are also firmly against stalking. As much as I may disagree with you on a personal level, Jeff, I don't believe stalking is deserved by anyone, so if there was anything I could do to help, I would. I'm sure that sentiment is shared by quite a few others.
Mark
On 10/09/2008, Nathan nawrich@gmail.com wrote:
Jeff,
I think you overestimate the power anyone on Wikipedia has over anyone else.
There simply is no mechanism to stop some unnamed and unidentifiable individual from calling someone on the phone. If the phone call or other behavior constitutes harassment in your jurisdiction, you should report it to the police or relevant authority.
Nathan
On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 1:51 AM, jmerkey@wolfmountaingroup.com wrote:
Wikimedia,
I am writing this because I am more than a little tired of the antics on Wikipedia.
I was notified several weeks ago someone from Wikipedia called an OEM vendor who sells hardware for Wolf Mountain Group and Omega 8 attempting to obtain personal information about me, and then harassed the owner of this computer equipment supplier on the phone for editing on Wikipedia. This person claimed to be with the English Wikipedia. I reviewed the site today after receiving emails from people on the site to the effect a witch court of some sort has convened and banned me.
Well, who cares. Wikipedia is nothing more than an internet ant farm scam and I never could care less. What is disturbing to me if people are calling on the phone myself and apparently other users and harassing them.
I want it stopped -- and I mean it.
This is your final warning.
Jeff
foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Considering the recent events on English Wikipedia, where Mr. Merkey is accused of attempting to get one of his critics fired from his real life job (and is now indefinitely blocked, rather then the one year ArbCom ban, which had been reset twice due to evasion), I think we're going to need to take everything with a grain of salt the size of Cleveland.
On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 3:11 PM, Mark Williamson node.ue@gmail.com wrote:
I think it'd be good to add that most of us are also firmly against stalking...
I'm glad we are so semi-united against a serious crime. Wait..who actually advocates stalking?
Stalkers? I'm guessing that whoever made this phone call isn't against it. Just a hunch.
On 10/09/2008, mboverload mboverloadlister@gmail.com wrote:
On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 3:11 PM, Mark Williamson node.ue@gmail.com wrote:
I think it'd be good to add that most of us are also firmly against stalking...
I'm glad we are so semi-united against a serious crime. Wait..who actually advocates stalking?
foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
2008/9/11 Mark Williamson node.ue@gmail.com:
Stalkers? I'm guessing that whoever made this phone call isn't against it. Just a hunch.
Ah, no, you see it's not stalking when they do it. It's only stalking when someone does it to them.
Pretty much everyone is against stalking, just different people have different ideas of what counts as stalking.
I've received information on the issue with Mr. Merkey attempting to get another user fired from his real life job.
To the best of my ability, I've confirmed that Mr. Merkey HAS called another Wikipedia user's work superior twice (in June and again, recently) in an attempt to harass that user with spurious complaints.
Mr. Merkey is currently in the 13th month of a one year English Wikipedia ban (reset several times due to ban evasion via IP Addresses). I have forwarded the information I've received to the English Wikipedia Arbitration Committee for use there, or at the OFFICE/FOUNDATION level.
I think at this point, the best policy with regards to Mr. Merkey, is to politely request to him that if he has any further wish to communicate with or about Wikipedia, that he do so privately and via his representative.
On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 1:51 AM, jmerkey@wolfmountaingroup.com wrote: [snip]
I am writing this because I am more than a little tired of the antics on Wikipedia.
I was notified several weeks ago someone from Wikipedia called an OEM vendor who sells hardware for Wolf Mountain Group and Omega 8 attempting to obtain personal information about me, and then harassed the owner of this computer equipment supplier on the phone for editing on Wikipedia. This person claimed to be with the English Wikipedia. I reviewed the site today after receiving emails from people on the site to the effect a witch court of some sort has convened and banned me.
Well, who cares. Wikipedia is nothing more than an internet ant farm scam and I never could care less. What is disturbing to me if people are calling on the phone myself and apparently other users and harassing them.
I want it stopped -- and I mean it.
[snip]
Hey Jeff,
It's unfortunate that some people are still so obsessed with causing you problems. Though, I don't think there is anything I can do to stop them. I can come up with no evidence or reason to believe that the caller was an authorized representative of the Wikimedia Foundation, or of the English Wikipedia (if you had any doubt before, you should not). Anyone receiving a call complaining about you (or anyone else, for that matter) should consider the identity and the motivation of the person making the call.
Wikipedia contributors do not generally make phone calls relating to activity on Wikipedia. Beyond abuse reports to ISPs for trouble makers who frequently evade bans, or calls to law enforcement related to evidence of illegal activity, I can't see any reason why Wikipedia contributors would ever make phone calls related to the behavior of users on the site.
As far as being blocked from editing the English Wikipedia goes: The English wikipedia is just one Wikipedia out of hundreds of Wikipedia operated by the Wikimedia foundation. Each Wikipedia has it's own rules and politics. As complicated systems the Wikipedias have complicated rules and norms and users are often blocked for reasons which the general public would find inscrutable, some people simply have temperaments which are ill-suited for the particular qualities of the Wikipedia social norms, and there are many examples of users blocked for poor reasons.
At times the congressional offices, various famous personalities, and even the leaders of nations have been blocked from editing. Consider yourself in good company.
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