[Foundation-l] Vandalize wikipedia day on facebook

Re: [Foundation-l] [WikiEN-l]...

Marco Chiesa

3 May 2010 3 May '10

1 p.m.

Hi, a friend of mine just pointed out this event on facebook, a vandalize wikipedia day http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110813902286034&ref=search&si… I'm not sure if WMF is aware, or if there is the possibility to close the page. Cruccone

Show replies by date

Anthony

3 May 3 May

1:51 p.m.

...

a friend of mine just pointed out this event on facebook, a vandalize wikipedia day

The event only involves a couple of hundred individuals, so it's not really a big problem. If the event starts to take off (these kind of things can quickly go viral on facebook), then a post at the administrators' noticeboard on any affected projects (enwiki will probably be the only one, I imagine) would be a sensible next step. The event recommends "chang[ing] a random page to something stupid for fun". That kind of vandalism is historically the type that we've been best at catching, which is a plus.

...

I'm not sure if WMF is aware, or if there is the possibility to close the page

As above, there are far bigger fish to fry. But it's worth keeping an eye on the event page in case its exposure grows. Well-spotted, Cruccone. AGK

Jyothis E

2:21 p.m.

I would say that we should send a note in the local wiki mailing lists. Atleast that can stay on people's mind *IF* that becomes a threat. Regards, Jyothis. http://www.Jyothis.net http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jyothis http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jyothis I am the first customer of http://www.netdotnet.com woods are lovely dark and deep, but i have promises to keep and miles to go before i sleep and lines to go before I press sleep completion date = (start date + ((estimated effort x 3.1415926) / resources) + ((total coffee breaks x 0.25) / 24)) + Effort in meetings On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 7:51 AM, Anthony <wikiagk(a)googlemail.com> wrote:

...

a friend of mine just pointed out this event on facebook, a vandalize

wikipedia day The event only involves a couple of hundred individuals, so it's not really a big problem. If the event starts to take off (these kind of things can quickly go viral on facebook), then a post at the administrators' noticeboard on any affected projects (enwiki will probably be the only one, I imagine) would be a sensible next step. The event recommends "chang[ing] a random page to something stupid for fun". That kind of vandalism is historically the type that we've been best at catching, which is a plus.

I'm not sure if WMF is aware, or if there is the possibility to close the

page As above, there are far bigger fish to fry. But it's worth keeping an eye on the event page in case its exposure grows. Well-spotted, Cruccone. AGK _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

Yann Forget

2:35 p.m.

Hi, I reported the page. If enough people do so, it might be closed by FB. Regards, Yann 2010/5/3 Marco Chiesa <chiesa.marco(a)gmail.com>om>:

...

oscar

6:21 p.m.

did so too, concur with yann! very best, oscar On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 2:35 PM, Yann Forget <yannfo(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

Hi, I reported the page. If enough people do so, it might be closed by FB. Regards, Yann 2010/5/3 Marco Chiesa <chiesa.marco(a)gmail.com>om>:

Hi, a friend of mine just pointed out this event on facebook, a vandalize wikipedia day

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110813902286034&ref=search&si…

I'm not sure if WMF is aware, or if there is the possibility to close the page. Cruccone

_______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

-- *edito ergo sum* ****************** The information contained in this message is confidential and may be legally privileged. The message is intended solely for the addressee(s). If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, or reproduction is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by return e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. ******************

Anthony

6:30 p.m.

The event page now redirects to facebook's homepage, which I think means that the page has been terminated. AGK

Jyothis E

6:42 p.m.

Some of us had reported it Regards, Jyothis. http://www.Jyothis.net http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jyothis http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jyothis I am the first customer of http://www.netdotnet.com woods are lovely dark and deep, but i have promises to keep and miles to go before i sleep and lines to go before I press sleep completion date = (start date + ((estimated effort x 3.1415926) / resources) + ((total coffee breaks x 0.25) / 24)) + Effort in meetings On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 12:30 PM, Anthony <wikiagk(a)googlemail.com> wrote:

...

The event page now redirects to facebook's homepage, which I think means that the page has been terminated. AGK _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

Kul Takanao Wadhwa

10:16 p.m.

...

_______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

David Gerard

10:33 p.m.

On 3 May 2010 21:16, Kul Takanao Wadhwa <kwadhwa(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:

...

As I was contacting the FB product team this morning (PST time) I noticed that it was already taken down through the normal channels. Thanks to everyone for finding and reporting this.

I think it's worth noting that such things are as the buzzing of flies to the number of vandal edits Wikipedia gets *all the time*. The efforts of this group would have been lost in the noise. Vandalising Wikipedia is (a) easy (b) neither big nor clever. It's no harder than littering, and as socially redeeming. We're used to cleaning it up, but that's no reason to perpetuate it. - d.

masti

10:37 p.m.

There are also two groups: Vandalize Wikipedia http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=108626792509959&ref=ts and I Vandalize Wikipedia http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=2210946918&ref=ts masti On 05/03/2010 10:16 PM, Kul Takanao Wadhwa wrote:

...

As I was contacting the FB product team this morning (PST time) I noticed that it was already taken down through the normal channels. Thanks to everyone for finding and reporting this. --Kul On 5/3/10 9:42 AM, Jyothis E wrote: > Some of us had reported it > Regards, > Jyothis. > > http://www.Jyothis.net > > http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jyothis > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jyothis > I am the first customer of http://www.netdotnet.com > > woods are lovely dark and deep, > but i have promises to keep and > miles to go before i sleep and > lines to go before I press sleep > > completion date = (start date + ((estimated effort x 3.1415926) / resources) > + ((total coffee breaks x 0.25) / 24)) + Effort in meetings > > > > On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 12:30 PM, Anthony<wikiagk(a)googlemail.com> wrote: > >> The event page now redirects to facebook's homepage, which I think >> means that the page has been terminated. >> >> AGK >>

David Gerard

10:47 p.m.

On 3 May 2010 21:37, masti <mastigm(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

I'd suggest don't get all fussed and trolled by them. - d.

Philippe Beaudette

11:03 p.m.

Honestly, not worth our time bothering with, unless they're really big. If you think about it all that does is incentivize the process. On May 3, 2010, at 1:37 PM, masti wrote:

...

There are also two groups: Vandalize Wikipedia http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php? gid=108626792509959&ref=ts and I Vandalize Wikipedia http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=2210946918&ref=ts masti On 05/03/2010 10:16 PM, Kul Takanao Wadhwa wrote:

As I was contacting the FB product team this morning (PST time) I noticed that it was already taken down through the normal channels. Thanks to everyone for finding and reporting this. --Kul On 5/3/10 9:42 AM, Jyothis E wrote: > Some of us had reported it > Regards, > Jyothis. > > http://www.Jyothis.net > > http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jyothis > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jyothis > I am the first customer of http://www.netdotnet.com > > woods are lovely dark and deep, > but i have promises to keep and > miles to go before i sleep and > lines to go before I press sleep > > completion date = (start date + ((estimated effort x 3.1415926) / > resources) > + ((total coffee breaks x 0.25) / 24)) + Effort in meetings > > > > On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 12:30 PM, Anthony<wikiagk(a)googlemail.com> > wrote: > >> The event page now redirects to facebook's homepage, which I think >> means that the page has been terminated. >> >> AGK >>

_______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

K. Peachey

4 May 4 May

1:07 a.m.

The more time you spend trying to shutdown the pages/groups/whatever else, the more it encourages users to do it, So just pay no attention to them. -Peachey

Amory Meltzer

1:37 a.m.

On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 19:07, K. Peachey <p858snake(a)yahoo.com.au> wrote:

...

The more time you spend trying to shutdown the pages/groups/whatever else, the more it encourages users to do it, So just pay no attention to them.

We have an article on that! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect ~A

Anirudh Bhati

9:12 a.m.

Vandalizing Wikipedia may actually get a few started on the project. It's usually easier to persuade people to do "evil" sounding things on the internet than real-life - some positive externalities may arise. Anirudh Bhati On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 5:07 AM, Amory Meltzer <amorymeltzer(a)gmail.com>wrote;wrote:

...

On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 19:07, K. Peachey <p858snake(a)yahoo.com.au> wrote:

The more time you spend trying to shutdown the pages/groups/whatever else, the more it encourages users to do it, So just pay no attention to them.

We have an article on that! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect ~A _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

James Alexander

9:27 a.m.

On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 3:12 AM, Anirudh Bhati <anirudhsbh(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

Vandalizing Wikipedia may actually get a few started on the project. It's usually easier to persuade people to do "evil" sounding things on the internet than real-life - some positive externalities may arise. I agree, I've actually met at least 3 people "out in the world" who

admitted to starting off vandalizing the Wikipedia and then ended up editing it legitimately. Two of them do very random wikiGnome stuff when they see it and the third has actually done quite a few articles now. Jamesofur James Alexander james.alexander(a)rochester.edu jamesofur(a)gmail.com 100 gmail invites and no one to give them to :( let me know if you want one :)

Kul Takanao Wadhwa

2:31 p.m.

James Alexander wrote:

...

On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 3:12 AM, Anirudh Bhati <anirudhsbh(a)gmail.com> wrote:

Vandalizing Wikipedia may actually get a few started on the project. It's usually easier to persuade people to do "evil" sounding things on the internet than real-life - some positive externalities may arise. I agree, I've actually met at least 3 people "out in the world" who

That's very interesting to know. Do you have any idea what made them convert from being vandals to positive contributors? Knowing more about this, and possible identifying commonalities in these cases could help us figure out what it might take to get more people to be good contributors. --Kul

Mariano Cecowski

3:12 p.m.

--- El mar 4-may-10, Kul Takanao Wadhwa <kwadhwa(a)wikimedia.org> escribió:

...

I agree, I've actually met at least 3 people "out in the world" who admitted to starting off vandalizing the Wikipedia and then ended up editing it legitimately...

and to identify and learn how to deal with the different kind of vandals... MarianoC.-

Anthony

4:09 p.m.

On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 8:31 AM, Kul Takanao Wadhwa <kwadhwa(a)wikimedia.org>wrote;wrote:

...

James Alexander wrote:

On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 3:12 AM, Anirudh Bhati <anirudhsbh(a)gmail.com>

wrote:

> Vandalizing Wikipedia may actually get a few started on the project.

It's

usually easier to persuade people to do "evil" sounding things on the internet than real-life - some positive externalities may arise. I agree, I've actually met at least 3 people "out in the world" who

admitted to starting off vandalizing the Wikipedia and then ended up

editing

it legitimately. Two of them do very random wikiGnome stuff when they see

and the third has actually done quite a few articles now.

That's very interesting to know. Do you have any idea what made them convert from being vandals to positive contributors?

Reading Template:Test, of course.

Anirudh Bhati

7:07 p.m.

Speaking from my own experience, I started off as a "vandal" got a couple of test warnings and then I started contributing meaningfully. As long as the vandalism is not subtle and experimenting users are not labelled as "vandals" as such, it can be easily managed by bots and users. ZOMG LET''S VANDALIZE WIKIPEDIA!!!11!! will inevitably get more attention than "Let us write an article day!". Yours sincerely, Anirudh Singh Bhati Student of Law, Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar, India. Handphone: +919328712208 Skype: anirudhsbh Anyone who needs to be persuaded to be free, doesn’t deserve to be. —L. Neil Smith. On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 7:39 PM, Anthony <wikimail(a)inbox.org> wrote:

...

On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 8:31 AM, Kul Takanao Wadhwa <kwadhwa(a)wikimedia.org

wrote:

James Alexander wrote:

On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 3:12 AM, Anirudh Bhati <anirudhsbh(a)gmail.com>

wrote:

> Vandalizing Wikipedia may actually get a few started on the project.

It's

admitted to starting off vandalizing the Wikipedia and then ended up

editing > it legitimately. Two of them do very random wikiGnome stuff when they

see

and the third has actually done quite a few articles now.

That's very interesting to know. Do you have any idea what made them convert from being vandals to positive contributors?

Reading Template:Test, of course. _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

5105

days inactive

5106

days old

wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org

Manage subscription

19 comments

15 participants

tags (0)

participants (15)

Amory Meltzer
Anirudh Bhati
Anthony
Anthony
David Gerard
James Alexander
Jyothis E
K. Peachey
Kul Takanao Wadhwa
Marco Chiesa
Mariano Cecowski
masti
oscar
Philippe Beaudette
Yann Forget