These users were actually the reason why I requested ops in #wikinews :P. If I'd had
it at the time, they'd have been banned; they were disruptive and belligerent (typical
12-14 year olds really). I'll note that I was told after the fact via PM that these
users have been disruptive on various wiki-related IRCs in the past (I don't remember
who told me).
From my point of view TahR78 was initially rude and
abrupt when he was informing us of the "error" on Wikinews (though that could be
caused by a language barrier. It's hard to tell in a chat). There was no problem with
Wikinews - only with his understanding of the information on the page in question - but
even if there had been a problem, there is a right way to ask for help and a wrong way,
and he didn't choose the right way. When someone approaches you with an attitude that
is equal parts whining and entitled, it's hard to give them a fair hearing (or reading
in this case;-)). But while using a nice tone of voice (...of type? heh) would have been
helpful, the lack of that was ultimately not what ticked me off. No, what I thought
crossed the line was his "bugging" of the channel with his 2 friend's
accounts, so that he could listen in after he quit the channel. Nothing significant was
said, but still, it annoyed me. IMO that isn't appropriate behaviour.
Also, I thought NeoAmsterdam's comment was kind of funny, when taken in the context of
his IRC nick:-).
gopher65
From: Jon Davis
Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2009 8:50 PM
To: Wikinews mailing list
Cc: TahR78
Subject: Re: [Wikinews-l] Fwd: Wikinews e-mail about IRC complaining
Wow. Talk about a speedy email about this topic. This conversation started August 20th,
2009 @ 05:19 PST (12:19 UTC?).
If the group is curious, I can provided a full copy of the chat transcript, but after
reading...this is a non issue. The user in question (Tahr78) who I'm CC'ing (out
of the kindness of my heart) was having... difficulties.
He was extremely insistent that our maps were broken, and that there was no other
explanation. NeoAmsterdam and Gopher65 attempted to explain to the user that the maps
seemed to be working correctly, that the maps were not country/continent average
temperatures (I guess the Netherlands is so small they dont bother giving people the
weather other than the national average temp?!) and that the tooltips showed that the
temperature in question was for East Midlands, England and not the Netherlands. Apparently
the users tooltips were not working, and that's Wikinews's fault. When
NeoAmsterdam explained that this wasn't our fault, the user threw a tantrum.
At this point the conversation goes way down hill with the user repeatedly quitting and
re-joining the channel. Right after he quits the first time, he gets his
"friend" to join the channel under the username "Olivier_Bommel". The
user (along with his friend) continue tossing in bits of commentary here or there and
generally being a pain in the ass
After a bit of this on & off, we get to the "threat". Since the user is
accusing NeoAmsterdam of making threats over IRC, I'm pulling out the 4 lines of
relevant text here for everyone:
(6:26:46 AM) NeoAmsterdam: Since you insist, TahR78, I'll say it:
(6:26:46 AM) NeoAmsterdam: The Dutch were fools for surrendering New Amsterdam so quickly
to the English.
(6:26:46 AM) NeoAmsterdam: There. I've said it. I feel better.
(6:26:46 AM) NeoAmsterdam: ^_^
In short, there was no threatening behavior going on. NeoAmsterdam did nothing wrong in
my book in handling this user. In fact, if I had been the one on, I would have ban
hammered both TahR78 and his friend Olivier_Bommel from the channel for being disruptive.
-Jon
On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 17:14, Patrick Mannion <patrick.mannion(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Dunno why I got this, I hardly hang out on the IRC channel, but nontheless something for
you guys to look at...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: TahR78 <tahrim_ramdjan(a)planet.nl>
Date: Sat, Sep 26, 2009 at 8:09 PM
Subject: Wikinews e-mail about IRC complaining
To: TUFKAAP <patrick.mannion(a)gmail.com>
Hi Tufkaap,
Im sorry for disturbing you in this late hour (in where i live, Europe, it is now
night). I want to complain about an user on IRC, he is much on it. Lets start with the
story:
So, i and friends were looking because we were bored, one of my friends said that he
found a weather map of Europe. We were going to watch, it was a Celsius map, but it wasnt
right. So we joined the IRC channel of Wikinews and we were going to report it. First time
nobody reacted, second time also nobody. Thirth time finally somebody was waken up and
listened to us. I just nice said ''Hey, there's a kind of fault in this
template''. The user i've spoken to, NeoAmsterdam, didnt appreciate that very
much. He said to me on a not so nice way that i have to look better, because it are
airports. It would stand on a tooltip. Well, tooltips doesnt work on this computer on that
day, so i made him that clear. Than everybody said something and, NeoAmsterdam also said
that he thinks that the Dutch were stupid to give New Amsterdam to the British.
When he said that, i thought he was going to hurt me, but he didnt. First of all, i cant
fix it that New York isnt now New Amsterdam, so dont blame me that and second, it doesnt
touch me, because i am born in Holland, but my parents come from a whole other country. I
leaved the channel, but friends were still on the channel and said me that they were
talking bad about me.
Well, i am not hurt, no, i could even laugh about what NeoAmsterdam said. I am
experienced with wiki's, i have a account on the Dutch Wikipedia as well, and have
crossuser on, so i can log in on every Wikimedia wiki. But i have also experience on other
wiki's like from Wikia. I know this isnt the usual way, im sorry for that, but i donk
think this is a nice way to explain things to (new) users on Wikinews, especially
foreigners. Also when you are talking bad about a newbie on a wiki, that isnt the right
thing i think?
(Why i choosen you is because when i said on the IRC channel some days ago, somebody
prefered you. Hope you dont mind my bad English, because i am not so old (11, 12 years)
and still Dutch, so i am not a very expert in English. Hope you understand this situation,
maybe i made a big thing of it but just wanted to say this.. Only time when i contributed
to Wikinews was with a article about the attack on the Dutch queen, no more).
Sorry for the long mail and disturbing you, but i just wanted this to say. Please note
that it is a long time ago when this happened, you will be surprised why i send this mail
NOW, well, its simple: i didnt have any time. I have also accounts on other much internet
communities. There were more people at that IRC conversation but i can only remember
NeoAmsterdam.
Greetings from TahR78
----
Want to send a reaction, you can mail this email adress back or leave a note on my dutch
Wikipedia talk page, my name there is also TahR78, however i dont prefer that because it
isnt necessary to tell every Dutch Wikipedians about this story.
--
This e-mail was sent by TahR78 to TUFKAAP by the "E-mail user" function at
Wikinews.
--
Autism is both a gift and a curse at the same time; But I think of it as a gift.
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Jon
[[User:ShakataGaNai]]
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This has been a test of the emergency sig system.
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