Ed, I am glad your approach seems to be working. I have to disagree in the case of Helga, however. Whatever she has suffered (and I believe it was not Helga, but her husband, who actually experienced all this) certainly affects her writing, which is understandable. It also makes her loopy in an unacceptable way. This isn't the place to play "bigger victim." it's an encyclopedia. It's supposed to provide information. In my opinion, her most recent comments and refusal to apologize to Vicki merely demonstrate that she is emotionally unfit to work with the group. It's incredibly sad, but she needs a time out. If she can't back way the hell off, I say we ban her for two weeks and let her know why. I also think that Vicki should have the final say here -- it is, after all, just my opinion.
If we lose her, that will be both sad and a relief. As I said, she has good information to contribute, but frankly, she also is a huge drain on the energies of other wikipedians. More likely, she'll just spend the time looking up more "proof" of some of her wackier theories.
Jules
Helga has thus far not responded to my email requests for a dialogue about these possibilities. If she won't talk to me, it's hard for me to help.
She should be STRONGLY encouraged to join wikipedia-l and talk to us about the situation. It's the only way to straighten this out, I think.
When I banned '24', it was only after he had refused entreaties to talk in email. I'd be hard pressed to ban anyone who would pay me the common courtesy of a discussion about the problem.
--Jimbo
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