[Foundation-l] #wikipedia

[Vague Rant]

OK, so this is my first attempt at using a mailing list. I figured I would
probably give that up by misusing it somehow anyway, so I supposed I'd get
that out in the open, at least.

Dmcdevit wrote:
> Dejan Čabrilo wrote:
> > We think of off topic
> > conversation as a good thing. There is nothing worse than getting into a
> > silent channel, asking a question, and getting the answer half an hour
> > later, when you lost all the interest

> Yes, getting no answer while US politics or furry fandom drown out the
> question is worse than that. I think your concern is exaggerated.

As may or may not have yet been mentioned on the mailing list, the last
couple of days has seen an influx of spammers in the newly opfree
#wikipedia. I'm sure that over time, as more ops are promoted, this problem
will subside, but for the moment, only intervention from outside the channel
has been effective in curbing the flow, since the remaining ops in
#wikipedia are rarely around to monitor the channel.

Since, until about three minutes ago, I had no idea of how to use a mailing
list, I tried contacting Dmcdevit with my query via IRC, instead. It did not
go as well as could be hoped:

[06:34] <vaguerant> I'd respond to this on the mailing list, but like a lot
of people, I don't know a thing about mailing lists, so you know.
[06:34] <vaguerant> "Yes, getting no answer while US politics or furry
fandom drown out the
[06:34] <vaguerant> question is worse than that. I think your concern is
exaggerated."
[06:35] <vaguerant> I'm curious as to where people spamming the channel
unrelentingly for half an hour stands in your scale of badness.
[06:35] <Dmcdevit> If you are going to start this again I'm just going to
have to put you on ignore.
[06:36] <vaguerant> Start what again?
[06:36] <vaguerant> I've never even spoken to you about this.
[06:37] <Dmcdevit> You might be surprised to know that I don't approve of
spamming. And it's hard to see that as an innocent question.
[06:37] <vaguerant> Of course, but what was worse?
[06:37] <vaguerant> People talking about US politics, or people spamming?
[06:41] <vaguerant> Not meaning to prod, but have you ignored me, or are you
thinking?

I'm still unsure as to whether I was being ignored in the conventional
sense or ignored in the IRC sense, but as
of 7:15, I'm still yet to receive any further response. Regardless, I
pose the same question here. Of US
politics, furry fandom (which, in my three-some years of visiting
#wikipedia, has rarely come up), and wholesale spamming and trolling of the
channel for up to thirty minutes, which is the worst? Was the decision to
clear #wikipedia's access list truly a wise one, given its indirect results?
One might make an argument as to hindsight, but surely increased misbehavior
should have been predicted when the prospect of removing the previous ops'
privileges came up. Is this lack of thought expected to be typical of the
new administration of #wikipedia?

~ Vague