[Foundation-l] Stalking Article

[Durova]

Dan, I feel we've almost left it too late. We currently have a
situation where several of those involved in some of the stalking
sites have been promoted to admins, and many more are regular editors
who routinely pursue editors they don't like -- via wikistalking,
RfCs, RfArs, and reports on AN/I -- in order to make their time on
Wikipedia miserable.

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Have a look at this report.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Long_term_abuse/JB196
 and the size of these categories
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_sockpuppets_of_JB196

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Suspected_Wikipedia_sockpuppets_of_JB196

Not only was the sheer volume of socking a monumental hassle in itself
JB196 invented an insidious attack that could be applied to nearly any
subject.

1. Create a bunch of socks.
2. Select unreferenced but verifiable articles where the sources are mostly
found in dead trees, not online. This makes it slower to provide references.
3. Tag a bunch of articles for lack of verification, simultaneously.
4. While editors are busy referencing some of those articles, delete
referenced sections from other articles.
5. Prod the tagged articles that aren't referenced yet.
6. AFD.
7. Wash, rinse, repeat.

One guy can do serious damage to the database that way, just by overwhelming
a wikiproject. And since JB196 chose a lowbrow topic to attack, the
volunteers there found it difficult to solicit help from anybody else.

JB196 played around for months, years. Good editors quit Wikipedia in
frustration because of him.

SirFozzie is the main reason we put the damper on that guy.

SirFozzie went to Wikipedia Review to represent a Wikipedian perspective in
their dialog with an aim of building bridges.  Obviously, I disagree with
his decision because I have never registered there.  Yet I respect that as
an act of conscience.  I also respect SirFozzie's act of conscience when,
for several months, he resigned from WR in protest over the Mantanmoreland
malware issue.

It's best not to paint with too broad a brush.

-Durova

-- 
http://durova.blogspot.com/