[WikiEN-l] hello and adieu

[Tucci]

Greetings from the recently more-or-less absent
TUF-KAT (soon to be much more).  Between dropping out
of college and losing my Internet connection and
tooling around the Pacific Northwest for two weeks
(conclusion: Seattle has very clean homeless people),
I am now quite out of the loop.

Unfortunately, I will soon be even farther out of the
loop.  Sometime in the next two weeks, I will be
leaving civilization for a place with no computers
(I'm not really trying to keep it a secret -- if it
irks you, e-mail me privately; rest assured, no form
of military activity is involved) and will not return
until September at the earliest.  I may have the
chance to pop in and smoke a virtual J once or twice,
but will not be a regular contributor.  I do plan on
returning, so fear not my fellow wikipedians!  I know
your lives will seem so much more hollow and
meaningless without my wit and undeniable sexiness
(don't tell anyone, but I think Jimbo has a crush on
me, and I think he looks like Bruce Springsteen).

Early Virtual Christmas in July presents:
JTDirl: a couple bottles of guiness
Zoe:  my patented Automated Michaelese-Remover
Ultra-Deluxe Plus, and my undying gratitude for using
it
Mav:  Your mom.  BOO-YAH!
Little Dan:  my old history teacher, Fitz, who gave
out hall passes like candy (if you haven't figured it
out yet, one period a day to smoke whatever dried
plant matter floats your boat, such as sage, may be
the only thing keeping you from insanity)
Michael:  some taste in music
DW et al and Lir et al: some subtlety (see below)
Brion: a cure for your incessant laziness, you
ne'er-do-well!  Quit loafing about and make the pipe
trick work for disambiguated titles with a question
mark!  Unless of course, you're too busy designing a
better torture chamber for SADDAM HUSSEIN!!!!!!!!!!
(yes, that's right, ten exclamation marks, just to let
you know I mean business)
Julie: I don't know you really, but having perused
previous conversations and controversies, I bizarrely
picture you as looking exactly like Charlize Theron. 
Will you marry me?
Stevertigo and RK: a big fatty-bo-batty, and a date
with Lil Kim
Danny:  A free trip to scenic Richmond, Virginia, home
of... oh, lots of things, really, most of them
intoxicating... provided you bring both Timothy and
Denis Leary
KQ: .5 points added to your Coolness Quotient, which
makes you tied with the new dreadlocked guy from the
utterly disappointing Matrix 2 (worst Matrix ever)
Ed Poor: Have you even been around recently?  How
about a free internet connection?  Does Sunday school
last all week these days?
Oliver: a second bowl of gruel (because I will always
picture you as a dirty, hungry young boy)

And a hearty dose of Christmas joy to everyone I've
forgotten/don't know.

Now, more on topic:

On DW's recent possible reincarnations, I have no idea
whether or not Triton is DW, as I have not seen a
single message from him.  If DW is banned, then his
contributions are not welcome and should be reverted
on sight.  We should be act without mercy on this
subject (and Lir and Michael and Helga...).  If any of
these users want to be a valuable contributor, they
have only to email Jimbo and I get the feeling he is
looking for an excuse to reinstate them.  In any case,
as I have previously said, if one of them wants to be
a trusted user under a different name, this should be
easy -- they know exactly what the rules are and, with
the possible exception of Michael, are utterly capable
of following them.  E.g. Lir is undoubtedly competent
enough to adopt a user-name and never allow herself to
be revealed as Lir.  If she ever truly repents and is
too proud or whatever to email Jimbo, we will have no
way of knowing because she will seem like any other
new contributor.  For all we know, Lir has another
identity and simply likes messing with us while using
some respected name to make valuable contributions.

On the issue of the mailing list archives being
publicly available or not, I support availability but
am averse to my name showing up on a google search. 
My e-mail name is my real name, and I don't cotton to
the idea of any old body knowing I used to go by the
name "Tokerboy".  I did choose the name knowing
perfectly well that my name could be connected with
it, and I chose to accept the responsibilities, so I
can't be too outraged, but I think barring search
engines would be nice without inhibiting transparency
to any reasonable degree (assuming interested parties
could still search the mailing list archives if they
were truly interested).  There is another sensitive
issue (to non-American Wikipedians: the name
"Tokerboy" revealed my proclivity for recreationally
smoking cannabis and I am here discussing an entirely
unrelated controversial issue which I will not name as
long as the mailing list is google-archived), related
to my iminent departure, which I will not allow to be
related to my real name.  I have successfuly avoided
the connection by asking another user to act as a
proxy when necessary (thanks you-know-who).  

On to the specific subject of Michael.  I don't know
why he he has chosen Zoe to harass instead of me,
because I was the first person to ban his original IP
address and the first and originaly most vocal
proponent of his outright permanent ban, but I support
the deletion of all his supposed contributions.  I
have seen some people speak in support of checking his
facts before deleting and must reiterate that this is
a pointless waste of time.  Most will be correct, but
just enough will be wrong that any fact is suspect --
this makes virtually anything relating to his brand of
pseudo-punkish/lite metal suspect and, by exension,
the whole Wikipedia.  In any case, the true facts are
almost always a track listing and a description of the
band's generic classification (which is usually
questionable and often outright wrong).  In any case,
this information is hardly difficult to find for the
bands he is interested in, so I feel no compunctions
about deleting it.  Even if he every fact he entered
was correct, he would be an essentially useless
contributor, filling links with gramatically incorrect
stubs that provide no more information than a couple
dozen fan sites that appear higher than Wikipedia on
any search engine.  I am also about 82% sure that he
has some sort of mental malfunction, like autism, that
impairs him -- I have no proof, just a terribly
certain feeling -- and almost feel bad about reverting
his perhaps well-meaning contributions.  I have had
reasonably extensive contact with mentally impaired
persons (once more, email me if this intrigues you)
and he strikes me as such, if not autistic then
somehow mentally impaired.  I bear him no ill-will and
I have the utmost respect for those who wish to allow
him increased latitude, but I don't think it is worth
it to grant him the freedom.  IIRC, he logs in from
Alberta, unfortunately a different jurisdiction than
myself, but I bet that Canada has plenty of
opportunities for him to have an active and full life
without detracting from our project.  After all, they
don't have an empire to pay for.

Anyway, adieu my friend!  Cry not for me, Wikipedia,
for the truth is, I never left you -- I will simply
find myself without a computer with which to inform
you of my contributions.  You may find yourself
wandering aimlessly through life during my departure. 
This is normal, and can be expected; simply smoke
something that reminds you of me, and you shall feel
rejuvenated and, perhaps, will discover a love for
[[reggae]].  In any case, be strong and I shall
return!!!!

Tokingly yours, TUF-KAT

P.S. reading this message, it may be terribly
Americocentric.  Feel free to e-mail me privately for
explanations -- if I have the time before my
departure, I will explain.


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