[WikiEN-l] Re: Joe Canuck

[james duffy]

>Jimmy Wales wrote:
>>Joe Canuck is banned from wikipedia.  Would someone with the
>>appropriate powers please take the appropriate steps to make this
>>technically true.
>>
>>As always, Joe is invited to write to me to discuss this further,
>>and/or is invited to the mailing list.
>>
>>Some have expressed a strong conviction that Joe Canuck is the same
>>person or persons as DW, etc.  I express no opinion on that matter,
>>and find that Canuck's actions alone are sufficient for banning.  To
>>the extent that it is true, of course, then just being the same person
>>is grounds for a continuation of the ban.
>>
>>--Jimbo
>
>what has he done?

Just to clarify for those who don't know:

(1) He systematicaly downloaded a series of images to wikipedia, many of 
which may well have been copyright.

(2) When a number of users asked him to clarify their status, he became 
highly verbally abusive, issued legal threats and then deleted the questions 
from his talk page.

After a series of requests and after consulting with various users I removed 
the images from the pages and placed them on the Votes for Deletion page. A 
note was left with each image stressing the problems with copyright and 
stating that they were listed for deletion. (Given his history of deleting 
'unwelcome' comments I thought it safer to protect the image pages, so that 
he could not delete the note and then claim he did not know of it.) All 
users without exception who commented said that in view of his refusal to 
give /any/ information on their original sources, the images should be 
deleted.

(3) Though asked not to, Canuck reinserted the images into the pages. When 
users removed them, he tried to reinsert them yet again. To stop these edit 
wars, I was forced to protect all the pages onto which he continually tried 
to reinsert the images /temporarily/.

(4) Canuck then verbally abused and threatened users on the Votes for 
Deletion page and on various talk pages.

(5) A close examination of his edit pattern, and the /manner/ in which he 
edited pages (eg, removing birth and death dates from after a person's name 
in the first line, the standard encyclopædic method of entry which is also 
used by wikipedia), coupled with the nature of his abuse left little doubt 
but that Joe Canuck was banned user DW, who was banned for among other 
reasons verbally abusing users and charging article structures to a version 
he wanted, even when users told him that his version was contrary to wiki 
style.

In view of the refusal to give details of the origins of images, the sheer 
scale of his abuse of users and the overwhelming evidence that he was a 
banned user, a number of users requested his immediate banning. Though not 
commenting on the issue of whether he was DW (which was academic in the 
circumstances), Jimbo agreed that Canuck's behaviour was so completely 
contrary to all wiki stands for as to warrant immediate banning. Following 
his banning I immediately removed all the protections placed on the pages.

Unfortunately the history of this user as DW, Black Widow and now as Joe 
Canuck suggests that he will return, will continue to download and install 
images the copyright status of which he will refuse to clarify, and when 
challenged will begin verbally abusing people again. While users like 
Michael and Adam have been banned for adding in textual inaccuracies to 
articles and for acting provocatively to other users, DW/Joe Canuck's 
behaviour is far more serious in so far as by blatently using potentially 
copyright images he endangers wiki itself, through the possibility of legal 
problems arising from his action. The fact that he is consistently abusive 
/in the extreme/ to anyone who gets in his way or simply politely asks as to 
the status of his images makes dealing with him a particularly unpleasant 
experience.

For evidence of his abuse, see [[User:Joe Canuck]] page, onto which his 
abuse has been transferred from other pages. Also [[Votes for Deletion]].

JT.

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