[WikiEN-l] Jeffery O. Gustafson

[James Farrar]

On 02/06/07, Jeffrey O. Gustafson <psicopjeffg at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Someone wrote:
>
> >Not only has he gone around vandalising BJAODN, he's also been
> >deleting comments off talk pages, which is utterly reprehensible.
> >http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:Bad_Jokes_and_Other_Deleted_Nonsense&diff=135102810&oldid=135098180
> >
> >Can we reel in this rogue admin now, before he does any more damage?
>

First:

> Firstly, its spelled "rouge."  Secondly, my first name is "Jeffrey."

If the best you can do is to jump on a typo, your argument lacks substance.

Secondly, to see if your argument has substance:

> To the point of your hyperbolic complaint, please see
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:EL#Restrictions_on_linking ... "Sites that
> violate the copyrights of others per contributors' rights and obligations
> should not be linked."
>
> 'Nuff said.

Indeed, no substance, merely a re-statement of your opinion and your
refusal to entertain discussion. Notwithstanding that the linked
policy does not apply in the current debate - we're considering the
status of material submitted directly to Wikipedia, not links to
external sites - your position appears to be that any Administrator
who believes a copyright violation has occurred has the right to
unilaterally delete such material without discussion or debate and
without such deletion being subject to review or criticism.

I must consider the possibility that this is within policy, but if it
is, then such policy is ridiculous. This is not, for want of better
terminology, a question of a presumption of "guilt" or a presumption
of "innocence", but instead is about the suggestion that a single
Administrator can act as informant, judge, jury and executioner in the
blink of an eye without any pretence at a trial, still less an appeal
system. Such judicial processes have existed from time to time in
human history, rarely with happy results.