[WikiEN-l] What the fuck.

[michael west]

On 02/02/2008, John Reaves <johnjreaves at gmail.com> wrote:

> Those logs are fun, classic Flameviper.
>
> --John Reaves
>
> On Feb 2, 2008 12:35 AM, Flameviper Velifang <theflameysnake at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I saw this log recently. Apparently [[User:Lumberjake]], a new editor,
> got
> > confused with me (Lord knows why) and indef-blocked based on "evidence
> from
> > IRC". His contribs were legitimate, and apparently he used a proxy that
> I
> > once used, or something to that effect.
> >
> > http://pastebin.ca/888624
> >
> > There's the log. I was pretty shocked by this, not only because of the
> > blatant trolling by the blocking admin, but because of a general
> realization
> > I had.
> >
> > Wikipedia is an encyclopedia.
> >
> > Thus, anything not pertinent to building an encyclopedia should be
> > discouraged, and *certainly* not accepted as general M.O. for admins,
> > right? Right?
> >
> > Apparently not. It seems that, once again, the ridiculously high
> emotional
> > investment in the project turns it from an occasional hobby into a
> violent
> > drama-pit where sysops stroke their egos, users whine about anything
> they
> > can, and the few users who actually try to get anything done are
> harassed
> > and blocked by the majority who don't.
> >
> > You really need to get your priorities straight.


Dunno John, I think I'd be a bit concerned if I'd lost sense on #IRC and
somebody reminded me and the internet of it.

Trolling is a an odd word, when many of us spend hours each week plodding
through the net finding sources. Its almost second nature too  to compare
editing similarities or check off-wiki for usernames if you suspect bad
faith editing. (Where I live trolling is another word for "cruising"/picking
up men for casual sex. "Don't feed the trolls" has connotations one can
never imagine.)
If it was Flameviper (although coincidence can't be ruled out. Synchronicity
and all that) then that type of disruption isn't going to help him out or
win him friends.  Just reading back through the mailing list, I think
everybody has been sympathetic towards Flameviper and wished him luck
editing with a new name and putting the past behind him.

Mike33