[WikiEN-l] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:SOCK

[Amory Meltzer]

In my experience with web-based positions of power, people leave for two
reasons:

1. Their life changes (job, kids, school, etc.) basically meaning they can't
or don't want to commit the time or
2. Things change and the website didn't go exactly the way they wanted it to
- serious business and all that.

Emailing dormant admin accounts is a pretty safe bet, because if it's the
former there are unlikely to be repercussions, and if it's the latter then
they might be able to engage them in conversation, which is all these
"fighters" want.  It's pretty clear they're not out for improving anyone's
experience other than his/her/their own, but they're just playing the odds.

~A

On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 06:32, FT2 <ft2.wiki at gmail.com> wrote:

> What I'm wondering is how a campaign whose centerpiece is ppivoted upon
> deception ofeditors, is planning to fight "corruption"? This sounds an
> ideal
> route to being the corrupt themself.
>
> I suspect the aspect how exactly having a dozen admin accounts would help
> them improve integrity, reduce unfair or improper actions and so on, has
> not
> fully crossed their mind.........
>
> It's easy to fight against "the corruption" or "the bureaucracy" --
> impressive sounding "things" both. But specifying exactly what corrupt
> activities deception will help with, and which bureaucratic issues will be
> removed by additional use of adminship, is not included. "Please give us
> your admin accounts for a noble cause that we're not going to explain a
> thing about how we are rather improbably going to further it".
>
> Probably wise that they didn't try to explain, given the user's mindset.
> The
> bemusement value would have been significant for this list.......
>
> FT2
>
>
> On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 8:55 AM, Jay Litwyn <
> brewhaha at freenet.edmonton.ab.ca
> > wrote:
>
> > Your application to an administrator for becoming an administrator should
> > probably be denied. To my knowledge, Ms. Brady does not know you well
> > enough
> > to understand your motivation for becoming an administrator. Since she
> made
> > your application public, I suspect that she may even find your
> application
> > to be a threatening evasion of the normal process for becoming an
> > administrator. Furthermore, since you claim to represent a party, and not
> a
> > single being with your references to "we", I think your account should be
> > watched for evidence of sock-puppetry. Entrusting an account with special
> > rights to an account that may already reprezent several users is clearly
> > outside of [[WP:SOCK]] policy.
> > _______Begin Redacted Message_______
> > (Sources and destinations are in public view, and may be deleted with a
> > proper application to the oversight committee or with direct applications
> > to
> > thread participants). [i.e. Select Message, press delete, in cases where
> > message is yours.]
> >
> > Dear X,
> >
> > We notice you haven't edited Wikipedia for some time. Perhaps you grew
> > disillusioned with the project after seeing the corruption and
> bureaucracy
> > at every level? If so, why not help us to help you. We are currently
> > expanding our portfolio of administrator accounts, and as yours remains
> > dormant perhaps you could consider donating it to us - to do so will take
> > you only two minutes: change the password (if desired) and then reply to
> > this email with your login details. We'll do the rest!
> >
> > Thank you for your time and consideration, and naturally do not hesitate
> to
> > contact us if you have any questions.
> >
> > Kind Regards,
> >
> > The Wikipedia Freedom Fighters
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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