[WikiEN-l] Wik's views

Fri Nov 21 19:28:07 UTC 2003

Although there is a seemingly constant debate about [[User:Wik]]'s conduct,
people do not seem to care too much about the consequences of tolerating his
behavior. I would like to raise some concerns.

It is not particularly easy to analyse Wik's contributions, as he rarely
comments his edits and does a great number of minor changes. It is however
obvious that he has a tendency to get involved in reversion wars, is generally
unwilling to discuss his views, frequently uses words like "vandals" and
"trolls", and refuses to talk to people whom he has declared as such. I had a long
conversation with him over a few days (see [[User talk:Wik]], where all the
following quotations are taken from) and would like to report my impressions,
because I believe that some of the more distressing points about Wik are not
too obvious but should be discussed.

Wik: "There is no way to reconcile POV and NPOV". When we discussed this, he
has made it clear that he sees it as his right to decide what "the NPOV
version" of an article is, and to engage in reversion wars to "defend" it. Wik:
"As far as I know NPOV is the community norm, and I am its staunchest
defender. And this inevitably (and regrettably) involves getting into edit wars. What
is the alternative, just leaving the POV version there?" He refuses to
accept that reversion wars create unstable articles, while NPOV measures create
stable articles. He refuses to enter conversation with his adversaries and has
stated his goal of continuing reversion wars to victory. Wik: "Edit wars
aren't endless, at some point one side gives up." Behind this attitude is
apparently his conviction that respecting other's views is somehow "POV relativism",
as he likes to call it. He also seems to believe that a gradual improvement
of an article should not be pursued once he has unilaterally declared what
"the NPOV version" is.

Wik has a list of users he doesn't like and with whom he refuses to discuss
anything and whom he calls "vandals and trolls" rather frequently. He does
not accept the hard-and-fast policy of "no personal attacks" and insists that
his use of such vocabulary is purely descriptive. Wik: "I'm always talking,
except with those people where it would be wasted time. I'm using the terms
vandals and trolls exactly where appropriate."

When some articles where he had been engaged in reversion wars were
protected, and others started discussing them, bridging their differences and working
on a compromise, Wik outright refused to ever participate in this approach
but stated his freedom of reverting any result of their work. Despite clear
evidence to the contrary, he wrote: "It is a fundamental misconception to think
that edit wars can be solved by protecting the page and telling the people
to discuss." This seems to be related to his condescending view of people who
disagree with him, as he maintains that once having declared his opinions,
further talk would be useless, even while others were now actively debating
points that had been the subject of his reversions before.

Wik's attitude towards his fellow Wikipedians is often rather reckless, and
he demonstrates disrespect of  many of Wikipedia's very foundations (NPOV,
cooperation, policies, respect for others, Wikiquette). He has often been told
(by Jimbo Wales, Stan Shebs, and Angela to name only a few) that his conduct
is not acceptable but I can see no tendency of his to change his ways.
Although one may try talking to him, my experience with him makes me believe that
he is unwilling to accept advice. He has even declared his will to "make
[Wikipedia] less lame or be banned in the attempt". Given that by saying "lame" he
seems to refer to our fundamental dogmas, I see little hope that he can be
convinced to become more collegial. I do not think that we should set a
precedent by continuing to tolerate such conduct.

Kosebamse

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