[WikiEN-l] Rather surprising outburst on VfD this morning

Mon Jun 27 13:18:17 UTC 2005

Hello,

This is my first mail to the list; I've been a contributor to
Wikipedia for only five days. However, I've taken part in a wide
range of discussion fora on the Internet over the last 9 years or
so.

But I was amazed to read a long-winded and detailed reply to a
comment I'd made in a vote for deletion page (for the
"Division_Street" article). In it, its author, who doesn't appear to
be a member but uses the IP address 65.182.172.95, alleges that I am
engaged in "wilful incomprehension" and "dirty net politics, a petty
act of revenge that has come in response to the fact that I made a
few of your friends look foolish elsewhere on this site, and did so
without being apologetic about it". He goes on to say: "This is a
power play on your faction's part, a brave little shoveback to
reclaim a little online turf and make yourselves look like big men".
He ends by commenting "rest assured, buddy, I will never let this
one go", and signs himself "the noneditor".

The comment which to which this was a response was a fairly
innocuous and genuinely sincere remark on my part, to the effect
that I was unable to establish the notability of the subject of his
article. It's perfectly true that the author represents in the piece
that it is notable, but I'm afraid I have already seen more than one
article which makes this claim falsely; I just don't have the
cultural background to judge this. My comment was not even a vote
for deletion, only a note to say that the article should be
rewritten if it was indeed notable, otherwise it should be deleted.

In fact, contrary to the author's claim, I have no idea who he is
and have no knowlege whatever of anything he might have been
involved in at Wikipedia or anywhere else. I cannot claim to have
established any friends in the brief time I've taken part, and I
certainly do not belong to a "faction". I have no knowledge of any
event which might prompt an "act of revenge". I find the idea of
turf wars between rival gangs at an online encyclopaedia pretty
unedifying, and would not wish to take part in one.

Anyway the VfD page is obviously still there for anyone who's
interested to see it. When the software upgrade is complete and the
page is unlocked, I will respond as calmly and unemotionally as
possible.

A couple of questions, then: can anyone tell me who this person is?
Does he have a history of this sort of thing? It does smell more
than faintly of paranoia, I have to say. Is this sort of behaviour
common in general at Wikipedia?

It's been a bit of an eye-opener!

Thanks and regards from the middle of England,
James

-- 
Dig It : a forum for European Beatles fans - http://beatles.dyndns.org/