[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia and autism

Tue Oct 11 08:04:34 UTC 2005

There are two cases that concern me a lot because of the characteristics
exhibited by the main editors involved.

Maoririder, whose case is before the arbitration comittee and is still
in the evidence phase, is not an obvious vandal or troll.  He has made
 large numbers of vanishingly small stubs, some of which have grown
into very impressive articles, and also asked intriguing, childlike,
questions in an appropriate forum.

Wiki brah, who has been subjected to many blocks from his earliest
appearance in mid-August, has written articles that have been
identified as "nonsense" by RC patrollers, but a discussion with
fellow administrators they tended to the opinion that the articles
were acceptable newbie stubs and did not merit the vandalism warnings
that they provoked:

06:56, 14 August 2005 Lucky 6.9 deleted "Keyboard dust bag" (content was:
'You might have seen this little dillio at the automatic repair garage or
any other place where typist have dirty or greazy hands. This is the thin
ty...' (and the only contributor was 'Wiki brah'))

06:55, 14 August 2005 Lucky 6.9 deleted "Cellshell" (content was: 'this is
that colored plastic pice that fits over your cell pohne. It changed its
colors, see? These things are not all that populbar anymore with th...'
(and the only contributor was 'Wiki brah'))

06:50, 14 August 2005 Lucky 6.9 deleted "Altimeter calibration knob"
(content was: 'THIS is the small dial or knob on the console of an
airplane that lets you adjust the altimeter to set the barometric pressure
that is cruical to the ...' (and the only contributor was 'Wiki brah'))

For some time I have had a strong suspicion that Maoririder may be
autistic.  Wiki brah's contributions also fit the pattern.

The above reminds me of an early response to Maoririder:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Maoririder&diff=19735578&oldid=19735159

"Those "bloody-nosed beetle" and "big-eyed bug" nanostubs are tantamount
to vandalism. If you'd like to experiment, please use the
[[Wikipedia:Sandbox|sandbox]]. Thanks."

While the stubs in question were indeed tiny, they were hardly vandalism.

Big-eyed bug, for instance, read as follows:

It is a type of bug.

Template:Bug-stub

Today Wikipedia has coverage for both of those insects, mainly thanks
to Maoririder's stubs and the good faith expansions performed by other
editors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody-nosed_Beetle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big-eyed_bug

Another of Maoririder's stubs was Portland High School.  Later moved
to "Portland High School, Portland Maine" Maoririder's original stub
read:

It is located in Portland, Maine

Template:Maine-stub

The article was listed on AfD four days after its creation.  The
article was expanded--the school, founded in 1821, turned out to be
one of the first public high schools founded in the United States
after the Revolution, and the article was expanded in a few minutes
and, via a premature speedy delete or two, the result of the debate
was keep, with only one vote to delete.

Both Maoririder and Wiki brah have been labelled, variously, trolls
and vandals, although I do not see strong evidence to support either
label.

Both of them have expressed a strong wish to produce work for
Wikipedia. Both of them produce articles that appear weird to
non-autists.  In my
opinion, neither represents a threat to Wikipedia commensurate to the
treatment they have received.

Should the world's first encyclopedia that anyone can edit continue
knowingly to alienate, abuse and reject autists?