[Wikipedia-l] Re: Perl

Thu Apr 15 01:11:27 UTC 2004

Erik Moeller wrote:
> Daniel-
> 
>>So, has Perl knowingly abused any sysop user rights on the Maori Wikipedia,
>>Wikibooks, or Meta?  Granted he failed to follow the largely unwritten admin
>>rules for Meta, but an apparent honest mistake is hardly grounds for
>>de-adminship (unless he does it again after being informed of those rules).
>>His actions on Meta seemed to be acts in good faith as far as I could see.

He reached his position by lying and deception.

> I agree. Meta is a bit of a craphole and Alexander did what he could to  
> clean it up. I see no evidence that there was any attempt to resolve this  
> matter in personal discussion - there is certainly no message on his talk  
> page. Why does this need to be discussed on a public mailing list?

Like I said before, I want Perl desysopped on meta. I'm not too keen on 
unilateral action, so it's not something that can be done with a private 
discussion.

> The policy issues on Meta should be separated in the discussion from any  
> personal issues. As he notes on his user page, Alex is a kid with  
> Asperger's syndrome. Don't give him too much of a hard time, please. 

I used to think that way, but contact with another Asperger's sufferer 
on Wikipedia changed my mind. PMelvilleAustin is a model WikiCitizen. He 
has trouble understanding policy and social conventions, but instead of 
acting impulsively and trying to cover up complaints, he seeks advice 
and profusely apologises for any wrongdoing. When challenged over his 
decision making ability, he quietly resigned sysopship, an honour which 
had originally been foisted on him unexpectedly. AS is not an excuse. 
Indeed, if you read up on AS, you find that the disorder only goes a 
small way towards explaining Perl's behaviour.

>If he  
> does something really stupid there are more than enough ways to undo it.
> 
> Furthermore, Meta issues belong on foundation-l, not on
> wikipedia-l, as Meta is not just about Wikipedia.

I don't mind moving to foundation-l if that's what you want.

-- Tim Starling