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    Wefa and nothere

    Wefa (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

    After two attempts at subtle POV pushing on Talk:Libs of TikTok [1][2] they dropped all pretense of editing in good faith or respecting NPOV and posted this:

    I have given up on this article. The discussion archived above has amply shown that the cognitive divide has reached such an extent that we seem to live in different universes. Apparently there exists a sizeable minority or even majority here who is complete unable to concede that the term "gender affirming care" (which includes not only primary sex surgery but also things like mastectomies and chemical castration (aka puberty Blockers) is an ugly euphemism for mutilation of children (which by definition is always involuntary since children can not possibly give informed consent to something destructive and far reaching like that). So while folks like me, who are disgusted and revolted by what these hospitals do to children, see LOT as a courageous whistleblower and critic, the above mentioned group sees her as a hatemonger and is motivated to paint her in the worst light possible. There is no middle ground here - "gender affirming care" is the new lobotomy craze, and its practitioners are the Mengeles of our time. You either get that or refuse to.

    In such a situation, especially with the "paint in worst light" part, Wikipedia's policies just do not work. The admin-supported left wing rules by majority, even though there is no policy allowing such, NPOV on this particular topic is even hard to define, let alone implement, in such spirit, and this part of Wikipedia has essentially been captured as the left's propaganda arm. I came here with a good faith suggestion to make this article more NPOV, and that was roundly rejected. Now, given there is no consensus, I would have as much right to be bold and just change things as all the left wing "owners" of this article who do this all the time, but the practice is different. While non-consensus changes by me would, given enough persistence on my part, result in me getting banned, the exactly same actions by the lw majority would and constantly do have no such consequences. The mostly lefty administrators and the various informal councils make sure of that.

    And that is that. We as Wikipedians collectively get the Encyclopedia we collectively deserve, and right now, that picture is less than pretty. All I can say on this point is good luck with this article. Wefa (talk) 14:03, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

    Which to me says that they're not just done editing that talk page but its time for them to say goodby to the project as a whole, I guess I would accept a topic ban from anything related to sexuality, gender, or politics but they appear to intend to disrupt more than just those topic areas. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 14:28, 19 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I have left a DS notice for WP:ARBGSDS. Not looked into the comment much more than to see it was under the scope of that DS. Dreamy Jazz talk to me | my contributions 14:38, 19 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    This person hasn't disrupted anything, and they're arguing for NPOV, so I don't see any reason to ban them from anything. Korny O'Near (talk) 18:34, 19 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    That is not an argument for NPOV. In fact, it's the opposite, a call to slant the article towards the conspiracy theory. — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 20:13, 19 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    That is hardly evidence of anything. In my personal experience, no person who ever tried to go against NPOV in any serious capacity (i.e. not straight up vandalising) did so by openly stating that they have an axe to grind. Ostalgia (talk) 20:16, 19 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    It's a poor look, IMHO, to hand someone a topic ban (or worse, an indef) for no other cause than that he's expressed sentiments on the talk page that you don't like. The best way to refute Wefa's belief that the Thought Police are running Wikipedia -- and seeking to suppress opinions they don't want anyone to hear -- is not to prove him right. Ravenswing 00:19, 20 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    This is a fair point, and I am not sure I favor a ban, but when you start accusing your interlocutors of being in league with "Mengeles," to my mind it is something more than expressing a sentiment that people don't like. Cheers. Dumuzid (talk) 01:28, 20 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Unless they set off carving a path of distuption across the encyclopedia, there doesn't seem to be any point blocking, and while they have been playing at the edge of stuff that can get users banned, they haven't gone there yet. Based on what they've said, they might have been NOTHERE (on that page anyway), but they apparently aren't there anymore anyway (i.e. they left). Mako001 (C)  (T)  🇺🇦 06:03, 20 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    That was yesterday and they didn't leave, they were removed[3]. Note User talk:Shibbolethink#you hid my talk page text on Libs of Tiktok where Wefa castigates @Shibbolethink: for removing their rant from the talk page. Also note they're now disrupting their own talk page, how is this not carving a path of disruption across the encyclopedia? Horse Eye's Back (talk) 15:26, 20 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Treating them preferentially because they've invoked baseless conspiracy theories is a bad look, its effectively a get out of sanctions free card. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 15:29, 20 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    They aren't commenting here but they don't seem all that worried about our enforcement action... From their talk page (emphasis added):

    You are basically making my point. That article is constantly changed without consent, against the objections of a the conservative editors present, and no editor nor admin saw need to call out, let alone threaten, the editors doing that. AGF was immediately violated by other editors who called my position transphobic; "transphobic" itself is a left wing fighting term trying to pathologize dissent. There is no such phobia, conservatives simply recognize that there are men and women, and, if we ignore the extremely rare cases of biological nonbinaries, nothing else.

    But as soon as I point out the discrepancy, as well as the fundamental problem with editing Wikipedia under such circumstances, several people jump at me, you with all your administrators might threaten me on my own talk page. Where was such threats/warnings for those who called all conservatives "transphobic"?

    Yep. Thanks for making my point. Wefa (talk) 18:31, 19 September 2022 (UTC)

    Fringe editors who can't set aside their fringe beliefs have no business editing the encyclopedia because they are incapable of consensus. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 15:26, 20 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    If you're referring to this user's apparent belief that people with XY chromosomes are men and people with XX chromosomes are women, I don't think that can be called fringe for any standard definition of "fringe". Korny O'Near (talk) 16:57, 20 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Generally wikipedia's definition of WP:FRINGE is things which aren't accepted by mainstream medicine, science, and/or academia. Such as the opinions you just elucidated. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 17:05, 20 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Wew, you're just going for every checkbox on the "how do I get banned" bingo, aren't you? — The Hand That Feeds You:Bite 19:48, 20 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Overall, I agree with editors here that Wefa's conduct is disruptive and pretty clearly not here to build consensus. It amounts to the my way or the highway style of argument. But I also agree that the best way to deal with this editor is to stop giving them what they want. This user engages in long drawn out time-wasting culture war arguments. So why don't we all stop engaging? Either they will run out of steam, or they'll edit article space against consensus or in a disruptive manner, thereby justifying their own WP:NOTHERE block. If they, instead, decide to edit more productive and less vitriolic areas of the encyclopedia, it's a win for everybody. To summarize: WP:DFTT. Honestly I would apply this same logic to several other users in the space as well. If they bludgeon, edit against consensus, or otherwise break rules, then that should be dealt with appropriately. If all they’re doing is spouting out loud culture war arguments in support of their conspiracy theory, then collapse, delete, or ignore.— Shibbolethink ( ♕) 16:44, 20 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    you would be wrong in your assumption. My note on that talk page was to explain why I would refrain from further editing the article, and was prompted by someone else's comment on the talk page asking for my input. Unfortunately someone had deleted my comment from the talk page near instantly, so the majority of editors there probably did not even see it. Wefa (talk) 16:03, 22 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I would agree that the best course of action is to just let it go. I'm not seeing anything particularly actionable. I just see an editor who is tired of being contested, which is fairly understandable. When you get into the weeds of controversial or political topics on WP it's hard to internalize that we aren't here to preach the truth, we're here to aggregate information from public sources. I think just letting them storm off is best for everyone. GabberFlasted (talk) 17:05, 20 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • @Wefa: It's best to just not make such editorializing comments on talk pages. Just state your opinion about the content dispute and move on. That's all you can do. If you continue to make such comments you will likely be topic banned rather soon. Iamreallygoodatcheckerst@lk 01:49, 21 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • that is basically clear to me, too. I just underestimated how fast the Wikipedia landscape on that matter had changed. Only a few years ago there was a consensus that mutilating children was completely out of question and unacceptable for the Trans community, but on the progressive side of things that seems to have changed 180 degrees. I explained here - clearly I think - why in the context of Wikipedia, its rules, and the people currently interpreting and enforcing those rules, editing under such circumstances leads nowhere. I originally came there to make a suggestion to improve NPOV, but went down in flames quickly.
    BTW - thanks for the ping - I had missed this debate here completely. Wefa (talk) 16:03, 22 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I think it's unfair to claim that Wefa is NOTHERE. They've done good work on a wide range of articles through the years. That doesn't mean that they aren't about one poorly-worded comment from a long-term DS block, though. Stop comparing other people to Nazis, take a break, edit articles that aren't going to raise your (and everyone else's) blood pressure, and keep being a valued member of the community. --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 16:29, 22 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    "There is no middle ground here - "gender affirming care" is the new lobotomy craze, and its practitioners are the Mengeles of our time. You either get that or refuse to."
    That is one of many such comments, and though you do not say it explicitly, I would caution against seeing this as weighing their other "good work" to this disruption. The net positive fallacy is pervasive, and is unhelpful.
    The comment, and others, aren't even an attempt to discuss what's supported by reliable sources, it's pure culture war soapboxing. It should be considered in the context of the harm caused, not in the context of their other work.
    It's one thing to disagree on how we include reliable sources, it's another for Wefa to compare people to Nazis when they disagree with him. Accusing other editors of being part of "the left's propaganda arm" when consensus is against them, is also not constructive, nor are the many other implicit and explicit accusations of bad faith.
    The trend here, i.e. Wefa's insistence that people either agree with him or are acting in bad faith, is not indicative of intent to contribute constructively to Wikipedia. Vermont (🐿️—🏳️‍🌈) 17:29, 23 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Oh, I don't weigh the other good work against the disruption. I just say that the other good work tends to invalidate the NOTHERE accusation. You can be HERE and disruptive at the same time. Wefa has been very thoroughly warned of the community expectations at this point: it's their choice if they're going to listen or if they need to be separated from the community for a time for the good of the encyclopedia. --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 18:22, 23 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Thats fair but someone can also be NOTHERE and have made productive contributions to the project. This isn't exactly new behavior though, two years ago they were at Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons/Noticeboard with a very similar rant about "The current debate climate is not conductive for a solution. For the time being we have to live with Wikipedia's erosion of NPOV, and see it slowly become Leftopedia on political matters. And that includes the constant low key disparaging of conservatives in their respective BLPs."[4] Horse Eye's Back (talk) 18:36, 23 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    2018 at Talk:Rape in Islamic law "the article goes to great lengths to 'not' spell out what Islamic Law thinks about the rape of slaves, even though we can guess it from peripheral parts. This is unencyclopedic"[5]. From what I'm seeing in their edit history the vast majority of their edits are not constructive at least from 2018 to the present. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 18:40, 23 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Support WP:NOTFORUM/WP:NOTSOAPBOX warning. Levivich (talk) 20:28, 23 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Considering the message posted by Horse Eye's Back, and their decision to continue that kind of narrative here, a topic ban from gender and sexuality seems more appropriate. Isabelle 🏳‍🌈 20:37, 23 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Agreed. I’m in support of a topic ban from gensex with a warning for wider soapbox issues. Vermont (🐿️—🏳️‍🌈) 21:32, 23 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • We have lots of editors in the GENSEX topic area, of all manner of POVs, who are good at separating strong private feelings from their encyclopedia editing. This does not strike me as such an editor, and an indef GENSEX TBAN under DS seems reasonable. I've been minimally involved (viz. I made two "gain consensus first" reverts) in a dispute over whether puberty blockers are chemical castration, so probably shouldn't be the one to impose that sanction, if only to avoid an appearance of impropriety; but if another admin wishes to do so, I think that would be in keeping with recent "jurisprudence" in the GENSEX area [6] [7]. -- Tamzin[cetacean needed] (she|they|xe) 22:11, 23 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Whilst I did suggest that a siteban or siteblock wouldn't be helpful, a TBAN most certainly should be on the cards. If they aren't going to voluntarily keep out of a contentious area which they have obvious issues with editing in accordance with policy on (including soapboxing on article talkpages and their own talkpage), they need a TBAN. I'd say that, in WP:ARBGSDS, they show signs of not being there to build an encyclopedia, but in others, they are definitely constructive. By stopping the distracting stuff, hopefully they will be more helpful in the areas where they are HERE. Mako001 (C)  (T)  🇺🇦 07:29, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      I'm really struggling to find helpful edits in any area post 2018, it almost looks like two completely different editors. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 14:24, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Most of 2021 looks fairly reasonable. What am I missing?--SarekOfVulcan (talk) 15:00, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      That there are only 19 edits in all of 2021 perhaps? Their very first edit in 2022 was POV pushing at Soy Boy[8]. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 20:19, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • I think a GENSEX TBAN is a bit tough at this point. At least give them another chance. Iamreallygoodatcheckerst@lk 00:16, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      I actually don't think it's a bit tough. I just really want to give them a chance to fix things themselves. --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 13:13, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    GENSEX TBAN: Wefa

    I feel like it's 6 of one, half a dozen of the other whether to move this to WP:AE or make it a community sanction, but since we already have multiple opinions expressed above, I'll go with the latter (although I do think it would still be acceptable for any uninvolved admin to issue a DS TBAN). Proposed: For repeated comments in the topic area not oriented toward building an encyclopedia, Wefa is indefinitely topic-banned from gender-related disputes and controversies and associated people.

    Already expressing opinions above: Ravenswing (generally against), Vermont (for), Mako001 (not against), Iamreallygoodatcheckers (against), SarekOfVulcan (not against). -- Tamzin[cetacean needed] (she|they|xe) 20:35, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    • Support as proposer. I'll reïterate my comment above that we've already had two DS TBANs this year for similar conduct. [9] [10] -- Tamzin[cetacean needed] (she|they|xe) 20:35, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oppose - Wefa has acknowledged the issue and have been adequately warned. I have no reason to believe more restriction is needed to prevent disruption to the encyclopedia. Give them a second chance. Iamreallygoodatcheckerst@lk 22:24, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      How is Wefa coming to ANI to say "Only a few years ago there was a consensus that mutilating children was completely out of question and unacceptable for the Trans community, but on the progressive side of things that seems to have changed 180 degrees." at all describable as having "acknowledged the issue"? Or this comment, the other response to this ANI thread. It's the exact behavior that resulted in Wefa being brought here and it's this singular interest in discussion over ideology rather than sources which necessitates a TBAN. Vermont (🐿️—🏳️‍🌈) 00:48, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      The editor made a couple soapbox edits on one talk page. When he was confronted about it here he said that it's "basically clear" to him that he needs to stop. The quote you mentioned is Wefa explaining how they view Wikipedia and the topic have changed recently; he hasn't been editing much in the last few years. It's reasonable that he might be a little rusty and ignorant to Wikipedia standards today. There's no evidence of sustained disruption in the GENSEX area by this user. Therefore, a topic ban would be more punitive than preventative. Iamreallygoodatcheckerst@lk 03:30, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      So, he doesn't understand what is acceptable in a GENSEX discussion, and he has come to AN/I to continue to show that he doesn't understand what is acceptable in a GENSEX discussion, but no disruption would be prevented by banning him from GENSEX discussions? -- Tamzin[cetacean needed] (she|they|xe) 03:52, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      "he has come to AN/I to continue to show" isn't accurate; he was brought here, he didn't come here to continue to show anything. It'd be different if he had inserted himself into a dispute that didn't involve him. Levivich (talk) 14:54, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Support - I've read through the proceeding discussion, and some of Wefa's other contributions. I think a topic ban from GENSEX content is the right call here. To editors who believe we should not topic ban for just talk page contributions, I'd point out that actually in practice we do. To quote/paraphrase from another AE case (comments by admin Joe) where an editor was topic banned because of their talk page contributions; it is abundantly clear from the initial diffs that we have an editor who a) has a strongly held, minority view on gender; b) has proved themselves incapable of putting that aside and contributing to the topic area without causing disruption; and c) made several comments that disparage trans people (conflating gender affirming care as mutilation of children, likening health care professionals with Josef Mengele, asserting that transphobia does not exist, denying that trans and non-binary people are who they say they are) in a way that is contrary to the UCOC and the civility policy. Sideswipe9th (talk) 00:37, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Support Wefa lacks the sensitivity and tact required to edit in this topic area productively and collaboratively. Hemiauchenia (talk) 00:59, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oppose: I'm not seeing where -- and there haven't been any diffs to demonstrate -- (a) Wefa has made ban-worthy objectionable edits to articlespace, or (b) where he's continued to make objectionable and explosive comments to article talk pages in this line. I'll reiterate my statement from above: the best way to refute Wefa's belief that the Thought Police are running Wikipedia -- and seeking to suppress opinions they don't want anyone to hear -- is not to prove him right. Ravenswing 10:28, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Meh, Wefa had made all of 20 edits in 2022 before this. AFAICT, ~1,500 edits over 18 years and there apparently has never been a problem before, until Sep 19, 2022, when Wefa made one offensive forum/soapbox-y article talk page comment and a second, similar user talk page comment; the sentiments were repeated a third time in this ANI thread above. Wefa hasn't edited in the past week. I don't think going straight to a TBAN for two disruptive edits (not counting ANI) is merited, particularly for an editor who barely edits. What are we preventing? I see no reason to think this problem will be repeated, and if it is, the proper mode of action is a full NOTHERE site ban (or block), not a TBAN. But for context, here's a perfectly fine comment from earlier on Sep 19, and another from Sep 11, I do not see any kind of ongoing pattern outside of two edits on Sep 19. They barely edit; most of their edits are fine; the disruption is limited to two comments posted on one day; I continue to support closing with a warning but a TBAN is too much paperwork for this. Levivich (talk) 15:11, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Support are we seriously just going to give this user a slap on the wrist in this topic for comparing transgender care to Josef Mengele? There is no way Wefa can edit this area in a civil or reasonable manner. Dronebogus (talk) 04:58, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • It's bizarre to see opposes based on "too much paperwork" and what amounts to WP:DENY. Not only does Wefa compares their fellow editors to a Nazi figure and denies the existence of trans people, they clearly refuse to work within our policies and guidelines and sources go against their point of view, which can be seen on this report and on this earlier discussion on a topic in the same DS area. They are clearly a net negative on this area. Isabelle 🏴‍☠️ 10:13, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      It might be bizarre if any opposes were based on the premise of "too much paperwork." Would you care to point any out? Ravenswing 19:02, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      I guess she's quoting me, but I don't really oppose a TBAN, so much as I just think a warning would be better than a TBAN ("too much paperwork" == "not worth the editor time to administer"). (What I really oppose is no action.) Levivich (talk) 15:22, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Warn per Levivich, although further disruption would merit a topic ban. starship.paint (exalt) 10:18, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Support per Tamzin. —VersaceSpace 🌃 16:50, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Support Wefa has shown they do not have the neutrality necessary to participate in this sensitive area. Should they develop that sensitivity at a later date, they the community can always re-evaluate, but for now- they are not a net positive contribution in this area and I am not convinced they have realized what the problem even is. Nightenbelle (talk) 17:36, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Weak Support Let me make it clear that I think a topic ban is completely appropriate…if we had an active editor here. The lack of activity on a long term account suggests that this isn’t going to prevent that much disruption. With all that said, I don’t think Wefa would be able to edit collaboratively on that topic should they become more active, so I’m supporting the ban. I also want to make it clear that it’s okay to have opposing views regarding stuff like this, and a TBAN simply for different views would be invalid. However, when you express those views in a soapbox post on an article and user talk it is no longer appropriate, just like it wouldn’t be if someone made the opposite argument in a soapbox comment on a talk page. Talk pages are to discuss improving the Wiki, the comparison to Mengle is nowhere near that. FrederalBacon (talk) 22:33, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Support per above, and the fact this thread is still going with no resolution — haven't we sunk enough time into this? — TheresNoTime (talk • they/them) 22:36, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Support per the above. AKK700 02:46, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oppose after seeing an editor above repeating "he doesn't understand what is acceptable in a GENSEX discussion" a couple of times. Since when is only one opinion acceptable in a discussion? A discussion requires people from both sides of the aisle, so to speak, being allowed to express their opinions, not just one side humming in unison. TBANning someone for daring to express an opinion that is very far from being fringe, and shared by a very large number of people violates the principle of freedom of speach, and Wikipedia is supposed to be free, and not censored. And please don't call me transphobic or anything like that for daring to oppose a TBAN based on the principle of freedom of speach, because you have no idea where I stand on GENSEX matters. - Tom | Thomas.W talk 15:13, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      One opinion is not acceptable in a GENSEX discussion, but more than one opinion is also not acceptable in a GENSEX discussion, because WP:NOTFORUM and WP:NOTSOAPBOX means that nobody should be giving their opinion about GENSEX issues in a GENSEX discussion. The only acceptable GENSEX discussion is one about RSes. The posts at issue here were straight-up preaching a political viewpoint. Wikipedia is free and not censored -- that's the mainspace articles -- but talk pages are not free, and they are censored, e.g. by WP:NOT policy and the WP:TALK guideline. There is no freedom of speech on talk pages. The reason I support a warning (and oppose no action) is because it is not OK for an editor to express their political opinions on article talk pages. (The reason I prefer a warning over a TBAN is because it's a first offense and hasn't been repeated since.) Levivich (talk) 15:21, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      @Thomas.W: are you saying that a very large number of people believe that doctors who provide healthcare to transgender people are the equivalent of Josef Mengele? Horse Eye's Back (talk) 15:24, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      I hate to say it HEB, but that's probably true. First, trans people aren't exactly widely accepted in the US or in the West--in some parts, sure, but a majority? Not sure. Second, think of the rest of the world. A majority of the world still doesn't accept homosexuality; I doubt a majority accepts even the concept of gender identity (as distinct from biological sex). Heck, I doubt a majority of the world even accepts interracial, interreligious, or interethnic marriage. Sad but probably true. Levivich (talk) 15:29, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Parga

    I will appreciate your insight here on the article Parga. Despite expressing my opposition to the use of extremist source, Xhufi, an extremist far-right Albanian politician known for his extreme bias against foreign countries and nations and for his nationalist propaganda, editors keep edit warring to have that scholar used regardless of whether other editors have expressed their legitimate concerns about that particular source. Furthermore, they haven't waited for consensus on the talk page, and are quick into reinstating the disputed source to the article even though they were supposed to discuss, not brute-force their new source to the article. - SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 23:19, 23 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    SilentResident. This is obviously a content dispute that is currently being discussed on the article talk page, as you know. ANI does not adjudicate content disputes. If edit warring is going on, file a report at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Edit warring. If you believe that a work by Pëllumb Xhufi is not a reliable source, make your case at Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard. You also have various forms of Dispute resolution available to you. Cullen328 (talk) 00:41, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Cullen328: as an uninvolved admin, can you please tell SilentResident to stop calling Xhufi a "extremist far-right Albanian politician"? I am not involved in that content dispute and I would not prefer using Xhufi as a source, but calling a living notable person on Wikipedia that way is a breach of WP:BLP IMO. That part of the comment should probably be deleted. Xhufi does not belong to the far right and is not an "extremist" at all, whatever that term is supposed to mean here. Ktrimi991 (talk) 09:38, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • SilentResident, weren't you going to do a report to determine that Xhufi is not a reliable author? Why do you expect users to be okay with the removal of his works when the report hasn't been made? Super Ψ Dro 12:03, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Third party academic scholars informed me that they are preparing a detailed analysis on Pëllumb Xhufi's reliability. That's why I am not rushing right away for the RSN because more material on the politician, can prove always helpful for Wikipedia to understand whether this person is reliable as a source. Not that the content and evidence found already thus far, isn't sufficing for the RSN to determine.
    You stated "Why do you expect users to be okay with the removal of his works when the report hasn't been made?" but you are reminded that a growing number of WP:RS already disputed and challenged Xhufi's credibility but the users chose to ignore this, insisting -without presenting proof to Wikipedia- that Xhufi is reliable. How is Xhufi reliable when editors havent provided any WP:RS supporting Xhufi in face of the WP:RS that have discredited Xhufi's objectivity as a scholar? This is not okay I am afraid. Until the RSN concludes on Xhufi, the legitimate concerns over Xhufi's reliability may not be ignored and the legitimate concerns of editors are not less legitimate. There is no such guideline stating such a thing. In our case here the users wanting to use Xhufi's work, are fully aware about the WP:RS disputing Xhufi as a WP:RS and have two options: 1) to either provide WP:RS defending Xhufi as a reliale author, or 2) provide WP:RS debunking the other RSs discrediting Xhufi's reliability as an author. The users have done nothing of that. Instead, they chose editwarring to add Xhufi without wp:consensus to the articles and by ignoring the concerns of verification. The editors are reminded that WP:VERIFY is a core content policy in Wikipedia and when there is no consensus for using a particular source, then the editors are asked to provide independent third-party sources verifying that information provided by the extremist politician. This helps addressing any editorial concerns adequately IMO.
    If it is wrong to have legitimate concerns over an author (whose credibility is questioned by other scholars) and to ask just for any third party independent RS, then please correct me because I have read again and again the Wikipedia's guidelines on WP:VERIFIABILITY and there is no such a thing as a guideline recommending that this Core Content Policy can be superseded by personal editorial POV(!) which can ignore the WP:RS(!) discrediting an extremist politician. This is just the pure definition of "not okay", if you ask me.--- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 12:51, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

     Comment: this is exactly what I am talking about when I say that this whole thing is worrisome: just now, at Parga, another Albanian account came from nowhere, from a different topic area and reinstated the new additions to the article they have never edited previously in their life, all this just to add Pëllumb Xhufi back to the article [11] through brute-forcing and without participating in the talk page nor providing any third-party reliable WP:RS. The fact that too many Albanian accounts are working together persistently to brute-force content while disregarding Wikipedia's WP:VERIFIABILITY and not working through WP:CONSENSUS-building at the talk page is exactly part of the broader issue of Albanian WP:TAGTEAM to which User:Coldtrack has pointed out recently [12] at the Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Edit warring. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 15:52, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Instead of talking about "tagteaming" and "Albanian accounts" here, try one of the dispute resolution ways. Cheers, Ktrimi991 (talk) 16:02, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The dispute resolution is supposed to be followed by all editors, not edit war to brute force your unreliable sources instead of waiting for dispute resolution like how you did now. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 16:38, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    What? I am not involved in that content dispute and I did not revert you. It seems that you are very confused at this point. Ktrimi991 (talk) 16:47, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    You are. Sorry. Lack of direct editing on the specific article doesn't exactly make you any less involved. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 17:07, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    You must be kidding. I hope you are not blaming an "Albanian account" for the actions of another "Albanian account". In any case, it is not clear what you are trying to say and what do you seek here at ANI/I, and it is clear nobody will solve your content dispute here. Ktrimi991 (talk) 17:11, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Per the points raised here by SilentResident, I remind all editors who wish to include material originating from Xhufi that per WP:ONUS, "The onus to achieve consensus for inclusion is on those seeking to include disputed content". It doesn't say force it on until a consensus disapprove of it. --Coldtrack (talk) 18:14, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    PS. As regards the denialism that Xhufi represents far-right extremist viewpoints, perhaps objectors could enlighten the community by distinguishing the views of far-right Albanians from the views of Xhufi, and where they are on record as opposing his works. --Coldtrack (talk) 18:16, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    SilentResident, perhaps you are correct and works by Pëllumb Xhufi should not be considered reliable. I do not know. But the place to make that determination is at WP:RSN as you know. Asserting over and over that he is unreliable without going to that noticeboard is not acceptable. So, either go to RSN or drop the subject. It is also not acceptable to belittle other editors for being Albanians. Do not ever imply that another editor should be disregarded simply because of their ethnicity. That is unseemly and disruptive. Cullen328 (talk) 18:28, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    P. Xhufi is quite active in local national rhetoric (in TV shows etc.). Statements such as this [[13]] show clearly that he is personally involved in promoting a national agenda: he does not hesitate to accuse the Greek government (since the creation of the Greek state) of anti-Albanian activity. Definitely this isn't the kind of neutral scholarship.Alexikoua (talk) 18:54, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Have you considered posting a RSN? Cullen literally said "the place to make that determination is at WP:RSN". Alltan (talk) 19:02, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Cullen328 Without prejudice over anybody's national identity, I have read every comment on this thread including the all-important original post. I infer that SilentResident was basically using this noticeboard to say, "the behaviour of numerous editors is unacceptable" and may have hoped that admins take a deeper look into who is doing what. Although conventionally it seems that this project page is normally focused on one accused person. This time he was saying that a team of about three are slithering their way across multiple articles and posting dubious material. To that end it is not an ANEW matter in the strictest sense, and with regards RS debate, it is definitely the case that no less than one person is violating ONUS as I stated above. So in SilentResident's situation, I'm not sure myself where to have gone to raise complaints about one cabal operating widely. --Coldtrack (talk) 19:07, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    @Cullen328 and Coldtrack:Thank you both very much. Now if you allow me, just for clarity: as soon as I get my hands on the new Autumn 2022 reports on Xhufi by Western scholars who view that politican as unreliable scholar, you have my word that I will make haste for the RSN. Just like how you said, there is no Wikipedia guideline suggesting that consensus is not necessary until the RSN. And to clarify that when I say "Albanian accounts": I am specifically talking about accounts focusing specifically on the two Albanian Topic Areas: Albania and Kosovo; It is important to make a clear distinction on what the term Albanian refers there. All the accounts involved into brute-forcing Xhufi into Wikipedia, share a common characteristic in the sense that they are mainly editing the 2 Albanian topic areas. Its important to make this clear because - my mistake- I assumed everybody would understand that, since obviously it makes no sense to refer to them as "Albanian accounts" in an ethnic sense - that makes no sense, since I can't verify the nationality of editors nor it matters for Wikipedia, nor I know anyone here caring at all about Ethnicities. But I am referring to these accounts in an Topic-Area context: it is a common characteristic of the WP:Balkans that accounts from one topic area, often share views and cooperate to this end, which, at first glance, is not harmful to Wikipedia, yes, but when a great deal of it involves ignoring WP:ONUS and WP:RELIABILITY, then it is worrisome and goes against the Wikipedia project's goal which is to steer away from nationalist authors and dubious sources. Next time I will use the term "Topic Area" to avoid any potential misunderstandings again, and will mention this again only if from a technical perspective (i.e. whether it is important for Admins to understand what is going on there). Good day.--- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 19:09, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    @Coldtrack: There is large scale tendency to promote sources such as Xhufi, while on the other hand removing multiple academic publications that don't fit with Xhufi's POV. One example is the removal of published works by A. Spiro (linguist of the University of Tirana) with the excuse that he doesn't agree with the national POV as Ktrimi explained [[14]]. Removals&reverts are performed in wp:TAGTEAMING fashion, as shown here: [[15]]. Also several wp:RS have been removed due to the same as part of the same fashion (to name a view scholars: Skendi, Vakalopoulos, Hasiotis, Tsiknakis, Kofos) in favor to POV narratives by Xhufi. Those editors that insist on the removal of those authors never filled an RSN they just resort in TAGTEAMING.Alexikoua (talk) 00:52, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Peloponnese

    @Cullen328 and Coldtrack: I think it is getting out of control and spilling over even more articles: the accounts from the Albania Topic Area are again brute-forcing their new additions to more articles, such as Peloponnese today, and that's only one day after the similar incidents at Parga, where, once again, they disregarded any need for achieving WP:CONSENSUS on the talk page, having ignored what WP:ONUS says. Even if I agreed/disagreed with the new additions and intervening the one way or the other, I have no faith that my voice matters anymore in Wikipedia in front of this large WP:TAGTEAM of editors who always get things done their preferred way through edit-warring instead of WP:BRD and following the guidelines by seeking WP:CONSENSUS and WP:DISPUTERESOLUTION at the relevant talk pages. IMO, the whole editiorial behavior of disregarding Wikipedia's rules, is in my opinion really worrisome, since it is extremely disruptive and shows that the one side with numerical superiority has become unstoppable and is acting as if it WP:OWN Wikipedia, and can do whatever it wants, disrupting the normal editorial progress. And of course, I can't think of where myself to go complain about that new incident! Technically, they didn't violate 3RR, so the 3RR Noticeboard is not really an option here, so Coldtrack's words: "I'm not sure myself where to have gone to raise complaints about one cabal operating widely." echoe now louder than ever. I am posting here for one last time, because WP:DISPUTERESOLUTION, the policy in Wikipedia for such behaviors in disputes, states that: "Issues of conduct may be addressed at the incidents noticeboard, and may be taken to the arbitration committee for more complex disputes.". Any help from the Admins will be really appreciated. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 19:37, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    SilentResident, please name the members of this "cabal" or "tag team", provide diffs of the most problematic edits, and inform those editors of this discussion. Cullen328 (talk) 19:44, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Cullen328 Sorry to bother you but may I ask if the diffs have to be from a specific article only? Because the issue spans multiple articles such as Parga before Peloponnese, and even Greek War of Independence before that, and more. I'm mentioning these 3 articles here for now because they are fresh in my memory and happen to be the most recent cases, all of them occuring during the current month, September 2022). If any clarity is provided on the criteria for the diffs you seek as to determine the range of diffs allowed to present here, that will be appreciated and I will try to do my best. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 20:01, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    SilentResident, no, the diffs do not need to be limited to one article, but they should clearly show the problematic behavior. Cullen328 (talk) 20:12, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Those are disputes where many editors from Greece and Albania find an interest to edit. SR will only show some diffs of "Albanian accounts" reverting "Greek accounts". @Cullen328: why do not you ask SR why they see a "cabal" or "tag teaming" only among "Albanian accounts" and not among "Greek accounts" too? I am not saying there is "tag teaming" among "Greek accounts", there is no evidence for any kind of "tag teaming". I just think that these "tag teaming" accusations are personal attacks against perceived opponents. As such, without clear evidence of a "cabal", they should result in a block for personal attacks or at least a warning. These "tag teaming" accusations have become common among some Balkan editors. Ktrimi991 (talk) 20:38, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Ktrimi991, that is why I am asking for evidence. Cullen328 (talk) 20:43, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Ktrimi991, if you are aware of any issues of editorial misconduct, then it will be appreciated if you bring them to the admin's attention.
    Now, if you allow me, I can't help but express my concerns about your reply's tone suggesting a culture of collective responsibility by pointing that "other sides did that too". You are reminded that no side has immunity from the project's rules - everybody here is to be scrutinized for their actions, including me (per WP:BOOMERANG) and that's a fact.
    In case you missed what my concerns here are: is the fact accounts appearing collectively in certain articles the Greece topic area on articles which most of these accounts never edited before (since their focus is mainly the Albania topic area), yet are quick to edit war instead of discussing and seeking a compromise, at the expense of Wikipedia's guidelines, consensus and dispute resolution procedures. Resulting in all these articles in the Greece topic area having currently a revision not reflecting a talk page consensus, and the newly-added content to them isn't the result of compromises between the sides, is rather a revision imposed. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 21:28, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Instead of such walls of text, post what you think is evidence of "tag teaming". Ktrimi991 (talk) 21:32, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Cullen328 I am working on it, and will have something to present very shortly. It is a fair amount of work, so please bear with me. Khirurg (talk) 04:18, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    This report has been open for 2-1/2 days, and so far, we have:
    Instead, we have unsupported assertions that an Albanian academic is unreliable (maybe he is and maybe he isn't) and unsubstantiated accusations that unnamed editors who work on Albanian topics are misbehaving. To say that I am unimpressed at this point is an understatement. Maybe I will wake up tomorrow morning to find ample evidence. But so far, nothing. Cullen328 (talk) 06:23, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    You have my sincere apologies for making you wait. It is not intentional, just I am back from my work in real life and I do not have access to my PC from work. Since you clarified to me that the report doesn't have to be limited to a select few articles, and since the issue spans more articles than the fingers of our hands, its obvious that I will need some time to prepare the large report. In this context, I was hopeful that the ANI can give me the required time to work on the reports on an issue that has been spanning in time range not a single month but whole years? If the ANI is eager to close the current discussion, thats fine, I can open a new one once I have it ready. I speak only for myself though, I cant speak for editors Khirurg and Ktrimi991, though, whether they got their/any reports to submit and if they can do that even faster than me, then maybe the ANI can give them a chance.--- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 07:16, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I am not willing to make "tag teaming" accusations here; after all those are controversial Balkan topics that can easily attract attention from editors. Editing an article is not illegal. In any case, I am waiting for the evidence you and Khirurg will provide. If admins judge it is of value, I can enrich it with more evidence. There are many cases to be discussed in that case, not only among "Albanian accounts". But I really doubt admins will find your evidence of value; as I said, articles are open for editing to every editor. Just editing an article does not make you part of a "tag team". And even if one does see "tag teaming", proving it is extremely difficult. Cullen328, for the record, last November Khirurg was warned and then blocked by User:Bbb23 after making accusations including "tag teaming" accusations. Ktrimi991 (talk) 13:35, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Sorry for the slow reply. I don't know what happened between you and Khirurg last November, but I have my serious concerns and I am not alone here; such concerns are shared on the ANI by least 2 other editors too, which itself is more than enough to require ANI attention this time. If indeed there is no tag-teaming as you claim, then there is nothing the other editors may be afraid of. The report will be submitted and left upon the Admins to evaluate. If the Admins deem these incidents to not be a case of Tag-teaming and conclude that there is no such behavioral pattern, then the filler ought to trust and accept their judgement and offer a honest apology to the other editors for which these concerns are about. In mean time, it is recommended that all editors familiarize and abide by the Wikipedia's guidelines, because even if the Admins do not deem these incidents or what happened at Peloponnese to be a case of tag-teaming, still is a serious disruption violating Wikipedia's guidelines regarding dispute resolutions and consensus-building, not a mere "Just editing an article" as you might think here. Now if you excuse me, expect no more responses before the report's submission. It is just "walls of text" as you said. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 16:07, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Its not the first time you make such accusations and like I said sometime ago, this is just WP:WITCHHUNT! I hope this time ends once and for all because I am sick of it. Taking part in those hot Balkan topics is normal for anyone. All of you do the same even in Albanian related topics from the north to the south and no one has accused any of you of Team Tagging. Some of you has taken part in discussions about the name of some unknown towns in Kosovo, which to me is quite bizarre to say the least, but no one has ever accused you of something. Now you are accusing "Albanian accounts" why the take part in Albanian related topics? Several Admins has intervened in lot of those discussions and for the most part, changes were confirmed and the articles were improved. Have a good day! -- Bes-ARTTalk 16:42, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Evidence

    OK, here we go. There is a group of editors who all share a similar background, as can be seen by their contribs, that behaves in a matter best described as WP:TAGTEAM on Balkan articles. The main purpose is to circumvent 3RR so as to prevent insertion of undesired material, and insert disputed material by brute force. It has been going on for a long time (off the top of my head I would say it started in early 2020), but it has been getting steadily worse in that past few months, when Çerçok (talk · contribs) returned from a 3 month break, and has reached an absolute crescendo in recent days (the first six examples are from the past few days alone). Now, while it is very common for editors who share interests to participate in the same disputes, as the evidence below will show, the nature of the behavior in question is of markedly different intensity and quantity. Particularly noticeable are instances of editors who have never shown the slightest interest in an article showing up to revert within minutes or even seconds, suggesting some form of coordination, possibly via live chat. Also of note is the fact that some of these articles are absolutely peripheral to the Albania topic area, yet the intensity of the behavior is the same as if they were core articles. The evidence below is arranged roughly chronologically. I am aware it is very long, but just to give you an idea of the intensity of the disruption, this is what I was able to gather quickly going off my memory, and even then this list is not exhaustive. As this evidence was gathered somewhat hastily, if you see any mistakes please point them out and I'd be happy to correct them. If the below evidence is too much and you just want to focus on the most egregious examples, I'd say those are International Recognition of Kosovo, Greek War of Independence, Himara, List of Albanians in Greece, and Messapic language. Update: Since I filed this report, my watchlist has been extremely quiet. I don't think it's a coincidence.

    • 1. International Recognition of Kosovo, 7 reverts in ~48 hours by 5 different users. Article history: Initial, non-revert edit by Uniacademic [16], revert by Ktrimi991 [17], Maleschreiber [18], S.G ReDark [19] (a relatively new user who had never edited the article before), Ktrimi again [20], Ahmet Q. [21], Ahmet Q. again [22], followed within minutes by Durazz0 [23], who prior to that hadn't edited in weeks. Durazz0 in particular is not very active lately [24], but always shows up at just the right time to revert [25] [26], !vote [27], or complain to an admin on behalf of another user [28] [29]. Attempt at dispute resolution in the talkpage was initiated by the other party [30]/

    Of note is that Ahmet Q. (talk · contribs) has on several occasions asked users to activate their wikipedia email, ostensibly so as to "share sources" [140], but soon after this was done, the user Ahmet Q. instructed to activate emails starts showing to !vote [141] at RfCs and RMs that Ahmet Q. had just !voted, sometimes within minutes [142], despite these articles being relatively obscure. Ahmet Q. also did the same thing on Wikimedia Commons [143] with user Cercok on August 25. It could be a coincidence, but it is my impression that the intensity of the tag-teaming has been especially strong since then.

    Also of note is that as a result of the tag-teaming on the Montenegrin tribes articles (Piperi, Bratonozici, Bjelopavlici etc.), Boki (talk · contribs) eventually became discouraged and gave up [144]. While a bit rash and inexperienced, this user seemed competent and promising, and this is a good example of the kind of result that tag-teaming can result in.

    In closing, I'd like to point out that while I fully expect the accused parties to come out guns blazing and counter-accuse, there is a fundamental asymmetry here: Articles such as Greek War of Independence and Peloponnese are central to the Greece topic area, but peripheral to the Albania topic area - in 15 years of editing wikipedia, I have not seen editors from the Albania topic area edit these articles, until now, that is. So while it is to be expected that any perceived POV-push in these articles will result in a response from Greek topic area editors, given that many will have these articles watchlisted, it is highly unusual to see an even more intense response from Albania topic editors. Individually, it could be that some of the instances of apparent tag-teaming I have described could just be coincidences with a perfectly sound explanation, or just garden-variety edit-warring, but when the evidence is viewed in its totality, I strongly believe something is going on here. Whether it is off-wiki messaging (as I think is the case with at least some participants), email, or just contribs-following and a tacit agreement to back each other, I cannot say, but clearly something's up here, this isn't normal. I've been editing for 15 years, and I've never seen anything this intense, this massive, and this coordinated for so long. Khirurg (talk) 20:48, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    As an editor not mentioned, but who very well could be, and someone who 90% of those articles mentioned above have it in his watchlist and followed all the discussions in question (mostly not intervening at all) I can say without a doubt that in absolutely most of the cases the editors were invited in the talk page to discuss the reverts or the changes. And many of them were resolved there with consensus by the editors in question. See for example Struga, Himara, and others' talk pages. What you have forgotten to put here are articles that you have taken part in yourself and resulted in you getting blocked or being warned about it because of your language used against the same editors in TP discussions. All you do whenever you don't like a change or sources like Xhufi is open discussion like this one, remove it at all costs, get the editors blocked, and restore the versions you like. And when no admin supports you, you just start another conspiracy against "Albanian accounts". -- Bes-ARTTalk 22:27, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Khirurg:, do not forget to notify the editors you are mentioning in your report. They will want to know. Add the following code to their talk pages please: {{subst:ANI-notice}} ~~~~ Thank you. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 23:39, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Khirurg: when you post accusations, you should at the very least notify said accused users, (an admin asked both you and SilentResident to do so many times already). Now, all the articles which Khirurg mentioned are under the scope of WikiProject Albania, and some of them are of top importance. I dare to consider myself one of the "veteran" users (been here for about 2 years) and I don't see what exactly the problem is that Khirurg is supposedly so concerned about. Articles which are under the scope of a small WikiProject will, at one point or another, inevitably concern most active users which are interested in such subjects. There are in total maybe 15-20 or so active “Albanian users”, so it's all too normal that they'll end up editing the same articles eventually. This is being made by Khirurg to sound as if the cases where they tend to agree show that they always agree with each or that they all support the same edits, but this is simply a misrepresentation by Khirurg. There are countless cases where some editors who agree on one thing, disagree on another or don't even edit similar articles. Even Khirurg's examples show such a thing because he has just cherry picked cases where some users will agree on a small issue, but there's still no overall agreement across all articles. What he has decided to leave out includes all the other cases where the same users who agree one thing, disagree with each other as is normal for all humans who don't cooperate. For myself I'll note that in Aliko, one of the articles which belong to the same subject as the articles listed by Khirurg, an edit I made [145][146] was reverted by Maleschreiber[147]. Other recent examples of Maleschreiber reverting me which come to mind include [148] and [149], this being one of the articles used as “evidence” by Khirurg. I also recall a case of me being reverted by Botushali, which happened just this July [150]. So when Khirurg then brings up an edit summary which I copied from Botushali's previous edit during an edit conflict, it's a distortion of reality which ignores that I both have disagreed and agreed with him and have been reverted by Botushali. Is this what people who are tag-teaming do, or is it what people who share similar interests but both agree and disagree occasionally do? It’s more likely the latter and not the former. Most of these subjects are very closely related, so when Khirurg claims that an edit of mine is the "first" I've ever done in the article Peloponnese(region of Greece), he somehow leaves out that I have hundreds of edits in articles which involve Albanians in Greece. Since August all 6 new articles I've created are about the history of Albanians in Greece [151]. This is a subject which I'm very passionate and interested about, but Khirurg presents my edits as if I just learned about the subject a minute before I made the edit. Another thing which Khirurg omits is what the disputes are about. In most of the cases, they exist because a couple of users (which in 9/10 cases include Khirurg) want to remove WP:RS from articles. Now, these reliable sources don't come just from Albanian historians, but are in fact most of the times works by ‘’Greek’’ historians whom some users are always trying to remove. My edit in Peloponnese exists solely because the same users who are always doing such things tried to remove Georgios Liakopoulos, a respected Greek historian from the Max Planck institute from the article: [152][153][154]. What exactly is illegitimate about my edit? Is Khirurg saying that some users can remove reliable sources, but users who have spent hundreds of hours writing about these subjects can't even edit related articles? This isn't even the first report by Khirurg where he tries to invoke interests in common subjects by people who have the same cultural background as a reason to ask for someone to get sanctioned. In an SPI against Ktrimi991 [155] Khirurg claimed that he is a sock of a banned user, essentially because both are Albanians and are interested in Albanian history.
    So what is Khirurg's evidence? A series of edits which show that sometimes user’s who have similar interests, will agree with each other. In the same articles in which Khirurg finds agreement between some users, he should note all instances where all those who agree with each other either don't get involved in an article or actively disagree. In addition, he should note all instances where we find agreement on the "opposite" side of the aisle between users from WikiProject Greece and in fact in all instances (like the Peloponnese article) two or more users from WP Greece will do the same exact edit/revert (including Khirurg). This isn't "tag teaming" or disruptive when done by Khirurg, yet when other users have partially similar interests do it, it can only be disruptive and can never mean just a genuine interest in a subject.
    In conclusion, I see one more content dispute which involves Khirurg and other long time users devolving into accusations by Khirurg that they are tag teaming just because they disagree with Khirurg about subjects which (as far as I remember) many of the mentioned editors always disagreed with him. Khirurg has repeated the same accusation in the past when he was blocked and this is the reply he got by admin Bbb23: "Second, you have accused other editors, some who have been around here for a long time (as have you), of tag teaming just because they disagree with you. That constitutes a personal attack. I strongly urge you to amend your behavior, or you will find yourself blocked." [156]
    So yes Khirurg, this is indeed yet another outrageous case of editors who are interested in Albanian-related subjects editing articles related to Albanian subjects. A troubling development indeed.Alltan (talk) 00:07, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    This way tl;dr, but just to note that of the 20 articles I've listed, only half are within WikiProject Albania. And that anyway does not explain the lightning quick reverts to articles you have never edited before, like Peloponnese (within three minutes). Khirurg (talk) 03:44, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Khirurg has listed twenty articles, out of which I (accused of tag-teaming) have edited only four. 4 out of 20... And I am often in disagreement with the people Khirurg accuses me of being in league with, see:
    - with Ktrimi here: [157]
    - with Maleschrieber here: [158]
    - with AlexBachmann here:[159]
    I contribute to Wikipedia as I know best, following wiki guidelines and adding RS content. I do not coordinate with anyone. I agree or disagree with each editor based on the merit/reliability of their edits. I am sure I am not an exception. Khirurg seems to have misportrayed the contributions of other editors here just like he has mine. These accusations are simply ridiculous. Çerçok (talk) 13:45, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The wp:TAGTEAM pattern is way too obvious but what surprised me personally was a strategy of full coordination as in the case of Himara Revolt of 1596: taking turns in the TAGTEAM process. So the revert sequence here is:
    • [[160]] Cercok,
    • [[161]] Alltan,
    • [[162]] Ktrimi (who never participated before and without trace at talkpage), and then again
    • [[163]] Alltan
    • [[164]] Ktrimi
    • [[165]] Alltan

    After his 2nd revert Ktrimi991 immediately filled a report against me in order to block me for 3rr, but no wonder this disruptive pattern has been immediately noticed by uninvolved editor @Coldtrack: [[166]] [[167]]

    Ktrimi also provides support to the more hesitant (revert)-editors of this team by removing warning messages in their talkpages: Here [[[168]], after Uniacademic performed a rv although he never showed any trace in article and tp before [[ [[169]]]] (as Khirurg noted above). The same support is also provided by Alltan [[170]]) obviously to encourage a more massive and coordinated campaign of this kind.

    It is crystal clear that their main purpose is to increase their revert-warring fire power in order to promote a certain national POV and at the same time discouraging multiple editors from productive editing.Alexikoua (talk) 00:14, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]


    Comment: First of all, if my name is going to be brought up, I’d greatly appreciate being notified. Now, in regard to this report, I am actually offended that I am even being mentioned as a part of such a thing. The diffs of me on pages about Montenegrin tribes of Albanian origin are particularly annoying; if you bothered to check those diffs, you will find I was actually the first account to initiate the change on the article that there was a subsequent edit war over which was resolved in the TP. In fact, if you check my edit history, you will notice a lot of my work focuses on Albanian tribes. I have created multiple pages based on this topic and revamped or worked on several other pages also in this topic. Regarding Struga, I really do not see what is wrong. I participate heavily in Albanian-related topics in North Macedonia, which is why there is overlap between me and Alltan, who also seems to participate heavily in such topics. If you check the edit history there, it becomes extremely clear that I have contributed a lot to the page over time, not just for those diffs.

    Arvanites is obviously extremely related to the Albanian topic area considering it literally is an article on the historic Albanians of Greece – my contributions to the Souliotes (another tribal-like Albanian community in Greece) page should clearly indicate that I am already involved in such matters. Himara is also of interest, I have monitored that article for a while and have been looking for sources on a particular matter; nonetheless, it is a site that seems to have played a role for Albanians in the Middle Ages, which is something I have also done much work on.

    To conclude, the accusations made against me here are baseless, illogical and outright wrong. Furthermore, this accusation of multiple editors in the Albanian topic area working in collusion I find to be a clear application of double standards; multiple Greek topic area editors seem to collude and combine their efforts on small villages and the like in Greece and southern Albania, not that I am accusing them of tag teaming, but it is the same principle. However, what I find revealing is the collaboration of editors who focus on Greek topic areas when it comes to articles in Kosovo, or better yet, Serbia. When regarding the city of Niš in Serbia, which I have added to, Khirurg somehow randomly began to participate in the discussion – despite not being involved in the slightest in the Serbian topic area – petitioning for the removal of sources that discuss the existence of Proto-Albanians in the region [[171]].

    Now, there have been many Kosovo RM’s, most of which I have played a role in, in recent years. Khirurg and other Greek editors have shown up together to vote !oppose and have never shown any interest to improve said articles, let alone participate in the general topic area of Kosovo. What should I do in my case? Complain that Khirurg and these other editors are tag-teaming against RMs? Khirurg's post boils down to the fact that there are many editors who are interested in the same subjects in the Balkans and the large majority do not agree with Khirurg regardless of their background. This isn't a problem of wikipedia and it's certainly not a reason to report anyone, but it is particularly interesting to see these editors in the Kosovo topic area. When I was looking at previous RM’s in preparation for my own requests, I noticed editors from the Greek topic area involving themselves in these RM’s which I found extremely strange:

    • RM of Peja [[172]], users of note who voted !oppose in this discussion were Khirurg, Alexikoua, and SilentResident.
    • RM of Lipjan (initiated by me) [[173]], Khirurg and SilentResident voted !oppose
    • RM of Vushtrri (initiated by me) [[174]], surprise surprise, Khirurg and SilentResident voted !oppose here too.
    • RM of Malisheva (2020, not initiated by me) [[175]], users who voted !oppose were Khirurg and Alexikoua
    • RM of Malisheva (2021, not initiated by me) [[176]], users who voted !oppose were Khirurg and Alexikoua

    For such small, unknown towns to receive convenient attention from the Greek topic area editors during RM requests seems awfully intriguing. Nonetheless, just wanted to get this out there so that all admins may observe the double standard here and perhaps something else at play. Botushali (talk) 01:19, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    @Botushali: you provided very few and sporadic edits that go back more than two years ago, nevertheless Khirurg provided solid clear evidence and this concerns quite recent activity. It's easy to conclude that your reply is too weak to oppose the huge amount of evidence provided above (not simply on voting but on revert warring). Most important this TAGTEAM pattern is massive and quite active as uninvolved editors have immediately noticed.Alexikoua (talk) 01:36, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Alexikoua, just as you have the right to edit, revert, remove content so do others and I'm one of the people who has written the most content about these topics, so what's the accusation? I'm editing what I always edit or is the accusation that in this article Cercok and I agree, even though we disagree other times? If that's the accusation, then why you don't you mention all the (daily) articles where you are in disagreement with someone active in WikiProject Albania but nobody else joins the dispute? Where was a tag-team to support Ktrimi when you had a dispute with him in Lefter Talo just two days ago? While we're on this topic why don't you add all the diffs where you and Khirurg monthly do the same reverts? Parga: Alexikoua [177] Khirurg [178] Vuno: Alexikoua [179] Khirurg [180] Albanians in Greece: Alexikoua [181] Khirurg [182] Why doesn't tag-team apply to the two of you but applies to everyone else who you disagree with? Don't all others have the right to agree with each other in some topics or are you and Khirurg the only users who have the right to agree with each other?:Alltan (talk) 01:27, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Alltan, Khirurg filled a detailed report that concerns wp:TAGTEAM, a disruptive pattern that was also noticed by uninvolved editors at the Himara Revolt of 1596. This is obviously not just about edit, revert or remove content, but reverting in wp:NINJA fashion without trace of participation at any discussion as part of wp:TAGTEAM & BRD breaching while even encouraging such a disruptive activity (i.e. removing warning messages from the talkpages) among more hesitant members of the (TAG)TEAM is a serious accusation.Alexikoua (talk) 02:02, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Alexikoua, I already mentioned once that decorating your comments with Wikipedia policies and with strong wording such as "crystal clear" do not make your arguments stronger. In your latest comment above this one, you said nothing of importance to attempt and refute Alltan's comment. If you will not engage in real debating, I ask you to desist from writing these comments; what you're doing is called WP:BLUDGEON. This report is already large enough. Super Ψ Dro 20:21, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Alexikoua, saying that something is ”solid, clear evidence” does not make it so. In fact, this whole report is a besmirchment of many solid editors included myself, and I expect Khirurg to apologise for even mentioning me in such a way when I devote so much of my time to Wikipedia as a volunteer. Besides the fact that certain editors from the Greek topic area, including yourself, randomly collude at convenient times in completely unrelated RM’s of relatively unknown towns in Kosovo to vote against name changes to the Albanian form (interesting, right?), I also have below a list of recent cross-editing which you would call “tag-teaming” when it doesn’t concern you (again, double standards):
    Now, is this evidence of tag-teaming, or is it only tag-teaming when it is not involving Alexikoua and Khirurg? As far as I am concerned, this is exactly what I have been supposedly called out for, but I am not “tag-teaming”. I am editing topics that are relevant to WikiProject Albania, as I have always done, and nothing more. I am awaiting Khirurg’s apology for slandering my name and completely disrespecting the time and effort I put into Wikipedia – such accusations should not be taken lightly. I’ve noticed that he has already been in trouble for this behaviour prior to this report. Hopefully an admin can take control of the situation and stop this once and for all. Perhaps a block or even topic ban would be in order so that Khirurg may finally halt these behaviours that completely disrespect and devalue other editors here on Wikipedia. Alexikoua, baseless statements like “It's easy to conclude that your reply is too weak to oppose the huge amount of evidence provided above” do not prove anything – above I have provided reverts as well, but is it still too weak simply because it mentions your name? If you are going to accuse me of tag-teaming, I will be disappointed and will expect an apology from you too should an admin clear my name. Using strong wording doesn’t make your opinions or comments superior to anyone else’s, and you cannot simply dismiss things with no valid reasoning. The reverts may not be so bad – but the voting is extremely suspicious and I urge an admin to look into it. Botushali (talk) 02:15, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Hmmm actually there was no 3rr breach on Souliotes if you mean that. You also ignore to state that the above edits were always accompanied by tp participation: in most cases you point there was no more than 1rv per 24h and strictly following wp:BRD, no drive-by reverts or accounts that came from nowhere and simply wanted to support a supposed common national campaign as in the case of Khirurg's extensive report.Alexikoua (talk) 02:53, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    "Support a supposed common national campaign..." do you know how ridiculous that sounds? What exactly are you trying to implicate? Even then, most reverts I make I involve myself in the TP discussions for, unless it's not necessary. If you're innocent according to what you wrote above, then so am I. Very flawed report, very flawed comments and very flawed rebuttal of what I have put above. You RV'ed the same change three times (so correction on my part, almost* violating 3RR), and to prevent you from going to four, Khirurg came in to do the RV. If that's the case, I do not know, but had it been me or any other accused editor here, you would consider it evidence of "tag-teaming" due to the double standards you have quite clearly shown during the course of this report. Furthermore, I see that there was no comment in regards to the voting? You know the votes that uninvolved editors from the Greece topic area - who do not edit, comment or patrol pages in WikiProject Kosovo and have never done so - somehow randomly casted (same vote every time by the way, always !oppose) whenever an RM request was made to move a page to its common, official Albanian name? Very strange phenomenon, isn't it? Botushali (talk) 03:15, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    What I don't see in the above walls of text is an explanation for how come you reverted at Himara within 14 minutes, even though you had never edited that article before, and how come literally seconds later Alltan showed up with an identical summary (but the edit was blank because you had already reverted). Khirurg (talk) 03:41, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I'm not even sure why you're asking me. I've edited many other articles like Himara and I have it on my watchlist - as I said above I've been monitoring it for a while. Why shouldn't I revert there if I disagree with an edit? Why Alltan copied my edit summary is something which he should reply about but he already has done so as I can see above ("So when Khirurg then brings up an edit summary which I copied from Botushali's previous edit during an edit conflict, it's a distortion of reality which ignores that I both have disagreed and agreed with him and have been reverted by Botushali"). What's the accusation? Unlike you and Alexikoua who always have the exact same reverts, I have been in actual content disputes and disagreements with Alltan and I have reverted him. [203] just a few months ago. Botushali (talk) 04:33, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I've edited many other articles like Himara doesn't explain how you showed up to revert within minutes at that article, despite never having shown any interest before. Your claim that you had been monitoring it for a whileis not verifiable. Your revert of Alltan occurred after first reverting me and insulting me Example text and the matter was referred to ANI [204]. So much more likely that was the reason, than any purported "disagreement". Khirurg (talk) 02:39, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I have the article in my watchlist, bud. I've shown interest many times before in articles in which Albania and Greece overlap. Perhaps me monitoring it cannot be verified, but neither can me not monitoring it. The revert - if you look at the source, it did not even indicate what was said, so that's why I reverted Alltan. ANI didn't even do anything about what I said to you because it really wasn't that bad - especially in comparison to you and your track record of disrespect that you have littered throughout TP's and edit summaries towards your fellow editors. This whole report disregards the hard work of the editors you are accusing, including myself. I also would like to point out that you are yet to explain why you and other editors here have voted !oppose on articles that have nothing to do with the Greek topic area - rather, it is a topic area you have never attempted to improve, work on or add to, but conveniently you decide to vote !oppose when RM's are made attempting to move said articles to their rightful Albanian title. All in all, your unfounded conspiracy theories are getting boring and simply tiring - what's next? Tin foil hats? Botushali (talk) 02:12, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Be sarcastic all you want, but rest assured this is just starting, and there will be admin feedback, no matter what. By the way my watchlist has been extremely quiet literally since I filed this report. I wonder why. Khirurg (talk) 03:16, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Good, I hope there's admin feedback, and I hope the admin tells you to quit this nonsense. That last line is exactly what I am talking about, not everything is a big conspiracy against you. It's just becoming a joke at this point... Botushali (talk) 03:28, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

     Comment: I do not think that the aforementioned articles and diffs constitute "evidence of tagteaming". Someone might do a reasonable assumption that there is tagteaming going on, but the most profound explanation (Occam's razor) is that the users accused are watchlisting the pages. Albanian and Greek history intermingle too much and areas of debate (either mostly Greek or mostly Albanian) attract the attention of both Albanians and Greeks that are interested in history. Cinadon36 10:07, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    • Comment The major problem with the report is that it is invoking WP:TAGTEAM which is neither a policy, nor even a well-defined concept. This is made clear in the first sentence of WP:FACTION: Tag teaming (sometimes also called an editorial camp or gang, factionalism, or a travelling circus) is a controversial[note 1] form of meatpuppetry in which editors coordinate their actions to circumvent the normal process of consensus. note 1: Controversial as there is no consensus regarding the merits of this essay in namespace. Editors have voiced a concern that the "characteristics" of tag teams can easily be applied to editors who share a common practice of editing in accordance with policy, and that the essay can be used as a weapon against editors who are acting in accordance with Wikipedia's editing policies to cast aspersions on their good work In this context, there's nothing to discuss in terms of policy because there is no policy to debate about. We can still use the discussion to define it in better ways so that it's not invoked as in the report. I think that for WP:TAGTEAM to exist it has be shown that a group of editors a)have a consensus which they push around by b)circumventing official channels of consensus-building. Point b) cannot be shown in this report because there are many discussions at all talkpages about finding a consensus and one is usually found eventually. The problem which Khirurg seems to have is that there are many more editors who support specific revisions and few who support specific other revisions. This isn't a problem of policy. Consensus tends to reflect the desire of the majority of editors to the extent that they can back it back up with sources and policies. There will never be a case where consensus will reflect what just 2 editors want (e.g. Khirurg and Alexikoua) but not what 20 others want to the extent that it can be backed with sources and policies(WP:NOTDEMOCRACY). There are many editors active in articles under the scope of WikiProject Albania and they don't coordinate and they certainly don't agree with each other on many subjects, but it's natural that to a degree a common cultural background will translate to a similar understanding of some subjects. This partial commonality is what Khirurg's diffs reflect in the same way that diffs which show Alexikoua's and Khirurg's common reverts highlight another partial commonality in reasoning. Point a) is where major flaws can be found because there is no consensus which these editors share. Others highlighted instances where they revert or disagree with each other. It can't be shown that a "WP:TAGTEAM" - even in a colloquial, non-policy manner - exists if the "members" of the team don't share the same consensus. Khirurg has created a narrative which I'm certain that he himself knows that it can't stand upon scrutiny. I'll highlight some instances which mention me in a very inaccurate way:
      • Illyrian emperors - according to a Khirurg I placed a revert in this article even though I had no prior edits. This makes it seem as if my only purpose for reverting was to support other reverts. In fact, for the past 2 years I have been re-writing parts of articles about individual Illyrian emperors[205][206], so me placing a revert at the list article about them is quite ordinary.
      • Kuči (tribe) is one of the main articles related to Albanian tribes and all editors involved in improving relevant articles have engaged with it. I have written close to 40% of that article and Alltan 14.5%.
      • Bar, Montenegro: Some were reverts were listed, but there was a discussion at RfC about these changes and the majority of editors supported them. There was disagreement and consensus-building which produced results(Talk:Bar, Montenegro#RfC). Consensus-building wasn't circumvented or ignored.
      • Epirus revolt of 1611: Khirurg leaves out the fact that I disagreed with Cercok too [207][208] and changed his edits as well. I've written 28% of the article. How is it possible that two users are acting as WP:FACTION if they disagree and change the edits of each other? A key problem when we perceive any situation in us vs them terms is that we often fail to see that the Others are separate individuals. That 2 editors disagree with a third editor doesn't mean that they agree with each other. This discussion absorbed much time from several editors for no reason and it should at least with a warning that if someone has an issue with a specific editor they should report just that editor to AE where the activity of both can be scrutinized instead of dragging in many other irrelevant editors. Long discussions shouldn't be repeated at ANI without a clear context based in policy. There's always a huge backlog at all boards because of such discussions.--Maleschreiber (talk) 21:45, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      At Illyrian Emperors, you had zero edits to the article prior to reverting, and yet you reverted within minutes. Your explication that you have been re-writing parts of the articles about individual Illyrian emperors does not cut it. At Kuci, it doesn't matter what % of the article you have written: What matters is that we see the same pattern as all the other articles, namely, you and the others reverting round-robin fashion to prevent changes you do not want. It's the same pattern in all the articles. As for your disagreements with Cercok, those are trivial. Anyone can have disagreements like that. But none of that changes the central finding of this report. That you and a group of editors with similar views have engaged in round-robin reverting to either ram through changes by brute force, or to prevent undesirable additions. And in all these cases, neither you nor the other editors initiated attempts as dispute resolution (talkpage discussion, RfC, DRN, etc.). It was always the other party. Khirurg (talk) 02:20, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      I have Illyrian Emperors in my watchlist as I've worked on most articles under that list. What is abnormal about me reverting when I was online about a subject I'm heavily involved in? Articles about Albanian tribes like Kuçi are some of the most high traffic articles under WikiProject Albania. I don't know what makes you think that this article could only get attention because of WP:TAGTEAM. It's interesting - from an anthropological perspective - that you consider "trivial", disagreements and reverts between two other editors but when you're reverted, that's when you consider it important. You spent too much time which you could have spent in better ways to write a long post about something which isn't a policy and you couldn't evidentiate even in the colloquial sense. The problem stems from your perception of "us vs. them". You just have to accept that everybody agrees and disagrees with everybody over a long period time. When they disagree with you, it isn't qualitatively more important as to be linked to something more than a disagreement.--Maleschreiber (talk) 14:17, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Report

    Page:
    Anti-Ottoman revolts of 1565–1572 (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
    Comment:
    Editor Çerçok added on 31 August an unreliable source (Pëllumb Xhufi) to the article (back then, it was titled Greek revolt of 1567–1572) but the edit was reverted as other editors with a long standing, 15+ year-long experience in the Greece topic area, who are fully aware that Xhufi is an extremist(the admins who cannot wait for the RSN report, may simply assess what for example the Austrian Scientific Academy does sat on Xhufi: [[[209]]: In contrast to the differentiated opinions in Greek history, institutionalized Albanian research on the Epirus question has a defensive (Beqir Meta), but often aggressively nationalistic tone (Pëllumb Xhufi). Close connections between science and politics, which are particularly evident in the person of Xhufi, hardly contribute to an objectification of the discussion. In recent years, Xhufi has specialized in anti-Greek or anti-Orthodox rhetoric. Xhufi also published material-rich, but unfortunately nationally one-sided scientific essays such as Manipulimi i historisë: rasti i Epiriti This is published by the Austrian Scientific Academy at 2015]) politician and objected to him being added as a reliable source in Wikipedia: [210]. Despite reverting as there being no consensus for using Xhufi,[211] Cercok attempted to reinstate the scholar back to the article without consensus [212]. When Xhufi was removed again, editor Alltan intervened to help Cercok in re-adding Xhufi again back to the article [213] despite the other editors at talk page opposing this. Xhufi was removed -again!- and then reinstated -again- [214]. The cycle goes on and after some days of no fruitful results at the talk page in reaching an agreement about Xhufi, I have attempted to remove the disputed author and have the article reflect only on consensus, [215] but another editor, Ahmet Q. from the Albania topic area stepped in to help Cercok and Alltan: [216]. Result? As of today, and in violation of any Wikipedia's rules on WP:ONUS and WP:VER and WP:CONSENSUS, WP:RS, and WP:NPOV, Xhufi is still on the article: [217]. The editors from the Albania topic area disregarded any legitimate concerns the opposite side has expressed in the dispute, ignored what wp:onus states that they should be doing, and brute-forcibly added the dubious scholar to the article where he remains to this day today without wp:consensus.

    My own reports also included the following articles: Greek War of Independence, Parga and Peloponnese, all occurring on September month as well, as well as the other articles where similar incidents occured in the past months such as Epirus revolt of 1611 (August) and so on. Since they are now covered by editor Khirurg above who beat me in the race, I am dropping them. However, the purpose of my report remains unchanged nevertheless: which is to highlight my serious concerns that on month September -alone-, Wikipedia witnessed such large scale disruption across multiple articles of the Greece topic area with editors from the Albania topic area coming there and disregarding & ignoring our legitimate concerns, not following the normal dispute resolution procedures and wp:ONUS, and brute-forcing their changes to the articles without consensus. This has heightening my fears that this might be something the Admins may have to look after and is the reason I came here for. Sure, the other editors may be right and I am not experienced in identifying accurately whether this kind of disruption is with certainty a case of tag-teaming, but that's why there are these procedures for. For this reason, I will really appreciate the Admin's attention in evaluating, as a third party, whether this is really the case as suspected. Certain editors here counter-argued that this behavior is not Tag-teaming because it is a usual WP:BALKANS behavior; however We are not exactly experiencing everyday such a surge (if I may describe it as such) of activity by editors that aren't naturally editing this topic area, yet are going to great extend to edit-war their way to the preferred version of articles in spite of consensus and Wikipedia's other core content policy guidelines. If the admin feels that there is no such kind of disruption and that my concerns are inflated, illegitimate, or I am just seeing things where there aren't supposed to be, then I am willing to apologize to the editors for that, and also to the Wikipedia's community for wasting their valuable time. In this case, I will have no other option but refrain from raising similar concerns in the future and/or listen to any suggestions/advice on what to do if I feel there is such a pattern arising again in the future. Also, if the admin deems that my concerns were disruptive to the Wikipedia community and/or I have violated the guidelines, then I am willing to face the consequences. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 23:25, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I added content from at least four sources, one of which was Dr.Xhufi's book. Most of the content was from Malcolm. Dr.Xhufi has been twice unsuccessfully reported by editors who disagree with the historical facts found in his verbatim representation of primary archival sources. Dr. Xhufi's book is an academic publication that has gone through peer review and has been cited countless times in top journals.
    I wish added content could be discussed based on its reliability per wikipedia guidelines, not on personal like/dislike of it. Çerçok (talk) 00:22, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    There are two RSNs about Xhufi which didn't conclude that the source is unreliable, as I have explained to SR already in previous discussions. [218][219] Xhufi is a medievalist who is a member of the Academy of Sciences of Albania. Arbërit e Jonit was published by Onufri, a leading academic publishing house which has received many excellence awards and it has been positively reviewed in Studime Historike, Albania's leading historical journal by medievalist Ardian Muhaj. It checks all boxes for RS. We can't just cherry-pick one opinion to disregard someone's work. The quote which SilentResident picked is by an author who has even contributed to the same anthology with Xhufi [220]. The source which constantly and without stop SilentResident has been trying to remove from all articles is a respected living academic and comments such as "racist, "nationalist", "ultranationalist", "extremist", ([221][222] [223][224][225][226]) which have been written about him by SilentResident are a violation of BLP for which SilentResident has been warned to stop by admins and open a RSN (Drmies[227], Cullen328[228]) and they even have redacted her comments [229][230]. Alltan (talk) 01:11, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    SilentResident has provided the necessary scholarship that mentions Xhufi's work as being: "aggressively nationalist". There is no BLP violation on providing this information. However, an RSN needs to filled in order to have a clear image on this but there is too much extremist speech on TV shows etc. and scholarship doesn't hesitate to reject his claims (Arbërit e Jonit has been also considered non-RS even inside Albania).Alexikoua (talk) 01:20, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    A longtime Wikipedia user calling a living academic racist, extremist, nationalist, tendentious, ultranationalist etc. (see diffs above) and doing this multiple times over a protracted period of time even after being warned is in fact a severe BLP violation.
    Xhufi's work has received excellent reviews in Albania and abroad. It's listed as a main source for a Cambridge University Press source as of 2022[231] SilentResident can't pick a random quote from someone who has even written an article in the same anthology as Xhufi who hasn't been "rejected" anywhere. Falsely claiming that a living academic is promoting "extremist speech on TV shows" is in and of itself a BLP violation. You can't go around and call anything "extremist speech" without evidence or a source which calls such speech extremist. Admins need to know that in the previous RSN there was an attempt to distort a historical comment by Xhufi and make into the opposite of what it said [232]. There is a clear targeting of this author by several users who have to stop using wikipedia as public space to attack living authors Alltan (talk) 01:36, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Being cited in sporadic occasions doesn't make RS his work, in fact this means nothing about the author and his work in general. I have seen several nationalistic works that have been cited for various reasons in serious scholarship. Please don't mix up those two. SilentResident mentioned the conclusion of high quality scholarship about works on the topic Xhufi is specialized (Albanian history and Greek-Albanian relations) and definitely Xhufi's work should be treated with heavy precaution. [[233]] Himara has always been Albanian, Greek government launched a 200-year old Anti Albanian agenda and several other motos of this fashion can't meet RS.Alexikoua (talk) 03:35, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I've opened an RfC on Xhufi at RSN [234]. This thread should be about the alleged tag-teaming, and nothing more. Khirurg (talk) 04:40, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    SilentResident, please consider this a firm warning that you are at immiment risk of a long term block if you keep engaging in WP:BLP policy violations regarding Pëllumb Xhufi. If you do not stop attacking and besmirching this academic without filing a report at WP:RSN as you have been repeatedly been asked to do, then a block will be the inevitable result. The idiom is "put up or shut up". I truly hope that you understand, and will conduct yourself in accordance with policy going forward. Cullen328 (talk) 04:53, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Cullen328: I am heeling to your warning. And not just that, but also I am trying to understand the line between WP:UNRELIABLE and WP:BLP to make sure that when describing an unreliable source for the nature of their unreliability (i.e. unreliable due to their extremist views), doesn't result into WP:BLP violations. For decades, I had the impression that sources can be subject to scrutiny and criticism in Wikipedia, provided that it is based on WP:RS. But apparently this isn't the case and this is what I am trying to understand. Understanding a policy's principle, helps a lot not just to avoid repeating the policy's violations in the future but also the approach to questionable sources. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 15:00, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Cullen328, adding to my confusion expressed on my comment just above, regarding the precise line between WP:UNRELIABLE and WP:BLP, another Admin just intervened at the RSN stating that editor Alltan is doing an inaccurate invocation of WP:BLP regarding the criticism against Xhufi. The RfC at RSN also has non-neutral wording, and is advisd to be closed and moved to Dispute Resolution Noticeboard instead,[235] an advise the filler stated that they will follow. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 17:44, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    User:SilentResident, it is inaccurate invocation of WP:BLP to say the criticism of Xhufi in academic books is a breach of WP:BLP. But calling him an extremist or things like that is indeed a violation of WP:BLP. In other words, you can quote academcs who criticize Xhufi, but you can't call him an extremist, far right politican (he does not belong to the far-right) etc. Xhufi for some edits can be unreliable, for others can be reliable. It is a bit hard I know, but what can else we do? Ktrimi991 (talk) 18:07, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I see. Thank you! --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 18:32, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Cullen328: Not only is Khirurg accusing me of "tag teaming" (last time he accused me of "tag teaming" was in November 2021 and he was warned for that and then blocked) but he is using the inflammatory term "gang up". It is very insulting: I am a Wikipedia volunteer, not a street gang trying to bully people. Even worse, there have been cases where I have supported Khirurg's position againt editors I am supposely "tag teaming" with. For instance, Khirurg accuses me of "ganging up" with Çerçok, but just 6 days ago I supported Khirurg's position in a content dispute with Çerçok [236]. I can cite other such examples where I disagree with editors cited as part of the "tag team". I urge you to intervene to make sure Khirurg never makes such false accusations against me again. Btw, Khirurg noted that Ahmet Q asked editors to exchange emails; well Khirurg too has asked several editors to exchange emails. Even writing those requests for email exchange in Greek though here editors are supposed to write only in English. I frankly do not see any issue with asking someone to exchange emails, Idk if there is a policy against it. Ktrimi991 (talk) 08:02, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Since you deem it inflammatory, I've struck the term (it's unnecessary anyway). Now, can you try and address the topic of the report at hand? Btw, is this you calling a veteran editor an "edit-warrior" in an edit-summary [237]? Not only is this a clear WP:NPA violation, but also a violation of WP:SUMMARYNO, which explicitly states Avoid incivility. Snide comments, personal remarks about editors, and other aggressive edit summaries are explicit edit-summary "don'ts" of the Wikipedia Civility policy. Attacking editors in edit-summaries is especially bad because they cannot be edited. As a sign of good faith, would you be willing to ask the edit-summary be redacted by WP:OVERSIGHT? Thanks. Khirurg (talk) 14:22, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Edit warrior is someone who is edit warring. If I keep edit warring, I am an edit warrior. The editor breached the 3RR three times within a month. I reported him and he got warned by an admin. Then he kept reverting and placed a warning template that is used for disruptive IPs and newbies on my tp just because I reverted him twice. In the edit summary he claimed that I was not participating on the tp, but the history of the tp shows that is not true. Will you ask him to get his edit summary deleted? Anyways, some admins who use the term "edit warrior" in edit summaries for example [238] [239][240]. Even the WP:EW page uses the term "edit warrior". Do not expect any more responses by me here. I waited for the evidence of "tag teaming" but you just posted some random reverts of "Albanian accounts". Cheers, Ktrimi991 (talk) 17:24, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Ktrimi991, indeed there is no trace of you in the talkpage [[241]] although you kept reverting. By the way the result of your report was "user(s) warned" since your disruptive editing was noticed by uninvolved editors there. As such you owe a sincere apology for this pattern. Indeed you are reverting without talkpage participation in a wide variety of articles considered that you support editors that agree on your national agenda (another recent example of reverting sourced information [[242]] and no trace in tp [[243]], same situation in Pecë [[244]][[245]] and nothing in tp [[246]] apart from my comments).Alexikoua (talk) 19:35, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Salviogiuliano, the admin who warned Alexikoua (for breaching 3RR thrice in a month) [247] made it absolutely clear you were the only user edit warring and the only one warned. [248]Yes, I only warned him, but the template automatically closes the report as "warned user(s)". As I said during the discussion, Alex was edit warring and Alex was warned. Ktrimi991 explained this to you already in a discussion [249]. So why are you, being aware that this is not true, still asserting this? Alltan (talk) 20:35, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The full report is found here [[250]] and no wonder an uninvolved editor noticed immediately Ktrimi's disruptive pattern. After the first comment by Coldtrack Ktrimi desperately responded to wp:ADMINSHOP tactics: [[251]] and [[252]].Alexikoua (talk) 02:42, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Cyber Anakin and IP editor conduct

    Cyber Anakin (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

    45.136.197.235 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

    I was in two minds whether an ANI report, or a AN3 report for this was in order. While there is a 3RR violation to the Cyber Anakin article, as the IP editor has made four reverts in the last four hours ([253], [254], [255], [256]), there are also behavioural issues that go beyond this.

    Brief timeline. Yesterday Softlemonades, over the course of three edits, removed content from the Cyber Anakin article. The IP editor restored the content, which I then removed again ([257]) citing WP:BLPRESTORE. The IP editor restored it a second time, for which I issued an edit war ([258]) notice to the IP, and the IP editor simultaneously issued a uw-disruptive1 notice to me ([259]). I then asked the IP editor to self-revert ([260])), which they agreed to at the time, while accusing Softlemonades of tendentious editing. Discussion then moved to the article's talk page. In that discussion, the IP editor again cast aspersions about editor conduct ([261]), to which I politely requested that the editor stop implying that content was removed in bad faith, and reminded them to assume good faith ([262]). Despite this, the IP editor continued with the aspersions saying a spade is a spade and then asserting that I should Drop the stick if any or all of the removals prove overzealous. ([263]).

    Shortly after this, the IP editor used the {{please see}} template on the User talk pages of five editors (diffs: Cambial Yellowing, Deku-shrub, GorillaWarfare, Scope creep, and I dream of horses), who as far as I can tell have never edited that page. This was pointed out by I dream of horses on the article talk page ([264]) and discussed briefly on I dream of horses' talk page ([265]). Neither I dream of horses nor I are sure how or why those five editors were chosen.

    Discussion continued between myself and the IP editor at the article talk page ([266]), where they accused me Wikilawyering over the various policy points that were raised at the discussion ([267]). My response was to direct the IP editor to this noticeboard if they felt as though either my or Softlemonades' conduct was an issue, making another request to cease making accusations of bad faith ([268]).

    During this series of events, the IP editor has issued three warning templates on my talk page. uw-disruptive1 ([269])), uw-disruptive2 and uw-tempabuse1 ([270]). The use of these templates, when combined with the pointed commentary at the article talk page feels as though it is intended to produce a chilling effect, to discourage myself and potentially other editors from editing that article. This is not the first time I have faced such behaviour at that article, this AN3 report, as well as related discussions on that IPv6 editor's talk page ([271], [272], [273]) from June 2022 were also laden with commentary that I should leave the article be for a variety of reasons. I also suspect, though cannot decisively prove, that these two IP editors are one and the same, as they both have used the somewhat unusual phrase "don't whack a mountain out of a molehill" (IPv6 editor, IPv4 editor) instead of the far more common term "make a mountain out of a molehill", though I suppose the "whack" variant could be a cromulent variation. However even if they are not related, the chilling effect emanating from that article remains.

    If there is an issue with my own conduct in this, I'll be happy to apologise and adjust how I approach these sorts of edits. Also while I will naturally notify the IPv4 editor of this thread per instructions, I'm not sure if I should also notify the five other editors who received a {{please see}} notice earlier directing them to the article talk page. I'd appreciate any clarification on this. Thanks. Sideswipe9th (talk) 21:46, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    ANI notice to IP editor. Sideswipe9th (talk) 21:48, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Instead of going through WP:DRN or WP:DRR first you went all the way up here. That says a lot about you.45.136.197.235 (talk) 23:29, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Alright, here's my statement. I have a bunch of pages regarding Ukraine since the start of the invasion on my feed, and that one is no exception. The reason why I restored the content after Softlemonades' removal is not just because it make those less interesting and more boring for readers, but because it would cause the article to become out-of-date particularly when Softlemonades removed sections describing the further implications of his hack and his later activity, for instance the passages regarding Distributed Denial of Secrets and his activities during the invasion, the latter of which I've since restored) as they are sourced by Taiwan News which is kind of like a USA Today in Taiwan and it was one of the largest newspaper over there. WP:BLPRESTORE provides that Material that has been repaired to address concerns should be judged on a case-by-case basis, rather than an all-out removal no matter the presence of parts worthy to be retained.

    Even though there are small errors such as the use of primary sources and a preprint paper (which has since became an academic OUP entry), however the solution would be to remove those only. As for the rest, they also went into a nickel and dime territory where Sideswipe allege that tidbits like "the hacktivist wanting to be more like Justin Bieber" are unnecessary which is very much disputed given that IMO it's more like a MacGuffin for readers in terms of explaining the hacker's M.O. and the spurious allegation by Sideswipe that "Distributed Denial of Secrets group and Cyber Anakin was not made clear in that source" and "how or why it is in there is not made clear" which sounded more like nitpicking or "making a mountain out of a molehill"; the passage was meant to describe the lasting scope and effects of his data breach.

    I saw the contributions of the original remover (Softlemonades) and feel that there's a wrong vibe given that he had engaged in other edge-case disruptive actions on other pages such as WikiLeaks; in fact it reeked of TenPoundHammer which was known to have engaged in far more disruptive and zealous removal actions until the point that he was topic banned.

    Seeking to avoid WikiDrama and resolve it professionally, upon Sideswipe's advice I set up an ad hoc "third opinion" discussion on the talkspace and semi-randomly picked an admin based on past editing history of that page for him to preemptively break the deadlock provide feedback and to work on resolving the matter. Otherwise involving the original editors would risk running into loggerheads and become a disruptive drama.

    I had let Sideswipe known about it and expected her to take the hint. She refused and put out an invite for Softlemonades, while pulling a lot of nickel and dime without any hint of how to progress and/or compromise on it. If she didn't appear like a ninja and interfere the page issues would have been fixed quickly or even by now without much fuss. Some would be re-phrased or rewritten, while non-salvageable contents would be removed.

    In my experience of spectating editorial activities in Wikipedia, removals of well-written and sourced statement under spurious or pedantic grounds are at times viewed as disruptive and even vandalism; IMO they should have tagged the offending passages first and raise it at the talkspace, unless it's unambiguous vandalism, libel or doxxing. Instead of going through WP:DRN or WP:DRR first Sideswipe went all the way up, which is why we're here today. 45.136.197.235 (talk) 00:36, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    P.S. As soon as Sideswipe put a "Please see" notice on Softlemonades's talkspace there's the danger that it would come off as an unrepresentative or skewed consensus unless some people with experience in editing that article or BLPs in Internet culture in general are invited to have a say on it, so I invited about five people by random based on the article editing histories and involvement in relevant WikiProjects (Internet Culture and Cybersecurity in this case). That's all I've to say on that.45.136.197.235 (talk) 00:56, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    IP I don't think I can be bothered looking into this, but it's clearly not vandalism, and you suggesting it might be suggest is not helping your case. Indeed it can be construed as a personal attack which will lead to you being blocked. Also, there are various ways to seek additional feedback on a WP:content dispute but picking a specific editor/s even allegedly at random is not one of them, it's impossible to demonstrate you weren't WP:CANVASSING intentionally or not. If you need help from editors experience with BLP then WP:BLP/N is the way to go. If you feel editors from some Wikiproject can help, then post a neutral notice on their noticeboard asking for help. In the case of Wikiprojects, it's especially important that you put a notice on the article talk page that you did so, so all editors are aware of your request and can consider notifying other Wikiprojects if need be. BTW, especially in the case of BLPs, it is far more important that content is adequately sourced and does not violate any of our other policies and guidelines like WP:UNDUE, than it is up to date or not "boring for readers". Indeed an article being otherwise "boring for readers" is not a good reason to keep or add something, in any article, but it's an especially terrible reason on BLPs. I'd go so far to say that you should not be editing BLPs if you think it's an acceptable reason to add or keep content. Nil Einne (talk) 02:08, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Given my concerns over the IP reasoning and other things, I've brought the article up at BLPN. Nil Einne (talk) 02:18, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The WikiProject noticeboards at times can be very stale, see here and this. Regardless, thanks for pointing out to the right direction, to the BLP noticeboard.45.136.197.235 (talk) 02:20, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    It's more important whether editors are paying attention then whether something is allegedly stale, and it's impossible to know the later without analysing whether posts on the noticeboard result in editor attention and even that will depend on the specific posts. In any case, if a Wikiproject is inactive then, an editor cannot be "involved" it in any meaningful way so it's especially silly to defend notifying editors based on their involvement in a Wikiproject when the Wikiproject is dead. The Wikiproject becomes irrelevant and you need to find other ways of looking for editors that does not violate WP:CANVASSING. Ultimately it's your responsibility to respect our guidelines and policies if you want to edit here. Nil Einne (talk) 02:27, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I'd also note that this dispute seems to be about 2 days old and is clearly something which isn't timely or important to resolve quickly. So it's entirely reasonable to ask for help on some noticeboard, and wait a week or more before deciding this isn't working and moving elsewhere. It's poor form to expect urgency from volunteers for something which is very far from urgent. Nil Einne (talk) 02:30, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    While this specific dispute is around 2 days old, as I stated above there is a longer standing underlying behavioural issue relating to comments made by at least one IP editor (two if the IPv4 and v6 editors are not the same person) that seem to be phrased in a manner to discourage others from editing that article. I've tried (I hope), to make my comments solely about editor conduct and not article content, as ANI is not the correct noticeboard for a content issue. Sideswipe9th (talk) 02:45, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    For clarity, I have no comment on whether there are conduct issues beyond those I've mentioned (that the IP's notifications were inappropriate, that they should not be suggesting there was vandalism and that some of their stated reasons for adding or preserving content are wrong). My point on the urgency thing is that the IP seems to be justifying their canvassing based on the assumption they would not have received feedback if they've used appropriate noticeboards. But it's impossible to know this since they never tried, and even if they had tried, they did not leave enough time for their to be a response. Indeed, a big part of the current mess (whatever historic problems there have been) seem to be because the IP is in way too much of a rush to resolve this dispute which is a bad thing on this volunteer collaborative project of Wikipedia. Nil Einne (talk) 02:58, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Aaah, yeah that makes more sense. Sorry for the confusion! Sideswipe9th (talk) 03:00, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Honestly, there are significant fraction of editing community like me who leans onto WP:YESDEADLINE. 45.136.197.235 (talk) 03:20, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Regardless, if you expect volunteers editors need to drop everything and resolve a dispute within hours just because it's something you care about, your editing career is likely to last much longer. Nil Einne (talk) 08:52, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Wanna point out theyre canvassing random users again and put a clock on their edits while the ANI is still open Softlemonades (talk) 14:55, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Hi, the editor whose edits were challenged here. Wanted to point out that when the discussion about my edits was started, the IP editor mentioned but didnt tag me. When another put a notice on my talk page to tell me about the discussion, the IP editor removed it. diff 1, diff 2
    Also wanna mention that the Taiwan News RfC was never closed, but by my count the survey had 7 votes for "Generally reliable", 9 votes for "Marginally reliable or unclear", and 1 vote for "Generally unreliable and too partisan for factual reporting". I didnt know about the RfC when I challenged the source, just that it wasnt WP:RSP, but the IP editor has been saying the RfC decided Taiwan News is "quite reliable" and I dunno where that came from.
    For my edits, I did it in three parts because they needed three different edit summaries and because I wanted to wait and look at the article more before removing the biggest chunk. I havent edited the page since my edits were challenged. Softlemonades (talk) 23:04, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    When another put a notice on my talk page to tell me about the discussion, the IP editor removed it. Whoa. This is amazing (and not in a good way.) Jahaza (talk) 03:52, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Whoa indeed. I'm very glad you brought that first point up, because that is some absurd behavior from someone who is very clearly trying to portray themselves as knowledgeable of how to operate on WP. That is very plain and simply bad faith unacceptable. struck pending a chance at explanation GabberFlasted (talk) 15:24, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    That's because I mistook him as a difficult user after taking a quick glance on his contribs, like this edge case on Wikileaks and his talkspace's edit summary. I told Sideswipe at the time about the concern and the wish to skip to "third opinion" format. She seemingly acknowledged it, before backpedaled. Out of WP:DNFTT I reverted her notification just in attempt to avoid this needless drama today.45.136.197.235 (talk) 16:23, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Unless the editor was topic banned, there was no justification for the removal. It does not matter whether you think another editor is a difficult user or whatever the fuck. It's unacceptable to try to cut out editors from discussion of content they are adding or removing by removing legitimate notifications others have placed. I'm not going to read that essay, but if you feel you need to avoid a "difficult user" but they are editing an article which interests you, your only option is to stop editing that article or alternatively if the alleged "difficult"ity of this user is enough to warrant a site or topic ban, then to gather the evidence and open an ANI (or ARE if applicable) and get that ban. No one, other then uninvolved admins in AC/DS applies, have the right to personally decide another editor is not allowed to participate in some discussion because they are a "difficult user" and then from that conclusion, try to prevent them from participating. Nil Einne (talk) 16:44, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I see. I'd note your advice and be careful in the future.45.136.197.235 (talk) 16:47, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I should clarify that nowadays with partial blocking, an admin can partial block an editor from a specific talk page and prevent editing so I guess it isn't accurate to say it's only possible when AC/DS applies but in any case where the WP:Blocking policy does. But that's still very limited, and in a lot of cases unless there is edit warring or something else similarly clear cut, partially blocking someone from a talk page where AC/DS doesn't apply is likely to lead to community concern even if there was some mild disruption from the editor. And as I noted, even in AC/DS cases, it needs to be an uninvolved admin. In other words, even for someone we generally trust and in an area that is problematic, we do not allow people to be cut out of discussion just by people they are in dispute with. Although it is true that in e.g. the case of a severe BLP violation, an admin just removing the content would generally be seen as sufficiently uninvolved to take action. And technically it is possible for community to come solely from people already involved (but not just one or two people). Nil Einne (talk) 17:20, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    In lieu of my own follow up, thank you Nil. This hits the nail on the head. GabberFlasted (talk) 16:49, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Yesterday Softlemonades, over the course of three edits, removed content from the Cyber Anakin article – For the record, that article needs a lot of content removed. EEng 07:19, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Except that, now the zeal looks no different that TenPoundHammer's as it starts to disrupt the narrative story flow of the article, like this, especially the latter of the cause-and-effect aspects. This is fast degenerating into additionism/retentionism vs removalism which had happened perennially in this site as a whole, which to the best of my understanding has contributed to low editorial retention. From time to time absolutist rationales and stances to justify deletion/noninclusion of contents and even whole pages, which had sometimes contributed to Systemic bias; one of the long string of latest examples being Donna Strickland. It's easy to just sit down at couch and say "I don't know anything of that or that or that, let's delete it!" about local people, politics, economics, religion, events, science, arts, literature, film, theater, food and drinking/restaurants, geography, astronomy, dance, music, sports, education and whatever all around the globe". It's also easy to remove "unimportant or irrelevant" information because of lack of familiarity or disinterest due to cultural differences. While you here might want a simplistic presentation, others like readers might want Wikipedia to be detailed and be like a Wiki rabbit hole.
      To the best of my understanding, the German Wikipedia underwent similar craze and as a result lost financial donors and contributors due to "purging trolls" activity. Because of that their publications has regularly linked to English Wiki instead of their native version. Note that I'm not advocating for an radically unrestricted of anything into this encyclopedia because some may violate copyright laws or otherwise misinformation, but it's no good either if you take the other side to the extreme.
      With the help of this word counter which I copied and pasted the text from the original version (before Softlemonades' removal), the word count stands at 1,321 words (including the section titles). This is far short of 6,000 to 10,000 words described in WP:SIZESPLIT which takes between 30 and 40 minutes to read at average speed.
      In the end additionism/retentionism vs removalism is a zero sum game which not playing would be wise. One possible middle ground is to use only reliable sources with Taiwan News, VICE and Heise as a minimum in terms of reputation and/or reliability, and move on after that.45.136.197.235 (talk) 16:09, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Whatever. But pretty goddam sure the reader gains nothing by learning that the subject was a student "doing his math homework" when he first heard about the crash on Interfax (with math linked, for Christ sake), and other such crap. EEng 18:49, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      It turns out that a ruling by the Arbitration Committee from 2006 held that It is disruptive to remove statements that are sourced reliably, written in a neutral narrative, and pertain to the subject at hand. Disruptive removals like that along with actually unsourced or all-out libel additions/modifications have been very commonplace in articles that are related to politics, i.e. Russia/Ukraine, Armenia/Azerbaijan and Kurdish topics. In most cases they are swiftly reverted or otherwise dealt with. Due diligence should have been used in the first place (such as tagging the offending passages with Template:Unreliable_source? or so on to garner wider input on before going bold), while I regret that this hasn't been brought up earlier. 45.136.197.235 (talk) 19:05, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      God only knows what Arbcom meant by that 16 years ago, but if you think it somehow means that some ponderous process is needed before cruft about math homework and so on can be removed, you're very much mistaken. I'm not talking about unsourced, or not-reliably-sourced, material, but just plain material that doesn't belong in an encyclopedia article, whether sourced or not. EEng 19:46, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      I was talking about the original removals by Softlemonades which was excessively wanton and affected even legitimate content (such as those that are cited with Taiwan News). As it's too indistinguishable with vandal actions which involved the usage of vague summaries to evade anti-vandal patrol I judged it as suspect and reverted it. 45.136.197.235 (talk) 23:15, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      That makes removing the discussion notice from my talk page an extra odd choice EDIT: I wrote this reply before the post was edited Softlemonades (talk) 23:18, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Speaking of vague edit summaries now that their post was edited to talk about, IP editor restored content repeatedly removed and told there was "no consensus for" with the edit summary "fixing the side effect of out of date."
      Thought I should mention that for folks here at ANI Softlemonades (talk) 00:39, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      As a context, WP:BLPRESTORE provides that materials that has been repaired to address concerns should be judged on a case-by-case basis. They were "partial restores" in the sense that only Taiwan News and AsiaNews cited contents are restored while other contents that you removed remain in the dark.45.136.197.235 (talk) 00:55, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      This was fifteen minutes after you were told there wasnt consensus on it, and the edit summary was vague and very different from the first removal. Can you point to consensus on the Talk page about your fix addressing concerns after you were told that it didnt in the edit summary reverting your first re insert and before your second re insert? I read it all at once so I mightve missed it Softlemonades (talk) 01:50, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      WP:BLPRESTORE - If it is to be restored without significant change, consensus must be obtained first.
      There were "significant changes" by now, starting with the partial restore and subsequent improvements by other editors (i.e. this, this and this who weren't part of this discussion, although I had to revert one of them because it inadvertently affected the flow of story, while yanking a passage with an actually dubious source (internetua.com) myself. Perfection is desired, however sometimes it can be an enemy of good.45.136.197.235 (talk) 02:49, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      The last diff you cited was from after all of that took place, so I dunno why youre using it to justify an edit that you made before that diff but back to the actual point and question.
      What significant changes were there in those fifteen minutes? Why was your edit summary so different from your previous one?
      Im not just curious about the re insert but the vague and different edit summary, because you made assumptions about me because my edit summaries were supposedly too vague. Softlemonades (talk) 12:49, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Before seeing Sideswipe's info about WP:BLPRESTORE, I was under the impression that your edits were probably disruptive because it removed a corpus of well sourced statements whose tones and by extend pertinence by most standards are good enough. That is normally one of the red flags by vandals or otherwise disruptive editors within politics-related articles, one of the M.O. being to denigrate or minimize individuals or entities out of spite (like "User: Eranshahr Eranshahr", two threads below away). So I reverted your edits under normal BRD cycle, with the summary of rv unconstructive and disruptive removal, see WP:NOTCENSORED and more note: his removal had cause the article to be out of date, while Taiwan News is judged to be reliable sourced in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Noticeboard/Archive_329#RfC%3A_Taiwan_News. Then Sideswipe went in like a sudden ninja so I've reverted her under the rationale that another set of problems were created by making it out of date, especially when one or more of the sources were okay by standards, which is a little bit reminiscent to a silly WP:BIKESHED. Sideswipe then asked me to self-revert which I did, although I made the partial restore to make it up-to date again; you don't fix a problem by making two. In the interim there are small cleanup edits such as spacing.
      It was interesting to see that Sideswipe mentioned a previous dispute with other editor in the same field on the topic about "nested archives" so I dug further. Ironically Sideswipe said that Respectfully, there is being cautious in handling BLP articles with care, and then there's being overcautious. And in this particular instance, I believe and I strongly suspect others would believe that you're being overcautious to the point of disrupting how we normally cite our sources. In hindsight to the best of my understanding their nested archives controversy centered around potential outright doxxing of the BLP she could have make a procedural removal of the DOB (which the nested archive was used) like others did later for the time being. There is no need for her to be melodramatic by escalating straight up to AN3 back then and ANI right now. She could have made the procedural removal of DOB back then, and respect the spirit behind the intention of skipping to ad-hoc 3rd opinion per with an experienced editor/admin pursuant to WP:IGNORE since I initially mistook you to be "difficult users" like so many others in the field because of past edge-case edits on pages like Wikileaks and on your talkspace's edit summary, arguing with "difficult editors" almost always led to fruitless results, and abundance of caution is warranted although this luckily turns into a mistake, instead of fuss. WikiDramas obviously suck away editors' valuable time and perhaps she should get a bit of boomerang over that.
      There is also WP:SOURCEGOODFAITH but let's think with another perspective. The New York Times has stories by Walter Duranty which extolled Soviet values and whitewashed the Holodomor, and still hasn't retracted these and the Pulitzer Award to him. Despite having the that and other list of controversies involving The New York Times, did we go on the bikeshed to pick a bone from the egg and split the hairs like here?45.136.197.235 (talk) 15:07, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      567 words to not answer my questions and invoke the BRD cycle after you removed the notification about the discussion from my Talk page. And you still cant point to agreement that your reinsert fixed anything 15 minutes after you were told it didnt and that you needed consensus on talk.
      You justified it by citing WP:BLPRESTORE If it is to be restored without significant change, consensus must be obtained first. and saying "There were "significant changes" but
      It looks like the only difference between the two versions is in the intro, not in what you re inserted. So unless you got consensus on the talk page, there wasnt a significant change or any change at all Softlemonades (talk) 15:41, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Please compare my initial restore, subsequent partial restore and the current version. Yes, there was a significant change, where "case by case basis" apply. 45.136.197.235 (talk) 16:10, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      For the Ukraine invasion section, the difference between the initial restore and the subsequent partial restore is the removal of the sentence fragments on the Kuril Islands dispute, Russian Antartic bases, enlargement of the UN Security council, Russian funding into Covid-19, the knowledge ark, a citation to a defaced website, and a slight tweak to accommodate the sentence ending earlier. The difference between the partial restore and the current version is the addition of a wikilink to the word Panerai. All other text remains the same in that section.
      For the paragraph on Cyber Anakin contacting Covid-19, the only differences between the text in your initial restore, and state of the article prior to the removals by Softlemonades on September 2 is a change in date formats, due to my date unification pass on September 2 being undone.
      These edits do not represent a significant change from the state of the text prior to Softlemonades removals. Sideswipe9th (talk) 16:31, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Please don't misrepresent it. There's an interactive diff analyzer (accessible by Browse history interactively) which you can access upon going into one of the diffs. Scroll the yellow dot until the one with edit summary more note: his removal had cause the article to be out of date, while Taiwan News is judged to be reliable sourced in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Noticeboard/Archive_329#RfC%3A_Taiwan_News and the blue one to cebap, the current version. You'll see that the Heise passages and the Justin Bieber trivia were gone as well.45.136.197.235 (talk) 16:44, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      The compare I posted is of the two edits were talking about, the ones 15 minutes (18 to be exact) apart, where you were told not to reinsert the text without consensus on the talk page. The second edit is the one with the vague and misleading edit summary. Anyone can check the History page.
      Please stop trying to change the subject or talk about different edits to justify this one. Softlemonades (talk) 17:31, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Ill do a timeline to make it easy
      20:27, 24 September 2022‎ IP editor adds text with summary "Restoring passages that were backed up by Taiwan News, which should be uncontroversial"
      20:29, 24 September 2022 Sideswipe reverts with summary "Undid revision 1112128963 by 45.136.197.235 (talk) No consensus for this has been achieved at the talk page."
      20:30, 24 September 2022‎ IP editor adds citation to head with no summary
      20:45, 24 September 2022 IP editor removes update template and re adds text from 18 minutes before with edit summary "Fixing the side effect of out of date."
      IP editor justifies by citing WP:BLPRESTORE and saying there were "significant changes"
      Compare of the two text adds show the only difference is the citation and a deleted blank line Softlemonades (talk) 17:51, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      A more accurate representation would be by comparing the following:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cyber_Anakin&diff=1112087504&oldid=1112087106 (Initial full restore)
      https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cyber_Anakin&diff=1112132063&oldid=1112129299 (Subsequent partial restore)
      The edit of 20:30, 24 September 2022 was to re-add citation backing up the passage that "Cyber Anakin" also went by "cyberanakinvader", although in a very implicit manner as the word "dubbed" leads to the subject's blog with the latter username.
      The edit of 20:45, 24 September 2022 was more akin to a dummy edit; I was in a rush and neglected to put the edit summary into the original partial restore, no fuss is necessary on correct or clarify it later.
      While Taiwan News is described by the 2021 RfC as largely at best generally reliable and at worst marginally reliable, the news source provides their readers a way to conveniently fact-check their articles for WP:Accuracy by sharing links to the hacker's defacement page. Take for example this and scroll to The targets included the website for Russian heavy metal band Aria (archive), a hockey site (archive), a Panerai watch enthusiasts site (archive), a basketball team (archive), and an educational organization (archive). You'll see that the secondary source put the links to the raw defacement page along with Wayback Machine's archival link over there. It's preposterous to suggest otherwise.
      As to "government websites, agricultural management systems, coal mine safety interfaces, nuclear power plant interfaces, and satellite interfaces.", these are not immediately verifiable (aside from a picture of satellite system) given that no raw or Wayback Machine links exist for these system. However mindful of the 2021 RfC the previous editors had already done a good job by putting "According to Taiwan News" in-text citation, pursuant to WP:BIASEDSOURCES.45.136.197.235 (talk) 18:27, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      "The edit of 20:45, 24 September 2022 IP editor was more akin to a dummy edit" Wow.
      "neglected to put the edit summary into the original partial restore, no fuss is necessary" The edit summary is part of why you said you assumed bad faith from me, so surprised at that stance.
      "as largely at best generally reliable and at worst marginally reliable" Thats an interesting way to word it since it was the other way around and largely described as "marginally reliable"
      So you were told by another editor not to re add specific text without gettin consensus on Talk, and then you re added exactly that text but it was just a "dummy edit" got it.
      I think were just spinning our wheels at this point so Ill let the admins take it from here but I hope they read this thread because I think the edits and your responses are interesting Softlemonades (talk) 18:37, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      I mistook you for a bad editor because of your edit summary in your talkspace that used pointed capital and rude tones against other editor (Cambial Yellowing).
      In the end I had to agree with you to let the admins or otherwise experienced editors to take it from here; in fact the discussion at the article talkspace was meant to be an quick ad-hoc third opinion with an admin who edited there as well, before Sideswipe made a scene out of it. Failing all that maybe the article can be given to Wiki Education Foundation to be re-written while giving those students a chance in learning how to edit? Have a nice day.45.136.197.235 (talk) 19:13, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      The reason for my tone was I have a history with Cambial and have considered going to ANI over their behavior towards me for specifics better left out of this discussion esp. without them here. I often avoid Cambial entirely but this time I was matching Cambials common energy towards me.
      Not my greatest decision, but thats why I took a tone Softlemonades (talk) 19:22, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Sorry to hear that. I heard that there is a procedure in Wikipedia to enforce a so-called "interaction ban".
      Regarding Wiki Education Foundation, there is also a caveat I neglected, that would meant arduous re-inventing of wheel given that it's already cumbersome for most of us to change things in Wikipedia due to heuristics of editing interface (especially source-editing which is still very common). Cheers.45.136.197.235 (talk) 19:24, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      @EEng @Nil Einne @GabberFlasted @Jahaza Im sorry for tagging you, Ill only do it once but I thought this would get lost and since you already posted here I thought itd be ok.
      You might want to see my post above and IP editors reply, its near the end of the thread. The whole thread is long but the bottom line is in the last few posts, starting with the 17:51, 26 September 2022 one Im replying to here. Softlemonades (talk) 18:50, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      The essays WP:BIKESHED and Wikipedia:Truth, not verifiability comes to mind. 45.136.197.235 (talk) 02:45, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      I agree with EEng. The article is in a pretty bad state, with a rather large amount of unencyclopaedic and crufty content that should be removed. Unfortunately, with the IP editor's preference for long paragraphs that say very little ([274]), repeated baiting attempts directed at me ([275], [276], [277]), and their recent restoration of content crufty material because it "disrupted the story flow" ([278]), I am not alone in being extremely hesitant to try and make any improvements to the article at present. I fear that without some sort of intervention, frustration will drive otherwise productive and good faith editors away from the article in the form of "Let the Wookiee win" Sideswipe9th (talk) 01:28, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      It's bold for you to imply that consolidating many points and arguments which would take so many fragmented responses into one big paragraph is anything bad, given that Wikipedia isn't like Discord or Twitter where communications happen in real time and in tidbits. Some discussions can take a long time, often while editors are so busy in real life so that many things in their minds would've changed by the time they made the next comment or whatever else.
      For the record I apologise to Softlemonades for mistaking him as a difficult user; the reason of the false red flag being of his talkspace's edit summary which ironically was the result of yet another "difficult editor".
      You and I and almost certainly all of others have a different view of the definition of "unencyclpaedic" and "crufty"; therefore squeezing about it is gonna be a very zero sum game. Instead, there's a really quiet part on why there is a strong feeling against putting more content: UX/Readability.
      Presently when in long articles, it can sometimes be very hard to jump between sections because the navigational box is fixed at the top of the page which is gone the moment you scroll down. Even for me it's bit of a problem too. This usability issue was tackled with the release of Vector 2022 which I've tried firsthand and found that the box is readily available at the left which provides far more easier navigation between sections and should render removalist arguments based on this usability issue moot.
      Failing that I think that was an eccentric proposal to split English Wikipedia into en-gb and en-us; in the long run that could be the destiny and the best of both worlds as long as the zero sum additionalist-removalist game keeps being played. 45.136.197.235 (talk) 02:59, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Interesting, this is the second time in a week I've seen this fairly obscure arbcom finding cited in an attempt to suggest that removing anything is inherently disruptive (the other was here). Since this is misleading so many, maybe a clarification needs to be posted? MrOllie (talk) 23:26, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Arbcom does everything formally -- I doubt you realize the amount of time and trouble that would require. And that's not counting the gigantic debate that would ensue to decide on what such a clarification would say. Let's just let this strange little virus die out. EEng 23:48, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Sideswipe had by now told me and others to go to a multitude of other wikis catering for intricate/narrative style of presentation. There's a huge problem with the notion; speaking from reader's perspectives, if you want to learn about a subject you don't know or otherwise obscure to you, would you prefer them to be presented at one stop in a trusted encyclopedia rather than going site-by-site? Because here's one thing; by hopping through different sites there's also a security risk because presently browser exploits like remote code execution are all too prevalent and even "legitimate source sites" can one day fall victim to such attack. As an example Over 47,000 Malicious WordPress Plugins Are Active on Nearly 25,000 Websites. Scan it with Malwarebytes, Virustotal or anything you can, but most of the time they don't catch zero-day attacks until it's late. Almost all the policies that we cite here are formed during the 00s or 10s, when these aren't so prevalent. English Wikipedia ultimately is among the top sites visited on the Internet and it looks so much like putting too many eggs in one place since the shutdown of Google Knol.


    After all, it's going straight into the dead end per the Poe's law if we harangue on what constitutes "improvement" or "unencyclopaedic", so as Sideswipe claimed the problems now involve conduct issues here are a couple of questions for her, although Softlemonades can answer as well:


    • If you can remember, what caused you to come to the article for the first time? It'd be helpful if you describe your feelings back then.
    • Most importantly, you insisted on wanting to work on and improve the article, so what was your end goal? Let's do a thought experiment where suddenly you are the only active editor in Wikipedia while on that page. Imagine that Thanos had been resurrected and snaps everyone except you. More realistically, the sham referendums at occupied areas in Ukraine went through and Putin uses it as a justification ("threatening Russia's territorial integrity") to fire a tactical nuke at the Black Sea. Maybe Putin's crazier than we thought and sent the kiloton against Ivano-Frankivsk, Izmail, Lozova, Irshava Berdiansk, Tokmak, you name it. Instead of cowing the world NATO intervenes and destroy Russian positions throughout occupied areas resulting in a formal declaration of war by RU. A malfunctioning early warning radar falsely reported incoming missiles but there's no Stanislav Petrov this time. San Francisco is hit with a Bulava MIRV, as does New York City, Washington DC, London, Belfast, Edinburgh, Manchester, Moscow, St Petersburg, Vladivostok, Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and so many other cities, knocking off the Internet for good. You survived, hiding in a bunker or something. It turns out that you have a complete dump in a hard drive and deciding to edit that a bit to present to leftover future generations. What would that be for this page? To answer the question, put the page source in personal sandbox or rather WP:SANDBOX, edit it as if you're the only one doing that, and put the sandbox diff link of your finished work back here. For reference, this is my answer.

    45.136.197.235 (talk) 16:28, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    lol what?! Quandarie 16:49, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Just to let folks know, the IP has just been rangeblocked for being part of a colocation webhost. Looking through the page history, this isn't the first time an IP editor who was active on the Cyber Anakin article and a couple of others relating to Anonymous being rangeblocked due to being a proxy, at least two others are still active. Is it possible that because of this history of edits by IP editors behind proxies that this article meets the criteria for semi-protection? Sideswipe9th (talk) 00:30, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I see your trying to game the system to remove an opponent from the topic area rather than engaging to reach consensus so you can continue to warp the article to your preferences. This is the epitome of battle ground conduct. Zero-sum removalism gets us nowhere. 31.192.235.50 (talk) 04:17, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    IP editor is back with a new IP, admits to editing with multiple IPs in the past and says theyll use "unlimited proxies" to edit because people need to know
    "So what if I've used proxies. The article needs to cover fact of Cyber Anakin's activities lest readers look elsewhere. So it's not a threat it's a fact. I have unlimited proxies and we are legion, your efforts to game the process and control these pages with your clique will fail, and every elitist step taken merely hastens the day."
    Diff Softlemonades (talk) 09:26, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    84.54.13.148 is another IP editor pushing Cyber Anakin edits and reverting removals, probably another sock and one of the "unlimited proxies" Softlemonades (talk) 09:31, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    This editor made an alarming post:
    `Hi there, former mod of /r/meanwhileonwikipedia here. Hope you're doing fine.
    A BLP article (ends with a fancy name; not linking it here for now because they could find out through "what links here", searches and so on - hint: my previous edit on a timeline) is the center of a Reddit thread you linked in your user page. Even though the Redditor had passed away IMO, the deletionists he feared seems to at it again. This time they want to "trim" or rewriting it so badly perhaps putting it at another risk of AfD. If you can figure out the name of the article then you can go into its talk space to see what's going on.
    Unclear of their intentions, maybe Russia or Chinese influence operation at play given the situation today. Modus operandi could be whitewashing, historical denialism or so on. Either way they had gamed all processes with the sole defending editor banned through "no proxies policy".
    Can't believe they'll stop at that. If you want them to be kept in check and Wikipedia stays verdant, the time is now. Best way is to assemble some cabal, play dirty on them so much they'll simply back off. Unless it happens, cloak and dagger secrecy can be best in prevent geting foiled. Good nite.
    Softlemonades (talk) 09:45, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Hi again, old good IP editor here. The IP ranges I've used has now been hijacked by a bad actor. The downsides of using open VPNs is anyone can use its IP given the right program. For the service I'm using I guess there could be hundreds if not thousands who might overlap these and that IPs. They can simply click "Contributions" at the top right to see what they or others had done. Notthing could be ruled out so far; it could be a simple case of trolls finding out the contribs and adding fuel to it "for fun", or maybe she's pulling a Count Dooku because she's rushing too, not helped by the fact that she now displays some unusual unusual technical knowledge like using the specialized IOT search engine Shodan. If you want some "intervention", it's as good as an all out WP:BOOMERANG in all directions and "actually leaving it to the admins" by admin-only page editing protection. Cheers! 185.70.92.9 (talk) 14:17, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Looks like this IP has also been banned for being a proxy. Turns out so was the IP that created the Cyber Anakin page.
    Should say I submitted an SPI request about the issue because there are a lot of IPs. If its sockpuppetry or hijacking, theyll get to the bottom of it Softlemonades (talk) 17:30, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    While there is an obvious behavioural overlap with Bugmenot123123123 as pointed out at the SPI case by another IP editor, I would say that because the last set of cases for Bugmenot were four years ago, any information from those will be stale if not inaccessible, and that CUs in general do not connect IP editors to named accounts.
    That said, between the attempted baiting I've mentioned previously, the implied Striesand effect from trying to clean up the article, the threat of "unlimited proxies" to continue disruption at the article and its talk page, the requested boomerang because I know what Shodan is and how to interpret its results, and a request for full protection of the article, I hope that it's becoming clearer to uninvolved folks who are reading this of the intended chilling effect those statements have and the resulting attempts to drive away editors from this article. While full protection of the article seems inappropriate per the table at WP:PPLIST, I would again suggest that given that the page has seen significant editing by at least one IP editor operating behind multiple proxies, that semi or possibly pending changes protection of the page seems appropriate.
    Note, I say at least one because I still can't definitively work out from the behavioural information if this is one editor with many proxies, or several editors with a similar style pushing for the same content. Sideswipe9th (talk) 18:55, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Disruption by Locke Cole

    Editor Locke Cole is edit warring against consensus on multiple templates Template:Bit and byte prefixes Template:Quantities of bits Template:Quantities of bytes (including a possible 3RR violation [279] [280] [281]), disrupting talk pages (here’s one example [282]) and carrying out personal attacks [283] [284]. Some editors are trying to hold a discussion at Template_talk:Quantities_of_bits, but the discussion is continually disrupted by Locke Cole's edits. Can someone take a look? Dondervogel 2 (talk) 22:53, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    @Dondervogel 2: You have failed to notify Locke Cole of this ANI filing, as the red notice on top of this page and when editing clearly require. I have done so for you this time. Regards, User:TheDragonFire300. (Contact me | Contributions). 00:15, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @TheDragonFire300 He did notify Locke here, but was reverted here. ~~~~ JCW555 (talk)♠ 00:21, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I would like to apologise, in that case. I was going to check shortly after I made the comment and notice, but forgot to. Regards, User:TheDragonFire300. (Contact me | Contributions). 01:35, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Without commenting on the possible edit warring and general discussions I find it odd that the discussion for Template:Quantities of bytes is being held at Template_talk:Quantities_of_bits#New_proposal:_Legacy as part of a proposal that appears to have gained consensus and been implemented in November 2021. The only reason that I was able to figure out to go there was the fact that there was a November 2021 message on the Quantities of bytes template Talk with a link. The same goes for Template_talk:Quantities_of_bytes (where the previous talk items date to 2015). This discussion appears to have been going on for multiple years in different forms both on individual pages and collectively. I also note that the templates link to Kilobyte and other pages where the nomenclature should align with what is in the templates otherwise it is going to get even messier and the discussion will migrate there or the Template discussion will be used to support viewpoints elsewhere.
    With all of this I suggest that a formal proposal be started at the Wikipedia:Village pump with messages left on the template talk pages alerting people and whilst the discussion is being undertaken the templates should be left in a stable form. Apart from anything else:
    1. That will gain a wider viewership and input than on a single page.
    2. Changes based on consensus at the Village Pump are easier to support and require an equivalent level of consensus to change to something else.
    Gusfriend (talk) 00:53, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Honestly, this should have been held at WT:MOSNUM, as one of the templates under discussion (Template:Bit and byte prefixes (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)) is transcluded at WP:COMPUNITS (part of WP:MOSNUM; thus making it a MOS change, not simply a template change). As to the November 2021 "consensus", the TL;dr version is, Dondervogel 2 drags out discussions, waits a month or longer to reply, apparently in an attempt to force their POV. It worked this time because I and other editors who would oppose it did not notice the "new" discussion (you can see I was heavily involved in other discussions in that main section; the proposal they made nearly two months after the last meaningful discussion in that sub-thread was quickly closed in only six days when they got what they wanted (with no attempt to ping or reach out to other editors they knew were heavily invested in the discussion)).
    It is my intention to collect evidence of this disruptive behavior by Dondervogel 2 (back to when they edited as Thunderbird2 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) which goes back literally over a decade, present it here, and suggest a WP:BOOMERANG wherein Dondervogel is restricted from editing pages in any namespace that have any relation with units of measure that involve computers or technology. If you want just one taste of how they treat this topic as a WP:BATTLEGROUND, look at the full edit history of User:Thunderbird2/The case against deprecation of IEC prefixes (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs) which they have religiously updated for fourteen years. —Locke Colet • c 01:12, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    (Non-administrator comment)If I'm reading correctly, a header at WT:MOSNUM indicates that this is under ArbCom discretionary sanctions, so any editors involved in a dispute about this topic should beware and tread lightly, yes? Elizium23 (talk) 06:27, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    In addition to Locke Cole's editing against consensus, disrupting the discussion chronology and edit warring, I'd like to direct attention to his severe lack of WP:AGF, frequent allegations of lying and generally rude tone at least bordering on harassment. A productive discussion is impossible. I'd seriously appreciate an admin calling him to order officially. --Zac67 (talk) 06:48, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    This ANI thread is about disruptive behaviour by Locke Cole, and as I see it, any comments relating to the merits of the debate and forum (for example by Gusfriend above) will only distract from the purpose here. I confirm Zac67's observation above: there is a long history on this topic, including (section 'Should it be there at all?') accusations of lying, failure to assume good faith on the part of other editors, and generally being unpleasant to interact with. Included are accusations such as the one above against Dondervogel 2. This unpleasantness by Locke Cole and the failure of the community to censure him caused me (about a year ago) to decide to leave WP. I will no doubt leave again, but for now, I'll see whether the WP community can restore a little my faith in managing this disruptive behaviour. What is needed to deal with this? —Quondum 15:20, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Too much drama. This is a long-running dispute between essentially two warring parties. Claims of “editing against consensus” should be looked upon with critical scrutiny as they can often be a tactical move that is the Wikipedia equivalent of leaving Novichok on a doorknob to remove inconvenient obstacles. On this long-running war (over whether Wikipedia should adopt terminology like “gibibits” instead of "gigabits”) “consensuses” tend to actually comprise just one complainant and a fatigued friend extracted from the woodwork who barely cares. Were someone to induce just one or two more people to somehow care and join these discussions, purported consensuses simply swing the other way.

    This dispute truly had a consensus many years ago with very many editors weighing in and a consensus discerned and declared with an admin supervising. At that time, Dondervogel 2 (then known as Thunderbird, if I recall correctly) didn’t accept that consensus and doesn't agree today with the current policy that sprang from that consensus. Nothing has since changed other than drama persists. Greg L (talk) 01:54, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Quondum said above that there is a long history on this topic and Greg L says that it is a long-running war. As I mentioned above, the way to solve the underlying root cause, the best way of getting more involvement in the discussion and stop having this pop up again in a few months and a few months after that is a formal RfC at the WP:Village Pump which then becomes a formal consensus at WP:MOSNUM. Once it is there it applies everywhere in the project, people can be referred to the MOS in correcting their edits and sanctions can be applied to those who continue to act against consensus. Gusfriend (talk) 08:41, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Disruptive editing by IP

    IP 2601:601:0:0:0:0:0:0/32 has been doing some disruptive editing for some time now, including some pretty nasty stuff. Sometimes they change sourced information without giving another source to back up their modifications (see [285]). Sometimes they add some unsourced, straight-up wrong information (see [286] and [287]). They also claim to be Judd Hamilton for some reason, and have been quite rude towards other Wikipedians, including admins (see [288] and [289]). They also seem to have pro-Somaliland leanings, judging by these edits: [290], [291], [292]. Lastly, they seem to have something against the band Mystic Braves, and have been accusing them of some really bad stuff (all unsourced, of course): [293] and [294].

    So it's quite a weird mix, it almost looks like several people are behind this IP range (which is obviously possible). The whole /32 range is already banned from quite a few topics, but it isn't enough apparently.

    Addition: there's some low-key racist stuff too! [295] BilletsMauves€500 16:59, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    This is a bit of a confusing filing. Almost all IPv6 /32s are more than one person, so if you look at them in aggregate, you'll always get an assortment of different kinds of bad edits, usually (although not always) alongside an assortment of different kinds of good and meh edits. Looking at my own /32, we've got a lot of unsourced edits, some block evasion, a touch of spam, a bit of talk-in-article, some sports trolling, some ranting at BLP subjects. To determine if sanctions are needed, we have to look at individual /64s, or sometimes a bit narrower if we can piece together subnets that someone's hopping through—outside those rare cases where either there's so many problematic editors on a range, or one editor so deeply problematic, that we block the whole thing. I don't think this /32 meets either of those criteria, but am open to being convinced otherwise.
    As to the proximate concern here, this morning I blocked the maybe-Hamilton IP's /64 from Judd Hamilton; he'd been adding promotional content there since 2018 and not gotten the hint that it was unwanted. This whole thing is either someone trying to hijack the identity of a celebrity they share a name with (and doing so across multiple sites), or someone who picked up a side career in their 60s and it just hasn't gotten any RS attention. I lean toward the latter (plausible geolocation, among other things) but am not sure. If anyone determines it's the former, this should be made a siteblock. -- Tamzin[cetacean needed] (she|they|xe) 04:56, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Sidenote, a few things about Judd Hamilton (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) set off alarm bells. The combination of self-pub/user-contributed sources and a suspiciously low backlinks:claims-to-fame ratio is something I often associate with hoaxes. This isn't a hoax, but something about it seems sus, as the kids say. -- Tamzin[cetacean needed] (she|they|xe) 05:08, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I'm discussing this on my talkpage with them. I doubt that the whole /32 is a problem, as Tamzin said, they are virtually always more than one person, and a /32 IPV6 is (as I understand) roughly equivalent to a /16 IPV4. Mako001 (C)  (T)  🇺🇦 05:41, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The actual range that they are theoretically able to access according to WHOIS is more like the /26, but the range that has been on Judd Hamilton is "just" a /44. (2601:601:D0xx/44) Mako001 (C)  (T)  🇺🇦 05:50, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Ok, so should I deal with them as several different /64s, and bring back the matter here if necessary ? BilletsMauves€500 18:00, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Kyleung05 makes changes en masse, across large groups of articles at a time, without providing an edit summary (seriously, not one edit summary or talk page post in 1,045 edits). They reinstate these changes repeatedly even after other editors have objected on their talk page, and they do not participate in discussion to reach consensus, as their complete lack of talk posts evidences. They were recently blocked for 24 hours by @Canterbury Tail: for this behavior, but they have resumed just as soon as the block expired. Wallnot (talk) 00:16, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Note that this user is mainly editing articles based on public transit in Toronto. Johnny Au (talk/contributions) 11:43, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I've just blocked them for another week, same pattern of editing and a disruptive tendency to remove things like photos of political figures. In fact they've warred on many political figures, all edits of which are continually reverted by multiple users. I'm tempted to make it an indefinite to try and force them to communicate, but I doubt they will communicate. Canterbury Tail talk 11:44, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    We should keep an eye on pages pertaining to Toronto transit in case the user comes up with other ideas, especially given that pages pertaining to various high-profile politicians have EC protection. Johnny Au (talk/contributions) 11:47, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Toronto transit rings a sock bell somewhere, isn't there a fairly prolific socker in that topic? Mako001 (C)  (T)  🇺🇦 14:52, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Yes. Some of us aren't convinced for reasons, but yes there is one particular one we're keeping an eye on about. Canterbury Tail talk 14:57, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Agreed. I will keep a close eye on such articles in the meantime. Johnny Au (talk/contributions) 00:08, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Persistent personal attacks and uncivil comments by Wikaviani

    Wikaviani is not taking 'No Personal Attacks' seriously. He makes harassing and uncivil comments during the discussions, specially when it comes to challenging issues, which makes consensus building nearly impossible. Here he makes attacks by saying "Stop wasting our time with your WP:FORUM-like posts to push your pro-Mullahs POV". In response, I politely asked him to avoid casting aspersions against me. At the time he made more attacks, like this.

    Now, when he is told by another user to avoid making personal attacks he made here, instead of avoiding personal attack, he responds: "calling a cat a cat is not a "personal attack". --Mhhossein talk 11:12, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I've taken a look at the conversation. I think there's a case for WP:BOOMERANG here.
    First and foremost, you're quoting him out of context. He said, "Stop wasting our time with your WP:FORUM-like posts to push your pro-Mullahs POV without providing any reliable source." Emphasis mine. Please don't misrepresent words by selectively quoting them.
    It's not a personal attack; it's an observation about behavior. He feels that the content you've proposed is biased towards the Iranian government, that your posts treat the talk page like a WP:FORUM, and that the sources you've provided aren't reliable.
    You also linked to a diff that showed a comment Wikiaviani made and called it an attack. It's not. He's saying that you have a battleground mentality; that you're edit warring; and that you're distorting Wikipedia's guidelines.
    You, yourself, previously accused him of having a battleground mentality and edit warring. You're claiming that such statements now count as a personal attack. When you said those things, did they also count as personal attacks?
    Here's some feedback for you: if you suspect someone is some sort of sockpuppet, raise it in WP:SPI. Don't try to discredit other participants in a discussion by airing such a suspicion in the middle of a content dispute. Quandarie 12:27, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    WP:BOOMERANG. This is not a personal attack, and Wikaviani is in fact not the first person to make this observation; I did it as well back in 2019, in a WP:AN thread where other users made similar concerns [296]. If you assemble all the cases, there is a good amount of evidence to back this. For example, back in April 2020, Mhhossein was partially blocked for "tendentious commentary and original research" [297] which he made in this thread regarding Khomeini (taking a pro IRI stance) [298], the founder of the IRI. A pro IRI stance was also taken here (2019 June) (September 2021). Heck, take a look at even his most recent case regarding the death of a poor woman by IRI Guidance Patrol for showing some hair. Do I need say more? (September 2022). They have also been warned "against a battleground mentality and further incivility" in relation to articles about Iranian politics. --HistoryofIran (talk) 15:43, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Seeing the comments down below, I should have perhaps clarified better. This pro-IRI behaviour all violated at least one of our guidelines in each of these threads. --HistoryofIran (talk) 13:24, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Quandarie: I really don't think [299] and [300] are appropriate ways of communicating with others in such a calm a discussion. --Mhhossein talk 09:09, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Yeah, while edit warring, misrepresenting what reliable sources say by cherry picking only the parts you like, using unreliable IRI sources repeatedly while you have been told not to do so are appropriate ways to edit this encyclopedia ? By the way, two editors are still waiting for your explanations at Talk:Mahsa Amini protests, it would be an appropriate way to communicate to answer them, don't you think so ?---Wikaviani (talk) (contribs) 09:27, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Mhhossein, thanks for the diffs. Mhhossein is right; it is an unacceptable personal attack. Quandarie 16:16, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Quandarie: ; Don't get me wrong,
    • Given Mhhossein's profile as an editor, I disagree, when an editor systematically misrepresents what sources say to push a pro IRI POV during unrest in Iran, it's not surprising to see him do it again now.
    • Again, calling a cat a cat is not a personal attack towards said cat.---Wikaviani (talk) (contribs) 06:53, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Comment : I could hardly do a better job of gathering evidences than what has been done above by two other editors (also see here). I think Mhhossein is quite a knowledgeable editor on Islam related topics, as evidenced by the articles he has brought to the good or featured level, but when it comes to topics related to the Islamic Republic of Iran, he is almost systematically biased.---Wikaviani (talk) (contribs) 18:18, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Topic ban proposal: Mhhossein

    WP:BOOMERANG : Given what has been said above, i propose a topic-ban of all topics related to the Islamic Republic of Iran, broadly construed.---Wikaviani (talk) (contribs) 18:21, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Amended heading to clarify that this is a boomerang proposal, not a proposal against yourself. -- Tamzin[cetacean needed] (she|they|xe) 20:17, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks very much for clarifying.---Wikaviani (talk) (contribs) 20:21, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Support : Per nom.---Wikaviani (talk) (contribs) 18:21, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Comment this whole discussion is an excellent illustration of why WP:GS/IRANPOL / WP:ARBIRP [Links fixed. El_C 16:38, 27 September 2022 (UTC)] was needed, and of the fact that a larger number of admins are needed to monitor this area. El C and myself did so for a while, before we were exhausted by the endless bickering and omnipresent battleground mentality. I strongly suggest that no action be taken in this case unless and until uninvolved admins or experienced editors have had a chance to give their input (but I will likely not be one to do so). Vanamonde (Talk) 21:15, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    This belong at ArbCom for a full case with all sides presenting their evidence, not an ANI proposal where one group of partisans bands together in a show of "consensus" for sanctions against another partisan. nableezy - 21:17, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Nableezy: Not sure I agree. ARBCOM cases are for complex disputes; this is just endless mudslinging that can be resolved by a group of admins, but is exhausting for any single one. Someone ought to try AE. Vanamonde (Talk) 22:22, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I agree with Vanamonde, this case is better here than at Arbcom. Also, I don't see how I can form a band of partisans with an editor I've never interacted with before today (Quandarie).---Wikaviani (talk) (contribs) 22:30, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    There was an ArbCom case on this last year. I don't think Mhhossein has learned from it. Quandarie 06:07, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Comment: this is worth a topic ban under the discretionary sanctions regime. Quandarie 06:02, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oppose: Yes, Mhhossein has been part of previous disputes, but why is a topic-ban requested here? Having a pro IRI stance and expressing it politely in a talk page? BOOMERANG is not "let's retaliate because we can". MarioGom (talk) 07:10, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    There's much, much more to this than his pro-IRI stance. Quandarie 08:08, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Being part of disputes and expressing it politely is not the problem and as far as i can see, nobody here is saying let's retaliate because we can, i made a topic ban proposal in order to stop the disruption caused by Mhhossein when it comes to IRI related articles, not to "retaliate". There are many many diffs provided above, please take the time to check them. Every time there is unrest in Iran, this guy steps in with unreliable sources or misrepresentation of what reliable sources say, all with edit warring, personal attacks and a battleground mentality, it seems quite obvious that this editor is not neutral when it comes to editing IRI related topics, isn't that enough for a topic ban ? I've seen editors get blocked/topic banned for much less.---Wikaviani (talk) (contribs) 08:49, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    My comment was a reference to, at least, 2 of the provided links [301][302]. Unless someone gets more specific with diff links or specific quotes, the rationale above seems to be that you consider unacceptable to hold certain positions, rather than a behavioral problem. What I've read so far in these two links are reasonable comments (whether they are right or wrong) about the handling of sources, in-text attribution, etc. Actually, what I do see is that other editors immediately personalized the discussion. I might be missing context, but I just don't see the path from these links to a topic ban. MarioGom (talk) 17:38, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    [303] Blatantly misrepresenting a source to make it more in favour of the IRI is reasonable? For a user that has been here for 8 years and has been accused/warned for similar behaviour in the past? Mhhossein hasn't even responded to why he did that yet, even though he was asked directly TWICE in that very talk page. --HistoryofIran (talk) 17:55, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The path that links Mhhossein to a topic ban is here : edit warring and refusal to achieve consensus FIRST before reinstating his edits while trying to discredit reliable western sources with a POV tag when Neda Agha Soltan was killed by Iranian forces (along with personalized comments like "thanks for your collaboration, let's remove the tag when the issues are resolved" while the onus was on him to convince others about the inclusion) : [304], [305], [306], [307], [308], [309] (he reverted 3 different users to reinstate his edits, two registered and one anon ...). Also, as said above, blatant misrepresentation of a western source by cherry picking only the parts he likes and omitting the rest, quite odd for an editor who speaks English very well and has been editing here for so many years, don't you think ? There are many other examples.---Wikaviani (talk) (contribs) 18:26, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Support: I for one, am tired of seeing Mhhossein violating our guidelines in favour of their persistent pro-IRI edits/comments and getting away with it. Being "polite" whilst doing it doesn't make it any better, that's why we have something called WP:CPP. I don't think this was would have happened if there were more admins to monitor this area (though I don't blame them). The fact that Mhhossein only got topic-banned from MEK (People's Mujahedin of Iran) related stuff back in September 2021 is honestly baffling [310]. --HistoryofIran (talk) 07:28, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Concernsavant

     Courtesy link: WP:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive1109 § AFC/HD Bludgeoning

    Concernsavant is the account behind (over?) the IPv6 in the thread above, and from the looks of it he hasn't learnt anything from the block. Aside from getting a sandbox of his deleted as G12, he's been constantly copy-pasting material from the sources he's trying to cite to his talkpage and to AFC/HD in an effort to defend the same sources that have been deemed wanting before, and has also been editing the archived AFC/HD discussion to try and make his case there. At this point I'm of the opinion that there is just no reaching him, and so I have to reluctantly ask for an indefinite block here. —Jéské Couriano v^_^v a little blue Bori 04:57, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Disruptive, promotional. Take your pick. Indeffed either way. Star Mississippi 15:50, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Might I ask for a talk page revocation? They're unwilling/unable to contest their block and are instead just trotting out the same tired Vaudeville act that's been gonged multiple times. —Jéské Couriano v^_^v a little blue Bori 04:37, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Absolutely would have, but @Legoktm got to it first. Thank you! Star Mississippi 13:07, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Repeatedly adding false negative material and BLP vios to a sanctioned article

    Guydebordgame has been adding false negative information to Bored Ape, and edit-warring over these additions, since September 17. He has ignored or disparaged several attempts on the talkpage (beginning September 18) to get him to abide by Wikipedia policies (WP:UNDUE, WP:BLP, WP:V), gain consensus, and make sure his edits are verified in citations [311].

    Because the article is under Community Sanctions and restricted to 1RR, and the user is edit-warring and doubling down instead of listening, I am bringing the issue here.

    Negative inaccurate edits and BLP vios on Bored Ape:

    • [312] "Crack cocaine addict" (the citation instead says this co-founder had addictions for a couple of years in his early teens and they ended when he was 15)
    • [313] (reverted removal) re-added "Crack cocaine addict"
    • [314] re-added "crack cocaine addict", in a new sentence; still inaccurate, still undue, cherry-picked, and a BLP violation. (The citation instead says that before co-founding Bored Ape, Aronow was [planning to get an MFA but fell ill and became] a cryptocurrency trader.)
    • [315] "The ADL has stated that several of the traits in the collection are problematic and racist towards black people and Japanese people." (Instead, the citation refers to two senior research fellows at ADL [Pitcavage and Hill], both of whom refute Ripps' claims of racism, although they note that, out of context, 2 of the 10,000 ape images are problematic and that "a very small subset" is "clearly offensive" taken out of context.)
    • [316] "banned in many countries for being child pornography" (The citation does not mention Bored Ape, and does not mention child pornography or the film being banned anywhere.)
    • [317] (reverted removal) re-added "itself named after the 1971 film, banned in many countries for being child pornography." (Again, the citation does not mention Bored Ape, and does not mention child pornography or the film being banned anywhere.)
    • [318] "where users commonly 'draw dicks,' according to the founder." (Not at all what the citation says; not even an accurate quote even though it's in quotation marks. The citation mentions a concept of an unnamed shared blank digital canvas that was apparently abandoned because the founders didn't want people drawing problematical stuff.)
    • [319] (reverted removal) re-re-added "itself named after the 1971 film, banned in many countries for being child pornography." (Again, the existing citation does not mention Bored Ape, and does not mention child pornography or the film being banned anywhere. Guydebordgame added to that an unreliable citation which falsely implies that the pseudonym refers to the film rather than the album and which links to an unrelated 2015 Canadian court filing which does not mention Bored Ape or the album the pseudonym is named for, and although the court filing mentions the film and says that a police officer had said that based on description one or two scenes in the film were "bordeline child pornography", the court filing says nothing about the film being "banned in many countries".)

    Again, since the article is under sanctions and the user is edit-warring every time his false negative material is reverted, even with clear explanations in the edit summary and on the talkpage, I'm bringing this here. 64.64.172.66 (talk) 06:01, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I've now added another diff as Guydebordgame is contimuing to edit war on this 1RR article over his false information and is refusing to gain consensus. 64.64.172.66 (talk) 00:48, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Pinging Isabelle Belato and ASpacemanFalls, who have been editing the article somewhat regurlarly recently, to see if they have any comments. Also Hesperian Nguyen, who apparently has considerable experience with this editor but (may be currently off wiki and not see this). 64.64.172.66 (talk) 23:50, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Thanks for the ping. I'm not sure this is an urgent issue at the moment, but from checking the article's history, it does seem like Guydebordgame is involved in a slow edit war to add that one information about the movie. Their interaction with other users in the talk page, which I've warned them about, also makes me think they want to right some wrongs. I hope a stern warning will course-correct them. Isabelle 🏳‍🌈 01:17, 1 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Joe Roe

    I recently saw that User:Moondragon21 created some problematic articles, noted this at User talk:Moondragon21#Issues with your creations, and pinged User:Joe Roe as they had given them the autopatrolled right, which I thought should be revoked. Things went downhill from there, with Joe Roe completely missing the point and making false claims for rather unclear reasons. Today they warned me that "regardless of what you think of the quality of their edits, I think we both know that you systematically combing through another editor's creations does not lead to a good place." (the editor created unattributed, machine translated versions of articles from other wikis: no idea how to find this and see if e.g. a CCI is necessary without going through their edits). Joe Roe also reverted a draftifying I made of an article by Moondragon without bothering to solve the issues that lead to the draftifying in the first place, and then blocked me from that page when I redraftified it, which seems like a clear WP:INVOLVED issue. They also history merged another Moondragon21 article I had draftified (Murder of Natalia Melmann, a problematic unattributed translation), without bothering to indicate that they put an unattributed translation back into the mainspace in this way.

    Can someone please tell Joe Roe that such WP:INVOLVED blocks are a big no-no, and that making false claims to protect his granting of autopatrolled isn't very good either? Fram (talk) 08:04, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    • I don't think I "missed the point" that Fram was trying to make with regards to Moondragon21's edits (he was not aware that we're supposed to attribute translated articles, now he is). I just disagreed that it justified revoking autopatrolled from his account. Fram is of course welcome to ask another admin to review that decision. Afterwards, Moondragon21 pinged me asking for help resolving a split page history after Fram moved one of his creations to draft while he was editing it. I did so, then noticed that Fram had moved another of his creations (Gonca Türkeli-Dehnert) to draft multiple times, which is contrary to WP:DRAFTOBJECT and WP:MOVEWAR. I undid this, then reminded Fram of that policy, noting that Liz had just done the same thing a few weeks before (User_talk:Fram#Draftifying_articles). Fram immediately reversed that move, so I issued a partial block to prevent further move warring. All of my interactions with Moondragon21 and Fram have been in an administrative capacity, and the only reason I saw any of this was because Fram pinged me to ask me to take an administrative action, so I don't see how I have crossed WP:INVOLVED. I'm happy to hear others comments on whether any part of this sequence was in error. – Joe (talk) 08:17, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      • Thanks for showing that you indeed missed the point. The issues I raised about Moondragon were unattributed translations, very poor machine translations, and "fake" referencing (taking the first source from the original article, and putting it at random somewhere in their translation, thereby e.g. using a 2018 source to reference a 2022 fact). "he was not aware that we're supposed to attribute translated articles, now he is" He has since edited a lot, and has not tagged even one of his creations as an unattributed translation, despite requests to do so from me and from Joe Roe. "All of my interactions with Moondragon21 and Fram have been in an administrative capacity": I criticized your repeated failures to actually see the issues, and the false claims (e.g. "The notices about articles nominated for deletion or moved to draft were there before I granted autopatrolled") you made to defend your lack of action. To then go and revert a problematic article back into mainspace and then block your critic is clear WP:INVOLVED admin tools abuse. Fram (talk) 08:30, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        Yes, you are criticising my administrative actions. That's fine, happens all the time, but it does not disqualify me from taking further administrative actions involving you. We'd be rather stuck if that were what WP:INVOLVED means, because someone could just declare that they think all admins are idiots and become unblockable. – Joe (talk) 09:22, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        • No, I am discussing your competence and your false claims in defending your lack of action. About the edits of one editor, with a few articles as examples: and you just happen to then block me from one of these articles, and claim you are not involved. Comparing this with an extreme example of slippery slope is a very weak attempt at defense. Fram (talk) 09:33, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
          Oh, and your attempt to stop me from looking through the creations of someone who produces poor, unattributed machine translations. You seem to have your priorities here absolutely wrong. Fram (talk) 09:36, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Both the Fram block and this ANI thread popped up on my watchlist at the exact same time, so I took a look at Gonca Türkeli-Dehnert. I have no dog in this fight, and have no opinion on whether the block or other actions were WP:INVOLVED. But having checked three of the four citations in the article, I had to remove those three as not verifying in the least. I believe that Gonca Türkeli-Dehnert should be returned to draft, and Moondragon21's autopatrolled should be revoked. And MurielMary should be far far more careful in accepting AFC submissions. Softlavender (talk) 09:11, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Edited to add: Yngvadottir has now fixed the sourcing issues, so I now believe the article can stay in mainspace unless the subject lacks notability. That said, I believe Moondragon21's autopatrolled should be revoked, and Fram unbanned from the article now that it is sourced and unlikely to be moved-warred over (he may have something to contribute to the article). Softlavender (talk) 09:26, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • (edit conflict) I edit conflicted with you after working on Gonca Türkeli-Dehnert, and had previously looked at Murder of Natalia Melmann. To be frank, neither looked like a translation to me, they were both so inadequate in their coverage, while the German articles are distinctly fuller coverage of the subject. I was disturbed by the point to which Fram drew attentions in their edit summaries at Gonca Türkeli-Dehnert—an obviously misused reference—and it's a BLP, so I rolled up my sleeves. I believe it's better now. I don't think Moondragon21 should be doing any editing here requiring understanding German, let alone on BLPs. Türkeli-Dehnert is not a politician, she is a civil servant/administrator, and the article contained several inaccuracies. It didn't bear the hallmarks of machine translation, but this editor's work based on German sources, at least, needs to be draftified until it can be checked. In short, Fram's right and since I have now made the article much closer to the content of the German article, I'm going to put the translation template on its talk page, but I don't think the editor has been translating, really. Yngvadottir (talk) 09:34, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      • To clarify, I don't think I indicated that this page was a translated one (if I did, I messed up). The ones I indicated as unattributed translations were Julia Hamburg (a near-straight Google translate of the intro to the German article, and Murder of Natalia Melmann, which was a badly mangled straight Google translate of the Spanish version: e.g. the text in the enwiki article, "Later skills link five involved since in the analysis of the young woman's body five different genetic traces were found" is exactly the same as what you get with a Google translate of "Pericias posteriores vinculan a cinco involucrados puesto que en el análisis al cuerpo de la joven fueron hallados cinco rastros genéticos distintos" from here. Fram (talk) 10:22, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Support removal of the removal of Moondragon21 autopatrolled permissions given the issues mentioned here and on their talk page since they have been given the permissions. They had an AfC rejected due to using wikiwix.com as a source for Mariama Sarr in August.
      As an aside, whilst I am aware that it is a personal preference and not policy, I do not like signatures that do not display their username. As such I am disappointed that an administrator would have a signature that says "Joe" when their username is actually "Joe Roe". Gusfriend (talk) 10:20, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Comment Perhaps it's a misnomer, but WP:DRAFT is marked as an "explanatory essay". In that context, was this extreme enough to 1) warrant a block 2) require an admin to revert the move back to a "preferred version" in lieu of editors organically resolving this (preferably through discussion).—Bagumba (talk) 09:56, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      That particular part of WP:DRAFT is just an explanation of how WP:EW, a policy, is applied to moves-to-draft. This was a partial block from editing one page after I had attempted to get Fram to stop himself; I didn't see it as particularly "extreme". – Joe (talk) 10:23, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      • Trying to stop me from something not disallowed in policy but just in an essay, and without even attempting to get a) why I redrafted it, or b) to correct these issues on that BLP yourself? And then blocking me, again based on that essay, while we were in a dispute over your handling of the autopatrolled right of that very editor? Fram (talk) 10:37, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        We weren't "in a dispute", Fram. You asked me to do something, I said no. – Joe (talk) 10:45, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        And misrepresented my comments, and then started lying about what happened, and then as a completely unrelated action (right?) lectured me about draft moving one of the articles from that discussion, lectured me about going through the creations of other editors (because, of course, we want more disastrous machine translations and we don't want anyone to find out), and then pblocked me. Totally normal behaviour. Fram (talk) 11:00, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        I really have no idea what you're talking about with half of that. Let's let others weigh in, shall we? – Joe (talk) 11:02, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        I did so, then noticed that Fram had moved another of his creations (Gonca Türkeli-Dehnert) to draft multiple times, which is contrary to WP:DRAFTOBJECT and WP:MOVEWAR. I undid this, then reminded Fram of that policy...: Those actions that you described are you as an editor, not an admin, and you cited essays. A revert would rarely be an admin action, save for a policy violation (BLP vios, unsourced, etc) or reverting to "preferred version" only after applying full protection in an edit war. This is a content dispute of sorts on what should be in draftspace or mainspace. Discussion would have been the preferred action at that point, not adding to the warring yourself. —Bagumba (talk) 11:06, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        This is both: reverting a (conduct) policy violation and reverting to the (policy) preferred version. I've enforced WP:DRAFTOBJECT many times before, as an admin action, and will continue to do so unless there's a strong consensus here that it's inappropriate. I have no opinion on whether the article ultimately belongs in mainspace, only that the process is followed. – Joe (talk) 11:30, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        • You are using an essay to support your edit warring and blocking over bringing a BLP into mainspace while the issues that have been pointed out with references not supporting the claims (with e.g. a 2018 source for a 2022 fact) have not been corrected, and claim that you are reverting to the policy prefered version somehow? And that's still ignoring the involved action of it of course, but then again, you "have no idea what I'm talking about" when I describe your own posts, so this shouldn't come as a surprise. Fram (talk) 11:41, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        I'll defer to others on whether DRAFTOBJECT is a de-facto policy or just an essay, as I'm not too active in this area.—Bagumba (talk) 11:36, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I was just looking at the new pages recently made by Moondragon21 and noticed that since 23 September Alexis Izard, Elenore Sturko (politician), Finnish gun politics, Paul Midy, Zorlu Tore and Midy have all been created without a talk page template plus pages created with only a single primary source and needing other tags. As I mentioned above I do not believe that they should have autopatrolled permission. Gusfriend (talk) 11:53, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    They also don't add the redirect templates like {{R from alternative name}} when they create new pages which are redirects. Gusfriend (talk) 11:59, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Not seeing this as an involved problem. If someone moves a page back to article space, don't just keep move warring back to draft. If an admin notices someone move warring and moves it back, that doesn't make them involved. If there are other issues and you aren't making progress on various talk pages, bring them to ANI. Present a sample of articles, describe the problems they have, and suggest revoking autopatrolling or some other sanction (or postpone such a proposal if the person understands the issues). I will say, though, that as usual, coming in hot with a "look at all the ways I found that you're a screw-up. can't you do anything right?" [paraphrase] followed by a bunch more notifications as you go through a bunch of their edits with the effect of angrily dropping a stack of papers on someone's desk, isn't always the most effective approach at getting someone to change their behavior and is going to lead to the wrong kinds of arguments.
      It looks like some of the this thread has become about Moondragon21, though. Perhaps that should be separated from the involved question. Moondragon21, as several people have said now, you do have to attribute translations, and will need to go back and do so for past translations. You are also responsible for the quality of the translation, and for making sure the articles meeting English Wikipedia policy requirements. That doesn't mean everything has to be perfect, but it does mean e.g. ensuring that text is verifiable in cited sources and, ideally, that the sources collectively justify a notability claim. As is often the case, Fram is correct on the merits (just not on the approach). — Rhododendrites talk \\ 13:07, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      "If an admin notices someone move warring and moves it back, that doesn't make them involved." is a strange way to describe this. People are involved because they have a dispute, not because they move a page. But if you move a page and then block an editor while you are already in a dispute with that editor (about, among other things, this very page and the seriousness of the issues seen here and on other pages), then that makes it an involved action. Fram (talk) 13:15, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Comment - so this was the status of the page when Joe moved it to mainspace the last time. "In October 2021, she became State Secretary for Integration in the First Wüst cabinet in North Rhine-Westphalia" is sourced to this source which is clearly dated 23.02.2018, but is sourcing a statement regarding 2021. When Fram moved the article back to draft with this edit, Fram's edit summary clearly said "A 2018 source to support a 2021 event? This is the exact same problem that led to drafitfying in the first place." I would have expected someone to read the reason why it was returned to draft. Also, I'm very unimpressed with citing two essays for the block ... and worse, calling them "policies" (see "Clear policy violation, and I'm not remotely involved"). And that doesn't even begin to get into the fact that you were the one reverting Fram in all this ... which *I* would consider involved even if there is some wikilawyering way of saying "no I wasn't" ... the appearance is very important with involved situations - always better to err on the side of not doing something. On the other hand, Fram, it might have been best to do as Softlavender and Yngvadottir did and just FIX the issues rather than move war ... you may have been on the side of protecting the encyclopedia but it does look a bit like you were being a bit of a pain in the behind rather than just fixing the issue. Ealdgyth (talk) 13:16, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Fair enough. I can get a bit vexed when people move things back to mainspace without bothering to fix the issues (see e.g. Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Pranav Pandya (AWGP) for a similar one, not involving any of the people here though). Fram (talk) 13:21, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      As I have already said, WP:DRAFTOBJECT is an explanatory gloss to WP:EW, a policy, as is WP:MOVEWAR. I could have cited WP:EW directly, but that would have just made things less clear, and I wasn't writing with eventually having to defend my action at ANI in mind (though given that Fram was involved, that was stupid of me). I can't get my head around the idea that reverting someone makes you involved. How else are admins supposed to deal with other types of move warring? Or regular edit warring? Or just vandalism? This is not wikilawyering, it's a core element of WP:INVOLVED: one important caveat is that an administrator who has interacted with an editor or topic area purely in an administrative role [...] is not involved and is not prevented from acting in an administrative capacity in relation to that editor or topic area. – Joe (talk) 13:35, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      • WP:MOVEWAR is an essay (and is about page names, not about namespaces, to boot)... anyway, you weren't involved because you reverted me, your reversion and block were problematic because you, the involved editor, made them. Fram (talk) 13:44, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        For me... the way an uninvolved administrator solves a move warring issue is move protecting the article or blocking someone for move warring. What makes you involved in MY mind is that you got down in the trenches and moved the article/draft around, thus becoming an editor rather than an admin. An admin works to stop the problem without having to make a decision on the content (or in this case, the namespace location of the article/draft). Like I said above, there may be a "wikilawyer" way out of being "letter of the wikilaw" "involved", but for my own actions as an admin, and as a way of staying above the fray and NOT getting into situations where you're "looking bad" - it's better to not make those "content decisions" like reverting a move before making a block. And I'll say - both of you should let other folks weigh in here, rather than doing a big pile of back and forth that doesn't make either one of you look like sensible people who are ready to collaborate and compromise. Ealdgyth (talk) 13:52, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        • Are you saying Joe should've blocked then reverted rather than revert then block? Or that if you block someone for repeatedly inappropriately moving a page, the page must stay at the location in was improperly moved to until someone else comes along? That doesn't seem ideal. It's not like a content dispute where there are two valid interpretations of policy and an admin isn't supposed to choose between them -- pages just aren't supposed to be moved back to draftspace like that. i.e. the next step is AfD, ANI, or some other mechanism to resolve problems with the content/creator. — Rhododendrites talk \\ 14:09, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Ealdgyth said that as an admin Joe should have either move-protected the page or blocked for move-warring, and should not have move-warred himself. Softlavender (talk) 09:22, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Softlavender: What would be the point of blocking or protecting the page if it remained in Fram's preferred location? – Joe (talk) 10:26, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I'm summarizing Ealdgyth, so you'll have to ask him. But you might want to check out WP:The Wrong Version (when there is an edit war or move war, an admin should not choose their prefered version [involvement] and then lock or block), and remember that Ealdgyth gave you two options to choose between, and page-protecting was just one of them; blocking Fram for move-warring (or even just move-protecting) would have allowed other editors to decide (for instance via talkpage consensus or whatever) whether the page in that form should be in draft-space or mainspace. Softlavender (talk) 00:15, 29 September 2022 (UTC); edited 01:18, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      • I don't see re-draftifying a BLP that is known to have fake sources as edit warring. Moving a BLP draft to mainspace without fixing the issues that have been pointed out is bad. Then blocking the messenger is also bad. Joe, can you unblock Fram from the page and accept a trout so we can close this? —Kusma (talk) 14:30, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        No, because I don't remotely see a consensus for that. From WP:EW: an editor who repeatedly restores their preferred version is edit warring, regardless of whether those edits are justifiable. – Joe (talk) 04:24, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        Considering that I reverted once on the 23th, and once on the 27th, and you reverted my moves twice on the 27th, it seems as if that line applies more to you (who broke 1RR) than to me then? Fram (talk) 07:42, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        Is there a policy-based reason to continue blocking Fram from that page? As it is unlikely that they will edit the page, the block currently only seems to serve as a scarlet letter punishment. —Kusma (talk) 08:42, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        I would be happy to unblock if Fram says they will not move the page to draft again. They haven't, as far as I know, so I have no reason to conclude that it is "unlikely" that they will edit the page. – Joe (talk) 10:24, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        Are you aware of the reason why Fram moved the page to draft space and also that Yngvadottir has fixed that issue? Why should Fram move or edit the page now? —Kusma (talk) 10:40, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        I don't know why Fram would move it in the first place when we have an age old process for building consensus for deciding whether articles should remain in mainspace. Anyway, Ritchie333 has decided to unblock and pseudo-close this thread. – Joe (talk) 10:59, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        Because draftification is a policy-suggested alternative for deletion, i.e. something which should be considered instead of starting an AFD; because AfD is not cleanup; because draftification gives them 6 months instead of 7 days, ... I don't understand, on the other hand, why you would move articles back to the mainspace without making any effort to address the issues with them first. Fram (talk) 12:40, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        If you are citing WP:EW, there is no situation when it's an administrative role to add your own revert to an ongoing dispute. There was no WP:3RRNO exemption applicable. You became an editor at that point.

        An edit war occurs when editors who disagree about the content of a page repeatedly override each other's contributions.

        Then Fram reverted you, and you invoked an INVOLVED block. —Bagumba (talk) 09:01, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        This is incoherent... how are admins supposed to deal with edit warring or move warring if reverting to the status quo makes them involved in the dispute? – Joe (talk) 10:29, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • If I protect a page after it's seen BLP disruption (for instance), I will usually revert to the status quo after protection has been applied. This is standard procedural practice, and doesn't make a person involved in any way. The involvement is a red herring here. The issue is needing to acknowledge and deal with BLP problems in the content. And draftification isn't a solution to that: the page may be less prominent, but BLP very much applies in draftspace, if there's content violating BLP, it's still an issue. If someone had the time to fix the issue, that's obviously preferred, but blanking, not draftification, is the appropriate second choice. Edit-warring over a draftification is genuinely pointless. As such I don't think anyone is covering themselves in glory here. Joe's block is within policy, but it's not really addressing the meat of the issue. Fram's edit-warring was pointless, and can't even claim a BLP exemption, because he wasn't removing the content. I know I'm likely pissing off everyone here, but can we de-escalate a little, appreciate what Yngvadottir did, and recognize that something similar is what's best done next time? Vanamonde (Talk) 18:37, 27 September 2022 (UTC) Striking: had not seen the second revert. Inappropriate block, per Amakuru below. Vanamonde (Talk) 21:44, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      • Thanks for the endorsement, Vanamonde, but going over a translation to find and fix problems is lengthy, demanding work; notice that my initial fix edit conflicted with Softlavender, who saw the problems with the sources. I dropped everything; Fram may not have had time (and may not have the German reading skills needed; I'm not sure I rendered the bureaucratic titles well myself). There are a limited set of editors capable of checking and fixing bad translations, and WP:PNT is perpetually snowed under. Joe Roe didn't examine these articles closely enough, nor did the AfC reviewer who passed the one I worked on, and Moondragon apparently can't read the original languages well enough to translate accurately; at least draftification removed the article from passing readers and from Google indexing while the problem with Moondragon's articles based on foreign languages could be addressed. Yngvadottir (talk) 20:47, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        @Yngvadottir: I do recognize that, hence my appreciation. Lacking the time to do that, though, the next best option is blanking the BLPvio, not move-warring. Moving it to draft may de-index it, but it's still a BLP violation. Vanamonde (Talk) 21:57, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Yes, thank you Yngvadottir and others for doing the important thing and fixing the article. But I still think that, as an admin responding to move-warring and bad draftications, it isn't my job to wade in and decide who's "right" about the content dispute or try to deal with complex content problems. That would make me involved. – Joe (talk) 04:28, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • I agree that Julia Hamburg was an unattributed translation of the first paragraph of de:Julia Hamburg; I've just fixed that, so now it's an attributed translation. It might or might not be a machine translation. I can't see any of the usual smoking guns for a machine translation but there isn't enough text to be sure.—S Marshall T/C 18:36, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • @S Marshall: Yes, that was what I wondered about at Gonca Türkeli-Dehnert; it didn't show the garbled syntax indicating a machine translation, but instead had plausible wording but serious omissions and inaccuracies of content. I've now looked at Julia Hamburg and the German; Fram sees a machine translation of the intro (which is itself a mark of a bad translation), but it's full of omissions of what is an almost quintessentially difficult German summary. I don't have time to work on it for several hours, and it in any case it begs for a rendition of the entire article. Meanwhile I've asked Moondragon21 what exactly they have been doing. Fram has pointed out a passage in another article that was clearly machine translation, but these two German ones make me wonder whether the editor is using some other intermediary text. The combination of plausible English and serious inaccuracies makes me think of those shady news sites that are populated with translations, maybe AI-mediated. Yngvadottir (talk) 21:00, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Personally I wouldn't attempt an idiomatic translation of the German article. I'd write a fresh article in English based on the German-language sources, which would take me about half the time. Might have a go at that.—S Marshall T/C 22:21, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    @Joe Roe: You stated above: I've enforced WP:DRAFTOBJECT many times before, as an admin action, and will continue to do so unless there's a strong consensus here that it's inappropriate. After various comments, I'm interested in your current perspective on admin actions w.r.t. DRAFTOBJECT. Thanks.—Bagumba (talk) 03:57, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Not really changed. Edit warring is disruptive, that has been settled policy for years, and per Rhododendrites and Vanamonde the standard admin response is block/protect and revert to the status quo ante. Move warring is doubly disruptive because of how annoying it is to revert, and move warring in draft space even worse because WP:CSD#G13 makes it a functional slow deletion. Nobody has made a strong argument against that, only objected to WP:MOVEWAR and WP:DRAFTOBJECT being technically essays, or said that I should have dealt with the content problems myself. I have more sympathy to the latter point of view, though my general philosophy with admin work is that if their are editors actively working on an article, leave the content issues to them (because WP:NODEADLINE), and just focus on making sure that everyone is getting their voice heard fairly (because WP:BITE is a big risk with draftification). – Joe (talk) 04:22, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    To summarize: I reverted once the 23th, and once the 27th. Joe Roe reverted me twice(!) the 27th. Hardly a blockworthy edit war in itself. "Nobody has made a strong argument against that, only objected to WP:MOVEWAR and WP:DRAFTOBJECT being technically essays" Uh, I do believe that if the justifications for a block are two essays, one of them not even applicable to the case at hand (WP:MOVEWAR, as already said above), then this is not a technicality but an indication that your block is not supported by policy. Joe Roe not only went immediately to an indef block (which again is not what policy suggests at all), but refuses to undo the block even after all these things have been pointed out, they have been asked by others to undo the block, and the issue leading to the reverts has been resolved anyway, making the block pointless in any case. Fram (talk) 07:39, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    • I have a lot of respect for Joe Roe, but they've clearly made an error of judgement here. Using an essay as a rationale for blocking someone, and on an issue affecting a BLP too, in which they were already INVOLVED, was not correct. I can AGF on that, we all make mistakes sometimes, but it's worrying that Joe seems to be doubling down on that now, instead of apologising.  — Amakuru (talk) 07:52, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    (After edit conflict) Joe Roe, that line about draftification being bitey and amounting to slow deletion is usually mine. Just the other day I was schooled here that it's perfectly ok to move a draftified article back after fixing its issues, it doesn't have to go through AfC unless there's a COI or some other specific reason. I'm not sure I 100% believe that, but there's that to explain why some NPPers are so casual about it ... However, in this instance Fram had drawn attention at least twice in their edit summaries to a major problem with the referencing (2018 ref for 2021 occurrence). Doesn't BLP policy add urgency? I'm surprised you ignored that point. Would it really have been kinder to Moondragon21 to blank the article, or reduce it to an unreferenced stub? (That was the only reference the first time Fram draftified it.) In any case, I note that Moondragon21 hasn't edited for more than twelve hours; I was hoping they'd have resumed editing and come here by now; but based on the examples in this thread, I too request you rescind the granting of autopatrol. There are too many problems in their articles for them not to be looked at by NPP. Not just the failure to attribute translations, but inaccuracies and faulty referencing; I understand that you were unaware of these problems before this thread. And yes, it's not my place, but IMO you should reverse the pblock on Fram. Yngvadottir (talk) 07:53, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Literally all I asked Fram to do was stop move warring and start an AfD to get consensus. It has never been our policy that if a BLP has problems, major or not, it should be immediately removed from mainspace. – Joe (talk) 10:39, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Amakuru: I think "doubling down" is a little uncharitable? I am listening to what people are saying, but admin accountability is not automatic genuflection when you're brought to ANI, it's justifying your actions and being open to being convinced you were wrong. I am open to being convinced, but: I was not "already involved", and I cited a policy as the reason for the block (WP:EW), not an essay. So what is it I should apologise for? The first time I was asked to reverse the block was today, and I have just said I am happy to do so if Fram does not intend to move the page again. – Joe (talk) 10:36, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Joe Roe: I take your point, and I don't think there is bad faith on your part, but unfortunately I don't agree with your interpretation of policy here and I also think it's fairly clear that your (good faith) actions weren't in line with policy. Your initial explanation for the block of Fram was that they had violated WP:DRAFTOBJECT, which is probably true, but that is demonstrably an essay, not a policy. It explicitly says at the top, "This page is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community". Now you're saying you blocked Fram for edit warring, but if that's the case then it's an edit war you also participated in, with both of you moving the page twice. That's WP:INVOLVED by most definitions, and you should have instead sought an outside opinion if you felt a block was necessary. Many others have said the same thing above so I think it would be good for you to accept the wet fish recommended by Kusma above, and then we can move on.  — Amakuru (talk) 11:15, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    So, what we have here, in my opinion, is a problematic BLP, that was moved to draftspace; Joe moved it back to mainspace, on the basis of his reading of the relevant policies, and then blocked the other party in this dispute. Well, as far as I'm concerned, that's the definition of an involved block. Whenever we have edit wars or move wars, both editors claim to be enforcing policies and, yet, they can be blocked (subject to very few exceptions) and, anyway, if they happen to be administrators, they are considered involved in regard to the controversy at hand. You don't get to revert your opponent, because you think they misunderstand policy and then block them, unless it's very clearly vandalism or another type of blatant disruption, which wasn't the case here. The best way of approaching this would have been to ask another administrator to determine whether Fram should have been blocked in this instance, since you had already reverted his move. Separately, after skimming over Moondragon21's talk page, I also think that it would be a good idea to review whether his autopatrolled permission really is warranted. Finally, I have to also say that Fram is not entirely blameless in this; for my money, his approach continues to be somewhat antagonistic, and that makes it more difficult to solve the issues that he correctly points out. Salvio 09:59, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I have unblocked Fram, as I count four admins (Salvio, Bagumba, Kusma and Amakuru) who have opposed the block, along with several other editors, and none that have explicitly supported it as a good block. I am also doing this to de-escalate the situation, and agree that everyone needs to step back, take a deep breath, and just agree to disagree on this issue. Ritchie333 (talk) (cont) 10:39, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Thanks. Fram (talk) 10:48, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    That wasn't remotely de-escalatory, Ritchie333. You reversed my action minutes after I said I would be happy to do it myself with minimal conditions, and pre-empted the consensus here by calling it a "bad block" in the log, when in fact at least two participants (Vanamonde and Rhododentrites) have said that it is within policy. But whatever, let's let Fram continue to bully article writers and remain unblockable because "four admins" are willing to defend them. – Joe (talk) 10:50, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Five admins. Would I call it a "bad block", though? Perhaps a "suboptimal" one. However, it's a block I wouldn't have made. Meanwhile, I don't think the identity of the blocked editor is actually that relevant here, apart from the fact that it inevitably ended up at ANI and became more visible. And I think it is unhelpful to say they were "bullying" article writers when there's quite a lot of agreement here that the article, as it stood, should not have been in mainspace. Black Kite (talk) 11:31, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I would say that I did not think the block was helpful, and would think my earlier points kinda made that clear. So make it six. (Sorry, I had some ... off-wiki issues come up yesterday and did not get a chance to revisit this until this morning). Ealdgyth (talk) 12:46, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I'm hesitant to just leave this thread as "agree to disagree" when Joe's interpretation of WP:INVOLVED vastly differs from mine. From their comment above: This is incoherent... how are admins supposed to deal with edit warring or move warring if reverting to the status quo makes them involved in the dispute? AFAIK, an admin should never revert, have another editor revert back, and then proceeding to block that reverting editor. They seem to be confusing this with some (rare) situtations when it may be OK to revert to a longstanding version after a block.—Bagumba (talk) 10:50, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I'd be very happy to see a wider discussion about that, because I am quite confident that my view is aligned with broader community consensus. And per Rhododentrites: what difference does it make if the block is before or after the revert? I did both within minutes of each other here. – Joe (talk) 10:53, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    ...what difference does it make if the block is before or after the revert?: Before a block, you are making an editorial decision on which version is "right", who had the onus to start a discussion, etc. Worse, you would only be adding to the warring—repeatedly overriding each other's contributions—not de-escalating the situation. After a block, it's merely an administrative action reflecting community consensus, where an admin presumably does not have an editorial preference. —Bagumba (talk) 11:06, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    So, if an admin reverts 12:00 and blocks at 12:01, they made an editorial decision and added to the edit warring. But if they block at 12:00 and revert at 12:01, they have merely made an administrative action reflecting community consensus and do not have an editorial preference? This is your understanding of the consensus view? It seems nonsensical to me; like it couldn't possibly matter which order those two actions were taken, they are, for all intents and purposes, taken simultaneously. Levivich (talk) 19:05, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I can find no fault in Levivich's logic, those are for all intents and purposes functional equivalents. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 19:07, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Except your hypothetical scenario was not what happened. Joe reverted the move at 6:36 27 Sept. Fram reverted again at 7:36. Joe then made the block at 7:48 Joe's revert and block are spread out, and separate decisions, not one minute apart with an arguably interchangeable order.—Bagumba (talk) 19:28, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    OK, so what you're saying is if an admin reverts at 12:00 and also issues a warning at 12:00, and the editor then re-reverts at 1:00, and the admin blocks at 1:12, then it's not an admin action, it's an editorial decision, and the admin is involved? Levivich (talk) 19:40, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Any editor, not just admins, can make certain reverts to enforce policy (e.g. WP:3RRNO), which would be exempt from being considered part of an edit war. An admin should not revert to enforce non-policies like WP:DRAFTOBJECT or even WP:BRD, though they can do so an editor. Issuing a warning about basic courtesies to avoid an EW is at least an attempt to educate and diffuse the situation.—Bagumba (talk) 20:07, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Let's use your example: I see an edit that I think violates WP:UNDUE and revert it; it's obvious that I think I'm enforcing policy, but that's not an administrative action, in this case I am acting in my capacity as an editor; it would be the same if it was you who reverted that edit – you are an editor, but you think you are enforcing policy –; subsequently, the author of the original edit reverts me and I block him, then that's a bad block, because I'm involved. It may be warranted, because I Was right all along, but that does not change the fact that I was involved. In this case it's the same principle: the same person, first acting as an editor and then as an administrator wants to ensure that his interpretation of policy prevails. In this case, we're not even talking about a policy, but that's beside the point. Furthermore, Joe may be right on the merits, but that does not change the fact that the block was in violation of WP:INVOLVED
    Yes, there can be exceptions: WP:BLP is an example, in my opinion, WP:COPYVIO is another, but, as I said, these are exceptions, they should not be interpreted broadly. In general, the letter as I interpret it or, at the very least, the spirit of WP:INVOLVED is that an administrator should not use the tools to make sure that he has the upper hand in a good-faith dispute, such as this one. Salvio 20:15, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Bad unblock. Could've at least said "it was involved, but don't do that in the future". Fram clearly sees it as validation that the guidance we have about moving drafts (which is part of Wikipedia:Drafts -- the page which describes how/when to use draftspace, regardless of the tag at the top) and standard processes to follow to address content issues are just things which get in the way of Defending The Wiki. This was a page-level block; there was no urgency. Sigh. — Rhododendrites talk \\ 12:15, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

     Comment: I would like to see the context of this quotation "regardless of what you think of the quality of their edits, I think we both know that you systematically combing through another editor's creations does not lead to a good place". Can someone provide a diff please? I am not sure whether is somewhere on the policies or the guidelines, but it is common sense that if user X makes a methodological error continually, you have to check his edits. Or if you spot lets say 3-4 same manner errors, it is reasonable to think that this might be something a broader issue, and it should be checked. Checking ofcourse should be always polite and civil, aiming to help the other editor, not to frustrate him, but anyway, this is another discussion. Checking each other's work should be welcomed. Sorry for not commenting on the central theme (WP INVOLVED), but I would like to clarify this issue first. Cinadon36 10:46, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    @Cinadon36: WP:FRAMBAN and Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Fram. – Joe (talk) 10:54, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    As far as I am aware, the Fram arbitration case did not provide any useful clarification on the "hounding" issue whatsoever. But what should Fram (or anyone else, really) do if he notices a problematic editor whose edits do not improve after friendly communication? (A) Ignore it (B) Continue to point out mistakes or (C) Go straight to ANI? —Kusma (talk) 11:53, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    When did the "friendly communication" happen in this case? Levivich (talk) 12:49, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I have no intention of letting the abusive T&S ban restrict me from doing the necessary legwork to find problematic editing patterns, as is necessary for e.g. the CCI's I started, the SPIs I started, or the Arbcom cases I started since the Framban. Without going through some of Moondragon's earlier creations, the highly problematic "murder of" article discussed on their talk page would still be in the same sorry state it was when it was created (and not seen by most NPPs as they have autopatrolled status...). Fram (talk) 12:35, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    FYI: as it is related to the ongoing discussion, I was looking at some of their edits and noticed the article Murder of Natalia Melmann without realising that it was the page being discussed (it has been a long day). Of the 6 references for the article, there were 2 pairs of references that were the same but on different sites. I fixed it by combining the references down to 4 from the original 6 and left a note on User:Moondragon21s talk page.Gusfriend (talk) 12:45, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • I'm going to disengage now, per the excellent advise on my talk page. I would just say that, while I'm not going to pull Moondragon21's autopatrolled right, that doesn't mean any other admin can't. At the same time, it seems extremely unfair to have discussion of his creations tangled up with this inside-baseball drama. He is a prolific contributor who deserves a fresh discussion and broad consensus, not one or two editors standing in judgement. – Joe (talk) 14:28, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Surely before MD21's autopatrolled right is pulled, the first resort would be to deploy the waggy finger and frowny face of mild administorial disapproval on his talk page? I mean, Fram's attempted something of the kind, but, well, not terribly successfully. Let's say that while Fram has many excellent and admirable qualities, gently coaching others about how to change their behaviour in a mild, engaging and de-escalating way is not one of them.—S Marshall T/C 18:00, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • What's weird about this is that autopatrolled isn't really a right. It doesn't let you do anything you can't do anyway. It's really a kind of tag that causes your creations to bypass NPP. It's a way of taking load off NPP when the benefits of that reduced load outweigh the risk of bad stuff escaping review -- not a way of making the editor's life easier or something. If there's any doubt at all about whether an editor's creations need review, even occasionally, then autopatrolled should be pulled. Holders of autopatrolled should have impeccable records. EEng 18:07, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • To be very clear about what I meant, since I've been mentioned above: I do not think this block violated INVOLVED, because Joe's revert was to the status quo. That doesn't make it a good block, only a block within the letter of policy. INVOLVED isn't very relevant here; we ought to be discussing how we should have dealt with the BLPVIO. I would not have blocked Fram in these circumstances, but then I wouldn't have moved the draft multiple times either. Vanamonde (Talk) 20:21, 28 September 2022 (UTC) Striking per comment below. Vanamonde (Talk) 21:44, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      This is not the way the policy works. "Reverting to the status quo" is not a reason to edit war. WP:EW says in the top paragraph that "An editor who repeatedly restores their preferred version is edit warring, regardless of whether those edits are justifiable. Claiming "My edits were right, so it wasn't edit warring" is not a valid defense." So by reverting Fram twice, whether it was the right or wrong action, Joe entered into an edit war, in dispute with Fram. They then went on to block Fram from the page on which the warring was taking place, which again is in black and white at WP:INVOLVED - "In general, editors should not act as administrators in disputes in which they have been involved". This was a dispute, Joe was involved, and they took administrative action on it. It was clearly done in good faith, but I don't see that there is a single possible doubt about this. Being "right" does not vindicate you from being involved. As I said above, I expected Joe once the facts were laid bare here to issue an apology for this this morning, or at least accept a WP:TROUT, given the facts of the case. Then we could have closed this thread and all moved on, but instead I see that he's "disengaged". I'm sorry but I do find that very disappointing.  — Amakuru (talk) 21:34, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      @Amakuru: I had not realized Joe moved the page page twice. That is indeed quite poor. I do believe the principle of my point stands, though; reverting once to the status quo is not involvement. Vanamonde (Talk) 21:39, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      For full page protection, the WP:PREFER policy allows admin discretion to reverting to a stable version, but only after full protection, not before. I assume the community supports a similiar action for blocks, reversing actions for which there is obviously no consensus, but again presumably only after blocking. —Bagumba (talk) 05:04, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      I agree. It wouldn't have been difficult to say "yes, I made this block, but I can see how it could be seen as incorrect given the situation, and I won't repeat this". But, nope. Oh well. Black Kite (talk) 21:40, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      He disengaged per the advice of the admin who unblocked Fram so as to better allow uninvolved editors to come to a consensus on what was correct here. I dont think it is really fair to castigate him for following that advice. As to the merits, I think you either play the role of admin or editor, and the reverts are that of an editor. Once you pick editor then you cant then also do admin things. nableezy - 21:46, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Timeline To be clear, Joe chimed in here multiple times before they chose to disengage. The rough timeline was:
      • 08:04 27 September ANI thread started
      • 11:30 Joe's statement on enforcing DRAFTOBJECT as an admin: I've enforced WP:DRAFTOBJECT many times before, as an admin action, and will continue to do so unless there's a strong consensus here that it's inappropriate.
      • 04:22 28 September Joe stands by his actions: Not really changed. Edit warring is disruptive, that has been settled policy for years, and per Rhododendrites and Vanamonde the standard admin response is block/protect and revert to the status quo ante.
      • 10:36 Joe reiterates that he is not INVOLVED: I think "doubling down" is a little uncharitable? I am listening to what people are saying, but admin accountability is not automatic genuflection when you're brought to ANI, it's justifying your actions and being open to being convinced you were wrong. I am open to being convinced, but: I was not "already involved", and I cited a policy as the reason for the block (WP:EW), not an essay.
      • 14:28 Joe posts here: I'm going to disengage now, per the excellent advise on my talk page.
      Joe is not a newbie who is blindly following the advice of an admin to disengage. They are an admin, responsible for their actions and the advice they choose to follow. They are no more obliged to follow the advice of "the admin who unblocked Fram" than they are to other admins' and editors' advice here. They can—and have—picked and chosen who they wish to listen to. —Bagumba (talk) 04:52, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Comment: I can understand Joe becoming defensive about his actions because Fram has been sniping at him relentlessly for a few days. Let's face it, Fram, your bedside manner is poor and you have failed to de-personalize the situation in your comments on this thread. (That said, Joe's bedside manner was quite poor when he wrote "I think we both know that you systematically combing through another editor's creations does not lead to a good place" on Fram's talkpage a day and a half ago.) In any case, I hope after the dust settles after a few days Joe can reflect on what has been said by uninvolved admins and experienced editors on this thread. Choosing a side in a dispute and then repeatedly enforcing that side and then blocking someone about it is generally considered an involved admin action, and is only acceptable in cases of major vandalism and drastic BLP violations (even then it's often good to go to AN and state what happened and ask for a block review). Softlavender (talk) 01:36, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • The way I see the complaint, there are two substantial claims of there being issues with Joe Roe's actions:
      1. Claim 1: Joe Roe was WP:INVOLVED and blocked Fram in order to restore their preferred location of a page.
      2. Claim 2: The sanction issued by Joe Roe was not warranted even if Joe Roe were not involved.
    With respect to claim 1, it is crystal clear that Joe Roe was involved, which is to say that Joe Roe was actively engaged in a dispute with Fram regarding the proper location of a particular page. Joe Roe moved the article from the draftspace into the mainspace, was reverted by Fram, and then moved the page back into the mainspace and blocked Fram. There was very clearly a dispute between the two editors regarding where the page belonged and Joe Roe clearly blocked an editor who had explicitly opposed him in that dispute and chose not to utilize WP:AN3 or another noticeboard to seek someone who was clearly uninvolved to take a look at the situation. Joe Roe, meanwhile, has stated in this thread I can't get my head around the idea that reverting someone makes you involved.
    With respect to Claim 2, the arbitration committee has previously stated that any sanctions imposed on an editor or administrator for misconduct should be proportionate to the nature and severity of the conduct—a move that Joe Roe supported. It is quite surprising, then, that Joe Roe decided to outright indef Fram from that article outright and it's a bit odd; typically first offense edit warring sanctions are 72 hours and, checking through Fram's block log, they don't appear to have been blocked for edit warring before. Why did Joe Roe think that an indef from the article was proportional to the risk disruption, rather than the standard 72 hour block? I don't quite know, and I can't put words into his mouth. What I can say is that Joe Roe stated above that he does not believe the indef sanction to be extreme and that he would be happy to unblock if Fram says they will not move the page to draft again. But to say that Joe Roe would be happy to unblock Fram if he could extract an unblock condition in which Fram would pledge to leave his preferred location of the article preserved is not justifiable in light of Joe Roe's being WP:INVOLVED with respect to the dispute.
    Moreover, this whole saga raises the spectre of issues with WP:ADMINCOND and WP:ADMINACCT, especially if Joe Roe persists in claiming this sort of behavior is justified. Joe Roe arrived here by outright denying that any sort of dispute had been going on ([320]) and multiple times repeating the clearly erroneous claim that they were in no way WP:INVOLVED because their actions (which included their repeated page moves) were not anything other than administrative actions ([321] [322] [323] [324]). Moreover, Joe Roe's response to the unblock performed by Ritchie333 bordered on a personal attack in writing whatever, let's let Fram continue to bully article writers; if Joe Roe truly believes that Fram is a bully, Joe Roe should provide strong evidence of a widespread pattern bad behavior in this thread rather than resorting to diffless name-calling. And, if Joe Roe still disagrees with Richtie's unblock, which Joe Roe describes as pseudo-close of this ANI thread, then there is a place to review miscellaneous admin actions where Joe Roe could seek dispute resolution and broader community reflection on whether that action was appropriate. — Red-tailed hawk (nest) 14:44, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Additionally, the comment on Joe Roe's talk page that labels Fram as just single-minded raises some additional concerns for me in light of the conduct described in my comment above. — Red-tailed hawk (nest) 14:58, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Good analysis, @Red-tailed hawk: I'm also concerned that Joe Roe hasn't taken the feedback he's received with open ears. Instead he's "disengaged" and that's it. Every response was met with a rebuttal instead of a realization. Oh well —VersaceSpace 🌃 23:44, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    New Evlekis sock needing a quick block

    Supreme 2001 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

    The usual infantile harassment, going through my contributions far back in time and reverting everything I've done... - Tom | Thomas.W talk 14:34, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Done. Widr (talk) 14:42, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    ... and Grooverider9 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) is also Evlekis. - Tom | Thomas.W talk 16:27, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Done by another admin. Johnuniq (talk) 03:36, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Onel5969

    Information icon Over the past few weeks, Onel has been redirecting or deleting sections of road articles, especially the route section, because they do not have a citation. Last week, it was mentioned on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Highways#Citing The "Route Section" on Road Articles, where it was ranging from "what gives" to potentially disruptive editing. Yesterday (26 September), they continued with their disruptive editing, doing the same thing on A1011 road. They were warned that if they are going to continue this, that they would come here, right away. Today (27 September), they have moved away from doing this on road articles, but are now doing this on everything else - Yoon Seok-hyun, Alex F. Yaworski, Gilera CBA, Guyana National Rifle Association and Mariano Llinás are just some of the names. Is this bannable, or is this a waste of your time? Thanks, Roads4117 (talk) 15:42, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    The edit in the linked article (A1011 road) is a good one, whats wrong with scrubbing a little OR? The only sanctionable offense would be adding it in the first place. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 15:55, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    This is not remotely bannable, and appears to be a content/citation dispute. Star Mississippi 15:57, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Anyone removing things like
    "Continuing south parallel to the Underground and DLR track we now go under another set of bridges. These are the tracks for the District line, Hammersmith & City line and c2c services to London and Essex. Here is the location of West Ham station, a busy main station, and this part of the road can be busy during peak times for people picking up or dropping off passengers for the station."
    should get a barnstar, not being reverted and dragged to ANI. Fram (talk) 16:00, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I didn't see any issue with their actions at the time of that discussion and I still don't. They're adhering to policy by removing WP:OR and leaning on WP:V, a core part of Wikipedia. Can you point to what policy they may be going against? Cuz I'm not seeing anything.
    Also, you're not being cyberbullied, Onel5969 is just a prolific new page reviewer who happened to sort through some pages that are relevant to a project you're a part of. Hey man im josh (talk) 16:01, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Respected and prolific NPP contributor follows policy. Why are we here? Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 16:06, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Here is a link to the ANI case concerning Roads4117 just earlier this month. Roads4117, I advised you in that thread not to add unsourced content to our articles. I'll expand on that. The edit that Onel removed was full of content that looked exactly like original research. I'm personally not hugely fussed about stuff being cited to maps if all of the information can be verified purely by looking at the map. This wasn't just a route however, it contained various stuff about it being a quick link bypassing the one-way system, it being busy at peak times, and so on. I thought that you had agreed to stop adding unsourced content to articles? I'll add that it was also largely written in the first person ('now we go under a bridge...'), which is more like a tour guide than encyclopedic writing. Girth Summit (blether) 16:15, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    User:Girth Summit, I will try my best not to add unsourced material again. User: Roads4117 16:27, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Misleading ...but are now doing this on everything else - Yoon Seok-hyun, Alex F. Yaworski, Gilera CBA, Guyana National Rifle Association and Mariano Llinás are just some of the names: I looked at edits to those pages, and the edit summaries mention reasons including WP:GNG and WP:COPYVIO. It was misleading to have those in a nomination regarding deletions related to WP:BURDEN. —Bagumba (talk) 04:54, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    WP:MINREF, WP:OR, WP:BURDEN, and countless other policies contradict many of the above statements, and WP:BITE applies strongly here; nowhere is it stated that all text must be cited, just that it must be verifiable in some way. These are Start class articles (more like stubs), so content that can be further refined should be welcomed. NPP is a red herring, as these articles have existed for nearly a decade. The discussion at WT:HWY has generally been one of "Here's what you need to do" to Roads4117 (which admittedly they should be paying more attention to than bringing content disputes here, as WP:FORUMSHOPPING also applies). Both editors are in the wrong. - Floydian τ ¢ 16:23, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Reading the WikiProject discussion linked in the OP, I'm rather shocked to see the opinions expressed there. All content should be sourced--that's not debatable in my book. Also, looking at a map and writing in a Wikipedia article what the map shows is, in my view, a textbook example of OR: literally looking at a primary source (the map) and writing our own interpretation of it (what the map shows). That practice brings huge WP:NPOV problems: an editor should not be deciding which map details are significant for inclusion and which aren't. Heck, I don't even trust that an editor knows how to read a map at all. Road descriptions should be sourced, like everything else, to a reliable secondary source. Wikipedia is not a gazetteer, it should not be filled with editors' descriptions of maps. Levivich (talk) 16:49, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    All content should be sourced--that's not debatable in my book: Everyone aspires for their own version of MOS:PLOTSOURCE ;-)—Bagumba (talk) 17:01, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Indeed, lol :-) That's the other example of rampant OR, with the same NPOV problems (an editor should not be deciding which plot details are due for inclusion). I didn't realize roads had the same problem. Levivich (talk) 17:12, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Published maps are a secondary source. GIS data is a primary source. - Floydian τ ¢ 17:05, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Some maps are secondary sources, or contain secondary source information, but using Google Maps to describe routes is using a primary source. That map is a graphical representation of GIS data--it's the same primary source data displayed visually instead of by text. (Older maps, based on direct human observations, are also primary sources.) A secondary source is one compiled with analysis from multiple primary sources. So a thematic map, like a population heat map, would be an example of a secondary source map. Levivich (talk) 17:12, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Levivich Feel free to change/delete this citation. Thanks, Roads4117 (talk) 17:18, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    ...And don't take my word for it, just Google "is a map a primary source?" and read any of the many, many articles written about this topic. Levivich (talk) 17:22, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    1. "Maps can also function as secondary sources because they may draw on information from other maps, data sets, or primary sources of information."
    2. Librarian's opinion
    3. Same, plus context is important. We make that clear in WP:MAPCITE
    4. "A map can be a primary or secondary source. If a map was produced as immediate evidence of an area, then it is a primary source. If the map is just a symbolic depiction of a space then it is a secondary source."
    I'm seeing a pattern though... context. - Floydian τ ¢ 21:04, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Regardless of primary vs. secondary sources, the policy is WP:V. The only material that requires a citation is quotations, and any material whose verifiability has been challenged or is likely to be challenged. Primary sources and uncited sources satisfy WP:V. That said, there is an obvious trend across the project, dating back more than ten years, which basically "challenges" all material's verifiability. If there's really a broad consensus that policy requires all material, no matter how uncontroversial or how easily findable a source may be (and I'm not saying all of the content in question falls into "uncontroversial, with easily findable sourcing"), needs a citation to a secondary source, it's probably time for a big WP:V RfC. — Rhododendrites talk \\ 17:19, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I think it is, time to put this "verifiable" business to bed, it's confusing editors and resulting in OR. Levivich (talk) 17:22, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    If it's verifiable, it's not OR. There are a lot of people conflating "uncited" with "OR". What is OR about The road initially follows a course through north-west London via Harlesden, Wembley, Harrow, Northwood and Rickmansworth. During this stage, it is known as Harrow Road. It crosses the M25 at Junction 18 at Chorleywood, crossing into Buckinghamshire and then continues towards Little Chalfont and Amersham.? I'm not saying there was no OR to be found in these diffs, but a straightforward description of what's easily verifiable just by clicking the links/databases that are already on the page is not OR. That doesn't mean it should be in the article, but the reason is unrelated to V/OR (and more about e.g. NPOV/WEIGHT, TONE, NOT, etc.). — Rhododendrites talk \\ 17:30, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    That's not right. There are only two options: it's either your research, or it's someone else's research. If you're not summarizing someone else's research, then it's OR. Verifiability is irrelevant. Levivich (talk) 17:35, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Levivich is correct, its either original or someone else's. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 17:42, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    True indeed, and doesn't follow "that's not right". What exactly are you disagreeing with, Lev? Using "research" instead of "published information" just confuses this. All V means is that content is determined by previously published information, so yes, if you add material based on what's already out there in a reliable source (which can include maps/databases), without adding your own claims/conclusions, it's not OR and V is satisfied. As NOR says: The prohibition against original research means that all material added to articles must be verifiable in a reliable, published source, even if not already verified via an inline citation. Hence, "if it's verifiable, it's not OR". Again, that's a different question from whether there's a citation in the article. Again, whether it should be in the article for other reasons is separate. — Rhododendrites talk \\ 17:51, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Original analysis of a primary document like a map or database falls under WP:OR. That is as basic as it gets: "This includes any analysis or synthesis of published material that serves to reach or imply a conclusion not stated by the sources." Horse Eye's Back (talk) 17:54, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Define "analysis". Is map reading an analysis or a basic skill lost on the internet generation? - Floydian τ ¢ 17:58, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Snark aside map reading is analysis. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 18:21, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    (edit conflict) Saying "it crosses this road" or "it runs north" is not "analysis or synthesis". Standard procedure has been summarized at WP:MAPCITE. — Rhododendrites talk \\ 18:01, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Indeed, WP:MAPCITE#Original research covers this quite well. Levivich (talk) 18:56, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    WP:MAPCITE is an essay almost entirely written by just two editors, it has not been endorsed by the community in any way. It makes some excellent points and in places does summarize our standard procedure, but in others it branches off into tangents which are the author's own ideas and nothing more. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 19:03, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    What I object to exactly is any editing that isn't "forward" editing (see my userpage). There is only one right way to do it: you start with two or more reliable secondary sources about the topic, and summarize them. I object to any other method, including writing the prose first and then looking for sources that verify the prose (or not doing that second step, which is even worse). I object because it's OR. The only way it's not OR is if you're summarizing someone else's analysis (and the only way it's not plagiarism is if you summarize two or more sources). Levivich (talk) 18:29, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    If you have your own philosophy, that's fine, but pardon me if I take someone literally saying "my way is the only one right way to do it" with a grain of salt when it conflicts (in its "only way"ness, at least) with norms/definitions developed over 20 years. It may well be that the future of Wikipedia is no unsourced content, erring on the side of deletion/omission in all things, etc., and I suppose it only takes enough people saying "that's just the way it is and it was never any different" for that to become the new reality, but I don't think we're there yet. I'm tapping out of this discussion, though. My objection is basing mass removals and proposing sanctions on rules and definitions that don't actually exist -- I don't even have a real problem with most of these removals, as there are some clear WEIGHT, TONE, and NOT issues (and in a couple cases some borderline OR). I think we should have high standards for content in mainspace, but that when it comes to noticeboard discussions involving conduct, we need to be working with the same basic rules rather than what people think the rules should say. — Rhododendrites talk \\ 19:08, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I do not dispute that indeed such material should be cited (as it is on every road FA). What I have a problem with is this editor unilaterally throwing away the information without even bothering to look for a citation, and then revert warring over it. Pragmatically - we could throw away half the encyclopedia on those grounds. --Rschen7754 18:04, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    And I likely would have brought this up to ANI at some point if this "bull in a china shop" mentality from Onel5969 had continued, as it is actively destroying the project and chasing other editors (including from underrepresented geographies) away. --Rschen7754 18:21, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Comment It is very difficult and time consuming to source road articles, having tried I know, but as such lots of these editors who write these are not interesting in referencing. I've seen it multiple times during the last couple of months on NPP, during the last drive. I know from experience how difficult it is to explain even what the problem is. They are not interesting. For a lot of them it is a copy paste exercise. Regarding the page review, it is perfectly valid to remove content, per consenus and WP:V when its unsourced. It cannot be the fault of a page reviewer who is just following process and comes across a group who generally are not interesting in referencing. This is 2022, you don't have unsourced articles in mainspace. That is what draft and sandbox are for. I brought editor Roads4117 to this board regarding article A4421 road (Great Britain) which was unsourced and he made multiple attempts to revert from the redirect. That is the type of behaviour that is happening here. Lastly the three visits to Ani (described in the comment below) are mutually exclusive scope_creepTalk 18:35, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      • @Scope creep: I really wish you wouldn't paint all roads editors with the same brush. There are over almost 100 FAs related to roads, so certainly we had to take interest in sourcing at some point. --Rschen7754 18:43, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        • @Scope creep: I'm sorry if I said I meant all of them; I didn't. There is a spectrum as in everything. Of course. I find the whole thing immesely frustrating. scope_creepTalk 19:17, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Tangential discussion on valid sourced content for road articles (Free free to continue at another venue)
    • On the wider problems of roads articles - My comments here: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Archive 24#Hate to be that guy, but road articles have serious SYNTH problems. My analysis of the GA U.S. Route 76 in North Carolina article is most relevant (some of what I complained about got moved to Special routes of U.S. Route 76, a even hotter mess of OR). I have a feeling that if we actually decided to do anything about it, a lot of those green pluses and shiny bronze stars would peel away. -Indy beetle (talk) 11:44, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      This is veering off-topic really, but I find myself disagreeing with the first part of your thread linked above. A map is not in general a primary source, it is a secondary source in which the map designer picks out features of the landscape that they deem worthy of reproducing, while omitting others. A primary source would be a satellite/aerial image or some sort of reproduction that included everything rather than selecting features. Obviously, deriving info that isn't obvious from the map is OR, but even with that there'd be an element of WP:SKYISBLUE. You raised "The highway meets Hallsboro Road at a diamond interchange north of Hallsboro" as problematic, but if the map shows a junction that has all the features of a diamond interchange, and we can also verify what a diamond interchange looks like, then it's reasonable to say that it is one. The key should be the same as for MOS:PLOTSOURCE (a convention which is IMHO far more problematic than using maps for road articles) - if it isn't obvious, then it needs an explicit cite.  — Amakuru (talk) 13:18, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      I think the problem is not so much that the information is verifiable, rather - is it important to mention in an encyclopaedia? For example, we don't have an article on Drover's Roundabout, Ashford or mention it anywhere on Wikipedia, even though it has coverage in multiple reliable sources ([325],[326],[327]) because these are, when balanced against everything else the news outlet reports, trivial passing mentions. To come back to the example above, "The highway meets Hallsboro Road at a diamond interchange north of Hallsboro" - why is this important? Has there been a prominent accident record at this location? Was the construction of the junction politically complicated? Is a diamond interchange a unique structure specifically worth mentioning? I think this gets to the crux of the problem with Roads4117's editing, and kind of goes back to what Fram briefly mentioned above. Ritchie333 (talk) (cont) 13:37, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Textual information shows weight by explicitly mentioning certain details. Much of what is lifted from these maps do not have that benefit. The equivalent would be trying to write an article on a historical event with 2/3rds of your sources being diagrams and labeled pictures. No other area of Wikipedia that I know of operates like this. -Indy beetle (talk) 22:51, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      I think this is an important distinction here. There are hundreds of thousands of roads throughout the world, are we to believe that, because it can be viewed on a map, it's notable enough to warrant inclusion and complete description of its route? That seems like the definition of an indiscriminate collection of information to me. FrederalBacon (talk) 22:57, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      No, and we have myriads of discussions setting precedent on this. If a national of subnational government deems a road important enough to include in its national or subnational road network, it is almost certainly a notable transportation corridor. You're getting into a whole can of worms on this, because any argument that applies to roads can just as easily be applied to railways, rivers, canals, or other similar transportation corridors or linear infrastructure. - Floydian τ ¢ 01:20, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Has this been applied to other transportation corridors or linear infrastructure? I don't think I've ever seen a railroad, river, or canal article built off google earth. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 01:26, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Nor have I seen many highway articles do the same, outside of stubs in geographically underrepresented areas. Kind of like how many places have their own articles and the only reference is an actual primary source (a census). I just clicked randomly into Africa, here is an example. - Floydian τ ¢ 01:37, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Rivers and railways, far as I've seen, tend to attract a fair amount of literature, or at least far more than roads. So no, I don't think that's comparable. I see WP:GEOROAD supports your assertion that a national of subnational government deems a road important enough to include in its national or subnational road network, it is almost certainly a notable transportation corridor, though I find the evidence for that utterly dubious, because if this were the case, the U.S. Route 76 in North Carolina article probably wouldn't have two thirds of its citations coming from maps... I do not see how "the government maintains it" magically translates to "there is probably SIGCOV in RS for this". To look at the "can of worms" from a different perspective, why are not all of the agricultural stations or rural health clinics (not full hospitals) in my state presumed notable? Surely because the state built them, they are important? Or is the real reason for this because there is not a constituency of agricultural station and rural clinic enthusiasts? We probably need an RfC on the use of maps and "visual" sources, and maybe another on GEOROADS. -Indy beetle (talk) 03:15, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      That is an interesting case, and either scenario might be true. Regardless, I agree with your last statement. Floydian τ ¢ 05:17, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Your assertion: If a national of subnational government deems a road important enough to include in its national or subnational road network, it is almost certainly a notable transportation corridor.
      The GNG: A topic is presumed to be suitable for a stand-alone article or list when it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject.
      I'm sorry, but those two ideas seem diametrically opposed to each other. Requiring sources and notability is how the project stops itself from becomming an indiscriminate collection of information. Existence does not confer notabiity. You say this is long established precedent, I ask if those who came up with that precedent have ever read the GNG? FrederalBacon (talk) 06:42, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Actually, WP:GEOROAD, which is a notability guideline, perfectly supports that view, saying International road networks (such as the International E-road network), Interstate, national, state and provincial highways are typically notable. I think that's a bad guideline, and there's been a movement in recent months to bring more SNGs in line with the GNG, but Floydian is essentially correct in terms of what the current guidance says. -Indy beetle (talk) 09:12, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      The things one could do with tree maps and a willingness to disregard our most basic policies and guidelines... I see the temptation, but make no mistake it is a temptation to fill wikipedia with OR. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 23:10, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Even taking maps as secondary sources, most map use I've seen has been general maps in which the specific topic is included rather than maps of the topic. Appearing on a map is not significant coverage within that map source, whether it is primary or secondary. CMD (talk) 01:30, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      I think there are two issues being conflated here: 1) are maps valid sources and 2) are maps alone valid enough to surpass GNG? But topics for another venue. --Rschen7754 01:32, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      This is veering off-topic really...: The original AN/I concern is more related to unsourced edits and copyvio concerns. However, this here is a tangent on sourced edits and notable content for roads in general, not any particular editor. I'd suggest continuing this at another venue, and not conflating it with the ANI further.—Bagumba (talk) 09:49, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Propose boomerang

    The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


    Given their addition and restoration of large amount of Wikipedia:Original Research to motorway related articles [328][329][330][331] I propose that Roads4117 be topic banned from motorways broadly construed or to see them properly trouted about until they understand the error of their ways. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 16:07, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Uncited text != WP:OR Floydian τ ¢ 16:14, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Whoa there, stop. Not everything that doesn't have an inline citation is original research. Also, the OP checked with the Roads project and got the impression that they were in the right, then came here. Sanctioning this user seems a bit unfair and over the top.
    We do have special rules for plot summaries (they don't need citations); there is something to be said for using maps (but perhaps not always-changing map websites) to verify route descriptions (although there can be notability and undue weight concerns if the information is only found on maps). —Kusma (talk) 16:18, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Taking their actions and tone into account I definitely think this sanction is unnecessary. They presented things pretty objectively, they kept it respectful, they even asked if this was actionable or if it was a waste of others' time. A trouterang is one thing, but I think an entire TBAN just for posting this thread is overkill GabberFlasted (talk) 16:29, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The Roads4117 citation truth - it says on my userpage this user recognizes the importance of citing sources. This is true - I just need a little bit of help/guidance for which references to use for what etc. Thanks, Roads4117 (talk) 17:05, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • This is completely wrong. I do not endorse the edit warring, but this is a clear violation of WP:BITE and a very inappropriate proposal. --Rschen7754 18:06, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    This editor Roads4117 was posted here on 6 Septmeber for trying to revert an unsourced road article from a redirect. The editor has no interest in sourcing articles. scope_creepTalk 18:40, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I think what is being missed here is the larger pattern of Onel5969 mass removing content without even attempting to look for citations. --Rschen7754 18:42, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Its not the responsibilty of any particular editor to look for citations. That is not what page review is and that is what they were on at the time. Every editor is a volunteer on here, and the idea of having to stop reviewing while in that reviewing flow (for what of a better word, which is hard on its own, which breaks you down and burns you up), to look for citations is preposterous. Paticularly on these types of articles in the grand scheme of life are not important. They are not the road to Rome filled with crucified victims that is described in every Roman history book for a millenia. As a volunteer you choose what you want to work on. But working on page review, is really important. It has driven the quality of Wikipedia article up immeasurably in the last 5-10 years. However, Wikipedia has only got product and that product is facts. Without sources, they are not that facts. It is not 2006, it not even 2010 anymore. Its not done to build articles with large section that are unsourced. The community doesn't want that. They want high quality articles. Onel5969 is really productive high-quality page reviewer. Please keep that in mind. scope_creepTalk 19:00, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Okay? But what about the editors who are chased away because their work is summarily reverted? After all, there are editors who need to add the facts, or there will not be any pages to review. Maybe an editor doesn't get it right the first time, and certainly my own first edit in 2005 was a bunch of unsourced content. If my work had been deleted without any help or explanation, I don't know that I would have continued. NPP is not the product here. Its purpose is to serve the encyclopedia as a whole. --Rschen7754 19:06, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Roads4117 has made 1500 edits, has a talk page full of messages about adding unsourced content, has been to ANI three prior times about adding unsourced content, has been explicitly instructed by admins to add citations for their additions and has repeatedly promised repeatedly to add citations going forward. This isn't some newbie who doesn't know better, this is someone who has received a ton of help and guidance but just doesn't seem to get it. 192.76.8.81 (talk) 19:11, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Exactly this. I see no reason why this ANI report should've been opened. XtraJovial (talk • contribs) 18:51, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    However the product is an encyclopedia of verifiable facts. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 19:12, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I would also disagree with plee to WP:BITE, they have been here long enough, and have been brought to ANI enough, to get the issue. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 19:14, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @ActivelyDisinterested: Please also see similar removals targeting a different editor in South Africa - [332]. --Rschen7754 00:18, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    No targeting just the removal of unsourced text that must not be reinstated without an inline citation, once something is challenged policy is incredibly clear. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 00:24, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Which I see has been done, just as things should happen. Challenging unsourced text by removing it is a normal editorial process. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 00:26, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    It seems that the "bull in a china shop" rhetoric sidetracked Roads4117 from understanding their own responsibility to source their contributions, and misleadingly provided them a rationale to seek a ban here. —Bagumba (talk) 03:48, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Don't you mean the larger pattern of OR in road related articles against the explicit consensus of the larger community? Horse Eye's Back (talk) 19:02, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    And again, please read my comments above. --Rschen7754 19:06, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I did, what you need to remember is that bad edits will be reverted... It might take ten seconds or it might take ten years but the problem isn't the reversion its always the original edit. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 19:10, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    WP:BURDEN - The burden to demonstrate verifiability lies with the editor who adds or restores material. There is no requirement or expectation for other people to search for citations for unsourced material added by others. 192.76.8.81 (talk) 19:13, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I hadn't seen that WP:BURDEN section before. scope_creepTalk 19:22, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Scope creep: Okay, but then a few sentences later - In some cases, editors may object if you remove material without giving them time to provide references. Consider adding a citation needed tag as an interim step. --Rschen7754 00:18, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Consider is not the word required. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 00:30, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    It's all about nuance. I can just block anybody that reverts 4 times on an article per policy, but that doesn't mean that is the right course of action and if I kept doing that I might get desysopped. --Rschen7754 01:29, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    If you blocked someone for not doing something that policy says is only something they need to consider, and left someone who didn't do something that is required by policy, then desysop would be appropriate. You haven't explained any nuance you talk off, only linked to perfectly acceptable behaviour. You need to start backing up any allegations you make properly. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 11:45, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    More BURDEN WP:BURDEN also later states: If you think the material is verifiable, you are encouraged to provide an inline citation yourself before considering whether to remove or tag it. So an editor might believe that text is unverifiable, and delete it. It seems that we can concurrently 1) educate patrollers that basic map info is likely verifiable and 2) deter editors from chronically adding unsourced content.—Bagumba (talk) 03:35, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I think that's fair. I know I've (privately) invoked WP:BURDEN when I removed material that I doubt can be verified. --Rschen7754 03:40, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Comment - Whilst Roads4117 actually brought this to ANI, it was with encouragement from Rschen7754. IMHO it would be unfair to impose sanctions against Roads4117 without also sanctioning Rschen7754. --John B123 (talk) 21:45, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      • @John B123: Specifically, I advised him to hold off [333], but after six pings later and my not responding overnight, he apparently worked himself up into enough of a frenzy to come here. [334] *shrug* That being said, I am concerned about the overall pattern and if I saw it continuing, I would have raised it here. --Rschen7754 00:07, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      I wholeheartedly disagree with sanctioning Rschen with regards to Roads, even if they explicitly told Roads to bring it here (which they did not). FrederalBacon (talk) 00:22, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Strong oppose completely inappropriate and heavy-handed proposal. Satellizer el Bridget (Talk) 13:11, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

    Alternative mini-boomerang

    I'm not sure that a topic ban from motorways (or roads in general, which is what we're talking about here - the A1011 isn't a motorway) is needed here. I think I could support a topic ban from adding content to articles if it is not supported by a reliable source - that's something we should all be trying to adhere to in every edit we make, it shouldn't be too onerous. Girth Summit (blether) 16:21, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    • Support I don't support a boomerang TBAN. However, given the fact that this editor just a couple of weeks ago claimed that sources don't matter(the reason why I didn't add references is because references don't matter), it was explained to them that yes, sources matter, and they're still regularly adding unsourced content, some sort of sanction is needed. This seems reasonable. Add a source, or don't add the information. FrederalBacon (talk) 16:23, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    @FrederalBacon:, I am happy with this agreement. Roads4117 (talk) 16:29, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    (edit conflict)Roads4117, I don't support any sanctions on your editing at this time. I don't come here very often these days as I'm pretty much retired, but I shepherded NPP for over a decade and wrote or co-authored most of its policies, guidelines, and tutorials, and created its user right. For the few weeks you've been registered and participating on Wikipedia, I appreciate your enthusiasm but I strongly advise you to learn all about NPP and the really massive part Onel5969 plays in it and familiarise yourself with our policies. Notability is one thing, but neutral language in the articles and and verifiability of the content is equally important. Please beware of the BOOMERANG before throwing around with threats of bans and blocks and other things you might not fully understand. Wikipedians are a friendly and supportive crowd and veterans like Star Mississippi, Fram, and me are here to help. - Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 16:37, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    @Kudpung I will try to familiarise myself with the Wikipedia criteria. Thanks Roads4117 (talk) 16:59, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    To be honest, after three recent visits to ANI since July [335] [336] [337], two of which ended up in "I will try to do better" type comments, this does seem to be an unduly long familiarisation process. After all, this isn't difficult - you need to source your additions to articles. Black Kite (talk) 17:26, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Support although as GirthSummit mentions, really all editors need to follow this guidance. (t · c) buidhe 20:52, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oppose any formal sanction, however continuing to add unsourced content at this point would be quite stupid. --Rschen7754 00:02, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      • Given the copyvios I am afraid something might have to be done so I am striking my oppose. --Rschen7754 05:17, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oppose This shouldn't require any formal sanction, if this continues after this point them they should be blocked for WP:CIR. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 00:29, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Comment Roads4117 wrote: I am happy with this agreement. I hope they adhere to this proposal anyways, whether or not there is a formal WP:TBAN.—Bagumba (talk) 04:59, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Bagumba Sorry to not be clear, I meant no citation, it gets reverted'. User:Roads4117 (talk) 06:42, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    @Roads4117: It's your responsibility to add sources for your edits. It's unfair to burden the community with reverting such edits of yours. —Bagumba (talk) 11:49, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oppose as being excessively heavy-handed at this point in time. If the issue continues it can be revisited. Of course referencing isn't optional, but what I will say is unreferenced information about the description of a road is quite different to, say, controversial information being introduced into a BLP. I'd personally argue the former is borderline WP:BLUE and can be easily cited to a map as a primary source in any case. Satellizer el Bridget (Talk) 13:22, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      You're welcome to your opinion on this proposal being heavy-handed, but your comparison to controversial information being added to BLPs shines little light on this situation - if someone were doing that regularly, we would not be discussing a minor editing restriction, we would have long-since gone to indef site-wide block, probably after the second (or even first) incident. I personally have no major problems with someone saying that a road goes from point A to point C via point B being referenced to a map; when people start adding assertions about a road being a quick way to avoid a one-way system, or that it is busy at peak times, or whatever, we move beyond what can be verified from a map, and into what absolutely needs sources specifically verifying that information. Girth Summit (blether) 16:06, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Given the below discussed copyvios (and admitted copying), there may be a different sanction needed here. FrederalBacon (talk) 19:22, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Previous block

    It appears that this is not the first time Onel5969 has overzealously enforced WP:BURDEN: [338] In fact, that thread resulted in a previous partial block. This shows a pattern.

    And again, to reiterate: I fully agree that the edits in question should have had sources, but I disagree with the heavy-handed enforcement of WP:BURDEN, specifically the considerations such as In some cases, editors may object if you remove material without giving them time to provide references. Consider adding a citation needed tag as an interim step. that were ignored. I don't want to see any blocks or bans come out of this thread, but I think that Onel5969 should be advised to take better care. --Rschen7754 03:32, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Agreed. It has never been acceptable to wholesale remove content that is likely to be verifiable. This comes up at WP:ITNC sometimes, editors nominate articles which are opposed on the grounds of uncited passages or sections and they respond by deleting large chunks of text without checking its status. We don't allow that, and usually such deletions are reverted and a {{cn}} tag applied. As you say, sources are needed, I'd never dispute that, but we give editors time and space to find them.  — Amakuru (talk) 04:07, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Disagree. Removing unsourced content from mainspace takes neither time nor space away from any editor. There is no reason unsourced content needs to remain while someone looks for a source. There is a very good reason why it shouldn't: even if it's verifiable, it might not be NPOV. If it turns out to either be unverifiable or not NPOV, we've harmed, perhaps misled, every single reader who has ever read it. Why would we take that risk by leaving unsourced content in mainspace in order to "give editors time and space" to find sources? They should have found the sources before they added any content in the first place. I don't understand why we not only forgive this (adding content without sources) but encourage it (by leaving the unsourced material in mainspace) all while risking misleading readers. It's not a good trade-off. It's not in the best interests of the project. It's putting editors above readers. No content is better than unsourced content. Levivich (talk) 04:17, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    You're talking about two separate policies. If I catch NPOV material, that is usually the first to get reverted and on those grounds, not on BURDEN. --Rschen7754 04:23, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    You can't know if it's NPOV or not unless you've read the sources (and it really doesn't matter if it's in two policies or one or seven, a bad trade is still a bad trade). Levivich (talk) 05:15, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    That is certainly not true in my experience of both patrolling and article writing. --Rschen7754 07:13, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I second this from the patrolling side of things and as an anti-vandal. It's pretty easy a lot of the time to call out whether something isn't coming from a neutral point of view. Hey man im josh (talk) 12:47, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Not all NPOV problems are obvious NPOV problems. Indeed, the most dangerous are not. And, frankly, unless you've been audited, you have no idea how many times while patrolling you read something that wasn't NPOV and thought that it was and took no action: none of us know our accuracy rate. I think anyone who thinks they are accurate at spotting NPOV problems without having to look at sources is kidding themselves: they can only spot the most obvious ones. Levivich (talk) 14:21, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    No content is better than unsourced content: You would need to get consensus to modify policies to that effect. That's not how they exactly read. —Bagumba (talk) 04:29, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The caveat is that ITNC editors can sometimes be viewed as gaming the system by removing unsourced—though likely verifiable—text, merely to fast track a post. I don't believe there is a COI motive for Onel5969, other than the quality of WP. —Bagumba (talk) 04:25, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    My intention was not to tar Onel5969 with the same brush by likening them to disruptive editors who deliberately remove material from an ITN candidate to get it over the line, and certainly I believe their edits alluded to above are made in good faith. But other than that, it doesn't really matter if it's COI or "gaming" the system, either deletion of material without doing any checks for its status is allowed, or it isn't allowed. My view, and the ITN/C convention backs this up, is that it's not allowed. After all, nobody would complain about removing material from an ITN candidate if you could demonstrate research showing that it was either untrue or not backed up by any source. It's the "delete on sight" mentality that I object to, at least without full community buy-in via a central RFC, because that's a big change from anything we've done before. And would potentially lead to enormous swathes of text being deleted from the project.  — Amakuru (talk) 10:02, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    For the record, that previous ANI resulted in another involved editor receiving the same partial block. Both were edit warring. —Bagumba (talk) 04:42, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • For those who might not be aware, WP:BURDEN is not some user essay or a simple guideline, it's a policy. There are no half measures in enforcing policies of this kind, it's not as if it's some vague abstract notion like the civility policy whose imaginary threshold is applied differently to whoever the user is. There is therefore no case of 'overzealous' enforcement of BURDEN - the policy reads well and is at least one of our policies that is not ambiguous. Currently Onel5969 is practically upholding the quality of Wikipedia single-handed in face of the fictitious number of 750 New Page Reviewers. Sanction him for just doing his job and like any self-respecting volunteer editor or admin, he'll just go away again. Ultimately, the problem lies squarely at the feet of the WMF who due to heir policy of 'Quantity of articles is more important than the quality of articles' refuse to allow the Product department to provide ways of initiating new users on what they can and can't write here. It's like ACTRIAL all over again. But that's another story. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 08:16, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      Agreed that the policy reads well and is at least one of our policies that is not ambiguous, but that policy gives some pretty clear ways that removal of unsourced (and not unverifiable) content can be something like "overzealous". It says if you don't give people time to provide references they might object, but that's pretty flimsy wording. More relevant is where it says to consider adding a citation needed tag as an interim step, where it says removing content should be because it's unverifiable and not just unsourced, and where it says you're encouraged to provide a citation yourself, etc. It also says, in a footnote, "Some editors object to others making chronic, frequent, and large-scale deletions of unsourced information, especially if unaccompanied by other efforts to improve the material." I think that's the issue here. For any quotation, anything controversial, any BLP, we should obviously remove unsourced content. For anything promotional/undue, we should remove it for that reason (not V). I have no problem with someone coming across content, saying "that doesn't look verifiable" and removing it (or, again, saying "that doesn't look WP:DUE" and removing it). The issue is only really when someone sets out on a mission to remove unsourced content, and does so en masse, regardless of how [un]controversial it is, with no attempt to find sources in any of the cases (as per that footnote written into the policy). It's really hard to draw a line, though, and I tend to agree that when these things are ambiguous we should err on the side of removal. I just wish removing unsourced content for the fact of being unsourced weren't a frequent hobbyhorse. — Rhododendrites talk \\ 12:32, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      And has anyone shown, with diffs, any prove that anyone is on a mission to remove unsourced text en masse? It's interesting to have discussions about policy and how it should be interpreted, but this is the wrong place to do it. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 12:39, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Just for the record, I did block Onel5969 back in March, but it was on a single article List of Mixels characters and it was for edit-warring. I had no opinion on who was right and who was wrong. As I believe I have said in the past, I have disagreed with Onel over whether or not something meets a particular CSD criteria, but we have usually managed to come to an understanding, and found he's quite reasonable to discuss issues with, if you're polite. Ritchie333 (talk) (cont) 09:42, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Muck racking rather than showing any actual breaches of policy, backed up by diffs showing those breaches, is nothing more than a low grade personal attack. This thread should be closed with prejudice. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 11:48, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    How else are we supposed to interpret [339][340][341]? --Rschen7754 15:00, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    As policy based removal of unsourced content. The only thing wrong there is that editors who are restoring unsourced text without adding an inline citations (as per policy) are not being sanctioned. You need to show where Onel5969 is in breach of policy, not something that might they might have considered, but where they editted against something policy says they must or are required to do. You don't like what they are doing, but that in no way makes it wrong. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 15:13, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Could've easily added a citation needed tag or similar rather than engage in mass removal of encyclopedic content that is uncontroversial and easily verified by looking at a map. For the record I'm not advocating for sanctions against Onel5969 or saying he violated policy but a CN tag would've been the most sensible thing to do in the diffs Rschen provided. Satellizer el Bridget (Talk) 01:04, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    As has been said elsewhere in this mess, that is something that could be considered but is not required by policy, the only such requirement is that challenged text is not retired without a valid inline reference. It's something that's come up here a few times, there is no policy that says unsourced text can't just be removed. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 05:11, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    likewise there is no policy that says unsourced content shall be removed. - Floydian τ ¢ 05:14, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Theres a reason the body of WP:V opens with "All content must be verifiable. The burden to demonstrate verifiability lies with the editor who adds or restores material, and it is satisfied by providing an inline citation to a reliable source that directly supports the contribution." The assumption is clearly that unsourced material will be (and should be) removed. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 05:21, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    True but it is still a valid editorial choice. There's no policy that says editors must create new pages, but we do. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 05:17, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Exactly. On one hand we have WP:5P which states that we are to perform the function of a gazetteer, but on the other hand we have largely operated in a grey zone, because for the longest time the focus was on coverage rather than comprehensiveness. If we focus on the latter, it becomes clear what topics deserve their own substantial coverage, and which are footnotes in a larger topic that is widely covered. - Floydian τ ¢ 05:24, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    That is not at all what WP:5P states, "combines many features of" gazetteers =/= perform the function of a gazetteer. Those aren't even close. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 05:27, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I don't see how that relates to the issue. Even during the production bof a gazetteer text might be added or removed ue to editorial concerns. I'm absolutely sure none where ever produce that an editor didn't remove something from. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 05:48, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    My interpretation of those diffs is that you have no understanding whatsoever of the most basic levels of content policy and no understanding of the requirement for content to be verifiable, and as such are unfit to be an administrator. 192.76.8.81 (talk) 23:01, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    That looks like the proper removal of strenuously UNDUE, unreferenced transcriptions of a primary visual source...? JoelleJay (talk) 03:18, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Any sanction, warning or "advise" on people enforcing common sense is bullshit. If you cite your shit like you are supposed to per policy, we won't get any problems like this. ~StyyxTalk? 14:00, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Why on earth are we dragging a highly productive editor who does a great deal of thankless work on the quality control of Wikipedia through this whole rotten process? User:Rschen7754 in particular is apparently hegging for some sort of sanction because an effective New Page Patroller has taken a considered view of some long-standing OR/unverified/uncited content in articles and removed that content or sent articles materially based on that content to draft. That's what you do, BTW, at NPP - you filter the vast volumes of crud and mark as reviewed or draftify, tag or AfD/Prod articles. There's a lot of judgement calls to make - especially at the back of the queue, where Onel5969 tends to work (and where, when I have the energy, I do too). IF someone wants the content maintained/restored, they just have to find a source for it - ideally AS they add it to WP. It's that simple. NPP can be fun to do, but it can also take it out of you (I've stayed away since coming back from leave last month, just 'cos every time I look at the feed a part of me goes 'no, not today') and someone working as hard as Onel5969 deserves thanks, not talk of sanctions. Are mistakes made? Inevitably. In this case, I and clearly other NPP reviewers, don't think they have been made - these seem like perfectly reasonable calls based on policy. Can't we agree to drop this particular stick? We're so precious about biting the newbies, but I can't see why we allow dragging our established assets until they walk away. kthanksbi. Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 15:01, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Copyvios of Roads4117

    It has been pointed out by @DanCherek: that Roads4117 has a number of copyvios. He found 3 but I also found [342] compared with [343]. Personally I would let this serve as a final warning before a short-term block, but given some of the past threads [344] [345] I would understand if another admin thought it was enough to block, maybe long-term.

    I still have concerns regarding Onel5969 (as other editors' work was affected), however I feel this does need to be addressed as well. --Rschen7754 05:02, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I've issue them the standard copvio warning too. At a glance, it appears that past discussion were about how to attribute other free sites or copying within WP. —Bagumba (talk) 05:29, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I am afraid that we need a broader investigation, I just found yet another copyvio [346]. Not sure what the threshold is for WP:CCI. --Rschen7754 07:06, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Okay, so is Roads just copying route descriptions from another wiki to here? I can't see the deleted edits, so I'm not sure how close it was. FrederalBacon (talk) 07:31, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @FrederalBacon: the above link looks like a direct copy of the SABRE roads page on the A584. It's not actually immediately clear to me what the licence status of pages on that Wiki is, my guess would be it's a GNU Free Documentation License similar to the one Wikipedia uses, but of course that would need an explicit link to the history of the page being copied from in the edit summary, similar to the stipulation made at Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia.  — Amakuru (talk) 10:16, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The chapter and verse from SABRE is here and it states "Copyright on all direct contributions to SABRE, including edits to the wiki, rests with the original contributor. However, by submitting their contributions to SABRE, they grant a non-transferable exclusive right to publish their contributions in perpetuity. Copyright on images is dependent on the original licence. Where no licence has been given, and it can be established that no other copyrights have been breached, the original contributor will hold the copyright to the image and grant a non-transferable exclusive right to SABRE to publish the image in perpetuity." ... tl;dr - it's a copyvio if you copy it here. Ritchie333 (talk) (cont) 10:28, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Oh, thanks for that info. That's an interesting model, and it sounds like it could lead to some oddities in a Wiki-environment. If I copyedit something, am I the copyright holder for occasional words throughout the text but not the whole thing? I suppose for most practical purposes it doesn't matter. Anyway, it's clear that Roads4117 needs to take note of this, and desist from copying anything further from SABRE.  — Amakuru (talk) 12:34, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    It was the History section that was generally copied, not the route section. --Rschen7754 14:50, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I am happy for this to count as my final warning for doing major copyvios from SABRE Roads. I also propose to delete them all, if DanCherek hasn't done so. Roads4117 15:17, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The problem at this point, in my mind, is that we are starting to get into a WP:CIR issue. Originally it was thought that the issue was that you were simply conducting your own original research, and weren't sourcing it because there wasn't a source. Now it appears there is a source, and it's one you're just copying. That's even more concerning. FrederalBacon (talk) 18:12, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Roads4117: In how many articles did you copy/paste from another source? Levivich (talk) 19:26, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Levivich: TBH I did it to quite a few articles. I will put a list up on my userpage. Roads4117 (talk) 06:30, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Levivich Sorry to be difficult earlier. I just thought the list would be extremely long, and would block up this page. Turns out that DanCherek has only missed out one articles (the A433). I would also like to say thanks to DanCherek for cleaning up after me - that should be my responsibility. Thanks again, Roads4117 (talk) 16:00, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Roads4117: I didn't think you were being difficult at all! I agree about not posting a very long list here, and I'm glad you're helping with the clean-up effort. Thank you. Levivich (talk) 16:18, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    What gets me is that in the past ANIs and warnings there were concerns about internal attribution and links, so at least in theory the "don't copy from other websites either" message should have been implicit. One can argue both ways on that. That being said, any further issues related to copyright (or arguably anything else) should merit an indefinite block. --Rschen7754 03:24, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    A better response would have been: I am happy for this to count as my final warning for doing major copyvios from SABRE Roads, period.Bagumba (talk) 05:23, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    This sounds like something that would have been uncovered much earlier, and addressed much more easily, if editors had had a citation to the source material from the start. Hmmmm... JoelleJay (talk) 22:19, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Though on the flip side, one could wonder how the copyvios got missed in the NPP process. I don't think this is an argument that would be productive. --Rschen7754 00:04, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    NPP isn't magic, although it sounds now like it is working somewhat well if Onel5969 has been removing potential copyvio text. CMD (talk) 01:38, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I could be wrong, but I didn't see any instances where that was the case. A few times where it was the same article, none where it was the same text. --Rschen7754 01:42, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Perfection isn't a requirement, as it's not a possibility. Someone can not be held accountable for not spotting copyvio text. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 05:14, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Anyway - I've filed a request at WP:CCI, just to make sure we really got all the copyvios. --Rschen7754 05:38, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    @Rschen7754: As an update, a full CCI case has been opened. — Red-tailed hawk (nest) 06:44, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    As an aside, we have more than 150 roads articles using the Sabre wiki as a reference apparently[347]. Perhaps the roads project can d a cleanup project to remove all these instances? Fram (talk) 08:05, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    @Fram I thought I was allowed to use it as a reference, just not for a copyvio? Roads4117 (talk) 18:33, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I don’t think you need a project to do that, you can probably just do it. Similarly: if you sincerely believe a highway article does not meet the standards of inclusion, simply AfD it. Ritchie333 (talk) (cont) 11:58, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Considering the abuse people get when they dare to remove anything from a road project page, I thought it safer to let them handle it themselves. Things like A68 road, unsourced since its creation in 2003, just make me depressed. Fram (talk) 12:30, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Fram FYI the A68 road now has a citation Roads4117 (talk) 16:14, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Thanks, but that source is a personal website, not really the best site, and doesn't really tell a lot about the A68, does it? Fram (talk) 16:21, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    FramAfter all though, I have done what I have been instructed to do (add more sources), and people don't recognise it. Also, you were feeling 'depressed' because it hasn't had a citation for 19 years. Roads4117 (talk) 17:38, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    We are instructed to add reliable sources, not more sources regardless of quality. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 18:06, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I tried looking for sources using Google Books just now and drew a complete blank. The A68 is best known for the Carter Bar border crossing and surrounding area, but trying to find sources that cover this specific term doesn't seem to have turned up much. The most promising source, the Maverick Guide to Scotland [348] just gives a trivial passing mention, and focuses more on the historic Scottish Borders battles that take place around the road.
    If I can work out the names of the historic turnpike routes, that'll potentially give me enough to find some good sources and start expanding the article, as I did for A74 road and A82 road, once I found out they were notable as historic coaching routes dating back centuries and re-engineered significantly by Thomas Telford. An article that describes just the route, and missing out on the centuries of important British history surrounding it that reliable sources pick up on, is I believe violating our neutral point of view policy. Ritchie333 (talk) (cont) 17:02, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Stuck a couple of sources in for you Ritchie333. It's a very interesting road. John (talk) 00:10, 1 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    IMO hostility towards outsiders is not unique to the roads and highways wikiprojects (see for example the longstanding issues with WikiProject Military History), what is unique is the amount of bad articles in the topic space. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 16:10, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Apparently the hostility is not unique, given the number of NPPers who have been canvassed to this very discussion at Wikipedia talk:New pages patrol/Reviewers#Interesting discussions. [349]. I believe that this hostility towards new users is a real problem that needs to be addressed at some point. Even your their own guidelines say as criteria for revocation of the right: The editor has demonstrated a pattern of failing to exercise sufficient care when reviewing pages, resulting in users being offended or discouraged (especially new users). --Rschen7754 18:31, 29 September 2022 (UTC) (slight change added later)[reply]
    Was this put in the right place? I'm not a NPPer. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 18:34, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Neither am I, and as I've said before this is hardly a new user. I seriously doubt you're ability to be anything near neutral in regard to the roads project. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 18:46, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I'm not going to claim perfection on behalf of myself or of others that I work with. I do take objection to when the same issues are not being called out elsewhere. And my INVOLVED statement has been on my userpage for quite a while. --Rschen7754 18:55, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Please strike the claim both places its been made[350]. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 18:58, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I believe that sometimes HEB can be a bit... forthright, but I have to agree strike that that comment it's not fitting of an admin and you should strike it. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 19:01, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Fair enough, I will go back and clarify. --Rschen7754 19:04, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Thank you, how does the fact that we are not part of NPP change your appraisal of the situation? Horse Eye's Back (talk) 19:14, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I just think that any accusations of "hostility" should be even-handed. That was the intent of my comments which I still believe in and endorse, however I regret that they served to be inflammatory and could have been made at a different time. --Rschen7754 00:15, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The editor has demonstrated a pattern of failing to exercise sufficient care when reviewing pages, resulting in users being offended or discouraged (especially new users). Show where Onel5969 has done this, with diffs to back it up, or stop making unsubstantiated personal attacks. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 18:58, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The purpose of that statement is to show that yes, a pattern is sufficient to remove the right. I did not intend to make a statement that Onel5969 has demonstrated an pattern, though he has done it once with the diffs from South Africa previously. --Rschen7754 19:03, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Three edits of one article about a single road in South Africa, using Google maps as a reference. Something where there is obviously some community disagreement, as shown in this thread. (I would say previously, but who knows with how tangled this thread has become). -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 19:09, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Who was the new user in that scenario? Chils Kemptonian is as old as I am in wikiyears with a respectable edit count in the mid thousands. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 19:12, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Regarding concerns about new users, I followed the link above through to the WP:Highways talk page and saw that Roads4117 asked "am I allowed to use OpenStreet Maps" and was never answered, despite multiple other members of the project inputting afterwards. Perhaps if someone helped new users with policies such as WP:SPS, especially when they specifically ask for advice on the matter, they would be less likely to run into issues? CMD (talk) 10:43, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I don't have much knowledge of this particular discussion but the comment above this caught my attention. Even if those experienced editors on that project talk page didn't know the answers @Roads4117 was asking for had they directed them to other places where they might could get someone that could assist them like the WP:Teahouse, the WP:Help desk, or the WP:Reference desk then maybe we wouldn't be here at all. There are amazing editors there willing to assist and try to help good faith editors, both new and experienced, just like @Road4117. We also have the mentorship program where new editors can be assigned someone to assist them on their journey here. No one has to go it alone or figure things out for themselves and I believe most of us would rather help another editor avoid the pitfalls that lead to this point than wait for them to fail to bring them to ANI and/or up for sanctions. --ARoseWolf 15:47, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Proposal : Indefinite block of Roads4117 for extensive copyright violations

    Okay, I have started going through the CCI and immediately found a bunch of copyvios, as have other editors. I don't really have any confidence that Roads4117 has understood the issues beyond simply saying "Okay, thanks", which he's previously said and yet still has turned up at ANI again. Given the precedent with ClemRutter and Martinevans123 over what we do with editors who have an active CCI that shows persistent copyvios, I think we should indefinitely block. However, I'd like to get an agreement first before doing this. Ritchie333 (talk) (cont) 12:47, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    • Support has not shown a change in behavior despite prior warnings, which means he'll continue to introduce copyvios that others need to clean up. Should be blocked as a preventative measure. Star Mississippi 13:47, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • I oppose an indefinite block at this time for the stated reason. Two days ago, I notified Roads4117 about copyright violations on their talk page (and Bagumba followed up with a more detailed message along the same lines), and to my knowledge this is the first time that they were warned on their talk page for something like this (discounting the unattributed merges, etc.). Copying from non-WMF wikis is something I see regularly from a lot of newer editors, and it's an understandable mistake – that if it looks like Wikipedia, then the licensing might be similar – and as there does not seem to be new instances of copyright violations from Roads4117 after these warnings were given, I don't see this as a preventative measure at this time. The CCI is designed for ensuring that problematic edits in the past are adequately handled; on the other hand, any sanctions should come from current or future behavior. I don't think this is directly comparable with other copyright-related blocks named above, which involved many instances of talk page warnings about copyright violations. DanCherek (talk) 14:13, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oppose per DanCherek. The reason I left the aforementioned formal copyvio warning on their talkpage was that I only saw prior discussions for attributing from open license sites and copying within WP. It's conceivable that they weren't aware that attribution to other sites is not sufficient to avoid copyvios. Consider it a single-issue/final warning. Let me know if I'm missing something.—Bagumba (talk) 14:37, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oppose per Dan and Bagumba. Roads's account is only 3 months old; they got some poor advice (note that the last ANI did not have a definitive conclusion, and I think didn't communicate the proper message clearly enough); they've since received good advice (here), and seem to be responsive to it and following it, and I don't think the problems have been repeated since then. The other editors had much more experience; I would not impose any sanction. I would suggest closing this with a clear "reminder" about not adding unsourced content and not copying from other websites. Levivich (talk) 15:26, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oppose, I think there certainly is grounds for a indeff but given all of the information that has come out Roads4117 is also a victim here. They received bad advice and unless we're willing to consider sanctions against those who gave that advice (which includes a brace of admins) I don't think that any additional action should be taken. Obviously if they start up the CopyVivo again its an indeff on sight but I think that goes without saying. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 15:31, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      @Horse Eye's Back: with respect to Obviously if they start up the CopyVivo again its an indeff on sight, are you thinking that this should be formalized in some way? — Red-tailed hawk (nest) 17:04, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      TBH I don't, formal procedures like probation are for when things aren't obviously disruptive in their own right but only in the larger contexts of their other edits. Any copyvivo is disruptive, we don't need anything to tell us that. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 17:07, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oppose, given the amount of scrutiny now here a block would not serve a significant preventative function, with any further copyvio likely to be caught. Per many above, further copyvios could trigger a block but the opportunity should be given to demonstrate learning after this AN/I report. CMD (talk) 15:49, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oppose I usually have little sympathy for copyvio cases, and think that ANI has been to lax in some past cases. However I agree with Levivich and HEB, and as ARoseWolf said above mentorship could be useful in this case (from someone uninvolved with this mess or the highway project). -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested transmissions °co-ords° 16:49, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oppose. I support an alternative proposal that I've included below. — Red-tailed hawk (nest) 16:58, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Proposal: Copyright probation

    Like Ritchie333, I've worked on the recently-opened CCI. The mistakes made seem to be all the sorts of mistakes that new editors make with respect to unattributed merges and copyvio from other wikis, so I don't think an indef is warranted, but the extent of copyright problems here is very extensive for a user with only around 1400 edits to the mainspace. The standard remedy of probation notes that a user on probation may be banned from pages that they edit in a certain way. Construed for this case and in light of our policy on copyright violations, I propose that the editor be placed on probation as follows:

    Roads4117 is placed on copyright probation. This means that any uninvolved administrator may block Roads4117 and/or ban Roads4117 from editing a page or set of pages if that administrator determines that Roads4117 has continued in their committing copyright violations and/or failing to properly attribute content copied from freely licensed sources, broadly construed. This probation may be appealed at the administrators' noticeboard six months after its enactment, and once every six months thereafter.

    Red-tailed hawk (nest) 16:58, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    • Support as proposer. The user is passionate about roads and, with proper adherence to copyright policies, will probably be a productive editor. As stated above, I think an indef is going to be overkill at this point given that these are typical new user mistakes, but I do think that something with teeth is warranted to prevent future damage to the encyclopedia should the user not adhere to copyright policies given the extent of their current copyright violations. Should the user show a consistent pattern of adhering to copyright policies going forward, this probation can be lifted via appeal at AN. — Red-tailed hawk (nest) 16:58, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • I guess. Personally I would just indef and move on if it happens again. --Rschen7754 18:27, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oppose Seems bureaucratic without any real benefits. Given Roads4117's engagement with this discussion and on their talk page, I am fine with a warning at this point – and the message seems to have duly received – so I don't believe that this "probation" is warranted at this time. (Also per my comments above regarding prevention, first-time warnings, etc.) The standard practice of escalating warnings and then a block if continued copyright violations occur is fine; this does not seem to be an extraordinary circumstance that requires a tailored sanction. DanCherek (talk) 18:44, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Oppose Simply stated, the next confirmed copyvio should result in an indefinite block. Thinking further, if there is an unblock request, the unblocking admin or community can decide if there are any conditions necessary, depending on the situation at that time.—Bagumba (talk) 18:52, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Personal attacks by user Othon I

    User @Othon I has directed many defamatory terms and personal attacks at me in his response here:[351] such as: lack of intelligence, plague my comment, dumb responses, incoherent rambling.

    The same user has exhibited aggressive behavior towards me in the past, for example here:[352] stop moaning about it. When I first joined Wikipedia, within days, I received a temporary editing ban for less than this. Othon is an experienced user and knows exactly what he is doing. Çerçok (talk) 17:58, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Is you accusing him of textbook POV. I hope this is clear enough for you acceptable? Khirurg (talk) 18:28, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    That is not a personal attack (see here:[353]). But let's let the admins decide. Çerçok (talk) 19:23, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Does that really sound comparable to "lack of intelligence" to you? Super Ψ Dro 20:04, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    (unindent) @Cercok:Accusing someone of "textbook POV" is a personal attack. "I hope this is clear enough for you" is condescending. Khirurg (talk) 22:44, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    It's very ironic that you, Khirurg, of all editors are calling out another editor for being "condescending" (which in this case does not even apply). You and I have previously had a discussion where I have called you out for your condescending tone; in fact, here's some new, recent examples of you using such a tone:
    • "Anything you have to say, do so at the article talkpage. Bye." [354]
    • "Too long eh? Nah, why don't you tell us the *real* reason you don't want this information highlighted." [355]
    • Also the use of "nope" or "nah" in edit summaries is unproductive, condescending, dismissive and simply not a constructive way to edit. [356] [357]
    And these are just edit summaries - of which there are more of - and I can find many examples of your condescending behaviour towards other editors in talk pages as well. Stop the hypocrisy, you are the last person on this thread who should call people out for being condescending. Stop trying to derail the conversation, Othon I has used personal attacks against Çerçok and should be punished for it, as it is Wikipedia Policy. Throwing false accusations to try and distract people on this thread, especially when you are guilty of the accusations you make, does not benefit this TP in the slightest. Botushali (talk) 02:44, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I do remember "Nope" really bothered you, but I didn't know "Nah" did too. They're just figures of speech though, nothing wrong with them. But Stop the hypocrisy, you are the last person...., now that's a personal attack. Khirurg (talk) 03:32, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Again with the condescending comments in that first line - words like that are not adequate edit summaries, that's my issue with it. Above you can see edits of you being condescending and I can provide many more, it's a fact that you utilise a condescending tone on Wikipedia. Now, let's allow the admins to review this without clogging the conversation. Thanks. Botushali (talk) 04:37, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    No condescension anywhere. "Nope" and "Nah" are used by everyone. If you don't want "clogging the conversation", the best way to stop that is to stop making accusations about "condescending tone". Khirurg (talk) 04:40, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Maybe you're right, but strange questions like Too long eh? Nah, why don't you tell us the *real* reason you don't want this information highlighted. or But let's stop beating about the bush, shall we? The real reason you want the article moved is because the current title is too Greek, isn't it? [358] really do sound condescending. As the user above as done, I'd advice you against making accusations of something you're not impune of. It also goes without a saying that the choice between using common Wikipedia language and "nope" or "nah" is that of deciding to have basic respect for the other party. You could have worded that differently, but it appears these words reflected what you wanted to express more accurately. Super Ψ Dro 13:36, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Speaking as a person who sometimes uses similar edit-summaries (and is not otherwise involved in this discussion or topic-area), let me suggest that they are at best on the boundary of condescension and rudeness, and I wouldn't use them in a situation in which it was important to me not to irritate or inflame other editors. JBL (talk) 22:07, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Stating that someone is not editing in accordance with the NPOV policy is not a personal attack, especially if they are actually doing so. (t · c) buidhe 23:27, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I wonder why Cercok accused me for the addition of sourced content [[359]] for "extremist racist remark", while in the following edit-summaries [[360]][[361]][[362]] he is constantly reverting by declaring something about his wp:truth. That's too aggressive at least in terms of writing down edit summaries.Alexikoua (talk) 00:48, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

     Comment: While I indeed used strong language on Cercok and indeed some of the terms used might be on the borderline of a personal attack, I have constantly tried to reason with him since he started as an editor in WP. I have requested from him various times (you can see from the diffs provided) to stop using language that leans towards nationalism (I have already reported him once and he was blocked for that) but he continues this pattern. I have been also trying to work with him and agreed on many topics but still he continued accusing me for POV pushing - even if I agree with him. I already said that would not tolerate such language ("accept the verifiable truth" etc.) and he still continues that. Othon I (talk) 08:07, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

     Comment: Since negative comments about editors are considered personal attacks, a way to bypass sanctions is commenting their expressed opinions in an uncivil manner ie "this is stupid" (wording varies). It is not borderline personal attack, it is a clear personal attack and a way of gaming the system to avoid bans. We should make sure this wont go on. Cinadon36 08:26, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Since you are a reasonable person, how could you characterise the comment "accept the verifiable truth about...." by the time that I have already agreed on it, and I have suggested an alternate wording? Is it "stupid" to say that or not? And I am very worried about you defending nationalistic comments as such... Othon I (talk) 08:50, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    No, it is not stupid, you could have said it as the way you put it now, that you had already agreed on it. Also, note that I am not defending any comment on the talk page, nationalistic or not. Also, I can not understand why you are worried about me- a friendly advice: dont focus on your interlocutor, focus on the arguments themselves. If you feel discussing about me further, please do it on my talk page. I will not reply to any argument that is not relevant to the issue of this section. Cinadon36 09:59, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

     Comment: Its amusing how certain editors are arguing here about just one WP:PILLARS, asking for bans related to WP:CIVILITY, considering that such preventative means are also needed for violating Wikipedia's other Pillars such as WP:NPOV, which is violated as well and has caused the tensions in the first place. Only by ensuring that all Five Pillars are respected, we can be sure that the project provides a healthier environment for all good-faith editors to work there without tensions arising all the time. That is, IMO, to have bans apply on all editors gaming the system to get personal goals achieved at the expense of the project's principles. After all, how many editors have lost their patience and abandoned Wikipedia due to people forgetting that this is a collective project, an encyclopedia? And how many more left due to disruption occurring by forcing their bias on articles at the expense of WP:CONSENSUS? I don't think this is OK at all. Absolutely not. And editors here failing to see this, by pointing only to NPOV or only to Civility, while forgetting the whole point behind Wikipedia, is worrisome.

    The editors in the WP:BALKANS topic area, ought to not forget how problematic this topic area is, and try to achieve not just WP:CIVILITY, but all the five pillars of the project, including WP:NEUTRAL. Othon, if you are dealing with editors showing a non-constructive and non-compromising attitude in the talk pages of the WP:BALKAN articles: I understand that it may be annoying, but I recommend that you do not waste more time with them and just go ask for a third party opinion (or other forms of dispute resolution) instead. It may seem cumbersome, but might save some sanity as well. A lesson I myself have learned well last month. Good day. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 10:10, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    SilentResident, you're responsible for a big percentage of the walls of text present in these two interrelated reports. After all, how many editors have lost their patience and abandoned Wikipedia due to people forgetting that this is a collective project, an encyclopedia? What is this sentence here for? Some kind of appeal to emotions? Is there any actual evidence that the disputes between these users have caused such a thing? I don't think writing tens of paragraphs will favor the aim of getting sanctions applied. At least not to the reported users. Super Ψ Dro 13:18, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Super Dromaeosaurus, if you have trouble reading what I have wrote, then you can simply ignore my messages instead of insulting others for that. None forced you to read other's comments if they proved too much for you. To not add that your response shows how detached you are from the toxic reality that has befallen Wikipedia, a fact that at least the veteran editors who have been much longer in Wikipedia than you, are acknowledging and one of the reasons the community is working hard towards improving the climate in the project by adopting a Universal Code of Conduct. [363]. Good day. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 13:57, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    That this issue is part of some major toxic general problem in Wikipedia is a big claim and your personal opinion, please do not base objective arguments on such a thing. And I only wished to point out that you tend to write lengthy comments that do not contribute to the outcome you desire; other editors, including in this report, have done so too. Super Ψ Dro 19:18, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Don't you argue with me on whether incivility of individuals constituting or not, part of the broader issue of incivility that is plaguing the Project's community. That ain't convincing. I do not understand why these personal attacks against me, I have never criticized you for the way you speak, and yet there you are, criticizing my expressive disorder! This is disgusting and a completely unacceptable behavior and if this continues, then I will have no other option but report you. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 20:49, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    What are you even talking about? None of this has anything to do with Othon I violating Wiki policy; please stay on topic. Botushali (talk) 00:53, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Btw, was this you Stop the stupidity, it's just annoying.? Yet here you are lecturing others about civility and how "Nope" is "condescending". Khirurg (talk) 02:34, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    If you want to talk about me, go ahead and do it on my TP - I was already reported regarding what you just put above, and I wasn't sanctioned by an admin [364] whilst you on the other hand have indeed been sanctioned for your behaviours. Stop trying to distract readers from the topic at hand. Othon I broke Wiki policy and needs to be punished for it. Botushali (talk) 02:53, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Botushali, I am afraid that per WP:BOOMERANG the violations of Wikipedia's policies by the involved parties are very much on topic too, since they constitute violations of Wikipedia's WP:NEUTRAL and WP:CONSENSUS guidelines. You cannot expect that editors may escape responsibility for their own actions by pointing their finger at Othon I and asking for sanctions to be applied selectively. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 03:11, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I don't think BOOMERANG applies here, since the user bringing this issue to ANI has not been recently involved into name calling afaik. (if he did, lets say he did called other users as stupid or similar, yes, Boomerang should apply). Cinadon36 07:36, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Incorrect. Behavioral issues leading to violations of Wikipedia's guidelines, are as equally subject to scrutiny. BOOMERANG doesn't distinguish among types of misbehavior. If you read the essay carefully, it doesn't even state anything about "misbehavior having to be of the same kind" in order to be eligible to scrutiny as you are suggesting here. All kinds of misbehavior are damaging to the Project's stability, and it would be naive of us to expect that the ANI has to be selective in dealing with them. Expect no more replies from me here, as arguing here about WP:BOOMERANG is pointless. The Admins know better than you and me about what may really be subject to scrutiny. Good day. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 09:37, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I wont agree SilentResident. So, if someone acts even once against the policy at an article, and gets a personal attack ten years later, according to your interpretation, if he complains at ANI, he should be banned, cos there is not type or time limit of misbehavior. I find that against common sense. Cinadon36 10:31, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The admins please take note how editor Cinadon36 is distorting [365] what others are saying [366] in a bid to alleviate certain editors of their responsibilities in the recent dispute. This speaks volumes. My participation here is over. --- SilentResident (talk ✉ | contribs ✎) 12:18, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Harassment, PA, and GAMING by Horse Eye's Back

    Horse Eye's Back has started following my contrib history and showing up in odd places to argue with me.

    The most obvious of these is Talk:Epistemic_humility#Critical_Theory_section_is_undue?. The other is Talk:Feldenkrais Method#Entry has strong anti-Feldenkrais bias.

    I raised the issue on their Talk page: they confirmed that they were following me and added a personal attack ("your inability to discern reliable sources from blatant fringe is disrupting multiple pages"). They declined to strike the PA and indeed doubled down on it.

    HEB continued hounding from the Feldenkrais talk page, going after User:Bbachrac who had done nothing disruptive, though in this case HEB was able to find a likely COI edit to another article in the editor's history.

    HEB has continued to post accusations of COI to Talk:Feldenkrais Method#Entry has strong anti-Feldenkrais bias, using an interpretation that is completely at odds with the text of WP:COI.

    HEB then deleted large portions of the Feldenkrais Method article where they never engaged previously (though for what it's worth, the article was already in a terrible state). An IP attempted to revert their changes; HEB restored his edits with the comment "horshockey and balderdash".

    HEB apparently believes that I have made comments which justify the HOUNDING, I'll leave it to them to provide diffs. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Palpable (talk • contribs) 18:06, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Not hounding you (or following you, which you know... as you said on my talk page "I was going to let this drop after the warning, but you seem to have a serial HOUNDING problem." Who else are you alleging I am hounding btw?), as for the IP see Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Sunderland Renaissance. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 18:24, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    You admitted to this on your Talk page, but came up with a justification for it. Same thing with Bbachrac.
    I wasn't aware of the sock puppet investigation of the IP, you didn't refer to that in your edit comment. - Palpable (talk) 21:11, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I admitted to what on my talk page? To making proper, judicious and appropriate use of your edit contribution history? Bbachrac clearly has a COI issue, check your talk page[367] if you still don't believe me. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 21:22, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Also those aren't the "most obvious" examples they are the only examples... Bbachrac has also clearly engaged in disruptive editing, every single one of their mainspace edits since their first one has had major COI issues. (note: that is actually incorrect and I apologize to Bbachrac, their first three edits do not appear to have COI issues) Horse Eye's Back (talk) 18:26, 27 September 2022 (UTC) )[reply]


    I don't want to comment on the rest of this, but "your inability to discern reliable sources from blatant fringe is disrupting multiple pages" should not be considered a personal attack. In that same post you're referencing they also stated that you're welcome to reach out to them regarding sources and additionally pointed towards the Teahouse as an alternative place for assistance. While you may not have liked their tone or the message, that wasn't a personal attack, it was criticism. I myself have been criticized a number of times by editors and admins in ways that allowed me to get better, even if it didn't feel good at the time. Editors are not from criticism (this isn't a note on whether the criticism is valid). Hey man im josh (talk) 18:44, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    If I was actually disrupting anything it would be criticism. If the real problem is that I was presenting inconvenient evidence, it's harassment. If he has evidence that I was being disruptive he should share it.
    I think what HEB was actually angry about is that he was citing a headline in the Tehran Times that wasn't even supported by the article text, and I called him on it. I was making a legitimate point and don't need to go to the Teahouse to know that. - Palpable (talk) 21:07, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    You are making claims about hounding, but from what I'm seeing the "hounding" is limited to... one article? Out of your 6 bullets, only one of them mentions a page that isn't HEB's talk page or the Feldenkrais method.
    What you call a personal attack is not a personal attack, it is a statement of (personal) finding. If they called you names or said you were a bad editor because of the disruption, THAT would be a personal attack, but in reality they only said you were making disruptive edits in a bit of a harsh tone.
    Why bring up BBachrac if you yourself admit it was likely they had made COI edits?
    Why bring up the deletions to Feldenkrais Method if you can admit that the page was in great need? Its fairly common for experienced editors to stumble across an article in obvious need of trimming, who then take the time to cut out the obvious chaff.
    You aren't "following" someone the moment you click on their contributions link, it becomes following if you, without valid concern, check on them repeatedly over a longer period. If you saw that I made a boneheaded edit changing all spellings on the England page to use American English, it would be perfectly acceptable to check my recent contributions to see if I was going on a spree of such. Following would be if I reverted an edit of yours and you spent a week checking on my contributions every day waiting for a slip up. Alternatively, Hounding would be more like making snippy comments or trivial edits to every edit I make in short succession, or seeking out any talk page or noticeboard messages I make to post something oppositional to every one. GabberFlasted (talk) 18:54, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    HEB admitted he was following me when I asked on his Talk page, and said that it was justified because I was being disruptive. Note that he has yet to support his disruption accusations with diffs.
    Similarly, there was nothing disruptive about Bbachrac's talk page contributions. His crime was disagreeing with HEB - on a subject that Bbachrac knows something about, and HEB knows nothing. WP:HOUNDING does not say that it's justified if you find something, it says that it's justified if the editor is being disruptive. Saying that Bbachrac has a COI for Feldenkrais method is a ridiculous interpretation of WP:COI, and given HEB's level of experience it looks more like GAMING than an honest mistake.
    Note that I never said that the Feldenkrais article needed deletions. What it needs are corrections and additions. - Palpable (talk) 20:56, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    On their talk page, Horse Eye's Back wrote: I noticed that you weren't competently identifying WP:RS so I suspected that you might have disrupted multiple pages. This seems consistent with the WP:HOUND policy:

    Correct use of an editor's history includes (but is not limited to) fixing unambiguous errors or violations of Wikipedia policy, or correcting related problems on multiple articles.

    As GabberFlasted said, even the number of pages themselves don't suggest a persistent campaign to intentionally annoy. It seems like a good faith attempt to improve Wikipedia. —Bagumba (talk) 04:15, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Except HEB can't point to a single "unambiguous error or violation of Wikipedia policy".
    Since they won't provide diffs, here's the thread that they are retaliating for: I pointed out a blatant BLP violation. Palpable (talk) 15:38, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    You mean Talk:Investigations into the origin of COVID-19#New article of the Lancet Commission on lessons for the future from the COVID-19 pandemic? I'm not sure how "Sachs is not subtle about this, among the featured press on his personal website is this Tehran Times excerpt from "Covid possibly came out of a U.S. biotechnology lab, says Columbia professor"[8] so its hard not to say that the more extreme reading of his position is accurate when he endorses it."[368] is a BLP violation. I would really appreciate it if you would stop telling lies about me, its getting a bit old. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 15:54, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Your reply is bizarre. The location of the BLP violation is clearly stated in the BLPN thread using the standard formatting. - Palpable (talk) 16:45, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    What in the world are you talking about then? Thats the only statement I've ever made which you've brought up as a BLP issue, which you did in the comment you just linked to. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 17:46, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I'm providing the context that led up to your harassment, since you have repeatedly failed to provide diffs supporting your accusations of disruption and PAG violations. - Palpable (talk) 17:57, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I'm asking you about the context, you've repeatedly said that I violated BLP and attempted to cite the Tehran Times in an article but I have no memory of that and reading the discussions I don't think it ever happened. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 18:02, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I never said that you violated BLP or that you attempted to cite Tehran Times in an article. Your Tehran Times cite was in a Talk page.
    What I have said is that you have followed me to articles that you had no interest in, alleged COI where none exists, and justified this with false accusations of disruption for which you have not provided a shred of evidence. - Palpable (talk) 18:25, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Thats not a citation or cite, period. Please strike your comments claiming I made a cite or citation to the Tehran Times. I think I've pretty clearly made my cases for COI and disruption on the relevant talk pages... That you disagree with the evidence is not the same thing as me not providing any. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 18:39, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I used cite according to its standard English language usage. But I'd be willing to strike that if you want to strike your repeated allegations of disruption and COI.
    I hope admins will note that you have a lot of time for back-and-forth but an extraordinary reluctance to back up your accusations with diffs. - Palpable (talk) 19:11, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The source cited according to the standard English language usage was jeffsachs.org not the Tehran Times. COI [369][370][371][372][373][374]. Disruptive pushing of non-WP:RS [375][376][377][378][379][380][381][382][383][384][385] (neither list is exhaustive). Note that the editor you claim has no COI is now threatening legal action on behalf of the alternative medicine organization you and they have a COI in regards to. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 19:49, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Nothing in there supports your allegations against me. Some of them are from after you started your campaign.
    But it's hilarious that you think it's disruptive for me to edit my own user page! - Palpable (talk) 19:57, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    This was never about just you. "I have worked with a Feldenkrais Practitioner as a student for many years. He studied directly with Moshe Feldenkrais, is a member of the Feldenkrais Guild, and teaches courses for Feldenkrais Practitioners." followed by the edit summary "m (The current article is not consistent with the practice of the Feldenkrais Guild. Following surgery and during rehabilitation licensed Physical Therapy takes precedence.. Feldenkrais Practitioners have students not patients.)" followed by the rest of it and ending with legal threats against wikipedia doesn't strike you as supporting the allegation of COI? Horse Eye's Back (talk) 20:03, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I don't care to defend Bbachrac. Making legal threats against Wikipedia is obviously out of bounds.
    Of course all this is from after you started the vendetta that prompted this complaint. - Palpable (talk) 20:32, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The majority of this argument was you defending Bbachrac and claiming I was wrong to allege that they had a COI. If you now accept that they have a COI I think an apology is in order. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 20:36, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    That's false. I don't think Bbachrac has a COI for Feldenkrais, but they probably lack editorial competence and they certainly shouldn't even allude to legal action.
    I think you are creating a distraction from my original complaint. I've said my piece and will wait to see if an admin wants to evaluate this. Palpable (talk) 20:52, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Rarely do you get a COI that obvious. My "going after" Bbachrac was part of your original complaint. It is apparently from your opening statement here the reason you opened this ANI discussion rather than letting it drop. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 21:02, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Unrelated

    Unrelated but comments like [386][387][388][389] are clearly inappropriate, border on personal attacks and casting aspersions. This behavior should not be tolerated here. --Rschen7754 20:06, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Can you be specific about what exactly is "clearly inappropriate"? Horse Eye's Back (talk) 20:15, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    So, for the most part, these all strike me as comments on edits and well within bounds, if a bit sharp-elbowed. HEB, I might mention that the first is probably a bit much what with the take a good hard look at their lives language. I don't think it merits any sanction, but it's not very helpful. Cheers. Dumuzid (talk) 20:43, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    It is accusing established editors with multiple FAs of misusing sources -> casting aspersions. --Rschen7754 20:45, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Discussing sources and article improvement is why we're here; some do it in a very gentle and collegial way, others less so. As I said, the (paraphrased) "look at your life" language is too much for me, but not a great enough sin that it needs some kind of response. The rest all strike me as normal, if strident, article discussion. As ever, reasonable minds may differ on the subject. Cheers. Dumuzid (talk) 20:48, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Wikipedia big dog (with reliable sauce)
    It seems that when eating with the wikipedia big dogs one's elbows must be as sharp as one's wits if headway towards consensus is to be made. I do regret that I veered too far into the poetic, but I think it got my point across (the conversation has become more and not less productive since). Horse Eye's Back (talk) 20:52, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    This dismissive attitude toward WP:CIVIL explains a lot. - Palpable (talk) 21:12, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Isn't that what WP:RSN, WP:RFC and WP:VPP are meant for? I thought ANI was for semantic drama handling edit wars, incivility and vandals? - Floydian τ ¢ 21:07, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    By "here" I meant Wikipedia writ large, but your point about petty squabbles drama boards administrator noticeboards is understood! Dumuzid (talk) 21:16, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    @Rschen7754: "It is accusing established editors with multiple FAs of misusing sources -> casting aspersions." I hate this attitude. If you accuse new editors of this, then you are WP:BITEing. If you do it with established editors, you are "casting aspersions". We have recently seen that an editor with hundreds of GAs was creating countless copyvios. I have the last few days AfD'ed one article by an admin (it was then deleted), and draftified an article by another admin for clear WP:BLPCRIME violations (which they then corrected). No one is above making mistakes, no group of editors is somehow untouchable and may not be accused of things. What matters is that the accusations are correct, not who the editors are that get accused. Fram (talk) 08:16, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Let's not forget we had a prolific administrator who wrote this notorious former GA who is now persona non grata. Ritchie333 (talk) (cont) 17:28, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    LionAjk

    The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


    Even after talk page full of warnings and a block 2 months ago, this user is still falsifying sources, not using edit summaries, and still adding unsourced content.

    Just today, he added unsourced content on Religion in Saudi Arabia,[390] some content on Tatarstan[391] which is not supported by his added source and content on Religion in the Middle East[392] which is not supported by the source. I took a broader look at this user's editing and to me he does not seem to be WP:HERE. Aman Kumar Goel (Talk) 21:03, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    What exactly did I falsify the tatarstan one was sourced I even added two sources saying in the 55 to 53% range.
    Religion in saudi arabia I added sources regarding blasphemy cases and fixed the sources if you bothered to read the sources both news sites like alhurra and saurress used the gallup survey which said 5% people in saudi arabia were convinced atheist they didnt make conduct there own surveys like how that paragraph allegeds.
    Also religion in the middle east regarding the shabak edit I got the reference from its main wiki page:
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabaks if you check the userbox in regards to religion check the reference its the same.
    Yes I should use edit summaries but its optional I was warned thar it would be better to use edit summaries if it such a issue I will use edit summaries also wanted to add my older ban two months ago was result of edit warring which I am trying to improve actively on by discussing on the talk page to be honest I didnt it was a thing at first but now I do take the discussion to the talk page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by LionAjk (talk • contribs) 22:17, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    LionAjk, which source supports the content you added to Religion in Saudi Arabia about Shankar Ponnam and Ashraf Fayadh? Cullen328 (talk) 23:37, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Here is the link that does https://en.qantara.de/content/atheism-in-saudi-arabia-gods-own-country — Preceding unsigned comment added by LionAjk (talk • contribs) 23:41, 27 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    LionAjk, you added a bare URL a couple of paragraphs down. How is a reader supposed to know that this URL has anything to do with Ponnam and Fayadh? Cullen328 (talk) 00:09, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I thought all the citation are linked there I can see the confusion I caused. — Preceding unsigned comment added by LionAjk (talk • contribs) 00:11, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Plus, the content you added was a blatant copy/paste copyright violation of the source. Why did you do that, LionAjk? Cullen328 (talk) 00:14, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I didnt know it would count as copyright as it was just the victims names and there reason they were unfairly punished but next time I will be more aware. — Preceding unsigned comment added by LionAjk (talk • contribs) 00:17, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    LionAjk, the names alone are not subject to copyright, but the detailed descriptions of the charges and the punishments are subject to copyright protection. You must paraphrase and summarize in your own words. Cullen328 (talk) 00:22, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Cullen328: LionAjk does not refute the falsification of sources which he did at Religion in the Middle East and Tatarstan. He is only trying to obfuscate. LionAjk clearly does not understand what is WP:V or WP:COPYVIO. He has been warned about copyright before too. This latest revert proves this. Replies from LionAjk further proves that he lacks the competence to edit. I don't think he will allow cleanup of the damage he did in last 3 months unless he is blocked. Aman Kumar Goel (Talk) 02:50, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Aman.kumar.goel, the word "falsification" implies that this editor is deliberately trying to damage the encyclopedia. To me, it looks more like gold faith efforts by an editor who lacks skills and an even introductory understanding of our policies and guidelines. But people can learn. I am inclined to block the editor from article space, but allow them to propose improvements on article talk pages. I would like to hear from some other editors. Cullen328 (talk) 03:41, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Cullen328: LionAjk has been blocked as a sock per Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Arsi786 now. This can be closed. Aman Kumar Goel (Talk) 18:59, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Aman.kumar.goel, thanks. I am not surprised. Cullen328 (talk) 20:13, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I was not warned of copyright I was warned that if I take information from another part of a wikipedia article and place into anothee I should mention it in the edit summary I also explained the edits of both tatarstan and the shabak one in religion in the middle east. As a took the main source striaght from the wikipedia article in regards to shabak and the tatarstan was mentioned in the source that it was 53% muslim or 55% according to the source.LionAjk (talk) 09:18, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

    User:85.193.215.210

    This user, editing from at least the three IPs and the username linked above, makes edits which they claim improve readability. However, the changes they make are almost always unnecessary and are frequently harmful. They often seek to replace words on the basis of google search results, without heed to specific meaning or nuance. They have stated that they believe the English language is "illogical" and that they think editing Wikipedia is a way to somehow change this: "I want to make English a bit more logical, and Wikipedia seems to be a very good tool." Their edit summaries often have an insulting tone, suggesting that other editors are somehow deliberately making articles hard to understand (this and other commonly-used edit summaries make it easy to see that the same person is behind the IPs and the account).

    Some examples of harmful edits:

    Examples of using google searches incorrectly:

    In that latter thread, they even suggested that a user change their talk page post in a way which made it nonsensical. That is not the only time they have made such strange requests of other users: see also [393]

    They have been heavily criticised, in their various incarnations, by a number of other editors. See for example:

    There are plenty more examples of edits they have made which changed meanings in ways that they clearly do not properly understand. While the harm of each individual edit may be minor, the fact that they have been pursuing this campaign of over-simplification under multiple identities over many years motivates me to raise the issue here for discussion. Individual editors have asked them to stop this campaign, and they have not. Should something be done about this? 86.187.235.123 (talk) 08:11, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    You seem to have an obsession with me, but I am not a vandal. My dynamic IP does change sometimes, but without my will. I appreciate your painstaking scrutiny but, unfortunately, it was in vain. If your think that replacing "all but disappeared" with "almost disappeared" is somehow harmful to Wikipedia, and maybe to the whole English language, than you have a problem. Just because English is not my first language does not mean that I am incompetent in English. Unlike you I am competent enough to distinguish between syntax and semantics. Look at your unfounded revert that has been rereverted by somebody else. Why should I believe you, especially that you use sock puppets? My problems started when you made this revert, and then your sock puppets came to play:
    • Lognomm,
    • Eh!_Eh!_Aah!,
    • Kzqj.
    The (already blocked) sock puppets supported each other very consequently. And ironically, you accuse me of making harmful edits? How is it that Johnuniq, who is an administrator, called my allegedly harmful edits very reasonable? 85.193.215.210 (talk) 11:32, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I looked at a couple of the diffs and they seemed very reasonable to me. Rather than shotgunning a bunch of links, please provide three which show an actual problem and briefly explain what that problem is. Johnuniq (talk) 03:42, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Johnuniq Thank you for your support, especially that you are an administrator! :-) 85.193.215.210 (talk) 11:37, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I provided a sample of seven poor edits, two extremely poor edits, and five examples of the user being criticised for their actions. The problem, as I said, is that they are seeking to simplify the English Wikipedia for their own benefit as a non-native speaker, and they have pursued this campaign over many years despite a number of users asking them not to. I wonder which of their edits you found reasonable? All the ones I highlighted were subsequently reverted. Sometimes, they do make useful edits, but mostly their changes are at best simply unnecessary, and they most commonly alter meanings to remove nuance. 195.224.241.178 (talk) 08:48, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    A look at some of this IP's contribution gives me the impression that there's no ill intent behind them, but a strange form of WP:RGW - the articles have been written in a complex language, and I must simplify it! This leads, in my opinion, to problems that are not merely stylistic in nature.
    • For starters, I'd like to stress that I believe nuance to be important, and it is often lost when replacing a term such as minimal with low [394]. I assume the intention of whoever added that entry was to stress (rightly or wrongly) that vibration needed to be very low. The user also seems to have a particular obsession (6 edits in a row on February 2!) with the use of "all but disappeared", replacing it with "almost disappeared". This makes sense at times, but sometimes it just doesn't convey the same meaning (to me, at least, "all but" conveys the feeling that something disappeared in practice, with mere remnants or vestiges surviving, while "almost" could imply that a thing survived in a reduced, but noticeable way, or even that it was close to disappearing for X reason, but in the end didn't and stayed the same, for Y reason).
    • At other times, some of the changes strike me as pure nitpicking [395]. "As" and "because" are often synonyms, as any thesaurus will attest, and both are common enough to not need replacing, and this is a feature of most of this person's edits - they are unnecessary, regardless of whether they're bad (some nuance is lost) or good (some clarity is gained). It's chasing these minor details that's perhaps infuriating to other editors - the user in question claims to be trying to cleanse articles of perceived pedantry, but acts in an even more pedantic way, devoting himself to changing minute details while leaving long, lecturing summaries about how he is making the language better, more logical, and why those who stand against him are just wrong to not use [what he considers to be] plain English.
    • This leads me to my third and final point (other issues could probably be raised, but I've not looked at their edits in any depth): the claim that editors are doing a disservice to readers by not using the aforementioned "plain English", since Wikipedia should look to be as accessible as possible to readers and not make their access to knowledge overly complicated. While I understand where he's coming from, I do not necessarily agree - in fact, by merely using a more varied language we are also educating readers. Nobody is writing in Shakespearean English (fortunately, if I may add!), and most of the terms or expressions replaced are not particularly arcane (they're probably at a B2 CEFR level), so if a user whose native language is not English is "forced" to look a word up, then that is also a learning experience in and of itself (and learning by experience, outside a classroom, can be more useful than we think).
    In short, it's almost as if he were trying to turn the English Wikipedia into the Simple English Wikipedia. Perhaps his efforts are best directed there. Ostalgia (talk) 18:51, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    (OP here on a different network) I very much agree with your analysis, User:Ostalgia. Indeed, other editors have pointed this person towards Simple English Wikipedia (eg [396]; I recall seeing others more recently but can't find them right now). WP:RGW seems apt; they have explicitly stated that they want to change the English language by editing Wikipedia ([397]). The problem is that they regard many widely-used phrases as "illogical", and their sole metric for "readability" is google search results, which often leads them to absurd conclusions. Examples of that include their proposal to change "one kind of thing" to "one kind of things" ([398]), or their suggestion to a user that when they said "as much of English does", they should have said "as much as English does" ([399]). The whole basis for their editing is their belief that "more common" = "more readable", and so they will always seek to remove nuance. The harm of many of their individual edits might be fairly minor, and a minority of their edits are actually good, but the fact that they have been pursuing this campaign for many years in many guises despite many requests to stop is the reason I have raised this here. 195.224.241.178 (talk) 08:48, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Liamgabby79

    New user Liamgabby79 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) has been persistently recreating-by-reversion station articles for the Georgia Public Broadcasting network, despite prior consensus they should not be separate articles, and appears to be edit warring to keep them as articles. WNGH-TV in particular has already been restored four times. (This is not limited to GPB; they also are repeatedly reversing the 2009 merger of District of Columbia Route 4 into Pennsylvania Avenue, even reverting a bot that objected to their addition of a GeoCities link.) They also falsely assert on their userpage that they are an admin — and they restored that userbox despite a prior removal. WCQuidditch 11:12, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Another admin has indefinitely blocked Liamgabby79. Johnuniq (talk) 03:43, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    IP persistently adding unsourced content and changing English varieties without discussion

    For some time now, 116.86.7.229 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) has been persistently changing English varieties without discussion, as well as adding unsourced or poorly sourced material to articles. I issued warnings on their talk page over the past couple of months for these but to no avail. Other editors have reminded them regarding MOS:ENGVAR but also to no avail.

    • Recent unsourced content diffs: [400] (unsourced table), [401] (unsourced details regarding train type withdrawal; source originally provided does not support such claims), [402] (unsourced fleet numbers of scrapped trains, which were removed in a somewhat earlier revision)
    • Recent diffs showing changes from Brit. English to Am. English: [403], [404], [405], [406], [407]

    I don't really like posting here but I don't think I have much of a choice. XtraJovial (talk • contribs) 12:34, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    This is awkward because the IP's edits seem good (if the added unsourced material is in fact correct and not a hoax). They have hundreds of edits to articles, one to a template, and no others (no talk). What is the convention for color/colour in Japanese train articles? While agreeing that changing style is very disruptive, I have a faint memory of seeing US spelling for {{convert}} (meter not metre) in Japanese articles and, if true, that would support the IP's edits although not their lack of communication. Johnuniq (talk) 03:52, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    As far as I can see, User:Johnuniq, this is about converting the British English spellings to American English in articles about Japan. However Japan tends to use American English spellings not British English (not a surprise given the occupation and continued presence of US forces); perhaps that needs to be discussed further in WT:WikiProject Japan.
    The unsourced material seems innocuous - and I don't see an issue, unless the information provided is incorrect. If we start sanctioning people for not sourcing every detail, we'll have few left here. I don't see a pattern of them reverting these later on. Nfitz (talk) 04:12, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    (non-admin comment) MOS:RETAIN can be summarised as - Leave the damthing alone!
    That said, as a speaker of British English I can see a good argument for preferring American English in articles about modern Japan; but specific WP:CONSENSUS is needed to override the MOS. Narky Blert (talk) 17:03, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    User: 2601:282:300:52F0:8C8B:3AEF:F424:2FAC

    This user had made a legal threat on 2023 Denver mayoral election. I have reverted it for now, and placed a warning on the talk page of the IP user. (The IP user had reverted my edit on the article) Looking through the IP's contributions, they have made disruptive edits to the article mentioned above, often without edit summaries. There have been an edit war between BottleOfChocolateMilk and the IP, with both of them breaking WP:3RR. (See the history of edits on the article between 26 Sep and 27 Sep). BottleOfChocolateMilk did try to discuss with them in their edit summaries, but the IP user still continued to revert their edits. Jolly1253 (talk) 13:31, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Blocked the IP editor for two weeks and semi-protected the page. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 15:28, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I also blocked 67.176.104.2 for the same time, clearly the same editor. I must admit I'm intrigued with the concept of an election being non-political. Canterbury Tail talk 15:38, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    2A02:14C:0:0:0:0:0:0/32

    2A02:14C:0:0:0:0:0:0/32 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RBLs · block user · block log) has been posting nonsense on talk pages for quite some time (examples: Special:Diff/1110311856, Special:Diff/1112233441). Kleinpecan (talk) 15:15, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Well, it's three talk pages. Still, the IP editor has been blocked in the past. I did a month-long block with account creation enabled. If it continues with logged in accounts, I can block them and disable account creation. In my experience, a lot of people are too lazy to create an account just to be disruptive. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 15:40, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Disruptive editing; misuse of Wikidata; see talk page, contribs Mvcg66b3r (talk) 20:48, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I replaced often out of date links with well utilized Wikipedia templates that pull from Wikidata Official website URL, where I have ensured that Wikidata URL is up to date. How is that in any way disruptive or misuse? Rosspotter (talk) 23:29, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Many of your edits are against the instructions for the infoboxes you are altering which indicate that the URL template should be used. Additionally Wikidata is risky to use as it can be easily vandalized and the changes not spotted as they will not appear on a Wikipedia watchlist notification. You have to read the article and check the individual field to spot the change. Additionally most of the URLs you are not changing, you're just altering to point to Wikidata instead of using a URL inserted into Wikipedia itself. Canterbury Tail talk 23:57, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    By this thinking, we should remove the 10 million embedded pieces of media on Commons. In fact, you can see edits to Wikidata entries on your watchlist here, so it's much easier to spot vandalism from Wikidata here. ―Justin (koavf)T☮C☺M☯ 00:54, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    If I change something in Wikidata, it doesn't show in our watchlists here, the same way changing something in Commons doesn't show in a watchlist, or a transclude from another Wiki. I thought what you were saying may have been new functionality, but I just tested it out but no nothing appeared in my watchlist for a watched article. And there is a big difference between Commons and Wikidata in my view, Commons is heavily patrolled and has policies comparable to our own on many things. Wikidata in my experience is more of a free for all (ignoring the fact you can't even leave an edit summary there to indicate the reason for an edit.) Ultimately at the end of the day here there has been push back against Rosspotter altering everything they can find to point to Wikidata, there's no consensus for it, much of it is against the relevant Infobox instructions (which can be altered but consensus would have to happen there.) Canterbury Tail talk 11:46, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    "If I change something in Wikidata, it doesn't show in our watchlists here" I don't know what to tell you: you just wrong. Go to Special:Watchlist and choose the option for "Wikidata edits". I don't know how you didn't see that, but it's been there for years and was turned on by default. ―Justin (koavf)T☮C☺M☯ 11:56, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I had zero idea that option existed, never heard of it before. So okay, apologies today was a learning experience for me there. However I'm guessing that a lot of older editors don't have that as it seems it was introduced after they started editing and didn't auto turn on. Looking at the help file yes Wikidata is turned off by default, so most editors won't see such edits. Canterbury Tail talk 12:24, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    No worries: we're all learning something new every day. That's odd, as I recall Wikidata edits just showing up in my watchlist out of nowhere. But either way, that's the solution for patrolling vandalism there. It doesn't justify making a rash of edits against consensus, as evidently happened here. ―Justin (koavf)T☮C☺M☯ 18:45, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    An unfortunate thing with that filter toggle, it shows you if there are any changes on the related Wikidata page, not just changes that would be used by the Wikipedia page. But can't have everything I guess. Canterbury Tail talk 23:28, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    At the risk of repeating myself.

    Koavf. I've had that turned on to show Wikidata edits for a few years now. However, no Wikipedia editor should be required to do that. Every editor, no matter their home Wiki, should be able to to fully edit an article without having to to go to Wikidata and (possibly) edit in a foreign language. CambridgeBayWeather, Uqaqtuq (talk), Huliva 20:08, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Why so? So you're opposed to embedding media from Commons as well? ―Justin (koavf)T☮C☺M☯ 20:23, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Jonathan_f1 should be prohibited from editing Ireland-related articles

    I propose that Jonathan_f1 be banned from editing articles relating to Ireland. He (I'm assuming) shows a bizarre and obsessive hatred of Ireland and tries to push his biased POV into articles pertaining to every stage of Irish history. I first noticed him on the Battle of Clontarf talk page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Battle_of_Clontarf#The_fake_%22debate%22) in which he, without evidence, writes, "One thousand years of "historiography"? How about 1,000 years of Irish myth-making vs 40 years of Irish historiography. Even giving 40 years to Irish "historiography" is being generous: academic history in Ireland is still in its infancy." Why is someone who shows total disdain for Irish scholarship and (going by his edits) seems to spend an enormous amount of his free time obsessing over Ireland allowed to clog up the talk pages of Ireland-related articles? Let him write comments on Youtube videos or something instead, he'd fit in more with the crowd there. ComradeKublai (talk) 21:18, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    To explicate the context, there was a dispute on the Battle of Clontarf page nearly a decade ago over whether the article should characterise the conflict as one (at least significantly) between Gaels and Vikings or as an entirely intra-Ireland affair. User:Scolaire cites two academic books in support of the former view, and eventually a section was added titled "Historical debate" on the article explaining the historiographical debate. In late August of this year User:Jonathan_f1 posted to the talk page, citing a 15-minute youtube video to not only support the notion of the battle intra-Ireland conflict but to argue that the "Historical debate" section should be removed entirely, replaced entirely with his opinion.
    I believe that his aforementioned total dismissal of Irish historiography is grounds for permanently blocking him for editing Ireland-related articles. User:Jonathan_f1 shows open, sneering contempt for all Irish historians, which seems to be why he's willing to dismiss peer-reviewed books in favor of youtube videos when it sorts his anti-Irish POV. Someone who demands that his POV be made hegemony on the basis of youtube videos at the expense of academic sources, cannot be reasoned with. Someone who feels the need to use scarequotes when discussing even the concept of Irish historiography cannot be considered neutral on Ireland-related topics.
    It also looks like he's been blocked for disruptive editing in the past. ComradeKublai (talk) 22:05, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    They're blocked from article-space now (since November 2020!). This is not particularly encouraging, either. JBL (talk) 22:17, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Not surprising, so now I understand why all of the edits were confined to talk pages. What shocked me was how focused this user was on pushing his POV specifically related to Ireland despite an extreme contempt for the country; I mean, the guy is only willing to refer to Irish historiography in scarequotes. His total dismissal of Irish perspectives seems to create, for him, the justification to cherry pick his sources, such as when he tried to use a youtube video as a source over a peer reviewed paper in Talk:Battle_of_Clontarf#The_fake_"debate". I don't see how this person can be a productive contributor on Ireland-related topics. ComradeKublai (talk) 22:31, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    In their (mild) defense, on at least one occasion since they were blocked, they seem to have been able to engage constructively with another editor on a topic related broadly to Ireland. Pinging @Bastun: in case they have anything to add. JBL (talk) 23:46, 28 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I saw the edit that JBL referred to because the article is on my watchlist. It was wedged into a March 2021 thread, and it was tendentious throughout, including saying that "if some of these articles read like they were edited by Gerry Adams, it's because they probably were." Looking back on his recent contributions, I found this from Talk:Ireland in the Coalition Wars (in true Gerry Adams fashion, the lede states that Ireland was "ruled by the UK"), this from Talk:History of Ireland (1801–1923) (To describe this as a period of "British rule"...is egregiously non-neutral, probably the worst case of non-neutrality I've seen on here), this from the NPOV Noticeboard (this article is basically a little fiefdom where a handful of editors get to control what sources are used and how the discussion is framed and presented to readers. And they've done so in one of the most unobjective, non-neutral ways I've ever encountered on here), this from Talk:Black and Tans (there is close to a 'zero' chance that historical articles on Ireland, particularly from the Early Modern Period on, are being edited neutrally), this from Talk:Young Ireland (Right, everyone is "ideologically driven" except the extreme nationalist slant that these articles take – this one wedged into a 2007 thread!), and so on.
    On his talk page, I see he was blocked from mainspace, but allowed to edit talk pages to give him a chance to show he can work collaboratively. He has used this chance to edit every talk page tendentiously. It is time he was blocked altogether. Scolaire (talk) 11:29, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Pinging Guy, who imposed the block. Scolaire (talk) 12:35, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I've just discovered Guy hasn't been active for over fifteen months, so I'm pinging Floquenbeam, who was also involved in the block discussion. --Scolaire (talk) 14:37, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I'm probably not going to be much help. I was going thru CAT:UNBLOCK, and involved only in the sense that I was responding to their unblock request, and tried to figure out Guy's rationale for the article-only block. I think the discussion is best explained here. If you read that, and follow the link in that discussion to this ANI thread, that probably explains most of it? After declining the unblock request to give Jonathan a chance to work in talk space for a while, I never paid further attention, so don't have any more info than that. --Floquenbeam (talk) 19:04, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    (Responding to ping). I think my only interaction with the user concerned has been on the Irish slaves myth article, where they weren't the easiest to work with, but that's no crime and wouldn't merit a ban. That said, the diffs posted by Scolaire are fairly damning, given they happened when they were supposed to be working collaboratively. BastunĖġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 14:15, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    It looks like a consensus is shaping up that User:Jonathan_f1 should be blocked or censured in some way for tendentious editing. The evidence shows that this behaviour is a longstanding pattern which has continued in spite of a partial block issued to reform it. His obsession with Ireland combined with his vitriol for the country makes it unlikely we'll see any changes. Look at this edit in which he writes "Even giving 40 years to Irish "historiography" (as the rest of the modern world understands historiography) is being generous," and "What is troublesome about this encyclopedia is that it is always the nationalist pov that prevails no matter what. That might be why not one Irish history article thus far has been nominated as a good article." He later edited this into the (still tendentious and demeaning) form I quoted from above in this post, apparently realising that he gave too about himself away in his original post. User:Jonathan_f1 has a pattern of tendentious editing and an irrational hatred towards Ireland, both of which merit a permanent block. ComradeKublai (talk) 00:04, 1 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    User:Fenetrejones creating copyvio and editwarring to remove revdel templae

    Fenetrejones (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) added a copyvio to the Matt Cartwright article and is now edit warring to remove the revdel template for the copyvio revision. WP:CIR IMO. Andre🚐 02:26, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    no I put it back. That was an accident. I didn't mean to do that. I am genuinely sorry, and I own up to my mistake. Fenetrejones (talk) 02:30, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Jerome501

    The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


    I think that someone should urgently take a look at the recent conduct of Jerome501 (talk · contribs), especially because of this. "Jebem ti boga bre" is a very serious insult in Serbian. —Sundostund (talk) 04:46, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I just want to say that I fully agree. This sort of conduct shouldn't be tolerated, and I absolutely support this being urgently looked at. This is not at all acceptable. This user needs to be talked to and possibly banned, because I've been looking at his conduct from inside his own head. Let me tell you, it's not pretty, I'm barely holding him back from posting "jebem ti" more times. Jerome501 (talk) 04:51, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I just want to say this is perhaps the first time I have posted on a Wikipedia talk page. 172.221.107.113 (talk) 04:53, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Man, welcome to the show, whoever you are. And I was just about to burn several copies of Thus Spoke Zarathustra before you showed up. I'm really not one for gay science, you know. Jerome501 (talk) 04:56, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Please, don't hold anything back – post it for how many times you want. Its not like I care at all, but I suppose that admins here will care about your appalling behavior. —Sundostund (talk) 04:59, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Sorry for butting in but can I just point out that this may be the second time I have ever posted on a Wikipedia talk page? 172.221.107.113 (talk) 05:01, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I just wanted to immortalize this, believe it or not I found this quoted word-for-word in the Will to Power:

    Please, do not hold a thing back from your true self – post it for how ever many times you want. It is not like I care personally, but I suppose that in so doing, you will become the Superman!

    — Friedrich Nietzsche
    Jerome501 (talk) 05:03, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I would just like to add, you are what I like to call the Wikipedian warrior-philosopher, a desirable aesthetic pinnacle most will never summit. But sir, I congratulate you. You might even be worthy enough to move out of Beograd na Vodi and into better living accommodations. Jerome501 (talk) 05:07, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Forgive me for interrupting your anti-Nietzschean rebuttal, but I would just like to say this is quite likely the last time I shall ever post on a Wikipedia talk page! 172.221.107.113 (talk) 05:09, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Damn, and you were just about to miss the part where I shredded several books by Schopenhauer and Sartre and make them into a casserole. Now how am I supposed to criticize human existence? Jerome501 (talk) 05:11, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I have indefinitely blocked Jerome501 for disruptive trolling and not being here to build an encyclopedia. I have also blocked their imaginary sidekick, the IP on a leash. Cullen328 (talk) 05:22, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Folks might want to take a look at the editor's userboxen, which have all been nominated for deletion:
    While clearly meant sarcastically and satirical in nature, they are also inappropriate for this site. Beyond My Ken (talk) 06:25, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Good blocks. Paraphrasing Monty Python doesn't make bigoted trolling acceptable. I agree with BMK that those userboxen are completely inappropriate. --bonadea contributions talk 07:33, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

    The editor above may be a sock of Tablecloth1389. Many of the creations look similar. – Jonesey95 (talk) 20:42, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Continuous edit warring, disruptive editing, addition of unsourced content and use of WP:SYNTH by User:Lmharding

    User:Lmharding have been engaging in long-term disruptive editing on multiple pages related to LGBT rights claiming the countries impose vigilante attacks and executions as a legal penalty without providing sources or using WP:SYNTH sources where the content outright contradicts or have nothing to do with the claims being made. The user has also engaged in long-term edit warring by continuously reverting the removal of content by multiple users.

    The user has claimed to @LocalWonk: that the behaviour would cease and no complaint to WP:ANI is necessary but as the user continues to repeat the behavior, I believe a complaint to WP:ANI is necessary.

    The user continues to revert and add the same content that had been removed by both me and @AukusRuckus: multiple times The user has provided no sources for the claims or have used WP:SYNTH sources for example in here a source suspect who was arrested and tortured during interrogation on his alleged ties to the militant separatist organization the LTTE has been used to justify the claim despite having no relevance to the claim of vigilante attacks or any action against LGBT people specifically as the source mentions the person involved only identified as LGBT well after the incident. The user has not yet provided an actual source that supports the claims the LGBT rights in Tunisia as well despite continuously reverting to re-add the content and instead the user simply removed some of the sources but the source present still used makes no reference to the claims of vigilante attacks being a legal penalty. Thank you. -UtoD 07:00, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I have just awoken to this notification, and it caught me a bit by surprise. I was still in a process of compiling a wide index of edits by @Lmharding to show a pattern of behavior despite warnings. I am requesting a few hours to finish compiling said index and present it and thoughts in a more coherent manner than I am currently. Apologies for not replying chronologically, not sure what the correct procedure here is when another user doesn't tab out their response. LocalWonk (talk) 10:19, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I immediately reverted as I reverted in the heat of the moment only realizing what I dsid right after and it was undone. As for Tunisia, there are plenty of incidents of vigilante action but it was sourced as [408] does mention executions torture and other punishments. However, I will revert it. Small setback as a small slip-up. My apologies. Lmharding (talk) 10:33, 29 September 2022 (UTC)~[reply]

    Reply: Hoping that for now this apology is enough for us to move on and not continue bringing up the past as I putting a strong effort to acting better. As for those edits, I admitted my mistake and I undid them. Let's not make a bigger situation out it than we need to. Any past mistakes have been resolved with aukus the editor in question and other then this small slip-up I am doing edits in other categories of articles primarily and the articles have been brought back to any consensus edits. @LocalWonk: there is no need to bring up old edits as we resolved any edits your "compiling" with him being satisfied that I am cooperating so there is no reason to dwell in the past. Lmharding (talk) 10:33, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I motion to close this, as this editor LocalWonk is now bringing up old and already settling or in the process of settling discussions doing WP:FORUMSHOPPING in a WP:HOUNDING campaign without any context into the fact that they are already being discussed and are being done so civilly without any future edit warring or other guideline regulations other than the two edits I mentioned above which I realized were wrong and immediately self reverted. Please don't punish me for trying to do better WP:NOPUNISH. My WP:FRESHSTART does not mean I'll be flawless or perfect and I have apologized for it. I encourage WP:FAF and to WP:AGF as I am sincerely trying.Lmharding (talk) 10:41, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Hi @Lmharding, thanks for your response.
    I find it a bit disparaging to refer to me as a 'random editor' — aren't we all? Also, we haven't heard from @AukusRuckus as to if this is their position on the matter, so please let them speak for themselves. Some of these issues persist on the latest revision of the pages, and the issue at hand isn't limited to interactions you've had with User:AukusRuckus.
    The rest of this message is addressed to everyone:
    Pattern of Behavior
    I share @UtoD's concerns. I’ve noticed that User:Lmharding has taken interest in editing various articles related to LGBT rights in various countries and administrative subdivisions. Overall, they seem to edit the articles to portray the situation as harshly and pessimistically as possible, even when that means flattening real nuance about the current reality, and compromising an article's factuality. I’ve organized some questionable edits by article:
    LGBT rights in Zambia (Removing information, flattening nuance, not providing new sources to support the change)
    LGBT rights in Sudan (Removing information, no change in sources)
    LGBT rights in Saudi Arabia (The use of the phrase “with certain death for those who participate” seems to stand in opposition to WP:CRYSTALBALL. We can write about legal penalties and nuance surrounding that, but cannot make such definitive statements about the hypothetical fate of people engaging in certain actions.)
    LGBT rights in Mauritania (Flattening of nuance without providing sources to support the edit)
    LGBT rights in Senegal (Changing information without providing a source to support said change)
    LGBT rights in Syria (Use of language that lacks precision and not fit for an encyclopedia (see WP:WORDS), with contribution “Vigilante executions, beatings torture, and vigilante attacks happen all the time in Syria, including by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham a rebel group.” — this goes without mentioning that the claim has no solid citation to back it — that would be impossible, as the phrase ‘all the time’ makes inferences about the future.)
    LGBT rights in Sierra Leone (Nuance completely flattened in this edit, namely that the has no recent history of being enforced, and provided no sources to support the edits. Another source, not previously cited on the page confirms the prior state of affairs described in the article.)
    LGBT rights in Eswantini (More nuance was flattened (including the non-illegal status of lesbian acts), and a sentence was contributed that goes against WP:CRYSTALBALL; “The only way to repeal the country's sodomy law is to go through the courts”)
    LGBT rights in Uganda (Edit warring against two other editors who raised valid concerns)
    LGBT rights in Morocco (Changed information, without citing a new source, that contradicts the original source which was left unchanged.)
    LGBT rights in Malawi (After being informed by another editor that they were flattening nuance and removing information that was factually true, they engaged in edit-war behavior, undoing the other editors reversion of your work, without addressing their concerns in any meaningful way. See edits relating to a disputed moratorium on 23 August 2022.)
    Previous warnings
    Lmharding has continued to put catch-all phrases referring to extrajudicial punishments in the penalty section of the infobox, which they have already received pushback on. This problem dates back as far as June of 2022. The mass of edits to comb through is so wide, so I apologize if I've missed anything.
    In closing, though their desire to contribute to articles on this topic is appreciated, their edits are not improving these articles (if not violating Wikipedia rules), and they are not addressing concerns raised by other editors. There is also something to be said about their unwillingness to abide by basic Wikipedia etiquette, like tabbing their responses, even in the face of being told by another editor that they have a visual disability which renders tabbing extra important. To quote WP:CIR, "A mess created in a sincere effort to help is still a mess. For that reason, it can become necessary for the community to intervene when an editor has shown, through a pattern of behavior, the likelihood that they are not capable of contributing in a constructive manner." I would like for a topic ban relating to LGBT issues to be considered for User:Lmharding to protect the integrity of these articles and to give editors the space needed to begin to repair them. LocalWonk (talk) 12:22, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    As for mOst of this edits, they were shortened to clarify, be less wordy or list up to top punishments to get to the point nd to copy the style of other articles which took the same approach. It was not to "flatten" or erase any important information. Other details like id a punishment was "unenforced" was removed if there was no source to verify it Finally, for Malawi it was an editing battle that both sides both me and other editors edit warred and reverted rapidly so all parties involved are equally guilty of violatios there but I apologize for my addition to that situation. Overall, mpst if these are either misunderstandings or old behavior I'm growing out of. 12:59, 29 September 2022 (UTC) Lmharding (talk) 12:59, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Lmharding:, I can't accept your contention that you removed statements like "unenforced" because they were unsourced. For example, at LGBT rights in Eswatini, you removed sourced statements here which I restored, with a better source. I thought perhaps the first removal of "unenforced' was due to lower-quality sourcing, but that can't be right, as you used the Beast cite to add "the only way to repeal the country's sodomy law is to go through the courts."
    I posted on the talk page about this and received the reply from you:

    It was reverted. I did that to try to shorten information down to not overkill in details but in this particular situation, I take my edits back. Disregard your version is more correct.

    That was in June. By September, you made nearly the same edit again. Following that, "unenforced" in the table and "female same-sex behaviour not criminalised" were restored, only for you to, yet again, remove these points, saying in ES: "(removed original research and unfounded conclusions)". There's also the entirely unsourced "Penalty: 2 years" now added by you. Numerous sources state no penalty is prescribed, and no prosecutions have taken place under the criminalising law.
    Normally this could all be hashed out in the talk page as a simple content dispute. But the type of editing detailed here is very widely distributed across the whole topic area, and contributions to talk page discussions only occur up to a point. They may degenerate in to long, drawn-out, somehow impossible-to-reach-common-ground back and forth, or you, LMH, simply abandon them, as here and as here Talk:LGBT rights in Texas#Still waiting: "nullified" claim. There are many other examples, but this reply is already too long. I can supply more if wanted.
    I don't know if posting on this board is the right approach or not, but I do not think things can just go on in the same vein: the whole topic area is really poorly served. Your approach to editing and lack of consensus-building efforts do not help. I, for one, feel like I spend all my WP time putting out spot fires, rather than contributing substantive improvements, as I had hoped to. AukusRuckus (talk) 03:58, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I cannot speak for that edit as I would have to research more into my reasoning as it was a while ago and I made 50+ edits since then. I doubt you compartmentalize all your edits. I do not have time right now, but as for the the longer disputes I did go back to the UAE discussion so don't pretend that I didn't. I discussed those edits a few days ago here[1] As for the Texas discussion, I am still in the process of researching hence why I did not respond. There are a lot of nuances to Texan laws, and sadly there is a lot of information to sort to find correct information as you would know being WP:CAUTIOUS. Plus, I don't answer to you and I have a life outside of Wikipedia and you have been demanding of my time more ridiciously that any other user I have ever contribute and sometimes I don't want to WP:IGNORE you and you group of WP:TAGTEAM trying to WP:GRIEF me. I cant just have a day of peace because you continue to tag and pester me. But those are again, either old discussions I have responded to or or have been in the process of looking into t. You have reverted and 3RR'd me as well many times breaking your own rules[2][3] with harassing and time consuming spamming on multiple pages[4][5] often with your own personal attacks towards me as well, pestering and annoying me trying to prod me. Hypocrisy at its finest. Lmharding (talk) 05:22, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    This kind of response makes it hard to believe that you've changed your ways. What do you mean by "you and you group of WP:TAGTEAM trying to WP:GRIEF me"? Lmharding, trying to collaborate with you has been very frustrating. Is there anything short of administrative action that could convince you to change your approach to content and conduct disputes? Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 05:39, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Patience and understanding, I am trying to change but again the process is not straightforward, I am not WP:PERFECT and I again want to shed my past but with disputes like this you don't let me. It feels very much like a group tagteam in my perception, hence why he had followed my edits and watched me. I am free to have that opinion. That view has no bearing on the situation so let's get back on focus.Lmharding (talk) 05:49, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Lmharding: I make plenty of mistakes and missteps. If anyone looks, they would be able to bring a shedload of diffs here to my embarrassment. Nevertheless, although I will argue my corner, I try to accept constructive criticism. I modify my behaviour. What I don't do, is turn and around and attack those who raise concerns.
    If I have personally insulted you (rather than criticised your editing) I apologise without reserve. That is entirely unacceptable and no-one deserves it. If there is something specific that has affronted you that I have not already made amends for, please raise it with me. That said, I believe you may sometimes confuse an editor insistently objecting to your edits with someone attacking you.
    Either way, I have tried really hard to understand your point of view; I have been subjected to a fair quantity of what I would call less-than-polite responses from you. This is our very first interaction: [409] In addition to being a little unfriendly, it displays a mistaken understanding of WP:RS and WP:BURDEN. This approach is one that continues to be shown in your editing to this day. AukusRuckus (talk) 06:59, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Addendum: Would like the record to reflect that Lmharding is editing the content of their replies after publishing them, here's an example where they referred to me as a "random editor" (not something I imagined, as I initially thought I did when I first refreshed the page). I am also not bothering to address the (newly) introduced accusations of me participating in WP:FORUMSHOPPING or WP:HOUNDING — a cursory reading of either policy reveals them to be irrelevant to the situation and my conduct, and a deflection from the issue at hand. LocalWonk (talk) 12:45, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I refer to you as a random user because we have barely talked before. That's not meant as an insult just a realistic observation. Now the hounding and forumshoping comes from the two of you seeming like you gang up on me by collecting up resources together against me[6] might I add communicating outside of Wikipedia to do this which is also against the rules. You also bring the issue to other forums almost like it seems like your shopping to find admins that side with you<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents&oldid=1113047609#Continuous_edit_warring,_disruptive_editing,_addition_of_unsourced_content_and_use_of_WP:SYNTH_by_User:Lmharding> You are breaking rules here. 13:21, 29 September 2022 (UTC)

    Well hey, I was wondering when I would see this here. So I would like to comment as the person who gave USPOL DS alerts to both AukusRuckus and Lmharding, and engaged a bit with both of them regarding this dispute, specifically on the Texas LGBT Rights article, a couple of months ago. I posted on the talk there after reading through the dispute with both of them, encouraging them to drop the stick and seek a 3O. I later noted that there did appear to be some disruption from Lmharding, and encouraged Aukus to see if there were other editors wiling to go to ANI with them, as the disruption and disputes were taking place across a wide variety of LBGT Rights articles. Given that, almost two and a half months later, despite assurances that an ANI would not be needed, we are now here, there may need to be some concrete action taken here. FrederalBacon (talk) 04:14, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    To your point FrederalBacon you said oth of us were typing paragraphs, and hat there was edit warring and 3RR on both sides, either both are guilty or neither. You don't get to pick and choose who should get action against them when AukusRuckus was doing the same thing. It wasn't just "my disruptions" so don't try to edit history. Lmharding (talk) 05:28, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I have a general query about this process. Is it acceptable to notify editors who may have had past relevant experience, that this discussion is taking place? I do not want to make this more difficult, but I know there are a few other users who might like to know. They may be able to offer something constructive to the discussion, too. AukusRuckus (talk) 07:16, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Another running issue is that the user continuously claims that the user has changed behavior and will not repeat the actions when faced with the possibility of being reported but if you look at the edit history the user has made no attempts at making any changes and would simply continue with disruptive editing as usual. This comes off as taking advantage of other users' willingness to make a collaborative effort. Even now the user alternates between promises to change and throwing accusations of other users organizing off wiki against the user without providing any evidence for the accusations.

    Another running issue is that the user continuously claims that the user has changed behavior and will not repeat the actions when faced with the possibility of being reported but if you look at the edit history the user has made no attempts at making any changes and would simply continue with disruptive editing as usual. This comes off as taking advantage of other users' willingness to make a collaborative effort. Even now the user alternates between promises to change and throwing accusations of other users organizing off wiki against the user without providing any evidence for the accusations. -UtoD 18:27, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    That's a lie I have been working on it, you don't know me personally? Can you read my mind? an you now my intentions in my head? No. The proof of talking offline has been sourced and mentions collection offline through email which is against Wikipedia rules as well as collaborating through the discussions I sourced to talk to only people they agree with and going to other forum to shop for moderators. Stop trying to deflect guilt of others who do wrong against me. I have been changing, other than the slip ups I reverted immediately I have been primarily not even editing LGBT articles temporarily and I have been successfully editing other topics. I take that as a personal attack, please purge your last acccusatory allegations. Lmharding (talk) 23:14, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Do you you think redacting the comments of other users in in a noticeboard without any administrative authority to do so will not be noticed? Trying to remove complaints, throwing out random accusations without any evidence and claims like "Stop trying to deflect guilt of others who do wrong against me " don't really show you as putting any effort to changing or any intention of collaborating. -UtoD 23:54, 30 September 2022 (UTC).[reply]
    I restored your comment, and I agree this is additional troubling behavior from Lmharding. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 23:56, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    An administrator warned Lmharding "Don't remove other editor's comments just because you don't like them" earlier this month. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 00:00, 1 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    That was an attack on character based on assumptions of my mind and process of thinking. Under NPA that was justifiable to be removed. Don't you dare accuse me of being a liar I have changed, tbut that was a personal snipe obviously against Wiki guidelines. Lmharding (talk) 01:05, 1 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    2001:8003:b1b8:bf00::/64

    The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.



    • 2001:8003:b1b8:bf00::/64 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RBLs · block user · block log) NOTHERE, good hand / bad hand vandalism, refuses to get an account, imports drama from elsewhere.   — Jeff G. ツ 10:02, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      “Refuses to get an account” You can be banned for doing that? Why does that rule exis— Does that rule even exist anyway?
      I do NOT import drama. I do NOT vandalise articles, especially important ones.
      Please don’t block 2001:8003:B1B8:BF00::/64 2001:8003:B1B8:BF00:9541:78E9:CB4:9EE4 (talk) 10:12, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      • @Jeff G.: Please provide diffs documenting your allegations (except the second one, which is not a policy violation), or retract this report. Thank you. -- Tamzin[cetacean needed] (she|they|xe) 10:28, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
        I can’t get banned for not making an account! 2001:8003:B1B8:BF00:9541:78E9:CB4:9EE4 (talk) 10:32, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

    Lokanath Swami

    Not sure what to make of the recent edit history on Lokanath Swami (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

    • BlueQuetzal47 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) Added sourced content, possibly an undue amount, regarding a legal case against Lokanath Swami.
    • Loksanga (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) Removed that content with an ES of "libellous action"

    I did revert Loksanga's removal once. Should the content be removed, left in place, or c/e? Adakiko (talk) 10:30, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    First of all, I doubt that this person is notable, and several editors expressed that opinion on the article talk page. There is no legal case. The dispute regards an internal disciplinary process carried out by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Lokanath Swami is an ISKCON guru who was disciplined for child sexual abuse that took place about 30 years ago. For some reason, this was all investigated again recently. All of the references are documents published by ISKCON. The level of detail in the disputed content is excessive, and consists of lengthy quotations from various ISKCON documents. I have been unable to find significant coverage of this person in any reliable sources that are independent of ISKCON. in my opinion, deletion of the article is the best solution to this dispute. Cullen328 (talk) 16:47, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Also worth noting is that both of the editors mentioned in this report are single-purpose accounts dedicated to edits about Lokanath Swami. Cullen328 (talk) 17:24, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Yeah, I think the same. I've wasted a half hour of my life looking for reliable, independent sourcing beyond namedrops, and coming up short. I'll take it to AfD. Ravenswing 19:08, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Lokanath Swami Ravenswing 19:12, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Hello. Long story short, the molestation case involving Lokanath is a classic religious authority sex abuse scandal. He was caught and has subsequently admitted to repeatedly touching a female child in an inappropriate manner of the course of about one week. The first authorities within ISKCON to find out were a small circle of his long time associates who tried to minimize and cover it up. As details regarding the abuse have trickled down over the years, more and more followers within the institution have become vocal about their disapproval of his current standing within the institution. I've simply tried to update his Wikipedia entry with some relevant information regarding the scandal. My apologies for any hassle and inconvenience updating this article has caused. I wouldn't be upset if this article were deleted, however, if it is not, I will most likely continue attempting to update the article to reflect his history of child sexual molestation. Thanks for your time. BlueQuetzal47 (talk) 06:26, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    On the first part, ISKCON just is not an acceptable source about the misdoings of one of its own gurus. On the second part, the lurid degree of "information" you've sought to include is not remotely relevant: we have no need to know that this fellow allegedly gave his victim harmonium lessons, where he purportedly touched her, where the mother and servants were at any given time, etc etc etc. Never mind that your quote names the 11-year-old victim, [410] which is such an egregious action I would not hesitate to support you being indeffed.

    And actually, why don't I do that now? You have made no edits other than to this article, and it is plain that you are WP:NOTHERE to build an encyclopedia. I advocate an indefinite ban for you. Ravenswing 14:07, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


    This editor is not a native English speaker. Their edits, from 2020 to February 2022, show a lack of understanding of English. They may be using a spell-checker of some sort: I can't see how else they thought it appropriate to change "bibliomemoir" to "bibliometric" in this edit to Elizabeth Gaskell (in which they also changed UK to US English, and mangled the wording of a dialect quote). That was what brought them to my attention as I did not understand the word in that context so checked to see who had introduced it.

    Among their most recent edits, in Feb 2022 in Sea state, they changed the clear and correct

    "Surviving the once in 100 years or once in 1000 years sea state is a normal demand for design of ships and offshore structures."

    to the unintelligible

    "Surviving the once in 100 years or once in 1000 years, the sea state is a normal demand for the design of ships and offshore structures."

    They seem to favour adding "the" in places where it may or may not improve the text, and sometimes changes its entire meaning ("Where X owned property" is one thing; "Where X owned the property" is quite different).

    This is a well-meaning editor who apparently makes a major contribution to Western Armenian Wikipedia and asserts that they have an advanced knowledge of English, but I suggest that they should not be allowed to edit English Wikipedia until and unless they assure us that:

    • they will take more care
    • they understand MOS:ENGVAR, and
    • they will not rely on a spell-checker or similar assistance when editing here.

    I have spent an afternoon this week clearing up their edits; because there had usually been later edits to the articles it wasn't just a case of "undo" but needed fiddling around. Then this morning I discovered an earlier one I hadn't spotted, where they turned the surname "Yampier" into "Vampire": although it was 2 years ago, it just seems one too many examples of damaging editing so has brought me to post this request for a block.

    They have not received any warnings yet, until the lengthy message I left on their talk page this week. We could wait for them to start editing again, but how much damage would their next spree do, to be unpicked by other editors when someone noticed it? I've been disappointed to find that only a small proportion of their edits had already been reverted: were the other articles on no-one's watchlists? Even an editor reverting them with the edit message "Most of this is wrong" (or words to that effect) didn't comment on their talk page. They were welcomed with regard to their edit to Andes, but even that edit was ungrammatical, changing the already incorrect "x and y were one of ..." to "x and y was one of ...". (That had been in place so long that I began to doubt my own grammar: an IP edit ten years ago introduced "were one of" and no-one has since changed it: maybe in some varieties of English it is OK? I've changed it to "were among".)

    Please block this editor, to protect the encyclopedia. Thanks. PamD 11:02, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

    Persistent IP vandalism on Baguio, related pages

    Both ranges have been persistently used in the past few hours by an IP-hopping vandal to make vandal edits on Cordillera Administrative Region-related pages and Valkyrie Profile-related pages. Given how they've been able to switch their IPs 6 times in the past 4 hours (see Special:PageHistory/Baguio), a range anonblock might be warranted. IP info tool tells me both of these are cellular ranges, although BGPView tells me these are different Philippine ISPs. Both ranges have shared vandalism behavior as far back as 2020 (175.../24 in 2020, 131.../23 in 2021). First range mentioned has a very long history of vandalism and could benefit a longer block. Barely any constructive edits, shouldn't expect much collateral damage from anonymous editors. The second range has a shorter history of recent abuse, but still sizable nonetheless. The usage of "abuse filter test" in these edit summaries (as far back as 2021) concern me, but as I'm not much of an LTA enthusiast who knows something that might follow this pattern I'll leave that to more qualified people. Chlod (say hi!) 11:28, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    This is a known LTA. I’ve made three /24 blocks for three months though I’m open to any adjustments if others think it appropriate. -- Malcolmxl5 (talk) 13:29, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Malcolmxl5: Ahh, I see. Thank you the info! Chlod (say hi!) 14:39, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Chlod. Thank you! I blocked one /24 earlier when it popped up on my watchlist and this report has prompted me to block the others. -- Malcolmxl5 (talk) 06:15, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Also blocked 49.144.16.0/21 for three months. -- Malcolmxl5 (talk) 06:47, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    User:DoctorWhutsup and "anti-Russia"? edits

    I came across this user by chance yesterday when looking at the Latin exonyms page and found a somewhat bizarre edit. On closer inspection, I found that there were a few warnings on his talk page already, and that the overwhelming majority of their contributions are attempts to remove references (real or perceived) to Russia from various articles, mostly but not exclusively those who also have some relation to the present Ukrainian state, and trying to force-move others to either Ukrainian versions or to versions he conjured out of thin air. From this I initially assumed he was a Ukrainian trying to "fight" the war with Russia on the "Wikipedian front", which is something that happens quite often (in other words, I'm not suggesting he's sockpuppeting, which might be the case but I have no indication of it) and I find very annoying, but can understand up to a certain extent. Since I hardly, if ever, edit articles about current issues, I will not concern myself with his contributions to articles on the war in Ukraine. They may be good, they may be bad, but I leave them to other people to read. My issue is only with historical articles. Anyway, these are some diffs of the issues I found:

    • Removal of Latin name for Moscow because Moscow didn't exist at the time of the Roman Empire (which is both true and irrelevant) [411]
    • Trying to force-move Russkaya Pravda to Rus' Justice (I assume because it has "Russkaya" in the name) [412]
    • Trying to force-move Vladimir the Great to the Ukrainian transliteration after having already edited the page and been reverted a couple of months ago [413]. Second attempt to force-move after being reverted the first time [414]

    And here comes a second issue, which leads me to think it might not necessarily be a case of WP:RGW but a strong case of WP:IDONTLIKEIT (or both). On the article about the Principality of Halych he removed an alternative, bolded name (Principality of Halychian Rus') because "it's very rarely attested in English [...] I don't see a reason why it should be here" (diff: [415]). In doing so he also removed the reference, a book by Larry Wolff, a specialist in the region. The term might not be as popular as merely "Halych", but it is also present in a few other recent works, and if we broaden the search to include "Galician Rus" (a transliteration derived from the Russian) then more results appear, perhaps even more than going with the Ukrainian-derived version. I will not argue for the inclusion of "Principality of Galician Rus" as an alternative name because it would probably lead to me being hanged, drawn and quartered by a mob angry Ukrainians, but at the very least keeping the version derived from Ukrainian makes sense to me. What doesn't make sense, and the reason why I believe it's merely a matter of taste for this user (he can't possibly object to the term Rus', which he himself is trying to force upon other articles), is that while he removed his disliked, but sourced, version, he left a weird alternative name, Kalieshi/Kialioshi (meaning 'The Key of Heavens'), a completely unsourced version that had been introduced in bizarre manner well over a year ago by an editor (who I suspect to be mentally imbalanced) that went around blessing random articles with new, invented names supported by inscrutable theories.

    I'll notify him on his talk page as soon as this is posted. Ostalgia (talk) 17:03, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I find this whole discussion to be quite entertaining.
    First, I strongly urge to cite at least one example where I try to - how did you put it? - "to force-move others to versions conjured out of thin air". Because this is nonsense, since it did not happen once.
    Furthermore, apparently, it is not me who has supposedly "anti-Russia" tendencies, but you who actually has anti-Ukrainian sentiments. I do not think that this kinds of language - "it would probably lead to me being hanged, drawn and quartered by a mob angry Ukrainians" - is something that impartial person would say.
    So, if you are trying to find bias, I suggest you look for it in the mirror.
    "Trying to force-move Russkaya Pravda to Rus' Justice (I assume because it has "Russkaya" in the name) [399]
    Trying to force-move Vladimir the Great to the Ukrainian transliteration after having already edited the page and been reverted a couple of months ago [400]. Second attempt to force-move after being reverted the first time [401]"
    Whatever I did or did not try to to do with namings clearly goes from my inexperience with Wikipedia and its policies at that time, and it is clearly seen in the discussion upon each case. You obviously have seen it, and yet you keep insist on this weird and nonsensual accusation.
    "Removal of Latin name for Moscow because Moscow didn't exist at the time of the Roman Empire (which is both true and irrelevant) [398]"
    The article in question is about Latin names for the places outside the scope of Roman empire that appeared about that time. The earlies mentions of Latin exonym for Moscow is dated in 14-15th century. If you are saying this is "irrlevant," I am seriuosly questioning your integrity as a member of this community.
    "In doing so he also removed the reference, a book by Larry Wolff, a specialist in the region. The term might not be as popular as merely "Halych", but it is also present in a few other recent works, and if we broaden the search to include "Galician Rus" (a transliteration derived from the Russian) then more results appear, perhaps even more than going with the Ukrainian-derived version."
    You have said so yourself. If you want to include alternative names, include "Halych", nobody is stopping you.
    However, neither "Galician Rus" nor "Halychian Rus' are significant enough to be mentioned as alternative names. That is a fact, whether you like or not. Being "a specialist in the region" does not make this terminology necessary for inclusion. The rules for alternative namings are clear, and this one does not fit the definiton.
    "What doesn't make sense, and the reason why I believe it's merely a matter of taste for this user (he can't possibly object to the term Rus', which he himself is trying to force upon other articles), is that while he removed his disliked, but sourced, version, he left a weird alternative name, Kalieshi/Kialioshi (meaning 'The Key of Heavens'), a completely unsourced version that had been introduced in bizarre manner well over a year ago by an editor (who I suspect to be mentally imbalanced) that went around blessing random articles with new, invented names supported by inscrutable theories."
    I removed one version of alternative naming what I knew for a fact should not be here. I thought I deleted that "Kalieshi/Kialioshi" thing too, but apparently something went wrong with this. Anyway, you could I see I agree with its removal - I did not try to bring it back.
    "I'll notify him on his talk page as soon as this is posted. "
    Instead of manufacturing conspirasy theories, you could have just started a discussion about disputed edits, you know. And stop wasting our time. DoctorWhutsup (talk) 18:26, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I have provided an example, which you, in fact, quote (Rus' Justice?). The comment about being hanged, drawn and quartered is a reference to what would be the expected (and understandable) reaction to someone using a Russian transliteration for a region that largely remained out of the Russian sphere. As for the rest of your reply, it doesn't merit comment. This is not a content dispute. Ostalgia (talk) 19:21, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    You have provided none.
    I have used the name that has been already present in the article, so it hardly qualifies as "conjuring out of thin air."
    As for the rest of my reply, it merits comment perfectly, since you are deliberately presenting my content edits incorrectly to further your utterly absurd agenda about me being alledgely "anti-Russia."
    In other words, if the shoe fits, wear it. DoctorWhutsup (talk) 19:48, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    If you insist:
    • Your "Rus' Justice" thing is merely an attempt to push a translation as the name of the article in order to remove "Russkaya".
    • Your argument (which, by the way, is wrong - the article doesn't concern itself with places established at the time of the Roman Empire) for nuking of the Russia section of Latin exonyms doesn't stand to scrutiny. On that article, and not far from Russia, you'll find Poland, Sweden, Slovakia, with cities founded not only long after the fall of the Romans, but after the foundation of Moscow. You haven't touched the at all, because you have no interest in "improving" the article, but on getting one over "the bad guys". Even if you were wrong in your interpretation, one could assume good faith, but this was just blatant.
    • Principality of Halych is literally the current name.
    • I did not start a discussion because your talkpage literally consists of warnings and a DSN, and you have not replied to any of them.
    You keep edit warring to preserve your edits, which make (and makes) little sense. I will not revert until tomorrow in the hope that some admin reads this. Ostalgia (talk) 20:27, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I do insist.
    No, my "Rus' Justice" thing is NOT an attempt to push a translation as the name of the article in order to remove "Russkaya". This is simply your assumption - which, by the way, is wrong: if that was the case, I would have tried to force Ukrainian transliteration on the article. In this case, at first I honestly could not tell the difference between the "Primary Chronicle" case and this one due to my poor knowledge of Wikipedia policies at that time. Next.
    No, my argument for nuking the Russia section of Latin exonyms actually DOES stand to scrutiny. By the way, suggesting that this article should concern itself only with "places established at the time of the Roman Empire" was NEVER my argument, you are once again deliberately trying to twist my position and my contribution in order to twist your agenda.
    I haven't touched "the at all" precisely because there are too many of them and I have known for sure at that time only for Moscow. I was indenting to come back later and reorganize that whole article when I have more time - frankly, its a mess.
    Again, your statement that I supposedly "have no interest in "improving" the article, but on getting one over "the bad guys" is nothing more than your assumption (which, by the way, is wrong). Sadly, you saying things does not automatically make them true.
    Furthermore, I fail to see how my motivations, whatever they may be, affect the result. I did improve those articles.
    Yes, Principality of Halych IS the current name. So what?
    No, you did not start the discussion because neither one of your arguments have a leg to stand on, and you are perfectly aware of this.
    Actually, no. YOU keep edit warring to preserve the content that should not be in those articles.
    I also do hope that some admin reads this, I see no reason why I should deal with these ridiculous accusations just because I am new here and learn some rules as I go. DoctorWhutsup (talk) 20:57, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I think we'll need some outside help to solve this issue. Helloheart (talk) 01:50, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    May ask what the issue even is?
    I fail to see how a mere fact of editing content - whether correctly or incorrectly - can lead to such a preposterous accusation.
    True, my edits indeed seem to be limited to one specific area, but there is a perfectly fine explanation: I AM new here, and I AM Ukrainian. Loving history, its not surprising that the historical articles enticing me at first are the articles about the history of my region.
    Trying to tie it up as some "anti-Russia erasing" conspiracy, however, is at the very least absurd. My argument with this user about the Principality of Halych has practically nothing to do with Russia (except for the shared geographical and cultural space). In the case with "Vladimir the Great" I was explained that even though I may be right about which version is closer to the original pronunciation, it does not matter within the framework of Wikipedia policies. So I backed off.
    I mean, use all the help you need, if I somehow broke the rules, then so be it. Just want to paint a clear picture, one without unnecessary assumptions. DoctorWhutsup (talk) 06:58, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    WP:AGF exists, I feel like there should have at least been some attempts at talk page discussion before getting into this territory, which there doesn't seem to have been between the two editors. If you're both truly simply looking to improve the site, try and have a civil discussion based on policy and follow dispute resolution processes if needed. TylerBurden (talk) 07:42, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I have said the same thing to the other editor. He could have opened a talk if he really did find my edits inappropriate and/or wrong. If he would have presented a clear case, I would have agreed to rational arguments.
    Like I said, I may be interested for now in this topic more than in the others (which is understandable), but this does not mean I plan to use Wikipedia as my personal playground. DoctorWhutsup (talk) 09:08, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    That's all good and well for a content dispute, which is not the case. I have provided diffs of edits that are baseless and counterproductive, not because I prefer my version, because I have not edited those articles at all other than to revert his edits and remove that bizarre alternative name of which I spoke earlier.
    I do not care if he likes to edit stuff about Ukraine, that would be perfectly fine, but it's the way he does it that by itself disproves WP:AGF. Excluding current events, which I did not look at, literally his entire edit history (except for his first edit, on the TV show The Borgias) consists in criticism of Russia or attempts to remove real or perceived references to Russia (with bogus arguments or no arguments at all), and his talk page is literally just ignored warnings/DSA. What do you expect me to do, add a fourth warning? Ostalgia (talk) 09:12, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Well, since those diffs of edits you have provided were not baseless and counterproductive, it IS a clear case of content dispute. Moreover, you have done so EXACTLY because you prefer your version; otherwise, you would have provided more substantional argument than "seriously now..." .
    Again, my entire edit history does NOT consist of "bogus arguments or no arguments at all.) You seem to act under the impression as if your position/opinion on my edits has any more merit than mine, which is not the case.
    Moving further, I was not aware you are supposed to actually reply to warnings on your talk page in text. If that is case, I will reply.
    What you should have done was to start a discussion on topic. What you DID was entirely dismissing my position as "bogus" without even trying to make a legitimate case. Then you have come up with THESE ridiculous accusations.
    Some editor you are. DoctorWhutsup (talk) 11:40, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    No, if you are removing sourced, long-standing content and are reverted, you should state your case instead of trying to force it in. You don't walk into a house, piss on the sofa, and when asked to explain yourself reply with "no, you explain yourself!". I will not continue reverting the article on Principality of Halych because I do not intend not break 3RR, and it's not a hill I care to die on, but your targeted and completely irrational edits on Latin exonyms, in spite of the issue being explained to you in very clear terms, constitute obvious vandalism, and I will continue to revert as necessary. You are not here to contribute, you are here to pursue a personal crusade. Ostalgia (talk) 12:04, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    The fact you made this statement and then 10 minutes later broke 3RR by reverting yet again, shows a stunning lack of awareness and prevents us from taking what you state as good faith, and is why you are now blocked. Canterbury Tail talk 17:37, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I would have keep that in mind for further work, thank you for your advice.
    As for the rest of your comment, it presents nothing but another batch of ridiculous accusations that, once again, are nothing more than your assumptions. Although you do seem to possess some kind of hostility towards me personally, I do not share this spite. If you want to engage in a pointless edit warring, that is entirely on you. DoctorWhutsup (talk) 12:11, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I have just blocked both these editors for edit warring. They continued to edit war and snipe at each other while this conversation and others were taking place. Both knew what they were doing and continued edit warring with each other. Canterbury Tail talk 16:49, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Darylprasad adding large amount of original research to neoplatonism topics, ignoring editors' concerns

    Darylprasad (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

    darylprasad has added a preposterously large amount of poorly sourced material and original research to Proclus, Neoplatonism, and Plotinus. They ignore any concerns raised by other editors about their original research or article length. On their talk page, they threaten to delete and message left by non-administrators without reading it. Major issues with WP:IDHT and WP:CIR in addition to apparent failure to abide by the core content policies. Their page before they started deleting warnings warning from spinningspark for deleting content at ani warning from johnuniq additional from johnuniq additional from johnuniq and from spinningspark warning for removing maintenance templates concerns about talk page message i left earlier today, which their notice indicates they will likely not read before deleting

    I'm bringing this here because these concerns have been raised at ANI a year ago and the situation has only worsened; the sources they cite, which may appear to be recent, are simply translations of e.g. proclus and their additions are their own interpretations. In the past year, they have shown no indication that they have any interest in responding to community concerns, as Talk:Proclus, Talk:Neoplatonism, and Talk:Plotinus clearly show. - car chasm (talk) 17:23, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I'll also note that prior to my reversions, the pages in question were 357,789 bytes, 406,770 bytes, and 131,410 bytes respectively. The sheer volume of material alone would be a cause for concern, even disregarding the lack of copy-editing standards or ability to support their claims with secondary citations. - car chasm (talk) 18:05, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Good god, I think I need mind bleach. This has gone on for way too long, indefinitely blocking now. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 18:12, 29 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    May I recommend: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. EEng 00:21, 1 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Fowler&fowler

    Fowler&fowler (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

    Before I begin this report, I will take responsibility for any potential uncivility on my own end and for my violation of WP:3RR as I'm certainly no angel in this matter and if WP:BOOMERANG applies to this report, I'll concede. With that being said however, Fowler&fowler has been repeatedly been using bad arguments on both my talk page and on the article talk of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Arguments include: threats in edit summaries, personal expertise, article ownership, just voting, refusal to come to a compromise, and uncivility. Fowler also initially refused to discuss this at all, claiming that in this revision that I have to specifically start one despite giving him the offer to discuss the change and thus, refusing to abide by WP:BRD. This wasn't the first time he's outright refused to further the discussion as I've previously offered him to talk in the British Raj in these edit summaries. User has also outright lied in his arguments such as in this revision where he claimed that I added flags of "a dozen-odd combatants" despite the fact that in my only edit in the article involving flags was this one where I restored the flags and even in this revision, not all states in the infobox even had flags.

    Now I wouldn't be reporting this if it weren't for the fact that this isn't an isolated incident. In a previous ANI, Fowler used the personal expertise argument, claiming that because of his prior experience in Wikipedia and contribution in Featured Articles that User:Snow Rise has "no say in the matter". The major rabbit hole of Fowler's consistent uncivility is within Talk:Lion Capital of Ashoka. Despite initially being relatively civil with this discussion, he begins to exhibit hostile behaviors towards such as in this revision where he accuses User:पाटलिपुत्र of xenophobia with his reasoning being because he "despises your POV". He doubles down on this, mentioning it again... even when the discussion was about something completely different and his remark was completely irrelevant. Fowler also personally attacks him here, stating पाटलिपुत्र "abuses it by turning it [Wikipedia] into a blog of your solipsism, whether on a talk page or on regular pages". This wasn't the first time as he has also engaged in personal attacks as early as July 21. Further examples include this and this. Fowler also displays a lack of addressing all the points made on him, leaving short responses in otherwise large comments and tends to ignore almost all points made on him, choosing to only nitpick certain elements of the argument. This can be displayed in both the Lion Capital of Ashoka and Indian Rebellion of 1857 talk pages. SuperSkaterDude45 (talk) 14:57, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    SuperSkaterDude45, this lengthy report is poorly organized and is simply too much for an outside reviewer to parse. Now, I'm not sure whether a BOOMERANG is called for as I only looked at the first diff you provided, piped in "threats in edit summaries" — but this what that edit summary actually looks like:
    Revision as of 10:57, 27 September 2022 (edit) (undo) (thank) Fowler&fowler (talk | contribs | block) (→‎top: not famines between but in its wake (ie immediate aftermath or as a consequence)) (change visibility) Next edit →
    Care to explain how that's a "threat"? Did you link the wrong diff? Anyway, you're trying to do too much, less is more. Recommend you submit three [recent] diffs which you consider most egregious along with brief summaries for context. El_C 18:22, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Fowler&fowler, in this diff cited above ("xenophobia"), you respond to a seemingly innocuous comment about sources with an incendiary:
    This is not the first time I have opposed your abuse to promote WP:UNDUE views of ethnic or historical subnationalisms on WP, which in the India page have veered to xenophobia. No interest at all. You have no idea at all how much I despise your POV. So go to RS/N and tell them I've given you permission to present your case. Fowler&fowler«Talk» 18:30, 22 July 2022 (UTC)
    What is going on here? Why do you go to such lengths to be so unpleasant to this user instead of responding dispassionately in a matter of fact way to the material in question? This is not an acceptable manner for a veteran editor to conduct themselves, especially for a page that falls under the WP:ARBIND sanctions regime. Also, they don't need your "permission" to present anything to WP:RSN. I'm genuinely baffled. How can any editorial work happen when this is how you act? Respond briefly, please. El_C 18:41, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Oh, this is from July. I mean, it's highly problematic, but maybe it has been addressed already? SuperSkaterDude45, again, this report is too difficult to parse. Can you cite anything recent that you deem egregious? Barring one exception, it simply is too difficult to tell from your report what was said when. It isn't reasonable for you to expect an outside reviewer to go through your links and diffs one by one to figure that out. El_C 18:54, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @El C: Certainly and I'll summarize all of my main arguments:
    1. Fowler consistently makes disruptive arguments whenever he's presented with a debate even when he's warned not to do so. He most commonly uses his prior experience as a scapegoat to any opposing arguments. This can especially be seen in my personal talk page 2 days ago and in the other ANI discussion.
    2. Fowler engages in personal attacks and threats whenever something doesn't go in his way such as this which was written today. I also just discovered he actually threatened an IP at User talk:117.197.86.219 5 days ago.
    3. Fowler also makes disruptive edit summaries such as this one where he threatens someone for merely fixing the grammar of the article and this where he is openly hostile towards anyone that adds flags in the infobox.
    Also my apologies for the wrong diff, for the threats section of my original report, I meant to link this one where he personally threatened me as he was going to "take me into the wiki wood shed". I also only cited older examples to show that this isn't a new behavior as Fowler has been doing this for months now. SuperSkaterDude45 (talk) 20:33, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    1. How would SuperSkaterDude45 whose only interaction with me is on the British-era-related pages British Raj, Company rule in India and Indian rebellion of 1857 (where they typically add flags and flagicons in infoboxes) know about my interaction with another editor on a relatively obscure page Lion capital of Ashoka in July where I mentioned xenophobia? In other words, SuperSkater's disagreement with me has nothing to do with my remark about xenophobia.
    2. As for the British era pages, not just I but RegentsPark also has long maintained that those flags that SuperSkater keeps adding to the infobox don't belong to these pages as there is no scholarly evidence that those flags were used by the empires; in main part this is so because the empires were unions of regions ruled by the British and those ruled by Indian rulers who flew their own flags.
    3. As for the "xenophobic," the first time it happened was much earlier, as a matter of fact in August 2020 on the Talk:India page in this thread Talk:India/Archive_49#Glaring_inadequacies_for_a_Featured_Article of August 2020 by a user who uses an Indic script name but calls himself Pat in English.
    4. A year before that, the India page had a TFA on Gandhi's 150 anniversary on October 2, 2019. I spent three months revising large parts of the article in plain view of many seasoned editors, including at least four admins. I wrote new sections on Cuisine and Clothing. The clothing section was sourced to two of the major sources, Emma Tarlo's Clothing Matters and Roshen Alkazi's article on Central Asian clothing in ancient India. They discussed four main types of stitched clothes: Shalwar, kameez, pajama, and kurta. For the kurta image, I used an image which had been in the Kurta page for 12 years. It was a picture of our son, who had modeled the different styles of kurta specifically for Wikipedia in 2007 when he was 15. Those different-styled kurtas had been purchased specifically for the purpose of illustrating the styles on Wikipedia.
    5. Anyway, as you can see, user:Pat suggested that "an actual Indian" replace the picture of our son, even though none of the alternatives he suggested were wearing a kurta! He then objected to the picture of a Muslim praying in a mosque (because it did not represent a majority-Hindu India); he also objected to a Featured Picture of a church because that too did not display Hindu India. It was in that context that I called him "xenophobic." It wasn't just me, later in the same thread admin Vanamonde93 mentioned that those kinds of edits are what he would normally ask sanctions for. I mean India is a secular republic. In the Indian interpretation, secular means religiously pluralistic. That is what the Constitution of India states, what Gandhi and Nehru stood for, and what we say in the lead. It is only the Hindu nationalists (the Hindutva types) who don't like that notion of India. Look at the alternatives that Pat suggested: all Hindus everywhere!
    6. I'm sure if I had the picture of a Jewish synagogue in Cochin or a Parsi (Zoroastrian) fire temple in Bombay, they would have the same objection. It is pure xenophobia. I have over 4,000 edits on Talk:India and over 2,000 on the FA India. If I were routinely abusive, the objecting editors would not have appeared out of the blue 13 years after my start on Wikipedia. I'm reasonably sure they trade notes, as they all have the same diffs of mine. Who they are I have no idea.
    7. SuperSkater's admission that they might have violated 3RR is the result of my post on their user talk page warning them. This is their first acknowledgement that they actually did violate 3RR
    8. There is a very dangerous trend in the works in Wikipedia. POV-pushing editors endlessly bait editors who create NPOV-content. They then begin an RfC where the POV-pushing "friends" appear. When that doesn't go anywhere, they go to ANI. The dangerous trend is that they are proposing that relentless POV promotion is OK on Wikipedia as long as it is politely done. If on other hand you have created reliable NPOV content in FAs and you lose your cool at endless baiting, it is not OK on Wikipedia.
    Fowler&fowler«Talk» 00:03, 1 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    That was a reply to @El C: Fowler&fowler«Talk» 00:07, 1 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Fowler&fowler, I don't know how you expect me to follow all of that. Even if you were to provide pertinent diffs rather than links to lengthy discussions, it would probably still be too much. I simply don't have countless hours to put all these pieces together. I doubt you'll find an admin who would, though you're welcome to try. But I'm gonna say this: every time you lose your cool and attack other contributors, you lose precious ground in claiming WP:STEWARDSHIP over WP:OWNERSHIP. And you are doing it way too much, which is not sustainable in the long run, and the sooner you realize that, the better. You simply cannot continue to browbeat, insult, and even threaten other users, especially when they engage you dispassionately with sources and sourced material.

    So, you need to will yourself to dial it back. Report what you perceive as disruption to a conduct board (like here, WP:AE, etc.), don't use article talk pages for that; and use the content end of WP:DRR (WP:RFC, WP:RSN, etc.) to figure out what the given consensus is for whatever. If you assert that there's WP:CANVASSING or something akin to it, that would also be a conduct matter. But, again, out-the-blue attacks, or any attacks for that matter, those needs to stop, like, immediately. The only reason you're not facing sanctions of considerable severity right now is because you've had a good track record in past years. But the good that has bought you only goes so far, and I submit to you that you've used much of it up at this point.

    SuperSkaterDude45, it doesn't help matters when you edit war against multiple editors to get your version to stand, especially when you do it to the point of it breaching the WP:3RR bright line rule. As for this latest dispute, I'm logging a warning to both of you, though as a courtesy, I'll go the WP:ARBINFOBOX2 route rather than the WP:ARBIND one. To sum up: improvement is expected from both of you, but Fowler&fowler I'll reiterate that you, especially, are expected to refrain from further NPA and even just CIVIL vios. So please, both of you, try to be patient, make use of DRRs when you feel a content dispute calls for it, report misconduct to the appropriate forum, and above all else, if you're able, bring outside input to disputes (sometimes, even a simple 3rd opinion or a neutral notice on a Wikiproject could do wonders). Good luck. Be well. El_C 01:26, 1 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Violations of BLP policy by User:Leesawkun9z

    Leesawkun9z (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log)

    Quite a large number of users have attempted to interact with Leesawkun9z in the past week. User:Bungle and User:WaddlesJP13 added some BLP PRODs 7 days ago to some unsourced BLPs and I sent some of the user's other unsourced BLPs to draft space in the hope that they might attempt to address the issues. Unfortunately, there has been a spree of these Thai volleyball unsourced BLPs and club articles since. Since then they have had multiple AfC declines from User:KylieTastic and one from User:Idoghor Melody. They have then had warnings recently from User:DoubleGrazing about cut and paste moves and User:Robert McClenon about creating unsourced articles. All of this seems to me to be WP:NOTLISTENING with a bit of WP:CIR. Their recent creation Kongkapan Thongkhao a few minutes ago is so egregious that they've even left a PROD and BLP PROD on the article. Spiderone(Talk to Spider) 15:53, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I hadn't noticed the sheer volume of articles created until now and their talk page really speaks for itself (the irony being, they aren't talking!) There doesn't seem to be any engagement with any editor who has flagged these as being BLP-unsourced and no effort to remedy any article to this effect has been attempted. It does seem like they just don't care. I see an earlier article I sent to draft was recreated today in mainspace with the same issues too. Bungle (talk • contribs) 16:01, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Their recent unsourced BLPs from a few minutes ago Boonyarit Wongton and Wuttichai Suksala clearly show that they currently lack the skills to edit BLPs in main space. I would have no objection to them being allowed to continue editing in draft or user spaces until they can demonstrate that they can make constructive edits. Spiderone(Talk to Spider) 16:07, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I say, at this point, they should just be indef'd. They've been warned several times and I think any more messages and PROD notices to them will just be a waste of time because, at this point, they seem to be WP:NOTLISTENING. Waddles 🗩 🖉 16:25, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Rather than leaping to an immediate indeff, might I suggest a short acting attention getting block of, say, 31 hours? 🇺🇦 FiddleTimtrent FaddleTalk to me 🇺🇦 16:44, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I think that a short block has to be worth a try Spiderone(Talk to Spider) 16:47, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    It can always be reimposed and longer 🇺🇦 FiddleTimtrent FaddleTalk to me 🇺🇦 16:54, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Spiderone: and Timtrent I disagree, an indef should be better, and they can be unblocked when they promise to do better. Comr Melody Idoghor (talk) 16:56, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Idoghor Melody I suspect each of us views things differently and simply prefers a different approach. I favour the iron fist in the velvet glove on the basis that there is no deadline for any action here. I only possess velvet gloves, though, but I can smack someone very hard with them 😇😈 🇺🇦 FiddleTimtrent FaddleTalk to me 🇺🇦 18:29, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @Timtrent: I understand, but don't smack too hard😉 Comr Melody Idoghor (talk) 20:31, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Too much warning already, an indef should be issued immediately. They should tell us why they should be unblocked on their talkpage, whenever they're ready to talk. Comr Melody Idoghor (talk) 16:53, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    What they have done with Kongkapan Thongkhao is just weird. (It is as Spiderone says, but I had to see it to believe it.) They created a cookie-cutter copy of an unsourced BLP that was already tagged for BLPPROD, and only changed the name, so that the new article is BLPPROD'd in advance. This raises issues of competency. I agree with Spiderone and Fiddle Faddle that a short block is in order to see how they respond. Either they will request to be unblocked, or they will do nothing and resume editing when they come off block, in which case we know that they aren't listening. This is a weird competency issue. Robert McClenon (talk) 16:57, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Indefinitely blocked for disruption, incompetence, and failure to respond to warnings (doesn't talk at all). The massive creation of nothing articles, many of which are already tagged as having no sources and with PROD, is unacceptable.--Bbb23 (talk) 17:25, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
      I think indef was, regrettably, the right decision as this has more of a chance of making them engage with the reasons why things have got to this point, than simply waiting it out and continuing without regard for the wider issues (unless they continue undercover). Could these unreferenced stubs be CSDed under A7 to sort the issue quicker or shall we just wait for the 7 day BLP-prod to lapse? Bungle (talk • contribs) 18:34, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Continuous harassment of others' after block

    Since Veverve has been blocked—initially for one week before it being extended two weeks—they have WP:stalked other contributors with which they continue to dispute against. This fellow Wikipedian has gone back and forth with tagging them on their own personal discussion page, solely for the effort to continue disputing. Observing in quietude for a few days, I am beginning the effort to report this continuous harassment on the behalf of Spartacus007 and ILoveHirasawaYui. - TheLionHasSeen (talk) 17:04, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    @TheLionHasSeen
    Not an admin, but that user doesn't seem to be registered on the Wiki at all. A typo perhaps? — That Coptic Guy (talk) 17:08, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    That Coptic Guy, I have corrected the issue. Thank you! - TheLionHasSeen (talk) 17:09, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    No problem :) - I also see you're active on a lot of WP:Christianity-related articles! That's also my primary area of interest, so I'm sure this won't be the last we see of each other! — That Coptic Guy (talk) 17:14, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Let me further add in revision, Veverve has also created this essay (WP:Unsourced information is not valuable) and brandished it on their personal discussion page as if it's an official Wikipedia guideline. - TheLionHasSeen (talk) 17:09, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I wouldn't say so, more like they're linking it to explain their position further. WP:BRD is also frequently linked and not a guideline. DatGuyTalkContribs 17:58, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    This was completely uncalled for on Veverve's part. To take potshots at other editors like that when blocked is quite appalling behavior, all the more so since it was quite a reasonable edit. StAnselm (talk) 17:26, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    This is WIKIHOUNDING, plain and simple. Veverve should at the very least be topic banned from calendar-related articles (seeing as they've been blocked for it twice and it's the beginning of this case), but an indef WP:NOTHERE block is also not out of the question. DatGuyTalkContribs 17:58, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I have extended Veverve's block by two weeks and revoked their talk page access. Cullen328 (talk) 18:45, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Thank you. I've gotten more active in editing this year and I'm glad this series of incidents was the exception to an otherwise enjoyable experience. Spartacus007 (talk) 18:59, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Cullen328, I haven't reviewed this complaint, like at all, but did you see that Veverve's last edit to their talk page was three days ago? El_C 19:14, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    El C, yes I saw that. I would have extended the block then if I had known about it then. Cullen328 (talk) 19:21, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Right, because I just noticed that they made two edits today (diff, diff), so the block wasn't in fact "extended," but rather imposed (again). El_C 19:26, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    Funnily enough, the two edits were made in the six minutes between the block expiry and the reblock. Talk about timing. DatGuyTalkContribs 19:29, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I was reading their talk page and pondering where to do in that six minute period, and did not notice that the previous block had expired. Cullen328 (talk) 19:43, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Misuse of Admin tools

    Today, I was harassed by musicAnimal while I was editing on jean Dawson. This person blocked me without warning despite my ip having no edit/block history. I am therefore reporting this here. 12.251.247.118 (talk) 20:43, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    You were using multiple IPs, as can be seen in the edit history. NytharT.C 20:49, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    You're not blocked and there is no record of a block in your block log. -- Malcolmxl5 (talk) 20:49, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I'm sure a block evasion sanction is incoming.. Jip Orlando (talk) 20:50, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    • Blocked. Obvious block evasion and disruption at Jean Dawson and associated AfD. --Malcolmxl5 (talk) 21:03, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Disruption from IP editor

    IP editor has blatantly misunderstood the votes at Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Jean_Dawson_(2nd_nomination) and ignored multiple attempts to explain both in edit summaries (see here, here, and here as well as the page histories of all of those pages) and at User_talk:QuietHere#Jean_Dawson. IP editor has also accused another editor of edit-warring despite multiple editors making the same reversion several times; IP editor is the only one in violation of WP:3RR so far as I can tell. QuietHere (talk) 20:58, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    IP accounts are 160.72.111.130, 67.245.6.49, and 12.251.247.118 QuietHere (talk) 21:00, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    User:MusikAnimal has already blocked 160 and 67 QuietHere (talk) 21:01, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    I’ve blocked 12. see section above. The AfD has been protected by Firefly. -- Malcolmxl5 (talk) 21:07, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @QuietHere: If you're up to it, I'd consider opening a sockpuppet investigation against this guy, too. — That Coptic Guy (talk) 21:22, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
    @That Coptic Guy does it even count as sockpuppetry if they're an IP editor? It's not like it's not obvious they're the same person, and unless there's some way to know if they manually switched their IP address then I'm not sure how to prove they did anything that SPI would sanction them for. QuietHere (talk) 21:26, 30 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    Main page vandalism

    Would someone look at the link on the main page to yesterday's "AotD" "First Battle of Newtonia." When I hover on the link the caption there is a homophobic slur in place of an actual description. Hamster Sandwich (talk) 00:58, 1 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

    I have no idea what javascript you're using to show stuff from that page, or what content it's showing, but it looks like some vandals have been blocked. I also protected the page for two days to stop autoconfirmed vandals from messing with it. They'll just go to some other high profile page and vandalize it, but at least it won't be linked from the main page. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 01:08, 1 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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