So today's big controversy is apparently the request for adminship of an editor by the name of CharlotteWebb. The controversy starts here, with this rather startling (and intimidating) question from Jayjg. Jay, by asking this question, revealed that Charlotte has been, apparently, known (to him, at least) to edit Wikipedia using TOR, an activity which Jay apparently believes is so heinous that it justifies violating the privacy policy. This has spawned a lot of rather heated discussion in the usual places, with Jay's little gang closing ranks to defend him, and a lot of other people (including many of those who would love to see Jay taken down) firing torpedos at him from all directions.
I personally think that Jay's disclosure was well over the line -- there was no credible allegation that Charlotte had engaged in any sort of misconduct other than violating a kneejerk policy against using anonymous proxies (and specifically TOR) that was recently established in the wake of an compromised administrator account that involved the use of TOR. The simple fact is that lots of perfectly reasonable editors edit Wikipedia via TOR and other anonymizing proxies every day, and we largely ignore them because they are not vandalizing Wikipedia.
What I don't understand is why Jay went after Charlotte. Charlotte appears by all lights to be a run of the mill admin candidate. She has apparently some minor problems with civility, but I can't find any evidence of any history between them or between her and any of the rest of the people who are known to me to be in Jay's little gang. I don't see what Jay gets out of torpedoing her candidacy other than the cold and sordid satisfaction of ruining someone else's day -- and while I have lots of issues with Jay's behavior in general, I've not known him to be maliciously nasty for the sheer sake of it. So I'm confused about Jay's motives here.
But more disturbing to me is Jay's hypocrisy about privacy. Jay is, as anyone who reads Wikipedia Review knows, assidiously careful about his privacy. What few personal claims he's made about himself don't add up, and it's likely that he's lying in order to misdirect inquiries into his identity. He's also very careful about protecting the privacy of his friends, such as when he oversighted every edit made by SlimVirgin's other account (User:Slimv) on the grounds that those edits might possibly allow someone to determine her identity. But his respect for privacy doesn't extend beyond the circle of his friends; he has no compunction against revealing information that comes to him under a bond of privacy (that is, checkuser data) when doing so serves his own interests.
And finally there is the stunning failure on his part to assume good faith. Jay ought to be able to discern that his question would be a bombshell, and that it would have been far more sensible for him to have asked Charlotte his question privately before making a giant scene about it. It's almost as if Jay wanted to maximize drama. It's certainly the course I would have taken if I wanted to create maximal drama and thought that my friends were strong enough to protect me from getting fried for stepping over the lines of the privacy policy.
Now, admittedly, revealing that an editor is using TOR is not the same as revealing where an editor lives or what their real name is. But it's still a breach of the privacy policy. There's nothing, even now, to show that Charlotte was disrupting the project or otherwise doing anything harmful to Wikipedia. And yet Jay released information that he only had by virtue of his use of the Checkuser tool, which means he is very limited in his right to release it. But what really bothers me is that Jay's little drama game (or whatever this was) is very likely to prevent someone who is pretty obviously a good editor from becoming an administrator, and may well end up in her leaving the project. Way to go, Jay. Just what were you thinking?
I personally think that Jay's disclosure was well over the line -- there was no credible allegation that Charlotte had engaged in any sort of misconduct other than violating a kneejerk policy against using anonymous proxies (and specifically TOR) that was recently established in the wake of an compromised administrator account that involved the use of TOR. The simple fact is that lots of perfectly reasonable editors edit Wikipedia via TOR and other anonymizing proxies every day, and we largely ignore them because they are not vandalizing Wikipedia.
What I don't understand is why Jay went after Charlotte. Charlotte appears by all lights to be a run of the mill admin candidate. She has apparently some minor problems with civility, but I can't find any evidence of any history between them or between her and any of the rest of the people who are known to me to be in Jay's little gang. I don't see what Jay gets out of torpedoing her candidacy other than the cold and sordid satisfaction of ruining someone else's day -- and while I have lots of issues with Jay's behavior in general, I've not known him to be maliciously nasty for the sheer sake of it. So I'm confused about Jay's motives here.
But more disturbing to me is Jay's hypocrisy about privacy. Jay is, as anyone who reads Wikipedia Review knows, assidiously careful about his privacy. What few personal claims he's made about himself don't add up, and it's likely that he's lying in order to misdirect inquiries into his identity. He's also very careful about protecting the privacy of his friends, such as when he oversighted every edit made by SlimVirgin's other account (User:Slimv) on the grounds that those edits might possibly allow someone to determine her identity. But his respect for privacy doesn't extend beyond the circle of his friends; he has no compunction against revealing information that comes to him under a bond of privacy (that is, checkuser data) when doing so serves his own interests.
And finally there is the stunning failure on his part to assume good faith. Jay ought to be able to discern that his question would be a bombshell, and that it would have been far more sensible for him to have asked Charlotte his question privately before making a giant scene about it. It's almost as if Jay wanted to maximize drama. It's certainly the course I would have taken if I wanted to create maximal drama and thought that my friends were strong enough to protect me from getting fried for stepping over the lines of the privacy policy.
Now, admittedly, revealing that an editor is using TOR is not the same as revealing where an editor lives or what their real name is. But it's still a breach of the privacy policy. There's nothing, even now, to show that Charlotte was disrupting the project or otherwise doing anything harmful to Wikipedia. And yet Jay released information that he only had by virtue of his use of the Checkuser tool, which means he is very limited in his right to release it. But what really bothers me is that Jay's little drama game (or whatever this was) is very likely to prevent someone who is pretty obviously a good editor from becoming an administrator, and may well end up in her leaving the project. Way to go, Jay. Just what were you thinking?
After reading your post I was pretty mad at Jayjg. Then I actually went and looked at User:CharlotteWebb's contributions. She doesn't create much content and shouldn't be an admin.
ReplyDeleteYou can't (IMO) be a respectable encyclopedia admin without actually creating content.
This is one of the projects greatest failings - too many people in positions of power who are interested in the power, instead of creating free content.
Well, that doesn't address the privacy issue. It doesn't really invade privacy to say you use Tor, but the process of looking into someone for that when there is no reason is a little... invasive.
ReplyDeleteAs for admins who don't create that much content (like myself), we have our place. I did it because someone asked me and it allows me to delete, revert and cleanup more easily. Not exactly the epitome of power hungry--more lazy.
"I've had to check lots of vandals and sockpuppets. Every time I discovered they were using TOR proxies, your userid showed up as well. I didn't bother mentioning it before, but adminship is a position of trust. Editing using proxies is against policy. Now I'd appreciate a response."
ReplyDeleteI, actually, find that to be a relatively good explanation.
I think the problem I take issue with here is the massive assumption of bad faith. This didn't come from Jay directly, but the group of attackers that sprang up to defend his actions are certainly very guilty of it. I have to give top marks to Jay for his clever wording, which probably contributed to this attitude.
ReplyDeleteThe usual names are popping up, of course; SlimVirgin's never away from drama. In this case, of course, she's pushing forward the idea (mailing list) that CharlotteWeb knew full well that editing using open proxies was an "offence", and of course, is calling for heads to roll.
Jay cocked up, and he needs to apologise for doing so; it's quite within his remit to remember that snippet of information, but it's a pretty clear violation of ethics to reveal it in a manner which he knew full well would unfairly skew a discussion.
On the other hand, the people who're making vicious assumptions about CharlotteWebb's good faith, and generally pushing the classic "rules are a suicide pact" position need to be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. The problem is, those people are always the same sort of cult, and by their very nature, will never be ashamed of their own conniving and despicable behaviour.
There are too many of these sorts of people on Wikipedia.
Actually, people who do not improve the content should be put to work doing administrative duties. The content makers should not be encumbered by adminship and should be left to write articles. In an ideal Wikipedia system, everyone has a useful job.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDelete> Then I actually went and looked at
> User:CharlotteWebb's contributions.
> She doesn't create much content and
> shouldn't be an admin.
Maybe not much by your standards, but tried to, on many occasions.
I should add that an arbcom case has been requested on my behalf. It wasn't my idea, and I'm not sure what good it will do.
ReplyDeleteJayjg lives in Burlington, Ontario, Canada (right outside of Toronto). The following IP address is an IP address that he uses:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/24.141.150.255
Also, User:Crum375 is a sockpuppet of User:SlimVirgin. This is clear violation of the policy that administrators are not allowed to have more than one admin. account.
The matter here is sociologically interesting.
ReplyDeleteAs Kelly wonders, "What I don't understand is why Jay went after Charlotte." It is the case that Jayjg (along with a few others) can generally do whatever he wants at Wikipedia, but that what he wants is invariably to protect and promote Israeli and Jewish interests, which CW seems to have shown no interest in. So why torpedo CW?
I have two hypotheses:
First, perhaps Jay is just testing how brazen he can be in his abuses and still get away with it.
Second, and more likely I think, Jay and his "little gang," having completely won the war of control of information at Wikipedia through myriad abuses, have found themselves with no standing enemies, and yet a habit of abusiveness. And so, where once it required taking an opposing position to draw the ire of Jay's gang, now it only requires seeking a position of even minor authority without clearly being in their camp. They know how unaccountable they are; they want to make sure no one else attains that status who is not in broad agreement with them.
In any case, the quality of Wikipedia articles continues to degrade, although that has never seemed to be a matter of concern to Jayjg.
There is a deleted edit remaining on the SlimV account...
ReplyDelete