CLoM » Spotting WikiFauna, Part II

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Spotting WikiFauna, Part II

[ main page ]

SECOND IMPACT

When we left, HM was approaching his second explosion. It all begins with User:Feba mentioning to HM that his userpage is a bit over the top ([1]). Apparently Wikipedia doesn’t approve of userpages that basically proselytize people’s beliefs, and HM’s is (as far as I can tell without access to the history) mostly made up of talking about Christianity in big letters. I can kinda picture it.

I don’t really understand the technicalities of this policy, but I don’t need to because I’m about to link you to three hundred people talking about it ([2]).

The conversation basically goes like this:

PEOPLE: Your userpage violates this policy.
HORNETMAN: It’s not offending anyone.
PEOPLE: It’s offending me.
HORNETMAN: Meh.
(all hell breaks loose)

Highlights!

  1. HM's first comment — “I like it the way it is and I'm not taking off the flag!”
  2. Kurykh makes me sad I can't access the old revisions of HM's page — “Um, you can post the flag, but the...eh...current size of the flag is the online equivalent of shoving it in people's faces.”
  3. HM does the legal thing again — “...and by the way, asking me to take off my christian flag is like taking away my constitutional right of freedom of religion and how to express it.”
  4. Alison is wise — “You're. Not. Listening. To. A. Word. I'm Saying.”
  5. A surprise guest appearance from a generic right-wing cynic! — “You would certainly lose this case. There's a secular hegemony here. They may not be satanists, but they'd be more accepting to an editor who was one.”
  6. Generic right-wing cynic is here all week, folks! — “Were it a giant Bisexual Pride Baphomet, that user would be in the Corps of Administrators by now.”
  7. Despite being lukewarm on the topic of ‘not offending people’, HM is red hot on ‘being offended for no reason’ — “I will not have people dissing Jews on my page. Jews are God's chosen people and Jesus was a Jew. You diss them it the exact same as dissing me cause I take serious offense to that!!!!!”
    Btw, HM is responding to a random mention of the Star of David. That’s it. Seriously.
  8. Alison is still wise — “The only thing you'll listen to is when it goes to crisis and some other admin comes along and nukes your page (as happened last time).”
  9. Progress! Sort of! — “It's a flag dang it. what matter's mor is the article's not my user page. What do you want me to do with the flag?”
  10. Alison patiently summarises what people have been saying for hours — “I want you to think, and to start showing respect for the beliefs and opinions of other editors. As Feba asks, is it too much to ask for you to tone it down just a little?”
  11. HM lacks perspective — “Yeah it is too much to ask. But I shrink it if it'll make ya happy and get you off my back about it!”

I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a “Christian flag”. I’m still not completely convinced there is. What is it, just a cross on a rectangle? That isn’t a flag; that’s Windows 95.

At this point, the conversation peters out for about three hours, but it seems that HM hasn’t actually fixed anything on his page, despite his apparent concession. User:Nihiltres now appears, and says “I just went ahead and toned down both huge flag images to 100px each -the community has expressed a valid concern that's really easy to fix, and users do not own their userpages.” ([3])

Obviously, I still can’t access the history, but it seems that HM just reverts him without commenting. Twice. The next comments are from Alison despairing of him:

  • “Please stop it already. Nihiltres is trying to compromise here and help you out. Let it go” ([4])
  • “And again. How far are you going to take this here? Is direct action the only thing you understand? Are you going for some sort of see-how-often-I-get-my-page-nuked award or something?” ([5])

(Come on Alison, no one deserves that award more than him. He just wants it more.)

Nihiltres is actually an okay guy, and he continues talking to HM and tries to get through to him — rather than summoning an air strike as I would have done. Nihiltres says:

  • "I now see images at only 200px, so I'm willing to call off the brigades. What you should realize, however, Hornetman16, is that usually Wikipedians will prefer it when your faith in god(s) is expressed in scholarly work towards educating people about him/her/them, that is, without giant images on your user page expressing your frenzy. Your userpage regardless doesn't quite fit with WP:NOT, and I suggest you read that page carefully before continuing to edit. :)" ([6])

Seems pretty reasonable, right? I mean, not only is he being polite, he’s actually allowed a pretty big compromise on what they wanted. He apparently let HM double the size of the flags, which is very kind of him. All fair and reasonable.

Would it surprise you to know that HM was so annoyed by this comment that he randomly went to Nihiltres’ page to yell at him?

If you’re confused, let me explain. The thing is, all HM sees in that comment is the bit that reads “god(s)”. And you can imagine how insulted he is by that, right? So this is what he does: [7]

Seriously, what a jerk.

A discussion follows on HM's page ([8]) and a new MfD page appears ([9]).

Some small highlights.

  1. Instant persecution just add water -- "Obviously Wikpedia has too high a standard when it comes to respect cause not on here i guarentee you would say that wasn't disrespectful. He personaly attacked my religon (no directly but he did by by not getting how my faith goes correctly) and I was just defending my self so if any one was disrespectful it was him but whatever!"
  2. Alison lectures HM like a child -- "You, sir, have a lot to learn about the world, and a lot to learn about respecting others."
  3. HM is still thinking about the last argument -- "what do you want me to do to my userpage? It bugs me that I can't have it the way I want it cause 3 people think it's to annoying."
  4. HM is so confident he can put exclaim marks on the end of gibberish -- "I wish to denominate thins on ground that I will listen now since it is the Christian way!"
  5. Alison has a headache -- "I'm sick and tired of this nonsense. I did my best to help you here, but no."
  6. User:Daniel (omnipotent WikiGod) deletes and protects HM’s userpage. [10]
  7. User:DarkFalls notifies HM of Daniel's actions, and says what we're all thinking -- "I strongly suggest contributing to the encyclopedia, instead of causing mayhem and making things worse for yourself."
  8. HM provides sober patient criticism — “I TRIED TO KEEP MY COOL AND YA'LL JUST COULDN'T LEAVE IT BE!!! I HAVE SENT A VERY STERN LETTER OF YOU ALL'S DISREPECT TO THE OFFICE!”


THE PLOT THICKENS

The next part should be familiar to anyone who's spent time on a wiki. I put it in bullet points because I like bullet points.

  • A random new user called "Cenafan16" appears, and complains to Daniel about HM’s block.
    "How could you protect Hornetman16 from editing his userpage (I'm a new user)?" ([11])
  • He is reverted by User:Ryulong ([12]) and blocked for abuse of multiple accounts ([13]).
  • Hornetman is caught in the autoblock of Cenafan’s IP address, and complains loudly that he has been unfairly blocked, and that Cenafan isn’t him ([14], [15] & [16]. The thing is, the autoblock is automatic and only gets you if you have the exact IP address of the original blocked user. Not only is HM unaware of this, he fails to understand it when people explain, and continues acting as if people have blocked him specifically because they assumed Cenafan was him.

Everyone traipses back to HM's talkpage to discuss this ([17])

Highlights again!

  1. Alison captures the zeitgeist — “BTW, that autoblock you got caught in - well, that's going to last an awfully long time, assuming that other guy was you. What do you intend to do about that?”
  2. HM is brutally honest — “Get angry and beg cause that wasn't me!”
  3. ElinorD is the first to attempt an explanation — “This user's request to have the autoblock on his/her IP address lifted has been declined. reason — You created a sockpuppet to protest about Daniel's deletion of your userpage, pretending to be an uninvolved user, and then your real account got caught in the autoblock when your sockpuppet was blocked. I'd be prepared to lift the autoblock after 48 hours, or perhaps even 24 hours, if you promise to behave. But you don't get to create sockpuppets to plead your cause, and then escape the autoblock.”
  4. Feba puts the whole thing very succinctly — “So basically you're claiming that someone who happened to be using your ISP, had the same IP as you, *and* created an account *AND* immediately made edits *concerning you* and nothing else... wasn't you? If this were a movie, you'd really be testing my suspension of disbelief right now”
  5. But HM is impervious to reality — “THAT WASN'T ME I WAS LOGGED OFF AT THE TIME!!!!!!”
  6. Feba knows the score — “And is that because you were logged into another account?”
  7. Deskana joins in — “It's patently obvious that it was a sockpuppet of you. Not only does this user have a broken form of your signature, they also have an interest in wrestling, specifically John Cena, of who you used to have a photo of on your userpage. The only edits from that account are also related to agreeing with something you said. So don't try to fool us.”
  8. And ElinorD provides the finishing blow — “Admins can also see in the deleted edits of your userpage that that particular IP edited your userpage before when you were blocked, and acknowledged being you while logged off.”
  9. HM is utterly shameless — “THAT WASN'T ME THAT COULD HAVE BEEN MY BROTHER WHY BLOCK ME FOR HIS ACTIONS?”
  10. HM is the narrator — “They blocked me for my brother's actions and they won't unblock me.”
    (Yeah, he’s really not talking to anyone there. If there is a “they”, why isn’t Deskana (the only person he could possibly be talking to) one of “them”?)
  11. HM is surprisingly rude to people who don’t exist — “It's not good faith if you unblock me this time...it's called understanding that my brother stuck his nose where it didn't belong.”
    Be nice to your fictional brother, dammit.
  12. HM has my number — “I do have a brother and don't insult him agian by saying he doesn't exist! Now please unblock me!”
    I can’t unblock you, HM. I’m not on Wikipedia, and you’re all the way back there in 2007. Think about it.
  13. Feba sings the ending credits theme — “The thing is man, people are tired of it. They're tired of being nice on the off chance that you were trying to go with the rules. They're tired of acting like you mean no harm. At this point, it would be just plain irresponsible to assume that you or your brother were making a good faith effort to improve wikipedia, and honestly at this point it's somewhat irresponsible to assume you have a brother at all. Compared to quite a few other cases, people have been VERY nice and EXTREMELY lenient with you. Constantly trying to forge your own path in opposition to policy and other users is what got you here, not a stray comment from a sibling”
  14. ElinorD provides a ray of hope — “The autoblock won't last forever. Just stick it out. Say your prayers tonight, and reflect on whether Jesus really wants you to keep on saying it was your brother. (Remember Revelation 21:8, again.) Stop arguing. Behave yourself. The autoblock will expire. And you can start editing within policy. I'd be prepared to adopt you, if it would help. If you're not prepared to tone down the disruptive behaviour, I'm afraid you're heading for an indefinite block. Alison and Riana and Deskana have been very patient and helpful, and look how you've repaid them.”

At this point, the main argument is over. Discussion continues, even though the main administrators involves have kinda lost interest. A kindly soul called Pastordavid wanders over and gives HM some advice, which he wastes no time in ignoring ([18]). It’s evening on the 3rd of July, and everything is dying down for now.

Early on July 4th (about six in the morning UTC) User:Moondyne, who hasn’t been involved before, declines another unblock request:

  • “This user's request to have the autoblock on his/her IP address lifted has been declined. Decline reason: Hornetman16, this account is not currently blocked, its your sockpuppet Cenafan16 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · page moves · block user · block log) who has been blocked which has caused you to be unable to edit. But I am not about to unblock as after reading all the words above I see no evidence of you becoming a constructive editor. Experienced editors have bent over backwards trying to give you constructive advice and second chances but you repay them with this. There's been a suggestion below for another place for you to play. Go there and annoy them, we have serious business to do here.”

Guess where this “another place to play” is. It’s surprisingly topical. Here is the text of the suggestion:

  • “==Christianwikipedia== If you want something like this, go to Conservapedia. There is no need to disrupt wikia and there is especially no need to spam Wikipedia trying to create your own little wiki when it's already been set up for you. Go, and be happy --Feba 03:00, 4 July 2007 (UTC)” ([19])

At the moment, HM doesn’t pay much attention to this suggestion, but he does eventually end up on Conservapedia. Here’s a really small history of his work on CP:

  • Complaining about Wikipedia’s treatment of him in his userspace
  • Writing professional wrestling articles
  • Getting told off by Karajou (once)

...

  • And then, he actually left because he thought it was too authoritarian. Classic.

Anyway, back to Wikipedia.


REDO FROM START

I must admit, I chose Hornetman to write about because his career as a Timed Explosion Kid was so long. Normally TEKs tend to blow themselves out pretty quickly or just lose interest, but HM actually spent quite a while on Wikipedia before being thrown out.

In accordance with the established order of thing, things pretty much return to normal after that explosion. HM acts kind apologetic (or as apologetic as you can get without actually apologizing for the things you've done wrong) and volunteers for Wikipedia's "adoption" scheme thing, at the suggestion of Elinor D ([20]).

And that's where I'm leaving it for now. There is somehow much more material than I expected, so I guess I'll have to make this split over three or four entries. Sorry about that. You can counteract these negative vibes by listening to Gorillaz ([21]) or possibly by eating an ice cream.

--23:10, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

[ main page ]


Talk

I loved how you called me a jerk. I get I wasn't exactly the most mature person back in the day but did you have to label me a jerk?--24.92.213.47 (talk) 03:40, 24 July 2010 (UTC) (Christianrocker90 aka HM)

Retrieved from "https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=User:Mei_II/Cunning_Log_of_Mei/280310B&oldid=553919"