Sunday, October 11, 2015

Why Stierlitz was Thrown off Wikipediocracy's Message Board

Originally I was going to get Stierlitz to write about why he had been chucked out of Wikipediocracy, but he would not write about it, leaving me with the task (too many bad memories.)

Our Position on Wikipediocracy

Just to make it clear to the lesser lights at WO-MB (the Wikipediocracy Message Board), this blog is not opposed to Wikipediocracy; what we are opposed to is how that website is being run. As we see it, Wikipediocracy and its forum are a "home away from home" for a collection of mostly ex- or banned Wikipedians, people who want back into "the Project." Because of that, Wikipediocracy can't truly be taken seriously; most of it is coded kissassery to get back in, a sort of Masonic ritual of contrition....which never works because Wikipedians loathe Wikipediocracy just as they loathed Wikipedia Review. Ex-Scientologists ditch Scientology-think and the need for the "FreeZone" or "iScientology" faster than Wikipediocracy members quit, which means that they never wanted to be outside Wikipedia in the first place. When you have Greg Kohs (thekohser) threatening to DMCA the last post because it quotes WO-MB members, your forum and blog has become kind of a cult to the Wikipedia mode of "shit-talk, then bury it." Then they threw out MMAR (Wikipedia user Mighty Morphin Army Ranger) for some reason, but I'm getting a vibe it was for not being "compatible" with the unwritten rules of WO-MB. Which means he gets to join that long list of Wikipediocracy members who were chucked for little to no real reason.

Why Stierlitz was Locked Out and Banned

As he told it to me it went something like this: Stierlitz joined WO-MB to talk about Reddit because he had gone through the wringer there and nobody was talking about how truly shitty the moderators are on that website and there was nowhere to go to do so. Because they had an "Off Topics" and "Web 2.0" forums he submitted mostly there at first because he didn't know the ins and outs of Wikipedia, the personalities, etc. He became the uncrowned king of Off Topics, which seems to have quietly infuriated some of the senior members (though he got no hint of that.)

What killed him on the WO forums was that he reposted something he had posted to Reddit a year previous; there was a Tumblr blog called "More Names Will Be Named" which claimed a number of atheists and skeptics of being serial harassers. Those named were: Bill Nye (no real proof emerged), Michael Shermer (nailed badly), Jim Frenkel (editor at TOR books; blogged about), Lawrence Krauss (accusations dried up), Sean Faircloth (same), Ben Radford (discussed on this Wikia page), Jacob Fortin (proof never emerged.) The Tumblr blog was seized, deleted, and turned into a joke. Outside of scattered blog posts and that Wikia page, the "Misogyny War of 2010-2014" within atheism/skepticism has been buried. And that includes Stierlitz's forum thread; he was told by Stanstani (William "Monty" Burns) that it was taken down because of "fears of legal threats." Stierlitz decided to call Eric Barbour; he told Stierlitz some of the backstory of WO (Stierlitz was unclear about the fiasco that Wikipedia Review had been), they decided that taking a week break was a good idea for Stierlitz. He did so, then was locked out of his account at 4am, his avatar picture stripped off shortly afterwards. By December, when I was leaked that list, the account was dead, "retired."

                                                 The Stierlitz avatar used on WO-MB.

Where we Go from Here....

.....is a good question. A lot of the stuff I write about is already on Encyclopaedia Dramatica, but with jokes. I know the Essjay scandal needs to be talked about, or how Jimbo is walking away from Wikipedia......I really don't want to talk about all the child porn on Commons and Mozhenkov and Möller and other assorted slimeballs, but I have loads of material. However, it just makes me nauseous thinking about it.

If anyone knows who StukaLied of Reddit is on Wikipedia (I don't want his real name), please comment below.

8 comments:

  1. Too often the behavior of some WO leaders breeds cynicism rather than reform. As you pointed out many WO members are less concerned with reforming Wikipedia than being accepted by Wikipedians. WO's mission: "to shine the light of scrutiny into the dark crevices of..." is ironic given their allergies to scrutiny and light. "When you have Greg Kohs (thekohser) threatening to DMCA the last post because it quotes WO-MB members, your forum and blog has become kind of a cult to the Wikipedia mode of 'shit-talk, then bury it.'" The hypocrisy of some WO-MB leaders will defeat their mission despite protestations to the contrary. When a critical source is irreparably tainted, the media, the public, and governing officials may reject the criticism as well as the source. There is no David and Goliath story when David is as bad as Goliath.

    "He became the uncrowned king of Off Topics, which seems to have quietly infuriated some of the senior members (though he got no hint of that.)" Yes, you deciphered the invisible ink on the WO-MB wall.

    MMAR was not of the WO-MB body. Accordingly, he was publicly banned for unspecified reasons. I suspect there isn't a complete list of invisibly banned WO-MB members, and the WO admins and trustees may not recall them all. Some trustees and former trustees may not know what was done ostensibly at their behest, though I don't know why.

    A blog about "how Jimbo is walking away from Wikipedia" would be welcome. Clearly laying out Jimbo's present and potential future endeavors would be edifying and socially responsible journalistic blogging.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Monty" Burns has to have a list on his hard drive at home, it would be too annoying to keep all those names in his head.

      "A blog [post] about 'how Jimbo is walking away from Wikipedia' would be welcome." It will come.....that watch ad Jimbo did in 2012 was a sign that his game from now on will be to use Wikipedia's name for gain, and he has gone down that path from that point onward.

      Delete
  2. I know who StukaLied is. He's a great Apache-kin sent to right Wiki wrongs with a style and verve that Wikipiedocracy only wishes they had.

    ReplyDelete
  3. StukaLied is Starke Hathaway. It's not that hard to figure out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. compare-
      https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiInAction/comments/3awmjf/interesting_vandalism_bizarre_instant_messenger/

      https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3ASea_lion&type=revision&diff=668295304&oldid=601093714

      Delete
    2. Well, he abandoned reddit just as "Logic'd" abandoned Tumblr. "Communism Kills!" is still up, unfortunately, so we can't make it 3 for 3.

      Delete
    3. No, the person was there a day ago commenting.

      Delete
    4. It appears to have been disconfirmed a week ago.

      Delete