User:JWSchmidt/Blog/27 January 2009

"Always give reasoning and appropriate warnings before applying sanctions"

In addition to a policy for banning editors it would be nice to have a policy governing bans from participation at the English language IRC chat channel.

Bad ban
9/21/08 11:36:09 AM: You have been kicked off channel #wikiversity-en by SB_Johnny (1 week ban for all account names)

That was an interesting day in #wikiversity-en, complete with the threat made that people could be banned from that chat channel for theorizing....when that threat was made I assumed it was a joke. Little did I know that the joke was on me. I was banned with no warning and no reason given for the ban. As far as I can tell, I was banned from #wikiversity-en because I talked too much to Moulton. I was banned even after I proposed that Moulton and I would just go to #wikiversity-en-projects any time our conversations became unwelcome or "disruptive". See also: Blocks and bans from IRC.

Bad block
At that time, I had recently been subjected to a bad block (19 September 2008 SB Johnny blocked JWSchmidt with an expiry time of infinite) for the ludicrous reason, "until guidelines are agreed upon", a block imposed without prior warning. My unblock request was rejected by SB Johnny with the excuse given that, "The community really needs some time to recover".

In the IRC chat that morning (9/21/08) it was mysteriously hinted that I was not aware of all the discussions that had been going on. I assumed that was alluding to the way a group of custodians had conspired off wiki to impose a bad block on me and go outside of process to perform an emergency removal of my custodianship. At that time, all I could do was mutter, "justice is remote when it is crafted in secret".

Anyhow, that was an impressive "1 week ban" from #wikiversity-en with no discussion, warning or reason given. A "1 week ban" that is still being imposed more than four months later.

Your banned
1/27/09 6:23:14 AM: You have been kicked off channel #wikiversity-en by darkcode (your still banned)

darkcode imposed his ban without discussion or warning. If SB Johnny imposed a "1 week ban" on 9/21/08 then why am I still banned on 1/27/09?

Wikipedia Disease
During the past five years I've seen drama at Wikipedia resulting from abusive admins conspiring off wiki, often in IRC chat channels, to impose bad blocks and bans on Wikipedians. When I spent years getting the Wikiversity project going I thought about how Wikiversity would be a different place where people talked out problems, openly, on wiki. Will Wikiversity ever find its way back to sanity?

Updates
13 June 2009. SB Johnny's "1 week ban" from September of 2008, imposed without discussion, warning or justification, is still in place. When SB Johnny wants someone to fuck off, I guess it means he just throws away the key. Is it time to put this down in written Wikiversity policy?
 * 15 August 2009. I was finally allowed to return to #wikiversity-en. Not clear how long this will last since there is no evidence that conditions have changed in that chat channel. Before I was banned, a popular strategy for the wielders of the ban hammer was to make false claims about freenode IRC policy in order to try to justify channel bans. The popular practice of making bogus claims about freenode policy continues. Apparently the current rules for discussions in that channel include the idea that you cannot question the abuses of admins unless you can provide scientific proof that the abusers were trying to be abusive. Someone must think that Catch-22 is a style guide for chat channel management.


 * Since I last edited this page I have witnessed two other bad bans in #wikiversity-en, imposed without warning or discussion or reason given. The most recent was in April 2010. The Wikiversity era of thugocracy continues.
 * Update, April 7, 2010. Today I was kicked from #wikiversity-en without warning, discussion or reason given. During the first two years of the Wikiversity project, #wikiversity-en was a place where learning projects were developed and new Wikiversity participants were provided with help. In 2008 it became a place where abusive sysops plan how to delete wiki content, impose bad blocks and attempt to silence anyone who objects to their destructive practices. Is it possible to return Wikiversity to its roots, a place where collaborating learners discuss their learning coals and collaboratively edit wiki pages, or will the death spiral of out-of-process page deletion and bad blocks continue?