User:JWSchmidt/Blog/29 January 2011

Since Jimbo's first misguided intervention into Wikiversity community affairs in 2008 the Wikiversity community has been terrorized by Zombie Drama Queens from Wikipedia.

Zombie Drama Queens from Wikipedia
It is interesting to study the earliest days of Wikipedia. An enthusiastic group of people began collaboration to share their knowledge. A few rogue sysops gathered around Jimbo and gave each other the right to violate Wikipedia policy so as to insert their personal biases into the encyclopedia. That corrupt core of abusive sysops became the decaying heart of Wikipedia Disease, a core of corruption that continues to inflict pain on Wikimedia projects to this very day.

Of central interest of the Zombies of Wikipedia was fringe science. The Wikipedia Zombie Core attracted POV warriors who had spent years mocking and taunting fringe science and fringe religion advocates in early internet forums such as Usenet. Given new life by Jimbo, these Zombies of Wikipedia soon learned how to get away with violating Wikipedia Policy while inserting their personal biases into the encyclopedia and while excluding their adversaries from editing. The key Zombie trick is a small cabal of sysops who give each other the right to viciously harass and block their adversaries. User:Moulton had the misfortune of stumbling onto a cabal of Wikipedia Zombies who were violating Wikpedia's policy on Biographies of Living People (BLP) and inserting into biographies false information, in some cases, lies that were carefully crafted to harass and negatively impact on the reputations and careers of scientists who the Wikipedia Zombies disagree with. Jimbo and members of his corrupt inner circle gave their support to these policy violating Zombies, animating them and assuring that they could continue to violate Wikiversity policy and disrupt Wikipedia. Any time the Zombies of Wikipedia get caught violating policy, they simply create a new user account and continue their pet POV war. Because Moulton tried to fix a policy-violating BLP he was blocked from editing by a corrupt Wikipedia sysop who acted to protect the Zombies of Wikipedia.

Meanwhile, the Wikipedia Disease spread to infect other Wikimedia wiki projects such as Wikibooks. As User:Abd likes to say, "wiki common law" spread through the Wikimedia wiki projects. According to this unwritten law, imposed by Jimbo and the Zombies of Wikipedia, the way to run a Wikimedia wiki project is for a cabal of functionaries to exist above collaboratively-established community policy. These self-supporting cabals give each other the power to run the Wikimedia projects and the freedom to violate policies while blocking and banning anyone who gets in their way or tries to correct the rampant corruption of the cabals. Sadly for the Zombies, Wikiversity was established where sysops were called Custodians and they were not given the power to function as an abusive cabal.

In 2008, after Moulton was subjected to a bad block at Wikipedia he began studying the corrupt practices of the Zombies of Wikipedia (see this blog post). He found his way to Wikiversity and began participating in the study of Wikimedia Ethics and how it is that Jimbo tolerates the disruption of educational Wikimedia projects by abusive cabals of Zombies. Of course, these studies of Wikimedia corruption could not be tolerated by the cabals or Jimbo. The Zombies of Wikipedia followed Moulton to Wikiversity and began disrupting his studies and sent to Wikiversity a hit man who announced their intention to get Moulton banned from Wikiversity. Eventually Jimbo blocked Moulton from editing at Wikiversity and, emboldened by Jimbo, SB Johnny imposed rule-by-cabal on Wikiversity and engineered a bogus "community ban" on Moulton. Under the guiding hand of Jimbo, what had been a peaceful community of collaborating learners at Wikiversity was disrupted by a sickening string of Wikiversity policy violations committed by abusive sysops, what can be called the Hostile Takeover of Wikiversity by Jimbo's cadre of abusive Zombie sysops.

2008 brought to Wikiversity the corrupt practices of Wikimedia Functionaries operating above the reach of community policies, at Wikiversity, policies that had been carefully crafted to protect a fragile community of scholars. The sickening harassment and abuse inflicted upon Moulton and those who dared join him in the study of Wikimedia corruption escalated and drove away many honest Wikiversity community members. The honest Wikiversity community members who voiced objections to the abusive cabal that subjected Wikiversity to a Hostile Takeover in 2008 were harassed and driven away from Wikiversity. SB Johnny set about giving sysop tools to abusive Zombies, including the policy-violating hit man who came to Wikiversity and got Moulton banned. I've documented much of the Hostile Takeover of Wikiversity on my blogs and in Community Review.

The Wikiversity project was vastly disrupted by the corrupt cabal that took over Wikiversity in 2008. The Wikiversity community continues to struggle to free itself from the grip of abusive sysops who think they have the right to play whack-a-scholar with their tools. These abusive Wikiversity sysops show no concern about the disruption that they cause at Wikiversity while playing with their absurd toy banhammers. For the past year a small swarm of Wimimedia Functionaries has flitted around Wikiversity like true mindless Zombies whacking each other. A disgusted Wikimedia Community final acted and Jimbo lost his toy banhammer. Jimbo is now a Zombie himself, re-animated yearly by a Board of Trustees who need him as a tool to attract $$$$$$$$$$$ to Wikimedia.

Signs of Hope
When Jimbo lost his toy banhamer it was a sign of hope for honest Wikiversity community members who were waiting for Wikiversity to be liberated from the Hostile Takeover. Jimbo's misguided interventions into Wikiversity affairs vastly disrupted this learning community and with any luck that kind of disruption will never again be possible. The remaining question is if Wikiversity can throw off the abusive Zombies who have accumulated at Wikiversity during the Hostile Takeover. After Jimbo blocked SB Johnny, several of the abusive Wikiversity sysops went away and tried to create their own wiki project. However, other abusive sysops such as Adambro and Ottava Rima were able to step up and continue the disruption of Wikiversity by means of calling for and imposing bad blocks in violation of Wikiversity policy. Adambro was particularly aggressive as a Zombie meat puppet of Jimbo, enforcing Jimbo's absurd deletions of Wikiversity content. This past Summer, Ottava Rima took it upon himself to enforce Jimbo's absurd ban against Moulton. For now, Adambro no longer torments the Wikiversity community and, thankfully, Ottava Rima lost his toy banhammer. Signs of hope.

(Some comments were moved to the talk page)

Zombie Drama Queens of Wikiversity
I call upon User:Abd, SB Johnny and Darklama to abandon their Zombie ways and adopt the role of Drama Queen. As designated Drama Queens they can continue to use their sysop tools to protect Wikiversity from vandalism, but they would not be able to continue imposing bad blocks on Wikiversity community members. There also needs to be a formal project, prominently placed on the Wikiversity Main Page informing Wikiversity community members that the reign of terror by Wikimedia Zombies is over and that it is safe for peaceful learners to return to Wikiversity. There needs to be a formal program of bringing back Wikiversity participants who were harassed and driven away by abusive Wikimedia Functionaries. Those who were subjected to emergency desysop when there was no emergency need to be given back their tools. Those who resigned their tools in protest of the Hostile Takeover need to be given back their tools. Wikiversity policy needs to be cleaned of the corrupt pseudopolicies inserted by the corrupt sysops who have vastly disrupted this project during the Hostile Takeover. Some policy fixes need to be put in place to protect the Wikiversity community from any more abuse by misguided Zombie Drama Queens of Wikiversity.
 * Do I get to wear a dress? Tiara? How about Drama Fairy? Magic wand? One of those sparkly things? --Abd 18:58, 29 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Your main instrumental artifact will be the Bogometer, the instrument that measures the flow rate of Bogons/Fortnight. The SI Unit of 1 Abd = 1 Bogon/Fortnight.  I reckon that your nominal flow rate is about 1 Kilo-Abd, or about 71 false statements per day.  —Barsoom Tork 14:34, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

Related reading

 * Community Review/SB Johnny
 * Community Review/Abd
 * Under attack, can our hero save Wikiversity by wielding his tiny banhammer?
 * remove Abd - no longer a probationary custodian