User:PeterKa/Arbcom
TO: Ban Appeals Subcommittee
Last June, I was a Wikipedia editor with eight years experience, tens of thousands of edits, and a clean record. I had written several “good” articles, DYKs, and contributed to a feature article. Yet I was blocked and banned without warning or due process. Whether my ban can be reversed or not, I’d like to discuss how I was railroaded in the hope that the episode may contain lessons that others can learn.
On July 8 and 11, I was blocked for “edit warring” on an article I wrote called Han-Nom. (The article is here.) I was blocked for reverting the repeated blanking of this article, something which is specifically permitted under the guidelines. (See WP:3RRNO, point 4). At no point did I exceed the 3RR limit. I was not given a warning prior to either block. This is not only irregular according to Wiki guidelines, but means that I never had a chance to argue my case at ANI. Han-Nom is an extensively sourced article on Sino-Vietnamese characters. I find it hard to believe that it would have been controversial if someone other than me had written it. The involvement of editors not otherwise interested in Vietnam-related topics suggests that the motive was to get back at me over other issues.
My block was made permanent in August by a community ban. The Han-Nom block prevented me from participating in this discussion, yet the issue is barely mentioned. Writing articles is what Wikipedia is supposed to be all about. It is perverse that this article could be used against me.
Disciplinary discussions I have read typically consist of allegations, diffs to support these allegations, and a discussion of the seriousness of the alleged misbehavior. But there is nothing like that in my case. There is one clueless post that accuses me of multiple voting in RMs, and another one that indirectly mentions a parody I posted on my user page back in May. Otherwise, there are no specific allegations, much less diffs to support them.
I know there is a lot of hard feeling about the Amanda Filipacchi matter. But I consulted admin Amatulic at the time and I followed his advice. You follow the advise of people who are supposed to understand whatever problem you have, and what else can you do? When I checked the ANI archive, I noticed that my remarks have been redacted, not only from the archive but also from the page history. So an oversighter may be manipulating the record. In any case, the original discussion is still in Amatulic’s page history.
Cuchullain was the admin most active in seeking to get me banned or sanctioned. In the banning discussion, he writes that I, “dodged sanctions so many times before” and that I “have been disruptive for years.” In other words, the editors who banned me considered the discussion to be a continuation of earlier disputes. These earlier disputes were about Vietnamese diacritics, not Han-Nom or edit warring. As I was able to defend myself on these occasions, none of them resulted in a block, ban, or other sanction. So blocking me prior to the discussion was essential to allow a different result.
Let me back up at this point and explain some history. In July and August of 2011, there was an RFC on diacritics with a very large participation. This RFC proposed that Wikipedia follow the style of Britannica and National Geographic. Although these two publications represent the most diacritic-friendly style models that the authors of the proposal could come up with, neither uses Vietnamese diacritics. Such diacritics are “distracting,” according to National Geographic’s Style Manual. The proposal was opposed by editors who considered it too diacritics friendly, and was finally defeated. Although this discussion suggested that opinion was divided on the issue of diacritics in general, I interpreted it as an indication that a consensus existed with respect to Vietnamese diacritics. I then rewrote the naming conventions for Vietnamese and moved various articles to comply. The version of the guideline that I wrote was in effect throughout this controversy, and it was not rewritten until Sept. 2.
The purpose of a title is to tell the reader the common name of a subject. The common name plus a French or German accent mark is still pretty close to the common name. But Vietnamese diacritics are more intense than those of any other language.
No major reference work uses Vietnamese diacritics, as you can see from this chart. The Chicago Manual of Style recommends following the spellings given in the various Merriam-Webster dictionaries, so note the column on the far right. “Follow the general usage in reliable sources that are written in the English language (including other encyclopedias and reference works),” according to WP:DIACRITICS.
In ictu oculi and I once worked as a team, translating Hebrew and Latin titles. But Arbcom’s decision to sanction GoodDay over diacritics in June 2012 changed all that. The Vietnam project had been my pond up to this point. But IIO and other editors soon arrived and turned it into a hotly contested area. IIO, who has an extraordinary amount of time and energy to devote to this issue, researched my edit history and wrote lengthy complaints day after day, often presenting old moves as fresh outrages. To me, these complaints were transparently vindictive, provocation done in the hope of getting a scalp, and because this strategy had worked with GoodDay. I was blocked by MSGJ in July 2012 in response to one such complaint. On this occasion, Jenks24 intervened on my behalf. Unfortunately, Jenks24 stopped editing in April 2013.
This RFC may give you a sense of IIO’s methods. It is filled with pictures galleries, heated attacks on the validity of the RFC, bitter recriminations, and other disruptive tactics. Each post sounds more angry than the last. IIO later posted a series of Vietnam-related requests. These were attack RMs that focused on bashing me rather than on any article title. Bullies who are not necessarily concerned with the underlying style issue are attracted to this area by IIO’s aggression. This has triggered a chain reaction of anti-social behavior, forcing a series of editors to leave Wikipedia, including MakeSense, LittleBenW, and JoshuSasori.
---User:Kauffner