Steward elections Options

[Jaranda]

Steward elections are going on right now, and this candidatcy in particular caught my eye
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/el...ents/Mardetanha

Seems like hell there, mainly because he's from Iran.

This post has been edited by Jaranda: Mon 2nd February 2009, 6:03pm

[Eva Destruction]

Steward elections are going on right now, and this candidatcy in particular caught my eye
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/el...ents/Mardetanha

Seems like hell there, mainly because he's from Iran.

Never heard of him so I have no opinion – and not speaking a word of Farsi, can't say whether the allegations against him are valid – but it looks to me that, aside from one "oppose, user is Iranian and the government might torture him for his Wikipedia password" (currently #3)*, all the other opposers are other Iranians (or at least, other Farsi speakers) with variations of "oppose, this guy is a disruptive asshole".

*Apparently the entire Iranian police are incapable between them of thinking of such novel concepts as "setting up their own account" or "logging outbound internet traffic"

This post has been edited by Eva Destruction: Mon 2nd February 2009, 7:11pm

[Random832]

*Apparently the entire Iranian police are incapable between them of thinking of such novel concepts as "setting up their own account"

Well, that account wouldn't be a steward.

But anyway, anyone in the world might be tortured by any government for their wikipedia password, in theory. In practice... well, hover your mouse over today's xkcd.

[Milton Roe]

*Apparently the entire Iranian police are incapable between them of thinking of such novel concepts as "setting up their own account"

Well, that account wouldn't be a steward.

But anyway, anyone in the world might be tortured by any government for their wikipedia password, in theory.

And if that happened, it would be ironically self-punishing. As the user of said password found themselves slowly tortured by WP in the mere use of it.

Hell, I hope the Iranian secret police DO get a username and password. It might even be fun if it's a sysop account and password, knowing they'll soon get into trouble and have to be dragged through the horrors of ArbCom. Long before that, of course, they'll recognize the face of their own system, reproduced in e-space, and quit. But it would be interesting to see how long they held out in this social nastiness, acting on "orders from above."

As for torturing Iranian stewards, no problem. Thaw out the Virgin.

[The Wales Hunter]

Another interesting one is the case of Cometstyles:

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/el...009#Cometstyles

He is receiving many opposes due to apparently using OTRS information to conduct Google searches on people!:

http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?titl...l&oldid=1366562

Cometstyles used a list of OTRS agents, located at OTRS-Wiki, to attempt to find information out about a fellow volunteer, X. This immediately followed (as in, 24-48 hours after) X being promoted within a set of IRC channels, where Cometstyles felt he would be a better person to fill the position than X. In a fit of petulance, Cometstyles resigned his positions within this set of channels immediately, and proceeded to use the OTRS-Wiki details to Google search the details. He then 'bragged' about this to a fellow Wikimedian, who didn't have access to this OTRS data.

Cometstyles' two lines of justification for his actions, when questioned by X, were to the effect of 'No-one uses their real names as their OTRS real name anyways', and 'It was only for fun and wasn't meant to be serious stalking - I do this for many OTRS volunteers'. Neither excuse reduces the fact that this was an abuse of access to private information and showed a serious attitude problem to other volunteers and their private data, plus demonstrated a potential lack of trustworthiness with said private data in terms of inappropriate usage and distribution to users who would otherwise not be privy to such data.

I trust X completely and utterly, and would trust him with access to anything I have access to—and beyond—in and around Wikimedia websites and would not believe that he'd forge or otherwise invent conversations in the nature that Cometstyles is accusing him of.

Daniel (talk) 11:07, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

This post has been edited by The Wales Hunter: Mon 2nd February 2009, 10:50pm

[Eva Destruction]

Another interesting one is the case of Cometstyles:

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/el...009#Cometstyles

He is receiving many opposes due to apparently using OTRS information to conduct Google searches on people!:

http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?titl...l&oldid=1366562

Cometstyles used a list of OTRS agents, located at OTRS-Wiki, to attempt to find information out about a fellow volunteer, X. This immediately followed (as in, 24-48 hours after) X being promoted within a set of IRC channels, where Cometstyles felt he would be a better person to fill the position than X. In a fit of petulance, Cometstyles resigned his positions within this set of channels immediately, and proceeded to use the OTRS-Wiki details to Google search the details. He then 'bragged' about this to a fellow Wikimedian, who didn't have access to this OTRS data.

Cometstyles' two lines of justification for his actions, when questioned by X, were to the effect of 'No-one uses their real names as their OTRS real name anyways', and 'It was only for fun and wasn't meant to be serious stalking - I do this for many OTRS volunteers'. Neither excuse reduces the fact that this was an abuse of access to private information and showed a serious attitude problem to other volunteers and their private data, plus demonstrated a potential lack of trustworthiness with said private data in terms of inappropriate usage and distribution to users who would otherwise not be privy to such data.

I trust X completely and utterly, and would trust him with access to anything I have access to—and beyond—in and around Wikimedia websites and would not believe that he'd forge or otherwise invent conversations in the nature that Cometstyles is accusing him of.

Daniel (talk) 11:07, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

Well, that didn't take long.

[Giggy]

Another interesting one is the case of Cometstyles:

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/el...009#Cometstyles

He is receiving many opposes due to apparently using OTRS information to conduct Google searches on people!:

What I found more disturbing was his claim that nobody (except him) uses their real name on OTRS. A few users stood up and said this wasn't the case for them, but the great majority of OTRS guys haven't commented. Of course, this makes one suspect that they don't use their real names on OTRS. Why not?

[Eva Destruction]

Another interesting one is the case of Cometstyles:

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/el...009#Cometstyles

He is receiving many opposes due to apparently using OTRS information to conduct Google searches on people!:

What I found more disturbing was his claim that nobody (except him) uses their real name on OTRS. A few users stood up and said this wasn't the case for them, but the great majority of OTRS guys haven't commented. Of course, this makes one suspect that they don't use their real names on OTRS. Why not?

Or, that the majority haven't read it or haven't bothered "me too"-ing on the thread… Not everything is (necessarily) a conspiracy. Even on Wikipedia.

[aeon]

I think people who are stating that sectors of the Iranian government could attempt to expose "corruptors of the world" on Wikimedia by manipulating this candidate's stewardship are not taking the whole scope of their assertions into full consideration. I for one have no doubt that the Iranian government would have a plenitude of other avenues to take when it comes to the exposure of users adding disagreeable or "morally unsound" content to fawiki or any of the other fa projects, or, indeed, any other borough of the Internet.

This post has been edited by aeon: Sun 15th February 2009, 6:07am

[EricBarbour]

Never heard of him so I have no opinion – and not speaking a word of Farsi, can't say whether the allegations against him are valid – but it looks to me that, aside from one "oppose, user is Iranian and the government might torture him for his Wikipedia password" (currently #3)*, all the other opposers are other Iranians (or at least, other Farsi speakers) with variations of "oppose, this guy is a disruptive asshole".

And you notice, only a few Farsi Wikipedians voted FOR him--but plenty of WP
cabal-whores voted for him, despite being en-users and knowing nothing about
the fa-wiki's politics, much less the language.

There's something here that we English-speakers are not being told.

I wonder, which is worse, the insanity of the Iranian government, or
the insanity of the Wiki-Cabalistas? Of course, the Wiki Cabal hasn't
managed to put anyone to death yet......that we know of.....

[GlassBeadGame]

I wonder, which is worse, the insanity of the Iranian government, or
the insanity of the Wiki-Cabalistas? Of course, the Wiki Cabal hasn't
managed to put anyone to death yet......that we know of.....

And the winner is...The State of Texas.

[Anonymous editor]

Well, that didn't take long.

Anyone know why the title of that page in my browser is "WaRpAtH"? Is that something people can do to their userpages?

[LaraLove]

Well, that didn't take long.

Anyone know why the title of that page in my browser is "WaRpAtH"? Is that something people can do to their userpages?

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[Anonymous editor]

thanks. Not sure why he did that.

off topic: Any thoughts on the Checkuser/oversight elections?