"Wikipedia Freedom Fighter" emailing inactive admins, "Currently expanding portfolio of administrator accounts" Options

[Mike R]

Caught this on WikiEn-l today:

Someone with the account Wp freedom fighter (T-C-L-K-R-D) has been emailing inactive admins with the following message:

Dear X,

We notice you haven't edited Wikipedia for some time. Perhaps you grew disillusioned with the project after seeing the corruption and bureaucracy at every level? If so, why not help us to help you. We are currently expanding our portfolio of administrator accounts, and as yours remains dormant perhaps you could consider donating it to us - to do so will take you only two minutes: change the password (if desired) and then reply to this email with your login details. We'll do the rest!

Thank you for your time and consideration, and naturally do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Kind Regards,

The Wikipedia Freedom Fighters

The account has been blocked from sending emails, but they can easily register another account and resume.

[cyofee]

I'd gladly donate my admin account to them, if I knew how to contact them.

[JayT]

I'd gladly donate my admin account to them, if I knew how to contact them.

Well, the account's blocked from sending emails; not, I think, from receiving them. I doubt they'll have much luck, though, even if they do manage to get their hands on a few accounts - any admins who suddenly return after a long period of inactivity are now going to be suspect, especially those who dive right into the drama-pits or otherwise change their previous typical behavior. The only ones that will even have a chance are the ones who have been inactive since the last time they purged checkuser data. And I seem to remember hearing that they're keeping that more or less indefinitely now? 'Technical reasons' or something?

This post has been edited by JayT: