JzG, Simon Wessely, and claims of 'harassment' Options

[Angela Kennedy]

Hello everyone,

With regard to JzG:

I advocate for my daughter, first diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, later Lyme disease, who is severely disabled by her illness. I also undertake academic criticism, of the claims made by some psychiatrists about these illnesses being ’psychosomatic’ and advocate for the ME/CFS community itself. Therefore, I do have a real world reputation that might be brought into disrepute by libellous, defamatory comments.

JZG made a number of defamatory (and libellous) claims about me (and implied others) on the admin notice board in September 2007 and elsewhere in time and place on Wikipedia, the circumstances of which are outlined here:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/APK-PAPERS/message/19

Large sections of the Simon Wessely talk page had already been removed by Jim Wales himself in 2006, after I and my erstwhile colleague formally wrote to him demanding he remove comments, made by JzG and another admin, JFW, which were highly inflammatory towards us. He removed some of them (though I kept copies of what was said), but the two admins continued making similar comments over the course of about a year and a half on the talk page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...oldid=165865721

As is probably evident from these links, my problems with the conduct of JzG, and indeed Jimbo Wales, are these:

1. JzG's misrepresentation of me and my work in the open discussions to other admins, in particular defamatory and libellous claims he has made about me:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...of_userspace.3F

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...scalate_this.3F

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...0#Simon_Wessely

Of particular worry are the claims that I ‘have a visceral hatred for Simon Wessely’, the misrepresentation of the work I am doing in the real world, the claim that “You need to draw a distinction between what Angela Kennedy says, and what might be regarded as truth by anybody with both feet on the ground”, and, most libellous of all, his claim that ‘these individuals’ [meaning me and unnamed others] have harassed Wessely in real life: all of which have potentially highly damaging effects on my real world reputation.

2. JzG's (uninformed) conclusions on his website, and on the talk pages, that CFS is psychosomatic, Wessely’s work is correct, and that objections to Wessely’s claims are extreme, ideological etc. therefore making him a biased party in a dispute which he escalated (see the end paragraph of this link for his position):

http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/wiki/Wesselygate

3. The placement of a "banned user" tag on my user page, which contravenes decency and privacy . The arbitrary wikipedia ‘justice’ is being used to tar people at the top of a google search. I was permanently banned by Wales himself.

4. Possible off-wiki engagement between JzG and the subject of the page, Simon Wessely, in such a way as to suggest a possible collusion, particularly around false claims that I have ‘personally harassed’ Simon Wessely (as per his comments here):

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...0#Simon_Wessely

(But also see here):

http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/w/index.ph...changes&days=14

I have written to Simon Wessely’s line managers about this issue. So far they have been most uncooperative. The correspondence can be seen here:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/APK-PAPERS/message/17

But the whole issue needs further investigation.


5. Off-wiki engagement with Jim Wales with prejudicial effects on me:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...scalate_this.3F


http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...of_userspace.3F


I appreciate this is a complex issue. I am willing to provide further evidence and answer questions on this issue where possible and appropriate.

Angela

[Angela Kennedy]

An Update:

From JzG’s response to his RfC:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JzG/RfC


“I have had a fair bit of personal and on-wiki stress. This has included the group who consider Simon Wessely (edit|talk|history|links|watch|logs) to be the Antichrist and are still attacking me on and off wiki more than two years after I refactored their attack article…”

And from his talk page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:JzG/RfC

“This is for the very sound reason that I have not only discussed such harassment in great detail with some of them, but I have also been harassed on and off Wikipedia for actions taken here which were unequivocally in support of policy (see Wesselygate for example; I am still being harassed over two years after I tried to tone down a blatant hatchet job which Jimbo himself finally deleted).”

I think it’s probably very important, in light of his comments and in the circumstances, for me to clarify that I have NOT, in any way, been ‘harassing’ JzG- particularly the British legal of definition of the term. Obviously in the way he libelled me about ‘personally harassing’ Simon Wessely, I do wonder whether when he uses the term ‘harassment’ he actually means “someone objected on a public forum to my behaviour“ (such as here on WR).

Obviously I would argue his ’spin’ on the whole debacle on the Simon Wessely page and talk page is a misrepresentation. It is of concern that he has used this issue as a straw man in what I see as an attempt to excuse his conduct in his response to the RfC. Terms like ‘attack article’ are emotive and inaccurate, for example. Crucially, Jimbo Wales did not delete a ‘blatant hatchet job’ article - but JzG and JFW’s own comments, and this was in response to my objections.

I could go on at length to correct the discrepancies- though this may be too tedious for other readers. I am, however, concerned about the way JzG keeps using Wikipedia to build up critics, of his behaviour on the Simon Wessely article and talk pages, as straw men, because of the continuing potentially damaging effects on my good name following his various instances of defamation of me since September.

[thekohser]

...I do wonder whether when he <JzG> uses the term ‘harassment’ he actually means “someone objected on a public forum to my behaviour“ (such as here on WR).

...I am, however, concerned about the way JzG keeps using Wikipedia to build up critics, of his behaviour on the Simon Wessely article and talk pages, as straw men, because of the continuing potentially damaging effects on my good name following his various instances of defamation of me since September.

When Guy Chapman says "harassment", that is exactly what he actually means -- "someone objected on a public forum to my behavior". Nothing more.

Word of advice -- don't concern yourself about how Guy Chapman is defaming you. If anybody actually notices his statements somewhere and confronts you about them, it will be a perfect opportunity for you to showcase how deranged JzG is as a Wikipedia administrator, and therefore you'll come out looking spotless.

If you need ammunition to cast JzG in the appropriate light, we have an armory of sorts.

[Angela Kennedy]

Hi thekohser,

When Guy Chapman says "harassment", that is exactly what he actually means -- "someone objected on a public forum to my behavior". Nothing more.

Word of advice -- don't concern yourself about how Guy Chapman is defaming you. If anybody actually notices his statements somewhere and confronts you about them, it will be a perfect opportunity for you to showcase how deranged JzG is as a Wikipedia administrator, and therefore you'll come out looking spotless.

Yes- actually that's a good point. My problem has been the potential 'real -world' effect on my credibility as one of Simon Wessely's (legitimate) critics (not just him though) and an advocate for my daughter. There is a whole history of some serious ad hominem/straw man attacks on the ME/CFS community, of which this is just one of the latest examples.

But looking at JzG's history (which has taken me a while) - I do now see what you mean. I'm certainly in a position to defend myself in real world terms now by showcasing the problems you've all highlighted, if necessary (i.e. someone tries to use his comments in a real-world context.).

If you need ammunition to cast JzG in the appropriate light, we have an armory of sorts.

Yes - oh dear... I shouldn't laugh...


Thanks everyone for putting it all in context. That's been actually pretty helpful.