Wikimedia UK's Fæ, A new name for an old face Options

[Peter Damian]

Fæ was previously known as User:Ash. Prior to that, they were Ashleyvh and Teahot.

Is there iron-clad evidence of the Ashleyvh --> Teahot --> Ash --> Fæ chain of name-changing?

There is for the first two. Looking at user (talk) pages

12:09, 15 April 2009 Anonymous Dissident (Talk | contribs) moved User:Ashleyvh to User:Teahot ‎ (Automatically moved page while renaming the user "Ashleyvh" to "Teahot") (revert)

02:43, 27 July 2009 Kingturtle (Talk | contribs) moved User talk:Teahot to User talk:Ash ‎ (Automatically moved page while renaming the user "Teahot" to "Ash") (revert)

The rest involves inferences from the first user name and edit patterns.

Fae has already conceded this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:F%C...sly_User:Ash.3F

He changed name after an RfC where he was accused of blatant misuse of sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Req...for_comment/Ash

However he (abetted by Benjiboi) claimed that the real reason was homophobia - all the articles were about gay saunas or gay porn stars. So, claiming harrassment he changed his user name. Vandenberg supported this in the RfA and refused to disclose.

[Eppur si muove]

Fæ was previously known as User:Ash. Prior to that, they were Ashleyvh and Teahot.

Is there iron-clad evidence of the Ashleyvh --> Teahot --> Ash --> Fæ chain of name-changing?

There is for the first two. Looking at user (talk) pages

12:09, 15 April 2009 Anonymous Dissident (Talk | contribs) moved User:Ashleyvh to User:Teahot ‎ (Automatically moved page while renaming the user "Ashleyvh" to "Teahot") (revert)

02:43, 27 July 2009 Kingturtle (Talk | contribs) moved User talk:Teahot to User talk:Ash ‎ (Automatically moved page while renaming the user "Teahot" to "Ash") (revert)

The rest involves inferences from the first user name and edit patterns.

Fae has already conceded this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:F%C...sly_User:Ash.3F

He changed name after an RfC where he was accused of blatant misuse of sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Req...for_comment/Ash

However he (abetted by Benjiboi) claimed that the real reason was homophobia - all the articles were about gay saunas or gay porn stars. So, claiming harrassment he changed his user name. Vandenberg supported this in the RfA and refused to disclose.

I think Fae avoided either conceding it or denying it, just said it had been covered in the RFA.

It would have been helpful if he had explained in the RFA that there were allegations of sourcing issues in the RFC and then people could have assessed the application in that context. I don't know how many people would have changed their !votes but it would probably have ensured proper scrutiny of the current pattern and hopefully the !votes would have been on that basis rather than on the smut factor.

[Peter Damian]

Now on ANI

I would hope the knowledge that someone requesting a position of authority and trust (on one of the highest trafficked sites on the internet) thought listing people as being fond of cruising for anonymous sex was a good idea would give most RFA voters pause. By the time of the RFC, Van Haeften (i'm using his real name since it's disclosed and avoids confusion with the four online handles) had been found by me and a few other editors to have a habit of misusing sources in BLPS (that is, he frequently asserted that sources contained information on living people that they did not, in fact, contain). Van Haeften, as Ash, also frequently attacked people who criticized his editing as being motivated by homophobia, implied he was a victim of real world stalking and harassment, referred to "hate crimes" and implied that he was leaving wikipedia to protect the safety of himself and his family. The Ash user page continues to say he left the project because of a "disturbing personal attack" and "sustained wikihounding" (there was, of course, neither; he merely got caught fudging sources). He remained an active editor until April 13 2010 (the RFC was opened on April 5) and the RFC was then closed with the line user has stopped editing wikipedia; delisted due to inactivity. [75]. Yet Van Haeften had already taken up editing as Fae on March 28 2010, even as "Ash" was retiring over some alleged, yet incredibly vague, threat to himself and/or his family (the story changed a lot). The paranoia about real life identities and "hate crimes" struck me as disingenuous then, and more so now that he's openly disclosed his identity on wikipedia.

I could go on, but this is already overly long. What action am i seeking? A re-run of the RFA with full disclosure. This was an editor who not very long ago was mucking about with BLPs in a cavalier, to say the least, fashion. I'd also like for the arbs and admins that enabled this obfuscation to reflect on why so many people don't trust anything that happens behind closed doors on wikipedia. Your judgement about what other folks might think is relevant A. Isn't good and, 2. It's inapropriate to even try. A clean start for some gnomish guy who wants to avoid his past problem areas? Fine, great. A clean start for someone who wants a position of authority that does (no matter how much you deny it) have an outsized impact on content, just so they can avoid scrutiny? A really bad idea.Bali ultimate (talk) 21:42, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Adm..._User:Teahot.29

This post has been edited by Peter Damian: Mon 28th November 2011, 10:29pm

[mbz1]

Now on ANI

It sure is,
except it looks like it is WR that is now at AN/I

Is Bali ultimate simply dramamongering after reading some gossip at the ''Wikipedia Review''?

but there are more important things to do than to read WR.

Are there, Fetchcomms?

[EricBarbour]

but there are more important things to do than to read WR.

Are there, Fetchcomms?

Oh, momma. He's got to delete something every day, or he's not happy.

Don't forget the looks-suspiciously-like-paid-editing, yo.

This post has been edited by EricBarbour: Tue 29th November 2011, 5:27am

[carbuncle]

Don't forget the looks-suspiciously-like-paid-editing, yo.

Um, not paid editing so much as office work:

WP:OFFICE
Hi all,
At the request and in consultation with the WMF's legal department, this article and Damon Dash are temporarily courtesy blanked. Please don't re-add anything to them; we do not expect this to be a long term action. Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 20:26, 14 October 2011 (UTC)
The courtesy blank for this page is expired. It's on full protection for a week, but I'm open to stepping it down early if someone puts in a request. Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 22:08, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

But this one probably belongs in its own thread if there's more to the story...

[thekohser]

I wonder how this will go for the Wikimedia UK, now that the story's been picked up by the mainstream media.

[Peter Damian]

I wonder how this will go for the Wikimedia UK, now that the story's been picked up by the mainstream media.

I was looking forward to this. Lends itself to the Kohs treatment. I'm saying this before I've even read it.

[edit] And I was not disappointed. Meanwhile, my first draft of submission to UK Charity Commission is here http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:2012_Act...rity_Commission, posted for comment by the trustees.

This post has been edited by Peter Damian: Tue 29th November 2011, 6:00pm

[thekohser]

I wonder how the Wikimedia UK feels, now that Examiner is at the top of the news cycle, and not their promotional and puffy press releases?

[EricBarbour]

Shitstorm!

[carbuncle]

Here's an edit that may provoke some speculation - User:Lidos (Oliver Merrington, when he's at home) used to have this on his userpage:

My username was suggested to me by User:Speedo.

With this edit, he changed it to read

My username was suggested to me by User:Fæ.

The sensible interpretation of that change would mean that Speedo (formerly known as Speedoguy) and Fæ are one and the same, and they certainly share some interests. I'm sure this is a legitimate "alternate" account, but it does make one wonder if there are others...

[Peter Damian]

Shitstorm!

Sadly it's not a shitstorm. The majority of them are perfectly Ok with it. As long as you behave, and as long as Arbcom allow you to come back, it's perfectly fine. See below.

Firstly, Fae hasn't abused his admin tools. Second, he hasn't repeated the behavior that resulted in the RfC. Third, he was extremely transparent about the cleanstart at his RfA. I really don't see any reasons for an action here. Alpha_Quadrant (talk) 00:32, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

History suggests a lot of rubbish. If ArbCom allowed him to start an RfA under the account Fae, then why are we wasting time questioning it now? All we are doing now is making an established contributor unwelcome and uncomfortable. /ƒETCHCOMMS/ 00:40, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

And the chairman of the UK board has sent a Wikilove token http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...oldid=463108577 to Fae. Everything is magically all right, and it is as though nothing ever happened.

Ah, but what about this?

The sensible interpretation of that change would mean that Speedo (formerly known as Speedoguy) and Fæ are one and the same, and they certainly share some interests. I'm sure this is a legitimate "alternate" account, but it does make one wonder if there are others...

There is only one person on Wikipedia who has an interest in Brockwell public baths.

[the fieryangel]

There is only one person on Wikipedia who has an interest in Brockwell public baths.

And here's Fae's very nice photo of the new lockerrooms at the Dulwich Leisure centre :


Do you suppose that they just meet up at the....swimming pool?

[EricBarbour]

Judging from Speedo's early history, they were doing more than public baths.
More like each other.

Isn't WP's history function magical? We can find connections--between gentlemen of the gay persuasion.
(As if it was entertaining. Wikipedia is like a gay Jersey Shore sometimes. Wait, do I hear the
plaintive strains of a tiny violin?.....)

This post has been edited by EricBarbour: Tue 29th November 2011, 9:18pm

[the fieryangel]

Judging from Speedo's early history, they were doing more than public baths.
More like each other.

Isn't WP's history function magical? We can find connections--between gentlemen of the gay persuasion.
(As if it was entertaining. Wikipedia is like a gay Jersey Shore sometimes. Wait, do I hear the
plaintive strains of a tiny violin?.....)

Threeway monomaniac editing about outdoor swimming pools...What can it all mean?

[thekohser]

Fae now says,

This user is no longer very enthusiastic about Wikipedia and must take frequent wikibreaks to keep from leaving this place for good.

[the fieryangel]

Fae now says,

This user is no longer very enthusiastic about Wikipedia and must take frequent wikibreaks to keep from leaving this place for good.

Well he's going to Amsterdam for the weekend on WMF business. I wonder what he'll get up to while he's there?.

[carbuncle]

Can we impose a limit of one locker room and/or bathhouse joke per user per day, please? It's sounding a bit catty in here.

[the fieryangel]

Redacting, since he's had a bad enough day as it is...

[TungstenCarbide]

I wonder how the Wikimedia UK feels, now that Examiner is at the top of the news cycle, and not their promotional and puffy press releases?

Great Examiner article - my comment isn't showing up though

This post has been edited by TungstenCarbide: Tue 29th November 2011, 10:17pm