... and I'm still gone. And it looks like I'm past that magical 'retired-for-two-days-only' mark.

Do I feel any better? Hell, yes!! I'm still reading with dismay the Kato Litany of Bad BLPâ„¢ but now I don't feel any personal urge to go on there and try to make everything right. I just shake my head in disappointment and (mock) shock ... and move on.

Frankly, life off-wiki and off-WR is more than full with enough stuff to deal with and, in retrospect, WP just seems so trivial and meaningless now, apart from the very real damage it can wreak upon peoples' lives, BLP-wise. At least now I don't fret and stress over all the bad stuff.

In fact, I'm less and less likely to hang around here, too.

Yay - freedom

The fact you're coming back to tell us this makes it clear to me you haven't really left, or detatched yourself from WP. OK, maybe you took a short break, but will WP always be on your mind forever more?

lol - stop projecting, Alex. Didn't you read the bit that says I'll likely leave here (but not yet, thanks)?

No - I'm done. If I need any wiki fix, I'll get that from drama-free minority language wikis, where genuine useful stuff gets done. Not the drama-pit that is enwiki (or Simple, BTW)

Stick around awhile, you have added a lot to the project. From your former days of editing, to admin, and then onto checkuser and oversighter. It's a pretty good record by anyone's standards, and the splendiferous aspect about it is that you never strove to acquire those tools. All in all you are a pretty smart lady, I must admit.

congrats!

As bizarre as it'll seem, I have to defend Majorly here. What's the point of this post?

If you don't know what the point of your post is, how the hell do you expect anyone else to know?

I would have thought that to be self-evident

Alison's right, actually. Detaching oneself from an interwebz addiction is usually a three-phase process, and she appears to be doing reasonably well in Phase II. The phases are determined mainly by the changing motivation for relapse - in Phase I, it's habituality, in Phase II it's morbid curiosity, and in Phase III, which usually comes much later (often after several months), it's boredom.

Needless to say, Phase III is the most dangerous, and to head it off a person has to replace the addictive activity with something else that's both intellectually and personally rewarding in some way. Getting involved in some sort of organized social activity, community improvement program, public volunteer charity work, or even a sport or health club usually does the trick... Meanwhile, focusing on your job usually doesn't work in that respect, though of course it might help keep you from getting fired, assuming your interwebz addiction has negatively affected your work performance.

The question of whether or not Alison's posting here today signals an increased chance of relapse is an interesting one, but ultimately it's unreasonable to expect someone who has been a significant player on the WP scene - and who also works for an IT company - to go cold turkey on internet usage. Besides, we here at WR aren't really asking her to fight any wars or take on any unnecessary responsibility, so her experience here (aside from her disagreements with Mr. Brandt and one or two others) should be somewhat less stressful.

Pilgrim's Progress

One might equally well ask what is the point of Twitter or Facebook or Hallmark Greeting Cards, where people who care about each other and who follow the fortunes of each other keep their followers apprised of their progress in their personal LifeJourney.

As I've told several people, your perspective changes when you really head out. The fake 2-day retirements where someone throws up a banner and spends the weekend watching movies with full intentions of returning on Monday is not leaving. Walking out then looking back... whole different project. I view it much like you now.

A very well-known Wikipedia admin asked me last night, "Want to hear a joke?" I said, "Sure." Then he said, "Wikipedia." Laughing ensued.

Funny because it's true.

Good job sticking to that resolution, son. Isn't it about time you resign a bit on a project in a fit of drama again? It's been a couple months since you last did that, right? Or, wait, maybe it's time for you to request your most recently resigned bit back. I lose track.

I don't see where I'm not sticking to my resolution. And in answer to your question, I resigned on commons in December I think, since I had not been very active for a few months, and I saw no point in having admin rights there.

If you mean my enwiki adminship right (which was over 7 months ago) when you refer to my most recently resigned bit, no it isn't time. Firstly, I'm working full time on placement until the end of April, so my online time is down and I don't want any stress added onto it. Secondly, it is clear to anyone I have no chance whatsoever at becoming an admin again on enwiki. It certainly doesn't help when people pretend to retire, but come back when they feel like it to get their revenge.

One month later and all is well I've not edited at all other than to fix one archaic checkuser request (in the interests of fairness to SeattleHawk) and to edit Apple Partition Map for the lulz. Jeremy immediately appeared on the scene, of course, but whatever ... he misses me so

Oh, and to post on Jimmy's talk page

Sometimes, when some of Kato's Litany of BLP Horrorsâ„¢ get trotted out, I feel the need to go back on and clean up the mess, or looking at the defamation in the movelogs but no ... I'm still gone.

(and no - you won't be 'treated' to a month-by-month update)

So maybe a quarterly one? Like the publicly traded companies do.

Please, please.

Welcome back.

I thought Alison WAS publically traded?

Well, that didn't last long, did it?

Wiki power once tasted 'tis like the crack cocaine, and before you know it you're a whore.

Alison indicated here on WR that she came back primarily to address a specific abuse situation, and apart from that most of her admin actions in the months before she retired were to address BLP problems. I don't think it's fair to suggest that she has returned to adminship in search of "power" or anything of the kind.

(Note: Edited to tone down last sentence because RMHED could not have seen the on-WR comment I was referring to.)

You are the voice of reason Bradley, a man of conscience and understanding. I'm just a drunken fool howling at the moon.

Knee-jerk much?

Charming.

I'm sure you are Alison, despite your weaknesses.

She finds your lack of good faith disturbing.

No, that would be me, but maybe we could howl together one night?

... and I'm sure you're the very model of decorum, despite being such an insufferable ass.

How dare you call me an ass, I'm a twat!

I demand you make an immediate retraction of your ass accusation.

But of course. Mea culpa. Indeed, I apologize unreservedly!

Alison will you ever burn those bridges, or will the wiki umbilical cord always be there?

Oh dear. Alison, you must be seriously bored to be feeding trolls

Have you tried gardening? Our radishes are in. Zucchini, pumpkin, summer and winter squash and carrots have all sprouted, the salad section too! We made our first strawberry rhubarb pie from garden fruit ever last Sunday! We've got artichokes this year too.

The only problem are those fucking cats. They find freshly tilled soil irresistible, and not just for a restroom. They lounge around, sunbath and walk laps. I planted twelve tomato starts yesterday (all from seed, yes. twenty more to go) and the cats already smashed one.

Fence. Get one.

I don't need to be bored!

That's why God invented tazers

You can actually put a cat litterbox outdoors-- with a better class blend like Purina cystals or Fresh Step, cats actually prefer it to dirt. And not hard to maintain if you live in a climate where the rain comes infrequently enough that you don't have to rescue them from impending rain too often.

At Trader Joe's and other places (Walmart, even) they sell cardboard cat scratchpads, complete with a package of catnip. Cats prefer that to both furnature and gardens, thus saving both.

(Having saved many a garden and couch from many a cat)

Six months later and still going strong I've made a grand total of about 30 edits in the last three months and most of them have been BLP-protection related. I'd say that's a good result! I've also spent waaay less time on here too, having not posted in over two months. Nor do I have any desire to return to WP.

Jes' sayin'

Good going.

Good to hear from you with such good news. I suppose we might hear even less in the future but that is for the best.

Color me impressed!

Still, in retrospect, we probably should have suspended the Sylar and lolwut accounts considerably earlier than we actually did. (Sorry guys, if you're reading this - but I'm afraid things really have been much easier to manage here since then...)

Ummm. I guess things have gone from bad to worse. I kinda got made sysop on Encyclopedia Dramatica today. It should be interesting to see how Wikipedia as a whole reacts to this ... The first ED admin who is also openly an admin on Wikipedia. Needless to say, they kept checkuser out of the equation!

Interesting. Talk to us about this. I presume that this is about how ED square the circle between being a shock site and having a sense of responsibility. Have you agreed terms of engagement?

Have you lost your mind?

As somebody who has his very own ED article, I actually think that this is an extremely good idea!

You go, Alison! Anybody who can be an admin on WP and ED is the definition of cool in my book!

In the context of some of Alison's other issues, I can understand GBG's bemusement. In part, that's why I am interested in the background of this, aside from just being my normal nosey self.

You've achieved the BADSITES Trifecta, of being a major active figure in WP, WR, and ED at once.

Now, I just want to know where i find [[Wikipedia Review/Requests for Adminship#Alison]]

Triple crown!

(Then all you need are admin rights on Wikipedia Watch, and you're made)

Maybe, if your idea of cool includes racism and homophobia. So now Alison is not only charged with cleaning up WP but ED too. Making real progress on that internet addiction. Like those stories of using heroin to treat morphine addiction after the Civil War.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Do you have an objective or agenda in mind?

Her objective is lulz, of course!

Hmmmmm. I wonder what will happen the first time she tries to "wish into the cornfield" one of those revolting "an hero" articles about a teenage suicide. That's about the most repugnant stuff I have ever seen over there, even more so than the schiesseporn pics they like to use (and I HATE schiesseporn ).

Like ripper, the "I told u I was hardcore" guy?

Epic.

There should be a section in the Betty Ford Clinic for this.

The "hate triangle" between WP, WR, and ED goes something like:

WP thinks WR and ED are hateful, vulgar, harassing sites making unfair attacks.
WR thinks WP and ED are irresponsible places of anonymous/pseudonymous defamation.
ED thinks WP and WR take themselves way too seriously and are sources of lulz.

These distinctions were "purer" in the 2006-07 era, and have been highly muddied since now that people from each of these sites are active in the others.