Ritchie333

[AngelOne]

The iban remains in place. Since Ritchie said he wanted to be able to bring up the ban in UCoC discussions, ArbCom helpfully passed a motion:

In the interest of furthering discussion around the UCOC, admin sanctions, and other such reforms, the interaction ban between Praxidicae and Ritchie333 is amended after the last sentence to add Parties may discuss the existence of the ban, and examine its implications, but remain forbidden from discussing each other and interacting with each other.

Even if Praxidicae hadn't objected to removing the iban, I don't think it would have been lifted based on that appeal. Reading between the lines, I saw "I didn't do anything wrong and if I did overstep it was because I was in a really bad place. Also if I did overstep it was justified because gender gap. Also what I did couldn't be harassment because I know exactly what harassment is, there's only one way to do it, and I didn't do that."

I have every sympathy for what Ritchie was going through in his personal life back then, and I'm glad that he's doing better now. I don't think the iban is unjustified (even if I think it was handled badly by Arbcom) and I hope someday it can be lifted.

[Jazzman]

I also have every sympathy for Ritchie333 (T-C-L) who is is certainly not one of the admin rights group that WO generally chooses to hate. I would however hate to see him do something silly that would finally get Arbcom to wrench his bits.

Despite all the perennial claims on RFAs that it's hard to desysop an admin later, Arbcom has been gleefully making a show over the last 2 years of how easy it actually is by simply pandering to the whims of the usual pirchfork club and sometimes even to the personal the vengeance of their own members.

This has been a long thread, and what follows are a few snippets from the long Ritchie thread (cherry-picked and edited of course, but not disingenuously) with a couple of comments. More importantly, the main leitmotif doesn't seem to be Ritchie at all, but more about what a crap, corrupt institution Arbcom really is, and I share that belief.
Kudos to Beeblebrox (T-C-L) who went against his word and joined it again, and providing some frank insights about it.

Looking over again at some of the major cases since Framgate, later iterations of the committee rarely seem to get things right where admins are concerned, and like their predecessors just seem to be hell bent on ridding Wikipedia of some of its most industrious admins/outreach workers. Ironically, some of its own new members have come dangerously close to being thrown out for dubious behaviour (RexxS affair).

Arbcom seems (IMO) to be generally made up of two factions: some really nice people (of all genders), and some really nasty pieces of work (from all genders). The really nice ones tend to abstain or recuse themselves to avoid losing face with some of the others who appear to be the incompetent nasty ones.

Time goes fast and yet another ACE is already looming on the horizon. Perhaps if some of the users here (who are not blocked or banned) were to come out of hiding and express their thoughts about Arbcom openly on-Wiki...

I'm trying to figure out on what grounds the Committee did that anyway. It's just a motion out of nowhere. No findings of fact, no evidence. Exactly the opposite of what they're supposed to be doing.

It has quickly brought rent-a-mob out with their pitchforks

Like I said before, this has to be the most inept and incompetent ArbCom in history.

I've always considered Ritchie to be a generally good person […] but every super active person in Wikipedia's dramatic areas end up losing their cool at some point or another.

…Praxidicae/Chrissymad's antagonistic approach to the project needs to be corrected at one point. […]… a motion that perfectly reflected the prejudgement of guilt.

Well Praxidicae is kinda abrasive, […] having to ever talk to them is something to be avoided.

Most of the very active admins are on Facebook, twitter, Quora, etc. talking about Wikipedia stuff. .

Kumioko (T-C-L) couldn’t be more wrong, but then, he usually is.

The most egregious aspect of these secret proceedings is how badly the Committee twists its role in the community. […] But the changing role of the Committee over the years…means that there's an expectation of findings of fact such that the greater community can understand why decisions were made and take corrective action with respect to their own behavior…

I'm honestly of the opinion that the entire Arbitration Policy needs to be rewritten. The people who are in there now are treating it like a dais from which they can promulgate anything about anybody without any accountability.

What has gone wrong is that [Arbcom] fancies itself as a court, so its rulings establish precedents of wide applicability. While there have been lawyers on it, such as Fred Bauder and NYB, basically it is unqualified for this role.

The members of ArbCom continue to provide more and more evidence that they're either extremely incompetent or downright corrupt.

Looks like WTT is revealing his true face. I've long said the "nice guy" persona that he tries to play on Wikipedia has deceived many.

I fail to see how shutting down the conversation is honorable.
Ritchie wanted to point out that ArbCom was lying and Worm did not like that.

And a sitting arbiter comes to the talk page of the recently sentenced, taunted, blocked, and taunted again to vent her spleen...
Is hypocrisy a necessary trait to be elected to ARBCOM or do they provide on the job training?

GorillaWarfare is referred to there - of course - removing posts she doesn’t like. GW might not actually be as well-liked on Wikipedia as she thinks she is.

Until the current ArbCom is voted out, it'd be downright foolish to involve yourself in any sysopping.

Unfortunately this appears to be a new trend and subsquent Arbcom elections have not shown any change of heart.

I am looking forward to 12 months time when some of the whinging, whining, ever-complaining, never satisfied, wikilawyering, borish loudmouths are elected in ACE2019 and have served 7 months. Yes, the current AC is poor by virtually any standard, but the future.... could be even worse.

It certainly didn’t get any better either in ACE2019 or ACE2020.

Letting the Committee make things up as they go along is how we got into this mess. Especially as we're seeing the emergence of new Committee procedures, many actions are being taken, perhaps by analogy to real-world situations, without fully understanding those situations.[...] Most of this stuff is straightforward enough, it just requires a willingness to look at some fine details of the process.

...you'd be hard-pressed to come up with any iteration of ArbCom that has done worse than the current one.

It does get worse with every new iteration…

WTT is once again revealing his true hypocritical face that I have been criticising in WT:ACN. [...] Throwing shade at Ritchie [...] is almost identical to the same tactics of outright lying WTT (Worm That Turned (T-C-L)) employed against me previously.

Ritchie joins the thread with his first (and very long) WO post:

The basic problem of Praxidicae (T-C-L) is one that has (IMHO) caused terminal damage to Wikipedia for at least 12 years and shows no signs of stopping.
Praxidicae then came onto my talk page shouting like a trooper; I told them to calm down, then when that didn't work I told them to get lost.

Your problem is you appear to go around looking for trouble, defacing articles and nominating them for deletion, and when you are challenged on it, you get angry and upset and start insulting the other parties. You need to assume more good faith."

I can't see any way that that's toxic, incivil or a personal attack. editors and conduct. I realise that some of you might be saying "Come on Ritchie, it took you - what - ten years to figure this out? Some of us had cottoned on about it ages ago", but there you go.
[…] I realise much of the above is long-winded and goes into excessive detail, but you can't reduce something like this to simple slogans and soundbites.

Praxidicae is a a-hole and always has been, regardless of the name they use. Now anyone who isn't very good at writing for the 'pedia, and attracts the attentions of an Admin can go running to Tits&Shits or ArbCom and scream "Harrassment!" and they are halfway home to having the case decided in their favour. [...] the result can be given as a fait accompli and ArbCom wil never, ever, ever back down, even if they are shown they've made the entirely the wrong decision

Sound familiar?

Let me start off by saying welcome and I hope you stick around and comment on some other topics.
Obviously we are not fans of each other so it may shock you to hear that I agree with almost everything you said above. Almost! [...] Prax is toxic, I agree, but so are a lot of other users and admins, many of which have been discussed here. [...] I also think that this is a perfect example of the frequently seen attitude on Wikipedia that "I don't care about what happens to others until it happens to me". Many other users have been wrongfully sanctioned, blocked and banned by arbcom and others due to lies, manipulation of policy, secret evidence, etc....

What Kumioko forgets is that he was actually defended by one or two admins - one of whom claims to have met him in RL - and others who saw his socking but didn’t report it. Kumioko dug his own hole and thinks everyone else is to blame.

It really is a shit job, By the time I'd been on for a few months I was glad I only got a one-year term and knew I wouldn't run again, there's now ay I could've done that for three years without burning out. It's just endless, there's always something that's not getting done, and there's always somebody telling you how much you suck. And, being perfectly frank, there is always at least one arb who does suck.

Thanks for being (mostly) honest, Beeblebrox (T-C-L), but here in 2021 you are’ back on the committee again…

Fast forward:

I have every sympathy for what Ritchie was going through in his personal life back then, and I'm glad that he's doing better now. I don't think the iban is unjustified (even if I think it was handled badly by Arbcom) and I hope someday it can be lifted.

[ZettaComposer]

Time goes fast and yet another ACE is already looming on the horizon. Perhaps if some of the users here (who are not blocked or banned) were to come out of hiding and express their thoughts about Arbcom openly on-Wiki...

I’m not active on Wikipedia anymore because I’ve had better things to do with my life lately, but best of luck fighting the good fight or whatever it is you are trying to accomplish with this gigantic text dump.

[10920]

Despite all the perennial claims on RFAs that it's hard to desysop an admin later, Arbcom has been gleefully making a show over the last 2 years of how easy it actually is by simply pandering to the whims of the usual pirchfork club and sometimes even to the personal the vengeance of their own members.

This is accurate. Several examples over the past few years of admins being stripped by ArbCom over minor things.

[Beeblebrox]

I certainly have not experienced any "glee" related to a desysop case. They are an important and necessary function of the committee, but they are not any fun. I mean, no arbcom case is fun, but dessyop cases are a guaranteed headache no matter what you do. You take the tools, you're a cruel unfeeling tyrant, you don't take them, you're soft on your cabal pals who probably bribed you.

[Vigilant]

But being an admin is no big dealio, right?

[Poetlister]

I certainly have not experienced any "glee" related to a desysop case. They are an important and necessary function of the committee, but they are not any fun. I mean, no arbcom case is fun, but dessyop cases are a guaranteed headache no matter what you do. You take the tools, you're a cruel unfeeling tyrant, you don't take them, you're soft on your cabal pals who probably bribed you.

You did volunteer to be on Arbcom. Nobody twisted either of your necks, did they?

[Beeblebrox]

I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for me or for arbcom, I'm just saying it's ridiculous to suggest we desysop admins for fun.

[Jazzman]

Probably not for 'fun' per se, but we would be naive to believe that some of the more recent past and present members of Arbcom didn't join in the hope of the opportunity to flex their muscles on a high profile desysoping. Isn't such a case what makes it all worthwhile?

[Bezdomni]

RexxS was not a case of ArbCom showing strength. They picked off a recent (and very very weakly) promoted admin where a warning/admonition would've probably sufficed.

If they went after the obviously politically-motivated characters like, say, MastCell, then they would show they weren't just picking off the stragglers who had fallen out of grace after a recent promotion. Speaking of whom, I see they continue to fight the good fight for the "best" among the WikiWarriors:

OpPoSiNg BiGotRy iS tHE rEaL biGotRy. I thought you knew?

source = UserTalk:MjolnirPants

too lazy to figure out how to color the capitals blue and the lower-case letters red...

[Beeblebrox]

I'm not sure how this seems to escape so many people, but arbcom takes cases that are brought to it, it does not "go after" anyone, except in the case of bright-line violations so extreme that they merit an immediate desysop.

[Poetlister]

I hope that most people here realise that ArbCom is not resourced to be a police force. Maybe a solution to some of the problems on Wikipedia would be to have police who do "go after" offenders. I can't see that ever happening, and if it did, how would we ensure that these police aren't as bad as the rogue admins or troublesome editors who should be caught?

[Giraffe Stapler]

I hope that most people here realise that ArbCom is not resourced to be a police force. Maybe a solution to some of the problems on Wikipedia would be to have police who do "go after" offenders. I can't see that ever happening, and if it did, how would we ensure that these police aren't as bad as the rogue admins or troublesome editors who should be caught?

In the Wikipedia justice system, the Community is represented by two separate yet equally important groups: The Wikipolice, who investigate wikicrime, and the Arbitration Committee, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.

[Beeblebrox]

In the Wikipedia justice system, the Community is represented by two separate yet equally important groups: The Wikipolice, who investigate wikicrime, and the Arbitration Committee, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.

(DUN DUN noise)

I mean... kind of, except the cops are self-appointed. And are sometimes the actual "criminals".

[Bezdomni]

... arbcom takes cases that are brought to it, it does not "go after" anyone, except in the case of bright-line violations so extreme that they merit an immediate desysop.

Yes, I guess my informal use of the term "go after" is what brought this all on. As BbbRx knows, in the case of MastCell a case was brought to ArbCom and declined, as there was some danger it might expand into AmPol3, which would surely have been untidy in the summer of 2020.

I guess that now we know what it takes for ArbCom to "go after" someone (having the mob vote a banned sock -- who isn't Cirt as far as we know -- onto the ModSquad).

Meanwhile this thread is supposed to be about Ritchie333, who voted to give IW the golden ring (twice).

[Smiley]

[Midsize Jake]

Holy shit, admins aren't allowed to bash politicians? Why would anyone want to be an admin at all, under such conditions?

Whatever will they come up with next... The Kardashians? Geriatric rock musicians? Tom Hanks? Other websites?

[Mason]

I took a peek at the nominator’s user page to see what kind of userboxes he prefers, but was overwhelmed with the sheer quantity of them to read any. They’re very colorful, though.

[FelinaLavandula]

I hate to be crude, but the only one of any importance, to my mind, is the one that says “This user’s waifu is Wikipe-tan”… speaking of userboxes that deserve to be deleted.

[Mason]

Eww

[AndyTheGrump]

I hate to be crude, but the only one of any importance, to my mind, is the one that says “This user’s waifu is Wikipe-tan”… speaking of userboxes that deserve to be deleted.

You clearly haven't seen said user's Commons uploads.

[Ritchie333]

I've recently added "This user despises Vladimir Putin and thinks he should be tried in The Hague for war crimes" but that hasn't made it to a user box yet.

[Smiley]

And if you say nice things about politicians you get blocked...








Guess some editors are more equal than others...

[Lyallpuri]

Well, no, that user was blocked for denial of the Uyghur genocide. That they also happen to support Assad is not a coincidence, of course, but it's not the reason that the banhammer was applied.

[Smiley]

[Scorpions13256]

I had a feeling that she would eventually get blocked for genocide denial. I'm mad at myself for not reporting her racist userspace rant last summer.