Legal Fees Assistance Program -- the examination

[EricBarbour]

This nasty little atrocity, first mentioned here, deserves its own thread.

"Official Meta page" for this program, which was "approved" in October 2012.

The essential part is the Meta RFC, which contains a heavily canvassed "vote" for the legal assistance of Wikipedians.

The very first "Support" vote was made by an en-wiki administrator -- one that very few people have ever heard of: Madman (T-C-L).
In my opinion, Madman is a sockpuppet. Basically all he does is fight with people over copyright issues, mostly on his talkpage. I have
seen very few other administrators who were as useless as Madman. He is also extremely secretive.

If there is interest, I will go through the support-oppose votes and characterize these usernames. It does appear that admins
and other "officials" of WMF projects voted as a bloc for the program, which provides legal assistance only to that bloc.
It needs to be covered in more detail, as it went by last October with very little notice, here or elsewhere. It was only discussed
briefly in a forgotten thread started in September. Which links to a possible reason for the program: a lawsuit that involved
James "Jmh649" Heilman, resulting from the takeover of Wikitravel by the WMF.

[TungstenCarbide]

In my opinion, Madman is a sockpuppet. Basically all he does is fight with people over copyright issues, mostly on his talkpage. I have seen very few other administrators who were as useless as Madman. He is also extremely secretive.

formerly Madman_bum_and_angel and HoodedMan. He was already an addict when he started the HoodedMan account in 2005, as you can see from his earliest edits.

[EricBarbour]

I should note that Geoff Brigham, WMF legal counsel, started the "conversation" on the RFC with the first proposal, and got his first positive
response -- for the execrable and untrustworthy FT2.

The second "Support" came from Tobias "Church of emacs" Wagner, German Wikipedia oversighter/admin.
3. Neozoon, another de-wiki administrator.
4. Szilas, Hungarian Wikipedia administrator and Commons patroller.
5. Seth Finkelstein, he's got some nerve.
6. well-known en-wiki noticeboard troll/wannabe Tryptofish.
7. Reinhard Kraasch, de-wiki administrator.
8. Joeyline, another Hungarian wiki administrator.
9. Tony Souter, Wikimedia Australia member and close friend of Vandenberg.
10. Florence Devouard, former WMF director.
11. en-wiki administrator and former arbitrator Cas Liber.
12. Pine, formerly GreenPine, an administrator on the WMF Outreach wiki and Signpost reporter.
13. James Alexander, WMF employee, en-wiki administrator and CVU member.
14. Milos Rancic, Wikimedia steward and longtime Serbian Wikipedia insider.
15. Ironholds.
16. Asav, OTRS volunteer and no-wiki patroller.
17. Dan Rosenthal, longtime en-wiki administrator.
18. Anthony Kelly, en-wiki arbitrator.
19. Sydney Poore, former en-wiki arbitrator.
20. Joe Decker, en-wiki administrator and OTRS volunteer.

They're pretty much all like this.

[HRIP7]

I should note that Geoff Brigham, WMF legal counsel, started the "conversation" on the RFC with the first proposal, and got his first positive
response -- for the execrable and untrustworthy FT2.

The second "Support" came from Tobias "Church of emacs" Wagner, German Wikipedia oversighter/admin.
Third one came from Neozoon, another de-wiki administrator.
Fourth one from Szilas, Hungarian Wikipedia administrator and Commons patroller.
Fifth one from Seth Finkelstein, he's got some nerve.
Sixth one from well-known en-wiki noticeboard troll/wannabe Tryptofish.
Seventh one from Reinhard Kraasch, de-wiki administrator.
Eighth one from Joeyline, another Hungarian wiki administrator.
Ninth one from Tony Souter, Wikimedia Australia member and close friend of Vandenberg.
Tenth one from Florence Devouard, former WMF director.

They're pretty much all like this.

I dimly remember us critics berating the WMF for not having a programme like this.

The timing did seem rather related to the Wikitravel affair.

[EricBarbour]

I dimly remember us critics berating the WMF for not having a programme like this.

The timing did seem rather related to the Wikitravel affair.

Well, now they've got a "programme". And they voted to protect only themselves.
Administrators, arbitrators, patrollers, OTRS people, WMF employees, and wannabes.
Not many of them write substantial content anymore. Content writers can go to hell.

[Wer900]

I dimly remember us critics berating the WMF for not having a programme like this.

The timing did seem rather related to the Wikitravel affair.

Well, now they've got a "programme". And they voted to protect only themselves.
Administrators, arbitrators, patrollers, OTRS people, WMF employees, and wannabes.
Not many of them write substantial content anymore. Content writers can go to hell.

What a pile of shit. Anyone who is actually at risk of a major dangerous suit is left to their own devices (while providing the content that made the WMF so wealthy) while a bloated group of insiders gets a massive slush funds. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them were willing to pursue legal cases against contributors, given the massive asymmetry of risk involved (and the WMF may even pay some damages).

[Hex]

In my opinion, Madman is a sockpuppet.

I don't know him from Adam, but his very first edits are all vandalism reversions using Twinkle, so he was almost certainly somebody else before.

[Anroth]

So? Start an RFC requiring that the WMF extend it to all editors. Get it passed, let the WMF explain why they are not going to do that.

[Cedric]

So? Start an RFC requiring that the WMF extend it to all editors. Get it passed, let the WMF explain why they are not going to do that.

Yeah!