Richard Desmond: Pornographer or philanphropist?

[Smiley]

Richard Desmond in legal battle with Wikipedia over term ‘pornographer’
Jim Waterson, 5 Nov 2021, Guardian

Richard Desmond (T-H-L), the billionaire former owner of adult television channels and top-shelf magazines, has spent years having his Wikipedia edited in a failed attempt to remove any suggestion he is a “pornographer”.

The former owner of the Daily Express and Channel 5, and one of Britain’s richest men, appears to have become fixated with his biography on the open-source encyclopedia. To this end, an account operating on behalf of Desmond has repeatedly edited the article to replace the description of him as a “pornographer” with the term “philanthropist”.

His lawyers claim that Wikipedia editors who describe Desmond as a pornographer may be commercial motivated as part of a “strategy by business competitors to harm his public image”.

As part of Desmond’s legal threat, the lawyers confirmed he has spent three years having his own Wikipedia page edited through an account with the username NewsEditor1959 (T-C-L). Although it is unclear who is operating the account, it has been used to remove references to Desmond’s work in the adult industry and add substantial sections about his donations to charities such as Moorfields eye hospital.

NewsEditor1959 also cut references to how Desmond’s company allegedly hid copies of Penthouse magazine when Princess Anne arrived to open the company’s new office.

He should get Jimbo to change it to: "Adult Glamour Photography Distributor"


https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?di ... d=22555355
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?di ... d=25994526
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?di ... d=26700530

The correct terminology is 'adult content'. If this is pornography, then so is much of mainstream culture. I do not think we should adopt the definitions of the Taliban or the Southern Baptist Convention. --Jimbo Wales, 4 September 2005

[Poetlister]

I don't think he's any more (or less) of a pornographer than Jimbo, except that he was rather more financially successful. And if giving lots of money (not all earned by pornography) to good causes makes you a philanthropist, then he is one. But if enough editors are determined to keep him described as a pornographer, what can be done?

[Giraffe Stapler]

Someone quoted this gem on the talk page and it's too good not to share. From an article in ByLine Times:

Desmond, then publisher of Asian Babes, Big Ones, Amateur Video, Fifty Plus, Eros, Forum, Readers’ Wives, Big and Black, Contact Girls, Double Sex A, Electric Blue, Horny Housewives, New Talent, Nude Readers’ Wives, Only 18, Private Lust, Red-hot Pack, X-treme and Mothers-in-Law, is a man of the upmost moral rectitude, some say. If, once, New Talent ran a ‘win a shag’ competition for readers, this – like his televisual offering The Fantasy Channel – was not pornography. It was ‘adult lifestyle’.

[Poetlister]

Why doesn't he start an online encyclopaedia that anyone can edit, so that people always refer to him as the Sole Flounder of Desmondpaedia? It worked for Jimbo.

[Smiley]

Don't go, Richard! These girls aren't prostitutes... they're budding philanphropists!

[el84]

Let's compromise and call him a "photographer of de-robed gravure idols".

[Hemiauchenia]

As noted on the talkpage, given the Financial Times has called him one it's going to be a tall order to get it removed.

[Moral Hazard]

Someone quoted this gem on the talk page and it's too good not to share. From an article in ByLine Times:

Desmond, then publisher of Asian Babes, Big Ones, Amateur Video, Fifty Plus, Eros, Forum, Readers’ Wives, Big and Black, Contact Girls, Double Sex A, Electric Blue, Horny Housewives, New Talent, Nude Readers’ Wives, Only 18, Private Lust, Red-hot Pack, X-treme and Mothers-in-Law, is a man of the upmost moral rectitude, some say. If, once, New Talent ran a ‘win a shag’ competition for readers, this – like his televisual offering The Fantasy Channel – was not pornography. It was ‘adult lifestyle’.

A more direct link to pornography than the hotel-chain owners who used to make millions from adult movies.

[Vigilant]

Don't go, Richard! These girls aren't prostitutes... they're budding philanphropists!

Temporarily impoverished billionaires, the lot!

[Poetlister]

They seem to have settled on "former pornographer". I see that one of the main editors of the article is Philip Cross (T-C-L). That is a gift for conspiracy theorists.

[Smiley]

Former pornographer sounds about right.

Now do Jimbo.

[Smiley]

What a Wiki Hypocrite: Wikipedia's boss is crusading against 'fake news' and media manipulation. Yet he altered his own online entry...to delete his pornographic past
Guy Adams, 27 April 2017, Daily Mail

Having doctored his own Wikipedia page to play down his previous links to the porn industry, how can he complain about media manipulation?

For back in the Nineties, Wales launched a dotcom firm called Bomis, which profited from ventures such as 'Bomis Babes', a search engine that let users trawl the internet for vulgar photos, and 'Nekkid', a website with degrading images of nude women.

Fast forward to 2005, and having achieved global fame, Wales edited his own Wikipedia page in an apparent attempt to erase unwholesome aspects of this episode. He made 18 changes, cutting references to 'Bomis Babes' and replacing the word 'pornography' with softer terms such as 'glamour photography'.

Above all, it's most odd that our national broadcaster should provide such a comfortable PR platform for this egregious Wiki-hypocrite.

One of the most vociferous advocates of Wikipedia's censorship of the Mail was a man from Bournemouth who was acquainted with Wales via the site's chat-rooms, where they had shared conversations.

An investigation by the Mail subsequently revealed the man was a vile internet troll who'd shared Islamophobic, and potentially illegal material on his public Facebook page.

One post stated: 'All Muslim men admitted to Paradise will have an ever-erect penis and they will each marry 70 wives, all with appetising vaginas.'

Still more posts (on what is a social network accessible by children) contained pornographic images: two gay men performing a sex-act in public and bestiality between a man and a sheep.

[Smiley]

We appear to have several violations here, and Philip Cross has been repeatedly editing Richard Desmond today, who is in the news today but very much a figure in post-1978 British politics (broadly construed or otherwise). As such, I've blocked him for a month given that these are quite flagrant violations and he has a previous block for violating the topic ban. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 20:58, 5 November 2021 (UTC)

[greyed.out.fields]

Don't go, Richard! These girls aren't prostitutes... they're budding philanphropists!

Hmm... the neon sign in the original said "Bunny Bar"... but this one says the euphemistic "публичный дом".
(Y'all can read a little Russian, right?)

[Smiley]

Hmm... the neon sign in the original said "Bunny Bar"... but this one says the euphemistic "публичный дом".
(Y'all can read a little Russian, right?)

Нет. Что это значит?


The original image is from Marc McAndrews' Nevada Rose project. Marc spent five years "documenting life" inside the legal brothels of rural Nevada.

[Bezdomni]

I see that one of the main editors of the article is Philip Cross (T-C-L). That is a gift for conspiracy theorists.

All wrapped up in PL being the first here to notice that PC had been blocked. I'm gonna' just guess Desmond is Jewish?

[Jim]

All wrapped up in PL being the first

Well, somewhat echoing that "theme", here's a BBC News story from 2018 which I found on google, because it helpfully contained "Wikipedia" in its headline, and to which I'm adding no discernible opinion or real personal comment of my own : https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-44495696

In case, though, anyone might consider this post somehow subpar, here's a right-click copy/paste quote from the linked article to prove it was actually displayed on my screen:

He's recently caught the attention of bloggers and has been the subject of stories in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and Russian state-owned outlets Sputnik and RT. There have been allegations on social media - all unproven - that he's a government agent, employed by rich and powerful media interests, or is a mainstream journalist with an obsessive hobby.

This whole process is quite exhausting and time-consuming, though, and I'm not sure whether I'll be able to keep it up indefinitely because I do have cats to feed and pizzas to critique.

[Hemiauchenia]

PC is a bogeyman to fringe pro-Russian elements of the British left who believe that Assange is a saviour and that the Syrian govt doesn't commit warcrimes against its own people.

[Smiley]

PC is a bogeyman to fringe pro-Russian elements of the British left who believe that Assange is a saviour and that the Syrian govt doesn't commit warcrimes against its own people.

Yep, Mr X crosses the line sometimes but his opponents are pure wallopers the lot of em.

[Hemiauchenia]

Far-left goons on twitter are canvassing to attempt to get PC's ban broadened.

I remember this particular twitter user, he is apparently banned from Wikipedia for sockpuppetry (I don't remember the name).

Hilariously, this has gotten retweeted by Max Blumenthal (T-H-L), editor of The Grayzone (T-H-L), a fringe website dedicated to being apologists for the Venezuelan, Syrian, Russian, and Chinese regimes. PC must have really gotten under his skin (He is responsible for writing the majority of Blumenthal's article).

[Bezdomni]

Far-left goons [...] banned

[...]

Hilariously [...] fringe[ ....] apologists for the Venezuelan, Syrian, Russian, and Chinese regimes.

Any response to your overheated language will necessarily be off-topic. This, I submit, is one way in which propaganda works.

Grayzone guest Michael Hudson (§) makes some interesting comments on just-in-time inventory and shipping costs @ 49:50. His subsequent comments on Nord Stream and the European energy crisis are also worth a listen...

Deprecating any opinion outside the imperial main means that you will only hear one point of view, which is conceivably fine... as long as it's the "right" one. (that is, still the mightiest one)

[Hemiauchenia]

"Deprecating any opinion outside the imperial main means that you will only hear one point of view" The Greyzone takes a kneejerk, manichaeic view that anything Western governments (particularly the US) do = bad "imperialism", but Venezuela, Syria, Russia, Chinese govts = good. It ignores the murky, morally gray way the real world actually operates. The fact that it might put out occasionally interesting pieces by experts doesn't redeem the websites other content, which is decidedly fringe, and probably financially supported by Russia, given their close ties to Russia Today. A good piece on them is Enter the Grayzone: fringe leftists deny the scale of China’s Uyghur oppression https://www.codastory.com/disinformatio ... -denialism published last year in Coda Story.

[AndyTheGrump]

I'm not happy with the term 'far-left goon' either - on the basis that supporting 'Venezuela, Syria, Russia, Chinese govts' isn't actually far-left at all. 'Tankie fuckwit' is the preferred term for such people, or at least was when I was a sort-of-Trot myself.

[Hemiauchenia]

Agreed, "Tankie" is probably the best term for these people, It just comes with a constellation of beliefs that lie outside of normal tankie topic areas, such as their belief that antisemtism in the UK Labour party is exaggerated.

[Bezdomni]

If you take a look at the last three additions to the Michael Hudson (economist) (T-H-L) BLP you'll see that the interview on the Grayzone is cited. I suppose y'all better get that deleted. It's much better for en.wp to be wrong than to stoop to citing a wrong-thinking media outlet.

[Hemiauchenia]

The entire "Contributions" section of the article is either unsourced or poorly sourced, if I cared enough I'd probably take a hachet to the lot of it.

[Bezdomni]

The GrayZone ignores the murky, morally gray way the real world actually operates.

Who would've thunk it?

The Grayzone does not favor re-education centers for anyone except smarmy warmongering neoconservative fraudsters.

(edited to add a Manichean quote from Blumenthal and then this explanation)

[AndyTheGrump]

I'm not happy with the term 'far-left goon' either - on the basis that supporting 'Venezuela, Syria, Russia, Chinese govts' isn't actually far-left at all. 'Tankie fuckwit' is the preferred term for such people, or at least was when I was a sort-of-Trot myself.

Agreed, "Tankie" is probably the best term for these people, It just comes with a constellation of beliefs that lie outside of normal tankie topic areas, such as their belief that antisemtism in the UK Labour party is exaggerated.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that a more-than-insignificant proportion of the talk about 'antisemitism in the UK Labour party' has been driven by motivations other than fighting antisemitism. That is also part of the murky grey world we live in...

[Smiley]

Far-left goons on twitter are canvassing to attempt to get PC's ban broadened.

https://twitter.com/leftworks1/status/1 ... 1133023238

I remember this particular twitter user, he is apparently banned from Wikipedia for sockpuppetry (I don't remember the name).

Are you thinking of Alextiffin88? Maybe KalHolmann? I think Guantolaka was another one.

Useful idiocy:

British leftists on the warpath against Wikipedia
Philip Cross has a new Parole Officer ?

Mixing #FF0000 with #964B00 is never a good look.

[tarantino]

Are you thinking of Alextiffin88?

lol After a police and intelligence service investigation into Tiffin’s background, his computer and contacts, the conclusion was that he was “an idiot not a terrorist”.

[Smiley]

lol After a police and intelligence service investigation into Tiffin’s background, his computer and contacts, the conclusion was that he was “an idiot not a terrorist”.

Defence solicitor Webb told the court: "I am grateful for the Crown's conclusion that he is an idiot not a terrorist."

Hahahahahaha! Wallopers the lot of em.

Still, it's not quite as embarrassing as the time George Golliwogs pretended to be a cat on Big Brother.

[Hemiauchenia]

Crow has attempted to jump in as Emperor Morgan (T-C-L) but was blocked less than four hours after their first post.

[Smiley]

Thread delivers.

I think it's notable in this climate of greater awareness that you can't just get away with posting randomly offensive stuff on the Internet under the cloak of random anonymity.

It was almost as if they would have been happier were she found dead, or was an indigenous child, then maybe she would have been worthy of Wikipedia's front page. 8 November 2021

I don't have any previous accounts here. I don't think much experience is required to click a few links, but perhaps you and I are very different people, capability wise. Emperor Morgan, 8 November 2021

[Smiley]

If you didn't like my posts, you could have just said so. Using clearly false justifications to memory hole them is entirely unnecessary (all be it understandable). Emperor Morgan, 8 November 2021

Ten points to Slytherin!

[Moral Hazard]

I am perplexed by this thread, which reminds me of The Young Ones and a Russian novel bereft of its list of characters.

[Smiley]

I am perplexed by this thread, which reminds me of The Young Ones and a Russian novel bereft of its list of characters.

No, no, Rick, you don't understand the whole timeless wonder of the thing...
We sow the seed, nature grows the seed, and then we eat the seed!


Vegetable Rights and Peace!

[owl be it]

If you didn't like my posts, you could have just said so. Using clearly false justifications to memory hole them is entirely unnecessary (all be it understandable). Emperor Morgan, 8 November 2021

Ten points to Slytherin!

Well, all be damned.

[owl be it]

Damn and he mentioned Eostrix too. "How do you do, fellow users who made an account three hours ago?"

[Smiley]

For those of you struggling to keep up

MickMacNee is now
joe-jobbing Icewhiz
who
joe-jobbed Wikinger
who
joe-jobbed George Reeves Person
who is a lunatic.

[AndyTheGrump]

What about the Horny Housewives?

[Moral Hazard]

Vegetable Rights and Peace!

Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is, of course, living in a state of sin.

[Vigilant]

If you didn't like my posts, you could have just said so. Using clearly false justifications to memory hole them is entirely unnecessary (all be it understandable). Emperor Morgan, 8 November 2021

Ten points to Slytherin!

Well, all be damned.

You may indeed, if you get lucky.

[Giraffe Stapler]

What about the Horny Housewives?

I'm glad you're getting this back on topic because I had a question about the magazines published by Desmond. When I saw "Reader's Wives" in the list, I assumed that the wives in question were naked. But then I saw that he also published "Nude Reader's Wives". Is there a progression from fully clothed Reader's Wives to Nude Reader's Wives to Horny Housewives?

[el84]

Apparently so (and wiping my Amazon viewed history after this):

Readers' Wives, Horny Housewives, Nude Readers' Wives

[Vigilant]

Risky clicks...

[Smiley]

We sow the seed...

...

Nature grows the seed...

The sell out forum is playing chequers, while their enemies play chess | wikipediasucks.co

And then we eat the seed!

The latest sock, the wise and handsome Emperor Morgan, had a few issues with Wikipedia it seems, and set straight to work, lighting them up.

Wikipediocracy disagrees, but fuck me if they haven't reached the stage where they'll say fucking ANYTHING, no matter how absurd, just to try and annoy me.

I have a meeting with my incel buddies tonight, and I must prepare my slides!

[Vigilant]

Crow and his incel team having Soggy Biscuit for their snack again tonight?

[Hemiauchenia]

Hemenchuia[sic], you are at the very, very, bottom. I cannot even begin to muster the enthusiasm to even entertain the idea it is worth my time or energy mentioning your name anymore than this quite necessary reminder of your true status. You don't matter to these people, other than their gratitude that you really are that thick to do their work for them, and yet you have even less to gain from it. Unless I missed something and you too have an Admin sock, like everyone else on there I am guessing, certainly now we are into the era of desperation and walk through RfAs.

Hello my fellow secret admin sock compatriots.

[Midsize Jake]

Well, the joke's on him — our admin socks have all been feeding his admin sock a bunch of false and misleading "intel" about WP for the better part of a decade. He's at the point now where he actually believes "getting rid of a few bad apples" will somehow magically cause the system to work perfectly forever, and rule in his favor on every dispute!