Reddit and Wikipedia -- as usual

[HRIP7]

Article in the Guardian:

A new internet age? Web users turn on 'trolls'

Two recent online 'outings' suggest that attitudes towards online anonymity may have shifted

[...]

"This has been a wake-up call to the people who participate in these online communities to really think through what their responsibilities are," said Zeynep Tufekci, of the centre for information technology policy at Princeton University. The events surrounding the exposure of Brutsch's identity, as well as that of Todd's alleged tormentor, represent a sea change, according to Tufekci. "People are realising they cannot afford to have this 'live and let live' ethos to what is posted on their site. I feel like this is a social movement on a par with the Arab spring."

[Moonage Daydream]

Slate: Did Anonymous Unmask the Wrong Guy in Its Hunt for the Man Who Allegedly Drove a Teen to Suicide?

[EricBarbour]

Interesting blog post about Violentacrez.

Rather, let’s look at this as a good example for why “free speech” as an absolute value for any community that is not balanced by any other concern is at best an abdication of responsibility, and at worst an attempt to exercise power over vulnerable populations.

She just described Wikipedia, without meaning to.

Think I'll add my own comment, and link back to here.

[Tippi Hadron]

Buzzfeed: Reddit Moderator In Charge Of Feminism Forum Believes In “Men's Rights”

Reddit is a forum where volunteer community moderators work on forum threads divided into topics (sub-reddits). ViolentAcrez was a community moderator with his hands in a lot of pies, including a forum called "CreepShots" where his job was to cull any girl that looked over the age of sixteen. This is skeezy behavior and Gawker called him out on it. Reddit reacted poorly. Then they banned "CreepShots" anyway and went into PR spin mode.

This story comes from one of the leaked internal conversations between the Reddit staff and Community moderators about how to handle all this unwanted media attention.

[Michaeldsuarez]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Brutsch&action=history

There's now a violentacrez BLP.

[EricBarbour]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Brutsch&action=history

There's now a violentacrez BLP.

Disgusting. More famous and important people have shorter bios than this....

[Anroth]

Well he is notable. However personally I would have him as a subsection on Reddit's article as the real story is how/why reddit allows that content, its relationship with its moderators and its attack on gawker. Brutsch was merely the catalyst for that. It could have been any moderator over a particularly unpleasant section. There are loads of them. Brutsch is no more special than any of the others, or reddit contributers in general. And he's a lightweight anyway compared to the average /b user.

There is probably a decent amount of info for a dedicated 'Reddit/Gawker Affair' article exploring the ins and outs of online anonymous communities.

[EricBarbour]

There is probably a decent amount of info for a dedicated 'Reddit/Gawker Affair' article exploring the ins and outs of online anonymous communities.

On Wikipedia? That won't happen. Write one for our blog, that's a good place for it.

I might point out that Adrian Chen's WP biography has survived its AFD, and now looks like a fairly reasonable article about a
blogger of some repute. Except for this part, mentioned in para 2 right after his Violentacrez coverage:

In September 2012, Chen acquiesced to demands from Anonymous and posted images of himself dressed in a tutu with a shoe perched on his head. The images had been demanded in exchange for interviews regarding an alleged leak of Apple iPhone and iPad user data from an FBI laptop.[5][6][7][8]

http://gawker.com/5940444/here-is-a-pic ... n-his-head

I dunno about you, I think this is merely a goofy stunt compared to his outing of Violentacrez. Yet Wikipedia is "equating" them.

[mac]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Brutsch&action=history

There's now a violentacrez BLP.

Currently at AfD: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Michael Brutsch (2nd nomination) (T-H-L)

[EricBarbour]

Currently at AfD: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Michael Brutsch (2nd nomination) (T-H-L)

I predict, it will survive this, and there will more AFDs on it in the near future.
Brutsch, like Daniel Brandt or Denise Milani, is a scab they can't stop picking at.

[Vigilant]

Currently at AfD: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Michael Brutsch (2nd nomination) (T-H-L)

I predict, it will survive this, and there will more AFDs on it in the near future.
Brutsch, like Daniel Brandt or Denise Milani, is a scab they can't stop picking at.

I can't imagine many things less notable for an encyclopedia than an online forum moderator getting their real name found out by an online "newspaper".

Can anyone imagine that anyone will really remember this guy in 5 years?

[Sweet Revenge]

Interestingly at least one user, S Marshall (T-C-L), thinks that they're punishing the guy by keeping his article:

On balance I'm of the view that this material is well within scope and the guy deserves his Wikipedia article. I'm not minded to protect him. '''Keep'''.

[The Devil's Advocate]

Can anyone imagine that anyone will really remember this guy in 5 years?

The general public? Probably not many. Anyone interested in Internet culture? Likely most of them. Most opposed to articles such as this have reasons that might as well be "Internet culture is lame and uninteresting so it shouldn't have many articles concerning it" because that is basically the gist of it. Perhaps you think it is unimportant, but that doesn't mean it is unimportant. I have every reason to believe he will be a major subject of discussion in books and papers about the Internet and its culture for some time with references likely going beyond that subject area.

[Poetlister]

Interestingly at least one user, S Marshall (T-C-L), thinks that they're punishing the guy by keeping his article:

On balance I'm of the view that this material is well within scope and the guy deserves his Wikipedia article. I'm not minded to protect him. '''Keep'''.

I'm reasonably familiar with the various notability guidelines, and I can't recall that punishmentfor annoying WP editors is a valid criterion. Maybe someone should raise that on the BLP noticeboard.

[Tarc]

Interestingly at least one user, S Marshall (T-C-L), thinks that they're punishing the guy by keeping his article:

On balance I'm of the view that this material is well within scope and the guy deserves his Wikipedia article. I'm not minded to protect him. '''Keep'''.

Marshall's a knee-jerk inclusionist, albeit less inflammatory than the typical Sqadron-goer. More like DGG, though of late even DGG has become a aware that there is a deep problem with self-promotional articles and one-event hype.

I really hope that the Brutch article gets deleted this time around but I won't hold my breath. Too much inflated inventiveness (a nice way of saying he's full of shit) by TDA regarding event-counting.

[Moonage Daydream]

Currently at AfD: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Michael Brutsch (2nd nomination) (T-H-L)

I predict, it will survive this, and there will more AFDs on it in the near future.
Brutsch, like Daniel Brandt or Denise Milani, is a scab they can't stop picking at.

I suspect that the editor who started the nomination this time is more concerned with protecting the reputation of Reddit than with Brutsch as a person. Breadblade's user page:

I am a graduate student living in the midwest. The Daily Dot named me the "7th most influential person on reddit" in 2012. Maybe it's all the time I spent lurking, but I don't really believe in fancy userpages bogged down with userboxes and barnstars and statements of editing philosophy. Maybe I'll change my mind on that if I get too entrenched here.

[The Devil's Advocate]

I suspect that the editor who started the nomination this time is more concerned with protecting the reputation of Reddit than with Brutsch as a person. Breadblade's user page:

I am a graduate student living in the midwest. The Daily Dot named me the "7th most influential person on reddit" in 2012. Maybe it's all the time I spent lurking, but I don't really believe in fancy userpages bogged down with userboxes and barnstars and statements of editing philosophy. Maybe I'll change my mind on that if I get too entrenched here.

Actually, I suspect something different. Bread has been clear that he or she doesn't really care about Brutsch or about his objectionable activity being discussed in detail. R/circlebroke is apparently similar to r/shitredditsays, with many comparisons being made between them and Redditors at circlebroke expressing some sympathy for the SRS, and the SRS are basically to Reddit what WR or WO are to Wikipedia. I am fairly certain that person is more upset about the article having humanizing and sympathetic content about Brutsch than about the negative parts reflecting poorly on Reddit.

[Vigilant]

I suspect that the editor who started the nomination this time is more concerned with protecting the reputation of Reddit than with Brutsch as a person. Breadblade's user page:

I am a graduate student living in the midwest. The Daily Dot named me the "7th most influential person on reddit" in 2012. Maybe it's all the time I spent lurking, but I don't really believe in fancy userpages bogged down with userboxes and barnstars and statements of editing philosophy. Maybe I'll change my mind on that if I get too entrenched here.

Actually, I suspect something different. Bread has been clear that he or she doesn't really care about Brutsch or about his objectionable activity being discussed in detail. R/circlebroke is apparently similar to r/shitredditsays, with many comparisons being made between them and Redditors at circlebroke expressing some sympathy for the SRS, and the SRS are basically to Reddit what WR or WO are to Wikipedia. I am fairly certain that person is more upset about the article having humanizing and sympathetic content about Brutsch than about the negative parts reflecting poorly on Reddit.

srs seems to be just a tad more harsh than we are.