Wikipediocracy

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."

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.

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

There's now a violentacrez BLP.

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

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]

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

There's now a violentacrez BLP.

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

EricBarbour wrote:

mac wrote: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.

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'''.

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

Sweet Revenge wrote: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'''.

Sweet Revenge wrote: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'''.

EricBarbour wrote:

mac wrote: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 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.

Moonage Daydream wrote: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 wrote:

Moonage Daydream wrote: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.