Creative Vandalism

[The Joy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... pabilities

I have not laughed so hard at Wikipedia vandalism in such a long time. It made me happy!

Well played, IP, well-played!

[Poetlister]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =549790643

Spoilsports - it only lasted about two hours.

[The Devil's Advocate]

I love creative vandals. First thing I thought of when I saw this thread was this epic rewriting of the description for a Weebl's Stuff cartoon by the aptly named vandal Equine-fiddler.

[Hex]

It's gone now, but my absolute all-time favorite was last month, when someone uploaded a copy of Vlad the Impaler (T-H-L)'s portrait to Commons that was identical in all respects to the original - except it was animated. After twenty seconds or so, his eyes, which had been looking to the side, suddenly moved to look at you. So you wouldn't see anything when opening the article; the movement would happen out of the corner of your eye, startling you while you were reading. Or you might not notice the movement, but when you scrolled back to where the picture was, it was subtly different somehow to when you first saw it, and you couldn't be sure why. It lasted a whole week. Beautiful pranking, including the careful way it was executed (look at If5tatement (T-C-L) and see if you can work out what's going on... I still can't).

[Peter Damian]

And my all-time favourite:

After abandoning his work as a school teacher, Wittgenstein worked as a gardener's assistant in a monastery near Vienna. He was twice forced to pay fines for misuse of strychnine, which he used to control squirrels around the garden.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =170386199

[Mason]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... pabilities

I have not laughed so hard at Wikipedia vandalism in such a long time. It made me happy!

Well played, IP, well-played!

Ha, brilliant.

One of the funniest bits of creative vandalism I've ever seen is when someone edited a puff piece on an ambulance company (bolded text added by the vandal):

Action Ambulance equips their ambulances with [[GPS]] technology to locate the closest, most appropriate ambulance to respond to an emergency. No other ambulance company in the state of Massachusetts uses GPS technology as of 1998.

== Vehicles ==
Action Ambulance utilizes thirty-four Class I ambulances, some of which are licensed by the State of Massachusetts at the highest level of patient care and transportation. Action Ambulance also have two Class V response vehicles which are licensed by the State of Massachusetts as a limited care non-transporting vehicle, ten unmanned wheelchair drones, one wheelchair accessible passenger "party" bus, one Multiple Emergency Response Vehicle (MERV) which is licensed by the State of Massachusetts as a response vehicle utilized to provide additional support and supplies, a thirty-bike fleet of specialized [[Ducati} motorcycles, a fully-functioning combat-ready helicopter, two All-Terrain Vehicles (ATV’s) and one trailer which is used to transport equipment. The wheels on all of Action EMS's vehicles of are the highest quality, and almost never fall off during emergency responses.

Those are just a couple of the dozen or so additions by that (now blocked) editor.

[mac]

Found this in a Quora thread.

[edit: linked Quora thread]

[lilburne]

Still like this jab at Putin
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =123863958

[The Devil's Advocate]

There is this one time when an IP "fixed" the article on the band Modest Mouse (T-H-L) by replacing its contents with the contents of the article on Mighty Mouse (T-H-L).

[Woden.Ragnarok]

User Sstteevvee (T-C-L) recieved an indefinite ban for this edit. But surely that's factually accurate - a tracking device embedded in his buttocks would only ever track "his ass". If he were to lose a cheek in some sort of accident the tracking device would still detect his Ass but not him...

[Woden.Ragnarok]

It's gone now, but my absolute all-time favorite was last month, when someone uploaded a copy of Vlad the Impaler (T-H-L)'s portrait to Commons that was identical in all respects to the original - except it was animated. After twenty seconds or so, his eyes, which had been looking to the side, suddenly moved to look at you. So you wouldn't see anything when opening the article; the movement would happen out of the corner of your eye, startling you while you were reading. Or you might not notice the movement, but when you scrolled back to where the picture was, it was subtly different somehow to when you first saw it, and you couldn't be sure why. It lasted a whole week. Beautiful pranking, including the careful way it was executed (look at If5tatement (T-C-L) and see if you can work out what's going on... I still can't).

I thought this was brilliant, so I created a comparable gif and uploaded it to the same location. Ostensibly its for the purposes of my user-page, but it should mean the February 10th diff will work again (but I'm not vandalising the article to make it current) - It's set to 10 seconds since there were comments about 20 being too long.

[Hersch]

Every April 1, there are skirmishes at the Animal rights article.

[Hex]

I thought this was brilliant, so I created a comparable gif and uploaded it to the same location. Ostensibly its for the purposes of my user-page, but it should mean the February 10th diff will work again (but I'm not vandalising the article to make it current) - It's set to 10 seconds since there were comments about 20 being too long.

That's a bit more than "comparable", don't you think?

Filling in file gaps in the history with new files with the same name... hmm. That's an interesting bit of creative rule-bending, well done.

[mac]

User Sstteevvee (T-C-L) recieved an indefinite ban for this edit. But surely that's factually accurate - a tracking device embedded in his buttocks would only ever track "his ass". If he were to lose a cheek in some sort of accident the tracking device would still detect his Ass but not him...

This is odd, because this account was created in 2006, and the contributions from it were fine, until last year. It seems that the account is compromised, or its owner is disillusioned with Wikipedia and has taken to vandalizing it.

This response on his talk page seems to indicate that the user no longer cares about Wikipedia. The fact that the comment is not signed might indicate the account is compromised:

Thanks, Tom. I'll probably do it again, though. Because I can't resist. If my rights get suspended, so be it.

[Woden.Ragnarok]

I thought this was brilliant, so I created a comparable gif and uploaded it to the same location. Ostensibly its for the purposes of my user-page, but it should mean the February 10th diff will work again (but I'm not vandalising the article to make it current) - It's set to 10 seconds since there were comments about 20 being too long.

That's a bit more than "comparable", don't you think?

Filling in file gaps in the history with new files with the same name... hmm. That's an interesting bit of creative rule-bending, well done.

I never saw the original, but some comments implied it was weirder than just eyes moving - I used creative license to guess what. Considered asking for an undelete given consensus wasn't for delete. A reason for keeping could be an example of paintings worth moving eyes. Wonder if I could get that diff copied to the WP namespace or across to meta as an article? Slightly pissed off with Feydey templating me within minutes of upload while I was trying to sort the metadata.

[Hex]

I never saw the original, but some comments implied it was weirder than just eyes moving - I used creative license to guess what.

I'm not sure where those comments were, but it was literally a GIF with two frames. The long delay and consequent difficulty of noticing the movement was the clever part.

[mac]

I'm not sure where those comments were, but it was literally a GIF with two frames. The long delay and consequent difficulty of noticing the movement was the clever part.

Reddit thread about the .gif

[Hex]

Oh. Reddit.

[Woden.Ragnarok]

I never saw the original, but some comments implied it was weirder than just eyes moving - I used creative license to guess what.

I'm not sure where those comments were, but it was literally a GIF with two frames. The long delay and consequent difficulty of noticing the movement was the clever part.

I see that now, I'll try and see if I can get a shortened copy uploaded.

[Vigilant]

I never saw the original, but some comments implied it was weirder than just eyes moving - I used creative license to guess what.

I'm not sure where those comments were, but it was literally a GIF with two frames. The long delay and consequent difficulty of noticing the movement was the clever part.

I see that now, I'll try and see if I can get a shortened copy uploaded.

I think this would make an EXCELLENT avatar photo.

Here's the gif in question in an editor format.
http://gif-explode.com/?explode=http:// ... es_002.gif

[Woden.Ragnarok]

[quote="Vigilant]
I think this would make an EXCELLENT avatar photo.
[/quote]

Sadly Beyond my Ken and Feydey disagree. With BMK advising me I shouldn't upload Joke images - suprising given images like File:Albrecht Altdorfer.jpg (T-H-L) have been up there for years.

[Smiley]

Someone just appeared on my home town's page with this..

"Boscombe is the second most deprived place in the world , after Botswana"

It was the misplaced comma that gave him away. Who would utter such slander? None other than Jools "Hood" Green, the notorious leader of the ABZ gang. Uh oh.. Better be careful in approaching this scary sounding gangster..

Quick look on facebook just to check who I'm dealing with here. Oh good lord.. What have I [b]done[/b]???

[Vigilant]

Someone just appeared on my home town's page with this..

"Boscombe is the second most deprived place in the world , after Botswana"

It was the misplaced comma that gave him away. Who would utter such slander? None other than Jools "Hood" Green, the notorious leader of the ABZ gang. Uh oh.. Better be careful in approaching this scary sounding gangster..

Quick look on facebook just to check who I'm dealing with here. Oh good lord.. What have I [b]done[/b]???

Is that the sound of Demiurge1000 drooling?

[The Joy]

Someone just appeared on my home town's page with this..

"Boscombe is the second most deprived place in the world , after Botswana"

It was the misplaced comma that gave him away. Who would utter such slander? None other than Jools "Hood" Green, the notorious leader of the ABZ gang. Uh oh.. Better be careful in approaching this scary sounding gangster..

Quick look on facebook just to check who I'm dealing with here. Oh good lord.. What have I [b]done[/b]???

Is that the sound of Demiurge1000 drooling?

"Hello, little boy."

[The Joy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =558808481

Greg is the Invisible Man?

[EricBarbour]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =558808481
Greg is the Invisible Man?

Blocked by NYB ten minutes later. Yeah, that's really "improving the encyclopedia", Ira.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Co ... ageandhide

[Alison]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =558808481
Greg is the Invisible Man?

Blocked by NYB ten minutes later. Yeah, that's really "improving the encyclopedia", Ira.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Co ... ageandhide

That's actually Johnny the Vandal/JtV/Italian Vandal. I took a peek.

[EricBarbour]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =558808481
Greg is the Invisible Man?

Blocked by NYB ten minutes later. Yeah, that's really "improving the encyclopedia", Ira.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Co ... ageandhide

That's actually Johnny the Vandal/JtV/Italian Vandal. I took a peek.

Doesn't that guy ever give up, or even take a vacation??

(And for further dramatic effect, I wish he'd write up his Wikipedia editing history for me,
so we can have something about one of WP's most persistent "comedians". The records
are a mess, those that I can see anyway.)

[thekohser]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =558808481
Greg is the Invisible Man?

Blocked by NYB ten minutes later. Yeah, that's really "improving the encyclopedia", Ira.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Co ... ageandhide

That's actually Johnny the Vandal/JtV/Italian Vandal. I took a peek.

Brilliant work, if you ask me. I hope he returns -- but not so frequently as to get the biography semi-protected.

[Triptych]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =558808481
Greg is the Invisible Man?

Blocked by NYB ten minutes later. Yeah, that's really "improving the encyclopedia", Ira.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Co ... ageandhide

Newyorkbrad says the indef. is for "trolling on a BLP." "Trolling" is not a policy (or guideline) basis, is it? The term "troll" or "trolling" does not occur at WP:BLP. It's more of an Internet insult, used in an uncivil or belittling way, is typically resisted by the target, and is not a precise term at all. Beyond that the image addition was not "trolling" at all in my view.

I would expect NYB to adhere to policy in doing his no-warn indefs. or at least to feign a policy basis to mask his personal irritation. He could possibly have called attention to WP:BLP's section on "verifiability" i.e. were those really Greg Kohs' glasses?

The edit was obviously mere humor and whomever it was would not have quarreled with a simple revert. With the block we see again an heavy-handed and carefree use of administrative tools without regard to policy.

[Wer900]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =558808481
Greg is the Invisible Man?

Blocked by NYB ten minutes later. Yeah, that's really "improving the encyclopedia", Ira.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Co ... ageandhide

Newyorkbrad says the indef. is for "trolling on a BLP." "Trolling" is not a policy (or guideline) basis, is it? The term "troll" or "trolling" does not occur at WP:BLP. It's more of an Internet insult, used in an uncivil or belittling way, is typically resisted by the target, and is not a precise term at all. Beyond that the image addition was not "trolling" at all in my view.

I would expect NYB to adhere to policy in doing his no-warn indefs. or at least to feign a policy basis to mask his personal irritation. He could possibly have called attention to WP:BLP's section on "verifiability" i.e. were those really Greg Kohs' glasses?

The edit was obviously mere humor and whomever it was would not have quarreled with a simple revert. With the block we see again an heavy-handed and carefree use of administrative tools without regard to policy.

Yet more reason for an administrative control committee, content review boards, and an elected assembly. Consensus only works in local article-content decisions that are not polarized, and has little chance of succeeding anywhere else. The idiocy of putting forth an RfC on content after the Muhammad images case was monumental—such a referendum would merely create the opportunity for another ArbCom case.

[thekohser]

With the block we see again an heavy-handed and carefree use of administrative tools without regard to policy.

So, what's new?

(I'm likin' this Triptych guy.)

[HRIP7]

The idiocy of putting forth an RfC on content after the Muhammad images case was monumental—such a referendum would merely create the opportunity for another ArbCom case.

Well, it quietened the discussions down, so in that sense it was a success.

[The Joy]

A BLP, I know, but videogame people will understand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =559338207

http://kotaku.com/by-the-time-you-read- ... -512509206

[Woden.Ragnarok]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =340694951

This one was perpetrated by Comedian/Singer Joe Dolce (T-H-L) (he even outs himself on Anna Lincoln's talkpage.)

[Captain Occam]

This isn't exactly vandalism, but it's the most bizarre conspiracy theory I've ever seen someone advocate at Wikipedia, involving the 1994 video game Super Metroid (T-H-L).

== the odd Level and enemy names ==

am I the only one who thinks that Kraid looks like Kermit?
A green frog.
The inventor of Kermit, Jim Henson, died from AIDS.
Note: krAID'S lair, contains AIDS and liar.
Kermit contains the letters for "krem", the German word for cream when you use the old spelling.
Krebs is the German word for cancer. It starts with "KR", just like Kraid.
Maridia lacks only two letters and then you get mare and India. Sea and India.
When you think of India, you'll probably associate it with curry. And the German word for sea is "Meer".
So you'd come up with "Mercury", just like Freddy Mercury, who had died from AIDS about the time Super Metroid was released.
When you rearrange the letters of Norfair, you get "Air Fron", like "air front".
When I hear "Mother Brain", I think of brain dura mater. Mater also is the latin word for Matrix.
Think about the word "dura" one letter up it's "evsb", which contains "BSE", and another letter up following the alphabet it's fwtc, which contains "WTC".
I'm pretty sure that there's something wrong with that and that it aren't just my paranoid delusions.
The Nintendo developers picked those names with intention because they knew something special.

The same person also is evidently a 9/11 denier. Not a 9/11 truther, a 9/11 denier; i.e. they think the attacks were faked.

[EricBarbour]

This isn't exactly vandalism, but it's the most bizarre conspiracy theory I've ever seen someone advocate at Wikipedia, involving the 1994 video game Super Metroid (T-H-L).

That one's intense enough to put in our "mentally ill" article. I only wish he'd done more work on WP, for the yuks.

[The Joy]

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =599178062

With respect to the IP, the Dornier Do 435 never did fly.

http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/aircraft/ty ... do-335.htm

[The Joy]

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =600687462

I tried to read this. I didn't get a computer virus, but I did unleash a demon from the Necronomicon.

[thekohser]

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... =600687462

I tried to read this. I didn't get a computer virus, but I did unleash a demon from the Necronomicon.

Looks like the work of Jimbo's friend, "Mr. 2001".

[Captain Occam]

I wonder whether turning AN/I into a page of gibberish was intended as some sort of commentary on that noticeboard's value. Did that edit make it any less productive a place for discussion than it had been before?

[Kelly Martin]

I wonder whether turning AN/I into a page of gibberish was intended as some sort of commentary on that noticeboard's value.

AN/I is virtually always a page of gibberish to me. But I never was good at Wikijargon, and it's gotten much denser since I left.

[Kumioko]

I was always a fan of the hoax article on the Upper Peninsula War Wikipedia:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia/Upper Peninsula War (T-H-L)

[Hersch]

It's that time of year again.

[enwikibadscience]

I wonder whether turning AN/I into a page of gibberish was intended as some sort of commentary on that noticeboard's value.

AN/I is virtually always a page of gibberish to me. But I never was good at Wikijargon, and it's gotten much denser since I left.

Yes, when has it not been a page of gibberish. My favorites are the admin-wanna bes.

[greyed.out.fields]

Picture may be deleted soon, so view it while it still exists...

[EricBarbour]

Picture may be deleted soon, so view it while it still exists...

Saved a screenshot. Thanks, hilarious.

[Jim]

Picture may be deleted soon, so view it while it still exists...

- http://www.webcitation.org/6P8iS70DR

[greyed.out.fields]

Chihiro number was pretty good.

[Jim]

Chihiro number was pretty good.

Yeah - DYK is a great public service, bringing this knowledge to the world.
Read the subsection below that, too, for added flailing around and gnashing of teeth. Wrong forum - ah, well...