Wikiconference USA - May 30 to June 1, 2014

[Midsize Jake]

And wouldn't you know, paid editor David King (a.k.a. CorporateM (T-C-L)) is now on the New York Law School scene, doing 17 kilobytes worth of damage control.

They won't be happy about that!

I think it's possible that Andrea Juncos and Leonora1805 (T-C-L) are different individuals. An earlier user who added a lot of fluff to the Carole Post article was Ltorvi (T-C-L), who is almost certainly Lara Torvi, who in turn worked for Post at the NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (NYC-DoITT) back in 2012. Her last edit to that article was on May 3, 2012, a month before Post resigned as commissioner of NYC-DoITT, and 4 months before Ajuncos (T-C-L) and Leonora1805 started editing Post's BLP (at which point she was at NYLS).

So, my conclusion has to be that Post is probably the instigator of the NYLS editing activity, that she has a history of tasking subordinates with Wikipedia editing to polish her own public image, and that until now, nobody has said boo about it. It's still not irrefutable proof of a quid pro quo with respect to the gift of NYLS facilities-usage for the WikiConference, but it sure does smell like it... a lot.

[thekohser]

So, my conclusion has to be that Post is probably the instigator of the NYLS editing activity...

Post didn't arrive at New York Law School until May 2012. The public affairs department at NYLS had been manipulating away on Wikipedia since at least 2006, Jake.

If you count Huping Hu's attempts to puff up his alma mater, NYLS has generated self-interested editing since the very start of its article, in 2005.

Carole Post was merely continuing a long tradition at NYLS.

[Midsize Jake]

Post didn't arrive at New York Law School until May 2012. The public affairs department at NYLS had been manipulating away on Wikipedia since at least 2006, Jake.

Hmm... You're right, that's pretty bad!

Still, I wouldn't be too quick to assume this sort of behavior was directed by NYLS management prior to Post's arrival. Even in that whopper of a diff, there's no mention of Anthony Crowell's predecessor, Richard A. Matasar, the guy in charge of NYLS at that time - and no BLP on Matasar either, nor did they (apparently) try to create one. Moreover, the user who did the most egregious puffing-up prior to 2012 was probably MJO (T-C-L), who appears to be a fairly ordinary WP user with varied interests - my guess is User:MJO is an alumnus of NYLS, but not an employee. (None of these people ever created user pages, but that's probably because they're all lawyers, or working for lawyers.) In this diff, for example, MJO deletes a whole bunch of material he/she had posted shortly before, as if suddenly realizing that some boundary of propriety had been exceeded and it was time to scale back a little bit.

Admittedly, I haven't had time to look into this all that thoroughly... but in the unlikely event that we ever find evidence of quid pro quo here, even of an informal nature, I'm going to stick to my guess that the idea came from Post's office, if not Post herself.

[thekohser]

After having a couple of days to think about it, Phil Knight has sent me the following e-mail message:

In the following post:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =625671707

you link to:

http://www.odwyerpr.com/story/public/26 ... pedia.html

which contains the words "Gregory Kohs is the founder of MyWikiBiz".

Given that [[User:MyWikiBiz]] is bannned (sic), if a Wikipedian concludes that you are this banned user, then you have not been outed. It doesn't matter whether they refer to you as "Gregory Kohs" or "MyWikiBiz", you still have not been outed.

Finally, this email list is for pages needing oversight, as opposed to debate and discussion. Further emails about this subject will not be replied to.

Sincerely,

Phil Knight

Does everyone have that? Any Wikipedian can assert that any IP address is any banned user, then name that user by their real name, and no violation of Wikipedia's policy against outing will have occurred!

[Kelly Martin]

Does everyone have that? Any Wikipedian can assert that any IP address is any banned user, then name that user by their real name, and no violation of Wikipedia's policy against outing will have occurred!

Not of the body!

[thekohser]

I can also say with 100% certainty that Phil Knight is wrong, because although he may "suspect" that The Receiver 0814 (T-C-L) is my sockpuppet, I assure you it is not. I didn't create the account; I didn't name it; and I didn't operate it -- ever.

[EricBarbour]

I can also say with 100% certainty that Phil Knight is wrong, because although he may "suspect" that The Receiver 0814 (T-C-L) is my sockpuppet, I assure you it is not. I didn't create the account; I didn't name it; and I didn't operate it -- ever.

I believe you, this is just another case of possible checkuser abuse/fakery, or just flat-out lying. They never learn from their past mistakes.

[thekohser]

Phil Knight has also gone on to range block the tallest building in Pennsylvania, through December 17th.

[thekohser]

David Goodman recently said:

I have been advised by NYBrad and the Foundation that public discussion of the details would best be avoided.

Who do you think he means, specifically, when he says "the Foundation"?

[Randy from Boise]

David Goodman recently said:

I have been advised by NYBrad and the Foundation that public discussion of the details would best be avoided.

Who do you think he means, specifically, when he says "the Foundation"?

Probably nothing. Just words.

RfB

[Zoloft]

David Goodman recently said:

I have been advised by NYBrad and the Foundation that public discussion of the details would best be avoided.

Who do you think he means, specifically, when he says "the Foundation"?

Probably nothing. Just words.

RfB

Undoubtedly the Galactic Encyclopedia Foundation.

[thekohser]

David Goodman recently said:

I have been advised by NYBrad and the Foundation that public discussion of the details would best be avoided.

Who do you think he means, specifically, when he says "the Foundation"?

Probably nothing. Just words.

RfB

I can see why he's one of your favorites for ArbCom, then.

[tarantino]

Nobody's been watching their store. Their wiki has been slowly filling up with link spammers since last June. Virtually every account created after that with edits is one.

User:TaneshaHartwell

Throughout the year, live und nackt a porn actor who goes by" Donny Wright," is shown. Quick to defend future creative decisions, Williamsthen added: I want to avoid these kinds of party, which absolutely I can't. Maybe our hair is to keep the planes safe. It is a high speed and most cost efficient internet option. Through the 1920s he worked as a lorry driver and got involved with environmental groups and communal living.

Have a look at my web site; http://www.scribd.com

[thekohser]

Nobody's been watching their store.

James Hare sure has been busy. I can't wait to attend the 2015 conference in Washington, DC!

[Midsize Jake]

To be fair, the overbooking of bald or receding-hairline passengers has been linked to higher rates of airplane crashes.

[Neotarf]

Nobody's been watching their store.

James Hare sure has been busy. I can't wait to attend the 2015 conference in Washington, DC!

You are preparing a presentation? There is something you can show them that they don't know already?

And what's this rumor I hear about some consortium of paid editors? Are you part of that? Is it a Good Thing?

[Moral Hazard]

Well Viggie, I have to admit that 'unicorn shit' made me giggle. Anyway, hi all. Been busy enough irl that I haven't been active much on-wiki or stopped by here in a month or two.

All wiki stuff aside, how's the concussion?

There's so much obvious stuff to give me shit for that I'm a bit disappointed that you and Kohs have stuck to me getting a concussion. Is a random fairly old head injury really that funny a thing? Though my flight back from the conference did make me wonder if Kohs is somehow prophetic. Right as I fell asleep, a flight attendant dropped a damn thirty pound box of pretzels on my head. No damage, but still a weird way to wake up.

I wasn't fucking with you about the concussion.
I was seriously and kindly asking after your health.

I'm not a one dimensional super villain every day of the week.

Assuming good faith for a moment, my most sincere apologies dear Viggie, it's sometimes hard to differentiate between the well-meaning WO folks, and those who tweet "shouldn't be tweeting with an obvious head injury" at you in the middle of a conference. In answer to questions that have been posed at various points in this thread: yes, WMDC/WMNYC paid for my flight to the conference, via a scholarship program open to all applicants. The basic finances of the conference have been available for months for anyone with access to Google. I didn't actually miss my 8 am flight; Delta cancelled it due to technical difficulties, and rescheduled me on a later one. I would've missed my 8 am flight if it hadn't been cancelled for the same reason I look like someone who hasn't slept in the recent past in the random photos people have been popping out of me - because I was out until five in the morning several nights of the conference. Yes, some Wikipedians are fun to go out with.

Kohs (author of previous tweet) - it's hilariously creepy that you started tweeting random conference attendees demanding a $5 refund for your cancellation fee. If Wikipediocracy somehow ever makes an episode of South Park, I have a feeling you're going to wind up cast as the loch ness monster.

This is a reminder that Kevin can write like an adult with a sense of humor, when he is not writing for Wikipediots. I hope that he is well and considers joining us.