Rathfelder – “a good editor”

[Midsize Jake]

Rathfelder – “a good editor”

By Virginia Belmont • Wed., Nov. 16, 2022

This is about User:Rathfelder (T-C-L), who was recently unblocked despite having been caught abusing multiple accounts.

This is one of those blog posts where we couldn't (or didn't) think of a good accompanying image/illustration, so I guess we're open to suggestions. We thought about whether or not to use his Twitter profile photo, but technically that would be a copyright violation. If we have to go with a generic image of dirty socks (i.e., the kind you wear on your feet), then so be it, but I guess we don't have to decide right away.

[The Garbage Scow]

Some animals are more equal than others.

[Giraffe Stapler]

I'm getting a strong smell of weasel with hints of snake. Why are Wikipedia admins so unable to connect the dots when they are this obvious?

[Lyallpuri]

Now back at AN.

[Giraffe Stapler]

Now back at AN.

I wonder why no one has brought up the other sockpuppet exposed in the blog post, Harry Boardman (T-C-L)? Rathfelder voted three times in one RfC - once as Rathfelder, once as Bigwig7, and once as Harry Boardman. I am curious to see how he explains that away...

[Midsize Jake]

I have to say, I'm impressed with how Mr. Summit was able to post that on the ol' Noticeboard and admit the possibility of fault in this case.

Of course, the real problem here is cultural. Wikipedians are so afraid of being accused of "stalking" and "outing" each other, they just won't do any sort of due-diligence on the backgrounds of their users, even when those users are clearly breaking the rules. By no means is that problem limited to Girth Summit, and obviously a lot of those users are completely anonymous in the first place, but it's going well beyond the mere "assumption of good faith" and it's only becoming more pronounced over time.

And now, at the risk of stating the obvious, various people who aren't familiar with how Wikipedia operates are trying to tout it as a "bulwark against disinformation" — which for the admins is a "can't have your cake and eat it too" situation if there ever was one.

[AndyTheGrump]

Rathfelder has been community banned.
link

[Giraffe Stapler]

Rathfelder has been community banned.
link

I think once the cat was out of the bag, the community ban was likely but Rathfelder's comments really sealed his fate. Girth Summit deserves credit for bringing this forward in the way that they did.

[Boing! said Zebedee]

Rathfelder has been community banned.
link

I think once the cat was out of the bag, the community ban was likely but Rathfelder's comments really sealed his fate. Girth Summit deserves credit for bringing this forward in the way that they did.

Yep, agreed all round. Rathfelder's "I tried to be objective in my three-sock political hit job, and I didn't do much harm" stance condemned him. And Girth Summit did exactly the right thing.

[el84]

The title of this thread reminds me of the signs I see at schools regarding their OFSTED inspections.

An example

Another example

[Giraffe Stapler]

The title of this thread reminds me of the signs I see at schools regarding their OFSTED inspections.

An example

Another example

That's an unfair comparison. I'm sure there's a list of things schools have to do to be declared "good". All a Wikipedia editor has to do is make a lot of edits, write some articles, and not piss off the wrong people.

Look at people like Neelix (T-C-L), who are such "good" editors that they get newspaper articles written about them. And then they are banned. Likewsise, Koavf (T-C-L) (who is back from an indef in 2020). Etc etc

[el84]

The title of this thread reminds me of the signs I see at schools regarding their OFSTED inspections.

An example

Another example

That's an unfair comparison. I'm sure there's a list of things schools have to do to be declared "good". All a Wikipedia editor has to do is make a lot of edits, write some articles, and not piss off the wrong people.

Look at people like Neelix (T-C-L), who are such "good" editors that they get newspaper articles written about them. And then they are banned. Likewsise, Koavf (T-C-L) (who is back from an indef in 2020). Etc etc

It was less a comparison of what they needed to do to get that said and more the way they just print the quote verbatim. On the windows of one of my local schools it just says "THIS IS A GOOD SCHOOL" in a massive font.

My humour is probably completely off base in this context.

[Anroth]

The title of this thread reminds me of the signs I see at schools regarding their OFSTED inspections.

An example

Another example

That's an unfair comparison. I'm sure there's a list of things schools have to do to be declared "good". All a Wikipedia editor has to do is make a lot of edits, write some articles, and not piss off the wrong people.

Look at people like Neelix (T-C-L), who are such "good" editors that they get newspaper articles written about them. And then they are banned. Likewsise, Koavf (T-C-L) (who is back from an indef in 2020). Etc etc

It was less a comparison of what they needed to do to get that said and more the way they just print the quote verbatim. On the windows of one of my local schools it just says "THIS IS A GOOD SCHOOL" in a massive font.

My humour is probably completely off base in this context.

You are probably going to see a lot more of those. Ofsted just downgraded hundreds to 'good' after visiting loads in what was manys first inspection in over a decade.

[The Garbage Scow]

Rathfelder is already requesting his ban be lifted with "nobody is supporting me and everyone is being mean" in his request.

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

[The Blue Newt]

The title of this thread reminds me of the signs I see at schools regarding their OFSTED inspections.

An example

Another example

That's an unfair comparison. I'm sure there's a list of things schools have to do to be declared "good". All a Wikipedia editor has to do is make a lot of edits, write some articles, and not piss off the wrong people.

Look at people like Neelix (T-C-L), who are such "good" editors that they get newspaper articles written about them. And then they are banned. Likewsise, Koavf (T-C-L) (who is back from an indef in 2020). Etc etc

It was less a comparison of what they needed to do to get that said and more the way they just print the quote verbatim. On the windows of one of my local schools it just says "THIS IS A GOOD SCHOOL" in a massive font.

My humour is probably completely off base in this context.

You are probably going to see a lot more of those. Ofsted just downgraded hundreds to 'good' after visiting loads in what was manys first inspection in over a decade.

If I understand it correctly, “good” is a “B” grade, and would only be worth bragging much about if the reader expected a lower one?

[redbaron]

Rathfelder is already requesting his ban be lifted with "nobody is supporting me and everyone is being mean" in his request.

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

There is almost unanimous oppose to the unblock; the only "conditional support" coming from GoodDay (T-C-L), who apparently doesn't give a crap about the original offense as long as one isn't caught socking.

[Giraffe Stapler]

Rathfelder is already requesting his ban be lifted with "nobody is supporting me and everyone is being mean" in his request.

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

There is almost unanimous oppose to the unblock; the only "conditional support" coming from GoodDay (T-C-L), who apparently doesn't give a crap about the original offense as long as one isn't caught socking.

GoodDay has become a reliable indicator. If he votes for something, you know it's a bad idea.

[Giraffe Stapler]

Rathfelder is trying again to get his block lifted. It seems like he has learned a lot nothing since the last unblock request.

I have been banned or blocked for nearly a year. During that time I have worked on the Simple English wikipedia. I have done quite a lot of work there. I accept that I was wrong to create sockpuppets and I apologise. The circumstances which led me to do that will not happen again.

He's just waiting for someone to copy it over to ANI. I would do it myself, but I am just preparing my RfA and I wouldn't want to get involved in anything tawdry at this sensitive time.