Wikipedia Loves Love

[Giraffe Stapler]

Through some oversight, there isn't a "romance" section of the forum, so I will just post this here.
They Met Online. Through Wikipedia, That Is. (archive)

When Courtney Elizabeth Thurston and Matthew Paul Del Buono first met in person, they didn’t know each other as Courtney Thurston and Matthew Del Buono; they knew each other as IShadowed (T-C-L) and Shirik (T-C-L). Those were the aliases that Ms. Thurston and Mr. Del Buono used as contributors to Wikipedia.

The two got involved with Wikipedia around 2009 and 2010, when Ms. Thurston was a middle school student in Mechanicsburg, Pa., and Mr. Del Buono was starting a job as a software engineer for an aviation company in Hood River, Ore.

Ms. Thurston and Mr. Del Buono first met in real life in 2013, when they attended the wedding of two other Wikipedia contributors in New Jersey. At that point, Ms. Thurston and Mr. Del Buono were just acquaintances. But Ms. Thurston remembers being struck by Mr. Del Buono. “It felt really easy to talk to him,” she said.

They kept in touch. Their paths crossed again in 2014, at the annual Wikimania Conference, which was in London that year. They started talking more and more after that.

By the beginning of 2016, Ms. Thurston felt that the friendship had shifted.

Awwwwww.

Ms. Thurston moved in with Mr. Del Buono in Washington in 2019. Ms. Thurston, 23, is now a software engineer and Mr. Del Buono, 34, is a senior software engineering manager, both at Microsoft Azure. (The bride and groom work in different divisions.)

Congratulations to these two Wiki lovebirds!!!
It's probably better if you don't do the math. Who are you to judge, anyway?

[Moral Hazard]

May their marriage function better than Wikipedia.

[Beeblebrox]

There's a t least one more such couple, as I'm sure some folks here already know, but they don't really discuss it publicly.

I kind of wondered what the level of hook-ups at meetups is. I'm old and balding and wear a wedding ring so nobody hit on me at either conference I've been to, but I imagine there is at least a little bit of it going on.

[Vigilant]

There's a t least one more such couple, as I'm sure some folks here already know, but they don't really discuss it publicly.

I kind of wondered what the level of hook-ups at meetups is. I'm old and balding and wear a wedding ring so nobody hit on me at either conference I've been to, but I imagine there is at least a little bit of it going on.

Try wearing your mongoose costume next time...

[tarantino]

There's a t least one more such couple, as I'm sure some folks here already know, but they don't really discuss it publicly.

Former foundation employee and throat-puncher Os "Ironholds" Keyes and current foundation employee Karen "Fluffernutter" Brown? ;)

[Beeblebrox]

There's a t least one more such couple, as I'm sure some folks here already know, but they don't really discuss it publicly.

Former foundation employee and throat-puncher Os "Ironholds" Keyes and current foundation employee Karen "Fluffernutter" Brown?

If you're suggesting those two are a couple, I've met them both in person and I can assure that is not the case.

[Poetlister]

There's John Vandenberg and Siska Doviana. Did they meet through Wikipedia?

[Giraffe Stapler]

There's a t least one more such couple, as I'm sure some folks here already know, but they don't really discuss it publicly.

Ohhhhhhhh - you mean Laura Hale?

I don't think she (third from left) and Hawkeye7 (far left) were married. I'm not even sure they met through Wikipedia. They might have known each other before.

[Beeblebrox]

Ew, no, I don't know exactly what their relationship is or was and I'm not sure I want to.

I also didn't mean to start a gossip column here where people guess who I'm referring to but that's on me for not seeing it coming.

Funnily enough having this discussion has caused me to remember another example, some folks I got rather drunk with one night at Wikimania 2012, but again, they don't seem to publicly disclose it.

[tarantino]

If you're suggesting those two are a couple, I've met them both in person and I can assure that is not the case.

Not now, no. But before Fluffernutter married Courcelles, she and Ironholds were an item.

[Moral Hazard]

If you're suggesting those two are a couple, I've met them both in person and I can assure that is not the case.

Not now, no. But before Fluffernutter married Courcelles, she and Ironholds were an item.

Some of the IRC behavior seems to be a result of young men having grown up playing networked video games in which they tried to out shock each other by turning around every insult into even more shocking bravado; girls in such environments accept abusive language to belong.

Sad!

[Vigilant]

If you're suggesting those two are a couple, I've met them both in person and I can assure that is not the case.

Not now, no. But before Fluffernutter married Courcelles, she and Ironholds were an item.

Some of the IRC behavior seems to be a result of young men having grown up playing networked video games in which they tried to out shock each other by turning around every insult into even more shocking bravado; girls in such environments accept abusive language to belong.

Sad!

But mostly it's just shitty people being shitty behind feeble anonymity combined with a lack of consequences for shitty behavior. Wikipedia is FILLED with shitty people who will be shitty at the drop of a hat.

However, when the Eye of Sauron lands on them, they all seem to shrink.

I think it's unlikely that Oliver Keyes will be running his mouth on IRC about throat punching women any more...
And Scotty Wong won't be editing his employer's article any more...
And Laura Hale won't be applying for any more travel grants....
And Wnt won't post any more shooting videos...

[Without Comfort]

If you're suggesting those two are a couple, I've met them both in person and I can assure that is not the case.

Not now, no. But before Fluffernutter married Courcelles, she and Ironholds were an item.

Some of the IRC behavior seems to be a result of young men having grown up playing networked video games in which they tried to out shock each other by turning around every insult into even more shocking bravado; girls in such environments accept abusive language to belong.

Sad!

But mostly it's just shitty people being shitty behind feeble anonymity combined with a lack of consequences for shitty behavior. Wikipedia is FILLED with shitty people who will be shitty at the drop of a hat.

However, when the Eye of Sauron lands on them, they all seem to shrink.

I think it's unlikely that Oliver Keyes will be running his mouth on IRC about throat punching women any more...
And Scotty Wong won't be editing his employer's article any more...
And Laura Hale won't be applying for any more travel grants....
And Wnt won't post any more shooting videos...

I think that Wnt video link was the Christchurch massacre, but the incident doesn't seem well documented here. I could only find it discussed in passing in the Wnt thread.

[Moral Hazard]

If you're suggesting those two are a couple, I've met them both in person and I can assure that is not the case.

Not now, no. But before Fluffernutter married Courcelles, she and Ironholds were an item.

Some of the IRC behavior seems to be a result of young men having grown up playing networked video games in which they tried to out shock each other by turning around every insult into even more shocking bravado; girls in such environments accept abusive language to belong.

Sad!

But mostly it's just shitty people being shitty behind feeble anonymity combined with a lack of consequences for shitty behavior. Wikipedia is FILLED with shitty people who will be shitty at the drop of a hat.

However, when the Eye of Sauron lands on them, they all seem to shrink.

I think it's unlikely that Oliver Keyes will be running his mouth on IRC about throat punching women any more...
And Scotty Wong won't be editing his employer's article any more...
And Laura Hale won't be applying for any more travel grants....
And Wnt won't post any more shooting videos...

Concealed within his fortress, the lord of Wikipediocracy sees all.

His gaze pierces cloud, shadow, earth, and flesh.

You know of what I speak.

A great V, pitiless, wreathed in flame.

[Giraffe Stapler]

I think that Wnt video link was the Christchurch massacre, but the incident doesn't seem well documented here. I could only find it discussed in passing in the Wnt thread.

Well, there was the Christchurch video, but years before there was also posting a link on Jimbo's talk page to a video of someone being beheaded.

Then there was this comment when another editor suggested posting the video of someone being murdered and dismembered:

I should note that Wikisource is a text site; media material is kept on Commons. I disagree with Robofish's position - I don't believe that curiosity is evil - nonetheless it is represented by the Commons:Commons:Photographs of identifiable persons policy which rules out posting of videos taken in a private place without their consent, which is a component of his thinking. I would, however, like to see the kitten-and-python video, as it is probably quite educational, and may even be useful to Florida cat owners who I imagine don't know half the times it's happened to them. Wnt (talk) 18:42, 3 June 2012 (UTC)

So, Commons can't host the video because it's against policy, but let's upload that video the murderer made of a kitten being eaten by a python!

In another discussion about the same murder video The Garbage Skow (T-C-L) asks "I hope you're not suggesting we link to the video" and Wnt replies:

Indeed I am. Wikipedia is not censored, and we should value primary sources. This should not be seen as being amoral, but as having faith that providing information is a good thing. When that video was posted to bestgore.com, in 48 hours, the crime was solved (the police think) by those who had seen a different tape. Who knows if there's another tape out there somewhere, with a different crime still unsolved, which some Wikipedia reader following such a link will remember? Wnt (talk) 22:40, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

That's just from a quick search of Wikipedia. There's probably more like that if you look. Wnt was a total sociopath. I know this has strayed off topic from Wikipedia editors who have married, but it's worth remembering in case he pops up again.