On the WIKIPEDIA IS BANNING ALL ANTI-GAMERGATE PEOPLE FROM EDITING ALL ARTICLES ABOUT WOMEN claims that I see flying around.... rather than keep trying to stamp it out each place it appears, let me try to hit it once here. All these reports are based on a single bloggers post, and thats full of false information and information meant to mislead. Yes, it looks like a number of editors are going to be facing a topic ban arising from editing on GamerGate related articles. No, it is not just people on one side of the discussion. No, the pro-GamerGate accounts that appear to be getting banned (the bans in this case are still under discussion) are not just throwaway accounts - some have been editing for over a decade. And if youre trying to weigh who gets banned from such editing, please realize that there have been a number of pro-GamerGate editors banned before this particular case. I havent looked closely at all the edits of those who are being bandied about as the feminist editors, but Ive read the commentary of one who has looked at their work and found they arent particularly feminist editors. And one question that seems to be being avoided is whether there are actual reasons for the people who are being banned to be banned, and having looked at the cases, it looks like yes to me. Remember, just because someone has the same political goals as you doesnt mean that their methods are appropriate. And no, those who are being topic banned will not be banned from all topics about women, but merely any gender-related dispute or controversy (which admittedly is a wide swath) and people associated with such controversies. And no, not even all of those brought into the case who have been acting as a check on the pro-GamerGate side are being topic-banned, should the current proposal go into effect. If you want to know whats going on, you can read the case discussion at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/GamerGate and the proposed decision at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/GamerGate/Proposed_decision . If you are concerned about the impact this will have on articles, my suggestion is that you join those of us who edit Wikipedia, who in all our imperfect ways work to improve the inherently-imperfect but extremely useful resource that is made available for free to the world. If anyone wants any suggestions on starting editing, let me know. (I would particularly caution about diving right into editing GamerGate without reviewing certain Wikipedia guidelines, because it is very easy in passion to take steps while editing that push against those guidelines.... but knowing those guidelines will also prove useful for pushing back against people making problematic edits.)
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 14:37:53 +0000
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