Fun with umlauts

Along with writing music articles I've put up a few good article nominees. That means I owe the karma bank a few reviews. Another editor put up a music article for GA consideration recently. It wouldn't be fair to review an article written by someone I know so I picked a different entry from the top of the nominee list. That way his would move up in the queue.

The oldest unreviewed candidate turned out to be Defeated Sanity, "a German brutal death metal band from Dachsbach, Bavaria." Well isn't that something? Not my cup of tea, necessarily (especially since my cup of tea is usually coffee), but let's have a look.

It appears to be a well organized article with adequate references. Summarizes the band's history, releases, reviews, and personnel changes. Brief, yet probably comprehensive given the limitations of the subject. The prose could use a polish, though.

What caught my eye especially was a strange accent mark over the u of a band member's name. Might that have been a misreading? Checking the references, indeed it was in error. I had found perhaps the world's only encyclopedia article about heavy metal that had a legitimate shortage of umlauts. So here's the review:

Overall looks pretty good. In good conscience, however, it would be an insult to the genre to outright pass a metal article that lacked needed umlauts. I've fixed the missing ones in the band member name. Please copyedit and proofread, then contact me for a second review. Durova^Charge! 19:35, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

...another day on Wikipedia.

Small worries

Ever notice how trolls dish it out but they can't take it? If you've wanted to turn the tables then you're going to love this post.

A fellow who calls himself Grawp has been having his lulz at Wikipedia. He's got one joke, which was never very funny. Grawp has been going through Wikipedia volunteer userspaces in his entirely predictable manner for months dragging on into years and it seemed like a matter of time until he got to me.

Now before proceeding a caution is in order: Grawp's only joke is graphic and sexual. Basically it's an explicit boast about his own supposed prowess. So what follows here is not family friendly.

The matter got me to thinking why a fellow would go on in that way. Doesn't that demonstrate an obvious need to compensate for something? If Grawp had an actual partner then eventually he'd go out to the movies instead. Maybe he'd even get lucky and have sex in earnest. But his behavior was entirely consistent with a man who was--for want of a better word--his own best friend. One who takes matters into his own hands and yet still comes up short.

So here's the welcome I had waiting when he paid me a visit. Isn't it sweet? The image is my own creation and copyleft; feel free to reuse it. The puppet is of course a generic troll, but if the ruler fits...

And today I got a friendly ping and a history log from a contributor to another wiki. You see, the one advantage to Grawp's proclivities is that the troll sockpuppet with the two inch ruler is the only thing about him that's going viral. Apparently Grawp isn't quite happy about that. Could it be (ahem) that this little quip has too much truth about it?

What follows is Grawp getting short with another Encyclopedia Dramatica editor. I don't edit that site so click at your own risk:

cur) (last) 23:45, 3 December 2008 Ritegroic (Talk | Contribs) (53,467 bytes) (lulz)

(cur) (last) 23:43, 3 December 2008 Ritegroic (Talk | Contribs) m (53,477 bytes)

(cur) (last) 23:21, 3 December 2008 Raspberry Rush (Talk | Contribs) m (Protected "Grawp": STOP THE BULLSHIT. [edit=sysop:move=sysop] (expires 07:20, 6 December 2008 (UTC)))

(cur) (last) 23:15, 3 December 2008 Milton Hoe (Talk | Contribs) m (53,248 bytes) (fixing some stuff; you Wikipedos have conflict of interest regarding this article and thus cannot be trusted)

(cur) (last) 22:55, 3 December 2008 Cracked (Talk | Contribs) (53,058 bytes) (hey Allie, be nice)

(cur) (last) 22:04, 3 December 2008 Alliecat (Talk | Contribs) m (53,045 bytes) (oops - missed a bit)

(cur) (last) 22:02, 3 December 2008 Alliecat (Talk | Contribs) (53,049 bytes) (Here, if you don't want your email addy visible, do this. It's still available to bots y'know.)

(cur) (last) 22:01, 3 December 2008 Alliecat (Talk | Contribs) (53,058 bytes) (rv- quit the wholesale revert of my changes, Grawp. Everyone knows you don't use proxies, hence the begging unblock requests on Meta. Also get over WoW.)

(cur) (last) 21:12, 3 December 2008 Grawp (Talk | Contribs) m (53,248 bytes) (fixing some stuff)

(cur) (last) 20:42, 3 December 2008 Alliecat (Talk | Contribs) (53,058 bytes) (Various fixes and copyedits / factual fixes (like the proxy stuff))

(cur) (last) 18:37, 3 December 2008 Captain Emo (Talk | Contribs) m (53,072 bytes) (This one works so much better, Jeremy, you inadequate, limp-cocked little fuckbag)

(cur) (last) 18:02, 3 December 2008 Grawp (Talk | Contribs) (51,538 bytes) (Nice job erasing half the article, you stupid slut. Go back to Ireland. I hear the standard of living is higher there.)

(cur) (last) 17:39, 3 December 2008 Alliecat (Talk | Contribs) (23,725 bytes) (Undo revision 1997844969 by Grawp(Talk) GTFO)

(cur) (last) 17:26, 3 December 2008 Grawp (Talk | Contribs) m (53,248 bytes)

(cur) (last) 11:03, 3 December 2008 Hagger? (Talk | Contribs) (53,072 bytes) (Undo revision 1997844576 by Norbert(Talk) fucking cunt doesn't know when to fucking stop)

(cur) (last) 10:53, 3 December 2008 Norbert (Talk | Contribs) m (53,002 bytes)

(cur) (last) 10:13, 3 December 2008 MysteryBot (Talk | Contribs) m (53,072 bytes) ([Automatic] Reverting possible vandalism.)

(cur) (last) 10:10, 3 December 2008 6T3nwt3FYoiQi (Talk | Contribs) m (2,391 bytes)

(cur) (last) 09:32, 3 December 2008 Raspberry Rush (Talk | Contribs) m (53,072 bytes) (Undo revision 1997844512 by Norbert (Talk) You killed a pic for a pointless edit.)

(cur) (last) 09:21, 3 December 2008 Norbert (Talk | Contribs) m (53,002 bytes)

(cur) (last) 08:21, 3 December 2008 Hagger? (Talk | Contribs) (53,072 bytes) (so true)

(cur) (last) 08:02, 3 December 2008 Alliecat (Talk | Contribs) (53,074 bytes) (Fuck off yourself, pal)

(cur) (last) 07:50, 3 December 2008 The Gaffer (Talk | Contribs) (53,002 bytes) (→Past life)

(cur) (last) 07:39, 3 December 2008 The Gaffer (Talk | Contribs) (52,963 bytes) (Undo revision 1997844205 byAlliecat (Talk) - fuck off, you stupid, annoying, menopausal bitch)

(cur) (last) 22:53, 2 December 2008 Alliecat (Talk | Contribs) (53,035 bytes) (+pic, courtesy of Durova - lol)

(cur) (last) 22:08, 2 December 2008 Cracked (Talk | Contribs) (52,963 bytes) (rv repeated vandalism)

(cur) (last) 22:04, 2 December 2008 Grawp (Talk | Contribs) m (53,248 bytes) (Undo revision 1997844151 byCracked (Talk))

Shiny happy people holding hands

Kmweber has been benched from this blog for turnovers.

First down Durova. Passing play.

As you might have noticed from another post around here, a lovely troll puppet recently made its way to another website, much to the chagrin of a particular person being lampooned. That fellow was indeed a troll.

Some people say Kurt's a troll too. I haven't decided.

Of course two factors make all the difference. One is caption. That last image sat around innocently for a month until properly captioned. That other puppet with a two inch ruler didn't mean very much until I suggested 'inadequacy complex'. This image isn't captioned yet. Won't it be fun to see what the caption would be? The other is license. This one's still under full copyright.

I'll probably take about five days making up my mind. Of course, if Kurt Weber just happens to write an article during that time--any article--and it happens to get onto Wikipedia's main page at "Did you know", then I'll be impressed. I might even be so impressed that I take down this whole post and give him a barnstar for good sportsmanship.

Meanwhile, here's Kurt's campaign song.

And here's my response. Never forget, Kurt, that when you come to this blog you're in my house.

A mandate from the community?

It's a surprise to see the shape of this year's arbitration elections, particularly the voting trends on reelection candidates. It's tough work deciding Wikipedia's most stubborn disputes. And in making those decisions, inevitably some of the people who care about a case will return at election case holding a grudge. But there's a big difference between last year's pattern and this year's.

In the 2007 elections two former arbitrators sought a return to the Committee. Although neither of them made it, they finished a respectable seventh and eighth in the overall results and tallied solid two-thirds support.

Rebecca
Support: 233
Oppose: 125
Percent support: 65.08%

Raul654
Support: 317
Oppose: 171
Percent support: 64.96%

This year three arbitrators are seeking a return. None of them are faring nearly so well. As of this writing here's how the vote is shaping up:

Charles Matthews
Support: 21
Oppose: 108
Percent support: 16%

Jdforrester
Support: 26
Oppose: 119
Percent suport: 18%

Sam Korn (candidacy withdrawn)
Support: 56
Oppose: 54
Percent support: 51%

What's even more interesting is to read the rationales for those supports and opposes. A good number of people articulate the desire for change, and it may be significant that the returning candidate who fared best ended his previous term before 2008.

So maybe it's time to ask if that big gray thing in the corner is an elephant in the room: are these results about the candidates, or are these results an informal referendum on the 2008 Arbitration Committee?

Look at this string of comments:

105. Oppose. I see you as the continuity candidate. Skomorokh 01:19, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

106. Oppose The current ArbCom is a disaster. We don't need more of the same. AniMate 01:47, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

107. Oppose sitting arbcom member --Random832 (contribs | signing statement) 02:04, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

108. Oppose. Let's have some fresh faces. --Wetman (talk) 02:28, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

109. Oppose. It's a change election. --Akhilleus (talk) 03:36, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Darkness is the best disinfectant?

The sun sets on California as this occurs. Was I unfair?