Difference between revisions of "The case against Gwen Gale"

MyWikiBiz, Author Your Legacy — Monday November 25, 2024
Jump to navigationJump to search
(Change cquote template to quote)
 
(170 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
[http://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Heidi_Wyss Heidi Wyss was born in 1975 in Geneva, and got her education in Great Britain]. She describes herself as [http://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=User:Spidermite&oldid=3488 "a word witch and a lesbian separatist, third wave feminist"]. That "witchy" theme  is very close to Heidi Wyss. In an interview she gave about her book [[Gormglaith (novel)]] she said that she wanted her readers to understand that [http://pages.citebite.com/r1j0t3k4j4nac "Witchy girls have more fun."] "The Witch" was also a user name of one of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sock_puppetry socks] Wyss used to violate her [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Topic_ban topic ban], the ban that was described like this [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Wilkes%2C_Wyss_and_Onefortyone#Ted_Wilkes_and_Wyss_banned_from_making_homosexuality.2Fbisexuality_edits "Wyss is banned from making any edit related to a person's alleged homosexuality or bisexuality. The clauses "any edit" and "related to homosexuality or bisexuality" shall be interpreted broadly; this remedy is intended, for example, to prohibit correcting the spelling of "gay"."]
+
[[File:Gwen Gale aka the Witch is roaming around wikipedia .jpg|thumb|300px|After Gwen Gale got her [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Admin_mop.PNG administrative tool] she quickly turned the mop to a witch's broomstick. Now she uses this broomstick to fly around Wikipedia to collect heads of innocent editors while allowing trolls to troll. "The witch" was the name of one of Gwen Gale's sock accounts.]]
 +
'''"I will kill myself tonight and it is all your fault."''' wrote 16-years old kid at the talk page of Wikipedia administrator Gwen Gale on February 3,2012.
 +
This kid, as many other Wikipedia users has became a victim of bullying that is allowed on the site that belongs to non-profit, charitable,tax-exempt organization [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation the Wikimedia Foundation]. The scariest part is that the Wikimedia Foundation was aware about Gwen Gale bullying '''before''' the latest incident, and did nothing. The 16-years old kid sustained irreversible emotional damage and a Wikimedia Foundation bears a full responsibility for allowing this to happen. Although there is so called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Child_protection Child protection] policy on Wikipedia, it does not protect a child from being bullied on Wikipedia. When specifically asked about protecting children from bullying on Wikipedia, the Wikimedia Foundation's employee [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Philippe_%28WMF%29 Philippe Beaudette] [http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Philippe_%28WMF%29&diff=prev&oldid=3510606 refused to respond].  
  
A "witchy" girl Heidi Wyss became the Wikipedia's witch, when she became [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators wikipedia administrator] Gwen Gale.
+
Gwen Gale is not the only bully administrator on Wikipedia. She's probably not the worst one either. She's one of hundreds of anonymous bullies with administrative tools that are allowed to roam free in Wikipedia's jungles.
  
==Heidi Wyss's wikipedia story==
 
  
 +
Although the name of the article is ''The case against Gwen Gale'' this article could have been named "the case against bullying on Wikipedia".
  
 +
Below is a real request concerning Gwen Gale. This request was filed on one of Wikipedia sites, and it was deleted with no action taken. Read it and decide for yourself.
  
 +
==Making of a bully or Gwen Gale's Wikipedia's story==
  
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
+
 
 +
=== [[Gwen Gale|Gwen Gale]]'s Wikipedia story ===
 +
Gwen Gale started editing Wikipedia in 2004 as [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&offset=20041205181435&limit=2000&target=Wyss user Wyss].
 +
 
 +
In December of 2005 she was banned from the articles involving sexuality.  The ban was stated like this [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Wilkes%2C_Wyss_and_Onefortyone#Ted_Wilkes_and_Wyss_banned_from_making_homosexuality.2Fbisexuality_edits "Wyss is banned from making any edit related to a person's alleged homosexuality or bisexuality. The clauses "any edit" and "related to homosexuality or bisexuality" shall be interpreted broadly; this remedy is intended, for example, to prohibit correcting the spelling of "gay"."] There are hard '''on-wiki''' evidences she evaded her ban on a few occasions.
 +
 
 +
In December of 2005 just a few days before the imminent ban was imposed Gwen Gale made a sock account [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&dir=prev&target=The+Witch The Witch]. A month later The Witch was discovered and [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Wilkes,_Wyss_and_Onefortyone&action=edit&section=30 identified as a sock and as a vandal]. She failed to disclose The Witch in her RfA. After she was specifically asked about this account, she lied:[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_adminship/Gwen_Gale#Questions_from_BusterD "For about 24 hours, two years ago, yes. I quickly decided User:The Witch was an unhelpful username so I went back to User:Wyss. You will please note the account wasn't used to evade the arbcom ruling. I don't consider this brief experiment relevant but I'll be happy to answer questions about it."] BTW Fred Bauder had the right to call The Witch  "a vandal". Here are two examples taken from The Witch's contributions:
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee_Elections_January_2006/Vote/Fred_Bauder&diff=prev&oldid=35547895 "# '''Oppose''', an apparent liar who pursues a strictly unencyclopedic agenda."]<br />
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee_Elections_January_2006/Vote/Snowspinner&diff=prev&oldid=35548817 "# '''Oppose''', Intellectually unqualified and the worst of roleplaying."]
 +
 
 +
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee_Elections_December_2008/Vote/Gwen_Gale Gwen Gale failed to mention her The Witch account in her statement], when she unsuccessfully tried to get elected to ArbCom.
 +
 
 +
All histories of talk pages of users Wyss and The Witch were deleted by Fred Bauder in a violation of basic Wikipedia policies and with no explanation. There's no doubt that this deletion that removed some of Gwen's Gale rhetoric was very useful to her in becoming an administrator.
 +
 
 +
Here are only two examples of Gwen Gale's rhetoric that somehow survived outside her other accounts talk pages:
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Fred_Bauder&diff=prev&oldid=30774808 "Truth be told, according to freely available public records, he was suspended for soliciting a client's wife to work in a prostitution ring, then refusing to attend his hearing on it. Many would interpret this as "disbarred" but he denies the term applies. Bauder disclosed none of this to Mr Wales when he was asked to join lawyerish arbcomm.]<br />*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:Requests_for_arbitration/Wilkes,_Wyss_and_Onefortyone/Proposed_decision&diff=prev&oldid=31826736 "Anyway I disagree that I ever disrupted Wikipedia or ever had the personal potential or whim to do that. My contribution history speaks for itself. I've been slapped hard by arbcomm for expressing my opinion that among them lurk wankers, fiddlers, fools and trolls who coddle their own kind.]
 +
 
 +
=== Gwen Gale's reaction on being blocked ===
 +
I would have missed on this, if Gwen Gale's behavior as a blocked user versus a blocking administrator were not so drastically different. So let's see a few survived examples of Gwen's reaction on being blocked. These could be compared to the examples I will provide below that will demonstrate Gwen's bullying reaction to the comments of the editors she blocked.
 +
 
 +
Here is her reaction after 24 hours block for violating of her topic ban on editing articles referring to people's homosexuality: [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jtdirl&diff=prev&oldid=42240931#Your_negligence Your block was a misinterpretation of both the arbcomm ruling and its present status. You have been manipulated, at best. The wording of the block notice was equivalent to harassment. I was unable to edit my own talk pages or send emails to admins during the time my block was in force. This represents further negligence on your part and was a violation of Wikipedia policy. The block notice itself was ineptly formatted and represents further negligence. Finally, I find your user signature both disruptive and deceptive since it hides your true user name. In the future, please sign your posts in the normal way, with four tildes. If you wish to communicate with me further concerning these matters, please do so only via the email link on my user page. Thanks. Wyss 21:05, 4 March 2006 (UTC)]
 +
 
 +
Here is her reaction for 24 hours block for edit warring [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Gwen_Gale/archive1#Too_many_trolls_and_fools_after_all.2C_I_guess "Too many trolls and fools after all, I guess There are too many of them for me here, too many role-playing troll admins, too many troll sockpuppet editors. Bye then. Gwen Gale 06:29, 1 April ,2007"].
 +
 
 +
In a year after this rant was written Heidi Wyss became one of wikipedia administrators under user name Gwen Gale.
 +
 
 +
=== Gwen Gale writing articles about herself ===
 +
One of the biggest problems with Wyss is that she always has been treating herself differently than others, violating the Golden Rule: "One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself."
 +
 
 +
One of the biggest problems with Gwen Gale is that she always has been treating herself differently than others. Probably one of the most striking examples of such behavior is a story about Gwen Gale writing two articles on wikipedia about herself. There are two problems with writing articles about herself. The first problem is that Gwen Gale is absolutely not notable. Another problem is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest conflict of interest]: for example a person writing about herself could be not neutral.
 +
 
 +
As it is seen from her contributions Wyss was well aware about these policies. She was very active [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&dir=prev&offset=20041205181219&limit=500&target=Wyss in voting on deletion requests of articles written by others],often claiming that a subject of an article is not notable: [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/John_Valby&diff=prev&oldid=8288404 "*'''Delete'''. Ad, vanity, and doing off-colour versions of covers isn't notable."] (the article was kept);[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Russell_White&diff=prev&oldid=8153396 *'''Delete''' not notable [[User:Wyss|Wyss]] 18:08, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)] (the article was kept).
 +
 
 +
Then she herself [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Leo_J._Meyer_%282nd_nomination%29 nominated an article for deletion]. She wrote:<br />[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Leo_J._Meyer_%282nd_nomination%29&oldid=203579523 Conflict of interest, subject of this biographical article is not of encyclopedic interest meyerj is an SPA who created this article to memorialize his father. The subject is not encyclopedic (a routine military career), not widely noted, the article amounts to original research and its creation raises many COI worries.] This article was kept. Two articles that Gwen Gale wrote about herself were [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Heidi_Wyss deleted]. So here we go: the same person claims that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_J._Meyer Leo J. Meyer], who was one of only three hundred and three men who have been awarded three Combat Infantryman Badges out of more than the twenty-three million, "is not of encyclopedic interest", writes two articles about an absolutely not notable person - herself. The same person who writes two articles about not notable herself sees "many COI worries" with a user writing article about his notable father.
 +
 
 +
In another striking episode, on October 4, 2008, Gwen Gale accused a user in being [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Adams#November Stephanie Adams] and in violating [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:COI Wikipedia:Conflict of interest]
 +
In particular Gwen wrote {{quote|1=[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Gwen_Gale&oldid=243072039#Stop_Making_False_Assumptions_.28Re:_Stephanie_Adams_Article.29 We don't believe you. Please have a look at Wikipedia's conflict of interest policy. If you carry on disrupting the article, you may be blocked from editing. Gwen Gale (talk) 22:31, 4 October 2008 (UTC)]}} Just stop and think about this. This was written by the very same Gwen Gale who wrote two articles about herself!
 +
 
 +
 
 +
==The case against Gwen Gale==
 +
 
 +
===Some examples of unwarranted blocks and unwarranted removing of talk page access===
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=block&user=Gwen+Gale&page=User%3AFunguy06&year=2009&month=December&tagfilter= On 26 April 2009 Gwen Gale blocked user Funguy06 with the edit summary "(Vandalism-only account: no meaningfully encyclopedic edits)"]. In her block message [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Funguy06#blocked she provided neither differences to support the block, nor an explanation how to request an unblock]. The user who [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&dir=prev&target=Funguy06 started contributing to wikipedia in 2006]  was blocked over [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Heidi_Montag&diff=prev&oldid=286162601 this 2009 edit] for "vandalism only". But please [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Montag see the article]. Funguy06 did not vandalize the article.He made a good faith, encyclopedic edit. As a result of the block the user is gone. He did not even bother to write an unblock request.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=block&user=Gwen+Gale&page=User%3ANug%20&year=2009&month=December&tagfilter= On 25 July 2009 Gwen Gale blocked user Nug for an alleged outing]. After being [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Gwen_Gale/archive14#Martintg_.22outing.22 contacted about the block at her talk] Gwen Gale unblocked the user with the edit summary "behaviour seems to be supported." This unblocked edit summary required a one second correction block, in which administrator wrote: [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=block&user=Theresa%20knott%20&page=User%3ANug%20&year=2009&month=December&tagfilter= I cannot believe that Gwen Gale would put that as an unblock reason!]
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&page=User:Unknown+the+Hedgehog On August 10 August 2008 Gwen Gale blocked indefinitely Unknown the Hedgehog for "calling another Wikipedian his "friend"" with the edit summary: "Spam / advertising-only account:"]. At the same time she blocked a few other users indefinitely. A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Archive161#WP_seemingly_used_as_a_social_network thread was started about these blocks]. Admin Oren0 wrote:"I'm greatly concerned about the block of Unknown the Hedgehog (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · edit filter log · block user · block log) specifically. He has ~150 mainspace edits which, while small, seem to be improvements to articles. Why does calling another Wikipedian his "friend" get him banished for life? Is there really consensus that this user should be banned?Oren0 (talk) 19:47, 10 August 2008 (UTC)" Oren0 also [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Gwen_Gale/archive6#Block_of_User:Unknown_the_Hedgehog_for_WP:MYSPACE started a thread at Gwen's talk]. Gwen did unblock the editor herself.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*User Ludwigs2 was blocked on July 2, 2008. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Lar Administrator Lar] requested review: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/IncidentArchive441#Block_review_of_User:Ludwigs2 "I suggest this block is excessive at best, and possibly completely unjustified. I'd suggest review by uninvolved admins. ++Lar: t/c 18:18, 2 July 2008 (UTC)"]. The block was lifted.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*user:Malleus Fatuorum was blocked on June 10, 2009. The user was unblocked in an hour after [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Gwen_Gale/archive13#Malleus an admin and a few users complained about the block]. Over this block [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Gwen_Gale/archive13#Recall she was suggested "to spend some time reading WP:BLOCK and, frankly, not editing here."] After a long threads at her and Malleus Fatuorum's talk pages, in which Malleus said about Gwen [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Gwen_Gale&diff=next&oldid=403807278 "She may say whatever she likes, but a lie is a lie, and she is a liar"],Gwen Gale [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Malleus_Fatuorum/Archives/2009/June#I_was_mistaken apologized for the block].
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:BioSynergy User BioSynergy was blocked for user name by Gwen Gale on June 8, 2008. Gwen was also the one who declined the unblock request]. It is unclear, if the user ever made a new account.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Gwen_Gale/archive17#Unblock_request This discussion] is about the block imposed on user Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ).[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Richard_Arthur_Norton_%281958-_%29&diff=prev&oldid=364916173 was blocked] for 72 hours for [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Files_for_deletion/2010_May_24&diff=prev&oldid=364914402 this edit, in which the user corrected a punctuation typo].  Please take a look at this comment Gwen Gale made, when asked about the block: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Gwen_Gale/archive17#Unblock_request "He was not moving on, he was hiding the warnings, knowing he would most likely be blocked for carrying on with his disruption and hoping that a careless admin would think he was blocked for correcting a punctuation typo. This is also why he put his unblock request at the top of the page, far away from the block notice. Gwen Gale (talk) 02:10, 30 May 2010 (UTC)"]. The user was unblocked in a few hours with edit summary "Block not covered by Wikipedia:Blocking policy".
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&page=User%3ANWA.Rep User NWA.Rep] was blocked at 20:36, 21 November 2008. She removed the editor talk page access only for [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3ANWA.Rep&action=historysubmit&diff=253259006&oldid=253258844 removing block notice] that the user could have done in accordance with the policy. Two hours later another administrator [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3ANWA.Rep&action=historysubmit&diff=253276995&oldid=253259979 restored the talk page access]. He wrote: "Looks like a misunderstanding of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:User_pages WP:USER] - have reenabled talkpage editing". At 20:10, 29 November 2008 one second correction block was added to the editor block record: "Noting the block was at least somewhat questionable, enough to have a note in the block log. See blocking admins talk page." When asked why she removed the editor talk page access Gwen responded: [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents&diff=prev&oldid=253260480 "He edit warred over the block notice. I'm willing to re-enable his talk page editing in a couple of hours but I'm going out to dinner now."]
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/block&page=User%3ASuper+Badnik User Super Badnik] was blocked indefinitely at 21:03, 9 August 2008. The block was overturned by another administrator.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&page=User%3ABreathing_Dead User Breathing Dead] at 20:51, 23 July 2009  Gwen removed his talk page access. The talk page access was restored by another administrator.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Douglas_M._Smith On July7, 2010 a new user Douglas M. Smith was blocked indefinitely with the edit summary: "‎ (Personal attacks or harassment: potential libel, outing)"]. I looked over user contributions, and could not find anything that warranted an indefinite block (will appreciate if somebody looks at this block and tell me, if I am missing on something). [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Douglas_M._Smith It does not look like the user was issued any warning before the block].
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*User Mbz1
 +
 
 +
On December 23, 2010 Gwen Gale responded to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Mbz1&oldid=476332609#Per_your_request canvassing] and blocked the editor for a week.
 +
She made the block to be indefinite after [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AMbz1%2Fa7&action=historysubmit&diff=403914418&oldid=403912569 the editor made this post]. She removed the editor's talk page access without warning only because the editor added an indefinite blocked user template to her talk page two times. The talk page access was restored by another administrator.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/block&page=User%3AOgioh user Ogioh] was blocked indefinitely. The block was reverted in less than an hour.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*Gwen Gale removed the talk page access to the editor she blocked for this post: [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:RCS&diff=prev&oldid=356584362 "Harmful? My dear Gwen, you seem not to know what the case in question was all about. The irony of my edit - which I find funny - can be understood with the hindsight of how that case turned out, i. e. that the rape in question never took place and that the so-called victim was in fact a compulsive liar with a history of court convictions that has continued since. But I suppose that you are another of these self-righteous people with a mission with whom arguing is nothing but a waste of time."] When asked by another wikipedian how the editor could request to be unblocked Gwen responded [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Gwen_Gale/archive17#RCS "His email is still enabled"].
 +
 
 +
===Gwen Gale misusing her administrative tools when  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:INVOLVED#Involved_admins involved]===
 +
The policy that clearly states:
 +
{{quote|In general, editors should not act as administrators in cases in which they have been involved. This is because involved administrators may have, or may be seen as having, a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest conflict of interest] in disputes they have been a party to or have strong feelings about. Involvement is generally construed very broadly by the community, to include current or past conflicts with an editor (or editors), and disputes on topics, regardless of the nature, age, or outcome of the dispute.}}
 +
 +
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:INVOLVED#Misuse_of_administrative_tools This section states]:
 +
 
 +
{{quote|Conflict of interest, non-neutrality, or content dispute – Administrators should not use their tools to advantage, or in a content dispute (or article) where they are a party (or significant editor), or where a significant conflict of interest is likely to exist. With few specific exceptions (like obvious vandalism) where tool use is allowed by any admin, administrators should ensure they are reasonably neutral parties when they use the tools.}}
 +
 
 +
 
 +
In [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Gwen_Gale/archive3#Re:_Edit_Warring this thread] Gwen Gale stated:"First, if you are an admin and get involved in a content dispute like this, you cannot use your admin powers to resolve it." It was said on May 16, 2008.
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=block&user=Gwen+Gale&page=User%3ASoutherndata&year=2009&month=December&tagfilter= The first time User Southerndata was blocked by Gwen Gale at 15:04, 28 June 2008] for alleged  "vandalism" on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Noonan Fred Noonan], although the user clearly made a good faith edits. In a few places (including the block log) she said that she edited the article after the block. Gwen Gale edited this article a lot, and before the block. [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fred_Noonan&oldid=2399161 Actually Gwen Gale wrote this article, when she still edited as Wyss], but let's see June 28,2008: [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fred_Noonan&action=historysubmit&diff=222286333&oldid=222286201 Gwen Gale] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fred_Noonan&action=historysubmit&diff=222287525&oldid=222287133 was edit warring] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fred_Noonan&action=historysubmit&diff=222288253&oldid=222288170 with the very same editor she later blocked].[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Gwen_Gale/archive5#Your_Block_on_User:Southerndata After being questioned about the block while involved], she lifted the block just to re-block the user indefinitely  two days later at 22:38, 30 June 2008. At that time she was even more involved with the user than when she blocked him the first time  because of [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Bzuk&diff=prev&oldid=222544929 this post by the user].
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/3RRArchive141#User:Gwen_Gale_reported_by_User:John_J._Bulten_.28Result:_protected.29 On October 1, 2010 Gwen Gale was reported for edit warring].
 +
:[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Magog_the_Ogre Administrator Magog the Ogre Magog the Ogre] had this to say about Gwen's conduct:
 +
{{quote|Gwen is very very much out of line, not only with the rollback tool but threatening to block a user in a dispute: future edit warring of this type will receive a block.}}
 +
:After Gwen Gale yet another time claimed a good faith edit to be "vandalism" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:HJ_Mitchell administrator HJ Mitchell] had this to say about Gwen's conduct:
 +
{{quote|In this case, while it might not have been your intention to get into a dispute, you did step over the bright-line rule and, as far as I can see, none of the reverted edits were vandalism. I would suggest being more careful with rollback at the very least. Non-admins have been known to lose it for less. In this case, while it might not have been your intention to get into a dispute, you did step over the bright-line rule and, as far as I can see, none of the reverted edits were vandalism. I would suggest being more careful with rollback at the very least. Non-admins have been known to lose it for less. }}
 +
:Gwen also received a personal message about this incident.
 +
{{quote|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Gwen_Gale/archive18#3RR_violation_.2B_misuse_of_admin_tools '''3RR violation + misuse of admin tools'''. Please see WP:AN3#User:Gwen Gale reported by User:John J. Bulten (Result: protected). I am also rescinding the warning you gave the user you were opposed to, and replacing it with a proper warning for edit warring. Please consider this a warning: if you believe it is inappropriate and/or would like to appeal it, you may take it to WP:ANI. Magog the Ogre (talk) 00:17, 2 October 2010 (UTC)]}}
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=block&user=Gwen+Gale&page=User%3AWallamoose&year=2009&month=December&tagfilter= user Wallamoose was blocked on October 18, 2008 for a week] for [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AHummus&diff=246116334&oldid=246061640 this edit] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Hummus Talk:Hummus]. Gwen Gale has been involved with the article for a long time. Her involvement with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummus Hummus] was even pointed out in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_adminship/Gwen_Gale_2#Oppose her RFA:"I have interacted with Gwen Gaile on only one article, hummus, but I don't think her interactions on that article are consistent with Wikipedia policy. She treats the article as though she owns it, and seems not to understand the difference between reliable sources and unsupported assertions on random Web pages and cookbooks."]. In her block rationale Gwen stated: "Following [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AHummus&diff=246116334&oldid=246061640 this edit by you] after my warning, I've blocked you from editing one week for disruption, non-encyclopedic edits and trolling. [[User:Gwen Gale|Gwen Gale]] ([[User talk:Gwen Gale|talk]]) 16:33, 18 October 2008 (UTC)". This one week block for editing an article '''talk page''' was wrong because Gwen Gale is heavily involved with the article and because she was [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AHummus&action=historysubmit&diff=246061640&oldid=246047546 edit] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AHummus&action=historysubmit&diff=246120404&oldid=246116334 warring] with the editor, and because Wallamoose was not trolling. As it is seen from  [http://www.haaretz.com/misc/comment-page/hummus-in-the-torah-19.44445 this reliable source] Hummus was mentioned in the Torah. Although the editor tried to explain to Gwen why he posted the statement to the article's talk page Gwen Gale escalated the block to be indefinite,and then removed the editor talk page access. Gwen also allowed Dædαlus to harass the blocked editor on his talk page.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/74.233.165.176 This IP was blocked on June 24, 2009 for ‎"personal attacks or harassment"] after Gwen Gale was [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3ADeath_of_Neda_Agha-Soltan&action=historysubmit&diff=298378688&oldid=298378421 edit] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3ADeath_of_Neda_Agha-Soltan&action=historysubmit&diff=298381919&oldid=298380458 warring] with him over quite innocent post to an article talk page. Gwen Gale was heavily involved in editing this article's talk page. Then IP [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Gwen_Gale&diff=prev&oldid=298380525 ranted at Gwen's talk page]. Of course IP post to Gwen's talk was not very nice, but even, if this IP deserved to be blocked, it should have been blocked by an uninvolved admin.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&type=block&page=User%3AJayeba User Jayeba was blocked at 23:18, 26 August 2009 for "spamming] right after the user [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maureen_McCormick&diff=prev&oldid=310260822 reverted] Gwen Gale at the article [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maureen_McCormick&action=historysubmit&diff=310259889&oldid=310259713 she] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maureen_McCormick&action=historysubmit&diff=310260525&oldid=310260330 was] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maureen_McCormick&action=historysubmit&diff=310261166&oldid=310260822 edit warring] with this very user she later blocked.The user was unblocked with the summary "no spamming".
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=User%3AProofreader77&type=block User:Proofreader77]
 +
 
 +
**[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=block&user=Gwen+Gale&page=User%3AProofreader77&year=2009&month=December&tagfilter= was blocked at 23:03, 29 December 2009 for making $1,000 donation to wikipedia.] Gwen Gale issued the block after she was asked by another administrator to leave the editor alone: [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AProofreader77&action=historysubmit&diff=333349988&oldid=333285633 Gwen,you have gotten too personally involved. I urge you to leave further admin actions with respect to this editor to other administrators. '''User:DGG| DGG'''  20:28, 22 December 2009 (UTC)]
 +
**[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=block&user=Gwen+Gale&page=User%3AProofreader77&year=2010&month=February&tagfilter= was blocked indefinitely at 22:16, 14 February 2010 for requesting a blocked user template]. This block was overturned by another administrator.
 +
**[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Proofreader77&diff=prev&oldid=345321695 This edit made on 21 February 2010 is the last edit made by Proofreader77]. After this Gwen Gale removed his talk page access. She did it during [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case&oldid=344569343#Proofreader77_blocks the request for arbitration] that was initiated to discuss prior unwarranted and overturned blocks of this editor the very blocks that were imposed by the very same Gwen Gale.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/block&page=User%3AScias76 On May 12, 2010 Gwen Gale blocked Scias76] for edit warring at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Hummus Hummus]. Gwen Gale was involved in edit warring of this article. [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hummus&action=historysubmit&diff=357403536&oldid=357400663 She] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hummus&action=historysubmit&diff=357451756&oldid=357449920 reverted] a few editors [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hummus&action=historysubmit&diff=357829370&oldid=357828550 including the one she later blocked.]
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=block&user=Gwen+Gale&page=User%3ATombaker321&year=2012&month=December&tagfilter= User Tombaker321 was blocked on July 15,2010] after the user [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3ARoman_Polanski&action=historysubmit&diff=373514166&oldid=373498413 directly accused Gwen in "squashing the dialog by using her admin role"] and after Gwen [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Tombaker321#disruption continued to engage the user at his talk page].
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=block&user=Gwen+Gale&page=User%3AKoshVorlon&year=2011&month=December&tagfilter= User KoshVorlon was blocked on 11 May 2010 ] after Gwen gale was [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Larry_Sanger&diff=361460676&oldid=361460589 edit warring] with the user.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Iloveredhair&oldid=399168659#only_warning On November 26, 2010 user Iloveredhair was blocked] for [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Lesbian_sexual_practices&diff=prev&oldid=399035544 silly posts] at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Lesbian_sexual_practices Talk:Lesbian sexual practices]. In a few minutes after the initial block [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/block&page=User%3AIloveredhair Gwen removed the user's talk page access], claiming "vandalism" in the edit summaries. There are two problems with the block. First of all it was not vandalism (the user made posts only to the talk and not to the article), and they could have been called "trolling", but definitely not "vandalism". Second of all Gwen Gale [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lesbian_sexual_practices&oldid=172122298 is the author of the article] which means once again she misused her tools while involved.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Gwen_Gale/archive20#Austrian_School Here is only one exchange] between user Misessus and Gwen Gale that took place after [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Austrian_School&action=historysubmit&diff=441938928&oldid=441937995 Gwen reverted the user]. There were more exchanges at the article talk page like [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Austrian_School&oldid=446927564#Sec_Break_1 for example here]. In a little bit more than a month after this  [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=block&user=Gwen+Gale&page=User%3AMisessus%20&year=2012&month=December&tagfilter= Gwen blocked this user for edit warring on this article on September 4, 2011 ]. Gwen blocked the user just two days after another user had this to say about her: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/3RRArchive166#User:Misessus_reported_by_User:Dark_Charles_.28Result:_Both_restricted_to_1RR.29 "Gwen Gale is an involved admin. She has been actively supporting one side of this debate for years. She should not have been the admin to decide on this case. I would like to formally request a review of this action. LK (talk) 03:19, 2 September 2011 (UTC) "]. Gwen was involved with this article and with the user, and although it looks like the block itself was proper, it should have been imposed by an uninvolved admin.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Enforcement&diff=prev&oldid=422603670 This comment was made by Gwen in a section of arbitration enforcement request concerning Mbz1 on April 5, 2011 ]. The problem with this comment is that it was made in the section that is clearly marked as "This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the section above." "Uninvolved administrator" means an administrator, who never edits content of the articles that belongs to the topic of the specific sanctions. Gwen Gale have been editing these articles for years. She was edit warring and pushing her point of view in these articles. I have never seen any other admin who made even small edits in the articles under ARBPIA commenting in the section for uninvolved administrators. Most of the times the really uninvolved administrators even will not revert either clear vandalism violations.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3A208.102.209.78&action=historysubmit&diff=474506962&oldid=474505344 On February 2,2012 Gwen Gale declined unblock request of the user who complained about her in his unblock request, which makes her involved]. This unblock request should have been declined, but Gwen Gale should not have been the one to do it. This example demonstrates that Gwen Gale has difficulties in understanding what "involved" administrator means. [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Alison&oldid=474697911#Zhand38 And this thread explains how this all ended up]. It is sad.
 +
 
 +
===Biting newbies===
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jamiroquai&diff=prev&oldid=308136584 User Hatcrazy was blocked two times in August of 2009].
 +
The first block was 24 hours for [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lady_Victoria_Hervey&diff=prev&oldid=306484174 this edit].
 +
The user was right [http://books.google.com/books?id=RH5JXwAACAAJ&dq=Lady+Victoria+Frederica+Isabella+Hervey&hl=en&sa=X&ei=17AtT7idLIijiQLMpsmjDA&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA "Lady Isabella Frederica Louisa Hervey (born 9 March 1982) is a British socialite, model, and actress.] The second block was for two weeks for [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jamiroquai&diff=prev&oldid=308136584 this edit] in which the user changed "are an English" to "is a British". Please look at the  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamiroquai article] now. It has "British" not "English" . Looks like the user was right because  [http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/jamiroquai-latest-act-to-sign-on-to-f1 a] [http://articles.chicagotribune.com/keyword/jamiroquai few] [http://www.romania-insider.com/british-jamiroquai-to-bring-jazz-funk-to-the-romanian-seaside-this-summer/25776/ newspapers] call them "British". The user was also [http://books.google.com/books?id=2nxLkMspauIC&pg=PA59&dq=Stella+Nina+McCartney+is+a+british+fashion+designer&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Vq8tT7eXGOigiQKr5cXDCg&ved=0CFQQuwUwAQ#v=onepage&q=Lady%20Victoria%20Hervey&f=false right] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stella_McCartney&diff=prev&oldid=306338679 this edit],
 +
and the user was [http://books.google.com/books?id=SWUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA86&dq=Queen+%28band%29+%22Freddie+Mercury+%22+%22British%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=QrctT4DMEtLSiAKKpIG5Ag&ved=0CEoQuwUwAQ#v=onepage&q=Queen%20%28band%29%20%22Freddie%20Mercury%20%22%20%22British%22&f=false right] in [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Queen_%28band%29&diff=prev&oldid=306338771 this edit] and probably in all other edits as well.
 +
 
 +
Gwen Gale  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Hatcrazy#August_2009 warned the user], but a new user could not have known what "consensus" and "sourcing" means.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/block&page=User%3ANextbook User Nextbook was blocked at 20:56, 9 November 2011]  after [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pitcairn_Islands&action=historysubmit&diff=459856138&oldid=459853639 Gwen Gale] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pitcairn_Islands&action=historysubmit&diff=459856594&oldid=459856520 was] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pitcairn_Islands&action=historysubmit&diff=459858526&oldid=459857327 edit warring] with him. Gwen Gale claimed BLP. Another admin [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Gwen_Gale/archive20#Why.3F questioned the block, saying in particular "I don't think BLP concerns are a carte blanche for disregarding AGF like this and especially not BITE since we can't expect newcomers to understand these complex policies within their first 10 edits. I would appreciate if you would be more polite and welcoming towards new editors in the future, and not be as quick with the block-hammer, if you feel you don't have the patience for giving adequate explanations to a newcomer feel free to contact me and I'll gladly take over"], but Gwen failed to clarify her position.
 +
 
 +
:Here's an analysis of the situation with this user:
 +
:1. A new editor [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Nextbook made a few contributions.]
 +
:2. [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3ANextbook&action=historysubmit&diff=459501988&oldid=458203616 He is warned he has to use sources].
 +
:3. So in his next two edits he tries to use sources.[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pitcairn_Islands&action=historysubmit&diff=459856520&oldid=459856138 In this edit he provides not just one, but three sources almost for every sentence he adds, but he does it like this "(Marks, "Lost Paradise", page 292.) "] because he is not sure what is the right way to list references. In his next and the last edit he [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pitcairn_Islands&action=historysubmit&diff=459857327&oldid=459856138 inserts the external link to the article in Guardian, which of course is a reliable source].
 +
:4. The user [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3ANextbook&action=historysubmit&diff=459859217&oldid=459856885 is blocked] and never returns.
 +
 
 +
===Gwen Gale using unnecessary, rude edit summaries in the block log===
 +
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Genieactionpaul On June2, 2010 a user was blocked with the edit summary: "smells like dirty laundry to me"].
 +
===Gwen Gale responding to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Canvassing canvassing]===
 +
I will provide only two example. More examples could be presented by request.
 +
 
 +
1. Here Gwen Gale responds to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Canvassing#Stealth_canvassing email canvassing] by user Daedalus969.
 +
 
 +
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Gwen_Gale/archive19#Email.2C Here is an example of one such conversation about sent email]:
 +
*''Ping!— Dædαlus+ Contribs 11:56, 22 December 2010 (UTC)''
 +
*''Pong! Gwen Gale (talk) 12:41, 22 December 2010 (UTC)''
 +
 
 +
What Daedalus969 was doing just before he pinged Gwen Gale? He [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents&diff=prev&oldid=403686336 was commenting on the same AN/I thread] that Gwen Gale [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents&diff=prev&oldid=403691945#user:Kuguar03 closed] just before she ponged.
 +
So as soon as Daedalus969 said "Ping"  Gwen gladly responded "Pong".
 +
 
 +
 
 +
2. [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ARequests_for_adminship%2FBusterD&action=historysubmit&diff=467424231&oldid=467422483 With this edit the user admitted he canvassed Gwen Gale to co-nominate him in his RfA] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ARequests_for_adminship%2FBusterD&action=historysubmit&diff=467281585&oldid=467245749 Gwen Gale responded to canvassing]. It is funny that the user made his/her admission in response to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Guerillero admin Guerillero] saying [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ARequests_for_adminship%2FBusterD&action=historysubmit&diff=467417317&oldid=467417178 that Gwen Gale does not instill any trust in him/her].
 +
 
 +
 
 +
==Gwen Gale makes a fool of yourself and of Wikipedia==
 +
A few days ago professor Timothy Messer-Kruse shared his experience in editing Wikipedia. In particular he recalls part of his exchange with Gwen Gale:[http://chronicle.com/article/The-Undue-Weight-of-Truth-on/130704/ "Explain to me, then, how a 'minority' source with facts on its side would ever appear against a wrong 'majority' one?" I asked the Wiki-gatekeeper. He responded, "You're more than welcome to discuss reliable sources here, that's what the talk page is for. However, you might want to have a quick look at Wikipedia's civility policy."]
 +
The complete conversation is preserved [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Haymarket_affair&oldid=477110217#.22No_Evidence.22 here]:
 +
{{quote|Fine. I see I will have to fight these battles one at a time. I will start with the most obvious. Here is a "majority" source, indeed the most often-cited source for information on Haymarket there is, Paul Avrich, The Haymarket Tragedy: from page 190: "Spies had heard that two men had been killed, apparently the correct number, but when he picked up the Daily News, the paper reported six deaths." So, it should be evident that this authoratitive source also agrees the proper number should be TWO. As for you claim about Wikipedia's policy, your characterization of it is absurd, especially if the "majority" source that is cited can be shown to be factually wrong. Explain to me, then, how a "minority" source with facts on its side would ever appear against a wrong "majority" one?MesserKruse (talk) 17:41, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
 +
 
 +
You're more than welcome to discuss reliable sources here, that's what the talk page is for. However, you might want to have a quick look at Wikipedia's civility policy. Gwen Gale (talk) 17:44, 22 January 2009 (UTC) }}
 +
 
 +
Gwen Gale was also the one who "welcomed" the professor to Wikipedia:
 +
[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AMesserKruse&action=historysubmit&diff=265745449&oldid=265745388 "Did you make this edit while not logged in to this account? You may want to have a look at Wikipedia's policy on sockpuppets. Gwen Gale (talk) 18:00, 22 January 2009 (UTC)"]
 +
 
 +
Professor Timothy Messer-Kruse who is a world famous expert on the subject was ordered to review [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:CIVIL "Wikipedia's civility policy"] although he was civil,  and  [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sockpuppet "Wikipedia's policy on sockpuppets"] simply because he forgot to log in.
 +
 
 +
Here's a post at Gwen's talk page concerning her involvement in the matter:
 +
[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Gwen_Gale&oldid=477103224 "Hello. I just want to point out that I recently read an article in the chronicle here: http://chronicle.com/article/The-Undue-Weight-of-Truth-on/130704/ and it describes what amounts to an edit war that you were engaged in. I looked at the page and discussion in question, and it seems to me that you are boorish and a bully. I would like to suggest that you tone down your air of self-righteous authority, in order to encourage a more civil atmosphere on Wikipedia. It's especially ironic that when presented with what seems to be a very civil point by (presumably) the author of the blog, you ignored the substance of his argument and instead groundlessly accused him of being uncivil himself. If you're going to wear that hat of uncontested arbitrator of *TRUTH*, it would be helpful if you at least justified your claims in detail to those who go to the trouble of trying to actually discuss the truth in a balanced fashion using reliable sources. As it stands, you arbitrarily call seemingly reliable sources "unreliable", and other sources that support your preferred narrative "reliable," and this makes you an awful bully. Please consider changing your behavior and attitudes. Best regards. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ashwinr (talk • contribs) 17:29, 15 February 2012 (UTC)"]
 +
 
 +
==Wikipedians about bullying==
 +
 
 +
*When a 13-years old was asked why she would continue editing Wikipedia, she responded: [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Trusilver&oldid=455609402 "Because almost everyone there is a bunch of fakes who like Wikipedia because they have power over others."]
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*[http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Elen_of_the_Roads#Meta_coda_by_Proofreader77:_.22Wikipedia_and_the_pleasure_of_bullying.22 "Of course, Wikipedia needs its bullies — it does not pay salaries, but there is the psychic pleasures of bullying. Obviously not everyone is a bully. There are some good-hearted admins. But the patterns of the social dynamics of Wikipedia are almost designed to cultivate a collection of bullies to do the work, and provide structural support for that bullying — as ArbCom's backing the bullying of Proofreader77 gives some flavor of.]
 +
 
 +
 
 +
*A former wikipedian an award-winning Physicist had this to say about Wikipedia:
 +
 
 +
#[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents&diff=prev&oldid=205868902#Conclusions ...Wikipedia, on the contrary, is the enshrinement of contempt for learning, knowledge and expertise. It is, for many, a diversionary hobby to which they are prepared devote a great portion of their time, as others do to computer based video games. Unfortunately, it has led also to an inner cult, shrouded in anonymity, with structures and processes of self-regulation that are woefully inadequate. Many of these tools and procedures are reminiscent, in parody, of those of the Inquisition: secret courts, an inner "elite" arbitrarily empowered to censor and exclude all those perceived as a threat to the adopted conventions of the cult; denunciations, character assassination, excommunication. An arbitrarily concocted "rulebook" and language rife with self-referential sanctimoniousness give a superficial illusion of order and good sense, but no such thing exists in practice.It is truly a "Tyranny of the Ignorant"].
 +
#[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Cheeser1&diff=prev&oldid=201767732 I have no interest in "defending" myself against false accusations, made with no other intent than harassment. I have a real world identity, and have had more than enough of the absurdities of this fictional pseudo-environment, in which people play out their aggressions as though they were knocking down "enemies" in a video game. I have the impression that many of those for whom this is a permanent romping ground are simply maladjusted individuals in their real lives who have a compulsive need to act out aggressions in this fantasy world as a rather pitiful form of self-affirmation...But individuals who try to launch, within science, campaigns of self-promotion through such absurd vehicles as Wikipedia clearly have no interest in the truth, and are only too happy to support the bullying, intimidation and denunciations of self-appointed enforcers such as User: Cheeser1. Given the opportunity, they would doubtless wish to do the same in real life...    My only remaining intention, within this lamentable setting, is to close down all vestiges of such contemptible farce, which is a parody of the well known practices used in police states, where denunciation is sufficient to imply guilt, and intimidation is a stock in trade to contain potential "enemies of the state". The only satisfaction that I have is to be able recall that I anticipated such an onslaught, and said so on record, although I failed to anticipate the scope of its absurdity. No-one with any intelligence or self-respect who becomes aware of the prevalence and apparently, encouragement, of such machinations would agree to participate further in such things.]
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
<big>'''DO NOT DONATE TO THE WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION.IF YOU DONATE MONEY TO THE WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION, YOU'RE LENDING YOUR SUPPORT TO A SYSTEM THAT NOT ONLY TOLERATES BUT FOSTERS ONLINE BULLYING. IF YOU DONATE MONEY TO THE WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION, YOU'RE LENDING YOUR SUPPORT TO A "TYRANNY OF THE IGNORANT."'''</big>
 +
 
 +
==See also==
 +
*[[A typical Wikipediot]]
 +
*[[Wikipedians versus Academics]]
 +
 
 +
==External links==
 +
*[http://wikibrutewar.blogspot.com/2009/10/brutal-wikiwarrior-of-week-gwen-gale.html Brutal wikiwarrior of the week: Gwen Gale]
 +
*[http://allswool.blogspot.com/2008/04/tyranny-of-ignorant.html Tyranny of the Ignorant ]
 +
*[http://gwen-gale-heidi-wyss-tinpot-auteur.blogspot.com/ Gwen Gale -Tinpot Wikipedia Tyrant/Auteur ]
 +
*[http://wackepediaheidichronicles.blogspot.com/2008/12/gwen-gale-heidi-wyss-wackipedia-fable_09.html The Heidi Chronicles]
 +
*[http://gwen-gale-heidi-wyss-tinpot-auteur.blogspot.com/2009/03/gwen-galeheidi-wysss-gormglaith-review.html Gwen Gale/Heidi Wyss's Gormglaith Review]
 +
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee_Elections_December_2008/Vote/Gwen_Gale Gwen Gale failure to become an arbitrator]
 +
[[category:Wikipedia]]
 +
*[http://youtu.be/OWN_FhUpp1c Gwen Gale's Wikipedia moments (Tyranny of the Ignorant )]
 +
*[http://youtu.be/nrEdYyejlj8 Ding Dong the Wicked Witch is Dead]
 +
 
 +
==Share this page==
 +
<sharethis />
 +
 
 +
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
 +
 
 +
<br>
 +
<div style="overflow:auto;height:1px;">
 +
[[Keyword:=Gwen Gale]]
 +
[[Keyword:=bullying]]
 +
[[Keyword:=suicide]]
 +
[[Keyword:=the Wikimedia Foundation]]
 +
[[Keyword:=Heidi Wyss]]
 +
[[Keyword:=Gormglaith]]
 +
[[Keyword:=Wikipedia]]
 +
[[Keyword:=cyber-bullying on Wikipedia]]
 +
</div>
 +
<br>

Latest revision as of 13:26, 27 August 2014

After Gwen Gale got her administrative tool she quickly turned the mop to a witch's broomstick. Now she uses this broomstick to fly around Wikipedia to collect heads of innocent editors while allowing trolls to troll. "The witch" was the name of one of Gwen Gale's sock accounts.

"I will kill myself tonight and it is all your fault." wrote 16-years old kid at the talk page of Wikipedia administrator Gwen Gale on February 3,2012. This kid, as many other Wikipedia users has became a victim of bullying that is allowed on the site that belongs to non-profit, charitable,tax-exempt organization the Wikimedia Foundation. The scariest part is that the Wikimedia Foundation was aware about Gwen Gale bullying before the latest incident, and did nothing. The 16-years old kid sustained irreversible emotional damage and a Wikimedia Foundation bears a full responsibility for allowing this to happen. Although there is so called Child protection policy on Wikipedia, it does not protect a child from being bullied on Wikipedia. When specifically asked about protecting children from bullying on Wikipedia, the Wikimedia Foundation's employee Philippe Beaudette refused to respond.

Gwen Gale is not the only bully administrator on Wikipedia. She's probably not the worst one either. She's one of hundreds of anonymous bullies with administrative tools that are allowed to roam free in Wikipedia's jungles.


Although the name of the article is The case against Gwen Gale this article could have been named "the case against bullying on Wikipedia".

Below is a real request concerning Gwen Gale. This request was filed on one of Wikipedia sites, and it was deleted with no action taken. Read it and decide for yourself.

Making of a bully or Gwen Gale's Wikipedia's story

Gwen Gale's Wikipedia story

Gwen Gale started editing Wikipedia in 2004 as user Wyss.

In December of 2005 she was banned from the articles involving sexuality. The ban was stated like this "Wyss is banned from making any edit related to a person's alleged homosexuality or bisexuality. The clauses "any edit" and "related to homosexuality or bisexuality" shall be interpreted broadly; this remedy is intended, for example, to prohibit correcting the spelling of "gay"." There are hard on-wiki evidences she evaded her ban on a few occasions.

In December of 2005 just a few days before the imminent ban was imposed Gwen Gale made a sock account The Witch. A month later The Witch was discovered and identified as a sock and as a vandal. She failed to disclose The Witch in her RfA. After she was specifically asked about this account, she lied:"For about 24 hours, two years ago, yes. I quickly decided User:The Witch was an unhelpful username so I went back to User:Wyss. You will please note the account wasn't used to evade the arbcom ruling. I don't consider this brief experiment relevant but I'll be happy to answer questions about it." BTW Fred Bauder had the right to call The Witch "a vandal". Here are two examples taken from The Witch's contributions:

Gwen Gale failed to mention her The Witch account in her statement, when she unsuccessfully tried to get elected to ArbCom.

All histories of talk pages of users Wyss and The Witch were deleted by Fred Bauder in a violation of basic Wikipedia policies and with no explanation. There's no doubt that this deletion that removed some of Gwen's Gale rhetoric was very useful to her in becoming an administrator.

Here are only two examples of Gwen Gale's rhetoric that somehow survived outside her other accounts talk pages:

Gwen Gale's reaction on being blocked

I would have missed on this, if Gwen Gale's behavior as a blocked user versus a blocking administrator were not so drastically different. So let's see a few survived examples of Gwen's reaction on being blocked. These could be compared to the examples I will provide below that will demonstrate Gwen's bullying reaction to the comments of the editors she blocked.

Here is her reaction after 24 hours block for violating of her topic ban on editing articles referring to people's homosexuality: Your block was a misinterpretation of both the arbcomm ruling and its present status. You have been manipulated, at best. The wording of the block notice was equivalent to harassment. I was unable to edit my own talk pages or send emails to admins during the time my block was in force. This represents further negligence on your part and was a violation of Wikipedia policy. The block notice itself was ineptly formatted and represents further negligence. Finally, I find your user signature both disruptive and deceptive since it hides your true user name. In the future, please sign your posts in the normal way, with four tildes. If you wish to communicate with me further concerning these matters, please do so only via the email link on my user page. Thanks. Wyss 21:05, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Here is her reaction for 24 hours block for edit warring "Too many trolls and fools after all, I guess There are too many of them for me here, too many role-playing troll admins, too many troll sockpuppet editors. Bye then. Gwen Gale 06:29, 1 April ,2007".

In a year after this rant was written Heidi Wyss became one of wikipedia administrators under user name Gwen Gale.

Gwen Gale writing articles about herself

One of the biggest problems with Wyss is that she always has been treating herself differently than others, violating the Golden Rule: "One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself."

One of the biggest problems with Gwen Gale is that she always has been treating herself differently than others. Probably one of the most striking examples of such behavior is a story about Gwen Gale writing two articles on wikipedia about herself. There are two problems with writing articles about herself. The first problem is that Gwen Gale is absolutely not notable. Another problem is conflict of interest: for example a person writing about herself could be not neutral.

As it is seen from her contributions Wyss was well aware about these policies. She was very active in voting on deletion requests of articles written by others,often claiming that a subject of an article is not notable: "*Delete. Ad, vanity, and doing off-colour versions of covers isn't notable." (the article was kept);*Delete not notable Wyss 18:08, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC) (the article was kept).

Then she herself nominated an article for deletion. She wrote:
Conflict of interest, subject of this biographical article is not of encyclopedic interest meyerj is an SPA who created this article to memorialize his father. The subject is not encyclopedic (a routine military career), not widely noted, the article amounts to original research and its creation raises many COI worries. This article was kept. Two articles that Gwen Gale wrote about herself were deleted. So here we go: the same person claims that Leo J. Meyer, who was one of only three hundred and three men who have been awarded three Combat Infantryman Badges out of more than the twenty-three million, "is not of encyclopedic interest", writes two articles about an absolutely not notable person - herself. The same person who writes two articles about not notable herself sees "many COI worries" with a user writing article about his notable father.

In another striking episode, on October 4, 2008, Gwen Gale accused a user in being Stephanie Adams and in violating Wikipedia:Conflict of interest

In particular Gwen wrote

Just stop and think about this. This was written by the very same Gwen Gale who wrote two articles about herself!


The case against Gwen Gale

Some examples of unwarranted blocks and unwarranted removing of talk page access









  • User Super Badnik was blocked indefinitely at 21:03, 9 August 2008. The block was overturned by another administrator.


  • User Breathing Dead at 20:51, 23 July 2009 Gwen removed his talk page access. The talk page access was restored by another administrator.



  • User Mbz1

On December 23, 2010 Gwen Gale responded to canvassing and blocked the editor for a week. She made the block to be indefinite after the editor made this post. She removed the editor's talk page access without warning only because the editor added an indefinite blocked user template to her talk page two times. The talk page access was restored by another administrator.


  • user Ogioh was blocked indefinitely. The block was reverted in less than an hour.



Gwen Gale misusing her administrative tools when involved

The policy that clearly states:

 
 
In general, editors should not act as administrators in cases in which they have been involved. This is because involved administrators may have, or may be seen as having, a conflict of interest in disputes they have been a party to or have strong feelings about. Involvement is generally construed very broadly by the community, to include current or past conflicts with an editor (or editors), and disputes on topics, regardless of the nature, age, or outcome of the dispute.
 

 

This section states:

 
 
Conflict of interest, non-neutrality, or content dispute – Administrators should not use their tools to advantage, or in a content dispute (or article) where they are a party (or significant editor), or where a significant conflict of interest is likely to exist. With few specific exceptions (like obvious vandalism) where tool use is allowed by any admin, administrators should ensure they are reasonably neutral parties when they use the tools.
 

 


In this thread Gwen Gale stated:"First, if you are an admin and get involved in a content dispute like this, you cannot use your admin powers to resolve it." It was said on May 16, 2008.


Administrator Magog the Ogre Magog the Ogre had this to say about Gwen's conduct:
 
 
Gwen is very very much out of line, not only with the rollback tool but threatening to block a user in a dispute: future edit warring of this type will receive a block.
 

 

After Gwen Gale yet another time claimed a good faith edit to be "vandalism" administrator HJ Mitchell had this to say about Gwen's conduct:
 
 
In this case, while it might not have been your intention to get into a dispute, you did step over the bright-line rule and, as far as I can see, none of the reverted edits were vandalism. I would suggest being more careful with rollback at the very least. Non-admins have been known to lose it for less. In this case, while it might not have been your intention to get into a dispute, you did step over the bright-line rule and, as far as I can see, none of the reverted edits were vandalism. I would suggest being more careful with rollback at the very least. Non-admins have been known to lose it for less.
 

 

Gwen also received a personal message about this incident.











  • This comment was made by Gwen in a section of arbitration enforcement request concerning Mbz1 on April 5, 2011 . The problem with this comment is that it was made in the section that is clearly marked as "This section is to be edited only by uninvolved administrators. Comments by others will be moved to the section above." "Uninvolved administrator" means an administrator, who never edits content of the articles that belongs to the topic of the specific sanctions. Gwen Gale have been editing these articles for years. She was edit warring and pushing her point of view in these articles. I have never seen any other admin who made even small edits in the articles under ARBPIA commenting in the section for uninvolved administrators. Most of the times the really uninvolved administrators even will not revert either clear vandalism violations.


Biting newbies

The first block was 24 hours for this edit. The user was right "Lady Isabella Frederica Louisa Hervey (born 9 March 1982) is a British socialite, model, and actress. The second block was for two weeks for this edit in which the user changed "are an English" to "is a British". Please look at the article now. It has "British" not "English" . Looks like the user was right because a few newspapers call them "British". The user was also right in this edit, and the user was right in this edit and probably in all other edits as well.

Gwen Gale warned the user, but a new user could not have known what "consensus" and "sourcing" means.


Here's an analysis of the situation with this user:
1. A new editor made a few contributions.
2. He is warned he has to use sources.
3. So in his next two edits he tries to use sources.In this edit he provides not just one, but three sources almost for every sentence he adds, but he does it like this "(Marks, "Lost Paradise", page 292.) " because he is not sure what is the right way to list references. In his next and the last edit he inserts the external link to the article in Guardian, which of course is a reliable source.
4. The user is blocked and never returns.

Gwen Gale using unnecessary, rude edit summaries in the block log

On June2, 2010 a user was blocked with the edit summary: "smells like dirty laundry to me".

Gwen Gale responding to canvassing

I will provide only two example. More examples could be presented by request.

1. Here Gwen Gale responds to email canvassing by user Daedalus969.

Here is an example of one such conversation about sent email:

  • Ping!— Dædαlus+ Contribs 11:56, 22 December 2010 (UTC)
  • Pong! Gwen Gale (talk) 12:41, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

What Daedalus969 was doing just before he pinged Gwen Gale? He was commenting on the same AN/I thread that Gwen Gale closed just before she ponged. So as soon as Daedalus969 said "Ping" Gwen gladly responded "Pong".


2. With this edit the user admitted he canvassed Gwen Gale to co-nominate him in his RfA and Gwen Gale responded to canvassing. It is funny that the user made his/her admission in response to admin Guerillero saying that Gwen Gale does not instill any trust in him/her.


Gwen Gale makes a fool of yourself and of Wikipedia

A few days ago professor Timothy Messer-Kruse shared his experience in editing Wikipedia. In particular he recalls part of his exchange with Gwen Gale:"Explain to me, then, how a 'minority' source with facts on its side would ever appear against a wrong 'majority' one?" I asked the Wiki-gatekeeper. He responded, "You're more than welcome to discuss reliable sources here, that's what the talk page is for. However, you might want to have a quick look at Wikipedia's civility policy." The complete conversation is preserved here:

 
 
Fine. I see I will have to fight these battles one at a time. I will start with the most obvious. Here is a "majority" source, indeed the most often-cited source for information on Haymarket there is, Paul Avrich, The Haymarket Tragedy: from page 190: "Spies had heard that two men had been killed, apparently the correct number, but when he picked up the Daily News, the paper reported six deaths." So, it should be evident that this authoratitive source also agrees the proper number should be TWO. As for you claim about Wikipedia's policy, your characterization of it is absurd, especially if the "majority" source that is cited can be shown to be factually wrong. Explain to me, then, how a "minority" source with facts on its side would ever appear against a wrong "majority" one?MesserKruse (talk) 17:41, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

You're more than welcome to discuss reliable sources here, that's what the talk page is for. However, you might want to have a quick look at Wikipedia's civility policy. Gwen Gale (talk) 17:44, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
 


 

Gwen Gale was also the one who "welcomed" the professor to Wikipedia: "Did you make this edit while not logged in to this account? You may want to have a look at Wikipedia's policy on sockpuppets. Gwen Gale (talk) 18:00, 22 January 2009 (UTC)"

Professor Timothy Messer-Kruse who is a world famous expert on the subject was ordered to review "Wikipedia's civility policy" although he was civil, and "Wikipedia's policy on sockpuppets" simply because he forgot to log in.

Here's a post at Gwen's talk page concerning her involvement in the matter: "Hello. I just want to point out that I recently read an article in the chronicle here: http://chronicle.com/article/The-Undue-Weight-of-Truth-on/130704/ and it describes what amounts to an edit war that you were engaged in. I looked at the page and discussion in question, and it seems to me that you are boorish and a bully. I would like to suggest that you tone down your air of self-righteous authority, in order to encourage a more civil atmosphere on Wikipedia. It's especially ironic that when presented with what seems to be a very civil point by (presumably) the author of the blog, you ignored the substance of his argument and instead groundlessly accused him of being uncivil himself. If you're going to wear that hat of uncontested arbitrator of *TRUTH*, it would be helpful if you at least justified your claims in detail to those who go to the trouble of trying to actually discuss the truth in a balanced fashion using reliable sources. As it stands, you arbitrarily call seemingly reliable sources "unreliable", and other sources that support your preferred narrative "reliable," and this makes you an awful bully. Please consider changing your behavior and attitudes. Best regards. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ashwinr (talk • contribs) 17:29, 15 February 2012 (UTC)"

Wikipedians about bullying



  • A former wikipedian an award-winning Physicist had this to say about Wikipedia:
  1. ...Wikipedia, on the contrary, is the enshrinement of contempt for learning, knowledge and expertise. It is, for many, a diversionary hobby to which they are prepared devote a great portion of their time, as others do to computer based video games. Unfortunately, it has led also to an inner cult, shrouded in anonymity, with structures and processes of self-regulation that are woefully inadequate. Many of these tools and procedures are reminiscent, in parody, of those of the Inquisition: secret courts, an inner "elite" arbitrarily empowered to censor and exclude all those perceived as a threat to the adopted conventions of the cult; denunciations, character assassination, excommunication. An arbitrarily concocted "rulebook" and language rife with self-referential sanctimoniousness give a superficial illusion of order and good sense, but no such thing exists in practice.It is truly a "Tyranny of the Ignorant".
  2. I have no interest in "defending" myself against false accusations, made with no other intent than harassment. I have a real world identity, and have had more than enough of the absurdities of this fictional pseudo-environment, in which people play out their aggressions as though they were knocking down "enemies" in a video game. I have the impression that many of those for whom this is a permanent romping ground are simply maladjusted individuals in their real lives who have a compulsive need to act out aggressions in this fantasy world as a rather pitiful form of self-affirmation...But individuals who try to launch, within science, campaigns of self-promotion through such absurd vehicles as Wikipedia clearly have no interest in the truth, and are only too happy to support the bullying, intimidation and denunciations of self-appointed enforcers such as User: Cheeser1. Given the opportunity, they would doubtless wish to do the same in real life... My only remaining intention, within this lamentable setting, is to close down all vestiges of such contemptible farce, which is a parody of the well known practices used in police states, where denunciation is sufficient to imply guilt, and intimidation is a stock in trade to contain potential "enemies of the state". The only satisfaction that I have is to be able recall that I anticipated such an onslaught, and said so on record, although I failed to anticipate the scope of its absurdity. No-one with any intelligence or self-respect who becomes aware of the prevalence and apparently, encouragement, of such machinations would agree to participate further in such things.



DO NOT DONATE TO THE WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION.IF YOU DONATE MONEY TO THE WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION, YOU'RE LENDING YOUR SUPPORT TO A SYSTEM THAT NOT ONLY TOLERATES BUT FOSTERS ONLINE BULLYING. IF YOU DONATE MONEY TO THE WIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION, YOU'RE LENDING YOUR SUPPORT TO A "TYRANNY OF THE IGNORANT."

See also

External links

Share this page

<sharethis />