Wiki-HELL: 2009

Sunday, August 2, 2009

TIPTOETY

This Wikipedia admin appears to be very young and got admin powers easily, despite not being on Wikipeda very long. His edit history reveals obsession in law enforcement, especially due to edits of articles about Portland (OR) area police and sheriff agencies. Due to his unpleasant behavior and poor editing skill, he needed to try for administrative powers 3 times before succeeding. By reverting vandalism and befriending "cabal" bureaucrats such as Slimvirgin and Raul654, he eventually succeeded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_adminship/Tiptoety

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_adminship/Tiptoety_2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_adminship/Tiptoety_3

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Tiptoety&diff=134460338&oldid=134438585

Tiptoety spent a great deal of time editing the article about Multnomah County Sheriff's Office.
Searches of the Wiki database to approximately May 2007, when he first started editing under the name "Tiptoety", revealed this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:SGGH/Archive5#Multnomah_County_Sheriff.27s_Office_Search_and_Rescue
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Disaster_management/Participants

Which showed that in the beginning,
his user ID showed as "T Van Wormer".

Search of the Wikipedia Watch IRC database shows the IP address,
and his first name--Tyler.
http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/cgi-bin/girc.cgi?Na=63.105.27.175
Verified here.
http://www.post1952.com/newsite/gb.htm

Despite his self-admitted youth (high school), Tyler has posed as a policeman on law-enforcement-related forums.
http://www.policelink.com/member/Tiptoety
http://www.galls.com/style.html?assort=general_catalog&style=NP322

Discussed in length on this thread.
http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=25464

'Herschelkrustofsky' of Wikipedia Review

Despite naming himself after Krusty the Clown on the Simpsons, 'Herschel' was banned from Wikipedia for conducting a nasty series of editwars to improve the image of his hero, crank political outsider Lyndon LaRouche. The Wikipedia insiders are quite hostile to LaRouche, due to their friendship with longtime LaRouche critic Chip Berlet.

Unfortunately, much of the history of this 2004-2005 war was purged by the usual corrupt gang of Wikipedia adminns, the so-called Cabal, especially the notorious Slimvirgin. As usual, the winner in a pointless war is able to rewrite history. However, some bits of history remain, usually as backed-up copies on other webservers that were backing up all Wikipedia content.

http://indopedia.org/User_talk:Herschelkrustofsky/threats_and_insults.html

One thing that did survive is this Slimvirgin file, which revealed an IP address -- 64.30.208.48 -- which checkuser had allegedly revealed to be the address that the accounts Weed Harper and Herschelkrustovsky had used to edit-war LaRouche related articles. Despite their well-proven bias against LaRouche, there is no evidence that their assertions about the use of this IP address by Hersch was bogus, so it may be the correct address until 2005, in any case.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:SlimVirgin/Sock
It was discussed in depth on this thread.
http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=6666

Google searches for that IP address, in roughly the time-frame of the editwar, reveal a number of connections to a network engineer named John Covici.
http://lists.xiph.org/pipermail/icecast-dev/2003-August/000647.html
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2005-April/043987.html
http://www.factnet.org/vbforum/showthread.php?t=10265&page=24
http://markmail.org/message/475t6goocqrfcetk

Covici still runs a computer consultation service, and has done some Linux software development.
http://ccs.covici.com/
http://www.counterpunch.org/~blinux/list-archive/blinux-list/2004/msg00093.html

Covici's longtime work for LaRouche is easily proven. It extends back to before the Internet was available to the public. He even ran the LaRouche movement's early mailing list.
http://www.subgenius.com/subg-digest/v0/0088.html
http://www.suslik.org/Humour/Computer/Internet/nl3.html
http://www.subgenius.com/subg-digest/v0/0109.html
http://www.factnet.org/vbforum/archive/index.php/t-10264-p-2.html
http://preposterousuniverse.com/research/aniso/larouche.html

Covici also ran the LaRouche official BBS.
http://www.book-of-thoth.com/archives-article-5532.html

Evidence seems to indicate the Covici originally resided in the Washington, DC. area,
but is now in Santa Monica, CA. area.

(There is another John Covici in New Jersey, with a Facebook and a Myspace. However he appears to be much too young to have operated these LaRouche-oriented online services.)

Thursday, July 30, 2009

WIzardman

The other Arbcomm member who has refused to identify himself is Wizardman. As it turns out, Wikipedia Review user Proabivouac already discovered his identity, and posted it on Don Murphy's blog. Name is Daniel Tylicki.

http://www.donmurphy.net/board/showthread.php?t=31344

http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/cgi-bin/girc.cgi?Na=Wizardman

http://www.classmates.com/directory/public/memberprofile/list.htm?regId=7491681163

He is a regular contributor to Armchair GM, a Wikia sports site. This fits with his extensive edits to Wikipedia articles about American sports stars, mostly concentrating on baseball.
http://armchairgm.wikia.com/index.php?title=User:Wizardman

Dan Tylicki is presently a student at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. It is a small liberal-arts college affiliated with the Methodist Church. His father, Parma insurance agent Gary Tylicki is an alumnus. Another relative, Robert Tylicki, has bequeathed money to the college.

http://www.bw.edu/academics/

Obviously Wikipedia believes that anyone can become an arbitrator, regardless of their youth and inexperience.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Who is Carcharoth?

Most of the current Arbitration Committee has self-identified on Wikipedia, either currently on the official page, or previously on a talk page or another WP official page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee

One notable exception: Carcharoth. He was a popular choice for admin and was elected to Arbcomm, although some of the more destructive and hostile elements of admin ranks opposed his Arbcomm election for irrational reasons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_adminship/Carcharoth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee_Elections_December_2008/Vote/Carcharoth

Reading Wikichecker and his contributions reveals that he is likely to be in the UK, and has a consuming obsession with two things: Tolkein (not surprising, as his name "Carcharoth" is that of a monster in a Tolkein book), and chess.

A very nerdy fellow. Since he has probably participated in discussions on Tolkein forums and Usenet groups, a search of Usenet activity for combinations of "Wikipedia", "Carcharoth", "Tolkein" and "chess" keeps leading to a single name: Christopher Kreutzer.
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.tolkien/browse_thread/thread/563a7be5e8c6e21/20728993fde98554?q=chess++tolkein+carcharoth#20728993fde98554
http://groups.google.com/groups/profile?enc_user=_g-axRkAAABwB4HlNHhIdD83P2GVa-8fQew15lnDCygdGNfT0wc1ZA

He is an officer of the Tolkein Society in London.
http://www.tolkiensociety.org/2005/committee.php?cm=ChristopherKreuzer

And captain of the London Deaf Chess Club.
http://deaf-chess.de/downloads/20080930_RE-Bericht_GL-WM.pdf
http://www.londondeafchessclub.com/playerprofile.asp?pid=9

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Gurch, aka Matthew Britton

Monday, May 4, 2009

Bob "Filll" Stevens

Bob, a climate scientist in Bowie, Maryland, is a very tedious Wikipedian. You can't find much about him elsewhere on the internet, because he has only two preferred hangouts: Wikipedia, and weirdly, Skype conference bridges.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Filll/About_me&direction=prev&oldid=157384505

Bob has a personal blog, which seems to be a series of critiques of other people whose names are rarely mentioned. You can tell that Bob is not very mature and has a big ego, because most of his sentences on this blog start with "I".
http://filllingstation.blogspot.com/

Bob can easily show himself to be a cardcarrying Jimbo-sucking Wikinerd, simply via his lengthy and angry rants about a fellow scientist, Barry "Moulton" Kort:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Filll/Moultonunblock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/Moulton#Inside_view_by_User:Filll

Moulton has helpfully archived some of Bob's nonsense for future generations (assuming future generations will give a damn about Bob Stevens):
http://newscafe.ansci.usu.edu/~bkort/Bob.Stevens.txt

Another thing Bob loves to do is profess his love of evolution, and his support of certain WPers who push evolution as a POV, such as OrangeMarlin and FeloniousMonk, which apparently includes his occasional harassment of their opponents:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents&oldid=187552639#Disgruntled_harassment

Bob has an account on Love Access:
http://www.loveaccess.com/personals/filll

It's believed that this Topix account is the same Bob Stevens. At least, the angry rants about science are similar:
http://www.topix.com/member/profile/robertstevens

It's on Skype that Bob's ego enjoys full flower. On their public conferences, he can spew his bigoted pseudo-opinions day and night, and have an audience. Easier than typing, probably.

He occasionally blogs about his Skype funnytimes:
http://skypelandadventures.blogspot.com/

As a result, Bob (usually known as "BobinMD") has become the butt of many jokes among a small group of fellow Skype addicts.
http://skypeassholes.com/node/1709

Fellow Skype user "Appliantologist" runs a blog about Bob, complete with some audio captures of Bob spewing (warning, many videos, much foul language):
http://filll-fan-club.blogspot.com/

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Shankbone, part 2

In 2008, Shankbone uploaded a number of photographs to the Wikimedia servers that were either offensive, or outright pornography--some were homosexual in nature, a few were taken on the set of a Michael Lucas porn video production. Said photos were deleted by Jimmy Wales himself or other Wikipedia admins after more than a year of controversy and dispute. Some were included in Wikimedia's "Bad Images List".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Bad_image_list
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Film_set_of_Michael_Lucas,_Apr_2008
http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=delete&user=Jimbo+Wales
http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=22973

A few of Shankbone's offensive photos are still visible on Wikimedia servers (Warning: extremely offensive images):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Taint_by_David_Shankbone.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Glans_Penis_by_David_Shankbone.jpg

Despite the Wikipedia proscription against "sockpuppets", or anonymous accounts used for subterfuge, Shankbone is known to have operated sockpuppet accounts on-wiki. The following are believed to be inactive Shankbone socks. There may be others which have not been discovered yet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Johanbach
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:WatchingWhales

Despite the Wikipedia proscription against personal attacks, Shankbone has pursued personal vendettas against people with whom he had disputes, on-wiki or off. Examples follow.

Shankbone clashed with Ted Frank (Wikipedia user THF) and other Wikipedia conservatives over the Wikipedia articles about Michael Moore and his documentary "Sicko".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/IncidentArchive290#Official_that_www.MichaelMoore.com_is_an_attack_website.3F__Because_it_is_being_removed_again_by_the_Anti-Moore_patrol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/IncidentArchive288#Michael_Moore
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/IncidentArchive289#Dear_Mr._Moore.2C_doesn.27t_Wikipedia_look_stupid.3F
Shankbone supposedly used one of his "sockpuppet" accounts to defame Mr. Frank, via Frank's Wikipedia biography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ted_Frank&limit=500&action=history

Shankbone has pursued a personal grudge against Paul Wehage (Wikipedia Review user The FieryAngel, who edited Wikipedia under the name Musikfabrik). The original reason for this grudge is not known, though it appears to have evolved from an argument with Wehage on WR.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/IncidentArchive465#Stalking_by_Folantin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Arbitration_enforcement/Archive25#Jean-Thierry_Boisseau
http://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Utilisateur:David_Shankbone&diff=prev&oldid=29848858
http://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Discussion_utilisateur:Hellokittybangbang&diff=prev&oldid=29614807
http://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Utilisateur:Musikfabrik&diff=prev&oldid=29614790

There was a recent dispute with Wikipedia critic and noted Guardian writer Seth Finkelstein.
http://blog.shankbone.org/2009/04/20/seth-finkelstein-the-guardian-and-wikipedia/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Seth_Finkelstein#Reporting_on_Wikipedia_and_Your_Conflict-of-Interest
http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=23767

Plus, Shankbone has repeatedly claimed that members of Wikipedia Review are "stalking" himself and others. These claims were made after Shankbone was banned from Wikipedia Review for his abusive behavior.
http://blog.shankbone.org/2008/12/02/ikipedia-arbitrtation-committee-cool-hand-luke-and-the-wikipedia-review/
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3ADavid_Shankbone&diff=285711879&oldid=285709190

Shankbone has a section on his user page in which he lists a number of IP addresses that a "stalker" has allegedly used to harass him. Oddly enough, they are located in Paterson, New Jersey, where many of his family and friends live.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:David_Shankbone/72.76
Example of such threat:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Alison&diff=prev&oldid=235825966
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/IncidentArchive472#Banned_.22Gay_Pornography_Vandal.22_is_back

A woman named "Samantha Niclas" has attempted to friend known Shankbone opponents on Facebook. She is a NYC-area attorney, her IP address is in the same range as the "stalker" Shankbone alleged above, and she comments on Shankbone's blog frequently.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Samantha-Niclas/569586244
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/7/119/776

Shankbone has worked closely with notorious Wikipedia former administrator SlimVirgin, herself often accused of violating NPOV and COI when editing articles related to Israel and the Middle East.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:SlimVirgin&diff=194737593&oldid=194708717
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:SlimVirgin&diff=180503584&oldid=180503429
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:SlimVirgin&diff=240808152&oldid=240654465
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:SlimVirgin&diff=261151350&oldid=260925434
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:David_Shankbone&diff=284977308&oldid=284934605
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:SlimVirgin&diff=177067669&oldid=177067090

He has also brown-nosed the elite of Wikipedia administration:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:David_Shankbone/Hall_of_The_Greats

Despite its famous hostility to Wikipedia, Shankbone has several accounts on the satirical wiki Encyclopedia Dramatica. (He once had a post on his blog called "Why I Love Encyclopedia Dramatica", which was recently deleted.) Note that Shankbone is using the name "the fieryangel" on ED, which is the name used by one of his critics (Paul Wehage) on Wikipedia Review. Shankbone has used ED articles to attack people who he regards as "enemies", such as Wikipedia Review user Greg Kohs. The current MyWikiBiz article on ED, which has been protected and contains defamatory statements about Kohs and his family, was written by the Shankbone sock account at the bottom of the following list.
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/User:The_fieryangel
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/User:Shankbone
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/User:Cookie
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/User:Beaver_Van_Jynington

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Shankbone part 1

In the annals of abusive and irrational Wikipedia editors, few have created as much tension and outright fear as "David Shankbone".

His user page is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:David_Shankbone

He has been editing under this name since June 2006, and became an active contributor in 2007. His primary area of contribution has been in gifting his own personal photos to the Wikimedia Foundation. Some 3000 of them, at last count--many of celebrities, taken in New York in recent years. For that reason alone, Wikipedia administrators have given him a wide berth. Example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/IncidentArchive371#Does_Wikipedia_want_David_Shankbone_or_should_we_just_tell_him_to_leave.3F

He is also a "journalist" for Wikinews, the Wikimedia attempt to offer unmediated original news reporting using unpaid volunteers.
http://www.cjr.org/on_the_job/the_wikinews_ace.php

His personal blog is here:
http://blog.shankbone.org/

Openly gay. Real name is David C. Miller, DOB 9 July 1974. A voter registration exists in this name, giving an address near Tompkins Square Park, NYC. Dropout from law school (Fordham U.) and former paralegal. The name "Shankbone" was allegedly taken from the "z'roah" used in Passover seder.
http://fora.tv/speaker/4934/David_Shankbone
http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/04/books/david-shankbone-with-colleen-asper
http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/06/express/nobodys-safe-in-cyber-space

Despite being a "lapsed Catholic" according to some accounts, Shankbone has become a fan of all things Jewish, not to mention things relating to Israel. This apparently relates to Shankbone's very close relationship with Michael Lucas, a Russian Jewish producer of gay pornography and a dedicated fan of Israel and Zionism. Lucas has a blog (warning, extremely offensive pornographic images):
http://www.lucasblog.com/index.html

Lucas is a determined self-promoter, and not above bizarre public behaviour. For example, there is the publicity stunt he perpetrated at the 2009 GayVN awards in San Francisco, in which he was nominated for an award. Lucas claimed that the actual winner, Brent Corrigan, did not deserve the award. After the award ceremony, Lucas claimed that Corrigan's boyfriend threatened to "throw acid in my face and kill me"--a claim that Corrigan said was false.
http://www.queerty.com/michael-lucas-vs-brent-corrigan-20090330/

Lucas is fond of using such antics to promote his gay porn videos. For example:
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-179034835.html

The ultimate testimony to Lucas' talent for self-promotion would be the reaction to his 2008 videos, named "Piss!" and "Farts!". Both were seized at the border by Canadian customs, producing a public-relations bonanza for Lucas and his company.
http://business.avn.com/company-news/31059.html

On the Wikimedia server is an audio interview that Shankbone conducted with his friend Lucas, about the Iraq war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Michael_Lucas_to_David_Shankbone_on_the_Iraq_War.ogg

Further proof of their relationship is visible in Shankbone's Flickr set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shankbone/sets/72157607074517385/

Despite the Wikipedia proscription against editing articles one has a personal interest in (COI, NPOV) Shankbone monitors the Wikipedia biography of Mr. Lucas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Lucas_(director)&limit=500&action=history
He also added info about the Canadian video seizures to the Wikipedia articles about the Canadian Border Service, and to the Lucas biography.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Canada_Border_Services_Agency&diff=278271864&oldid=276334248
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Lucas_%28director%29&diff=278269196&oldid=278084556

Apparently, Shankbone may have learned to self-promote by observing Lucas' activities.

Shankbone also personally knows hedge-fund manager and pro-Isaeli activist David Borowich, and has created and monitors a Wikipedia biography for Borowich.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Borowich
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=David_Borowich&action=history
Borowich is married to Sivan Achor, a realtor, and founder of Jewish Heart for Africa (JHA), a nonprofit that claims to donate Israeli-developed solar-power equipment to African villages. JHA and Achor have direct ties to the Israeli government.
http://jewess.canonist.com/?p=846
"All of these experiences have informed Sivan’s founding of Jewish Heart For Africa, with the help of her classmate Sarit Birzon and Edoe Cohen from the Israeli foreign ministry in Jerusalem."

A result of Shankbone's connection to Achor would appear to be the recent generation of a number of Wikipedia articles relating to the solar-energy industry in Israel. He has created Wikipedia articles about it and related topics. Examine the histories of these articles. Please note that Shankbone has no education in solar energy or engineering.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Israel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Gurion_National_Solar_Energy_Center
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Faiman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Cleantech_Ventures
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Solar_energy_companies_of_Israel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenith_Solar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arava_Power_Company
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Zvi_Tabor
Admission of ignorance of these subjects:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:David_Shankbone&diff=260468790&oldid=260468634

Another result of his familiarity with Achor: he has been angling for a trip to Africa, at the expense of the JHA or the Israeli government. Discussed on his blog.
http://blog.shankbone.org/2009/02/24/western-bias-in-stock-photography-and-images/

It is believed that one of these Zionists introduced Shankbone to Israeli Consul for Media And Public Affairs and former IDF officer, David Saranga.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_Shankbone_and_David_Saranga.jpg
Shankbone wrote the Wikipedia biography about Saranga, both under his regular name and using a "sockpuppet" account.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Saranga
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=David_Saranga&limit=500&action=history

Saranga has worked to encourage gay/lesbian tourism in Israel:
http://www.glbtjews.org/article.php3?id_article=361
and openly admits using Shankbone to "help Israel boost its image":
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a15107/News/New_York.html
http://www.icjs-online.org/index.php?article=1862
One result of Shankbone's connection to Saranga was his expenses-paid trip to Israel in December 2007, leading to an interview with Shimon Peres. As noted in links above, Shankbone returned to Israel in March 2009, again at Israeli government expense.
http://www.cjr.org/on_the_job/the_wikinews_ace.php
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/937991.html
Note the quote from Shankbone: "It means only one thing: Israelis should be more active on Wikipedia. Instead of blaming it, they should go on the site much more, and try and change it."

Wiki-HELL