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."

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