User talk:Brian McNeil/Archive

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Please refer to my pages on Wikinews
Comments on my talk page over there are far more-likely to receive a (prompt) response.


Letter petitioning WMF to reverse recent decitions

The Wikimedia Foundation recently created a new feature, "superprotect" status. The purpose is to prevent pages from being edited by elected administrators -- but permitting WMF staff to edit them. It has been put to use in only one case: to protect the deployment of the Media Viewer software on German Wikipedia, in defiance of a clear decision of that community to disable the feature by default, unless users decide to enable it.

If you oppose these actions, please add your name to this letter. If you know non-Wikimedians who support our vision for the free sharing of knowledge, and would like to add their names to the list, please ask them to sign an identical version of the letter on change.org.

I'm notifying you because you participated in one of several relevant discussions. -Pete F (talk) 22:02, 20 August 2014 (UTC)

Wikinews block

Why am I still blocked on Wikinews? Contrary to your claims, I have never been disruptive on Wikinews or any other Wikimedia site. My Wikinews account has been repeatedly vandalized by user @Pi zero:. I have never so much as been able to finish a single article because of being repeatedly singled out for harassment by this one particular administrator.

I have a Baccalaurea Scientiae in Anthropology and professional journalism experience, both in offline and online publishing (newswriter for high-school newspaper, university newspaper, and local independent newspaper). Wikinews is the least-trafficked of all Wikimedia domains, and I would argue it is at least in part because of the hostility that new contributors such as myself experience. User "pi zero" blocked my account in 2015 without any attempt to warn me, in violation of the written policies of both Wikinews and the Wikimedia Foundation, and then proceeded to edit my userpage without my permission, in additional violation of both Wikinews and Wikimedia policy.

User "pi zero" then repeated the exact same violations again in 2016, blocking me without any warning, right in the middle of my rewriting an important time-critical article on the trial of Hissène Habré, a landmark case in human rights, which is still incomplete, and now over a day past. Because of user "pi zero"'s actions blocking me from communicating on Wikinews directly, and the lack of accessible administrators on Wikinews, I have been repeatedly forced to go through multiple posts on multiple wikis in my struggle to find a resolution. On the original block, I attempted for months to contact nearly every single Wikinews administrator listed, only to find out that "pi zero" was the only active Wikinews admin at the time.

As noted in the section below, it is true that I have gone through multiple accounts over my many years of participation in Wikimedia. This is not exceptional, as I know many admins who also have old inactive former-account userpages. All Wikimedia projects have multiple userpages for me, each from an old account. Wikinews is no exception. On every single Wikimedia project, my old userpages each have had a redirect link placed to my current active profile, which is "NicoleSharpRFS," so that users know that I am the same contributor. Only on Wikinews does this one particular admin, user "pi zero," apparently have a problem with this, and only until just last year (I have been on Wikinews for years before I met user "pi zero"). Again, placing a redirect link on an old userpage is good practice so that users know that a particular contributor is the same user. This is not disruptive since it allows a professionalism and consistency to userspace that allows users to know who contributed what. It is completely nonsensical that I have been blocked for such a long time for such a tiny thing.

NicoleSharpRFS (talk) 03:05, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

I've already stated this, but I wanted to emphasize again, that the bottom line is that it is irrelevant whether the reasons that user "pi zero" had for blocking me were right or wrong. The action of blocking me (both in 2015 and again in 2016) was done A) without any warning to me, with no attempt at discussion with me before the block, and B) was a permanent block preventing me from making any edits on Wikinews ad infinitum. Both the way that the block was conducted by user "pi zero," and the type of block that was performed, are violations of written Wikinews policy: "wikinews:Wikinews:Blocking policy." According to official policy, user "pi zero" should have A) attempted to contact me to discuss any edits that they did not agree with, and if I was indeed being "disruptive" (which of course is not true), then I should have received only a block for less than 24 hours. User "pi zero" has never performed any of these actions that are outlined in official policy, and in both instances I was permanently blocked without any warning or discussion. Any type of block is a seriously drastic action, and to be performed in clear violation of written policies, is an abuse of administrative privilege. The only "disruptive" user here is user "pi zero" for disrupting the news by preventing me from contributing to articles for merely the minor matter of attempting to place redirect links on my old no-longer-active Wikinews userpages. NicoleSharpRFS (talk) 07:07, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

copy of vandalism report concerning pi zero

  • Persistently disruptive user (making the request here, that is). Please refer to the longest-standing talk page where the person claiming to be Nicole Sharp has run up against several adminstrators (plus 'crats), and been blocked for shuffling around so many identities as to destroy any hope of gaining trust in a journalistic setting. --Brian McNeil / talk 13:52, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
    • As I commented at "user talk:pi zero#vandalism on Wikinews," I have never been disruptive on Wikinews or any other project. The only disruption is caused by user "pi zero" vandalizing userpages and blocking me from contributing to Wikinews. The extensive multiwiki discussion is a direct result of the abusive actions of user "pi zero" and a lack of administrative oversight on Wikinews that unfortunately allows user "pi zero" to act with impunity. In the five years of editing over multiple accounts and multiple projects since 2010, I have never had any problems on any other wiki before this Wikinews fiasco with user "pi zero" from 2015.
  • In a nutshell, I have been an active contributor to Wikimedia since 2010, and for both personal and practical reasons, over the years I have moved through several different Wikimedia accounts. Whenever I got a new account, I would place redirect links on my old userpages so that other users would know that I am the same contributor. One of those later usernames was "Nicole Sharp," which I ended up not using for a long while. In 2015 though I decided to start using it again and placed redirect links from all of my old userpages to "Nicole Sharp" instead. I successfully completed this for every Wikimedia project I had old userpages on, except that when I got to Wikinews, I was suddenly and without warning blocked by user "pi zero." While blocked, user "pi zero" proceeded to edit my userpages without my permission and persistently refused to unblock me, despite extensive discussions that went nowhere. When I requested arbitration by a different admin, user "pi zero" refused to assist, and I attempted over a period of several months to contact one by one nearly every admin listed for Wikinews. The majority I got no replies from, and those that did reply informed me that they were no longer active on Wikinews, with user "pi zero" being the only active admin on the project. By then I gave up and was depressed enough with my experiences on Wikinews to not seriously contribute to any other Wikimedia projects until this Spring. I decided to start fresh with a new Wikimedia account, but as soon as user "pi zero" found out, I was again blocked without any warning, right in the middle of rewriting an important time-critical news article for Wikinews about the Hissène Habré trial. There are complaints listed from other Wikinews users of user "pi zero" abusing administrator privileges, and since I have been repeatedly victimized over multiple accounts, I would request that the local Wikinews admin privileges for user "pi zero" be revoked. I should also add that Wikinews is the least-trafficked Wikimedia domain and needs all the help it can get, particularly from college-educated contributors with journalism experience such as myself. Such a hostile atmosphere towards contributors both hurts Wikinews and reflects very poorly upon the Wikimedia Foundation as a whole. My experiences with every other Wikimedia project over the past six years have always been very positive without any issues.

deletions by user "pi zero" on MetaWiki

FYI, user "@Pi zero:" is now deleting my posts from talkpages here on MetaWiki. I don't see anything gained from attempting to undo such edits, so I have instead copied below the archived text from "user talk:pi zero#vandalism on Wikinews" from before user "pi zero" deleted my comments. This kind of behavior though is very unprofessional in my opinion, and even if just limited to their own talkpage, at least borderline vandalism. This is a trend from Wikinews of user "pi zero" that seems to have carried over to MetaWiki (deleting posts and blocking users from discussion). I hope that you or another admin can intervene soon so that my Wikinews account can finally be unblocked, and a discussion can be opened regarding the pros and cons of removing the admin privileges of user "pi zero" on Wikinews (unfortunately, if there are no other regularly active Wikinews admins, having at least one admin is arguably better than none). https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Pi_zero&diff=15670104&oldid=15670068 NicoleSharpRFS (talk) 12:44, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

vandalism on Wikinews

  • Please unblock my account on Wikinews and stop vandalizing my userpages. Both editing others' userpages and blocking users without cause or notification are violations of the written policies of both Wikinews and the Wikimedia Foundation. I have formally reported your actions to the Wikimedia Foundation, and hopefully someone can intervene to have my account unblocked if you continue to refuse. See "requests for help from a sysop or bureaucrat#Report concerning pi zero." NicoleSharpRFS (talk) 12:46, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
    • I've done nothing unusual; anyone causing the sorts of disruption you have caused on en.wn could reasonably expect to be treated similarly. --Pi zero (talk) 12:56, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
      • As you are well aware, I have never caused a disruption on Wikinews. You are the one who has disrupted the news by blocking me from finishing an important time-critical article ("wikinews:Chadian dictator Hissène Habré found guilty of crimes against humanity") which is already coming on one day past. I asked on your Wikinews talkpage for your constructive collaboration on the article and instead you decided to vandalize my userpages and block my account, without a single word in my direction. These kinds of actions are abusive and cannot be tolerated by any user, much less an admin. Please unblock my Wikinews account and just leave me in peace. NicoleSharpRFS (talk) 13:27, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
        • You're not the victim in this situation. --Pi zero (talk) 14:00, 31 May 2016 (UTC)
          • You have abused your administrative privileges to block people you do not agree with, without discussion, and to edit other people's userpages as you see fit without their permission. I am helplessly victimized and unable do anything on Wikinews while you do whatever you like with impunity. My experiences on Wikinews as a result of your actions have unfortunately severely altered my previously lofty perceptions of community-based collaborative editing. I hope that this can be resolved though so that I can once again contribute news articles without the constant fear of an unannounced block. NicoleSharpRFS (talk) 14:33, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

Google News for Wikinews

Hi! I saw the English Wikinews is shown on Google News. Is something like that possible for other Wikinews-versions too? Livenws (talk) 07:58, 12 March 2018 (UTC)

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