Arbcom 2018 Candidate: RickinBaltimore

[Mutineer]

The first Arbcom 2018 self-nomination has appeared. It's from "RickinBaltimore."

RickinBaltimore, 13:30, 14 November 2017‎: After careful consideration, and lots of thought on my part, I have decided to self-nominate myself for this ArbCom election. I ran in the 2015 election as a relative unknown editor here. I became an admin in 2016, and after working in my admin role for over a year, I wish to work on ArbCom to help resolve many of the tougher issues that arise on Wikipedia. My goal, if elected to the Committee, is to be a neutral sounding board, and examine every issue with the mindset of "What is best for the project?" As an admin, I have mainly focused on areas such as vandal fighting and general cleanup; however I have watched, and participated in, some rather heated discussions on AN and AN/I. My primary skill is helping to resolve disputes, or help mitigate them, and I feel that the Committee would benefit from someone who can put their emotions aside, and try to use reason and logic to help with some of the most tenuous issues on Wikipedia.

In the idea of disclosure, I have edited under Wildthing61476, and RickKJr prior to this current name change. I have not had any other accounts at Wikipedia at any time.

The guy's a denizen, a regular, at WP:AN/ANI. I vaguely recall his RFA a couple years back. At that time it was known he had had previous accounts, but I think he had some contact at Arbcom, and it was the ol' "I won't tell you but I notified somebody at Arbcom, so you don't need to worry about scrutiny of my edits or anything like that" dance. Now he acknowledges "Wildthing61476" and "RickKJr." Both now redirect to "RickinBaltimore." I am unable to access the edits of the prior accounts. Have they been wiped out entirely? Is that a fringe benefit for administrators these days?

His self-nom is silly, feel-good nothingness for the Kool-Ade crowd. "...Examine every issue with the mindset of "What is best for the project?"." "I wish to work on ArbCom to help resolve many of the tougher issues that arise..." Ho-hum and meaningless, and I'm confident you'll find a completely different Rick if you go over his edit history.

My impression of this guy is more-than-a-bit negative.

[The End]

"RickKJr" Any relation to RickK aka Zoe from a by-gone era?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:RickK

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Zoe

[Mutineer]

"RickKJr" Any relation to RickK aka Zoe from a by-gone era?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:RickK

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Zoe

Good catch. "RickKJr" is a bit too similar to "RickK" to be mere coincidence, especially since both are WP:AN/ANI regulars. Let's have a look at what RickKJr specifically says in his self-nom:

"In the idea of disclosure, I have edited under Wildthing61476, and RickKJr prior to this current name change. I have not had any other accounts at Wikipedia at any time." So a passerby or novice would think "oh, that's honest of him to just list his prior accounts." But, no, his words leave open the possibility of *renamed* accounts. Wildthing61476 and RickKJr could be the same account renamed. It's completely misleading, but he could be leaving out the prior names of his renamed accounts. Which of course would slip by anybody who's not a Rick expert. Scrutiny avoided.

Maybe I'm being overly suspicious. He clearly suggests, implies, and indicates that Wildthing61476, RickKJr, and RickinBaltimore are the totality of accounts/account names he's edited under.

It'll take some study but I'll try to get a better grip on this entity. If he was RickK and Zoe (female name?) he's been in the Wikipedia system a long time.

[Mutineer]

More on Arbcom candidate "RickinBaltimore."

I see now that the histories of renamed accounts normally get subsumed into the history of the later account name. While the wiki software changes the name in the header at the top of the diff, you can tell if the user made a comment, which is signed with the older name.

"Wildthing61476" is like that for RickinBaltimore. A couple observations having browsed the edit history a bit. The oldest edits have clearly been whitewashed out of public view en masse. The oldest visible edit (as Wildthing) is a practiced AFD clerical action, there's no way it was a new user. Also Wildthing ran for Arbcom. In 2006! So this person has been trying to get on Arbcom for ages. That's not mentioned in his self-nomination.

There's a couple more self-nominees at the candidates page now, if you want to gawk at them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee_Elections_December_2017/Candidates (at the bottom).

EDIT: The sentence in his self-nom "I ran in the 2015 election as a relative unknown editor here" really seems disingenuous to me given the fact he may have been on Wikipedia for 13 or 14 years. The reason he's relatively "unknown" is because he changes his name.

[Kumioko]

I think it's pretty clear that this will mostly be the same cast of losers as every other year or people who are very close to the inner circle and won't rock the boat or attempt to change anything significant about the system. I wouldn't be surprised if BU Rob the sockmaster turned admin/functionary/BAG member doesn't run so he can collect those hats. My hope is if he does, then he will get everything he hoped for out of Wikipedia and leave so real editors can actually improve the content.

One thing is for sure though, no one running for Arbcom is a friend of the editing community!

[Mutineer]

RickinBaltimore asserts he never heard of RickK before selecting his prior account name RickKJr.

Sure thing. It's my first name, last initial, and I'm a Junior. To be honest I had no idea of the RickK account when I did this, and I quickly changed upon learning of it. Had I known, this never would been an issue. RickinBaltimore (talk) 16:28, 15 November 2017 (UTC)

[ericbarbour]

"RickKJr" Any relation to RickK aka Zoe from a by-gone era?

Ha ha. If he is RickK, he's in for some real trouble.

PS RickK and Zoe were VERY early Wikipedia admins, sysopped in 2003. This appears to be one of WP's earliest examples of an administrator sockpuppet, if not the first. They both reported their accounts were "compromised" in June 2008, within one minute of each other. And Kelly Martin said they both apparently had the same user password. The AN discussion was quickly censored by Newyorkbrad, so don't bother looking for it. All you can see today are the original reports with a few comments, and the Wikipedia Review thread. In which Newyorkbrad snarled at Kelly: "Publicizing this information in this way was highly inappropriate.".
http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s= ... t&p=113836

And that is one of the many reasons I dislike and distrust Newyorkbrad, and other people should distrust him as well. He serves as a censor and obfuscator and nothing more.

[Mutineer]

RickinBaltimore's comments re: RickK are causing a funny smell. Let me explain.

Scorecard: "RickinBaltimore," a self-nomination for Arbcom, acknowledges "RickKJr" as a prior name of his account. "RickK" is, per RickinBaltimore, an account that he had no idea existed prior choosing his "RickKJr" name.

You can see RickKJr edits by looking at the earliest ones under the account of RickinBaltimore. They appear under RickinBaltimore, but if you read the actual edit you can see them signed by RickKJr. I take this to signify that the RickKJr account was renamed, as opposed to starting a new account.

Now, the earliest edits of RickKJr have been deleted. I know this because the earliest one visible is obviously that of a fairly advanced administrative participant. It's an AFD. Look for yourself:

Naboo Star Skiff: Unnecessary Star Warscruft Wildthing61476 19:33, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

Yes, that appears as a "Wildthing61476" edit. Wildthing61476 is the second former account name that RickinBaltimore has acknowledged. I'd argue that the comment in the box above was written by a practiced hand. It's absurd to consider that a comment of a new user. The earlier edits have been wiped out.

Now, that edit was from May 2006. If you look at RickK's edits, they essentially stopped in June 2005 (later, he complains about a impersonation, and then there's a strange thing involving "Zoe").

June 2005 to May 2006 is eleven months. And as I've noted, the former account names of RickinBaltimore have their pre-May 2006 edits disappeared, so it's been significantly shorter than that. RickK then, like RickinBaltimore now, was heavily active in AFDs (Articles for Deletion) and WP:AN/ANI. It stretches, no, snaps, my ability to suspend disbelief that it's coincidental and RickinBaltimore, formerly RickKJr, had no idea of RickK, as he has professed.

Conclusion: In my view, having researched the question a bit, RickinBaltimore is RickK, which he denies.

[Kumioko]

I for one hope it is RickK and I hope they do get elected to Arbcom before it's confirmed. What a major black eye on the Community, Arbcom and the WMF for allowing that t happen and proving to everyone that they have absolutely no meaningful process for protecting personal information of the editing community.

[Mutineer]

This confirms to me that we are "the website that must not be named" not only at Wikipedia, but at its fan forum Wikipediocracy.com. Yay team!

Vocal (at Wikipediocracy, 17 Nov. '17): What do you think about the, ahem, 'allegation' made elsewhere that he's the reincarnation of RickK/Zoe?

.

That legal dunce New York Brad also refused to name us at the questions portion for RickinBaltimore's candidacy, where he queried RickinBaltimore about any possible connection to RickK.