Eric Corbett's, indeffed and banned

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Kumioko
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Eric Corbett's, indeffed and banned

Post by Kumioko » Wed Nov 13, 2019 12:37 pm

I noticed this morning that Eric Corbett's was banned indef for socking and then banned by the arbitration committee. I know a lot of people here and on the project don't like him, but given the high number of featured articles he has, it's hard to deny this will have a negative impact on Wikipedia.
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Re: Eric Corbett's, indeffed and banned

Post by JuiceBeetle » Wed Nov 13, 2019 4:16 pm

He had one another sock blocked since then. Got to voting in RfA :lol:
In the last year he was not as productive, actually. His image of a great editor is the past now.

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Re: Eric Corbett's, indeffed and banned

Post by Kumioko » Wed Nov 13, 2019 10:15 pm

JuiceBeetle wrote:He had one another sock blocked since then. Got to voting in RfA :lol:
In the last year he was not as productive, actually. His image of a great editor is the past now.

That's only because he had a couple people hounding and harassing him constantly and the arbcom was totally fine with looking the other way when that was going on. Rather ironic that group of hypocrites would now put an arbcom ban on him.
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Re: Eric Corbett's, indeffed and banned

Post by Carrite » Thu Nov 14, 2019 7:02 am

Kumioko wrote:
JuiceBeetle wrote:He had one another sock blocked since then. Got to voting in RfA :lol:
In the last year he was not as productive, actually. His image of a great editor is the past now.

That's only because he had a couple people hounding and harassing him constantly and the arbcom was totally fine with looking the other way when that was going on. Rather ironic that group of hypocrites would now put an arbcom ban on him.


When Eric was hard at work, despite his shitty behavior, he was regarded as a net positive.

If you check his contribution record, for a year and a half or something he has done jack shit. The same shitty behavior now makes him a big net negative.

Game over.

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Re: Eric Corbett's, indeffed and banned

Post by Kumioko » Thu Nov 14, 2019 11:28 am

Carrite wrote:
Kumioko wrote:
JuiceBeetle wrote:He had one another sock blocked since then. Got to voting in RfA :lol:
In the last year he was not as productive, actually. His image of a great editor is the past now.

That's only because he had a couple people hounding and harassing him constantly and the arbcom was totally fine with looking the other way when that was going on. Rather ironic that group of hypocrites would now put an arbcom ban on him.


When Eric was hard at work, despite his shitty behavior, he was regarded as a net positive.

If you check his contribution record, for a year and a half or something he has done jack shit. The same shitty behavior now makes him a big net negative.

Game over.

RfB

I could also point to multiple others like Bbb23, HJmitchell, Floquenneam, binksternet and beyond my Ken for starters that all have shitty behavior, who's work is generally a net negative and they are still around.

I again contest that Eric simply got tired of the continuous harassment. Personally I'm glad he basically quit editing, it's a win for the hasten the day crowd. I hope he continues to create alternate accounts.
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Re: Eric Corbett's, indeffed and banned

Post by boredbird » Thu Nov 14, 2019 3:23 pm

Kumioko wrote:Personally I'm glad he basically quit editing…I hope he continues to create alternate accounts.

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Re: Eric Corbett's, indeffed and banned

Post by CrowsNest » Thu Nov 14, 2019 7:19 pm

Garbage thread is garbage. Ridiculous Kumioko didn't even notice he was banned, since he was around both critic forums when Eric was reinventing himself as a supposed critic and fellow socky-wocky-warrior. Early indications are his clandestine efforts will be just as effective in bringing down the WMF. He certainly sucks as much as a critic. Should just fuck off and carry on getting to get Engole noticed.

This idea Eric created lots of high quality content has been debunked by a serious critic already. His last Featured Article star was awarded in 2015, and you can see how well attended the review was.

Any true HTD critic would want him to have stuck around, because his cancerous presence was always beneficial.

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Re: Eric Corbett's, indeffed and banned

Post by Abd » Thu Nov 14, 2019 7:26 pm

So I decided to look at Eric Corbett.
[*]Edit count. This would ordinarily be a positive sign, of a user who works on encyclopedic content. However, after July 2018, the mainspace count went very low, sometimes zero. His listed FAs are certainly decent articles, AFAIK, but on, what must be said, are minor topics. Not bad, but . . . also no particular test of ability to work with a community. His denouement appears to have been over Moors murders.
[*]Block log. Long. Trouble brewing for a long time.
[*]AE complaint. With his response there, the Corbett account is toast. This was based on a 2014 AC ruling. Enforcement log.
[*]It all becomes obvious. August 2019 block. And this demonstrates the problem, clearly:
Oh this block is really going to help the encyclopedia become a far better place. Well done to all those concerned. Why not take it a step further and block all the content editors who ever show signs of bad temper of frustration with the way the place is run. It's mostly all written now, so most of them are redundant. All we need now is people now who will create safe places for timid people, councillors for mad people and a gentle, kind listening ear for anxious people. Admins will only be required to direct "editors" from one therapy session to the next. Giano (talk) 13:08, 12 August 2019 (UTC)

Remarkable. While it is stated sarcastically, and the words used would need re-interpretation, a creation of something that would look very much like what Giano has ridiculed is exactly what would work. They do it on Quora (as to easily obtained sanctions against anyone who "looks like" they are violating Be Nice, Be Respectful policy). No excuses, no "they made me do it," no "I was provoked." Warning, and if repeated behavior, blocked for a time, and if repeated banned. Totally predictable. Be uncivil, be warned once. It is very effective, and, yes, they have blocked and even once banned a very popular Top Writer. She was unblocked, and I'd bet she promised to reform her, ah, "frank responses." What they want people to do is to (1) report trolling and insult, -- don't reply to it! -- (2) delete it from your Answer comments -- which authors are allowed to do, and (3) focus on better answers. It works.

Giano is very much part of the problem. And so are all those who tolerated Corbett's incivility. From the Corbett block log:
20:28, 22 October 2015 Kirill Lokshin talk contribs blocked Eric Corbett talk contribs with an expiration time of 1 month (account creation blocked) (Arbitration enforcement)
19:25, 23 October 2015 Yngvadottir talk contribs unblocked Eric Corbett talk contribs (Time served is sufficient for such a minor infraction of unjust Arbitration ruling.)

There were seven prior blocks for infractions of that ruling, of up to one month. What I realized when I went before ArbCom in 2009, was that there were major issues where many in the community, quite openly, did not respect ArbCom, but did not go through due process to revise a allegedly "unjust rulings." There was open disrespect for basic policies, necessary to create a working community to realize the goals of the project. But they didn't know how to deal with it -- and were utterly unwilling to consider how it might be done. It would take cojones, because there are entrenched factions who will go after any reform. At one point, ArbCom set up a committee to consider reform, allowing anyone to join. It was rejected vociferously as "elitism," (a lie, actually, the opposite it was) and the Committee backed down.

Even more fundamental problem: the Committee is not a balanced representative of the community, the election method used is doomed. Naive, believing that supermajority election (it's called Approval-at-large and is known to be defective) would be best. What supermajority does is to suppress minorities, and minority participation is necessary for genuine consensus. Instead what is created is a faux consensus.

So Eric Corbett was encouraged and enabled to continue his behavior. It was considered "courageous," perhaps, or "necessary to confront the idiots."

But what about his valuable contributions? Must they be lost? No, it would be up to him. Wanna work in the office, gotta get along with the rest of the office workers! This is the case in every functional organization. Probably mentorship would be the answer, but not an imposed mentorship, rather one accepted by the user and the community, and responsible. I.e., fail to supervise and restrain the mentee -- or resign --, lose the right to mentor and any associated privileges. And resignation of a required mentor would be followed immediately by an indef block, returning to status quo ante.

Even without mentorship, at least require a clear commitment by a user before unblocking.

And impose "indef" blocks long before the state reached by Corbett, "indef" as in "until a mentor is assigned and accepted or an admin is satisfied problem behavior will not continue." Those admins who were supportive of Corbett, would they accept responsibility for his behavior? Would he accept them? We don't know, because this was never done, because "mentorship doesn't work."

Corbett was just being Corbett, and appears to have burned out. His last edit:
I know from experience how these affairs always end up with a proposal to ban me for whatever trumped-up reason, and that anything I might say will be twisted to suit the agenda of those whose single purpose is to hound me off Wikipedia. So I'll do everyone a favour by leaving voluntarily. After this post I will be scrambling my password, and you will never hear from me again. Eric Corbett 17:39, 18 August 2019 (UTC)

It appears that he lied. (Or, more accurately, did not honor his word.) See IP contributions, 21 August. Was this him? It claimed to be. (checkuser block, implying recognition of socking.) So he lasted three days. (if that, there may have been other edits.) See the sock puppet report below.
14:10, 2 September 2019 Mkdw talk contribs blocked Eric Corbett talk contribs with an expiration time of indefinite (account creation blocked) ({{ArbComBlock}}. May appeal only to arbcom-en@wikimedia.org)
Talk page access was left open and also email.
[*]SPI case. Dr. Horncastle contributions. Registered 11:21, 21 September 2019.

Giano is very much a problem, an "entitled" user, has been for a very long time. He was blocked because he made an edit that appeared to be vandalism, as "suspected compromised." He makes that into a Big Story. He's a basic asshole, and that users like that were tolerated, whereas those considered to be "civil POV pushers" -- i.e., they followed dispute resolution guidelines -- were whacked with high license. Slowly, slowly, the community is waking up to the issues caused by these users, and maybe by the next century it will address the real problems. Or ownership will intervene and require functional process.

As bad as ArbCom is, open defiance of it and of basic policies would, in a sane project, treated quite the same as open defiance of individual administrators, and ArbCom has a stronger right to be respected.

None of this is surprising or shows anything other than what could be expected. Eric was led down the rosy path by the community, i.e., by the voices within the community that he trusted. Of course, all he loses is his right to feed his addiction, and he surely knew that Dr Horncastle would pass unnoticed if he stayed away from high controversy. I'd predict he will do it again, and perhaps be more careful. Yet once one has developed the habit of unrestrained vituperation, it's difficult to abstain from it.

Community practices and structures feed disruption and endless waste of time, but it's always blamed on whatever user fills the roles that the structure sets up and makes attractive. It's their fault, not ours! We are the Good People, and we don't allow any Bad People around here. See how well this works?

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Re: Eric Corbett's, indeffed and banned

Post by JuiceBeetle » Thu Nov 14, 2019 9:35 pm

Problem with Eric Corbett is that he's as entitled as Giano, if not more. He wants to be always right. When he is questioned, he turns to bullying and evasion - two basic wikipedian attitudes - that he mastered. Even long after he was banned he's still fighting for the false image of a hero editor, he has established (and lost) on wikipedia. Most discussions with him soon turn into bickering.

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Re: Eric Corbett's, indeffed and banned

Post by Abd » Fri Nov 15, 2019 1:13 am

JuiceBeetle wrote:Problem with Eric Corbett is that he's as entitled as Giano, if not more. He wants to be always right. When he is questioned, he turns to bullying and evasion - two basic wikipedian attitudes - that he mastered. Even long after he was banned he's still fighting for the false image of a hero editor, he has established (and lost) on wikipedia. Most discussions with him soon turn into bickering.
Corbett was not actually banned, he left in a huff. It was later that his talk page and email access were revoked, and he was obviously using email to stir the pot.

The community is and has always been largely incompetent, when it comes to effective community management, to actually encouraging productive and collaborative behavior instead of merely punishing the opposite, sometimes and unreliably. It's part of the design. Wikipedia never built the structure that would efficiently and reliably fulfill the stated mission.

Instead it created what worked "well enough" to be able to pretend it was successful. If editor labor were valued, the cost would have been completely insane. But it wasn't. What would take a simple discussion among a few in a sane organization can take weeks or years and never be complete on Wikipedia. The waste of labor in Recent Changes Patrol is astonishing, but who actually looks at it, and the structure is unreliable, so if vandalism is at all subtle (and sometimes even if not), it can escape notice for years, and Flagged Revisions was rejected.

Etc., etc., and it goes on and on.

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