IBdick

Blocked

As either an employee of Internet Brands or a doppelganger of said employee, you are blocked indefinitely per Wikivoyage:No real world threats or Wikivoyage:How to handle unwanted edits#User ban. --Peter ^Talk 20:49, 2 December 2012 (UTC)

WTF is Internet Brands or doppelganger? —The preceding comment was added by IBdick (talk contribs) at about 21:00, 2 December 2012 (UTC)

Stifle free speech and support violation of your own guidelines!! IBdick (talk) 23:43, 2 December 2012 (UTC)

Internet Brands is the commercial company which hosted the forerunner to this site (called "Wikitravel"). They were very bitter that the content and users have moved to the Wikivoyage website. On the Wikitravel website, there were several employees of the company interfering in the community and all had usernames beginning with "IB" followed by their name. This is the reason why you were blocked, although I mention below why you shouldn't be. A doppelganger is a second account meant to imitate another, see Wikipedia's description of a doppelganger. AHeneen (talk) 04:49, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

Hey, I wasn't signed in below, thanks for the info. This is not a second account for me here on wikivoyage. IBdick (talk) 15:13, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

Wait a minute, are you 100% certain IBdick is an employee of Internet Brands. He/she has made no edits suggesting so and going ahead with a block based on the name alone is really jumping the gun here. In fact, my first user name over at Wikipedia was "IBstupid" and based on your actions here, I may have been blocked if I registered that name on Wikivoyage. I do not recall an "IBdick" on Wikitravel, and a search of the site yields no results for "IBdick" or "IBDick". I suggest you unblock this user unless (or until) there is concrete evidence this is an account of an Internet Brands employee. AHeneen (talk) 04:49, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

Sigh... Yes. [1] Can we move on and get on with not feeding obvious trolls? --Peter ^Talk 06:09, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

Ok Thanks. I am not an employee of Internet Brands nor am I "User:IB-Dick" (that account doesn't exist yet). How about the name IBEdick? 205.188.116.197 14:42, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

Checkuser results

Hi all, I can state categorically that this user is not editing from an IP block that is associated with Internet Brands. Whether or not the block remains, I don't want to get into... but checkuser evidence is conclusive on this one. Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 20:13, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

That actually rather confirms my suspicion that this is a troll account of someone pretending to be an IB troll (someone who clearly has been following all the proceedings). I suspect that one of our two other suspected trolls is IBdick, but obviously can't prove that.

In any rate, because of the confusing name, this is a doppelganger account, and therefore subject to an immediate and indefinite block. --Peter ^Talk 20:23, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

You state.........."That actually rather confirms my suspicion that this is a troll account of someone pretending to be an IB troll (someone who clearly has been following all the proceedings)."

So when you said................ "As either an employee of Internet Brands or a doppelganger of said employee, you are blocked indefinitely"............. you were not being honest since you now say that your intent was because you thought I was a troll? Since when does the community block "SUSPECTED" trolls? What behavior led to me being blocked? Next you state......... "because of the confusing name, this is a doppelganger account, and therefore subject to an immediate and indefinite block"............... What account am I mimicking that leads to your confusion? I think you have been abusive in the block because of what you suspect. IBdick (talk) 21:18, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

User:(WT-en) IB-Dick, but you already know this. --Peter ^Talk 21:53, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

That account does not exist and it's not a wikivoyage account anyway IBdick (talk) 22:09, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

That's not relevant; on the contrary, while the account doesn't "exist", there are edits on this wiki attributed to it (due to the migration), and your username is unacceptably close. It also implies a connection with Internet Brands, and that is not an impression we want any of our users to cultivate. Choose a different username, one without "IB" in it, and leave this one be. LtPowers (talk) 22:15, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

How I was blocked?

I am IBdick NOT IB-Dick are you confused too Lt? IBdick (talk) 22:32, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

WV policy.......... "Blocks of Doppelgangers, which are user accounts meant to mimic another account for the purposes of causing confusion. For example, "Joel" and "JoeI" look the same, but the second version uses a capital "i" instead of a lowercase "L". Doppleganger accounts may be permanently blocked without any need for a ban nomination." yet I was banned for being an employee of said company. Does nobody understand what is happening here?

We understand; it appears you do not. Your account name is too similar to the account of an IB employee. Change it. LtPowers (talk) 00:15, December 2012 (UTC)

Friendly advice

Let me assume good faith here and apologise that you may have inadvertently and accidentally been caught up in a drama not of your own making.

May I ask you a personal favour?
I doubt that Peter (one of our top people) is going to change his mind on this, so would you be kind enough to abandon this very new account?

Please choose a neutral name (admins are understandably sensitive to anything including "IB" right now) for yourself.

Then go to an internet cafe (rather than using your usual internet provider because that IP address will probably be blocked from creating a new account right now) and then go through the normal Wikivoyage account opening procedure. After you have your brand new and shiny new account, please drop me a line by e-mail and I can then monitor your edits to try and ensure you have no problems here.

Please note that I am just an ordinary editor here trying to help out if this is all just a horrible mistake. Apologies once again for the inconvenience and, just in case I don't spot your new account fast enough to welcome you there, let me give you my standard (boiler plate) tips:

Thank you for your contributions to our Little Corn Island article.

To help you contribute, we've created a tips for new contributors page, full of helpful links about our policies and guidelines and our house style as well as some important information on copyleft and basic stuff like how to edit a page.

However, even more important than following every guideline is to PLUNGE FORWARD and write something useful – someone might be along to help with the proper formatting later - but please don't tout!

Add your home town, or a place you know well or write some insider tips - but don't use first person pronouns.

It is also a good idea to create your own account on Wikivoyage because it will provide various benefits:

1. easier communication with other writers about your edits and travel tips via your very own User Talk Page
2. credit for your travel writing and edits, which will all be attributed to you rather than just an IP address
3. your contributions will become more trusted as you become familiar to other Wikivoyagers as a frequent editor with a history they can check

If you need help, check out Wikivoyage:Help, or post a message in the travellers' pub. We're looking forward to seeing you again here on Wikivoyage - but with a completely different and uncontroversial user name! -- Alice^✉ 22:18, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

Hello Alice, I just don't understand how I was banned for doing nothing wrong. I read many of the policies here then tried cleaning up little corn island. If Peter is one of the top people that demands I must change my account name because it is uncomfortable to him, that is just un-wiki. Maybe the general public need to know this. I will NOT abandon this name because it is "uncomfortable" to him. IBdick (talk) 22:56, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi! Let me try to mediate a bit here: I'm an admin and know Peter and the IB history quite well. You are right, there is no policy that states account names starting with capital IB are not allowed but that's only half the story. The company Internetbrands (informally called IB) sued several editors and is quite disruptive on this page. The name of you account is identical to a known IB employee who is for legal reasons and the disruptive behaviour of its colleagues not welcome here. Please do yourself a favour and choose another user name. Its sad that legal issues are raised but even Wikis need to protect them against lawsuits and disruptive behaviour. Jc8136 (talk) 13:08, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi, my name is Richard hence the sigh in IBdick. I am just a journalist following a lead to a story. I am not employed by nor associated with the company you mention nor was I involved in any legal proceding. What is really sad is the fact an individual can be permanently blocked at a whim, dispite WV policy. There is no intent on my part to mimic another account for the purposes of causing confusion. While the reason listed for the ban is "As either an employee of Internet Brands or a doppelganger of said employee.....", it now appears that after being shown I am not either of those, the block continues. I was not a bit disruptive in the hour or so I was permitted to post. Is there a "higher authority" I may present these facts along with pertinent WV policy to have the block lifted or is "Peter" the final authority? As to choosing another name, I would reluctantly change it to IBrichard if unblocked IBdick (talk) 14:56, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

Regardless of your intent, the "IB" in your username will cause confusion among our users. It's not acceptable, and changing it to "IBrichard" does not solve the problem in any way. LtPowers (talk) 14:58, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

"Regardless of your intent..................." REALLY? Not according to WV policy, "Blocks of Doppelgangers, which are user accounts meant to mimic another account for the purposes of causing confusion" intent is required according to WV policy. Does no one follow WV policy? I see you are unable to answer the bulk of my questions. Maybe another admin who can logically follow policy can answer me since you obviously cannot. IBdick (talk) 15:32, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

IBobi, try to make your writing style less recognizable. --Alexander (talk) 15:46, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

Page protection

I don't know what went wrong this morning for you but you seem in a little distress. Your talk page is blocked for 24 hours due to excessive trolling and insulting behaviour. Take a deep breath and start thinking. Regards, Jc8136 (talk) 19:38, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

What went wrong you ask? Let's see, we have not one but TWO bureaucrats abusing their status by summarily blocking me, indefinitely, totally against the communities policies. Neither of these schmucks are willing to abide by established policy, then we have their little cheering brigade come behind and support them. That's okey because the fat lady has yet to sing. How was your morning sweet cheeks? IBdick (talk) 20:40, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Do you even know what severe trolling is

I made 1 (ONE) post yesterday replying to a derogatory post from 200.252.135.73 . If that is "Severe trolling", may I suggest you also protect the page of 200.252.135.73 or better yet learn what "severe trolling" really is before using a term you obviously do not understand. Thank you ever so much. IBdick (talk) 19:41, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

If you wanted to convince us to change our minds about you, you've done a wonderful job of fully convincing anyone who was in doubt that you are a troll and should be blocked, and if you keep this up, it may be necessary to block you from your user talk page, too. It seemed at first that there was an unfortunate mixup in regard to your username, but all you had to do was pick a name that didn't include "IB" in it. But it seems that "IBdick" is actually an accurate monicker for you. Ikan Kekek (talk) 23:10, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

YAY another of the cheering brigade checks in!! Change minds? All I want is you ying yangs to abide by community policy. I guess you are another who hangs on their apron strings. Yes IBdick is accurate for me, that's what I have been telling you all. Too bad NO ONE here has 1/4 the common sense as IBobi does. http://wikitravel.org/en/User_talk:IBobi .......... CLASS!! IBdick (talk) 03:08, 8 December 2012 (UTC)

If "Iamdick" is an acceptable username, why didn't you just ask us to change your name to "Iamdick"? Or better yet, why not just register a new account under that name and start using it? Why bother with all the drama? LtPowers (talk) 03:52, 8 December 2012 (UTC)

Nomination to revoke administrator privileges

As per Wikivoyage Guidelines [[2]] I nominate that all administrator privileges be revoked for Peterfitzgerald[[3]] As indicated in the pages above he has shown great disrespect for the communities policies. Having been editing in this community less then a half an hour. I was blocked, indefinitely, the official reason being [[ http://en.wikivoyage.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log/block&offset=&limit=500&type=block&user= ]] , (Wikivoyage:No real world threats) . It was then determined that he was wrong and I assert his continuation that particular block was an abuse of authority. (BTW had he at that point made the same logical assertions that IBobi has, this would have ended and you would have never had a report of bad behavior from me. I really had no idea of the past problems) Please read the above carefully. Was I upset and angry that I was being treated with such disrespect? You bet I was but this is not about me or peter personally. This is about the blatant abuse of community policy that has transpired on this very page. Without enforcement of community policy how can Wikivoyage ever be taken seriously? Many of you are cohorts of Peters thinking highly of him and think I am just a troll but don't you think established policy needs to be followed by everyone? IBdick (talk) 13:05, 8 December 2012 (UTC)

We are actually not slaves to written policy here. We write policies in an attempt to explain our practices, but sometimes it can be very difficult to write down every possible case. As a result, we give our administrators wide latitude to conduct themselves in the best interests of the wiki. In this case, the appearance of not one but two users with "IB" prepending their names, so very close on the heels of IBobi being blocked and disrupting the operation of the wiki, was too much of a coincidence to ignore. Peter's action was swift but justified given the knowledge we had at the time.

Here's the upshot: if you want to contribute to our wiki, then simply tell us what alternative username you'd like to use. Previously, you suggested "IBrichard", refusing to change the "IB" part, even though you seem to be okay with "Iamdick" on Wikitravel. This is confusing for us, because we can't tell what your preferences are.

If all you want to do is whine about how unfair we are for supposedly not following policies that we ourselves determined, wrote, and interpret, then please don't waste anyone else's time.

-- LtPowers (talk) 18:51, 8 December 2012 (UTC)

I support to revoke peterfitzgerolds administrator privileges because of what happened after he was given the knowledge that I was not associated with Internet Brands. It's ashamed he is not 1/4 the gentleman that IBobi is. IBdick (talk) 15:11, 9 December 2012 (UTC)

That's not going to happen. If you want to help us write travel guides, please register a new account and start writing. If you don't want to help us write travel guides, then you're not welcome here. It's that simple. LtPowers (talk) 15:55, 9 December 2012 (UTC)

Seconded. Peter is a menace acting against the long term best interests of this community. Let him edit as a regular user for a few months and see what his interest level is here when he doesn't have his power. Then he can reapply as an admin if he's still around.