User talk:Jimbo Wales

Kazakhstan Firewall

You wrote in 2012:

The Wikimedia Foundation has zero collaboration with the government of Kazakhstan. Wikibilim is a totally independent organization. And it is absolutely wrong to say that I am "helping the Kazakh regime whitewash its image". I am a firm and strong critic. At the same time, I'm excited by the work of volunteers, and I believe - very strongly - that an open and independent Wikipedia will be the death knell for tyranny in places like Kazakhstan. Perhaps I'm wrong, but it is absolutely silly to suggest that I'm in any way actively supporting tyrants.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 15:33, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

How's that working out? The NY Times writes (3 December 2015):

Government officials in Kazakhstan are borrowing a page from China, quietly devising their own version of China’s so-called Great Firewall to unscramble encrypted web and mobile traffic as it flows in and out of Kazakh borders.

... Unlike with China, which filters data through an expensive and complex digital infrastructure known as the Great Firewall, security experts say Kazakhstan is trying to achieve the same effect at a lower cost. The country is mandating that its citizens install a new “national security certificate” on their computers and smartphones that will intercept requests to and from foreign websites.

That gives officials the opportunity to read encrypted traffic between Kazakh users and foreign servers, in what security experts call a “man in the middle attack.”

As a result, Kazakh telecom operators, and government officials, will be privy to mobile and web traffic between Kazakh users and foreign servers, bypassing encryption protections known as S.S.L., or Secure Sockets Layer, and H.T.T.P.S., technology that encrypts browsing sessions and is familiar to users by the tiny padlock icon that appears in browsers.

Peter Damian (talk) 09:33, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

Can you explain further what you mean by your question "How's that working out?" The terrible recent developments in Kazakhstan are to be deplored and opposed, as with their human rights record stretching back for many years. There is very good reason to think that a strong and independent Wikipedia (along with an open Internet generally) will be the death knell for such regimes, and this is a fight which will take decades.

In terms of this recent initiative, which effectively mandates a "man in the middle" attack, I will be campaigning with the major Internet providers globally to blacklist the Kazakh certificate and to improve and strengthen MITM protection via certificate pinning.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 16:42, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

By 'how's that working out', I meant 'how is [an open and independent Wikipedia] working out [in terms of being the death knell for tyranny in places like Kazakhstan]'. A knell is a loud sounding or ringing that happens when death is imminent, rather than 'will take decades'. Peter Damian (talk) 18:21, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

It will take decades, particularly in areas that are mostly neglected by liberal democracies.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 16:56, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

Also, you claimed in 2012 that 'Wikibilim is a totally independent organization'. Wasn't there a question about that? Peter Damian (talk) 18:23, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

I am unaware of any questions about that. It remains true.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 16:56, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

‘ “Kazaksha Wikipedia” project is implemented under the auspices of the Government of Kazakhstan and with the support of Prime Minister Karim Massimov, head of “Wikibilim” public fund Rauan Kenzhekhanuly said in an interview for PM.kz site.’ [1] — Official web site of Kazakhstan prime minister Karim Massimo. Further reading: [2], [3], the December 23 2012 online Examiner article Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales denies Kazakhstan connection, and this Wales talk page thread, in which Wales participated, entitled Kazakhstan government support for Kazakh Wikipedia. Factoid: Currently 50% of Wikibilim’s trustees are paid government employees. Writegeist (talk) 03:29, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

It is completely false that Kazakh language Wikipedia is a project of the Government of Kazakhstan. Wikibilim is a completely independent organization with no control over the Kazakh Wikipedia. It is not a local chapter, and there are no plans for it ever to become a local chapter. As of the last time I checked, Wikibilim employees do not edit Wikipedia. It is easy to piece together misleading quotes to try to imply things that aren't true - but it's easier to just tell the truth.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 06:02, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

By flatly contradicting the Kazakhstan prime minister’s official statement, you are saying that either he doesn’t know what his own government is doing or he’s lying on his office’s website (perhaps calculating that outside Kazakhstan the only likely challenge to the lie would be an unsubstantiated one from someone whose veracity on this page in relation to Kadazhstan had already been thrown into question by that same someone's own words, i.e. (1) “Past connection to the Kazakh dictatorship" - total and utter and complete bullshit. I have no past connection of any kind to the Kazakh dictatorship. — Jimbo Wales, Jimbotalk, 14 December 2014. (2) “I’ve been getting in touch with the government there. I've been talking to the Prime Minister there [ …] I'm going in December and I'm gonna give the award in the presence of the Prime Minister …" — Jimbo Wales, 2011 closing ceremony speech at Wikimania 2011)

Also of interest here: Before he became president of Wikibilim, Rauan Kenzhekhanuly (first recipient of the aforementioned Wikipedian of the Year award) was first secretary at Kazakhstan’s embassy in Moscow and head of Kazakhstan’s government-controlled propagandist TV operation, which was launched by the daughter of Nursultan Nazarbayev. Oh. Who he? President of Kazakhstan.

Wiikibilim is funded by Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund. The state is its sole shareholder. Chairman of S-K’s board when Wikibilim was set up: Timur Asqaruly Kulibayev. Who he? Husband of Dinara Nursultanovna. And who she? President Nazarbayev’s daughter. Writegeist (talk) 17:57, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

Yes, if he says that, then he's lying. This surprises you?--Jimbo Wales (talk) 13:22, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

Somewhat more than if you are, as I’m more familiar with your track record than with Massimov’s.

You say that Massimo is lying; that there’s no state control exercised in this instance by a government that’s notorious for control and censorship of information and the media, and for suppression of free speech; and that Wikibillim is independent of the government that funds it, fills half the seats on its board of trustees with government employees, and selects 100 of its users to receive free laptops in return for transcribing and writing government-approved articles, none of which address Kazakhstan’s record on human rights or suppression of independent media. Am I surprised you say that? Not in the least.

By the way, FYI, as apparently you are unaware, your unsupported assertion that Massimov is a liar violates the BLP policy, which applies to this page just as it does anywhere on Wikipedia. (For more information on Wikipedia’s BLP policy, refer to WP:BLP.) Writegeist (talk) 18:19, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

Astonishing. Mr. Wales has just said that everyone in Kazakhstan who runs the Wikipedia project there, and says it is backed and funded by the state, is lying. Instead the truth is as Wales presents it - that Kazakh Wikipedia is independent of the Kazakh government. Don't believe your own lying eyes kids. Again, Republican primary debate levels of astonishing.Dan Murphy (talk) 18:44, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

Oh, come on. If you put words in my mouth, you can make it seem like just about anything. There are very serious concerns and problems with the Wikibilim organization, but it remains the case that the Kazakh language Wikipedia is not a project of the government. If Massimov says that it is, he's lying. If he's concerned about that as a BLP violation, then he's free to complain. I have not said that Wikibilim is independent of the government that funds it - it is not. What I have said is that Wikibilim is completely independent of the Wikimedia Foundation and of me. I have no connection with the Kazakh government, despite the ongoing pretense by people who know better. I oppose them firmly. I have had contact with them in the past, and I would imagine that I will again - to lobby for change. I will not apologize for that, nor will I allow dishonest people to portray opposition as support.

There is a much more interesting conversation to be had. Rather than dishonestly trying to pin something on me, a rather ridiculous thing to do, it would be better to show some genuine concern for the people of Kazakhstan, and suggest genuine ways that we can help in the current situation.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 19:07, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

Oh, dear. Wikibilim runs the Kazakh Wikipedia. Wikibilim is entirely funded and run by the Kazkh government and senior Kazakh government bureaucrats. The vast majority of the Kazakh Wikipedia is articles imported from the government's official propaganda encyclopedia. The Kazakh government's academy of arts and sciences runs "fact checking and quality control" on the Kazakh Wikipedia. The Kazakh Wikipedian of the year you named was prior to that award, and since, a rising star in the repressive firmament of the Kazakh regime. And your response to people who say this shows the Kazakh government runs the Kazakh Wikipedia is to call them "liars." It's astonishing you get away with such counterfactual claims. At any rate, this is like talking about the nuclear triad with Donald Trump. I'm out.Dan Murphy (talk) 20:30, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

What he said. Anyone of reasonable intelligence who has been paying attention to this thread can see where the porkies are.

@Jimbo Wales. Question: did you ever actually pay the Kazakh state apparatchik the much trumpeted $5,000 that supposedly went with his Wikipedia of the Year award? A straightforward, factually correct reply please. A simple yes or no will do. Thank you. Then I’m done with you here.

Oh, one other thing. You wrote above, on 15 December, “Wikibilim is a completely independent organization with no control over the Kazakh Wikipedia. It is not a local chapter, and there are no plans for it ever to become a local chapter.” (Emphasis added.) Wikibilim’s own CC submission states: “Recognition of «Wikibilim» as a Wikipedia’ local chapter in Kazakhstan is in progress.” [4] Obviously there were plans for Wikibilim to become a local chapter. What happened to its application? Why were the plans permanently scrapped? Writegeist (talk) 16:55, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

Interesting. I see there's an article HTTP Public Key Pinning, and more information on MITM attacks at Transport Layer Security (some copypasted from Stackexchange, according to a tag there...). I don't really understand it though, or how to apply it here. Key pinning is apparently already being bypassed in the Chromium browser to allow the actions that our corporations (and perhaps the Kazakh officials) call "content inspection" - wouldn't a Kazakh end up being unable to do anything online unless he disabled it such a way? And as for blacklisting certificates - how do you blacklist every certificate the Kazakh government could obtain? Wnt (talk) 12:15, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

As I understand it, they are distributing a certificate to everyone in Kazakhstan. If that one gets blacklisted, they could get another one, and distribute that one, but... I'll be looking for technical advice as to the most effective thing that we (and other internet providers of various kinds) can do to help.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 17:00, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

It looks like this is in flux. [5] I don't know nearly enough about TLS to understand whether a third party site can figure out which top level certificate authority issued a certificate, or how much data it knows about you from that, though I would suspect the worst. But if Kazakhstan actually does execute a MITM attack against a connection, can't they request whatever certificate they want from whomever they want to apply at the point past the "Firewall", as if they were the computer owner, thereby concealing their role? Wnt (talk) 15:06, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

The way certificates work is that the creator generates a pair of keys—private and public. Everyone can get the public key and can use it to check messages signed with the private key. Your computer and/or browser has a list of trusted certificate authorites, and a method to check the trust has not been revoked. The browser will establish an encrypted connection with a web server, but the browser will fill the screen with warnings if the server is not using a certificate from a trusted authority. Presumably the Kazakhstan plan is that each citizen would install a Kazakhstan authority as trusted. Then the government could MITM encrypted sessions—citizen computer to government proxy would be encrypted using the Kazakhstan certificate, and proxy to target web server (say Wikipedia) would be encrypted using the Wikipedia certificate. That is how a company web proxy works when a company workstation establishes an encrypted connection with an external web server such as Wikipedia. Johnuniq (talk) 02:09, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

Independence of Kazakh language Wikipedia

You wrote "It is completely false that Kazakh language Wikipedia is a project of the Government of Kazakhstan." (06:02, 16 December 2015).

Let's take a look.The English Wikipedia has an article, Zhanaozen massacre, describing a labour protest where 14 civilians were killed by police. The state described the killed as "hooligans". On the Kazakh Wikipedia, the same article is entitled Жаңаөзен оқиғасы, which translates roughly as "Zhanaozen Story". In English it's a massacre, in Kazakh it's just a story. The lead of the English-language article notes: "The massacre was a stark illustration of the country's poor human rights record under President Nursultan Nazarbayev." The Kazakh article mentions Nazarbayev by name only once: "On December 22, a special visit was made by President Nursultan Nazarbayev who arrived in the Mangistau region."

The largest section of the English article details the testimony disclosed during the investigations after the shootings. It generally focuses on the point of view of the protesters and of outside watchdog groups. The largest section of the Kazakh article details the testimony of the General Prosecutor's Office, which describes the protesters as having engaged in "misconduct", and that "the suppression of the riots" was necessary "for the protection of civilians". The hooligans were participating in "mass disorder". And that's why 64 people were shot.

Peter Damian (talk) 12:16, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

How Kazakh language Wikipedia aids censorship

And as I have pointed out to you before, the development of the Kazakh encyclopedia is part of the process of 'Kazakhisation', i.e. to move both the culture and the language of Kazakhstan away from Russian (a quarter of the population are ethnically Russian) to Kazakh. The department of education has excluded many Russian classics from its instructional program, and there has been a deliberate imposition of Kazakh culture, including Nazarbayev’s brainchild, the six volume national encyclopedia, which began publication in 1999, and which has now been incorporated into the Kazakh Wikipedia. As Bhavna Dave put it, the primary value of the Kazakh language is as an instrument of nationalisation.

The practical effect of the language program is discrimination and censorship. Discrimination, because the Kazakh constitution holds that all public jobs require knowledge of the Kazakh language, which amounts to excluding Russians from the public sector. Beginning in the late 1990s, candidates for the presidency were required to pass a test for proficiency in Kazakh language and culture.

Censorship, because no one understands the Kazakh language outside Kazakhstan. As long as Russian remains the language of inter-ethnic communication in the Kazakhstan, it is a means of opening its speakers to ideas circulating outside the country on TV and on the Internet. While the internet can supposedly route its signal around any obstacle, it can’t help people understand that signal. Once Nazarbayev’s program to focus the teaching of Kazakh on the next generation is realised, no one in the country will understand external media. There is no need to censor something that no one can understand. “Looking at the situation in the long-term perspective, if Kazakh language policy is successfully implemented in the same direction at a similar pace, in few generations we are going to have more and more people who have access to only part of the story unless they learn other languages”, says my friend Yevgeniya Plakhina, a freelance journalist who contributes to the banned opposition newspaper Respublika. “Access to other sources might be also blocked because Kazakhstan has very restrictive mass media and internet legislation. It is clever to say that if you show part of the story it does not mean it is lies”.

Peter Damian (talk) 13:12, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

One of the most useful exercises of freedom of expression I've seen, the interlibrary loan service Sci-Hub, actually started in Kazakhstan.^[6] So that country is not always behind the U.S. - and sometimes, they're out ahead. Wnt (talk) 17:45, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

Peter Damian, while I share most of your concerns here, I disagree with your take on the Kazakh language issue. They are indeed downplaying Russian, but that's no different from the vast majority of post-Soviet states who want to distance themselves from their former colonial masters and stress their own national identity. In contrast, they are pushing hard for better English levels, for example Nazarbayev University requires at least band 6 in IELTS. Part of this is for geopolitical reasons (Nazo is nervous about Russia eventually seeking to annex parts of north Kazakhstan with Russian majorities) and part for pragmatic business reasons: 2 devaluations in 22 months have shown them that their economy is over-dependent on natural resource prices and Russia and they're seeking to diversify away from that. Valenciano (talk) 22:25, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

Thanks that's very helpful - I didn't know about the English thing. Though this does not detract from my main point: that projects such as individual language Wikipedias can often conflict with the broader aims of the Wikimedia movement - particularly opposition to censorship. Peter Damian (talk) 19:55, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

Wikibilim: the unanswered questions

Jimbo Wales, apparently you missed these questions, which were buried in a preceding thread, so I’m giving them more prominence here. And pinging you.

Q1: Did you ever actually pay the Kazakh state apparatchik the $5,000 that supposedly went with his Wikipedia of the Year award?

Q2: You wrote above, on 15 December, “Wikibilim is a completely independent organization with no control over the Kazakh Wikipedia. It is not a local chapter, and there are no plans for it ever to become a local chapter.” (Emphasis added.) Wikibilim’s own CC submission states: “Recognition of «Wikibilim» as a Wikipedia local chapter in Kazakhstan is in progress.” [7] Obviously there were plans for Wikibilim to become a local chapter. What happened to its application? Why were the plans permanently scrapped?

Writegeist (talk) 08:26, 20 December 2015 (UTC)

Q1: No.

Q2: You would have to ask them and people directly involved in the chapter submission process. If I had to guess, when it became clear that such an application would be very unlikely to be approved, they dropped further action on it. But I'm not directly involved. If the matter came to the board, I would strongly encourage the board to not approve the application without some major changes and some thorough due diligence.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 20:38, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

Q1: Thank you for clearing that up.

Q2: I note your emphasis on "due diligence". It’s interesting that Nartay Ashim, Wikibilim’s “National Coordinator”, is listed among the attendees at the 2012 Wikimedia Conference Chapters meeting (so apparently the WMF were already treating Wikibilim as a chapter); and that the WMF gave Wikibilim $16,000 for the 2012 Turkic Wikimedia Conference in Kazakhstan. Was that because the WMF board had failed in its due diligence? I.e. had the WMF failed to grasp that the Kazakh Wikipedia is a project of the Kazakh government?

When you’d accepted the official invitation to Kazakhstan from Yerlan Idrissov (their ambassador to the US), Khazak TV announced you’d thanked the Kazakh government for “creating conditions for significant achievements in the development of the Kazakh language Wikipedia”, and that you’d announced your intention to visit (as you did on Wikipedia). You didn’t go; and neither, as you now confirm, did you ever pay the promised $5,000 to the Kazakh state apparatchik who won your Wikipedian of the Year award. Was that because it wasn’t until after you'd thanked the Kazakh government that you did your due diligence? Writegeist (talk) 23:07, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

I have never met nor spoken nor even heard of Yerlan Idrissov. I have never accepted any official invitation to Kazakstan. I have never spoken to anyone at the Kazakh embassy in the US. I have never spoken to Kazakh TV.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 10:38, 24 December 2015 (UTC)

Kazakh TV reported "The Kazakhstan Ambassador to the US Yerlan Idrissov has already handed over an official invitation to Mr. Wales. Having accepted the invitation, Jimmy Wales thanked the Kazakh government for creating conditions for significant achievements in the development of the Kazakh language Wikipedia." One of you is not telling the truth. Peter Damian (talk) 16:06, 24 December 2015 (UTC)

You brought up the issue of “due diligence” and I’d like to return to that for a moment. Wikibilim’s “National Coordinator” is listed among the attendees at the 2012 Wikimedia Conference Chapters meeting (i.e. the WMF accorded Wikibilim chapter status even though it was not a chapter); and the WMF also gave Wikibilim $16,000 for the 2012 Turkic Wikimedia Conference in Kazakhstan. Was that because the WMF board had not done its due diligence? I.e. had failed to grasp that the Kazakh Wikipedia is a project of the Kazakh government?

At Wikimania 2011 you announced the inaugural “Global Wikipedian of the Year award, in my opinion, given by me personally”. 2011 You also announced you’d been connecting with the Kazakh government and talking to the Kazakh prime minister (the man you recently called a liar), and that you'd be going to Kazakhstan to present the award in his august presence: ”I’ve been following the story of Kazakh Wikipedia [ … ] and I also I've been getting in touch with the government there. I've been talking to the Prime Minister there. [ …] I'm going in December and I'm gonna give the award in the presence of the Prime Minister.” (Same link.) The honored Global Wikipedian of the Year was a Kazakh government operative who ran the government-funded organization tasked with giving Kazakhstan's heavily censored and propagandist national encyclopedia the Wikipedia imprimatur of respectability and independence., and with further adding government-approved content. Presumably you had not done your due diligence, as otherwise you would have known what this fellow was. So when you broke your promise to go to Kazakhstan, and also broke the promise to pay the $5,000 that accompanied the award, was it because you had done your due diligence in the meantime (or someone had done it for you), and it had finally dawned on you that the Kazakh Wikipedia is a project of the Kazakh government?

Above you say: “I have never met nor spoken nor even heard of Yerlan Idrissov"— Kazakhstan's ambassador to the US; and "I have never accepted any official invitation to Kazakstan. I have never spoken to anyone at the Kazakh embassy in the US.” (Emphasis added.)

At Wikimania 2012 you said: “I met with the Ambassador of Kazakhstan this morning.”

Which of these two statements is the truth?

Writegeist (talk) 16:39, 24 December 2015 (UTC)

Presumably the second one. I have no recollection of it, and I can say I certainly didn't have any sort of formal sit down meeting. In a line up of dignitaries, it is of course possible. As I have said before, I misspoke if I said in 2011 that I had talked to the Kazakh Prime Minister at that time. I had talked to his office, an Australian guy named Catallus. And since then, I have met with the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan and spoke to him about his country's dreadful human rights record. I've also had, with Orit Kopel of the Jimmy Wales Foundation for Freedom of Information, a formal meeting with the Kazakh Ambassador to discuss freedom of expression. I will continue to have meetings with dignitaries and officials from many countries to lobby for positive change.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 11:55, 25 December 2015 (UTC)

When someone makes untrue claims about themselves and then backtracks with the euphemism much favored by politicians caught in a lie (“I misspoke”) it leaves an impression of duplicity that’s hard to eradicate.

I note your response evaded my points about due diligence, and I won't press you further. Instead let's examine your claim (in your reply to Peter Damian in the "More contradictions" section) that the Kazakh regime was “interested in change” in 2012— which you cite in support of your “diplomatic gestures to open a discussion”.

In a 2012 article titled “Change put on hold in Nazabayev’s Kazakhstan” Luca Anceschi clearly stated the Kazakh regime’s intractable opposition to change at that time:

• “[There is] a sense of political stagnation that pervades today’s Kazakhstan. A sense that much-needed change has been postponed until the inevitable, though not yet imminent, leadership change [. . .] the (authoritarian) impetus of the 1990s and the 2000s has been replaced by the immobility typical of the end of an era [. . .] It is possible to identify the precise moment at which Kazakhstan entered this phase of possibly irreversible decline, and that is Nazarbayev’s decision to run in the snap presidential election of early 2011 [. . .] Two things mark the post-election landscape: the appearance of a more stable regime and the neutralisation of every form of internal opposition. The neutralisation happened quickly, and targeted both discontent within the elite, as with the radicalisation of society, which in the recent months had come to be viewed as even more dangerous [. . .] Kazakhstan’s future outlook, in this sense, does not appear bright, as the rapid deterioration of whatever little internal dialogue had survived 20 years of fictitious liberalisation is now exacerbating the socio-political stagnation into which the regime slid in 2011 [and] change for Kazakhstan is postponed to a later date.” (Emphasis added.) [8]

Three years later Anceschi would write that the regime still "seeks to sanitise the local media landscape in its print, broadcast, and digital segments.”

This Central Asian scholar’s informed views (which I trust you won’t rubbish, as you did those of a Chinese dissident, as “loud-mouthed rhetoric”) contradict the claim that the regime was “interested in change”. They were interested in it only insofar as it was anathema—they saw it as antithetical to their tyrannical socio-political ideology and self-interest, and blocked it accordingly.

The regime's obdurate opposition to change is further evident in the Human Rights Watch World Reports on Kazakhstan for 2011, 2012, and 2013:

• 2011: “During its 2010 chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Kazakhstan's human rights record was marred by continued disappointments. Restrictive amendments to media and Internet laws remained, and a number of websites and weblogs were blocked on a regular basis.” (Emphasis added.)

• 2012: “Kazakhstan failed to carry out long-promised human rights reforms in the year following its chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Instead, its rights record suffered further setbacks. Control of the penitentiary systems moved from the Ministry of Justice to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, putting prisons back in police control, and a new restrictive religion law was adopted. Websites were blocked and legal amendments limiting media freedoms remained. A union lawyer was imprisoned for six years for speaking out on workers’ rights.” (Emphasis added.)

• 2013: “Kazakhstan’s human rights record seriously deteriorated in 2012, following violent clashes In December 2011 between police and demonstrators, including striking oil workers, in western Kazakhstan. Authorities blamed outspoken oil workers and political opposition activists for the unrest. Freedom of assembly is restricted and dozens were fined or sentenced to administrative arrest in early 2012 for participating in peaceful protests. A restrictive law on religious freedoms remained in force. Media remains under tight control and there were attacks on independent journalists.” (Emphasis added.)

You mentioned media reports asserting the Kazakh regime's interest in change. In the light of the above, it would be interesting to see them. Were they Kazakh state media?

Writegeist (talk) 19:41, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

@Writegeist:

You are essentially calling Jimmy a liar, and generally harassing him in this entire 6,000 word section. I'll be mostly out-of-touch until the new year. I hope you can make amends before then. Otherwise, I'll just assume you are unwelcome on this page. Happy holidays. Smallbones_(smalltalk) 22:40, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

@Smallbones:: I think you're over-reacting. There is no doubt that the Kazakh government have been responsible for serious human right infringements. And how much they control the kk.wp is an interesting question. Whether or not it is Jimbo's "fault", as a member of the WMF board he is the right sort of person to pose these questions. --Jules (Mrjulesd) 04:39, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Whatever Wales may or may not be—and I see no need to hazard a guess here—he's certainly not such a precious snowflake as to be incapable of conducting a robust dialogue without officious, dishonest, patronizing, and threatening interventions by Smallbones. Writegeist (talk) 07:39, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Why don't you just get to the point. Do you have particular actions to propose?--Jimbo Wales (talk) 14:47, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

More contradictions

1. You say you will not "allow dishonest people to portray opposition as support". Yet you say at the Wikimania 2012 conference (time code 23:45 onwards) that you are going to give the award [to Rauan] 'in the presence of the President and Prime Minister'. So that's opposition, and it would be really "dishonest" to portray your giving an award in the presence of the Kazakh President and Prime Minister as support? I don't follow this.
2. "I have not said that Wikibilim is independent of the government that funds it - it is not." But you say in your interview with Yevgeniya – now ironically deleted from the internet, probably by the Kazakh authorities – that "Wikibilim is absolutely independent. They do not [control] and do not [manage] the Kazakh-Wikipedia", and you say that while there was a government grant, it was issued without any obligations [regarding] the Wikipedia content (which Wikibilim in any [event] does not control). You also concede in that interview that the funds were used to import the Kazakh encyclopedia, but as I have pointed out above, that encyclopedia is an instrument of nationalisation, whose effects are both discrimination and censorship.

Peter Damian (talk) 14:15, 20 December 2015 (UTC)

Diplomatic gestures to open a discussion, given promises from aides and general news reports at the time that they were interested in change, is not support for a tyrannical regime, but support for change.

I don't understand your second point at all. It seems dependent on severe and deliberate misinterpretation of multiple parties. Wikibilim does not control and does not manage the Kazakh language Wikipedia. Indeed, when I last checked, employees are forbidden from editing Wikipedia. If that has changed, that's interesting and useful information - I haven't checked recently. There have been other instances of previous encyclopedias being imported with permission into Wikipedia (one in Kerala comes to mind) and yes - they generally come in with severe biases that the community needs to correct.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 17:54, 25 December 2015 (UTC)

"Indeed, when I last checked, employees are forbidden from editing Wikipedia." - Jimmy Wales, Dec. 25 2015. In January 2013 you were expressly told that Wikibilim employees (that is, Kazakh government employees) were editing the Kazakh Wikipedia. When the evidence of Wikibilim honcho Nartay Ashim editing the Kazakh Wikipedia was presented to you, you responded. "He edits on his own time. Lots of people do that." They were never forbidden from editing Wikipedia (and it's strange that you would claim to know so much about internal policy of an organization you otherwise have claimed you know little about - never-mind that that's not the policy). At any rate, the Kazakh Wikipedia is now run by the Kazakh government. It was run by the Nazarbayev regime at the time you rewarded the Kazakh government propaganda official Rauan Kenzhekhanuly with "Wikipedian of the year." It is still run by the Nazarbayev regime. It will be run by the regime for the foreseeable future. That has been the succesful Nazarbayev regime strategy for Wikipedia - and a model that's incredibly easy for other dictators to emulate, thanks to the Wikimedia's own policies and actions. Or perhaps better: Non-actions.Dan Murphy (talk) 17:34, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

Good grief. When I was informed, I inquired. When I inquired, I was told (a) that he was editing in his own time (very common in such organizations, for example chapter employees are often active wikipedians) and I was told (b) that this would stop. I'd like to ask you: what actions are you recommending at this time?--Jimbo Wales (talk) 14:42, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

I'd pull the plug on the servers if I'd let my supposed encyclopedia be coopted as part of a propaganda exercise of a more than usually unsavory dictator. Then I'd begin a major initiative at board level to hire area specialists to supervise the various small Wikipedia's that are completely unsupervised and are tailor made for the brand-sweetening exercises of thugs like Nazarbayev. Language and academic expertise would be required. Ignorance is only bliss to the criminally arrogant and irresponsible.Dan Murphy (talk) 16:27, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Dependency matrix

Of course you know very well that it sounds cool if you say they are "completely independent" while omitting to make clear that you mean completely independent of the Wikimedia Foundation. To help out, here is a matrix connecting the four different entities.

	KZ state	Wikibilim	KZ Wikipedia	WMF
KZ state		Entirely dependent	Via Wikibilim, state encyclopedia etc.	Via KZ Wikipedia
Wikibilim			Grants to develop content. "The Kazakh Wikipedia was the first project of the WikiBilim Public Fund, which kicked off in June 2011"[9]	KZ Wikipedia, conference grant, trademark etc
KZ Wikipedia				WMF owns servers, trade mark etc.

This chart is misleading and confusing.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 17:55, 25 December 2015 (UTC)

It would be helpful to indicate where you think it is misleading and confusing - thanks Peter Damian (talk) 18:58, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

Mr Wales probably means that it doesn't give any indication of the direction of the dependency. In other words, when we look at the chart, are you suggesting that the government of Kazakhstan is entirely dependent on Wikibilim for the survival of the government? Not likely, but it could be interpreted that way. Whole milch (talk) 20:28, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

Indeed. The box you are reading is almost certainly meant to be read in this direction "Wikibilim is entirely dependent on the Kazakh government" - and that's certainly true at some level (though the relationship is via a grant that I'm told had no content stipulations in it, one can assume that Wikibilim employees whatever their personal views would not feel comfortable and secure writing in an NPOV way about human rights in Kazakhstan, etc.). --Jimbo Wales (talk) 14:40, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Thanks - I thought your position was that Wikibilim was entirely independent of the government? Peter Damian (talk) 14:50, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

No, that is not my position. Never has been since they secured their major funding from Samruk-Kazna. I wish they had never sought nor received that funding, although it is understandable that they would naturally turn to their government for a grant.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 15:02, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Wikibilim employees forbidden from editing Wikipedia?

"Indeed, when I last checked, [Wikbilim] employees are forbidden from editing Wikipedia." - Jimmy Wales, Dec. 25 2015. I already pointed out above the Kazakh Wikipedia article on the Zhanaozen massacre, a labour protest where 14 civilians were killed by police and 60 or more were wounded in the shooting. The article calls the same event Жаңаөзен оқиғасы, loosely "Zhanaozen Story". I should have added that the article was almost exclusively written by user:Ashina, who is an active administrator on the Kazakh Wikipedia to this day. Weirdly, Wikipedia's rules on censorship forbid me from mentioning the real life name of 'Ashina', but his occupation is Head of the Astana office at Bilim Media Group, where his work includes Government relations and communications. Previously he was employed in other government and corporate communications positions. The justification for not employing real names is that dictatorships may bring pressure on Wikipedia editors. But of course this equally works the other way round. Wikipedia secrecy rules make it difficult to identify when governments have infiltrated Wikipedia projects.

It's also worth bearing in mind that the Kazakh government's line has not been that nothing untoward happened in Zhanaozen. Nazarbayev sacked his son-in-law Kulibayev over the affair, and governor Krymbek Kusherbayev (Rauan's erstwhile boss in Mangystau, now his boss again in Kyzylorda) resigned when Nazarbayev visited, presumably to help Nazarbayev save face. Kusherbayev certainly never fell out of favour with Nazarbayev. [10]

I can only report on what I've been told. Thank you for looking into it further. What action do you propose?--Jimbo Wales (talk) 14:32, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Proposed action

I think it's really up to the WMF, but here is a suggestion. Why can't WMF hire a person, based outside Kazakhstan, but proficient in the Kazakh language, to make more accurate translations of articles in the KZ Wikipedia, so that the WMF can assess for accuracy and so on. The WMF should also investigate the administration of the encyclopedia to ensure that it really is independent, and not run by Wikibilim or the government or whoever. Or something on those lines. Intended outcome: determine whether the encyclopedia really is independent. If not, remove its charter. Peter Damian (talk) 14:57, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

What 'charter' do you mean?--Jimbo Wales (talk) 15:04, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

[11] Peter Damian (talk) 15:07, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

To my knowledge, no organization in Kazakhstan has permission to use the Wikipedia trademarks. As with every language version of Wikipedia, Kazakh language Wikipedia is hosted on Wikimedia Foundation servers and is 100% under the legal control of the WMF. There is no trademark agreement to revoke with anyone.

I'm surprised this organizational information isn't known to you, but assuming good faith, I suppose what you are suggesting is that the WMF could remove the logo from the website? That wouldn't do very much, since it's all about the domain name and the inbound links. Other options that you might be suggesting, such as closing down the Kazakh language Wikipedia (or deleting the content to start over or something like that) don't strike me as particularly helpful.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 15:15, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

I'm not an expert in the WMF organization, for from it, but it seems to me that something called the 'KZ Wikipedia' (Уикипедия) is borrowing the Wikimedia brand somehow. What about establishing the facts first, namely my suggestion of hiring an expert translator. I have used Google translate to look at some of the articles and they do not seem to be neutral. Furthermore, WMF could easily investigate who actually is controlling the content of KZ Wikipedia. After the investigation, a decision could be made whether or not to continue with the KZ encyclopedia. Peter Damian (talk) 15:22, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

I also note here that it has a whacking great Wikimedia/Wikipedia logo on the top left, and says 'A Wikimedia project' on the bottom right. Peter Damian (talk) 15:25, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Yes, the Kazakh Wikipedia is under the control of the Wikimedia Foundation in the same way as the English Wikipedia is. It isn't "borrowing" the brand any more than the English Wikipedia is. You are forgiven for misunderstanding, given the level of misinformation from people who claim/hint otherwise. In terms of the WMF conducting an investigation, I support the idea. Too many of the people in this conversation who are making claims seem to have as their primary interest attacking me, rather than genuine concern for freedom of expression in Kazakhstan.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 15:31, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

I think there is an ambiguity in the term 'Kazakh Wikipedia'. You take it to mean the servers. I take it to mean what is sometimes called the 'mind and management' of an entity. But if you think it is appropriate for WMF to conduct an investigation, that would be a good start. Thanks Peter Damian (talk) 15:41, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Right, well, who is the 'mind and management' of any Wikipedia? It usually isn't the chapters, for example. It's usually an ArbCom or the ArbCom+active admins.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 15:59, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

I have a separate question here. There was a "fast track" approval of the trademark licence agreement with WikBilim in 2011. Something very out of the ordinary must have happened for Wikibilim to get this, less than a month after they first communicated with WMF, and barely a month after Wikibilim was established. Do you know anything about this? See the timeline below. Peter Damian (talk) 17:22, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Timeline, 2011

• 4 May 2011 – The registration of WikiBilim Public Foundation (per Wikimedia Meta page) takes place.
• June 2011 - Nartay Ashim contacts Wikimedia Foundation. WMF agreed to send Mr Ting Chen. It was June 2011. We tried to involve many parties as we could. We communicated with the business and academia, research centers. Kazakh Encyclopedia agreed to donate paper based materials, they are not even old. It is National encyclopedia. We involved the students from International IT University in Almaty.
• 1 June 2011 – According to statements made on Wikimedia Meta, Nokia Kazakhstan signs an agreement to sponsor a Wikipedia article writing contest (awarding mobile phones to winning writers).
• 8 June 2011 – According to the Wikimedia Meta page, WikiBilim signs a Trademark License Agreement with Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
• 16 June 2011 – Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees Chair, Ting Chen, visits Almaty, Kazakhstan. On a Wikimedia Meta page, WikiBilim indicates it received a letter of support from the CEO of the Samruk-Kazyna Foundation, providing financial sponsorship to WikiBilim (including laptops for winning participants in the Wikipedia article writing contest). WikiBilim conducts a press conference (with participation of Ting Chen, Murat Abenov (member of Kazakhstan parliament and future Deputy Minister of Education and Science), Bauyrzhan Zhakyp (Chief Editor of the government-published Kazakh Encyclopedia), and A. Tutykin (Deputy Head of Kazcontent JSC).

"Ting Chen of the Wikimedia Foundation attending the press conference said that 'the Foundation is considering launching a regional office in Kazakhstan. Altogether, there are a total of 30 representation offices. I believe Kazakhstan stands all chances to be home to one', he said."

Reported on Wikimeta: "On June 16, 2011 in Almaty, Kazakhstan chapter creation initiative group organized the first WP events. It had been press-conference and presentation of the web-page with kazakh video & PDF tutorials and start of Wiki-campaign dedicated to 20th independence anniversary. Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the WMF Mr.Ting Chen, Head of Kazakh Encyclopedia Mr. B.Zhakyp, Parliament deputy Mr. M.Abenov (internet advocate), co-founder of Wikibilim Foundation Mr.Rauan Kenzhekhanuly, deputy chair of JS "KazKontent" (state agency responsible for development of Kazakh internet) had participated in the event. Also Mr.Ting Chen held a seminar on Wikipedia and WMF development. [12]

• Ting Chen wing.philopp at gmx.de Fri Jun 17 20:32:55 UTC 2011 I was mostly on travel last week, and had visited Almaty, Kazakhstan. Something really remarkable is happenning there. Our volunteers there had started to organize a nationwide movement and had found support in the politics, companies and media. The Kazakh Encyclopedia had decided to put its up-to-date 16-band encyclopedia under a free licence. There are initiatives in the parliament to make the copyright law more clear and supportive in respect of free-licenses, and the biggest national welfare fund "Samruk-Kazyna" had decided to fund activities to build up the Kazakh Wikipedia. Our volunteers there are going to start ambassador programs in the universities in Almaty and had set the very ambitious goal to expand the Kazakh Wikipedia into 200k articles until December 16th, the 20th independance [sic] day of the Republic Kazakhstan, not by using bots, but by writing and translating qualified articles. That would mean about ten fold of the article amount than at the moment. It was on my way from airport back how when I got the first congratulations, before I got know the result.
• June 20, 2011 - The Wikimedia Foundation holds a board meeting via IRC. Ting Chen and Jimmy were both in attendance.

Other possible actions

I will leave it up to the community to make their suggestions, but other actions could include:

• Put a banner on the Kazakh Wikipedia, visible on every content page, pointing out to readers, in Kazakh and English, that significant parts of the Kazakh Wikipedia's content are non-free and/or reflect the Kazakh government's view only, and advising them that they should consult other Wikipedias to get a more rounded view of certain topics. The WMF and the community should collaborate to work out an appropriate wording for this on Meta. Peter Damian (talk) 17:20, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Appeal of ArbCom decisioni.e.Topic Ban on U.S. Politics

Merry Christmas from Canada, Jimbo.

I am making an appeal to you regarding the decision made here

I see an editor states above that appeals to you on this talk page must be made within 7 days of the ArbCom decision.

That 7 day time limit is why I am coming here with my appeal right now.

I have nothing to add to the information, comments etc. which are within the request for enforcement link other than I think the ban is too broad even if accepting all of the "evidence" against me.

Also, please note that I have been a productive editor for over 8 years with no blocks, and over 10 thousand problem free edits, most related to U.S. politics including these Usernames[[13]][14] which are noted on my User and talk pages. I am a very old man and I forgot my passwords a couple of times after wikibreaks which is why I had other Usernames

Nocturnalnow (talk) 19:47, 24 December 2015 (UTC)

Unless I am mistaken, your topic ban was not imposed by ArbCom, it was imposed by an admin closing a discussion at WP:AE. I am not an expert on these procedures, but I believe your correct route of appeal is to ArbCom, not to Jimbo. Neutron (talk) 01:04, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Thank you very much, however, the notice put on my talk page says "This sanction is imposed in my capacity as an uninvolved administrator under the authority of the Arbitration Committee's decision at".....thus stating that it was a decision by the Arbitration Committee, or am I misunderstanding some difference in terminology? But I am just plain confused, as I have never even been blocked or sanctioned at all, yet now seem to be the only Editor banned from this broad topic. I would really appreciate any info from anybody as to how to appeal this ban. Nocturnalnow (talk) 03:52, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

You are not the only editor under this topic ban. The appeals process is outlined here. Gamaliel (talk) 03:52, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Gamaliel, your statement at the request for enforcement (somewhat misrepresentative as pointed out by another editor's comment), adding of additional negative minutia, and 2 times [15][16]rebuttal of Vesuvius Dogg's statement against such a wide ban, made me wonder why you appear within seconds here? Since you came here, maybe you can clarify whether I was banned by ArbCom as stated on the notice on my talk page or not? Also, the link you provide was already on my talk page but says nothing about an appeal to ArbCom. Please clarify exactly where I go to appeal to ArbCom. Nocturnalnow (talk) 04:00, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

I am not stalking you. I am one of 3,344 editors who have this page on their watchlist, and many of them use this space to discuss issues important to the community or to provide assistance to others, as I attempted to do here. Please take my message in the spirit it was intended. The link I provided does in fact provide instructions on how to appeal to the Arbitration Committee, specifically in step 3 of "Appeals by sanctioned editors". Gamaliel (talk) 04:13, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Apologies,Gamaliel, I am upset as you might be under similar circumstances. I will try the step 3 you refer to. Best wishes, Nocturnalnow (talk) 04:20, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Information suppression on Wikipedia

I have come to you before regarding this topic and after a year of suppression still I am unable to bring the subject to main space. The topic is Involuntary celibacy, the ongoing DRV can be found here Wikipedia:Deletion review/Log/2015 December 21.

• Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Involuntary celibacy
• Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Involuntary celibacy (2nd nomination)
• First DRV
• Second DRV
• RfC request
• Third DRV
• Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Involuntary celibacy (3rd nomination)

I have provided the full history for any page stalker wishing to participate. There is an overabundance of sources which shows the concept has over a century of research and study. This is certainly not fringe nor WP:NEO. The reason for this concept's suppression may be political because as far as I can tell it passes every GNG and NPOV guideline. There was also a great deal of of wikicanvassing in favor of deletion all of which I provided in the DRV including your comment from March 16th of this year. I hoping for your input for or against, so far not one editor endorsing deletion as provided reasons based on the most recent AfD. I feel this is the prime example for what happens when editors mobbed together and vote WP:IDONTLIKEIT. If administrator can supervote and override both consensus and policy then editing Wikipedia becomes difficult. I really hoped to rectify this issue before the year's end. Valoem ^{talk contrib} 13:43, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

You are unable to bring it as it is a neologism that reifies a complex and sad phenomenon that has diverse aspects to it. Pages like this serve to lead suffering people down wrong paths rather than seeking proper professional help or reading about conditions and causes that have been studied and validated. What you are doing is extremely ignorant and potentially harmful to others. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 21:48, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

e.g. pages such as Social isolation, Social anxiety, Avoidant personality disorder, Adjustment disorder, Sexual frustration, Human sexual activity, Sexual orientation, Intimate relationship and Mood disorder (and related aritcles) among many others are areas that should have more pertinent material that relates to the subject. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 21:53, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Are you saying involuntary celibacy is the same thing as those conditions? It is clear that people that have those conditions may be involuntary celibates, but the term is obviously its own thing the job of an encyclopedia is to document this. Valoem ^{talk contrib} 22:06, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

In cases like this I think it is clear that editors are attempted to ensure their views prevail rather than being here to build an encyclopedia. It is human nature to become defensive when proven wrong sometimes to the point of violence. In the case of Wikipedia, it becomes impossible to edit when those in power mob together maintain status quo. I fear that this current DRV will be closed as no consensus to overturn when there clearly is solid reasons to overturn, the only way to combat this it override incorrect closures when editors fail to bring reasoning to retain deletion. Valoem ^{talk contrib} 23:27, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

@Valoem: And you expect Jimbo to do what exactly? Smells like a bit of WP:FORUMSHOP to me... Mdann52 (talk) 06:55, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

Valoem, I am saying what you believe to be involuntary celibacy is a misconception of a complex scenario that encompasses many subjects - those I have listed are a partial list. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 14:05, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

• A good rule of thumb on Wikipedia is: if someone's main argument against deleting a topic is "suppression", the article probably should not exist. Nobody is suppressing anything, the problem is (and always has been) your attempts to use Wikipedia to blaze the trail in getting this term accepted. Do we really have to explain, yet again, why we don't do that? Guy (Help!) 14:24, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

I just listed the sources on the page, they were provided as links during the AfD, however it is unlikely those in favor of deletion have read those links so I listed them plainly if this is not suppression then what is it? Cas Liber I agree that the subject is complex and many types of involuntary celibacy may exist, our just here is to document them and I've never heard of this as a reason to delete, in fact if this was a deletion rationale we would not have an encyclopedia at all. Valoem ^{talk contrib} 18:34, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

Appeal of ArbCom decision at GMO (2)

Dear Jimbo, I believe I am allowed to appeal an ArbCom decision on your Talk page. My request for an amendment by ArbCom regarding a previous decision of theirs has just been archived, which I guess is their way of saying they have rejected my request. This means my posting here to you is my last avenue of appeal. This request is not based on any intricate wiki-lawyering or tortuous argument, rather, it is based on a simple matter of principle. I have been topic banned from an area in which I have never edited. Despite my asking for evidence of such editing, none has been produced by any user or arbitrator. I feel it is a very dangerous precedent for ArbCom to ban editors from places they have not even edited, let alone disrupted. My original posting here for you to look at my request was piggy-backed by numerous other editors making diverse (often unrelated) points, which I am sure would have made reading my request rather tedious. I will therefore re-post my request on my talk page which I will keep clean of other edits in the relevant thread (other editors please note). I hope this is OK. Please feel free to comment either there, or here. I thank you in advance for considering my request.DrChrissy ^(talk) 18:05, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

You are making a fool of yourself, Doc. -Roxy the dog™ woof 18:26, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Since you've just been caught intervening in discussions about GMOs and human health at Precautionary principle[17] these protestations ring rather hollow. This excessively shrill & legalistic rebellion against your sanctions will, I suggest, shortly exhaust the patience of the community and result in a permanent ban. Alexbrn (talk) 19:34, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

This is a legitimate request made according to an accepted and recommended process. Please stop bullying.DrChrissy ^(talk) 20:09, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Agree with DrChrissy. Bullies, begone. Jusdafax 05:38, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

DrChrissy, the problem here is that wherever you edit, you consider that your opinion, and only yours, is correct and valid. That's why you got topic-banned over your promotion of quackery, and it's why you got topic-banned from GMOs. You are the very embodiment of WP:IDHT, and your response to any answer you don't like is simply to ignore it and ask again. Guy (Help!) 14:21, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

I am following a legitimate and accepted process of appeal. Your bullying attempts to discredit me and poison the well for a totally acceptable action are extremely unwelcome here - especially considering you are an admin. Please stop following me around and leaving inflammatory and highly inaccurate statements about me.DrChrissy ^(talk) 16:50, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

Regardless of what it might say in da rulez, Jimbo has never overruled an Arbcom decision and most probably he never will. Really, his name should be stricken from the policy as a valid course of appeal IMO. I don't agree with the decision myself either and its been my experience that Arbcom decisions are generally negative in their outcome. But the Arbcom has established themselves so that once they have made their decision there is no way to appeal it, change it or revoke it. Even a community RFC or discussion with consensus cannot revoke it. Good luck! Maj Turmoil (talk) 20:26, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

Arbitration Committee aka "ArbCom", is now officially changing its role to Rubber Stamp. Arbcom has decided it will now only seriously entertain Amendment Request cases where "abuse of (administrator's) discretion" is provable and agreed upon by Arbitration Committee consensus

Hi User:Jimbo Wales,

fyi

Please see, particularly: "Kevin: Yes, "abuse of discretion" would be a good way to describe the standard. That's really the standard when we review any administrative actions—...."Seraphimblade

User:Jimbo Wales, I can not imagine you expected the Arbitration Committee to unilaterally change its mandate wherein it now takes on the characteristics of some Southern U.S. State Appeals Courts; i.e., no matter how wrong headed the decision and/or cruel and unusual the punishment decision meted out to an individual by a lower authority,i.e. Administrator(s), the higher authority, i.e. the [[Arbitration Committee] will not entertain an appeal unless there is extreme and undeniable evidence, and a consensus reached by the Arbitration Committee, of what the ArbCom members are labeling as "abuse of discretion" by one or more Administrators who meted out the punishment.

I am wondering "why" the Arbitration Committee would make such a drastic reduction in its authority and remedial effect upon the checks and balances within Wikipedia. The change obviously makes it much easier to quickly discharge appeals without much time spent with thought or reading, by simply browsing to see if there are any glaring evidence of Administrator "abuse of discretion". However, from a democratic process perspective, few initiators would even think of framing an appeal as an "abuse of discretion" appeal; even I had to go back and add to my statement once the ArbCom members specified that "abuse of discretion" is now the impossibly high standard ( especially by consensus ) that must be proved by the initiator.

Kevin, A brave(imo) and concerned Arbcom Clerk, bravely recused himself to make a statement in the middle of this Request for Amendment to bring this concern to all our attention

Kevin in his recusal and statement first brings up this change in ArbCom policy i.e. to only change an Administrator's discretionary decision when there is a determination by consensus, by ArbCom, that an obvious "abuse of discretion" has occurred, so perhaps Kevin's edit is more credible for you to read than my own view of the importance of what is happening on Arbitration Committee.

Worse of all, from a common sense viewpoint, this change in mandate presents a non-climbable conundrum, imo, since we must all AGF with whatever the Administrator has done or decided. Nocturnalnow (talk) 13:27, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

All I see at that request, is that Kevin simply wanted to ask a few questions and offer his opinion on the matter, and thus rightly recused himself from further clerking. There was no "brave recusal to bring this concern to all our attention", nor is there any reduction of authority to a rubber stamp. This was a clarification of which you don't like the outcome. Everthing you have written here is either false, or hyperbole.--Atlan (talk) 14:12, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

No,Atlan, your lack of AGF re: I "don't like the outcome" is wrong and, although perhaps unintentionally on your part, has the effect of being simply an ad hominem(see "motive") and strawman deflection of thought and discussion of this important matter to the lowly ad-hominem level. Only I know what my motivation is for trying to bring this to User:Jimbo Wales's attention, and, believe me, it is not solely or even mostly in relation to my own case before Arbcom. Also, what I have written here is not false, as a review of the edits I link to will show any who wish to see the reality of what I am saying. Your dismissive use of the word "Hyperbole", although common in online discourse, does not fit here as I have exaggerated nothing, as interested editors can see for themselves. I suggest you read thoroughly the Arbitrators' discussion here and think about what the words actually are meaning. Also, Kevin,L235, imo, had a real and valid concern to raise, a similar concern to what I bring up here, in fact, I am only repeating, albeit in a more wordy way, what he said. You can not diminish his action and words to simply "a few questions and offer an opinion" as he could have easily done that after this Amendment request was dealt with and/or in private or talk page discussions with Arbitration Committee members. Nocturnalnow (talk) 15:18, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

What Atlan said. You're not a Brave Warrior Against The Forces Of Corruption, you're someone kvetching over a decision you didn't agree with. Arbcom's standard, with regards to allegations of admin abuse, has always been "Is this decision defensible within Wikipedia policy?", not "Would I have made the same decision?". ‑ Iridescent 20:09, 28 December 2015 (UTC)