User talk:Townlake

17 January 2012

I support the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

Today, I discovered that my contributions to Wikipedia are being used as leverage to protest against the passage of SOPA and PIPA. I find this unacceptable.

Following the blackout of 18 January 2012, I will no longer contribute to Wikipedia.


Update 31 May 2012: I have returned in a limited capacity to update and improve a specific category of articles. Any correspondence with me should occur on the talk pages of those articles, not here. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Greetings

Greetings Townlake. I admire the principled resolve reflected above. I agree with the statements made therein. I came here to comment on your suggestion made on Jimbo's talk page. I agree with your comment's there as well. Do you think an RfC could gain a clear consensus that we prefer Jimbo and his top staff to develop this "RfA fix"? Do you think we should develop an RfC to answer that singular question? I'm intrigued. 76Strat ^String da _Broke da (talk) 19:09, 14 July 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for your note. I appreciate your suggestion, but I don't think an RFC would be appropriate. Starting an RFC would mean asking the community to admit its own unproductive efforts for reform didn't work, and that RFC would surely fail. An RFC would be confusing, and would detract from that underlying message that this one decision actually shouldn't be made by the community. Townlake (talk) 19:21, 14 July 2012 (UTC)

You are undoubtedly correct. I appreciate your efforts and acknowledge that you have given this thoughtful consideration. I am glad you have decided to resume editing, albeit limited. Personally I feel an apology, or acknowledgement of error is due. And the whole blackout is proof that consensus is not appropriate in all manner of governance. Best regards. - 76Strat ^String da _Broke da (talk) 19:52, 14 July 2012 (UTC)

A follow up on Bwilkins

Please see User_talk:Jimbo_Wales#A_follow_up_on_Bwilkins. Ian.thomson (talk) 15:43, 4 August 2012 (UTC)

Questions?

You seem to have the desire to have questions answered regarding my friend PumpkinSky, may I help you? - Please read, before we start: User talk:Jc37#Oppose and perhaps the archive of my talk 2011/2012. If you still have questions after reading, please ask here, I will watch, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:12, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

I'm not interested in a dialogue where you require specific conditions precedent to frame the discussion. Your invitation is declined. Townlake (talk) 02:19, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

I am sorry that you obviously misunderstood me: I did not want to require conditions, but I am sure that what I wrote in the past would answer most of your a little vague questions. But if you prefer I can start from the beginning, bringing back my worst memories of what people do to people on Wikipedia, - it hurts, do you understand? - English is not my first language, that may be an additional problem. Short version:

Rlevse (talk · contribs) I got to know him as a pillar on DYK. When the discussion about Grace Sherwood made him leave, I was shocked.

BarkingMoon (talk · contribs) I met him on DYK, we worked on articles together. When he left, I screamed and was close to leaving myself. "The Community" believed that he was Rlevse. I don't. I believe that Rlevse showed him around, but he was a different person whom Wikipedia lost, a sad loss. (see his user and talk, and my talk archive)

"... we'll never know the true story"

PumpkinSky (talk · contribs) I met him on DYK. When he was blocked after half a year for being the same as Rlevse (had been long before), I joined the efforts to "free" him, successful after two months. We have created articles together which I enjoy. I trust him. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:53, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

Your loyalty to Rlevse and his various other identities is interesting, but has no impact on my assessment of his trustworthiness. Townlake (talk) 01:42, 3 November 2012 (UTC)

Sorry, I have difficulty to follow.

• I have no loyalty to user names, I trust people. My trust is based on long-term collaboration, - for BarkingMoon unfortunately short-term, but enough to create trust. (Repeating: a different person. Trust me - if you can at all: I can tell a boy from a man.) Please see also treatment of editors as human beings and Contributor copyright investigations/PumpkinSky. I am happy in my trust. You invested a lot of time and writing skill in expressing your mistrust, - I wonder why, on which background?
• What do you mean by "identity"? I strongly believe that a user name is not a person's identity, and wrote on the difference of "self" and "wiki-personalities" recently ;)
• Do you have friends? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:41, 3 November 2012 (UTC)

1) I oppose many RFAs because there are warning signs that candidates might be unqualified, and I want to protect the project (especially my edits) from popular but untrustworthy admins. It's very difficult to remove adminship once granted. See, for example, Fae.

2) Identities = unconnected user names. There is no doubt Rlevse was trying to establish a new identity with PumpkinSky; he only disclosed the connection because he got caught. That does not scream "trustworthy" to me, but I guess you didn't mind, and that's your right.

3) I act differently in real life (where my friends are important to me) than I do here (where I value efficient use of my volunteer time over building personal relationships). In that spirit, this conversation does not seem to be leading to anything constructive, so I'm done. Good luck to you. Townlake (talk) 15:55, 3 November 2012 (UTC)

Note

This is merely a suggestion from another Wikipedian. But I think at this point, disengaging from User talk:PumpkinSky might not be a bad idea for now.

Should other situations arise in the future, this can always be revisited. - jc37 17:52, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

Your point's well taken. I've left a note saying I'm done there for now. Townlake (talk) 02:19, 1 November 2012 (UTC)