Battlestar Wiki:The Merovingian Ban
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As some of you may know by now, I, Joe Beaudoin, have taken an executive decision to ban The Merovingian from editing on the Wiki. As of right now, this ban is indefinite though this may change, depending on The Merovingian himself.
I am not one to mince words, so I'll just get right to the point of why I did it.
Unfortunately, I must explain what lead to this decision, since I am ultimately responsible for letting this go on as long as it has.
Since the beginning of Merv's entry on the wiki through the username "Ricimer", he has been brusque and needlessly offensive to people who offered different points of view. In an attempt to acclimate Ricimer to the community, the more prolific contributors sought to help Merv change his approach in interacting with contributors.
Basically, we did this because Battlestar Wiki is a community, and it is my firm belief that problems can be solved not by ignoring them, but by working to find solutions and common ground. An extension of this is the process of acclimating Ricimer/Merv into the community. I don't believe in turning people away outright, no more than a majority of the other contributors that work to build the Wiki do.
However, in that time since, we were lead to believe that Merv has improved his behavior. He had become gentler and a little less rash in his actions.
The problem is he did improve, though it wasn't his underlining behavior or manner in which he comported himself.
He improved his position and enhanced his ego thorough the Wiki. He attempted to bully his way to becoming the "trafficker of information" by stepping on people's dignity and self-esteem. Yes, the word "bully" is a puerile term, but accurate none-the-less; it incenses me to even use such a term normally restricted to juvenile delinquents on an elementary school playground.
Due to his immature responses and grandiose claims on both bulletin boards and on the wiki, he has not only irritated fans who wish to communicate on message boards, but he has brought the wiki bad publicity. He has also scared off contributors.
I'm sure that people would like a list of contributors who left due to Merv's actions.
However, I don't have a number. I don't have charts or statistics. I have a handful of people who have had the courage to come forward to me and present their problems.
So I have to -- no, scratch that -- I must question how many more people have gone away in the deafening silence, without so much as a whimper of protest.
By his actions, which speak louder than any words that he has typed thus far, he has damaged any and all efforts made by all contributors -- including, perhaps most ironically, himself -- to create a repository of information that all Battlestar fans can come to.
This is something that I cannot tolerate.
I do believe I can also safely say that Battlestar Wiki's hardworking contributors also do not tolerate this.
It is not that Merv is a bad contributor of information; he has done some good work on the Wiki. However, it is true when it is said that some good acts do not whitewash the bad ones.
Ultimately, Merv's issues in regards to his tact and his personality are ones that, sad to say, we here at Battlestar Wiki cannot fix. Merv has caused many issues for the wiki; I needn't list links or recount the near-disasterous incidents he has had with other people in the community. The cost of having him in our company is too great, even for a community as inclusive as we desire Battlestar Wiki to be.
This has all happened because Merv has failed to understand a singular truth: we are one.
I leave you with these words, as written by J. Michael Staczynski, creator of Babylon 5. It is something that perhaps is lost to some, but not to myself, nor those that believe in what they are doing here on this Wiki. (Oh, and if you're not a fan of the series or have never seen it before, then just listen to the message and don't worry about the proper nouns.)
The Universe speaks in many languages, but only one voice.
The language is not Narn, or Human,
or Centauri, or Gaim or Minbari.
It speaks in the language of hope;
It speaks in the language of trust;
It speaks in the language of strength,
and the language of compassion.
It is the language of the heart and
the language of the soul.
But always, it is the same voice.
It is the voice of our ancestors, speaking through us,
And the voice of our inheritors, waiting to be born.
It is the small, still voice that says:
"We are one.
No matter the blood; No matter the skin;
No matter the world; No matter the star;
We are one.
No matter the pain; No matter the darkness;
No matter the loss; No matter the fear;
We are one."
Here, gathered together in common cause,
we agree to recognise this singular truth:
That we must be kind to one another,
because each voice enriches us and ennobles us,
and each voice lost diminishes us.
We are the voice of the Universe,
the soul of creation,
the fire that will light the way to a better future.
We are one.
We are one.
References[edit]
These are a collection of links, message board postings, and on-wiki postings.
For sake of clarity and concision, my fellow documentarians and I have elected to focus on posts that suit our purposes the best. These documents set out to prove two different things:
- To establish a precedent of behavior;
- To establish that there are lulls in said behavior, until they recur again -- disturbingly similar to a "honeymoon period" in a cycle of abuse.
Links[edit]
The following documents were compiled from Scifi.com bulletin boards. They are not in any specific chornological order, but are grouped by a category, such as insults, threats of violence, et al.
- The most current listings of off-wiki posts. This contains the more pertinent insults, including threats of violence, and various references to Battlestar Wiki.
- Apsergers syndrome being used as a means of personal attack. The connection that Merv is endeavoring to make is that people with Aspergers have "no social faculties at all". The posts are from two different time periods -- before his "on-wiki" reformation (pre-ban) and on September 25, 2006 (post-ban).
- Documentation that covers his behavior before his so-called "reformation". This is to show a precedent for the behaviors, before Merv's so-called "reformation".
The following are links to Galactica BS, where Merv made his ambitions and personal attacks on KoenigRules before his so-called apology. They are linked here for reference, since I was warned by Mazzy (the board owner and operator) that I would personally be banned were I to publish PDF versions of these files. In respect for her wishes and guidelines, I link them here now.
To review them, you will need to sign up for an account on Galactica BS.
- "Merov is pissing me off". A thread which covers Merv's (alleged) attempted hijacking of the Golden Toaster Awards, which occurs at the same time as the KR incident.
- Merv attempts to defend his actions in regard to KR.
- Merv claims that KR "steals" content, which is later proven false by April Arcus and others.
- Ad hominem attacks:
- "Seriously listen to this; he talks really slowly like a moron."
- "Koenigrules sounds like a freaky 50 year old man with crazed theories (listen to how slow and weird he talks)"
- Merv discusses his intention to "going to work my way into being the new "BSG news source" for Subject2Discussion".
- "And have you HEARD HIM? he sounds like a witless 50 year old man, RECITING things he heard on other websites PROUDLY as if they were HIS OWN IDEAS!"
- "Seriously listen to this; he talks really slowly like a moron that found battlestarwiki or a messageboard spoiler thread, and is reading the ideas off of a screen as if they were his own."
- "Christ. I'm going to have to take over his position as "BSG interview guy" AND "Doctor Who news guy"---->how did he even GET these positions in the first place? he's woefully incompetant."
- "And what I meant Zorya is that you also have an "informed opinion", you know based on LOGIC or so forth? But KR just posts whatever the heck he feels. It is LITERALLY liked you picked a random weirdo from one messageboard and let him give interviews about what he "feels" as if they were fact."
- "If you also see what I see, and realize what he's pulled on everyone, please make your support known, after I make this interview in two weeks time. If I speak alone, he can dismiss me as one madman, and that he is the "authority" of the fans: but if many speak out against him, we can show that the majority of fans never supported him. My ultimate goal is to become the new Regular fan guest on S2J instead of KR (unless someone better than me comes along. Point is, this should be based on merit)."
- "Remember: when this news hits, Koenigrules will start blasting me on the official messageboard, and I'd really appreciate it if you guys show your support, because if I'm alone it looks like one annoyed guy complaining at him, but if many of us hit him hard and fast, it will show that most fans are upset with him. Wait for my signal, then unleash hell!"
- "It sounds like he's really full of himself. He makes up his own little "lectures" on scifi shows and Jungian archetypes therein and writes his own bad screenplay ideas. I think we've all seen this type at conventions; old guys that are full of themselves and like to talk about shows as if they deeply understand them."
- "Yes, my ultimate goal is to usurp Koenigrules position....but for Frak's sake I wouldn't do it if someone else wanted to."
Merv's pre-ban altercations with others, post-KR incident and post-alleged "reformation":
- Merv and Mateo debate the POV issues regarding the Cylon agent speculation page. While Merv appears to be civil initially, he returns to his previous behavior, claiming that Mateo's questioning cannot be tolerated (by paraphrasing comments stated by Lee Adama in "Black Market") and begins belittling Mateo's POV and commentary. (circa August 2006)
- There is a clear precedent where Merv believes he has ownership of the article.
- Note: I did play a part in this conversation, and I apologize for not warning Merv to desist from his behavior. I also wish to formally apologize if anything I said in defense of the article seemed defensive myself.
- Merv's post-KR incident RFA. (circa August 2006)
- Merv breaks decorum in striking out Cranky1c's vote, which should have been done by an existing administrator, not the candidate.
- Merv replies to comments via ad hominem attacks, namely against Larocque, which are indicated by Spencerian who voted to oppose the nomination.
- Merv also belittles Larocque's contributions to the wiki in terms of quantity and not their substance.
Again, I should take the opportunity to note that there are other incidents which prompted the banning. The fact that he has nearly scared off contributors during his tenure here, repeatedly, is the primary reason why he was banned; due to confidentiality and legal concerns, I am not at liberty to discuss them any further. It is due to this fact that I decided to ban Merv outright in circumvention of the RFC process, as dictated by the banning policy on this wiki.
I am merely disclosing what I can tell people publicly as owner, operator, and legal representative of Battlestar Wiki, so that people aren't in the dark as to what happened, or to set a bad precedent. Thank you for your time.
Joe Beaudoin