Case Opened on 17:01, 24 December 2005 (UTC)
Case Closed on 17:06, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
Please do not edit this page directly unless you wish to become a participant in this request. (All participants are subject to Arbitration Committee decisions, and the ArbCom will consider each participant's role in the dispute.) Comments are very welcome on the Talk page, and will be read, in full. Evidence, no matter who can provide it, is very welcome at /Evidence. Evidence is more useful than comments.
Arbitrators will be working on evidence and suggesting proposed decisions at /Workshop and voting on proposed decisions at /Proposed decision.
(Please list yourselves if you feel you are a party)
Freestylefrappe has misused his administrator powers, threatened to use his administrator powers in efforts to intimidate other users, and behaved in violation of WP:CIVIL, WP:AGF, WP:BITE. He treats with contempt the attempts of others to explain Wikipedia policy, the role of Wikipedia administrators, or the problems of his own actions.
The original complaint which is lengthy and confused is at the top of Talk page.
This case is necessary because I, and several other administrators, believe that Freestylefrappe has exhibited a pattern of actions inappropriate for a Wikipedia administrator. There is currently an RfC on the subject, but it is quite muddled at this point, and has been treated with contempt by Freestylefrappe. I finally became convinced that continuing the RfC process was useless when, after I made a suggestion that he take the RfC as constructive criticism rather than Wikilawyering [1], he responded with an inappropriate (not to mention rude) use of a vandalism template [2].
Problems I see with Freestylefrappe's conduct include:
Since Freestylefrappe is unwilling to consider the comments made on his RfC [14], it's either ArbCom or dropping the matter completely. I think Wikipedia administrators should be held to a high standard, and Freestylefrappe's recent behavior falls far short of that. If he has no interest in listening to the comments of others, some other action has to be taken.
I'll add more to this later, but right off the bat, I'm really getting tired of the harassment by users like SCZenz, BunchofGrapes, Karmafist, Redwolf, etc. I freely admit I dont take my RFC seriously at all. My RFA voting style is listed as an "outside view" on a meaningless dispute I had with a sockpuppet wielding vandal. All that the RFC is, is a bunch of users I annoyed 'cause I voted against their/their friends RFAs. I was blocked and accused of violating 3RR by Karmafist - which curiously is not listed as one of the policies I broke here - after I reverted what was clearly vandalism. This entire "dispute" is utter nonsense. freestylefrappe 17:46, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
I stopped updating FSF's rfc awhile ago in the hope that he'd realize that he's his own worst enemy in this. Apparently he hasn't.
At this point, I don't think any of the admins care about his content in regards to Kumanovo (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views), which have been fine, but rather the way he has acted towards others in regards to that article and the following Rfc regarding him.
He did violate 3RR awhile back, but as SCSenz said, that was piddling compared to what came afterwards, and ultimately it's a tragic case because unlike many of the cases you see where the defenders are just habitual trolls contributing nothing to the project, FSF is fine when he's isolated from everybody else. I think the best solution for FSF is no WP:RFA (his votes are Boothy-esque to say the least), no Kumanovo (he has serious Ownership issues there) and no talk pages other than his own for a certain period of time. karmafist 18:14, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
Other than endorsing views on his RfC, my involvement with this has been minimal. I do not believe it's appropriate for FSF to bring in everyone that was even remotely involved with his RfC, and I believe it is an attempt to divert the ArbCom from the real issues presented here. —Locke Cole 19:05, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
Freestylefrappe
I have also been accused of harassment in this matter, and I think SCZenz and karmafist have been accused of similar; I believe this is completely unfounded, and ask for evidence demonstrating this. —Bunchofgrapes (talk) 19:07, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
I had a disappointing encounter with Freestylefrappe months ago, and ended up blocking him for personal attacks. I continue to be mystified as to how he was ever adminned, or why he should continue to be one. About ten days ago, at Kumanovo, he was blocked for 3RR. During the course of that incident, he made various personal attacks. He also abused his admin tools repeatedly, by blocking the editor he was edit warring with [19], by using his administrative rollback in the edit war [20], by threatenting to protect his preferred version [21]. To top it off, he came back anonymously to continue editing, and the IP was blocked. Statements like these [22], [23], and his statement on this page demonstrate serious misunderstandings of how blocks and protection work. Combined with the other offenses cited above, this reaches the "pattern" threshhold, and I urge arbcom to consider Freestylefrappe's adminship. Dmcdevit·t 20:41, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
I don't really consider myself involved in this matter and wasn't going to give a statement, but I've been listed as one, so here goes:
I first became involved with Freestylefrappe after a post to WP:AN asking for assistance with the dispute. I read through a conversation between Freestylefrappe and SCZenz and decided to talk to Freestylefrappe [24] regarding his views on blocking without commenting on the specific situation brought up in the RfC. His reply was courteous and showed signs of wishing to improve. I also noted that day that Kumanovo had been undergoing an edit-war (see the history) in which he was involved, so I protected the page [25]. Freestylefrappe left a message on the talk page indicating that he didn't think protection was necessary; I asked for clarification. Later, Freestylefrappe unprotected with a summary of "not needed"; he had not (and still has not) responded on the talk page. I brought this to his attention [26], and he responded [27], telling me to "chillout". I replied to him [28], insisting that administrators should never unprotect a page they are involved in and then proceed to edit the page. Evilphoenix reiterated my point [29] later. Frestylefrappe did not reply to me after that. On December 22, though, Freestylefrappe removed many comments from his talk page, including our conversation, saying it was "too stupid for [him] to archive" [30]. That is the extent of my involvement in this case; I did not participate in the RfC and did not comment on the content dispute. I will be happy to answer any comments the ArbCom has. Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?) 21:24, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
I already chronologically described the dispute between me and FSF at the RFC page.--Bitola 21:46, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
Some facts not mentioned or fully explained above.
Personal opinions: Freestylefrappe wasn't as familiar with admin procedures and standards as he should have been. One of the more bizarre aspects of these events was Locke Cole having to explain (very politely and decently) what a 'diff' was. FSF did 'bite' a newbie, act in a hostile manner, and make several mistakes in regards to policies and community standards. However, he wasn't the only one doing things like this and some of his mistakes have been misrepresented or unduly inflated. Efforts to 'get' him have taken precedence over efforts to help him become a better contributor/administrator. If he were running for admin today I wouldn't vote for him. I also wouldn't give him alot of grief about it. Mistakes happen - his were mostly based on lack of understanding, poor communication, and a rating of about six (out of ten) on the 'surliness scale'. He has shown some efforts towards improvement and that should be encouraged. Again, IMO only. --CBD ☎ ✉ 01:06, 24 December 2005 (UTC)
I didn't really want to get involved in this. All I did originally was file an outside view in the RFC against freestylefrappe, saying that I disagreed with his RFA voting. I was later added to this RFAr by freestylefrappe, which I originally withdrew from. However, recent events make me feel like I should say something.
After I posted the outside view, freestylefrappe posted this on my talk page:
I didn't get the chance to respond to this (in fact, I never did respond to it.) However, I find the fact that freestylefrappe considers his vote both legitimate and a joke a bit odd. After being added to this RFAr, I withdrew from it. Tonight, I received the following note on my talk page:
I never said anything that I would consider close to a personal attack. All I said was that freestylefrappe's RFA voting was erratic (which, given the links I posted on the RFC, I could back up), and unfounded (which I believe was apparent.) Moreover, freestylefrappe's threat to block me for the comments is downright ludicrous, given that he was clearly an involved administrator whose block would not be in line with the blocking policy, just as I would not block him.
After reading this, I still was against joining this RFAr. I instead wished to leave a comment on freestylefrappe's talk page, explaining my views, and apologizing for any miscommunication that may have occurred during the incident. When I went to do so, I found freestylefrappe's talk page blank and protected. Sure, I could have easily edited the page, as an administrator. But the whole point of talk pages is that they're open to all. The only time talk pages are EVER protected is if they're frequently vandalized or edited by banned users; neither is the case here.
I post this not for vengeance, but because I truly think that freestylefrappe's conduct is a serious problem. For making a minor comment on his RFA voting, I received a series of increasingly threatening messages, none of which were warranted in my opinion. This is not the conduct that Wikipedia administrators should engage in.
First, an aside: I don't see how the fact that those bringing this RFAr are administrators is relevant. But, to get to the point; I never noticed Freestylefrappe, until a few days ago, so I may as well provide the complete history of our communication:
Even after all that, I still didn't really care enough to bother with him any further. Wikipedia is a big place, and as said, I never saw him before and didn't expect to see him again. But after seeing the above example of newbie biting... well, excuse me, that's way over the line.
What I find really amazing in this whole story is Freestylefrappe's glaring incompetence. With some clicking through the newbie's contribs, Freestylefrappe could've easily established that he was trying to split info between two articles about his organization (that should've really been merged), neither of which he created. At least from the evidence anybody showed so far, that newbie was blocked for trying to help. That's completely unacceptable.
Apart from the hillarious accusation he made on his RFC's talk page, the funniest part of this epic is that although Freestylefrappe seems to care very much about who is and who isn't an admin, it apparently never occured to him to actually check. Since neither Ral315 nor myself advertise our admin status, he seems to have simply concluded that we're just more newbies to intimidate and potentially block.
All in all, Freestylefrappe's approach to Wikipedia seems to be a combination of arrogance, laziness and incompetence. I don't care what his sanctions are, I just want him to stop behaving that way on Wikipedia.
My only opinion is that, whatever the issue, it is inappropriate for any Wikipedia admin to threaten 24-hour personal attack blocks for the heinous crime of calling their votes "Boothyesque" or "erratic." In my mind, those statements are an expressed opinion, not anything remotely resembling a personal attack. FCYTravis 22:06, 24 December 2005 (UTC)
All numbering based on /Proposed decision (vote counts and comments are there as well)
1) Administrators of Wikipedia are trusted members of the community and are expected to follow Wikipedia policies. Their powers are to be used only for appropriate reasons, as set forth in those policies, and should never be used in disputes in which the administrator is involved. (See Wikipedia:Administrators.)
2) Administrators use their powers as representatives of the Wikipedia community, and as such the use of those powers is subject to observation by and comment from members of the community. Administrators are expected to respond courteously and constructively to questions about, and criticisms of, their use of administrator powers.
3) Wikipedia users are expected to behave calmly, courteously, and civilly in their dealings with other users. If disputes arise, users are expected to use dispute resolution procedures.
4) Wikipedia editors should assume good faith in keeping with our long-standing tradition of being open and welcoming.
5) New contributors are prospective "members" and are therefore a valuable resource. Please do not bite the newcomers.
6) Administrators should follow the blocking policy when blocking, barring a serious threat to Wikipedia.
7) Administrators should avoid engaging in repeatedly doing or undoing an administrative action. (See Wikipedia:Wheel war.)
1) Kumanovo (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views), a city in Macedonia, is a focus of dispute with discourtesy, edit warring, point of view editing and failure to adequately communicate displayed by Freestylefrappe. An administrator, Freestylefrappe has used and threatened to use his administrative powers in relation to an article he was involved in a dispute over [41]. An expression of Freestylefrappe's viewpoint is on his user page at [42].
2) Freestylefrappe has been discourteous to other users [43] [44]. Personal attacks: [45] and [46]. This practice has continued during this arbitration, see Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Freestylefrappe/Evidence#Evidence_presented_by_Freestylefrappe.
3) Freestylefrappe has failed to communicate in the professional manner expected of an administrator. For example to this communication [47], he responded with [48]. There is also failure to use the talk page effectively during the dispute at Kumanovo, see Talk:Kumanovo. This inquiry requesting information regarding a block [49], he characterizes as "Now I have to deal with harassment by BunchofGrapes." (bottom of page). In response to this explanation [50] and other attempts to communicate he deletes [51] with the comment "removing all comments-too stupid for me to archive".
4) Freestylefrappe blocked Stephenj (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · nuke contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) as the result of this edit [52]. Stephenj, who describes himself as Director for Technology Services at NDI [53], editing as 67.130.38.2 (talk · contribs) had probably added a mass of unwikified material into NDI. The removal of the lists of names, combined with an unlinked redirect to the article he had edited are typical of the unfamiliar attempts of a new user. However no warning or other communication was made prior to a 24 hour block. Karmafist had posted a warning [54], but no repetition of the offense had occurred. Freestylefrappe's contemporary comments on the incident [55].
5) Freestylefrappe blocked Jeffrey O. Gustafson (talk · contribs) for three hours over "modify[ing] the comments of other users" — the "other users" in this case being namely Freestylefrappe himself. When Jeffrey O. Gustafson unblocked himself, Freestylefrappe reblocked for six hours. This constitutes behaviour inappropriate of an administrator, who should not block in a dispute where he himself is a party, nor wheel war. ([56], [57]) Another case involved an anonymous editor: [58] Blocks 70.178.69.165 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · filter log · WHOIS · RDNS · RBLs · http · block user · block log) for 48 hours on 16 December; anon has had one edit since 6 December and his first, last, and only warning was on 4 December.
6) Freestylefrappe has used his administrative status to threaten other users [59] and to threaten actions regarding a dispute he was engaged in [60].
7) Freestylefrappe has a combative attitude incompatible with administrative status, see Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Freestylefrappe/Evidence#Evidence presented by Freestylefrappe.
Note: All remedies that refer to a period of time, for example to a ban of X months or a revert parole of Y months, are to run concurrently unless otherwise stated.
1) Freestylefrappe is desyopped. He is free to reapply for adminship at Wikipedia:Requests for adminship at any time.
8) Since being desysopped in his arbitration case, Freestylefrappe has had a number of different accounts, including Tchadienne (talk · contribs), KI (talk · contribs), Republitarian (talk · contribs), and Ya ya ya ya ya ya (talk · contribs), some of which have engaged in disruptive editing. I propose that his editing be limited to one account so that admins will have a consistent history of his activities.