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Users should only edit one summary or view, other than to endorse.
User Gravitor has been engaged in disruptive editing behaviour, 3RR violations, does not assume good faith, is becoming increasingly incivil, makes personal attacks, removes unflattering complaints from his talk page, will not discuss dramatic reverts on the talk page (even though he claims that he does), and is accusing editors of being involved in a conspiracy to cover up evidence that NASA never went to the Moon. While the basis of this dispute concerns the content of the articles Independent evidence for Apollo Moon landings and Apollo Moon Landing hoax accusations, this RfC concerns solely his behavior.
I would like Gravitor to end his disruptive behavior, to stop his personal attacks, to attempt to assume good faith, to discuss changes on the talk pages, and to begin working towards creating a consensus article. Most importantly, I would like him to act in a civil manner towards his fellow editors. If he can not do so, I suggest some form of administrative ban.
This problem began as a content dispute at Apollo Moon Landing hoax accusations. User Gravitor, a self-confessed believer that the Moon landings were faked, created a sub-article called Independent evidence for human Moon landings. I proposed a merger with Apollo Moon Landing hoax accusations, and while this was being debated, he renamed the page to Independent evidence for Moon landings. I withdrew my merge proposal, attempted to engage in dialog to find out the purpose of the "new" article. After not receiving a satisfactory answer, and after Gravitor unilaterally renamed the article to Independent evidence for Apollo Moon landings, I put this article up for deletion. While there was a clear majority in favor of deletion, no "consensus" was reached, and the arbitrator suggested a merger with the aforementioned article. After having a poll to determine whether this article was related to the "hoax accusations" or not (User Gravitor and Carfiend were the only editors claiming that this article has "nothing to do with the hoax"), I once again proposed a merger with the hoax article (which is still open at this moment).
It is clear from the poll that was taken that Gravitor's point of view regarding the article is a minority opinion. Nevertheless, he vigorously reverts any changes to the article that a reasonable editor would regard as an "improvement". He has become increasing incivil. He is engaged in a continuous process of making personal attacks. He accuses editors of being involved in a conspiracy to remove "factual" information from the article. He continues to revert changes to the article using edit summaries like "revert. This has nothing to do with the hoax. Use talk page." even though he refuses to use the talk page. Specific talk sections have been set up to argue for or against his reversions (which are against the majority opinion), but he does not engage in any meaningful dialog---He is continually asked to provide examples to support his opinion, but he will not do so. He is continually asked for a single reference that mentions "independent evidence" and "Apollo" (in order to prove that this topic is notable), but he will not do so.
Several (all?) editors involved with this topic have made complaints on his talk page. From my perspective, most editors have honestly tried to accommodate Gravitor's minority opinion, and have attempted to show him how he could reword text that would be acceptable to others. They have attempted to engage in meaningful dialog about a possible change of the article's title that would be more favorable to his point of view. It is true that Gravitor's continued harassment has brought out bad behavior in some of the editors involved, but this is almost always a result of what could be described as "trolling" behavior of gravitor.
To understand Gravitor's reasons for creating this article, consider his statement
Of course it's true that NASA claimes they went to the moon, and of course it's true that there's no independent evidence.
Thus, from my point of view, his creation of this article was done only to prove a point (see WP:POINT) and to advance his point of view. Unless he has had a change of opinion, this statement does not demonstrate that he is working in good faith to write an encyclopedic article from a neutral point of view that gives the appropriate weight to the majority (or consensus) opinion.
Here I provide a list of examples of his unacceptable behavior. I will attempt to search diffs, but given the edit warring that has been going on, and the large size of the talk page, this will be difficult.
Uncivil behavior and personal attacks
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Lunokhod ( talk • contribs) 12:46, 5 March 2007 (UTC). Disruptive editing
In short, all one needs to do is read his talk page, as well as the talk page of Independent evidence for Apollo Moon landings. There are more than enough examples, and I unfortunately, do not have the time to collect them all.
{list the policies and guidelines that apply to the disputed conduct}
Lunokhod 21:27, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
(provide diffs and links) There are several section on the talk page that were started in the attempt to work towards consensus
I think that is enough. Furthermore, I have tried to address concerns about his behavior on his talk page. These have been deleted by him, but are listed above in near verbatim form.
Lunokhod 13:44, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
{Users who tried and failed to resolve the dispute}
This is a summary written by the user whose conduct is disputed, or by other users who think that the dispute is unjustified and that the above summary is biased or incomplete. Users signing other sections ("Statement of the dispute" and "Outside Views") should not edit the "Response" section.
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Without provided diffs for some of the claims above, I read through Gravitor's talk page and by the user's comments there, I agree the user has violated WP:OWN and WP:CIVIL. Looking at the edit summaries on the user's talk page, many of these violate WP:CIVIL, especially terms like "rv. troll" which was used 18 times in some manner or another in the most recent 50 edits for when I looked at the history page. Using terms like "sockpuppet" and "troll" should not be used, especially when engaged in a dispute with the other user for which no established supporting evidence has been found. A checkuser appears to have been performed on Gravitor and a previous editor to the moon/hoax articles last summer with no support, but continued mentioning of this on the Talk:Independent evidence for Apollo Moon landings pages occurred. This RFC claims violations of WP:3RR, but the user was only blocked once for violation WP:3RR (and only once total, for 24 hours, see [13]), for which it seems odd that someone violating the policy and having been blocked would continue to do so, and worse that those on the "other side" wouldn't report for further violations, unless they were attempting to over-look the violations to give the benefit of the doubt. Either way, Gravitor and User:Wahkeenah both violated the spirit of WP:3RR in this series below by reverting the 4th time minutes outside the 24 hour window.
# (cur) (last) 09:34, February 23, 2007 Wahkeenah (Talk | contribs) (rw) # (cur) (last) 09:32, February 23, 2007 Gravitor (Talk | contribs) (Reverting without comment on the talk page is not helpful. Please use the talk page.) # (cur) (last) 09:30, February 23, 2007 Wahkeenah (Talk | contribs) (rw) # (cur) (last) 09:07, February 23, 2007 Gravitor (Talk | contribs) (Reverting without comment on the talk page is not helpful. Please use the talk page.) # (cur) (last) 21:38, February 22, 2007 Wahkeenah (Talk | contribs) (Likewise.) # (cur) (last) 21:21, February 22, 2007 Gravitor (Talk | contribs) (Reverting without comment on the talk page is not helpful. Please use the talk page.) # (cur) (last) 09:28, February 22, 2007 Wahkeenah (Talk | contribs) (rw) # (cur) (last) 09:14, February 22, 2007 Gravitor (Talk | contribs) (Remove editorializing re talk page.) # (cur) (last) 00:27, February 22, 2007 Lunokhod (Talk | contribs) (Revert to revision 109924914 dated 2007-02-21 22:46:48 by Wahkeenah using popups) # (cur) (last) 23:16, February 21, 2007 Gravitor (Talk | contribs) (Revert undiscussed revert vandal)
Despite the claim in the RFC nomination, I cannot see that Gravitor has not attempted to participate in the talk page of this article. In reading over the talk page of the article, there are many comments added by Gravitor that are not WP:CIVIL, but he is (at least initially) attempting to discuss the problem. After a few weeks, comments such as "Read the article. Gravitor 02:12, 27 February 2007 (UTC)" and "What a troll. I will pick some refs from the article for you if you really can't read them. Gravitor 04:07, 27 February 2007 (UTC)" are clearly not WP:CIVIL. But I think that Gravitor was labeled as "an opponent" to the majority of the other editors involved early on, and it became a majority beating up the minority. There are attempts to include and involve the minority position, but they seem to be in a manner to placate Gravitor. Specifically, Gravitor was "egged" on by Wahkeenah and Numskll with comments such as:
These are just a few of the many instances that both sides failed to WP:AGF and remain WP:CIVIL.
Also, it appears a determination of consensus has been used as a vote several times, citing that Gravitor was in the minority by "4 to 2" (or something of the equivalent) in trying to bully the minority view. Such tactics go against WP:CIVIL by trying to control or win an edit dispute by using such means. In addition, I think this RFC was filed to gain an upper hand in the dispute by the majority side, for which would also be a violation of several policies.
I have requested full page protection to at least stop the edit war and revert waring on the article itself: Wikipedia:Requests for page protection#Independent evidence for Apollo Moon landings .28edit.7Ctalk.7Chistory.7Clinks.7Cwatch.7Clogs.29 as of the writing of this outside view.
It is my opinion that Gravitor, Wahkeenah, Carfiend, Numskll, and all others involved should:
In closing, I would support a block of all four users mentioned just above if full-page protection is not granted for a minimum of 1 week for severe violations of WP:CIVIL, WP:AGF and edit/revert waring and skirting WP:3RR. I would also support a one-month ban on editing the article, and any other moon-landing/hoax related article in conjunction with the full-page protection or 1-week block (with the 1 month ban to begin at the expiration of the 1 week block).
Users who endorse this summary:
This is a summary written by users not directly involved with the dispute but who would like to add an outside view of the dispute. Users editing other sections ("Statement of the dispute" and "Response") should not edit the "Outside Views" section, except to endorse an outside view.
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I am concerned with MECU's interpetation of my actions on the article as "egging" Gravitor on. The impression is that simply failing to agree with an abusive editor is some form of provocation. The solution then, to avoid egging this user on, would be to withdraw from the article and let the abusive editor make disputed changes at will or, to simply ignore the user and not engage in discussion. Neither of these solutions seem viable or advisable. Gravitor's personal attacks on me have been extreme and without remorse or acknowledgement of the inappropriateness of his actions. My responses, while admittedly falling below the wikipeic ideal, have by and large been aimed at moving forward and conducting dialog. Any group block, as MECU advocates, may well send the message that Gravitor's actions were more or less on parity with mine and those of other editors. I think this is not the case. I would urge other third party commenters to look more carefully at the the specific context of my transgressions versus those of Gravitor's. I acknowledge that, in ideal circumstances, that I could have behaved better. However, these exchanges took place in the context of Gravitor's relentless attacks as described above. And even in the face of these attacks I repeatedly attempted to engage Gravitor in specific, focused discussions on the disputed parts of the topic. The same may not be said of Gravitor. Simply meting out a blanket punishment without regard to the individual differences in behavior and apparent intent seems inequitable.
I also believe that undue weight and emphasis have been placed on accusations of majority rule. The comments by Wahkeenah ( ... outnumbered 4 to 2) that MECU quoted were a direct response to Gravitor claiming a majority and consensus for his view of the article -- and making edits he knew were contra consensus. Wahkeenah was merely tallying the pro/con responses in that section on that particular issue by way of pointing out Gravitor's mistake. Simple addition is not abuse of power. I understand that a majority view is not a consensus but it is unreasonable to expect editors who are operating in good faith to compell an editor who is behaving well outside any wikipedic norm to engage in meaningful discussion. How could that be sustained? If need be I can provide similar context for each of the cases that MECU quotes. This context will stand up under scrutiny. I would urge other third party commenters to look carefully at the context of the quotes above prior to making judgements. There are significant differences in the nature of Gravitor's actions viewed against mine and the other editors. Those differencs should be addressed and taken into account prior to acting on this matter. Numskll 21:38, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
In order to remain listed at Wikipedia:Requests for comment, at least two people need to show that they tried to resolve a dispute with this user and have failed. This must involve the same dispute with a single user, not different disputes or multiple users. The persons complaining must provide evidence of their efforts, and each of them must certify it by signing this page with ~~~~. If this does not happen within 48 hours of the creation of this dispute page (which was: 13:01, 28 February 2007 (UTC)), the page will be deleted. The current date and time is: 15:22, 17 July 2024 (UTC).
Users should only edit one summary or view, other than to endorse.
User Gravitor has been engaged in disruptive editing behaviour, 3RR violations, does not assume good faith, is becoming increasingly incivil, makes personal attacks, removes unflattering complaints from his talk page, will not discuss dramatic reverts on the talk page (even though he claims that he does), and is accusing editors of being involved in a conspiracy to cover up evidence that NASA never went to the Moon. While the basis of this dispute concerns the content of the articles Independent evidence for Apollo Moon landings and Apollo Moon Landing hoax accusations, this RfC concerns solely his behavior.
I would like Gravitor to end his disruptive behavior, to stop his personal attacks, to attempt to assume good faith, to discuss changes on the talk pages, and to begin working towards creating a consensus article. Most importantly, I would like him to act in a civil manner towards his fellow editors. If he can not do so, I suggest some form of administrative ban.
This problem began as a content dispute at Apollo Moon Landing hoax accusations. User Gravitor, a self-confessed believer that the Moon landings were faked, created a sub-article called Independent evidence for human Moon landings. I proposed a merger with Apollo Moon Landing hoax accusations, and while this was being debated, he renamed the page to Independent evidence for Moon landings. I withdrew my merge proposal, attempted to engage in dialog to find out the purpose of the "new" article. After not receiving a satisfactory answer, and after Gravitor unilaterally renamed the article to Independent evidence for Apollo Moon landings, I put this article up for deletion. While there was a clear majority in favor of deletion, no "consensus" was reached, and the arbitrator suggested a merger with the aforementioned article. After having a poll to determine whether this article was related to the "hoax accusations" or not (User Gravitor and Carfiend were the only editors claiming that this article has "nothing to do with the hoax"), I once again proposed a merger with the hoax article (which is still open at this moment).
It is clear from the poll that was taken that Gravitor's point of view regarding the article is a minority opinion. Nevertheless, he vigorously reverts any changes to the article that a reasonable editor would regard as an "improvement". He has become increasing incivil. He is engaged in a continuous process of making personal attacks. He accuses editors of being involved in a conspiracy to remove "factual" information from the article. He continues to revert changes to the article using edit summaries like "revert. This has nothing to do with the hoax. Use talk page." even though he refuses to use the talk page. Specific talk sections have been set up to argue for or against his reversions (which are against the majority opinion), but he does not engage in any meaningful dialog---He is continually asked to provide examples to support his opinion, but he will not do so. He is continually asked for a single reference that mentions "independent evidence" and "Apollo" (in order to prove that this topic is notable), but he will not do so.
Several (all?) editors involved with this topic have made complaints on his talk page. From my perspective, most editors have honestly tried to accommodate Gravitor's minority opinion, and have attempted to show him how he could reword text that would be acceptable to others. They have attempted to engage in meaningful dialog about a possible change of the article's title that would be more favorable to his point of view. It is true that Gravitor's continued harassment has brought out bad behavior in some of the editors involved, but this is almost always a result of what could be described as "trolling" behavior of gravitor.
To understand Gravitor's reasons for creating this article, consider his statement
Of course it's true that NASA claimes they went to the moon, and of course it's true that there's no independent evidence.
Thus, from my point of view, his creation of this article was done only to prove a point (see WP:POINT) and to advance his point of view. Unless he has had a change of opinion, this statement does not demonstrate that he is working in good faith to write an encyclopedic article from a neutral point of view that gives the appropriate weight to the majority (or consensus) opinion.
Here I provide a list of examples of his unacceptable behavior. I will attempt to search diffs, but given the edit warring that has been going on, and the large size of the talk page, this will be difficult.
Uncivil behavior and personal attacks
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Lunokhod ( talk • contribs) 12:46, 5 March 2007 (UTC). Disruptive editing
In short, all one needs to do is read his talk page, as well as the talk page of Independent evidence for Apollo Moon landings. There are more than enough examples, and I unfortunately, do not have the time to collect them all.
{list the policies and guidelines that apply to the disputed conduct}
Lunokhod 21:27, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
(provide diffs and links) There are several section on the talk page that were started in the attempt to work towards consensus
I think that is enough. Furthermore, I have tried to address concerns about his behavior on his talk page. These have been deleted by him, but are listed above in near verbatim form.
Lunokhod 13:44, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
{Users who tried and failed to resolve the dispute}
This is a summary written by the user whose conduct is disputed, or by other users who think that the dispute is unjustified and that the above summary is biased or incomplete. Users signing other sections ("Statement of the dispute" and "Outside Views") should not edit the "Response" section.
{Add summary here, but you must use the endorsement section below to sign. Users who edit or endorse this summary should not edit the other summaries.}
Users who endorse this summary:
This is a summary written by users not directly involved with the dispute but who would like to add an outside view of the dispute. Users editing other sections ("Statement of the dispute" and "Response") should not edit the "Outside Views" section, except to endorse an outside view.
Without provided diffs for some of the claims above, I read through Gravitor's talk page and by the user's comments there, I agree the user has violated WP:OWN and WP:CIVIL. Looking at the edit summaries on the user's talk page, many of these violate WP:CIVIL, especially terms like "rv. troll" which was used 18 times in some manner or another in the most recent 50 edits for when I looked at the history page. Using terms like "sockpuppet" and "troll" should not be used, especially when engaged in a dispute with the other user for which no established supporting evidence has been found. A checkuser appears to have been performed on Gravitor and a previous editor to the moon/hoax articles last summer with no support, but continued mentioning of this on the Talk:Independent evidence for Apollo Moon landings pages occurred. This RFC claims violations of WP:3RR, but the user was only blocked once for violation WP:3RR (and only once total, for 24 hours, see [13]), for which it seems odd that someone violating the policy and having been blocked would continue to do so, and worse that those on the "other side" wouldn't report for further violations, unless they were attempting to over-look the violations to give the benefit of the doubt. Either way, Gravitor and User:Wahkeenah both violated the spirit of WP:3RR in this series below by reverting the 4th time minutes outside the 24 hour window.
# (cur) (last) 09:34, February 23, 2007 Wahkeenah (Talk | contribs) (rw) # (cur) (last) 09:32, February 23, 2007 Gravitor (Talk | contribs) (Reverting without comment on the talk page is not helpful. Please use the talk page.) # (cur) (last) 09:30, February 23, 2007 Wahkeenah (Talk | contribs) (rw) # (cur) (last) 09:07, February 23, 2007 Gravitor (Talk | contribs) (Reverting without comment on the talk page is not helpful. Please use the talk page.) # (cur) (last) 21:38, February 22, 2007 Wahkeenah (Talk | contribs) (Likewise.) # (cur) (last) 21:21, February 22, 2007 Gravitor (Talk | contribs) (Reverting without comment on the talk page is not helpful. Please use the talk page.) # (cur) (last) 09:28, February 22, 2007 Wahkeenah (Talk | contribs) (rw) # (cur) (last) 09:14, February 22, 2007 Gravitor (Talk | contribs) (Remove editorializing re talk page.) # (cur) (last) 00:27, February 22, 2007 Lunokhod (Talk | contribs) (Revert to revision 109924914 dated 2007-02-21 22:46:48 by Wahkeenah using popups) # (cur) (last) 23:16, February 21, 2007 Gravitor (Talk | contribs) (Revert undiscussed revert vandal)
Despite the claim in the RFC nomination, I cannot see that Gravitor has not attempted to participate in the talk page of this article. In reading over the talk page of the article, there are many comments added by Gravitor that are not WP:CIVIL, but he is (at least initially) attempting to discuss the problem. After a few weeks, comments such as "Read the article. Gravitor 02:12, 27 February 2007 (UTC)" and "What a troll. I will pick some refs from the article for you if you really can't read them. Gravitor 04:07, 27 February 2007 (UTC)" are clearly not WP:CIVIL. But I think that Gravitor was labeled as "an opponent" to the majority of the other editors involved early on, and it became a majority beating up the minority. There are attempts to include and involve the minority position, but they seem to be in a manner to placate Gravitor. Specifically, Gravitor was "egged" on by Wahkeenah and Numskll with comments such as:
These are just a few of the many instances that both sides failed to WP:AGF and remain WP:CIVIL.
Also, it appears a determination of consensus has been used as a vote several times, citing that Gravitor was in the minority by "4 to 2" (or something of the equivalent) in trying to bully the minority view. Such tactics go against WP:CIVIL by trying to control or win an edit dispute by using such means. In addition, I think this RFC was filed to gain an upper hand in the dispute by the majority side, for which would also be a violation of several policies.
I have requested full page protection to at least stop the edit war and revert waring on the article itself: Wikipedia:Requests for page protection#Independent evidence for Apollo Moon landings .28edit.7Ctalk.7Chistory.7Clinks.7Cwatch.7Clogs.29 as of the writing of this outside view.
It is my opinion that Gravitor, Wahkeenah, Carfiend, Numskll, and all others involved should:
In closing, I would support a block of all four users mentioned just above if full-page protection is not granted for a minimum of 1 week for severe violations of WP:CIVIL, WP:AGF and edit/revert waring and skirting WP:3RR. I would also support a one-month ban on editing the article, and any other moon-landing/hoax related article in conjunction with the full-page protection or 1-week block (with the 1 month ban to begin at the expiration of the 1 week block).
Users who endorse this summary:
This is a summary written by users not directly involved with the dispute but who would like to add an outside view of the dispute. Users editing other sections ("Statement of the dispute" and "Response") should not edit the "Outside Views" section, except to endorse an outside view.
{Add summary here, but you must use the endorsement section below to sign. Users who edit or endorse this summary should not edit the other summaries.}
Users who endorse this summary:
All signed comments and talk not related to an endorsement should be directed to this page's discussion page. Discussion should not be added below. Discussion should be posted on the talk page. Threaded replies to another user's vote, endorsement, evidence, response, or comment should be posted to the talk page.
I am concerned with MECU's interpetation of my actions on the article as "egging" Gravitor on. The impression is that simply failing to agree with an abusive editor is some form of provocation. The solution then, to avoid egging this user on, would be to withdraw from the article and let the abusive editor make disputed changes at will or, to simply ignore the user and not engage in discussion. Neither of these solutions seem viable or advisable. Gravitor's personal attacks on me have been extreme and without remorse or acknowledgement of the inappropriateness of his actions. My responses, while admittedly falling below the wikipeic ideal, have by and large been aimed at moving forward and conducting dialog. Any group block, as MECU advocates, may well send the message that Gravitor's actions were more or less on parity with mine and those of other editors. I think this is not the case. I would urge other third party commenters to look more carefully at the the specific context of my transgressions versus those of Gravitor's. I acknowledge that, in ideal circumstances, that I could have behaved better. However, these exchanges took place in the context of Gravitor's relentless attacks as described above. And even in the face of these attacks I repeatedly attempted to engage Gravitor in specific, focused discussions on the disputed parts of the topic. The same may not be said of Gravitor. Simply meting out a blanket punishment without regard to the individual differences in behavior and apparent intent seems inequitable.
I also believe that undue weight and emphasis have been placed on accusations of majority rule. The comments by Wahkeenah ( ... outnumbered 4 to 2) that MECU quoted were a direct response to Gravitor claiming a majority and consensus for his view of the article -- and making edits he knew were contra consensus. Wahkeenah was merely tallying the pro/con responses in that section on that particular issue by way of pointing out Gravitor's mistake. Simple addition is not abuse of power. I understand that a majority view is not a consensus but it is unreasonable to expect editors who are operating in good faith to compell an editor who is behaving well outside any wikipedic norm to engage in meaningful discussion. How could that be sustained? If need be I can provide similar context for each of the cases that MECU quotes. This context will stand up under scrutiny. I would urge other third party commenters to look carefully at the context of the quotes above prior to making judgements. There are significant differences in the nature of Gravitor's actions viewed against mine and the other editors. Those differencs should be addressed and taken into account prior to acting on this matter. Numskll 21:38, 28 February 2007 (UTC)