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Wikimedia UK leader faces wiki-trial

A hogtied male, uploaded by Van Haeften as "own work".
A hogtied male, uploaded by Van Haeften as "own work".
by "Teahot", released under Creative Commons license.

While the Wikimedia Foundation runs Wikipedia from its headquarters in San Francisco, it supports various regional branch chapters across the globe. Recently, the United Kingdom chapter known as Wikimedia UK appointed a new Chairman of its board of trustees. Examiner readers will recognize him as Ashley Van Haeften, the civic professional who (among other things) contributed a photo to Wikipedia of what appeared to be himself in a dirty shower, wearing a blindfold, stripped to his underwear, hands bound and chained above him. He later sought to have the photo expunged, despite the durability of the "free license" under which it was released.

Today, though, Van Haeften's run through the wringer took a new and serious twist, as Wikipedia's "Arbitration Committee" formally opened a case against the Wikimedia UK chairman who goes by the nickname "Fæ". The Arbitration Committee is Wikipedia's highest appointed volunteer body, set with the responsibility of ironing out the encyclopedia project's most intractable disputes. Filing the grievance against Van Haeften is a Washington, DC-based specialist in financial regulatory issues named Matthew Bisanz. Bisanz frankly leveled his complaint against Van Haeften, saying that Fæ's "poor conduct and tendency towards disruption renders him unfit to hold administrative access."

Indeed, only days ago the very co-founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, had grown so weary of Van Haeften's commentary on Wales' talk page, that Wales gave him this warning:

"Fae in particular is hereby formally invited to permanently stay off my talk page. Your false insinuations about other users, and badgering responses, are exactly what stand in the way of thoughtful progress..."

One might wonder how such an abrasive character came to be Chair of the Wikimedia UK charity. The answer might be hidden in how wildly popular Ashley Van Haeften is on Wikipedia's sister site, Wikimedia Commons. Commons is where photographic uploads are intended to go, and because Van Haeften has had such a carefree approach to uploaded pornography and graphic nudity, he's viewed as something of a champion among several Commons administrators who wish to keep pornography within close reach of children. Indeed, one of Van Haeften's strongest supporters is a Commons administrator known as "Russavia". Even though Russavia is blocked on Wikipedia, on Commons it is a different story. There, he has the authority to block anyone who might criticize Van Haeften too pointedly, including the very author of this news article.

Your comments are welcome below.

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