User talk:BostonMA/DBachmann Dispute -- Early History

'''This page is devoted to the history of an unresolved issue that I have with Dbachmann. Please do not edit it. After the issue has been resolved, and at the request of Dbachmann it will be removed.'''

Early history of the conflict
In December of 2005, Dbachmann found himself embroiled in a dispute related to Rajput related articles. In a conversation related to that conflict, he made a comment which included the following:
 * "I can stick around on Rajput, but I felt let down, people on AN told me simply "don't feed the trolls". These are not simply trolls in the narrow sense, and it is pointless to waste time with them, because even if you get them to listen to sense, there are millions of more clueless people where they came from, and especially in India, every sh*thole is getting internet access. I feel for these people, because they are in an actual ethnic conflict, and must feel actual hate, but I don't feel responsible for babysitting them, Wikipedia is not for them."

The conflict over the Rajput articles eventually resulted in an Arbcom case. The editors with whom Dbachmann were in conflict were sanctioned for their behavior. However, Dbachmann's comment was raised as an issue in the ArbCom case. Dbachmann's comment was also publicized by the other editors on Jimbo's talk page.

After I read the Arbcom case, and enough of the conflict on the Rajput case to get an understanding of what was going on, I listed the fact that I had an unresolved issue with Dbachmann in my Issues to Resolve, Items To Negotiate section of my Userpage. I also notified Dbachmann that I had an issue with his comments. ,. We discussed the issue briefly. I suggested to him that his comments may have hurt his relationships with others. I suggested that comments may be offensive even when the author of the comments does not intend them to be such. I also suggested that the best course when one offends is usually to acknowledge that one has been offensive (even if unintentionally), to apologize, and to avoid taking on airs that it is those who are offended that are in the wrong. Dbachmann has chosen not to follow that course of action.