User talk:Ian Cairns

Hello. This message is being sent to inform you that there is currently a discussion at Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents regarding an issue with which you may have been involved. Thank you.

October 2011
This account has been blocked indefinitely from editing as a compromised doppleganger account. See Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents. If this is in error, you may appeal this block by adding the text, but you should read the guide to appealing blocks first. The Bushranger One ping only 19:38, 3 October 2011 (UTC)


 * How did you come to have access to this account? TN X Man  17:29, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

I reviewed the wikipedia post for myself, Ian Cairns, and found it to factually inaccurate in a number of areas and also very incomplete. I decided to open a new account, under my name, Ian Cairns, with my own password and used this to edit the Ian Cairns wiki with corrections and additional factual information. I simply want the wiki that refers to me to be accurate and informational. I am not a hacker and don't want to pulled into a conflict within the Wikipedia community, that I don't understand. It would be nice to work with someone with the skills to add links to the factual information I supply. No conflict just facts about me, my career and life. That should not be too hard to understand from a community that protects it's authenticity so passionately. Thanks, Ian
 * What's odd about your request is that the account was set up in early 2007 (log entry). When you say you "decided to open a new account", what steps did you take to do this? TN X Man  19:04, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

Tnxman. I had an earlier account some time ago and used it to edit my page, some information on ASP and other surfing related wikis. I have not been active since that time and only came back on Wikipedia yesterday when I saw the Ian Cairns wiki was inadequate. I use the wiki to show my life details on Facebook and yesterday was planning to use it on my current bio page on oZoboard.com. I am shocked that I am in some form of trial, being accused of being a hacker and being banned. I was under the impression that my older account was inactive and thought that I had started a new account yesterday. I believed that my old account was linked to a Hotmail account that I no longer use, so I though I started a new one with my current gmail account. It's pretty easy to establish my identity by looking at my Facebook page or oZoboard bio. Given the amount of content on both, that would be pretty hard to hack and for why purpose? I simply want to direct people to my Wikipedia page for them to see who I am. In this way I feel I have some control over the information that is public on the internet. Please help me do this. Thanks, Ian


 * What was your original account name, the one you edited with some time ago? Failing that, about when do you think you edited? Ian Cairns does not have high traffic, so tracking the account in that way might work as well. Either answer might help us track down what's going on. Look at it from the other side, though. Someone with a similar name sets up this account to prevent editors from impersonating them and their edits. They forget the password, as they do not intend to use this account for editing at all. Now, three years later, someone starts editing with it, and it's not the original account owner - whether through coincidence or bad luck, you appear to have taken over someone else's account. This can be fixed, but we need more information first. See also the comment above about the article - and how it is not yours to control. We welcome your input, but you need to be mindful of ownership issues and our policy on Autobiography. UltraExactZZ Said~ Did 19:29, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

UltraexactZZ: Thanks for the conciliatory tone. I don't know what has happened but did not want to step into this minefield. I simply want an accurate record of my life and career. My compatriot Peter Townend has a much more complete bio and I was looking for the same. I have read and understand the autobiographical policy and have no problem with that. My life and those of other pro athletes is public record, let's just have my Wiki reflect the facts. I believe the edits I made were accurate and there is still more information that should be added. FYI: my wife won the World Amateur Title in 1980. My bad. Any help I can get from the community would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Ian


 * Hello. I am Ian Cairns (UK), and it was myself who set up this account in October 2007. I have been very active in Wikipedia since 2004 under the account name: User:Icairns but with signature = Ian Cairns. I created this account (=User:Ian Cairns) to avoid anyone on Wikipedia setting up a doppelganger. In those days, you used a hard password and forgot it. Nowadays, it appears that you arrange for such an account to be indefinitely blocked from the beginning, which is where we are now. I can confirm that there were no edits by me from User:Ian Cairns up to the point where you gained access the other day. It happens that I edited your article from User:Icairns on 13 Dec 2007 22:01 to insert an Infobox, but I have not otherwise touched your article. Before your recent edits, I can only find editors of the 'Ian Cairns' article called: Dl2000, Yobot, John beta, Cydebot, Tommy2010, 59.167.191.160, Rrburke, SYSS Mouse, SmackBot, Fanthrillers, Closedmouth, VolkovBot, Stuthomas4, Danlum003, Wildhartlivie, Icairns (i.e. my single edit in 2007), Daniel Case, 66.35.8.110, Rich257, Moondyne.
 * I also have a list of editors to the "Association of Surfing Professionals" article, and I can see no single common editor with the above list - unless these edits were performed under different account?? Regards from the UK - Ian Cairns (talk) 20:33, 4 October 2011 (UTC)


 * You've got us all at a bit of a loss here, Ian. What you say happened shouldn't be possible. This account was undeniably created by Icairns in 2007, and the user page marked as such at that time. So there should be no way for you to use it as the Wikipedia software does not permit duplicate usernames . You say you just registered an account and it let you use this name. As I attempted to explain when denying your request, this is the reason you are blocked, your actual edits to the article about you are another matter. Wikipedians are supposed to assume good faith unless bad faith actions have manifested. Since we don't really know how this could have happened, we must fall back on that principle and assume that something weird has occurred and somehow you were able to use this account. So, starting from there, I have to tell you that you can't keep this name. Which means this account, as I said before, is not ever going to be unblocked. What I can do, however, is "soften" the block to allow you to simply create a new account with a different name. I know it must feel weird to be told you can't use your own name, but the "other" Ian Cairns took that name four years ago. Please indicate here whether this sounds ok to you. Beeblebrox (talk) 21:53, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

Hi Ian Cairns. Nice to meet you, albeit via the back door. Thanks for backing off a little Beeblebrox. No bad guy here. One solution I can see is that I open a new account using my name plus nickname, Ian Kanga Cairns and then we change the name of my Wicki in the same way, this then clearly identifies who is whom and we can move forward. My only goal here is to have my public record properly document my personal and professional life. How do we proceed? Ian — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.191.206.117 (talk) 22:13, 4 October 2011 (UTC)


 * Hello Ian (Aus) from Ian (UK). Thanks for your offer - I have no problem with this, provided you don't mind keeping the Kanga bit in your signature (i.e. both account and signature = Ian Kanga Cairns). I'm sorry to have to ask that, but I have been here 7-8 yrs, have around 75,000 edits to over 50,000 articles, and all my signed contributions have "Ian Cairns" written all over them. This is my legacy to the world of Silver Surfing.... rather than all that wet surfing :-) There is no need to alter the name of your Wiki article unless you particularly wish to. I have no biographical article at Wikipedia and you have clearly made a greater worldwide mark during your professional life than I. It's only the User account side and its legacy that concerns me. In which case, I expect User:Ian_Cairns to remain indef blocked, as currently, and your new account to arise shortly. Thanks, Ian Cairns (talk) 23:10, 4 October 2011 (UTC)


 * I've gone ahead and altered the block settings to allow you to simply create a new account with the name you suggested above. Beeblebrox (talk) 23:26, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. I have now created an Ian Kanga Cairns User account. Can we now talk about what we can do with updating my profile, including changing the naming to Ian Kanga Cairns to keep it singular? Thanks, Ian — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ian Kanga Cairns (talk • contribs) 23:33, 4 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Well, for starters I think it bears repeating that it is not your profile. It is an encyclopedia article about you. However, this is hardly the place to continue that discussion, Talk:Ian Cairns would be the proper place to discuss any changes to that article. Beeblebrox (talk) 23:37, 4 October 2011 (UTC)