User talk:Via strass/Bantown

Notes on Bantown
Someone brought this article to my attention. I would like to explain a little bit about Bantown. It is not a hacker group or troll organization nor is it any sort of organization at all. Bantown is a tactic just like Black bloc being a tactic and not an organization. There is no hierarchy and no members list. There are several affinity groups that operate under the Bantown banner but none of them are under any control by the frequent idlers of Bantown.

Sometimes frequent chatters receive titles (for example, hepkitten has "#1 mayor of bantown" and I am called the sheriff) that usually correspond to roles that would be played in a physical city. These titles convey no sense of power or authority, they are just for amusement or an inside joke.

Bantowning does sometimes involve hacking, trolling, or harassing targets. The rules Bantown culture encourages for this are simple:
 * No major corporations or government getting owned and no significant money lost
 * The underlying choice of target must be backed by a moral or ethical reason (ie punishment for wrongdoing)
 * The hack should be high-visibility and employ imagery that shocks and offends those affiliated with the target.

I would edit this material into the article myself but I feel it would be a conflict of Interest according to Wikipedia's NPOV policy. I also highly reccomend linking to encyclopediadramatica:Bantown as that article is probably the most official thing about Bantown that exists. --Weevlos 00:18, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

'Vanity'
Please note that contrary to Sean Black's assumption in his edit summary, the nicknames of possible 'members' of Bantown were not added as vanity by the individuals in question or their associates. I am not acquainted with any member of Bantown, beyond having had a brief IRC conversation with 'weev' while researching this article. I added these names in good faith; as the external links and Weevlos' message above will confirm, all the nicknames in question have been associated with Bantown. However as Weevlos also points out, due to the precise nature of the entity Bantown, it would perhaps be unhelpful to revert this information. Via strass 01:59, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

GNAA link
It is not clear to me what the link between this page and the GNAA page is. The only connection which I can think of is that the supposed GNAA 'president', jesuitx, is a user of the #bantown channel, and alleged member of Bantown. This information, including an appropriate link to the article on the GNAA, was previously removed from the article by user Sean Black. I do not dissent from this decision, but nor is it clear to me on what other grounds a link to GNAA would be relevant here. Via strass 22:41, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Bantown has no members. It is not an organization of any sort. --Weevlos 05:29, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Dear Weevlos, I am afraid it is not possible to assign consideration or credibility to any statements you may make about Bantown except on the basis that it is an organization of which you are a member. I'm sure that a scholar of Greek philosophy like yourself will appreciate this real-world instance of the liar paradox. Via strass 03:37, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Deletion?
So, why exactly is this article being considered for deletion? Disputes about the text of the article seem wholly removed from the question as to whether or not it should exist. Mikesheffler 19:03, 16 July 2006 (UTC)
 * This is an encyclopediac entry. They exist, they've done publically notable things. I suspect this deletion request is simply a morality/"they're a troll" thing, which is inappropriate. Do not delete. rootology 18:00, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

I am not and have never been..
a 'member' of Bantown. When I wrote this article I announced that I had done so on the #bantown irc channel as a courtesy. Before then i had never had any communication or dealings with anyone involved with or linked to Bantown. This has already been addressed above on this talk page. This page is currently being discussed as a candidate for deletion, with reference in particular to whether Bantown are notable. However this page is not a vanity page. Someone linked to Bantown has left some comments above, but declined to edit this page because of NPOV. As far as I am aware noone else associated with Bantown has edited this article or even cares about its existence. Via strass 19:32, 17 July 2006 (UTC)