Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Gene Poole vs. Samboy/Evidence

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Evidence of using Wikipedia as a vehicle of self-promotion
Mr. George Cruickshank, a.k.a. "Gene Poole" has used Wikipedia as a vehicle of self-promotion in the following ways:


 * By promoting Empire of Atlantium, his own micronation.

A history of edits where Mr. George Curickshank has promoted his own micronation: ,, , (edit from anonymous IP), etc.


 * By deleting links to competing micronations on the Micronation page.

A number of edits where Mr. George Curickshank has deleted links to competing micronations:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , etc.


 * By linking to Empire of Atlantium from other pages:

(Decimal Calendar), , , , , , , , , , , , , , , (Micronation) etc., (List of Micronations) , , , ,

Samboy 02:31, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)


 * By promoting his other website, http://www.imperial-collection.net, which he is the owner of:

Evidence of personal insults
Type one insults: Directly attacking other Wikipedia editors


 * From : "It is not possible to engage in rational discourse with those who don't even appear to have the limited intelligence necessary to read and understand simple English sentence structure."


 * From : "More tiresome, sanctimonius drivel from a contributor who hurls personal insults with aplomb and then tries to claim the moral high ground whilst simultaneously attempting to lay the blame for this behaviour on his victim."


 * From : "The Kingdom of Bucksfan, an internet-based fantasy created by one Cesidio Tallini, who amongst other things, believes himself to be a god and a genius, although these asertions are unsupported by available evidence. Tallini refers to Bucksfan as being part of the Fifth World - a New Age concept of limited currency, derived from Hopi mythology." When this attack was deleted, he tried restoring it in


 * From : "This editor is a malicious crank"


 * From : "the crank editor Belgsoc"


 * From : "a very well known, highly abusive crank editor who is also well known in the micronation community as being a complete raving lunatic - IndigoGenius"


 * From : "Crank editor" heading


 * From : "IndigoGenius is a full blown certifiable lunatic who treats Wikipedia's established community standards with pure, unmitigated contempt."


 * From : "None of my edits have been challenged by by editors who are not cranks."


 * From : "I suggest you revisit your definition of what constitutes an island"

Samboy 02:31, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Type two attacks: Insinuating that editors he disagrees with are incompetent editors


 * From : "If you want to conduct a debate that's supported solely by your POV rather than actual evidence, then frustration will be an inevitable outcome".


 * From : "until he/she elects to cite valid third party references in support his/her assertions, or else supplies alternative content/links that show that the inclusion of the link in question is redundant, any suggestion that the present 'dispute' is anything more than an instance of spurious attention-seeking theatrics must be considered false" (As an aside, this is an example of Argument from ignorance, a logical fallacy)


 * From : "flawed methodologies and dubious conclusions"

Samboy 22:59, 19 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Evidence of violating the three-revert rule
In citing reverts, I will show, as history differences, two different versions of the article where the article is identical to the version of the article "Gene Poole" wanted:


 * The previously cited edit war over Decimal Calendar: one two three four five six seven


 * An edit war in Micronation (which continues to this day; I would like to thank Snowspinner for trying to resolve things): one two three four five six seven eight (note that this is eight edits over a period of over 24 hours; however, more than three reverts were done within 24 hours)

Samboy 02:32, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)


 * An edit war in enclave: Then (first revert at 23:52, 22 Sep 2004, last revert at 10:22, 23 Sep 2004, 4 edits done):

Evidence of ignoring editors and admins
At one point, he continually tried reverting the talk page for Empire of Atlantium to remove a comment he didn't like: one two three four five At this point, he was told to not remove the comment in question, but he refused to listen to this administrator, and tried removing the comment in question four more times before giving up: one two three four.

Samboy 02:32, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

1. So-called "promotion" of the Empire of Atlantium
Samboy has presented the following citations in support of his contention that the proper deletion by me of spurious, invalid or non-notable data from the micronation article somehow constitutes promotion of the Empire of Atlantium. In fact, these instances illustrate nothing more than diligent, responsible editing on my part. Not one of these edits is connected in any way with the Empire of Atlantium.

This constitutes evidence of Samboy deliberately making false and misleading accusations against me:

Citation 1

The allegation is FALSE: The cited instance shows the proper deletion of spurious data concerning a non-existent micronation that had been interpolated into the article. A Google search for "Bizarro Republic" returns ZERO results.

Citation 2

The allegation is FALSE: The cited instance shows the proper deletion of references to two non-notable ephemeral, web-based micronations, the existence of which is not reported in any media or other third party source, and one of which is defunct.

Citation 3

The allegation is FALSE: The cited instance shows the proper deletion of a promotional link to a non-notable micronation, the existence of which is not reported in any media or third party sources. The edit history of the editor who added the link illustrates the promotional nature of the insertion.

Citation 4

The allegation is FALSE: The cited instance shows the proper deletion of a promotional link to a non-notable micronation, the existence of which is not reported in any media or third party sources.

Citation 5

The allegation is FALSE: The cited instance shows the proper deletion of a promotional link to a non-notable micronation, the existence of which is not reported in any media or third party sources. The edit history of the editor who added the link illustrates the [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Contributions&target=219.88.139.44 promotional] nature of the insertion.

Citation 6

The allegation is FALSE: The cited instance shows the proper deletion of a promotional link to a non-notable micronation, the existence of which is not reported in any media or third party sources. The edit history of the editor who added the link illustrates the promotional nature of the insertion.

Citation 7,

The allegation is FALSE: The cited instance shows the proper deletion of promotional links to two non-notable micronations, the existence of which is not reported in any media or third party sources.

Citation 8

The allegation is FALSE: The cited instance shows the proper deletion of a promotional link to a defunct, non-notable micronation, the existence of which was not reported in any media or third party sources. The edit history of the editor who added the link illustrates the promotional nature of the insertion.

Citation 9

The allegation is FALSE: The cited instance shows the proper deletion of a promotional link to a non-notable micronation, the existence of which is not noted in any media or third party sources.

Citation 10

The allegation is FALSE: The cited instance shows the proper deletion of a promotional link to a non-notable micronation, the existence of which is not reported in any media or third party sources. The edit history of the editor who added the link illustrates the promotional nature of the insertion.

Citation 11

The allegation is FALSE: The cited instance shows the proper deletion of a promotional link to a defunct, non-notable micronation, the existence of which was not reported in any media or third party sources. The edit history of the editor who added the link illustrates the promotional nature of the insertion.

Citation 12

The allegation is FALSE: The cited instance shows the proper deletion of promotional links to three non-notable micronations, the existence of which is not reported in any media or third party sources, and one of which is defunct.

Citation 13

The allegation is FALSE: The cited instance shows the proper deletion of promotional links to three non-notable micronations, the existence of which is not reported in any media or third party sources, and one of which is defunct.

Citation 14

The allegation is FALSE: The cited instance shows the proper deletion of a promotional link to a non-notable micronation, the existence of which is not reported in any media or third party sources.

With reference to the above it is particularly important to note that I am the primary author of the micronation article in its present form, and that the great majority of the micronations that are discussed and given as examples as part of that article were researched, written into the article and linked to by me, so any suggestion that I have waged a campaign of deletion against "competing" micronations (whatever that is supposed to mean) is not only demonstrably false, it is so patently ridiculous as to defy rational belief. Indeed, were it not for my efforts over the past several years the article would contain virtally no properly researched content or links to other micronations at all.

Secondly, Samboy himself has clearly articulated the view that micronations that are not notable - ie that have not been reported by media or third party sources should not be included in Wikipedia, in a now-deleted section of his talk page, which I here reproduce in full:

''Basically, keep the micronations that have generated news in the newspaper or otherwise have real-world existance; zap the ones that look like propaganda for one's web page or a silly little pet project that isn't even newswrothy enough to make the local newspaper. - Samboy 11:16, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)''

This is a view which I share, and which has formed the basis of my editorial activities related to this article, as stated above, since long before Samboy appeared. It is unclear how Samboy can share this opinion with me and yet simultaneously contend that my actions in support of it are in any way inappropriate.

Investigations and comments by Arbitrators
Please don't edit this section unless you are an arbitrator.

It is charged:

A number of edits where Mr. George Curickshank has deleted links to competing micronations:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , etc.

I have looked at the first of these which links to an edit which removed a link to BL Republic. This appears to be a valid edit as BL Republic googles only to a long deleted Wikipedia page. Although http://www.billandlars.host.sk/ does exist. Fred Bauder 14:59, Oct 5, 2004 (UTC)

The second edit removed an external link to Anarcho-syndicalist Commune of Feianova (Good link to micronation with some participation) with the comment: "delete links to micronations not referenced in article. i really wish people would stop inserting these irrelevant links! this is not intended as a list of every micronation in existence!" He continues to the present to enforce this editorial policy,

The third edit removed an external link to Greenia Project (good link to micronation project which seems inactive) with the remark "delete irrelevant site link not referenced by article"

The fourth a link to Solomonic Empire of Attera (url is good but "under construction") remarking "delete link to micronation not referenced in article"

The fifth a link to Nation of Alteria - New Zealand based Micronation (url no good) remarking "delete promotional link to micronation not referenced in article"

The sixth edit removed links to Cyberia (good link, some activity but pop-up ads) and Morac-Songhrati remarking "delete links to non-referenced micronations"

The seventh edit removed "Talossa, (a substub with good external link to website with some activity) a two-decade old political simulation with its own invented language." and replaced it with "Talossa, a two-decade old political simulation with its own invented language." Then removed "Brunan´s Hereditary Monarchy, seven-year old micronation with real constituted territory in Southern Brazil . One of the pioneers of micronationalism in Latin America .Brunan´s Hereditary Monarchy" (Good url but in Portuguese with nasty pop-up ads) remarking "delete web fantasy nation interpolation"

The eighth edit removed "The Heathen Republic of Vinland, a new nation project for european heathens such as Odinists. (Googling returns many links but website, if any, is hard to find) " remarking "Delete imaginary nation"

Up to this point his own micronation remained in the article and linked to but was removed before the ninth edit. edit by Stuart Smith remarking "Deleted non-micronation. See discussion area." His edit on talk, a rather obtuse contention. See Talk:Micronation

The ninth edit removed a link to http://republicofgaea.tripod.com (The Independent Republic of Gaea - new project) with the remark "revert to previous version - delete non-referenced entity"

The tenth edit removed this language, ", and in 1998 the creation of the Empire of Pacifica" with the comment "delete reference to Pacifica fantasy online micronation. not relevant." and the link Empire of Pacifica. (WEB SITE ON-LINE SOON) (This edit preceded other edits considered here) Jan 19, 2003

The eleventh edit again removed ", and in 1998 the creation of the Empire of Pacifica with the comment, "delete Pacifica rubbish content" and the link Empire of Pacifica. (WEB SITE ON-LINE SOON) (This edit preceded other edits considered here) Jan 19, 2003

The twelfth edit removed links to Kingdom of Babkha (Error: page not found), Fourth Republic of Baracão (Error: page not found) and Feianovan Commune (Good link to micronation with some participation) with the remark "delete irrelevant links to entities not referenced in article" (This edit preceded other edits considered here) Jun 5, 2004

The thirteenth edit was a repetition of the twelfth.

The fourteenth link removed Feianovan Commune (Good link to micronation with some participation) with the remark, "delete irrelevant, non-functioning link" Jun 20, 2004

I conclude that some edits were routine edits made in good faith, others removed links or references to Micronations with as much claim as his own Empire of Atlantium to inclusion. What I suggest (our decision will not address content) for future editing is that all external links and most references to specific micronations be removed leaving that to external links to directories where list of Micronations and links to them can be found by a reader. In his favor I note that he accepted excusion of mention of his own micronation. Fred Bauder 12:52, Oct 6, 2004 (UTC)