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James Hare (Harej) exposes the bullying culture at the heart of Wikipedia management

Posted: Sun May 23, 2021 10:17 am
by Jake Is A Sellout
What a harrowing story.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... 1024435654

...but....if you feel sympathy, or even outrage, for this person, you're probably better off posting at Wikipediocracy. They'll be all over this, seeing it as an opportunity to further their fight on behalf of senior Wikipedia volunteers, in their fight against the evil Foundation. After all, it's what you would expect from a forum for senior Wikipedia editors.

My take would be unwelcome on their fan site, just as it would be unwelcome anywhere on Wikipedia.

Because here's what a serious critic who has a well rounded knowledge of the movement and no dog in the Foundation vs. Volunterrs civil war, takes from this person's "story"......

1. Serious accusations being made on WMF servers, without naming names (and with an inherent presumption that this is what WMF sservers are for, and that the BLP policy would only come onto play if he actually named names), on the clearly ludicrous basis that the WMF would supposeldy sue one of their own for making true statements about specific managers.

2. A criticism of people who have yet to obtain the job of a lifetime for their reluctance to speak to the culture of the WMF, from someone who had already obtained their job of a lifetime, and has left it, and so is only now speaking out now because he has "nothing to lose". How brave. How inspiring.

3. A criticism of the slick communication department of the WMF, from someone who is still, even now, a willing part of a movement that is all about telling it's own truth, rather than the actual truth. And as part of a post that itself bizarrely, supposedly from someone who that organisation has taken to some seriously dark places, still includes many of the talking points about what a wonderful thing it is, lies so often spread about by that very communications department. Lies are lies. Doesn't matter who is telling them. But it's surely even worse when the liar has no financial interest in doing it, but instead perhaps only has ideological reasons.

4. A specific accusation that the WMF management bullies autistic people for being autistic, with no apparent awareness, or perhaps complete ignorance of, the fact this has literally been seen happening in the manner in which the volunteers govern themselves. Newcomers who admit to being neuro atypical, have had that used against them by the community, up to and including literally citing it as the reason they should be excluded, under the toxic notion that autism affects your WP:COMPETENCE. This shit happened. It doesn't cease to be any more of an important "story" to be told on the WMF's dime just because in reality, that person has already been silenced, and in a manner that in all likelihood, would have been met with serious consequences, had it been reported to the Foundation.

Overall, while it's sad, come on. This dude's story doesn't stack up. Either he isn't as traumatised as he claims, and/or his story isn't as truthful as he claims, and/or he is blind to how pervasive these issue are in the movement as a whole, far beyond his lived experience, in paid staff and volunteers, and that he has perhaps maybe even been a part of it at one time or another.

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Re: James Hare (Harej) exposes the bullying culture at the heart of Wikipedia management

Posted: Sun May 23, 2021 10:18 am
by Jake Is A Sellout
In short, if you're still willing part of a cult, don't expect outsiders to care about your specific criticisms about specific aspects/members of the cult, not when they are being delivered in a manner designed to be accepted and acted on by the cult.

Because let's get fucking real. There's only one reason this fucker has posted his accusations on Wikipedia, where even though they are non-specific, they could still legitimately be removed as defamatory, rather than say, a blog, or going to the press, somewhere for from the reach of the very managers he claims still hold power and he is apparently still in fear of.

He is being a Wikipedian, through and through. Seeking drama. Seeking revenge. Seeking to have Wikipedia business handled in house, with specific details kept in house, for maximum leverage. And of course, he is seeking sympathy and comfort for being such a brave little soldier for having found the courage to tell his story.

If there is any criticism to he had of Wikipedia managers, it is that they are far too tolerant of whiny little bitches like this. The volunteers can always hide behind the fact they're not serious people, just hobbyists. The Foundation is a business. It has policies and procedures with legal effect, and it has ultimate legal responsibility for what appears on Foundation servers, for a reason.

Lifelong engagement with Wikipedia, with the pursuit of the ultimate goal of a paid job with the Foundation, appeals to people with a serious inability to accept that their lived experience isn't necessarily always the objective truth, for a reason.

Re: James Hare (Harej) exposes the bullying culture at the heart of Wikipedia management

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2022 10:09 pm
by ericbarbour
I skipped over this when it happened last year. And there SHOULD have been more attention to it.

As expected Jimbo denied everything, the WMF ignored inquiries, and it was quickly forgotten. Reporters continue to treat Wales as "the go-to-guy for Wikipedia" even though he's REALLY out of the loop by now.

Adler ran an item on Breitbart. And whose photo did they put at the top?

And there was a Wikipediocracy thread with much deploring and sympathy. But no lasting results. Obviously and predictably, Wee Billy and Somey made a few mildly sympathetic noises, but did not keep the discussion going.

FYI Hare first appeared on WP as "Messedrocker" a LOOOONG time ago--2004. He was one of their most reliable fans, for a LOOOONG time. No longer.

Hare went to work at the Internet Archive, ironically to "preserve all references on Wikipedia, including outgoing links and references to print books". Which is actually a useful thing to do--and something he could NOT have done at the WMF. I have no doubt that Hare is fully aware of the unhinged internal culture of deletionism and content abuse/heeling. Before that his ENTIRE WORKING CAREER consisted of Wikipedia diddle-ry. Hope he gets somewhere with the new project.

(And now I'm wondering how many disgruntled or forced-out WMF employees end up at the Archive. Loads of them went to Twitter--and I suspect loads of them were recently fired or forced out. The tech industry is a rotten little world, dependent on slave labor and abuse.)

Re: James Hare (Harej) exposes the bullying culture at the heart of Wikipedia management

Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2022 2:15 am
by Strelnikov
ericbarbour wrote:
Fri Dec 09, 2022 10:09 pm
I skipped over this when it happened last year. And there SHOULD have been more attention to it.

As expected Jimbo denied everything, the WMF ignored inquiries, and it was quickly forgotten. Reporters continue to treat Wales as "the go-to-guy for Wikipedia" even though he's REALLY out of the loop by now.

Hare went to work at the Internet Archive, ironically to "preserve all references on Wikipedia, including outgoing links and references to print books". Which is actually a useful thing to do--and something he could NOT have done at the WMF. I have no doubt that Hare is fully aware of the unhinged internal culture of deletionism and content abuse/heeling. Before that his ENTIRE WORKING CAREER consisted of Wikipedia diddle-ry. Hope he gets somewhere with the new project.

(And now I'm wondering how many disgruntled or forced-out WMF employees end up at the Archive. Loads of them went to Twitter--and I suspect loads of them were recently fired or forced out. The tech industry is a rotten little world, dependent on slave labor and abuse.)
They go to Jimbo because he uses a real name, it's not like Fae or Gamaliel or Wee Billy Burns (Zoloft). He is known to reporter's editors, he was in that dumb Wikipedia documentary, etc. Yes he's worthless, but they don't know that.

The Internet Archive is like SAIC, but for Internet stuff; a lot of engineering types coming up with solutions to niggling problems and whatnot. If you aren't a rockstar coder/IT guy like what David "Dime-Store Noseferatu" Gerard thinks he is, it's the perfect place, and Wikipedia has tons of these backroom people.

Re: James Hare (Harej) exposes the bullying culture at the heart of Wikipedia management

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2022 2:11 am
by ericbarbour
Checked his recent work, and James has drastically cut back on his WP editing since he was forced out of the WMF last year.

And now I will summarize Mr. Hare's "brilliant career" on Wikipedia since 2004.....the classic profile of a foolish and inexperienced young man who fell into the Jimbo-Cult deep and hard. It's no wonder he wanted to work for the WMF, as it includes bureaucrat and oversight powers by default. MOAR POWER. He was also deeply involved in the Mediation system, which collapsed in 2018 after years of madness.

And after Maher left, he discovered that no one was protecting him in the office. I can only imagine the berserk power struggles, tantrums, and abuse happening every day in the WMF right now. All carefully covered up....usually. It was a constant part of the Wikimedia scenery before, but it must be off the charts today. They were TOO successful at raising funds. And now a WMF management job is far too attractive to crazed money-grubber types in the nonprofit world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... ssedrocker

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... edrocker_2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... ssedrocker

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... ship/Harej

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... atship/1ne

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Hare ... enced_BLPs

Plus, when the Asshole Patrol tried to obliterate all traces of the horribly-failed Esperanza project in 2006, Mr. Hare proposed his "Messedrocker Solution", which ended up being the "sort-of-official policy" for handling Esperanza arguments. And there were plenty more arguments thereafter. Esperanza was one of Essjay's pet projects. Only weeks after its demise, Essjay was outed in the New Yorker magazine as a pathological liar. Back-stabbing on Wikipedia is a fine art. Shortly thereafter, Wikipedia participation and administrative activity began to decline.

One last thing: I realized more than 40 years ago that "mainstream journalism" was a rather rotten, disgusting way to make a career. "If it bleeds, it leads", chasing ambulances, trying to destroy public figures, political bias, whatever. The way working journalists (poorly) deal with Wikipedia's deep stupidity and insanity is just the cherry on top of their shit sundae of a "career job".

Re: James Hare (Harej) exposes the bullying culture at the heart of Wikipedia management

Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2023 6:02 am
by Bbb23sucks
Jake Is A Sellout wrote:
Sun May 23, 2021 10:17 am
...but....if you feel sympathy, or even outrage, for this person, you're probably better off posting at Wikipediocracy. They'll be all over this, seeing it as an opportunity to further their fight on behalf of senior Wikipedia volunteers, in their fight against the evil Foundation. After all, it's what you would expect from a forum for senior Wikipedia editors.
They should just call it Wikimediocracy at this point. Or, beeblebrox.blogspot.com.