User talk:Alexis Jazz

If you are planning on sending me threats, please, check your spelling first. At least put in the effort, okay?

This page may contain some profanity. If you are PC Principal you probably shouldn't edit here. Try going here instead. If this page is vandalized with a new message to insult me, please don't revert it. I can handle those, no matter how rude. Oversightable material and disruption to existing content can be reverted though. Thanks.

🖕

Archives

Some YouTube channels with Creative Commons content that Commons isn't using much from:

• The Scottish Parliament from ScottishParl
• World Poker Tour from TheWPT (note: not every video is CC)

Why don't you take some screenshots, import whole videos by downloading them with https://en.savefrom.net/ and import using video2commons, etc? Don't forget to tag your uploads with {{Licensereview}}! If you need help, just ask me! (or the folks at the helpdesk or village pump)

Wiki Loves Africa 2020

Contribute to Wiki Loves Africa and to how the world sees Africa!	Contribuez à Wiki Loves Africa et impactez la façon dont le monde voit l’Afrique!
Dear Alexis Jazz In the past, you contributed to the Wiki Loves Africa competition. This February, you have another opportunity to create beautiful photographs on the theme of "transportation" that could change how the world understands people and culture in your part of Africa. As with previous years, there are also many exciting cash prizes. Wiki Loves Africa is an annual public contest where people across Africa can contribute media (photographs, video and audio) about their environment to Wikimedia Commons for use on Wikipedia and other project websites of the Wikimedia Foundation. Images from the competition have helped millions learn more about Africa and see Africa more clearly from an African perspective. Overall, nearly 5000 people like you have contributed to this photo contest, and contributed 18,000 images about Africa. When does it take place? The 2020 competition will start on the 15th of February 2020 and close on 31st March 2020. What should we contribute? Pictures ! audios ! videos ! The theme for the 2020 contest is... Africa on the Move ! This theme encompasses a host of approaches and is intentionally open to interpretation. It encourages the submission of visual representations of movement or transportation, whether by path, road, sea air, by self-propelled, animal or mechanical means, or the historical or contemporary structures that have been created to facilitate movement or the transportation of people, goods, or animals. In addition to the value your photos contribute to understanding and African visibility, there are several prizes on offer. The international prizes are: 1st prize: US$1000 2nd prize: US$800 3rd prize: US$500 Additional categories are: Culturally specific or traditional representations of transport or structures that facilitate transportation : US$500 Prize for best quality video: $500 Each winner will also receive a pack of goodies (proposed: a hat "I edit Wikipedia from Africa", a branded battery, stickers). Additional prizes will be available in some countries. For rules and information about how to participate, or to join the contest, click on Contribute to the Wiki Loves Africa photo contest. Warmest, Anthere, for the Wiki Loves Africa Team	Cher ou chère Alexis Jazz, Au cours des années passées, vous avez participé au concours photographique Wiki Loves Africa. Ce mois de février vous avez à nouveau l'opportunité de proposer de fabuleuses illustrations sur le thème du "transport", qui pourraient profondément modifier la façon dont le reste du monde voit l’Afrique et comprend ses habitants et ses coutumes. Bonus, comme lors des années précédentes, il y a plusieurs prix à la clé. Wiki Loves Africa un concours public annuel où chacun est invité à partager des illustrations via Wikimedia Commons, en rapport avec le thème de l’année, illustrations qui pourront être utilisées sur Wikipédia ou les autres sites de la Wikimedia Foundation. Les photos collectées par le passé dans le cadre du concours ont aidé des millions de personne à mieux connaitre et comprendre l’Afrique et à la voir selon une perspective africaine. Au cours des dernières années, près de 5000 personnes comme vous ont contribué au concours, un total de 18,000 photos sur l’Afrique. Quand le concours se déroule t-il? Le concours 2020 démarre le 15 février 2020 et cloture le 31 mars 2020. Quelles sont les contenus attendus? Des photos ! Des enregistrements audio ! Des vidéos ! Le thème du concours 2020 est ... Le transport. Ce thème englobe de nombreuses approches, il est aussi intentionnellement ouvert à l’interprétation. Le thème Transport ! encourage à proposer des représentations liées au mouvement ou au transport, que ce soit par la route, ou l’air, ou l’eau, de façon auto-propulsée ou avec l’aide de la force animale ou mécanique, ou bien également les structures architecturales historiques ou contemporaines qui sont à l’origine ou ont facilité le mouvement et le transport des êtres humains, des animaux ou des biens. En plus de la valeur intrinsèque que vos photos apportent pour une meilleure visibilité et compréhension de l’Afrique à travers le monde, il y a de nombreux prix à gagner. Les prix internationaux sont les suivants: 1er prix: US$1000 2ème prix: US$800 3ème prix: US$500 Catégories additionnelles: Transport ou structures de transport traditionnelles : US$500 Prix de la meilleure vidéo: US$500 Chaque gagnant recevra également des cadeaux supplémentaires tels qu'une casquette "I edit Wikipedia from Africa", une batterie portable, des stickers... Des prix supplémentaires seront offerts dans certains pays. Pour plus d'informations, règles de participation et pour participer au concours, cliquez sur Participer au concours Wiki Loves Africa. Bien à vous, Anthere, pour l'équipe Wiki Loves Africa

@Anthere: "In the past, you contributed to the Wiki Loves Africa competition."

I did? - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 18:29, 16 February 2020 (UTC)

Apparently you did... I did not establish the list of former participants myself, but someone else did. He used a query to create a list of every editor who ever uploaded at least one picture currently tagged Wiki Loves Africa. But I am a bit surprised by your comment so I am going to investigate to make sure that he did not include in the list people who might have edited those images but not uploaded them... Thanks. Anthere (talk) 03:06, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

Hello user:Alexis Jazz. This message is to let you know that we have investigated the issue (the issue being... you got listed as a former participant to Wiki Loves Africa and subsequently received a message on your talk page to invite you to contribute again... but as you indicated, you actually did not submit any image in the past as part of WLA).
Some context... WLA is taking place for the 6th year. This year, we decided to do an experiment to test the impact of an invitation message on former participants. You may read more about this research here : m:CivilServant's Wikimedia studies/Wiki Loves Africa Recruitment 2020.
As part of this experiment, a list of all former participants (uploaders of images) has been established. Then half of those participants were issued a message on their talk page immediately after the launch of the contest. The other half did not receive any message. This list has been established with a sql query. You happened to be identified as a participant and were selected in the half to receive a message. What happened is that using the SQL technique that we've been using from the previous years, the creator of the image is the last uploader of a version. According to our records your have submitted this WLA image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Musa_with_wheelbarrow.jpg. But in fact, you were not the original uploader, you just made a brighter version of the file and re-uploaded a newer version of that image. Checking our entire set, we could establish that this error of interpretation (of what a WLA participant is) in the sql query had two consequences...

1. some people were wrongly misattributed an upload, when they only updated a picture but were not the original uploader. Note that the majority of those are actually involved in WLA somehow, often as local team leaders. Altogether, 53 people were attributed, but only a dozen were really not involved such as you. And only one reacted to the mistake - yourself :) ;
2. and some people were forgotten on the original list set up, even though they uploaded an image as part of WLA. (actually, few were skipped though, since many uploaded several images, so were added to the list anyway due to the other uploads. We skipped 80 poeple).
   

Thanks to your report, we were able to react, investigate, and identify this mistake in the sql on our side.
We will remove from the research study those who actually did not contribute (such as you). And we will deal with the few forgotten to re-integrate them.
So... thank you for your involuntary help in making our experiment more accurate !

Cheers

Anthere (talk) 16:26, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

@Anthere: Thanks, that was interesting to read! I improve images mostly regardless of subject. Cars, Harry Potter, politicians regardless of political view, food, cosplay, etc.. So yeah, I'm "involved" with all that, but not really. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 16:42, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

I hope you make this category one of your favorite avenue for the coming month :) Category:Images from Wiki Loves Africa 2020. There is a lot to do ! Anthere (talk) 16:48, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

File:Fanclub1966MarianneFaithfull1.jpg

File:Fanclub1966MarianneFaithfull1.jpg has been listed at Commons:Deletion requests so that the community can discuss whether it should be kept or not. We would appreciate it if you could go to voice your opinion about this at its entry. If you created this file, please note that the fact that it has been proposed for deletion does not necessarily mean that we do not value your kind contribution. It simply means that one person believes that there is some specific problem with it, such as a copyright issue. Please see Commons:But it's my own work! for a guide on how to address these issues. Please remember to respond to and – if appropriate – contradict the arguments supporting deletion. Arguments which focus on the nominator will not affect the result of the nomination. Thank you!

World's Lamest Critic (talk) 23:40, 18 February 2020 (UTC)

Kept. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 16:43, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

Beeld & Geluid

41 images (incl. some very heavily used (+300 times) and several interesting photographs) were added to the B&G list. Check the source, if needed. I will check them all. Sometimes pointed questions are immediately rewarded. Vysotsky (talk) 00:16, 26 February 2020 (UTC)

This looks awfully familiar

Notice how much this looks a lot like this? (you're probably old enough to get the reference).

But in all seriousness, asking for your advice if creating a separate proposal for limiting the enforcements of these blocks, for example that any abuse filter block may be evaded if no actual vandalism can be demonstrated, something similar to the "escape clause" the Dutch language Wikipedia has would be useful? --Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 20:15, 28 February 2020 (UTC)

@Donald Trung: evade = ontwijken. Dus volgens mij bedoel je iets anders hier, want de ontsnappingsclausule heeft niks met het ontwijken van AF te maken. Het nummer Boten Anna herinner ik me nog wel, maar de referentie ontgaat me even. De Nederlandse versie vind ik beter. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 08:09, 29 February 2020 (UTC)

File:Marnie the Dog celebrating St. Patrick's Day.jpg

File:Marnie the Dog celebrating St. Patrick's Day.jpg has been marked as a possible copyright violation. Wikimedia Commons only accepts free content—that is, images and other media files that can be used by anyone, for any purpose. Traditional copyright law does not grant these freedoms, and unless noted otherwise, everything you find on the web is copyrighted and not permitted here. For details on what is acceptable, please read Commons:Licensing. You may also find Commons:Copyright rules useful, or you can ask questions about Commons policies at the Commons:Help desk. If you are the copyright holder and the creator of the file, please read Commons:But it's my own work! for tips on how to provide evidence of that. The file you added has been deleted. If you have written permission from the copyright holder, please have them send us a free license release via COM:VRT. If you believe that the deletion was not in accordance with policy, you may request undeletion. (It is not necessary to request undeletion if using VRT; the file will be automatically restored at the conclusion of the process.) This file is a copyright violation for the following reason: The flickr upload appears to be a flickrwashing from the official social media account for Marnie the Dog [1] Warning: Wikimedia Commons takes copyright violations very seriously and persistent violators will be blocked from editing.

 

Masem (talk) 02:16, 8 March 2020 (UTC)

This is unfortunate, but I have to agree. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 12:50, 8 March 2020 (UTC)

"Promotional" logo?

Could you please see this, this was closed as being "promotional", I have no association with this organisation and have no idea why or even how documenting practitioners of Traditional Chinese medicine in the Netherlands would somehow make it "promotional", I want to request undeletion but stating that something is a national organisation with over 200 (two-hundred) members did not work the last time. I genuinely don't see how these images are supposedly "promotional". --Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 04:57, 9 March 2020 (UTC)

They're not, it's just more bullshit from poorly informed admins. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 12:26, 9 March 2020 (UTC)

The problem I have with this isn't the nominated category by itself, but the potential of lost hours it may cause when this behaviour is applied consistently. Generally, I take photographs all over the Netherlands and if I see a store, chain of stores, or other kind of organisation that is active throughout the Netherlands I will create a category for this organisation. Let's use "Category:Ziengs Schoenen" as an example, it doesn't have a Wikipedia article and the only reason it has a Wikidata item is because I specifically stated that it's an example of a Wikimedia Commons category without a Wikidata item and someone made it to prove me wrong that Wikidata's current notability standards hamper Structured Data on Wikimedia Commons (SDC). I wouldn't have to worry about Scapino or Etos, but as Ziengs Schoenen has no Wikipedia article literally anyone can nominate these images as "promotional", "advertisement", and/or "spam" and say that a lack of a Wikipedia article means that they are not ready to be hosted on Wikimedia Commons, despite most of my images I see used on other websites are images that aren't used on any other Wikimedia website. --Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 18:26, 9 March 2020 (UTC)

@Donald Trung: you want me to fire the admins in question? - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 20:37, 9 March 2020 (UTC)

LOL, no. This is not an individual issue, but a systemic one. The problem is that there should be a vague project scope that can exclude actual advertisers because otherwise the system could be abused by actual bad actors. The rule system is deliberately complex and contradictory, because trolls and other bad actors will try to wikilawyer themselves out of a very clearly defined rule system. The system needs to be reformed, but only in ways that still keeps abuse (by both bad actors and enforcers) to a minimum. --Donald Trung 『徵國單』 (No Fake News 💬) (WikiProject Numismatics 💴) (Articles 📚) 20:45, 9 March 2020 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Special Barnstar
	Just wanted to say many thanks for moving the list to DR as well as for your help today, Your help is greatly greatly appreciated so thank you very much, Take care, Thanks, –Davey2010Talk 18:24, 10 March 2020 (UTC)

Normalize file extensions

What happened to this proposal: Commons:Village_pump/Proposals/Archive/2018/12#Normalize_file_extensions_for_new_uploads?

I am especially interested in converting jpeg to jpg automatically. CropTool uploads files in jpeg extension, but Move & Replace script converts them into jpg (See history of File:JafarQoli Pirzade Nohuji 1354.jpg). This made my collection inconsistent. 4nn1l2 (talk) 10:38, 12 March 2020 (UTC)

@4nn1l2: it was accepted: phab:T213484 Commons:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive 72#Archived proposal, accepted? - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 10:42, 12 March 2020 (UTC)

Considering phab:T31284 which has been open since 2011, the implementation of this proposal may take a looong time :-( 4nn1l2 (talk) 10:51, 12 March 2020 (UTC)

@4nn1l2: yes, developers give high priority to Use static php array files for l10n cache at WMF (instead of CDB) which may result in a performance increase.. or completely break all the wikis. Either way nobody has asked for it, it's possibly nice to have (if it doesn't break everything), no more than that. They didn't test it properly and rolling it out on production was blocked only a few days ago. Disaster averted. On the other hand, many tasks that the community would be extremely grateful for are left to rot and even medium priority is reverted for no given reason. It's just sad.

At least CropTool we should be able to fix locally. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 10:58, 12 March 2020 (UTC)

@4nn1l2: I'm not sure what you did (ToolForge is dead), but I looked at CropTool and it doesn't appear to be at fault. Instead, when uploading a jpg file without extension it's MediaWiki that will append the ".jpeg" extension.

Stupid MediaWiki. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 11:17, 12 March 2020 (UTC)

That's it. I remove the filename (including extension) entirely and write it from scratch without an extension; then CropTool/MediaWiki uploads the cropped file in jpeg extension.

File:Ettelaat 14739, 1354-04-01, p.4.jpg --> File:Qodrat-ol-Lah Vahedi 1354.jpeg

File:Ettelaat 14739, 1354-04-01, p.25.pdf --> File:Ebrahim Chehrazi 1354.jpeg

I do this because the name of the original file is not appropriate/descriptive for the derived file. 4nn1l2 (talk) 11:32, 12 March 2020 (UTC)

@4nn1l2: Phabricator has memes. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 11:54, 12 March 2020 (UTC)

Let's keep it rational

I know you hate abusive admins, but no need to accuse them of sockpuppetry and ask for a checkuser. That's for serious cases and serious allegations. Let's keep the heat as low as possible and discuss it at COM:AN. Thanks. pandakekok9 14:22, 12 March 2020 (UTC)

@Pandakekok9: it's nothing personal. We've had really bad problems with admins and sources that I will keep anonymous have suggested there is still a socking admin active. If that's true, no idea. Who it might be, no idea. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 15:06, 12 March 2020 (UTC)

Babbel

Your English box is green[2]. Are you a native speaker of English? 4nn1l2 (talk) 00:24, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

@4nn1l2: Ah Scheiße, I need a new color. Done. I don't want to assess my own language skill. All I can say is what I understand. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 01:38, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

I like your English. You mostly use simple words and structures, but generate creative sentences with clear meanings. I would like to know if you have ever lived in an English-speaking country (and by that, I only mean US, UK, CA, AU, NZ, or IE)? If you don't feel comfortable responding to this question, you can email me or you can ignore me. I understand the importance of privacy. Thanks 4nn1l2 (talk) 02:20, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

4nn1l2 (talk) 06:14, 16 March 2020 (UTC)

Somalia

Hi! It looks like you know about copyright in Somalia. There are some images in Category:Flickr public domain images needing human review that need a review. For example File:2018 03 26 New NIEC Compound-1 (27154516538).jpg but there seems to be other images from the same Flickr account. Do you have time to have a look? --MGA73 (talk) 19:52, 22 March 2020 (UTC)

@MGA73: {{PD-Somalia}}, I saw just four files, anything else? - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 00:21, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

Thank you! I have not counted but I thought of using a bot to see if there are other files from the same account. --MGA73 (talk) 11:05, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

@MGA73: insource:"UNSOM Somalia" incategory:"Flickr public domain images needing human review" - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 19:20, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

Wow! Thank you :-) --MGA73 (talk) 19:22, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

blocked

Blocked Indefinitely

You have been blocked indefinitely from editing Commons. If you believe this block is unjustified, you may add {{Unblock}} below this message explaining clearly why you should be unblocked. For more information, see Appealing a block. See the block log for the reason that you have been blocked and the name of the administrator who blocked you.

Trijnstel_talk 20:31, 24 March 2020 (UTC)

• Note: this is a group action/decision by the Commons CU team. Trijnstel_talk 21:01, 24 March 2020 (UTC)

c:User talk:Trijnstel#Alexis Jazz

First of all, it was a FUCKING JOKE. "some people" means "Anton Mak", "interrogate" means "ask" (or just interrogate, as in questioning, obtaining information) and "ol' Betsy" is my goddamn imaginary horse, because we're talking about sheriffs and shit. The term is also often used for cars and firetrucks, but in this case I was referring to my imaginary horse. I'm now reading c:Commons:Administrators' noticeboard#Block review: Alexis Jazz and apparently "ol' Betsy" is a Fortnite reference. I've never played Fortnite in my life (honest, I'm not interested in multiplayer), so this is new to me.

And the alternative account? I made it because the DMCA claimant is rather sue-happy, so thanks a ton for OUTING me and also NEVER asking for my side on the story. I hope you will NEVER be a journalist because you just broke every single rule in the book as well as the WMF ToS.

Side note: now I'm 100% convinced your block of Rafic.Mufid/Chyah wasn't justified either. I will never trust CU again.

Pinging @Donald Trung, 4nn1l2, GreenMeansGo, Majora, 1989, Zhuyifei1999. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 07:25, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

•  Support unblock This is convincing. By comparing [3] with [4], it is obviously clear to a regular Commoner that User:Grilling the Sheriff is User:Alexis Jazz without any checkuser data. Alexis Jazz is smart (and wise). If they really intended to game the system, they could wreak havoc. They were just joking. 4nn1l2 (talk) 07:36, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

  Agreed. Asking for AGF when not AGF-ing themselves, misunderstanding, without, even once, trying to hear, or even attempting to ask for, the other side of the story, even when the subject is an established user. Both block reason I suggested are void. There is no death threat. There is no abuse (COM:BP definition) of multiple accounts.

  @Elcobbola, Jameslwoodward, Krd, Magog the Ogre, and Trijnstel: I formally request the CU team to reconsider the action. --Zhuyifei1999 (talk) 09:21, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

  By the way, CUs: some reading for you: en:Online_shaming#Justine_Sacco_incident this is what could happen with some misunderstanding. mob mentality and cancel culture are a thing. Yuck. --Zhuyifei1999 (talk) 09:31, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

@Zhuyifei1999: What's even more stupid: when I saw this "blocked" message on my talk page, I thought it was a vandal who was impersonating Trijnstel. The thread title doesn't even start with a capital letter! Just "blocked", surely some LTA, but the page history showed otherwise. And I found that I was, in fact, blocked. So not a joke. But why? I figured a block like this wouldn't go by unnoticed so I checked Trijnstel's user talk and the administrator noticeboards, where I finally found the reason. To be clear: no, I never received any mail from anyone about this. How could anyone ever be expected to file an unblock request if they are never told why they're blocked? - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 09:42, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

• Please use {{Unblock}}, Alexis Jazz, for the sake of formality. Otherwise, this may cause a technicality and your account may remain blocked. 4nn1l2 (talk) 08:23, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

@4nn1l2: What has been done here sickens me. If the CU team wants me blocked, they'll find a reason. If they have any integrity left, they will openly admit their mistakes and declare the block null and void. Not just unblock: null and void, it should have never happened. Considering Trijnstel decided to OUT me anyway, they could have equally started a discussion on COM:ANU, but they didn't. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 08:38, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

• The CU user block is perfectly fine as regard to the context. That don't means that an unblock is unthinkable, however all conditions must be met, the comments such as the one above necessarily move us away from these conditions. I urge my fellow colleague administrators, if they wish an unblock, to strive to meet these conditions. Those conditions which include of course the acceptance of the block, the understanding of the block, and even the gratefullness towadr the CH team who do this job at the risk of being unpopular, and of course which also include all the other conditions usualy necessary to a proper unblock. That said, I said nothing... Christian Ferrer ^(talk) 09:52, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

  The block was incorrect. You do not have to apologize for someone else's misunderstanding. Commons:Blocking_policy#Appealing_a_block Quote: An appropriate reason will almost always include one of the following: [...] An explanation of why the block is not appropriate based on this and other relevant policies and guidelines or is likely to be a mistake or an unintended side effect. This is the condition under this circumstance and the explanation has been given. --Zhuyifei1999 (talk) 09:57, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

All what I saw is "the CU team is not able to understand a joke, therefore this block is a mistake" → on that, I disagree. CUs are not here to judge the good taste of jokes. There is an (ab)use of multiple accounts in the purpose of being disruptuve, and if the user is not aware of the disruptive side then the block is fully appropriate. And that is apparently obviously the case. Jokes with violence, guns, ect... are to be strongly avoided online (specialy jokes that are addressed directly to someone), and are indisputably disturbing, even without multiple accounts, therefore when there is also the abuse of multiple acounts a CU block is appropriate. Christian Ferrer ^(talk) 10:25, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

@Christian Ferrer: The intent wasn't even with guns. Quote above: and "ol' Betsy" is my goddamn imaginary horse. The user isn't even aware that is a reference to a gun in Fortnite; nor am I, before trying to Google what the meaning was. Interpretations of violence are speculations. Seeking for clarification comes before blocking, if what is implied is not crystal clear. I can't believe I have to state this. --Zhuyifei1999 (talk) 11:03, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

To clarify, where do you see violence, guns, ect... if "ol' Betsy" were a horse and not a gun? --Zhuyifei1999 (talk) 11:08, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

[5] + [6] + the ambiguous side of the sentence, included punctuation and ping + all this done with a sock. That is enough disturbing/ambiguous to be considered as an abuse. Do not consider it rude but I will likely not comment further, as I already said "indefinite" don"t mean permanent, and unblock is always possible. I still think than go in opposition to the CU team is not good for anyone, included for Alexis Jazz. I am not the one to convince here. EOD. Christian Ferrer ^(talk) 11:42, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

@Christian Ferrer: I don't know what a Google link proves, as I said, I've never played Fortnite. I don't know what the ping proves either, I wanted to know if legal was working on this before trying to contact Anton Mak. I explained the alternative account, as Srittau also correctly identified, it was a means to indemnify myself against legal threats from the DMCA claimant. (obviously now proven more or less useless when CU decides to dox publicly) All this could have been resolved by mail or (when nobody cares about dox) in COM:ANU. I would have probably altered the message upon learning that people are connecting it to some video game weapon, because that ruins the joke. It's far funnier if you understand Betsy is a horse. Because how does a horse help with interrogation? The "interrogation" would just consist of me asking questions while my imaginary horse is.. looking real mean with it's googly eyes. That's how "interrogation" (with punctuation) works. It's almost word salad. I guess it's completely word salad if you've been playing too much Fortnite and project your own interpretation on it.

Also, one more thing. You ended your message on "EOD". You know I'm Dutch. EOD isn't very common internet slang for "end of discussion" (I have rarely if ever seen it before and had to look it up), but most Dutch people know perfectly what EOD means. It's the ExplosievenOpruimingsDienst. (bomb disposal unit) Actually as I'm reading the article, in the UK it stands for Explosive Ordinance Disposal, so it's even known in English. Wait a minute, are you threatening me? - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 12:26, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

• Support unblock - What a clusterfuck this has all become!, As I said at AN Alexis made what I would percieve now to be a silly joke and unfortunately created an account as part of that joke, Alexis is a net positive to the project and despite the bad joke I cannot and will not support indeffing over it, The socking ? .... meh undecided on that given socking is taken serious which leads me nicely on to the next bit -

Why on earth was the CU done as part of a team ? ..... We're not taling about INC or some noterious sockmaster who's created tons of socks .... we're talking about 1 editor who created an account as a joke...... so why was the block done as part of a team and not by one person ? ... Infact why didn't the CU team block for 48 hours and ask Alexis what the deal was?

Leniency and common sense should be used here and I truly hope it is. –Davey2010^Talk 09:57, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

• Given they’ve explained the comment and it was not a death threat, I support having the duration reduced as indef is ridiculous. 1989 (talk) 11:20, 25 March 2020 (UTC)
• I think it seems reasonable to unblock Alexis provided that they agree not to use sockpuppets for comedic effect in the future. Vermont (talk) 12:01, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

@Vermont: I don't know if it'll matter at all. I made zero attempt to hide that account from CU or even any reasonably seasoned Commons user. I just wanted to write that essay, but figured it may attract the attention of the DMCA claimant. From there on, I decided to continue using that account for any further comment I wanted to make on the case. I guess it'll only be a matter of time until I get blocked again because I unknowingly reference something in a game or movie or whatever that I've never seen or played. You see Christian Ferrer just a couple lines above casually mentioning the Dutch and/or UK bomb disposal units. Do we expect everybody to know everything? - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 12:26, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

@Vermont: Something vaguely like this happened before, but that time there was no CU team involved whose only tool appears to be a banhammer. I had mentioned "black people" and "apes" (or monkeys, I don't remember) in one sentence. (or two, whatever, the terms were close together) While in America it is a common phenomenon to unfavorably compare black people to apes, this isn't terribly common in the The Netherlands. (though in recent years football hooligans have been making up for it unfortunately) I wasn't aware this was even a thing. I never made the connection and someone told me this was inappropriate. Now that I'm aware, I'm careful not to mention the two in close proximity even when not making any kind of comparison. We just can't know everything and trying to teach people by swinging a banhammer around is unlikely to be helpful in any case. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 15:33, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

So this account that was just discovered isn’t your first undisclosed account, is that correct? 1989 (talk) 16:08, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

@1989: did you reply to the right post? I don't think I said anything like that here. The apes and black people confusion was not an alternative account. I can't even remember if that happened on a WMF project, it might have even been a completely different website. If it was here, it was under this account. Somewhere below I did say I've made alternative accounts for sensitive subjects. For extremely obvious reasons I won't disclose any of those. How many piercings I have and in what places exactly shall remain unknown. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 16:21, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

I see. Thanks for clarifying. 1989 (talk) 16:30, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

• Alright...well... There is a bit to unpack here. First off, the bits that aren't contentious. Alexis is a long-term committed user with more than a half-million contributions over more than ten years. Alexis has in fact, been at work for nearly the past month to help develop Help:Gadget-Restore-a-lot to the point where even luddites like me can use it. I don't see a good faith argument that Commons is better off without Alexis than we are with him.

Second, depending on where you live, there are probably more than a few of us that are a little stir crazy at the moment, where taking a car ride to buy bread is the highlight of your day, and suddenly a worthy topic for dinner conversation. That doesn't mean we throw policy out the window, but it's also not something we should necessarily put out of our minds entirely.

Horse or gun... Personally my first thought is a cow. At the end of the day, the CU tools can do a great deal, but they can't yet read minds. Alexis claims the sock was for privacy reasons given a litigious subject, but mind reading cuts both ways. What we can say is "User:Grilling the Sheriff" was pretty obviously registered with the subject of Web Sheriff in mind, and there's really not much indication that there was really any attempt at all to seriously hide from the initiated the fact that this was an alternative account of somebody. Alexis is well smart enough to know that no one is going to believe a brand new account starts suddenly (and correctly I might add) batch nominating copyright violations for deletion, participating in such a comparatively obscure page as DMCA, and making lengthy dissections of a takedown notice in relation to copyright law. It rather looks like Alexis may have actually forgotten what account they were logged into at times. At the same time there were several experienced contributors, administrators, and even staff that took part in that discussion that did not take this seriously enough to even file an SPI or an ANU.

It's not in fact exceptionally evident why CU was entirely necessary. As has already been pointed out, this is pretty obviously Alexis. When we see socks that are this obvious, it's normally just because they're kindof dumb. Show of hands here how many of us have blocked a Nsmutte sock, and/or several dozen of them. Alexis isn't dumb. He just looks like he wasn't trying. So this may have very well been resolved by a talk page message saying "dude, screw off the alt account already". Alternatively, by just blocking the sock, or by opening a thread at ANU, or any number of the things we routinely decline requests for checkuser over, per instructions at RFCU. I'm not going to stand here and pretend like I know better than apparently our entire cadre of CUs, but it's not at all clear that one of these alternatives could not have saved us significant community time.

So the entirety of the disruption that we are supposed to be preventing here appears to come down to the perceived threat, which is ambiguous at best. Everyone here seems to be playing the game of google "old besty" and see what the top results are. I don't play fortnight either, and I'm a generation away from most that do. But it was apparently not serious enough that it was redacted under REVDEL. It doesn't appear it's been made clear here whether this was forwarded to emergency, or whether they've expressed any opinion on the matter. At least per the log, the blocks were purely CU blocks, but it's not clear why these are CU blocks rather than blocks for indimidation/harassment if we're sticking with this interpretation of the comment. The comment itself does not appear to necessitate the use of an alternate account in the same way as !vote stacking. No one here appears to have asked the question what "Besty" was. We seem to have played the google game and run with it.

At the very least, simply dropping Template:Indefblockeduser for a veteran contributor is (mildly) less than ideal, so that another admin can try to decipher what the situation actually was, when no one could have seriously foreseen that this would remotely be an uncontroversial block. Given that the sock had gone days without making any edits at all, it looks an awful lot like this was about as much seriousness as the situation likely warranted, and seemed to have neatly wrapped things up. We get it. Wild west motif. Not really helping. Moving on.

So here we are. Are we going to take accounts like this one, indefinitely blocked across multiple accounts across multiple projects, and give them one month, while we indef one of our most dedicated contributors for making a crappy joke? GMG^talk 12:44, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for your elaborate response.

It rather looks like Alexis may have actually forgotten what account they were logged into at times.

@GreenMeansGo: you actually underestimate how devious I really am.. Newbies can't enable VisualFileChange as a gadget. I started it manually on purpose to clue you in. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 13:58, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

As I said a few days ago, The vague threats from a recently-created account are not helpful nor appropriate. I stand by that assessment. I complained about it on IRC instead of going to a noticeboard or COM:RFCU because I didn't have the energy to figure out Commons CU policies and procedures. Anyway, we're here now. In an attempt at humor, a vague threat was made, in a way that was unlikely to further the project's goals. That's now been made clear, and I think we can move on. The block was good, but I don't think leaving Alexis blocked is necessary to prevent disruption to the project at this point. Leave the sock blocked though, there's no need for it. Alexis, I'd suggest that you reevaluate your methods in the future, and stick to one main account and publicly-disclosed alternative accounts consistent with community consensus. Throw a {{Unblock}} on here, tell the CUs you won't do that again, and we can get back to stressing out about a global pandemic building a free media repository. --AntiCompositeNumber (talk) 14:28, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

@AntiCompositeNumber: I use socks every once in a while for privacy on sensitive subjects, which is allowed. If anybody had asked anything, I could have responded. If you had left a message on Grilling the Sheriff's talk page to explain how the sentence was being misunderstood, I could have explained it and may have changed it too. But instead an indefblock has been dropped without explanation. (I had to search for the explanation myself) - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 14:42, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

Frankly, I don't see any way that scare-quotes around the word interrogate in this context could be interpreted other than an implication of frontier justice. That implication's going to be disruptive, no matter the credibility of the threat or what account's used to place it. Sure, if you'd have used this account, it probably would have ended with you being told to knock off the theatrics. But you used an undisclosed second account to take actions in projectspace where it was not required (the DRs) and to create disruption (the implied threat). And sure, Trijnstel could have dropped {{Checkuserblock}} here like they did in the log entry. But if you're unable to see why your own behavior is problematic, you're not likely to convince any CU to unblock you. --AntiCompositeNumber (talk) 16:36, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

@AntiCompositeNumber: But you used an undisclosed second account to take actions in projectspace where it was not required (the DRs)

Exactly what is the problem with that? That is allowed. We have a photographer from Hong Kong who creates a new account for every single photo they upload.

and to create disruption (the implied threat)

Once more, if there had been any communication to make it clear that this was perceived as an actual threat, I could have responded and may have changed it. For that matter, if Grilling the Sheriff had been a new user, indefblock would have also been inappropriate. Try talking first.

And sure, Trijnstel could have dropped {{Checkuserblock}} here like they did in the log entry.

That's what Trijnstel did? No wait, they used {{Indefblockeduser}}. I don't see how that is better in any way, it's equally non-descriptive. Trijnstel has explained absolutely nothing to me beyond Note: this is a group action/decision by the Commons CU team. That was all.

But if you're unable to see why your own behavior is problematic, you're not likely to convince any CU to unblock you.

The comment in question was made on 20 March. According to my calendar, that's 5 days ago. I hear nothing for 5 days and now get indefblocked out of the blue with no explanation. I don't even want to discuss the matter this way, while blocked. If we are talking about interrogation while being threatened, this is much closer to that. I am forced to apologize for other people who misunderstand a comment I made and failed to contact me about it, otherwise the CUs may or may not leave me blocked forever. No. Just no. If I am unblocked, we could discuss the issue and appropriate action (if any) on COM:ANU. I am not going to talk while under the threat of being blocked forever. Fuck that. I'm not going to kiss any CheckUser's ass to save my own. I think 4nn1l2 would understand why. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 17:09, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

But if you're unable to see why your own behavior is problematic, you're not likely to convince any CU to unblock you.

I am unable to see why Alexis Jazz behaviour is problematic. If there is a problem with Alexis Jazz, that is only the fact that they care too much about this bloody project.

Alexis Jazz, using {{Unblock}} does not mean that you should confess wrongdoing and apologize for that. You can just state your arguments in a rational and cold manner and remain optimistic. Use your Dutch power :)

I think you should get unblocked first and then ask for this block to be considered null and void. Good luck! 18:02, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

• @P199: sorry, completely unrelated, I noticed [7]. Tested it on beta cluster but no issues there. Please report it on phab:T174269. You can add {{tracked|T174269}} to your question on VPT. I'd do the latter myself but, but eh, not today it seems given the above. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 14:42, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

• @Rhododendrites, Ahmad252, and Fæ: can somebody please add to the COM:AN discussion that I have never played Fortnite and was referring to my imaginary horse? I'd also like to comment on As an aside, while I think the CU team got the block wrong, this kind of condescension to clarify that the linked "kind of condescension" was not written by me. - Alexis Jazz ^{ping plz} 14:58, 25 March 2020 (UTC)