[Gendergap] Hello and a (small!) manifesto

[Daniel and Elizabeth Case]

> OK, but let's get down to cases. What should we do about it? Think ahead
> to community reaction, but assume, in good faith, that he is doing his
> best and could do better. (or is that just a game of going through the
> motions?)

This has now played out more or less as I thought it would: He has twice 
said he doesn't care, it's not his problem, and after some other discussion 
by other editors which he decided wasn't involving him he's removed the 
section from his talk page entirely.

I emailed him saying that was his prerogative and his position was clear, 
but that I might stop in and audit his patrol log and contributions on 
occasion in the future.

I'm glad the distraction is over so I can return to doing more 
content-related editing, as I have some long-range plans. However, things 
like this will happen again with this editor, and others like him.

It doesn't surprise me that Wikipedia would attract such serious Asperger 
cases as this. The phenomenon of indivudals with poor social skills (mostly, 
to be fair, male) finding a haven online where singlemindedly obsessive 
behavior can be of benefit, as it often is especially on Wikipedia, is not 
new to Wikipedia.

Frankly, Tim's fault wasn't his alone. The original article he marked had 
not included the code that makes footnotes show up 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Swim_~&oldid=362817720). Now 
that, of course, doesn't mean it should be deleted. And in fact it wasn't 
... the subsequent work on the article resulted in the tag being removed 
(the only deletion in the record is from a previous incarnation, in 2008). 
But reviewing admins should be careful about this, and Tim's absolute 
refusal to discuss this when asked, even in a less confrontational way, is a 
cause for concern.

First, these things are not always evident in the Twinkle or Huggle user 
interface. That's a technical issue.

But given the mentality expressed by his userpage and discussions initiated, 
it's clear that the benign neglect from the rest of the community has 
allowed the evolution of a space within Wikipedia where users like this, 
users who actually flaunt their antisocial tendencies, can thrive under the 
cover of a necessary project function.

Clearly greater oversight is needed.

Daniel Case