Mchirico3489
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Reference errors on 13 February
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- On the CIA activities in Indonesia page, your edit caused an archiveurl error (help). (Fix | Ask for help)
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Block appeal on 15 March
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Mchirico3489 (block log • active blocks • global blocks • contribs • deleted contribs • filter log • creation log • change block settings • unblock • checkuser (log))
Request reason:
I'm a student at Northern Illinois University and currently enrolled in a CIA history class. There are many other students who are enrolled as well, which may explain the various accounts with Illinois IP addresses. We've all been assigned to update various articles about the history of CIA activities in various countries as apart of our weekly assignments. Sorry for any inconvenience! We'll stop flooding these pages at the end of May! We promise! - Megan - Chicago, IL
Decline reason:
Procedural close, two open unblock requests -- There'sNoTime (to explain) 18:54, 22 June 2017 (UTC)
If you want to make any further unblock requests, please read the guide to appealing blocks first, then use the {{unblock}} template again. If you make too many unconvincing or disruptive unblock requests, you may be prevented from editing this page until your block has expired. Do not remove this unblock review while you are blocked.
- Hi Mchirico3489, does the course you are partaking in have an instructor who has an account, as you can probably imagine a large number of accounts suddenly editing the same area is suspicious on it's own. There is a process and people in place for assisting with educational projects like this so if you have a instructor who is also an editor we can try to move this forward. Amortias (T)(C) 22:08, 16 March 2017 (UTC)
- Jmolchin1984 has also requested an unblock. I just cleaned up his mangled request. This is current, so perhaps he may be able to answer you sooner, Amortias. John from Idegon (talk) 23:52, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
Mchirico3489 (block log • active blocks • global blocks • contribs • deleted contribs • filter log • creation log • change block settings • unblock • checkuser (log))
Request reason:
Yep, it does seem suspicious. I would expect our instructors to forsee this being an issue, but I guess not. If there's a process/people in place for assisting with education projects like this, I would expect the instructors to do their due diligence in coordinating it. As you could also imagine, I don't exactly have much control over this. I do not know if our instructors have an account. I don't see why they wouldn't, but I don't know their usernames. However, you can contact them via email: Professor Eric Jones at eajones@niu.edu and TA Joann Losavio at Z1590142@students.niu.edu. - Megan - Chicago, IL EDIT: I've sent our instructors an email with some information regarding the mass blocking. I've never used wikipedia in this capacity before, and I'm assuming the people involved in this class don't exactly understand wikipedia in this capacity, either. That might explain their lag in responding. - Megan - Chicago, IL 2nd EDIT (7:46 PM CST): Professor Eric Jones responded to my email: Eric Jones <iloveroti@gmail.com> <eajones@niu.edu> Today, 7:39 PM CST What does it mean to be a sock puppet? Eric Jones <iloveroti@gmail.com> <eajones@niu.edu> Today, 7:41 PM CST Ok I'll look into this
Accept reason:
Low risk block, editor appears to understand issues at hand, no edits in three months -- There'sNoTime (to explain) 18:56, 22 June 2017 (UTC)
— Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.217.174.4 (talk) 00:10, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
- WP:SOCKPUPPET means that one editor is abusively using multiple accounts. As all the accounts for this class tie back to the same IP address, its obvious why this accusation was made. That is why your instructor needed to register this class assignment. I doubt any of the students that are currently blocked had any malicious intent, but it still looks like one user is editing articles using different usernames. This is a problem because all decisions on Wikipedia are pretty much decided by consensus. So if one person is editing the same article under more than one account, you can see why that would be a problem. Your instructor needs to clear this up. They are the one that caused the problem. John from Idegon (talk) 01:19, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
- Your professor needs to create an account and inquire of Amortias what needs to be done to clear this up. I am not familiar with the intricacies of The education project. He needs to message Amortias on his talk page. John from Idegon (talk) 01:24, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
- John from Idegon, Jmolchin1984, Opabinia regalis, Bbb23, I'm trying to get Dr. Jones on the phone; he might call me back later--or perhaps he'll see this first. Dr. Jones, this is probably easy to clear up, and with some templates and notes it could have been prevented: I speak as a fellow academic who uses Wikipedia in the classroom. Drmies (talk) 19:11, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
- Thanks for your help, Drmies. If there's anything else I can do to help, let me know. mchirico3489 (talk) 2:22 PM March 23, 2017 (CST)
- Well, right now the ball is in Jones's court. I think that it needs to start with him getting a Wikipedia account (ha, not from the IP that is currently blocked, I suppose) and making a list of students (user names, not real names of course). Next, if he wants to prevent such things next time, point him to this page on the Education wiki. He can set up a syllabus, with assignments and handouts and all, and, more importantly, a kind of "registration" so that we over here know who's doing what. He can also get some online assistance with Wikipedia editing, and by "he" I really mean you all, and poor Ms. Losavio over there in history, who doesn't have an office or a phone number, apparently.
Well, there's a lot more, but maybe one little thing: having (new) students edit high-traffic articles, even if they're signed in, is a recipe for...what do you call it when things don't go well? I keep my students out of such areas, since it tends to rub experienced editors the wrong way to see too much experimenting. Haha, and for God's sake keep them out of Palestine/Israel/Balkans/US Politics/Donald Trump! There's a long list of shitstorms at Wikipedia:Arbitration_Committee/Discretionary_sanctions#Current_areas_of_conflict, but there's millions more articles to enjoy... Anyway, I wait to hear from him, or it can be solved here. I hope he doesn't return my call during nap time (you guessed it, I'm a tenured professor--we get to have naps). Drmies (talk) 19:35, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
- Thanks for your help here Doc. I'm so far out of my pay grade here the union is going to complain. IMO, the foundation needs to do a mass mailing to every department head at every university promoting our v education programs. This isn't the first time this has happened. Hey, maybe you could find some resourceful grad student who'd like to write a grant application for that! John from Idegon (talk) 19:54, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
- Yep, we'll wait for him. I just didn't meant to raise any heckles with the wiki-folk.
Yeah, I...I didn't think this was going to be a successful roll-out, hah. When I saw this assignment on our syllabus, I knew there was going to be an issue with multiple people editing the same article at the same time. I definitely didn't feel comfortable with the idea of multiple people messing up a high-traffic article. If you or anyone else is curious, here is the passage from our syllabus:
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"Editing, updating and curating the “CIA activities in ______”
Each week we will be examining a different country Case File dealing with the CIA activities in that country. For example, Week 1 it is Case File Iran. Week 2 it is Case File Guatemala and so forth. The Case Files are under the “Content” tab in Blackboard. So for a given week on a given country, I might ask you to explore the CIA worldfact book report on that country, examine the “CIA activities in _____” wikipedia page and watch several documentaries on the role of the CIA in that country. A key part of your week with a given country Case File is to delve deeply into the primary source documents (most of which are held electronically at the National Security Archive at George Washington University).
Your assessment, due on Friday of each week, will be to examine the documents and use them to revise, rewrite, edit and supplement the Wikipedia page of “CIA activities in _______” for our country of the week. Do not worry about your classmates updating the same Wikipedia entry, there are thousands of pages of primary source material for you to draw from. Everyone needs to take the training course on standards and usage of Wikipedia as a student in a class.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Training/For_students (ignore the training info on the ‘sandbox’ feature, we will not be using that this semester).
Every Friday, you will need to attach as your assessment a PDF copy of your “diff” page. A diff is Wikipedia-speak for a report that shows a side-by-side comparison of the differences in a Wikipedia page before and after your revisions. For instructions, refer to the file: Creating a wikipedia account, editing a page, finding and electronically printing a PDF of your Wikipedia diff page (it’s located in the ‘Diff pages’ folder of the ‘Content’ tab on Blackboard)
Impress me. You can improve the narrative and add detail to the “CIA activities in _______” page. You can make image files of passages and photos from the National Security Archives documents and add them to the Wikipedia page. You can add detailed footnotes to document exact pages where assertions in the Wikipedia page come from. You can correct misreadings or misinformation. All of your efforts are displayed on the “diff” page. We will give regular feedback about how you are doing with this."
--
The organization and flow of this class hasn't been smooth at all. But, unfortunately, that's not my problem! It only becomes my problem when it's been poorly managed. >___> To be honest, I'm not worried about the ban that much. It'll be resolved in time. Thank you both for the info/patience, though. I appreciate it! Enjoy your nap, Drmies. mchirico3489 3:28 PM 23 March 2017 (CST)
- Your instructors best bet would be to request assistance at this education noticeboard as that will get the attention of the education support types who reside around here. Amortias (T)(C) 21:01, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
- mchirico3489, I appreciate the sentiment. Unfortunately I shot myself in my foot, almost literally, and so there was no napping. I tried calling Jones again, at 4:30, but got the answering machine. Between you and me, though--"there are thousands of pages of primary source material" is, well, not the best way to go about this: Wikipedia itself is a tertiary compilation, and should rely on secondary, not primary documentation. It's actually policy, WP:SECONDARY. Anyway, pleasure talking to you, and good luck to all of y'all there. Drmies (talk) 00:54, 24 March 2017 (UTC)
@Drmies: Has there been any progress on this request? It hasn't been edited in well over a month. SQLQuery me! 21:52, 4 May 2017 (UTC)
- SQL, I don't "own" thus block, but there's some conversation on my talk, including a response from Opabinia regalis. No, I never heard from the guy. Im fine with unblocking: its low-risk. Drmies (talk) 23:44, 4 May 2017 (UTC)