User talk:Moulton/Comedy of Terrors

Confirmation from Chair of Social Work at Wheelock College

I received strong advice from four academics urging me to immediately cut off relationships with SBJ, Darklama, and Mike Umbricht and to abandon Wikiversity. Here is the key portion of the most recent message, from the Chair of Social Work at the Wheelock College School of Education, Social Work, Child Life & Family Studies:

Barry — good morning. I am so sorry about this, Barry. I read through your message quickly last night, and was very alarmed. I think this is a wise decision [to cut off relationships with SBJ, Darklama, and Mike Umbricht and to abandon Wikiversity] — both for you to step out at this point, and mostly, for the counsel you offered about not allowing Darklama this kind of power. There are many unintended consequences related to on-line communities / communication, etc., and though it provides wonderful possibilities for many, it is a terrible misuse of communication (and power) for others. And further complex and complicated by the autism and possible additional mental health challenges of this individual. Take good care, Barry. I hope that this gets sorted out pretty quickly and that someone can assist Darklama (that he'll allow it) to begin to understand the inappropriateness of his communications.

The advice was unanimous from four respected academics at three universities, including the Director of Research on Autism Studies at the MIT Media Lab.

Accordingly, I am cutting off all contact with SBJ, Darklama, and Mike Umbricht, and abandoning the English Wikiversity as beyond redemption and far too toxic for my sensibilities.

Moulton 11:52, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

The above response from the Chair of Social Work at Wheelock College was in reply to this message:

From: Barry Kort <bkort@media.mit.edu> Date: Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 5:29 AM Subject: I have abandoned Wikiversity. To: Leigh Blackall <leighblackall@gmail.com>, James Neill <JamesTNeill@gmail.com> Cc: Hope Straughan <hstraughan@wheelock.edu> Hi James and Leigh, Here are three messages (on Facebook) between me and Lisa Rand… Hi Lisa, I need your help. Yesterday I shared with two of my faculty colleagues the story of Johnny's friend, Darklama, on Wikiversity. Darklama is autistic and also Cluster A Schizoid. He's OK doing coding for Johnny, but it's a grave mistake to give Darklama power over other people, especially people who are in the business of education. Being autistic, Darklama had a very hard time in school and dropped out before Middle School. He is entirely self-taught. He learned (on his own) to read and write before he could speak. He has animosity toward people in education (which includes any of us at MIT, including world-class experts in Autism Research). It's hard enough to work with autistic people under normal conditions. But when Johnny gives one political power on a site like Wikiversity, it's an unmitigated disaster. We need to work this out with the experts. Can you help? Thanks. Barry Lisa's reply: Hello Barry, I received your message. However, I do not get involved in Johnny's Wikiversity affairs. Thanks for understanding, Lisa My response: Hello Lisa, Upon the strong advice of several experts, I have cut off all connections with Johnny, Darklama, Mike Umbricht, and their associates on Wikiversity. For reasons that make no sense to me, they have constructed an inappropriately coercive culture (abusive bullying) that, to my mind, is anathema to the concept of collegial and congenial collaborative learning. The project has frankly become too toxic for my sensibilities. Barry Accordingly, please be advised that I am abandoning Wikiversity. Barry _____________ Barry Kort, Ph.D. Visiting Scientist Affective Computing Research Group MIT Media Lab -- The Process of Enlightenment Works In Mysterious Plays.

Moulton 09:53, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

Here, for the record, is my previous message to Hope Straughan:

From: Barry Kort <bkort@media.mit.edu> To: Hope Straughan <hstraughan@wheelock.edu> CC: John McConomy - SBJ <john103@sweetbottomfarm.net>, John Schmidt <johnwilliamschmidt@gmail.com> Date: Sun, Mar 13, 2011 at 9:53 PM Subject: Young Autistic Man with Cluster A Schizoid Personality traits who says: Obey Mah Authoritah Hi Hope, I need your help with a case. There is a young adult male from Little Rock Arkansas who is only known to any of us by his login handle, "Darklama" (sometimes "darkcode") who has been diagnosed as autistic, and who also appears to manifest Cluster A Schizoid Personality traits. Here is a recent conversation I had with him on the IRC chat channel associated with Wikiversity: (09:07:44 PM) darkcode: I know for a fact I keep doing the same things unless I manage to learn something else. (09:08:20 PM) Moulton: Is there a process or method through which you are able to learn something better? (09:10:14 PM) darkcode: when it comes to other people trying to "help" me learn, I have yet to figure out a quick and affective process or method of doing so. (09:10:46 PM) Moulton: Would you like to figure out or otherwise discover such a method or process? (09:12:24 PM) darkcode: I am reasonably certain you have zero chance of ever affectively teaching me anything. (09:13:07 PM) Moulton: I have no desire to teach you anything. My desire is for you to discover how to learn what you need to learn without relying on a teacher. (09:14:18 PM) Moulton: Would you be interested in learning how to learn without having to rely on a teacher? (09:15:57 PM) darkcode: I already know how to do that, been doing that since birth. (09:16:09 PM) Moulton: How did you learn to read and write? (09:19:36 PM) darkcode: not quiet sure, I think I learned to read before I learned to speak, and I might of learned to write only after I learned to speak (09:22:24 PM) Moulton: Did you ever ask anyone how you learned to read or write? (09:24:13 PM) darkcode: no (09:25:10 PM) darkcode: it would be speculation at best and wrong at worse. (09:27:42 PM) darkcode: I have the sense I learned to read on my own even though other people tried to help me with that (09:32:23 PM) darkcode: and I know learning to read probably took longer for me, as I first had to recognize on my own that the criss cross of straight and curved lines weren't just there for decoration. (09:35:25 PM) darkcode: and than I had to develop an internal translation system of sorts. (09:35:41 PM) Moulton: How did you associate the pictures of the letters of the alphabets with the sounds they represent in spoken language? (09:36:15 PM) darkcode: I didn't until later. I also had to recognize on my own that the sounds people made meant something too (09:39:07 PM) darkcode: I'm not even sure I ever did learn to entirely associate letters of the alphabet and how they are spoken. (09:39:36 PM) darkcode: I think I ended up doing something more like A, sound of A both mean XYZ internally (09:41:20 PM) darkcode: where XYZ is something that can't be represented in the physical world except as some obscure placeholder (09:45:56 PM) Moulton: Do you mostly not engage in spoken conversation? (09:46:38 PM) darkcode: I mostly prefer to read and listen, and let other people do the writing and speaking (09:46:49 PM) Moulton: Do you listen to music? (09:47:19 PM) darkcode: sometimes, but music gets boring as its repetitive and predictable (09:49:36 PM) Moulton: Do you listen to instrumental music, or music with lyrics, or both? (09:50:19 PM) darkcode: both (09:52:43 PM) darkcode: I listen too all kinds of music, maybe even recorded sounds which might not be considered music, like waterfalls, birds chirping, frogs croaking, airplanes, trains, and more. (09:54:15 PM) Moulton: Have you ever been to the website of Amanda Baggs or seen her videos on YouTube? She also likes the sound of water and such. (09:54:32 PM) darkcode: no (09:55:46 PM) Moulton: http://www.google.com/search?q=Amanda+Baggs+My+Language <== She has a video, "In My Language" that is much like what you describe. (09:56:25 PM) Moulton: And she has a web site, a personal blog. Like you, she reads and writes, and doesn't converse orally very much. (09:56:46 PM) Moulton: She is very intelligent. (09:57:25 PM) Moulton: But you wouldn't know it to look at her. She looks retarded. But she is self-taught, like you. She is Autodidactic. (09:59:50 PM) darkcode: I feel blessed to ignorant of what looking retarded looks like, despite other people suggesting someone looks retarded in my presence before. (10:00:11 PM) darkcode: err to be ignorant of (10:05:31 PM) Moulton: I've conversed with her at meetings at the MIT Media Lab. She listens and then types in a chat window like this. (10:06:01 PM) darkcode: "intelligence" and related words pretty much lost all meaning to me long ago from overuse. (10:06:25 PM) Moulton: When someone asked her how she felt about something, I predicted she would type "perplexed" which is exactly what she typed. (10:07:32 PM) Moulton: So all three of us, you, me, and Amanda Baggs are autodidactic learners. We learn without teachers. (10:07:55 PM) Moulton: Did you know you were autodidactic? (10:08:03 PM) darkcode: yes (10:08:32 PM) Moulton: Do you know the most popular method of discovery learning for people who are autodidactic? (10:08:59 PM) darkcode: maybe, but I'm sure you'll tell me (10:09:46 PM) Moulton: It was developed a long long time ago by one of the very first people who are like you, me, and Amanda Baggs. It was developed by a man named Socrates. I posted a copy of his method on NK. (10:10:23 PM) Moulton: http://netknowledge.org/wiki/User:Moulton/Scratch/Socratic_Templates http://netknowledge.org/wiki/User:Moulton/Scratch/Socratic_Templates (10:11:24 PM) darkcode: I suppose the short answer is to ask questions. (10:11:31 PM) Moulton: I've had those templates for about 25 years. (10:12:09 PM) Moulton: Sometimes you can't think of the right question to ask next. The templates are a guide to help you find the right question to ask next so you don't get stuck. (10:12:40 PM) Moulton: When I get stuck, I go back to those templates and look for some question that I neglected to ask. (10:13:17 PM) darkcode: I actually considering finding the answers for myself rather than relying on others for answers to be more affective usually (10:13:25 PM) Moulton: Me too. (10:13:42 PM) Moulton: But I can't always come up with the best question to ask myself. (10:14:09 PM) Moulton: There is a pattern of 36 questions in those templates. (10:14:38 PM) Moulton: Six cycles of 6 questions at each level of abstraction. Six levels of abstraction in all. (10:14:59 PM) darkcode: which is about 30 questions more than needed. (10:15:24 PM) Moulton: Most of the time, you don't need all levels of abstraction. (10:15:47 PM) Moulton: But when you complete one level, it's time to advance to the next higher level of abstraction. (10:15:47 PM) darkcode: I've been practically the KISS principal before I had a name for it. (10:16:12 PM) Moulton: Do you operate only at the most concrete level of abstraction? (10:16:20 PM) darkcode: possibly (10:16:28 PM) Moulton: Doesn't that get boring? (10:16:55 PM) Moulton: At the concrete level, every case is a special case. There is no generalization. (10:17:40 PM) darkcode: what about every case is a generalized special case (10:17:42 PM) Moulton: As you ascend to higher levels of abstraction, you use richer models and analogies and metaphors. (10:18:28 PM) Moulton: You'll never get out of the basement if all you do is stay at the bottom level of the edifice. (10:18:53 PM) darkcode: I prefer 6 basic questions. "Who?", "What?", "When?", "Where?", "Why?", "How?" no need for special cases (10:19:26 PM) Moulton: That's the basic 6, but Socrates used them at six levels of abstraction. (10:20:31 PM) darkcode: I usually have no need for abstractions, except when trying to figure out a way to explain a concept to other people, internally I don't need them. (10:22:12 PM) darkcode: and even than I think I suck at abstracting things (10:25:31 PM) Moulton: I think you do, too. Would you like to learn to not suck at abstracting things? (10:26:31 PM) Moulton: For example, do you have a concept of Rules and Sanctions? Do you have an abstract mental model of how that works, both in theory and in practice? (10:45:56 PM) darkcode: nope Here is another conversation a few days later: (09:09:57 PM) darkcode: I doubt you care, but I never feared that Wikiversity would be shut down. (09:10:57 PM) JWSchmidt: and I doubt if SBJ did (09:10:59 PM) Moulton: You don't have any emotions at all, Bilious. (09:11:13 PM) darkcode: that might be though because I had seen previous discussions where Jimbo had overstated things and backed off (09:11:13 PM) Moulton: You have Flat Affect. (09:12:02 PM) Moulton: You are about as Blithe, Nonchalant, and Oblivious as they come. (09:12:33 PM) darkcode: so have you hypothesis which I am yet: a sociopath or a psychopath? (09:12:37 PM) Moulton: Here is my first hint: http://en.wikiversity.org/w/index.php?title=User:Moulton&diff=prev&oldid=327983 (09:13:34 PM) Moulton: I don't think you are Cluster B, Bilious. (09:13:57 PM) JWSchmidt: in 2008 KillerChihuahua and Salmon of Doubt probably said things (off wiki) such as "if you don't ban Moulton then Jimbo will act"...that never meant that Wikiversity would be closed (09:15:20 PM) Moulton: The type that fits you closest, Bilious, is this Cluster A diagnosis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid_personality_disorder (09:15:26 PM) darkcode: so what do you think I am than? Just a Resistant Learner or more than that? (09:15:37 PM) Moulton: Schizoid personality disorder (SPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency towards a solitary lifestyle, secretiveness, and emotional coldness. (09:15:37 PM) darkcode: ok (09:16:13 PM) Moulton: Seems like a textbook match, to me. (09:16:43 PM) darkcode: maybe if secretiveness was replaced with reserved (09:17:01 PM) Moulton: Not even SBJ knows your name. (09:17:08 PM) Moulton: That's pretty secretive. (09:18:00 PM) Moulton: You are not reserved. You have no reservations about using your toy banhammer or engaging in nihilistic practices. (09:18:30 PM) Moulton: So I'd add "nihilistic" to the traits associated with Schizoid. (09:18:38 PM) darkcode: I mean reserved as defined as Slow to reveal emotion or opinions. (09:18:59 PM) Moulton: You are not slow to reveal. You are at a dead stop. (09:20:24 PM) darkcode: well some people have described getting opinions from me is like trying to pull teeth Until recently, Darklama would not use his administrative powers against people. He would only use them to correct technical problems on the site. Then, he began to use his administrative powers against others (myself included). Roz says that dealing with an Autistic adult who has Cluster A Schizoid traits and "Police Power" ("Obey Mah Authoritah") is beyond her pay grade. Do you have any insight or guidance? Thanks, Barry (known as "Moulton" in Wikiversity) -- The Process of Enlightenment Works In Mysterious Plays.

Moulton 00:55, March 21, 2011 (UTC)

Summary Diagnosis

• On the occasion of her 4th Anniversary of becoming an Admin on Wikipedia, Alison Cassidy writes: "Wikipedia is like some evil cult. Once you're initiated in the inner workings, they never let you leave alive."

Here is my summary diagnosis of what JWSchmidt calls "Wikipedia Disease" and what I call "Tin Badge Disease."

Wikipedia and its sister projects became dominated by a Cluster B Bullying Culture, not unlike urban street gangs and organized crime syndicates. The prototypical Wikipedia Bullying Culture was exemplified by the allied editors of IDCab (e.g. Paul Mitchell, Tracy Walker, Mark Pellegrini, Ian Ramjohn, Bob Stevens, Tim Makinson, Jim Schuler, Joshua Kramer, et al, as inspired, encouraged, and promoted by Jimbo Wales). The Cluster B Bullying Culture was weakly opposed by the Ethical Humanist Culture, led on the English Wikipedia by Charles Ainsworth, Alison Cassidy, and Ira Brad Matetsky, and led on the English Wikiversity by Hillgentleman.

A number of weak-willed participants in the projects became inculcated into the ill-conceived practices of the Cluster B Bullying Culture, abandoning the inner compass of their intrinsic ethical humanism to side with the Police State Bullying Culture in the game of "Obey Mah Authoritah." This process of inculcation is colloquially known as "drinking the Kool Aid." It's the same process that draws adolescents into street gangs in urban America.

Once a Bullying Culture takes root, it spreads like a cancer until it destroys the gangs from the inside out.

For more information, see People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil," by M. Scott Peck.

Moulton 00:55, March 21, 2011 (UTC)

Proposed Treatment

Craft a report for Collaborative Learning to be entitled, People of the Tin Badge: The Hope for Educating the Keystone Cops, by M. Snot Dreck. —Barsoom Tork 10:08, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

Sample dialog:

I told my friend, Moonbeam, that GoatBoy had drunk the toxic Kool Aid and joined forces with the Devilsome Cluster/B/Phreaks.

She replied, "What do you care what other people drink?"

And so I threw up (my hands) and heaved (him overboard).

She rolled her eyes and said, "Great. Now you're both BlockHeads."

Montana Mouse 10:14, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

• Smile! You're on Candid Copera! —Gastrin Bombesin 10:48, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

The Collaborative Learning Blog is in need of an update, but it looks like wordpress.com is going to get increasingly aggressive about inserting advertisements into that blog. An idea that has been around for a long time is creating a community blog for Wikiversity. Maybe it is time for a new blog that would publish articles by all Wikiversity community members. --JWSchmidt 17:38, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

Cast of Characters

The Tin Badge Bungaleers are played by:

KillerGoatDog, Dominant Alpha Bitch

Dar Kama, Novice Banhammer Operator

The Four Keystone Cops of the Apocalypse are played by:

Peter Summons, Sheriff of Snottingham

BearAss, Chief BlockHead

Monotony, Deuteronomic BlockHead

Marshmelos, Tertiary BlockHead

The Commissioners of Cover-Up are played by:

Darth Drekko, Facepalm Operator

Fr33KoolAide, Funkadoodle of Dysfunctionality

The Baker Street Badgers are played by:

Homer Sharif, Confusionist

TooCoolNotSlimVirgin, Eraser Operator

WassaMattahHugh, Chief Interlocutor

Mock Umbridge, Lunacy Consultant

The Bogonic Bear Baiters of Bewilderment and Bedevilment are played by:

Moulton Lava, Boring Blogomaniac of Bemusement

JWSurfeit, Cornucopian of Wretched Excess

Albatross 11:28, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

KC's Comedy of Terrors

Hillgentleman asks, "What's going on? Where did it all start?"

Here is Moulton's reply to him:

Hi Hillgentleman, It's a Comedy of Terrors about erratic and hubristic WMF functionaries who say, "Obey Mah Authoritah" (OR ELSE!). It all started on 9/11 2007 when Tracy Walker (KillerChihuahua of IDCab) blocked Moulton on the English Wikipedia based on a ludicrous and specious trumped up charge. You will recall the story continuing in the summer of 2008, when, in the course of crafting a resource on Managerial Ethics, you requested we include live examples of departures from Ethical Best Practices. My example was my encounter with IDCab. You may recall that the dominant IDCab gang leaders, FeloniousMonk and KillerChihuahua. then invaded en.wv to shut down the workshop on Managerial Ethics and redact the case studies that exposed their perfidy. Paul Mitchell (FeloniousMonk) registered on en.wv as Centaur of attention. He also dispatched Joshua Kramer as Salmon of Doubt to play the role of Moriarity to Moulton's Sherlock, so that both of them would lock embraces at Reichenbach Falls and go over the brink together. Their gambit failed. Centaur of Attention was blocked (by Emesee). So the hostile invaders from IDCab summoned Jimbo Wales to block Moulton and to shut down the workshop on Managerial Ethics, on threat of shutting down Wikiversity altogether. Jimbo's unprecedented intervention polarized and sundered the community. Here, for example, is your protest against Wales. Time passes, and eventually the English Wikiversity decides Jimbo is way out of bounds, and (with some trepidation) they grudgingly readmit Moulton, who resumes his long-delayed quest for Restorative Justice. Against his better judgment, SBJ convenes a Truth and Reconciliation Mediation between Moulton and KillerChihuahua, which fails miserably and greatly annoys Tracy Walker (the operator of the KillerChihuahua character). Darklama then blocks Moulton for annoying Tracy, who considers a review of her perfidy on Wikipedia to be an egregious invasion of her privacy. For good measure, Darklama also blocks JWSchmidt for transgressing his "Obey Mah Authoritah" edict in a scene reminiscent of Barney Fife on Mayberry RFD. JWS and Moulton then retire to beta.wikiversity to lick their wounds and to document this latest travesty. In the meantime, SBJ and his misfit band of followers on the English Wikiversity begin a program of character assassination against Moulton, who is no longer there to defend himself. Moulton publishes direct evidence on the beta talk page of JWS to refute the tortious remarks leveled against him on SBJ's talk page on en.wv. Anticipating a repeat of the previous hostile takeover, JWS defensively blocks SBJ and Darklama on beta.wv. SBJ then runs to the WMF Stewards IRC channel to request oversight of Moulton's damnable evidence. On the Ides of March, in a zany circus reminiscent of the Keystone Cops, half a dozen stewards invade beta.wv to balete the evidence impeaching SBJ's tortious remarks against Moulton. Eventually, the stewards block both Moulton and JWS, along with 300,000 IPs in Greater Boston (plus the entire IPv6 network, worldwide). Doubleplusungood, they do an emergency emasculation of JWS, stripping him of his authority on beta.wv. Most of the action is on the beta.wv talk page of JWS, with additional action on the talk pages of the invading horde of stewards. In a sequence of discussions on IRC, the stewards defend their intervention and refuse to correct their comedic cascade of compound errors, suggesting instead that JWS and Moulton take the story to higher authorities at WMF. Our proposal is to submit the story to Ting Chen, Kat Walsh, and Phillipe Beaudette, with copies to Samuel Klein, Sue Gardner, and NewYorkBrad, and also to publish it openly as a trenchant diagnostic commentary on the Dostoevskian dysfunctionality of WMF-sponsored projects. Our working title is "KC's Comedy of Terrors: Erratic and hubristic WMF functionaries who say, 'Obey Mah Authoritah!' (OR ELSE!)." Barry

—Firelion 12:15, March 21, 2011 (UTC)

Theme songs

Title: Feeling Goofy
Artist: SB Johnny

Slow down, you move too fast
Got to make the drama last

Just kick and boot the hobbled clones
Looking for fun and feeling goofy

More Songs

• Breaking Down Is Hard To Do

• Wikipedia Mods

• Do You Really Want To Block Me?

• Undo It

• Fr33kman vs the Dread Barsoom

• I'm In a Daze

• Wikiday