Battlestar Wiki:The Merovingian Ban
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As some of you may know by now, I, Joe Beaudoin, have taken an executive decision to ban The Merovingian from editing on the Wiki. As of right now, this ban is indefinite though this may change, depending on The Merovingian himself.
I am not one to mince words, so I'll just get right to the point of why I did it.
Unfortunately, I must explain what lead to this decision, since I am ultimately responsible for letting this go on as long as it has.
Since the beginning of Merv's entry on the wiki through the username "Ricimer", he has been brusque and needlessly offensive to people who offered different points of view. In an attempt to acclimate Ricimer to the community, the more prolific contributors sought to help Merv change his approach in interacting with contributors.
Basically, we did this because Battlestar Wiki is a community, and it is my firm belief that problems can be solved not by ignoring them, but by working to find solutions and common ground. An extension of this is the process of acclimating Ricimer/Merv into the community. I don't believe in turning people away outright, no more than a majority of the other contributors that work to build the Wiki do.
However, in that time since, we were lead to believe that Merv has improved his behavior. He had become gentler and a little less rash in his actions.
The problem is he did improve, though it wasn't his underlining behavior or manner in which he comported himself.
He improved his position and enhanced his ego thorough the Wiki. He attempted to bully his way to becoming the "trafficker of information" by stepping on people's dignity and self-esteem. Yes, the word "bully" is a puerile term, but accurate none-the-less; it incenses me to even use such a term normally restricted to juvenile delinquents on an elementary school playground.
Due to his immature responses and grandiose claims on both bulletin boards and on the wiki, he has not only irritated fans who wish to communicate on message boards, but he has brought the wiki bad publicity. He has also scared off contributors.
I'm sure that people would like a list of contributors who left due to Merv's actions.
However, I don't have a number. I don't have charts or statistics. I have a handful of people who have had the courage to come forward to me and present their problems.
So I have to -- no, scratch that -- I must question how many more people have gone away in the deafening silence, without so much as a whimper of protest.
By his actions, which speak louder than any words that he has typed thus far, he has damaged any and all efforts made by all contributors -- including, perhaps most ironically, himself -- to create a repository of information that all Battlestar fans can come to.
This is something that I cannot tolerate.
I do believe I can also safely say that Battlestar Wiki's hardworking contributors also do not tolerate this.
It is not that Merv is a bad contributor of information; he has done some good work on the Wiki. However, it is true when it is said that some good acts do not whitewash the bad ones.
Ultimately, Merv's issues in regards to his tact and his personality are ones that, sad to say, we here at Battlestar Wiki cannot fix. Merv has caused many issues for the wiki; I needn't list links or recount the near-disasterous incidents he has had with other people in the community. The cost of having him in our company is too great, even for a community as inclusive as we desire Battlestar Wiki to be.
This has all happened because Merv has failed to understand a singular truth: we are one.
I leave you with these words, as written by J. Michael Staczynski, creator of Babylon 5. It is something that perhaps is lost to some, but not to myself, nor those that believe in what they are doing here on this Wiki. (Oh, and if you're not a fan of the series or have never seen it before, then just listen to the message and don't worry about the proper nouns.)
The Universe speaks in many languages, but only one voice.
The language is not Narn, or Human,
or Centauri, or Gaim or Minbari.
It speaks in the language of hope;
It speaks in the language of trust;
It speaks in the language of strength,
and the language of compassion.
It is the language of the heart and
the language of the soul.
But always, it is the same voice.
It is the voice of our ancestors, speaking through us,
And the voice of our inheritors, waiting to be born.
It is the small, still voice that says:
"We are one.
No matter the blood; No matter the skin;
No matter the world; No matter the star;
We are one.
No matter the pain; No matter the darkness;
No matter the loss; No matter the fear;
We are one."
Here, gathered together in common cause,
we agree to recognise this singular truth:
That we must be kind to one another,
because each voice enriches us and ennobles us,
and each voice lost diminishes us.
We are the voice of the Universe,
the soul of creation,
the fire that will light the way to a better future.
We are one.
We are one.