Wikimedia UK chair banned from Wikipedia in gay bondage photo controvrsy

The chairman of Wikipedia’s U.K. fund-raising arm was banned from the service “for numerous violations of Wikipedia’s norms and policies,” after reports linked him to kinky bondage pornography and inappropriate editing.

Ashley Van Haeften -- the head of the independent Wikimedia U.K. group -- was banned by an arbitration board on July 20, according to a story on The Daily Telegraph. The action was taken following a series of clashes over pornography on the popular online encyclopedia, and a series of edits to that material in violation of policy.

There's more to this story and much of it disturbing, in the way that this Van Haeften deviant is still allowed to run amok in other parts of the wikipedia empire.

First off there is the "Statement regarding Ashley Van Haeften, Chair of Wikimedia UK" issued on July 26 2012. This statement can be found at https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/private/wikimediauk-l/2012-July/008732.html though you may have to subscribe to look at archives I am not sure. I reads in part

The Board is united in the view that this decision does not affect his role as a Trustee of the charity. His work at Wikimedia UK has always been enthusiastic and diligent. In particular, his knowledge of charity governance, and his ability to bring about consensus at WMUK's board meetings, have been particularly valuable.
The Board points out that the editing issues were fully public before, and during, the recent elections to the board, and were openly and publicly discussed. Our membership placed their trust in him by electing him as a Trustee. He was then elected unanimously as Chair of the Board. He continues to have the full support of the Board.

Thus the Wikimedia UK, a registered charity of the United Kingdom whose members appear before Parliament at times, not only knew about Van Haeften's doings on the Wikipedia as the arbitration case was going on, they are also peachykeen with how it turned out. They do not care that their chair is a bondage fetishist, pornographer, liar, deceiver, and serial copyright violator.

Second there is a part of the wikipedia empire called "the Commons", to be found at http://http://commons.wikimedia.org

The Commons is a repository of freely uploaded and licensed photos and videos, and has been a frequent target of Mr. Larry Sanger's wikipedia criticism. Some of it is very nice pictures of art, landscapes and so on, but the problem is i nthe not so nice part; the porn. Hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands of hardcore porn, much of it unfiltered by public schools and libraries since the wikipedia project bills itself as suitable for children. Mr. Van Haeften is not only a frequent uploader of pornography and lez-bi-gay themes imagery there but is also an administrator of the site, meaning he gets to make decisions about what is kept and what is deleted. Placing a pornographer in charge of a website billed as safe for kids is like hiring a pedophile for your children's birthday party.

There are sane parts of the wiki-land, such as the arbitrator committee that booted him, but there are many other safe landing spots for Van Haeften to take refuge in.

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