Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2004/Candidate statements/Endorsements/Sam Spade

Sam Spade

Support

I would support Sam. Sam has made excellent edits, particularly to articles involving religion and in particular Hinduism. Yes, he has strong views. But if you present him evidence, he will be swayed by your argument. One case in particular. I fukin explained to him that Shakti is not separate from Shiva and Shakti is worshipped to attain union with Shiva. Once presented, he did agree with me. You need a strong advocate like Sam especially on articles concerning religion. There's appears to be favor towards Western religious traditions and bias and ignorance towards Hinduism or Santana Dharma. There was no mention of Hindu saints or attributes of God in the article God until I put it in. As for his view on atheism, atheism and religion, like politics are always highly charged emotional issues. Sometimes, you need to have two tough minded people in order to achieve a neutral point of view. Sam and I collaborated on discussions of Brahman. There were some who claimed that there was no discussion of Brahman in the early vedas. I convinced others by mentioning Shri Rudram. I think Sam, can be convinced to your point of view if you show him evidence. That has been my experience with him. I know that others may have different experiences but as for disputes involving religion, he will have a broadminded approach.

Raj2004 12:26, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Oppose

• Oppose. For the following reasons: See User:Spleeman/Sam Spade (which is only a partia record of Sam's views.) 12.75.139.231 20:49, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I think that an endorsement (or disendorsement) from an anonymous user is inherently contradictory. – Quadell ^{(talk) (help)}[[]] 14:29, Nov 24, 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose. I cannot endorse anyone for such a responsible position who claims "Civility is vital" yet less than 3 weeks ago used the Wikipedia email system/function to send me the following email (edited, original was explicit): "F*** off, you ignorant rat bastard". Interested parties can read the details of Sam's email and my response here and here. Also, again though Sam claims he's known for his efforts to "preserve neutrality", as Sam Spade, and in his previous account, JackLynch, Sam has an extensive history of disruptive activity and bigoted statements on topics such as Atheism that run counter to his particular ideology, and of deleting questions and comments from his personal Talk left by other editors seeking clarification of his actions and comments. That Sam "would enforce the observance of (NPOV/Civility) vigorously" and "promote the removal of those who are unwilling to adapt to our process." as he pointedly states in his candidate statement I have no doubt, it's what in his view constitutes civil or NPOV behavior that causes my concern, based on his past actions. --FeloniousMonk 19:23, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose. I endorse the opposition considering Sam Spade's rancorous behavior towards those who hold opinions contrary to his own. Sam Spade is neither a good Wikipedia citizen nor a good candidate for the arbitration committee; however, he is a good candidate for arbitration. Sam Spade's behavioral history demonstrates that if he were elected, he would abuse power to serve his own purposes. Wikipedia must not elect POV Warriors to the Arbitration Committee if it is to continue providing information encyclopedically. If you are for Wikipedia, vote against Sam Spade. Adraeus 20:53, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose. ...for the reasons stated above. Shorne 03:52, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose. Much too controversial, much too needy. Always going up for election, always failing, leads me to question his understanding and acceptance of consensus. Failed adminship(and failed adminship discussion page is also worth a visit), Failed ArbCom and his willingness to use questionable tactics here. He also believes "they also keep extensive "mailing lists"" to mobilise support against him, which sounds a mite like a conspiracy theory to me. If you are for Wikipedia, vote against Sam Spade. --Mrfixter 15:17, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose. From first to last all my interactions with Sam Spade have started with a snarl from him. I don't think he is intentionally nasty, but he seems unable to stop trying to put other people down even when he is trying to be nice or apologetic. I don't mind so much being snarled at, but I do not see how he could function as an arbitrator. Patrick0Moran 152.17.115.182 21:37, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose. In the strongest possible terms. El_C 17:52, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose. Vehemently. CheeseDreams 19:29, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• Strongly Oppose. For reasons given a thousand times before Sam Spade is untrustworthy. His personality seems to change with weather or not he disagrees with an article or with another user. He might be cordial on pages that he agrees with, but utterly lacks civility on other pages. Btw, there is nothing wrong with other users publicizing what they believe to be Sam Spades' misdeeds (as long as they are honest); afterall doesn't free speech go both ways? And it only shows how strong and diverse an opposition has developed toward Sam Spade, and his hypocritical actions. millerc 06:51, 23 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose. I am frankly somewhat appalled by the company my strong oppose puts me in, but I think that perhaps that says something in itself, that so many Wikipedians who certainly do not agree on anything else do agree that Sam Spade should not be on the ArbCom. Wikipedians need to know they can trust the ArbCom. I could not trust an ArbCom with Sam on it. My experience with him has been that he can talk a good game about fairness and NPOV but he will not walk the walk; he will always phrase what he wants to do in terms of nice, neutral principles but it doesn't take long at all to see him switch to a different set of principles when the ones he was just advocating are no longer convenient. ArbCom needs people willing to adhere to one standard for everyone, and I see no hint that Sam Spade plans to drop the double standards that have caused me to not trust him even as an editor, let alone as an Arbitrator. -- Antaeus Feldspar 05:32, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• Strongly Oppose. Sam is a valuable contributor to Wikipedia, and I admire him for the quality of his edits as well as the sheer amount of time he spends here. However, he has very strong beliefs on certain issues and will never put aside his POV in a dispute. If given arbitration power, I am certain he would abuse it. Sam makes a great contributor, but he would make a terrible arbitrator. (yes, I know this isn't a vote, but I felt I had to get this message across) -- Mihnea Tudoreanu 13:49, 24 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose. ...and in the strongest terms. Sam is completely unsuitable because of his inability to keep his personal agenda away from Wikepedia articles. He wastes massive amounts of lots of good folks time who fruitlessly point out carefully his errors, and he just will not budge in the face of crushing evidence that he is mistaken. He is completely immune to intellectual honesty and I feel very strongly that he would most certainly abuse his admin power to foist his views and Wikipedia would be all the lesser for it. Sam displays the antithesis of the characteristics of a good Admin--Nick-in-South-Africa 13:38, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose. I'm sympathetic to some of Sam's arguments, but nominating himself here doesn't say much about his perception of the reputation he's earned for himself. Cribcage 17:37, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• ROFL Vehement Oppose. The day this goon is elected to arbcom is the day I quit Wikipedia for good. Sjc 08:08, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose. --Jondel 11:08, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose For all the reasons listed above. Ruy Lopez 04:48, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose. For almost a year now Sam Spade has been repeatedly trying to impose his POV on several articles that I've been watching, and from my discussions with him over that period I've seen little evidence that Sam accepts the spirit of Wikipedia's NPOV policies. I don't believe it would be a good idea to put him in a position to be able to officially interpret and enforce those policies for others. Bryan 06:43, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose. LegCircus 15:25, Dec 4, 2004 (UTC)

• Strongly Oppose. Sam relentlessly imposes his point of view on articles about topics he opposes. Also, he's far from civil as several users have indicated above. In fact, just today he added the heading "Haughty complaint" above a message I left on Michaelnickarz's talk page, and advised the user to ignore my message. The message I left was a {{test1}} template message regarding the user's addition of some non-NPOV spam that was reverted in the Anal sex article. Sam is a prolific editor who often goes out of his way to welcome newcomers; that doesn't make him a good candidate for arbitration committee, and if I were ever in the position where I needed to go to arbitration I would refuse to participate if Sam was involved. Exploding Boy 21:23, Dec 4, 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose. The only person I'm going to disendorse, after finding him argumentative and insistant on introducing POV content into articles that he appears to find in conflict with his morality — and revert-warring when he finds his views fail to make consensus. — OwenBlacker 22:35, Dec 4, 2004 (UTC)

• Strongly Oppose His inability to do anything but push his own POV is strongly evidenced by his history on the libertarian socialism page amongst others. Kev 22:41, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose. Sam is a friendly fellow and a probably nice enough sort of guy in general, but based on my experiences with him concerning edits of Pantheism, I feel that he is a man with very strong POVs, and I do not feel that the evidence supports his claim that he is able to put them aside when editing. I also feel that Sam's former advocacy for the now banned user Paul Vogel (a known Neo-Nazi sympathizer) throws some question on the suitability of his personal and political beliefs to the responsibilities involved with the office. If Sam sympathizes with bigoted views (and I am not saying he does or does not, only that his involvement with Vogel raises some questions), I would see such a fact as a potential problem with his candidacy. Sam probably has the editing skills and dedication for the position, but I am not convinced that he has the NPOV commitment for it. As mentioned by others, Sam is fairly immoveable in the face of evidence against his POV, and he is not impressed by any number of legitimate credentials other editors may have regarding the subject matter. It seems that if Sam is editing an article, it belongs to him, and his presence alone overrules evidence, credentials, and logical argument from others. I do think that Sam honestly believes that the majority of his edits are in fact neutral and NPOV, but I do not agree that the facts support him in such a belief. Despite his claims to uphold NPOV, I feel that Sam is one of the most consistent POV editors I have come into contact with. I have only dealt with him in regard to the Pantheism article, but his POV approach there has been pronounced and consistent since day one. --Nat 17:23, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose Sam pays lip service to the NPOV policy whilst aggressively pursuing a campaign of politically motivated edits and edit wars across a wide range of articles (Far right, Atheism, the list goes on). His uncivil behaviour and inability to discuss topics on anything but his own terms makes discussion and compromise impossible and wastes people's time. It is a sad indictment of Wikipedia that he hasn't been banned yet, never mind giving him a position of responsibility and power on ArbCom. --Axon 11:42, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose I absolutely cannot imagine how Sam Spade (formely Jack Lynch) could do a good job. I've had numerous problems with him trying to push his POV in articles, getting into revert wars and leave less-than-civil message in people's talk pages (and constantly deleting and archiving what people wrote in his talk page). MikeCapone 22:14, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)

• Oppose Samboy 08:32, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)