Changes

'''Wikipedialogs.com''' was a site dedicated to publishing IRC logs of official Wikimedia Foundation IRC channels. The site was closed after a legal threat from the Foundation, and technical difficulties. Despite the legal threat, the domain name is retained by the original owner although its content is now gone.

'''Wikipedialogs.com''' was a site dedicated to publishing IRC logs of official Wikimedia Foundation IRC channels. The site was closed after a legal threat from the Foundation, and technical difficulties. Despite the legal threat, the domain name was retained by the original owner until it expired December 10, 2015.

==Wikimedia Foundation and IRC==

==Wikimedia Foundation and IRC==

The Wikimedia Foundation prohibits publishing logs of most of their IRC channels, except for [https://bots.wmflabs.org/~wm-bot/logs/ a very few] that are published by the Foundation including "Office Hours" IRC logs. The owner of Wikipedialogs.com feels that this is contrary to Wikimedia Foundation's stated principles of transparency and openness, and the site was intended to help fulfill those principles by publishing these logs.

The Wikimedia Foundation prohibits publishing logs of most of their IRC channels, except for [https://bots.wmflabs.org/~wm-bot/logs/ a very few] that are published by the Foundation including "Office Hours" IRC logs. The owner of Wikipedialogs.com feels that this is contrary to Wikimedia Foundation's stated principles of transparency and openness, and the site was intended to help fulfill those principles by publishing these logs.

Former Wikipedia Foundation executive director Sue Gardner disagrees, claiming that IRC is an "ephemeral medium", and should not be logged, while [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Sue_Gardner&diff=566302927&oldid=566269021 referring] to some of [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours/Office_hours_2011-05-26 her own sexual comments on IRC] as "an informal, jokey exchange". In a December 2014 ''Los Angeles Times'' op-ed, she [http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-gardner-women-in-tech-20141207-story.html quotes] 9 year old emails, her assertion that this is "not useful":[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Sue_Gardner&diff=566302927&oldid=566269021#Question]

Former Wikipedia Foundation executive director Sue Gardner disagrees, claiming that IRC is an "ephemeral medium", and should not be logged, while [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Sue_Gardner&diff=566302927&oldid=566269021 referring] to some of [https://archive.is/NWWY7#selection-427.1-437.79 her own sexual comments on IRC] as "an informal, jokey exchange". In a December 2014 ''Los Angeles Times'' op-ed, she [http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-gardner-women-in-tech-20141207-story.html quotes] 9 year old emails, despite her assertion at Wikipedia that this is "not useful":[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Sue_Gardner&diff=566302927&oldid=566269021#Question]

{{quote|I'm aware that this IRC exchange is being quoted, lately, in the context of an Arb Com case. I'm not that familiar with the case (nor do I feel I need to be), so I'll limit myself to a general comment about the exchange. This was an informal jokey exchange on IRC among people who know each other well: Ironholds, Kat and I have all known each other for years, and we are friendly. That's the context. A slightly broader point: IMO IRC is a medium that lends itself to, and is often used for, casual kibitzing -- it is essentially a social medium that provides a way for people to collapse physical distance and hang out together as though they were in the same room. In the same way that I don't think it would be useful to, years later, play back sections of a phone call or office water-cooler conversation, I also don't think it's useful to quote back sections of IRC dialogue. It's an ephemeral medium. Thanks Sue Gardner (talk) 16:31, 29 July 2013 (UTC)}}

{{quote|I'm aware that this IRC exchange is being quoted, lately, in the context of an Arb Com case. I'm not that familiar with the case (nor do I feel I need to be), so I'll limit myself to a general comment about the exchange. This was an informal jokey exchange on IRC among people who know each other well: Ironholds, Kat and I have all known each other for years, and we are friendly. That's the context. A slightly broader point: IMO IRC is a medium that lends itself to, and is often used for, casual kibitzing -- it is essentially a social medium that provides a way for people to collapse physical distance and hang out together as though they were in the same room. In the same way that I don't think it would be useful to, years later, play back sections of a phone call or office water-cooler conversation, I also don't think it's useful to quote back sections of IRC dialogue. It's an ephemeral medium. Thanks Sue Gardner (talk) 16:31, 29 July 2013 (UTC)}}

==Provenance==

==Provenance==

In 2011, Wikipedia banned a longtime contributor who happened to be affiliated with the GNAA. This contributor had been collecting IRC logs over his several years of contributing to Wikipedia, and he published these to GNAA's website in 2011, and Wikipedialogs republished them in 2012, along with their own logs. Many Wikipedians were exposed as using abusive and misogynistic language, which proved embarrassing to them. Many Wikipedians deny the validity of the logs, but some of them have tacitly admitted to the accuracy of the logs by [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=prev&oldid=566824375 apologizing for things they said on IRC], and [[User:Badmachine/wikipedia-en-2011-11-24|which were accurately represented]] by the logs.

In 2011, Wikipedia banned a longtime contributor who had been collecting IRC logs over his several years of contributing to Wikipedia, and he published these in 2011. Wikipedialogs republished them in 2012, along with their own logs. Many Wikipedians were exposed as using abusive and misogynistic language, which proved embarrassing to them. Many Wikipedians deny the validity of the logs, but some of them have tacitly admitted to the accuracy of the logs by [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales&diff=prev&oldid=566824375 apologizing for things they said on IRC], and [[User:Badmachine/wikipedia-en-2011-11-24|which were accurately represented]] by the logs.

==See also==

==See also==

==External links==

==External links==

*[http://wikipedialogs.com Official site], now points to the owner's personal website

*wikipedialogs.com (now expired)