What is going on?

12 May 2009 in Wikipedia by Enoch Lau | 5 comments

I got an email half an hour ago that said this:

Dear Enochlau,

We notice you haven’t edited Wikipedia for some time. Perhaps you grew disillusioned with the project after seeing the corruption and bureaucracy at every level? If so, why not help us to help you. We are currently expanding our portfolio of administrator accounts, and as yours remains dormant perhaps you could consider donating it to us – to do so will take you only two minutes: change the password (if desired) and then reply to this email with your login details. We’ll do the rest!

Thank you for your time and consideration, and naturally do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Kind Regards,

The Wikipedia Freedom Fighters

It was apparently sent by sent by user “The C for WF” on the English Wikipedia: no user page, but yes there is an account.

What on earth is going on? (And no, I’m definitely not going to give them my account even if I haven’t edited for a while.)

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  1. gadfium’s avatar

    gadfium on 12 May 2009 at 9:02 AM

    See http://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​W​i​k​i​p​e​d​i​a​:​A​d​m​i​n​i​s​t​r​a​t​ors‘_noticeboard#Possible_intent_to_hijack_an_administrator_account. I’ve blocked the account you mention.

    Reply

  2. FredO’s avatar

    FredO on 12 May 2009 at 4:35 PM

    This reminds me of a weird ad I’ve noticed last week (see http://​www​.get​a​freel​an​cer​.com/​p​r​o​j​e​c​t​s​/​M​o​r​i​d​i​n​_​4​2​5​4​1​9​.​h​tml ). The last sen­tence, “More ongo­ing work will be avail­able for real Wiki admins” seems quite… intriguing.

    Reply

    1. Enoch Lau’s avatar

      Enoch Lau on 13 May 2009 at 2:18 AM

      “The inform­a­tion will add qual­ity to Wiki­pe­dia entries.” — hilarious.

      Reply

  3. Tommy’s avatar

    Tommy on 12 May 2009 at 11:39 PM

    Not a bad idea, actu­ally. I’d sup­port it. There are a few admins I wouldn’t mind see­ing Wiki-​​ambushed by a bunch of par­tis­ans armed with pitch­forks, meta­phor­ic­ally speak­ing =P

    Reply