User talk:Paul Bedson
Paul Bedson (block log • active blocks • global blocks • contribs • deleted contribs • filter log • creation log • change block settings • unblock • checkuser (log))
Request reason:
Hello, I would like to make a statement regarding my ban and request it's reduction to an indefinite topic ban on "fringe" subjects, broadly construed. You can add Anglo-Saxon History to the indefinite topic ban as well if you like. Almost eight years ago, I visited an untested archaeological site in a place called Aaiha that was very interesting and I began writing Wikipedia about it and surrounding archaeological and historical topics. I am fully aware this has caused a number of problems for Wikipedia, especially around the time of my ban when I was living alone in Nottingham with unsuitable or no employment, without much to do but explore all types of fringe concepts around the subject using inaccurate, primary and old sources that I had not properly read in detail. Sometimes with elements of original research and causing disruption with other editors, accusations of bad faith, using material deleted from other articles, not abiding to consensus, etc. as detailed in the RfC below: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/Paul_Bedson#Summary I have read in detail and fully understand the points raised in this RfC. They are mostly criticisms of my edits on fringe subjects and Anglo-Saxon history, which in particular, I have no intention of writing more about. I regret and am sorry for this behaviour and accept that the methods I used in the past to promote the investigation of this site were not acceptable or productive for the Wikipedia project. I do not intend to repeat such behaviour but instead concentrate on productive efforts to expand the coverage of Lebanese Archaeology in general, which has hardly expanded since I was banned and I have a number of unique and hard to find sources that I would like to use to develop this section of Wikipedia again. Most notably, the inventories of Lebanese archaeological sites compiled by Lorraine Copeland and Peter Wescombe in the 1960s, Julien Aliquot’s inventory of Mount Hermon temples, Jacques Cauvin, Graeme Barker along with personal friendships with leading figures in the field such as Lebanon Head of Archaeology at the Directorate General of Antiquities, Assad Seif. I should even be able to provide a letter of reference from Dr. Seif if required. I would like to return to write about Lebanese, Syrian and Israeli Archaeology and Lebanese Heritage Management, which I feel is an important area Wikipedia should help support and document, I would like to demonstrate that I can edit productively to provide useful information for future generations of Heritage Management specialists. I intend to work on articles about sites, lithics, pottery and finds from the Paleolithic to the Iron Age, mainly in the Near East. I have previously sent ArbCom Dr. Seif’s latest article regarding Lebanese Heritage Management for consideration of it’s importance. Some may question whether my continued work will influence this area to my point of view, to which I would suggest we ignore, as I will the Aaiha plain as the focus of my work previously but rather I will be focusing around Tell Aswad (30km away from Aaiha), where the first emmer wheat was discovered at 8,800BC. This mainstream subject area - the first wheat and settlement development is my specialty and I would suggest is important for the Wikipedia project as it helps document where we came from as a culture; a type of knowledge is of the highest value for both Wikipedia and humanity. I am not out to prove or push any fringe concepts anymore, instead prove myself and concentrate on what I would like to edit Wikipedia about. History is somewhat intertwined with archaeology, so I would request only a topic ban on Anglo-Saxon history if one is deemed necessary. I have shown below pages in this area which I have created or edited that I feel were beneficial and the type of work I would like to continue contributing if the community ban is replaced with a fringe topic ban I would also like to add that I like to think I have matured a lot in the four and a half years since the ban and am at least now over 40. I moved back to my hometown of Coventry, UK and got married. I have a highly successful job which occupies most of my time now, am no longer Druze and converted to Islam, which is also much more mainstream. I look forward to your considerations and would be pleased to provide any further information or answer any questions required. Thanks. Paul Bedson ❉talk❉ 17:48, 22 May 2017 (UTC)
Decline reason:
Per community consensus at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive289#Ban_appeal_for_Paul_Bedson Yunshui 雲水 10:32, 5 June 2017 (UTC)
If you want to make any further unblock requests, please read the guide to appealing blocks first, then use the {{unblock}} template again. If you make too many unconvincing or disruptive unblock requests, you may be prevented from editing this page until your block has expired. Do not remove this unblock review while you are blocked.
This unblock request is just a few words short of 2000 words?!?!?! Please strongly consider cutting it down by a factor of ten. That'd still be about 10x larger than most unblock requests, but the larger request may be appropriate in this specific instance. --Yamla (talk) 18:59, 22 May 2017 (UTC)
- I calculated that I wrote approximately 4-500,000 live words with possibly almost the same number that only you administrators can read, while I could edit. I have trimmed this request down about as much as I can. I am appealing a community ban and there is a lot to address in the RfC, so I hope you will understand and this abridged version will be more appropriate under the circumstances. Thank you for your advice. Paul Bedson ❉talk❉ 20:48, 22 May 2017 (UTC)
- As this is an appeal of a community ban, I've posted to AN: Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard#Ban appeal for Paul Bedson. If you have any comments to make in response to posts there, you can add them here and someone can copy them over. Opabinia regalis (talk) 22:26, 22 May 2017 (UTC)
- Thank you very much for the time and effort you have put into this case Opabinia. I really appreciate it. I hope you don't mind if I ping @Doug Weller: as per our e-mail discussion to draw his attention to this. I expect he would appreciate the heads up. Paul Bedson ❉talk❉ 23:13, 22 May 2017 (UTC)
- I thought I would add in light of recent comments on the noticeboard that I agree in part with DGG that the topic ban could be extended to cover all of Medieval history and genealogy. Even European history but Ancient history is part of what I would like to cover in similar fashion to Huldra on Lebanese village pages. I have no intention of working in such areas again or bothering editors working in them. I would also like to apologize to Ealdgyth and Mike Christie personally for the work I caused them so many years ago and hope my attitude and tone of collaboration on issues such as negotiation of topic bans will demonstrate that I have learned how this place works better. I also will not be disturbing any other "Lebanese Archaeology editors" as there are none. I tried getting into Cambridge and UCL to further studies in this area and they want nothing to do with the subject. Doug is the closest you'll have and my thanks to Huldra for improving the Lebanese villages with modern information. This would also be my intention to improve such areas with similar information from similar reliable sources. The Lorraine Copeland inventory I mentioned is old but I will treat it that way, it is reliable and the latest information that I doubt you will find it in any library anywhere near you. I recognize this was a fault of mine as I rushed through covering the most important areas for my specific "thesis". My intention now is to broaden that coverage with wider exploration of paleolithic, general neolithic and bronze age sites as well as the Heavy Neolithic I specifically focused on too much. I feel I can do a good job in this area and impress @Doug Weller: (who I like, respect and certainly also owe numerous apologies) that my focus is no longer single mindedly on my own interests but that of Wikipedia primarily. I am happy for him to reimpose a community ban at will if this one were to be repealed and I put one foot out of line. Paul Bedson ❉talk❉ 14:31, 23 May 2017 (UTC)
- Posted here. Opabinia regalis (talk) 17:31, 23 May 2017 (UTC)
- Thanks again and in response to Huldra's question why we should find every ancient site notable is because they are and every one can help people understand their origins, whether from that area or not. We have English Heritage in the UK to document all our sites. Lebanese and Syrians don't, even if Israel is pretty well covered. Protecting and recording Lebanese and Syrian heritage is still important and I hope you will agree if you think it over, considering the recent efforts of certain groups to destroy it. The Association for the Protection of Lebanese Heritage has a crowdmap they tried running and I tried copying a fraction of the information I wrote here over but it took too long and hasn't the potential. There are many Lebanese and Syrians who have thanked me for my work and I am sure would thank Huldra for yours too. I run a Facebook group called Save Beqaa Heritage with almost 200 members now who are interested in the topic [1] and no doubt would appreciate the coverage. I do agree with your criticisms about focus however and would want to introduce well sourced, modern material where I can and make comprehensive new articles, not just archaeology stubs an area I hope to go traveling and collecting relevant sources. Even today I have seen more papers coming out arguing more for Mediterranean over African origins [2], [3] (should be covered with a rational synopsis such as [4] rather than that provided by [5])...and little by little, some of my views become a bit less fringe. Paul Bedson ❉talk❉ 01:05, 24 May 2017 (UTC)
- I would like to respond to Boing said Zebedee, Iridescent and Huldra's latest comments. I do not intend to push fringe views in any area. The example I noted was to show I wouldn't use a source like the Daily Telegraph that overtly pushes fringe theories for such coverage. I agree entirely your New Scientist article should take the lead if covered and with all the views and some of the skepticism it contains. It's still a notable find as it has significant coverage. That isn't what I should focus on if the ban is appealed. I am tending to agree with Huldra that my efforts if allowed to edit again should be to tidy up some of the articles I wrote with a biased focus on the "Heavy Neolithic" information - to broaden that and turn the articles into decent pieces. I would be pleased to accept an unban limited only to doing that as a trial. I would add that i don't advocate an "out-of-lebanon" thesis anymore. The "Save Beqaa Heritage" group does not advocate this and I did not intend to use original research in any way if allowed to edit again. My group is an offshoot of the much larger "Save Beirut Heritage" group, which has over 14,000 members (to show the size of interested parties) [6], and covers news, archaeology and heritage management content. I am not arguing and will not be pushing ANY fringe views like "out-of-lebanon" or such nonsense. What I do know after reading the inventory of Lebanese prehistoric sites and reading and writing about dozens of other ones in the area is that there was a concentration of Neolithic activity up and down the Jordan valley at the start of farming. This "Levantine Corridor" hypothesis as my friend Edmund likes to call it is slightly more advanced than the "Fertile Crescent" hypothesis that is still prevalent and unrefined in the mainstream and is somewhat orignal research expansion from it. I don't intend to "push" that, just document what is there. It is factual coverage and not views that I want to push. If you know the stratigraphic seqences of enough of these sites, you'll see the concentration down the Jordan and Beqaa valleys. This isn't really fringe since Kathleen Kenyon's discoveries at Jericho in the 50s. Expanding articles about villages that might help future explorers find more Jerichos, I hope will be interpreted as a good and true intention. Paul Bedson ❉talk❉ 18:39, 26 May 2017 (UTC)
- One last response to Doug. I am really sorry that I can't make you feel comfortable even being limited to editing such a narrow area as Lebanese villages previously worked on badly, for improvement purposes. Please let me know if there is anything I can do or say to make you feel more so. I wanted to add that yes, Edmund is a friend as is Barbara Joy O'Brien, who is still going strong at 95 years of age now! I don't agree with all of Christian O'Brien or Edmund Marriage's views either. Edmund constantly refers to a "restart" of agriculture which is blatantly contrary to my constant referring to the Aswad emmer grains as the first hard evidence of the start of domesticated agriculture. This can be hard work, we constantly argue over this and other issues and unfortunately, his do not seem to change. Mine do and I hope I have demonstrated they do and have done. I am very open minded and bow to new and better wisdom and learn from it as I have learned from you Doug and very grateful for your hard work. Despite our differences in opinion, me and Edmund are still friends and I do agree with some of his views as does Wikipedia in the last two sentences of the very short and (embarrassingly) weak article on the Levantine Corridor. It would be the views that both you and me agree on that would like to come back and improve coverage on pages like that potentially and Lebanese villages. We agree it would be nice to find more Gobekli Tepes or Jerichos. We also agree that is not what Wikipedia is for. Wikipedia could be for documenting where to find them better, this is within scope. Wikipedia is for providing information and if there is a way I can do that in any limited form around this area with good sources (such as Peltenberg & Wasse : Neolithic Revolution: New perspectives on SouthWest Asia in Light of Recent Discoveries on Cyprus, Oxbow, 2004, from my library), aiming to impress you, at risk of immediate re-banning, I would be keen to accept your advice and judgement. Even if given the Levantine Corridor article to improve and make an example of what I could do to help and try to be your friend & colleague again, I would be extremely grateful for the chance. Thanks. Paul Bedson ❉talk❉ 09:25, 27 May 2017 (UTC)
- I would like to respond to Boing said Zebedee, Iridescent and Huldra's latest comments. I do not intend to push fringe views in any area. The example I noted was to show I wouldn't use a source like the Daily Telegraph that overtly pushes fringe theories for such coverage. I agree entirely your New Scientist article should take the lead if covered and with all the views and some of the skepticism it contains. It's still a notable find as it has significant coverage. That isn't what I should focus on if the ban is appealed. I am tending to agree with Huldra that my efforts if allowed to edit again should be to tidy up some of the articles I wrote with a biased focus on the "Heavy Neolithic" information - to broaden that and turn the articles into decent pieces. I would be pleased to accept an unban limited only to doing that as a trial. I would add that i don't advocate an "out-of-lebanon" thesis anymore. The "Save Beqaa Heritage" group does not advocate this and I did not intend to use original research in any way if allowed to edit again. My group is an offshoot of the much larger "Save Beirut Heritage" group, which has over 14,000 members (to show the size of interested parties) [6], and covers news, archaeology and heritage management content. I am not arguing and will not be pushing ANY fringe views like "out-of-lebanon" or such nonsense. What I do know after reading the inventory of Lebanese prehistoric sites and reading and writing about dozens of other ones in the area is that there was a concentration of Neolithic activity up and down the Jordan valley at the start of farming. This "Levantine Corridor" hypothesis as my friend Edmund likes to call it is slightly more advanced than the "Fertile Crescent" hypothesis that is still prevalent and unrefined in the mainstream and is somewhat orignal research expansion from it. I don't intend to "push" that, just document what is there. It is factual coverage and not views that I want to push. If you know the stratigraphic seqences of enough of these sites, you'll see the concentration down the Jordan and Beqaa valleys. This isn't really fringe since Kathleen Kenyon's discoveries at Jericho in the 50s. Expanding articles about villages that might help future explorers find more Jerichos, I hope will be interpreted as a good and true intention. Paul Bedson ❉talk❉ 18:39, 26 May 2017 (UTC)
- Thanks again and in response to Huldra's question why we should find every ancient site notable is because they are and every one can help people understand their origins, whether from that area or not. We have English Heritage in the UK to document all our sites. Lebanese and Syrians don't, even if Israel is pretty well covered. Protecting and recording Lebanese and Syrian heritage is still important and I hope you will agree if you think it over, considering the recent efforts of certain groups to destroy it. The Association for the Protection of Lebanese Heritage has a crowdmap they tried running and I tried copying a fraction of the information I wrote here over but it took too long and hasn't the potential. There are many Lebanese and Syrians who have thanked me for my work and I am sure would thank Huldra for yours too. I run a Facebook group called Save Beqaa Heritage with almost 200 members now who are interested in the topic [1] and no doubt would appreciate the coverage. I do agree with your criticisms about focus however and would want to introduce well sourced, modern material where I can and make comprehensive new articles, not just archaeology stubs an area I hope to go traveling and collecting relevant sources. Even today I have seen more papers coming out arguing more for Mediterranean over African origins [2], [3] (should be covered with a rational synopsis such as [4] rather than that provided by [5])...and little by little, some of my views become a bit less fringe. Paul Bedson ❉talk❉ 01:05, 24 May 2017 (UTC)
- Posted here. Opabinia regalis (talk) 17:31, 23 May 2017 (UTC)
- I thought I would add in light of recent comments on the noticeboard that I agree in part with DGG that the topic ban could be extended to cover all of Medieval history and genealogy. Even European history but Ancient history is part of what I would like to cover in similar fashion to Huldra on Lebanese village pages. I have no intention of working in such areas again or bothering editors working in them. I would also like to apologize to Ealdgyth and Mike Christie personally for the work I caused them so many years ago and hope my attitude and tone of collaboration on issues such as negotiation of topic bans will demonstrate that I have learned how this place works better. I also will not be disturbing any other "Lebanese Archaeology editors" as there are none. I tried getting into Cambridge and UCL to further studies in this area and they want nothing to do with the subject. Doug is the closest you'll have and my thanks to Huldra for improving the Lebanese villages with modern information. This would also be my intention to improve such areas with similar information from similar reliable sources. The Lorraine Copeland inventory I mentioned is old but I will treat it that way, it is reliable and the latest information that I doubt you will find it in any library anywhere near you. I recognize this was a fault of mine as I rushed through covering the most important areas for my specific "thesis". My intention now is to broaden that coverage with wider exploration of paleolithic, general neolithic and bronze age sites as well as the Heavy Neolithic I specifically focused on too much. I feel I can do a good job in this area and impress @Doug Weller: (who I like, respect and certainly also owe numerous apologies) that my focus is no longer single mindedly on my own interests but that of Wikipedia primarily. I am happy for him to reimpose a community ban at will if this one were to be repealed and I put one foot out of line. Paul Bedson ❉talk❉ 14:31, 23 May 2017 (UTC)
- Thank you very much for the time and effort you have put into this case Opabinia. I really appreciate it. I hope you don't mind if I ping @Doug Weller: as per our e-mail discussion to draw his attention to this. I expect he would appreciate the heads up. Paul Bedson ❉talk❉ 23:13, 22 May 2017 (UTC)
- As this is an appeal of a community ban, I've posted to AN: Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard#Ban appeal for Paul Bedson. If you have any comments to make in response to posts there, you can add them here and someone can copy them over. Opabinia regalis (talk) 22:26, 22 May 2017 (UTC)
Paul Bedson (block log • active blocks • global blocks • contribs • deleted contribs • filter log • creation log • change block settings • unblock • checkuser (log))
Request reason:
Why not try “sandboxing” me?
I thought to appeal my ban to the extent that I can only edit my sandbox and no live pages. I would only to be able to write or create images and maps in my sandbox for other Wikipedians and future generations to use as they see fit. This might solve my problem of knowing too much about a certain area of archaeology that academia hasn’t caught up with yet.
The first thing I would like to get on with, given permission is a map of the Levantine Corridor to improve your page on that.
Pending enough other suitable contributions and nothing disagreeable comes from this, I thought it might make a suitable way or rehabilitation?
I look forward to hearing what you think?
Thank you. Paul Bedson ❉talk❉ 20:30, 12 February 2018 (UTC)Notes:
- In some cases, you may not in fact be blocked, or your block has already expired. Please check the list of active blocks. If no block is listed, then you have been autoblocked by the automated anti-vandalism systems. Please remove this request and follow these instructions instead for quick attention by an administrator.
- Please read our guide to appealing blocks to make sure that your unblock request will help your case. You may change your request at any time.
If you ask the blocking administrator to comment on this request, replace this template with the following, replacing "blocking administrator" with the name of the blocking admin:
{{Unblock on hold |1=blocking administrator |2=Hello, Another 6 months has passed and I am due another appeal to my community ban. I have had an idea that might be acceptable to arbcom and the Wikipedia community that could partially un-ban me and allow me to contribute my knowledge and artistic talents in a meaningful and non-harmful way. Why not try “sandboxing” me? I thought to appeal my ban to the extent that I can only edit my sandbox and no live pages. I would only to be able to write or create images and maps in my sandbox for other Wikipedians and future generations to use as they see fit. This might solve my problem of knowing too much about a certain area of archaeology that academia hasn’t caught up with yet. The first thing I would like to get on with, given permission is a map of the [[Levantine Corridor]] to improve your page on that. Pending enough other suitable contributions and nothing disagreeable comes from this, I thought it might make a suitable way or rehabilitation? I look forward to hearing what you think? Thank you. <span style="text-shadow:grey 0.1em 0.1em 0.1em; class=texhtml; font-family: Verdana;">[[User:Paul Bedson|<span style="color:Indigo">Paul Bedson</span>]] ❉[[User talk:Paul Bedson|<span style="color:FireBrick">talk</span>]]❉</span> 20:30, 12 February 2018 (UTC) |3 = ~~~~}}
If you decline the unblock request, replace this template with the following code, substituting {{subst:Decline reason here}} with a specific rationale. Leaving the decline reason unchanged will result in display of a default reason, explaining why the request was declined.
{{unblock reviewed |1=Hello, Another 6 months has passed and I am due another appeal to my community ban. I have had an idea that might be acceptable to arbcom and the Wikipedia community that could partially un-ban me and allow me to contribute my knowledge and artistic talents in a meaningful and non-harmful way. Why not try “sandboxing” me? I thought to appeal my ban to the extent that I can only edit my sandbox and no live pages. I would only to be able to write or create images and maps in my sandbox for other Wikipedians and future generations to use as they see fit. This might solve my problem of knowing too much about a certain area of archaeology that academia hasn’t caught up with yet. The first thing I would like to get on with, given permission is a map of the [[Levantine Corridor]] to improve your page on that. Pending enough other suitable contributions and nothing disagreeable comes from this, I thought it might make a suitable way or rehabilitation? I look forward to hearing what you think? Thank you. <span style="text-shadow:grey 0.1em 0.1em 0.1em; class=texhtml; font-family: Verdana;">[[User:Paul Bedson|<span style="color:Indigo">Paul Bedson</span>]] ❉[[User talk:Paul Bedson|<span style="color:FireBrick">talk</span>]]❉</span> 20:30, 12 February 2018 (UTC) |decline = {{subst:Decline reason here}} ~~~~}}
If you accept the unblock request, replace this template with the following, substituting Accept reason here with your rationale:
{{unblock reviewed |1=Hello, Another 6 months has passed and I am due another appeal to my community ban. I have had an idea that might be acceptable to arbcom and the Wikipedia community that could partially un-ban me and allow me to contribute my knowledge and artistic talents in a meaningful and non-harmful way. Why not try “sandboxing” me? I thought to appeal my ban to the extent that I can only edit my sandbox and no live pages. I would only to be able to write or create images and maps in my sandbox for other Wikipedians and future generations to use as they see fit. This might solve my problem of knowing too much about a certain area of archaeology that academia hasn’t caught up with yet. The first thing I would like to get on with, given permission is a map of the [[Levantine Corridor]] to improve your page on that. Pending enough other suitable contributions and nothing disagreeable comes from this, I thought it might make a suitable way or rehabilitation? I look forward to hearing what you think? Thank you. <span style="text-shadow:grey 0.1em 0.1em 0.1em; class=texhtml; font-family: Verdana;">[[User:Paul Bedson|<span style="color:Indigo">Paul Bedson</span>]] ❉[[User talk:Paul Bedson|<span style="color:FireBrick">talk</span>]]❉</span> 20:30, 12 February 2018 (UTC) |accept = accept reason here ~~~~}}