Wifione arbitration case

See the article Wifione.

Editor Wifione (T-C-F-R-B)

Arbitration case request posted 26 December 2014

Case accepted and opened (T-H-L-F-C).

Statement by PD

There is a pattern of edits that is extremely concerning. Wifione has consistently added praise to articles about the Indian Institute of Planning and Management and its owner, often unsourced, while repeatedly removing well-sourced claims that it is not accredited. He even removed a reference to this letter from the Stanford Business School, denying any kind of connection with IIPM. The intention was clearly to remove any suggestion that the IIPM's claims of affiliation were false.

He has also created an article on a living person – a competitor of IIPM – which consisted entirely of a poorly sourced claim that the subject was under criminal investigation, in an obvious attempt to discredit him. At the same time he was puffing up the article on Arindam Chaudhuri.

Wifione has never given a satisfactory explanation of his bias. He has been repeatedly asked about his conflict of interest, and has repeatedly evaded the question. After one question at his editor review in January 2014, about why he was interested in IIPM, he left the project for three months, and declined to answer questions until August. He has repeatedly accused people of being part of a Wikipediocracy conspiracy, rather than address the substance of the allegations. This is unsatisfactory. Administrators should at all times be prepared to answer questions about their conduct on Wikipedia. Nor has he explained how he came to Wikipedia in the first place. In his 24th edit ever to Wikipedia he displayed an impressive knowledge of how to provide a link to the official Registrar of Indian Newspapers.

The case has wider implications. Chaudhuri has been relentless in taking legal action against websites and publications which sought to expose his deceptive claims. In February 2013 he got over 70 URLs blocked, one of them belonging to the Indian University Grants Commission for publicising the fact that IIPM was unrecognised by them: see Cory Doctorow's protest.

Given this form of censorship, Wikipedia is often the only place which students can – in theory – depend on to check the misleading claims of such ‘schools’. One parent spoke of being ‘ruined’ after taking out a bank loan. “We got lured by the fake ads coupled with newspaper news praising IIPM institute”.

Astonishingly, while Chaudhuri’s lawyers were blocking official sites that might have helped students and parents, Wifione was at work on Wikipedia, removing statements like “Historically, IIPM has also been by far the largest advertiser among Indian educational institutions,” and “IIPM has been involved in controversies with respect to its advertising.” (Link). Despite the fact that the Institute was running a blatant scam, Wifione has, for a long time, been able to use his comprehensive knowledge of Wikipedia policy and his trusted status as administrator to prevent this being divulged. It is sad that censorship and suppression has reached into the very heart of a project like Wikipedia, which was based from the very beginning on the principle that knowledge and truth ‘want’ to be free.

Background

The background to this case is a long-running edit war over the article on the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (T-H-L-F-C). Supporters of the school persistently remove negative references to the school, particularly to claims that it is not accredited, but or claims that it has falsely represented accreditation or affiliation with accredited institutions such as Stanford Business School, University of Buckingham, or has claimed to have a special relationship with employers.

See this New Delhi High Court order restraining Arindam Chaudhuri from using the words “MBA, BBA, Management Course, Management School, Business School or B-School” in relation to the Courses or programmes being conducted by them.

There was already an RfC in November 2005, concerning Drnoamchomsky (T-C-F-R-B), who was accused of turning the IIPM article into a brochure. Drnoamchomsky changed their name to Iipmstudent9 (T-C-F-R-B), but was blocked in February 2007 for " Legal threats made against users".

Mrinal Pandey (T-C-F-R-B) also made many promotional edits to the article using the following IPs: 61.16.233.194, 61.16.233.196, 219.65.248.68, 219.65.248.193, 203.76.140.130, 203.76.135.250, 203.76.132.74, 125.19.3.2, and notably 58.68.49.70, which locates to the IIPM domain. Pandey was indefinitely blocked in December 2008 for using 43 accounts to edit IIPM related articles. Arbcom unblocked her in August 2009, upon which she changed her user name to Empengent (T-C-F-R-B) and blanked her talk page. The Wifione account was created months before and there were immediately complaints that she was a reincarnation of Pandey.

Wifione identifies as female here.

Using BLPs to further a dispute

For years, Wifione persistently added derogatory and defamatory material into Ashok Chauhan (T-H-L-F-C), while at the same time adding promotional material to the article on Arindam Chaudhuri (T-H-L-F-C).

• wikipedia:Amity_University. Adds or replaces material about arrest warrant against Ashok Chauhan: [1],[2], [3], [4], [5], [6]
• wikipedia:Ashok Chauhan. Starts the article, then adds or replaces material about arrest warrant against Ashok Chauhan: [7], [8], [9], [10], [11].
• wikipedia:Indian Institute of Planning and Management. Removes references to the investigative work of Maheshwar Peri, editor of Careers 360: [12], [13] adds the story about criminal defamation charges against Maheshwar Peri, [14] Removes statement by the Uttarakhand High Court that ‘A truth spoken for public good can never be called defamatory." and replaces with "In 2009, IIPM filed a criminal defamation charge against Careers 360" and " In May 2010, it was reported that the court upheld that the contents of the Careers 360 article were "prima facie defamatory".", [15] removes the court statement again.

Tendentious editing

• wikipedia:Indian Institute of Planning and Management. Downplays or removes references to lack of accreditation: [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25] is egregious, changing "In June 2008, The Wall Street Journal's Mint carried an op-ed by S.Mitra Kalita about misleading advertising by educational institutes in which it mentioned IIPM's claims about foreign faculty" to "In June 2008, S.Mitra Kalita in an op-ed column in livemint.com (a Hindustan Times and Wall Street Journal joint venture) gives a mention to the JAM and IIPM issue", and removing ""In August 2007, India's Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta announced that IIPM is under investigation for running courses without AICTE approval", [26] changes "IIPM has been the subject of controversies regarding accreditation, rankings in third party publications, advertising claims, trade practices, and tax issues" to "IIPM was the subject of a blogging controversy in 2005", [27], removes story about student complaints in Bangalore Express, [28] removes "It has been alleged that IIPM engages in misleading advertising practices."
• wikipedia:Indian Institute of Planning and Management. Positive slant: [29], [30], [31], [32], [33], [34], [35], [36], [37], [38] adding "In 2008, IIPM placed 2,670 students through campus placements. It was reported to be a record. In the same year, there were 165 international placements, reported to be "second only to the best in the country", [39], [40], [41], [42], [43] ("IIPM has been ranked #9 amongst India's top ten private schools by Hindustan Times in 2009"), [44], [45], [46], [47] "IIPM was ranked the 5th best business school in India and the 2011 Best B-school in Asia overall among B-schools from 29 countries at the second Asia’s Best B-School awards", [48] "In March 2009, IIPM received the “candidate for accreditation” status from International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE), an accreditation body for college and university programs.",

• wikipedia:Indian Institute of Planning and Management. Adds 'disputed' tags. [49], [50], [51], [52], [53], [54] (about the Stanford letter), [55], [56],

• wikipedia:Indian Institute of Planning and Management. Disparages regulatory bodies: [57], [58] (removes "On July 31, 2010, the UGC has taken note of some IIPM ads that promise "UGC Recognised MBA Degree" and publicly stated once again that the IIPM "does not have the right of conferring or granting degrees as specified by the University Grants Commission".", [59] removes the UGC claim again, Accuses University Grants Commission of corruption. As noted by Vejvančický, when we compare some of his edits to the article Indian_School_of_Business (T-H-L-F-C) (ISB) with edits to IIPM article, note that here, he changes the lead section of the ISB article to insert information about ISB courses violating All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) regulations. Here, he repeats that "courses are not approved by AICTE", again, in the lead section. However, when he edits the lead section of the IIPM page, he adds a long and completely irrelevant explanation about how corrupt and incompetent the regulatory body (AICTE) is.

• wikipedia:Amity_University. Adds reference to Amity not being recognised. Whether or not this is true, these edits are in stark contrast to the way he removed identical claims from the IIPM article. [60], [61], [62], [63], [64], [65], [66], [67], [68],[69],[70], [71], [72], [73], [74], [75],[76], [77], [78], [79], [80], [81], [82], [83], [84], [85], [86].
• wikipedia:Arindam Chaudhuri. Removes negative references, and promotes positive ones, [87], [88], [89], [90], [91], [92], [93], [94], [95], [96], [97], [98], [99], [100], [101], [102], [103], [104], [105], [106], [107], [108], [109].

Evasion

In December 2009 she was asked "what is your association with IIPM"? She replied "Please don't use such statements. It is just a request. Thanks Wirεłεşş Fidεłitұ Ćłâşş Θnε 03:06, 31 December 2009 (UTC)". When the editor persisted, with the comment that "Conflicts of interest should always be disclosed", Wifione replied " you are an editor with a good background and good editing history. It'll be good if you do not make statements such as "Now I must ask, what is your association with IIPM?" This is the second time you're writing this statement or a similar statement. Wirεłεşş Fidεłitұ Ćłâşş Θnε 05:08, 31 December 2009 (UTC). Later, she asks if an editor can "please take out your statement "What is your association with IIPM?" from all the places you have mentioned it? The statement goes beyond a CoI question and has been made on a talk page of an article. It is quite disparaging for a fellow editor. Thanks Wirεłεşş Fidεłitұ Ćłâşş Θnε ― 09:14, 3 January 2010 (UTC)" In November 2013, when Peter Damian politely asked him about his affiliation by email, he tried to get him blocked from meta, claiming the emails were 'harassment'. After an exposé of Wifione's activities on Wikipedia on 2 December 2013, the issue was raised raised on Jimbo’s page. On 14th December, Jimbo raised the issue again. Wifione did not participate in either discussion. "It's striking that there's yet to be any comment whatsoever from User:Wifione. --SB_Johnny | talk✌ 00:16, 23 December 2013 (UTC)"

On January 12, 2014, there was an article in the Times of India which mentioned the scandal. It was brought up on Jimbo’s page for a third time, by Vejvančický. Jimbo commented “it would be best if he just doesn't come back.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 16:57, 12 January 2014 (UTC)”. At this point, Wifione responded, claiming she had been on a break, and opened an editor review. On 18 January she asked for another day to answer questions. However, she left the review entirely that day, apparently unable to answer the question "What got you interested in the IIPM-related articles in the first place? Do you have any opinion about the IIPM that you'd be willing to share? --SB_Johnny | talk 23:29, 19 January 2014 (UTC)"

She made no edits at all between 18 January 2014 and 24 April 2014. On returning, she avoided the review entirely.

She was reminded in June that she still hadn’t answered, and again on 22 July. She replied on 29 July, saying she had 'limited time', then archived the talk page. She was reminded again on 30 July. "You have opened the ER as an indignant and righteous reaction to Jimbo Wales' comment, but now you are trying to sweep it under the carpet … Vejvančický (talk / contribs) 07:56, 30 July 2014 (UTC)". Wifione complained that there was an offsite campaign against her. She replied to SB Johnny's question about her motivation, saying that, as far as she could recall, she had been interested in the IIPM advertising campaign, then closed the review.

IP evidence

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Amatulic&diff=prev&oldid=335033574 (31 December 2009) Why was this deleted?

Edits

• wikipedia:Amity University (92 edits): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53
• wikipedia:Arindam Chaudhuri (40 edits): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28
• wikipedia:Ashok Chauhan (23 edits): start, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
• wikipedia:Indian Institute of Planning and Management (196 edits): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69

See also

• Wifione