Idiocy at its maximum

Yesterday I got word that the FFXI Encyclopedia, a wiki that I often go to read up on information and occasionally contribute, had been defaced. Apparently someone named “Taj” had hijacked the administrator account to change the main page to a short, anger-filled post that pointed to a discussion to the web site of Taj’s linkshell, the extremely famous “Urdr of the Blue Gartr”.

I’m not going to post the link here, as I believe the whole discussion is probably one of the biggest piles of drivel I have ever seen online. Reading a related thread on Allakhazam I learnt that this Taj guy not only defaced the wiki, but also published personal communications and emails… assuming that what he did is true. The accusation was that the Wiki administrators used the money obtained through a fundraiser for their own personal means while they “sold out” to Wikipedia’s per-profit sister, Wikia.

Let me say that I’m absolutely disgusted by the reactions: a lot were about “Taj is a hero”, “Taj = Robin Hood” and the like. No one bothered to seek indipendent confirmation, they just spat out whatever they wanted to say. Not to mention that whatever the motives might have been, this “Taj” has obviously violated the law, while at best the Wiki administrator may have just shown bad ethics. So who is at fault here?

Things got worse this morning when the Wiki was down due to a (probable) dDoS attack followed by hijacking attempts (the forums are still disabled). I am really amazed at the amount of idiocy shown by these actions: spewing poison on forums is displeasing, but resorting en masse to illegal means is just too much.

I don’t know how things went, but this event just increased the disgust I have for BG: a self-righteous community that thinks that they’re “elite” when they’re at best mediocre. I even heard they want to start their own wiki: for little that they are, they will not see any contributions from me.

Last but not least, have people forgot that it’s a game? [As I wrote previously]({{ site.url }}/2007/05/26/lifeless-people/), a lot of people need to get a life.