Wiki Vandalism of 2024
The Incident
On the 18th of October 2024, Committee member jstkamil (at the time 1st Year Representative) went rouge and created the article "Wiki Vandalism of 2024"[1] without permission or consulting the remaining members of the committee.
The article was a recollection of the events of the 18th of October. The article features several sections that discuss it's nature and provide information about the event detailed. There is a section regarding the many false statements that others have alleged that are found within the article and there is a section about the reception of the article's creation. The article also features a "phantom war" describing the partitioning of members in a secret war about keeping or deleting the article. It was classified as a "phantom war" after Redbrick members agreed that it most likely did not happen. See #Potentially_Fake_Statments for more.
The Photo
The article itself included a photo of it being written, later in an interview conducted by himself[2] he revealed that the photo was in fact taken as the article was written, it is the only piece of tangible evidence we have that this event actually happened. The reasons however for the photo appearing are largely left unknown, in the interview he mentioned that "I just felt like adding a photo would really complete the experience of viewing the article, it was probably just a matter of taste if I am going to be honest with you"
Potentially False Statements
It is also of note that in said article there were many false statements regarding the event. This is because at the time the author had no way of knowing the true consequences of the article leading him to guess many of the outcomes. There was also much speculation as to the sources provided in the article if they were at all factual or legitimate, as the article featured links that lead to defunct websites. When asked for clarification the member in question declined to comment. [3]
An example of this "hallucination" (as it would have come to be known) was in the "Reception Section" where it was written,
"...while many were confused by the existence of the article, they ultimately found it to be funny and decided to praise member jstkamil for his ingenuity and use of wiki resources to spread cheer"
Although that example still remains controversial between the members of Redbrick to this day, as some claim that the statement holds true.
Fake Quotes
Inside of the article there was an inclusion of quotes that were widely believed to not be true. in the Potentially False Statements section under the subheading "Fake Quotes" there was an inclusion of quotes from a few of the then current committee members that were alleged to have never been said by them in that context. In a conversation, the then sysadmin Wizzdom said "I never said anything about this" and, the then chair Cheese mentioned "I never provided any quotes for any article like that"[4]
A Phantom War
"Phantom War" was the classification given to The Silent War when many Redbrick members decided that the aforementioned war described in the article never took place. Although the name "Phantom War" is derived from that fact that while most Redbrick members believed that The Silent War did not take place, there were a few that believed that it did take place but nobody can recall it happening due to the nature of the war itself.
False Classifications
There were many phrases used throughout the article, with many pointing out that nobody had used that language to describe the events of October 18th. They claimed that this was another false statement that could be found throughout the article, these false classifications would end up being called "falsifications" and members told others that any mention of "falsifications" in a paragraph should be not regarded as truth.
The Reception
When the article was first discovered, the general reaction was one of confusion and surprise. Redbrick members weren't quite sure what to make of the article and what actions would have to be next taken. No matter the action, it was disputed within the Redbrick community whether this was a large enough event to take place on the wiki that it deserved it's own article. This discussion would later evolve into the now infamous "paradox discussion". This discussion proved to be the single most dividing and defining aspect of the entire incident.
The discussion around the article did eventually end up concluding and while many were confused by the existence of the article, they ultimately found it to be funny and decided to praise member jstkamil for his ingenuity and use of wiki resources to spread cheer, and since nobody had any recollection of "The Silent War", everyone moved on without even thinking any further about the article.
The Paradox Discussion
The discussion around the article proved to be difficult when an example of Russell's paradox was reached when members were questioning whether or not the article deserved to stay up. To be considered an act of vandalism it would be commonly believed that creating a false article would fall under the premise of "vandalism". When considering this it posed a very important and deeply infuriating problem:
If the article was to be kept up, then it would not be an act of vandalism as the article describes an event that was agreed upon to be valid. However, if the article is not declared to be an act of vandalism then the article would be depicting information that is wrong and therefore it's creation would be considered an act of vandalism.
The Silent War
This ended up in creating two factions; Pro-Removal and Anti-Removal. The entirety of Redbrick would end up dividing itself into these two factions. The name "the silent war" came as a result of nobody admitting which side they were on, hardly even speaking of the faction that they've subscribed to. To ones that didn't know better and possibly even the ones involved, the war may have seemed like it never even took place. Any mention of the faction that members were on, took place in secret "Non-Intelligible" meetings, these meetings would hold no record, and most would not even recall memories of them taking place. The only evidence we have for these events is an accidental recording made by one of the members who forgot to hang up on a call in the common room[5]. This -as with many things relating to the article- has garnered many skeptics, ones who claim that the meetings and that as a whole the silent war never happened and any evidence for it was either faked or doesn't exist.