Skitzocow Mark Bernstein - Ryulong 2.0, Creepy Paranoid Stalker and Anti-Gamergate Loser with Delusions of Grandeur

[chimpburgers]

It was either this guy or spacedad that I was going to make a thread on today and @Cynical convinced me that this guy would be the crazier one to do one on, so here we go. Mark Bernstein is a Wikipedia sperg who is supposedly saner than Ryulong but acts just as arrogant and retarded as he does and even worse in some cases that I've been looking at.

When I was trying to find material on him, I saw this website that he has where he's ranting about Wikipedia's Arbcom decision and what a travesty he thought it was. I've been trying to find his account there without any success so far but here is some of what entailed when it came to the decision that was made on the website.

The infamous draft decision of Wikipedia’s Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) on Gamergate is worse than a crime. It’s a blunder that threatens to disgrace the internet. (I refer here to the original draft; the current revision is here. )

Background
Late last year, a group of computer game enthusiasts and journalists apparently decided to strike out against what they considered unfair feminist critique of violence and sex in their favorite games. They called themselves “#GamerGate.” In principle, their grievance should not be dismissed: we don’t need Miss Grundy to turn games into pabulum. But it’s not clear that they really had a grievance, that the purported fears were anything more than a rationalization for anonymous persecution.

The #GamerGate crowd decided that their ideal tactics were to identify women in the game industry who were “social justice warriors,” and to drive them out of the field. Through Twitter and unsavory chat boards, these women were subjected to intense harassment. Their sexual histories were dissected. They were repeatedly threatened with assault, rape, and murder. Their employers were sent anonymous email, both embarrassing and threatening. Some of the women had to cancel speaking engagements. Some have been forced from their homes.

An Encyclopedia Anyone Can Edit
The reaction of newspapers and magazines to these threats was not favorable to the criminals. But Wikipedia is an encyclopedia anyone can edit – and game fans with lots of computer savvy and plenty of time on their hands should be singularly effective Wikipedians. GamerGate set out to writes its own story in Wikipedia – and to spread the dirt about the women who were its targets.

These efforts were blocked by established editors under established Wikipedia policy. In retaliation, GamerGate planned an operation to get rid of its opponents – the “Five Horsemen” active in preserving objectivity and in keeping scurrilous sexual innuendo out of the encyclopedia. As a side-game, GamerGate also launched efforts to promote the idea that “Cultural Marxism” is a conspiracy of some Jewish academics to control the media.

The original GamerGate operation targeted the "five horsemen:" Ryulong, NorthBySouthBaranof, Tarc, TheRedPenOfDoom, and TaraInDC. All were sanctioned in the draft decision.

For months, these Wikipedia pages have been an escalating scene of daily – indeed hourly – conflict.

The Purge
Yesterday, ArbCom announced its preliminary decision. A panel of fourteen arbitrators – at least 11 of whom are men* – decided to give GamerGate everything they’d wished for. All of the Five Horsemen are sanctioned; most will be excluded not only from “Gamergate broadly construed” but from anything in Wikipedia touching on “gender or sexuality, broadly construed.”

By my informal count, every feminist active in the area is to be sanctioned. This takes care of social justice warriors with a vengeance — not only do the GamerGaters get to rewrite their own page (and Zoe Quinn’s, Brianna Wu’s, Anita Sarkeesian’s, etc.); feminists are to be purged en blocfrom the encyclopedia. Liberals are the new Scientologists as far as Arbcom is concerned.

No sanctions at all were proposed against any of GamerGate’s warriors, save for a few disposable accounts created specifically for the purpose of being sanctioned. The administrator who wrote, regarding Zoe Quinn’s sexual history, that

I know other other allegations exist but will not state what those on WP are because that would be a BLP violation at the current time.
was not even mentioned. The many brand-new accounts who arrived in December with no Wiki experience, but possessing a curiously detailed knowledge of Wikipedia policy jargon, are unmentioned, save for the fact that the decision rests almost entirely on their proposals.

The extensive evidence of off-site collusion, which Wikipedia considers so improper that evidence must not be discussed on wiki but rather submitted in confidence, appears to have been entirely ignored. (I submitted such evidence myself, but received no acknowledgment or thanks; I have been told that much additional evidence was submitted.)

Status
Overnight, the one member of ArbCom who is known to be a woman voted against some of the worst measures, and there are some signs that the final decision might be slightly less bad than the initial proposal. At this hour, they remain a disaster.

Why It Matters
First, this is the end of the Wiki Way. We have a blueprint now that shows how any decently-funded group with a modicum of access to the media – which is to say any group (unlike GamerGate) not patently criminal – can take control of any part of Wikipedia it pleases. You need a PR agency with a few offices in different cities and a phone – resources whose lack complicated GamerGate’s position.

Worse, the decision is so egregiously bad that it may well permanently discredit not only Wikipedia but the entire open Web. If a mature and well-funded site like Wikipedia can’t distinguish between reason and perfidious slander, if it punishes volunteers who enforce its own policies against libel, then who will trust any publication that doesn’t bear the brand of ABC/Disney, Reuters, or Al-Jazeera?

If there’s anything left of the European Pirat Partiet, incidentally, this is your last best chance to show that you can do some good.

Tl;dr version: Ryulong is a saint that shouldn't be targeted and ridiculed for his retarded behavior and Arbcom gave those dang dirty Gators what they wanted and it's the end of the world fam. Taking Wikipedia shit WAY too seriously and acting like a spastic. Blah blah blah.

So okay, he's a big Ryulong white knight and someone who freaks out way too much about his perceived Gamergate enemies, but what else is there to him?

I haven't even read the rest of this manifesto but it looks just as spergy as what the fuck I was just read here, so I'll move on for now.

He has a Twitter account where he's been white knighting for Alison Rapp and other kinds of dumb shit on here.

Spoiler

His Wikipedia sperging is also pretty funny.

https://twitter.com/search?q=Wikipedia from:eastgate&src=typd

You can clearly see he's part of the bigger gang of losers. Look at this tweet with Wu, Iggy and some other retards included.

Bernstein is also known for outlandish statements like how he believes that Gamergaters want to rape and assault women.

Spoiler

He was challenged to the GG debate but it seems like he never responded to this inquiry.

The KotakuInAction subreddit has even more loads of information about him that I haven't even gone through yet, but I will leave a link below so you can check it out for yourself.

https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/search?q=mark+bernstein

 

[AnOminous]

I still love that Zoe Quinn can literally call her con Crash Override Network (CON get it?) and assclowns like this will fall all over themselves defending it.

What the fuck is notable about CON anyway? It hasn't done jack shit except collect money.

Also there's nothing at all unusual about that ArbCom decision. Most decisions involving two warring bands of obsessive fucking lunatics shitting up a subject end exactly that way, with the craziest of the loons backed off the topic. It's not "worse than a crime" whatever the fuck that is even supposed to mean. And how do you "disgrace the Internet?" Kind of late for that, I'd think.

 

[Typhoid Mary]

I still love that Zoe Quinn can literally call her con Crash Override Network (CON get it?) and assclowns like this will fall all over themselves defending it.

What the fuck is notable about CON anyway? It hasn't done jack shit except collect money.

Also there's nothing at all unusual about that ArbCom decision. Most decisions involving two warring bands of obsessive fucking lunatics shitting up a subject end exactly that way, with the craziest of the loons backed off the topic. It's not "worse than a crime" whatever the fuck that is even supposed to mean. And how do you "disgrace the Internet?" Kind of late for that, I'd think.

It's all about identity politics, and shilling the agreed upon narrative. What you posted is objective criticism, indicating you're not taking any side in it. However, objectivity is not ideal for SJWs like Bernstein because it doesn't inflame people to act in their best interests. If they can't manipulate the people acting as overseers, then it's basically the WORST THING EVER.

All in all, this guy is a massive sperg. Great OP, @chimpburgers. I eagerly await more juicy content from this lolcow.

 

[Hellfire]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/MarkBernstein (Title needs to be adjusted as he is still wikisperging, @chimpburgers)
https://www.reddit.com/user/eastgate
http://www.eastgate.com/
http://archive.is/search/?q=markbernstein
http://lindathorsen.com/ (His wife's page)
https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiInAction/search?q=bernstein&restrict_sr=on (There's a ton of content here)

Oh, for Christ's Sake,. starship. Will my corpse be enough to satisfy you? My wife’s? At long fucking last, have you no shred of decency? MarkBernstein (talk) 04:17, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

I'm surprised there wasn't a thread on this cow before, anyone (especially Wikipedia administrators) who have seen anything related to Gamergate on Wikipedia should be well aware of how deranged this guy is, with constant chimpouts and attacks on everyone, and everything somehow being about Gamergate. The behavior predates Gamergate, too. This wikisperg isn't as bad as Ryulong in that Bernstein doesn't edit 10+ hours a day, but Bernstein is somehow even more divorced from reality than Cohen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Video_games/Newsletter/20151007/Feature

Bernstein was actually "indefinitely" topic banned from Gamergate back in 2014 because he was chimping out so hard and attacking every editor not on his 'side', such as a Wikipedia administrator named Masem who Bernstein kept calling a "rape apologist". Bernstein even tried to get Masem sanctioned, an attempt that backfired and got Bernstein himself topic banned, and despite spending about a week claiming he was quitting forever he kept coming back to talk about Gamergate (while also lying that he had quit Wikipedia), eventually being blocked repeatedly for violating his ban.

About that ban: Bernstein had conveniently been "indefinitely" topic banned shortly before the Gamergate arbitration case went live. The admin who did the ban is Rob "Gamaliel" Fernandez, one of Bernstein's buddies who is 'editor-in-chief' of Wikipedia's Signpost newsletter (Gamaliel frequently has used Bernstein to comment on BS for his articles). When the tides had turned against Bernstein and a topic ban or outright site block was inevitable, Gamaliel banned Bernstein and later revealed it was with the intent of being able to unban him whenever he liked, which he did shortly after the Gamergate case ended (so there was no fear of Bernstein getting hit with an ArbCom-grade topic ban, which Gamaliel would not have been able to remove by himself). The month-long block was also lifted on the sole condition that Bernstein stop attacking other editors, a deal he broke not even a week later, spawning nearly a month of drama as Bernstein threw a tantrum and ranted and raved, eventually earning the nickname "Reichstag" for making such a spectacle out of himself, a reference to a Wikipedia humor page which Bernstein decided is a "dog whistle" about Jews burning the Reichstag.

Gamaliel has been protecting Bernstein's ass ever since by pretending he is an "uninvolved" administrator. (There's a few more 10+ year cancer admins protecting him, but Gamaliel is the most obvious and the worst of the bunch) Bernstein's hatred for Masem has continued to this day as he believes Masem is secretly coordinating a Gamergate & right-wing siege of Wikipedia and are going to "take it over". In March he was even frothing over the same shit that got him topic banned back in 2014.

In addition to the "Wah! I'm quitting!" lies over Gamergate, Bernstein has also repeatedly claimed he was quitting Wikipedia forever over the years, but he always comes back to continue sperging.

Looking into his Wikipedia history it is found that he was always this batshit, but Gamergate has made him even more unhinged. Analysis of his previous chimpouts on Wikipedia showed a pattern where Bernstein fixates on a single editor who disagrees with him and then starts frothing and raving as if there was some vast conspiracy with that one editor as the kingpin. He's chimped out over Gamergate, a 'Jews and Communism' article, reddit founder Aaron Swartz, Margaret Sanger, and a bunch of random shit including everything relating to his career in hypertext. This link covers some of the Aaron Swartz, Gamergate, and Jews and Communism chimping: https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiInAction/comments/3bqzx4/meet_mark_reichstag_bernsteins_masem_and/

His earliest edits include chimping out in defense of one of his former employees. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Kathryn_Cramer&diff=prev&oldid=103486543
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.ph...er&target=MarkBernstein&namespace=&tagfilter=

Just look at his user page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:MarkBernstein

A project which punishes editors for defending the good names and reputations of living people from vicious internet trolls does not deserve to survive. -- NorthBySouthBaranof.

Hypertext researcher Mark Bernstein is chief scientist of Eastgate Systems, Inc. In 2014, he wrote that, "In my view, no one can honorably assist an enterprise that condones this," in response to repeated insinuations regarding the sexual history of a blameless software developer, in the course of a Wikipedia discussion orchestrated to deter women from pursuing careers in computer science [1]. The ensuing debate culminated in a much-cited series of essays on Wikipedia: “Infamous”, “Thoughtless”,“Careless“ and “Reckless”. (Essays here: http://www.markbernstein.org/Jan15/Infamous.html. Press here: http://www.markbernstein.org/Wiki.html)

Designer of Tinderbox and author of The Tinderbox Way.

Program Chair: ACM Hypertext 97 (with Cathy Marshall), ACM Hypertext 98 (with Kapser Østerbye), ACM Wikisym '08, ACM Web Science '13.

You may contact him bernstein at eastgate dot com, or see http://markbernstein.org/ .

Alliteration for Arbcom’s ARCA
Good grief! GoldenRing, greatly aggrieved,
Grouses at my gallant jests, those galling goads
That Gawker, Guardian, and gazettes aplenty
All gave to Gamergate, and you. I admit:
I hold some strong opinions of Arbcom’s acts
Throughout this case. These I have expressed
Elsewhere quite clearly, and accurately I think;
Audiences, alerted, have predominately agreed.

Generous @Gamaliel patiently posits that
People who think me pernicious, perfidious,
And pretty much perfectly putrid would be
Glad to display my poor noggin on pikes
Or by preference at Kotaku In Action.
Anxiously, admins already anticipate
A trip to AE, where more words may be spent.
An admin convinced, we may head then to AN/I,
And wend back to Arbcom. Oh wondrous wiki!

O’er what? I have had some strong words
For your actions, and indeed some of you have had some for mine.
Jimbo writes that I caused all this stuff from the first,
And Gamaliel writes I am "widely unpopular"
Throughout Wikipedia. I think he means wildly;
He might not be wrong.

But this project’s not purely a contest for praise.
Policy prefers both firmness and speed
For protecting the blameless who’re prostitutes called,
Whose sex lives are subject to endless discussion
On the project’s talk pages.

This Baranof did.
Off-wiki was Baranof smeared and belittled
Because these benighted he bravely defied.
He better deserved (and deserves) of you all.

Before I conclude, one brief issue I'd raise:
“Behavior” is common to children and beasts,
Not colleagues, and conflicting views, bringing heat,
Can better be handled with courteous care.
“Christian” names, to my ear, can sound rather familiar,
And I don’t recall that we’ve been introduced.
Adversaries adopt (in America) address
That’s more formal. I think Dr. Bernstein is fine.
I did attend Swarthmore: if perchance you’re a Friend
Or don’t like to use titles, my names, please, in full.

In the end, I spent a long night imagining a meeting with an imaginary, angry Zoe Quinn who asked: "How can you work with such people? How can you support them?" I cannot. I cannot support or countenance this, nor should you, dear reader, lend your time and energy to this noble but failed endeavour.

Bernstein, who titles himself the "chief scientist" of a software/hypertext company he owns, has a doctorate in chemistry or something like that and gets very, very butthurt about his "enemies" referring to him as just Mark or Bernstein (you can see some chimping in the fruity poem he wrote at ARCA and then put on his user page, quoted above)

He also has his markbernstein.org blog which has a lot of salt, mostly about Wikipedia and/or Gamergate.
http://archive.is/GDP1i
http://archive.is/Iqa6w
http://archive.is/z4pMV
http://archive.is/U9Tgm (He's talking about a private sub called MarkBernsteinInAction, no idea how he even knows it's there, or cares since you can't see the content without being approved)
http://archive.is/KE2aj

He has also done lectures and seminars which have included Wikipedia and Gamergate.
http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/seminars/897
http://videolectures.net/mark_bernstein/

This seminar is on the topic of "GamerGate", an international movement, ostensibly about "ethics in video game journalism" but which has become inextricably linked with extreme forms of online misogyny, rape and death threats towards women in the industry. It is of relevance to all Web science researchers, because it raises many issues of free speech, online governance, trolling and (not least) the representation of women in the tech industry. Our guest speaker (Mark Bernstein) is known for his criticism of the movement, and his work was featured in an article in the Guardian last week. He is a longtime collaborator in the field of hypertext and online media research, who co-orgainsed our annual international Web Science conference two years ago. Based in Boston, US, he will be speaking to us via Skype on Wednesday morning, to give us some background on the Gamergate phenomenon and to explain the recent developments regarding Wikipedia.

Speaker's Abstract:

In late 2014, a group of computer game fans calling themselves #GamerGate began to publicize “operations” to block what they perceived to be the feminization of computer games, anonymously sending vivid threats of assault, rape, and murder to game developers Zoe Quinn, Brianna Wu, game critic Anita Sarkeesian, and to many others. A number of those targeted have been forced to cancel conference presentations; some have had to flee their homes.

Wikipedia soon became a primary objective of GamerGate, both to improve its public image and also, by publicizing sexual histories and innuendo concerning its targets, to discourage women from pursuing careers in game development and computer science. The ensuing struggle generated millions of words of Wikipedia discussion, thousands of edits across dozens of pages, and ultimately an Arbitration Committee decision which provoked international indignation.

I played an auxiliary role in the doomed defense of the encyclopedia, and wrote a series of popular essays – “Infamous”, “Thoughtless”, “Careless”, and “Reckless”, outlining a method of attack to which Wikipedia is vulnerable and hoping to sway Wikipedia policy toward greater concern for the project’s harassed editors and its victims. This attempt failed in its immediate purpose, but widespread support outside Wikipedia suggests that the Foundation may take greater care in the future. It is not clear, however, that Wikipedia’s traditional embrace of casual anonymity can be reconciled with editorial responsibility.

Despite being a complete fucking whackjob, Mark Bernstein even tried to run for Wikipedia's arbitration committee, although he knew he wasn't going to get in (yet stayed in the election) and was mainly using it as yet another soapbox.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip...ctions_December_2015/Candidates#MarkBernstein
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip...ember_2015/Candidates/MarkBernstein/Questions

Bernstein has also tried to get in with Gamergate "victims": http://archive.is/IvEP5
His favorite seems to be Brianna Wu/John Flynt and has offered to be Flynt's eyes and hands on Wikipedia. http://archive.is/63DZJ
He has reviewed Revolution 60 as well: http://archive.is/QWKuf
And wrote fanfiction about Flynt and Zoe Quinn: http://archive.is/Y9yMa

He also has press contacts and frequently threatens that some minor, inconsequential drama on Wikipedia will leak to the press and "ruin" Wikipedia's rep. These press contacts decided to use Bernstein as a 100% honest source regarding Gamergate and got some egg on their face when it turned out he was full of shit. http://archive.is/YGEaV#selection-151.0-275.2
http://www.slate.com/articles/techn..._a_bad_source_made_wikipedia_wrong_about.html

This is just a sliver of the insanity milk this cow has produced.

I think I posted this in the Rapp thread last night, but Mark thinks Alison Rapp was a game dev: https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAc...eanwhile_at_wikipedia_rapp_was_a_female_game/

 

[ASU]

wrote fanfiction about Flynt and Zoe Quinn

Wha... What the hell?

 

[CervixHammer]

please don't include me on tweets to brianna, thanks.

ohhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHH

 

[AnOminous]

This fuckin guy.

I hear Atilla the Hun, Genghis Khan, and Adolf Hitler also started by reading Wikipedia.

 

[Feline Darkmage]

I come from the Mark Bernstain incarnation of the universe and he's still acting like the same paranoid idiot.

 

[Meowthkip]

How do you look at a tweet like that and not immediately think "okay, I'm being fucked with right now."

 

[Hellfire]

 

[AnOminous]

I am beginning to suspect this "Mark Bernstein" fellow is of the Jewish persuasion.

I'm not sure what is giving me this impression. Just call it my Jew sense.

 

[HG 400]

The KotakuInAction subreddit has even more loads of information about him that I haven't even gone through yet, but I will leave a link below so you can check it out for yourself.

https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/search?q=mark+bernstein

KiA don't care about this fellow all that much if you want more obsessive documentation on him you'll want to go to https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiInAction

Search for "Reichstag" as well, that's how they usually refer to him.

 

[Hellfire]

I think he quoted himself here.

 

[ObeseScreamingBlackMan]

I used to think Sonic the Hedgehog was the world's #1 collector of autists.

Nope, I was wrong. Wikis have Sanic beaten by miles.

 

[Tsunderplane]

I think he quoted himself here.

Quoting yourself on your own twitter account has got to be the cuntiest thing I can think of. Not even Brianna Wu has achieved this level of smugness.

 

[Cynical]

Mark Bernstein has been indefinitely topic banned from editing any GamerGate related topics:

https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAc...alkmarkbernstein_topic_banned_from_gamergate/

This will likely result in Ryulong style chimpouts pretty soon.

 

[Hellfire]

Mark Bernstein has been indefinitely topic banned from editing any GamerGate related topics:

https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAc...alkmarkbernstein_topic_banned_from_gamergate/

This will likely result in Ryulong style chimpouts pretty soon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:MarkBernstein&diff=prev&oldid=715157597

Wiped his talk page and replaced with the crybaby creed he (and Ryulong) stole from NorthBySouthDiapers.

(←Replaced content with ' <h2>A project which punishes editors for defending the good names and reputations of living people from vicious Internet trolls does not deserve to survive...')

 

[chimpburgers]

I used to think Sonic the Hedgehog was the world's #1 collector of autists.

Nope, I was wrong. Wikis have Sanic beaten by miles.

It's what I've always believed and said. Anything lolcow related that has to do with Wikis, Wikipedia or some kind of Wikia is almost guaranteed to be autistic as fuck and Bernstein does not disappoint in the slightest and shows great potential already. It's become a rule of thumb that I think should be adhered to. What is it about Wikis that attracts these kinds of autists is something I still struggle to understand.

 

[CtiM]

It's what I've always believed and said. Anything lolcow related that has to do with Wikis, Wikipedia or some kind of Wikia is almost guaranteed to be autistic as fuck and Bernstein does not disappoint in the slightest and shows great potential already. It's become a rule of thumb that I think should be adhered to. What is it about Wikis that attracts these kinds of autists is something I still struggle to understand.

Really? The sonic thing is way harder to explain. Spending all your time editing wikis gives you something to do obsessively about topics you obsess over, all while not having to be at all social.

ETA: has anyone had a dive into the editing history of the sonic wikipedia page? That's got to be fucking magical.

 

[AnOminous]

Angry mad guy is angry and mad.