Talk:Vandalism

Basis for a future rewrite

Vandalism is an act of cultural violence, much like the raping of women. It always has justifications— if you ask the vandal: they may be religious, social, political, artistic. The justifications are interesting in themselves and all need subsections, but they don't affect the main entry. Much material has been suppressed here (see History) and needs to be more neutrally re-evaluated. Recently Wikipedia material may have been needlessly suppressed as "plagiarized," simply because it appears at Wiki mirror sites, I believe. Wetman 00:37, 14 Sep 2004 (UTC)

(Needless to say, the cautious reader will be aware that it was not I who reverted this chuckleheaded article.) For a familiar denial of the descriptive assessment that vandalism is an act of cultural violence, (as is rape, in fact), see the following note of TheGrza. People who imagine a distinction between Vandalism (capitalized) and vandalism (lowercase) aren't in the habit of reading printed history or sociology. Would someone please put a disambiguating notice at the head that this entry does not concern the actual Vandals of the 5th century? An adult discussion of political-religious vandalism might begin by mentioning the defaced monuments of Akhnaten and the wave of vandalism that swept the Roman Empire in the wake of the Theodosian decrees. That's, um, a hint.19:28, 19 Sep 2004 (UTC)

(email to Wetman, posted here, where it is more generally useful) Any page that deals with the topic of vandalism must take into account the other reasons beyond pointless destruction that inspire such acts. To compare them to "rapists" is ludicrious and insulting, especially to those who use it as an artform and a public forum. I appreciate

that the article was possibly slanted to include this opinion, and I apologize. I always try to do my best to keep Wikipedia from containing any bias and I didn't truly cover the other side. To whitewash all vandalism as "rape" ,as you put it, shows the opposite bias.

Response to the rewrite

The article was in shambles, rambling back and forth with no real direction and including maybe the worst possible picture I have yet seen in a Wikipedia article. I agree that it was slanted toward the point of view that vandalism isn't wrong and I suppose that was me just trying to be objective and going too far. The article should not have been reverted to its originial form, however, without taking into account the work and research I have done on this page, but reshaped with your own attempt to bring objectivity to the process. As for the subsections, I do not believe that they constitute their own article because, sans Graffiti, they do not have enough information that is unique to their existence e.g. an article on vandalism in the form of "stenciling" would appear to be a stub with all reasonable information included. These other POV on vandalism should be recognized by those who may find your comparison to rape to be not only insulting, but biased and extreme, with no real connection to the work itself. As for the suppression of material, it doesn't seem to make sense in the context of this article. There was information that was taken verbatim from another webpage (NOT a mirror) and I deleted it and rewrote the information into the story in a non-plagiarized way. The only material in any way "suppressed" was the article I wrote being tossed to the winds for no other reason then the lack of willingness of Wikipedians to contribute pieces to articles rather than revert them to their former embarassing selves.
-- 10:34, Sep 19, 2004 (UTC)

But, wait! There's more...

The idea that because there has been large scale and important historical vandalism is important, and the idea of vandalism being, as you described it, "Cultural Violence" is another important idea that I agree should be in the article. My only point is that the article was nothing more than incomplete and by its incompletion biased, a regrettable situation. The article should be rewritten but with NPOV, taking into account the different types of vandalism, not just your "cultural violence". --TheGrza 22:03, Sep 19, 2004 (UTC)

My point is simply that all entrries must begin with the historic and central meaning, in this case of vandalism' --then it may move on to modern extensions of the term. But to argue whether vandalism is cultural violence (as rape is) or not-- well, I haven't the inclination... But, as I said, it always has justifications— Wetman 08:52, 25 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I am sorry, TheGrza

I'm sorry TheGrza - my browser was having a hard time connecting to wikipedia and I ended up doing what I didn't mean to do. Could anyone please rollback my edit? (12:22, 21 Sep 2004 62.29.254.81 (reverted changes by TheGrza)) I could put it back to TheGrza's version but I don't want to clutter the history. Thanks and please accept my apologies.

This picture probably not appropriate

Is the current picture (Graffitiforvandalismarticle.jpg) really "graffiti vandalism"? Are we positive that it's vandalism and not a work of art, drawn with permission, on the side of a building? In any case it's not a great illustration of "typical" graffiti vandalism. There were plenty of other pictures on the Melbourne site that would qualify. I'll volunteer to pick one (with the aim of showing that something was vandalized) if someone can attest that they gave permission to post other pictures from the site. Tempshill 20:48, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Good point. A new caption is more accurate, I hope. But add examples of clear vandalism. Wetman 23:03, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I was the one who got the picture from the folks over at Melbourne Graffiti and if you'll notice the grass at the bottom and the door on the right side of the picture, that is a warehouse. I picked that particular one because it is graffiti vandalism and it looks better then most of their other pictures.

--[[User:TheGrza|TheGrza]] 04:25, Nov 30, 2004 (UTC)

Closeinch's link(s)

What do you mean the Sayville link is "Spam" That is an interesting article. In addition, there are no other links. The page that links to vandalism is appropriate relevant. It is NOT spam. (Posted by User:Closeinch2)

That link, like the others you've been adding to various pages (such as Prostitution), is utterly worthless. Aside from being short, there are no references, no attempt at context or coherence, and contains some pretty strong allegations. It calls Teddy Roosevelt and Melissa Joan Hart vandals, the latter simply because (as a child) she "broke a thermometer and didn't tell the teacher". The images have all been ripped from other places, also unsourced, and the page (you) even state the images are not of the actual events. All of your links look to be complete bunk: I challenge anyone (other than yourself) to point out something useful in any of them. We're trying to build an encyclopedia here, not a joke rag.

As for the link not being spam, it certainly qualifies as spam once one considers the edits under your current username, the edits under your previous username, and the edits under one of your IPs, and the edits under another one of your IPs. There's at least one other IP you've been editing under, your sole contributions being the addition of your "Sayville hisotry" links, and the insertion of questionable references: I'm also not the one reverting these (e.g., see [1]). Please understand that Wikipedia is not a vehicle for self-promotion, nor is it a repository of external links. If there's something of value in the links you're trying to insert, why not integrate that information into Wikipedia rather than link to it externally? -- Hadal 04:53, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Poll: What version of "Vandalism" article do you prefer?

Please dont vandalise this poll. You may add as poll option your favorite version of the vandalism article and vote for it. Please do not erase votes.

Current Version

1. Faethon387 14:16, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Initial version

An Article Version in the spirit of the Vandals; Cruel and hostile to any artistic jpegs pictures, a version willful of destruction and defacement.

1. Acusilaus 11:48, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

This is an ex-Faethon account. This account is no longer public Faethon40 13:37, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Correct, because somebody has gone in and changed the password to the account. --Michael Snow 18:15, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Incorrectly?

"The term refers to the Germanic Vandals, who since the 17th century were incorrectly thought to have ruthlessly sacked the city of Rome in 455."

So the Vandals did NOT sack Rome in 455? Because their article seems to indicate otherwise, as does the main page...

That claim seems to have been added in a more detailed form in this edit, but the explanation has been lost in subsequent copyediting. This page backs up the claim that they didn't actually sack the city, they just took everything of value (big difference). I guess both pages need some editing, and references. sjorford →•← 12:17, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Abu Simbel

Vandalism? Ritual defacement? Earthquake, wasn't it? –Hajor 29 June 2005 15:01 (UTC)

Grza

Hi- If you revert a legitimate edit, you need to give some sort of rationale. (You blanked my sentence on the toilet papering of yards). Maybe you are correct and the sentence doesn't belong there, but that's not the point. When you just blank stuff out, with out giving any sort of reason, it just makes your Wikipedia collaborators angry. ike9898 June 29, 2005 17:45 (UTC)

First, toilet papering houses is a public nuisance not vandalism. It isn't destruction of property, as the sentence before your addition describes vandalism, and makes no sense in the context it was added. Please read the article before you make additions so you can be sure your edits are worthwhile.--TheGrza July 1, 2005 00:55 (UTC)

Edit request on 18 July 2012

I want to add an extra word between the two words includes and criminal damage the word unlawful.

should vandalism on Wikipedia be removed at the top of the page?

It is already in cybervandalism and it is not a policy. 103.205.247.244 (talk) 08:09, 19 December 2024 (UTC)

The italicised WP:HATNOTE line at the top of the article is to help people who are looking for the Wikipedia:Vandalism policy page, and have arrived at this article by typing "vandalism" into the search bar. It's a useful link to have. Belbury (talk) 09:09, 19 December 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 29 December 2024

Vandalized shooting stand in Germany

Please change 'stand' to 'ladder stand' in this part of the article under WP:COMMONNAME.

2404:160:A022:3201:A08D:46FF:FEDA:EC64 (talk) 06:40, 29 December 2024 (UTC)

 Done – Anne drew 23:37, 29 December 2024 (UTC)