Apparently, someone has threatened Geo Swan (T-C-L-K-R-D) with some use of this forum to enact revenge on or intimidate her/him. I think using this forum to "take action" against personal wiki-foes isn't the purpose of the forum, and is highly unethical (but no doubt has been done before).

Additionally, Geo Swan claims that this person threatened him with a lawsuit that would result in her/him to pay "punitive damages".

Geo Swan is referring to the case of this image and the fact that previously, the original uploader (The undertow) requested to have it deleted due to real-life concerns. Geo Swan opposed the deletion, but it is unclear to me if he is saying that The undertow is the one who threatened him, or if it was someone else.

Thoughts?

Geo Swan's objection to that image removal on Commons was ill-advised, not really as dire as the anonymous threat-giver made it out to be.

A person has to get to the Beta M level of unethical slimeball before the pitchforks will be dusted off and sharpened.

Ah yes, the ripples of The Undertow.

This was a total fuck-up from start to finish, further strengthened by silly admin actions.

All this could have been avoided by deleting the image in the first place.

Commons would not have suffered by its removal whereas the subject of the photo could well have suffered by it being in the library.

Once again today I find myself shaking my head from side to side.

On the bright side the fallout of this which landed on AN/U went a long way to distracting the discussing about my unblocking. So that was nice.

According to the Undertow's Commons block log he was banned for "using the email system to abuse other editors" and "making legal threats". See also this message Geo posted to Undertow's Wiki talkpage.

My thoughts are that Geo Swan and The Undertow are both very strange people and seem to be currently inhabiting personal hells of their own devising. I'd genuinely like to say that I find this sort of thing disturbing, but I can't as, dammit, I find it absolutely hilarious. Thanks, guys.

While it may be unreasonable not to delete the image to save the trouble, the request does seem unreasonable. I can't see how it would threaten The undertow's life to have this image up. Keep in mind that he did not upload it describing it as a "gang tattoo", which it isn't, but an homage to the television show, the OC. The "gang" description was apparently added later (I read that somewhere, but have no proof), and then it was used to illustrate a Department of Homeland Security page about gangs. I don't understand Geo Swan's reason for wanting to hold on to the image, but I am not sure how serious the possible threat to The undertow's life that the image may present is to be taken. I tend to think that it may not have been as life-threatening as he presented it.

Disclaimer: I think Geo_Swan has been a generally intelligent editor whose work on the Guantánamo detainees articles I consider valuable (not just "to the encyclopedia!!!", but to the public and internet users in general)

Geo Swan is generally ok, but terribly longwinded and he just never will let go.

Undertow was banned because he sent intimidating wikimail to Dcoetzee. It was abusive, and it included a mention of Dcoetzee's employer.

Curious.

I thought he was an accountant or something, but maybe he's gone and joined the CIA and doesn't want to identified by his tattoos. Or maybe he's undercover in the gangs.

I only know him from his unhealthy obsession with documenting obscure anti-terrorism figures, and the cleanup via MfD of hundreds of "GITMO Prisoner #XXXX" articles he created.

There's still one kicking around in his userspace now; User:Geo Swan/Guantanamo/not ready yet/Pardiss Kebriaei (T-H-L-K-D)