Chairman of Wikipedia's UK charity arm banned from editing following 'porn row'

Washington, Aug 2 (ANI): The chairman of a fund-raising arm that promotes Wikipedia in Britain was banned from service 'for violating numerous Wikipedia's norms and policies' following a series of clashes over the inclusion of 'pornography' on the popular online encyclopedia and their inappropriate editing.

Ashley Van Haeften, head of the independent Wikimedia U.K. group, was banned by an arbitration board on July 20 after reports linked him to kinky bondage pornography and a series of edits to that material that violated the firm's policies.

"Ashley Van Haeften, user name Fae has been banned from editing the English language Wikipedia for at least the next six months, after which he can appeal the ban," Fox News quoted Jon Davies, CEO of Wikimedia UK, as saying.

The decision was made by Arbcom, a committee of senior administrators who resolve contributor disputes, after the group found that Van Haeften mounted personal attacks on people with concerns about explicit material, including material he uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons site that was readily accessible by any visitor until it was removed.

Haften, although, defended himself at the board meeting, arguing that he was the target of a homophobic harassment campaign, but he appeared to have acknowledged that he had posted bondage photographs and videos to the service, the report said. (ANI)