Rome Viharo

Rome Viharo (User:RomeViharo) is a disgruntled ex-Wikipedia editor who was banned and then created an entire website named to pointlessly complain about his ban and whine about "harassment". Although complaining of being harassed, Viharo does the exact same thing, and has doxed Wikipedia editors on his website, while also spreading unfounded allegations (e.g. skeptics create articles on Wikipedia by receiving PayPal cash-payments,“We’ll never stop!” says Wikipedia editor, claims they’re paid by a “prominent skeptic” (November 21, 2017) Wikipedia, We Have a Problem (archived from November 30, 2017). or RationalWiki "is gas lighting, lying, & covering up cross platform harassment"RationalWiki is gas lighting, lying, & covering up platform wide harassment (April 8, 2018) Wikipedia, We Have a Problem (archived from April 8, 2018).) and the Guerilla Skepticism conspiracy theory. The forum banned him for making these baseless claims.
Prior to his antics on Wikipedia, Viharo trolled online message-boards and forums, also resulting in bans. His various internet usernames include Bubblefish, PillyM, WWHP, Tumbleman, 23canaries23canaries(2010) Reddit. (suspended in 201723canaries Reddit (archived from 3 Dec 2017 04:10:38 UTC). on Reddit) and hoofish.David Gerard vs. the blockchain, an emerging wiki war (June 2017) Hacker News (archived from 14 Jun 2017 12:39:52 UTC).RationalWiki’s “drinking games” (June 25, 2017) Wikipedia, We Have a Problem (archived from January 18, 2019). In April 2018, Viharo appeared on the Gary Null Show to spread nonsense and misinformation about skeptics on Wikipedia and RationalWiki; Null is an alternative medicine quack.The Gary Null Show - 04.12.18 (April 12, 2018) The Gary Null Show. 
Viharo's website, "Wikipedia We Have A Problem", was suspended by GoDaddy in early 2020, the domain no longer exists.WikipediaWehaveAProblem.com WikipediaWehaveAProblem.com is for sale HugeDomains (archived from 20 Mar 2020 07:36:48 UTC). As of December 2021, Viharo continues to create sockpuppets on Wikipedia and promote conspiracy theories on forums that a group of skeptics are out to target him.Aiki Wiki, Wikipedia We Have a Problem update, pt 1 by Rome Viharo (Dec 18, 2021) Medium.User contributions for Rome Viharo 2021 Wikipedia.
Viharo considers himself an online moral crusader who fights "misinformation" and "fake news"I just published Troll farms and the broadcast of misinformation. pt 1 https://link.medium.com/D77nMDbGrmb @maflewis by Rome Viharo (1:02 PM - 31 Dec 2021) Twitter (archived from December 31, 2021). — despite his promotion of those same things.
==OS 012/AL 012/Aiki Wiki==
Sometime before 2003, Viharo created OS 012, based on this bit of tri-positional logic:OS 012 BASIC Version 4.0 Global Dialectic for the Internet (08/23/2008) High Intelligence (archived from October 26, 2013).
While this isn't necessarily a stupid idea, it was and is entirely unclear how (or if) Viharo planned to actually implement this idea. It also reads a lot like the labels on "Dr." Bronner's Soap.
That didn't stop Viharo from trying to spread this self-described "OS 012 meme" "virally".The Discussions High Intelligence (archived from April 11, 2005). Viharo even kept a log of his activity. In practice, that meant picking fights with other users on forums and trying to convince people that their views were simultaneously right, wrong, and neutral — all for "world peace". Apparently this "meme" was quite successful, because Viharo claimed that "[t]he exact number of online users spreading [OS 012] is impossible to determine, however online records suggest a figure no less than 50,000." Despite his boasts, he was not above asking for money to spread the idea.About OS 012 High Intelligence (archived from 22 Nov 2013 03:03:48 UTC). "This project needs intellectual and financial resource, if you are interested in this, please contact OS012 AT zeitghostmedia.com" Which, we're probably supposed to think, is right, wrong, and neutral all at once.
Viharo called OS 012 the "global dialectic for personal interaction on the Internet"OS 012 Basic: Presentation for General Audiences (08/23/2008) High Intelligence (archived from April 7, 2012). and claimed that it "resolves all conflict and war" as well as "increase thier own intelligence".OS 012 and this community by Viharo as "Bubblefish (March 19, 2003 at 15:47:01) Creativity.net. Indeed, it was "a highly effective dialectic, completly undefeated".[http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41989 Viharo posting as "Bubblefish" (17th July 2005, 12:27 PM) International Skeptics Forum. "hello. Nice to see a section to share links. I am new here, and my interests here are regarding a possible challenge to Randi and Co regarding 'Qi', as i am working with a Theoritical Physicist formally from Cal Tech who can manipulate 'Qi' and can also explain it through a hypothesis he put together using QM to explain this mysterious concept. So! A challenge is forthcoming, and as soon as I get the time, i will introduce more of this topic. But until then, I thought perhaps some of you would enjoy my favorite link on the net, and a perspective that I adopt rather effeciently. http://www.highintelligence.com" Unsurprisingly, some of Viharo's claims went so far as to clash with known physical laws.
In 2014, Viharo re-branded OS 012 as AL 012,AL 0 1 2 is not a programming language. 0 , 1, and 2 are just categories for assigning distinct contexts relative to three truth values. … by Rome Viharo (23:25, 21 January 2014 UTC) RationalWiki. supposedly symbolizing its mysterious algorithmic property. Sometime later, he again re-branded it as Aiki Wiki,Aiki Wiki (archived from February 24, 2015). a "platform for online collaborative consensus building and publishing".About Aiki Wiki (archived from April 16, 2015). In this regard, Aiki Wiki appears to take a different approach than a traditional wiki (like this one): while most wikis are focused on publishing some particular body of information, and developing some consensus-building process to facilitate that goal, it appears that Aiki Wiki would start with a consensus-building procedure and publish what comes of that procedure.
As of 2021, Viharo has yet again rebranded the concept as "non-dual consensus building".An Introduction Into Non-Dual Consensus Building by Rome Viharo (Oct 9, 2021) Medium.
==Google consciousness==
In 2011, Viharo and business partner Maf Lewis delivered a talk at TEDx that discussed whether the popular search engine Google is sentient.Google consciousness | Maf Lewis and Rome Viharo | TEDxCardiff TEDx Talks (Jun 9, 2011) Youtube'.Overview : Google Consciousness by Pete Mandik (July 2, 2011) Alternate Minds (archived from July 30, 2014). Although the talk was publicized as a "proposal that Google has a form of consciousness",TEDxCARDIFF: Google Consciousness - Maf Lewis, Rome Viharo (2011-06-10) TEDx Talks. "In this talk, Social Media strategists and developers Rome Viharo and Maf Lewis reveal the likelihood that Google's search algorithm may already be sentient, what it means, and what it represents as a metaphor for collective problem solving." Viharo states that he is neither promoting nor denying that Google is conscious, but discussing whether accepting philosopher Daniel Dennett's ideas would mean that Google is conscious.Overview by Rome Viharo, Google Consciousness (archived from February 18, 2014). "Let’s first define what we mean by ‘Google Consciousness’. Do we mean that Google’s servers are potentially sentient? No, that is not what we are saying (but we are neither refuting that possibility, it’s just not what we are suggesting)". This is not an absurd idea in itself, but Viharo didn't stop there.
Viharo also discussed the idea that social media could be revolutionary. While most of us agree that social media has had a big impact, Viharo went a bit farther than most, saying, "we will eventually see social media replace government as we know it today," and that Egypt could be the first civilization to do this, arguing that "in principle, a few of their citizens, a few of their students could jump online using something like Google Labs and Wikipedia." One might observe that, as of 2013, fewer than half of Egyptians used the Internet, and in 2011 not even two-fifths did, so the replacing of government with social media would have amounted to some serious disenfranchisement.Internet users (per 100 people) (2013) The World Bank (archived from November 10, 2013).
Perhaps most worryingly, Viharo devoted portions of his TEDx Talk to shamanism and the allegedly magical properties of ayahuasca.
In order to promote interest in his TEDx Talk, Viharo pursued a marketing strategy of deliberately angering people on internet forums.Google Consciousness WTF?? is this real? (Jul 02, 2011) The Bad Science Forum (archived from August 14, 2014). First post as PillyM: "Hey bad science, this is doing my head in. I watched a TED talk that talks about Google becoming conscious… and it seems like BS, but I can't tell. Is this real? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGF9NbPFfRo | Later post as PillyM: "by the way, PLEASE continue to post to this thread and help me viral market the TED talk I gave on Google Consciousness, thanks! I can't believe HOW MANY views came from this forum! i think if i keep doing the ol tit for tat with you guys here, I could get another 1k views on the vid. Come on ya ol stuffy grumps - give your pal Bubblefish, Tumbleman a roll will ya? come at me with something GOOD and make sure it's funny." | Later post as PillyM: "lol, this thread is far from a debate. I honestly admitted I am trolling in the lion's den :)"TED: Google Consciousness Viharo posting as WWHP (4th July 2011, 12:49 PM) International Skeptics Forum. "the 'marketing' I am doing is more in the discussion,not the title. I am completely open about how I do this - see - i know that this community and a few characters on this thread will continue to post ad hom and attack ol fun loving bubblefish, and will find any excuse to make him wrong on just about anything - and since I enjoy turning win lose into a mutual win win, i use these attacks to keep the thread bumped to the top of the page for weeks, thus attracting attention to the very talk I am promoting." In 2011, Viharo created a blog about Google Consciousness to attempt to further spread the idea.GoogleConsciousness.com (archived from November 17, 2011).
Viharo has since classed the talk as a "creative work", which apparently means that none of his statements in the talk can be taken seriously (Essay:Rome Viharo revisits Rational Wiki, a critique#Creative works.).
==The "wiki wars"==
===Rupert Sheldrake===
Viharo stated that he was "a known 'defender of Rupert Sheldrake' in his TEDx and Wikipedia controversies" but that was "different [from] … 'promoting' [Rupert Sheldrake's] views, or even defending his views".Talk:Rome Viharo by Rome Viharo (20:04, 27 April 2015 UTC) RationalWiki. However, in September 2013, Viharo (then operating on Wikipedia as "Tumbleman") questioned whether Rupert Sheldrake's "morphic resonance" is pseudoscience:Talk:Rupert Sheldrake by Rome Viharo as Tumbleman (18:37, 24 September 2013 UTC) Wikipedia.
Viharo completely ignored Wikipedia's policy on because he claims to be agnostic about everything.
Although claiming not personally to support Sheldrake's theories, Viharo has posted that Sheldrake's critique of "the scientific materialistic philosophy" and his other ideas are "worth spreading".Conversation: The debate about Rupert Sheldrake's talk by Rome Viharo (Mar 19 2013) TED (archived from 30 Jan 2014 15:51:23 UTC). Despite this, according to Viharo this doesn't qualify as promoting or defending Sheldrake's views.
In what could be termed a classic case of flogging a dead horse, a video posted by Viharo on YouTube in January 2015 portrays his Aiki Wiki platform facilitating all the revisions to the Rupert Sheldrake Wikipedia article that Viharo unsuccessfully argued for during his incarnation as "Tumbleman".Aiki Wiki: Teaser
===The "skeptical conspiracy" and GSOW===
In 2013, Viharo joined Wikipedia and attempted to edit articles. When his edits were rejected, Viharo adopted Sheldrake's claims that a conspiracy of "ideologue" skeptics were targeting him for abuse. In an interview with parapsychology advocate Alex Tsakiris, Viharo said that there was "definitely a conspiracy" of skeptics who were personally targeting him. He characterized the struggle as "a war of ideas", and compared it to "Americans and Nazis" fighting against each other in World War II.236. Rome Viharo, Wikipedia, We Have a Problem by Alex Tsakiris (January 14, 2014) Skeptiko.
Viharo posts about Wikipedia's claimed abuses on his blog, .Wikipedia We Have a Problem (archived from April 19, 2015). Although he blamed Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia (the group that Sheldrake claims is conspiring against him) when first posting as "Tumbleman", Viharo has since retracted his claim that the group caused the incident; however, he still considers the skeptics on Sheldrake's page to be a "group" of skeptics.Guerilla Skepticism on Wikipedia or just Wikipedia Skepticism? (2013) Wikipedia We Have a Problem (archived from April 6, 2015). "No matter what group it was or if it was just a ‘kismet of skepticacopia’ who they were or what group is the superficial component of the problem. It’s like confusing a 7th day adventist who knocks at my door with a Jehovah Witness, mistaken or not I still had to get out of my chair and listen to a sermon."
Viharo attended the 2014 Electric Universe conference to (anonymously) deliver a presentation in which he claimed abuse by "the skeptic activist movement".Electric Universe 2014 Conference (September 10, 2013 - 12:22 pm) The Thunderbolts Project. "SURPRISE SPEAKER — “ANONYMOUS” - ‘Wikipedia we have a problem’ is the story of ‘The Tumbleman’ – a Wikipedia editor who attempted to edit an article on Wikipedia to a more neutral point of view and received harassment and personal attacks from ‘activist editors’ in the skeptic activist movement, finding himself banned indefinitely from Wikipedia instead."
However, no such conspiracy of skeptics appears to exist.
Viharo now dedicates a lot of his time obsessing over the Wikipedia editors involved in banning his sockpuppets. A section on his website "Editors and Admins Involved" lists 10 editors, who find themselves doxed with ad hominem and rumours posted about them.Editors and Admins Involved, Wikipedia We Have a Problem (archived from December 30, 2013). Viharo has also requested personal info about the editors on the Skeptiko forum.Goblin Face and email harassment, anyone know more about these people? by Rome Viharo (Jan 10, 2016) Skeptiko Forum.
Viharo has branded these efforts as "case studies" into Wikipedia.Case studies Wikipedia, We Have a Problem (archived from June 17, 2017).
===Victim complex===
Viharo has repeatedly claimed on his website that he has been "cyberbullied" and "harassed".Harassment Case: Harassment from Wikipedia and Rational Wiki editors by Rome Viharo, Heart Mob (archived from 4 Mar 2016 12:38:16 UTC). He has compared himself to victims of rape.Do some people just deserve it? by Rome Viharo (December 31, 2013) Wikipedia We Have A Problem (archived from February 15, 2014).
For example, Viharo claims that he thought he was editing anonymously on Wikipedia (because he was using the username "Tumbleman") but "was outed" by another user "within three days of arrive on Sheldrake's article".Rational Wiki, Wikipedia editor comparison by Rome Viharo (April 22, 2015) Wikipedia We Have A Problem (archived from May 4, 2015). However, in his first edit on the talkpage of Rupert Sheldrake's article, he linked to his userpage as "Rome Viharo",Talk:Rupert Sheldrake by Tumbleman|Rome Viharo (20:02, 31 August 2013 UTC) Wikipedia. though he removed his name a minute later.Talk:Rupert Sheldrake by Tumbleman (20:02, 31 August 2013 UTC) Wikipedia. While Viharo claims this was accidental, it's difficult to "accidentally" edit Preferences, edit the signature field, add one's real name, and save changes.
==Wikipedia We Have A Problem==
Wikipedia We Have A Problem was a fake news website that Viharo used to publish misinformation, made-up stories and wild allegations about Wikipedia and RationalWiki admins. It went offline in early 2020, although Viharo later copied some of its contents to his personal blog.
Viharo, originally editing as "Tumbleman" was permanently blocked from Wikipedia in October 2013 for disruption and sockpuppetry.User contributions for Tumbleman Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Tumbleman/Archive Wikipedia. He was blocked for a year from RationalWiki in January 2014. Disgruntled, he created the website Wikipedia We Have A Problem, to protest against his bans and spread a paranoid conspiracy theory that a were responsible for cyberbullying him and getting him kicked off these wikis. No evidence for the conspiracy theory appears to exist, nor was Viharo harassed. He was banned on Wikipedia for disrupting, trolling and causing a flame war on the Rupert Sheldrake article, as well as using multiple accounts; for similar shenanigans on RationalWiki.
In November 2013, a user named "David1234" created the Rome Viharo RationalWiki entry after Viharo's name was briefly mentioned on Rupert Sheldrake's RW article. Viharo to claimed the article was created by a RationalWiki sysop, who he claims was an editor involved in his ban from Wikipedia a month prior. No evidence is presented for the allegation. Viharo also claims, without evidence, that the skeptic was involved in editing his RW article; Farley denies having any involvement, yet Viharo persisted in accusing Farley of having made edits on his RationalWiki article. Farley responded in January 2018:
Viharo's obsession with trying to connect RationalWiki editors to his Wikipedia ban stems from a delusion the same group of skeptics have harassed him on both wikis. 
On Twitter, Viharo has spammed an article from his website named "The Attack of David Gerard's 50ft Troll Farm".You [ussportsradio forgot to include the source of that "troll farm" quote : it's by Rome Viharo, see … rationalwiki.org/wiki/Rome_Viharo] by @R0b1999 (11:50 PM · Feb 4, 2018) Twitter (archived from 6 Oct 2022 02:31:34 UTC).Is your definition of trolling just people disagreeing with you on the Internet? by @ross_stalker (16:34 - 1. March 2018) Twitter (archived from December 18, 2018).
==ISHAR==
By December 2013, Viharo shifted his focus to Deepak Chopra, confronting skeptic Tim Farley on Twitter to claim organized skeptics were guilty of "abuse" in editing Chopra's Wikipedia biography.#askdeepak Why was your employee editing your biography on #Wikipedia in clear violation of conflict-of-interest rules? @DeepakChopra by Tim Farley (11 Dec 2013) Twitter (archived from 6 May 2015 18:25:47 UTC).
In 2014, Viharo created Deepak Chopra's ISHAR and became its director of operations. In an interview with the Huffington Post, he explained ISHAR's origins:
 
 
On this article's talk page and elsewhere, Viharo has defended his decision to help Chopra by insisting that he does not support Chopra's ideas, that merely helping Chopra with the technical stuff is not an endorsement, that he was just doing his job, and that building a platform designed to be Chopra's "Woo-pedia" wasn't helping Chopra promote anything. However, on Wikipedia, Viharo used a sockpuppet account ("ChopraMedia", later renamedWikipedia:Changing username/Simple: Difference between revisions by SAS81 (01:54, 11 April 2014 UTC) Wikipedia.Changing username/Simple by Deskana (04:19, 12 April 2014) Wikipedia. to "SAS81") to attempt to get other users to remove skeptical sources from Chopra's Wikipedia article.Talk:Deepak Chopra: Difference between revisions by Rome Viharo as SAS81 (03:08, 28 June 2014 UTC) Wikipedia. "For every scientist out there that you can find a quote of that is unfavorable to Dr. Chopra, I can find another one that is favorable."Talk:Deepak Chopra: Difference between revisions "That's not an unsupported claim, that is integrative medicine." All SAS81's posts to Talk:Deepak Chopra by Rome Viharo as SAS81 (02:01, 20 May 2014 UTC) Wikipedia. He was then discovered and permabanned, because he was using a new account to evade a previous ban.Wikipedia, ISHAR update by Rome Viharo (Dec 14, 2014) Skeptiko Forum (archived from June 3, 2016).Suspected sockpuppets (08 December 2014) Wikipedia. Sockpuppet investigations page; block noted at bottom.Am I really a sock puppet? How Wikipedia editors control editing permissions. by Rome Viharo (April 27, 2015) Wikipedia, We Have a Problem (archived from May 4, 2015). Viharo's own confession to four different socks used to evade the ban, though he refuses to call them socks. He nonetheless insists he "won the wiki war" (emphasis in original),No oversight on Rational Wiki for publishing slander, has a block for users confronting it. by Rome Viharo (May 31, 2015) Wikipedia, We Have a Problem (archived from November 16, 2015). a wording which should tell you something about his goals: not to build a reliable encyclopedia, but forcefully push his boss's ideas — an activity he was allegedly paid by Chopra himself to do:
Viharo later claimed on his website that he was fired from his director position at ISHAR by the president of the Chopra Foundation,Update: The ISHAR project by Rome Viharo (January 9, 2015) Wikipedia, We Have a Problem (archived from April 5, 2015). and ISHAR's website confirms that he no longer held that post.ISHAR Boards Integrative Studies Historical Archive and Repository (archived from February 13, 2015).
==Ban from Wikipediocracy==
The forum Wikipediocracy banned Rome Viharo's account WWHP in December 2021 for whining about non-existent harassment and spreading unsubstantiated claims about skeptics targeting him; his thread was deleted but a webpage capture still exists.Re: Wikipedia We Have a Problem, Aiki Wiki update (Dec 19, 2021) Wikipediocracy (archived from 19 Dec 2021 04:44:35 UTC). Immediately after, Viharo complained on another forum, Wikipedia Sucks, about his ban and described Wikipediocracy as a "troll farm" participating in harassment and spreading misinformation.Aiki Wiki, Wikipedia We Have a Problem update by Rome Viharo as WWHP (Dec 18, 2021 8:11 pm) Wikipedia Sucks (archived from October 6, 2022).
Viharo labels any website a "troll farm" that has banned him and not tolerated his antics.
Despite complaining of misinformation — Viharo joined Wikipedia Sucks to post misinformation about Wikipedia skeptic editors he has been in a feud with since 2013. This includes making incorrect claims and dubious insinuations about Tim Farley's Wikipedia account activity:
==RationalWiki==
In a minor climax of his long-standing desire to stab at RationalWiki for the heinous crime of simply documenting his many shenaningans, on the 8th of June 2016, Viharo claimed via Twitter that "This year I'm going to be initiating legal recourses" against RationalWiki, () alleging — you guessed it — "harassment and slander". And just to set the record straight that we're in the wrong to count him among our top cranks of the internet, he made sure to point out that "The internet is waking up".Rational Wiki continues to publish slander and harassment. This year I'm going to be initiating legal recourses. The web is waking up. by Rome Viharo (2:07 PM - 8 Jun 2016) Twitter (archived from 9 Jun 2016 23:35:19 UTC).
Viharo now believes that "Rationalwiki is publishing misinformation to damage control their involvement".Rationalwiki is publishing misinformation to damage control their involvement by Rome Viharo, Wikipedia We Have a Problem (archived from June 17, 2017).
==Stopped clock==
To his eternal credit, at least he doesn't support Trump.powerful imagery, indeed. by Rome Viharo (7:44 PM · Mar 20, 2017) Twitter (archived from 28 Nov 2021 17:59:25 UTC).Donald Trump, America's First Fake President by Rome Viharo (3:07 AM · Feb 18, 2017) Twitter (archived from 28 Nov 2021 17:59:52 UTC).if you deny Trump is a bully, you're either naive or deceptive. by Rome Viharo (3:20 AM · Feb 12, 2017) Twitter (archived from 28 Nov 2021 18:01:12 UTC).If you support POTUS bullying speech and justify it as political power, shame on you by Rome Viharo (3:20 AM · Feb 12, 2017) Twitter (archived from 28 Nov 2021 18:01:24 UTC). See? We can be fair and balanced.
==See also==
*Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia
==External links==
*Wikipedia We Have a Problem (archived copy from 2019)
*Wikipedia Sucks
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Conspiracy theorists
Category:Doxers
Category:Living people
Category:Pissed at us
Category:Pseudoscience promoters
Category:Quora
Category:Trolls