YNOT EUROPE – Accused of posting pornographic images to Wikipedia’s database and mounting personal attacks against other editors, the chairman of the charitable organization that promotes Wikipedia in the UK has been banned from contributing to the online encyclopedia.

Ashley van Haeften, a longtime Wikipedia editor who was elected to lead the board of directors for Wikimedia UK, has been at odds with senior administrators and rank-and-file contributors for some time about whether pornographic materials and links should be included in Wikipedia.org entries. van Haeften has said he believes omitting relevant materials, regardless their subject, results in an incomplete reference database. Other editors favor censoring entries, especially at a time when the government is considering imposing mandatory content filters to block “offensive” websites, because children use Wikipedia. Under one filtering plan proposed by the British government, adults would need to opt in to the open web in order to view content labeled “adult,” and Wikipedia editors fear pornographic images and links might cause Wikipedia to be blocked.

Wikimedia UK and Wikipedia are separate, but related, organizations. Wikimedia UK, a charity funded by £1 million annually in donations from Wikipedia users, is tasked with promoting the world’s sixth-most-visited website to British universities, museums and other educational organizations. van Haeften serves as a volunteer who receives no salary.

van Haeften’s indefinite ban for “numerous violations of Wikipedia’s norms and policies” sheds public light on internal strife of which few outside Wikepedia previously were aware. His punishment was established by ArbCom, an internal committee that arbitrates disputes among contributors. Among the committee’s findings were that van Haeften uploaded explicit gay and bondage pornography to Wikimedia Commons, which feeds Wikipedia.org, and then engaged in personal vendettas against other contributors who criticized the materials as inappropriate.

van Haeften countered that he was the victim of homophobic harassment. Although ArbCom agreed van Haeften appears to have been harassed, he often failed to differentiate between harassment and good-faith concern about the materials he posted. The committee specified that it did not censure van Haeften for what he posted, but for where he posted it.

Despite his banishment from contributor privileges, van Haeften retained the explicit support of the Wikimedia UK board of directors.

“The board is united in the view that this decision does not affect his role as a trustee of the charity,” the group said in a statement. “His work at Wikimedia UK has always been enthusiastic and diligent. In particular, his knowledge of charity governance, and his ability to bring about consensus at Wikimedia UK’s board meetings, have been particularly valuable.”

van Haeften may appeal his suspension after six months.