By Erika Icon

YNOT EUROPE – Instead of appealing his recent editorial banishment over alleged porn postings and other infractions of in-house rules, longtime Wikipedia editor Ashley van Haeften resigned his position as chairman of the board for Wikimedia UK, the charity promoting Wikipedia to schools and museums.

In July, a disciplinary committee composed of other Wikipedia senior editors indefinitely suspended van Haeften’s editorial privileges, even though the man’s work previously had been described as “enthusiastic and diligent.” The ban followed accusations that van Haeften had posted links to pornographic websites within a living person’s biography on the iconic online reference. In addition, van Haeften allegedly posted explicit gay bondage images to Wikimedia Commons, which feeds Wikipedia pages. When other editors called van Haeften’s actions into question, he allegedly mounted increasingly personal attacks against them, saying he was a victim of a “homophobic harassment campaign.”

Although he was removed from editorial duties, van Haeften retained his unpaid position as chairman of the Wikimedia UK board, overseeing the charitable organization’s more than £1 million annual budget composed of donations from Wikipedia users. The rest of the board issued a prepared statement indicating he had their complete support.

Nevertheless, what appeared to the public as an abrupt resignation apparently took no one behind the scenes by surprise.

John Davies, chief executive of Wikimedia UK, told the media van Haeften departed the chairmanship because van Haeften didn’t want to cause more rifts in the organization or disrupt the work of the Wikimedia UK community. van Haeften will remain on the board of directors in an at-large position.

Chris Keating, a longtime Wikipedia contributor and editor, replaced van Haeften as chairman.