Learning from conflict and incivility/Sxeptomaniac

While I was primarily a lurker during the recent conflict, I now have a fairly long history with Moulton and his conflict with several Wikipedia editors.

History

I'm of the opinion that a person can't understand the present, nor understand the direction things are going, without knowing something of the past.

I first came into contact with Moulton at his request for comment on en.WP. I was able to engage him in dialogue on his talk page for a while, in the hopes of helping him out, as it seemed he did have some legitimate issues with the w:Rosalind Picard article.

I then eventually came in contact with him again at the Wikipedia Review forum, which I had previously joined, though was mostly inactive. At that time, I decided it was time to attempt to make some needed changes to the Rosalind Picard article, and was partially successful, after a small edit war. Later on, other editors decided to attempt to finish what I had started at the Picard article, and a major edit war erupted, at which time I and several others came to be accused of "meatpuppetry" on behalf of Moulton.

Honestly, I still have issues with some of the same editors Moulton was in conflict with there, but for my own reasons.

Current conflict

My main contribution during the recent conflict was simply an attempt to help Moulton cool off a little and rethink some of his more disruptive actions. I also made one or two responses to Salmon of Doubt, also encouraging him to avoid unhelpful behavior.

During a current conflict on Wikiversity, Moulton responded to one of the editors he has been in past conflict with using what I can only assume to be her real first name. She removed one of the edits, and Moulton returned it. I am attempting to discuss with Moulton why I feel the behavior is inappropriate, and ended up removing her name from the edits. I strongly dislike editing another's comments, but I felt my history with Moulton made me the best person to do so. This is not yet resolved, so I hope he'll be able to understand where I'm coming from.

Personal opinion

Whatever the intent, I believe those in conflict with Moulton only antagonized him by not approaching him directly, calmly, and civilly. Moulton himself has told me that he frequently tends to charge ahead at full speed in situations where he feels something isn't right.

Unfortunately, both sides have mostly escalated the conflict, tending to portray themselves as innocent victims and the other side as vicious aggressors. Overall, I must admit I usually find I am a bit more sympathetic to Moulton's situation (I think mostly because he has been more open to dialogue, in my experience), but I also believe many of his actions have been inappropriate as well, and he has played a role in escalating the various conflicts as well.