From: Rob <gamaliel8(a)gmail.com>
Reply-To: English Wikipedia <wikien-l(a)Wikipedia.org>
To: "English Wikipedia" <wikien-l(a)wikipedia.org>
Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] Nazi userboxes
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 16:47:16 -0500
On 11/30/06, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Is everyone displaying any of the userboxes on
these pages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:GRBerry/German_userbox_solution#Political…
going to banned?
The only reason I can see for treating Nazis differently from anyone
else is because people don't like Nazis. It boils down to banning
someone for being unpopular.
If Wikipedia were based in Germany, it would be an obvious ban for
breaking the law, but Wikipedia is under US jurisdiction, and the US
doesn't have any such law.
Do you believe that the Nazi party is no different from any of those
other parties, or is this just a cheap rhetorical device? Be honest.
Do you also not see the difference between free speech in the public
sphere and in the private sphere? While the principles of and laws
regarding free speech should of course apply to Nazis like they do to
everyone else, Wikipedia is not obligated by those principles and laws
to provide a soapbox for Nazis.
Isn't it pretty far outside of our purview to be providing a soapbox for
some controversial political parties and not others? Why do we allow any of
this crap? What justifies allowing people to proclaim their affiliation
with one party and not another? I'll agree that Nazi is beyond the pale,
but where, precisely, is "the pale"?
GTB
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