What happens if you let this go is that valued contributors feel isolated and quit because
we seem indifferent to the attacks and harassment which is being made. These folks signed
up to edit an encyclopedia not for battle.
Fred
-----Original Message-----
From: Sheldon Rampton [mailto:sheldon@prwatch.org]
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2007 09:15 AM
To: wikien-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] Another "BADSITES" controversy
Fred Bauder wrote:
This sort of thing, banning links to external
sites, if done at
all, needs to be limited to sites that extend their activities
beyond criticism of Wikipedia to actions that hurt individual
Wikipedia users. The blog seems to focus on publicizing Will
Beback's real name which she got from ED. She is offended at his
interactions with her when she edits.
Actually, banning links to external sites should not be done AT ALL.
I don't care if the external site in question is run by someone who
has a personal dungeon where they flay Wikipedia users with flaming
razors. Banning links to their site is just bad policy, no matter
what they are doing. If they are doing something ILLEGAL that "hurts
individual Wikipedia users," they can be prosecuted for it in an
actual court of law, but banning links to their site just turns
otherwise sensible Wikipedians into stupid bureaucrats and makes
things worse. It also invites the question, "What makes Wikipedia so
damn special?" As the essay that was recently posted here points out,
Wikipedia has no problem linking to Nazi websites and a host of other
sites that promote violence, hurt people and break the law. It's
ridiculous and embarrassing to have a policy that says "we don't care
who else you hurt as long as you don't hurt Wikipedians." Finally,
the question of what it means to "hurt" someone is impossible to
define adequately for the purpose of making this policy practical --
especially since some people can be very thin-skinned about criticism.
This is the sort of situation where I think it would be good if Jimbo
stepped in and played God to put an end to this nonsense.
--------------------------------
| Sheldon Rampton
| Research director, Center for Media & Democracy (
www.prwatch.org)
| Author of books including:
| Friends In Deed: The Story of US-Nicaragua Sister Cities
| Toxic Sludge Is Good For You
| Mad Cow USA
| Trust Us, We're Experts
| Weapons of Mass Deception
| Banana Republicans
| The Best War Ever
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