Like others, I was somewhat uncomfortable with the thoughts expressed, especially about feminists not being welcome. However, I would make a couple of comments.

I believe that what I read is an English translation of the original which was presumably written in German. Therefore, it is likely that the chosen English words in the translation might not have the same nuance as the original German words. We should be very careful to not to focus on individual words and phrases but rather focus on the overall sentiment.

I agree that anyone who is passionate about a topic (whether it is trains, vaccination or feminism) can operate very close to the POV/NPOV boundary. And, at times, that passion (particularly if opposed or thwarted) can radicalise people into crusading, where they believe the “rightness” of their cause entitles them to disregard laws and other social norms in the pursuit of their cause.

Wikipedia is a worldwide community. There are some countries in which the equal rights of women are part of our laws, but this is not true in all countries. For those of us women fortunate to live in a country where our rights are enshrined in law, it is easy for us to believe that equality of women is a fundamental principle. But in other countries where the equal rights of women are not part of the laws of that country, feminism may well be regarded as a dangerous point of view threatening societal well-being. Given that, the boundary of POV/NOV in relation to feminist issues is probably pretty blurred when taking a world view of the matter (a comment that can be made about the POV/NPOV boundary in relation to many topics, of course).

So, all of that said, I agree that we should all be here first and foremost because we want to give free access to every single person on the plant to the sum of all human knowledge, and not as feminist crusaders just here “to make our point” or “bend others to our will”.

Having said that, I think you can be a good Wikipedian and a feminist at the same time and I’d like to think I was one of them. As a feminist Wikipedian, I believe I am free to write (as I do) on a range of topics, some of them on topics that are “gendered” (some male, some female) and many “ungendered” topics. I don’t believe being a feminist obligates me to write exclusively on “feminist” or even “female” topics. And, indeed, I think it might be good for all of us to spend time writing on a range of topics outside our particular passions, particularly if your favourite topics are becoming a battleground for whatever reason. If some topic area is making you angry, take some time out and compile a list of fish species for the article on your local river, take some photos of your town hall and public buildings for your hometown article, etc. The sum of all human knowledge is a pretty big topic; there’s always plenty of ways we can add to it, if that is our genuine motivation for being here.

Kerry, about to upload a few hometown photos to Commons (I’ve been having a bit of a bad day J)