First - I don't know anything about the particulars, but thought I'd
give you my take on the messages Kils left for Eloquence. There seems
to be no question from what Kils said that Viking is a user name that
was made up for a group of students and offspring of Kils to use. I
gathered from Kils' posting that this was being used for a possible
student project. In that vein, Viking and Kils were worried that
younger people might wander into the site, practicing editing, web use,
etc, and come across some of our articles not usually found in
encyclopedias and more often found in specialty areas. Some of those
articles really could be considered inappropriate for non-adults - and I
think that may be something we should consider, an advisory or
something?
Anyway, Kils and co thought that the rampant removal of "pornographic"
materials was necessary and within their rights. When the "ban Viking"
thing flared up, Kils killed Viking and removed all traces. One of
Kils' reasons for all this was that he had a reputation to protect and
didn't want it connected to pornography. Now, he has "kind of"
apologized; At least, that's how I understand all of this. Also, From
reading comments on Erik's page, the Vikings would like to do the same
kind of trace wiping from the German version. If I've summarized badly,
please correct me - I certainly won't be offended.
My response to this?
First, we should realize that the wikipedia is a site that might be seen
as many (reading the main page) as an educational site. I don't know if
child safety filters are going to catch it. I also think there are
articles on the site that are certainly more education than necessary
for kids (Prince Albert Piercing and Fisting come to mind) - and I think
that we should do the socially responsible thing and post that
somewhere. We certainly don't want an attack by the moral minority, and
as yucky as I find some of those articles, I don't think they should be
removed unless the project is severely redefined.
On Kils specifically, I think his actions show that, although his
intentions may have been honorable, he clearly does not quite "get" the
spirit and the intent of the wikipedia. Moreover, he used his sysop
powers in a way that we all (I think) find unacceptable. And he has not
guaranteed that that behavior would stop. So I would say that he should
go back to being a user. It removes the temptation for misuse, however
well-intentioned, and gives him the power to say to others that he has
no way of changing content except in a wiki way.
My take on it at least FWIW
Jules