Rich Holton writes:
It seems to me that there are two separate but related
issues
at hand:
- Banning uses who make threats; and
- Banning users due to their professed beliefs or
associations.
For me, the first is beyond question. We even ban users
for
making legal threats. If someone makes a threat to
health,
life, family, safety, or even to privacy, that user
should
be dealt with swiftly and emphatically. Such behavior has
no
place on Wikipedia.
I am in complete agreement.
However, the second is also beyond question -- in the negative. There is no way to reconcile such banning of contributors by POV with Wikipedia's mission and culture. How would we be able to claim NPOV when certain groups are not allowed to participate?.
In general, I agree. For most people, in most groups, this would be true. Yet some people are members of groups whose goal is that which you described in issue 1 - part of their goal is to make such threats! If someone is a member of an organization whose very goal is to make threats - and eventually carry them out - then (in these cases) wouldn't we be obligated to ban such users?
How can we say that it is wrong to make threats, let alone harm people - but then allow Wikipedia to be used as a forum to help strengthen Nazis and other groups who do make threats as policy, and who do carry out violent acts?
There is no God-given right to use a Wiki or work on an encyclopedia. We have a rather open-minded editorial policy, and it does not constitute censorship. Thus, we should not allow "contributors" whose admitted endgoal is to intimidate, or to incite violence. If we scare away the blacks, the Jews, the gays and the Catholics by opening up this encyclopedia to violent hate groups, then what are we left with? We will end up limiting the free speech of the many other people who will certainly be driven away, and we will be damaging our own reputation for no good reason.
Robert (RK)
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