On 5/16/06, Steve Bennett <stevage(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On 5/16/06, Erik Moeller <eloquence(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
Republican => interested in politics
anti-Scientologist => interested in Scientology
deletionist=> interested in AfD
nymphomaniac => interested in contraception
Smells like euphemisms. And it pretty much amounts to the same thing.
No, there's one crucial difference. I would put myself in "interested
in Christianity", even though I am a staunch atheist. I suspect that
so would many others. It's not about hiding your beliefs - I think
that would be pointless. My argument is that _identifiable factions_,
that is, permanent groups that are categorized and listed, should be
open to all convictions about a given subject. They can be
subject-specific, but they shouldn't be belief-specific.
If you want to say on your user page that you're a Christian, that's
one thing. If you want to form a group of Christians who work together
because they share their belief system, then you're on the wrong site.
Certainly, you can find others who want to work with you on
Christianity articles. But you will have to accept that they may
disagree with you about the fundamentals.
It's true that for many subcultures, "being interested in" will be
equivalent to "being a fan/member of". You will find that in many
existing WikiProjects (e.g. most members of the LDS WikiProject are
Mormons), but I haven't heard anyone ever suggest that WikiProjects
and Portals are harmful in the way "divisive" userboxes are. That's
because WikiProjects (should) accept members of all persuasions on a
topic.
Erik