On 5/22/06, Philip Welch wikipedia@philwelch.net wrote:
That's a reasonable thing to say about communists, anarchists, radical feminists, furries, polyamorous transsexuals, anarcho- capitalists, or almost any fringe group. The difference with anti- Semites is that we have Jewish editors. If there were people on Wikipedia who happened to be white supremacists or Islamists and you had no way to tell they were either of these things from their edits, that would be one thing. If you make your anti-semitism known, however, I don't see why you should be welcome on Wikipedia. The very act of accepting these types into the community would be an insult.
It's a pity we're using the example of anti-Semitism. Maybe we could keep this more abstract? Say I'm a rabid anti-Pokemonite (not far from the truth :)). Does the existence of Pokemon fans on Wikipedia make me unwelcome? Nah, I just keep my distance.
You might find similarities in the fact that we have both sides of various ethnic conflicts, in Yugoslavia or Israel and whatever. We also have anti-abortionists and pro-abortionists. Do they bicker? Yep. Does the very fabric of Wikipedia fall apart? Nah.
Steve