On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:51:13 -0500, Marc Riddell michaeldavid86@comcast.net wrote:
It's really unfortunate that blacking out Wikimedia projects is
becoming
an accepted method of protest. Maybe we should start keeping track of how often different projects are blacked out, and for what purpose. When it happened to the Italian Wikipedia, it was a first-ever event that no
one
thought would happen again. When it happened to the English Wikipedia,
it
was a uniquely forceful global statement that many argued might never happen again for many reasons. Now Serbia, next who knows?
Nathan, what problems do you see with this method of protest?
Marc Riddell
I am not Nathan, but the obvious argument is that a strong medicine only remains strong if used rarely. If one starts using it on a regular basis one gets adapted and the medicine does not have the required action anymore. The same thing is here: one can blank out a Wikipedia main page for a day and to exercise protest, but the protest is only visible if the blanking is exceptional. If it starts to happen on a monthly basis, the only reaction would be that people get upset because Wikipedia is not available.
Cheers Yaroslav
I agree with you, Yaroslav, that repeated and indiscriminate use of the method would dilute its impact; and could come back to bite the Project. But I think it unwise and unfair to put a flatly negative spin on the idea.
Marc