Erik Moeller wrote:
I've been thinking a bit about the whole issue of
civility, and other
expectations that we may have from our editors.
While Wikimedia has a stronger tradition of civility than most online
communities, we still often fall short -- and perhaps part of the
reason is that we never ask our users to explicitly "opt into" the
core cultural principles of Wikimedia. Rather, we expect that they
will "soak them up" simply by being exposed to them in practice.
There are a few reasons why I think an explicit opt-in to a small
number of core principles would be a good idea:
I really dislike forced speech, and would leave the project if rather
than "sign" some statement other than one I freely made myself, if it
extended beyond minimally necessary things like agreeing to license my
contributions.
It's one thing to lay down a set of rules that everyone has to follow,
and quite another to make everyone stand up at the front of the class
like schoolchildren and recite a Pledge of Allegiance to Wikipedia and
the Principles We Hold Dear, which I won't do. People edit Wikipedia for
a variety of philosophical reasons, and I disagree strongly with
attempts to enforce cultural conformity, especially since they wouldn't
have the intended effect anyway---most people who "sign" will just click
through without reading, or "sign" even if they disagree since they
don't have a choice besides leaving. Even if I agreed with the
principles I wouldn't participate in such a degrading and offensive
exercise by "signing" them.
-Mark