--- Steve Callaway sjc@easynet.co.uk wrote:
This is a very dangerous area indeed and a seriously slippery slope. I can see the arguments for it but the obverse side of this coin is that if it's possible to introduce sexual censorship in this way it is entirely conceivable that political censorship could be attained by a similar mechanism. This is NOT a genie to be let out of the bottle. There is enough political and social hypocrisy and outright political propaganda in the corpus of Wikipedia already without introducing convenient new mechanisms for the thought & ideas police.
Indeed it is very dangerous. For how would we decide which articles are to be put in the list of "to filter" or not "to filter"?
But isn't that ''filter'' somehow already on, when some people complain for some titles/articles and ask them to be removed because they find them offensive ???
What is better - that articles are not there at all, because too many people threaten to leave if they are and fight for them to be removed. - that articles are here, but might be put in a "special" list in case the readers really find reading them too much to bear - that articles are here, free and open, but that the encyclopedia is not used because too offensive.
Well, it was just an idea to support one side. I think their point of view and sensibility is important to consider and deserve attention. Cultural differences on sexual matters can be very high.
On political matters, neutrality can be approached by stating facts and explaining every point of view.
Neutrality on sexual matters cannot be reached through showing all point of views ;-)
Maybe is it that giving all the details, the pictures...somehow is forcing a point of view on 'sensible' (no judgement value here) person : forcing on them the point of view of those with tough-skin and 'liberal' education toward kids.
Maybe a two-level reading could solve the matter - one expurged, and one not. With the choice for the expurged one.
Again, I know this is dangerous in terms of censorship. I agree. Still, that ought to be adressed.
(My own level of tolerance is pretty high on the sexual scale - hope there is no misleading hint here)
__________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? U2 on LAUNCH - Exclusive greatest hits videos http://launch.yahoo.com/u2