[Foundation-l] Censorship: Speedy deletion of porn articles

Jeff V. Merkey jmerkey at wolfmountaingroup.com
Thu Mar 8 20:43:50 UTC 2007


The Cunctator wrote:

>On 3/8/07, Yonatan Horan <yonatanh at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  
>
>>It has recently (about two months ago) come to my attention that articles
>>on
>>the Hebrew Wikipedia are speedy deleted. I translated the Jenna Jameson
>>article from the English Wikipedia and it was very quickly speedy deleted
>>and I was indefinitely blocked due to being a sockpuppet of some guy (of
>>course no checkuser request was done).
>>    
>>
>
>
><snip>
>
>Anyway, despite all the above, a few admins have
>  
>
>>said that they will speedy delete any porn articles created on the Hebrew
>>Wikipedia. Currently there are a few porn articles which are about the
>>movie
>>Deep Throat and two other articles that I don't recall at the moment. This
>>is a foundation issue because the situation right now is effectively
>>censorship of articles that some people feel do not have a place on the
>>wikipedia.
>>    
>>
>
>
>
>Contrary to the snide response of Gerard, this is a real issue. Articles
>which pass muster in one language should not be blocked in another one.
>  
>

Depends. This is an encyclopedia, not hustler magazine. Some article 
content is simply inappropriate
based upon the culture. In Cherokee, use of the word "wadoli" is 
considered offensive in polite speech, but
english speakers have no such prohibition about discussing anything 
considered taboo.

Sex and sexual behavior is not a topic that is considered appropriate in 
public in my culture. Not because its obsence or due
to any outdated morality, but because its considered a spiritual and 
private matter. Many cultures have such views.

You cannot view the entire world based upon the English Language (or the 
lack of respect English speakers tend to have
towards their own language) or the culture or beliefs of the English 
Wikipedia, so this argument may not address the issues.
Words are powerful, words can hurt. If the Hebrew Wikipedia does not 
want articles like those due to cultural issues, this should be respected.

The culture on the English Wikipedia does not dictate the culture of 
other Wiki's, nor should it. The English Wikipedia has its liberal
and open culture, and the other wikipedia's have theirs...

:-)

Jeff







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