[Foundation-l] Stalking Article

[Anthony]

>> > The main good reason to edit anonynously is because
>> Wikipedia is an open wiki and is incapable of
>> > preventing harrasment or any less seious sort of
>> contact.
>>
>> That seems to me more like a reason not to edit at all.
>
> I don't see why.
>
Well, mainly because the popular Wikipedias don't have any remotely
reasonable mechanism to allow anonymous edits.  Tor is banned from
en.Wikipedia, so in order to edit anonymously you have to create a new
account for each edit, and where's the fun in that?  Maybe Tor is
allowed on the Wikipedia you edit?  I realize this is foundation-l, so
I'm trying not to assume too much about which project you're referring
to.

I guess I should clarify that I don't think the fact that Wikipedia
cannot prevent harassment is enough of a reason to not edit at all
*for everyone*; only for those who find themselves unable to edit
without hiding themselves from the other editors.  And I'm not really
sure if you fall into that or not.  You say you "have no problem
owning up to my pseudononymous edits", so 1) it sounds like you are
willing to reveal your identity to other editors; and 2) you're not
editing *anonymously* in any case, you're editing *pseudonymously*.

This goes back to one of my earlier statements, which is that
pseudonymity is incredibly difficult to maintain.  All it takes is one
motivated person to decide to reveal your identity, and suddenly your
pseudonymity is broadcast on so called "attack sites".  And there
doesn't seem to be any way to eliminate the possibility that someone
is going to be motivated like this.  So what do you do, scrutinize
every edit to make sure that you're not revealing anything about
yourself?  Never use IRC or skype or Yahoo email, lest you reveal your
IP address?  Use Tor for every edit in case you accidentally get
logged out or follow a link to an unfriendly outing site?  Where's the
fun in that?  What's the purpose?  To make sure some African kid is
well educated when he starves to death?

I hope you don't mind that I'm putting this back on the list.  I don't
think you've said anything confidential so I think this is OK.