[Foundation-l] Pedophilia and the Non discrimination policy

[David Levy]

George William Herbert wrote:

> Wikipedia's strong culture of pseudonymity and anonymity makes protecting
> anyone, or detecting anyone, a nearly lost cause if they have any clue
> and sense of privacy.  Unlike real life, we can't make guarantees with
> anything approaching a straight face.
>
> However - there's a difference between being unable to effectively screen
> people by real world standards, and not having a policy of acting when we
> do detect something.  One is acknowledging cultural and technical
> reality - because of who and where we are, we couldn't possibly do better
> than random luck at finding these people.  The other is disregarding any
> responsibility as a site and community to protect our younger members and
> our community from harm, if we find out via whatever means.
>
> Witch hunts looking for people don't seem helpful or productive to me.
> But if they out themselves somewhere else and are noticed here, then
> we're aware and on notice.  The question is, entirely, what do we do
> then.
>
> Do we owe the underaged users a duty to protect them from known threats?

In my view, we're doing nothing of the sort (and constructing a false
sense of security by claiming otherwise).

I doubt that many pedophiles will seek to recruit victims via our
wikis, but if this occurs, these account bans are highly unlikely to
counter it to any significant extent.

> Do we owe the project as a whole a duty to protect it from disgrace by
> association?

I see the potential for negative publicity stemming from the
perception that we seek to create the illusion of improved safety and
integrity.