[Foundation-l] Appropriate surprise (Commons stuff)

[Jussi-Ville Heiskanen]

Ziko van Dijk wrote:
> So when illustrating the article "Holocaust" you can and should use
> pictures of dead bodies [1], but for a link from the Main page it is
> preferred to use someting like the Entrance to Auschwitz [2].
>
> Some Wikipedia commuties might want to have rules of their own,
> depending on the Wikipedians and the expected readership. I noticed
> that while German Wikipedia's article "Penis" has photographs, Arabic
> Wikipedia's is illustrated only by a medical drawing.
>   
Here it is important that much more that an issue of
cultural identity, these kinds of things are an issue
of trends in time. Like the resurgence of the "moral
majority" in the USA which has happened in the last
few decades; Arabic cultures mores have shifted in time.

I had the privilege of listening to Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila
who has made a special study of Arabic culture, discuss
Arabic erotic poetry through-out the ages. During the
Golden Age of Islam it was much more eclectic and
permissively pluralistic than the Christian or Jewish
cultures of the time, and its erotic poetry remarkably
sensuous. The instructional manuals for sexual
expression written at that time were much more explicit
than today could find a publisher in the west.

> About the deletions on Commons in the last days: I cannot imagine that
> there were significant losses of valuable illustrations. But in
> general I wonder that a board member is deleting these pictures in
> person. In my humble opinion, if a community is late with important
> policy making, the board has all right to take action (as the board,
> or the Foundation, is finally responsable for the projects). But there
> should be a board decision, and the implementation should be left to a
> collaborator of Wikimedia Foundation. You would also find it strange
> seeing the Queen of England sweeping the streets of London in person,
> or handing you out a parking fine.
>
>   
The Queen did drive a truck during the blitz, though.
I am not going to comment on whether the media-blitz
by Fox News rises to the level of World War II in context.


Yours,

Jussi-Ville Heiskanen