[Foundation-l] Facebook Group re pornography on Wikipedia

M. Williamson node.ue at gmail.com
Tue Feb 14 06:46:00 UTC 2012


Finding nudity offensive is not a cultural universal. Members of some
cultures may be offended by looking at certain animals full-on or in
photographs; what if those animals popped up in search? Where does it end?
Where do we draw the line?

What do we hide (or erase) and what do we keep unhidden? If you look at it
from a monocultural perspective, the answer seems not so hard - perhaps we
just hide everything showing sexual organs (but then does this include
female breasts?) and violence. Some people may advocate hiding images that
contain words like "fuck".

Of course, in other cultures other things are offensive, and there are
literally thousands of different cultures on this planet with differing
sensibilities and different ideas of what is right and what is wrong. The
only strategy I support is one in which we allow the unrestricted display
of everything that is legal and include disclaimers that we are not
intended as a children's site and that adults should make careful use of
their own judgement about letting their children read Wikipedia. It is not
our responsibility.

2012/2/9 Andreas K. <jayen466 at gmail.com>

> On Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 3:52 AM, M. Williamson <node.ue at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Yes, and some people don't like the fact that we tell the truth about,
> say,
> > the Taiwan situation (or at least we try our very best to), or the
> > Tienanmen Square protests of 1989.
> >
>
>
> So if members of the public looking for a sound file of tolling bells in
> Commons get
>
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Masturbation_Techniques_-_tolling_of_the_bells_(animated).gif
> as
> their first search hit in Commons, this somehow strikes a blow for freedom
> in the way our coverage of the Tiananmen Square protests does?
>
>
>
>
> > I think it's very stupid to equate "people don't like this" to "this is a
> > problem".
> >
> > So yes, the situation is still unchanged, but in my opinion it is a GOOD
> > thing that it's still unchanged. The advertising situation on Wikipedia
> is
> > "still unchanged", but unchanged situations don't have to be bad, and in
> > this case I am a firm believer that the status quo is far better than
> what
> > this woman (and many image filter proposals) is proposing.
> >
> >
> > 2012/2/2 Andreas K. <jayen466 at gmail.com>
> >
> > > On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 7:42 AM, Yaroslav M. Blanter <putevod at mccme.ru
> > > >wrote:
> > >
> > > > On Thu, 2 Feb 2012 07:35:10 +0000, "Andreas K." <jayen466 at gmail.com>
> > > > wrote:
> > > > > A Wikimedian has just started a Facebook page "Stop pornography on
> > > > > Wikipedia"
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-pornography-on-Wikipedia/307245972661745
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > If I read it correct, she opened a Facebook group since, as she
> states,
> > > > she could not find anybody on Wikipedia who would share her opinion.
> I
> > do
> > > > not see why we should worry about this. There are many people with
> > their
> > > > own agenda who could not find anybody on Wikipedia to share their
> > agenda
> > > > and go to promote it elsewhere.
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > > Well, it's relevant to the extent that she came across a masturbation
> > video
> > > while looking for something completely different. (I think she said she
> > was
> > > looking up "roll over".) Some people don't like that. It's a problem
> > we've
> > > discussed before:
> > >
> > > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Controversial_content/Problems
> > >
> > > The situation is still unchanged.
> > >
> > > A.
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > > foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> > >
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