[WikiEN-l] Re: filtering, etc.

[Ray Saintonge]

Sounds like KQ has blown his cover.  Now we all know he's a scriptwriter 
for "Saturday Night Live". :-)
Ec


koyaanis qatsi wrote:

>Nonetheless, for the sake of argument, let's assume
>that applying categories to our articles for the sake
>of filtering them from the innocent eyes of children
>can be handled without controversy, in spite of the
>general controversy already stirred up on the mailing
>list.  Let us assume also that it can be done without
>running afoul of NPOV, and that this wikipedia decree
>of what is and is not Safe and Good and Morally Just
>for children to know will be accepted and endorsed by
>wikipedians in general.  So, let's set about
>categorizing articles.
>
>Given that a category scheme with, say, 3million
>categories would be worse than useless for the purpose
>of filtering content, we'll set a few categories.  One
>of them, as Jimbo has indicated, will be Crime.  What
>articles are relevant to crime?  Koyanis Qatsi
>nominates [[George W. Bush]] for his cocaine habit,
>but Powaqqatsi says "wait, wait, that's hearsay; we
>can't include that."  Ok, a fair point.  Two paths
>diverged in a POV debate, and which does wikipedia
>take?  Let's say wikipedia decides that the metadata
>crime can be added to any article with a mention of a
>crime, whether it's been proven or not.  So mav writes
>an article on the well-known layabout gadfly KQ,
>because he has it on good faith from a friend that KQ
>has once been convicted of jaywalking; and then he
>adds the metadata:crime to the article.  KQ
>"retaliates" and adds crime to the articles on Bromide
>and Arsenic, because they've been used in some crimes
>he knows about, and children shouldn't have such
>notions of poisoning put into their heads.  Well,
>AxelBoldt worked 812 hours apiece on those articles,
>and he won't have his work censored, so he adds
>metadata:crime to [[Sid Davis]] because, hell, it does
>mention molestation.  Oh, this is going great. 
>Anthere adds metadata:crime to [[O.J. Simpson]]; Bryan
>Derksen removes it because he was found innocent in
>criminal court; Brion Vibber restores it because he
>was found guilty in civil court.  [[24]] steps in and
>says "why should crime in the U.S. be the deciding
>factor?  What about crime in the U.K., or Bhutan, or
>the Apache nation?"  So Henry Kissinger gets
>metadata:Crime because Chile wants him extradited to
>stand trial for war crimes.  Jimbo steps in and adds
>crime to the Clintons for their -gate and for Bill's
>tendency to keep his zipper down, and Ed Poor adds the
>metadata to the articles on lead pipes, knives,
>swords, Sherman tanks, and letter openers (a mystery
>crime favorite).
>
>It's a ridiculous situation.  Wikipedia comes to its
>senses and says "wait, the only articles that will get
>the metadata:crime will be articles on *people* who
>have been tried for and convicted of a crime."  A
>better path.  (though, I might add, still one that is
>provably illogical, given that courts reviewing the
>same evidence as other courts often overturn verdicts,
>and so even facts of a crime are open to
>interpretation).  Anyway, so metadata:crime is
>inserted into articles on [[Randal Dale Adams]], later
>tried again and proven innocent, and [[Jesus
>Christ]]--no appeal for him--and [[Nelson Mandela]],
>that agitator and limerock miner.  Nice look, the
>squint.  Pizza Puzzle adds it to [[Adolf Hitler]] but
>Notheruser says "wait, wait, he was never tried and
>convicted; he committed suicide and didn't have a
>chance to defend himself."  So the label is removed,
>and is removed from [[Richard Nixon]] and [[Lee Harvey
>Oswald]], and [[Jack the Ripper]].  Hey, this works
>great.
>
>sarcastically, bitterly, but still with a point.
>