[WikiEN-l] Re: Is Jack a troll?

[Sheldon Rampton]

Erik Moeller wrote:

>Wikipedia is not about "rights". Wikipedia is about creating an
>encyclopedia. All this trolling distracts from that goal. Trolls should be 
>banned quickly and painlessly as soon as an opportunity presents itself to
>get rid of them.

Just out of curiosity, is there some reason why the entry bar for 
Wikipedia contributors is so low? Right now the system lets anyone 
post unless someone blocks their IP number or user name. While this 
has certain virtues in terms of inclusiveness, it also makes 
vandalism more likely. Moreover, blocking an IP numbers has the 
effect of blocking an entire class of people for the infractions of a 
single individual, and it isn't even effective at blocking people who 
use an anonymizer to continually change their IP number.

It seems to me that it would better to require people to register 
before they can contribute. That's a fairly minor requirement, but it 
would probably be enough even without a verification system to deter 
some of the casual vandals and trolls, and it would also ensure that 
bans only affect people who have actually done something wrong to 
merit the ban.

I imagine this discussion has already happened before, but I haven't 
seen it, and I'd be curious to know what the reasoning is behind the 
current system.
-- 
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|  Sheldon Rampton
|  Editor, PR Watch (www.prwatch.org)
|  Author of books including:
|     Friends In Deed: The Story of US-Nicaragua Sister Cities
|     Toxic Sludge Is Good For You
|     Mad Cow USA
|     Trust Us, We're Experts
|     Weapons of Mass Deception
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