[WikiEN-l] The Counter Vandalism Unit? Whaa?

[Sean Barrett]

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The Cunctator stated for the record:
> What most of the people on this thread fail to recognize is that
> creating anti-vandalism paramilitaries *encourages* vandalism.
> 
> Calling any less-than productive edit "vandalism" by definition
> encourages vandalism.
> 
> On one end of the spectrum is the concept that any "non-authorized"
> edit is vandalism--that seems absurd for Wikipedia, but it's the
> standard at, say, Encyclopedia Britannica or a newspaper, the Nupedia
> project, etc.
> 
> At the other end of the spectrum is that there is no such thing as
> vandalism, just edits that are less helpful than others.
> 
> We should try to function as close to the latter end as possible.
> 
> The very word "vandalism" I think is a somewhat false analogy, since
> there's no permanent damage in Wikipedia. It's just as easy, easier in
> fact, to remove unwanted edits than to add them. It's the exact
> reverse of, say, spraypainting a wall or scratching your name in a
> subway car window -- much easier to add than to remove.
> 
> By creating the crime of vandalism we make people into criminals.
> 
> By creating categories of good users we create categories of bad users.
> 
> By creating restrictions, rules, trials we create mechanisms for conflict.
> 
> I'm not saying that there should be no mechanisms for continuing to
> improve the quality of Wikipedia -- but that we are going down the
> wrong road now.
> 
> There's always been a steady amount of less-than helpful edits. But
> calling them all vandalism, doing things like "sprotecting" pages,
> creating militias, only abets the problem.

==See also==
* [[Proof by assertion]]

added "see also" section ~~~~

- --
 Sean Barrett     | They can have my DeLameter when they
 sean at epoptic.org | pry it from my cold, dead tentacle.
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