[WikiEN-l] No more blocking people for who they *are*?

[slimvirgin at gmail.com]

On 2/9/06, jayjg <jayjg99 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Awhile ago there was someone who posted on an external neo-nazi
> > discussion board about editing, who was subsequently blocked on
> > wikipedia. Big discussion on the mailinglist ensued.
> >
> That was user Amalekite / [[Alex Linder]], and he was blocked for
> endangering Wikipedians (he also suggested ways of subverting Wikipedia
> using sockpuppets and proxies).  Nevertheless, he wasn't blocked for simply
> being a neo-Nazi/white supremacist; neo-Nazis/white supremacists regularly
> post on Wikipedia.
>
No neo-Nazis or pedophiles have been blocked because of who they are.
A neo-Nazi was blocked for posting on Stormfront a list of editors he
thought were Jewish. Another was blocked for posting on his user page
an enormous photograph of himself in a uniform making a Nazi salute.
Some have been blocked for anti-Semitic abuse. And someone has been
blocked for posting a pedophile user box on his user page. These are
all provocative acts that have nothing to do with writing an
encyclopedia. People are being blocked for provocation, not for who
they are.

Sarah