[WikiEN-l] Suppression of links to 'attack sites'?

[Bryan Derksen]

----- Original Message -----
From: Charli Li <chengli1 at verizon.net>
> Obviously the site has violated NPA, and even on the NPA policy 
> page, it
> says that :
> > Posting a link to an external source that fits the commonly accepted
> > threshold for a personal attack, in a manner that incorporates the
> > substance of that attack into Wikipedia discussion, including the
> > suggestion that such a link applies to another editor, or that 
> another> editor needs to visit the external source containing the 
> substance of
> > the attack.
> This site is an external source of personal attacks.  Even 
> planning to
> sue us and our fellow Wiki*edians is a personal attack.

This "violation" is highly dependant on the context in which it's made. You can't just find one instance where a link to a web site is used as a personal attack and then declare _all_ links to anything on the entire site, used _anywhere_ in Wikipedia, to be a personal attack. I could probably get major news sites like The Register banned under this interpretation.

The hard banning of external sites should be sparingly used and only in cases where it's absolutely clear that it's appropriate for all concievable situations. We have human editors with human editorial judgement for a reason.