[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia privacy concerns

[Fred Bauder]

Extended debate on the public pages of a top ten website regarding a harmful subject is not a good idea. It only spreads the meme.

Fred

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Denny Colt [mailto:wikidenny at gmail.com]
>Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 01:47 PM
>To: 'English Wikipedia'
>Subject: [WikiEN-l] Wikipedia privacy concerns
>
>On the Arbitration page, an interesting idea is presented. MONGO says this:
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ARequests_for_arbitration&diff=122294156&oldid=122294153
>
>"If we started linking in all the posts that proves that website has
>actively engaged in trying to "out" real identities and allows other
>egregious attacks, then that might help explain why we don't have an article
>about that website. Due to information posted on WR, either mirrored from
>some other site or posted there originally, I can think of at least 5
>wikipedians who have left or assumed new identities on Wikipedia to avoid
>the harassment associated with those posts. That the website actively
>engages as a forum to collaborate in an effort to "discover" who people are
>in real life is no mystery...it is transparent.--[[User:MONGO|MONGO]] 19:23,
>12 April 2007 (UTC)"
>
>
>In response, Risker says this:
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration&curid=438960&diff=122298065&oldid=122296483
>
>"In response to Mongo, I believe that there is good reason to be more
>upfront about potential risks to registering an account at Wikipedia. I've
>just gone and checked the information given about registering accounts, and
>there is very little about the risks of doing so, and plenty about the
>benefits. It would be good to have a subpage there discussing things like
>choice of user name, deciding how much personal information to put on your
>user page, and the fact that (as one of the most read sites on the internet)
>Wikipedia cannot guarantee the privacy of any person. I would be willing to
>work on this, but I have no idea who manages that page.
>[[User:Risker|Risker]] 19:39, 12 April 2007 (UTC)"
>
>
>
>Is this a good idea? Put up a warning for all new registrations that your
>privacy is not/cannot be guaranteed by Wikipedia? If there will be no policy
>to stop people from linking to sites/sources that DO engage in outing our
>identaties this may be required. If the press got hold of this...
>
>This conversation spawned from some vehement opposition to a proposed policy
>to ban links to attack, outing, and hate sites aimed at hurting Wikipedians.
>The policy is:
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Attack_sites
>
>-- 
>- Denny
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