[WikiEN-l] Self-sensorship, how far should it go?

[Andrew Gray]

On 01/08/07, jayjg <jayjg99 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I don't see any good coming from giving into trolls and stalkers. The
> fact that a bunch of disgruntled, mostly banned ex-Wikipedians like to
> spin conspiracy theories, and occasionally disrupt Wikipedia, should
> simply be ignored. Not discussed on Wikipedia, not discussed here,
> just ignored.

"Ignored" is one thing. "Silenced" just feeds the fire.

I note this thread began because a debate about Slim's identity, and
the massive efforts gone to to conceal edits associated with her, *was
on the front page of slashdot*. (Slashdot. Not Wikipedia Review, or
Encyclopedia Dramatica, or anyone else; Slashdot, perhaps a classic
example of our "natural supporters".) This led to a large amount of
curiosity amongst our community. But a small group of people cracked
down heavily on anyone trying to say "what the fuck is going on here?"
on the wiki... which just further encouraged speculation about those
efforts to conceal something.

If you honestly don't see that this sort of behaviour is wasteful,
counterproductive, inflammatory and - in the long run - just poisoning
our reputation, then I am afraid my complaints are hopeless. But, by
god, they were worth making.

At some point in the past, people fucked up, made enemies or handled
something badly or just been unlucky in who they dealt with. Things
have moved on, and developed, and we're now in a situation where they
have no choice but to look foolish, or keep harming the project. The
only reasonable solution here is for them to stop and walk away.
Sooner or later, they have to realise this.

I will say it again - the people we are looking bad to now aren't the
people who already thought the worst of us. We're now beginning to
look like incompetent spiteful twerps to neutral third parties, and I
see no indication it's ever going to improve. Essjay got us faintly
amused newspaper coverage - what will "Wikipedia Covers Up Unknown
Misdemeanours" look like?

The project is bigger than them, it is more important than a username,
and I will not stand by to see it dragged down to protect their pride.

-- 
- Andrew Gray
  andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk