[WikiEN-l] When Websites Attack

[Armed Blowfish]

On 26/08/07, Daniel R. Tobias <dan at tobias.name> wrote:
> On 26 Aug 2007 at 17:00:07 +0100, <charles.r.matthews at ntlworld.com>
> wrote:
> [long line rewrapped in accordance with RFC 2822]
> > "Daniel R. Tobias" wrote
> >
> > > * Anti-pedophile site Perverted Justice set up a redirect based on
> > > HTTP referrers so that anybody following links to any page in their
> > > site from Wikipedia get redirected to a criticism page that blasts
> > > Wikipedia for not cracking down on pedophile editors.  This made the
> > > whole thing an "attack site" according to some who seem to think that
> > > anything that has anything critical to say about Wikipedia is an
> > > "attack" that must not be linked to.
> >
> > Question: What connection would there be between compiling an
> > encyclopedia, and linking to any site which took the step of
> > redirecting incoming links to somewhere not intended?
>
> I mentioned what was ultimately done in response to the redirection,
> the changing of links to unlinked URLs in places where they're needed
> as references.  Such a forced redirection should be treated like any
> other case where a link is made less usable, like a "404 Not Found"
> dead link, a page retreating behind a registration-required login
> wall, a site redesign leading to it being inaccessible in some
> browser versions or full of annoying, intrusive ads... in all of
> these cases, the use of the link needs to be reconsidered, possibly
> changed to a "nowiki" URL or to an archived copy somewhere else or to
> an alternate site with similar content, and possibly the site owner
> should be informed of the unusability of their link in an
> encyclopedia and encouraged to fix it.  But in none of these cases is
> there the "moral panic" of saying "They're an eeeeeeeeeeeevil Attack
> Site and all references to it need to be DESTROYED!!!!!!!"
>
> --
> == Dan ==
> Dan's Mail Format Site: http://mailformat.dan.info/
> Dan's Web Tips: http://webtips.dan.info/
> Dan's Domain Site: http://domains.dan.info/

It doesn't matter if the attack site is 'evil' or not.  It doesn't even matter
if the content actually qualifies as an 'attack' (by whatever standards),
or is just hurtful to someone.  It's about protecting people (usually editors,
but not always) from psychological harm, or occasionally other types of
harm.

Again, courtesy blankings and deletions are not sanctions against
any one.