[WikiEN-l] Peodophiles and wikipedia

[Fred Bauder]

> On 24/12/2007, G MZ <solebaciato at googlemail.com> wrote:
>> I completely agree with at policy, but wonder if it is well enough
>> known. Perhaps it ought to be more publicised.  A month or so ago I
>> came across a suspect User
>> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Roman_Czyborra)  whose User page
>> photograph of himself was a "seemingly" adolescent boy full frontal
>> (anyone who is the father of sons would know instantly) but it still
>> took a couple of weeks to get the image deleted - and then only after
>> the user showed his true colours and was banned.  That is not good
>> enough really.  I do think the message has to be stronger and more
>> visible.  Not to a state of witch-hunt but certainly so we all know
>> when to be decisive and fast to respond.
>
> That's another issue entirely. Any such image where we can't be
> reasonably sure the person is over 18 should be immediately deleted. If
> that's not on CSD, it needs to be added.
>
> Someone self-describing as a pedophile is a much less serious issue. It
> isn't really advocating it, it's just a statement of fact. I'm not
> really sure what's best in that situation.

There are all sorts of permutations and possibilities, including serious
scholarship, which it is possible to misinterpret as advocacy. Not sure
describes my reaction as well, but we've been blocking the more egregious
editors and deleting much of what seems to be advocacy. Children, or
apparent children, possibly law enforcement, who present a sexual persona
are a special case. There is no need to go through an involved process to
delete such material or block such accounts. Explicit detailed discussions
are likely to defeat our purpose, which could simply be expressed as "No".

Fred