[WikiEN-l] Freedom of Speech in WP

[David Gerard]

On 31/01/07, Marc Riddell <michaeldavid86 at comcast.net> wrote:

> Interesting. You know, as I read all of the responses thus far, the one word
> that my eye and brain keep tripping over is "civility" - perhaps I am
> associating it with the word "proper" - and that's a button word for me. The
> only thing I have ever associated with the word civil is disobedience ;-).


Wikipedia is a working environment - a volunteer one (which has its
own social rules, of course), but nevertheless it's a project with a
particular purpose. I've seen how obnoxious editors scare off newbies,
and it's not nice at all and is actually damaging to the project.

Other collaborative volunteer projects work other ways. The Linux and
OpenBSD mailing lists are famously abrasive. But, as noted, no-one's
started a "Nastypedia" ...

I think the basic rule, which I hold is the fundamental rule of all
social spaces, is "Don't be a dick." Every other social rule we have
is a special case of that.


- d.