[WikiEN-l] Rootology's new site

[Todd Allen]

Ron Ritzman wrote:
> Sometimes I wonder, with the exception of a few BLP issues, can one
> really be "abused" on Wikipedia the same way they can be abused in
> real life[1]? After all, it's just an Internet website and not even a
> social networking one. If you can't have your way here then pick up
> your ball and go play elsewhere.
>
> This is one of the reasons I left the anti spam newsgroups. As much as
> I hate spam, when it comes right down to it, it's just email.
>
> 1. Ironically, the closest to "real life" abuse one can run into with
> Wikipedia is being outed by one of the detractor sites. Let's see if
> this new one enforces their "no meatspacing" policy.
>
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>   
I don't think you're correct there. A lot of people use hobbies, be that
editing Wikipedia, rebuilding classic cars, collecting postage stamps,
whatever the case may be, because they personally enjoy it and it keeps
their mind sharp. Ruining the ability to do that for them, whether it's
dropping their stamp collection in a puddle or running them off of
Wikipedia, is not a harmless action. If it were simply "just a website",
and no one cares, we wouldn't have a blocking policy, we'd just block
whoever we damn well like (or don't like). Just a website, right?

That isn't by any means to say people don't take it way too seriously
(again, as is the case with many people and their hobbies of all
stripes). But it's not true you can't do harm at all. This isn't
Counterstrike, where you're only blowing up pixels, there are living,
breathing people on the other end of the line.

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