On 3/7/07, Sheldon Rampton sheldon@prwatch.org wrote:
Anthony wikilegal@inbox.org wrote:
I don't think policy is broken just because it doesn't explicitly state that users should be honest on their user pages. Mentioning "oh, by the way, don't lie about credentials on your user page" wouldn't hurt, but I think it goes without saying.
The contrast between Marc's comment and Anthony's demonstrates the need for an honesty policy. Marc seems to think that requiring users to be honest on their user pages is so onerous that we have to fear the punitive consequences. Anthony, by contrast, thinks the rule is so obvious that it "goes without saying."
I don't actually think these viewpoints are as opposite as you make them out to be. For one thing, I only mentioned lying about credentials on your user page, not that users need to be 100% honest. And secondly, I think anyone who argues for *enforcing* a policy against lying about credentials is going to have an uphill battle making a convincing argument that this can be done without causing harsh burdens upon users.
There's a reason for this confusion: The internet is different from the real world, and it operates according to different rules that make deception both easier and more socially acceptable.
I guess I forget sometimes that people think of Wikipedia as an MMORPG, because the way I see it, we're a group of real people creating a real encyclopedia. The Internet is just a medium for communication.
Anthony