[WikiEN-l] Another"BADSITES"controversy

[Fred Bauder]

What happens if you let this go is that valued contributors feel isolated and quit because we seem indifferent to the attacks and harassment which is being made. These folks signed up to edit an encyclopedia not for battle.

Fred

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Sheldon Rampton [mailto:sheldon at prwatch.org]
>Sent: Monday, May 28, 2007 09:15 AM
>To: wikien-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] Another "BADSITES" controversy
>
>Fred Bauder wrote:
>
>> This sort of thing, banning links to external sites, if done at 
>> all, needs to be limited to sites that extend their activities 
>> beyond criticism of Wikipedia to actions that hurt individual 
>> Wikipedia users. The blog seems to focus on publicizing Will 
>> Beback's real name which she got from ED. She is offended at his 
>> interactions with her when she edits.
>
>Actually, banning links to external sites should not be done AT ALL. 
>I don't care if the external site in question is run by someone who 
>has a personal dungeon where they flay Wikipedia users with flaming 
>razors. Banning links to their site is just bad policy, no matter 
>what they are doing. If they are doing something ILLEGAL that "hurts 
>individual Wikipedia users," they can be prosecuted for it in an 
>actual court of law, but banning links to their site just turns 
>otherwise sensible Wikipedians into stupid bureaucrats and makes 
>things worse. It also invites the question, "What makes Wikipedia so 
>damn special?" As the essay that was recently posted here points out, 
>Wikipedia has no problem linking to Nazi websites and a host of other 
>sites that promote violence, hurt people and break the law. It's 
>ridiculous and embarrassing to have a policy that says "we don't care 
>who else you hurt as long as you don't hurt Wikipedians." Finally, 
>the question of what it means to "hurt" someone is impossible to 
>define adequately for the purpose of making this policy practical -- 
>especially since some people can be very thin-skinned about criticism.
>
>This is the sort of situation where I think it would be good if Jimbo 
>stepped in and played God to put an end to this nonsense.
>
>--------------------------------
>| Sheldon Rampton
>| Research director, Center for Media & Democracy (www.prwatch.org)
>| Author of books including:
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>| Toxic Sludge Is Good For You
>| Mad Cow USA
>| Trust Us, We're Experts
>| Weapons of Mass Deception
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>| The Best War Ever
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