[WikiEN-l] Harassment sites

[Steve Summit]

Will Beback wrote:
> I don't see any comment from you about links outside of article space, 
> so I'm not sure if you are in favor removing those. On the whole, it 
> does appear that you are saying to Wikipedia editors that they must deal 
> with harassment either by growing a thicker skin or by leaving the 
> project. Is that correct?

I certainly didn't see David say that.

I think a big piece of the dissent here is that there are some
pretty widely differing views on what the power of a link is.
If there's some vile harassment out there on an external site
somewhere, and no matter I how heinous it is, I (and several
others in this debate) believe that, most of the time, a link
to that external harassment is *not* harassment itself.  The
external harassment exists whether I link to it or not, and the
guilt for the harassment likes solely with its author, not with
me for maybe linking to it.

Others, however, seem to feel that by default a link to an
external harassment page *is* just as bad as the harassment
itself.  It's as if it's okay for me to write

	Hey, David, did you know that over on davidgerardisapervert.com
	they're saying you enjoy sex with dead goats? 

but if I instead write

	Hey, David, did you know that on [http://davidgerardisapervert.com/
	perversions/sex_with_dead_goats.html this page] they're saying you
	enjoy sex with dead goats?

poor helpless David will immediately click the link, and be
transported into paroxysms of anguished guilt over what he sees
there.  (Or something.)