[WikiEN-l] Harassment sites

[George Herbert]

On 10/16/07, Steve Summit <scs at eskimo.com> wrote:
> 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.)

Fifty quatloos to the man who buys that domain and puts some salacious
content there.

One hundred, and a large alcoholic drink of your choice, if it's David himself.


-- 
-george william herbert
george.herbert at gmail.com