[WikiEN-l] BADSITES ArbCom case about to close

charles.r.matthews at ntlworld.com charles.r.matthews at ntlworld.com
Wed Oct 17 18:35:26 UTC 2007


William Pietri wrote

> Thanks for the summary, Charles. One question.
> 
> charles.r.matthews at ntlworld.com wrote:
> > 4.2) Linking to external sites which contain information harmful to another 
> > person so as to harass them is unacceptable.
> >   
> 
> I can read this in two ways depending on what "so as to harass" refers 
> to, the linking or the containing. One reading is that linking so as to 
> harass is unacceptable. The other is that linking to sites that harass 
> is unacceptable.
> 
> When I first read this, I assumed that the Arbitration Committee meant 
> the first, which is an obvious extension of WP:HARASS, WP:NPA, or 
> WP:CIVIL, take your pick.
> 
> But now that I look at it again, I see it could be read as a very broad 
> thing. I could make a good case for delinking both Bill O Reilly and 
> Michael Moore's sites, among many others, based on the second reading.
> 
> Could you clarify which the AC had in mind? And is it possible to 
> clarify it in the text, possibly via minor rewording?

You can see in the real case that the precise wording was argued through 4 and 4.1. Lawyers hate commas, but read it as 

"Linking to external sites, which contain information harmful to another person, so as to harass them, is unacceptable."

Bear in mind we are working with a definite idea of harassment (of Wikipedians). 

Charles

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