On 19/09/2007, Steve Summit <scs(a)eskimo.com> wrote:
Armed Blowfish wrote:
...Wikipaedia's lack of concern for its own
editors lowers my
opinion of the whole project.
You see, this is the part that really sticks in my craw.
If something gets proposed that is claimed to "protect an editor
from harm", and if I disagree with it, I'm automatically accused
of having a "lack of concern".
Firstly, note that I said Wikipaedia, not
Steve. Wikipaedia's culture encourages
a lack of concern for its own editors.
Whenever people go on about how some
measure to protect editors would, in some
inexplicable way, hurt the project, it shows
callousness inherent in the system.
Encyclopaedias do not suffer. People do.
Not at all: I might be (I am) *very* concerned, but
merely
in disagreement on the usefulness or appropriateness of that
particular proposed remedy.
Removing links to psychologically damaging
material protects people from psychological
damage, to some extent. And it inna a sanction.
Yippee!
Not as good as sending a representative over to
ask for the material to be removed or whatever,
but still.
I have no idea how you think removing links to
psychologically damaging material which aren't
reliable sources anyway hurts the project, but even
if it does, any project which cares about some minor
damage that might befall it more than the well-being
of its people is doing plenty to hurt itself without any
help.
'The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly
correct. He was obsolete, but so is the State, the
entity he worshipped. Any state, any entity, any
ideology that fails to recognise the worth, the dignity,
the rights of man, that state is obsolete.'
-- The Twilight Zone
The apparent "you're either with us or
against us" mentality
is as shortsighted and divisive here as it is anywhere else.
How many websites manage to spread out
their flame wars across multiple websites,
many with high Google pageranks?
Wikipaedia is the only one I can think of.
Also, note that I am not a Wikipaedian, so
I am not sure who is this us of whom you
speak.