[WikiEN-l] WikiEN-l Digest, Vol 54, Issue 128

[Ray Saintonge]

Steve Summit wrote:
> Mark Ryan wrote:
>   
>> With the high profile cases where administrators have been stalked in
>> real life as a result of personally identifiable information they post
>> on the wiki, I feel it's mad for people to post their real names, let
>> alone photos of themselves, names of loved ones or photos of loved
>> ones. Sure, if you stay out of trouble on the wiki the chances of such
>> a thing happening is pretty slight, but there's plenty of nutcases out
>> there to go around.
>>     
> I don't know Lara and I haven't followed this thread, but
> I would speculate that her attitude might be similar to mine:
> I refuse to grant those nutcases that much power.  Some tiny
> number of them exist, who have perpetrated some tiny number of
> (albeit high-profile) atrocities, and now suddenly nobody else on
> the entire planet can post pictures of their children to the net?
> No; I defy that lopsided capitulation.
I absolutely agree.  Much of this is a matter of trying to find a middle 
way between the nutcases and paranoiacs.  There is no evidence to show 
that the proportion of nutcases is any higher than it ever has been.  
They just have more tools (as do we), and the media relishes giving them 
more importance than they deserve.  There's something dreadfully wrong 
when we cannot perform normal acts for the sole speculative reason that 
we might be face-to-face with a nutcase.  Being overly protective of 
children is damaging too when it prevents them from gaining normal life 
experience.

Ec