[Foundation-l] Pedophilia and the Non discrimination policy

[Jesse (Pathoschild)]

Hello,

I see a strong moral streak underlying many of the arguments in favour
of banning this editor, with unsubtle arguments fronting the idea that
paedophiles are inherently evil and can do no good. These arguments
are not convincing to me; no group of people is inherently evil.
Paedophilia does not lead automatically to child abuse, any more than
heterosexuality leads automatically to rape. I'm sure most of us can
draw the parallels to similar cases of hatred throughout history
without my prompting.

We should be careful about assuming that we are the sole protectors of
our underaged editors, when they are far better protected by their
parents, educators, and local police. Wikipedia is a very unlikely
preying ground for child abusers; it is often impossible to know the
age or location of a given editor, every comment is automatically
archived and logged, and even if they were to find a target on
Wikipedia they would need to approach them physically. Far easier to
find and approach victims in the physical world, where the underaged
are common and visible. Furthermore, banning an editor does not in the
least change his access to our underaged contributors.

This editor has contributed productively to Wikipedia since September
2005; he's been an active editor even longer than I have. In all that
time, he has not demonstrated any interest I can see in child abuse,
stalking, or harassment. He received 82% support in his request with
154 users commenting, many expressing concerns similar to mine. I
think this rather discredits the suggestion that paedophiles disrupt
or harm the community and project by their mere presence.

I do not agree with banning (or blocking) any editor for purely
idealogical reasons, especially a long-term editor that has already
proven his worth and gained widespread support in the local wiki
community.

-- 
Yours cordially,
Jesse (Pathoschild)