[Foundation-l] Blackout at Italian Wikipedia

[Michael Snow]

On 10/5/2011 7:03 AM, Domas Mituzas wrote:
>> The only thing we truly could do is restore read access. But if the
>> it.wikipedia community really wants to strike, there's very little we
>> can do to stop them. :)
> I sure agree with that. There're plenty of ways to inflict pain without terminating the service entirely.
> Editor strike means not editing, it doesn't mean full service downtime.
When labor unions go on strike, they do more than not show up for work. 
They form picket lines and take other actions designed to obstruct 
activity so that company operations cannot proceed. Taken to its logical 
conclusion, if the Italian Wikipedia community collectively wants to go 
on strike, then what they have done is apply the full range of tools to 
carry that out.
> How do we deal with an editor who starts deleting his contributions out of spite?
In contrast to strike actions, in those countries that recognize the 
right to organize collectively, sabotage and destruction are generally 
considered illegal and beyond the pale of acceptable behavior. Certainly 
we should not support anyone in the Italian community who thought it was 
a good idea to vandalize or delete portions of the encyclopedia as part 
of their protest. But I don't think someone acting out of spite is a 
good comparison, since it seems pretty clear that this action is not 
being taken out of spite. I am happy to keep my trust in the Italian 
Wikipedia community, that it is in the best position to judge whether 
this protest is needed, what measures are appropriate to the situation, 
and how long to carry on with it.

--Michael Snow