[Wikipedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Internal Radio

[Matt R]

--- Wouter Steenbeek <musiqolog at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >From: Matt R <matt_crypto at yahoo.co.uk>
> >Reply-To: wikipedia-l at Wikimedia.org
> >To: wikipedia-l at Wikimedia.org
> >Subject: Re: [Wikipedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Internal Radio
> >Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 17:54:44 +0100 (BST)
> >
> >--- Wouter Steenbeek <musiqolog at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > >Wouter wrote:
> > > > > Suppose, by comparision, that I suggested for fun that orthodox 
> >Muslims
> > > >were
> > > > > right in saying homosexuals should be executioned. I don't think 
> >that
> > > >would
> > > > > make you smile; in your position, I would ask for immediate removal 
> >of
> > > >the
> > > > > offender from the mailing list and permanent blocking on Wikipedia.
> > > >
> > > >Why on earth should such a person be blocked?
> > > >
> > > >-- Matt
> > >
> > > Because I would take it serious and don't want people with this and 
> >similar
> > > views to edit Wikipedia.
> >
> >Why shouldn't people with such views edit Wikipedia? What about NPOV 
> >(Neutral
> >Point of View)?
> 
> NPOV has its limits, Matt. Such persons would probably start modfiing pages 
> like [[Homosexuality]], [[Sexuality]], [[Osama bin Laden]], [[George Bush]] 
> etc etc, just because extremists cannot distinguish fact and opinion. Of 
> course, they cannot be removed after a lot of such violations.

We should welcome extremists modifying such pages, as long as they follow our
policies (like NPOV). I don't see how we should exclude editors because of what
they think. We can exclude them if they edit in violation of our policies, of
course. But remember that it is quite possible for editors to hold extreme
views, even views that you may find obnoxious, and yet still be a moderate and
valuable Wikipedia contributor.

-- Matt

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