[WikiEN-l] How much?

Tue Jan 13 20:09:03 UTC 2004

There is a legitimate question about how much human nudity should 
be shown in Wikipedia.

On the one hand, anyone who types /wiki/penis at the end of 
http://www.wikipedia.org has no one to blame but himself if he 
finds an article there about a human penis. And if he or she is 
offended that the article goes beyond its excretory role to 
describe its role in reproduction or *shudder* "getting it on", 
tough luck. It's like visiting Las Vegas and being shocked to 
discover that gambling goes on there.

On the other hand, many of us hope that the Wikipedia could 
produce a version suitable for distribution to schools. And we 
all know how prissy (or protective) some schools are about giving 
access to 'obscene' information or images. The general rule is, 
the lower the age group, the more "protection" they should get. 
Note that this is from the POV of the "protectors"; others say 
that if the kids aren't old enough to be interested, they'll just 
turn the page.

For acceptance, however, those of us with a "no holds barred" 
attitude might do well to consider the feelings of the "guardians 
of youth". This means, either leave stuff out of Wikipedia 
(unthinkable!) or somehow creating an expurgated (or bowdlerized) 
edition.

This might not be so traumatic as you'd think. Many school 
subjects are graded, with math probably having the finest 
gradations. "Age-appropriate" materials are common in U.S. public 
schools, and, presumably elsewhere as well.

But the first "print" or "plastic" (DVD) edition of Wikipedia 
probably ought to be un-censored. Its target would be adults.

Perhaps if enough people get their hands on a physical copy of 
Wikipedia, one of them will decide to make a "school edition". I 
don't think we (the content providers) have to worry about that 
right now.

Ed Poor, aka Uncle Ed