[WikiEN-l] Reliable, selectable content

Wed Apr 6 13:32:29 UTC 2005

Tom Haws wrote:

> I think if Wikipedia could provide reliable, selectable 
> content, that humanitarian organizations like Care For Life could 
> creatively solve the problem of distribution.

We don't want forks. But our READERS often want a subset of our
material. We established our web sites and our community to provide
reliable FREE material for everyone in the world. (Remember, the choice
of Wiki software was only a means to an end; a means that has served us
amazingly well, but only a means: not the end itself.)

Our web sites will ALWAYS contain the full set of articles. So the
articles on diverse sexual practices (copiously illustrated) will
forever be safe from censorship. But not all our readers want to see the
full set. They'll settle for the 99.9% that helps them fulfill their
goals.

Poor schools in Africa: MUST they agree to accept articles about
(largely Western) notions like [[autofellatio]] (with helpful images
showing you how to try this yourself)? 

Did we create Wikipedia, only on the CONDITION that everyone who uses it
read (or at least receive) every article we write?

There's a web site that copies all our geographical articles. Call it
"censorship" or "editorial decisions", if those terms motivate you, but
from Uncle Ed's POV they are merely CHOOSING what is important to them
and disregarding the rest.

I'm sure somebody will decide to choose ONLY the sexological articles
for a free Encyclopedia of Sex. I bet NOBODY at Wikipedia will accuse
them of "censorship" for leaving out global warming or tsunami relief.
They wouldn't think of it; they'd be gushing about intellectual freedom
and so on.

THEREFORE, I propose that we adopt as quickly as possible a system that
lets readers and/or publishers easily identify articles that they want
to include or exclude. I know Magnus has done a lot of work on this, and
I hope he will continue. 

Wouldn't it be nice to have a category page that lists "all sex-related
topics" or "all articles chosen for WikiDVD 1.0" or "articles selected
by the GeoWorld project"?

Imagine a poor country with a non-democratic government. They want to
educate their people, but they are unwilling to tolerate some small
number of ideas. Should we make it DIFFICULT or EASY for them to select
a subset of articles for an Encyclopedia of Lessitania? 

Ed Poor, aka Uncle Ed