[WikiEN-l] Reply to Tony, David, and Christiaan

Wed Feb 16 16:19:30 UTC 2005

Tony Sidaway wrote:
> Bill Konrad said:
>>
>> Tony Sidaway wrote:
>>
>>> Bill Konrad said:
>>>> It's a bit of a  broad exageration to claim ALL editors would have to
>>>> bowlderize ALL of their  edits.
>>>
>>> No, it's absolutely true.  Just one goes and vandalizes the article on
>>> the American Revolution, on one day, and you'll have school governors
>>> freaking out.
>>
>> Huh? What does the ever-present problem with vandalism have to do with
>> placing images potentially offensive to many behind a link instead of
>> inline  (or what you seem to characterize as "bowlderizing")?
>
> Both of them are unacceptable for classroom materials.  Getting the well
> behaved users to politely bowdlerize their contributions in order to fly
> under the school board radar would not solve the problem because the
> presence of badly behaved users and casual vandals will still produce an
> environment too unpredictable for classroom use.
>>
>> Both may pose  problems to school administrators and
>> parents regarding the suitability of  Wikipedia for children, but the
>> vast majority of vandalism is not much  different from what is scrawled
>> on bathroom walls or heard in the  schoolyard.
>
> Those actions are also subject to sanction in schools.
>
>
>> Given that most such
>> vandalism is quickly removed, it is of an  entirely different nature
>> than more or less permanent content sanctioned by  the community.
>
> Absolutely.  The two are distinct problems, but both render live Wikis and
> other volatile web environments unsuitable for use in schools.
> Using a filtered Wiki is much more sensible.

But still don't see how anything you said here validates your earlier 
assertion that all editors would have to bowlderize all their edits.

Bkonrad 