[WikiEN-l] One reason why Wikipedia is not presently classroom-safe

Sat Feb 19 21:30:56 UTC 2005

Tony Sidaway wrote:

> Christiaan Briggs said:
>> Tony Sidaway wrote:
>>
>>> However it's incorrect to say that disabling images is 
>>> indiscriminate.
>>
>> It's indiscriminate in that it stops all images from loading. There 
>> is no discrimination involved. All images are initially blocked. A 
>> site-based system would allow us to discriminate.
>
> Not really.  It would place the discrimination in the hands of someone 
> else, whereas if we disable image downloads *we* make the decision 
> which images we want to see.  It only takes a click.

A user is not always going to know what is going to offend them until 
they have looked at the content. By then it's too late. Yes the idea 
relies on Wikipedia editors to decide what is going to be potentially 
offensive. I don't think this would be half as difficult as some have 
implied and I would find it far more acceptable than asking users to 
disable images completely. Getting users to disable images in their web 
browser is like using a sledge hammer to do the job of a spanner.

Christiaan