[WikiEN-l] Arbcom has completely lost its mind

Sat Feb 18 02:22:37 UTC 2006

> I don't know what you think Wikipedia is, but I always thought
> Wikipedia was a project to write an encyclopedia. In that respect,
> the Wikipedia: and User: namespaces are definitely like a workplace—
> just as a workplace exists for the purpose of facilitating work, user
> pages exist *for the purpose of facilitating the writing of an
> encyclopedia*. I dunno, what do *you* think they're for?

If you mean workplace as in office, then NO. Neither the Wikipedia:
nor the User: name spaces are like a workplace. The behavioral
guidelines of most offices are so strict that not 0.01% of what is
allowed on Wikipedia would be allowed there. If you mean workplace as
in "a place where people do work," then yes, maybe. But be aware that
porn workers also has a place where they work.... The workplace
analogy is just stupid and doesn't work.

> As for "Wikipedia is not safe for work" and "Wikipedia may be
> offensive to you", those refer to the *encyclopedia*, and they're
> there because any compilation of the sum of human knowledge is bound
> to contain information that will offend someone. That doesn't give us

Contributors to any compilation of the sum of human knowledge is bound
to contain individuals that will offend someone. Defining who the
offensive individuals are is tricky. But it seems like you want to
define them by the labels they attach to themselves.

> We have articles on racism, and those articles contain material
> that's offensive simply because the fact that racism exists is a bad,
> offensive thing that we are fully documenting. That doesn't give me
> license to express racist opinions on talk pages or on my userpage--
> if I do so, I'm getting in the way of building an encyclopedia by
> pissing off the people I'm supposed to be collaborating with.

Regretfully, there are quite a few sick perverts around the world. Are
they disallowed from contributing to Wikipedia? Are they disallowed
from telling the world that they are sick perverts on their user page?
You are hand-waiving about that hate speech is not allowed on user
pages but no one has contested that! The question is whether you can
write "sick pervert" on your user page. Is the answer YES or is it NO?

--
mvh Björn