[WikiEN-l] Was: Google Earth screenshots

Fri Nov 24 13:57:47 UTC 2006

Steve Bennett wrote:
> On 11/24/06, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:
>> b) Creating a category for them makes it look like they are allowed,
>> which will probably just increase their usage.
> 
> I'm going to object to the logic here. You're suggesting that by
> creating a category, people will simultaneously think they're allowed
> (and hence upload more of them), while not putting them in that
> category, because they know they're not allowed? That's too weird,
> even for Pokémon fans.
> 
The question is, do we want to frustrate those whose intent is to be 
good citizens? Some will not bother to find the correct category, or 
will intentionally pick what they know to be an incorrect category. For 
those, the existence of a "correct" category will make little 
difference. Others, however, will seek the correct category, because 
they're trying to do what's right. For those people, seeing a category 
may lead them to believe that Google Earth snaps are ok. Under this 
proposal, we zap those people by deleting their contribution. This makes 
no sense, unless we're more interested in catching people than in 
encouraging proper behavior.

To use an analogy, it would be like having a special lane on a highway, 
marked for "traffic in excess of speed limit". Then posting police to 
ticket anyone using that lane.

-Rich