[Wikipedia-l] Watch this user

Tue Sep 10 21:55:51 UTC 2002

> This would also discourage peeping toms, people who
> like to watch but not be watched.

I'm all for having everybody be able to watch everybody else, since I
think the wikipedia community should be as transparent as is reasonably
practical.  

However, I think you allusion to peeping toms is totally overblown and
slightly absurd. By the nature of the act itself, posting on the
wikipedia is a public act, with public consequences, and therefore it
cannot reasonably be considered private.  While we allow a certain
degree of anonymity, the wiki is by nature a public space, and so nobody
is invading the private sphere just by tracking which articles someone
edits.