On 2/17/06, charles matthews <charles.r.matthews(a)ntlworld.com> wrote:
What happens when things get out of kilter? We seem
to have reached a stage
where the granting of permissions, which is at the heart of the wiki way,
is in tension with the assertion of rights. Everyone here knows that the
permission to write on a page is quite distinct from the right to have your
POV on the page; this is Wikipedia 101. The permission to write on one's
user page, together with the right to veto anyone else's contributions
there, is not a right 'of free speech' on a user page. If people are making
decisions based on some assumed right of that kind, they are just completely
wrong. This is not a feasible policy for Wikipedia. The fact is that user
pages are not policed, except in egregious cases. That is not a reason to
be confused about the basic situation.
Nicely put. So how do we go about telling people that they're welcome
here, but they are guests, and have no rights whatsoever?
Steve