[Foundation-l] Re: check user policy/Tor

SJ 2.718281828 at gmail.com
Thu Nov 3 02:29:08 UTC 2005


On 11/2/05, Amgine <amgine at saewyc.net> wrote:

> For the same reason Wiki projects do not allow "public" accounts, there
> is no reason to use anonymizing techniques when editing. You may
> instantly and anonymously receive an account. Your IP will not be
> examined except in unusual circumstances, and then will be handled under
> a stringent privacy policy which protects your information even in the
> case of wrong doing. For these reasons, I would personally be in favour
> of blocking access, or at least editing, to all anonymizing services.

I would say that more important than trying to identify each user's IP
and disallowing anonymity -- which strikes me as the wrong way to go
-- would be asking users (presumed anonymous) to verify their goodwill
and interest in the projects by working in a sandboxed area, or
submitting time-delayed changes, until they had demonstrated a
reasonable threshhold of good faith; at which point they could
vandalize and be quickly blocked, having spent much more time getting
to that point than the vandal-fighters did blocking them.

Anonymity serves useful purposes; we should try to preserve those
while promoting the productive development of the projects.

To be mergist about these ideas... one could offer users both options.
1) edit under a privacy policy which disallows anonymity, or
2) edit anonymously, first passing through a sandbox stage to
demonstrate that you are not a bot and are acting in good faith.

+ SJ +



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