[Foundation-l] New Proposal: WikiMemory

Fri Sep 16 19:24:41 UTC 2005

Traroth wrote:

>Well... Why not ? Are you people OK with testimonies
>like "I was there when US army shooted on Hotel
>Palestine in Bagdad" or "I was in the jails of Abu
>Graib" ?
>  
>
I think this sort of thing would be very problematic.  When it comes to 
contentious topics, like Israel-Palestine, people have repeatedly 
demonstrated that they are willing to completely fabricate eye-witness 
accounts to make one or the other side look bad.

Published eye-witness accounts can also be fabricated, of course, but 
have the benefit that since they're in the public sphere of published 
work, the more questionable oens have often attracted published 
refutations.  Similarly, books on controversial subjects are often 
reviewed in the 'book review' sections of journals.  A purported 
eyewitness account added directly to a wiki doesn't benefit from any of 
that sort of peer review.

-Mark