[WikiEN-l] Stan's response is not realistic - RK is a necessary evil

Thu Oct 2 17:47:53 UTC 2003

Stan wrote in response to letter arguing that RK is a necessary evil:

"There are people who have some detailed knowledge of the

Israeli Palestinian conflict, a generally neutral point of view, and a

commitment to scholarly investigation,  myself for instance, but I've

generally avoided those articles because Wikipedia is not paying me enough

to put up with constant abuse and name-calling by RK."  

Although I agree in principle with Stan, who points out that RK's just a petty

partisan, who ought to quit haunting the Israeli-Palestinian articles in 

favor of users with real expertise and a grasp of NPOV, there's no

chance in hell of this far-fetched fantasy working out. Passions run so 

high on both sides in real life that it's inevitable that a new User:RK or

User:Palestine liberator could discover Wikipedia any day, launch an

ideological campaign under the guise of NPOV, and in turn attract a new 

set of rival partisans. We'd certainly like to see better, but there's no

way Wikipedia, and all the freedom it affords, can act against users 

determined to use Wikipedia as a battlefield to play out their frustrations. 

Moreover, RK's not the only partisan. Banning RK would just throw 

off the balance existing right now between the partisans. Why don't 

we just accept the fact that the Israeli-Palestinian articles are the

most conflict-prone of all on Wiki, given the real-world political realities? 

Rather than getting rid of this necessary evil, let's continue to referee 

the RK-types? All his disputes end with NPOV by stalemate - and 

that's what Wiki needs above all else. It doesn't matter how you get 

there. 

In addition, his response noted that not banning RK would generate

more bad behavior. However, reread my arguments. I argued that

there's a peculiar long-run benefit derived from his bad behavior. 
He's a  necessary evil, when neutralized by his enemies.

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