On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 9:25 PM, David Levy <lifeisunf...@gmail.com> wrote: >> > The "hand in hand with children" wording seems to conflate physical >> > space with cyberspace. > >> How about "collaborating with children"? > > That's accurate, but I'm not quibbling over terminology. As I > explained to George, my point is that some measures commonly taken in > physical space are ineffective in cyberspace.
Wikipedia's strong culture of pseudonymity and anonymity makes protecting anyone, or detecting anyone, a nearly lost cause if they have any clue and sense of privacy. Unlike real life, we can't make guarantees with anything approaching a straight face. However - there's a difference between being unable to effectively screen people by real world standards, and not having a policy of acting when we do detect something. One is acknowledging cultural and technical reality - because of who and where we are, we couldn't possibly do better than random luck at finding these people. The other is disregarding any responsibility as a site and community to protect our younger members and our community from harm, if we find out via whatever means. Witch hunts looking for people don't seem helpful or productive to me. But if they out themselves somewhere else and are noticed here, then we're aware and on notice. The question is, entirely, what do we do then. Do we owe the underaged users a duty to protect them from known threats? Do we owe the project as a whole a duty to protect it from disgrace by association? -- -george william herbert george.herb...@gmail.com _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
