On Sat, Jun 2, 2012 at 4:57 PM, Andreas Kolbe <[email protected]> wrote: > We are not talking about filtering standard sex education images as you > might find in a school book. We are talking about images or videos...
[snip to spare Sarah's eyes, and mine] Andreas, I use Wikipedia on a daily basis, not as an editor, but as a user, and the only times I've come across those things you mention were while reading your posts, emails and notes, and clicking on links *you* provided (or others having the same discourse), never "by chance". I am not saying the problem does not exist, I am the first to think that many Commons images need to be cleaned up (and not only for model release and obvious porn reasons, but for many others too), but I would be grateful if you could avoid emphasizing your point in such a crude way in every single email you write and derail otherwise important and interesting threads. Thanks. More importantly, I would like to answer Michelle. I am a mother of two. Granted, they are still young, and not yet in the age where they actually surf the internet. Still, what they might come across while browsing is something I have thought about. I think it is hard for a certain generation (mine at least, maybe yours, I don't know), to understand what it's like to be "digital natives", and take the internet for granted. More important, it is a bit difficult for me to take the plethora of information one finds on the internet for granted. But although I've started "late" (I am 40, for the record, my kids are 4 and 2), I chatted right off the bat, and met some weird people on the internet, for example. There was at the time way less content, and certainly of way worse quality than what one can find today.If I look back, though, I used the internet the way my parents had taught me to "act in a public place". So what my parents brought me was put to good use in that new "public space", regardless of the fact that that public space had different rules (anonymity, and yes, a plethora of sexual content, for example). My take is that today is no different. Our kids will grow in a world where the public space is what it is, and they will be confronted to these things. And I am convinced that it is MY responsibility to teach them about what they might find (or not find for that matter) in that public space, not to rely on anyone else's judgement to decide for them what they can see and not see. I will protect them where I can, but more importantly, I will try and help them develop judgement tools and values that I believe are right. They might go against them, they might seek pornography on the internet, but that will be their own choice, and I'll have to live with it. I really don't think that any filter on Wikipedia or even any other websites will ever prevent them from coming across some of those things. Hopefully, if it shocks them, disgusts them or whatever other negative reaction, I will have taught them to come to me (or anyone else in a position to "explain") and ask questions and talk about things. My take is that the internet is not here to teach our kids. We are there for that. That is my role as a mother, and the responsibility I took on when deciding to have kids. And I intend to give my best to fill that role and make sure that I give as many tools as I can to my children to live in the world we live in. I don't think that hoping that someone else is going to "protect them" from all bad things is the answer. Best, Delphine -- @notafish NB. This gmail address is used for mailing lists. Personal emails will get lost. Intercultural musings: Ceci n'est pas une endive - http://blog.notanendive.org Photos with simple eyes: notaphoto - http://photo.notafish.org _______________________________________________ Gendergap mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
