Misplaced Pages

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Template:Trollwarning

Please help me

This person: user:improv keeps on changing my atricle on Samrat Upadhyay. Is he an editor? Please tell me how can I improve and maintain the wiki standard. I want to be a proper contributor. Give me an idea about what to include and what not to.--Nepal avish 01:46, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Hello Jimbo, I have a suggestion

While on Misplaced Pages, I have noticed, due to technical resctrictions, that articles starting with lowercase letters must be changed to start with capitals. Now, I am sure someone else has suggested this, can't you simply have that word not the beggining of the title? For example, you may IPod to Apple iPod, and Imac to Apple iMac. You can have EBay as WWW.eBay.COM, or something even. -Ravi 15:05, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Hm...why not change the Wikimedia Software so it lets you have lowercase titles? Wouldn't that be a better solution? --67.142.130.46 17:30, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

Greetings Earthling, Jimbo:

Greetings Earthling, Jimbo:

I do apologize for calling you on your cell phone while you were eating dinner with your parents. I promise not to call you again. I didn't know you had a talk page. I didn't know I had a talk page. I would just like to make five suggestions.

1. There should be a Misplaced Pages FAQ that new Misplaced Pages users can't miss. In other words there should be a flashing hypertext link to it in a very large font all in a box on Misplaced Pages's home page. This FAQ should explain everything about Misplaced Pages. It should explain the Misplaced Pages process. It should tell users about advocates, mediators, and arbitrators. This would save everyone a lot of grief.

2. Some editors revert anything a new contributor adds to an entry. They do this unceremoniously without comment. They do this even if the contributor substantiates their claims on the article talk page. This appears to be against stated Misplaced Pages policy. New editors are often patronized, berated, insulted and sanctioned simply because they do not understand the Misplaced Pages process. New editors should have some simple recourse to hostile treatment, and this information should be included in the FAQ.

3. No one should be allowed to edit an article unless they have registered with Misplaced Pages and sign in with a password. Their email address should be confirmed. This would lessen vandalism and free up administrators to do more constructive things.

4. Misplaced Pages would greatly benefit from a web site map. Misplaced Pages is a labyrinth.

5. I am sure there is a fifth suggestion I would like to make, but I just can't think of one now.

Warmest and kindest regards, Michael D. Wolok

PS. If you ever find yourself in Miami and need any kind assistance please feel free to call on me.

croatia again?

• u have in plans 2 visit croatia or other near countries in the near future?
• btw, r u the only person who created wikipedia or there were some other people included 2?
• Respond soon, m8.
• West Brom 4ever

My article

Why did you delete all Bobby's articles? Sorry, if I made funny articles. I made those up because I made a story about Math Genius who lived in Math (state). I created Math (state) article. Did I put that Math Genius lived in Math (state)? If you can, could you recreate it?

smile dude

RainbowSprinkles has smiled at you! Smiles promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day better. Spread the WikiLove by smiling to someone else, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. Smile to others by adding {{subst:smile}}, {{subst:smile2}} or {{subst:smile3}} to their talk page with a friendly message. Happy editing!

Thanks for all u do

Sockpuppets and their Masters

Hello, this is Armando341. I have placed some blocks on users who I know are definitely vandals, including sockpuppets of user:1028 and user:guns'nroseslover. These two, however, are not in any way related. Hope you don't mind.-Armando341

Maybe it's a good idea

Ste4k wrote: Hi Jimbo! I had an idea that is useless to me but might be something for you, let's see. I've only been around here for about a week, so if it sounds silly, please just ignore it. I think that television shows should not be considered factually worth an article until they have actually completed the season written about. This would reduce the edit warring caused by particular people whom are actually only acting as newscasters and producing O.R. It would end the bickering between them, end the sensationalism they add, end the problems with writing one day in future tense and the next day in past. And when it's all said and done for that season, they ignore those articles leaving a big mess for everyone else to clean up. If only completed programs were considered facts, then the only people writing about them would be the people interested. :) BTW, this is not a request. It's just an idea that's useless to me. :(

nice touch

http://en.wikipedia.org/WP:AN#User:Prometheuspan

he even used an ad hominem AS THE JUSTIFICATION for the block.

above stuff unsigned and likely done by Prome-something

Brians Peppers

Why did you delete all the pages on Brian Peppers? -— Preceding unsigned comment added by Sheepdog tx (talk • contribs) 15:06, July 4, 2006

His family requested it. They were upset by the satyrical fame their son had achieved on the internet.--The ikiroid (talk·desk·Advise me) 15:12, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

No, that is not the reason. The reason is that the page was properly deleted by a proper AfD, and then brought back multiple times, resulting in what looked to me like a brewing war over it. I decided that it was really quite unimportant as a topic, and that the principle that AfD should be respected was more important. --Jimbo Wales 16:16, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Jimmy, that makes sence in itself, but the sentiment of respecting Brian Peppers family is a much more important one as far as humanitarianism is concerned. Old friend 06:00, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

I suggest you make it into a links page to Brian Peppers articles on other wikis. DyslexicEditor 17:11, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

I suggest you leave it the way it is: {{deletedpage}}. --Lord Deskana (talk) 17:12, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

There's images like this Image:Toby-peppers.png on wikipedia. This one looks 9 months old. DyslexicEditor 23:20, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Until quite recently, unfortunately, the Peppers thing was kept alive on the talk page. I deleted the talk page and this was then taken to Deletion review. The deletion was supported in the review. So we really do as a community agree with Jimbo's action. --Tony Sidaway 23:48, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

I was unaware of the article's AfD, I only knew of its most recent deletion. Sorry about the incorrect response.--The ikiroid (talk·desk·Advise me) 00:56, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages, WP:NOT, and Real time strategy games

Hello Jimbo. I feel funny barging in here like this, but I have a question about WP:NOT and its implications to some pages I wrote as they pertain to gaming. On Misplaced Pages it is not uncommon to find article dealing with games, and most games have extra pages covering characters and equipment and such. Overall, the pages do not seem to bump up against policy here, so I decided to be bold and overhauled a bunch of paes relating to the real-time strategy game Command & Conquer and one of its off shoots, Command & Conquer: Generals. Among other things I created a listing of all the units that appeared in the games, but I was careful to omit the cost, prerequists, and specific uses of the units so that anyone reading up on the material would have to go elsewhere to find that information (its usually presented in a game guide, which we are not allowed to have here). Since then however admins have listed the material on AFD, claiming that the info presented is a violation of WP:NOT by presenting a game manual and a how to guide. I take offense to that for two reasons: first, I have not told anybody how to do anything. There are no strategy guides, no walkthroughs, nothing of that nature on the pages. Secondly, the information is encyclopedic, as it cover the evolution of the units and strucutres throughout the series. In the case of the units other contributers have even added real to life inspirations for such vehicals.

Ordinarly I would not bother you about this, but I do feel that the pages have encyclopedic value here. I am also concerned about the presedent that this raises, as the admins have vowed to begin a mass deletion campaign against article in the Warcraft and StarCraft universe when these article are finished. I am not asking you to vote on the AFD (although if you want to that would be awesome), but I would like your two cents on the matter. Since you founded the site, I figure that you understand better than anyone what should and should not be allowed here. TomStar81 05:09, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

The real standard in question here concerns the inclusion of minutia from fictional worlds. It seems to me that many people have a bias against the kinds of fictional worlds found in most games, where characters, places, and objects have a kind of auto-generated feel to them rather than a human touch (take World of Warcraft for an example). The fact is that lots of this stuff -- for very complex reasons contemplated only by bleeding-edge literary critics and their ilk -- develops meaning for thousands of not millions of people, whether or not they exhibit much authorial care in their origins. It is almost certainly material of concern to only a subculture, but it would be injudicious to hold that against games and not other subjects. --Apantomimehorse 03:02, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages talk:Delete unused username after 90 days

Hi just a note to say that it has reached 200 in favour (with just 14 opposing) which seems to be a good time to implement for most people. Just wondering if you could find out how as you have a position on the board (and if it is allowed) Lcarsdata 17:49, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

User:Xed

Since you've twice unblocked this user ("he asked nicely") I was wondering whether you had any objection to an indefinite block in light of his (recently removed) trolling on this very page. Thanks. — Jul. 7, '06 <freak|talk>

I would prefer that if this were to be done, it be done through the ArbCom rather than unilaterally. I don't need protection from him. In my opinion, his rhetoric is transparently trolling and therefore it is best to let him speak as much as he likes... he proves a better point left free to harass me than if blocked. If he is abusing other people, then that is a different matter of course. But I am not concerned about Xed.

I am also a hopeless romantic. I imagine that someday he will realize that there is a better way to address some of his legitimate concerns (systemic bias, etc.) than to go around making preposterous and transparently silly arguments about my alleged corruption. --Jimbo Wales 19:38, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Well it looked like this Xed chap just gets too carried away with what he describes as legitimate critisim and comments. It's a wiki and there's no tolerance for trollish behavior such as that. I recommend forebearance and, if the block log gets too cluttered with such offenses, just quietly block them indefinitely with an summary such as "Exhausted the communities patience through idiotic trolling and is obviously not here to build an encyclopedia." -Randall Brackett 19:48, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, he has already exhausted the patience of everyone except for me, I am afraid. This has been going on for years. I do not think it really makes sense to call his behavior "just getting too carried away". He posts things which are really outrageous and based on falsehood, things that he knows (or has had every opportunity to know) are falsehoods, with the express purpose, as far as I can tell, of getting himself banned so that he can cry about the injustive of it all. Of late, he has been repeating the same tired story over and over, a story which is not true. Here is my summary of the situation: --Jimbo Wales 20:38, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, according to the blocking policy, "There have been situations where a user has exhausted the community's patience to the point where he or she finds themselves blocked. Administrators who block in these cases should be sure that there is community support for the block, and should note the block on WP:ANI as part of the review process." I'm sure you're aware of this. The growing support for this community block is located here. Just thought you should know, if you already didn't. --LV 21:32, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I support this block. This editor states blatent lies, defamation of character and consistently violates his arbcom ruling. We should not have to tolerate this nonsense. He's an obvious indefinite block canidate. This is a good block.-Randall Brackett 21:42, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I would just say that Xed is a annoying personality with delusions of grandeur. I do not think he will ever contribute positively to the encyclopedia, he is just a strange person that seems to get pleasure by attempting to push other people's button and then accuse them of being a part of a grand conspiracy against him. I understand that Jimbo unblocked him to underscore the silliness of Xed's accusations against him in particular, but I think it was the wrong thing to do on Jimbo's part since Xed's "campaign" against Mr. Wales was only one miniscule part of the years of negative behavior.- Moshe Constantine Hassan Al-Silverburg | Talk 05:16, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Hasn't he already contributed positively? Everyking 08:59, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

Maybe he has made a couple of okay contributions, but this is canceled out many fold by his other actions.- Moshe Constantine Hassan Al-Silverburg | Talk 12:16, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

Not too happy

Jimbo, what's the deal with "Misplaced Pages:Long term abuse/George Reeves Person" (courtesy delete as part of negotiation with individual admins, you know where to find this if you need it)"

What individual admins? I have been tracking this person since day one, and its been a headache. I'm not very happy to be out of the loop. I also don't have a place to post new articles attacked, which is important. My email is enabled if you want to tell me what the heck is going on.

He's made fools of admins in the past. I don't know if this guy is mesmerizing or what, but I would assume that nothing he says is necessarily true. Whatever kind of deal you've go going down, I am sure that it will only work if backed by meatspace force.

Remember, this guy has vowed to track me down and destroy me. This guy has posted on his web site a method of exploiting a flaw in Misplaced Pages's software to do serious damage to Misplaced Pages. This guy has made legal threats. This guy has caused a lot of headaches generally. How much "courtesy" does this guy deserve? There is no personal information on this person contained on the page you deleted. Herostratus 23:03, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Hi Jimbo: I wish you luck in negotiating with this difficult person. Ultimately it would help us if he would just stop the vandalism, malicious personal attacks, and threats. He reserves his most violent personal attacks for those who have tried to reason with him gently, which is ... interesting. Yet: do what is right for Misplaced Pages. I paraphrase Sun Tzu, "the highest form of victory is to accomplish your aim without fighting." Good luck to you, and let me know if I can help. Antandrus (talk) 00:43, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Per your reply - Ah, I see, OK then. Best of luck. Herostratus 01:35, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Comment that was originally placed '

There is a cabal, the blocks issued by admins are often punitive, not preventive, and are not issued for disruptions of the main article space, but merely for offensive behavior in talkpages, which is only subjectively perceived and could easily be ignored. The blocks are usually not reverted because the admins stick together. Either the ArbCom shloud work better, or the community should be given the rights to desysop the admin and the policy for desysopping should be more strict. This concept of community where all are equal doesn't work, because you have the cops here (admins), who are more equal, they have their own "admin" community, but you have no functioning "internal investigation department" i.e. cophunters, who would pursue the admins for misuse of their powers, and the editors are not able to deal with the admin cabal. 85.70.5.66 21:11, 7 July 2006 (UTC) P.S.: Please don't consider this vandalism. I have placed an argument here, I know it will be deleted, but the owner of the page already stated that we may edit his page.

Dear 85.70.5.66, Here Here! You are 100% right on, totally correct. Excellent observation. If only Misplaced Pages had a transparent government with no bullshit going on. If only this really was the encyclopedia that 'anyone can edit'. The internet might be a better place for it. Then it would be something that does make the internet not suck. But as it is, it only adds to the suckiness of the internet. It only adds to the tons of propagandistic, demeaning, mind controlling advertisement-oriented crap that the world wide web has become.

And if we don't fight against it..

It will only get worse. And worse. And worse. 66.218.22.10 06:48, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

ps This is also a constructive criticism made by a person who once loved Misplaced Pages and would like to be able to love it again. 66.218.22.10 06:48, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Silly anons! Everybody knows there's a cabal! You can find it here and here. --Banana04131 23:10, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Self-governing community based on consensus

.. doesn't work Jimbo. In my comment above, I noted that there are no effective measures that would prevent the admins from misusing their powers, no "internal investigation". Moreover, you cannot expect the community to stick toghether, if there is a sub-group that has more power. This sub-group will stick together, it would in any environment. This doesn't get to its extremes here, because it is a virtual community and most people don't see the sense of their lifes in wikipedia, and the effects of "fighting for power" are therefore mitigated. In a real community based on this model, disputes would lead to estabilishment of parties, which would fight for power and the leaders of the winning party would eventually become dictators of this previously consensus-driven community. My point is, consensus might be a good way to resolve content disputes of the articles, it is, however, not a good way to govern a community. 85.70.5.66 08:23, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree. I'm thinking of Lord of the Flies. Or as Yeats said

Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

--Eggman64 09:30, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Or as Leonard Cohen said,

There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in...

— Jul. 8, '06 <freak|talk>

Lord of the flies it ain't. More like Skull and Bones, Adolf Hitler's takeover of the German Nazi party or Joseph Stalin all rolled into one. Anarchy, real anarchy or at least a transparant government is what we need here. 66.218.22.4 07:50, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Spoiler warnings

At the moment there is a debate on whether spoiler warnings in articles about works of fiction should be deleted, on basis that they are not present in Britannica and other general encyclopedias, or kept, on basis they extend selection of readers to include ones intending to read, watch or play the work.

As arguments regularly involve interpretations of your ideas, I'd like to know what your actual opinion on this subject is, at least in a yes/no way. --CP/M 16:13, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

To my knowledge, I have never commented on this specific issue, but as a general rule, I think that almost any argument, on any topic, which has premises beginning with "Jimbo said..." is a pretty weak argument. Surely the merits of the proposal should be primary, not what I happen to think.--Jimbo Wales 17:00, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

I believe the misunderstanding originated from your quote noting: "Our goal is to get to Britannica quality, or better." ---Jimbo Wales December 2005

I would conclude the intent of the quote was in reference to Britannica's quality to research, compose and generally view all their material as equivilent in value to the view of an encyclopedia. I really think Britannica's habbit to forgo spoiler tags is not merely based upon the content they posess, but the fact that its a silly ideal obtained from that of social networking websites and the like that do not consider themselves or their data encyclopediac. Its simply nonsense to warn readers of content when an encyclopedia operates with the intent to share all of its subjects as equal and knowledgeable as any other.

I endorse this paticular quote as I feel it describes our goal to keep the spirit of an excellent encyclopedia intact while expanding the amount of subjects not usually located in an encyclopedia. I don't see why, as an encyclopedia, simply because of our acceptance of various media articles we should treat them any differently than our mainstream subjects. All information at wikipedia is shared with the intent to inform those who seek it. It is utterly ridculous to allow those who endorse the concept of ignorance to operate the construction of an encyclopedia. -Randall Brackett 17:34, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages is a new and different thing. Britannica did not publish detailed articles on movies while they were still in theatres. Get used to the idea that Misplaced Pages is redefining the word "encyclopedia". The issue is not how can we be like Britannica. The issue is how we can be the best Misplaced Pages we can be. Further, Misplaced Pages is changing, so what works best at one point in time may not be best at another. The encyclopedia that improves at the speed of technology. It's enough to make you dizzy. WAS 4.250 21:12, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

You have totally bypased the point of my comment. My view doesn't endorse the similarities we share with Britannica. It adresses the view that we are an encyclopedia and I don't paticularly care how much we break the mold, the definition and our goals haven't changed. I don't think we're redefining the definition of an encyclopedia and I do percieve, from my time as an editor that we are using the capcity and resources of the internet to expand upon what an original encyclopedia could hold.

In this, I don't see how any of that would be relevant. Spoiler tags were once useful, I think, when wikipedia was still growing as a website and we had not expanded our base of material yet. We've passed this point and its time to throw away the pacificer for the consumerist readers who are acustomed to usenet and other social networking sites. We're here to build an encyclopedia and provide knowledge to those who seek it. Not play silly games with people who wish to introduce their fictional fears of learning something new. Such actions go against the encyclopedia and the point of wikipedia. -Randall Brackett 21:56, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

As a consumer of information, I find spoiler warnings very useful. I like know that if I am reading ArticleA and I follow a link to a book or movie or the like, I'll get enough informaiton tounderstand why that book or movie was mentioned in ArticleA, but not so much as to spoil my experience if I ever read/watch the book/movie. If you don't like them or don't care, then they are easy enough to skip over as you read. Johntex\ 22:05, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

I support the use of warning people about spoilers. To anyone who believes we should remove the spoiler warnings, how about once we know the secret to the next Harry Potter book (or whatever spoiler), let's put the spoiler at the top of the article (with no warning) and feature that article on the front of wikipedia so everyone gets spoiled by it? Would anyone really be okay with it? DyslexicEditor 22:38, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm just now noticing this discussion here, unfortunately. I think there's a common misconception at work here that courtesies regarding hypothetical scenarios (whether they really occur or not) are more important than the site's policies, integrity and the concept of making an encyclopedia, which is built on a few core concepts, including neutrality and no censorship. We don't censor images of naked women, we dno't censor images of humans being tortured and we shouldn't warn people away form spoiler information either when it's all considered as relevant as the other information and is supposed to be treated the same.

It's really a horrible double-standard that Misplaced Pages's been allowing ever since the spoiler tag was implemented, and this matter isn't about how it looks or some such thing, so you can't just "gloss over them" as you look at the pages. This is about the integrity of the project itself, which has been diminishing more and more as time has gone on, with events such as a template that would warn people of images of human torture being rejected on the grounds of Misplaced Pages not being censored, while this blasphemous spoiler template has held free reign on the grounds that it's "useful."

There are many useful things in existance, but we don't include them here. Warnings about pornography or images of torture would probably be useful too, as would a phone book listing every phone number in the world, but they have no place here, and -- in principle -- neither should the spoiler tags. They're a warning to readers to dissuade them from learning some specifically selected information on the basis of an editor's own opinions and assumptions about what's best for the readers, things which should not be allowed to influence an article or a readers' absorption of its contents.

In any event, of late it's been proposed that we see if it's possible to set the default presentation of the encyclopedia to "spoiler tags: off," while allowing an option to users to turn them on at their own discretion, in which case they will be choosing to censor themselves rather than editors choosing to do so. While I still find this compromise unsavory, given that it's likely to be the only thing that will allow us to get the unobjective spoiler warnings (and, really, the concept of a warning itself implies that someone's passed their own personal judgement on something and passed that on to who is reading the warning) off of the default presentation of the site without inciting a riot, I'm inclined to support it reluctantly but wisely, I think. Now very strongly opposed to this concept. For the reasons, please see below or this discussion.

It's still baffling to me how a template warning people of images of humans torturing one another gets shot down soundly on the basis of no censorship, but that a template that serves as an intellectual (the concept of warning someone) and visual (it displaces text by an inch) obstacle to information that's supposed to be treated as impartially as the information around it gets endorsed on the basis that it "helps preserve the quality of media products for people." I still believe -- and always will, I imagine -- that the concept and princicples of an encyclopedia should come before subjective courtesies, but if these recent developments can get spoiler warnings off of the default version of the site, then we can at least be making a move to preserve the encyclopedia's integrity. At least until people begin asking for measures for a "pornography free" and "torture free" version, in which case we'll have to comply to prevent holding to a double-standard once again.

Honestly, I think these things should be gone, but I can live with them being here so long as they're only seen if the readers force themselves to see them by clicking on a "Show me the spoiler tags!" link or something. Ryu Kaze 23:32, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

• I'm on the fence for this one. I think that a lack of spoiler tags will display that this is not a fictional trivia site (and thus keep excess details away) and put emphasis on the fact that we're here to describe the works. Spoiler tags do show that we are fine with displaying "spoilers" in plot synopses, but at the same time, we're encouraging people to include every detail. Honestly, I think having a heading called "plot synopsis" or "story" (like most articles already have) should be warning enough....— Deckiller 23:58, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

How about wrapping lots of things (like spoilers/nudity/etc) in some span/div, and provide client-side scripting to hide undesirable elements? People who don't want nudity don't have to see it; poeple could hide spoiler warnings; or hide the spoiler content itself. I know Misplaced Pages isn't censored, but we could at least give people the tools to hide things they don't want to see without removing content and features that others want. (It would make me feel more comfortable browsing Misplaced Pages with my parents in the room.) --Chris (talk) 05:28, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

It's not a terrible suggestion, but I'm not sure if we should make that decision now, or just ask that the new technical tool be designed so that further content could be added in the future. In any event, it's something we'll need to consider. Now very strongly opposed to this concept. For the reasons, please see below or this discussion. Ryu Kaze 13:27, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm now retracting all previous support for the proposed compromise mentioned earlier. I'm doing so on the grounds that it would not only create grounds for others to ask for similar masks for pornography and images of human torture, but that it would create the opportunity for people to attempt hiding some information behind cleverly-placed spoiler tags. While these would probably be caught by other editors, the fact of the matter is, we shouldn't be allowing such a possibility in the first place. Furthermore, we're an encyclopedia. We shouldn't even ever stop to think about ways to censor information. Ryu Kaze 01:21, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

As I said, we would not be censoring Misplaced Pages, but we would allow each individual to censor his own view of the information. (It would default to hiding nothing, of course.) Censoring Misplaced Pages, and providing people with an option to hide objectionable information are two entirely different things. Misplaced Pages is not paper, and as such can be dynamic. (Editors would be strongly encouraged to leave all filters off, only engaging them when browsing.) --Chris (talk) 01:46, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

I also did specifically note "nudity" as a potential category of filterable material. --Chris (talk) 01:50, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

There's too much room for potential misuse of this and too much that would have to also be implemented in order to prevent double-standards from taking place once again. I should never have even suggested this and apologize to everyone for doing so. Creating a means of censorship (whether chosen or not) isn't part of our purpose here. The Misplaced Pages policies page says that our one and only goal is to be an encyclopedia and nothing more. We're not here to babysit or protect people from information. In my quest to establish a compromise on this matter, I created a hole in that and left room for people to actually begin trying to censor things that they simply wanted hidden as much as possible.

Our purpose is to be an encyclopedia. That's it. As Jimbo himself said, if people are scared of plot details, they shouldn't be coming to an encyclopedia. And to quote AMHR285 as I have done so often of late, "Misplaced Pages shouldn't attempt to be a slightly less disruptive version of everyforum.com. It should attempt to be an encyclopedia, and everything else be damned." That's what we're here to do, even as the policies say. We're not here to even consider censorship, self-imiposed or otherwise. We're here to provide information, not mask it from people who are afraid of knowledge. Hypothetical courtesies are not more important than this project's goal and the principles on which that goal is based. Our goal is to build an encyclopedia. Everything else be damned. Ryu Kaze 02:06, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

• I think the use of the word "censorship" is way out of place here. First of all, that word generally (not always) applies to some authority forcing someone to do something. Even in the case of nude images, if we decide to take them all out it would be our decision, not some censorship issue. With respect to a spoiler tag, information is not even be removed. To call that "censorship" is very inaccurate. Johntex\ 01:55, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

No, it isn't. Censorship is the unstandarized regulation of information, which can be imposed by an authority (but doesn't have to be) and may include outright exclusion of information (but doesn't need to). Spoiler warnings have been a violation of our policies of neutrality (their purpose is to warn people away from information on the basis of an editor having passed their judgement on that information, and then passing it on to the readers in an attempt to impede their straightforward learning process) and no censorship (this unstandardized regulation is -- obviously -- targed to specific information selected at the editors' discretion, and is then obstructed by way of the intellectual barrier of the warning and the visual impediment of the 1-inch displacement of the text; all intentionally) since day one. They don't contribute to our purpose. They don't aid it in any way. They're just there to suggest that we're not 100% devoted to the neutral, comprehensive sharing of information, and this new concept that I regrettably conceived would involve us actively seeking to find a means to aid in censorship. I truly regret having thought of it and suggested it. I'm sorry to the whole of Misplaced Pages for doing so. May the concept go to hell. Ryu Kaze 02:06, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

I can't follow most of what you have written. But your suggestion that somehow having to scroll a few lines down the page constitutes censorship is just a perversion of the definition of censorship. Johntex\ 19:39, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

If that were the entire foundation of my argument, I'd have to agree with you. Given that that was merely an add-on to the rest (the intellectual persuasion, the fact that an editor is passing their own personal judgement and sending it on to the readers in a deliberate attempt to persuade them from reading specifically selected information chosen by the editor theirself based on that editor's opinion of what might be unsuitable for the readers and the fact that other such tags for pornography and images of torture have been shot down on the basis of our policies), I can't see why you're suggesting it's the crux of the matter. Ryu Kaze 21:31, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

In the news

My first authentic Jimbo message. Delightful :)

Anyway, thought I'd give you a heads up about this straw poll which concerns a possible name change for "In the news." There's been a bit of ongoing harrumping over what ITN is for, particularly with reference to the Encyclopedia/Newsticker divide (the most recent flare up concerned the World Cup), and while thankfully it hasn't become any kind of a major brushfire, it's been mooted a few times that a section rename might be a good proactive step to clear the air for the next time. A rename might more accurately encapsulate how the section has evolved to operate and better rationalize why exactly an encyclopedia has something that looks cursorily like a newsticker from Google or something.

Needless to say, if you cared to weight in your feedback would be greatly appreciated. The Tom 00:47, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Disguating

After 2 month of deliberation anyone looking for Apartheid in Misplaced Pages is refred to this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/Apartheid_%28disambiguation%29

This page still refer people to various accusations that are used by political propeganda distributors who took advantage of Misplaced Pages popularity to propegante their message of political terms such as "Islamic Apartheid" and "Israeli Apartheid".

Misplaced Pages is not a dictionary and the only apartheid known so far is the one in South Africa. Zeq 12:39, 10 July 2006 (UTC)