User talk:Writ Keeper/thoughts

Thoughts
As far as I can see, the problem with Eric's situation is that Wikipedia community is highly polarized between a few views:
 * 1) Those who believe there are no rules to civility and Eric did nothing wrong (civility isn't black and white)
 * 2) Those who believe that Eric is rude but his contributions balance out his incivility (the pragmatic stance)
 * 3) Those who think that if any other Editor did exactly what Eric did, they would have gotten an indefinite block a long, long time ago (interested in parity and fairness)

So, here you have strong views that 1) "civility" is a grey area, no punishment is necessary, 2) punishment is pointless as it won't affect Eric's behavior and 3) Eric should be shown the door, immediately.

Now, I can argue each of these positions pretty persuasively, I think. This isn't a black/white, good/evil, us/them situation. I think there are strong arguments for each of these points of view. Personally, I veer toward #3 because I have seen Editors who have received an indefinite block on really, really weak circumstances, without given any information on how to appeal the block (this info is omitted more often than you would imagine). But Eric is also an asset to Wikipedia so I can see the pragmatic's tolerance of his quirks because the benefits outweigh the slights that some Editors might feel at being told to "Fuck off".

I think I have less sympathy for #1 because I don't think that everything is relative, anything has the possibility to offend someone so a guideline about civility is pointless. I don't think being called "weird" is necessarily offensive, it depends on the context of the discussion. I think ethnic, religious, sexist or racist slurs are definitely offensive and there is no justification for using them. I also think that, occasionally, on online forums like AN/I, some users adopt a strategic position of being offended in order to portray the person they oppose in a negative light. But users who do this, tend to fall-back on this tactic often so they are fairly easy to spot because anything negative or critical is seen as a personal attack. But I really think these folks are a small minority and this happens way less often than people who prefer an "anything goes" atmosphere think it does.

But here I am, rambling. Just thought I'd share a different perspective. I enjoyed reading your musings. Liz Read! Talk! 23:51, 2 November 2013 (UTC)