Wikipedia Editors Question Site's Blackout

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It would seem that at least one of Wikipedia's volunteer editors does not support the anti-SOPA blackout. On a related note, right now is probably a good time to apply for that upcoming "volunteer editor" opening. :D

"My main concern is that it puts the organization in the role of advocacy, and that's a slippery slope," said editor Robert Lawton, a Michigan computer consultant who would prefer that the encyclopedia stick to being a neutral repository of knowledge. "Before we know it, we're blacked out because we want to save the whales."
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While I can somewhat understand his base thinking. He isn't able to see the forest thats lurking beyond the trees.

SOPA won't just stop at the Internet, Congress will applaud it as a great tool to stop pirates, claim that piracy supports terrorism, and the sheeple will go along with it. Just like the law that says anyone in the country can be detained in a military stronghold for crimes against the country that are not detailed, that are not explicit, that are not against non US Citizens.

I think this line pretty well sums it up in regards to Washington DC: This town needs an enema. Shamefully Osama Bin Laden won. He might be dead, but he's done more damage since 2001 through the Congress and their ability to power grab, than he ever did on 9/11. Its a shame that the people that we continue to elect are so happy to take the freedom we enjoyed, and give it back to us as laws that restrict things that need no restricting.

I support Ron Paul because the pendulum has swung so far to the left with Obama, that only my crazy uncle Ron can swing it far enough in the other direction to balance it. I say that, being a lifelong registered Republican, Romney is just the white version of Obama.

Stand up people, no matter what your root cause, cause 2012 is not just about the new face of the country, its about turning the ship around, otherwise we're gonna crash into the rocks.
 
That's a HUGE stretch. People who have opinions one way or the other about whale hunting wont be able to take Wikipedia down for infringing some stupid law. If Wikipedia can't get involved in something that directly effects its operation and viability against future legal issues, what can it get involved in?
 
stiltner said:
While I can somewhat understand his base thinking. He isn't able to see the forest thats lurking beyond the trees.

SOPA won't just stop at the Internet, Congress will applaud it as a great tool to stop pirates, claim that piracy supports terrorism, and the sheeple will go along with it. Just like the law that says anyone in the country can be detained in a military stronghold for crimes against the country that are not detailed, that are not explicit, that are not against non US Citizens.

I think this line pretty well sums it up in regards to Washington DC: This town needs an enema. Shamefully Osama Bin Laden won. He might be dead, but he's done more damage since 2001 through the Congress and their ability to power grab, than he ever did on 9/11. Its a shame that the people that we continue to elect are so happy to take the freedom we enjoyed, and give it back to us as laws that restrict things that need no restricting.

I support Ron Paul because the pendulum has swung so far to the left with Obama, that only my crazy uncle Ron can swing it far enough in the other direction to balance it. I say that, being a lifelong registered Republican, Romney is just the white version of Obama.

Stand up people, no matter what your root cause, cause 2012 is not just about the new face of the country, its about turning the ship around, otherwise we're gonna crash into the rocks.
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+1 for RP. He really is the only electable candidate in this race. Obama is a herald for corporate greed, and he needs to be stopped. All the people that gave the Bush administration so much crap elected this guy and he is pretty much no different. Hopefully many of his constituents see this and will not attempt to reelect him based off of his wheel and deal with companies like Solyndra. That's not to say Congress is not in the same boat, it is, the majority of Senators also need to be replaced ASAP to get us back on the "right" track.
 
stiltner said:
While I can somewhat understand his base thinking. He isn't able to see the forest thats lurking beyond the trees.

SOPA won't just stop at the Internet, Congress will applaud it as a great tool to stop pirates, claim that piracy supports terrorism, and the sheeple will go along with it. Just like the law that says anyone in the country can be detained in a military stronghold for crimes against the country that are not detailed, that are not explicit, that are not against non US Citizens.

I think this line pretty well sums it up in regards to Washington DC: This town needs an enema. Shamefully Osama Bin Laden won. He might be dead, but he's done more damage since 2001 through the Congress and their ability to power grab, than he ever did on 9/11. Its a shame that the people that we continue to elect are so happy to take the freedom we enjoyed, and give it back to us as laws that restrict things that need no restricting.

I support Ron Paul because the pendulum has swung so far to the left with Obama, that only my crazy uncle Ron can swing it far enough in the other direction to balance it. I say that, being a lifelong registered Republican, Romney is just the white version of Obama.

Stand up people, no matter what your root cause, cause 2012 is not just about the new face of the country, its about turning the ship around, otherwise we're gonna crash into the rocks.
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AGREE
 
I'm with stiltner on this one: I can understand the guy's slippery-slope logic, though it's admittedly still a ways to go from protesting something that can potentially change how a chunk of the Internet (and God knows what else) works to protesting something decidedly more...common?
 
saving your own site from censorship is the same as saving whales, what?

They should advocate SOPA/PIPA protest because they'll be directly affected by it! How fucking hard is that to grasp?
 
EPOQ said:
+1 for RP. He really is the only electable candidate in this race. Obama is a herald for corporate greed, and he needs to be stopped. All the people that gave the Bush administration so much crap elected this guy and he is pretty much no different. Hopefully many of his constituents see this and will not attempt to reelect him based off of his wheel and deal with companies like Solyndra. That's not to say Congress is not in the same boat, it is, the majority of Senators also need to be replaced ASAP to get us back on the "right" track.
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Well, he's the only RIGHT candidate in my opinion, but he's not the only electable candidate.

However, SOPA and the other current bills need to be re-written by people who understand copyright law and the definition of freedom of expression. Something needs to be done, but the language of SOPA is so vague it could shut down basically every forum in the world.
 
Wikipedia participating is very nice because it's a tool that TONS of people use.

...who would prefer that the encyclopedia stick to being a neutral repository of knowledge. "Before we know it, we're blacked out because we want to save the whales."
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I agree that this guy is somehow missing the point considering the free internet is Wikipedia's lifeline.
 
The plight of some whales is not relevant to the future survival of Wikipedia, so his analogy is lolworthy.
 
djgizmo said:
Well, he's the only RIGHT candidate in my opinion, but he's not the only electable candidate.

However, SOPA and the other current bills need to be re-written by people who understand copyright law and the definition of freedom of expression. Something needs to be done, but the language of SOPA is so vague it could shut down basically every forum in the world.
Click to expand...

My biggest problem with Obama is that I feel it is obvious that he is against SOPA because of crunch time with elections coming up. With all of the publicity this things getting, it's OBVIOUS the majority is against it, rather than for it. No one in their right mind would stand up for it when they need the votes. The problem arises when he says he votes against it, and then they flip it around and slightly revise it, re-propose it and it passes somewhere down the pipline and the internet as we know it is officially controlled by the government. We need a President who is on the side of the people, and proves that to us by his actions in office. Obama has already proven that he cannot be trusted, and thus he cannot be re-elected. Paul will have to prove himself as well, but he's the only candidate I believe can actually do so.
 
Sites with user-generated content have the most to fear from SOPA/PIPA. I would consider Wikipedia at risk just like youtube and other user-generated content sites.
 
This very particular issue was addressed in some blog post or commentary, or whatever it was which the user could click on when visiting Wikipedia prior to the blackout. Apparently this "volunteer editor" doesn't even know what is happening on the web site he is so concerned about.
 
Azhar said:
saving your own site from censorship is the same as saving whales, what?

They should advocate SOPA/PIPA protest because they'll be directly affected by it! How fucking hard is that to grasp?
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+1

I think someone should hold a gun to this guy's head and see if he wouldn't mind supporting the cause to prevent random homicides.
 
I love how a topic about a editor for Wikipedia became some Ron Paul love fest and Obama bashing fest. Maybe I should go to Wikipedia to find how those things are.. damn it. :D
 
I wonder how many people donated to them the past few days while applauding their wish to protest. They probably either got a large donation from Congress/MPAA/RIAA or this was just a ploy to take our donation money.
 
satsunada said:
I love how a topic about a editor for Wikipedia became some Ron Paul love fest and Obama bashing fest. Maybe I should go to Wikipedia to find how those things are.. damn it. :D
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I had to check to see if I was accidentally in Soapbox.
 
I'm sure wiki would go dark for the day if someone threatened to kill Jimmy Wales...

Oh, Whales... the big fish (they are fish right? I can't check wiki right now).

Well if wikipedia somehow found a way to use Whalesong to use whales as living servers I'm sure they'd support saving them, otherwise it's a completely different issue.
 
I wanted to go on wikipedia today but they totally went Star Trek 4: Save the whales BS. I really just wanted to look up some stuff. There's always google but it looks like google is trying to take over the world by getting people to protest and over throw their governments. :eek:
 
Well Obama and his administration are the ones that want to control the internet. They would love to control and tax everything. As for Ron Paul he thinks there is too much government control an d regulation. And yes I agree with the wikipedia editor. A black out is stupid and These bills are bad for us all.
 
Today I've realized how often I use Wikipedia. I keep forgetting and have hit the black wall at least a half dozen times in the past two hours.
 
adonn78 said:
Well Obama and his administration are the ones that want to control the internet. They would love to control and tax everything. As for Ron Paul he thinks there is too much government control an d regulation. And yes I agree with the wikipedia editor. A black out is stupid and These bills are bad for us all.
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You should stop getting your information from friends and relatives.

Congress wants SOPA and Senate wants PIPA. The White House has nothing to do with it. Guess who runs majority of Congress? I'll give you a hint. It's the party your good buddy Mr. Paul is in.
 
Azhar said:
saving your own site from censorship is the same as saving whales, what?

They should advocate SOPA/PIPA protest because they'll be directly affected by it! How fucking hard is that to grasp?
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I agree. This is not hard. I would think this guy's job relies on something like this.

And as I work for a company that has major online exposure too, I'm sure they are equally as worried, even though there won't be a direct hit, per se.
 
I think his meaning of 'whales' is meant to be taken a bit more figurative and not so literal.
 
adonn78 said:
Well Obama and his administration are the ones that want to control the internet. They would love to control and tax everything.
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Censoring/restricting the internet is one of the few issues that enjoys widespread bipartisan support. The sooner you drop the ridiculous partisan narrative, the sooner you will see how things really work.
 
adonn78 said:
Well Obama and his administration are the ones that want to control the internet. They would love to control and tax everything. As for Ron Paul he thinks there is too much government control an d regulation. And yes I agree with the wikipedia editor. A black out is stupid and These bills are bad for us all.
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You do not have a clear understanding of democracy, don't you?

Oh wait, or are you one of those people who thinks democrat = OMGSOCIALIST? or *gasp* OMGCOMMUNIST? :rolleyes:
 
Azhar said:
You should stop getting your information from friends and relatives.

Congress wants SOPA and Senate wants PIPA. The White House has nothing to do with it. Guess who runs majority of Congress? I'll give you a hint. It's the party your good buddy Mr. Paul is in.
Click to expand...

I'm in Canada and I know that RP votes AGAINST his own party on anything that gives the Fed more power, control or increases taxation. He's been doing this his entire political career.

Sorry, but he hardly represents what his party wants. Its is said he is the most conservative representative since the late 30s.

Since this bill is money backed special interest based politics, I think its a very good time that all Americans should spend some time reading up on the careers on your 2012 candidates. What they have voted on over the years and who they really represent. What they did as jobs, why they entered politics. Not just left vs. right and what the parties babble on about.

I could see RP gaining popularity over the course of the year because he believes in little brother and more power to the states to govern "moral" matters such as drugs, same sex marriages, and censorship. This could localize a lot of issues, so say, New Yorkers and Texans aren't living by the same rules.

The problem RP is going to have is he believes in the military staying home unless their is an actual declaration of war and approval from congress. So he won't be getting any votes from the war on terror crowd.

Anyway, I apologize for hijacking this thread a bit, and I'm not trying to start him vs him, start arguments or telling anyone who they should be voting for. But what I think there is no better time than now to get politically educated.

Your country is flirting with really scary issues in troubled economic times and it needs you all.
 
adonn78 said:
I wanted to go on wikipedia today but they totally went Star Trek 4: Save the whales BS. I really just wanted to look up some stuff. There's always google but it looks like google is trying to take over the world by getting people to protest and over throw their governments. :eek:
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Google Cached = welcome back wiki
 
I also question Wikipedia's so-called blackout. You know, the one where it's not really a blackout.
 
I liked the part where the MPAA called all of us against SOPA "corporate pawns" today.
 
SilverSliver said:
I liked the part where the MPAA called all of us against SOPA "corporate pawns" today.
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Meanwhile, former senator Chris Dodd as their chairman demonstrate that there is absolutely no influence and intimacy between congress and special interests!
 
wonderfield said:
I also question Wikipedia's so-called blackout. You know, the one where it's not really a blackout.
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Yeah, wiki works fine for me today.

As for Google blacking out it's banner it's a good idea, but they should have done that yesterday and tomorrow and completely off-lined their search engine today with a simply anti-SOPA message at google,com.

Simply put they want symbolic messages without actually having it interfere with their normal operations, but if this issue is truely that important to them then a short term disruption for a long term benifit shouldn't be an issue.
 
I think if the President had said he was going to endorse the bill, sites that are just making symbolic messages would have shut themselves down completely in protest.
 
The problem is that Wikipedia allows anyone to post content that will be up temporarily. It relies on this structure to exist and to have become as big as it is.

SOPA jepoardizes unmoderated posting. And by moderated, I mean a post needs to be double checked by a human before it goes up.

SOPA would pretty much kill forums where there wasn't a dedicated person available to screen the comments to ensure there's no compright infringement.
 
Obama and Romney support the NDAA and SOPA. If you don't, and I would hope you wouldn't, then please don't just vote for Ron Paul but grab some unmotivated friends and get them to cast their votes as well.

Blackouts like this just raise awareness, its up to us to vote in legislators that actually make law.
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
Yeah, wiki works fine for me today.

As for Google blacking out it's banner it's a good idea, but they should have done that yesterday and tomorrow and completely off-lined their search engine today with a simply anti-SOPA message at google,com.

Simply put they want symbolic messages without actually having it interfere with their normal operations, but if this issue is truely that important to them then a short term disruption for a long term benifit shouldn't be an issue.
Click to expand...

Where are you located? I can only view wiki articles if i stop the page from loading completely.
 
bigdogchris said:
Today I've realized how often I use Wikipedia. I keep forgetting and have hit the black wall at least a half dozen times in the past two hours.
Click to expand...

Well in case you haven't noticed the blackout is a redirection script, and all Wikipedia pages load for a some milliseconds before going to the back wall. Disable scripts and you can see Wikipedia (which is also in read only mode for today).
 
VIC-20 said:
I'm in Canada and I know that RP votes AGAINST his own party on anything that gives the Fed more power, control or increases taxation. He's been doing this his entire political career.

Sorry, but he hardly represents what his party wants. Its is said he is the most conservative representative since the late 30s.

Since this bill is money backed special interest based politics, I think its a very good time that all Americans should spend some time reading up on the careers on your 2012 candidates. What they have voted on over the years and who they really represent. What they did as jobs, why they entered politics. Not just left vs. right and what the parties babble on about.

I could see RP gaining popularity over the course of the year because he believes in little brother and more power to the states to govern "moral" matters such as drugs, same sex marriages, and censorship. This could localize a lot of issues, so say, New Yorkers and Texans aren't living by the same rules.

The problem RP is going to have is he believes in the military staying home unless their is an actual declaration of war and approval from congress. So he won't be getting any votes from the war on terror crowd.

Anyway, I apologize for hijacking this thread a bit, and I'm not trying to start him vs him, start arguments or telling anyone who they should be voting for. But what I think there is no better time than now to get politically educated.

Your country is flirting with really scary issues in troubled economic times and it needs you all.
Click to expand...

Thank you. RP is by no means your "average politician". He is his own person, and has stood by his beliefs his entire career. Regardless if you don't like his views, delve under the surface of any other candidate and you'll find that they are masters of flip-flopping solely for status/votes.

I still see RP as the independent 3rd party, despite his "official" party status.
 
What I don't understand is Google, YouTube and Facebook. This bill could end their entire business model, yet not even a mention of SOPA on their respective homepages.

I'm sure a blackout would lose them a bazillion dollars, but why not even a statement at login?

They going to wait until its too late to keep Hollywood happy?

In Canada they are looking at passing a bill even more draconian. If it passes I'm not buying another DVD, movie ticket or CD again from a publisher aligned with the groups pushing this crap.
 
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