Re: [Bug-gne]the problem of illegal content vs. freedom

[Mehdi Tibouchi]

Bob Dodd wrote:

>So, unless your worry is about accuracy, or where (if ever...) the
>boundaries of taste and decency finally get set on GNE, I don't see any
>reason to walk away from GNE. GNE and Nupedia are two aspects of the
>same freedom of speech. OK they are different in terms of their
>breadth, depth, and accuracy (in an academic sense anyway), but they
>both need support.

I dislike the idea of "acceptable taste", corresponding to your "Level 
III"
editorship as I understand it. There *may* well be right and wrong, but
I don't think anyone is capable of deciding which is which.

I doubt that we will be overwhelmed with borderline article submissions
(hopefully we won't!), but if we ever receive questionable material which
seems to be legal and not plain rubbish, let us be liberal. If we choose
to reject certain articles because we don't share their ideas or we find
them morally offensive, say, it will INDEED be a problem to draw the line.
What I hate about that is not so much the fact that a line is drawn-- it
is *somebody* drawing the line. If someone else less permissive comes,
you can drop the cherished word "Free" in Free Learning Resource.

OK, one can always fork and build another GNE. Provided they have adequate
means to do that. The same is true with most media. In our "democratic"
western countries, anyone can theoretically set up a newspaper and a TV
channel.

Really, I'm sure you scare less people away if you keep the repository
open. Setting up your own classifier sounds a lot easier than duplicating
the project because you don't agree with its editorial policy.

Ultimately, RMS decides. But I'm sure he agrees that the threat of evil
people shutting others' mouths is far greater than the threat of stupid 
people
opening their mouths to shout nonsense. That we must leave as little room
as possible for the evil people to infiltrate and gain control. And that 
we have to cling above all to our statement of freedom and universality.