Now there's a banner I never thought I'd see my name under: The New York Times!

[terriko]

I wrote for the New York Times yesterday. Not making this up:

Where Are the Women in Wikipedia?: Trolls and Other Nuisances

Okay, so it's "just" their online opinion page, but I was still pretty stunned to be contacted by an actual NYT editor looking for a comment on the wikipedia numbers. I was expecting she'd take some little quote out of what I said, but instead she nicely edited down my piece and there I am, voicing my opinion right under Jane Margolis' statement! (She's the person who wrote "Unlocking the Clubhouse") So Darned Cool.

Comments

[terriko]

Incidentally, my brief summary of the comment makes it sound like the guy might have a legitimate complaint, but the actual comment gave me the vibe that the guy might be an abusive alcoholic or something who had lost custody of his children for entirely appropriate reasons and who had been banned from seeing them for their own protection. (He of course didn't see it that way.)

[unregisteredpseudonymspls]

Ah. Yes. You got a disingenuous MRA by the sound of it. I'd classify that as a "first principles" kind of discussion.

So, I dislike false nuance, but this issue is one of those cases where it's a fine balance, I guess. We've discovered that public nature of the Internet has created a paradoxical conflict between inclusiveness and openness, rather than one contributing to the other. I know I'm saying this from a position of supreme and opprobrious privilege (in some dimensions at least), but I guess in cases of conflict I would tend---not universally---to support the latter rather than the former. I reserve some distaste for models of safety such as that practiced by, e.g., Shakesville, where certain discussions are off the table no matter what as a matter not only of community coherence but abstract principle...

The biggest problem for me---at least I think it is a problem---is that there are comparatively few spaces left on the Internet where people of diametrically opposing viewpoints argue respectfully or even disrespectfully at anything more than an introductory or juvenile level. Didn't used to be the case.

[unregisteredpseudonymspls]

Shorter me: the whole world NEEDS me to point out the errors in their reasoning.

or

EVERYONE is wrong on the Internet!