Re: [Bug-gnupedia] Question for Nupedia

[Krzysztof Kowalczyk]

Rob Scott wrote:
> 
> I feel that the content of every article should be
> within itself, not just referring to other material.
> And i dont think people should be able to plug their
> books etc., how far do we let them go? how soon would
> M$ be writing an article on good user interfaces and
> make a link to M$ homepage?

And what's wrong with that (beside that fact that you apparently don't
like Microsoft)?
Would Sun, Oracle or RedHat doing the same be ok with you?

What if X sends a good article about user interface and provides it
under appropriate free license. Will you reject it when you find out
that X is Microsoft? Will you reject it if you find out that X is Jewish
or Gay because you don't happen to like Microsoft, Jewish or Gay people?

What your calling of greatest evil has to do with issue: should we allow
external links or not?

The way I would look at this: if external links provide additional value
then they should be in, if disadvantages of linking (and the only
disadvantage I see is a *possibility* of "unethical" (whatever the
definition of ethical one chooses to use) advertising are greater than
advantages (pointing out sources of additional information) then they
should be out.

Why not include links or even an ability for everyone to add links
pertinent to an article and then provide a *user* with an option to
either enable or disable displaying of links. Wouldn't that be more in
line with "freedom"? Instead of making decisions for users  (people who
learn from Gnupedia and are supposed to be the reason for the existence
of the project) give them both ways and let them decide for themselves.
If they decide that links are evil they'll turn them off. If they decide
that they prefer to have links, so be it for them.