User:Student7/Sandbox 19

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] The broken window

There is a theory of the broken window. It says in short, if the neighborhood is allowed to run down, things will only get worse. So graffiti should be painted over; broken windows should be mended.

To me, profane language is a potential "broken window" for Wikipedia, our neighborhood. If the language of our encyclopedia deteriorates to street language, what future can we have? We are all familiar with vandalism by (mostly) teen-aged boys and young drunken men, using foul language. What sort of an example do we set for allowing it here where explicitness is unessential to the biography?

One editor claims that it is "essential" and "standard" to quote foul language and not to "censor" quotes. (One of the greatest oxymorons is "Wikipedia standards" - think of the Wikipedia "standards" for vandalism).

A paraphrase of a quote from Oscar Wilde comes to mind, "The man who feels he must call a spade a spade, is fit only to use one."