Re: inappropriate racist and other offensive material
On Fri, 2002-03-15 at 22:06, Craig Dickson wrote:
> begin Brian May quotation:
>
> > One problem seems to be that there is no way for end users to know what
> > the language is going to be like before downloading the package.
>
> So should we have (groan) a ratings system for packages? BitchX at 17+
> due to tasteless jokes built into the package and the general low level
> of culture on IRC? XBill at 17+ for violence? Funny-manpages at 21+?
Hmm, while that is a little extreme, perhaps tags could be used? I.e.,
set some tags that mean "may contain offensive language", "may contain
violence", etc.
Then, I could setup my box to warn me whenever I try to install a
package with the "violence" tag, or whatever.
Then, of course, the issue would be deciding which tags to assign to
which packages: although I'd love to say just use common sense, that
seems to be lacking around here (come on - even if a joke doesn't offend
you, any idiot can tell when it is likely to offend a good segment of
most societies). But, since we can't rely on the intelligence, common
sense, and maturity of the average developer (Debian or not), a more
user-oriented way would be needed. I.e., allowing "bugs" to be filed
against a package, and requiring three of them to make the tag a
requirement on the package. THat, or elect a committee to handle it,
and let those poor bastards go thru the trouble. ~,^
Either way, it's obvious these issues annoy people. Debian should *not*
censor anything. However, it should at least make a reasonable effort
to notify people of reasonably objectionable material (be it founded on
simple humor or true discrimination) and let them handle it how they
choose. I'm not going to give a damn about the software that goes on my
machine, but I would for my sister (because she really doesn't have the
grasp of moral understanding that she should for her age) - but I can't
decide which software to install/not-install because I have no idea that
it would contain such material, until it may be "too late" (because you
just *know* that one exposure will set my sister off the edge and turn
her into a drug-adict penguin-killing 10 year old, right? ~,^)
Anyways, I'm babbling, but I think my point should have gotten thru that
garbage there somehow...
Sean Etc.
>
> Craig
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