User:Pcb21/WP for kids

Rationale:

1. We want Wikipedia to be free and available to everyone.
2. Wikipedia may not be available to everyone because it does not censor; topics any subject that you can get an article out of are welcomed. While most find this freedom laudable, it can actually restrict access to some people.

   Over zealous "NetNanny"-style programs blocking content. This has happened for at least once for the spanish wikipedia.

   (Potentially, with feedback from users who are parents) A parent might forbid their young children to visit Wikipedia.

The aim of the Kidspedia project would be to open up access to people falling into this categories to Wikipedia content, without impinging on the personal liberties of others.

Proposal: Categories are not vapourware. They will be introduced into a new version of MediaWiki, probably 1.3. Any article can be placed in any number of categories.

The basic premise would be to have a new wiki kidpedia - which takes a database dump of a Wikipedia proper plus a set of categories relating to Potentially Offensive Content - (Poccats) (Category:POC_Sex, Category:POC_Violence, Category:POC_Nudity, Category:POC_Religion, Category:POC_Evolution etc).

Each user name has two passwords - the adult password and the kids password. Logging on with adult password gives access to Poccats screen. The adult (typically a parent or perhaps a teacher) selects which categories to censor. All pages belonging to one or more the categories selected are not available for viewing by this username (redirects to a suitable message). The kids password does not allow access to the poccats screen, merely to uncensored pages.

The default (i.e. the set of pages seen to non-logged-in users) would be fairly censorious. On attempting to view a poccat page a non-logged-in user is redirected to a helper page, explaining all this.

Some questions answered:

1. Isn't this useless? Couldn't a kid just go to Wikipedia proper and get any juice they want?

   Yes, they could. The aim is provide a tool to help people, not be a panacea solution to all internet content ills.

1. Who defines what categories articles are in?

   Contributors to the kidspedia project, via consensus.

   But this could easily lead to conflicts about what goes in what category things go in. For instance where would Michaelangelo's David go?

   Yes, but any article is also a potential source of conflict, and we cope alright most of the time. One way of mitigating the issue might be to have grades of category, in a manner similar to motion picture rating systems. In fact the rating systems such as the BBFC have very detailed descriptions as to what is acceptable under which category (Suitable for all, Parental Guidance required, 12+,15+,18+, Restricted). I would hope to borrow their guidelines as much as possible as means of mitigating conflict and it also prevents labouriously re-inventing the wheel.

   Thus David would go in a category Template:Nudity suitable for all or Template:Nudity parental guidance, the categories are sufficiently similar that discussing them becomes a minor quibble rather than a dichotomous, divisive "nudity/non-nudity" debate.

1. Would the new kidspedia be a wiki?

   Ideally yes. There remains a question of whether this project would be more of a target for vandalism than Wikipedia proper. But if it were possible it would allow adding of kids topics that are not wanted in the main pedia. (e.g. Pokeman in ridiculous detail.)

1. Would NetNanny et al become more likely to block Wikipedia proper?

   Could be a problem, but I think the current practice of including, at least by linking, almost any content is likely to be a more significant issue, if anything is. Wikipedia is surely one of the most significant web presences to be linking directly to the Nick Berg decapitation video, for example.

1. How much programming needs to be done?

   Yes it requires some forking/adding to mediawiki. Another level of user needs to be added to accommpany sysop, bureaucrat, regular, etc to allow access to the categories setting page. Internally user+adult_password would be a separate user to user+kid_password. There would also be code-checking - "Is this page censored to this user" similar code to "Is this page protected and is this a non-sysop".

more to come...