| Revision as of 08:47, 18 January 2013 editJane023 (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers26,184 editsm signing← Previous edit | Revision as of 10:39, 18 January 2013 edit undoRich Farmbrough (talk | contribs)Edit filter managers, Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, File movers, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers, Template editors1,726,081 edits Removing BLP violation. Adding "allegedly" twice does not make the comments acceptable.Next edit → | ||
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| I read somewhere that he could have accepted a plea deal (but didn't) that involved just 6 months in prison. Can someone verify that? ] (]) 20:11, 16 January 2013 (UTC) | I read somewhere that he could have accepted a plea deal (but didn't) that involved just 6 months in prison. Can someone verify that? ] (]) 20:11, 16 January 2013 (UTC) | ||
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| Absolutely pathetic and highly POV commentary lionizing an alleged criminal<ref>].</ref> who had some interesting technological contributions before he allegedly decide that he was above the law. This does not belong here. | |||
| Misplaced Pages has this ] and this is yet another piece of evidence. | |||
| ] <small>(])</small> 05:49, 17 January 2013 (UTC) | |||
| :Since when were Signpost editorials supposed to be NPOV? ] (]) 19:32, 17 January 2013 (UTC) | |||
| ::When they aren't labeled as editorials, maybe? Or since they are written by an editor who gave up all pretense of providing objective news coverage a long time ago. He's even said as much in responses to earlier complaints about his using the Signpost as his own private soap box. He told us all that he was just adding much-needed personal analysis to give greater depth to the news, or some such nonsense. This latest example breaks new ground in irresponsible reporting, however. | |||
| ::News flash, folks: prosecutorial misconduct did not kill this man. If you are part of the crowd who thinks he died as some great hero to your cause, you played a role in his death. He bought into the idea that an Internet celebrity didn't have to face the consequences of his actions. He thought he could break the law with impunity because a bunch of nattering ignoramuses online convinced him he had some special insight into the law and society at large. He figured that if some of the most popular websites in the world would shut themselves down for a day out of hysteria over some badly-needed updates to our copyright laws that he could channel that misplaced outrage to avoid going to prison. | |||
| ::The simple fact so many people are ignoring is that he was mentally ill. And, frankly, every person who selfishly portrays this as an act of courage by a martyr to his cause is just as sick. Not only are they are encouraging impressionable young people to engage in reckless behavior without considering even the most obvious end results of their actions, they are saying that it's OK to kill themselves whenever they run into difficulties because the world will treat them as heroes for doing so. ] (]) 03:56, 18 January 2013 (UTC) | |||
| :::I'll step in and reply now, considering how far these comments have gone. I'm perfectly willing to take constructive criticism on board and incorporate it in my future articles, but these seem to be unfounded criticisms. I don't believe this article is slanted any more than other obituaries published by mainstream news outlets. As for my own "private soap box" ... where in the world did ''that'' come from? Regards, ] <sup>]] ]]</sup> 06:01, 18 January 2013 (UTC) | |||
| ::::Am I really reading those sharply negative comments at the bottom of what is essentially an obituary? The man has just died. Whatever his beliefs and behaviour, he was to a significant extent at one with the philosophy of the WM movement, which stands for access to free information and cultural content for every human being. It would be surprising ''not'' to find such a piece on the English Misplaced Pages. ] ] 06:41, 18 January 2013 (UTC) | |||
| :::::I am sorry to read these comments today and agree that they are inappropriate for a Wikipedian's obituary, but somehow they reflect the strange machine of politics that swept him up after that fateful "breakin" (or whatever you can call it) at MIT. I remember well how reading about his trouble with the police for that act (which spread like wildfire across the Misplaced Pages mailing lists at the time) struck a chord. I too have agonized over the $50 paywalls charged by JSTOR and other institutions protecting Public Domain works under a false copyright because they "own the scans". I find it so ironic that both MIT and JSTOR have bowed out of the lawsuit, and that JSTOR has since released many works into the Public Domain. Whether intentional or not, Aaron *will* be remembered as an activist for Public Domain issues, and he probably will be considered a hero by later generations, though as stated above, the truth is always more complicated and his suicide is 99% a personal tragedy. ] (]) 08:47, 18 January 2013 (UTC) | |||
Revision as of 10:39, 18 January 2013
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Great article, touching and very informative at the same time.
Signpost readers interested in Aaron's involvement in the Wikimedia movement might be interested in the 2006 Signpost interview with him, too. There, he also mentions his "first web application "was basically the same idea as Misplaced Pages". As mentioned in the WMF blog post, it won him a finalist entry in a teen website competition in 2000, described in a newspaper article at the time as follows:
- "an ever-growing encyclopedia-like site filled with "a vast repository of human knowledge" focused on content -- real information for people to use, as calls it.
- The site works like this: Anyone can submit information about what they know in a totally open environment, which means they can add to the information freely.
- "In the style of the popular GNU/Linux operating system,"Swartz added."
Also note that he is listed as donor in the last WMF annual report.
As a minor nitpick, it's not quite true that the entire 2006 "six-part series ... was translated into Japanese, Spanish, German, and French" - only the "Who Writes Misplaced Pages?" part was (at least I'm pretty certain that that's the case for German, having helped a little with the German translation myself at the time).
Regards, Tbayer (WMF) (talk) 14:39, 16 January 2013 (UTC)
- Thanks for the links, Tilman. I've fixed the nitpick you identified—that was an editing error, caused by me confusing Tony. Ed 14:58, 16 January 2013 (UTC)
This tragedy shows that many US laws are incredibly stupid, as is the philosophy of putting a large percentage of your population behind bars for reasons that are more often than not ridiculous. Threatening to put somebody in prison for 50 years for downloading files, which didn't hurt anybody either personally or financially? How stupid can you get? --Rosenzweig (talk) 15:46, 16 January 2013 (UTC)
This is sad, sad and stupid. It's a story about knowledge, money, power, and system failure. Aaron wanted to do what was manifestly right, in the case of public domain knowledge, and increasingly academic publishing is moving, or being pushed, to an open model. But it was not, mostly, those with vested interests in selling knowledge who are responsible for this tragedy, it is the people who set up as system which rewards the most prosecutions for the most charges for the maximum penalties. Rich Farmbrough, 19:11, 16 January 2013 (UTC).
I read somewhere that he could have accepted a plea deal (but didn't) that involved just 6 months in prison. Can someone verify that? 74.202.39.3 (talk) 20:11, 16 January 2013 (UTC)