Forum:SOPA/PIPA blackout

On the 18th many websites including reddit, cheezburger and destructoid (other sites like facebook and wikipedia are considering it) are "going dark" in protest against SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act aka PROTECT IP). I think that we too should "go dark" in protest of SOPA/PIPA. We can either completly blank ALL the pages or use something like the image on the right on ALL the pages. What do you all think? 17:57, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

Discussion
I still don't see the point when we're not some influential internet machine like Google, Reddit, 4chan etc. are. I can also imagine that Wikia just wouldn't like us to censor the entire site for a day. 18:01, January 14, 2012 (UTC)


 * Wikia is part of wikimedia (or something idk), so if Wikipedia go along with it I'm sure Wikia won't mind. Also if we do it we'd give more info about SOPA/PIPA to even more (younger) people. 18:10, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * The only relation between wikia and wikimedia is that they're both founded by mr. begface. 18:32, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * We're about as influential as we can be right now what with MW3 still spinning in consoles and I don't see what all Wikia could do to us if we did since iirc Wikimedia opposed SOPA to begin with. Carb 0Stop Censorship 18:13, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

I agree with COD4, plus, we would have to put it on ALL the pages and then take it off ALL the pages..... 18:02, January 14, 2012 (UTC)


 * Could be done with a bot or with Javascript. 18:04, January 14, 2012 (UTC)


 * Javascript was what I was thinking. 18:10, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

Per CoD4 and that's only 4 days away, I don't think we could really get community consensus in that time. Another issue is that it could ward off potential editors, coming to the wiki and seeing that it's blank would be pretty awkward for a new user. 18:08, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * Considering the reason we would do it, I highly doubt it would "ward off" new users, it's not like we blank the website once a week. Carb 0Stop Censorship 18:13, January 14, 2012 (UTC)


 * Warn of new users vs loose whole site to censorship. k 18:25, January 14, 2012 (UTC)


 * No no, that's not what I really meant (my choice of words may not have been the best). New Users will come and see a blank wiki, I'm not really sure most of them are automatically gonna think "Oh, these guys must be protesting SOPA, I'll come back later". So if we were to do this, we'd need to make our reason somewhat obvious. And I was agreeing with CoD4, we don't really have much purpose to blank out the site, so warding off users like that would just add to what the downsides would be. 18:56, January 14, 2012 (UTC)



Sorry. Just couldn't resist XD

I don't see any problem with it, we may not be a big powerhouse of info and influence like Reddit, but we still get a pretty high amount of traffic each day, more than enough to spread awareness. 18:35, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

I like this idea. For the fact that it might ward of new users, we should get this figured out as soon as possible. If we do come to an agreement, then we can make a blog telling people about it.


 * This ^ We're not just going to blank the wiki without telling anyone. 19:03, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

If enough people want this to pass, shall we literally blank ALL the pages so there is nothing on them, add the image above but leave it blanked or add the image above but still link to the page? 19:17, January 14, 2012 (UTC)


 * Replace the content of every page with the image above. 19:56, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

Well, whatever we're going to do we need to do it fast if we want to do this on Wednesday like everywhere else. 19:18, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

We can put a giant image on the sitenotice rather than having a bot go through and make a few thousand edits twice. That way all pages will appear to have been changed when in reality we only changed maybe three. Also, I support this idea. 19:21, January 14, 2012 (UTC) (Edit conflict)


 * We'd do it with .css or .js, not a bot. 19:35, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

Great idea. We should do this. What do we get, like 22 million hits a day (or is it month)? Either way, that is a lot of traffic. I've heard numerous people at my school talk about our wiki before. We may not be a huge internet power house, but we still do get plenty of traffic. Conqueror of all Zombies 19:45, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

Strongly disagree. There are ways we can oppose and protest against PROTECT IP and SOPA without letting the wiki's productivity grind to a halt for a day. This proposal seems like overkill to me. Sgt. S.S. 21:43, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * I wouldn't say its overkill, but I get what your getting at, with other ways to protest. 21:49, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * oh no we can't edit the wiki for one day omg. If SOPA/PIPA passes we won't be able to edit the wiki... ever. Also how are we meant to protest another way? 21:56, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * Well, let's see. We have a big "STOP CENSORSHIP" banner plastered across the wiki logo. Bovell made a blog urging people to oppose it. To me, that seems like a pretty good dedication to the cause, as it were. So, we can/have opposed without going "Whoa! Sorry, buddy, the wiki's on strike!" to visitors. Sgt. S.S. 22:10, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * Dedication =/= Awareness. Not every wiki user looked at the blog, everyone will have to see the blanked pages. 22:13, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * And what will that accomplish? Just because we blank the pages doesn't mean that everyone who sees them is going to rush to oppose PROTECT IP and SOPA. By doing this, we might even be creating a source of great annoyance to readers. I say, content first, everything else second. Sgt. S.S. 22:16, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * The Idea is to raise awareness, and sure maybe not everyone will rush to stop SOPA, but more people will. Its only to simulate what would happen if SOPA passed, nothing else. It's only for one day too, so I don't see where you have your problem. 22:19, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

Per Sgt. S.S. and Callofduty4. 21:51, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

I support this idea, however I'm a strong believer in having a quote present on the black out screen. Now I see two choices; Either have a Call of Duty related quote (Original or edited), or have a real life quote from someone famous. 21:53, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * ^ I like the altered call of duty quote idea. 21:56, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

I'm working on making a javascript notice that will be popping up on every page load should we decide to do this. 21:58, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

Per CoD4. Sammich Need help?  22:02, January 14, 2012 (UTC) 22:02, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

Per Callofduty4 and Sandwich. 22:07, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

New idea
I've just had a brainwave. What if, rather than blanking all the pages, we put the image shown above on the main page only instead, maybe underneath the Site Notice? This would get the point across to any visitors, as they would see it the moment they logged on, and because it would only be on the main page (which doesn't need much regular editing anyway), it wouldn't hinder our day-to-day productivity in any way. Anyone else think this is a good idea? Sgt. S.S. 22:23, January 14, 2012 (UTC)


 * No. 22:25, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * N7, I need a bit more reasoning than just "no". Sgt. S.S. 22:29, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

But what about all the people that come in through linked articles and such? 22:24, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * What about them? Most visitors come to the wiki through Google searches and such, which takes them straight to the main page. We might not get the message across to every visitor, but we'd still get it across to the majority of visitors. Sgt. S.S. 22:29, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * But still, someone searching for "Extended Mags" or a weapon or character will go straight to that page and not see the message.AdvancedRookieSig2.png 22:33, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

Then it isn't a blackout. 22:27, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * That's kind of the point... getting the message across w/o letting our productivity grind to a halt. Sgt. S.S. 22:29, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * I forgot we were some factory producing life saving equipment... oh wait. <_< 22:32, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * ffs, that's not what I meant. I'm trying to get a point across here - namely, there are other ways for us to show our opposition without essentially shutting the wiki down. If we're worried about visitors coming in through linked articles, then maybe we should consider putting the image at the top of every page, not just the main page. Sgt. S.S. 22:35, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * The point i'm trying to get across (and all these websites involved) is that if SOPA passes, they will be shutdown forever. 22:40, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * It's one day, what is the problem with that? If it was a week i'd agree with you, but its only one day. 22:41, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * There's a URL on the image where readers can find out about that sort of thing, N7. Productivity should come first - one day with zero productivity is still one day too many. Sgt. S.S. 22:46, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

This isn't something to do a botch-job on and put a half-arsed amount of effort into. We either do it properly or we don't do it at all. 22:44, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

Obama Opposing?
Obama seems to oppose SOPA http://geeks.thedailywh.at/2012/01/14/obama-opposes-sopa-of-the-day/

If this is true, Obama is hero to me.  Packers4Ever talk 22:53, January 14, 2012 (UTC)
 * and this is relevant to the discussion how...? Carb 0Stop Censorship 22:55, January 14, 2012 (UTC)


 * Just showing Obama could veto it. I don't know. Just wanted to break some possible news.  Packers4Ever talk 22:57, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

Think of it this way, S.S.

The SOPA ruling can come really close. If SOPA is passed, what's the point of the productivity? The Wiki will be dead anyways. I don't know about you, but I'm willing to sacrifice one measly day just to inform wiki readers about the effects of SOPA. DarkMetroid567 22:54, January 14, 2012 (UTC)