Allowed Content

[Paul W. Frields]

On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 02:35:43PM -0400, Ricky Zhou wrote:
> Hey, I mentioned a few recent fedora-docs-list threads at the last IRC
> support operators[1], and they were generally very positive about
> some of the howto/knowledge base ideas that have been brought up.
> 
> One concern that they brought up was whether we have a policy on what
> content can/cannot be on Fedora's wiki (or "official" Fedora docs),
> something more specific than http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ForbiddenItems.
> 
> One example that was brought up is that we currently have a howto for
> installing flash at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Flash, so there may be
> some current confusion about this.
> 
> I will keep in touch with the IRC support operators team and see what
> allowed vs. not allowed topics are FAQs for them.
> 
> Thanks,
> Ricky
> 
> [1] http://meetbot.fedoraproject.org/fedora-meeting/2009-07-23/fedora-meeting.2009-07-23-16.30.log.html

Flash has a page because it is not illegal to use anywhere in the
world that we know of, and the page provides up-front the suggestion
that people try to use a FOSS implementation.  Incidentally, it also
does not impede other base functioning of the system that prevents
effective debugging and troubleshooting.  This is not true of
encumbered add-ons like MP3, proprietary video drivers, and so on.

Having said that, I'm not overjoyed about having a Flash page, and the
reason I contributed so much to it myself was to make sure it was as
clear and accurate as possible.  I do recall there was discussion
around the time of its creation, and would ask that before proposing
any policy, the proposer should research that discussion.  I would
remove it to have a bright-line policy if required, but I do note that
(1) it has first ranking on Google for "fedora flash", and (2) I'm
pretty sure we've had a lot fewer Flash installation problems as a
result.

Those facts do not trump our mission, though, so if this page goes
away, so be it.  (The 2nd page is the unofficial Fedora FAQ which can
just as easily serve this purpose.)  The mission of Fedora is to
advance free and open source software, which Flash is clearly not.

-- 
Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
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