X-Git-Url: https://codewiz.org/gitweb?a=blobdiff_plain;ds=sidebyside;f=about;h=8798872b2cda5796808d0bdc34f1c0e2d7dfd722;hb=ba32e2cead935499b882d92b38f479f3ef76939a;hp=ff993e54e21ee8e911f6280d2f14e72cf1116abe;hpb=c776c33d885413928ff352bbb1426e2f3160bb7d;p=wiki.git

diff --git a/about b/about
index ff993e5..8798872 100644
--- a/about
+++ b/about
@@ -9,25 +9,27 @@ You may want to read the EditingTips to get started.
 Editing requires authentication.  If you don't have a real account, you can
 login as **Anonymous****Coward** with empty password.
 
-=== About the software ===
+=== About the software powering this website ===
 
 This web site is powered by my own minimalistic wiki engine called [[GeekiGeeki]].
 
-Why would someone host my own wiki, blog and photo sharing when there are dozens of
+Why would someone self-host a wiki, blog and photo sharing when there are dozens of
 free-beer alternatives online?
 
-It's a matter of remaining [[http://autonomo.us/about/ | autonomous]] from online services as
-much as possible. Call me a fundamentalist, but I find it very disturbing to give up my
-online identity to services whose conditions are established and changed unilaterally.
+It's a matter of being reasonably [[http://autonomo.us/about/ | autonomous]] from online services. 
+Relying on services whose terms of use are changed unilaterally makes me uncomfortable.
 
 The [[http://opendefinition.org/ | definition of open knowledge]] is still a subject of
-discussion. At this time, I generally boycot any online web services that make it
-intentionally hard bulk access to data created collaboratively by their users.
-Examples of badly behaving sites are [[http://www.imdb.com | IMDB]] and
-[[http://flickr.com | Flickr]].
-
-My current personal policy is to use these services in read-only mode, without
-helping them collect even more information.
-
-Call me a fundamentalist for going through these hoops, but I believe I'm acting in
-my best personal interest. I //do// care about my meta-self, and you?
+debate. At this time, I avoid web services that disallow
+bulk access to data created collaboratively by their users.
+Examples of such badly behaving sites are [[http://www.imdb.com | IMDB]] and
+[[http://flickr.com | Flickr]]: both have been created by us users, but try downloading
+substantial portions of their data... On the other end of the spectrum,
+[[http://wikipedia.org | Wikipedia]] provides an interface to dump the
+entire database, including the edit history. This is what we should demand
+from any online resource built collaboratively.
+
+My current personal policy is to use those non-reciprocal services in read-only
+mode, thus avoiding to grow their information base with my help.
+
+Promoting users' autonomy is in the long-term interest of a free Internet.
\ No newline at end of file