Does nobody else see the irony in this?
English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout
Do not disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point
Sure, protest. But to do it by flouting one of Wikipedia’s own strong principles is undermining their credibility. And annoying. Organise a protest march, petition people, whatever. But to deliberately make things inconvenient for millions of people just to make a point is childish.
Irony? Maybe so. But it’s a point that needs making.
Perhaps there should be a banner on the protest page: “This is what will happen to Wikipedia if these proposals become law.” And a clarification that it will happen not because of a petty and childish action by the Wikipedia managers, but due to the unavoidable litigation against Wikipedia and other sites with content created by users based on SOPA.
Compare this action to a strike of e.g. cleaning staff at, say, an airport to raise awareness of the reduced standards of hygiene due to lack of staff, poor working conditions and underpayment. Yes, during the strike it will become a big mess at the airport, and that is ironic. Yet the action raises awareness in the general public of what the world will come to if the problem is ignored.
They’re essentially choosing between one day of disruption now, or years and years of disruption later, quite possibly draining their resources to the point of inviability. Existential threats have this way of overriding the usual rules.