Philosophy of a Website

The last version of this website was attacked by a cracker. There is an open letter to all crackers elsewhere in this wiki, but one of the main points I make is that the last web site was left open on purpose. There are few things in life that I feel strongly about, but one of them is this. I believe that information controls power: Therefore, information should be free. My last website supported this by making everything (all files and directories) available for reading and writing and executing (geekily known as the 777 permission). This meant that any Jo Schmo could load up my website and view/edit/delete anything he wanted. This was not a flaw by myself. It was a choice.

But someone took advantage of that and now I am forced to use alternative means to keep my information open to others, but free from being tampered with. I did a little research and a system called a Wiki seemed the way to go. Wiki's allow web users to easily edit the pages they are viewing. Making comments, corrections .etc. But they can also be set up within a non 777 file system so that the actual site (the frame if you will) cannot be changed… only it's content (i.e. the picture in the frame). I am also hoping to allow access to all other files for viewing, if not for editing.

So please feel free to edit pages / add comments / corrections where I have allowed it, and hopefully people won't abuse this again. One person shouldn't change your opinion of humanity, and hopefully this is my means to prevent that from happening to me.

nex

//Please put below any comments you have about this page by clicking 'Edit this page'://

hi there, i changed your web page….. scott;
and again!! ha HA, great stuff

An example of this is the fact that I have entered this line, which was not part of the original text, without actually having anything to do with the site. I find it odd that someone would create articles as their intellectual property then allow people to edit them unchecked.

- anonymous

Well, I have version checking and can easily revert back if I don't like someone's changes. Which I have just demonstrated as you originally put your comment in the main text where I do not feel it belonged. There is a line at the top of every edit page which says, “Please edit the page only if you can improve it.” That is the whole point of a wiki. And I think the article above shows that I'm not that bothered about intellectual property as long as no one makes money off my ideas. I realise this can be conceptually difficult for some people with the way the western world is set up these days, but it does make you feel better about life if you can achieve it. It's not one man against the world; it shouldn't be anyone against anyone. It should just be everyone trying to work together so that we can all have better lives. But I guess, most importantly, I just thought it would be more fun this way

- nex