Comment by nipponese
14 days ago
If a graffiti artist believed shitting on a lawn was art, they would, but they don't.
The problem and solution are similar to OSS:
The problem: the artists have something to say, they want as many people as possible to see it and use it.
The solution: make it free, and put it where as many people as possible can access it.
Yes, I just compared graffiti to github.
If there were community areas that were designed for painting, that would be totally fine by me. A big wall that is painted white, maybe with some ladders nearby if that doesn't violate health and safety rules, and tell people to go nuts. Though you would potentially get a lot of disagreeable content, but I suspect that they would quickly get overwritten anyway
There are many such walls or discreet hidden spots, like tunnels, where the graffiti artists paint for other artists. But painting in wide-open spots where the public can judge is just part of the culture.
Maybe I should have compared graffiti to the release of Gnutella.