[WikiEN-l] Are these userbox templates NPOV?

Thu May 11 15:48:01 UTC 2006

G'day Prasad,

> I noticed that there exists a userbox template {{User America fan}}-
> to indicate that the concerned user supports the U.S. However, there
> is no such userbox template indicate that the concerned user supports
> any of the other 180-odd countries that make up this Earth, eg. ther
> is no {{User Australia fan}} or {{User Japan fan}}. To indicate that a
> user supports any country other than the U.S, he/she has to create a
> userbox-there is no ready-made template. Why is this (apparent)
> favouritsm being shown toward the U.S. Aren't the other 188 countries
> worthy of having supporters? Also there is another 9/11,memoriam
> userbox template, however there is no Nazi Holocaust Memorial
> template. While we all realise that most Wikipedians (especially the
> powers-that-be) are Americans, this sort of bias is hurtful to us
> non-American Wikipedians. I would have taken this user-template matter
> up with someone on Wikipedia, but when I tried to enquire about a
> possible course of action on IRC, a user asked me (on the basis that I
> was questioning the {{User America fan}} template) whether I was an
> Islamofascist. Needless to say this made me a bit apprehensive, so I'm
> posing this question on the mailing list. Any comments/views would be
> appreciated. Thanks.

Userboxen are *not* endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation, the Wikipedia 
community in general, or (in some rather peculiar cases) the creators of 
the userboxen themselves.  The contents of a userbox should never be 
taken as an attempt by Wikipedia to cause offence.

As for why there is a {{User America fan}} but no {{User Japan fan}} 
(say), Americans tend to be insecure, and therefore need to reassure 
themselves (and other Americans) that they really are as patriotic as 
government policy decrees.  The userbox in question was probably created 
by an American who was disturbed that his userpage did not sufficiently 
affirm his dedication to Mother Columbia, and wished to correct this 
appalling state of affairs before the FBI came and took him away.

(I intend no offence towards American Wikipedians, by the way[0].)

> PS-No offence intended to American Wikipedians.

Oh, good.

[0] Is this email the makings of an excellent Uncyclopedia article, or
     just bitter sarcasm more stupid than it is funny?

-- 
Mark Gallagher
"What?  I can't hear you, I've got a banana on my head!"
- Danger Mouse

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