[WikiEN-l] User names

Sat Oct 11 23:20:24 UTC 2003

LDan wrote:
>Most of those people only thought that others 
>would be offended. I don't think that if a critical 
>mass of people think that others will be offfended 
>by the username, that that user should have to 
>change names. 

Offense is only part of the picture. Equally important is the impression 
people get about Wikipedia by looking at Recent Changes and page histories. 
The page history issue is most important; would a downstream user want to 
list "Jesus is Lord!" as on of the five authors of a page? How does it make 
Wikipedia look when user:Jesus is Lord! is one of the authors to 
controversial subjects such as homosexuality and religion? That doesn't give 
the impresion of neutrality that we want and its mere presence in RC is an 
implicit way to welcome people of that POV while offending others who don't 
share that POV. All just affirmative (bumper sticker-like) statements should 
be banned from user names. 

And yes, I am very much offended by the user name. 

[[User:AIDS kills fags dead]] (if it existed) would be similarly "cute."

-- Daniel Mayer (aka mav)