[WikiEN-l] The userbox fad

Tue Jan 3 15:49:00 UTC 2006

On 1/3/06, Tony Sidaway <f.crdfa at gmail.com> wrote:
> Userboxes started innocously enough, first seeing widespread use with
> the Babel project, intended to inform users of one another's language
> skills.  But they haven't stayed that way.  From helping editors to
> locate one another by skill, they have evolved into a way for editors
> to group by conviction.

Tony, I agree these are a problem, but I'm not very familiar with
them, so I have a question. What is the difference between having a
box on your page saying you're e.g. Hindu, and having yourself listed
in a Hindu Wikipedians category? Can the boxes be used to group
editors by political or religious affiliation in a way that categories
can't?

Sarah