[WikiEN-l] The userbox fad

Tue Jan 3 17:31:00 UTC 2006

On 1/3/06, Kelly Martin <kelly.lynn.martin at gmail.com> wrote:
> Several of the editors most stridently defending userboxes are editors
> who have few, if any, article edits.  I looked at one user's
> contributions today where that editor has edited virtually nothing
> other than his own user page, various user boxes in the template
> space, and the userbox project page.
>
> What purpose is served by this editor's participation in Wikipedia?
> Does this person really qualify as a "Wikipedian"?

This is an increasing problem. Some of the users who cause most
trouble do very little editing of articles, and trying to deal with
their trolling on talk pages can be soul-destroying. Yet block one of
them and their friends scream blue murder, aided and abetted by
certain admins who should know better. It's something we need to get a
grip on because it's going to keep getting worse, and eventually
they'll start affecting policy.

Sarah