[WikiEN-l] The userbox fad

Thu Jan 5 16:38:37 UTC 2006

On 1/5/06, Peter Mackay <peter.mackay at bigpond.com> wrote:
> > If they only made those 20 edits, then I'd agree, but many
> > are making 10x that many edits complaining about their toys
> > being taken away.
>
> Again, why not encourage them to be more productive instead of lambasting
> them?

With so many of them, the last thing you'd want is for them to become
more productive, because they're terrible editors. Carbonite is right:
increasing numbers of people see this as a social club, many of whom
seem to have difficulty getting along with people, or else enjoy
causing trouble and drama; and from time to time, just to keep their
hand in encyclopedia-wise, they'll engage in a quick bit of POV
pushing, a flurry of reverts, and some name-calling, with a few
spelling mistakes thrown in for good measure. Otherwise, it's back to
editing the user page and trying to change policy.

Sarah