[WikiEN-l] Unused userboxes

Sun Jan 8 02:03:05 UTC 2006

>On 1/7/06, Ben Emmel <bratsche1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 1/6/06, Zzyzx11 at Wikipedia <zzyzx11 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Here's something that crossed my mind:
> > >
> > > As the number of userboxes continues to increase, I am starting to see 
>a
> > > number of them that are currently NOT being used by ANYONE. So in a 
>couple
> > > weeks from now, if these same userboxes are still not being used on 
>any
> > > userpage, shouldn't they be put on TFD like any other unused, orphaned
> > > template? Why or why not?
> > >
> > > Zzyzx11 at en.wikipedia.org
> > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Zzyzx11
> > > zzyzx11 at hotmail.com
> > >
> >
> > Check out [[WP:TFD]] right now. Currently,  there is a whole bunch of
> > userbox warriors that are going to stall and keep any userbox that comes
> > their way. In short, the box is going to get kept anyways. An example of
> > this is {{User fair use}}, which Jimbo himself deleted before being 
>informed
> > of the TfD debate, which is really irrelevant, considering that we can't
> > disobey the US copyright law that Wikipedia is legally obligated to 
>fllow.
> >
> > Looks to me that the userbox editors are disrupting the flow and work of
> > Wikipedia, but I'd be interested to hear what others think. Those who 
>have
> > five times as many userbox edits as mainspace edits can't be helping
> > Wikipedia all that much.
>
>I hope the admin who decides closes the {{User fair use}} debate
>evaluates the quality of the arguments made in relation to the
>encyclopedia's mission; it'll be deleted then.
>
>SCZenz

Unused userboxes that have been around for a while (i.e. not created in the 
immediate past) should definitely be deleted (aside from those that fill a 
pattern, such as Babel langauges/levels where no-one speaks it yet). Are 
there any arguments for keeping these userboxes? Alternatively, I would also 
argue for the deletion of all userboxes only used by one person (and the 
userbox has been around for some time): what's the point of having a 
template and category for something only one person is going to use? We 
could just tell the person to substitute it on his/her userpage instead.

Thoughts on that? Thanks!

Flcelloguy
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

_________________________________________________________________
Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee® 
Security. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963