[WikiEN-l] kelvSYC's take on userboxes

Wed Jan 11 01:41:10 UTC 2006

Anyone who has seen my userpage in the past day would probably see  
that I just got into that userbox fad.  Naturally, I do have a few  
opinions:

* Some userboxes are over the top in the sense that they do promote  
POV.  Those should be deleted.  I mean, I don't really need to know  
on any "Wikipedia-related professional" level whether someone  
believes that [[American English]] is the only correct English, or  
whether someone is a fan of the [[Dallas Cowboys]], or whether  
someone is a [[Quebec separatist]].  Although on the other hand, I  
have to admit I am guilty of including some of these userboxes (eg.  
{{user ubx-5}}, {{user Catan}}, etc.)  Just because it's a template  
doesn't mean it is not subject to NPOV, and some of us forget that.
* There perhaps should be a "minimum use" requirement for userboxes,  
to facilitate in, say, tfd processes ("Only one user uses it?   
Delete!").  But that means that everyone would have to use them...
* I really hope that a separate userbox space is _not_ made...
* Is there a way to appeal to copyright holders to allow their fair  
use images in spaces other than the main space?  Conversely, is there  
a mechanism for holders to declare that certain images are  
permissible in spaces other than the main space?  I ask as I am aware  
of the fair use thing, and while I think that it sucks (for stylistic  
reasons), it is necessary and something we all have to live with.
* Some userboxes are humorous in nature ({{user ubx-5}} is an  
example), and they should be deleted for the greater image of  
userboxing (Did I say anything that remotely make sense?).  I don't  
particularly care if someone is a native speaker of bullshit ({{User  
en-B-N}}), 1337 ({{User 1337-N}}) or gibberish ({{User gb-N}}).  They  
can all go to the bit bucket.
* Please, for the love of <insert religious figure here>, delete  
redundant crap userboxes like {{User Earthling}}.
* Some userboxes are irrelevant to the nature of Wikipedia.  I don't  
care whether someone's favorite color is yellow ({{User yellow}}) or  
not.  It doesn't help me work with other Wikipedia contributors in  
making better articles.  They should be deleted.
* However, userboxes may be good for building communities.  We should  
keep all of them that are "good" in nature, like the Babel ones, ones  
that split users by location, ones that denote RC patrol, admins, the  
ones that denote expertise in academic fields, etc.  I really don't  
think a userbox is necessary for tagging users who have been  
victimized by such-and-such vandal.
* The userbox fad, if left unchecked, may infect other stuff too...  
such as a userbox for "this IP is blocked", "this user is blocked",  
"this user has requested that the page be protected from movement", etc.

Anyways, you all have your opinions, and you can all give feedback to  
mine and hopefully change my mind.  After all, that's why I post, right?