[WikiEN-l] What is "spam?"

Thu Jun 22 09:59:48 UTC 2006

> From: "Alphax (Wikipedia email)" <alphasigmax at gmail.com>
>
> Nathan wrote:
>> I remember having an imposter with a weird unicode version of the  
>> first
>> "N" in my username. In fact, it's my only imposter.
>>
>> I think such usernames should be blocked too.
>>
>> - Nathan (nathanrdotcom)
>>
>
> I think *your* username is innappropriate since you're spamming  
> your URL
> in it.

Yeesh. Give him a break.

It's unobtrusive. It's a username, so it never appears in the main  
namespace. It's not a link, so it won't affect his site's pagerank.

And if you look at that site, _it's just a personal website,_ no  
different in kind from a Wikipedia user page.

On the spectrum from where co-opting Wikipedia for commercial gain is  
a ten and obnoxious self-promotion is a one, this is a zero. It's  
about as objectionable as using a username that happens to resemble  
one's email address.