David Gerard wrote:
On 31/05/07, Gracenotes
<wikigracenotes(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Article talk is important for interaction, but
what about user talk?
I'm not talking about warning templates here.
Templates on user talk are IMO amongst the Worst Ideas Ever. Bot
warnings about fair use images are one thing ... templated
experimentation/vandal warnings are just obnoxious.
One should use one's own words. A template says "you have been
bureaucratised".
Well it is basically bureaucratized, which I don't see as that big a
deal. The vast majority of such template messages are standard
boilerplate aimed at newbies who might not realize what they're doing.
If I had to custom-write text for each time I told somebody "it seems
the edits you've made might not be helpful, but please don't get
offended if you were editing in good faith", I would probalby never
bother to do it at all.
I do generally avoid using such templates when dealing with non-new users.
-Mark