On 8/21/06, Erik Moeller eloquence@gmail.com wrote: [snip]
The user space has historically allowed POV material. It would give us a good record of all PR groups operating within Wikipedia. Surely it is in our interest to have such a record?
We have enough problems with people trying to use userspace to advertise their products and services... A wikipedia userspace page is one of the easiest ways you can show up high on google search results, and as a result userpages are frequently misused by non-contributors to create a publicly visible pulpit for themselves.
To a random google using reader, it is often not at all obvious that they have hit a userpage or, even, what a userpage is verses Wikipedia proper. When the userpage *looks* like a Wikipedia article, there is a substantial risk of confusion. A non-wikipedian can not be expected to know that an wikipedia article with User: at the front is something substantially different from a wikipedia article without it.
I am very worried that such usage will risk causing additional harm to our readers and further damage to our reputation.
I, for one, am strongly opposed to any proposal which would further support the abuse of our resources as an advertising medium. Userpages exist to help users interact with each other inorder to further the project. They do not exist to provide a platform for advertisers to address the world.
That we already have users who believe that all third party edits to userpages are vandalism to be instantly reverted only increases the risk of this already risky proposal.