Quoting Gregory Maxwell gmaxwell@gmail.com:
On Nov 6, 2007 3:23 PM, joshua.zelinsky@yale.edu wrote:
Example: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Bosox38schilling&old...
[snip]
Now, I have trouble seeing how a vandalism template in that case was anything but biting.
I'm sure the person who place the message would be insulted by saying it was biting. How about... the person just used the wrong template?
What if they had used http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Firstarticle instead?
Is this a case which we could improve by encouraging people to be careful to use on-target messages?
I just talked to the person and it was a mistake and they then immediately put under it a more appropriate template. But they never apologized or clarified the first one. Whether a template is put deliberately or by mistake it will have the same effect on the new user.