On 2/25/06, MacGyverMagic/Mgm macgyvermagic@gmail.com wrote:
As soon as you state you are "against the right to bear firearms in the United States", you're going to get people on the defensive, especially when you start to edit gun-related articles. The same thing goes for "pro- or anti-abortion" and loads of other subjects. It's okay to show your interest in the subject, but as soon as you show your views you are using Wikipedia as a soapbox which it's not (see WP:NOT).
I don't think it's inherently wrong to show your views, the problem is how it's done.
I *could* have a userbox saying "this user hates foo," but that just angers supporters of foo, and makes me look like nothing more than a member of some foo-hating club that's here to POV push.
What would be better would be to say something like "I have an interest in foo-related subjects, as a person who is not a fan of foo. I've previously worked on some articles related to foo, such as [[bar]] and [[quux]]. If you think that my work on foo is overly negative, please leave a note on my talk page and we can discuss it!"
-- Stephen Bain stephen.bain@gmail.com