On 2/20/06, Death Phoenix originaldeathphoenix@gmail.com wrote:
While I don't agree with everything you're saying or the way you're saying it, you make one interesting point: if Jimbo just came right out now and said "You are only allowed to have this sort of userbox, and you are only allowed to have x amount of them", this userbox fiasco would come to an end: admins can go around deleting them and all the userbox defenders would have nothing (concrete) to say about it. Conversely, if Jimbo said "all userboxes are fine", the userbox defenders are free to keep their userboxes, the admins will know not to delete anything, and we'll all be fine.
I'm sure that part of the reason he hasn't is because he doesn't know what the right solution is, but the longer he waits, the longer this whole userbox fiasco's going to play out. But signs are really beginning to point to the fact that Jimbo will need to make an official decree about this whole mess.
I think Jimbo came pretty close to expressing his wishes with the Template CSD, but there will likely come a time when we need him to make a stronger and more official statement on Wikipedia.
I think that this is becoming the only viable solution. However, the userboxen supporters are also the loudest in shouting "Cabal, Cabal!!", and hearkening for the ruin of Jimbo. Just today did I see a userbox comparing him to something out of 1984. In short, they deny everything that Jimbo does for the good of Wikipedia.
These users greatly lose fact of basic Wikipedia principles: that we are here to build an encyclopedia, that you don't have a right to edit, and don't have an automatic right to "free speech". Truly, we have a sort of Wiki-"generation gap." I don't see an end to these issues any time soon.
-- Ben Emmel Wikipedia - User:Bratsche "A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees." -- William Blake