[WikiEN-l] Re: Proposal: make user pages uneditable

[Arwel Parry]

In message <42f90dc004110215456670a8d5 at mail.gmail.com>, Matt Brown 
<morven-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> writes
>I believe that under most circumstances a user's main userpage
>[[User:X]] should be a place for that user to state what they want the
>community to know about them and their beliefs, philosophies, aims,
>goals, etc.  In other words, the main User: page is intentionally POV
>and there should rarely be a need for other contributors to edit it.
>
>It is certainly NOT a place for other users to place their opinion of
>that user under normal circumstances.
>
>However, all this is accomplished with the current state of affairs.
>User pages are indeed rarely edited by anyone but the user.  There are
>rare cases of vandalism, quickly undone.  Few users' pages are
>regularly vandalised, and those pages can be (and are) protected under
>our current policy.
>
>It strikes me that some of those wanting their user pages protected
>from editing by other users are not doing so out of actually
>experiencing any problems, but rather, as UC says, from a sense of
>'ownership'.  This IS a bit troubling.  Certainly userspace is
>different than other namespaces in the system, but it seems to me that
>the 'Wiki way' is to avoid trying to fix problems in software whenever
>possible - instead relying on community norms and consensus to set de
>facto policy.
>
>'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' is the rule of the game here, I
>think, and I haven't seen sufficient argument that the current state
>of affairs is so broken as to override the objections.
>
>-Matt (User:Morven)

Well, I just protected my page today, after it had been vandalised for 
the 10th time in 8 weeks by the same bastard, using a range of IP 
addresses so individual short-term blocks had no effect.

I strongly support the proposal to restrict the editability of user 
pages to the user concerned in normal circumstances.

-- 
Arwel Parry
http://www.cartref.demon.co.uk/