[WikiEN-l] Getting rid of userpages

[Anthony DiPierro]

On 2/24/06, Ben Lowe <ben.lowe at gmail.com> wrote:
> Thing is, I'm pretty lazy, so I'd probably just set up shop in one article
> space and simply turn that space into my note space for all of my articles.
> I'd find a nice, quiet article -- maybe my home town, it'd feel like I was
> moving back -- and set up shop there.  (Or maybe I'd use the [[Brian
> Peppers]] space; I hear that's not getting a lot of use….)   You can't
> really tell me that anyone would patrol these notes pages to determine
> whether they're related *enough* to the article.  Well, you can say it, but
> I'll laugh at you.   What then, protocols for deletion of people's notes?
> NfD?  "Non-notable notes; they don't relate enough to this article.  Merge
> with [[User:Redwolf24]]'s notes."
>
> Fine, then I'd set up shop in non-sensical article space, like "[[The blind
> unicyclists of Kenya (video game)]]" and get to work where no one would have
> any idea what is and isn't pertinent to the article.   What's that you say?
> The article is non-notable?  A probable hoax?  How do you know -- the
> article hasn't even been written yet!  Besides, short of contrib-stalking me
> (flattering, but a little creepy), there's no way you'd know where I was
> keeping my notes anyway.
>
> Maybe I'd even throw in a userbox.  Sorry, article-notesbox.  "These article
> notes do not support the United Nations."
>
> There are simply too many ways in which the article space would end up being
> abused in order to cobble together some semblance of the functionality of
> userspace.
>
> Ben

I guess I just don't see what the functionality of userspace is in the
first place, if not to be used by the user as an expression of
themselves.

I also think what's more likely to happen, if people *really* insist
on keeping their notes separate from everyone elses, is you'll see
things like [[Wikipedia:Bob's notes]], not notes thrown into the
article space.  Someone doing what you claim you would do would
quickly be banned.

Anthony