[WikiEN-l] Getting rid of userpages

[Stephen Bain]

On 2/25/06, MacGyverMagic/Mgm <macgyvermagic at 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 at gmail.com