[WikiEN-l] The userbox fad

[Ben Emmel]

On 1/3/06, Tony Sidaway <f.crdfa at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> None.  It is the categorization that is the problem, facilitated to
> some extent by the convenience of userboxes (the ease of typing {{user
> bigendinan}} compared to "[[Category: Bigendian wikipedians]]).
>
> Categorization people by skill or by services provided is a good use
> of user boxes.  But the beliefs and religions userboxes provide a
> handy telephone book for people interested in pushing a point of view
> an unscrupulous enough to spam user talk pages or contact likely
> supporters by email.
>
> The categories must die too.
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Why do you not view the religion or viewpoint boxes the same as those with
geographical location or language? If I am doing some RC patrol, and notice
a questionable edit to a Hindu article, wouldn't a [[Category:Hindu
Wikipedians]] be useful? That way, I can search out a user to look into the
edit. Same thing goes for an edit to an article on Communism: I don't claim
to be an expert on that subject, so shouldn't I be able to search out an
editor using [[Category:Communist Wikipedians]]?

--
Ben Emmel
Wikipedia - User:Bratsche
bratsche1 at gmail.com
"A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees."
-- William Blake