[WikiEN-l] Userbox fads

[Garion1000]

On 1/5/06, Peter Mackay <peter.mackay at bigpond.com> wrote:
>
> > From: wikien-l-bounces at Wikipedia.org
> > [mailto:wikien-l-bounces at Wikipedia.org] On Behalf Of Garion1000
> >
> > On 1/5/06, Geoff Burling <llywrch at agora.rdrop.com> wrote:
> > > . People of the same POV have always found each other on
> > Wikipedia, &
> > > Userboxes are hardly a powerful new tool to accomplish this.
> >
> > But userboxes makes it a lot easier to do so. Look it two
> > AFD's. The one for
> > some catholic encyclopedians and the gay rights in iraq article.
>
> So what are you saying? It should be *hard* for Wikipedians to find others
> with similar interests?


No, but to find others with a simular POV is different. A userbox stating
one person is an expert or has much knowledge on gay rights I don't mind.
(Whether that user is pro or against them).  A userbox stating that person
is against gay rights is different. The same counts for userboxes for "I am
a republican" vs "I am a republican party expert", creationism/evolution vs
...., I hate Bush etc etc.


> The community aspect of Wikipedia is vitally important. In fact it's one
> of
> the marvels of the Internet, to see such a grand project being constructed
> as a co-operative effort. To my mind, anything that increases community
> bonds without detracting from the main objective is something that should
> be
> encouraged.


Maybe it's because I don't see it as creating a community bond but more like
creating POV groups withing the community. At least userboxes make that much
easier. Therein lies the danger. IMO of course.

Garion