How can we build a neutral encyclopedia while providing common resources to enable the wide propagation of such rabid political statements as "Love my Country Fear my Government" (with wikilinks to the articles on patriotism and neo-nazism) and "This user trusts the EU (an over-powerful, non-democratic bureaucracy) about as far as they can throw it"?
Well, we can and we are and it's not a *large* problem. But we'd still be better off without.
I don't mind people ranting a bit against this and that on their userpages but - if I may speak metaphorically - using the Wikipedia printing press to mass-produce standardized stickers with glib political catchphrases doesn't give people the right idea about this project.
Check out this userpage:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Quarl
This guy is now my poster-boy on how to use userboxes. His boxes are useful and non-divisive but still whimsical and expressive.
But we need to *discuss* and *educate* not speedy-delete the same template again and again and again and again as you did yesterday, Tony :) Maybe some actions like that were necessary at the start to bring attention to the matter but continuing them now is completely unnecessary. The issue has all the attention it needs (and then some, I would say). Continuing this "rouge admin" game makes this be about abuse of administrator tools, not reaching a consensus on what is, all things considered, a relatively minor issue.
Regards, Haukur