From: wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org [mailto:wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org] On Behalf Of Alphax (Wikipedia email) Sent: Saturday, 14 January 2006 15:27 To: English Wikipedia Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] kelvSYC's take on userboxes
Peter Mackay wrote:
From: wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org [mailto:wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org] On Behalf Of Alphax
When userboxes are getting in the way of the encyclopedia, the userboxes must go.
What about users? If there were no users, there'd be no
problems. Can
we please accept that *every* element on the site causes
problems of
one sort or another and there are very few things that are
completely
black and white.
The current userbox issue is a symptom, not a cause. Get rid of userboxes and some other thing would pop up until the
underlying problem is resolved.
Shuffling the deckchairs is no solution if the ship is sinking.
Alright then, here's my solution:
Disable user page creation until a user has reached a certain number of edits (the point where moves and the ability to edit semi-protected pages are enabled).
My reasoning is as follows:
If a user has made enough edits to articles that they are able to move pages and edit semi-protected pages, they have contributed enough that they should be able to create a userpage. Userpages should be reserved for those who are writing the encyclopedia; WP:NOT a webhost.
Not arguing, but you can make any number of edits you want, just by adding a space here, taking one away there. If you have to do a whole bunch of these useless edits before you get to play, how does that help the project?
Besides which, customising a userpage, even if it's only to add in a few lines, helps new editors feel at home. And they have an immediate place to try stuff out instead of going to test it out on an article.
The idea is to encourage members to make good edits, not to make them feel awkward. I get the feeling that a lot of the old salts here would rather we didn't attract new editors at all.
Peter (Skyring)