[WikiEN-l] CSD T1

[Jimmy Wales]

Prasad J wrote:
> But then again, Mr.Wales, isn't the term "inflammatory" a subjective
> one?

Somewhat, but not particularly, no.

> A userbox which seems inflammatory/divise to one user may not
> appear that way to another. 

Right.

> An example of such a scenario would be
> when a user named Anwar Saadat declared, using such a template,  his
> opinion that Kashmir should be granted independence.

A perfect example of a userbox that should have been nuked on sight.

The key here is that people have traditionally been free to express
themselves on their userpages.  The problem is that userboxes which are
promoted in the official namespaces tend to do two things:

1. They encourage the formation of cliques and factions and teams to go
around doing war in Wikipedia

2. They tell newcomers and the outside world that "this is how to be a
good wikipedian: pick all the things you believe in and trumpet them on
your userpage".

Traditionally, we have always thought that a really great wikipedian is
one whose editing record is so exemplary that one could not possibly
guess his or her biases.

--Jimbo