[Wikipedia-l] User pages

Mon Nov 25 18:24:49 UTC 2002

Jonathan Walther wrote:

> On Mon, Nov 25, 2002 at 02:22:36AM +0000, Oliver Pereira wrote:
>
>> I gather that it the general agreement is that the User pages are for 
>> the
>> users' own use, and that it is bad manners for other Wikipedians to edit
>> them. Would it be sensible to formalise this as a definitive rule - in
>> fact, to make the page protected from edits by anyone but the user 
>> and the
>> sysops? Anyone who wishes to address the user would still be able to on
>> the associated Talk page, of course.
>
> Lir is a special case, in that he used his User page to antagonize and
> piss off a lot of Wikipedians.  None of the recent edits in any way
> attacked Lir personally; they just massaged the material to show how one
> does things when one DOESN'T think the Wikipedia is just an information
> dump, when one actually cares about what one is writing, and not just
> the raw amount of information one dumps. 

Why not just put your reactions to Lir on his User Talk page rather than 
his User page.

> I have a feeling Lir was trying to get on that list of the top 250 most
> prolific Wikipedians... Too bad for him it isn't dynamically generated. 

This is yet more unsupported speculation.

>> I don't know how difficult it would be to implement technically, but I
>> think it would be a good move to prevent people from vandalising other
>> people's User pages, as some are doing.
>
> To call those edits "vandalism" is to use far too strong a word,
> especially from an admitted newbie who isn't familiar with the full
> history of Lir's actions here.

I don't think that a newbie should be prevented from expressing things 
as he sees them.  I know of no single page that clearly outlines the 
case against Lir, and allows a newbie or any fair-minded Wikipedian to 
separate fact from speculation.  

Hmmm!  It sounds like I'm suggesting policy relating to disciplinary 
procedures.  It could begin with an indictment page on which the 
complainant states what individual A did wrong, and what should be done 
about it.  I'm afraid that further ideas on this will have to come 
elsewhere.

>> And I repeat, if anyone has any problems with my behaviour, please 
>> tell me
>> on my Talk page, or in a private e-mail.
>
> The only problem so far is your poorly informed defense of Lir.  Apart
> from that, it's good to have you on the Wikipedia.

Some of Lir's accusers were just as poorly informed as his defenders.

Eclecticology