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User:StuffOfInterest

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by StuffOfInterest (talk | contribs) at 17:55, 2 June 2006 (Replace "User incl" with internal transclude). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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Wikipedia:User categorisation
Demographics
This user lives in the United States Commonwealth of Virginia.
This user is male.
This user has a wife.
Skills
Template:User amateur radio
HTML-3This user is an advanced HTML user.
PHP-3This user is an advanced PHP programmer.
js-1This user is a beginning JavaScript programmer.
SQL-2This user is an intermediate SQL programmer.
vb-2This user is an intermediate Visual Basic programmer.
C-2This user is an intermediate C programmer.
py-1This user is a beginning Python programmer.
cmd-3This user is an advanced Microsoft command line script programmer.
Wiki Activities
This user is a member of the
Counter-Vandalism Unit.
This user is a recent changes patroller.
Warning to Vandals: This user is armed with Vandal Fighter.
Template:User vandalized
Wiki Philosophy
This user is opposed to online censorship.
incl This user is a Wikipedia inclusionist.*
This user is not an administrator and does not wish to be one.
Wikipedia is not censored for minors.*
  This user believes that only articles need reflect a NPOV, and that displaying political, religious, or other beliefs using userboxes and user categories should not be banned.*
This user feels that out of process deletions subject to an administrator's whims rather than consensus damage Wikipedia more than any userbox ever could.*
Non-Wiki Philosophy
athThis user is an atheist.
DEM
This user supports the Democratic Party of the United States.
This user is straight
but not narrow.
This user believes that the death penalty should never be used.
Links

View my edit count (old)
View my edit count (FireFox only)

Vandal Visits Here
194.187.32.1 on 2005-Dec-06[1]
166.165.254.6 on 2005-Dec-09[2]
134.192.20.240 on 2006-Jan-04[3]
24.126.89.15 on 2006-Jan-13[4]
62.0.140.93 on 2006-Feb-04[5]
194.74.156.175 on 2006-Apr-24[6]
194.74.156.175 on 2006-May-04[7]
Tool Tray
WP:AIAV - Vandalism in Progress
WP:AN/I - Admin Noticeboard / Incidents
WP:RPP - Request Page Protection

Wikipedia topics I follow

I have an interest in various topics including space science, amateur radio, and beaches.

Computers & Technology

Aircraft & Spacecraft

Outdoor

Misc

My motto

It takes a smart man to learn from his mistakes, but it takes a wise man to learn from the mistakes of others.

International travels

Lived in:

Weeks to days:

Hours:

Passed through:

To go some day:

and many more...

Idea and layout lifted from Harro5, who took it from Salsb, who stole it from Guettarda who borrowed it from Coolcat, as seen on Calton's page.

Domestic travels

Lived in:

Slept in:

Drove in:

Saw the airport:

Userbox war

For months there has been a war going on over the use of and policy surrounding userboxes. The current method being used by people wanting to purge these boxes is the T1 CSD. If you see a userbox disapear without going through TfD please take a look at Wikipedia:Deletion review. There is a good chance you'll find it listed there and in need of a vote one way or the other on bringing it back.

This war comes down to two poles with many views in between. On one end are those who think that any point of view can be expressed in any format (userbox, paragraph, etc) on a user page using any facility avaiable (templates, images, etc) in Wikipedia. On the other end are those who think that everything in Wikipedia, including user pages, should be NPOV. Naturally, many others fall somewhere in between those views. Being that the great founder hasn't set out an absolute policy it has been left to the community to try and devise one on its own. Some people have tried to interpret various writings and create policy out of it without concensus. Others have gone on personal crusades to shape the world to their own view. Groups are trying to keep the freedom they thought was implicit with the environment, and many are just trying to find solid ground in this shifting mess. Nobody knows where it is going to end but there is sure to be a lot of damage done as a matter of course.

OK, now that I've complained enough it is time to offer a solution. First, a simple statement. Concensus will never be reached. Although a majority do seem to support userboxes in the form they currently exist it isn't enough of a super-super-majority (80%+) to push through a concrete policy. This leaves it to Jimbo to dictate a policy. If I were Jimbo for a day this is what I'd likely propose.

  1. A library of userbox construction code using the {{Userbox}} constructor template will be created in Wikipedia:Userboxes. If people want to use a userbox they can copy the constructor code to their user page.
  2. The library will not be restricted on contents as long as the boxes do not represent a personal attack. It is OK to say you are for or against something. It is not OK to say someone else can not be something.
  3. All add/changes/removes to the userbox list will go through discussion pages in the library area so there are no edit wars on the actual library pages.
  4. Where possible, all userboxes will be substitued to the library code by automated bots.
  5. Userboxes will come out of template space. All userbox related templates other than the {{Userbox}} constructor template will be deleted after they have been placed in the library and substituded on user's pages. If a template is only included on one user's page it can be subst'd and deleted without putting it in the library.
  6. If a user wishes to share a userbox by turning it into a sub-page of their user page and thus allowing it to be transcluded on other user's pages this is allowed providing it is transcluded on the providing user's page and not part of a library being kept in a puppet or repository account. It may also be listed in the Wikipedia:Userboxes library with both code and a link to the transclude page.

Not what you were expecting, was it? At this point I don't expect to see Jimbo come out and say, "all userboxes are OK to live in template space". I'm just looking for a working solution that will put the war to bed but still let people express the opinions they wish on their user pages.

For reference, it was this edit on 27 May 2006 where Jimbo stated:

"There is a middle ground, I agree. The middle ground is to let people do as they will in the user space, and merely use reason and argument to teach people over time why one ought not use Wikipedia userpages for political or other campaigns.... while at the same time saying, no, really, the template namespace is not for that, that we do not endorse this behavior. This is the solution that the Germans have put into effect with great results."

And in this edit, CharonX explains how the German solution works with:

"Ok, here's the way it was organized on the German Wikipedia: There are almost non "userboxes" in the template (in German Vorlage) space, except for the standard "This user speaks XYZ" boxes and similar. All POV, interest, etc. boxes are part of the userspace - distributed amongst various userpages. I have grabbed a userpage at random of an admin called Davidshilling, note the userboxes? Click at the Babel-Vorlagen link and you will see a few userboxes. Any user may use these boxes on his or her page (he even provided a nifty copy&past link for that). If you check his userpage and view the source you will also see that some of the displayed boxes originate from other users' pages. Basically the German Wiki kept allmost all userboxes outside the template (Vorlage) space, inside the userspace. And since they are inside the userspace they are allowed to be POV, controversial, or whatever (yes, I firmly believe that there will be an editor found that feels offended by other users stating that he enjoys eating junk-food). A major collection of German userboxes offers the user Libro."

Note: I've stuck the six point proposal out for general discussion here.

2nd Note: In support of the German solution I've started my own archive of userboxes that others are welcome to transclude.

(Updated 11:42, 1 June 2006 (UTC))

Religion

Isn't it amazing how much hostility can be unleashed by so little? Just take a look at the history on the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy article for an example. All was caused by one image. As of 2 Feb 2006, the edit war raging is like nothing I've ever seen before on Wikipedia. It is only being outdone by the real life protests across the Middle East. Higher resolution versions of the images are available here. Judge it for yourself.

Personal sandbox

I maintain a sub user page for doing sandbox work. This page has my doodles and experiments not ready for prime time. You can view the sandbox if you are really interested.

Just something interesting

Well, Wikimedia has the longest acronyn I've ever seen in my life. Welcome to "AWWDMBJAWGCAWAIFDSPBATDMTD". And I thought the US Navy had some long ones!

To do list

These are some wiki tasks I intend to tackle as time permits

Cleanup computer language templates

There are consistency problems on the templates which need to be corrected. My hope is to audit and correct as many of these as possible to conform to the presentation of the language style boxes. Also, many need to have the '<includeonly></includeonly>' tags added around categories to keep the template from showing up in the category. I'll start on ones I'm using, move on to the same languages as I'm using but different levels, and wind up on ones I don't personally use.

Note, I've suspended action on this until the userbox debacle is sorted out.


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