I wonder if you might consider...
I wonder if you might consider simply removing your political/religious/etc. userboxes and asking others to do the same. This seems to me to be the best way to quickly and easily end the userbox wars.
Userboxes of a political or, more broadly, polemical, nature are bad for the project. They are attractive to the wrong kinds of people, and they give visitors the wrong idea of what it means to be a Wikipedian.
I think rather than us having to go through a mass deletion (which is what is likely to happen if the userbox fad doesn't go away), it will be better to simply change the culture, one person at a time. Will you help me?-- Jimbo Wales 10:53, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
If someone comes to the site who has never been here, it's unlikely they're going to be going to people's userpages and getting offended. Nobody forces anyone to go to them. They are purely optional.
This is true, Userboxes are OPTIONAL. Non-users rarely go waltzing around Wikipedia to see Userpages. Many of theses non-Users have no idea that userpages exist. And if you want to express your thoughts and beliefs and whatnot, why should you be forbidden~to do so? Jean-Paul 10:47, 11 May 2006 (UTC)
Though I am new to Wikipedia, I must say that Userboxes and Userpages aren't part of any article, and I find it unlikely that people will be offended by them. So what if someone has a userbox on thier page that says they are a communist? Or that they support Lenin? Sure, such views aren't exactly favored by mainstream society, those people have the right to express their views the same as anyone else. To say that people can't say what they are and how they feel is wrong, morally and politcally. Ben 22:48, 13 May 2006 (UTC)
Jimbo says, "they give visitors the wrong idea of what it means to be a Wikipedian." What is it to be a Wikipedian? It is not necessarily to be an opinionated person, or rather, a digital recreation of a person. According to WP:EDIANS, "Wikipedians are the people who write and edit articles for Wikipedia." The way I see things, there're pros and cons to every situation, and in this one, the pros include seeing a user's point of view and his or her expertise when dealing with a user (plus, they're fun!). The cons include risking developing political or religious groups, or harboring negative sentiment among registered and non-registered users against users with specific userboxes. Apparently, this risk is enough to make Jimbo want to nip the problem in the bud, before it develops into a serious problem, or even a problem at all, within Wikipedia. Although it may be true in some situations that "[a]ny society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" (Ben Franklin), Jimbo doesn't want to risk losing the hard work he put in to making Wikipedia what it is today over the petty disagreements of a few. Also, it's his site, people, let him do what he wants :D . J. Finkelstein 16:39, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
Userboxes define a user and his/her beliefs. In my opinion, not many look at them, especially when some people are collecting say 30, 40, or 50 or more. My user boxes are on a seperate page as opposed to my main User:Noles1984 so if one does not want to view them, they do not have to click my userbox link. I think this might be a good cure for the problem. I actually find the userboxes useful in formulating an idea of what a user is about. Also, political userboxes shouldn't be thought of negatively since everyone has a point of view and are entitled to it. I'm opposed to cednsorship and I have that userbox :-) ...also, religion shouldn't bother anyone. As said before, users that are serious contributors understand differing points of view. One other thing... one must consider "college wars" where we have users from rival schools possibly getting in to a battle. Shall school userboxes be banned? Anyway, those here for political/religious/college wars won't visit often in my opinion. 25px|USA Noles1984 16:22, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
I, for one, am okay with userboxes. However, I don't think people should get too personal with the userboxes. I dislike it when users use userboxes to show their beliefs on politics, religion, (very) personal life, etc. I believe users should only use userboxes to show their academic interests, societies they are members of, their hobbies, where they're from and stuff like that. I also believe that users can make userboxes, as long as they stick to the same rules. To sum it up, don't get too personal with your userboxes! -- Kschwerdt514 04:16, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
I like Mr. Wales' "This is a Wikipedia user page." box more than Template:User page. Can we move the code on his page to that template? See also discussion here. - Paul2520 ( talk) 09:02, 24 November 2015 (UTC)
I wonder if you might consider...
I wonder if you might consider simply removing your political/religious/etc. userboxes and asking others to do the same. This seems to me to be the best way to quickly and easily end the userbox wars.
Userboxes of a political or, more broadly, polemical, nature are bad for the project. They are attractive to the wrong kinds of people, and they give visitors the wrong idea of what it means to be a Wikipedian.
I think rather than us having to go through a mass deletion (which is what is likely to happen if the userbox fad doesn't go away), it will be better to simply change the culture, one person at a time. Will you help me?-- Jimbo Wales 10:53, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
If someone comes to the site who has never been here, it's unlikely they're going to be going to people's userpages and getting offended. Nobody forces anyone to go to them. They are purely optional.
This is true, Userboxes are OPTIONAL. Non-users rarely go waltzing around Wikipedia to see Userpages. Many of theses non-Users have no idea that userpages exist. And if you want to express your thoughts and beliefs and whatnot, why should you be forbidden~to do so? Jean-Paul 10:47, 11 May 2006 (UTC)
Though I am new to Wikipedia, I must say that Userboxes and Userpages aren't part of any article, and I find it unlikely that people will be offended by them. So what if someone has a userbox on thier page that says they are a communist? Or that they support Lenin? Sure, such views aren't exactly favored by mainstream society, those people have the right to express their views the same as anyone else. To say that people can't say what they are and how they feel is wrong, morally and politcally. Ben 22:48, 13 May 2006 (UTC)
Jimbo says, "they give visitors the wrong idea of what it means to be a Wikipedian." What is it to be a Wikipedian? It is not necessarily to be an opinionated person, or rather, a digital recreation of a person. According to WP:EDIANS, "Wikipedians are the people who write and edit articles for Wikipedia." The way I see things, there're pros and cons to every situation, and in this one, the pros include seeing a user's point of view and his or her expertise when dealing with a user (plus, they're fun!). The cons include risking developing political or religious groups, or harboring negative sentiment among registered and non-registered users against users with specific userboxes. Apparently, this risk is enough to make Jimbo want to nip the problem in the bud, before it develops into a serious problem, or even a problem at all, within Wikipedia. Although it may be true in some situations that "[a]ny society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" (Ben Franklin), Jimbo doesn't want to risk losing the hard work he put in to making Wikipedia what it is today over the petty disagreements of a few. Also, it's his site, people, let him do what he wants :D . J. Finkelstein 16:39, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
Userboxes define a user and his/her beliefs. In my opinion, not many look at them, especially when some people are collecting say 30, 40, or 50 or more. My user boxes are on a seperate page as opposed to my main User:Noles1984 so if one does not want to view them, they do not have to click my userbox link. I think this might be a good cure for the problem. I actually find the userboxes useful in formulating an idea of what a user is about. Also, political userboxes shouldn't be thought of negatively since everyone has a point of view and are entitled to it. I'm opposed to cednsorship and I have that userbox :-) ...also, religion shouldn't bother anyone. As said before, users that are serious contributors understand differing points of view. One other thing... one must consider "college wars" where we have users from rival schools possibly getting in to a battle. Shall school userboxes be banned? Anyway, those here for political/religious/college wars won't visit often in my opinion. 25px|USA Noles1984 16:22, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
I, for one, am okay with userboxes. However, I don't think people should get too personal with the userboxes. I dislike it when users use userboxes to show their beliefs on politics, religion, (very) personal life, etc. I believe users should only use userboxes to show their academic interests, societies they are members of, their hobbies, where they're from and stuff like that. I also believe that users can make userboxes, as long as they stick to the same rules. To sum it up, don't get too personal with your userboxes! -- Kschwerdt514 04:16, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
I like Mr. Wales' "This is a Wikipedia user page." box more than Template:User page. Can we move the code on his page to that template? See also discussion here. - Paul2520 ( talk) 09:02, 24 November 2015 (UTC)