This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Moved from Wikipedia:Village pump on Thursday, July 10, 2003.
I'm really impressed with Wikipedia and am considering setting up a user page. As a simple experiment I tried editing an existing user's page (User:IZAK) and, to my surprise, it worked. Is that the way it's intended? I'm confused because I would think that a user's page would belong to them. For example, what keeps someone from adding fictitious bibliographic information to a user's page?
(Needless to say I un-did the edit I made to IZAK's page.)
Ihmo, there are three types of pages in the user space, the user page itself, the talk page, and sub pages
As long as this is what is on a user page...that is fine with me. It is a page focusing on the user himself. Only on him. Entirely on him. All this information may come from the user himself, but from other wikipedians as well. It should be editable by everyone. This require that a user page is not protected (unless there are protection issues against basic vandalism naturally). In particular, the user himself should always be able to edit "his" edit page. I think the page should be editable by others as well, though I know this is controversial. But whatever others put on this page, the user himself always has the ability to revert; this is just a wiki page, just as any wiki page. Of course, if a user find this offensive, it is nice to avoid doing so; so use getting anger over this. Roughly, to my opinion, the user page should be a community editable page. Given this, only a banned user should not have access to his user page.
It is curious that on one hand, we claim that a user page is "personnal", and that on the other hand, some are protected, making their edition by the user himself difficult. It is also curious that we say the user page should be editable by the user essentially,and that it might be bad etiquette that another one does, while at the same time, some user subpages could be deleted without even their aggreement. That troubles me much.
Anthère 07:46, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)
splintax 13:19, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
Moved from Wikipedia:Village pump on Thursday, July 10th, 0 2003.
Should an article in my User talk:Dieter Simon really appear in Yahoo Search under the heading User talk:Dieter Simon - Wikipedia in which an item is being discussed between two users in their what after all is a private talk page? Could this not become embarassing at times, especially if policy such as NPOV or copy right issues might be discussed? -- Dieter Simon 00:41 6 Jul 2003 (UTC)
Yeah, Brion, point taken :-). Comes as a bit of a shock though. -- Dieter
I remember seeing a related discussion on the pump earlier today, but I can no longer see it. Is a user allowed to do anything on his user page or his user talk page which would normally be against wikipedia conventions if done on a regular article, e.g., blanking of the entire page.
There is a user who blanks out his talk page after each discussion, so we don't get to know what discussions he's been having. Are there any rules on what a user is allowed or disallowed on his user page ? Jay 17:30, 7 Dec 2003 (UTC)
How many minutes/hours/days/weeks do the messages I leave to a talk-page of an anonymous IP-address, last? If someone leaves a talk-page message to that anon editor after me, does the counter start from scratch? Curious minds want to know. -- Cimon Avaro on a pogostick 03:31, Dec 10, 2003 (UTC)
Hi. When somebody puts some message in my talk page, where should I answer? I have the options either to answer at my talk page, or to the other user's talk page, or both. Is there a standard practice regarding talk replies? and btw, maybe its time for archivation, the page is already 84k long! Peace. Optim 07:33, 19 Dec 2003 (UTC)
I am a contributor on Wikinfo. Some Wikipedia users have been coming over to Wikinfo and inadvertantly creating user pages.
It seems that there is a misunderstanding and that some Wikipedia users think that Wikinfo has "stolen" all of the Wikipedia user pages for some nefarious reason.
This is not true. Wikinfo has an automatic import feature. If you go look for your Wikipedia user page and that user page does not exist on Wikinfo then Wikinfo takes advantage of Wikipedia's XML export feature and presents that page to you and asks you if you want to save it to the Wikinfo database. You can say no.
Wikinfo ONLY IMPORTS WHAT WIKIPEDIA WILLINGLY EXPORTS UNDER GFDL. Wikipedia exports user pages under GFDL via XML. Normally nobody at Wikinfo really has a need to steal any user pages.
I am only a contributor, and don't speak for Wikinfo. But it is somewhat irritating to see people suddenly appear, import their Wikipedia user page, and then call us thieves for stealing them. LOL. Thank you for listening. 24.144.15.243 04:12, 22 Feb 2004 (UTC)
I have no issues with Wikinfo displaying user pages in this way. It only displays whatever is on the Wikipedia page at the time, which is far preferable to the mirrors which show an outdated version of my user page. I disagree with the suggestions that the Wikinfo:User:Angela makes it look like I am a contributor there. It is obvious the page does not even exist. It is no more than an invitation to create the page using the imported version should I wish to do that. The page doesn't actually exist in their database, and it clearly states at the top that it is imported from Wikipedia. I can't see why Wikinfo's use of userpage data is being attacked, when what the mirrors are doing is far worse. Phatnav.com for example, has a very outdated version of my userpage, and unlike the page at Wikinfo, I can't do anything about that. Why are people not objecting to those instead? Angela . 12:48, Feb 22, 2004 (UTC)
I consider userpages and talk pages belonging to a user as personal space, as long as their contents do not break any law. Who agrees with this? Optim 06:09, 22 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Explanation. By saying that "userpages are personal" I mean (for now the user's talk page is also considered a "userpage", but this does not applies to article talk pages):
Optim 06:26, 22 Feb 2004 (UTC)
1) I disagree, this is only an invitation to add proprietary content. I think it's a fair deal that if we allow users to host pages here, we want to have the content they upload under a copyleft license -- images, logos, whatever.
2) Wikipedia is not a personal homepage provider. There need to be limits, or otherwise people will start hosting their MP3 collections here. It should be related to Wikipedia in some way, or at least low bandwidth.
3) I disagree, on wikis editability should always be the default. However, giving users the option to protect their user pages might be a good idea.
4) This has nothing to do with the database itself, more with how we generate the dumps. Brion is working on a new database scheme which will also necessitate some filtering, so adding filtering of user pages would be no big deal. —Eloquence 06:33, Feb 22, 2004 (UTC)
Shouldn't they be listed at wikipedia:votes for deletion? Martin 01:30, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)
Do we even have an official policy statement as to what one may or may not have in one's user space? I'm not aware of one. I've moved the threads below from VfD, where they really don't belong. Mkweise 23:31, 6 Apr 2004 (UTC)
Note: there was a somewhat similar incident a few months ago concerning User:Sterlingda who was hosting material at his user page, intended for viewing from elsewhere. My personal opinion is that a user's namespace is their own, but that this only applies to users who are making (or at very least intend to make) valid contributions. Isomorphic 23:36, 6 Apr 2004 (UTC)
There's no need to delete problematic user subpages, in general. Just redirect them to the user's main page. Problem solved. Martin 23:27, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)
Mkweise - of course. Edit boldly.
All - I drafted up a policy at wikipedia:user page (well, refined what was already there, really). Let me know what you think. Martin 17:45, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)
I think we should hav a policy prohibiting:
Any violation of this policy would not require input from the community at large, and should be discussed on the respective user's talk page rather than contributing to the clutter on VfD. The user should be directed to the policy and given a couple of days to respond or comply. Mkweise 01:14, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)
Well, if a user or user talk page is being misused, the best solution is to , not delete, which avoids the need for VfD. If a user subpage is being misused, the best solution is to redirect, not delete, which likewise avoids the need for VfD.
So, I agree, there's really no reason for user pages to go through VfD except in very extreme cases (eg child porn). I'm happy to write that into policy, if there's general support for it. Martin 13:48, 24 Apr 2004 (UTC)
Wikipedian categories were discussed at the Village Pump with no general objections, and have since started. Their parent category is Wikipedians. I'm going to update the project page accordingly. Maurreen 10:07, 28 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Is there any problem with the addition of this?
I've put the question up at RFC, as per dispute resolution procedures. Maurreen 08:38, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
So, a user who is losing edit wars has taken to preserving his version as sub pages of his user page. Which I think would be fine as long as he doesn't create his own mini-wikipedia there. However, he is leaving intact article categories on these preserved pages. This inserts his user page into the main wikipedia. Obviously this is bad, can the policy page say this specifically? SchmuckyTheCat 21:28, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Please read and contribute to Wikipedia:Userspace policy proposal. There has been recent controversy about what is and is not permissible in user space. It is important to assert which policies (if any) do apply in userspace, and to what extent, and what should be done about transgression. R adiant _* 10:09, Apr 27, 2005 (UTC)
This page really needs condensing. There's currently a lot of overlap between sections and repeated material. The whole thing could be much clearer and more consise. I'll try to work up the energy to do this, but if anyone else feels inspired... Isomorphic 22:22, 13 May 2005 (UTC)
If the community lets you know that they'd rather you deleted some or other content from your user space, you should probably do so, at least for now -
such content is only permitted with the consent of the community. After you've been here for a year or so, and written lots of great articles, the community
may be more inclined to let you get away with it. Alternatively, you could move the content to another site, and link to it.
What's that supposed to mean? It sounds like we are a community which will except anything from anyone after they have been here for a year. Of course that is not the case, but this page is hevaily linked to in wikipedia, so we should give the right impression. I'd change it myself, but I'm not sure what it's trying to say. Graham 10:52, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
Common sense tells me that links from the article namespace to the user namespace are not permitted, but I can't find it in the policies and guidelines. Am I looking in the wrong places? - EurekaLott 19:55, 29 October 2005 (UTC)
Are User pages considered exempt from policies such as Wikipedia:Civility and Wikipedia:No personal attacks? This has come up in reference to User:NPOVenforcer whose page currently reads "This list serves to warn innocent wikipedians of bad users, so that they know who to watch out for;" a rfc ( Wikipedia:Requests for comment/NPOVenforcer) has already been opened so comment about the particular case should go there. However, I feel this is a policy issue not addressed on this page.
In the interest of disclosure, I am a endorsing signer of the RfC. . Kit 05:16, 9 November 2005 (UTC)
Is there a policy relating to Wikipedia user pages which are deliberately misleading? User:Silensor's page is just one example, not selected for any particular reason -- it is clearly designed to make the user think they have received a message when they in fact have not (this is different from cases where users "parody" Wikipedia messages). I don't think this should be allowed but I wanted to see what other people thought first. -- Fastfission 20:13, 21 November 2005 (UTC)
I'm looking for clarification. I use and love userboxes. Specifically this one: Template:User Galactic Empire. The image keeps getting deleted from the template, people quote, "This is not fair use policy." This logo (fictional, from Star Wars) is, IMHO, no different then from sports teams or other organizations that people support. It is reduced in size, it seems fair use to me. Why would this be acceptable in the encyclopedia but not on a user page? Ifnord 17:06, 28 December 2005 (UTC)
add more here if they happen
Please add more links here, I see a lot of stuff getting added to the "what not to do" page but not a lot of stuff getting added here alongside. Ashibaka tock 21:18, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
There seems to be an interesting discussion in progress on a controversial user page Might be wise to see if consensus is reached and update this page accordingly if needed. -- Sajendra 07:50, 21 December 2005 (UTC)
This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Moved from Wikipedia:Village pump on Thursday, July 10, 2003.
I'm really impressed with Wikipedia and am considering setting up a user page. As a simple experiment I tried editing an existing user's page (User:IZAK) and, to my surprise, it worked. Is that the way it's intended? I'm confused because I would think that a user's page would belong to them. For example, what keeps someone from adding fictitious bibliographic information to a user's page?
(Needless to say I un-did the edit I made to IZAK's page.)
Ihmo, there are three types of pages in the user space, the user page itself, the talk page, and sub pages
As long as this is what is on a user page...that is fine with me. It is a page focusing on the user himself. Only on him. Entirely on him. All this information may come from the user himself, but from other wikipedians as well. It should be editable by everyone. This require that a user page is not protected (unless there are protection issues against basic vandalism naturally). In particular, the user himself should always be able to edit "his" edit page. I think the page should be editable by others as well, though I know this is controversial. But whatever others put on this page, the user himself always has the ability to revert; this is just a wiki page, just as any wiki page. Of course, if a user find this offensive, it is nice to avoid doing so; so use getting anger over this. Roughly, to my opinion, the user page should be a community editable page. Given this, only a banned user should not have access to his user page.
It is curious that on one hand, we claim that a user page is "personnal", and that on the other hand, some are protected, making their edition by the user himself difficult. It is also curious that we say the user page should be editable by the user essentially,and that it might be bad etiquette that another one does, while at the same time, some user subpages could be deleted without even their aggreement. That troubles me much.
Anthère 07:46, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)
splintax 13:19, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
Moved from Wikipedia:Village pump on Thursday, July 10th, 0 2003.
Should an article in my User talk:Dieter Simon really appear in Yahoo Search under the heading User talk:Dieter Simon - Wikipedia in which an item is being discussed between two users in their what after all is a private talk page? Could this not become embarassing at times, especially if policy such as NPOV or copy right issues might be discussed? -- Dieter Simon 00:41 6 Jul 2003 (UTC)
Yeah, Brion, point taken :-). Comes as a bit of a shock though. -- Dieter
I remember seeing a related discussion on the pump earlier today, but I can no longer see it. Is a user allowed to do anything on his user page or his user talk page which would normally be against wikipedia conventions if done on a regular article, e.g., blanking of the entire page.
There is a user who blanks out his talk page after each discussion, so we don't get to know what discussions he's been having. Are there any rules on what a user is allowed or disallowed on his user page ? Jay 17:30, 7 Dec 2003 (UTC)
How many minutes/hours/days/weeks do the messages I leave to a talk-page of an anonymous IP-address, last? If someone leaves a talk-page message to that anon editor after me, does the counter start from scratch? Curious minds want to know. -- Cimon Avaro on a pogostick 03:31, Dec 10, 2003 (UTC)
Hi. When somebody puts some message in my talk page, where should I answer? I have the options either to answer at my talk page, or to the other user's talk page, or both. Is there a standard practice regarding talk replies? and btw, maybe its time for archivation, the page is already 84k long! Peace. Optim 07:33, 19 Dec 2003 (UTC)
I am a contributor on Wikinfo. Some Wikipedia users have been coming over to Wikinfo and inadvertantly creating user pages.
It seems that there is a misunderstanding and that some Wikipedia users think that Wikinfo has "stolen" all of the Wikipedia user pages for some nefarious reason.
This is not true. Wikinfo has an automatic import feature. If you go look for your Wikipedia user page and that user page does not exist on Wikinfo then Wikinfo takes advantage of Wikipedia's XML export feature and presents that page to you and asks you if you want to save it to the Wikinfo database. You can say no.
Wikinfo ONLY IMPORTS WHAT WIKIPEDIA WILLINGLY EXPORTS UNDER GFDL. Wikipedia exports user pages under GFDL via XML. Normally nobody at Wikinfo really has a need to steal any user pages.
I am only a contributor, and don't speak for Wikinfo. But it is somewhat irritating to see people suddenly appear, import their Wikipedia user page, and then call us thieves for stealing them. LOL. Thank you for listening. 24.144.15.243 04:12, 22 Feb 2004 (UTC)
I have no issues with Wikinfo displaying user pages in this way. It only displays whatever is on the Wikipedia page at the time, which is far preferable to the mirrors which show an outdated version of my user page. I disagree with the suggestions that the Wikinfo:User:Angela makes it look like I am a contributor there. It is obvious the page does not even exist. It is no more than an invitation to create the page using the imported version should I wish to do that. The page doesn't actually exist in their database, and it clearly states at the top that it is imported from Wikipedia. I can't see why Wikinfo's use of userpage data is being attacked, when what the mirrors are doing is far worse. Phatnav.com for example, has a very outdated version of my userpage, and unlike the page at Wikinfo, I can't do anything about that. Why are people not objecting to those instead? Angela . 12:48, Feb 22, 2004 (UTC)
I consider userpages and talk pages belonging to a user as personal space, as long as their contents do not break any law. Who agrees with this? Optim 06:09, 22 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Explanation. By saying that "userpages are personal" I mean (for now the user's talk page is also considered a "userpage", but this does not applies to article talk pages):
Optim 06:26, 22 Feb 2004 (UTC)
1) I disagree, this is only an invitation to add proprietary content. I think it's a fair deal that if we allow users to host pages here, we want to have the content they upload under a copyleft license -- images, logos, whatever.
2) Wikipedia is not a personal homepage provider. There need to be limits, or otherwise people will start hosting their MP3 collections here. It should be related to Wikipedia in some way, or at least low bandwidth.
3) I disagree, on wikis editability should always be the default. However, giving users the option to protect their user pages might be a good idea.
4) This has nothing to do with the database itself, more with how we generate the dumps. Brion is working on a new database scheme which will also necessitate some filtering, so adding filtering of user pages would be no big deal. —Eloquence 06:33, Feb 22, 2004 (UTC)
Shouldn't they be listed at wikipedia:votes for deletion? Martin 01:30, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)
Do we even have an official policy statement as to what one may or may not have in one's user space? I'm not aware of one. I've moved the threads below from VfD, where they really don't belong. Mkweise 23:31, 6 Apr 2004 (UTC)
Note: there was a somewhat similar incident a few months ago concerning User:Sterlingda who was hosting material at his user page, intended for viewing from elsewhere. My personal opinion is that a user's namespace is their own, but that this only applies to users who are making (or at very least intend to make) valid contributions. Isomorphic 23:36, 6 Apr 2004 (UTC)
There's no need to delete problematic user subpages, in general. Just redirect them to the user's main page. Problem solved. Martin 23:27, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)
Mkweise - of course. Edit boldly.
All - I drafted up a policy at wikipedia:user page (well, refined what was already there, really). Let me know what you think. Martin 17:45, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)
I think we should hav a policy prohibiting:
Any violation of this policy would not require input from the community at large, and should be discussed on the respective user's talk page rather than contributing to the clutter on VfD. The user should be directed to the policy and given a couple of days to respond or comply. Mkweise 01:14, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)
Well, if a user or user talk page is being misused, the best solution is to , not delete, which avoids the need for VfD. If a user subpage is being misused, the best solution is to redirect, not delete, which likewise avoids the need for VfD.
So, I agree, there's really no reason for user pages to go through VfD except in very extreme cases (eg child porn). I'm happy to write that into policy, if there's general support for it. Martin 13:48, 24 Apr 2004 (UTC)
Wikipedian categories were discussed at the Village Pump with no general objections, and have since started. Their parent category is Wikipedians. I'm going to update the project page accordingly. Maurreen 10:07, 28 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Is there any problem with the addition of this?
I've put the question up at RFC, as per dispute resolution procedures. Maurreen 08:38, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
So, a user who is losing edit wars has taken to preserving his version as sub pages of his user page. Which I think would be fine as long as he doesn't create his own mini-wikipedia there. However, he is leaving intact article categories on these preserved pages. This inserts his user page into the main wikipedia. Obviously this is bad, can the policy page say this specifically? SchmuckyTheCat 21:28, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Please read and contribute to Wikipedia:Userspace policy proposal. There has been recent controversy about what is and is not permissible in user space. It is important to assert which policies (if any) do apply in userspace, and to what extent, and what should be done about transgression. R adiant _* 10:09, Apr 27, 2005 (UTC)
This page really needs condensing. There's currently a lot of overlap between sections and repeated material. The whole thing could be much clearer and more consise. I'll try to work up the energy to do this, but if anyone else feels inspired... Isomorphic 22:22, 13 May 2005 (UTC)
If the community lets you know that they'd rather you deleted some or other content from your user space, you should probably do so, at least for now -
such content is only permitted with the consent of the community. After you've been here for a year or so, and written lots of great articles, the community
may be more inclined to let you get away with it. Alternatively, you could move the content to another site, and link to it.
What's that supposed to mean? It sounds like we are a community which will except anything from anyone after they have been here for a year. Of course that is not the case, but this page is hevaily linked to in wikipedia, so we should give the right impression. I'd change it myself, but I'm not sure what it's trying to say. Graham 10:52, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
Common sense tells me that links from the article namespace to the user namespace are not permitted, but I can't find it in the policies and guidelines. Am I looking in the wrong places? - EurekaLott 19:55, 29 October 2005 (UTC)
Are User pages considered exempt from policies such as Wikipedia:Civility and Wikipedia:No personal attacks? This has come up in reference to User:NPOVenforcer whose page currently reads "This list serves to warn innocent wikipedians of bad users, so that they know who to watch out for;" a rfc ( Wikipedia:Requests for comment/NPOVenforcer) has already been opened so comment about the particular case should go there. However, I feel this is a policy issue not addressed on this page.
In the interest of disclosure, I am a endorsing signer of the RfC. . Kit 05:16, 9 November 2005 (UTC)
Is there a policy relating to Wikipedia user pages which are deliberately misleading? User:Silensor's page is just one example, not selected for any particular reason -- it is clearly designed to make the user think they have received a message when they in fact have not (this is different from cases where users "parody" Wikipedia messages). I don't think this should be allowed but I wanted to see what other people thought first. -- Fastfission 20:13, 21 November 2005 (UTC)
I'm looking for clarification. I use and love userboxes. Specifically this one: Template:User Galactic Empire. The image keeps getting deleted from the template, people quote, "This is not fair use policy." This logo (fictional, from Star Wars) is, IMHO, no different then from sports teams or other organizations that people support. It is reduced in size, it seems fair use to me. Why would this be acceptable in the encyclopedia but not on a user page? Ifnord 17:06, 28 December 2005 (UTC)
add more here if they happen
Please add more links here, I see a lot of stuff getting added to the "what not to do" page but not a lot of stuff getting added here alongside. Ashibaka tock 21:18, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
There seems to be an interesting discussion in progress on a controversial user page Might be wise to see if consensus is reached and update this page accordingly if needed. -- Sajendra 07:50, 21 December 2005 (UTC)