Wikipedia:Esperanza/Overhaul/User Page Award

[edit] User Page Award

[edit] Issues

Encourages the "prettifying" of user space and distracts from the encyclopedia.

[edit] Related Discussion

• Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Esperanza/User Page Award

[edit] Discussion

[edit] Proposal

Ok, firstly, this is a message someone left me:

Thanks for your constructive response to my comments on the Esperanza MfD page. I doubt Esperanza will be deleted, and I hope you can follow through on your plans for reform. I took a look at Esperanza earlier today, to see what might be in need of reforming, and what stood out in particular was the userpage award. While people are allowed to make their userpages as pretty as they want, it looks to me like the award encourages people to think of such prettifying is a good thing and a productive use of their time. It's much better to give awards for writing articles! Any thoughts?

Therefore, I propose this: Merge this and the Barnstar Brigade into an Esperanza Barnstar Program (or something akin to that), which will present users with the Esperanza Barnstar on the criteria of A) Exceptional Article Writing B) Outstanding Civility or C) An outstanding userpage. Note that we will not actively search out users like we do with Barnstar Brigade, as I think we obsess with that, but instead just recognize your peers and only give it to them under certain criteria. Note that the Barnstar Brigade Overhaul will point to this page, so this is also the discussion for that.

The criteria, I think, should be:

A) The user cannot have received another barnstar for the same contributions.

B) The user must have done something significant, so something like "You were nice to me" does not cut it. The proposed criteria is:

1) For article editing: Must have contributed significantly to the article. A slew of minor edits does not count. A streak of good edits is acceptable, but, as above, they cannot have already received a barnstar for it. In this case, likely an Original Barnstar. This also covers vandalism reverts, but again, one or two reverts doesn't cut it.

2) For civility: For a streak of kindness and civility. A smile at you or another user won't cut it; however, something like a dozen, well-meaning smiles at different users will.

3) For a userpage: We will no longer actively seek out userpages for awards. If you come across a userpage that you find especially good, then award this. If the barnstar is used excessively, you are likely not awarding it correctly; this will only be for exceptional userpages that show a mastery of Wikimarkup and design.

And that's how I see it working. DoomsDay349 22:15, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Hmm... I don't think we can really put limits on what someone personally decideds to give a barnstar for. However, we can make a point that for the barnstar brigade, we should be giving people barnstars for exceptional editing, especially when it's not often recognized. This is already the goal, but if we simplify it more, it could be better. I'm not really phrasing my thoughts on it well, but hopefully it's making some sense. -- Natalya 23:48, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

The idea is that the Esperanza award is a special honor different from the other barnstars, and thus must be handled more delicately. An original barnstar or something, yeah, toss it out there as you will, I can't stop you. But this one should be regulated so as to become a better honor. DoomsDay349 23:50, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

As Natalya said, you simply cannot regulate what awards users give. What might not seems significant to you may be a big deal to another user. It is important, however, to clearly explain what the purpose of the EA barnstar is for.--Ed ^{¿Cómo estás?} 00:10, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

It's tough to call. Maybe my guidelines were strict; but the idea here is, like I said, to make the Esperanza award a respected honor. Not every user will receive this; in my plan, the idea is to make the user who receives it feel very good about themselves. As said above, use any other barnstar you want, I can't stop you. DoomsDay349 00:47, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

So the suggestions just relate to the Esperanza barnstar then? Trying to clarify. -- Natalya 03:35, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Yep. The Barnstar Brigade is fine, for all I care. It's just that people tend to carelessly give awards away, but we have no control over that. You can't restrict what awards people give, unless it's the EA Barnstar.--Ed ^{¿Cómo estás?} 04:16, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Should be deleted

I really don't think there's a way this can be salvaged, and regrettably, should be deleted, as it puts way too much emphasis on the wrong things. Don't think I say this lightly; I have been involved in the user page contest as both a contestant and judge. But I think, in the best interests of Wikipedia, it's time to move on. --Cyde Weys 05:13, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Though it hasn't happend a lot this week, I completly agree with Cyde here. I too have been both a judge and contestant, but I think that as User pages don't add anything to the encyclopedia, and the new Esperanza is focused on the encyclopedia almost entirely, this has had it's day. Thε Halo ^Θ 15:42, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Completely. This serves absolutely ZERO purpose whatsoever other than to waste time and should, along with the Coffee Lounge, be one of the first for the chop. Moreschi 20:29, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

If this is the case, why have userpages? Why have User Page Help? Daniel.Bryant ^{[ T · C ]} 21:04, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Comment: Hm. Maybe you're right. But you're not rejecting the parts that would apply to the reform of Barnstar Brigade, right? Just the idea of a userpage. I think the idea of outstanding article editing and civility still are good ideas... DoomsDay349 21:16, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

The Barnstar Brigade seems to be separate from this (I would hope). I'm still a little big confused about the proposed reform for it; there are already barnstars that are given out for outstanding article editing and civility. We should encourage these barnstars to be given out, but does the purpose of the Esperanza barnstar (for outstanding Esperanzians) need to change? Or was it in an attempt to make it seem more open? Thanks for clarifying again, -- Natalya 21:48, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

I personaly thought of the two projects as seperate, so, as such, I am only commenting on deleting the User Page Award right now. While I would like to see Barnstars handed ot less impulsively, I'm not sure that the User Page Award scheme would be able to help in any way with that. So, yeah, just commenting on the User Page Award. Thε Halo ^Θ 23:25, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Natalya, the idea behind it was to present a valuable honor to the community, a higher honor than the normal barnstars. Though, I am slowly beginning to lose faith in my own proposal. I'm beginning to think it is in fact useless. Maybe we ought just delete it and let it go for a while, see how things work out, and if we really need something discuss it. Therefore, I think I'll vote for deletion of this, and barnstar brigade. DoomsDay349 03:58, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

• To clear up any concerns about the Barnstar Brigade, there is a link towards the Kindness Campaign at the front page of Esperanza.--Ed ^{¿Cómo estás?} 04:08, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

OK, user page award was speedied, and with good reason, I say. Now then, I think we should also delete the Barnstar Brigade as well, as it appears useless, but let's discuss a bit further. Please head over there and discuss. DoomsDay349 05:08, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] RESULT

Delete. --May the Force be with you! Shreshth91 17:52, 18 November 2006 (UTC)