Wikipedia:Manual of Style (userboxes)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The following is a proposed Wikipedia policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption (which is not achieved through simple majority voting). References or links to this page should not describe it as "policy". |
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Userboxes (sometimes abbreviated as UBX) are small colored boxes designed to appear on Wikipedians' User pages. They generally include one or two small graphics and a few short lines of text. Often they also include wiki markup that places the user in a category. Userboxes are generally created as templates and transcluded onto user pages, although their markup may be substituted instead. The Wikimedia Commons has a large range of icons for use within boxes.
The first such boxes were designed to support the Babel interlanguage effort. Still in use, they identify users with specific language skills. Nowadays, common uses for boxes include user interests, user skills, technical information, Wikipedia activities, or mere fun; however, some of these uses may be considered controversial and should probably be avoided.
Detailed technical instructions for userboxes may be found at Wikipedia:Userboxes, along with a large but incomplete of existing ones.
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[edit] Image copyright
- If you choose to put an image in a userbox, make sure the image license is free. Wikipedia policy does not allow templates (which includes userboxes) or user pages to contain any copyrighted content not under free license; so, for example, "fair use" images are explicitly forbidden. This clause is to be interpreted strictly and without exception, for legal reasons. See Wikipedia's fair use policy guidelines for more details.
[edit] Standards for designing a userbox
- Namespaces: Userboxes are only to be created or displayed in Template: namespace, Wikipedia: project namespace or User: namespace. Userbox names must begin with "User " (for example, Template:User Someuserboxname). Several User: namespace directories, such as User:GRBerry/Userbox migration, are also available for listing userboxes there.
- Userboxes are for the use of users on their own user pages only. It is strictly forbidden to place any userboxes on any other user's page(s). However, userboxes may be placed on talk/discussion pages by anyone. (See Help:Talk page.)
- Userboxes should conform loosely to the standards of Template:Userbox.
- Userboxes that include Category markup may only categorize within subcategories of Category:Wikipedians. Names and descriptions of subcategories are subject to the same rules as userboxes content itself (see below).
[edit] Content
- Userboxes are intended to make statements about a user's skills, attributes, views and affiliations on user pages, but they are public resources displayed in user space.
- All items in template, Wikipedia, and user space are governed by the civility policy. userboxes must not include incivility or personal attacks.
- Wikipedia is not a soapbox, so userboxes are not to be used as vehicles to blatantly promote external links or advocate external affiliations.
- If content is not appropriate on a user page, it is not appropriate within a userbox. No part of this policy should be construed to give license where none exists.
- Userboxes may not be constructed to be deliberately inflammatory or destructive. This clause is to be interpreted liberally, so that the line is drawn at content so immediately offensive that it ought not appear anywhere outside of encyclopedia articles. Suggested examples include Nazi regalia, pornography, and direct insults (such as personal attacks on people). Offensive content short of this standard is welcomed under the theory that those who choose to display it do the rest of us a service by so identifying themselves.
- When the purpose of a userboxes is to declare a bias, opinion, point of view, or group membership on the part of the user who displays it, it serves a useful purpose by disclosing that information. Therefore, userboxes are specifically exempted from any consideration of neutrality.
[edit] Application
- When userbox rules and restrictions apply to a given userbox or userbox-like markup in a given namespace, they apply equally to all versions, whether they have been transcluded, substituted, or written from scratch.
- The policies, guidelines and Arbitration Committee rulings that apply to userboxes are based on their namespace location. For example, the expectations for what Wikipedia is not and neutral point of view are more restrictive in Template: or Wikipedia: namespace than they are in User: namespace. In principle, this means userboxes in Template: and Wikipedia: namespace should clearly be encyclopedic and neutral. Userboxes in User: space are allowed much more latitude in these and similar policy areas.
- Userboxes that fail to meet these rules may be subject to deletion. On the other hand, userboxes that fall within these rules are not, though other Wikipedia policies and guidelines may apply.
- Should a userbox be deleted (in line with applicable policy) in any namespace, it should not be recreated in a different namespace in which the same policy applies in the same way, without going through DRV.
- Userboxes in the Template: or Wikipedia: namespaces that conform to the above standards, such as encyclopedic neutrality, should not be migrated to the User: namespace. Disputes over the acceptable location(s) of a userbox should be settled through established conflict resolution procedures.
[edit] Submitting userbox ideas
Ideas for userboxes can be submitted here.
[edit] Using existing userboxes
[edit] Syntax
The standard syntax for adding a userbox to your page is, in most cases, {{user nameofbox}} or {{User:Username/nameofbox}}.
[edit] Substitution
If you wish, you can use the following syntax instead: {{subst: user nameofbox}} or {{subst: User:Username/nameofbox}}.
If you do not substitute, and the userbox is deleted, this could result in many user pages with broken template references. The use of subst, will prevent the deletion of userbox templates from affecting your page. However, if you do this, the version on your userbox will not reflect any new changes, and will also lead to large amounts of Wikicode being present on your page.
