User:Chairboy/Username block essay

I feel that username blocks are spiraling out of control. New users are being blocked for poorly defined "username policy violations", a move that will hurt the future of the project. From recent block logs, here are some examples:

Revertinging (talk • contribs) Wippippippipp (talk • contribs) Godpreist54 (talk • contribs) Thabo Mkbeki (talk • contribs) Kiddybandit (talk • contribs) Cheap couilles (talk • contribs) Hruodlandus Brittannici limitis praefectus (talk • contribs) WikiWarrior1 (talk • contribs) Loser12345 (talk • contribs) Sexybot12 (talk • contribs) Joeyjimbob (talk • contribs) Wowwoweeewow (talk • contribs) WikipediaFun (talk • contribs) Blabber mouth katie (talk • contribs) Youratowel (talk • contribs) Wheeeee! (talk • contribs) Wknight91 (talk • contribs)

For the record, I did not "cherry pick" from X-weeks of block logs on purpose. I chose a half day period so I could draw attention to how widespread the problem is. Each of these had "username" listed as the block rationale.

I viewed a roughly 11 hour period to gather the names above, and does not represent a thorough examination. There are probably more questionable username blocks in that time period. There are hundreds each week, each one potentially a future valuable editor who decides to just walk away from the project. Perhaps some of them are legit (Is couilles something obscene in another language, for instance?) but I argue that most of them do not appear to properly violate WP:USERNAME. I'm not certain that the problem is to blame on anyone specifically, but the policy regarding username blocks appears to be flawed.

As I mentioned in my RfA many months ago, Wikipedia faces a growing crisis. We are constantly raising new barriers against contributors when we should be looking to cultivate new editors. If the policy of username blocking is not adjusted, the long term health of the project is at additional risk.

I'm not looking to specifically criticize the above username blocks, else I'd post this on AN or AN/I. Instead, I'd like to discuss the policy that tacitly allows this to happen. Does the community agree that protecting our eyes from the wicked text "Sexybot12" or "Godpreist54" is worth the trade off in curious new users who decide to go elsewhere because it's "just not worth it"? Let's focus on the long term health implications of this policy and determine a method for fixing this problem.