User:Chriswaterguy/POV on user pages

This page is under construction...

I'm very committed to the concept of NPOV, and not using Wikipedia as a place to argue about ideas, so I avoid having anything on my main user page about support for political parties, etc. I tend to agree with Jimbo that:


 * 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.

However, I do see value in being able to find other users who have a particular interest in, say, the environment. Being able to find members of Green parties, for example, or people who are interested in renewable energy, will assist in that. So, these userboxes are meant to reflect my interests, and not necessarily my views. My views often don't conform with those of the groups I belong to, anyway.

I should add that if I want to contact people in regard to particular articles or projects that need work (e.g. WikiProject International development then I will contact people from other parties as well. I know that members of other parties often do share a concern for the environment, and have valid perspectives which are lacking in my own party.

It's also important that we learn to be WP:Civil even if they have a userbox which tells me they have different views from me. Anyway, the compromise I've decided on is to:
 * have a separate page (here for all userboxes which reflect a POV or political membership (as well as for things of little importance to Wikipedia editing).
 * not use userboxes which are polemical or which mock other people or groups.