User:Jmaynard/Userboxes

Reasoning
This archive contains userboxes which I use on my own page. They are included here so that others may link to those boxes without having to paste in the entire set of code for the box. For more on the history of why this is happening see the userbox war section down below.

Please do not edit the boxes in this archive. If you would like a different version then copy the box to your own user space and modify it to your taste. You can then open it up for others to use as well.

This index page was swiped bodily from the one at User:StuffOfInterest/Userboxes. Thanks.

Userbox listing
On the left you have the userbox as it will be displayed. On the right you have the code to include that userbox on your own page. For some boxes a category is also suggested for the user categorization project. Just adding the box code will not add you to any categories.

Additional users with box archives
Other editors are welcome to add a link to their own collection here. I do reserve the right to change the look to match my desired format or maybe even drop the link if I don't like your collection.


 * Ashley Y (various)
 * BigDT (religious)
 * CharonX (various)
 * Ibaranoff24 (various)
 * MiraLuka (various)
 * Reaverdrop (atheist, wikipedia philosophy, personal interests)
 * StuffOfInterest (various)

Userbox war
For months there has been a war going on over the use of and policy surrounding userboxes. The current method being used by people wanting to purge these boxes is the T1 CSD. If you see a userbox disapear without going through TfD or MfD please take a look at Deletion review. There is a good chance you'll find it listed there and in need of a vote one way or the other on bringing it back.

This war comes down to two poles with many views in between. On one end are those who think that any point of view can be expressed in any format (userbox, paragraph, etc) on a user page using any facility avaiable (templates, images, etc) in Wikipedia. On the other end are those who think that everything in Wikipedia, including user pages, should be NPOV. Naturally, many others fall somewhere in between those views. Being that the great founder hasn't set out an absolute policy it has been left to the community to try and devise one on its own. Some people have tried to interpret various writings and create policy out of it without concensus. Others have gone on personal crusades to shape the world to their own view. Groups are trying to keep the freedom they thought was implicit with the environment, and many are just trying to find solid ground in this shifting mess. Nobody knows where it is going to end but there is sure to be a lot of damage done as a matter of course.

I believe that the German userbox solution is as good a compromise as can be reached. It doesn't destroy all userboxes, as some admins want, and it doesn't keep a central archive of userboxes, as those in favor of them want.

For reference, it was this edit on 27 May 2006 where Jimbo stated: "There is a middle ground, I agree. The middle ground is to let people do as they will in the user space, and merely use reason and argument to teach people over time why one ought not use Wikipedia userpages for political or other campaigns.... while at the same time saying, no, really, the template namespace is not for that, that we do not endorse this behavior. This is the solution that the Germans have put into effect with great results."