Bulbapedia talk:Userspace policy

Per Day

What time zone will days be counted by? The time zone each user is in, the server's timezone, something entirely different? I think this might be a very good thing to have stated in the policy, might help to avoid people proclaiming others have gone over the limit due to the day not resetting in their time zone yet, or any other time related possibilities. - Kogoro | Talk to me | 06:59, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

If we have to get technical, it would be UTC. --FabuVinny ^{|Talk Page|} 08:47, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

Getting technical would probably be best. When things go unwritten on the policy pages, they often get questioned. See the last topic on the talk page for the Signature policy. - Kogoro | Talk to me | 09:05, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

I think it should be based on a user's own time zone. ^Chocolate 01:28, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

That takes too much research for just a warning, and, not everyone has their time zone specified. It would be too much hassle for the slight benefit it would make for the person breaking the rules and editing the userspace too much. ^Maverick _Nate 01:30, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Error

               Anything we find that shouldn't be there, we will get rid of it.

Does anyone else think that this sentence is kinda wacky?--RexRacer -talk 23:42, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

i do. i took care of it. hope its satisfactory. -- MAG NE DETH 23:45, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

the f word

are fanfics allowed, I was told they werent, but theres nothing on theres saying fanfics is not allwoed? --Guardian of Earth |SGMS 2010

Fanfics aren't allowed. They forgot to mention it on the policy, but it's been stated several times, and a while ago the admins deleted all fanfics. --electAbuzzzz 17:29, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Maybe they are allowed now? --Guardian of Earth |SGMS 2010

No. They're not. No reason why they should ever be allowed. --electAbuzzzz 19:04, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Just some things

This policy doesn't mention the number of additional pages which user's are allowed to have in addition to their main user space (User:<name>/<page title>). This would tie in with how much content a user would be allowed to have on their main user page (...shouldn't be larger than -- bytes). Also, if a page would become mainspace material upon completion, with Admin assent, would the number of edits per day affect this page? TESHIGIGAS 17:21, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

ARE YOU ALLOWED FANFICS? --Guardian of Earth |SGMS 2010

No. --ニョロトノ 666 01:32, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Added. -- MAG NE DETH 02:25, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

back to the topic at hand, this is something that was discussed, but ultimately never agreed on, so, i think we should agree on something. as for pages bound to become mainspace, that is based on what an admin says, we already sort of do that. i think it was Cipher for example made a TCG page in userspace, but then moved into mainspace, but, he had an admin's permission to edit it more than the allotted 3 times. -- MAG NE DETH 02:25, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

How about...

Instead of the limit being 3 edits per day, and users being warned for going over the limit, how about we do some work on the site that will make it so that once you've done 3 edits to the User: name space, the edit button disappears for the rest of the day? Think about it. It'll take a lot of work, but it'll be for the better in my opinion, because then, we won't have to worry about anyone going over the limit ever again. Discuss. ^Chocolate_{((Talk to Me|Look at My Contributions))} 16:58, 27 November 2008 (UTC)
Anybody home? Chocolate_{((Talk to Me|Look at My Contributions))} 22:10, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Is that even possible?--The Kk ll nn ator カメックス 22:12, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Well, it was possible to create the abuse user group. However, Zhen said that it took a lot of work to do. I'd imagine my suggestion is possible, but it'd take a lot of work. Chocolate_{((Talk to Me|Look at My Contributions))} 22:13, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

I don't even know if something like this is even possible. Jm a th 22:14, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

With a high level of hacking the MediaWiki itself, it is indeed possible. Just, who has ftp access? Gywall^(Talk) 22:15, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

I think developers have ftp access. Chocolate_{((Talk to Me|Look at My Contributions))} 22:15, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Wouldn't that with hold everyone for only doing three? There are many cases where doing more than three is allowed: reverting vandalism, redlinks, duplicate images, updating that card list. Warning users is not hard, we've been doing well with doing it. But restricting it so that you can only make three edits would cause a lot of problems. ^Maverick _Nate 23:29, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Well, since admins are allowed to go over the limit, we could make it so that it doesn't happen to admins. Chocolate_{((Talk to Me|Look at My Contributions))} 23:31, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Well, that totally stops normal users from being Mavericks and being able to fix the problems they see themselves. Not everything has to be done by admins, you know. We check what each edit does and we figure out the warnings that way...If a template is causing a broken category, anyone is allowed to fix it...and that edit wouldn't count towards total. I just don't like the cons this would cause: because in this situation, the cons outweigh the pros. It would make things a lot harder for everyone. ^Maverick _Nate 23:38, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Indeed. I've gone past three edits on several occasions. Mostly due to my habit of patrolling for wrongly-categorised user pages. Gywall^(Talk) 11:29, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Just to clarify for the newbies

I think the policypage needs a brief mention of the fact that all subpages are included under this. It is briefly alluded to in a middle paragraph but I think it needs to be made clear as crystal that the three/day rule applies to the subs. — THE TROM — 07:23, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

Personal CSS

What about these? Do they count as edits to the userspace or are they to be thought as "My preferences" thing?--Di b y 13:47, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

I was wondering this too. As of this day, I've included them into the 3-edit limit, but it'd be better if they weren't included (you can't preview all elements on different parts of the site in the Preview view). UltimateSephiroth ^{(about me · chat · edits)} 13:56, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

I've already discussed this a bit, but not with the entire EB. My personal opinion is that it shouldn't count towards the limit; like Ultimate mentioned, sometimes you can's simply Show Preview.

However. If someone is editing their user CSS page more then three times a day for multiple days in a row, then it's worthy of a warning. I mean, no user should ever need to update their CSS that much; they're the only ones who can see it, normally you just change your layout and you're done with it.

If someone has to take five edits to finish their CSS, no big deal. If they update it every two days with five edits, then I'd consider that abuse, and warn them accordingly. -- Jïörüjï Ðērākō.>.cнаt^ 07:08, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Out of Pure Curiousity

Is there a certain amount of userspace articles that you can have? I've been wanting to know this for at least several days, but I kept forgetting to ask. For an example, let's use me, how many User:ShinjiLover/(name)'s can I have? 10? 20? Unlimited? Love, シンジ_ShinjiLover, ~~who dreams of beating BulbaBot~~

I heard there's only 3 allowed, but I'm not TOO sure... ^ht 14 03:39, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

The admins want you to have three, but I'm fairly certain that doesn't include test pages for templates and articles. At least, in my view, it shouldn't (and if it does then TTE is in trouble!). But for fancrap, just three. — THE TROM — 04:12, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

The limit is officially from me "not too many". As long as there's not a subpage for everything, it should be fine, especially if it's a to-be-mainspace'd project, which I have several of.

Anyway, three cheers, guys, for being well-behaved, the limit on edits is now four per day without warning. TTEchidna 00:08, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

3 or 4 Edits?

I've been seeing so many changes to this rule. I've gotten in trouble for make four edits to my userspace, and then someone said that making four was fine. After that, I read that Bulbapedia no longer allows four edits but, rather, three again. So which is it? シンジ_ShinjiLover,Edits 02:14, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Neither. The limit itself has been abolished. However, if the majority of your edits are to your userpage, or user subpages, or if you do exceed around 6 in a short period of time. You can be warned. Keep the userspace edits to a minimum, and there's little to worry about. - Kogoro | Talk to me - 02:17, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Simply put, it's like the speed limits in Montana prior to 1999. Reasonable and prudent, with no limits otherwise. As long as it's kept within reasonable means, you won't get in trouble; of course, enough edits to flood the recent changes is enough to get set to abuse right away, similar to how the Montana speed limit law ended up changed. --Shiningpikablu252 02:23, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Games

Why aren't games or fake characters allowed in userspace? --HideInTheDark 18:56, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

User games have had many problems in the past, but I do not know why fake characters are not allowed. Ask TTE. --Theryguy 512 21:09, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Every user and his dog had a game, or a fake character and fanfics. Some users had 20+ sub pages just for themselves, and edited it constantly. They were getting more attention and were basic beacons to EDIT the user space only. So they're gone.User:DCM 21:14, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for explaining it, DCM. --Theryguy 512 21:15, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

I read that wrong. Fake characters lead to fan fics. fan fics lead to games. It doesnt benefit the pedia in anyway, it harms it.User:DCM 21:17, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Well, not necessarily. But not to get into an arguement; I still believe that they shouldn't be allowed. --Theryguy 512 21:24, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

"Fake Characters"

The policy states that you CANNOT make your own new characters/Pokémon, but the "new member greeting" post on my talk page directly contradicts that. Should the"welcome" message be altered?--Vib 00:53, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

Go for it. Just not too many, okay? A ton of userspace edits will still slow down the server. Kinda like it was this morning.... — THE TROM — 01:57, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

Intent?

Hai, noob here. I'm just wondering what the intent of the userspace edit rule is; why it exists. It's the first of its kind I've encountered. AlishaShatogi 08:30, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

In the past, every second user had pages and pages and pages of unencyclopedic crap. This took a huge toll on the server (every single tiny edit was saved forever and ever), and by disallowing edits here, the creation and growth of our Pokémon encyclopedia has improved a bazillion percent. It's nothing personal against anyone, but we are not Facebook or Myspace, we are Pokémon fans building a reference point about our hobby, interest and (in some extreme cases) obsession. The "don't edit lots" rule is similar, as we encourage you to contribute to articles instead of making your own personal webpage. — THE TROM — 08:37, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

Ahah. That makes sense. Thanks for clarifying. AlishaShatogi 08:42, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

Permanent?

Is the inability to edit user pages permanent? Dilophosaurus Rex 10:08, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

No, but considering you've only lost yours for a day now, there's a long way to go yet. Generally, the required sentence is approximately a month, but the true deciding factor is the way you edit the articles. —darklordtrom 10:35, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

A whole month? Damn! OK, so what is the true deciding factor? What do I have to do to shorten this sentence? Dilophosaurus Rex 14:03, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Actually edit the mainspace, and gain the privilege back. You were only editing your page for two weeks and nothing else. That's a problem. You must balence your edits. So, instead of complaining, find some content pages to edit. ^Maverick _Nate 14:17, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Ah, I see. OK. Then I will carry on with a personal project of mine: to add the Dutch names of all attacks to their pages. Dilophosaurus Rex 14:22, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

OK, I've been editing lots of mainspace pages, and still my privileges are taken. Dilophosaurus Rex 20:59, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Relax. If all you want to do is edit your userspace--if that's why you're here--well, you're here for the wrong reasons. -- evkl _{(need to talk?)} 21:04, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

That's not entirely why I'm here. I'm here to help out and add all things in the Dutch language because no-one else here seems to be capable to do so. But editing my userpage is also why I'm here, because I need to keep my YouTube subscribers up to date. And I can't do that if I can't edit my userpage. Dilophosaurus Rex 21:18, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

OK, honestly, my editing priviliges are still revoked? I only made 3 userpage edits and I immediately lose them again? I made over 25 edits to mainspace pages and my priviliges are still revoked? That's pretty effed up, IMO. Dilophosaurus Rex 13:34, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

The reason you lost your privileges was because of the 25 userspace edits you made in a row at the start of July. You never actually got them back around the end of July; we had a minor technical hiccup which meant the abuse usergroup was, essentially, broken. I'll bring your case up to a bureaucrat, but they will have the final say. —darklordtrom 02:02, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

Ah, so that explains why I got the ability to edit my userpages back for a short while. I was already wondering why I'd lost them again, since I kept myself to the '3 edits a day' rule. Dilophosaurus Rex 09:53, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

..."Pages or templates that spoof the interface."

Does this mean I have to delete my userspace template? --α ワニノコ 13:17, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

No.--F orce F ire 14:02, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Grammatical error

Could someone change "for the details of its users everyday lives" in the Warnings section to "for the details of its users' everyday lives"? Thanks. --Evice 15:06, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Done. --electAbuzzz z 15:12, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Max userspace size?

I haven't been able to find an answer to this, so I'm hoping there is one... Is there a limit on how large (in bytes) a user page is allowed to be? I'm asking because I noticed that my main user page is about 22,000 bytes (guh wow x_X must have gone overboard experimenting with wikicode or something...), and I want to make sure I'm not being a bad girl. :( Thanks in advance~ 梅子 ^❀_✿ 02:42, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Nothing that I know of, and mine is the same size as yours.--♫Green ♫ギャラドス♫Talk♫ 02:46, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Oh well that's a relief. Guess they must not have had any problems in the past about getting userpages that looked something like... oh, this I guess. (I don't suggest clicking that link btw. It's worksafe and all, it just takes about three hours to load completely.) 梅子 ^❀_✿ 02:57, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

No size limit. If it ever crashes my browser I'll be sure to let you know ;) —darklordtrom 10:47, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Awesome, thanks! ♥ 梅子 ^❀_✿ 15:21, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm beggining to see a pattern . . .

Despite the Welcome template making it obvious to keep Userspace edits to a minimum I have a feeling it hasn't been obvious enough. It hasn't been too accesive recently but I have noticed that new users despite the info in the Welcome template users still seem to overlook it. For example when I was new I could hardly understand what to think of the userspace policy for a while. (If you see my recent edits you'll see I have certainly changed that) Is there something we can do, to lightly, but very obviously let new users know that a majority of edits shall be to the mainspace AND that they shouldn't just be making random mainspace edits so they can edit their userspace. What I mean by the latter is that we tell them that their goal shouldn't be to edit their userpage and that it should be to help Bulbapedia. We could also tell them about the forums. -- Land fish⁷ 22:20, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

We keep a user in abuse when they create an account and when they make many mainspace edits, they could be taken out of it. Though I don't know how this could be implemented to make it automatic. Turt wig A (talk | contribs) 22:29, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Minimum to first edit your userspace?

There's a message that I must make a certain number of mainspace edits before I am allowed to edit my userspace, but I can't find any information about this (especially not a specific number) anywhere. I've been working on episode pages as I come across them, but some edits are confined to Talk pages, as I feel gaining consensus is more important than going in and making an edit. What is required before I'm allowed to create a user space for myself? -Disinfect 23:13, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

That information is apparently withheld deliberately to discourage new users from simply attempting to fulfill a certain amount of mainspace edits. Basically, the rule seems to be: edit as much as you can and you'll get that privelage eventually.--Mister E 13 00:04, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

MisterE13's got it right. If we revealed the threshold amount of edits, then people would just make exactly that many edits and then edit their userpage a billion times and never contribute to the mainspace again. I know not everyone does this, but too many people did, and that spoiled it for everyone :/ just keep finding things to edit and surely you will get the priveledge soon. Special:WantedPages, Category:Stubs, and Category:Articles needing improvement are good places to look if you want to edit but don't know where to start. :) --ZestyCactus 00:11, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

I understand the logic behind it, but it's rather discouraging that it's not an automated process (you have to get noticed by an admin basically), and without a Talk page describing your areas of knowledge you seem unprofessional. There are tons of policies in place to prevent userspace abuse, I guess I just worry that people with these privileges aren't don't experience the policies they've created, and thus don't understand the mindset of not being able to establish yourself until you've established yourself. And yes, I watch the stub notices for AG series episodes and contribute where I see need, but many synopses claiming to need attention seem fairly complete to me. Disinfect 00:36, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Not an automated process? Oh believe me, it is. We don't move users into autoconfirmed. The wiki does it for us. TTEchidna 00:46, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Oh my mistake, I must have misinterpreted the talknote above this one. Disinfect 00:59, 31 May 2010 (UTC)