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In focus

Thinking inside the box

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By Urban Versis 32

Optional: Hi! I'm Urban Versis 32. This is my first article to The Signpost. I figured I could write about an aspect of Wikipedia that has not been featured here for a while – userboxes. These are basically rectangular boxes designed to be put on your user or user talk page, and are a great way to display one's interests. Here's an example of a simple userbox:

A userbox is a small rectangular box that looks like this.

Overview

There are many different kinds of userboxes. Some are red. Some are blue. Some feature images. Some don't. But they all take that rectangular form, and they work very nicely when put together. On the right, I put together a group of userboxes that could appear on someone's userpage.

You can clearly see the variation. That's why they're useful: there's a userbox for everyone.

To find a userbox, simply go to Wikipedia:Userboxes/Galleries and navigate through the list. If you want a list in alphabetical order, go to Wikipedia:Userboxes/Galleries/alphabetical.

History of the userbox

With a little digging through Wikipedia's archives and discussions –and thanks to some input from users Xaosflux, ZLEA, and Adam Cuerden – I managed to find a basic, semi-detailed history of the userbox.

The early days

Userboxes as we know them first came with the idea to create boxes for Wikipedia:Babel signifying the different languages the user spoke and proficiency level in them, such as the userbox below.

fr-2Cet utilisateur peut contribuer avec un niveau intermédiaire en français.

Original idea and creation

The earliest userbox-related edit I could find was made by NSR on 2 July 2005, with the edit summary of "box test", when they created the Template:Userbox page. The next creation of a userbox page was Wikipedia:Userboxes, created by Cedrus-Libani on 18 November 2005, which documented some of the earliest userboxes.

Wikiproject userboxes

Then came the proposal by Daykart for a WikiProject for userboxes. This eventually led to the creation of WikiProject Userboxes on 22 December 2005, created and headed by Ian 13. Userboxes were beginning to take off.

Controversies and the Great Userbox War

As userboxes gained more popularity, controversies started to arise, such as the Great Userbox War (GUW). The GUW (circa early 2006) was caused by various factors, but it primarily involved Jimbo Wales desysopping five administrators due to the deleting and undeleting and edit warring of a userbox and a few duplicates of it, all of which stated "This user identifies as a pedophile" (see Signpost coverage).

After the initial controversy, the Arbitration Committee decided to hold a vote to see who was most responsible and to figure out the consequences for the eight main users involved. I won't go into exact details for each user, but here's the basic run-down, with the information gathered from previous Signpost coverage (see the arbitration case for more info):

Remedies
  • El C, who was desysopped in the wake of the wheel war, was resysopped at the end of the case. His only action was to place a retaliation block against Carnildo, who had indefinitely blocked him. El C was also reprimanded for inappropriate use of the sysop powers.
  • BorgHunter, who was desysopped in the wake of the wheel war, was resysopped two days after the close of the case. BorgHunter made personal attacks against David Gerard, but later apologized. BorgHunter was also reprimanded for inappropriate use of the sysop powers.
  • Carnildo, who was desysopped in the wake of the wheel war, was offered the option to reapply for adminship starting on February 24th. Carnildo blocked three users indefinitely with disputed reasonings. Carnildo was also reprimanded for inappropriate use of the sysop powers.
  • Ashibaka, who was desysopped in the wake of the wheel war, was desysopped, but was to regain his sysop powers on February 24th. He was involved in the wheel war, restoring the userbox(en) in question five times.
  • Karmafist, who was desysopped in the wake of the wheel war, was desysopped, with the ability to reapply for adminship starting on February 24th. Karmafist undid a block made by Jimbo Wales.
  • Dschor was banned for two months, and placed on probation. Dschor had created a new pedophilia template which was seen as purposely inflammatory by the Arbitration Committee. In addition, Dschor was prohibited from creating or editing userboxes, either in template or text form.
  • SPUI was banned for ten days, and placed on probation. SPUI created a joke template meant to humorously allude to the userbox, but the Arbitration Committee found it purposely inflammatory.
  • Paroxysm was banned for three days. The Arbitration Committee felt that his original creation of the userbox was in good faith, but his recreation under an alternate title was not. In addition, Paroxysm was prohibited from creating or editing userboxes, either in template or text form.

Policies and proposals

This controversy and others sparked debate for more strict rules and policies to be put in place, like the February 2006 userbox policy poll, the May 2006 userbox policy poll, and the "German rule", which duplicated the way userboxes were being managed on the German Wikipedia.

For a time, a list of all userbox nominations at MfD was maintained, although it is now quite out of date.

Recent controversies

There have also been some more recent deletion discussions of userboxes. Three examples help highlight this:


Modern userboxes

These controversies, polls, and flamewars eventually gave way to what we know as userboxes. We have userboxes that are very different from each other – from shortwave radio to animal care, userboxes have it all!

SWThis user has a shortwave radio.
This user cares about animals.

How to use userboxes

Now, how exactly do you add a userbox to your userpage? The simplest way is to copy the link of a userbox from the galleries, and paste it where you want it on your userpage while in "Source" mode. For example, if you copy-pasted {{User wikipedia/Member}}, you would get

This user is a member on the English Wikipedia.

Most userboxes are by default left-aligned, though various tricks exist to put them in different locations.

Say you want it in a group, like in the example list of userboxes above on the right. You'd use the following code, but paste it at the top of your userpage: 

{{Userboxtop|toptext=Your title here}}

Insert userboxes in this space

{{Userboxbottom}}

You can also put userboxes in tables to arrange them in groups or achieve specific layouts. For example, 

{| style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|-
| {{User:UBX/clothing designer}}
| {{User:UBX/dressmaking}}
|-
| {{User:UBX/crochet}}
| {{User:UBX/embroidery}}
|-
|}

will give you the following centered table of userboxes

This user likes to design clothes.
This user is a dressmaker.
This user likes to crochet.
This user likes to do embroidery.

How to create a userbox

If you cannot find a userbox that suits your needs, you can always create one. If you scroll down to the Creating a new userbox section of the userbox page, it may seem a little confusing at first. However, it's not really that difficult after you get the basic skills down for it. If you don't wish to create a userbox manually, there's a great tool that you can use to create userboxes called The Super Simple Userbox Maker by User:The Userboxer. The tool is very easy to use and pretty self-explanatory.

Manually creating a userbox

Basic knowledge in templates can be helpful, but it's easy enough to learn. I will explain the basis here.

To create a userbox, you must use the template {{userbox}}. There are many options to creating userboxes, e.g. image borders, userbox borders, text borders, and backgrounds. The userbox at the very top of the page, reproduced here for convenience,

A userbox is a small rectangular box that looks like this.

is generated with the following code 

{{userbox|#c8a2c8|yellow|[[File:Crystal kthememgr.svg|40px]]|A userbox is a small rectangular box that looks like this.}}

Here's a breakdown of the arguments of the template.

  • The first argument, #c8a2c8, is the color code for the background of the image section of the userbox. It is in hexadecimal format, which can be a bit cryptic, but you can use tools like the Hex Color picker to easily find a color you like (and its associated hex code). Note that regular HTML colors can be used instead, such as purple can be used instead, as in the second argument:
  • The second argument, yellow, is the background color for the text (or info) section.
  • The third argument, [[File:Crystal kthememgr.svg|40px]], states the location of the image (or id) to be used in the image section, and the size (most userboxes use image sizes of between 30–70 px). This can be replaced with text.
  • The fourth argument, A userbox is a small rectangular box that looks like this., is the text or info section of the userbox.

And there you have it – a guide on creating your first userbox.

Two important facts to remember: the left side of the userbox (which contains the image) is referred to as the id of the userbox. The right side of the userbox (which contains the text) is referred to as the info of the userbox.

Interviews

I have interviewed some users about their experiences with userboxes.

How did you first get into userboxes?

  • Auric: I don't really remember when I got into userboxes, they've been around that long.
  • ZLEA: I joined WikiProject Userboxes in February 2017, just over a month after joining Wikipedia, although I do not remember what first got me into userboxes.
  • Adam Cuerden: I'm one of the ancients, so a lot of userbox things for me were things I set up years ago. But I'd say I got into userboxes through Commons. Commons is a multilingual site; as such, knowing what languages people speak is fairly vital, and a whole series of userboxes exist to communicate information about this. It's simple, easy to use, and just really helps communication there.

How long have you been using/creating userboxes?

  • Auric: It took awhile till I was sure enough to create my own, not just fixing others.
  • ZLEA: My first userboxes were service awards, which I added to my userpage to encourage myself to gain more editing experience. Within a few months created my first userboxes in February 2017. I have not created very many userboxes, but my early experience with userboxes is what sparked my passion for template editing.
  • Adam Cuerden: I added [my first userboxes] in 2008, about two years after I started editing, which I think I started doing in February 2006, though between Single Login not existing back then and a period of pseudonymous editing around 2008 after some harassment creating an account snarl here, it's a little harder to tell from my contributions on en-wiki as opposed to Commons, where I've always used my real name. More recently, most of my experience with userboxes has been spent fighting against them, but just the ones from those deletion debates mentioned above; y'know, the ones that said things like "Hitler was right" and other things that make Wikipedia feel awfully hostile to editors from minorities. But I don't want to sound anti-userbox. Anything that encourages communication can be hijacked for evil.

Why do you like userboxes?

  • Auric: I like userboxes because they sometimes need fixing as one image may need replacing and it can be a challenge to find one. Sometimes I have to use a text effect to replace it.
  • ZLEA: I believe userboxes remind us that there is a person behind every userpage. They aren't just some pretty templates, they allow users to express themselves on their userpages. I also believe they help us build trust with our fellow Wikipedians by encouraging transparency, as they are an easy way to identify one's own biases, conflicts of interest, and, more importantly, our strengths.
  • Adam Cuerden: I suppose I'm not that interested in sharing personal details as some. If people need to know I act in Gilbert and Sullivan or write music or studied biology or live in Scotland or≥ am gay they probably know, and if they want to know what I primarily do on Wikipedia my user page archiving my 715 featured pictures will tell them. Hence, I'm not as userbox-y as some. They're a fun, simple way to put what information you do want to put out there... out there. I just don't have as much I want to share.

What's your favorite userbox and why?

  • Auric: I don't really have a favourite userbox, they all had a little something different.
  • ZLEA: My favorite userbox is one of my own creations (yes, I'm biased); User:ZLEA/Turboencabulator. The userbox is a play on the Turbo encabulator, a fictional machine which somehow found its way into a 1962 General Electric supplies catalogue. As an engineering student, I naturally found the turbo encabulator to be particularly amusing; too amusing to not be made into a userbox.
  • Adam Cuerden: I mentioned Commons' Babel userboxes before. I think they're important enough to making Commons work that they have to be my favourite, even if other userboxes make me laugh more. They also exist on here, and can be used just like on Commons.
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The Userbox kerfuffle I remember is when an admin named "Kelly Martin" thought that userboxes were so inherently stupid a concept that she felt perfectly free to delete any that she didn't like, with no process. I don't remember the "war" described above at all, though it apparently took place shortly afterward... AnonMoos (talk) 04:51, 2 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
And consequently she hasn't edited since a flurry of sarcastic ArbCom !votes in 2008 (Although she's still occasionally active on Commons) Daniel Case (talk) 05:38, 8 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  • There's a lot (l-o-o-o-o-t) more history from back then. The userbox wars were messy, and at the height of things, involved a lot of "fait accompli" bold action by many. Oh and I think "userboxen" came from german usage at the time, and has stuck around as an affectation for some. - jc37 15:53, 12 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
The Signpost: doing it for free since 2005.
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