Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Wikipedia policies and guidelines/Userbox content

Userboxes have been widely used by editors as one of many means to express themselves in Wikipedia. Although most userboxes contain mostly neutral and trivial information, some contain expressions and assertions which other editors may disagree on. These disagreements may sometimes turn into heated debates, creating divisiveness within the community. There have been several discussions on interpretations of userbox policy over these userboxes, both in keeping and deleting them altogether, or keeping some while deleting others.

This RFC has been opened to create a centralized and civil discussion on past experiences and current opinions in order to try establishing discernible consensus, which could be used for making future decisions on this matter. While this RFC was not created to reach a final decision on these debates, I hope we can present fair arguments and suggestions to help editors create and manage their userboxes, as well as for administrators in resolving disputes and deletion discussions. For more information, see the Miscellany for Deletion discussion which sparked this request for comment. Thanks for your time. - Mtmelendez ^(Talk) 05:40, 17 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Applicable policies on userboxes

Wikipedia:Userboxes, particularly its Content restrictions section, which states:[1]

All userboxes are governed by the civility policy.
- Userboxes must not include incivility or personal attacks.
- Userboxes must not be inflammatory or divisive.
- Wikipedia is not an appropriate place for propaganda, advocacy, or recruitment of any kind, commercial, political, religious, or otherwise, opinion pieces on current affairs or politics, self-promotion, or advertising.

Simply: If content is not appropriate on a user page, it is not appropriate within userboxes, and vice versa.