Wikipedia talk:User pages

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the User pages page.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Archives: Index, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19: 2 months

YOU MIGHT BE ON THE WRONG PAGE.
This page is not meant for general questions, nor discussions about specific articles.
This page is only for discussions about the Wikipedia page Wikipedia:User pages. To discuss an article, please use that article's talk page. To ask for help with using and editing Wikipedia, use our Teahouse. Alternatively, see our FAQ.

Archives (index)

Index 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

UI Spoofing archive (2007)

This page has archives. Sections older than 60 days may be automatically archived by when more than 4 sections are present.

WP:NOINDEX

Are there any reasons why we should not require NOINDEX on all pages in userspace (not draftspace)? (I would also include article talk pages and archives.) If not, then it should happen automatically. If there are any reasons, let's discuss them. I have long done this for my user and user talk pages and of course all my subpages. If I've missed a subpage, it's an accident.

Our userspace page content is not part of the encyclopedia and is not intended to be "outward" facing. Userspace is our personal "desk" in the editorial back offices of the encyclopedia's publishing house. It should only contain stuff related to communication with other editors and helping editors improve the project. That includes personal notes, sandboxes, personal essays, and article development, IOW the stuff editors do.

By contrast, our articles are in the front office where the public comes to see what this place is all about. We are not a web host for stuff unrelated to these purposes. -- Valjean (talk) (PING me) 15:07, 4 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I thought everything in the user namespace was already automatically NOINDEXed (by a bot)… that’s what it says at WP:NOINDEX. Is that not happening? Blueboar (talk) 17:09, 4 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

You're right! Thanks. -- Valjean (talk) (PING me) 17:17, 4 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Editing of others' user pages by new or unregistered users

I am way behind in the Help Desk archives but I discovered something new here. I decided to try it myself while logged out and although I got to the edit screen, I saw a big pink box saying I can't do the edit. I didn't know it was possible to not edit while not seeing "View source". I don't see anything on the user page guidelines that says this. — Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 23:04, 6 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It's mentioned under WP:UP#PROTECT. It's the result of Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Protect user pages by default, and uses an edit filter (803 (hist · log)) instead of protection. That way new users can still edit their own user page. -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 00:03, 7 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That didn't specify the situation I encountered. I find it hard to believe two random people would have protected their user page in this way. In fact, one of them was mine, and I know I haven't done it. Unless someone did it after vandalism.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 15:57, 7 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The filter applies to all user pages not owned by the person editing it, when the person trying to edit is not confirmed. In other words, if you log out and try to edit any user page, the filter will prevent you publishing the edit. Technically it's not the same as protection, though the end result is broadly similar. -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 15:49, 8 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Can we include this information somehow in the description?— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 15:53, 8 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, now I see it.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 21:23, 8 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Newcomer homepage

I saw a reference to this in the Teahouse archives but I don't know where it is covered. Apparently not on WP:UP. Based on the response to the question, I got the impression this would be a "user page" in the sense of user talk pages and user pages.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 23:16, 2 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Help:Logging in § Your user page and user talk page is the only thing I could find that indicates that a user/talk page is located in the top of every window. Primefac (talk) 15:45, 3 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Should the newcomer homepage be added to that information on that page?— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 20:54, 3 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Growth Team features#Newcomer homepage (and the section above it for why certain articles keep having extra links added by new editors). You can turn it on at the bottom of the User Profile tab in Preferences. NebY (talk) 17:53, 3 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I was looking for something that explains the newcomer homepage to new editors.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 20:59, 3 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Is this acceptable from a fairly new editor?

187 edits, claims 15 years [1] Doug Weller talk 14:26, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Their biography does state they've been editing as an IP for that time period, so I don't see why not. Primefac (talk) 16:24, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that makes sense. Whatever is there, I think good faith means we ignore it and I shouldn't have brought it here. Doug Weller talk 16:26, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]