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Because of the diverse population of wikipedia, there are also diverse views on userboxes, userbox policy, and other details. If we arrange them along a traditional two-dimensional political scale, they appear like so:
This group is defined by their belief that all userboxes are templates, and that templates should be in Template: space. They also believe that templates should not be deleted without following the process outlined in TfD and generally object to the wide-spread speedy deletion of Templates. They insist on the template guideline that userboxes should be named "Template:User yyy." These could be called userbox purists. This group is frequently vocal in their criticism of WP:UM and WP:GUS because this suggests that there are two classes of templates - those that are OK in Template: and those that are only OK in User: They believe that templates are either "OK" or "Not OK" and don't subscribe to the "Not OK, but tolerated in User:" philosophy.
They generally refuse to use any userbox that has been adopted or migrated to userspace. Their contribution to the discussion mostly relies on arguments that UM will not solve anything and frequently express this viewpoint on this talk page.
This type of user believes that most userboxes should be in template space. However, they believe that userboxes can (and some probably should) exist in User: They believe that TfD is the way to go to remove offensive or inappropriate userboxes from template space. They are mostly opposed to ideas like GUS and UM because they believe that these tools are being used to inappropriately force good templates from template space. They believe that unnecessary migration is silly because it leads to long, unconventional names and ownership issues. They like the clean convention of "Template:User yyy" but recognize that people are free to do what they want in userspace.
They accept the consensus developing at the Straw Poll WP:ULSP, although they view "no consensus" as a reason to put them in template.
This type of user is generally oblivious to the fact there is an ongoing argument. They use userboxes that they like, without regard to where they are located. They are generally confused about why userboxes keep having their names changed from simple things, like "Template:User yyy" to odd things like "User:Heqaz/Userbox/Likes Star Trek" but just accept that this is not your mother's Wikipedia and move on.
This type of user believes that the majority of userboxes belong only in userspace. Some userboxes that have encyclopedic value may be kept in template space because they might make Wikipedia a better project. They may or may not be part of the WP:UM movement, and may even have a userbox archive of their own.
They accept the consensus developing at the Straw Poll WP:ULSP, although they view "no consensus" as a reason to put them in userspace.
This type of user believes that template space is holy and no template that begins with "user" may be there, except possibly Babel language boxes. All other userboxes must be migrated to userspace, although they'd really rather that nobody use them at all, anywhere, ever. Any userboxes that aren't migrated should be speedy deleted, and the only reason they haven't been deleted already is to allow other users some time to adopt them to their userbox archives.
This group writes "T1" as a justification for deleting virtually all new userboxes created in Template. If that fails, then they migrate "per GUS" although they don't actually feel bound by anything that GUS says since it "is not policy." They believe they are right, and that's all the justification they need. They also believe that they have given up a lot in the compromise by allowing userboxes to exist at all, although they are the main force behind the implementation of WP:UM.
This group almost never uses TfD to discuss userboxes because they believe that userboxes are not subject to the normal template rules, even if they are located in templatespace.
This group believes that the policy with the least amount of force is the best. Unless it's hurting someone, leave it alone. They are generally tolerant of all userboxes, even those that might be "offensive" because they know that being offended is the choice of the person seeing the userbox. They also believe that userboxes tell you a lot about a person's biases, so they appreciate knowing who they are dealing with.
This group believes that userboxes should be eliminated entirely - rounded up, hunted down, drawn and quartered at the Village Pump. They might be convinced to allow Babel language boxes, but only begrudgingly, because they know that they represent the historical camel's nose under the tent. They also think that we brought the camel inside a long time ago and trained him as a house pet and want him dead.
In Conclusion
editIf there is ever a userbox made for this in template space, it will be migrated to userspace, and everyone's head will explode.
Update: A userbox was created at Template:User UBXEssay and is also found at User:Royalguard11/userboxes/UBX essay. A redirect can be found at User:Tl1/UBX essay. Hmmm.
- Updated Update: {{User UBXEssay}} has been speedy deleted per T1 [1].
In order to be inclusive of the many viewpoints above, it is important that this userbox exist in both template and user spaces. So, the prognosticator was partially right - it was adopted into userspace, not migrated (yet) and fully migrated, but I haven't seen verifiable sources for anyone's head exploding (yet).
Some Philosophies (non-Jimbo quotes)
edit- What matters (IMHO) is you be true to yourself. All the things that appear on userpages (boxed or not) are lovely windows to the human pysche. Enjoy the view and then move on. :-) Rfrisbie
See also
edit- The Userbox migration solution, the main proposal developed last summer[when?] (it's not a policy)
- The simple userbox solution, a proposal for a simple policy that extends the privileges of userspace to any userbox named "Template:User yyy" historical, also rejected
- Userbox Policy, an attempt to develop a once-and-for-all, real policy to end all policies
- Jimbo on Userboxes, the bible of quotes for all personalities, which clearly shows that Jimbo is everywhere and nowhere, and that he is so large that he fills Wikipedia, but so small that he can fit in a single article.