Template talk:User Barnstar

Deletion debate

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hahahahahhaahahahahaha

...oh wait, that's actually meant seriously?

Well, the reasons for not having barnstars here at Wiktionary should be pretty obvious, they only detract from our actual goal. -- Prince Kassad 02:20, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

The barnstar was deleted by Leftmostcat. However, I think we should go through the RFDO process anyway, just in case there actually is support for keeping this template. (Keep.) --Yair rand 04:07, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Restored by me. I don't care really. Abstain. Mglovesfun (talk) 04:19, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

We are a very small community, so we'll just end up giving this barnstar to each other among 10-15 people, which is sad and pathetic :) (Delete). --Vahagn Petrosyan 04:23, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Keep. @VG then don't give it out to the people who are already motivated. Give it to hard-working newbies so they feel appreciated and begin to be attached to the project. Give it to a semi-active editor that made significant improvements that went unnoticed. Sure a small core of editors is the most active, but that doesn't mean we can't try to help new (or semi-active) editors appreciate more the task of editing. We won't know until we try.

@PK if you think it distracts from building the dictionary, don't use it. If others think it helps, they'll use it. This at least has a chance of encouraging editors to be active (unlike all userboxes which we do ban). --Bequw → ¢ • τ 17:39, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Don't delete it with too much prejudice, but there should be a prohibition on creating many more for the moment. Conrad.Irwin 18:27, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Since this image is on Commons, even if this were deleted people could post the image with a comment. We might want to rename it, don't we avoid caps in templates? Mglovesfun (talk) 20:13, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

If we keep this, can we rename it The Only Barnstar?  :-) ​—msh210℠ 16:00, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

I think {{User Barnstar}} would be in keeping with template naming conventions. Conrad.Irwin 16:04, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Actually {{Barnstar}} would be better :) Anyways, I say keep this one and do not allow any further ones to be created. You guys need to add something to give to other users to show your appreciation for their edits. Razorflame 08:48, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

I'd prefer {{User Barnstar}}. It's good to keep the user templates distinct from the mainspace templates. --Yair rand 20:20, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

• Delete, together with Template:User Barnstar that it redirects to. SemperBlotto 08:54, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

• Keep. Let's use it to encourage our editors. —Internoob (Disc.•Cont.) 18:52, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

Kept. Mglovesfun (talk) 23:07, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

RFD discussion: January–May 2018

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Template:User Barnstar and redirects

I don't think barnstars are generally a Wiktionary thing. Wikipedia has all this cutesy stuff like all kinds of userboxes and little talk page gifts (like barnstars) and clubs and stuff like that that I'd argue don't really add to the encyclopedia any. Wiktionary doesn't have or need these sorts of things, since it wouldn't add anything to the dictionary.

Yeah, I get the idea that barnstars are something that some people might like, think are cute, etc. (I personally don't) It's also "nice" to give people gifts. But "gifts" aren't necessary on Wiktionary. We already have the thanking feature which is easy to use, which is enough for me (though it'd be nice if we could thank IPs). People can also be thanked in words. Images also take up more space on the talk page and make the page slower. The thank feature is good enough, I'd argue, because all people can be thanked with just a simple click. It's not something people generally see (unless you go to some special page; then you can see all the thanks). The simple click makes all thanks equal, too, by default. We certainly don't need one user getting a big fat box with an image on it and another user getting nothing of the sort for doing the same amount and quality of work, do we? And that can especially happen here, since the barnstar is barely used (see below).

For some background, this already had a deletion discussion before in 2010, with the deletion motives being similar to the above. But I have even more reason to delete this page than just the general disliking of the concept of barnstars. Take a look at Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:User Barnstar. This template has barely been used. It's mostly been forgotten about. I have only seen any barnstar being given to a user on Wiktionary once...ever. I'd not be surprised if some of you reading this don't even remember that we have a barnstar template in the first place.

I think it needs to go. PseudoSkull (talk) 03:05, 20 January 2018 (UTC)

Keep. Ways of encouraging users are good. We have too many ways of discouraging already. —Rua (mew) 13:43, 20 January 2018 (UTC)

Keep: harmless. —suzukaze (t・c) 13:50, 20 January 2018 (UTC)

Wow, Wikipedia has over 100 different types of barnstars (my favourite: "The Invisible Barnstar"). Maybe we should think about how we could make better use of the thank feature, since it's more a Wiktionary thing. – Jberkel 16:10, 20 January 2018 (UTC)

Keep per Rua. We Wiktionarians can be a surly lot. I see other editors and even myself criticize mostly-good editors for screw-ups in "personal" ways ("another bad edit by X"), and some prolific users are driven away like this; users have also said they're put off by how we often rollback rather than undo or (better) clean up partly-valid edits; and one of explanations for why we're like this is viciously cyclical, that our editor base is too small to have time to clean up after and teach editors. We also not-infrequently burn out as we do the work of maintaining this site for free. So, ways of encouraging are good.
I gave two barnstars yesterday (before seeing this thread! I wonder what Baader-Meinhof-ish phenomenon has us all thinking about barnstars), to a user who's maintained WOTD for a few years now, and to a user who's spent a lot of time citing words at RFV. I appreciate how much work they're putting in, because I did it — spent a lot of time citing words at RFV, and maintained WOTD for a time — and burned out of it. Giving them pictures of weird metal shapes isn't a great reward, but it's something.
(Admittedly, the two I handed out and the one I received some time ago were "hard-coded" wiki-tables rather than this template, but that's because I didn't know the template existed. Maybe other people who use it subst: it, also contributing to the empty Whatlinkshere.)
The problem of people feeling resentful if some people get barnstars and others don't is real, but also exists with talk-page thanks, and even when no-one else is getting thanked at all: a prolific user may still resentfully wonder why they're not being recognized. But while it wouldn't be great to go overboard with cheesy stuff, encouraging more people (including with barnstars) seems like a good idea.
- -sche (discuss) 17:52, 20 January 2018 (UTC)

Delete: cheesy and gaudy. I don't think we need all that Wikipedia's tinsel to encourage people... --Per utramque cavernam (talk) 23:38, 23 January 2018 (UTC)

Abstain, on the one hand I sorta agree with the above editor - I really dislike the childish and ostentatious userbox/barnstar clutter Wikipedians decorate their pages with - but on the other hand, just because some of us don't like these sorts of things doesn't mean they need to be deleted, especially not if it's harmless and other editors do like them. — Mnemosientje (t · c) 16:59, 27 January 2018 (UTC)

Delete: We have the great "thank" feature to encourage editors. A simple thank you on the talk page is also fine. Wiktionary is not a Facebook. I believe that extensive use of barnstars tends to be inflationary; some of the first barnstars given seem valuable but then inflation sets in as people start giving barnstars as part of a certain social game. --Dan Polansky (talk) 12:20, 11 February 2018 (UTC)

Delete. We have never needed these things. Contributing is its own reward. SemperBlotto (talk) 12:28, 11 February 2018 (UTC)

Delete. And keep the ban on trivial userboxes. Equinox ◑ 15:23, 12 February 2018 (UTC)

Keep. Just because we're all heartless monsters who have given our last ounce of humanity to this neverending project doesn't mean we need to excise every last possible means of conveying appreciation from the wiki. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 15:50, 12 February 2018 (UTC)

How could we make barnstars effective motivators for increasing the quality or quantity of contributions? Conceivably they might even serve to attract new contributors, at least from other wikis. They seem somewhat cheapened by the fact that anyone can insert them on a user page. If someone could show that there were good motivational or other effects (eg, on civility) from such things, I could support keeping them.

The very nice thanking feature is a great way to express appreciation for specific contributions, which has the advantage on encouraging specific kinds of contributions. But it doesn't do much to encourage larger scale efforts.

That we haven't used them is hardly a reason for deletion. DCDuring (talk) 16:25, 12 February 2018 (UTC)

• Kept for the common good. --Genecioso (talk) 10:32, 27 May 2018 (UTC)

• Strong Support. We only have this to show wikilove to good work. Two times the template passed the request for deletion. So it is a Wiktionary template with all the honors.--BoldLuis (talk) 16:00, 15 May 2020 (UTC)