Proposal:Improve user page security

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Summary

In 10 years of using the Internet, wikipedia is the only website I've come across that allows any dipstick that comes along to edit another user's user page, often maliciously.

Proposal

To change the Wikipedia Userpages system so that by default only the person with the registered wikipedia username can edit it.

As the internet continues to grow, it's just going to end up becoming a bigger & bigger problem as more people start using the place..... possibly even to the point it eventually kills off Wikipedia.

Currently one of the most common reasons for legitimate edits to other peoples userpages is to remove images that are fair use only, as they may only be used in certain articles. So it would be sensible as part of this software change to either include a routine to prevent fairuse images being displayed in article space, or to promote the bots that do this to admin status so that they can still edit userpages.

Motivation

Had at least 2 or 3 attacks on my own userpage in the last 2yrs or so.

Key Questions

• There are a number of reasons why admins and others currently edit userpages, reverting vandalism would no longer be needed, but for example wold you make an exception to allow admins to edit others userpages so that fairuse images could be kept out of userspace and only used in the articles we have said they will only be used for?
• If only the user could edit a userpage, what happens with users who out others on their userpage, or do we make an exception to this proposal and continue to allow oversighters to edit userpages.

Potential Costs

Probably alot cheaper than if a future victim can afford better lawyers and decides to sue as a result of an attack like this.

A small amount of programming.

Community Discussion

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