Template talk:Notcensored2

23 March 2007 edits to Template:Notcensored2

This concerns the edits of 04:20 and 04:24, 23 March 2007.

Whether specific pictures actually "are", or merely "may be", necessary to the quality of an article is an argument I'll leave to specific article talk pages.

However, I simply can't see blanking from a talk page template the general advisory that "Off-topic discussions, including discussions about the acceptability of images of nudity on Wikipedia, serve no constructive purpose in improving the article, and may be removed."

That remains true whether or not anyone warns the reader/editor of the fact. It's explicit in Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines#How to use article talk pages:

• Keep on topic: Talk pages are not for general conversation. Keep discussions on the topic of how to improve the associated article. Irrelevant discussions are subject to removal.

• Be positive: Article talk pages should be used for ways to improve an article, not to criticize, pick apart, or vent about the current status of an article. However, if you feel something is wrong, but aren't sure how to fix it, then by all means feel free to draw attention to this and ask for suggestions from others.

• Stay objective: Talk pages are not a forum for editors to argue their own different points of view about controversial issues. ...

The template just gave its fair warning up front, without the reader having to go look at the guidelines from the link atop the edit page.

This isn't about "removal of legitimate comments from talk pages simply because one disagrees with them"; it's about keeping on-topic.

To make that clearer, in case anyone else might get confused on the matter, I've rephrased it as:

As the talk page guidelines state, discussions which are off-topic (not about how to improve the article) may be removed, so this is not the place for discussions about the acceptability of images of nudity on Wikipedia.

Such issues are too broad for a single article's talk page; they are certainly too broad to try settling by deleting content from a template, or by deleting the template itself. They should be taken to Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Policies, and openly discussed there. -- Ben ^TALK/_HIST 06:24, 23 March 2007 (UTC)