So, we’re supposed to coach others about the talk page policy and allow them to change the colours themselves. But what about blocked or inactive users? Take this user for example: http://www.wikihow.com/User_talk:Venus123
No contribs since June 1st, no namespace edits since May 5th. I’m gonna go out on a whim and say she’s inactive. If it’s unlikely that she’ll read her talk page messages, would it be acceptable to change the colours ourselves? Or does it not matter because she’s not active? And on a related note, what about active users that have been coached but still don’t comply? Edit: I just realized this particular user now edits on a new account. Oh, okay… Edit #2:
Link fixed
You should leave a message. If there is no reply in like a week just change the colours. BTW, link is broken. Remove period.
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It hardly seems worth the effort to ‘‘hunt down’’ people with colored pages, especially if they are inactive, since it isn’t likely their pages would be visited very often, but there isn’t any reason you can’t edit the page to removed color or anything else that violates policy, so I imagine the choice is yours. I also don’t think blocking a user for refusing to comply is beneficial to wikiHow unless the issue becomes endemic, or someone is belligerent about changing their talkpage.
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If and when an editor is active again, then a friendly reminder that a color policy exists and was created while they were away. Just ask yourself the same question - if you were away from the site for an extended amount of time, would you feel happy to know that your personal customized page was completely changed without your knowledge? No. So just wait for them to return
@BR
: I don’t hunt them down per se, but just randomly come across them, and so I coach them about it. @Maluniu
: Hm, that’s understandable. Okay, but what about (hypothetically) infinitely-blocked users?
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especially if they are inactive, since it isn’t likely their pages would be visited very often
- I fully agree on this concerning people that are infinitely-blocked. Same concept as people that create spammy userpages trying to promote their product or company… it’s really not going to be visited all that much as time goes on.
Oh okay. Well that makes sense then
As the author of the draft of this policy that was passed, I’d have to agree with BR and Jenn.
