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#Strongly discourage [[WP:OWN]]. Create a [[Mystery shopping|"Secret Shoppers"]] style program to combat it. As a very experienced user who regularly uses new accounts, I have endured abuse from article owners more times than I care to count. I cannot imagine how many truly new users have been turned off to Wikipedia due to this problem. Everybody should try it; create an alternate account and edit an article. See what happens. I personally use such instances of [[WP:OWN|ownership]] to educate the owners, since they often are unaware of how they sound. [[User:Abductive|Abductive]] ([[User talk:Abductive|talk]]) 22:25, 23 July 2009 (UTC) |
#Strongly discourage [[WP:OWN]]. Create a [[Mystery shopping|"Secret Shoppers"]] style program to combat it. As a very experienced user who regularly uses new accounts, I have endured abuse from article owners more times than I care to count. I cannot imagine how many truly new users have been turned off to Wikipedia due to this problem. Everybody should try it; create an alternate account and edit an article. See what happens. I personally use such instances of [[WP:OWN|ownership]] to educate the owners, since they often are unaware of how they sound. [[User:Abductive|Abductive]] ([[User talk:Abductive|talk]]) 22:25, 23 July 2009 (UTC) |
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::Absolutely true. A number of editors seem to think they own articles, and have the right to prevent any real improvements. [[User:Collect|Collect]] ([[User talk:Collect|talk]]) 23:17, 23 July 2009 (UTC) |
::Absolutely true. A number of editors seem to think they own articles, and have the right to prevent any real improvements. [[User:Collect|Collect]] ([[User talk:Collect|talk]]) 23:17, 23 July 2009 (UTC) |
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:::Abductive is guilty of sockpuppetry. Many in Wikipedia are so hung up on this or use this as an excuse to attack others because they lack good ideas (when they cannot discuss, they change the subject to "sock" or "duck". Others stalk people causing most people to quit and a few people to have to start fresh with a new username. [[User:Gasp2009|Gasp2009]] ([[User talk:Gasp2009|talk]]) 05:17, 24 July 2009 (UTC) |
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====Propose a new policy or process==== |
====Propose a new policy or process==== |
Revision as of 05:17, 24 July 2009
The recent RfC on the Advisory Council on Project Development was seen by some as divisive. Regardless of its outcome, however, it revealed that there are a great many editors who care deeply about Wikipedia and have many ideas about aspects of Wikipedia that need reform. This page is meant to provide a community space for editors to discuss questions of reform constructively.
- Guidelines
- As a start, I have copied topics raised by members of the ACPD as potential areas for reform. I have added a few of my own that reflect some of the discussion at the RfC. I have provided a template that I hope will guide constructive discussion.
- "A description of the problem" should be the product of consensus i.e. anyone can edit, and unsigned; in the other sections please sign your contribution.
- The purpose of any discussion of structural or persistent problems at Wikipedia ought to be the development of policies or processes to address the problem, or improvements to existing policies and processes. Nevertheless, this is not a policy proposal page. If participants in a discussion feel that they have reached the point where they can make specific proposals, they should either go to an existing policy, or create a new policy proposal page.
- If any editor feels that there is a structural or persistent problem that is not listed on this page, he or she should add the area using the basic template.
- In brainstorming possible solutions to a problem, allow a certain amount of time for the generation of ideas before moving on to the critical evaluation of ideas. Withholding criticism until there is a good number of ideas (at least 5–10 separate proposals) encourages contribution and helps the creative process.[1]
- If after a reasonable amount of time it is clear that an insufficient number of editors care about a particular area of concern, and there is insuficient discussion to serve as a basis for practical proposals, editors should archive the discussion using this {{hat|This topic has been archived due to insufficient concern}} {{hab}} method.
- Wikipedia is the encyclopedia where any editor may edit any page at any time – this page included.
Do we have a problem recruiting new, or retaining current, editors?
Description of the problem
Jose Felipe Ortega, aka User:GlimmerPhoenix, created the WikiXRay statistical analysis program. He then used it to analyze raw XML dump files from Wikipedia right thru its history, from 2001 up to early 2008. His findings are published in his PhD dissertation. He found that the arrival of new editor talent peaked out in 2007, and is now dropping slowly. Same goes for meaningful article edits.
Analysis of the problem
I believe that a major part of the problem is creating a more diverse working environment. Slrubenstein | Talk 13:39, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
- Another possibility is that WP is now a "mature community." A large percentage of the folks who are apt to want to work on WP have already been here. Many communities in the past have seen similar patterns, with large numbers of people becoming active for about a year, and then moving onto other areas. If this is the case, then it is a problem for which there is no solution. As a comparison, look at Usenet's usage. WP is actually doing fairly well at this point. Collect (talk) 14:37, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
Collect, on its face you make a reasonable point and I do think what you say explains a certain "plateauing." But it doesn't explain the loss of good editors. Here is one of the earliest "manifesto's" explaining why a superb Wikipedia left the project: [[1]]. JHK had a PhD. in history but she never used her credentials to bludgeon another editor or even to justify an edit. She simply did high quality research. But endless arguments with other editors, who were both POV pushers and poor researchers, wore her out. Slrubenstein | Talk 16:11, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
- It seems to me that the barrier to entry for editing Wikipedia has risen, in four regards: content, technology, rules, and taboos.
- Regarding content, Wikipedia is much more complete than it was in 2007; there are fewer obvious omissions -- but also, new contributions are scrutinized much more warily. Regarding technology, try hitting the edit button on any large article: you're confronted not with a box of English prose, but with a swath of opaque markup for infoboxes and other metadata. (We really should have separated article text from the layout of images and infoboxes into the page a long time ago.)
- Regarding rules, the set of policies that editors are expected to keep in mind has grown (instruction creep), and the established community expects everyone to already know them before editing. Finally, regarding taboos, there are entire swaths of articles under effective ownership, or ArbCom enforcement, which from the point of view of a noob are the same: you show up and act like a noob, and you get Zerg rushed by a dozen editors spouting incomprehensible, offended lawyerish noises. --FOo (talk) 15:40, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
- Even if the barrier of entry has risen, I worry that the "stickyness" of Wikipedia remains much the same: people might be arriving in fewer numbers, but they are leaving about the same rate. And this rate is amazingly high -- based on my impression, the average length of a term on Wikipedia is somewhere under two years. For example, I'm having trouble identifying anyone still actively editting Wikipedia who has been here longer than me beyond Slrubenstein. Another example is that there is practically a complete turnover in the regulars on either WP:AN & WP:AN/I. We are losing our institutional memory almost as fast as we are creating it. -- llywrch (talk) 06:29, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
- As a lot of articles on major subjects have matured, there's now a higher hurdle to successfully making a useful contribution – used to be easy to come across an article, think it was blatant rubbish or incoherent, get a book out of the library and make dramatic improvements. With the introduction of inline citations and increasingly high standards, it's become that much harder. There are still plenty of opportunities on less high profile or little known subjects, but new users are that much less likely to find easy areas to improve. When they want to improve a well established article, they often have to be armed with reliable sources to overturn the existing consensus, and are likely to be fended off, especially if they're tring to introduce content that has already been discussed and rejected. . . dave souza, talk 17:49, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
- I agree that one reason for wikipedia now receiving less new contributions is the raised quality bar. When I started I could add a lot of good content in a short time because of the standards of verifiability were much lower. Now I find myself more often reverting new editors' contributions that are not exactly bad but doesn't live up to the higher standards. Another thing is that many areas attract the same kind of non-optimal contributions over and over, and a lot of time is spent having the same arguments with new contributors. And as Dave Souza mentions often also the opposite happpens - I try to contribute to existing articles but am fended off by the established contributors in that area. Personally I have also reached point where creating article content is not as gratifying as it once was - this causes me to often cruise around on different articles making minor corrections and criticising others work instead - I have also begun spending more of my time reviewing GAs and participating in wikipoliotics for the same reasons. I think for me and probably also for others creating some kind of encouragement to adding content would be an effective way of not letting the expansion of wikipedias content stall.·Maunus·ƛ· 18:26, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
- I agree that the high level of analysis required may turn off some, but to others, like myself, this provides sort of a challenge that can be quite fun. I've only been editing Wikipedia for about a year now. I started off as an IP, leaving talk page comments which I thought would be helpful, and got quite excited when an established editor and expert in the field told me to make go ahead and make the change. But after joining, and cutting my teeth on one of the most contentious articles out there, I nearly left in a huff over the wikilawyering, edit warring, repetitive arguments that never end, and mostly over what I felt to be a substandard measure for the inclusion of false and even potentially liabelous material, (eg: Someone printed it, so it must go in). My outburst in that article can attest to my feelings at the time. Fortunately, instead of leaving, I decided to move on to some less disputed and more technical articles until I could get a better assessment of Wikipedia Policy. Zaereth (talk) 19:07, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
- As data. the enWikipedia statistics through 2008 have just been compiled by Erik Zachte (Infodesiac): [2]. They contain the explanatory note
- "my [former] method of counting new wikipedians may have had something to do with an overestimation of the decline in newcomers to the projects. So beginning with today’s report for the English Wikipedia I changed this method.
- From the beginning a user has always been considered a wikipedian after 10 edits. However up till now a user that met this criterium was counted from the moment of registration. From now on the user is counted from the month that the 10th edit had been made. This seemed a minor difference in early days, most users either left after one or two edits, satisfied that yes they could edit if only they wanted to. Other newcomers, who liked the wiki concept, often exceeded those 10 edits in the first hour or so.
- But then the law of large numbers (or call it the long tail) kicked in. It turned out that many of those that left early came back later when Wikipedia gained notoriety, and were not counted maybe a month early but one or two years, hence skewing the chart. Call it a design bug, incremental insight, a different perspective, you choose.
- It was done deliberately and openly, but over time I learned that the former approach was counter intuitive for many, and like I said no longer a simplification with negligible effect. There was a good technical reason to do it that way though: today’s new approach implies comparison of up to 10 timestamps on each of 200 million revisions on the English Wikipedia only DGG (talk) 19:17, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
- Agree with DGG above. From personal experience, there's a second factor here as well; I used to edit as an IP, and only used my logged-on account for edits on the very rare occasion where my IP was caught in a range block. In late 2006, post-Siegenthaler, editing as an IP became more difficult as far more articles were semi-protected, so I started using the logged-on account full time (you can see the sudden jump from 1 logged-on edit every couple of months to 1 logged-on edit every few minutes in my history). I'm sure this wasn't unusual in this period. – iridescent 19:25, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
- Jose Felipe Ortega also found, by analysing articles, including FAs, that article quality increased as the number of editors contributing to the article increased. He also pointed out there was an increasing separation between hard-core editors and the new or casual editor, and that this was ominous for Wikipedia's future. The way Wikipedia is now, the editor "star" system of FAs in encouraged. "I have x number of FAs" and "my FA articles" etc. It also explicitly sets out an editorial hierarchy that only the most fanatical new or casual editor can hope to join. And many articles have "guards" that discourage the input of new and casual editors. Given the high barriers that already exist (massive number of rules/policies-both explicit and unwritten/MoS mandates/high wiki software learning curve) for the new and casual editor, more efforts to encourage and foster contributions of these editors would help. Discouraging the method of rating editor worth by article ownership and foster more constructive ways of rewarding the self esteem of editors, i.e. those ways that serve to increase the pleasure of editing would help the encyclopedia. Harsh attacks on me by article owners and friends nearly drove me away forever. If editing is not rewarding for these editors, new and casual editors will not increase. —Mattisse (Talk) 00:51, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
Possible solutions
This section is for proposing solutions only. Critical evaluation of these proposals should take place in the Discussion section below, and wait until we have a good number (5–10) of proposals. The first priority is to compile as many ideas as possible. Add your own ideas, and feel free to improve and build upon the ideas of others.
Modify an existing policy or process
- Encourage red links in articles. My memory is that at present, leaving a red link in a FAC invites comment, and pressure to produce a stub if only to make the article look tidy. Red links provide an instant signal pointing to an area where reasonable work will be welcomed. Also, make the page that appears when editors click on a red link more friendly: at present it's set up to discourage vandalistic trivia more than to help newbies, in my opinion.
As an example, in writing an article on Charles Darwin's book Fertilisation of Orchids, sources introduced me to the names of Friedrich Hildebrand (biologist), Severin Axell, Charles Robertson (biologist) and Federigo Delpino, all of whom were 19th century biologists and pioneers of flower ecology, the last named coining pollination syndrome. At present I've left them unlinked, it would look odd to have a patch of redlinks but maybe that's something worth trying. By the way, Friedrich Hildebrand is redirected to someone with no credentials as a biologist. . . dave souza, talk 18:40, 22 July 2009 (UTC)- comment Hi Dave, I very much like your idea to encourage red linking. I've tentatively created a Wikipedia category Redlinking Wikipedians (as a sub-cat of Wikipedians by Wikipedia editing philosophy) and an associated user box. Is this idea useful? Feel free to edit the category and/or userbox ... or to suggest deletion. Esowteric+Talk 13:09, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
- Discourage compulsive redirects. I have become discouraged by having articles repeatedly redirected out of existence, when there was a need for an independent article to exist. Many relatively short articles are extremely valuable for wikilinking finer points. dave souza's redirect experience (above) is typical. For example, there was a period when every article on a specific type of dam was automatically redirected to the global article. Thus, if an editor wanted to explain an embankment dam or an arch-gravity dam, the reader had to be linked to a lengthy explanation in dam to hunt for the relevant information. I have had to fight this over and over, e.g. with Turfan water system which was repeatedly redirected to Qanat. —Mattisse (Talk) 00:20, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
- Strongly discourage WP:OWN. Create a "Secret Shoppers" style program to combat it. As a very experienced user who regularly uses new accounts, I have endured abuse from article owners more times than I care to count. I cannot imagine how many truly new users have been turned off to Wikipedia due to this problem. Everybody should try it; create an alternate account and edit an article. See what happens. I personally use such instances of ownership to educate the owners, since they often are unaware of how they sound. Abductive (talk) 22:25, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
- Absolutely true. A number of editors seem to think they own articles, and have the right to prevent any real improvements. Collect (talk) 23:17, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
- Abductive is guilty of sockpuppetry. Many in Wikipedia are so hung up on this or use this as an excuse to attack others because they lack good ideas (when they cannot discuss, they change the subject to "sock" or "duck". Others stalk people causing most people to quit and a few people to have to start fresh with a new username. Gasp2009 (talk) 05:17, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
- Absolutely true. A number of editors seem to think they own articles, and have the right to prevent any real improvements. Collect (talk) 23:17, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
Propose a new policy or process
Discussion of the proposed solutions
Please withhold criticism of the proposed solutions until there is a good number of proposals. If you feel that one of the proposals above has a shortcoming, build on the proposal and propose an amended version of it that avoids the shortcoming. Once a sufficient number of proposals have been made (usually 5–10), discuss and evaluate the proposals in this section.
Is BLP adequately enforced?
Description of the problem
There is a backlog at the BLP noticeboard. The project doesn't have the resources to monitor or maintain all of the biographies of living people. This not only serves as a potentially huge legal risk for the Foundation, but we also have a moral obligation to protect the living subjects of our articles.
Analysis of the problem
Far too many articles violate WP policy. Only a minority ever make it to the BLP noticeboard. Even then, there is a perceived backlog. Collect (talk) 14:44, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
The recent arbom case highlighted potential problems with the BLPs of Scientologists and called upon the community to check through these to ensure they are and remain compliant with BLP. I don't think much has been done on that count. Another BLP that has had problems is that of John_Yoo. The highest risk is obviously with articles on people who are widely disliked, or intensely disliked by some without having a balancing fan base, resulting in a dearth of editors motivated to make edits in the subject's favour. JN466 20:45, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
Possible solutions
This section is for proposing solutions only. Critical evaluation of these proposals should take place in the Discussion section below, and wait until we have a good number (5–10) of proposals. The first priority is to compile as many ideas as possible. Add your own ideas, and feel free to improve and build upon the ideas of others.
Modify an existing policy or process
Propose a new policy or process
- We could think about setting up a volunteer project with guidelines on how to patrol the BLPs that are at risk, with a corresponding article watchlist. --JN466 20:45, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
- Establish an elected BLP committee with content jurisdiction on BLPs, to enforce BLP policy, with the authority to rule on content, lock articles, and topic-ban consistent offenders. This group to have access to legal advice, and training in the legal issues involved. JN466 12:10, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
- Establish rigourous equality among articles with regard to enforcement of BLP policies, and not allow "consensus" to bend the rules. Unless and until all BLPs are treated equally (whether or not editors "like" the person), all of WP is endangered. This means establishing a group of editors sworn to treating every BLP equally, and who have no intrinsic biases at all with regard to such issues. The BLPs of a saint or a satan should be made as nearly as possible to conform to the precise same standards and practices. Yes, this means "consensus" may have to be thrown out, but it clear that inconsistent applications of the rules are a great deal of the problem. Collect (talk) 12:44, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
Discussion of the proposed solutions
Please withhold criticism of the proposed solutions until there is a good number of proposals. If you feel that one of the proposals above has a shortcoming, build on the proposal and propose an amended version of it that avoids the shortcoming. Once a sufficient number of proposals have been made (usually 5–10), discuss and evaluate the proposals in this section.
Can our deletion policy be clearer, and the process more efficient?
Description of the problem
Deletions are too often seen as arbitrary and uneven in practice.
Analysis of the problem
Possible solutions
This section is for proposing solutions only. Critical evaluation of these proposals should take place in the Discussion section below, and wait until we have a good number (5–10) of proposals. The first priority is to compile as many ideas as possible. Add your own ideas, and feel free to improve and build upon the ideas of others.
Modify an existing policy or process
Propose a new policy or process
Discussion of the proposed solutions
Please withhold criticism of the proposed solutions until there is a good number of proposals. If you feel that one of the proposals above has a shortcoming, build on the proposal and propose an amended version of it that avoids the shortcoming. Once a sufficient number of proposals have been made (usually 5–10), discuss and evaluate the proposals in this section.
Is the Mediation Committee effective?
Description of the problem
Successes of the Mediation Committee are not viewed to be as apparent as its failures.[who?]
Analysis of the problem
- Where has the committee failed? Indeed, at what point do we consider it as having "succeeded" (for I don't ever recall seeing any goals set)? AGK 18:04, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
- Good questions. Let me remind you that if you do not agre with the description of the problem, you can rewrite it - this is a collaborative project. However, you could take this into account, Slrubenstein | Talk 18:39, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
- I was one of the original members of the Mediation committee, & resigned after a year because of dissatisfaction over my own inability to mediate conflicts. Based on that, I'd say that there have been failures. (On the other hand, if you honestly think that you've done some good AGK, then you've been far more effective than I ever was.) -- llywrch (talk) 06:13, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
Possible solutions
This section is for proposing solutions only. Critical evaluation of these proposals should take place in the Discussion section below, and wait until we have a good number (5–10) of proposals. The first priority is to compile as many ideas as possible. Add your own ideas, and feel free to improve and build upon the ideas of others.
Modify an existing policy or process
Propose a new policy or process
Discussion of the proposed solutions
Please withhold criticism of the proposed solutions until there is a good number of proposals. If you feel that one of the proposals above has a shortcoming, build on the proposal and propose an amended version of it that avoids the shortcoming. Once a sufficient number of proposals have been made (usually 5–10), discuss and evaluate the proposals in this section.
In addition to arbitrating disputes, should ArbCom have other responsibilities?
Description of the problem
ArbCom's original purview was to handle arbitrations. With the growth of WP, some have asserted that there is a need that the original purview is too restrictive for the only elected board on WP. Some have objected to widening their powers, as the discussion at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Advisory Council on Project Development shows.
Analysis of the problem
Possible solutions
This section is for proposing solutions only. Critical evaluation of these proposals should take place in the Discussion section below, and wait until we have a good number (5–10) of proposals. The first priority is to compile as many ideas as possible. Add your own ideas, and feel free to improve and build upon the ideas of others.
Modify an existing policy or process
Propose a new policy or process
Discussion of the proposed solutions
Please withhold criticism of the proposed solutions until there is a good number of proposals. If you feel that one of the proposals above has a shortcoming, build on the proposal and propose an amended version of it that avoids the shortcoming. Once a sufficient number of proposals have been made (usually 5–10), discuss and evaluate the proposals in this section.
Can we more effectively manage content disputes?
Description of the problem
Some minor content disputes appear to escalate in rancor, while others appear to be settled simply and effectively. What distinguises the two classes, and is there something in the power of WP to place more disputes into the second group?
Analysis of the problem
I think we should have committees or judges that would settle disputes concerning NPOV, NOR and BLP. Disputes around these three policies are most important or difficult to solve. Wikipedia has official polices but in many cases it lacks an adequate system to implement them. Solutions currently in place in a form of notice boards and dispute resolution process are just not effective enough. -- Vision Thing -- 21:52, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
- Having multiple committees is probably going to become an inevitable side-effect of the scale issue; the bigger we get, the less able one committe will be to respond in a timely and effective fashion to all the disputes that crop up. One potential issue that would need to be addressed is the likelihood that different committees ruling on similar problems would issue differing "judgements" (rulings, opinions, whatever), thus leading to either forum shopping or demoralizing levels of inconsistency (which some percieve is already a problem). Doc Tropics 22:09, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
- The problem itself seems to lie in the ever thinning line between fact and opinion. A fact can not be disputed, except by offering sources that thoroughly contradict it. The only other argument that can be used is notability. (Is it worthy knowledge, textbook or instruction manual info, or just trivia?) Opinion, speculation, and rumor, on the other hand, can be found printed in almost every form of media, and from these come NPOV, NOR, synthesis, and such arguments. While speculation and opinion from experts in the field are vital, (articles such as Gravity wouldn't exist without them), these should be used with the utmost care, be labled clearly as opinion/speculation, and attributed to the speaker, (ie: Dr. E.B. Strauss surmised, "..., The U.S. Military advised, "..., or the general relativity theory of gravity). This is good, but often leads to the insertion of more and more, each trying to out contradict the other, and then the inevitible reversion wars ensue. I think that by using only the most concise contradictary opinions, and making sure that the RS attributes it to a notable expert, (and not some random blog, which happens more and more), would help to quell many disputes. Zaereth (talk) 23:21, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
Possible solutions
This section is for proposing solutions only. Critical evaluation of these proposals should take place in the Discussion section below, and wait until we have a good number (5–10) of proposals. The first priority is to compile as many ideas as possible. Add your own ideas, and feel free to improve and build upon the ideas of others.
Modify an existing policy or process
sometimes the arbcom initiates a consensus-forming discussion to resolve (for example) ethnic naming disputes. This works well, and should happen more often without arbcom having to prompt it. 146.151.21.117 (talk) 01:37, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
Propose a new policy or process
Discussion of the proposed solutions
Please withhold criticism of the proposed solutions until there is a good number of proposals. If you feel that one of the proposals above has a shortcoming, build on the proposal and propose an amended version of it that avoids the shortcoming. Once a sufficient number of proposals have been made (usually 5–10), discuss and evaluate the proposals in this section.
Do we need new committees?
Description of the problem
WP currently has few committees other than ArbCom. Most large organizations have multiple non-overlapping committees to deal with current problems and future plans.
Analysis of the problem
Possible solutions
This section is for proposing solutions only. Critical evaluation of these proposals should take place in the Discussion section below, and wait until we have a good number (5–10) of proposals. The first priority is to compile as many ideas as possible. Add your own ideas, and feel free to improve and build upon the ideas of others.
Modify an existing policy or process
Propose a new policy or process
Should elected officials be held accountable to the community in new ways?
Description of the problem
The primary elected officials of WP are ArbCom. The only process for holding such officials accountable to the community are currently adversarial innature.
Analysis of the problem
Possible solutions
This section is for proposing solutions only. Critical evaluation of these proposals should take place in the Discussion section below, and wait until we have a good number (5–10) of proposals. The first priority is to compile as many ideas as possible. Add your own ideas, and feel free to improve and build upon the ideas of others.
Modify an existing policy or process
Propose a new policy or process
Discussion of the proposed solutions
Please withhold criticism of the proposed solutions until there is a good number of proposals. If you feel that one of the proposals above has a shortcoming, build on the proposal and propose an amended version of it that avoids the shortcoming. Once a sufficient number of proposals have been made (usually 5–10), discuss and evaluate the proposals in this section.
Should formal committees and offices operate more transparently?
Description of the problem
ArbCom is the only major formal committee on WP. Actions of ArbCom are primarily transparent currently. There are questions, moreover, whether administrators are "officials" of WP, and whether their actions or deliberations should also be made transparent.
Analysis of the problem
Possible solutions
This section is for proposing solutions only. Critical evaluation of these proposals should take place in the Discussion section below, and wait until we have a good number (5–10) of proposals. The first priority is to compile as many ideas as possible. Add your own ideas, and feel free to improve and build upon the ideas of others.
Modify an existing policy or process
Propose a new policy or process
(please copy and paste this template, before adding a new area of concern.)
Discussion of the proposed solutions
Please withhold criticism of the proposed solutions until there is a good number of proposals. If you feel that one of the proposals above has a shortcoming, build on the proposal and propose an amended version of it that avoids the shortcoming. Once a sufficient number of proposals have been made (usually 5–10), discuss and evaluate the proposals in this section.
Civility
Description of the problem
There is a perceived lack of general civility, especially where a conflict over article content arises and one or more editors engage in escalating lack of civility towards others. In extreme cases, this escalates into dispute resolution issues which ought not have been needed.
Analysis of the problem
Possible solutions
This section is for proposing solutions only. Critical evaluation of these proposals should take place in the Discussion section below, and wait until we have a good number (5–10) of proposals. The first priority is to compile as many ideas as possible. Add your own ideas, and feel free to improve and build upon the ideas of others.
Modify an existing policy or process
Propose a new policy or process
Discussion of the proposed solutions
Please withhold criticism of the proposed solutions until there is a good number of proposals. If you feel that one of the proposals above has a shortcoming, build on the proposal and propose an amended version of it that avoids the shortcoming. Once a sufficient number of proposals have been made (usually 5–10), discuss and evaluate the proposals in this section.
Name of area of concern
Description of the problem
Analysis of the problem
Possible solutions
This section is for proposing solutions only. Critical evaluation of these proposals should take place in the Discussion section below, and wait until we have a good number (5–10) of proposals. The first priority is to compile as many ideas as possible. Add your own ideas, and feel free to improve and build upon the ideas of others.
Modify an existing policy or process
Propose a new policy or process
Discussion of the proposed solutions
Please withhold criticism of the proposed solutions until there is a good number of proposals. If you feel that one of the proposals above has a shortcoming, build on the proposal and propose an amended version of it that avoids the shortcoming. Once a sufficient number of proposals have been made (usually 5–10), discuss and evaluate the proposals in this section.