MarioWiki:Proposals

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r149/Deadringerforlove/dessert1.jpg A proposal section works like a discussion page: comments are brought up and replied to using indents (colons, such as : or ::::) and all edits are signed using the code.

This page observes the No-Signature Policy.

How To
 * 1) Actions that users feel are appropriate to have community approval first can be added by anyone, but they must have a strong argument.
 * 2) Users then vote and discuss on the issue during that week. The "deadline" for the proposal is one week from posting at:
 * 3) *Monday to Thursday: 17:00 (5pm)
 * 4) *Friday and Saturday: 20:00 (8pm)
 * 5) *Sunday: 15:00 (3pm)
 * 6) Every vote should have a reason accompanying it.
 * 7) Users who feel that certain votes were cast in bad faith or which truly have no merit can address the votes in the Comments section. Users can ask a voter to clarify their position, point out mistakes or flaws in their arguments, or call for the outright removal of the vote if it lacks sufficient reasoning. Users may not remove or alter the content of anyone else's votes. The voter can remove or rewrite their own vote at any time, but the final decision to remove another User's vote lies solely with the Administrators.
 * 8) " # " should be added under the last vote of each support/oppose section to show another blank line.
 * 9) All proposals that end up in a tie will be extended for another week.
 * 10) If a proposal has more than ten votes, it can only pass or fail by a margin of three votes. If a proposal reaches the deadline and the total number of votes for each option differ by two or less votes, the deadline will be extended for another week.
 * 11) Any proposal that has three votes or less at deadline will automatically be listed as "NO QUORUM." The original proposer then has the option to relist said proposal to generate more discussion.
 * 12) No proposal can overturn the decision of a previous proposal that is less than 4 weeks (28 days) old.
 * 13) Proposals can only be rewritten or deleted by their proposer within the first three days of their creation. However, the proposer can request that their proposal be deleted by a Sysop at any time, provided they have a valid reason for it.
 * 14) All proposals are archived. The original proposer must take action accordingly if the outcome of the proposal dictates it. If it requires the help of a Sysop, the proposer can ask for that help.
 * 15) There shouldn't be proposals about creating articles on a underrepresented or completely absent subject, unless there is major disagreement about whether the content should be included. To organize efforts about completing articles on missing subjects, try creating a PipeProject.
 * 16) Proposals can not be made about System Operator promotions and demotions. Sysops can only be promoted and demoted by the will of Bureaucrats.
 * 17) If the Sysops deem a proposal unnecessary or potentially detrimental to the upkeep of the Super Mario Wiki, they have the right to remove it at any time.
 * 18) No joke proposals. Proposals are serious wiki matters, and should be handled professionally. Joke proposals will be deleted on sight.

The times are in EDT (UTC -4:00), and are set so that the user is more likely to be online at those times (after work/school, weekend nights). If a proposal is added on Saturday night at 11:59 PM EDT, the deadline is the next Saturday night at 8:00 PM. If it is a minute later, the deadline is a day plus 15 hours (Sunday), as opposed to a day minus 4 hours.

CURRENTLY: , 27 2024 (EDT)

Featured Image Rules
Many of you may be wondering why I put this in the "New Features" section and that is because we currently have no rules for Featured Images (except "must be in a mainspace page" and "no fanart". Everything needs rules and FIs are no exceptions. Here is my ruleset:
 * 1) No re-nominating an image for a month after it has failed.
 * 2) You can vote for an image to be unfeatured in the new "Unfeatured Image Nominations" section.

Proposer: Deadline: December 27, 2009, 17:00

Use this ruleset

 * 1) - Per proposal
 * 2) – Per MG1.
 * 3) That sounds fair, FA's and FI's are very alike. The rules stated above partly involve rules like such in FA's. Those two rules are very simple, and can really help the FI nominations...

Use current ruleset

 * I don't think those rules would be harmful but I don't think they are necessary either. If an image has failed only by a margin of 1 vote, then I see no reason why it shouldn't get nominated again for a month. Also, I really don't think we need to introduce a new Unfeature system for FIs. Once an image was featured, it won't be featured again (which is different from FAs), so no need to worry.
 * 1) &mdash; Per Time Q. The current system is perfectly fine; there's no need to change it.
 * Per Time Q and stooben rooben The rules are perfectly fine
 * 1) I could see chaos in the near future...per all.

Comments
This ruleset should be easy to agree on considering it is composed of rules from the FA system...

I dont like rule 3, as it is kinda pointless, why would you remove votes if they dont need to have a valid reason?
 * You're right, that's redundant and I don't want to create a big ruckus by trying to change the current rules, I have removed it from my proposal.

Sorry if this is kind of off-topic, but I have a different suggestion for a new rule: If the image with the most "positive" votes (i.e. support votes minus oppose votes) has less than 10 positive votes, it should stay nominated and instead one of the previous FIs should be featured again. Just wanted to throw that in.
 * Good idea but 10 may be a bit too much...

Time Q: So what happens when we run out of images to feature? I'm just wondering. Marioguy1: In your proposal, you wrote "No re-nominating an article for a month after it has failed." Don't you mean "image"? Just to avoid confusion.


 * Sorry, you can tell what frame of mind I was writing this in :P

Categories: List of Implied ...
I propose that the following rategories be removed without replacement:
 * Category:List of Implied Characters
 * Category:List of Implied Entertainment
 * Category:List of Implied Events
 * Category:List of Implied Items
 * Category:List of Implied Locations
 * Category:List of Implied Organizations
 * Category:List of Implied People
 * Category:List of Implied Species

Here are my reasons: So overall I see no reason for them to exist. They have no possible entries. If you want to categorize the redirects, Category:Implied Characters is the way to go, but this is pointless.
 * 1) Each of those categories has only one article entry total, the respective List of Implied Characters etc. It doesn't look like those lists need to have their very own category each. They can just have both Category:Implied and Category:Lists.
 * 2) Some have subcategories. Those subcategories are Category:Implied Characters etc. I don't see how those can be categorised as "List of ..." because an implied character is not a list. Just remove the List category and add Category:Implied, as above.

Proposer: Deadline: Saturday, December 26th, 2009, 20:00 EST

Support Removal

 * 1) - per above.
 * 2) - Per Cobold. I think I understood what the meaning behind this categories is, but I also think that this sort of organization is not necessary.
 * 3) - Per all stated above!
 * 4) - Oh definitely.
 * 5) - Per Cobold. Each list does not need a category unto itself, and categorizing the redirects going to that list is equally pointless because the list page's Table of Contents already works as a built-in index to these subjects.
 * 6) - Per Cobold.
 * 7) - Per Cobold.
 * 8) - This is like a merge :D, Per Co-Bald
 * 9) - since implied elements' info are being gathered into single articles, using these categories is, therefore, unnecessary.
 * 10) - Per all.
 * 11) – These implied things are rarely even mentioned; why do we need them?
 * 12) - Support removal of Implied Characters, Entertainment, Items, Locations, People. Honestly, if the main category already has these already mentioned and covers it in the main article then no need to post it again on another page, just a waste of space.
 * 13) PEr Cobold.
 * 14) I am Zero! We are a wiki not a wikia so the categories should be removed and put into one category; there is only one implies location, character, events, etc. Zero signing out.
 * 15) Per all.
 * 16) Per all.

Comments
I'll support this as well, but I also feel we should do an overhaul on the categorization system in general. Redstar 00:01, 20 December 2009 (EST)
 * I fully agree, but I've been to busy to concept anything about a new category system lately, while the rest of the staff has been focused on overhauling navigation templates and user pages for now. It's definitely on our list. - 14:05, 20 December 2009 (EST)

Splits & Merges
''Please note: From here on out, no new splits or merges will be accepted in this area. All splits and merges must be done on talk pages, as this section is reserved for talk page proposals. The below proposal is allowed to stay because it was initiated before the new rule was put into practice.''

Merge All Golfers and Tennis Players
I propose that all the generic human tennis players and golfers appearing in every Mario Tennis and Mario Golf game should all be merged together. If this proposal does pass the only idea I have to name this new article could be "List of Generic Humans". The reason is that about every single character except for three or four are stubs, being composed of only two to four sentances, some with no images.

Proposer: Deadline: December 31, 2009, 17:00

Merge

 * 1) I am Zero! This is a wiki, we put full information on every single article, we are not a wikia, only having one to three sentances on one article, so merging would be the best to do now. Zero signing out.
 * 2) - Most of these characters are playable once and have virtually no information surrounding them, so they are neither major aspects of the Mario series nor can full pages be written about them: there are more substantial entries in List of Implied People. When we merged the Waffle Kingdom people Luigi spoke of into said page, it did not mean that we valued them any less than before - we merely did it for consistency and organization; similarly, merging the human golfers and tennis players would make navigation faster and easier. Giving pages to everything that has a name has not worked like we hoped it would, and as more named things get added to the Mario series with each new game, it's doubtful we will ever fully catch up; instead of grasping at straws, perhaps we should try something different.

Do Not Merge

 * They are rather major characters from a Mario-sub-series. If their articles are too short, expand them rather than merge them.
 * 1) - per Time Q.
 * 2) - Per Time Q.
 * 3) More can be added, like stats, appearances, or where that character is found.
 * 4) The reason these articles are short is because nobody adds information to them. Max and Tina are examples of what they should look like, while Tiny and Putts are pretty much a complete article. Tony was deleted due to its shortness (thanks to Knife), but that doesn't mean they're worhtless. One last thing: What is the Mario Wiki coming to if we need to merge articles on playable characters?
 * 5) Per Time Q.

Comments
What about other random human sports players? I'm assuming you'd want to see the tennis players merged as well as the golfers (in a separate list page), for the sake of consistency. -

Hm, I think this proposal is a good example of why we should keep "Splits & Merges" proposals on this page. On which talk page would we put it?
 * When in doubt, put it on here: since it deals with so many pages from so many different games, there is no logical central place for it ( deals with all the effected pages, but it's sorta removed from the pages itself; same with Category:Humans). It's also dealing with MWiki policy as much as straight merging - it's the old "what warrants a page" and "how to deal with stubs" debate - so putting it here in Changes would work. -

I am Zero! The reason I said merge them is that there is really not that much to expand on most of them because they only made one or two appearences (most of them) in the Mario Golf and Mario Tennis series only. Zero signing out.

Would you mind making a short or complete list of which characters you mean? I did a cursory glance to try to find some of these characters, but didn't really pop up with anything. It'd be easier if you could show us who you mean. Redstar 17:53, 25 December 2009 (EST)
 * He means all the characters that you face in the Mario Golf and Mario Tennis games, like Sophia, Meg, Mason, Joe, Gene, or Grace. Those characters are human characters that you face in some Mario Golf and Mario Tennis games. There's a ton more characters like that. Although, I actually don't see most of those as stubs.

Talk Page Proposals
uses=Template:Mergeto include={mergeto}:1 format=,*Merge %TITLE% into ,.\n

Change naming convention for power-up form articles
Currently, we define the articles for various forms of characters upon power-up with the title of "Form Mario". This is ultimately misleading because many characters besides Mario have been shown to make use of different power-ups and wear the same form, yet we choose to use Mario as the catch-all despite him not being the official name for such a form, only the original user and most widely-known transformer.

While this practice isn't necessarily bad, it has resulted in some confusion on how exactly to merge and split the articles relating to the metal form. For example, Metal Wario is currently being proposed to merge with Metal Mario due to the shared nature of those characters under that form. However, the Metal Mario page is also being proposed to be split with information on Metal Mario the character (as seen in the Super Smash Bros. series and other media as a playable character). The problem resulting from this is that there would be two "Metal Mario" articles, or at least two very similarly named ones, with one being "Metal Mario" and covering the form, and the other being "Metal Mario (character)", which are both too similar to avoid confusion.

Another problem arising from this standard in naming convention is the placement of alternate name tags at the top of the page. While these tags certainly serve their purpose, they are also an eye-sore. Seeing boxy tags of any kind at any point on a page makes me think the article is incomplete or under construction of some kind. It just pulls me out of the right mindframe of reading and enjoying an article.

What this proposal is hoping to achieve is to change the current naming standard to one that more clearly and generally explains the contents of an article, as well as remove the need for the above explained tag. Any form a character can become upon use of a power-up, such as Frog Mario, Metal Mario, Fire Mario, etc. will be re-named to "X Form".

Proposer: Deadline: December 26, 2009, 20:00

Change Naming Convention for Forms

 * 1) - Per proposal

Leave Naming Convention as it is

 * 1) To be honest, I'd rather have it all x Mario, instead of x Form. I really never minded the templates on the page. Mario is the main character, so he should be the main names of the form. At least in my opinion.
 * 2) - As vellidragon mentioned in the comments, the games default to "X Mario" even if Luigi (or other characters) can power-up too, and going with actual names is much better than making stuff up ourselves, as would be the case with "X Forms". At least the duality templates don't look as bad as speculation templates gracing our articles. Also, in the Wario games, only Wario powers-up, so changing those to "X Forms" would be folly, but leaving them as "X Wario" while "X Mario" gets converted would look inconsistent.
 * 3) Meh, it sounds weird. How would Fire Form or Fat Form (LOL) sound. Bomb Form, Snowball Form, Burning Form, there's millions.
 * 4) Per my comment below. The way it's currently done is the most official.
 * 5) &mdash; Per Vellidragon. Besides, as long as  is used properly, it's easy to keep everything organized.

Comments
What about merging the forms with the items that cause them? That way, we can avoid the unofficial "X Form" names. The only possible problem with this is if different items are used to make the same form in different games. The only example I could think of off the top of my head, however, is Dragon Wario, and I think Wario-series forms should remain unchanged anyway, seeing as those powerups aren't exactly the same as in the core Mario series (and they're always unique to Wario, so the arguments about duality don't apply to them). -
 * Mario becomes Metal Mario upon use of a Metal Cap, while Wario does so through use of a Power Flower... While I do support the idea, and have thought about it myself before, I'm not sure if that type of merge would sit well with the majority of people. It does make sense, however to have a single comprehensive on a power-up, followed by a second half detailing its use in different media. Not the most controversial merge-idea, but I'm sure some people wouldn't like it. Discussion, as always, and we'll see. Redstar 00:58, 19 December 2009 (EST)
 * I disagree with merging them with the power-ups; like Redstar pointed out, the forms can sometimes be caused by different power-ups. IIRC, the Fire/Super Mario transformation in the cartoons could be triggered by a Starman or even pasta. Not sure what to think about the renaming atm; it would get rid of the "alternative title" template thingy, but I'm not sure I like the "... Form" title very much. As far as I'm aware, manuals and strategy guides (at least older ones) have always used the "... Mario" naming scheme which we have on the Wiki right now (and if they didn't, they still used "... [character name]"); I'm not sure if "... Form" has ever been used in official sources. Imo, official terms should be used wherever they are known.--vellidragon 10:44, 19 December 2009 (EST)
 * @Vellidragon: I don't like the term Form that much either, but it carries far more general areas than "X Mario", when clearly any number of characters can hold such forms. In any case, we already categorize the forms under [Category:Forms], under sub-category [Category:Mario's Transformations]. The main category at least acknowledges that they're forms, but the sub-category is pretty narrow. Again, Mario isn't the only one to use these forms. Redstar 16:31, 19 December 2009 (EST)
 * @Walkazo: The thing is, saying that "Fire Mario" is the proper term is just as much "made-up" as "Fire Form" would be... Fire Mario, Frog Mario, Cape Mario, etc. were never names for the form itself, but for Mario himself when using the power-up. Assuming the name applies to the form as well is just stretching it too far. If we're going to "make-up" a term, I'd rather it be "form" so we can avoid confusion and using a tag that says "also known as" five times. Redstar 22:27, 19 December 2009 (EST)
 * I disagree: since things like "Fire Mario" appear in games and manuals, I think people will remember that term more easily and use it when they browse the Internet long before "Fire Form" occurs to them. Perhaps regular Users of the Super Mario Wiki will learn to use "X Form", but random guests probably won't, and they're the people we're trying to reach most of all. To the uninitiated, which is more welcoming, the familiar "Fire Mario" or an ambiguous "Fire Form"? That's what I mean my making stuff up: "Fire Mario" is straight from Nintendo, whereas "Fire Form" is taking a step beyond where they have gone, and if it's not canon, it's speculation, which is to be avoided at all costs. Nintendo is fine with using "X Mario" as a catch-all, and so should we. As for the Diff template, I think it's merely a matter of personal opinion on how it impacts the pages; myself, I've always thought it was a nifty way to handle these issues, and if anything, they make me more interested in the following information and its duality. -
 * Well, I agree with "Form" being less official. Personally, I'm fine with the naming convention as it is now, but I was suggested to make this proposal just to get the issue settled so we can continue on with the proposals concerning Metal Mario and Metal Wario. I'm just playing Devil's advocate, you realize. Redstar 23:50, 19 December 2009 (EST)
 * The way I see it, the Metal page issue isn't because of the name, but because of the form vs. character debate. I posted another possible solution on Talk:Metal Wario to that end. -
 * Your exact solution is being discussed on the Talk:Metal Mario page, on whether or not we should split it into "Metal Mario (form)" and "Metal Mario (character)". Feel free to add your opinion there. Redstar 23:57, 23 December 2009 (EST)
 * Thanks - I forgot to re-read that discussion before commenting this time around. I'll be glad when we close the deal on these Metal pages: complex issues should not be discussed in three places at once... -

Change Gate Keeper back to Piranha Plant in the Generator
Somehow, Piranha Plant in the Generator is not the name of the creatures because apparently one person read in some unnamed guide that their name was Gate Keeper so that obviously was their name. This Proposal was made to see if people think the name is Piranha Plant in the Generator or Gate Keeper.

Proposer: Deadline: Saturday, December 26th, 20:00 (8:00 pm)

Change back to Piranha Plant in the Generator

 * 1) - Per Proposal.
 * 2) I am Zero! Although Gate Keeper will be easier to type down, you are right, just because a guide book in one language said Gate Keeper it could be an error or they are called like that in only one language, so that doesn't mean to change the name of the article because of an error or name change. Zero signing out.
 * 3) Where the hell did Gatekeeper come from? It doesn't even guard gates! Per DP and Zero777.
 * 4) Per all.
 * 5) "Gate Keeper" makes absolutely no sense. Change it back.

Comments
If it doesn't cover a general issue, only a singular one, I think this proposal would make more sense on the actual article's Discussion page. Redstar 19:51, 19 December 2009 (EST)

It would, but I'm kind of against talk page Proposals, because no one ever votes to those. For example, in the very talk page we're talking about there's a Proposal there and no one's voted yet as far as I'm aware of.
 * If the name "Gate Keeper" is unofficial, there wouldn't even be a need for a vote and we could just move it back to an official name. Not everything needs to be decided by proposals. -
 * Yes I know but I'm not a sysop so I can't delete the pages so I can move it back (You can't move to an existing page). And besides no one else said anything on the talk page about moving it back so I was just checking to make sure I wasn't doing anything illegal. But of course, if I was so was that other guy...
 * You should be able to move over redirects though. But anyway, a proposal doesn't do any harm, it just stresses that everybody has the same opinion in cases like this. -
 * Nope, it doesn;'t work. i just tried. I guess I'll just do it manually.

Remove Minus World from Category:Glitches
While I was looking at Category:Glitches I notice Minus World was in the list. I propose to remove Minus World from that list, reasons:


 * 1) It is part of the Super Mario Bros. Glitches.
 * 2) It is only one glitch and itself is an article.
 * 3) It looks very out of place with it being in that list.

Proper: Deadline: Monday, December 28th, 17:00

Remove Minus World

 * 1) I am Zero! The three reasons apply. The real big reason is that it is already part of the Super Mario Bros. Glitches so why does it need to appear twice? Zero signing out.

Keep Minus World their

 * 1) - It's a glitch. Not sure why it shouldn't be in the category for glitches.
 * 2) - Whether or not it is a glitch in other games, it was a glitch in that game and should stay categorized as one. Just like Mario is categorized as an enemy thanks to Donkey Kong, this should stay categorized as a glitch thanks to Super Mario Bros. and should stay that way.
 * 3) &mdash; Per Redstar. If it's a glitch, it only makes sense to keep it in the glitches category.
 * 4) – Per all.
 * 5) - A glitch is a glitch. oô
 * 6) - Per all.
 * 7) - Per all.
 * 8) Per all.
 * 9) A glitch is a glitch.

Comments
Can this be removed? We have many, MANY proposals and this one will clearly not pass? Any toughts?

Yes it should be removed. It feels more like a joke proposal to me...
 * No, I don't think it is within the rules to remove it any other way than to veto it...admins can veto it but it is not a joke proposal; though it is also not a properly thought out one.
 * Even misguided proposal ideas can be valuable archived material: we can point to this in the future if anyone tries to demote Minus World from being a glitch again, saving us the trouble of phrasing out counter-arguments anew, and maybe even making the next proposer back down when they see their effort will be in vain. -

Allow up to 8 Personal Images
Currently, a user is allowed up to four personal images (plus one in their sig). I think it would do no harm to allow a few more. It wouldn't cause users to upload a ridiculous number of pics and turn the site into Photobucket. There aren't many users who even have one PI, so it wouldn't take up a lot of server space. I see no reason not to allow a few more PIs.

Proposer: Deadline: December 29, 17:00

Support

 * 1) – Per above.

Oppose

 * 1) - As the proposal states, there aren't many users who even have one PI, so I don't see why anyone would need that many.
 * 2) - We are the Mario Wiki, not MySpace. If you are here, your goal should be to improve the content of the site, not to showcase your images. There are enough means around the internet for those purposes.
 * 3) - Per Edofenrir, also you can just hotlink external images if you're in desparate need for them.
 * 4) - Per all.
 * 5) - Per all.
 * 6) &mdash; Eight? That's really excessive. Our current number of allowed PIs is fine. It allows enough room for a user to express themselves on their userpage, and even in their sig. It's no more of a hassle to upload your pictures to Photobucket or whatever and link to them here, than it is to upload your pictures here and link to them. That's what image-hosting sites are for; that is not what the Super Mario Wiki is for.
 * 7) WHOA! 8! per Edofenrir
 * 8) Who'd need eight personal images?
 * 9) -  Per all.
 * 10) - You want lots of PIs? Go to userpedia.
 * 11) - Per Edo, and Stooben Rooben. Seriously, 8 PIs? :S