MarioWiki:Proposals

 http://img33.picoodle.com/img/img33/9/9/17/f_propcopym_9045f2d.png 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. Signing with the signature code (~) is not allowed due to technical issues.

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) At any time a vote may be rejected if at least three active users believe the vote truly has no merit or was cast in bad faith. However, there must be strong reasons supporting the invalidation.
 * 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) 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)

New Features
''None at the moment.

Removals
''None at the moment.

Split PM/TTYD Image Collages
At the moment, there are 15 items from Paper Mario that do not have standard images. This creates an issue when standardized formatting is desired for an article containing images of many or all of the Paper Mario items. Below is a list of the items in question.

As you can see below, these 15 particular items, have both their Paper Mario and their The Thousand Year Door images set side-by-side in a single image, instead of having each as their own file. This makes it impossible to utilize one image or the other separately. Separating the collage into two separate files would accomplish: uniformity, ability to use each image separately, allow for item tables to be constructed in a manner that is not visually disjointing, et cetera.


 * Electro Pop
 * Fire Pop
 * Fried Egg
 * Honey Shroom
 * Honey Super
 * Honey Ultra
 * Jelly Shroom
 * Jelly Super
 * Jelly Ultra
 * Koopa Tea
 * Life Shroom
 * Maple Shroom
 * Maple Super
 * Maple Ultra
 * Volt Shroom
 * Sleepy Sheep: Sleepy Sheep is a slightly different issue. The Sleepy Sheep image is slightly larger than all of the other PM items, and is uses a different naming convention, This is the only PM item to do so. I would like to recommend that the name be changed to reflect those of all other PM items. Image:SleepySheep_PM2.png >> Image:PaperMario_Items_SleepySheep.png

Proposer: Deadline: Monday, June 29, 17:00

Split The Images
(Create two images, one for PM, one for TTYD)
 * 1) - I would very much like the ability to use a PM image without having a TTYD image glued to the side of it.
 * 2) SMB Same here. Per Xestrix
 * 3) - Per Xestrix.
 * 4) - Although I don't think this quite merits a proposal(unless there was say, another proposal or a rule or something dictating that PM(/RPG?) items must be in one image), but Per Xestrix.

Leave Them Alone
(Leave the images as they currently are)

Comments
Right now, I am in the process of creating a List of Tayce T. Recipes/By Ingredient as well as a revamp of the original list. To create the former, I have created two new templates: TTR and TTRi. In using these two templates to create a uniform recipe structure, I have ran into problems with the image collages. These files do not fit the 32x32 pixel standard of the other files, and the filename is reflected differently as a result. This makes it impossible for the template to function. (All images have the same naming convention, except for the mentioned 15)

Splitting the images into their proper parts would allow for the PM files to be accessed separately; additionally the newly created PM-only files could be made to follow the rest of the PM item's naming convention, giving ease-of-access to the PM-only files as well.

Xestrix: as a proposer its your obligation, that if your proposal is supported, you MUST change all the pages where the "collage" is if you wont do this, then please erase this :)
 * I've already done it, I just need to consensus to upload the images.
 * I also mean to change [[Image:collagename.jpg]] to [[Image:newimage.jpg]] in every page
 * To be technical, Xestrix would have to replace with "[[Image:collagename.PNG]]" with both "[[Image:newimagePM.png]]" and "[[Image:newimagePM2.png]]" . Fortunately, both images will be able to fit side-by-side in, and the pages would look the same before and after the split. -
 * I understand the work to be done, I wouldn't volunteer for an overwhelming task ^^; - Oops, added Sig.

Platform Games
There are a few stubby pages around the wiki that all deal with platform game types. They are 3-D Platform Game, Sidescroller, and Platform Game. My proposal is should we merge the first two pages with Platform Games or keep them separate and distribute the info in platform games between them because currently information will end up getting repeated or incomplete if we leave all three the way they are.

Proposer: Deadline: Tuesday June 30th, 17:00

Merge Together

 * 1) I say merge them, they are all about Platformer games anyway. Just make two sections on the page ( ==Sidescroller== and ==3-D Platformers== ) and then add the subdivisions ( in example, ===Super Mario Bros.=== ).
 * 2)  It's always nicer to have one medium-length page than several short pages, just for clarity's sake.
 * 3) Per above.

Comments
Honestly I need a few suggestions before I vote.
 * I agree that 1 article would be sufficient

Birdo's Gender
There was a big disagreement over the subject on Chat. I said that I would make a proposal on the subject. So, should Birdo be referred to on the MarioWiki as a male (as "he" is in Japan), a female (as "she" is in U.S.A.) or it (as Nintendo referred to Birdo in Super Smash Bros. Brawl)?

Proposer: Deadline: Monday, 29 June 2009, 17:00

Male

 * 1) He was called male much more than female. Specially because he was male in america already, and he appears more in Japanese games than american ones, like Captain Rainbow, in which the fact that he IS male is part of the plot.

Female

 * I don't vote for this because of the (inconsistent) censoring of Birdo's gender issue in America, but because real transgender people have to be referred to by their assummed gender, and the same should go for fictional ones.
 * 1) - Walkazo did make a valid point over here, so I would say keep it as she.
 * She is a girl ^__^ since the mario games are classified as E for everyone, so childrens can not use a transvestite character, am I right?, because their fathers don't wanna see their childrens playing with a weird character. Also, Birdo has appeared as a girl in many games. Only japanese games have a Birdo as a male, becasue that's its tradition. Nevertheless, that is not fault of Birdo, the guilty is:... her creator!,to allow that she was named of that form. ;__; T__T
 * (I've always wanted to point this out!) May I remind you that she is only male in a game that takes place in a dream?
 * 1) - Per Grandy02 and Super-Yoshi (and I guess, per me as well, seeing as S-Y's citing me). Also, see my comment below.
 * 2) - Per Walkazo
 * 3) - Per Grandy and S-Y
 * 4) - Per Grandy and Walkazo
 * 5) - Per Walkazo's comment. Anyone that looks at Birdo will think she is a female
 * 6) - I remember a controversy about this the last time I was active on this wiki, about a year ago.  Birdo is a transgendered character  and in all descriptions that say she is male, they also say she wishes to be treated like a female.  The page is fine as is with the small section covering her gender identity.
 * 7) -Per all
 * 8) -Per all.
 * 9) Well, seeing as including Birdo as a girl seems to be in the lead (like I predicted on chat), my vote goes here. Also, per all.
 * 10) - Per all, Birdo's Yoshi's (girl)friend and partner, since they're both dinosaurs.
 * 11) - Per all.

Comments
Well, I'm rewording my comment that I put under "It" by accident. I meant to say that Birdo should not be considered an It, but a female. The Japanese Birdo is a male (but wants to be a girl), but the American (and probably other releases) said that Birdo is a girl. So I think we should keep Birdo as a girl. SMB
 * Well, Birdo is considered many things in America to cover up the issue. Birdo is usually, however, referred to as a female in America. SMB

I am not going to vote. I see everybody's point of view and I only made this proposal to clear up a issue that started on Chat, and due to that, I will let everybody else decide. SMB

We shouldn't forget that Nintendo is from Japan, therefore sbeing a male may be considered as the most official veredict.
 * That may be true, but if that were the case, we should also change his/her/its name to Catherine. And Toad to Kinopio. And Luigi to Ruigi. Etc. SMB

Yeah, but.. Nintendo of America doesn't like that idea on Birdo, so they changed her gender. So, the pronoun: (she) is excellent for the Birdo article!. ^,^ And this is not a japanese wiki!.. so, Birdo, Toad & Luigi are fine. (closed case) n__n

Why not just add a disclosure? "Though Birdo is officially a male character (source:Ninetndo), he is generally referred to as a female in America to avoid confusion amongst younger audiences. For the purpose of this wiki, which is not Japanese, Birdo will be referred to as a female." <-- See, easy? Get the facts out, then set a standard.
 * A disclosure is not necessary because there is an entire section of the Birdo article that deals with her gender (see here). Birdo is a transsexual (transgendered) male in the Japanese canon, and this was even carried over to the North American release (and maybe other regions too) of Super Mario Bros. 2, before being retconned in later games to accommodate the cultures that do not view sexuality as fluidly as the Japanese. As Grandy02 and Super-Yoshi (who was citing a comment I made in the past) pointed out, transsexuals should be identified with the gender they identifies themselves with. While the Japanese may do things differently, as Xestrix reminded us, this is not a Japanese website, and we conduct ourselves according to the English-speaking norms (admittedly, these vary from country to country, but let's just ignore that for the moment, shall we?). Shroobario's example, Captain Rainbow, actually supports calling Birdo a female, despite the fact that she is physically male in the game, stating that "depending on one's view point, she is a young lady." One could also argue that once the most recent English-language depiction of Birdo (the current one being Captain Rainbow) includes her as a plain female, we have to refer to her as a female, like how we call "Princess Toadstool" "Princess Peach", because that's her name these days. Policy is to refer to her as "Toadstool" only in the sections/articles of games that call her that, but "Peach" everywhere else; this could be applied to Birdo as well, but again, because she's transsexual, even in the games that acknowledge that she is physically male, Birdo should still be referred to using feminine pronouns. Same goes for Vivian, who is also transsexual, and must be dealt with the same way as Birdo (see here for that article's exposition in regards to Vivian's gender controversy). Also, even if the verdict is to switch (back) to gender neutrality on Birdo's article, don't use "it" to talk about Birdo, as it's considered offensive and dehumanizing, regardless of a person's sexual identity (Birdo's not technically human, but you know what I mean). -
 * She's not transsexual, she's transgendered--the difference is the former requires sex reassignment surgery, which I doubt exists in the Mushroom World. :P Minor difference,  but I'm sure Birdo would think it's important.
 * I use the term "transsexual" because "transgender" (which I'm told is the preferred term over "transgendered" in the trans community) includes such a broad scope of mindsets, whereas Birdo specifically wishes to be accepted as a female and live as a female, which is, to my understanding, the definition of a transsexual. Not all transsexuals wish to have sex reassignment surgery, but we can only speculate on Birdo's position in relation to it, and thus, can't make any deductions based on it. I'm not an expert on transgender/transsexualism, mind you, and all the Internet literature I've read in researching the Birdo (and Vivian) controversy isn't very clear, so I could be way off... -
 * I'm not an expert either, but you seem to know more than me. Transsexual it is -

Per Walkazo. Birdo should be kept on the site as a she. Also most of users are are not Japanese and I doubt there's one. However we should keep that in Japan, Birdo is male. The use of "it" is offensive to the people who are transexuals, so I think we shouldn't use it.

Poll Selection Page
I looked at the Poll selection page, and I have to admit something: It is a disaster. So here is what I am proposing: We clean it up. To get more into detail: If this is passed, and it works, we can make suggesting and voting on new polls easier, quicker, and more efficient. Also, this plan can reduce loading time for the pages. Proposer: Deadline: Friday, 3 July 2009, 20:00
 * We have it split into multiple pages with 25 suggested polls on each page (In example, we have MarioWiki:Poll Selection/Page1, MarioWiki:Poll Selection/Page2, and so forth. We can link them together with a table like on the Proposals Archive, for example.
 * No signatures. I know this was already a rule, but many users either A) Get around the rules by putting the images as they are in their signature and then putting the allowed coding. B) Flat out ignore the rule and post a signature. After a while, when users start doing this, it becomes out of hand to deal with the problem. All in all, what I am saying here is: You are only allowed to sign with or Whatever.
 * Other laws of organization: Basically, if/when this proposal passes, we enforce these rules on a regular basis, and if it is necessary, make rules to adapt to new situations. This is obvious, but it did not seem to work on the page.

Reorganize Poll Selection Page

 * 1) Per my reasoning above and Timmy Tim's vote below.
 * 2) It's falling apart and needs mending. Deleting repeat polls and one with more opposers than supporters will also have to be done.
 * 3) - Agreed. I've been wanting to do that by posting messages on the Poll Selection talk page and asking if I actually could do it, but a proposal definitively is the best way to enforce these rules and make that "disaster" a good page. If you need help with it, I'm up to the job. (I don't know if that expression exists, but w/e :P)

Comments
Paper Yoshi, I'm sorry to say I can't have your help in reorganizing the page right now, but in helping to observe the rules and help keeping it cleaned after I finish reorganizing it will help me a whole lot, as we might as well not do the proposal if the page is going to get messed up again. So, once again, to help me, all you need to do is keep the page clean once I'm finished. Thank you for your wanting to help me though.

Enforce No-Signature Policy
I feel that the "No-Signature Policy" on many of the pages around the wiki have been utterly violated. Many of the users like to use the "letter of the law" technique as opposed to the "spirit of the law", which, in other scenarios, is okay, but is not good to this policy. Due to many pages that feature the "No-Signature Policy" having limited space, they cannot touch upon the many ideas that were originally expressed when this "policy" went into enactment. As of such, as I stated earlier, many users dodge the rules (see the second bullet in my above proposal about the Poll Selection page). As of such, I would like to create one page that has detailed rules on the subject, and that could be linked to pages that share these many ideas. The page, if created, would most likely be titled  MarioWiki:No-Signature Policy . A rough draft of my proposed page can be located here. Proposer: Deadline: Sunday, 5 July 2009, 15:00

Reorganize Poll Selection Page

 * 1) Remember, this proposal was not made to prevent this from happening, it was made to stop what is currently going on and prevent it from happening again in the future.